newbobooks Chapter 412 Pales's Shock
Chapter 412 Pales's Shock
Chapter 412 Pales's Shock
Backlund, North End, Pinster Street.
On a night when the red moon was obscured by thick clouds, everything was pitch black except for the gas streetlights on both sides of the street, which emitted a little light to illuminate the road ahead and the nearby houses.
It was already late at night, and apart from a few night owls, everyone was asleep, and the streets were deserted.
The tranquility of the night was shattered by the clatter of hooves. A relatively new-looking carriage pulled up in front of a detached house, and a young man with black hair and green eyes, wearing a trench coat and resembling a poet, stepped out. He was Leonard Mitchell, Klein's former teammate and now a key member of the Red Gloves.
His eyes were glazed over, his face was pale, and he looked like he was about to die from overwork.
Although he is an extraordinary being of the "Night" pathway, the recent high-intensity work has still taken a toll on his energy.
A month has passed since the Backlund riots, but the cleanup work is still ongoing. It can only be said that too many people died in this riot, and they were all innocent victims. If it is not dealt with properly, Backlund will become a ghost town.
So despite the police's full assistance, the three major churches were still extremely busy.
Those extraordinary beings who travel through the night sleep little, so if they sleep little, they might as well do more.
Leonard even heard that Archbishop Anthony was also annoyed by the archbishops of the Church of Storms and the Church of Steam and Machinery.
Leonard mechanically pulled out his wallet, paid the fare, and sent the coachman away. Then, without any decorum, he walked towards his rented house like a walking corpse.
Just as Leonard stepped into the yard, he seemed to hear something, his gaze suddenly sharpened, one hand reached for the gun at his waist, the other gripped the talisman in his pocket, and he looked at his house with a wary expression.
"As expected of the archangel of the thief's path, even though I tried everything, I couldn't hide all the traces, and I was still discovered 99% of the time."
The door to number 7 Pinster Street opened automatically, revealing two men who looked very similar and were clearly brothers!
Leonard immediately recognized one of them as Evan Horn, whom he had known in Tingen. The identity of the other person was self-evident.
"We have long heard of Mr. Pales's reputation, and we hope you will not be offended by our unannounced visit."
Evan bowed, showing his respect for the archangels on earth.
Since you knew it was presumptuous, couldn't you have sent a visiting card in advance?
"Isn't this kind of surprise attack just because they're worried that 'the old man' won't want to see you, or even that he'll just run away?" Leonard thought to himself, seeing the polite and aristocratic Horn brothers.
However, he knew the gravity of the situation. Although he kept grumbling to himself, he didn't say it out loud. After all, Count Akhova was undoubtedly a demigod. How could he have the right to interrupt when two high-ranking powerhouses were talking?
"Without being presumptuous, since I didn't leave after Mr. Evan learned of my existence, I knew that you two would come looking for me sooner or later!"
Okay, let's not stand outside anymore, let's go inside and talk!
Leonard didn't speak, but a slightly aged voice came from him, and then he took the lead and passed between the Horn brothers.
Since they were guests, Robert and Evan had no objection and followed Leonard into his house.
As soon as the two sat down, the unground coffee beans floated in the air and then bounced into the coffee grinder one by one.
The water pipe turned on by itself, releasing clear tap water, and the coffee pot, which had been waiting nearby, quickly stepped forward to fill it.
Once the water was full, the coffee pot flew to the automatically turned-on gas stove, and the water boiled in no time.
"This kid has no standards for quality of life and has never invited friends over, so he's completely unprepared. Please don't be offended."
As the steaming cups of coffee were handed to Robert and Irwin, the Pallas Soroaster inside Leonard's body politely declined again.
Robert and Irwin obligingly took a sip and praised his coffee-making skills, thus laying the groundwork for the conversation to follow.
"I wonder what brings you two here today?"
Palez Soroyas was inclined to continue stalling, but Leonard was clearly getting restless, and the longer he talked, the more likely he was to leave his mark, making it harder for him to hide.
So, even though the two brothers opposite him hadn't been in a hurry to speak from beginning to end, he finally couldn't hold back and spoke first.
The late arrival of the Horn brothers was also unexpected by Pales. He thought they would come when Dante Einhorn made his move after Ourolus's defeat at Backlund, but he did not expect them to wait until now.
"Our purpose in visiting is to seek cooperation with Mr. Pales."
Seeing that Palles had finally stopped beating around the bush, Robert exchanged a glance with Evan, put down his coffee cup, and said solemnly.
"What kind of cooperation?"
"A collaboration that gives Mr. Pales another option!"
The atmosphere in the living room suddenly became tense after Robert's words, because they sounded like he was beating Palles into a cornered stray dog, and the Horn brothers' approach to cooperate was like charity to him!
"Oh? That makes me a little curious. To be honest, I can't think of any other way out for me."
Pales smiled and chatted, showing no change in emotion whatsoever, but instead asked with great interest.
Leonard, however, felt a chill run through him and knew that the seemingly composed "old man" was actually furious.
"The Hermitage of Destiny and the Secret Order are at war, and the Secret Order's leader, Zarathustra, has been confirmed to be insane!"
Robert, seemingly oblivious to the change in atmosphere, smiled and said...
With just one sentence, Palles understood what Robert wanted to collaborate on and was immediately interested.
He is not a fully formed archangel at present; to be precise, he is a partially crippled archangel.
To be honest, even if Palles were to encounter a fully healthy Sequence 2 angel right now, he might not be confident of winning.
Pales had considered targeting Zaratu before, but on the one hand, "diviners" were all rather "cunning," and he wasn't sure if Zaratu was truly insane; on the other hand, he lacked confidence in his current strength. So, after the idea lingered in his mind for a while, he gave it up. But now, it seems he has seen a glimmer of hope again.
Are you sure?
It sounded like Pales was asking Robert, but actually He was asking Evan, who was sitting next to Robert. After all, it wasn't a hard secret for Him to guess that Zarathustra had climbed Mount Honachus in order to seek promotion.
Even when news of Zarathustra's madness circulated more than a hundred years ago, Pallas had guessed that He might have perished in the Land of Night.
So whether Zarathustra is insane or not, the goddess of night knows best, and those favored by the goddess of night have the most say.
"Zarathustra has indeed gone mad, I can guarantee that!"
Klein has not yet advanced to the rank of "Master of Puppets," nor has he sought the "Trickster" potion recipe, nor has he released Zarathustra's historical projection from the Hornach Mountains. Therefore, Evan is very confident in giving Pales a guarantee.
In fact, while browsing Lord of Mysteries, Evan understood why the Goddess of Night insisted on using Klein's hand to release Zarathustra's historical projection.
It was all to keep Amon in check. After all, there were only a handful of angels left in the "Three Families of the Gou" group. If Zarathustra wasn't brought back to his senses, and with the gods unable to intervene personally for the time being, Amon would truly be uncontrollable.
"I've heard about a secret organization that uses tarot cards as its symbol, which reminds me of the Fool from the Fourth Age. What are your thoughts on this?"
It was no secret to Pales that the goddess of night had imprisoned someone in the Hornach Mountains, so when he heard about "The Fool," his first reaction was that Antigonus had been released by the goddess of night.
He sought Zarathustra's extraordinary "mysterious servant" qualities to leave himself an escape route from Amun, the angel king, but it would be a loss if he were to provoke Antigonus, the half-fool.
Before dealing with Zarathustra, He faced pressure from the King of Angels. After dealing with Zarathustra, He still faced pressure from the King of Angels. So, wasn't it all for nothing that He dealt with Zarathustra?
Therefore, Pales would not act rashly before finding out the details.
"We have no opinion; we know nothing about it."
Evan is lying through his teeth, trying to fool the second biggest liar in the world.
If Pales were to be fooled by him so easily, it would be a disgrace to his reputation for fighting against Amon for over an epoch.
Just as he was about to speak, Robert interrupted:
"We are well aware of Mr. Pales's concerns, but now that you have come this far, you are facing only a few enemies. It's either one or the other, there is no room for maneuver, and there is no absolutely safe option."
In my opinion, dealing with a possible half-"Fool" is easier than dealing with Amon!
Without mentioning Pales's thoughts, Leonard, who had remained silent, opened his eyes wide and stared at Robert in disbelief.
Because Pales had told him about the horrors of Amon.
Amon is the kind of terrifying being whose name, if spoken too often, might be summoned, yet Robert dared to call him by his name so openly.
He's not an angel, so where does he get such confidence?
In fact, it wasn't just Leonard; Evan was equally astonished that Robert dared to call Amon by his real name.
He dares to call out the name "Amon" in real life because he possesses the cheat code "City of Calamity." It is through "City of Calamity" that he captured an avatar of Amon, allowing him to disguise himself as an avatar and avoid being discovered by other Amons.
What gives Robert the right to do so?
Robert simply looked at Palles across from him, ignoring the astonished looks from Leonard and Evan.
Unlike Leonard and Irwin, Palles, who hadn't left Leonard's body, was shocked for a completely different reason.
Palles clearly sensed that Robert wasn't looking at Leonard at all; he was staring directly at him.
It's worth noting that the symbol representing the "Thief" path includes "concealment".
Even the Diviner and Apprentice angels, both belonging to the "Three Schools of Deception," are far less capable of hiding than the Thief angel.
Pales firmly believed that if he truly wanted to hide deeply, it wouldn't be easy for even the true god to find him, let alone Amon.
The "Trojan Horse of Fate" isn't just a nickname.
But now Robert has actually been able to lock down Chi directly through Leonard, which means that Robert has a way to target Chi.
This immediately shattered Pales's psychological sense of security.
Before this, Pallas was confident that he could leave at any time, so he was very calm. Now, however, he had to consider things more carefully.
Even so, Pales did not rush to get away, not because he trusted the Horn brothers' character, but because he believed in the divine power of the Goddess of Night.
Although the Goddess of Night has been a notorious wolf-killer since ancient times, allies who stand with her feel comfortable and speak highly of her.
This reputation has been built up over countless years.
After the Tingen incident, and Leonard's oath to keep the relic's impersonation method secret, Pales believed that the Goddess of Night was aware of his existence.
The Goddess of Night made no further moves against Him. Even when Leonard went to the Sanctuary for Red Gloves training and stepped into the former site of the Goddess of Night's divine kingdom, it did not provoke any repercussions. Pales realized that he had been put on the Goddess of Night's chessboard and was useful to her.
Knowing this, Pales wasn't worried at all that the Horn brothers would dare target him, especially since Evan Horn was a chosen one of the Night Goddess.
Moreover, Robert's demonstrated abilities gave Palles some confidence in cooperating to take down Zarathustra.
An out-of-control angel is far more powerful than a conscious angel of the same order, not to mention that Pales is now half-crippled.
Only with strong teammates can one have a chance of succeeding in taking down Zarathustra.
"Looking at the whole thing, it seems like I've profited the most from beginning to end. What do you want to gain from this?"
As Robert demonstrated his abilities, he also aroused Palles's apprehension.
Having strong teammates is very beneficial for the plan, but if teammates are too strong, then there is a risk of being stabbed in the back after the cooperation is successful.
It was clear that Palez Zoroaster believed Robert was capable of delivering a fatal blow to him.
The extraordinary characteristics of the "Mysterious Servant" are not merely those of a powerful sealing artifact; they may also represent the friendship of an angel king.
Pales would absolutely not join any action with uncontrollable risks unless Robert gave a clear explanation.
"We need you to join the Horn family's camp from now on and assist the Horn family in restoring their kingdom and rising to power."
In other words, in the future, including you, the Hermits of Destiny and the Secret Order must stand firmly on our side.
Mr. Pales, we have plenty to offer!