Although Annan wasn’t quite certain, Ingrid had been gathering so much demon blood for a specific purpose.
But she was definitely scheming sothing.
After all, her Elental Power gave her the chance of "guaranteed godhood"... but it also restricted her from taking direct action.
When Ingrid acted, it had to be at the mont when the dust settled. Under other circumstances, she could only maneuver through plots and curses without showing her face.
Now, she couldn’t possibly devote all her energy to hinder Annan’s progress—because even if she desperately troubled Annan, he would certainly grow stronger.
Once Annan reached the Truth Rank, it would be akin to checkmating Ingrid.
At that point, no matter what Ingrid did or how she struggled, it would be useless.
So, she would definitely race against ti with Annan, continuing to figure out how to complete her ritual of the "Eternal Maiden."
During the ritual, she would lose her mory; Ingrid without mories was as pure as a blank sheet of paper... absolutely not capable of performing any evil rituals, let alone continue weaving plots.
Therefore, if she hoped to continue causing disruptions for Annan, she had to use "ingenious strategies."
She had to plan ahead for the future and let her plans execute automatically. Since she wasn’t supervising them personally, it ant there must be a team belonging to her.
...Considering her Elental Power, it could also possibly be her harem.
This was not the sa as the situation with Selicia, the "Ship in Stone Captain."
Selicia essentially had a super buff of "n will be n," plus the perfection of her acquired body, the group cohesion brought by the precious ship "Silver," and her special sexual orientation that attracted both n and won, earning her a ship full of lovers.
But once she was no longer captain, those relationships would dissipate.
They might still miss Selicia—perhaps miss her as a person or perhaps her body, but that was all they could do.
Up until now, Selicia had been working in Winter for several months without anyone visiting her from the Winter Duchy.
It could be said that it was a situation of "out of sight, out of mind."
However, Ingrid’s situation was different.
As long as Ingrid’s ritual was completed, even if the other party didn’t awaken the Elental Power of "love," they would at least beco a piece of Gold who held high affections for Ingrid and could devote everything to her.
Not as a body bargaining chip, but through "genuine love" to manipulate the other’s mind – in Annan’s view, this was a kind of formidable ntal control that could bypass willpower checks and could twist the other’s position or even reduce their intelligence once successful.
Without considering the players, the ones capable of gathering multiple Gold-rank Transcendents... were probably only Ingrid.
According to Hugo, it seed that several Tower Masters had connections with Ingrid.
...Of course, whether they knew of each other’s existence or knew that Ingrid had always been searching for her "true love," Annan was not sure.
Probably, maybe, possibly... they did.
Thinking of this, Annan’s expression beca subtly complicated.
"What are you planning to do, Annan?"
Isaac asked from the side.
Annan pondered, "Although I don’t know what she’s up to, it’s probably best to destroy this demon blood."
"But what if, this ssage was actually sent by ’Venomhand’ himself?"
Isaac crossed his arms and pointed his chin at the aging captain who was still in a daze.
A scrutinizing glint passed through his eyes: "If this information truly needed to be confidential, then we shouldn’t know about it.
"With the identity of ’Venomhand’... he doesn’t have the potential to beco Gold-rank. He lacks such strong desires or love, which makes him a re tool.
"Once he has helped Ingrid obtain what she needed, he could actually just be allowed to die... If he continues to roam outside, he’ll eventually be killed or captured by detectives. By then, the information in his mind could be extracted by Soul Reaping Wizards or completely exposed through nightmares.
"The longer he lives, the more he continuously reminds people what he has done—the special operations he carried out in the past, raiding rchant ships and assassinations, would increasingly be studied. It’s entirely possible that they would directly lead to Ingrid... or find so agent who works under her."
"Do you an, this could be a trap?"
Annan blinked.
Isaac spoke seriously, "At least, things are definitely not as simple.
"Because no matter how I think about it, it all seems very strange."
Mr. Blackbird quickly nodded in agreent.
That did make a lot of sense!
"I actually think there’s no need to be so cautious."
Annan, however, smiled, "’Will he think like this?’’Will he guess that I guessed he would think like this?’... Once you start layering assumptions, there’s no end to it.
"Now, compared to her, I am not at a disadvantage—rather, I am the one with the advantage. So I don’t need to fear whether this is a trap, since she released this intelligence, if I don’t take this bait, I may suffer a loss and be forced to exchange resources with her.
"Ingrid initially tried to curse my able subordinate; Venomhand spared no expense to plunder governnt ships for the demon blood; yet afterward, Ingrid neither killed him to silence him nor aided him; Venomhand delivered this intelligence directly to , along with news about Ingrid’s impending move against Kafney... When all these facts are connected, the answer is quite clear.
"That is, Ingrid is afraid."
Annan’s voice revealed confidence, "She definitely has people in the official ranks of Dennisiowa, and those guarding the demon blood are her other group."
"Destroying this shipnt of demon blood and the ’threat’ she poses against Kafney are actually bait.
"It’s bait she’s using to threaten with Kafney, forcing to confront her on her ho ground—aning, she’s desperate.
"Because harming Kafney doesn’t actually benefit her at all; her ultimate goal in targeting Kafney is still to target ."
"...So you an, walk right into this trap?"
Isaac frowned deeply, "That doesn’t sound good. She’s not at such a disadvantage that she must risk her life... So, I think there could really be a trap near that ship capable of killing you."
To kill Annan.
At least three individuals of Gold Rank would be necessary.
But actually, killing Annan is relatively simple... since Annan has ’teleport resistance,’ and of the mortals Annan knows who can teleport, there are only two.
Among them, Jacob is still in the glaciers of the northern Winter, searching for the Holy Remains for Annan... The other is Isaac. But Isaac cannot teleport instantly either and needs to recite a long spell.
This ans, once Annan is dragged into a battle state, it becos hard for him to escape.
"I, of course, won’t just walk into the opponent’s trap..."
Annan smiled.
Knowing that the disadvantaged side wants to ambush him at the dragon’s lair entrance and that they have already controlled the vision around it, drenching the area near the dragon in darkness... what should Annan, as the advantaged party, do?
"Although she’s targeting Kafney... she probably doesn’t know that Kafney is about to transform. And with Master Horse, Keyser, and Hugo with her, Kafney’s safety shouldn’t be a concern."
Leaving fifty players as a backup for Kafney should be enough.
After all, the Kingdom of Noah has teleportation points. If there’s a sneak attack, Annan can teleport the players back.
"There are definitely her people among the top ranks in Dennisiowa... even the King or royal offspring wouldn’t be out of the question. So, we’ll go directly to the Dennisiowa King."
Annan narrowed his eyes, "Taking the ’live Venomhand’ and a shipload of ’demon blood’ as a gift should probably be enough.
"I’ll then imdiately deploy a group of people, directly entering the Royal Capital of Dennisiowa. No matter how many people Ingrid has left there, I should have more.
"If luck is on our side..."
Annan left his sentence hanging with a smile.
Over five hundred Transcendents of Silver Rank and twelve clergyn of the True Gods.
Plus at least two of Gold Rank.
If luck is on our side... we might even be able to flatten Dennisiowa.
Indeed, Annan provided his own strategic answer.
When uncertain, change the battlefield.
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