"Good evening, Your Excellency Shevic. Dinner has been prepared for you."
Upon seeing Shevic alight from the carriage, the mayor, accompanied by Linsk, hurried forward and said respectfully.
Shevic nodded, his face stern, and he remained silent. Beside him, his giant-like secretary, Levto, said, "Your Excellency wishes to wash up first before enjoying dinner."
The mayor quickly replied, "Of course, of course. Your Excellency Shevic's room is already ready."
He waved behind him, and a slightly plump, elderly-faced butler, accompanied by several female servants, stepped forward.
"This is Butler Helton. He will lead Your Excellency to your room to wash up."
Butler Helton bowed to the demigod and extended his hand, gesturing, "Respected Your Excellency, please follow me."
After the Iron-Blooded Knight and his secretary departed with the butler, the mayor and Linsk first arrived at the spacious and elegant dining room. Here, ceramic dinnerware inlaid with gold was already set, and the long table was laden with caviar, roasted chicken, stewed lamb, pan-fried steak, fried fish, and cream soup, among other dishes.
The mayor personally rearranged the dishes and then inquired with the chef about the dessert and aperitif preparations.
A moment later, Shevic, having changed into casual clothes, entered the dining room with his giant secretary. Butler Helton pulled out the high-backed chair at the head of the table, allowing Shevic to sit down gracefully.
"Everyone, sit down," Shevic said with a commanding presence, looking around.
His secretary Levto, the mayor, and Linsk then took their designated seats in a specific order.
After the aperitif was served, Shevic raised his glass, took a small sip, and looked approvingly at the mayor, saying, "I heard that your town was very cooperative in preparing the supplies this time, being the first to complete the task assigned by the military. You did very well."
The mayor's face lit up with excitement as he said, "I merely completed a task within my duties. Thank you for Your Excellency's praise."
Shevic smiled faintly, then spread out a white napkin, picked up his cutlery, first cut a piece of fried fish, dipped it in a little black pepper sauce, and brought it to his mouth.
After chewing and swallowing, he picked up the champagne that the butler had just brought, admired the strings of bubbles continuously rising in the glass, and took a sip, feeling pleased.
Just then, Shevic suddenly looked out the window. Outside, a snowy owl perched on a tree branch was looking into the dining room.
Shevic roared through his nostrils, and the silver dinner knife in his hand suddenly shot out, shattering the glass and leaving a blur as it hurtled like a cannonball towards the snowy owl on the tree.
The poor bird didn't have time to fly before it was struck, and then its body exploded with a bang, as if hit by a real cannonball.
The next second, a whooshing sound echoed in the garden outside the dining room. Under the lights, a blurry figure was seen speeding away in the distance.
Shevic crashed through the window without a word, his steps agile, and charged into the garden, hot on the trail of that figure.
He quickly locked onto the figure. Although the opponent's speed was not slow, Shevic still saw that it was an old man.
It was the Seer who had taken Morse from Grand Town a while ago!
Shevic roared, and a crimson flame surged in his hand, condensing into a fireball. He violently hurled the fireball, and as it left his hand, it rapidly expanded, tearing through the air to create an astonishing heatwave. After illuminating the surrounding flowers, plants, and trees with its red glow, it struck the opponent, causing an earth-shattering explosion!
In that explosion, comparable to a coastal defense cannon strike, Shevic saw a Paper Doll Substitute shatter into thousands of pieces, rapidly turning to ash and disappearing into the thick smoke.
In front, a flash of fire suddenly erupted, and a figure leaped out, quickly turning and rushing towards the town.
Shevic snorted, and his entire body instantly ignited, transforming into a reddish-yellow flame, forming a colossal spear that shot out, impaling the Seer ahead.
The Seer immediately snapped his fingers, and a flame suddenly erupted under a tree thirty meters to the left of the forest. The Seer's body also ignited simultaneously, appearing within another ball of flame before the spear formed by Shevic could strike.
The flame spear immediately changed direction, continuing to target the cunning and agile Seer. The latter continuously snapped his fingers, causing flames to erupt repeatedly in the mountains and forest, allowing him to move using Flame Jump.
Sometimes, the Seer would ignite several clusters of fire at once, making it difficult for Shevic to predict which cluster he would emerge from, thus repeatedly gaining the upper hand.
Occasionally struck by fireballs Shevic shot out, the Seer would also escape using a Paper Doll Substitute combined with Flame Jump.
Under such a chase, the town was getting closer and closer.
When Shevic gave chase, his giant secretary Levto also crashed through the door. The mayor and Linsk exchanged bewildered glances, then bravely followed, leaving the dining room.
At the same time, on the second floor of the villa, in Shevic's bedroom, a maid approached the door in the hallway.
She pushed the door open and walked quickly, first opening the leather case Shevic had brought and rummaging through all the clothes and other personal items inside, as if searching for something.
Then she went into the washroom, but when she came out, a large hand suddenly reached out and firmly grasped her neck, followed by a booming voice that echoed in the room: "What are you doing?!"
Levto had returned at some point, and behind him were the mayor, Linsk, and Butler Helton.
The maid, whose neck was gripped by the giant secretary, showed no expression on her face. Her eyes were blank, her gaze unfocused, as if she were sleepwalking.
Levto casually looked around, saw the open leather case, then looked at the maid, and turned to the mayor, saying, "She's been hypnotized. I need a quiet room. I need to know who she's been in contact with."
The mayor quickly said, "Yes, yes, please follow me."
He hastily led the giant secretary to the study, and Linsk also rushed to follow. When Butler Helton turned to leave, he suddenly stopped.
The butler's eyes became slightly unfocused. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lapis lazuli.
As soon as this well-colored gem left the butler's pocket, it suddenly floated up on its own, then, as if drawn by an invisible wave, quickly flew towards the washroom and hit the wooden door.
The lapis lazuli then seemed to penetrate some invisible boundary, rapidly disappearing into the wooden door.
The butler's mouth curved upwards, revealing eight teeth. Then he walked to the window, placed his hands on the window frame, and opened his mouth. A thick, dark liquid suddenly spewed out of his mouth, falling into the garden below and disappearing into the night.
After the liquid had completely exited his mouth, the butler closed the window, took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and then put it back into his pocket.
Helton walked out of the bedroom, closed the door, and his eyes gradually regained their luster. He walked towards the study, showing no signs of abnormality.
---
The Town was in sight.
Shevic snorted, a thought flashing through his mind: he would increase his firepower output, directly turning everything visible into a sea of fire, preventing that cunning Seer from using Flame Jump to escape again.
Because no matter which ball of fire he jumped out of, he would be met with even hotter, fiercer flames!
But just at this moment, his thought vanished into thin air, causing Shevic's mind to go blank, unable to even maintain his flame form, allowing the flames to re-form into his body.
This Demigod's mind went blank for about two seconds. During this time, Shevic stared blankly as the Seer in the distance took out a staff, and then his aura turned cold, and his figure became somewhat blurry and transparent.
When Shevic's thoughts resumed, the Seer had vanished, and at this point, there were no flames to be seen around the mountain forest.
Where did he go?
Shevic immediately rushed up, searching everywhere, but could not find the Seer. He looked at the Town, where lights flickered in the distance, and let out a low growl, a circle of flames radiating outwards from him.
Boom!
Trees and bushes ignited, turning into torches and fireballs. After unleashing this fire in a fit of pique, Shevic pressed his hand down, controlling the flames to make them disappear. Then, he turned and ran a few steps, reigniting flames to form a giant Flame Lance, which he hurled in the direction of Golden Spring Manor.
In Grand Town, a house suddenly echoed with a gasp. A girl wrapped in a bath towel frantically ran downstairs, her face pale, pointing upstairs and telling her mother, "There's a ghost, Mama, there's a ghost in the bathroom!"
The girl's mother, a formidable middle-aged woman reeking of alcohol and still holding an unfinished bottle of fregret wine, grunted, "Nonsense, it must be some bastard peeking through the window. I'll smash his head in."
The girl quickly pulled her mother, "No, Mama. It's real. I saw a ghost float out of the bathroom mirror."
"Really? Damn it, it seems we have to resume our habit of going to church to pray."
Listening to the conversation coming from the living room, Lex, who had just appeared from the bathroom mirror, secretly apologized.
He deactivated his Wraith transformation, hid the staff of resentment, and then wiped his face, which had already transformed into a Feysac face.
Lex casually took a few men's clothes hanging in the backyard, quickly changed into them, and then left with his changed clothes.
He found a secluded alley, burned the clothes he had changed out of. After doing all this, Lex went to a warehouse on the west side of the Town.
This was his temporary hideout in the Town.
Tonight, he had once again transformed himself into the Seer, Mr. Morgan, and used a string puppet to transform a snowy owl, using the bird to observe Shevic.
Of course, he didn't expect this snowy owl to do anything; its biggest contribution was to attract Shevic's attention.
As expected, the Demigod discovered the abnormal snowy owl and decisively attacked.
Lex immediately abandoned this Marionette and fled the Manor, and just as he had hoped, Shevic pursued him.
This was exactly what Lex wanted, because only if the Demigod was lured out of the Manor could Kardashian act freely.
Even before Shevic arrived at the Manor, Lex had already snuck into Golden Spring Manor with Kardashian. Kardashian hid inside the body of the butler, Helton, and hypnotized a maid.
After Shevic was lured out of the Manor, the maid followed Kardashian's instructions and went to Shevic's bedroom. But this maid was only meant to attract the attention of others, for example, Shevic's giant secretary.
When everyone's attention was focused on this maid, who was clearly hypnotized, the real "mole," the butler controlled by Kardashian, made his move.
Kardashian's mission was to confirm whether clarence's gate was in Golden Spring Manor.
Now, Lex was waiting for the answer.
"It's a good thing I made thorough preparations, and a good thing I had enough mystical items on me, otherwise, it would have been very difficult to escape from a Demigod."
While waiting for Kardashian, Lex recalled the previous chase, his scalp still feeling a bit numb.
Upon seeing the Town, he used Christie to steal Shevic's thought, causing the Demigod to pause.
Seizing this opportunity, Lex used the staff of resentment to turn himself into a Wraith, and then used mirrors he had left nearby to move.
Along the planned escape route, Lex had thrown many mirrors and matchboxes, which allowed him to shake off Shevic.
Not long after, Lex's spiritual intuition was suddenly triggered. He looked towards the window and saw a squirming, viscous liquid crawl in like a carpet.
After landing on the ground, the mass rose upwards, gradually transforming and forming long, black, straight hair, an enchanting face, exotic eyes, a slender neck, and full breasts.
Soon, Kardashian, wearing a flesh-colored gown and standing barefoot, appeared before Lex.
"How is it?" Lex asked nervously.
Kardashian nodded: "The gem you gave me was absorbed by the bathroom door in the bedroom."
clarence's gate!
Lex secretly thought, "Good," then considered that after Shevic returned, the Demigod might transfer clarence's gate to a temporary base.
If he was cautious enough.
"I must contact Mark immediately and have him ask Admiral Amyrius to depart for Golden Spring Manor at once. If all goes well, we can get that item tonight, leave Sonia Island, and make the Feysac's plan fail!"
Lex quickly left the warehouse.
Golden Spring Manor.
In the study, the hypnotized maid had already woken up, but she couldn't say who had hypnotized her. According to her recollection, she had been in the Manor for the past three days and had not encountered any strangers.
And the other servants could also testify that everything the maid said was true.
The giant secretary couldn't help but fall into thought. He sighed, "It's a pity I'm not a Seer."
If there were a Seer here, or any other Beyonder skilled in divination, they could clarify the maid's experience through divination.
Just then, the people in the study felt a slight tremor in the doors and windows, and then saw a huge Flame Lance break through the air and land in the Manor's garden.
"Your Excellency Shevic has returned."
Levto quickly left the study and headed straight for the garden.
Shevic emerged from the flames, seeing his secretary rushing towards him, followed by the Town mayor and others.
"Your Excellency."
Levto came up to Shevic, bowed slightly, and quickly reported the matter of the hypnotized maid.
Shevic's eyes flickered, then he grunted, "They are looking for that item. The Seer lured me away, and then an Spectator hypnotized the people in this Manor and proceeded with the search."
"It seems it's no longer safe here. We must relocate immediately."
The mayor hastily said, "I'll go prepare the vehicles."
Shevic grunted and then said, "Prepare a few more carriages; I have a use for them."
The mayor didn't dare to ask what he needed so many carriages for, quickly agreed, and left with Linsk.
Shevic, meanwhile, strode into the villa, went straight to the second floor, and entered his bedroom. He was going to retrieve the item disguised as the bathroom wooden door.