Book 20 - The Crown's Riddle Chapter 2: An Inescapable Calamity

The metallic lifeform advanced at high speed, and within it, laughter rang out uninterrupted.

"Boss Yale, don't worry. Third Bro gave you his word. Odin is definitely going to die." George snickered nearby. Yale's hatred towards Odin had sunk into Yale's very soul. Unless and until he truly killed Odin, Yale would forever feel a thorn in his heart.

Yale nodded, then chuckled towards Linley. "Sorry to trouble you, Third Bro."

"From the Abyssal Mountain to the Sacred Undead Mountain will take quite some time." Linley said with a laugh. "On the way over, I'll use my divine sense to search, and also control the metallic lifeform to fly by some important areas. Perhaps on our journey, I will find Odin."

Linley's spiritual power was more powerful than even when using Sovereign's Might.

The spatial bindings controlling the Netherworld were far weaker than those which controlled the Planar Battlefield. In the Netherworld, through using his divine sense, Linley was able to reach to a distance of eight million kilometers! The metallic lifeform which Linley controlled could roughly fly roughly ten million kilometers each day. At this speed, Linley only had to search once a day.

Searching personally, and issuing a mission; these were two methods.

If searching failed, then he would issue a mission. Given Linley's prestige and power, finding Odin wouldn't be hard!

"If we find him on the journey, that would be wonderful." Yale said with a smile.

Linley, seeing Yale like this, couldn't help but sigh mentally. In the past, Yale had always been dissolute, free, and easy. But now, Linley realized how great a mental pressure Yale felt. Hatred had gnawed away at Yale's soul, and although Yale wanted to relax and be dissolute once more, he wasn't able to.

Under Linley's control, the metallic lifeform flew at high speed. In three years time, it reached the borders of Northbone Prefecture.

"After this prefecture, we will be very close to the Sacred Undead Mountain." George chortled.

Bebe mumbled, "Northbone Prefecture is the northernmost prefecture of the Netherworld. We still haven't found Odin. It seems that Boss is going to have to go to the Specter Castle to issue a mission...hmph. We'll just let Odin live a bit longer."

Linley saw that Yale's face was rather ugly right now.

"The impact of Odin's actions on Yale truly are severe." Linley sighed to himself.

Linley could completely understand. If, when Linley was a Saint, a Highgod were to control him to kill his wife, kill his son, kill his brothers, kill his friends...then torture him to death? Most likely, Linley would also go insane with the need for revenge! He would rather die than not get revenge.

Linley patted Yale on the shoulders. "Don't worry. He won't be able to escape."

"Right." Yale squeezed out a smile. "It's fine. I can wait. At least I have a chance for revenge now."

The Netherworld. Northbone Prefecture. The grasslands outside the city of Hide.

There were many soldiers stationed here, and quite a few castles. The number one expert of Northbone Prefecture here was Sayant, a Sovereign's Emissary and the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture. Sayant had quite a few experts under his command, one of whom was the Seven Star Specter, Odin.

A black-robed blur descended from the skies.

"Milord!" The soldiers immediately bowed.

"Mm." The black-robed man nodded calmly, then strode inside.

Moments later, the black-robed figure saw Sayant.

"Lord Prefect, the matter is dealt with." The black-robed figure said respectfully to Sayant. Sayant was dressed in a white robe, and was reclining against a chair, holding a book and leisurely flipping through it. Hearing the report from the black-robed figure, he smiled and nodded. "Mm. Very well. Right, Odin. Have you heard any news regarding the Planar Wars while traveling outside? Nearly a century should have passed since this Planar War."

Sayant himself didn't participate in the Planar Wars. Given how far away Northbone Prefecture was, news came here at a much slower rate.

"Your subordinate ran into a few people, most of whom were fairly average in strength. I didn't run into a single Lord Prefect or Tartarus Lord level expert. I didn't hear any news regarding the Planar Wars; or, perhaps the news simply takes too long to arrive here. Still, on this trip, your subordinate did find out something else."

"What news have you?" Sayant raised his head, glancing at Odin curiously.

The black-robed Odin revealed a hint of a smile. "Lord Prefect. The news has been made public from the Abyssal Mountain that a fourth person has acquired the Abyssal Fruit! According to my investigations, the name of the person is Bailey."

"Bailey? It seems Linley failed." Sayant laughed as well.

"The Abyssal Mountain is incredibly dangerous." Odin laughed smugly. "Bailey succeeded, so I imagine that Linley must have died within the Abyssal Mountain. Even if he didn't die, given it has been a thousand years, he has probably left the Netherworld by now."

"If Linley knew what was good for him and so retreated, he might still be alive. But from what I saw, he definitely wouldn't easily give up his goal of meeting the Sovereign. Nine out of ten, he died there on the Abyssal Mountain." Sayant laughed calmly. "Enough. Odin, you should now be completely at ease."

Indeed, Linley was Odin's nightmare.

"I feel much more relieved. I won't disturb you any further, Lord Prefect." Odin bowed slightly, then departed.

In the air above Northbone Prefecture.

Just like before, Linley was using his divine sense to search while chatting casually. "We are about to reach the place where the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture, Sayant, lives. Sayant was the one who told me to go to the Abyssal Mountain. To be honest, I need to go thank him for his role in my current accomplishments. Eh?" Linley's face suddenly changed.

"What is it, Boss?" The nearby Bebe said, puzzled.

"Third Bro, did you find Odin?" Yale immediately asked. Whenever he saw any changes on Linley's face while Linley was searching, Yale would suspect that it was Odin. But prior to this, every single time Yale had made this guess, he was wrong.

Linley looked towards Yale. He couldn't help but laugh loudly. "Odin. It's Odin! Haha, Odin has finally revealed himself, and he's right there with Sayant..." A hint of a cold light flashed through Linley's eyes. "It seems that Sayant and his wife intentionally deceived me back then."

Linley was no fool. Upon discovering Odin, he realized that Sayant had lied and was able to guess a few other things.

"Odin is right at Sayant's place?" Bebe understood as well, and he said furiously, "Boss, I told you that Sayant and his wife seemed a bit strange when they spoke with us. They told you go to the Abyssal Mountain, most likely with the intention of letting you die there."

"You still need to thank them." George laughed. "Third Bro, because of them, you had this extraordinary run of luck, allowing you to break through to become a Paragon. If Odin and them were to know, they would regret it endlessly."

Linley hadn't yet publicized the fact that he was a Soul Mutate, as when too many people knew a secret, it would easily slip out. He only said that he was a Paragon.

"Right. I really do need to thank them." Linley swept his gaze towards the northeast, then growled, "Let's go. Let's go pay a visit to Sayant and Odin!"

"Odin!" Yale ground his teeth, his eyes sharp.

Instantly, Linley controlled his metallic lifeform to fly forward at top speed.

The Seven Star Specters under the control of the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture all had their own castles.

Odin was currently on the balcony of his castle, leisurely enjoying the sunlight and staring at the vast grasslands.

"Hrm?" Odin raised an eyebrow. There was a metallic lifeform flying over at high speed. The metallic lifeform flew so quickly that Odin was astonished. "Such speed. This metallic lifeform must be a top-tier one. The person who is controlling it must be a supreme expert as well."

"ODIN!"

The growling voice instantly echoed throughout the region in an area of ten thousand kilometers. Many soldiers of Northbone Prefecture, as well as Sayant himself, were startled by it.

"Who is it?" Odin's face changed slightly.

Within Odin's field of vision, the metallic lifeform disappeared, revealing a group of people, with Linley at the lead.

"Linley!" Odin's face changed from terror. "How...how is Linley still alive? Even if he is alive, why did he come back?"

"Swoosh!" The group of figures flew down from the skies.

"Who goes there!" A furious shout rang out. Instantly, the soldiers all rose into the skies, and over a hundred prefectural soldiers moved to block Linley's group.

"Beat it." Linley growled.

An invisible ripple spread out, and instantly this group of soldiers were impacted by it and sent flying back. Fortunately, Linley showed mercy, as otherwise, all of these soldiers would have died instantly.

Linley's group acted as though they were moving into an unpopulated region as they flew downwards, ignoring everyone else. All the soldiers who wanted to block them were sent flying back.

"This...what is this ability?" Odin was stunned.

It was easy to kill Highgods, but the technique Linley had used was truly astonishing.

Linley's group hovered there in midair, staring coldly at Odin.

"Odin. Do you recognize me?" A furious, hateful, teeth-grinding voice rang out. Yale stared death at Odin.

Odin turned to look, and upon seeing Yale, laughed coldly. "Haha, and here I was, wondering who it was. So it is the Chairman of the Dawson Conglomerate. I didn't imagine that after becoming an undead, you would then become a Deity. This really was outside my expectations. For you to be able to meet again with your brother after becoming a Deity; how rare!"

Odin didn't seem to be afraid at all.

"Linley." A gentle voice rang out.

Linley turned to look. From afar, five figures were flying over at high speed, with the leader being the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture, Sayant, along with his wife, Anita. By their sides were three other subordinates, who were most likely experts at the Seven Star Specter level.

"Sayant." Linley greeted him.

"Linley, you should've let me know that you were coming. I would've gone to welcome you." Sayant said with a laugh. As he spoke, Sayant's group of five flew next to Odin, while Linley didn't move to block him at all.

The two sides stared at each other there in midair, with many prefectural soldiers watching.

Most likely, once Sayant gave the order, these prefectural soldiers would all charge en masse.

"Let you know in advance?" Linley let out a calm laugh. "Sayant, I imagine that if I let you know, you would've had Odin hide...haha, I really didn't expect that you, Sayant, a noble Lord Prefect, would play this sort of trick on me. This is a bit too laughable."

Sayant's face sank.

Linley's words made him feel very uncomfortable!

"Hmph. He's just an Elder of the Azure Dragon clan." Sayant snickered mentally. "Prior to this, I was worried that Linley was a Paragon, but since he didn't acquire the Abyssal Fruit at the Abyssal Mountain, he's definitely not a Paragon." Sayant had only been worried about Linley's level of strength due to the intelligence reports he had received from the eight great clans.

But the results of Linley's trip to the Abyssal Mountain had put Sayant at ease.

Indeed...if Linley had already been a Paragon, acquiring the Abyssal Fruit would have been very easy.

"Sayant, stand aside. This has nothing to do with you." Linley said calmly. "My target is just a single person. Him. Odin." Linley stared at Odin.

Odin looked at Sayant.

Sayant chuckled as he looked at Linley. "Linley, I've been fairly courteous to you. Why must you act so brazenly? Odin is my subordinate. If I were to allow you to kill him just because you asked me to, then how would I, Sayant, be able to hold onto my position as Lord Prefect? Since he is my subordinate, I definitely won't permit you to take him away. Linley...if you are wise, you will leave immediately. Otherwise, if we shed all pretense of cordiality, it won't be good."

Sayant was completely confident in himself.

"Sayant." Bebe began to curse furiously. "Last time, you intentionally lied to us to have us go to the Abyssal Mountain. We haven't even settled accounts with you about that; we are already giving you face. You are simply a Lord Prefect; who do you think you are, to put on airs in front of me and my Boss? Are you qualified to act like this?" After having experienced the Planar Wars, Bebe held Sayant in no regard at all.

Bebe was completely confident in being able to kill Sayant.

"Impudent!" Sayant's face turned ugly, and he let out a growl.

Suddenly, a long black spear appeared in Sayant's hands, and a terrifying aura spread forth from the spear. The nearby Odin, seeing this, laughed.

"Swoosh!" Sayant charged straight towards Bebe. Clearly, Bebe's words had infuriated him.

The strange thing was...

Linley's body didn't move, but a blurred figure had appeared in front of Sayant.

"Bang!" A kick landed directly across Sayant's chest. Sayant was like a sandbag, and was knocked back downwards. "Boom!" He smashed into the corner of the castle, and then landed on the ground. At this moment, Linley's 'body' slowly disappeared, while that blurred figure reformed into Linley's true body.

Odin, the other Seven Star Fiends, Lady Anita, and the watching prefectural soldiers were all stunned.

"Ugh." Sayant spat out a mouthful of blood. He lay there on the ground, staring at Linley in terror.

What sort of speed was this?

Linley stood there in midair, staring down at the prone Sayant. Calmly, he said, "Be a good boy and stand over there. If you continue to act so arrogantly, I will show no more mercy." After speaking, Linley turned to stare at Odin, his gaze cold.

Odin's face turned ashen, and his body began to tremble.