In the following week, a multitude of war reports from the Eastern Kingdom have arrived one after another, and the war correspondents and druids sent ahead have also photographed those Chaos troops, rumored to use repeating firearms. Currently, the team is in the process of retreating from the frontlines of the Eastern Kingdom. They will complete all procedures for developing the photos within a week and deliver both the reports and the photographs to Malin’s office in Carterburg.
It is said that this Chaos troop is equipped with helts and uniforms, only to have their clothing severely torn and tattered, and their desiccated shells are intimidating enough to instill fear in anyone, as the blood-red Soul Fire tumbles in their eye sockets, much like evil spirits returning from hell.
They are believed to be Chaos Demons, and which type specifically is still being determined, but they do not carry diseases, so they are not from Nagoth.
Malin plans to make further plans once the reports and photos are developed. The Eastern Kingdom is now resisting step by step, repeatedly giving up the land they had expanded into the Dark Zone decades ago. Malin agrees with this approach, as the Eastern Kingdom needs a large amount of equipnt for refitting. They are currently defending their protruding parts in the Dark Zone using second and even third-tier ti.
Malin has finally discovered the source of the Eastern Kingdom’s wealth—it all cos from alloy raw materials and various creations from the era before the Great Destruction, carried from the Dark Zone.
Beyond this, the situation in the North hasn’t shown many new developnts, as two Chaos troops from Nagoth and Mimicking Bird confront the Northern Kingdom’s legions daily in the snowy landscapes. Sotis the two Chaos factions would unite, while other tis they fight independently, and occasionally, they even start to fight in front of the human defensive lines.
Although the legions of the Northern Kingdom can’t counterattack due to consecutive months of heavy snow, the Chaotic forces are also unable to break through the increasingly impenetrable human defensive lines. Hence, it is said that the soldiers have found a new form of entertainnt—Svenson’s younger brother apparently opened a betting pool on the front lines, where soldiers can place bets every night on which Chaos troop will visit them first the following day.
This is the most basic form of entertainnt; details like the ti of their arrival, who arrives first, whether they will play as a team or start fighting directly in front of the humans, all have a carefully calculated set of odds. For many soldiers, this has almost beco their only source of daily entertainnt.
Malin too bet 10 gold pieces that Nagoth’s big guns would co first the next day. However, the following morning, before dawn, the Demons from Mimicking Bird touched down at the position, as usual, triggering a landmine about two hundred ters in front of the defensive line. Then, with flare shells rising into the sky, human soldiers joyfully engaged in target practice, resulting in the Demons retreating after leaving behind several thousand corpses, achieving nothing.
"I’ve heard that veterans from the battlefield may suffer from sothing called post-traumatic stress disorder, which cos in many forms, most often waking from nightmares, but I have never seen anyone as consistently high-spirited as you."
During this ti, a Bishop from the Benevolent Church had co to help Malin with psychological counseling, only to find that Malin was sleeping well, eating well, and in good physical condition, leaving in indignation and rating this experience of Malin’s with an A . Malin thought it should at least be an S, if there were SR or SSR, that would be even better.
"I thought you were looking listless and wondered if you had so ntal issues," Lulu expressed certain misunderstandings, believing that the continuous battles had inflicted great psychological stress on Malin, and that returning to the rear would definitely lead to a certain degree of deterioration and eruption of problems.
But Malin passed the examination, so Lulu was looking at Malin, waiting for his response.
"Boredom." Malin reclined on the sofa, replying while lounging lethargically.
"...You really are a born warrior. Since you’re bored, why don’t you co out with for a walk?" Lulu said, while her activated branch assistant raised a small suitcase.
"Where to?" Malin sat up, curious.
"There was a vicious sacrifice case in Harlos, a major town in the north of the Holy Kingdom. It needs a Night Watcher like who’s an expert in all kinds of different kinds. Malin, you can be my Watson," said Lulu clad in a Night Watcher’s coat.
"Are you kidding? I am the Hols," Malin got up, snapping his fingers, took over the control of the activated branch, and tossed Lulu’s luggage into his personal space.
"But they asked for Lulu Gaiate." Lulu retorted with a laugh, hands on her hips.
"That’s because they didn’t have the courage to invite Malin Gaiate!" Between serious business and fun, there’s nothing like the present opportunity that allows one to have fun and handle serious matters at the sa ti.
What, you ask about novels?
Ha, isn’t this just material gathering?!
......
It’s about a week’s travel from Koser Town south to Harlos, a major town in the north of the Holy Kingdom. Originally, Malin planned to open a portal directly there, only to learn that to capture soone, Harlos City had erected a massive Dinsional Anchor half a month ago. Teleportation was likely to fail, with a ninety percent chance, and even if one managed to succeed, there was no telling where they might end up.
Moreover, the city is under lockdown, allowing entry but no exit, and divination confird that the culprit and accomplices haven’t fled.
Thus, Malin and company could only go to Okrug City south of Koser Town near Harlos, and then travel by carriage from there.
Therefore, when they entered the gates of Harlos City on the morning of the third day, Lulu complained that the jolting journey had nearly shaken her to bits.
Malin, using Spiritual Energy, carried Miss Mole Lulu through the gates, where Mr. Jiaxi, representing the welcoming party, greeted Malin with a look of surprise: "Lord Malin, how did you co?"
"I am currently Miss Lulu’s assistant, and I heard you’ve encountered so trouble," Malin replied as he shook hands with Jiaxi.
Speaking of which, Jiaxi Sheringham had also grown up—the boy from those days had now beco a young man.
He took Malin and Lulu onto the carriage, instructing the coachman to take them back to their resting villa, all the while briefing Malin about the case—it began a month ago, when there were reports of the frequently seen beggars and vagrants disappearing—don’t think it was the work of a kindly Samaritan; everyone from this era understood that if these two groups disappeared en masse in a short period, trouble was inevitably brewing.
Therefore, the officers in Haslos began to investigate, and on the third day of the investigation, they found the first sacrificial site; four days later, the second site was discovered.
With the city now sealed, the third and fourth sacrificial sites were uncovered, alongside so Chaotic Believers. Jiaxi’s departnt, having raided a Chaotic Believer locality, discovered that disappearances were still happening—even slum dwellers were being kidnapped. And when the fifth sacrificial site was found, the investigative team finally discovered so Chaos Evil God insignia that were unknown to them.
That’s why Jiaxi thought of the Night Watchers—since there were records from the Dark Era in their possession, perhaps they might have information regarding which Chaos Evil God the insignia represented.
With that said, Malin now understood why the Night Watchers had asked Lulu to co to Haslos—Lulu was coming to Haslos, and Malin would definitely follow, and getting Malin out of the chaotic situation in Copenhagen was what everyone seed to want to do right now.
It’s been tough on all of you.
With that thought in mind, Malin got off the carriage with Lulu and Jiaxi, and as they passed through the main gate, Malin saw Zem Mayer—a handso man from the past who now had an air of adult stability and determination.
"Malin, this is really unexpected; I never thought the National Church would actually send Mrs. Lulu over," Zem shook hands with Malin, and after confirming Malin was briefed on the situation, began to introduce the people present to him.
Malin shook hands with everyone in turn, and nearly burst into laughter when he was introduced to Casaman as a Chaos Cult expert, but managed to contain himself and shook hands. After scanning the scene, Malin noticed there seed to be a missing number: "Where’s your action team?"
"Today they’re conducting a routine inspection of the underground ancient sewers; the chief of Haslos Police and two other officials went down to lead the inspection, so we’re up here organizing the previous data. I see Mrs. Lulu is almost asleep, why don’t you take her to rest first?"
"No problem." Malin took the key to the villa’s upper chamber rooms that Zem tossed over, escorted Lulu into the room for a good sleep, and then left Lorrin as a protective force before heading downstairs.
"Zem, I’d like to go see the scene. By the way, do you have the autopsy reports for the batch of Chaotic Believers who were killed? Can you confirm what sort of thing they believed in?"
As soon as Malin finished speaking, a stack of neatly arranged report folders was thrown over to him. After catching the report, Malin flipped through it.
Based on the mutations on the bodies, the Chaotic Believers seed to worship the Mimicking Bird, but those involved in the sacrifices apparently did not, leading Zem to suspect they might have killed the wrong people.
"By the way, why did you take pictures of the bodies?" Malin noticed so photos at the back of the report—features on various corpses.
"If soone can identify them, it will help us solve why these two Chaotic Believer factions were together—hopefully, they’re not in cahoots," Zem made tea for Malin. Coming over to Malin who was looking at a tattoo on the sole of the foot in the photo, he asked, "Have you seen this before?"
"Yes, I’ve seen it, I even know exactly who it belongs to," Malin said, and then directly transmitted the answer to Zem using a Spell Formation.
A Bottom Dweller from the National Church.
"What a stroke of bad luck," Zem exhaled with a sigh, taking the photo and personal report from Malin.
"Perhaps this is just Fate," Malin distributed cigarettes to the group, then placed the report on the table: "Has the scene been preserved?"
"The fifth site has been completely preserved. We’ll go there this afternoon; the site is still undergoing trace identification by an expert from our Sydney National Security Agency." ntioning the expert brought a smile to Zem’s face: "If I rember correctly, you should know that expert."
"Oh, I know?" Malin pondered, unable to think of who it might be: "Never mind, we’ll find out in the afternoon. Is there anything you need to do?"
Facing Malin’s eagerness, Zem considered for a mont.
"You should rest for a bit first."
And with that, Malin found a sofa to collapse onto.
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