Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 161: The Battle of Cornflower Road
The journey from DeWalker Music Company to Bluebonnet Road was quite long, and it took Roger nearly an hour to get there.

According to the prior agreement, Alice had already been waiting for Roger nearby.

She changed her usual long skirt outfit and put on a rather slim-fitting suit and low boots. The black leather jacket made this elf-like lady look more capable.

"Wow, you look pretty good dressed today."

Roger praised her and casually threw a simple silver ring to Alice.

"Teacher, what is this?"

Alice took the ring and looked at it, feeling quite puzzled.

On the other hand, for some reason she could vaguely feel an urge to possess the ring.

"It's called the 'Stage Ring,' a unique item corresponding to the 'Apprentice' Path, Sequence 8, 'Master of Magic'."

Seeing Alice's eyes light up when she heard this, Roger smiled and continued:

"Because the 'Apprentice' path has little combat power at Sequence 9, you can use it to familiarize yourself with the power of the 'Master of Magic' and gain more combat power.

"You just wear it on your thumb and snap your fingers while thinking of the 'trick' you want to perform."

Because she heard Roger say that a battle might happen today, Alice listened very carefully to Roger's description of the "Master of Magic"'s abilities such as creating fog, electric shock, slipping and freezing, and reinforced her memory several times before nodding, making sure that she was fine.

"Then get on it."

Roger nodded, put on the "parasitic gloves" on his hands just in case, and then took Alice to push open the door of "Pascal's Tavern" at No. 8 Cornflower Road.

This is the exact spot where Marcus Mayer met his sudden death during the "Ghroth Blood Moon" in early July.

He was drinking and watching a dog fighting show at the time, but after the blood moon suddenly appeared, he suddenly started bleeding from his mouth and nose, fell to the ground and died of convulsions.

After the arrival of the Nighthawks, they discovered that Marcus Meyer had the Sequence 6 "Recorder" Beyonder characteristic. They then found a magical item corresponding to the Sequence 7 "Wizard" level of the "Peeper Path" and another magical item corresponding to the Sequence 6 "Mechanical Expert" level of the "Generalist" path in his rented apartment.

Nothing else.

So when Roger saw this information, he still suspected that Marcus Mayer might not have the seal of the Abraham family.

But it was not until he had a deep connection with Fors's bracelet that he realized that this guess was wrong.

Marcus did have in his hand a seal formed by the Sequence 6 Beyonder characteristics that once belonged to the incarnation of Mr. "The Door" Bethel Abraham!
Coincidentally, this contaminated "Recorder" Beyonder characteristic happened to have once belonged to the Beyonder who had created Fors's bracelet.

And the place where he hid the sealed object was the Pascal Tavern where he died suddenly!

Before his promotion to Sequence 6, Marcus had been using this Beyonder Item to forcibly utilize the ability of the "Recorder". However, after his successful promotion, the item was no longer of any use, so he left it with the owner of Pascal's Tavern and entrusted him to sell it on his behalf.

As the door was pushed open with a bang, everyone in the tavern turned to look over.

It was just noon, so there were no customers in the pub.

The six people sitting on the chairs and in front of the bar seemed to be waiters in the pub. Roger could tell from the tattoos and scars on their bodies that they were probably gang members from the East District.

Because Roger pushed the door open so roughly and it was obvious that he was not there to drink, the gang members immediately realized that he was there to cause trouble.

These people looked at Roger and Alice one after another. Two of them looked at Alice quickly, with a hint of evil in their eyes.

“It’s not open yet.”

Behind the bar stood a middle-aged man with long curly hair, wearing a jacket and wiping a wine glass with a cigar in his mouth. He glanced at Roger and Alice and spoke in a cold voice.

"I'm not here to drink."

Roger shook his head.

He moved closer to the bar, rested his elbows on it, and looked at the man with long curly hair.

"You're the boss, right? Then you should know Marcus Mayer."

The tavern owner stared at Roger for two seconds before speaking:
"I don't know this person. You've got the wrong person."

“Marcus stole something from me, and I know you have it.

"I'm here to retrieve that thing. I hope you won't be ungrateful."

Roger seemed to have not heard the tavern owner's words at all and issued his threats on his own.

He judged that the tavern owner had probably become greedy after Marcus's death and wanted to embezzle the extraordinary items that the latter had deposited with him.

You should know that a Sequence 6 level Beyonder item, even if it is contaminated, can be sold at a high price of 5000 gold pounds or more on the black market and in underground Beyonder gatherings!
"You're looking for death, huh? Put your hands up!"

Before the tavern owner could say anything, a tavern waiter behind him shouted loudly.

He pulled a revolver from his waist and pointed it at Roger's head!
When the guy was speaking loudly, Roger clearly felt a sense of pressure coming from his heart.

The pressure grew rapidly along with the sound, shocking Alice so much that she showed a look of fear and stepped back repeatedly!

"arbitrator?"

Roger reacted immediately.

He frowned and pretended to be suppressed, while using his "trouble-maker" ability to hint at Alice and boost her courage.

This made Alice feel better.

She immediately realized that this was the result of Roger's attack, but she did not show any sign of recovery from the shock. Instead, she continued to show pain like Roger did.

Driven by the power of this "arbitrator", the other five people also drew their pistols and pointed them at Roger.

"Three extraordinary people, four ordinary people..."

Roger's eyes moved quickly and he quickly determined the background of the seven people.

He raised his hand awkwardly and said:
"It's all a misunderstanding. Let's talk it out."

"Turn around, don't face our boss."

The "arbitrator" said sternly.

"it is good."

Roger slowly turned around, and the others finally saw his face.

But to their surprise, the handsome face that was originally full of panic and tension suddenly bloomed into a playful smile.

The moment the "arbitrator" saw Roger's expression, he suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

The next moment, the minds of all the bar guys, including him, suddenly "buzzed" and became extremely confused!
Countless impulsive and blind thoughts surged into their minds, causing them to lose consciousness for a short time.

In a trance, they heard the sound of snapping fingers.

"Snapped!"

A thick fog spread out, filling the entire "Pascal Tavern", blocking everyone's vision.

The "arbitrator" tried hard to turn his head to look for Roger and Alice, but suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over his body, as if countless tiny electric currents were filling his body.

The paralyzing effect of the electric current caused his muscles to stiffen, and he quickly lost strength, collapsed to the ground and fainted.

The sound of someone falling to the ground startled the other people in the fog for no reason, but soon a series of sounds of someone falling to the ground followed.

"Five times down..."

The remaining "hunter" quickly estimated in his mind, his heartbeat reached its fastest speed, and all the muscles in his body tensed up.

Suddenly, his nose twitched slightly, as if he had caught a hint of a strange body odor.

Relying on his own reaction speed, the "hunter" immediately turned around and kicked sideways in the direction of the fragrance!
However, the moment he turned around, a strong slippery feeling came from under his right foot, which served as the fulcrum of rotation.

The "hunter" immediately tried to steady himself, but his feet seemed to be greased, and he lost his balance after three consecutive steps and fell directly to the ground.

That familiar body fragrance came again.

The "hunter" immediately rubbed his hands on the wooden floor. After confirming that the friction of his hands was normal, he immediately swung his legs to generate inertia, and then supported the ground with his elbows, and his feet bounced towards the direction where the fragrance came from!

However, to the hunter's surprise, his kick was like kicking cotton.

"???"

He was shocked and wanted to retract his feet, but the reality was not as he wished.

A huge force came from under the "Hunter's" feet, pulling him straight towards the roof.

The next moment, he was hung on the beam by a twisted and hideous mass of flesh and blood, swaying slightly.

The fog also dissipated at this moment, and the "hunter" saw Roger sitting leisurely below and Alice looking up at him.

The boss behind the bar had a dazed look on his face, as if he didn't notice what happened to him at all.

The "hunter" was about to shout loudly to wake up his boss and ask him to come and save him.

But before he could utter a sound, a fascia covered with blood and flesh quickly wrapped around his head, covering his eyes, ears and mouth, completely blocking his hearing, vision and ability to make sounds, leaving only two holes in the nostrils for breathing.

"When facing a Hunter, don't try to fight him in close combat; that's simply using your weaknesses to counter his strengths.

"A 'magic master' must always remember that he is merely the vehicle for various magical tricks, not the protagonist on the 'stage'.

"But the real star is the trick itself... It allows you to stay at a safe distance from the battlefield, and the longer you survive, the more you can do.

"In fact, this is one of the most important things about the 'apprenticeship' pathway in the early stages."

Roger taught carefully that this was exactly what the Abraham family notes recorded about their ancestors' experience in playing the role of "magic master".

I have to say that this experience is full of the strong flavor of "Guosanjia", which takes the concept of long-range harassment as the main method and running away if you can't win to the extreme.

"is teacher."

Alice silently repeated the name of the potion "Hunter" twice in her mind, then bowed her head and responded respectfully.

If Roger had not used the flesh and blood magic to save the situation in time, she would have probably been shot in the head by the counterattack of the "hunter".

Alice, who was extremely frightened at this moment, felt very real when she heard Roger tell her the rules of acting.

At this moment, she felt that her "Apprentice" potion was completely digested!

Roger also guessed this through his "clairvoyance" and Alice's expression changes, and couldn't help but smile.

This is also what he wants to see.

Roger had just deliberately controlled Pascal, the tavern owner with the highest sequence level, and let Alice deal with the remaining five people alone, so that she could gain experience from the battle, and then he would give her guidance and answer her questions.

The teachings from the "mentor" heard after surviving the dangerous edge of death will greatly speed up the digestion of the "apprentice" potion. Considering that Alice's potion digestion is almost complete, it is inevitable that the "apprentice" potion will be completely digested now.

On the other hand, Alice's understanding of the Sequence 8 role-playing rules before her advancement to Sequence 8 would also accelerate her digestion process after taking the potion.

It was like killing two birds with one stone. Roger stood up and took the lit cigar from the mouth of the tavern owner who stood there in a daze.

Then he stretched out his right hand, swung his arm, and slapped the other person in the face with a big slap!

The huge force immediately caused the tavern owner to fly backwards and knock over the wine cabinet behind him.

In an instant, countless wine glasses and bottles fell down and hit the tavern owner.

Under the combined stimulation of pain, dampness and a series of noises, the tavern owner finally came back to his senses from the control of the "shit stirrer".

He was stunned for a moment, and then he saw Roger straighten the wine cabinet, grab his collar and pull himself up!

The tavern owner therefore saw the shameful scene of the tavern being in a mess, with many people lying all over the place, and even a waiter hanging from the beam by a pile of flesh and blood.

"This is……"

As a Sequence 8 "Raging Citizen", the tavern owner had absolutely no chance to "rage" at all. Without him realizing it, the man and woman in front of him outnumbered him, killed all his men, and even captured him!
"Can you answer my question now?"

Roger narrowed his eyes and looked at the tavern owner in front of him.

The tavern owner was sweating profusely and nodded repeatedly.

At this point he already understood that he had met a tough guy today, and the only way to survive was to listen to the other party and answer the other party's questions as much as possible!
"What's your name?"

"Pascal, Blaise Pascal."

The tavern owner spoke hastily.

This name made Roger slightly stunned, because it was pronounced the same as the name of the discoverer of Pascal's theorem.

This reminded him of the pain of learning geometry in middle school, and he couldn't help but increase the strength of his hands, which made Pascal a little confused and begged for mercy repeatedly.

"...Where is that item of Marcus Mayer's?"

Roger asked.

"It's sold. It's sold. It's not with me."

Pascal replied.

"Sold to whom?"

Roger narrowed his eyes.

“My oldest brother, Nicolas Pascal.

"He opened several bars, casinos and dance halls on nearby Varanasi Street,"

Blaise Pascal hastened to describe Nicolas Pascal's situation.

Roger stared at him carefully for a while and made sure that the other party was not lying.

"Who gave you permission to sell the things that customers had left with you?"

Roger suddenly asked this question again.

"me……"

Blaise Pascal sweatdropped again, not knowing how to answer this question.

Roger suddenly felt irritated and wanted to kill Blaise Pascal and his group of lackeys.

This kind of scum is simply the dregs of society who take advantage of others' misfortunes and cheat and deceive people.

Marcus Mayer was already annoyed enough by the fact that someone had stolen the seal from the Abraham family, but Pascal even dared to sell it privately while the other person was dead, forcing him to go back to his elder brother to ask for it. They were a real nest of snakes and rats.

But even though the East District was a region with poor public security in Backlund, killing people in broad daylight would still cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Roger pulled a "celestial" charm with rust-colored eyeballs from his pocket, then released Blaise Pascal and the "hunter" hanging upside down in the air.

Then he threw the talisman into the air and walked out of Pascal's Tavern before it hit the ground.

Hunter and Pascal exchanged a glance, but before they could rejoice, they heard Alice, who had followed Roger out of the tavern, shout in ancient Hermetic:
"Celestial body!"

As the sound rang out, Roger immediately heard the sound of ghosts and wolves howling from the tavern behind him...

"Teacher, what should we do next?"

Alice looked at the angry Roger in front of her and thought for a while before asking in a low voice.

"Come to my house and I'll help you become a master magician. After dinner tonight, come with me to Varanasi Street to find another Pascal... Is your schedule okay?"

"Sure, teacher, I'm on vacation today."

Alice nodded, then lowered her head in thought for a moment before asking:
"Can it be done by just the two of us?"

According to what Blaise Pascal had previously explained, his elder brother, Nicolas Pascal, had many subordinates, including several Sequence 9 to Sequence 8 Beyonders.

"can."

Roger nodded, but after a moment he spoke again:

"You can bring another helper..."

"helper?"

Alice was curious after hearing this, so she asked:
"Is he also your disciple?"

"That's it."

Roger spoke vaguely, hailed a cab, and drove Alice to 15 Minsk Street.

This journey took another hour. When the carriage arrived at Minsk Street, Roger paid the fare and patted Alice, who had fallen asleep.

"arrive."

Alice came to her senses, got out of the car quickly, and then looked curiously at the gray wooden house in front of her.

"This is the teacher's home..."

She muttered to herself and followed Roger through the door.

"Luo..."

When Bandit saw Roger coming back, he just stretched himself, but suddenly saw Alice with her eyes wide open behind him.

The cat suddenly closed its mouth and opened its eyes wide.

It didn't expect that its owner would suddenly bring back someone it didn't know, so it subconsciously opened its mouth and spoke to the other person!
Judging from the behavior of the lady in black in front of her, she obviously noticed this.

"Cat cat cat cat talking???"

Alice was obviously frightened and she stammered.

Roger sighed and said with a smile:

"Don't be surprised, in a sense it is still your 'senior brother'.

Then he introduced to Bandit:

"This is Alice, my apprentice."

Hearing this title, Bandit immediately realized that this was the fellow from Ahowa County that Roger and Klein had talked about earlier, who had cured his sleepwalking with Roger's help and became his "apprentice."

It proudly raised its tail, the tip of which trembled slightly, and said in a somewhat arrogant tone:
"Hello newbie, my name is Bandit, and I'm a powerful 'astrologer'."

Astrologer? Astrologer cat?
Alice was a little confused. She tried to calm down for a while, then sat on the ground and shook hands with Bandit.

“Please give me more advice.

"By the way, I never thought that the cats you raised were all Sequence 7 Beyonders. Oh no, Beyonder cats..."

Alice couldn't help but think of the Sequence 9 and Sequence 8 Beyonders in Pascal's Tavern just now, and felt extremely torn apart.

"You'll get used to it. The helper I was talking about was Bandit."

Roger came down from upstairs carrying a bunch of equipment and answered with a smile.

Ignoring Alice's renewed surprise, he placed the beaker on the stand, lit the alcohol lamp, and placed a pile of materials on the table.

"You've already seen the recipe for the 'Master of Magic' potion. This time, you'll prepare it yourself, just like I did for the 'Apprentice' potion last time."

Roger pointed to the table. He planned to let Alice prepare the potion herself.

"it is good."

Alice nodded, and she recalled what Roger had done last time and the magic potion formula of the "Master of Magic", and began to work step by step.

When she added the soul-eater's stomach and 20 ml of deep-sea marlin's blood into the beaker, the liquid in the beaker immediately coagulated and turned into a rather nice-looking mass of colloid.

After getting Roger's nod of confirmation, Alice used an insulated glove to pour the potion into a bowl that Roger had prepared in advance, and then drank it in one gulp.

"Meditation, meditation."

Bandit jumped to Alice's side and took the initiative to guide her in meditation.

Roger watched quietly from the side, ready to help at any time.

Fortunately, Bandit's guidance was reliable, and Alice opened her eyes after a while.

"Teacher, I was promoted successfully."

Alice smiled at Roger.

Not only that, because of the "Magic Master" acting rules that Roger had told her earlier, Alice immediately felt that the potion was obviously digested.

With a snap of her fingers, the first floor of No. 15 Minsk Street was immediately filled with fog.

Because she had used the "Stage Ring" before, Alice was able to use the corresponding ability with ease after becoming a true "Master of Magic".

For a moment, there was thunder and the sound of flames in the living room, which was as dazzling as a real stage effect.

At this moment, the sound of a door opening was heard.

Because of the imbalance in air pressure, the wind outside immediately took away most of the fog in the living room.

Klein, wearing a half-high silk hat and carrying a package, was petrified when he saw Alice, whose hand was emitting sparks and the other was emitting flames. Her figure was still a little blurry in the mist that had not yet completely dissipated.

Alice had the same reaction.

The two were stunned and silent for a moment, then spoke at the same time:
"Excuse me... who are you?"

(End of this chapter)