Old Fox Personally Teaches Little Fox

Iver had no idea that he would run into Merlin at this Promotion Ritual.

As a half- Dream Demon, Merlin possesses half the bloodline of the Path of Transcendence, thus he is proficient in ritual arts; he is also a mage, and ultimately becomes the apostle of Vyzhe.

However, when discussing the establishment of Avalon, Merlin is still indispensable.

Iver even told his students the story of Merlin and Vivian, the Lady of the Lake, their love-hate relationship.

Meanwhile, the Holy Sword - Red Hilt Sword, temporarily held by Iver, was also sealed away by Merlin. The establishment of the Silver and Tin Palace, the Eye of Avalon, and several other National Artifact are also related to Merlin.

From this perspective... Merlin's importance to Avalon is even greater than that of Gawain, who presided over Iver's Promotion Ritual.

However, Iver had something more urgent to tell Merlin...

"Don't rush."

Merlin reached out and touched Iver's forehead.

Even though he had become an apostle of the Nine Pillar Gods, he appeared completely devoid of seriousness. He lacked any aura of Subordinate God authority and still looked like a human being—even though he had never been human before becoming an apostle.

The legendary mage, clad in Blue Robe and with a sword at his waist, smiled and said, "I knew you had something to say... so I wasn't late today, but arrived here early. And that's why I brought you here ahead of time."

"Don't worry. None of them will come until our conversation is over."

... So, I was pulled to first place by the examiner through cheating?

Iver first breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a strange sense of loss.

Turns out I'm not that strong...

"Aren't you Dream Demon?"

Iver countered, "If you have something to say, why don't you just find me in your dreams?"

"That would easily leave evidence. I'm Wei Zhe's apostle now, and it's not convenient for me to get involved in Arthur's affairs. It would give others grounds for criticism and make me vulnerable to being hunted down. Besides, you don't need the ritual to bring me down... If I come to you on my own, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"

Merlin smiled and said, looking like a Fox: "Compared to other places, the Dream Realm is much safer. No one can spy on the contents of the Promotion Ritual... As long as you make a slight time difference, there is no safer place than here."

The apostles seem to be quite troublesome...

The thought flashed through Iver's mind in an instant.

But Iver quickly dismissed the thoughts in his mind and went straight to the point. "Do you remember the Shadow of Avalon Ritual that you once constructed? The one you prepared for the resurrection of Lancelot I."

He had intended to remind Merlin that something had gone wrong with the ritual.

Merlin hesitated for a moment, then revealed a carefree and sunny smile, "Sorry, I forgot. Anyway, it's not important."

"...That was Lancelot's resurrection ceremony!"

Iver somewhat shocked. "You could forget this?"

If something goes wrong, Lancelot won't be able to revive at all, right? If the feigned death fails, he'll just be really dead. That would be a huge mess.

Tragically, Lancelot I, the founder of the traditional Avalon art of Feigned Death Technique, an intangible cultural heritage, died during his first performance...

Iver suddenly realized that this Merlin didn't seem very reliable.

He then explained in more detail, trying to awaken Merlin's memory. "'With the Blood of Du Lac, the ancestor can be resurrected. He will descend into his body once more, wielding the Holy Sword Arondight, awakened by blood and unsealed.' Now Avalon has advanced this ritual to its final stage, with twenty sacrifices remaining, just one short of completion."

"Oh--"

Merlin drawled, feigning sudden realization, "I think I remember now. But isn't this fine? Is there something wrong with this?"

"The problem is that Miss Vivian tampered with the ritual you left behind. Now the connection to this ritual has been mistakenly pointed to Shadow Angel. Once the ritual is successfully activated, the one who will be resurrected will probably not be Lancelot Du Lac, but the Queen of the Shadow Land."

"Don't worry, it won't happen."

Merlin said with a smile, "The Celestials don't descend to the Material Realm so easily. Otherwise, you wouldn't be worried about foreigners, but about the Bear Angel."

"The situation is different. There may be the involvement of the Ring Angel in this ceremony. He has a ritual that can pull the great beings of the Dream Realm into the Material Realm."

Iver no longer cared about maintaining secrecy. Although he couldn't explain where his intelligence came from, he hoped Merlin would resolve the issue quickly since they had finally run into each Merlin.

Even if we can't fix the bug, at least let's shut down the ritual first.

Upon hearing this, Merlin finally became a little more serious.

He pondered for a moment and then asked, "The Ouroboros Ring?"

"Right!"

Iver was immediately delighted—being able to avoid explaining the Ouroboros Ring Ritual to Merlin meant far less trouble.

"Heh," Merlin simply chuckled, "I won't even ask you how you know about this ancient ritual... Do you really think that Vivian could modify my ritual without leaving a trace, make it run silently using the conditions I set beforehand without any errors, and perfectly fulfill the effects of the Ouroboros Ring Ritual without any instruction? And that the ritual's intensity is high enough to bring down the Shadow Angel, and that it even received permission from the Ring Angel ..."

"Don't forget, she is the Lady of the Lake of Path of Love, and knows nothing about the Path of Transcendence."

Hearing Merlin's nonchalant words, Iver was slightly taken aback.

He quickly realized what was going on. "You mean... this matter is related to the Ring Angel?"

"I didn't say anything. This is all your own guessing. I am not responsible for these statements."

Merlin unleashed a triple combo without hesitation.

Iver' expression immediately became subtle.

Didn't you just say you'd already forgotten about it...?

For some reason, Merlin gave Iver a sense of déjà vu of Mycroft. Although the two had different paths, races, personalities, and even seemed to have completely different weight... that elusive, slippery feeling was so similar.

However, if Merlin's meaning is correct, the issue of the "Shadow of Avalon" ceremony is probably related to the Ring Angel.

... Does Lancelot know about this? What about the Crown Prince? No, the Crown Prince shouldn't know. If the Crown Prince knew, He should have reminded Sofia.

If even the Crown Prince doesn't know, why would Merlin know? Or does he clearly know but choose not to tell the Crown Prince? Upon realizing this, Iver immediately understood—it wasn't that Merlin knew this matter was related to the Ring Angel.

It's probably because Merlin never fully believed Iver's words from the very beginning. He harbored a subtle wariness towards Iver.

What he said afterward was all based on the premise that "Iver's words were true." In other words, what he did was actually the same as Sherlock's.

Although he expressed an attitude of "this has nothing to do with me," seemingly implying that Iver was telling the truth, Merlin didn't give a definitive answer. This way, if he guessed wrong, he could innocently tell Iver, "I told you I didn't say anything..."

I have absolutely no idea what he's going to do.

What a cunning Fox...

Iver felt he had learned another trick.

"Then at least," Iver added, "Mr. Merlin should take charge of the matter of the Giant Prince Wolfram, shouldn't he?"

"You were the one who said you wanted to keep him. Now he's escaped, from the very prison you designed... and he's causing Avalon quite a bit of trouble."

Although the regular army has already been mobilized, Iver added to himself.

Merlin smiled and said, "Alright, alright, I'll help..."

"Specifically?" Iver wanted a definite answer.

"You'll find out when the time comes. Would I lie to you? Oh dear, it's getting late. I'd better let those people in."

As Merlin said this, he suddenly disappeared behind Iver.

When he reappeared, he transformed into a giant stone sculpture and appeared in the arena.

—It wasn't a young man with black hair, but rather an old man with white hair.

Before Iver even complain, a newcomer appeared to his right.