Chapter 586 : Giant Beast in the Mist
Chapter 586: Giant Beast in the Mist
That White-Bone Sanctum, which could sweep across the entire continent and bury everything within the White Calamity, ended up, once it reached Bazel, as nothing more than a pile of infinitely resurrecting living targets. It was honestly somewhat underwhelming.
But if one considered that he had also been set up by Lina, then it was understandable.
The key issue now was this: what exactly had Lina gained from all of this? What goal was she truly trying to achieve?
“Just how much do you know about Lina?”
“I don’t know very much. After the Empress was assassinated, there was a period when I was somewhat… unstable. She came during that time. She said she could provide me with some help, and she gave me a proposal I simply could not refuse.”
Hughes raised an eyebrow. “What proposal?”
“She said the White-Bone Sanctum could resurrect the Empress.”
“.”
Leaving aside how absurd Lina’s proposal was, and whether the one resurrected by the White-Bone Sanctum would still be the same Empress as before, wasn’t Bazel’s loyalty to the Empress a little too extreme?
Isabella—Hughes really didn’t have many memories associated with that name. As for the current Prince, if she truly had once been the Empress, then Hughes did indeed acknowledge her capabilities.
“Fine, even if you intended to resurrect the Empress, after obtaining the White-Bone Sanctum you only marched south to attack us. I never saw you resurrect her. Did she tell you that you had to annex the entire continent before the Empress could be revived?”
“No, I—” A trace of confusion appeared in Bazel’s voice. “I seemed to gradually stop remembering matters related to the Empress. I felt as though I wanted to rule the entire continent and establish a kingdom of the dead. Damn it—these thoughts never existed before!”
Hughes casually glanced at the diary beside him. Chloe controlled the pages to bob up and down.
〖His behavior before being controlled really didn’t look like someone who wanted to unify the continent. It felt like he genuinely just wanted to help the Empress expand her territory.〗
The corner of Hughes’s eye twitched.
“During your interactions with Lina, did you notice her objective? Or any particular inclination?”
This time, Bazel did not answer immediately. Instead, he began to recall. The bone fragments around him shifted slowly and irregularly.
“It seems… no. Lina said she was the chief of Moths Chasing Fire, that she wanted to secure a space for them to survive, and she demanded that I give a guarantee on this. Other than that, she made no demands. After I opened the White-Bone Sanctum, she was also corroded into a mass of white bones.”
“Mm—wait!” Hughes suddenly sucked in a breath. “You said she also turned into white bones?”
“Yes. But I felt that she didn’t actually die there. ‘Lina’ seemed to be nothing more than a shell, casually discarded by her.”
Hughes did not believe Lina had died so simply. What truly made him uneasy was—
“Lina also turned into white bones? Where are her bones? Were they also absorbed into the White Mist?”
“Uh, that I’m not too sure about. I suspect that the attack during the previous assassination was power left behind by her white bones. In any case, all the white bones I can control are only my former subordinates. I can’t sense her presence.”
Hughes’s expression darkened. Little Gwen was still within the White Mist. He had to hurry and warn her—and if necessary, providing some assistance was also an option.
After all, she still owed mortgage payments. He could just add it to the total and let her repay it slowly.
After asking Bazel a few more questions, Hughes ignored his pleas and locked him back in the room.
Before leaving, he thought for a moment and still said to Chloe, “That device of yours can lower the frequency a bit. Our current intelligence sources are largely in agreement that Bazel himself isn’t particularly dangerous. Perhaps his danger assessment level can be lowered.”
Leaving the underground prison of Blood Harbor, Hughes immediately returned to his office. After informing Ash not to let anyone enter, he sat down in the armchair.
Very soon, his expression became wooden, like a puppet, while Worker Hughes within the White Mist slowly opened his eyes.
“Mm, it seems there’s still nothing but mist around… huh?”
Hughes rubbed his eyes and looked at the mist, revealing a puzzled expression.
Just now, he seemed to have seen an enormous silhouette—but it vanished in an instant. A hallucination?
“Forget it, whatever. This shell is already dead anyway. Even if it’s a monster, it can’t make a person die twice.” Hughes curled his lips and reached out to fiddle with the threads extending from his chest.
“Gwen… Gwen, this!”
『Gwen?』
『W-what?』 Gwen’s reply came unexpectedly fast.
『I’m here to remind you of something. According to Bazel’s account, Lina also seems to have been transformed into white bones and entered the White Mist. Do you know Lina? Most of what Bazel did was instigated by her.』
『Mm, the ones who provoked Castel? I’ve read the newspaper you published.』
Hughes had synchronized newspaper publication in both Blood Harbor and Castel. There was basically daily news about the Northlands war, and the reasons and causes behind dispatching troops on an expedition to the Northlands were all clearly written—essentially a mobilization.
『That’s great. Saves me a lot of explanation… wait, you’re reading legitimate newspapers, right?』
『I sell fried fish at a Fried-Fish Stall. A lot of our fries and fried fish are wrapped in newspapers. I’ve read both legitimate and illegitimate ones. I’ve been following the love triangle between you and Monica for a long time.』
『In any case, we’ve now discovered that Lina isn’t Bazel’s accomplice at all, but rather the real mastermind behind everything. And there’s something very wrong with her strength. According to Bazel and people like Isaac, she’s far stronger than ordinary Transcendents.』
『It’s fine. I’m very strong too.』
Hughes hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath, his gaze firming.
『Is it because you’re a 【Named One】?』
『I’ve always been strong. Most Transcendents can’t beat me. It has nothing to do with being a 【Named One】. What is a 【Named One】, anyway?』
『You don’t know at all?』
『I don’t. You know how I became a Transcendent. Miss Scepter shared some methods, and I touched the Sea of Unawareness and became a Transcendent. Although she didn’t do it on purpose—it’s just that my affinity with the Sea of Unawareness is too high. All of this is knowledge I’ve obtained recently within the White Mist.』
『Are you really okay? I remember you saying that knowledge within the White Mist comes with pollution.』
『I’ve found a way to avoid corrosion. Alright, I won’t talk anymore. I still have far too many problems to deal with. Once I have some breathing room here, I’ll find a way to contact you.』
『Alright, alright.』 Hughes sighed. He felt that Little Gwen was hiding some things from him, but it wasn’t appropriate to force her to say them.
Soon, Hughes chose to return. Worker Hughes’s shell once again became wooden and unresponsive.
No one knew how much time passed. The mist churned, and a towering White-Bone Giant Beast, tall as a mountain, emerged, carefully approaching Hughes before lying down beside him.
“Really strange. Why is there no pollution when I’m by his side?”