Chapter 1368: Presence of the Sixth
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It didn’t take long for the news to reach Rhode’s ears. The reason was simple: the entire front broke into an uproar.
Over at the side of the Country of Darkness, after Erin’s investigation, they were surprised to find out that such an incident had happened more than once. Not only did it happen to Erin, but the players in charge of the factories for the magical cannons also encountered something similar.
The method was the same: the other party disguised themselves as Canary, Mini Bubble Gum, or Erin, and inquired details and information. Since it wasn’t too big of a deal to begin with, and the other party didn’t reveal any flaw, so no one gave much thought about it.
If it weren’t for Erin, Canary, and Mini Bubble Gum, who were certain that they hadn’t been in the specific places at those times, even they would have wondered if they had misremembered. But after careful investigation, including inferences of time and everyone’s recollection, they confirmed that someone had disguised as them to steal information.
But what was most frustrating was that the other party apparently disguised as Mini Bubble Gum a lot more as opposed to Canary and Erin. It seemed like the other party also knew that Mini Bubble Gum was a delusional brat, and no one would comment anything even if she didn’t make sense in her words.
If the other party disguised as Canary or Erin, perhaps more suspicions would arise. On the other hand, everyone was aware of Mini Bubble Gum’s character. It wasn’t surprising to see her get carried away by a whim. Hence, disguising as Mini Bubble Gum and retrieving information was deemed as the little rascal being mischievous as usual and there was nothing to be concerned about.
After all, if Mini Bubble Gum were to learn that one spoke behind her back, she would definitely give one a hard time. Besides, there were two Mini Bubble Gums around, so even if a third were to appear, it wouldn’t arouse any suspicion.
It turned out that the other party had a clever mind. However, timing wasn’t on their side as they just had to disguise as Mini Bubble Gum and let Canary encounter her. One had to know that Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were closer to each other than most sisters.
Moreover, it seemed like the other party was able to copy Mini Bubble Gum’s appearance, but failed to duplicate her memories. Furthermore, Mini Bubble Gum loved speaking nonsense, so even if the other party disguised her appearance perfectly, they wouldn’t be able to speak about EXP, AoE, and whatnot like a true player.
On the contrary, the other party speaking too normally was the main reason why Canary felt dubious. Because unlike the others, Mini Bubble Gum had a sense of superiority as a ‘player’. It was like a person from a developed country coming to a developing country and watching the group of people speaking in a native dialect and fiddling in amazement with things that they were already sick of looking at.
The feeling of superiority was over the roof. Besides, the situation was also like when two people were in a foreign country, hearing a native accent always made them feel more intimate and familiar. In front of Canary and others, Mini Bubble Gum behaved the same as chatting in the game. Sometimes, she would even say some abbreviations like ‘LOL’ or ‘LMAO’ on a whim, just to bully the natives who couldn’t understand what she was saying.
One had to admit that such childishness was her trademark and no one could learn it. Hence, although the other party learned her mannerisms and tone perfectly, the Martian language couldn’t be learned. This was what caused Canary to be suspicious; otherwise, she wouldn’t have thought about it.
Of course, the two Mini Bubble Gums stamped their feet in rage after they heard this news and swore to find and pull out the bones of that bast*rd. However, everyone knew that they didn’t really mean it. For one to be able to pa.s.s through the dragon soul enchanted field set up by Erin and escape the detection of Canary, they were definitely not on a level the two Mini Bubble Gums could handle.
At the same time, similar news came from several other places as well. The dark elves had a fuzzy relations.h.i.+p with the Country of Darkness. But now, Angelina was considered Nell’s superior, so after the former gave an order, the latter and the dark elves noticed some movements in this regard using their incredible means of investigation, which weren’t inferior to the Country of Darkness.
The only issue was that the other party kept a low-profile in the underground (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that no one was more delusional than Mini Bubble Gum in the entire Dragon Soul Continent). In the middle of the investigation, if it weren’t for Nell discovering that the other party disguised as her and headed to the war room while she was having a break, perhaps she wouldn’t have noticed any problem.
As for Lydia’s side, things also turned out the same. After all, Lydia and Erin were best friends, so after hearing Erin’s reminder, Lydia also traced back quickly and was surprised to find that her side had been infiltrated too. However, the other party didn’t use Lydia’s appearance much. It also seemed very clear to them that the archangel’s high profile apparently wasn’t suitable for the job.
Thus, Gaya was the one who was unlucky. She was the commander in chief of the floating fleet, so inspections all-over were indispensable. Besides, she and Lydia were very close, so it didn’t raise any suspicion even if she were to investigate anything at Lydia’s side. As a result, this left Gaya feeling incredibly frustrated.
As for the Void Territory, the situation wasn’t any better. Anne, Lize, and Marlene were responsible for the front line of the Void Territory. Anne was the first to hear about this news. She yelled about catching the spy and brought Lapis with her to investigate since Lize was busy. As a result, Lize was astounded to find that her side was also infiltrated. The other party disguised as Anne and herself and had wandered around the front line for days! On the other hand, the other party didn’t disguise as Lapis, perhaps due to the fact that she rarely headed out, so it wasn’t easy for them to take advantage of her.
Although these investigations were done privately, the leaders on all sides were well aware. Thus, after summarizing the situation, the entire front broke into an uproar instantly. Although an investigation had been conducted so far, it could be seen that the other party had at least gotten all of the important information about the layout, rotation, and supplies of the defensive lines. It could also be said that most of the secrets on their side were no longer secrets.
But fortunately, based on the results of the investigation from all sides, the operation was apparently run by only one person since the timing of the investigation was also sequential. At first, while the battle was chaotic, the mysterious person sneaked into the battle line of the Void Territory. After the battle stabilized, the person slipped into the Country of Light, followed by the Country of Law, and then the Country of Darkness. The results of the investigation on the side of the Country of Law weren’t out yet. But all parties agreed that it was definitely impossible for the Country of Law to be spared.
What puzzled the crowd was who that person was and what exactly he or her was planning to do with the information. No one thought that the person belonged to the camp of Chaos. After all, the invaded places were top secret areas of the various fronts like Erin’s manor with the dragon soul enchanted field she set up personally.
Even if Chaos broke through the defensive lines, her manor would be the last to fall. Order and Chaos opposed each other, so even if the person were a Chaos mutant from Earth, it wouldn’t be possible for him or her to be so G.o.dlike under the power of pure Chaos. Therefore, that person could only belong to the side of Order and was a very powerful existence.
But even so, this still couldn’t explain why that person was secretly gathering information. And now that almost all the forces in the Dragon Soul Continent had been mobilized, there was basically no such thing as a sect that had been hidden for a thousand years or whatnot. So what was this person trying to do by gathering this information?
Things had come to such a point that it was difficult to not let Rhode know about it. Everyone knew that he was currently supporting the Holy Sword Barrier and mustn’t be distracted, which was why no one told him yet. Despite that, Rhode was used to mult.i.tasking and naturally sensed the commotions on all the battlefronts.
After learning the situation, his heart sank. After all, this matter was too strange. Putting aside who that person was, the fact that he or she was able to pa.s.s through the defenses freely was worrisome enough. Gracier’s and Madaras’s ‘Stealth’ was powerful, but it was impossible for them to conceal their presence from beings at the level of Creator Dragons. Otherwise, the white elves wouldn’t have become extinct in the Creation War.
With that said, this mysterious person was stealthier than the Carlesdine’s ‘Stealth’ and went undetected before the eyes of Erin, one of the Creator Dragons. In the end, Canary didn’t discover anything odd due to the person’s strength and aura, but solely due to the ‘telepathy’ she had with Mini Bubble Gum. This was too ridiculous. If that person was so powerful, would his side still be safe? The only thing Rhode was certain of was that the person didn’t disguise as Karin. But what about the rest of the people?
Currently, Rhode and his younger sister couldn’t get away; one of them was responsible for the Holy Sword Barrier, and the other had to use the Door of Akasha to open the plane channel. However, there was no need for him to worry, because since they dared to focus on their task with full attention, they must have someone to fall back on. And it wasn’t like the seven deity wardens existed for nothing.
Thus, after learning about this matter, Rhode immediately threw this matter to Christie.
But what exceeded his imagination was that the matter was resolved faster than he had thought. On the second day after he handed the case to Christie, he learned the answer.
“Deity warden?”
Upon hearing the answer, even Rhode was slightly distracted. But fortunately, it didn’t affect the Holy Sword Barrier too much. And after seeing his expression, Christie nodded with a smile.
“Yes, Master. If we’re not mistaken, the one who appeared on the battle line earlier should be our lovely younger sister, the Variety Deity Warden, Eloise.”
“Variety Deity Warden?”
Hearing the name, Rhode was stunned. Of course, he knew that there were seven deity wardens to begin with. Among them, Christie, who appeared to be the smallest, was the eldest of the seven sisters. And so far, he only knew about the Fate Deity Warden, Contrast Deity Warden, Wisdom Deity Warden, Presence Deity Warden, and History Deity Warden. As for the remaining two deity wardens, the younger sister hadn’t told him their t.i.tle or name. But now, it seemed like this Variety Deity Warden was also one of them.
Soon after, Rhode finally heard the ins and outs from Christie.
Earlier on, the deity wardens weren’t aware of what the people were busy with. Although the deity wardens were responsible for watching over the front lines, their main task was to protect Grandia, while Rhode and his younger sister took care of the Holy Sword Barrier and plane channel.
Hence, on the other side of the front line, as long as the Chaos Lords didn’t break through the final defense line, they wouldn’t care too much. Of course, when investigating the incidents, Erin and the others also didn’t inform the deity warden. After all, they didn’t want to wash dirty linen in public…
When the matter was brought to Rhode’s side and taken over by Christie, they quickly realized what the problem was. The seven deity wardens were created by the Void Dragon to maintain the world of Order entirely. They represented the world of Order, and it just so happened that among them, there was indeed a deity warden who could do such a thing.
And it was the Variety Deity Warden, Eloise.
Of course, before that, Christie tried ways to confirm the ident.i.ty of the other party. And her approach was also very simple. Indeed, it was almost impossible to distinguish the authenticity of Eloise’s ability. But she had no way of escaping the ‘history’ of the record.
So after identifying the possibility of Eloise, Alice used her ‘Historical Tracing’ to search the entire records. Soon after, they found that during the period in which Canary headed back to rest, history recorded that ‘the two Mini Bubble Gums were at the front line, fiercely battling the Chaos creatures’.
At the same time, it was indicated that ‘() went to Erin’s residence and took a doc.u.ment’. And the vacant () was a sign of contradiction. The reason for that was because each individual was unique with A being A and B being B. However, if one used the ident.i.ty of A to create another A, there would be two A’s that weren’t sequential in the timeline.
The contradiction was that the person who borrowed the ident.i.ty would be judged as non-existent, which was represented with (). It was through this that Christie was able to determine that the mysterious person was indeed Eloise.
The deity wardens were at the pinnacle of power in the world of Order, where not even the Creator Dragons could compare. But not everyone was great at combat. For instance, History Deity Warden, Alice, wasn’t nearly as good as Ca.s.sidy.
The same went for the Variety Deity Warden, Eloise, who was impressive at only one thing: she could ‘borrow’ the ident.i.ties of others. In other words, when Eloise was interested in a certain target, she only needed to use this ability to ‘borrow’ the person’s ident.i.ty and immediately change her appearance to the same as that person’s, including their tone of voice and temperament.
The only difference was that she couldn’t copy the other person’s memories, which was also for her own sake and wellbeing. Otherwise, after ‘copying’ different people’s memories repeatedly, she would fall into an eternal riddle of “Who am I? Who exactly am I?”
In fact, according to Christie, Eloise could disguise herself not only as someone else, but also as all sorts of things, including animals, plants and even rocks. She could do so effortlessly. And for that reason, it was even more difficult to capture her than the others. However, Eloise still preferred taking the form of a human. After all, it was much more interesting…
Due to this trait that, among the seven deity wardens, Eloise was in charge of gathering intelligence on Chaos.
“Gathering intelligence on Chaos?”
Upon hearing her words, Rhode was astounded. It might not seem like a difficult task to others. But as a player, he was well aware of how difficult it was to gather information on Chaos. Because Chaos had no sequence and oftentimes, the information gathered turned out to be completely useless. Besides, the information one gathered the first time might not even be relevant the next time one encountered Chaos.
One had to know that during Rhode’s era as the top player, there were millions of players and over a hundred million forum posts. With so many people working together to collect intelligence on Chaos, they still weren’t able to completely figure out what was going on inside Chaos.
It was like the Astral Telescope, Door of Akasha, and things related to Chaos that his younger sister mentioned in the past. Many of the players heard about them by hearsay, and there wasn’t any practical proof.
Eloise could actually do something that so many players couldn’t handle on the Internet by herself? If she was really strong enough to gather intelligence on Chaos, Rhode would respect her so much.
Like the other deity wardens, after the previous Void Dragon transmigrated and disappeared and the Void Territory had been invaded by Chaos, Eloise was also nowhere to be found. But now, it seemed like Christie and Eloise fled from disaster in the past and sneaked back again.
As to when exactly Eloise returned and why she had gone to steal information from the battle lines, Christie had no idea. She could only say that this younger sister was really mischievous… And also, using such an ability to mess with others seemed rather amusing. After seeing how Mini Bubble Gum stomped her foot in anger, who knew whether Eloise transformed into another ident.i.ty and laughed at Mini Bubble Gum from the corner…
If Mini Bubble Gum knew about this, perhaps it would cause a lot of chaos.
As for why Eloise didn’t come back to reunite with her siblings, Christie didn’t have an answer. But she knew that although her younger sister was naughty, she believed in the principle of ‘know the enemy, know yourself, and in every battle you will be victorious’.
As a matter of fact, Christie always did that. But back then, the seven deity wardens were fused as one, so they would use her intelligence whenever she got it. But now, even Rhode had no idea what thoughts were running through Eloise’s mind.
But in the end, Rhode decided to leave her alone for the time being. After all, since she was one of the seven deity wardens, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to touch her and it would be a waste of energy to go looking for her. And since she showed up here, perhaps she had something to do with his battle.
However, before Rhode could put his mind at ease, he learned a disturbing piece of news from his younger sister.