Mathers: I Was Really Just Saying It

—Given that Pillar God's personality, no matter where they run next, the army will probably catch up.

After all, as Sherlock, he had no choice but to flee with Princess Isabel.

Since their Necessary Task is to escort Isabel, it means they will inevitably encounter danger. It could even be the greatest danger imaginable.

But with the Grand Adjudicator Shafiya accompanying them, how could they possibly encounter danger? If Iver also goes along, he might bring the guardian spirits with him... If a group of this size can encounter danger, then the advisor can only think of one possibility.

That means the two prime ministers made their move. Or it means that multiple Fifth Level Transcendent will arrive with the army.

Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.

That's why he initially wanted to kill Isabel. In doing so, he would be freed from the constraints of his role as "Sherlock," free from fulfilling his duties and from taking risks with Isabel.

What if you kill Isabel and stay where you are? He also has the mission "The Day of Destruction Approaches," which requires him to stay on Glass Island until the very last day.

The chaos caused by the change of the throne in Avalon is something that can be resolved in two or three days. Therefore, the "Day of Destruction" mentioned in this mission must refer to something else entirely.

For example... the complete destruction of Glass Island.

This indicates that something will definitely happen on the last day, to the point that those who remain on Glass Island will face annihilation.

Furthermore, the advisors believed that other promoted individuals should also have this task.

The advisor also has another task: to assist the Grand Guardian in commanding the Griffin Legion to carry out the decapitation operation.

Putting aside the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about the Griffin Legion —after all, the advisor wasn't a pure mages of the Path of Wisdom, nor had he ever commanded a war. He was unsure of his own command abilities, unsure if it would bring the risk of exposure, or if it would make the situation worse... therefore, he decided not to touch it at all.

Both of these tasks are worth 500 points.

This shows that, in the eyes of the Lord of Scales and Feathers, the dangers of carrying out this mission are basically the same—keeping all the secrets from Drost's imprisonment and torture and escaping safely only accounts for 200 points.

But now it's clear... if Isabel is this kind of person, then the plan to assassinate her can be rejected outright.

She might even discover his identity the moment he has the thought of killing him.

That's the extraordinary intuition of the Path of Beauty —it's hard to deal with and unreasonable.

The consultant sighed silently.

... I never imagined that I, as a high-ranking member of the Star Stibnite Person Stibnite Person, would one day be chased and forced to flee in terror by their army during Promotion Ritual.

After his body, weakened and exhausted by the torment inflicted by Minister Drost, was healed by Iver, his energy was replenished, and his mind was finally able to function normally again.

The advisor then took a deep breath and activated the power of the Path of Wisdom.

As a Deep Blue flame ignited in the depths of his eyes, a cool sensation swept through his mind, and his thoughts instantly became clear. The consultant entered a state of "Super Intelligence," rapidly considering strategies and outlining action plans.

—Although there are many tasks in this Promotion Ritual, there are actually only three paths.

They evacuated with Isabel, stayed on Glass Island, and fled to the countryside.

The dangers they face are respectively: "Facing multiple Fifth Level Transcendent"; "awaiting the Star Antimony army while under the constant threat of the Balrog"; and "facing the Star Antimony army while isolated and without support." Undoubtedly, the third is the safest, but also the hardest to score points in.

Whether or not to kill Isabel is really just a matter of gaining the initiative to end the Promotion Ritual. But if the number of survivors is less than six, the initiative can be ceded.

In this way, all that is needed is to kill one more Ascended!

Now that two out of nine of the promoted individuals have been eliminated, killing one more person will guarantee that all the remaining promoted individuals can complete their promotion as long as they survive to the end.

So how can we ensure our survival? — There's only one answer: help Isabel complete the Shadow of Avalon Ritual.

If the Avalon Ritual could be triggered when only one of Du Lac remained... then now there are only two possibilities: it can already be activated, or it can be activated by killing Prince John.

What he overheard while pretending to be unconscious wasn't just about the secrets of Avalon and Isabel.

It's also a crucial clue for this Promotion Ritual! The intelligence was obtained through infiltration using a method similar to "faking death." This is precisely the kind of plot development that the Lord of Scales and Feathers prefers, perfectly aligning with the behavioral logic of Path of Adaptation.

Of course, you also need to avoid the possibility of losing points.

If completing the Shadow of Avalon Ritual is First Ring of an Ascended quest... then as a ritual, it's highly likely a quest that Path of Transcendence. And it must be the final quest, meaning the most difficult one. Because even obtaining the clue to this quest is incredibly difficult.

Fortunately, he had considered that there were enough Demon Scholar in Xingti, and the three paths he rejected did not include the Path of Transcendence.

So, besides finding his two students and distributing this important information to them first...

There are three things to do in total.

First, find the Ascended One "Olive" who Path of Transcendence and cooperate with him to complete the Shadow of Avalon Ritual within three days; second, persuade Isabel to hand over the Shadow of Avalon Ritual to them, since this is information he overheard and he can't directly ask her for the specific details; third, if no one has died by then, find a way to kill another Ascended One.

—An Olive is a suitable object.

Using the pretext of "silencing" him, they incited Isabel to kill him. Given Isabel's deep personality and ruthless methods, she would most likely agree... This would easily accomplish the task of using someone else to do the dirty work.

The deep blue flames in the advisor's eyes gradually dissipated.

He rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on, and felt his brain become heavy.

... What exactly happened to this body?

He had only been in Super Intelligence mode for a short while when he felt like his head was about to explode... He usually keeps it in normal mode.

Sherlock's health is too weak, isn't it? I've never heard of him having any incurable disease...

He could only close his eyes and lie down to rest for a while.

He had only slept for a short while when he was woken up again by noises outside.

The consultant quietly got up and walked to the door, listening quietly to the sounds outside.

He quickly realized that someone who should never have appeared at this time had shown up—

"... The Court Alchemist Nobel?"

The consultant murmured, his eyes widening in disbelief.

—Albert Lore, is that you? His most prized student, a genius whose talent in necromancy made half the mentors of the Spirit Tower jealous... but he clearly lacked enough life experience.

You, a Court Alchemist, go to the Moriarty Manor to find the Princess.

Don't you think what you said was a bit stupid?

What the Princess does is none of your business! Nobel is Stibnite Person!

You, a Stibnite Person, safely escaped from the burning Silver and Tin Palace after the Queen was suspected of being assassinated by Stibnite Person being, and now you're looking for Princess Isabel who also escaped...

... The only advantage is that, because this move is so foolish, he probably won't be exposed.

But he might be imprisoned—and being locked up would mean he couldn't continue his mission. And being tortured would be even more dangerous... The Path of Authority has the ability to make people tell the truth, making it easy to be interrogated to reveal the truth about one's status as an Ascended One.

That's going to cause trouble.

If I don't keep an eye on them for even a moment, they'll cause me trouble...

The consultant felt a tingling sensation in his back.

... No, we still have to find a way to save him.

Thinking this, Sherlock cleared his throat and pushed open the door to go out.

Meanwhile, Bishop Mathers also pulled Iver aside.

His expression was clearly one of surprise.

"... How come Princess Highness is really here with you?"

What do you mean by "truly here"?

Iver raised an eyebrow and lowered his voice, asking, "What happened? Tell me in detail."

Bishop Mathers's face was grim. "Something might have happened, Iver... Remember to lock up Master Nobel later."

"He told me about what happened at the Silver and Tin Palace. Everything before that was the same as what I knew, but there was a problem at the end."

"The two Princess look exactly alike, so why is he so sure that the one rescued by Ms. Shafiya is the real Princess? And he even tried to find this runaway Princess ... I feel something is definitely wrong. So I brought the Carter Family's Child and tricked him into coming here, and then..."

—It turns out Princess Isabel really is with you.

Bishop Mathers, clutching a fragment of the Holy Sword, had walked against the flow of people out of the Candle Holder Cathedral, intending to go to the Silver and Tin Palace to assess the situation.

If it is that phantom demon that he feels is extremely dangerous, and it is the legendary fire demon... perhaps he will need to sacrifice himself to drive the fire demon out of the Material Realm.

"I really didn't know Princess Highness would be here with you..."

Bishop Mathers couldn't help but explain.

He felt a sense of frustration, as if he had simply told a lie and ended up being labeled as the one who leaked the information.

He clearly doesn't know anything!