Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery.

Chapter 377 Audrey's Great Adventure

Audrey looked at the "Lieutenant General of Disease" in front of her. While she was impressed by the lady's beauty, she also felt that the way she looked at her was a little strange.

Odysseus's reaction was even stranger, as if his conspiracy had succeeded.

Odysseus crossed his legs and smiled, "Now we can talk about where the operation will be taking place in a few days?"

"In...you go to the North District of Bayam..." "Lieutenant General of Disease" Tracy stammered for a few words, and then seemed to come back to her senses: "Three days later, you go to the Sea Lion Bar in the North District of Bayam and tell the bartender that the mermaid introduced you.

"He'll take you to the backyard of the bar, and you just follow the people in the backyard."

After she finished speaking, she realized belatedly that what she had just said was confidential and she should have avoided telling this beautiful lady about it. However, she seemed to have not thought of this at all.

Odysseus looked at the other man's distracted look and felt secretly happy. "I understand. I will go to the Sea Lion Bar you mentioned around nine o'clock in the morning three days later. Please be prepared."

Next, Odysseus began to chat with the other party.

Tracy was absent-minded at first, and later she became restless and unable to sit still.

Because she wanted to strike up a conversation with Audrey at first, but Audrey's temperament and appearance made her hate her current situation. In the end, she felt that her appearance and behavior were not as good as Audrey's, and she felt ashamed.

Odysseus felt that he had exceeded his goal, and the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up slightly as he continued to chat about some meaningless things.

He knew very well that he had destroyed a "witch" today.

What Tracy hated at this moment was that she had become a woman and missed out on the beauty of Audrey. What made her even more helpless was that even if she had not become a woman, the beauty of Audrey would not belong to her.

What made her lose all confidence was that even though she was a "witch", she had no advantage in front of Audrey.

To put it bluntly, Odysseus brought Audrey here today to demonstrate against the "Witch Sect" and to defeat their proud beauty obtained through potions with real beauty.

By the time Tracy realized what was happening, she quickly found an excuse and ran away.

After Tracy left, Audrey looked at Odysseus and asked, "Did you just take advantage of me?"

"How did I use you?" Odysseus smiled and said, "Just now you were just sitting there quietly. I didn't ask you to speak or do anything.

"Or you can tell me yourself, what did I ask you to do?"

Audrey straightened her back. "Your body movements and repetitive words just now all show that you feel guilty."

Odysseus took a sip of tea before saying, "I'm sorry, I have to admit that I was distracted just now because I was thinking about whether to take you to fight pirates or to visit the giant guards on the island."

"Don't interrupt!" Audrey puffed up her lips unladylike, about to express her anger seriously. But after hearing Odysseus's advice, her puffed-up lips immediately relaxed: "What giant?"

Odysseus lamented that this noble lady still hadn't suffered enough from society's harsh treatment. He smiled and said, "Of course, it's a giant three or four meters tall with vertical pupils!"

Audrey opened her mouth and said, "Can we visit the giant first and then fight the pirates?"

"Of course." Odysseus said immediately.

The anti-pirate project was something Odysseus had just added to Audrey's roster because he felt she had accomplished her mission very well.

He looked at Audrey and said, "You're so beautiful. You have to disguise yourself. Otherwise, I'll be very busy at work when you get out."

Audrey was slightly stunned: "Didn't you just say that I didn't need to pretend?"

As a result, Odysseus simply said: "You heard wrong."

Audrey said, "Susie, you heard that just now, right?"

The golden retriever was stunned. He didn't expect the two people's quarrel to suddenly involve him. He had no choice but to open his mouth and said: "Woof!"

"Just now." Odysseus had forgotten that there was such a witness, and then he said seriously: "The person you just saw was the 'Pirate General', how could he be the same as an ordinary pirate?

"Come on, I'll help you."

But what made Odysseus feel helpless was that even after he helped to disguise herself for a long time, the situation of this noble lady still did not improve much.

No matter how hard he tried, Audrey could always show her beautiful side from different directions.

This made Odysseus a little jealous: "That's it."

Just as they were about to leave, the secretary came to report that Mr. Tim wanted to see him.

Tim was an officer sent by the Navy to monitor the "Sword of Dawn". Later, after the Navy replaced the admiral, Tim had to rely more on Odysseus in order to keep his current military position.

Because only Odysseus needs Tim, and the Navy needs Tim.

So the naval officer became active and hoped to enter the core circle of "Sword of Dawn".

But Odysseus didn't trust him very much, so he could only keep assigning him some unimportant tasks.

However, since the other party requested a meeting, Odysseus still had to meet him, because the navy might have some new ideas.

He explained to Audrey, "This is a very special subordinate of mine. It might be something important, so I need to meet him first."

Audrey said "Oh" and sat down on the sofa again, signaling Odysseus to go ahead and do his thing.

The secretary took another look at the beautiful lady. Her fair face had many more freckles and a birthmark than before.

But these things that are annoying on other people's faces become very beautiful on this lady's face, and it seems that every freckle is in the right place.

Tim entered the office and smiled, "Captain."

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the unusually beautiful lady sitting on the sofa, and wondered about the relationship between her and the captain.

Odysseus made a "please sit down" gesture and said: "I heard from Salina that you are very serious about your work."

He almost forgot what the exact task he assigned to Tim was, so his praise was so vague.

Tim was somewhat flattered: "No, no, I still hope I can do better, but unfortunately my ability is limited."

Then he said, "However, I have recently found an important clue regarding the mission you assigned me, and I urgently need your help."

"Oh?" Odysseus remembered that the task he gave Tim was to find out where the extraordinary characteristics of the three indigenous tribes in the mountains came from?

As Odysseus further developed Cruz Island, more and more jobs were provided, and more and more indigenous people left their villages to look for job opportunities outside.

Odysseus has assigned professional staff to provide free training to the natives, first learning the Loen language, and then learning some common sense of modern society.

Thanks to products like the "smart helmet", the training was carried out very quickly.

Some time ago, Odysseus's subordinates heard from the natives who went out to work that the leaders of the three tribes in the mountains were all extraordinary people!
Among these three tribes, the Tailang and Gelang tribes have established good cooperative relations with the outside world, while the Pulang tribe on the west side of the island has only established simple connections with the town government of Odysseus to conduct small-scale transactions.

Odysseus guessed that since the leaders of the tribes were extraordinary people, there should be more than one extraordinary person in these three tribes.

And there is also the question of where their extraordinary characteristics come from?
Originally, Odysseus guessed that it was taken from invaders from the northern continent, but after a little investigation, it seemed that no extraordinary invaders had ever come to this island.

Tim happened to be free at this time, so he sent Tim to investigate.

Now this idle move has paid off.

On the sofa nearby, Audrey heard words like "mission" and "important clues" and secretly pricked up her ears to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two people.

Tim continued, "I found out that the Pulang tribe in the far west believes in an evil god called the 'God of No Light'..."

Odysseus was stunned: "The God without Light?"

This name doesn't sound like a serious deity.

"Yes." Tim said, "After many unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the Pulang tribe, I used the 'Wisdom Helmet' to learn the language of the local indigenous people and quietly sneaked into the western part of the island.

"I originally thought they worshipped darkness, but it turns out they're sacrificing their sight to the 'God of No Light' and trying to live in a dark environment.

“Many people of the Pulang ethnic group usually live with their eyes closed.

"The closer you get to the west bank, the more fanatics there are. They wear eye patches day and night, and some even gouge out their eyes and offer them as sacrifices to their gods."

After hearing this, Audrey, who was sitting on the sofa, had already concluded that the so-called "God without Light" must be an evil god.

Odysseus listened quietly. He had secretly observed the indigenous tribes on the island before and remembered that some people seemed to wear eye patches during the day.

But at that time he didn't think it was an eye mask, but thought it was some strange local ornament, and didn't pay much attention to it.

He had never imagined that this was related to the belief in evil gods.

Then Odysseus recalled the rocks with strange powers that he, Klein, and others had encountered on the island. He seriously suspected that the indigenous people of the Pulang tribe were believing in something contaminated by the foreign gods.

"I realized something was wrong," Tim continued, "so I broke some rules and arrested a few fanatics and interrogated them..."

Odysseus once made clear regulations that the indigenous people on the island enjoy the basic right to life, and after leaving the village and going out to work, they will further enjoy the rights and interests of Cruz Island citizens.

Therefore, the natives cannot be beaten or arrested at will. When Tim said this, he was also reporting the matter to the captain. He estimated that the captain would not hold him responsible.

Odysseus really didn't care too much about this matter and motioned Tim to continue.

Tim continued, "...From the interrogation, we learned that the Pulang Tribe does have several Beyonders, but their Sequences are not very high.

"The Beyonder characteristics they use are actually obtained from the sea. According to the captives I captured, miracles began to occur after they began to believe in the 'God of No Light.'

“Sometimes some sea monsters would attack them for no reason. After killing the sea monsters under the guidance of the gods, they would gain some extraordinary characteristics.

“However, they don’t have a specific concept of extraordinary characteristics, but rather say that it is a gift from the gods.

"Then, the priests and clan leaders among them, without any supporting materials, devour those characteristics. According to a priest I captured, the probability of turning into a monster during this process is not high, but it is very easy to become bloodthirsty, violent, and completely insane."

Audrey had been listening intently, and now she guessed: So the sequences of those characteristics should not be high, um, maybe only low sequences. I heard that the sequence 9 characteristics, when taken without auxiliary materials, have a high probability of successful promotion.

Tim continued, "But they don't have a clear idea of the exact years, and can't say how long they've believed in the 'God of No Light'.

"But based on their description, it seems to have been a long, long time."

He paused and continued, "Also, I've received an important piece of information. The God of No Light seems to be a little restless recently, and it's said that something terrible is going to happen.

“So this ‘Lightless Festival’… well, it’s a festival of the Pulang people. Every year they offer sacrifices to their gods on this day.

"They plan to offer more sacrifices for this year's 'Lightless Festival'. If their offerings fail to satisfy the 'Lightless God', they even plan to capture some natives from other tribes for sacrifice.

"Because there might be bloodshed, I rushed here to report immediately after receiving the news."

Odysseus asked, "When is the 'Sunless Festival'?"

"It's today."

"Today?" Odysseus was stunned.

He pondered for a moment, then said to the sofa, "The mission of fighting pirates has changed. We're now exploring the mysterious tribe deep within the island and uncovering their evil beliefs."

Audrey continued to stand up immediately and said, "Okay!"

At this point she couldn't wait to set off.

The conversation between the two people made Tim a little confused about what it meant.
Then Odysseus took out the "Staff of Guth" and the leather bag containing the scrolls from the "Wild Land of Knowledge". As he fastened his belt, he asked Tim: "I remember you are the 'Corrupted Baron', right?"

Tim was stunned for a moment, but then seemed to realize something. He couldn't hide his joy and said, "Yes."

Odysseus continued, "Have you got the formula for the Sequence 5 potion?"

"Not yet," Tim said immediately.

Normally the military would inform people of the promotion ceremony and give them the potion directly.

"The merits you've accumulated from this investigation are enough for you to obtain the potion formula for the Mentor of Chaos," Odysseus asked. "Do you want the formula? Or the gold pound reward?"

"I want the recipe!" Tim answered without hesitation.

If he were promoted to Sequence 5, he wouldn't have to worry about his official position and status in the military.

"Okay." Odysseus said, "I'll give you the recipe as soon as I get back.

"If you continue to perform well in the next operation, you will gain merit. When you have enough merit, you can obtain the extraordinary characteristic of 'Chaos Mentor' from me." He currently has two copies of the extraordinary characteristic of 'Chaos Mentor', one for the first mate and one for Tim.

Tim beamed: "Yes!"

If that were the case, he wouldn't mind being a pirate forever.

What also made him excited was that the rewards given by Odysseus were an affirmation of him and a sign that he was regarded as an official member of the "Sword of Dawn".

Then the head of the "Staff of Gus" in Odysseus's hand lit up, and he "reproduced" the ability of "earth escape", taking Tim, Audrey and Susie with him, and sank into the ground.

Two seconds later, Odysseus and others appeared on the mountain west of Cruz Island.

The entire Cruz Island is plain only in the southern and eastern coastal areas, while the rest of the island is mountainous.

The area of this island is actually not small, and there are many people hidden in the mountains.

On the mountain where Odysseus and others are, you can see several of the westernmost Pulang villages. One of the villages is quite large and should be the village where the chief lives.

Because this island is in the tropics, it looks lush with vegetation at first glance, but the houses in the village, some farmlands that are basically integrated with nature, and the people picking and working all remind Odysseus and others of the transformation of this island by humans.

When Tim saw this location, he immediately understood that the captain had come to observe the Pulang people before.

Odysseus asked Tim: "Does the Pulang tribe have any sacred places or altars?"

Generally speaking, there are these two places in areas where there is worship of evil gods.

The former is generally where the evil god first appeared, while the latter is where the evil god often appears now.

"Yes," Tim reported immediately, "The Pulang tribe has a sacred site in the cave over there. It's said to be guarded by hundreds of people. And they are all specially allowed to keep their eyes open.

"The altar is on a cliff. It's said to be guarded. But since I wasn't very familiar with the area and was alone, I didn't go exploring."

Odysseus said "hmm", then used the "invisibility" and "silence" skills, and said to them: "We are now invisible.

"Besides, the voices we spoke to each other were only heard by a few of us. If we hadn't shouted, it would have been difficult for others to detect us."

Audrey smiled and said, "It's amazing."

She knew that Odysseus was now a demigod and was not surprised by such abilities.

Susie uttered a "woohoo" sound, indicating her agreement with Audrey.

Tim also sighed: "It's amazing."

There was a hint of surprise in his tone, as if this was beyond the capabilities of a Sequence 5.

But he didn't quite dare to believe that Odysseus had been promoted to a demigod.

In the navy, anyone who is a demigod is at least a lieutenant general, and with a little merit he can be promoted to admiral.

Odysseus once again used his "earth escape" ability and came to the cave that Tim mentioned. There were indeed twenty or thirty natives guarding outside the cave entrance. There was also a camp not far away, and there seemed to be dozens of people in the camp.

Moreover, the area in front of the cave is very clean, with only a few big trees.

This avoids exposing your tracks by walking through weeds.

Odysseus walked openly past the native guards on guard and strode towards the cave. Audrey and Tim, who rarely stayed invisible, seemed to be feeling guilty as they walked.

"Mr. 'Admiral of Mystery'." Just as Odysseus was about to enter the cave, he heard Audrey calling him softly.

He looked back and saw that Audrey and Tim had stopped, and the big dog Susie, who was walking at the end, was like she had stepped on a landmine and dared not move.

Because this native who was only wearing a coarse cloth skirt was staring at Susie's position, as if he had discovered the big golden dog.

At this time, Audrey whispered again: "That seems to be an 'audience'."

Odysseus smiled and said in a normal voice, "Have some faith in my 'witchcraft'. No one will hear me if I speak normally."

Audrey quickly looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the natives around her really didn't react.

In fact, Sequence 6 level "Psychological Invisibility" is enough to completely hide oneself.

It's just that Audrey has never used it before, so she is not used to the invisible state.

Odysseus looked at the native, who seemed to have indeed noticed some changes in the road surface in front of him, but from his perspective, there was nothing there, so he just stared.

Odysseus thought about it for a while, then suddenly waved his hand and used a "magic" to blow the wind. A gust of wind blew out from the air, causing the natives to close their eyes one after another, including the "audience".

At the same time, Odysseus waved to Susie, and the dog immediately understood and ran quickly to the cave entrance. The few of them entered the cave safely.

In fact, even if these natives discovered Odysseus and his men, Odysseus had plenty of ways to prevent them from making further reactions, but if that happened, the atmosphere of adventure would be gone.

The environment inside the cave is relatively dry and there are not many people inside, so it is safer than outside.

Audrey whispered to Odysseus, "Why don't you use your ability to move quickly underground and appear directly in the cave?"

"Because I'm not sure if this cave is safe." Odysseus said, "This is the safest way to enter."

Audrey was stunned for a moment, feeling that her adventuring experience was somewhat insufficient. She had not thought of such a simple truth.

After giving a brief explanation, Odysseus explored the way ahead and went deep into the cave.

After walking for a while, murals appeared on the cave wall.

The painting style of these murals is very simple, but they use white, black and red colors and simple lines to outline vivid pictures.

The main subject of the first picture is a few red eyes piled together. Because the painting is so vivid, Odysseus and others even feel that those eyes are staring at them, the invaders who broke into the holy land.

In front of this group of red eyes, there are several figures made of lines, worshiping the eyes.

Odysseus immediately understood that these eyes were the "God without Light".

He continued to look at a few more murals and roughly understood that this was a record of the island's indigenous people's belief in the "God without Light".

While reading, Odysseus was explaining to Audrey, who was having a hard time understanding the simple murals, "The following paintings are saying that if you see the 'God of No Light', you're likely to develop a strange disease.

"Of course, the so-called strange disease is likely contaminated by the 'God of No Light'. The natives on the island have no concept of being contaminated by extraordinary things, so they use the word 'disease' to describe the phenomenon they see."

Audrey opened her mouth, because the so-called "way to describe 'illness'" was a few simple figures, some holding their heads, some coughing. Their simple facial features outlined an expression of pain.

Without Odysseus's explanation, she would have had no idea what it meant.

Tim was also listening quietly with an expression of "I see".

Odysseus continued to explain, "The mural behind this one has a cross over the eyes. The cross has similar functions in different civilizations. When placed in a series of murals, it can be understood that the indigenous ancestors of Cruz Island realized that they could not look the 'God of No Light' in the eye.

"Then the 'God of No Light' dived into the sea from this cave and would surface on a fixed day every year. The natives would take advantage of this time to offer sacrifices to the 'God of No Light'.

“They didn’t know how long the sacrifice lasted, but they discovered that the ‘God of No Light’ really liked eyes… well, without eyelids, which probably means eyeballs.

"So they collected all kinds of eyeballs and offered them as sacrifices to the gods. Some people even dug out their own eyes as sacrifices.

"The three indigenous tribes on Cruz Island have existed for a long time. They once fought over the right to offer sacrifices to the 'God of No Light'.

"At this time, God's gift appeared. A conch, which was not very powerful, brought the first extraordinary characteristic.

"Later, some Beyonders and other sea monsters brought Beyonder traits. After acquiring those traits, they gained Beyonder powers.

"The battle between the three tribes became increasingly bloody, and in the end the Pulang tribe emerged victorious, gaining the permanent power of the priest, the God of No Light.

"The other two tribes initially joined forces to deal with the Pulang tribe. Later, over time, they gradually stopped believing in the 'God of No Light'. However, the hostility towards the Pulang tribe remained, so their relations were not very harmonious.

"The Pulang tribe's sacrifices have never ceased, and the 'God of No Light' still appears periodically."

The mural ends here. After Odysseus finished speaking, he pinched his chin and fell into deep thought.

After a while, Tim suddenly said, "What has this 'Lightless God' brought to the natives? He hasn't made the Pulang tribe stronger enough to completely conquer the other two tribes.

"After the other two tribes stopped believing in him, they didn't suffer any divine punishment."

"I guess the 'God of No Light' is in very bad condition." said Odysseus.

His condition is worse than that of "Poseidon" Kalvetuwa, and his level does not seem to be as high as Kalvetuwa.

Otherwise, after reaching Sequence 3, the natives' prayers would be directed towards this evil god. Even if the other two tribes did not win the right to worship the "God of No Light", their faith would not be interrupted within such a close range. They would each build an altar and perform their own sacrifices.

Odysseus thought for a moment and said, "I am more inclined to believe that the 'Lightless God' has not brought much influence to the local indigenous people, and the Pulang people's belief in it is more like a spiritual sustenance.

"Those fanatics might have been influenced by the 'God of No Light'. After all, this evil god is more like a monster and might be spreading some spiritual pollution.

"Of course, they could also be artificially created by the priests to protect their own status."

Tim and Audrey both showed puzzled expressions. The first part of Odysseus' words was easy to understand, but what did the second part mean?
Odysseus did not give any further explanation. After all, in a theocratic world, most people would not question the legitimacy of theocracy, even if it was the theocratic power of an evil god.

Odysseus then said to Tim, "This problem is not difficult to solve. Since today is the 'Lightless Festival', the Pulang people will hold a corresponding sacrifice. Let's go and take a look.

"If possible, just kill this evil god."

If the "small one" can't do it, you can let the "big one" take action.

In short, under the rule of Odysseus, or in the territory of the evil god "Lord of Mysteries", such evil gods of unknown origin are not allowed to exist.

So after roughly determining the direction, Odysseus used "earth escape" again, and several people came to a mountain near the west coast.

Thousands of people had gathered on the cliff at the foot of the mountain, worshiping devoutly. Some of the priests were dancing with very tribal characteristics, while others were slaughtering prey, digging out fresh eyeballs and placing them on the altar on the edge of the cliff.

At this time, there were already a small pile of eyeballs, and the prey was almost killed, but the "God of No Light" had not appeared yet.

Odysseus and his two companions, along with their dog, noticed that all participants in the ceremony were devout believers, or fanatics. Most of them had empty eyes, and they must have been sacrificed to the "God of No Light" in a previous sacrifice.

Odysseus put his hands behind his back and said, "Wait a moment."

The priests seemed tireless and kept dancing, making the sacrifice look quite pious.

About half an hour later, the prey was killed, and the priests suddenly howled, their dance looked more exaggerated, and the spells they chanted became louder.

At this time, a believer wearing an eye patch came forward, took off his eye patch, saluted the sea devoutly, took out a scimitar, and dug out one of his eyes without hesitation.

Audrey, who saw all this, couldn't help but cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.

The intense pain forced the believer to take difficult steps and place his eyes on the altar.

Then he picked up the scimitar again, and as if with a great determination, gouged out the other eye.

The pain made him faint, and blood splattered all over his face.

Two priests dragged him away and threw him carelessly under the altar.

Then, another devout believer came forward, took off the blindfold, and repeated the previous believer's process.

"Goddess," Audrey said, "Before, I only heard how bloody the sacrifices to the evil god were. Today, I truly understand its depth."

Odysseus thought to himself: There are even bloodier things.

Audrey then asked, "Why did they gouge out their eyes?"

"If I understand correctly," Odysseus said, "they thought that sacrificing only the eyes of their prey wasn't pious enough, so the gods didn't appear. So they began sacrificing human eyes."

Audrey gasped. "So, this sacrifice will continue until the so-called 'God without Light' appears?"

"Yes," Odysseus replied.

Then he looked towards the sea: "The God without Light is coming."

Audrey looked towards the distant sea, as if something huge was rising from the bottom of the sea.

(End of this chapter)