Behind the Chanis Gate at Saint Samuel Cathedral.
Archbishop Saint Anthony of Backlund stood at the top of the stairs connecting the first and second floors, watching several " Nighthawks " deacons bustling back and forth, many of whom wore Red Gloves.
As the representative of the Church of Evernight in the kingdom's capital, Saint Anthony's clean-shaven face showed no obvious emotion, and his deep, dark eyes remained calm. Yet, everyone who passed by him felt their souls tremble, and an indescribable and uncontrollable fear welled up in their hearts.
"Your Excellency, after inventory, none of the mystical materials are missing, including the main ingredients for various Potion and materials with Beyonder Characteristic..."
"Your Excellency, all the Potion recipes are in their original locations, and preliminary confirmation indicates they haven't been disturbed for the past eight hours..."
"Your Excellency, all the Prisoner held on the first level are here; no one escaped, and no one died..."
"Your Excellency, all the documents and books were neither damaged nor moved in the slightest..."
"Your Excellency, all the level 3 and level 2 Sealed Artifact here are still here; not a single one has been taken..."
"Your Excellency, those three Level 1 Sealed Artifact remain sealed and show no signs of leaving their respective areas..."
"Your Excellency, the core of the seal remains intact, completely undamaged..."
"Your Excellency, it has been confirmed that there are no extra items here, and no traces of dangerous arrangements remain..."
"Your Excellency, we couldn't find the enemy who infiltrated disguised as an internal guard. He seems... he seems to have simply vanished..."
As the deacons reported back one after another, things gradually became somewhat strange.
They couldn't imagine that a cunning and powerful Beyonder, after taking extremely high risks, meticulously planning, and using every means possible, finally entered the Chanis Gate, only to take nothing, stroll around for a bit, and then leave!
This makes it seem like the other party is simply trying to prove their abilities, or specifically trying to find loopholes in the Chanis Gate watchkeeping procedures for the church.
The deacon Soest, who led a squad of Red Gloves, looked around and carefully uttered his guess:
"Your Excellency, could it be a requirement of Sequence promotion ceremony?"
Having previously undertaken missions to capture " Devil," he habitually guessed in this direction. However, starting from Sequence 5, the advancement rituals differed depending on the path Sequence, and there were many aspects that the Church of Evernight was unaware of.
If that were true, Soest seemed to already see the infiltrator's mocking smile, saying, "Even the Church of Evernight's Chanis Gate is no different from a department store for me. Those ' Nighthawks ' can only rage in their incompetence after the deed is done."
We must catch him! Soest quietly clenched his Red Gloves hand.
Just as Saint Anthony was about to speak, another " Nighthawks " deacon, Daly Simone, offered a second possibility:
"Perhaps the intruder was affected by a negative effect while trying to take some Sealed Artifact, died on the spot, and was devoured?"
Saint Anthony nodded thoughtfully and said:
"I'll go check out the third floor first."
Having said that, he steadily ventured into the second underground level, where he opened a path leading to the third level from a Concealment location.
Other deacons, lacking the necessary rank and authority, could only wait in place.
Saint Anthony quickly arrived at the small third level. After a quick glance, he confirmed that the Sealed Artifact "1-29" and "1-80" had not undergone any abnormal changes.
Following the strict procedure, he observed the internal situation of "1-80" through "1-29" and found that "0-17" was lying there with its eyes half open, just like usual.
During this process, Saint Anthony approached three times and distanced himself three times, sometimes changing his position, sometimes shrouding himself in the night, never daring to be negligent in the slightest.
Even as a Saint, he dared not underestimate any of the items here. Not to mention the "0-17" whose power could occasionally break through the "container" and cause the seal to temporarily fail, even "1-29" and "1-80" were quite dangerous. Anthony did not want to degenerate into an "amnesiac" who had to relearn how to eat and drink, nor did he want to become part of the dream between reality and illusion.
No problem... Anthony breathed a silent sigh of relief and began to restore the two outer Sealed Artifact to their previous state.
A few minutes later, the " Nighthawks " deacons saw His Excellency the Archbishop return to the upper level.
"The intruder may indeed have died from contact with the Sealed Artifact." Saint Anthony hesitated when uttering the word "death."
Without offering any explanation, he instead gave the order:
"No matter what, this matter must be thoroughly investigated; the intruder may have had accomplices!"
"The fact that the target was able to infiltrate Saint Samuel Cathedral without causing much of a commotion indicates that he is very familiar with the place, the recent shift schedule of the internal guards, the handover process of the ' Nighthawks,' and possesses the ability or items to change his appearance. In addition, he has received help from Beyonder who possesses the relics of the Evernight Path, or perhaps it is his own."
"Based on these conditions, investigate whether the servants and priests have encountered any subtle Spirit Channeling or guidance, investigate whether the bishops have turned away from the goddess, investigate the believers who have recently frequented the church... At the same time, investigate the neighborhoods where those believers live, perhaps they did not intentionally leak information, but were Stealing. As for you, I will investigate you."
"Also, find the missing servant and see if there are any clues."
"Yes, Your Excellency the Archbishop," Soest and the other Nighthawks replied in unison.
In the tense office, Leonard Mitchell, unlike usual, didn't put his feet on the desk; he sat very formally with a serious expression.
This was the second time he had encountered something related to the items behind the Chanis Gate, which stirred up long-buried memories within him.
More importantly, he had encountered the fake insider before, but failed to detect the problem!
If, if I were stronger, with better observation skills, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way... Leonard Mitchell's lips were pressed tightly together as he stared at the document in front of him, unable to concentrate on a single word, until a teammate entered.
"The inner guard has awakened. He didn't see the intruder, only that he was possessed by Wraith," the " Red Gloves " said to everyone in the room as he entered.
"How could Wraith possibly move inside the church?" Many " Red Gloves " raised this question, but no one could answer it.
Perhaps that Wraith worshipped a goddess... Leonard muttered to himself, then, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him in the corner, he lowered his voice and said, as if talking to himself:
" Old Man, didn't you notice anything unusual back then?"
A slightly aged voice echoed in his mind:
"I'm not going to be constantly monitoring the outside world, especially near Chanis Gate."
Leonard didn't dare ask any more questions and joined his teammates' discussion.
Not long after, Soest, the captain of the " Red Gloves," entered the room and threw a stack of documents onto the table:
"These are the targets we need to investigate. The bishops have provided a list of believers who have been frequently visiting the church recently."
Leonard glanced around and spotted a familiar name near the middle of the homepage:
Dawn Dantès!
This... this old guy who survived the Quaternary period has only been in this neighborhood for less than two months, and Chanis Gate has already been infiltrated. Isn't that too much of a coincidence? And he's a regular at Saint Samuel Cathedral; he might be observing the situation, figuring out the patterns... The Old Man's excuse just now wasn't very convincing, but if the infiltrator was Dawn Dantès, then everything would make sense. He was afraid of being exposed, so he pretended not to notice anything unusual... Leonard Mitchell's mind raced with thoughts as he carefully considered his words before speaking:
"Captain Soest, what did the intruder take? Did he leave any clues?"
Soest looked around and said:
"He took nothing and left nothing behind, as if he had never been inside. His Excellency the Archbishop initially suspects that he has died and evaporated due to contact with some Sealed Artifact. Our main search is for his accomplices."
No, Dawn Dantès couldn't have died so easily! He's Monster who's lived since the Fourth Epoch... But what was his purpose in infiltrating? Leonard frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then proactively included Dawn Dantès in his and his two teammates' search area.
Once the " Red Gloves " and the local " Nighthawks " began their operation, Leonard made an excuse to go to the restroom first, and said in a low voice:
"What would you like to say to Dawn Dantès?"
He didn't expose the Lies Parasite inside his body.
The somewhat aged voice chuckled:
"Didn't I already tell you? I don't know much about him, I only know that he has something special about him, and that his aura has an ancient feel to it."
"However, a case you investigated earlier gave me some Spirit Intuition Dawn Dantès might be connected to that matter, perhaps acting as Mandated Punisher of something."
"What is it? Who is it?" Leonard asked in astonishment.
The aged voice in his mind replied in a rather strange tone:
" The Fool That Doesn't Belong to This Era."
160 Böklund Street.
After finishing breakfast, Klein returned to the semi-open room with a large balcony, sat down in an armchair, and rubbed his temples.
As the tension gradually subsided, Klein found himself becoming somewhat disoriented. The images of the corpses hanging in mid-air within the ancient church kept replaying in his mind, along with the vague, transparent worm from the depths of his memory. And in his ears, it seemed as if unreal voices were constantly echoing:
" Hornacis... Flegrea..."
Although I quickly severed my connection with the Marionette, I was still somewhat affected, and my mind was slightly corrupted... As expected of a true Mythical Creature... After the Original investigation, I'll have to deal with the remaining issues... Klein slowly exhaled, calming himself down through Cogitation.