Lord of the Mysteries

Upon seeing Cynthia’s huge fair body with tree warts and flowers growing on it as though she was a tree, as well as hearing her shy, reluctant request, Klein couldn’t help but shudder as his hair stood on end.

Such a scene exceeded a horror conceivable by human imagination. He had never encountered something like this even in his dreams.

If he were himself back when facing Megose in Tingen, Klein definitely would’ve been affected by such a scene. He would’ve temporarily lost his ability to react due to the horror and panic, but after experiencing so much, he was an experienced Beyonder in the true sense of the word. In the moment that Cynthia’s words entered his ears, the glove on his left hand had already changed colors.

It had turned black, emitting a noble and sinister feeling. This meant that Klein had activated Creeping Hunger and had switched to Wormtongue Mithor’s soul, giving him the powers of a Baron of Corruption!

At that instant, he distorted Cynthia’s words, turning “Admiral, I want to have a child with you” to “Admiral, I only wish to have a child with you.”

This way, Klein believed that the bodyguards and male attendants around the tree-like monster would be pushed away, far away by Cynthia, after having her will distorted, giving them a chance for a breather.

As for whether he would expose himself as a fake Admiral Amyrius, he didn’t care. At this moment, anyone who was still bothered about whether the true acting would be successful would definitely be someone with a serious case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he clearly wasn’t.

In addition, in an environment with all sorts of desires being magnified to the limit, Klein suspected that the others who had been influenced weren’t paying attention to the battle or the actual situation.

The Baron of Corruption’s Distortion power was activated silently, but Klein was appalled to discover that nothing changed with Cynthia or the men’s actions. They weren’t affected at all!

I’ve already used Distortion… The mutated Cynthia is able to directly resist such an influence… Klein’s pupils constricted as he hurriedly jumped to the side.

A brown tree branch sprouted out from where he was standing as a sticky flower bloomed at its tip.

The flower was abnormally large. As it bloomed, it seemed like it was about to swallow a person whole.

Although Klein had never seen cannibalistic flowers in the Southern Continent’s rainforests, he didn’t believe that they were any less terrifying or ridiculous as the one before him!

Pa! Pa! Pa!

Similar branches drilled out from the walls, floor, and ceiling as they chased after Klein with their moist flowers.

During this process, the flowers bit down on Secretary Luan’s head, as well as the bodyguards, male attendants, and maidservants who were gyrating in pleasure on the surrounding carpet.

At this moment, having learned the lesson that his Distortion powers would be resisted, Klein didn’t hesitate to pull out his right hand, a dark gold high-level charm clasped tightly in his palm.

Ninth Law!

He originally didn’t plan on using the charm so quickly. It wasn’t because he couldn’t bear to use it, but he wished to engage in a longer battle to determine what Cynthia was good at after mutating into a monster. Only then could he target her weaknesses. After all, the Ninth Law was unable to make a general prohibition, and the clause had to be sufficiently specific. For example, it couldn’t make Beyonder powers ineffective in the area, but it could specify the nullification of a specific Beyonder power. To use it to its fullest, he needed to observe carefully and make sound judgment!

However, the present situation was forcing Klein to use his trump card. Otherwise, he suspected that he had no means of damaging this tree-like monster!

If the Ninth Law charm isn’t able to create an environment that allows me to kill the monster, I’ll have to immediately escape from the villa with its help. I will lead Cynthia outside and find a chance to pray. I’ll use the Sea God Scepter above the gray fog to bombard it with attacks! Just as the thought flashed in his mind, Klein, who had been constantly jumping amidst the attacking tree branches and flowers, solemnly chanted a word in ancient Hermes, “Law!”

As the activation incantation resounded, the dark gold charm in Klein’s palm instantly turned ice-cold. It was a coldness that seemed to make one lose any emotions.

At that instant, Klein reached an extremely calm state. In the moment he threw out the Ninth Law charm, his thoughts rapidly surfaced as he considered what to prohibit.

His first reaction was to prohibit the generation of any desire, but he knew that it was too general. Therefore, he thought of changing to the desire to procreate; after all, Cynthia’s desire was to have a child with Admiral Amyrius. The influence she had on her surroundings was a result of this!

Just as the Ninth Law charm was flying in midair, turning into bits of dark gold beams of light that scattered into the surroundings, Klein suddenly thought of a problem.

Cynthia was only an ordinary person prior to this!

This is a certain fact!

Over the past three nights, Klein had used Spirit Vision, divination, and other methods to repeatedly confirm that Cynthia wasn’t a Beyonder.

Similarly, she would’ve long been discovered by Admiral Amyrius, who could distinguish between ordinary people and Beyonders.

Therefore, her sudden transformation into a mutated monster was a problem he needed to pay close attention to!

Could it be like Megose? She became a vessel of an evil god’s descent through some form of ritual? No, if there’s a ritual, it’s impossible for me not to discover it. My spiritual intuition would’ve warned me not to activate my Spirit Vision and not look straight at Cynthia… It’s some item or trait on her body that has an external force projected on her. Therefore, there weren’t any problems the previous two nights until she suddenly mutated today… Regardless, the terror from her comes from somewhere else and not her body… Klein quickly made a judgment in two seconds. Without any hesitation, he seized the opportunity and said in a solemn tone, “This place is prohibited from having any interaction with the outside world!”

The ancient Hermes words, which were filled with mystery, instantly spread out as the dark golden light scattered everywhere and intertwined with the countless law-like symbols and magic labels before merging into the void.

Hum!

There was suddenly a light hum in Klein’s ears as he seemed to see the formless light filled with desire get expelled out of the room.

Immediately following that, an illusory and resplendent starry sky appeared before his eyes. They were points of bright stars.

Pa! Pa! Klein’s eyes burst as fluid—a mixture of blood and plasma—gushed out horrendously.

Although he had used the Ninth Law charm to isolate any external influence, the level of the power was extremely high. Just a normal level of recoil was enough to penetrate the natural protection of the high-level charm and burst his eyes!

This damage came abruptly and without any warning signs. Klein didn’t even have the chance to use Paper Figurine Substitutes, just like Nimblewright Master Rosago from back then.

If not for the Ninth Law charm, his eyes might not have been the only things that burst. He might’ve turned into a monster just like Cynthia!

Meanwhile, the tree-like Cynthia came to a stop as her body began crumbling, turning into flesh and blood with brownish-green warts. The surrounding bodyguards and male attendants plopped to the ground, unconscious.

Cynthia’s head was embedded in the blob of flesh as she muttered to herself, “Admiral, I want to have a child with you…

“Admiral, I want to have a child with you…”

…

She tried hard to extend the remaining tree branches on the ceiling and walls, binding Klein, who was still in a dazed state as a result of the recoil, and she pulled him towards herself.

The moment Klein recovered a little, he immediately began struggling desperately. Despite his attempts to snap his fingers to light a fire or switch the powers of Creeping Hunger, he failed because his hands and arms were bound tightly.

With the help of his Clown powers, he “saw” the brownish-green warts approach. Stirred, Klein changed his appearance, turning his appearance from Admiral Amyrius to Gehrman Sparrow—a Gehrman Sparrow with bleeding eyes!

The binding tree branches paused as they mysteriously released their hold. They began flailing everywhere as though in an attempt to grab at something.

Cynthia’s head was filled with disappointment and confusion as she muttered, “Admiral, where did you go…

“Admiral, where did you go…”

Without the external force to continue the resistance, she finally only had the thoughts of having a child with Amyrius thanks to the Baron of Corruption’s Distortion. This made her release Gehrman Sparrow.

Klein flipped to his feet and covered his eyes with his right hand and pulled downwards abruptly, moving the horrendous wound towards his left shoulder.

As his left shoulder became mangled, Creeping Hunger was tainted with a pure and resplendent glow.

Klein looked at Cynthia’s head in the pile of flesh and blood with pity as he spread out his arms.

A holy flame which swirled around a pillar of pure light descended from the sky, enveloping the monster that had been reduced to flesh and blood.