Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery.

Chapter 291 The Final Struggle: The Pale Age

At the Tarot meeting, Klein the Fool sighed in his heart: "The Hermit explained the root cause of the contradictions among the gods so thoroughly that it really makes it difficult for me to have any respect for them anymore."

Priestess Cattleya also sighed inwardly: I didn't expect that the internal contradictions of many advanced problems were so simple. Even the struggles among the gods can basically be found in the logic of the corresponding laws of the "Extraordinary Characteristics".

Alger, the "Hanged Man," realized that although this was also the Hermit's guess, it sounded very reasonable.

The Hermit Odysseus continued his previous description: "It can be said that it is a struggle between the 'Six Gods' that has temporarily kept the 'Underworld Emperor' safe in the southern continent.

“Because it is difficult for the ‘Six Gods’ to form an alliance and launch an offensive against the Southern Continent.

“And when the Night Emperor fell, the Dark Emperor didn’t have enough power to attack the Northern Continent.

"So, after the end of the 'Four Emperors Era', there was a period of relative peace.

“Of course, it was peaceful but not necessarily tranquil, because it was during this period that the Trunsoste family and the Blood Clan were attacked by the Church. The ‘Blood Moon Queen’ also fell, and the Blood Clan went into hiding again.

"The Trunsoest family must have been systematically purged, so much so that we rarely hear about them now."

Emlyn the Moon clenched his fists. "Mr. Hermit, could you please explain the process in detail? I can pay you another 300 pounds."

Odysseus thought for a moment before saying, "I don't know the exact process, but you can pay me the 300 pounds and I'll tell you another very important piece of information."

Emlyn nodded immediately and said, "Okay!"

Odysseus then said, "The Solomon family, the Tudor family, and the Trunsoest family have basically disappeared from people's sight under the attack of the Orthodox Church. At least I rarely get any news about them.

“I estimate that these three families only have a few demigods left at most, or maybe even no demigods at all.

"But three 'Dukes' of the Blood Clan managed to escape. They must have received help from some god."

Emlyn almost stood up: "Which god?"

After hearing what the "Hermit" said, the other members also noticed this and looked at the "Hermit" waiting for his answer.

Otis replied: "The Earth Mother."

Emlyn and the other members were stunned, as if it was unexpected, yet also as if it was expected.

The "priestess" Cattleya even thought: It seems that the Church of Mother Earth has an old tradition of developing "vampires" as believers.

Emlyn continued to ask, "Mother...Mother Goddess? Why Mother Goddess?"

Odysseus simply said, "Perhaps it's just like the Church of the Evernight Goddess, which also cultivates Beyonders of the Path of Death. After all, they are adjacent paths, so they can be cultivated along the way."

You can't say that that is your ancestor, right?

Emlyn nodded: "So that's how it is."

At this moment, he suddenly felt that he occasionally felt as if he really believed in the "Mother Earth Goddess" and thought that such an idea was shameful. After hearing what the "Hermit" said, it seemed that it was nothing. After all, the "Mother Earth Goddess" had done favors to the vampires, so it was okay to believe in her casually.

Klein nodded inwardly at first, then realized something was amiss: the Church of the Evernight Goddess had a tradition of cultivating Beyonders on the "Death God" path, but they cultivated Beyonders from Sequence 9, not high-level Beyonders from the "Spiritual Cult."

At this time, he realized that there must be some inside story here, but the "hermit" did not explain, so he did not ask any questions.

Among the other members, only "The Hanged Man" Alger had experience as an official Beyonder, but he was more like a "field worker" and rarely stayed in the church, so he didn't pay much attention to this.

The members who had no official experience as extraordinary people were all lamenting the relationship between the "Mother Earth Goddess" and the blood race, and did not make any connection here.

"Let's continue with our previous deal," Odysseus said. "According to some later intelligence, the 'Underworld Emperor' has become even stronger at the cost of half-madness..."

Klein thought of some of the content he had read in Russell's diary. When Mr. "Gate" talked about the "Underworld Emperor", he once said: "He has gone crazy, but also become stronger."

However, Klein's chance to ask questions had already been used up, so he could only wait for other members to ask questions.

Fortunately, Cattleya was allowed to ask questions multiple times, so she quickly asked, "How did He do it?"

"I don't know exactly how he did it," Odysseus replied. "I just learned through some channels that the 'Underworld Emperor' used the uniqueness of the 'Red Priest' path to become even more powerful."

It's too troublesome to explain it clearly.

Cattleya really wanted to ask: The channel you are talking about refers to the "Mysterious Queen"?

Because she was not sure whether the "Queen" would know such information?
But in the end she still endured it, because she knew that even if she asked, she might not get any results.

Alger realized that there seemed to be a clear difference between gods. However, if gods wanted to become stronger, they seemed to have to pay a heavy price, such as the Hades, who became half-mad.

The other members also had similar ideas to the "Hanged Man", and at the same time they realized that the level of gods seemed to have many secrets.

Odysseus continued, "Under the auspices of the 'Six Gods,' the four nobles of the Trunsoste Empire divided up the Northern Continent. Then conflicts among the 'Six Gods' erupted again, and the Northern Continent once again fell into civil war.

"'Underworld Emperor' and 'Original Witch' believed the time was ripe, so they joined forces to attack the Northern Continent. Extraordinary history calls them the 'Pale Disaster', so this period is called the 'Pale Age'!
"From what I've learned, this is an absolute disaster for the people of the Northern Continent. It's said that the Balam Empire's offensive has brought death and madness."

He paused and continued, "I didn't understand why such a disaster happened until not long ago, when I encountered a military station from the 'Pale Age' during an operation.

"I met a 'soldier' at the military depot, and then I suddenly realized that the 'Underworld Emperor' and his subordinates needed a large number of corpses and undead to serve as their army.

"After the war began, other churches and armies saw their numbers decrease the more they fought, but the Balam Empire's army saw its numbers increase, and the dead enemy soldiers immediately 'joined' them.

"What's even more terrifying is that their army doesn't need to eat or drink, doesn't have to worry about logistics, and even ordinary weapons can't cause any casualties to them."

As Odysseus described the situation, a feeling of powerlessness gradually filled the hearts of the other members.

They thought about how terrifying it would be to face such an enemy.

At the same time, they all listened very attentively, as if they were hearing the kind of story that had intrigued them as children, and they couldn't help but open their eyes wide and listen quietly.

"And in the early stages of the Pale Age, the Six Gods still didn't react significantly," Odysseus continued. "The conflict between them still lingered on the fact that some gods wanted to obtain the characteristics of the Hades, while the others were unwilling to allow them to do so.

"At the same time, the struggle between the 'Lord of Storms,' the 'Eternal Blazing Sun,' and the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' became extremely intense after the fall of the Trunsost Empire. To many, it seemed impossible for them to join forces.

“The reason I have this conjecture is that that period was called the ‘Pale Age’, and historical eras generally referred to as ‘ages’ tend to last at least several decades.

"That means that for at least several decades, the 'Underworld Emperor' and the 'Original Witch' have been able to do almost anything they wanted in the Northern Continent!"

Magician Fors took a deep breath. Although the Hermit didn't say it explicitly, he was clearly criticizing the actions of the Six Gods.

Klein also lamented: Sometimes I'm not afraid of the enemy being too strong, but I'm afraid that my teammates don't have a common goal. The result is that even though the enemy is not that strong, they can act recklessly.

"I'm not sure exactly where the 'Underworld Emperor' and the 'Original Witch' have captured," Odysseus continued, "but I have received accurate information that the 'Original Witch' had a daughter who died in Trier.

"It is said that the 'Original Witch' also had a huge impact on Trier. I'm not sure about the specific impact, but it is almost certain that Trier was the main battlefield.

"If that happens, it means that most of the densely populated areas in the northern continent have been occupied by them."

Among the four empires in the Northern Continent, the Feysac Empire has the largest area, even exceeding the combined area of the Kingdom of Loen and the Kingdom of Feynaport. However, the Feysac Empire has the smallest population among the four.

If the war spread to Trier, then most of Feynaport and the Takwell Plain of the Kingdom of Loen would basically fall into the hands of the Balam Empire.

These places are all densely populated areas in the northern continent.

Cattleya thought: If that's the case, the "Pale Disaster" is indeed a huge disaster. The Balam Empire rules half of the population of the Northern Continent. Of course, some of them must be dead, and some are still alive.

Audrey and several other members also realized this, and at the same time they found it difficult to imagine what a country would be like where the dead and the living coexisted.
After giving everyone a few seconds to digest the information, Odysseus continued, "Fortunately, the Six Gods finally formed an alliance.

"This should be the third 'Alliance of the Six Gods', and also the last one so far.

"They joined forces to severely damage the 'Underworld Emperor' and the 'Original Witch'. I believe this war between gods should be over in a very short time.

"As a result of the battle, the 'Underworld Emperor' perished on his way back to the Southern Continent, and his fall caused much of the land to sink.

“It is said that during the Quaternary Period, the Southern Continent and the Northern Continent were connected by land, but these lands sank at this time, and the North and South Continents separated.

"At the same time, the barriers between the real world and the underworld were broken in some places, eventually forming the Raging Sea!"

Emlyn exclaimed in surprise: "Is this how the Raging Sea was formed?"

Fors and Audrey were equally surprised, but Klein, Cattleya, and Alger, who were at sea, had all heard of such legends. So, they weren't particularly surprised, but instead felt a sense of fate.

Only "Sun" Derrick didn't know much about these geographies. He didn't know why "Moon" was so surprised?

Odysseus nodded as a response, then continued, "It is said that the Primordial Witch was also severely injured. This injury seems to have triggered other problems in her body, and her condition has not yet fully recovered.

“The Balam Empire suffered heavy losses in this battle, which is why kingdoms like the Highland Kingdom emerged in the southern continent to resist the Balam Empire.

"In the Northern Continent, although the Six Gods were a little late in stopping the Hades, they ultimately ended the disaster, and so people worshipped them as legitimate gods.

"During this battle, the 'God of Craftsmen' stood on the same front as the 'Six Gods' of the time. Therefore, after this battle, he was recognized by the other six gods and became an orthodox god. This is what we now call the 'Seven Gods'.

“However, conflicts between the Seven Gods subsequently erupted again, and the alliance was dissolved. Therefore, the power of the Church and the four nations were unable to pursue them to the Southern Continent.

"Later, the gods entered the astral realm. The power of the church and the four nations was no longer enough to overcome the obstruction of the Raging Sea. Furthermore, they couldn't form a new alliance. As a result, people gradually became accustomed to the feeling that the Northern Continent was the entire world.

"It wasn't until Emperor Roselle found a new route that the northern and southern continents were reconnected."

Odysseus paused for a moment, then continued, "The moment the 'King of Hell' fell, the Fourth Epoch came to an end.

"There are two criteria for the end of the Fourth Epoch. The first is the end of the Pale Scourge, and the rulers of secular governments are no longer gods.

“The second is that the gods have entered the astral realm. True god-level beings rarely appear in the real world.

"The new Fifth Age has arrived. The history since then can basically be found in history textbooks."

The members all breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a thick curtain had fallen. This curtain was the history that was rolling forward, which made people feel nostalgic and heavy.

It took more than ten seconds before the atmosphere eased a little.

At the same time, everyone began to sigh that the "Hermit"'s description was so detailed that it gave them a comprehensive understanding of the history of the Quaternary Period.

Even someone like "Little Sun" Derrick, who had never been exposed to the history of the Fourth Epoch before, was very familiar with it.

After a few moments of inward sighing, he said to the Hermit, "Mr. Hermit, this week I need to trade eight extraordinary weapons, four Ice Bombs, and four Thunderstorm Bombs."

Odysseus nodded: "No problem."

Then he asked, "Why don't you try trading some other weapons? For example, a scroll with the ability of 'invisibility' or 'flight'?"

Derrick's eyes lit up, but then he smiled helplessly and said, "I won't trade it for now. When I need it, I'll find you alone to trade."

Those two weapons are so easy to use and so popular that they are now in great demand.

But Derrick knew that he couldn't let his guard down at this point. He needed to wait before using things like scrolls, otherwise it would still easily arouse everyone's suspicion and vigilance.

"Okay." Odysseus began to calculate: "I still owed you 30 pounds from the last party. I paid 400 pounds for you in this intelligence transaction. The eight extraordinary weapons are 8 pounds, so you need to pay 400 pounds.

"Converted into extraordinary materials, there are exactly 11 pieces of sequence 9 level materials."

Derrick nodded: "Okay."

Odysseus then calculated that after this round of transactions, his inventory had basically been sold. Speaking of which, this inventory was prepared when he, Xio, and Fors were fighting against the enemy's spy organization. For convenience, they had made a large amount at once.

But what I didn't expect was that I had no use for it later on. After I was promoted to Sequence 6 and got a more convenient scroll, I used it even less.

In exchange for the extraordinary materials, Odysseus now has a stable "sales channel". Last week, through the Mysticism Research Society and the Intelligence Exchange Conference, he sold a total of 9 pieces and earned 1350 pounds.

So now the industrial chain has basically been formed, but compared with the money earned from fighting pirates, this is just extra income.

After the two men finished trading extraordinary weapons, Odysseus said, "I need the juice of the Misty Black Birch Tree."

These are the auxiliary materials needed for promotion. Two of the four auxiliary materials required by the "Astrologer" can be obtained from the "Shining Star Tree" and the "Trickery Pegasus" respectively.

The other two are: 50 ml of black peony essential oil and 50 ml of misty black birch sap.

Odysseus cultivated black-veined peonies on the outskirts of Backlund and could make his own essential oil, but the "sap of the misty black birch" needed to be traded.

Cattleya glanced at Odysseus and said, "50 grams, 80 pounds."

Odysseus smiled and said, "Deal."

In the next few seconds, no member initiated a new transaction, and the transaction session of this gathering ended.

During the conversation, Audrey smiled and asked, "Ms. Priestess, Mr. Hermit, is your exploration going smoothly?"

Last week, Odysseus and Cattleya decided to explore an unknown island together to find the main ingredients and properties of the potion they each needed.

Everyone heard it at the time, so Audrey asked this question.

"It went quite smoothly." Odysseus said, "We all got what we needed, and we all had unexpected gains."

Cattleya smiled and said through gritted teeth, "It's quite unexpected."

She had never expected that the demigod that Odysseus had found was actually the "Queen". This really surprised and unexpected her.

Alger, the Hanged Man, thought to himself: Judging from the Priestess's tone, it seems she's been wronged by the Hermit? No way! The Hermit is clearly a Sequence 6.

Audrey also noticed that there was something wrong with the Priestess's tone and expression: "Is the enemy very powerful?"

Odysseus smiled helplessly: "I can only say that the enemy was completely unexpected."

He pinched his forehead and said, "Because this involves the privacy of that demigod, I can't go into too much detail.

"Well, let me share some of what I've learned during my exploration..."

Then Odysseus talked about the ruins and towers on the island. After mentioning that the demigod defeated the "Light of Mystery", he began to greatly simplify the subsequent experiences, and almost only told everyone the final result.

After listening to this, Klein thought: The Hermit had said before that the Stiano family was the family of the "God of Steam and Machinery." Could it be that they encountered the power of the Church of Steam in the remains of this family?

He smiled and thought: It would be fun if while exploring, I could find a workshop of the Steam Church.

Although the other members felt it was a pity that they did not hear the entire process of the exploration, what they heard was quite exciting. At least they knew that there was a stronghold of the Steam Church in the depths of the Violent Sea.

At this time, Cattleya said to Odysseus, "There's one thing I don't quite understand. That island isn't close to the Northern Continent, and the Stiano family's activities seem to have always been in the Northern Continent. Why would they establish a base there?"

"It might be related to the early days when this family was not very powerful." Odysseus guessed: "It's like a secret organization. If they can have a base on the sea, they can avoid a lot of trouble.

"For example, it won't be so easy for the enemy to find it, and it can also accommodate some family members within the family."

Cattleya nodded slowly, thinking that this explanation was quite reasonable.

Then she asked, "What's that 'Pale Age' military station you mentioned earlier? Could you please briefly explain it?"

"Sure." Odysseus was easy to talk to. "That was a commission I received last week, asking me to help find the trace of the 'Skull' pirate map.

"After more than a day of searching, I found the 'Skull' in the 'Dangerous Seas' and tracked it into the 'Dangerous Seas'.

"While chasing the 'Skull', we unexpectedly discovered a ruin on the seabed. Based on the intelligence I obtained earlier, I learned that it was probably a military station from the time of the 'Pale Scourge'.

"It is said that the soldiers inside are all zombies transformed by the 'Underworld Emperor' himself."

Audrey quickly asked, "Have you explored the ruins?"

"No, that's too dangerous."

Fors immediately asked, "Are there any 'soldiers' in there?"

Odysseus took a deep breath and said, "There is more! And it is very powerful! Probably has the ability close to that of a demigod."

He is now thankful that the "elf" has been underwater for more than a thousand years and no longer has the true strength of a demigod.

Otherwise, if a demigod encounters the "sailor" path on the sea, he would be thankful to have time to abandon the ship.

The other members were a little surprised. Judging from the tone of the "Hermit", he must have fought with those "soldiers" before.

Audrey asked with concern, "Are you hurt?"

Odysseus gave a bitter smile and said, "I wasn't injured, but my boat was damaged in quite a few places. It took a day to repair it."

Cattleya sighed inwardly: "The Hermit did a lot last week. Not only did he explore the island with me, but he also had this experience."

Moreover, she is also a captain, and she knows very well the oppressive feeling of encountering a powerful enemy at sea, or being chased by a powerful enemy.

Although the sea looks vast, it is unobstructed and there is no place to hide. Being chased by a powerful enemy would be a disaster.

Alger was concerned about another question: "Are you saying that you followed the 'Skull' into the 'Dangerous Sea'?"

He knew very well that he was a powerful "big pirate" and the "Skull" was also a very powerful ghost ship, which made the captain of the "Skull", Balk, have the strength close to that of a "Pirate General".

"Yes." Odysseus smiled and said, "But I'm not the one chasing him. There's also a 'soldier' from the 'military station' chasing him.

“Later I discovered that if you only saw that military station, you would be chased by the soldiers inside.

"The 'Skull' discovered the 'military station' before me, so they were also chased before me."

Alger was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening. I thought those "soldiers," while powerful, were zombies after all, so I'd just give them a token chase. I didn't expect them to chase for so long! Being chased by a demigod for so long, it's a relief to be able to escape. No wonder the Hermit's ship was damaged.

Thinking of this, he had a new understanding of the strength of the "Hermit".

On the ocean, Sequence 6 of the Sailor Pathway had a greater advantage than Sequence 6 of other paths. Alger had always believed that Hermits going out to sea would be like amateur boxers fighting in a black boxing match, and they would definitely suffer a lot of losses.

But I didn't expect the other party to be so powerful.

Then Alger seemed to realize something and suddenly asked the Hermit, "You said you spent a day repairing the boat?"

Odysseus was stunned for a moment: "Yes."

Alger opened his mouth. He had just landed on a new island in the past two days and obtained a lot of new information.

One of the pieces of information was that Captain Balke of the "Skull" was killed by Captain Gall near Nohaus Island.

It is said that they encountered a storm at that time, but they continued to fight even in the storm. After the battle, the "Argo" was seriously damaged and spent a day on repairs on Northaus Island.

He hadn't thought of this just now because in his impression, the "Hermit" was just a "big pirate" of average strength. It was not until he was sure that the "Hermit" had the ability to catch up with the "Skull" that he thought of this.

Audrey, who was sitting opposite Alger, the Hanged Man, smiled and thought to herself, "Mr. Hanged Man must have guessed the Hermit's identity in the real world."

Then she thought: Mr. "The Hanged Man" looks very surprised, could it be that the "Skull" is very powerful?

Fors, the Magician next to Audrey, also asked after seeing the Hanged Man's reaction, "Mr. Hanged Man, is there anything wrong with Mr. Hermit's boat, which he's been repairing all day?"

Alger smiled and said, "Nothing. I just remembered something else."

"Alright," Odysseus said, "The two members at sea already know my true identity. There's no need to hide it anymore. I am Captain Gar.

"When we meet at sea in the future, we will not regard each other as enemies."

Fors and Emlyn, who didn't know much about the news at sea, still didn't understand what this meant.

Audrey, who was standing by, explained, "I read in the newspaper that Captain Gal has wiped out two large pirate groups in the past two weeks."

"Three." Seeing that the Hermit had given up on hiding anything, Alger shared his information: "He also wiped out the Skeleton pirate group, but this news might not appear in the newspapers until this week."

Audrey was slightly stunned. This was indeed news she didn't know.

Fors didn't think it was a big deal. After all, she had worked with the Hermit before and knew his strength. In her opinion, it wouldn't be difficult for the Hermit to destroy a pirate group.

Emlyn the Moon recalled the news he had heard about the sea and asked, "So he must have received quite a lot of bounty, right? I heard that the bounties for big pirates are quite high."

Odysseus smiled and said, "It's not bad. The crew doesn't have a penny more."

Emlyn nodded without giving it much thought.

But Cattleya and Alger knew that a pirate group's greatest trophy was not the pirate's bounty, but the Beyonder traits, magical items, and the pirate ships used as flagships.

After this topic ended, a few seconds later, "The World" said in a hoarse voice: "I recently discovered that there seems to be a rebellion within the 'School of Life'.

"Members are hunting each other, and it seems some have joined the 'Rose School'."

This was the news he received last week, but some of the information was not very clear at the time. Now that the news is clear, he talked about it during the communication session.

"I've received similar news," Odysseus said, "This rebellion seems to have occurred more than a month ago.

"Members of the Pharmacist Path within the 'School of Life' defected to the 'School of Rose' and collaborated with the 'School of Rose' to assassinate members of the 'School of Life'."

The World hummed. This was similar to the information Klein had received.

At the same time, Klein thought: "The Hermit" certainly doesn't know that this rebellion is because the president of the "School of Life" has entered a new cycle.

Emlyn was also quite concerned about this: "I also heard that their battles seem to mostly take place in the Rorsted Archipelago?"

The vampires are very interested in organizations with the "pharmacist" path, but the "vampires" have almost no power in the Violent Sea because the sunlight there is too harsh and no vampire is willing to stay there.

However, they would also take the initiative to inquire about some news about the Violent Sea, so they probably heard about the rebellion of the "School of Life".

Cattleya and Alger, who were also at sea, were unaware of this matter because they had never specifically inquired about it.

"From what I've learned, this internal conflict is basically over," Odysseus said. "Some members of the 'School of Life' have been killed, and those who survived have gone back into hiding."

Emlyn nodded. This information was very useful to him.

Audrey asked curiously, "Mr. Hermit, what kind of secret organization is the School of Life?"

"The original intention of establishing this organization was to resist the suppression of the Beyonders' living space by the Orthodox Church." Odysseus said, "Because the main members had several paths in the beginning, internal conflicts often occurred.

"But after this rebellion, things should be much better, because this organization's main path for members is reduced to only one: the 'monster' path."

(End of this chapter)