"You two, can you listen to me for a moment now?"
Lin Huai's voice clearly rang out over the thunder, echoing within the ruined bedchamber.
"Wise One! Get out of the way!!" Thor was the first to react, roaring as the mjolnir in his hand erupted with lightning once more. "No one is stopping me today! I'm going to smash this impostor's head with my own hands to avenge my Mother!!"
Lin Huai ignored him, simply looking calmly at the beautiful Demoness and asking, "What is your true identity? Why are you doing this?"
Unexpectedly, the lethal charm on the Demoness's face vanished instantly, replaced by an extremely sincere expression. She bowed deeply to Lin Huai.
"I am very sorry, esteemed Wise One." Her voice became solemn and earnest. "My name is Kaelan, from the Hall of Pilgrimage, a subordinate of the Saint, 'Angel of Suffering' My Lord Itmer. Everything we have done is to plead for your help."
"Help?" Lin Huai furrowed his brows.
"Yes," Kaelan's eyes held a hint of entreaty. "I hope you can help the Saint escape his teacher's control."
Having said that, as if to prove her words, she suddenly looked up and shouted toward a relatively intact full-length mirror in the corner of the bedchamber:
"Lady Frigga, thank you for giving me this opportunity."
Amidst Thor's jaw-droppingly stunned expression, the mirror's surface rippled like water, and the figure of Queen of the Gods Frigga actually stepped out from within. Her face was somewhat pale, but her gaze remained as gentle as ever.
"My child, I've made you worry." Frigga patted the shoulder of the completely petrified Thor as a form of comfort.
"In the East Balam Continent, people are more accustomed to calling me Lady Blossom or Baroness Blossom." The Demoness Kaelan continued to explain, her speech rapid as if she feared Lin Huai would lose his patience.
"The Saint's teacher is an avatar of an existence above the Sequences. Currently, this avatar is a Sequence 1 Angel of the 'Criminal' Pathway. The Saint told me that you can help him escape His control. The so-called choice is whether you are willing to help us!"
Hearing this, Lin Huai felt completely numb.
Above the Sequences? Avatar? Sequence 1 Angel?
Where the hell have I ended up? Is this still the United States I know?! I'm just a Sequence 7 small fry, so why am I dealing with this Angel and that Angel every day? Isn't the difficulty of this beginner village a bit over the top?!
He complained frantically in his mind, his face barely maintaining its composure. Almost subconsciously, he prepared to open his mouth and refuse this deadly commission.
Just then, as if seeing through his thoughts, Kaelan immediately threw out her final bargaining chip.
"My Lord Saint! It was the Pope of the Church of the Fool who said he received a Divine Revelation, which gave me this opportunity to come here!" she said urgently. "And he told me to give these two materials to you. He also told me that as long as you heard this sentence, you would definitely help us!"
Saying this, Kaelan looked at Lin Huai and, in extremely stilted and even somewhat comical Chinese, said word by word:
"Pro...tect... our... true... home...town."
These words were like a key, instantly clicking a switch deep within Lin Huai's soul.
His vision suddenly went black, and the surrounding ruins and Demoness... everything disappeared. He found himself standing in a massive seaside city, with large sailing ships docked at the harbor. A man with yellowish hair dressed in a Sailor's uniform followed behind him, leading the way with a flattering expression.
"Shit! How am I so unlucky to fall into the hands of Adventurers like you again." The yellow-haired man pointed and cursed at the Sailors on the ship in a low voice, but when he turned back, he immediately put on a fawning smile, bowing and scraping as he followed Lin Huai. "My Lord, this way please, the ship is ready."
The hallucination flashed and vanished.
Lin Huai snapped back to his senses, his forehead already drenched in cold sweat.
"I... really want to know my true identity more and more." He murmured to himself, his voice carrying a hint of confusion and an unprecedented desire to investigate.
He looked up at Kaelan, his gaze having become resolute.
"Lady Blossom, give me the other material."
He took the item Kaelan handed over, which was indeed the other main material for Faceless—the [Mutated Pituitary Gland of a Thousand-Faced Hunter].
"Odin should know the whole truth," Lin Huai's mind began racing at high speed again as he looked at the equally exhausted Queen of the Gods Frigga. "Otherwise, the Queen of the Gods wouldn't have played this scene with you. Actually, if you had just said it, I likely would have helped you. Why put so many people through suffering?"
Kaelan gave a bitter smile. "This was a requirement from the Pope. He said it was a test. If you used other methods to find me, perhaps I would have died here directly. But if you found me on your own, then the deal continues."
Lin Huai's eyes flashed, instantly grasping the key point.
"Other methods... Sefirah Castle?" Thinking of this, Lin Huai seemed to understand something.
"The condition you agreed to with Odin should be related to Hela, right?"
Hearing the name Hela, not only Kaelan but even Frigga's expression became complicated.
"As I thought, it's her." Lin Huai understood. This grand play by Odin was for Thor, for Loki, and for his own imprisoned eldest daughter.
"Yes, the condition the Pope gave Odin was a wish from the God of Wishes." Kaelan tacitly accepted this guess, but she didn't delve further into the topic. Instead, she brought the conversation back, looking at Lin Huai with a solemn expression. "Wise One, what's most important now is whether you are willing to help the Saint. This concerns the fate of many more people."
"How am I supposed to help you?" Lin Huai asked calmly, looking at the two main potion materials in his hand. "And why say that my help can represent the direction of the World? That's far too high an estimation of me."
Kaelan immediately explained, "The Saint's teacher, that Angel of the 'Criminal' Pathway, is preparing a ritual. We aren't sure of the ritual's specific details, but the Saint told me that being wants to use this ritual to send His 'true body's' power into our World!"
"If the ritual cannot be stopped, the Invisible Barrier protecting the World will accelerate its cracking." Her tone became incredibly grave. "Therefore, your choice will directly determine whether the future of the World moves toward accelerated destruction or gains a chance to breathe. This is the meaning of the direction of the World in the Divine Revelation."
Hearing this, Lin Huai's brows furrowed into a knot.
Stopping an Angel, and possibly a ritual conducted by an avatar of an Outer Deity?
"Are you joking?" Lin Huai couldn't help but retort. "Even if I advance right now, I'll only be a Sequence 6 [Faceless]. What do I have to stop the ritual of a Sequence 1 Angel?"
Kaelan shook her head, her gaze pious and fanatical, as if looking at a spokesperson for a deity.
"You must be joking."
She said, "This is the Fool's Divine Revelation. We never believe in the mercy of gods, but we dare even less to question their great power. Since the Divine Revelation pointed to you, you must have a way to do it."
Her gaze was incredibly firm as she spoke the final sentence, completely cutting off all of Lin Huai's paths of retreat.
"To that end, the Saint is already prepared to pay any price."