“What does that mean?” Iris was dazed.
‘Does saying he doesn’t want to be Abellus’s subordinate mean he’ll help me? But why?’
While she was confused, trying to gauge the meaning of his words, Laika ruffled her hair and walked away with thumping steps.
Iris quickly turned around and spoke.
“Wait, what do you mean by…”
Laika stopped abruptly, shrugging his shoulders with his back to Iris.
“What? I’m just slacking off. Don’t bother me.”
“Does that mean… you’ll pretend you didn’t see me?”
At Iris’s question, Laika made an “okay” sign with his hand and started walking again.
Iris stared blankly at his broad back and bit her lip.
‘I want to ask why, but I don’t think he’ll answer.’
Enveloped in a strange feeling, she slapped her cheeks with a loud clap.
Then, she approached the window. Now was not the time to be idle, analyzing Laika’s intentions.
From the feel of it, it didn’t seem like he had lied to trap her.
‘Let’s focus on the operation. If I mess up, this mission is a failure.’
She shook her head to clear her distracting thoughts and pressed close to the window.
Then, she peered outside through a gap in the curtains.
She saw the Watcher and the worker, who had already arrived in front of the Altar, unload the Clone from the carrier and place it on top of the Altar.
The Priest arranged the Relics from the transparent case next to the Clone.
‘Huh? Why is that there?’
Looking at the Bracelet, King’s Crown, and Necklace in turn, she paused when she saw the Ring.
Laika had already taken the Ring, so why was it there? Did they get that from him? Recalling his words—’I’d rather die than become Abellus’s subordinate’—Iris tilted her head. Laika wouldn’t have given the Ring to Abellus, so she wondered what the story was. Had Laika lied?
‘I don’t think so…. Right, they might have asked the Laboratory to research it after realizing the Ring lost its power. There are many possibilities.’
She didn’t know how it ended up in Abellus’s hands, but that wasn’t important right now.
She had just witnessed an even more bizarre sight. Iris rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things when she saw the Chastity Belt placed on her Clone’s body.
No matter how hard she rubbed and looked, it was definitely the Chastity Belt.
Why was the Chastity Belt, which should have been between her legs, on the Altar?
She hurriedly felt between her thighs and found that what had been there just a moment ago was gone.
‘Is that thing seriously lying over there already? Honestly… if it weren’t a Relic, I would believe it was possessed by an evil spirit.’
Since it was an object that vanished provocatively every time they had sex, it wasn’t surprising that it could move through space at will.
At this point, she even wondered if the Chastity Belt had taken the Ring and placed it there.
She needed to stop being surprised; it was time to execute the operation.
Looking at the wall clock, about ten minutes remained until the start of the Total Solar Eclipse.
Abellus was sitting in a golden chair a short distance from the Altar, but because of the distance, Iris couldn’t see his expression.
It was not looking toward the Altar because it was talking to Abellus.
Only the Priest and the laborers were near the Altar. Now was the perfect time to start the operation.
‘Johannes, I’m starting now.’
After notifying Johannes of the start of the operation via Telepathy, she gulped down a Magic Potion.
Looking at the situation below through her shared vision, Abellus’s expression looked very complicated.
He seemed disillusioned and tired.
‘It’s just my imagination. There’s no way he’d look so miserable when he should be happy.’
She didn’t want to care about that guy’s expression anymore. Gritting her teeth, she gave an internal command to the Clone.
‘Bring the Relics to me. All of them!’
As soon as she gave the command, the Clone, which had been lying there as if unconscious, snapped its eyes open.
Grabbing the Relics with lightning speed, the Clone used Skills like [Light-Speed Spring] and [Whip Swinging] to escape the Altar.
Then, it began [Climbing] the wall to reach the floor where Iris was.
“What!”
“The person on the Altar is running away!”
“Damn it, catch her! You must catch her!”
Shocked by the sudden turn of events, It commanded its subordinates.
The subordinates scurried around, trying to catch Iris’s Clone, but they were not fast enough. Frustrated, It glared at the nearby Villains.
“Anyone, catch her! I will give a massive reward to whoever catches that thing!”
“Wow, really?”
“Can we kill her?”
The eyes of several Villains sparkled. Among them were those who were Heroes in name only, using the Hero App.
Not yet realizing the Clone was a fake, It warned them with a stern face.
“No! You must capture her alive.”
The Villains looked troubled at the command to capture her alive, but they began climbing the wall to catch the Clone.
If they could kill her, they would have used long-range Attack Skills, but since they had to capture her alive, they couldn’t attack recklessly.
At that moment, Johannes attacked one of the Villains climbing the wall.
Using his specialty, [Stealth], he approached secretly and knocked the Villain down with a swift kick.
Then, he performed a somersault and landed lightly on the terrace.
After briefly considering how to deal with the remaining Villains, Johannes pulled out a Whip and swung it wildly.
The Whip, which had lengthened by several meters, lashed the Villains climbing the wall and knocked them to the ground.
This attack was possible because he was using [Skill Sharing] with Iris.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Johannes’s ally also fired off Attack Skills at the running Villains.
In an instant, Villains sprawled everywhere, groaning in pain. When the situation didn’t go as planned, It shrieked.
“You bastard! You’re the Enraka Sect Leader’s Son, aren’t you? Did you think I wouldn’t recognize you? I’ll kill you first the moment I become a god!”
With eyes shining strangely, It immediately recognized the transformed Johannes.
This was a unique Superpower It possessed, similar to [Excellent Observational Skills].
Focusing its mind, It turned its head toward the Clone climbing the wall, and rage filled its eyes once more.
That Vessel was a fake. It became clear once the Superpower was used.
Why hadn’t it thought to check beforehand?
It had let its guard down, thinking a Vessel stripped of all its Relic’s power couldn’t do anything, but it hadn’t expected her to still have a Skill to create a fake that looked exactly like her.
“That’s a fake! Kill it! Don’t capture it alive!”
“Huh? We can kill it? Then this is easy.”
When It pointed a finger at the Clone, one of the Villains wiggled their hands with an excited expression.
In that moment, Iris poked her head out the window and reached out desperately toward the Clone.
She just needed to receive the Relics from the Clone’s hand, just that… but unfortunately, the moment the Clone’s hand and Iris’s hand touched, a large, fast-flying flame swallowed the Clone’s body.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang out, and a large hole was blasted into the wall. As the Clone vanished from the long-range Attack Skill, the Relics, with nowhere to go, fell to the ground.
“Ah!”
Iris bit her lip and opened the hand she had been clutching. She had lost all the other Relics and barely managed to hold onto just one: the King’s Crown.
At the same time, thankfully, she felt the Chastity Belt return between her legs. Looking down quickly, she saw the Priests picking up the Relics.
‘What should I do? I won’t be able to complete the power of the Relics with just the King’s Crown and the Chastity Belt!’
Not being able to gather all the Relics was one problem, but to make matters worse, the Total Solar Eclipse was beginning.
The surroundings gradually darkened, and the moon’s shadow began to slowly swallow the brilliantly shining sun.
Watching the Priests pick up the remaining Relics and place them on the Altar, It glared at Iris with cold eyes.
“You won’t be able to escape this place.”
At those words, a rumbling sound echoed as the walls surrounding the Black Castle soared endlessly upward.
Horror dawned on the faces of everyone present at the sight that was hard to believe even after seeing it.
The walls grew persistently until they reached the height of the top floor of the Black Castle and then stopped.
Wiping the sweat from its temples, It commanded in a chillingly low voice.
“Phew, the entrance is completely blocked. Bring the Vessel here. If we miss this Total Solar Eclipse, we have to wait one and a half years. Abellus, do something!”
The subordinates hurriedly ran up the stairs. It turned around irritably and then paused.
This was because Abellus was holding someone hostage. That person was none other than Johannes’s father, Reyners.
A cold blade was pressed against the neck of the man, who was wearing his most magnificent Sect Leader’s Gown for today’s ritual.
Dazed for a moment by the rapidly unfolding situation, Abellus had struggled between his feelings for Iris and the desire for strong power, but he ultimately chose the latter.
There were no other options anyway, since he had already joined forces with It.
“I was doing something even without you telling me. Phew. You’re Johannes, the Enraka Sect Leader’s Son, right? Bring Iris here. If you don’t, I’ll kill your father.”
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