CHAPTER 713: THE CON ARTIST DOESNT WANT TO TALK TO YOU

Raven coughed up two mouthfuls of foul blood, the blood flowing along the grooves of his raven mask. He stared blankly at the Con Artist who blocked all the damage in front of him. He wasn’t surprised that someone came to save him; he was surprised that the person who came was Igor, the one he least got along with.

Suddenly, he remembered something and quickly turned to observe his surroundings.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Ashe didn’t come back with us,” Igor said calmly. “After I told him the necessary intelligence, I let him continue with Gwen to find Silver Lantern…”

“But Mr. Ashe knew Mr. Igor was coming back to protect you, so he let me come back too,” Gwen quickly finished bandaging Raven. Raven’s body couldn’t be directly affected by spirits, so she could only treat the wound this way. “He said he could handle Silver Lantern on his own.”

“In every sense, I believe he has that confidence,” Igor said. “In fact, I think we would only be obstacles in his ‘subduing’ of Silver Lantern, so it’s better to come back and save you, this raven eager to court death.”

“But why did you come back?” Raven couldn’t help but ask. “I clearly said I would hold my ground with Tanomoo-“

“You think that by not showing your face, not showing your eyes, and distorting your voice, you can hide your thoughts from me, a Con Artist from the Blood Moon, a sanctuary sorcerer of the Mental Sect?” Igor sneered. “You hid so well, but these days, haven’t I made you cry when I wanted you to cry, and laugh when I wanted you to laugh?”

“So you want to die, how could I not know?”

Blood flowed from the Con Artist’s pupils, and in his vision appeared the illusion of God-slayer Ashe, swiftly killing the Black Feather sorcerers not sheltered by the Sanctuary in the distance. “When you said goodbye to Ashe, you didn’t even say goodbye.”

“Many times, it’s because there’s no agreed time to meet again that parting becomes eternal.”

Raven said despondently, “I just didn’t want… I just…”

Igor: “You just didn’t want to drag us into your grudge with the Mercury Trojan Horse? I don’t want you to drag us into Silver Lantern’s conspiracy either. It’s strange, I’ve only heard of people taking on big responsibilities themselves and letting friends take on small ones. How come when it comes to you, it turns into making us take on big responsibilities while you take on small ones?”

Raven remained silent, but the wound that had just stopped bleeding split open again. Clearly, his mood was not calm, and his shoulders trembled slightly, as if there was another liquid flowing inside the mask. Gwen quickly used emergency blood-stopping patches to treat Raven’s chest wound, her expression showing a hint of peculiarity.

“Do you know your mistake?”

“I know.” Raven’s distorted voice carried a hint of sobbing.

“What was the mistake?”

“The mistake was arrogantly entrusting the task of stopping Silver Lantern to you, while I hid here fighting desperately with Tanomoo, using death to evade responsibility…”

“No.” Igor said, “Your mistake was not trusting Ashe.”

Raven was stunned.

“To deal with Silver Lantern, indeed, only he is needed. Secondly, your mistake was not trusting me.”

Igor stepped back, and Gwen immediately helped Raven up, the three of them leaning together.

Awooo!-

The Con Artist opened his mouth, and a silent scream echoed in the hall, the damage increasing with distance. Even though the Black Feather sorcerers were all hiding in the Sanctuary, they were still affected to some extent-while the Sanctuary could shield high and low frequency infrasound and ultrasound, after Igor’s ascension to three wings, his Mental Scream could cause damage even in the normal sound range!

The Black Feather sorcerer closest to the Mercury Trojan Horse immediately turned and hugged the Mercury Trojan Horse’s head, and the Mercury Trojan Horse crouched down, opened her mouth, and covered her ears with her hands. Even so, she still bled a little from her nose.

“You are the best killing tool,” Igor said, patting Raven’s shoulder, “and I am the best at using tools.”

He glanced at Raven’s injury. “Gwen has fixed you up, right?”

“Still a few ribs not healed,” Raven gripped the grey fox blade, “but it doesn’t matter.”

“Then, before Ashe returns,” Igor said leisurely, “let’s twist off the Mercury Trojan Horse’s head and kick it around like a ball.”

“Is it necessary?”

The Mercury Trojan Horse’s voice echoed in the hall: “Mr. Igor, do you think you, a sanctuary sorcerer, plus a crippled judgment warrior, and… hmm, my most capable subordinate, Miss Gwen, can pose a threat to me?”

“I’m not denying your abilities. Tamashi barely counts as one sanctuary combat power, Miss Gwen counts as 0.5, but adding you, it’s only 2.5 sanctuaries.”

“And I.” The Mercury Trojan Horse slightly raised her head, four young sorcerers forming a human wall in front of her, each displaying their Sanctuary: “I have four sanctuary sorcerers I rely on most: Dao Qiong, Mokilon, Coneva, and Nanda Tuo. Not to mention, my meticulously trained Black Feather Guard.”

The Black Feather sanctuaries she named all stared fiercely at Igor and Raven. Without the Mercury Trojan Horse’s orders, they would have already rushed over like mad dogs to bite these disrespectful lunatics to death.

“On the surface, you don’t have the advantage.” The Mercury Trojan Horse said leisurely, “Since that’s the case, why should we continue fighting? Our little misunderstanding, is it bigger than Senlo’s fate, your lives?”

Little misunderstanding… Igor raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile, “Since you have the numerical advantage, why not eradicate us?”

“I never engage in fights of passion. What good does killing you do me? Anyway, I’m going to other Kingdoms, and it’s basically impossible to meet you again. Why not resolve the misunderstanding and go our separate ways?” The Mercury Trojan Horse said, “We can retreat to the upper level, you can stay here or go down to find Mr. Ashe, we absolutely won’t disturb you, and will leave immediately once a new Void Gate passage opens.”

Although Tamashi destroyed an almost perfect Void Gate passage, which indeed angered the Mercury Trojan Horse. But she had been facing too much anger recently-the Wishflux Inheritance was stolen, her power was usurped, the Kingdom of Senlo she was about to unify was about to turn into an infernal purgatory… failed investments, company bankruptcy, industry downturn, almost all unlucky things happened to her, and the Mercury Trojan Horse’s heart had become numb.

Because she had endured so much hardship and loss, it instead further tempered her mental fortitude. The trouble Tamashi caused her was quickly digested, and she made the wisest choice: endure.

If it were only Tamashi, the Mercury Trojan Horse would naturally be too lazy to waste words-she would just kill Raven outright. But Igor not only had the qualification to negotiate with her, but also the wisdom for it.

Though the Con Artist had a grudge against her, it was by no means to the extent that only one could survive; more importantly, the Con Artist’s side was currently at a disadvantage, or at least didn’t have a guaranteed victory. If forced, that would be one thing, but since she was now voluntarily conceding, would the Con Artist really want to fight a losing battle with slim chances?

Igor seemed tempted as well. “But how do I know you’re not secretly calling for reinforcements? If we get trapped in the Silent Spiral, we won’t even be able to run.”

Hearing that Igor was truly willing to negotiate, Raven’s body trembled slightly, but in the end, he said nothing, only focusing harder on recovering from his injuries. Gwen gently stroked his back, growing much closer to him.

“Those upper layers of Trials aren’t something ordinary sorcerers can get through,” the Mercury Trojan Horse said. “If you’re really worried, you can switch places-your group goes up a level, we stay here, that way we’re trapped below by you, unable to reach the surface or call for backup.”

“As for whether we’d go down to hinder Lord Ashe, you really don’t need to worry about that. We’ve already shown enough sincerity-we haven’t stopped you from seeking out Silver Lantern.”

“It’s true, you even seem to welcome us seeking out Silver Lantern.” Igor frowned. “So I’m very curious-if you’re not interfering with Silver Lantern, and not interfering with us, just what exactly are you after? If you only wanted to enter the Silent Spiral and open the Void Gate, you could’ve occupied the Silent Spiral in advance. Why let Silver Lantern go first?”

“Secrets make people more alluring,” said the Mercury Trojan Horse. “I’m sure Lord Igor understands that.”

“…Wait.”

At this moment, Raven held his head and murmured softly, “It feels like there’s someone else… Tanomoo isn’t the true leader here. Above her, there’s a mastermind…”

Hearing this, the Black Feather sorcerers looked confused, some even showing signs of a headache. The Mercury Trojan Horse was momentarily stunned, then recalled at once-yes, she had never wanted Silver Lantern to activate the World Destruction Procedure, so why had she let the Four Pillars Cult protect the Silent Spiral and let Silver Lantern reach the bottom to build the procedure?

She remembered now, she had lost the supreme authority-the Four Pillars had parachuted in someone to seize her power. All this time, she’d been acting under that person’s orders.

That person… who was that person!?

“Vichy!” Raven finally dredged up the name from the muddy depths of memory. “He went to the bottom level as well! The Four Pillars Cult has its own designs on Silver Lantern!”

“Mercury Trojan Horse!” Igor shouted, “Did you set up an ambush below!?”

“That’s not me-“

Miracle: Mental Thrust!

In the instant the Mercury Trojan Horse instinctively replied, Igor let out a soft whistle. His voice condensed into a blow dart, piercing the Sanctuary, streaking toward the Mercury Trojan Horse’s head in the crowd!

Crack!

A massive electric current exploded in the air. The Mercury Trojan Horse was so startled she fell to the ground, staring at the veil of lightning before her, now riddled with spiderweb-like cracks.

“There’s even a Defensive Miracle in your Sanctuary.” Igor said calmly. “You really are the most craven person I’ve ever met.”

“Lord Igor.” The Mercury Trojan Horse took Dao Qiong’s hand and stood up, speaking coldly. “I have already shown enough goodwill.”

“Not just now, but from the very first night we arrived in Senlo, from the moment we started hunting Silver Lantern, from the afternoon we reached Dead City-you’ve shown plenty of goodwill every single time,” Igor said. “That’s why I know your goodwill is flimsier than toilet paper.”

“To deal with people like you, there’s no room for negotiation or compromise-only blood and fire to tear that face of yours to shreds!” Igor said with utter disgust. “Resolve misunderstandings? Voluntary concession? I can’t be bothered to guess your intentions, but you’d never give up so easily. You’ll just keep brewing Schemes to damn us eternally! Since we’ll end up fighting anyway, why beat around the bush?”

Raven nodded vigorously in wholehearted agreement.

The Mercury Trojan Horse was so angry in that moment she nearly burst into tears.

This time, she truly wanted to run away. She had no wish to get further entangled with Igor, Ashe, Tamashi, or the rest! She just wanted to escape the crumbling Senlo, start fresh in another Kingdom, and had no intention of wasting her wits to harm anyone!

Yet none of them were willing to believe her!

Tamashi insisted on killing Charlyn and collapsing the Void Gate, even though letting them leave would be the greatest gift to Senlo; she herself had voluntarily conceded, offering multiple proposals, but Igor refused them all and insisted on fighting to the end!

To the Mercury Trojan Horse, she and Igor should have been the same kind of people-the type who enjoy pitting wits, who see “battle” as a last resort for truly rational people! Only with overwhelming odds or no alternative would they ever stoop to such a brutish measure!

But even the Con Artist, who loved playing Schemes the most, refused to sit at her table, choosing instead to flip it for an all-out brawl!

“I hate,” the Mercury Trojan Horse said, both furious and anxious, gnashing her teeth, “idiots like you who think you know it all!”

“And I’m the opposite,” Igor replied languidly. “I love arrogant clients like you the most.”

With a thunderous stomp, Raven once again began to dance across the hall of wine, blood, and corpses. But this time, not only did starlight swirl at his side, there was a Wandering Phantom blazing a path ahead!