Chapter 686: Hoist by His own Petard! (2)
Lydia and Eula entered a grand hall filled with luminous pearls and grand statues. In the top center of the hall was sitting the breathtaking siren, Nataly, on an emerald throne, wearing an impassive impression on her charming face, giving off an air of aloofness. She didn't seem anything like her docile self in front of Ocean Oracle.
Both Lydia and Eula prostrate themselves in front of Nataly, "We greet Holy Maiden of Supreme Goddess!"
"En..." Nataly merely nodded in acknowledgment before she got to the point while looking at Eula, "Master Templar Eula, do you have something important to report?"
Eula and Lydia stood up; while Lydia kept her silence, Eula spoke respectfully, "Indeed, I received something unexpected a few hours ago with a message. Please take a look."
Eula, under Nataly and Lydia's expectant gazes, took something out of her space ring. It was a large cylindrical glass container filled with a translucent green liquid.
However, when they saw the contents of this container, their expression changed because there were eight heads of different species, and they were not from the ocean races either!
Nataly knit her brows tightly and asked, "What's the meaning of this?"
Eula didn't explain, and instead, she took out something else. There were two scrolls, one white and one gray. The gray one seemed to have a runic seal on it, while the white one was completely plain.
Eula then handed over those scrolls to bewildered Lydia and said respectfully, "Grandmaster, please present them to the Holy Maiden after checking if there's something wrong with them."
Lydia snapped out of her stupor and solemnly nodded. She then scanned those scrolls, especially the one with the runic seal, to make sure there wasn't any trick on them.
After she confirmed that there wasn't anything wrong, using her magic, she sent them towards Nataly, who was watching this silently, but a hint of impatience was present in her curious eyes.
"There are fine," Lydia commented.
Nataly nodded and received those scrolls. Then she opened the white scroll since it didn't have a seal on it. As for the other one with a runic seal, she knew if she tried to force the seal open, its contents would be destroyed, and she would need a proper method to unseal it. That's why she went for the white one first.
However, when she read what was written on the white scroll, her expression changed slightly.
"For the Holy Maiden: I present you the heads of the offenders behind the chaos of your temple. Please accept my goodwill, and I left something important in the sealed scroll. The method to open this seal is known to the Ocean Oracle. If you give it to her, she'll instantly know how what it is!
"Sender: Follower of Mermaid Goddess!"
Nataly fell into contemplated silence, unsure whether to believe this sender or not. The contents of this scroll were simply too important to be ignored, not to mention that those eight heads were also striking proof.
Furthermore, she knew not just anything could enter the Mermaid Faith City, especially now since it was under a strict curfew. Not to mention that this sender was able to deliver it directly to Eula without getting caught by her. She still didn't doubt Eula's loyalty, and it hadn't occurred to her that she was a spy.
"I presumed that you weren't able to capture this messenger, right?" Nataly asked in a somewhat grim tone.
Eula nodded with a bitter expression and bowed, "I seek your forgiveness, this person was simply too cunning, and I don't know how they were able to sneak this into my quarters. No one noticed it, and that's why I harshly punished those incompetent guards. I also launched an investigation to comb through the city."
Nataly shook her head, "I'm not blaming you, Master Templar. You did your part perfectly. Please continue with the search and see if you can find anything. I ask Grandmaster Templar to assist Master Templar in this as well. Meanwhile, leave that container here. I'll seek Her Holiness's guidance."
"I understand!"
"I'll make the arrangement right away."
Both Eula and Lydia agreed without hesitation, and they quickly left to search for this mysterious messenger. Nataly was now left alone with the container and the scrolls.
Nataly didn't bring them to Mercy right away. With a wave of her hand, she pulled the container with the heads in her hand, and magic started to gather in her hand. She was scanning those heads to see if she found something about them.
A hint of shock flashed past her eyes. "They died very recently, and the element glyphs on their skulls have all started to spread through their skulls, and they are vague. They were beyond unique rank experts! Just who could've hunted them all? Some Inception Legend Rank expert that I'm not aware of?"
When a Unique Rank expert started to understand their element glyph and started to convert their magic orbits into aura or spirit orbits, the element glyphs on their skulls started to bloom and spread on their bones, starting from their skulls.
A perfect stage Beyond Unique Rank element glyph would have spread through their entire skull, and their outlines would have been of a vague shade.
A perfect stage inception legend rank would have their bodies converted into a Spirit Body or Aura Body, which would have their element glyph spread on their entire skeleton, and it would be of dark shade. Therefore, this rank was known as the Inception Legend Body.
For a Quasi Legend, the element glyphs on their bones started to change mysteriously and spread to their Magic Cores; those glyph marks on the bones appeared ethereal.
This was the easiest way to identify someone's three steps of legend's rank!
If she had some doubts about their identity, now that she found that they were beyond unique rank experts, those doubts began to vanish, and she started to believe the contents of the letter!
Nataly then looked towards the sealed scroll in her hand, and she finally made a decision, 'Although Her Holiness told me not to disturb her unless something of absolute importance occurred, this matter is very important, especially this sealed scroll. I have to alert her!'
Thereafter, she quickly made her way toward the Oracle audience hall, but she failed to notice that something else was hidden underneath those element glyphs, and they worked as a smokescreen for it!