Chapter 69: Loophole
Upon hearing Charles's question, Derrick spoke in a heavy voice.
"Max tried to search for more clues about the Holem's Crown. At first, we didn't consider him a threat. But after some time, we felt that it was necessary to pluck the root before it spouts into a big tree. So, we asked Jeffery to request Max's help to find the Holem's Crown.
But after Max agreed to Jeffery's request, he sold the information to the black-market leader, Silver Knife, and even blackmailed Jeffery. Not only that, he even went to visit Willy Pickton and asks him for protection. Even we didn't expect that someone would come to our doorstep and ask us to protect him. At that time, we also needed a scapegoat to make a search mission, so we made a plan." He deliberately paused for a moment and then continued with a heavy sigh,
"We led him and his two other friends to Jimmy's house and asked Daniel Baker to finish them off by hypnotizing. To our surprise, not only Max didn't get hypnotized, he even attacked Daniel in return. Only then did we know that Max Fireborn is not a Rank-1 [Historian], but a Rank-3 [Seeker]! Before Will Pickton arrives there to help Daniel to finish him off, Max used some strange methods and disappeared from there. Till today, we heard no news about him."
As Charles heard those words, he subconsciously thought of the word 'Irregular.'
'Is he the irregular?' He raised his brows in suspicion and soon asked the most important question.
"What about Chaos Wanderer? Who is he?"
Upon hearing those words, Derrick's mahogany eyes suddenly turned pitch black, and soon purplish flame crept out from the center of his pupils!
At that moment, Charles's [Prevision] skill activated on its own and showed him a blurry vision of what was about to happen!
"Back away," Charles shouted in a hurry as he cast [Crimson Robe] and [Crimson Steps] on himself and then moved backward at a fast speed.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Emilia also noticed the abnormality, hurriedly ran towards the nearby large rock, and hid behind it.
By the time everyone went far away, Derrick's body had begun to bulge like a balloon and soon exploded while sending blood, flesh, and bones in all directions!
An instant later, all those flesh, blood, and bones bathed in a purplish flame and soon disappeared altogether.
Charles stood 20 meters away from the almost vanquished purplish flame and became stunned for a moment.
'He died same like Jeffery Dahmer.' He stared at the area where the purplish flame was blazed before and soon saw Emilia and Andrew walked out from their hiding spot.
"It really did bring back memories. With this, we can confirm that enemy must have some ability to control their servants from afar." Cleaning the dust off from her grey robe, Emilia said with a thoughtful look on her face.
"There are still 6 members remaining, and we still don't know about their exact goal," Charles said in a solemn tone.
"Once we capture those two members from the City Ruin, we can think of a way to extract more information about them," Andrew responded with a smile.
Emilia also nodded her head and said.
"This Devil's Lair organization seems to be created just to achieve a certain goal, and the possibility of them after Charles and this Holem's Crown is very high. And, if Red Prince really did know about this artifact's skills, he might have already made preparations. Even if we try to hide, they might have some other backup plans to lure us out." She deliberated for a moment and then added with a calm tone.
"The longer we wait, the more the danger, so why not strike first? We can also fulfill Goddess's Prophecy at the same time."
Upon hearing those words, Charles went silent for a second and soon checked the quest icon.
'Why do I feel some clue is hidden in this quest icon? It's a Quest to save the intellectual artifact from the Chaos Wanderer and gain its full ownership… Wait… Does that mean I still haven't gained full control of this artifact?' He subconsciously thought of the Holem's Crown's earlier words and soon closed his eyes.
In an instant, a spark appeared in front of his chest, and soon it turned into a reddish flame ball. Within seconds, a scroll came out from the flame and then landed on his hand.
Without minding Emilia and Andrew's puzzled looks, Charles opened the scroll and revealed the true content of 'Contract of Imagination' to the Holem's Crown.
Upon seeing the real contract, the Holem's Crown stayed silent for a whole ten seconds and finally spoke in his mind.
'So this is the Contract of Imagination, huh. It's the first time seeing it with my own ey- Eh, never mind. Let's see if there are any tricks placed in this one.' The Holem's Crown paused for a moment to check for clues and soon continued with an exclamation.
'Ho, I guessed right. Lad, who is Xander Nightwind? Have you heard of this name from your mother?'
Upon hearing those words, Charles narrowed his jade eyes and soon frowned.
'Did the real Charles know about him?' As he was about to think further, another thought replaced his previous one.
'No, I never heard of that name. I'm damn sure about it.'
Nodding his head, Charles quickly organized his thoughts and asked,
'Why are you asking about him now?'
'His name is in the contract, lad. If Charles Nightwind, the real owner, ends up dead due to some unnatural cause, then Xander Nightwind will have the full rights to become its next owner. See the contract rule no-13.' The Holem's Crown said in a casual tone.
Squinting his eyes, Charles hurriedly focused his gaze on the 13th rule and soon saw that the Blen language words in the contract scroll began to twist and soon reshaped into a completely different sentence!
"What the F*ck?!" He cursed out-loud in English, startling Emilia and Andrew, and soon turned his face gloomy.
'Why would the fake Eddie do something like that?' Confusion dawn on Charles's face as he stared at the contract scroll for a few seconds and asked in his mind,
'Is there any other loopholes?'
'Nope. But with this single rule, this Xander can completely gain full control over me after your death.' The Holem's Crown answered honestly.
Upon hearing those words, another thought occurred in his mind.
Charles felt that Eddie might have put this name as a backup.
'It is possible. What if I ended up dead in the Unexplored Forest? He knew that capturing this Holem's Crown again will be an impossible task, so he must have made some preparations and put this guy's name in the contract scroll. Well, I can't deny the fact that Eddie Nightwind might have another plan in his mind, but that is unlikely. Thankfully, I showed the contract to Holem's Crown earlier; otherwise, I would still in a clueless path.' He hurriedly burned the contract scroll with his thought and turned his attention to the current enemy.
'I still have some time to deal with Eddie Nightwind. First, I need to learn more about this Chaos Wanderer.'
'From Quest Icon and through spying Luke's conversation with Red Prince, I have gathered some information about this Chaos Wanderer. First, this being must be some kind of demon or devil. Second, the Chaos Wanderer plans to devour the Holem's Crown. But why did it want to devour an intellectual artifact instead of using it?' He raised his thin eyebrows and asked Holem's Crown in Blen language.
'Mr. Runeth, do you know how the intellectual artifacts are created?'
'Why did you call the artifacts as 'Intellectual artifacts' instead of 'Series Artifacts'?' Holem's Crown instantly noticed the difference and asked,
Of course, Charles wouldn't reply to that question. Instead, he smiled mysteriously and said in his mind.
'If you tell me some information about the 'ritual method,' I might give you some clues.'
'Forget it.' The Holem's Crown instantly refused it and then answered his previous question.
'Intellectual Artifacts are mostly created by Divines and have extraordinary abilities. An artifact that has a considerable amount of divine power or divinity with its own will or soul is called an Intellectual artifact. Take me as an example; although a true divine didn't create my current crown and my soul, I still have the ability to cast divine skills like Miracle and Elapsed Time. Under normal circumstances, a body-less soul won't be able to cast these skills. But with the help of the Divinity of Luck and Divinity of Time, I can make these things possible.'
'Divinity?' Charles raised his eyebrows as he heard an interesting word and probed further.
'Hehe, if you release me from this cursed crown, I might give those two precious divinities to you in return.'
Charles went speechless for a moment.
'It sure knows how to tempt others.' He chuckled inwardly and then made a guess.
'The Chaos Wanderer might be after those two divinities.' He thought for a moment and soon began to ponder about how to deal with it.
'First, I need to know more about this Chaos Wanderer-.' At this moment, his [Prevision] skill triggered all of a sudden and warned him about the danger.
With a startled face, he glanced around warily and soon saw drops of rainwater fell from the dark sky. Those droplets then splashed on his face and soon vaporized into thin air!
A second later, his thoughts suddenly froze, and his mind became foggy…
He suddenly forgot how to think!
He then turned around and tried to say something to Emilia and Andrew, but soon noticed that no sound was coming out of his mouth at all!
In the meantime, Emilia and Andrew also became confused, and soon their faces turned into expressionless dolls!
After a few seconds, they returned to their senses and soon looked at each other in confusion.
But this time, all three of them felt that something was calling them from the direction where the city ruin was located!
"I smell the essence of Chaos in those rain droplets. Grey-robed girl, use your hypnosis skill and eliminate your current thoughts." The Holem's Crown suddenly spoke.
"I have a name." Emilia glared at the red-gem embedded bracelet and hurriedly cast the 'Hypnosis' skill on Charles and Andrew. She then placed both hands above her head and then cast 'Hypnosis' skill on her own mind.
The trio stood there for a whole ten seconds and soon woke up from the strange hypnosis.
At this moment, all three of them felt that their thoughts became clearer, and soon Emilia spoke.
"Let's go."
Charles subconsciously placed his hand on his chin and felt it was necessary to visit the city ruin.
'But why my [Prevision] skill is warning me constantly?' He frowned for a moment before he shook his head and then started walking on the riverbed sand.
