Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 737 The Secret Doll
Having just crossed the Raging Sea in the mirror world, Angel had a psychological resistance to re-entering this sea ravaged by the residual power of the god of death. However, Azik's spiritual world travel was different from the "Creeping Hunger" herding traveler who had to leave the spiritual world and re-enter every few hundred kilometers. It was also different from Angel's continuous but slightly slower mirror passage.

He held the two men's shoulders with one hand each, and with a strange force, he pulled them, as well as the secret puppet in Klein's hand, through a space of overlapping blocks of color at a speed that could almost stir up a hurricane in the spiritual world, and almost instantly crossed the storm in the spiritual world.

Afterwards, Klein used his cane to perform "divination and object search" and guided Azik to an area with a dark black bottom and several lighter shadows floating around.

"We're here. That should be Ludwell's flagship."

Klein picked up his cane and pointed at the spindle-shaped shadow below. He then handed the cane to his secret doll and wiped his face, changing the image of the middle-aged gentleman "Dwayne Dantès" back to the thin-faced, cold-eyed Gehrman Sparrow.

"Add to my bounty,"

He smiled to himself and explained to Angel and Azik.

Angel also seemed to have realized something. When she came to Bairam, she restored her original image, that is, the "Golden Queen" appearance of "Angelica Sage" with long light blonde hair. But this time she simply used the "Hypocrisy" ring to make some adjustments. The subtle changes in the distance between her eyes and the shape of her nose made her look more flamboyant, with a hint of wildness at sea.

This can better distinguish me from Backlund... She defended herself in her heart.

Then, Azik took her, Klein, and Enzo out of the spirit world and stepped onto the slightly shaking wooden deck.

It was still as dark as the night around them. A nearly full crimson moon hung in the sky. Four or five black-painted ships were floating on the deep blue and nearly black sea. Even though Angel had darkvision, he could only barely see the two closest ones.

Under their feet was a huge ship of the same black color, but with a dark green tint near the side of the ship. The sails above their heads were depicted with black tulips in the pale white. Except for the size being different from the one Angel had seen in the ruins of the God War last time, it was almost a replica of the "Black Tulip" that was half-blown by her and abandoned by the "Admiral of Hell".

This is the youthful version of the Black Tulip. Even the undead creatures are less than half left, and the rest have been replaced by living people... Angel complained in his heart, and his eyes moved quickly, looking for the owner of this fleet, Ludville.

At the same time, the pirates on duty on the deck also discovered the four "invaders" who suddenly appeared. They shouted loudly, some raised their swords to meet them, and some quietly dodged. Someone fired a bright red flare into the sky, and a slanted bright line appeared in the night, illuminating the deck below and the figure emerging from the captain's room.

He was wearing a gorgeously decorated coat, a tricorn hat, a white mask covering his face, and holding a rapier in his hand. He was none other than the "Admiral of Hell" Ludwell.

The pair of eyes burning with pale flames behind the mask looked over here and immediately recognized Angel and Klein, but then his gaze stopped on Azik, who was wearing a top hat and had a calm expression. A dark light flashed from the black ring on his right hand.

According to the plan, Angel's "disease" has quietly enveloped the entire sailboat, and even spread to other nearby pirate ships, while Klein's "Creeping Hunger" has also turned black, about to distort the possible attack of "Admiral of Hell".

The next second, something happened that they and the other surviving pirates on the deck could not believe.

Sequence 5's "Gatekeeper", the strongest among the pirate generals, "Admiral of Hell" Ludwell held his rapier horizontally, bent his back, faced the four invaders, prostrated himself on the ground, put down his weapons, and kissed the dirty deck in the most humble posture.

Swish—the flare fell into the sea from the side of the ship. The last touch of red illuminated his posture of surrender and fell into the eyes of the pirates on other warships.

Angel quietly put away his "disease" ability, so that the epidemic among the hundreds of pirates who were infected would not break out, so that they would not vomit, cough or even die suddenly, which would disturb the current strange atmosphere.

Before she stepped onto the deck, she imagined that this would be a crushing battle. With Mr. Azik's status as an angel and his own demigod abilities, he could isolate himself from any interference, allowing Klein to digest the potion through his own combat with the doll Enzo and get the second doll he wanted. She was also worried that Ludwell, as the "gatekeeper" with excellent psychic abilities, would secretly call the forces behind him to set an ambush, putting them in a tough fight.

But she never expected that less than half a minute after the few people appeared, the proud pirate general, as the fleet commander, threw away his "Admiral of Hell" weapon, bent his knees, and knelt in front of them, not daring to raise his head.

If we continue to attack, will it seem that we are inhumane and do not consider his wish to surrender... Angel glanced at Klein, who was also in a daze, and then glanced at Azik, who had a calm look, and guessed that the person Ludwell surrendered to must be this "Archon of Death".

For a moment, the deck fell into silence. Even the undead creatures that were not controlled by anyone stood still with their eyes lowered.

Pa, pa. Azik's leather shoes stepped across the hard deck and came to Ludwell, whose mask had touched the ground and whose tricorn hat had fallen to one side. He pressed his top hat and asked:

"Are you from the Spiritual Cult?"

"Yes, the great Archon of Death."

Ludwell replied hurriedly, his tone a little muffled due to the mask being pressed on the deck, but one could still hear his extremely humble attitude.

"What's the status of the artificial death god plan?"

"After a hundred years of hard work, the artificial death god can now actively influence the high-sequence beyonders who failed to advance through this path. However, our prayers and rituals have fallen on deaf ears and received no response."

As he spoke, Ludwell straightened up slightly, took off the square black ring on his hand, and handed it to Azik with both hands.

The Spiritual Cult, the man-made death god, the documents Mr. Azik had been looking for might be related to them, and now he finally found a really useful clue... Angel thought, and glanced at the other pirates on the deck who dared not move at all, guessing whether they were also members of the Spiritual Cult, or ordinary pirates who followed to make a living. Suddenly, a terrifying aura suddenly exploded and spread to the entire deck. All the pirates threw away their weapons, trembling and lying on their backs, imitating their captain's appearance and putting their faces to the ground, not daring to move.

The undead creatures who were doing the labor knelt on one knee, leaning on their weapons and lowering their heads, as if they were meeting the emperor of the Undead Empire.

Azik had put on the ring without knowing when, and a deep aura of death emanated from him.

That's right, it was the breath of death. Angel's "Wings of Death" used this power to control the undead creatures. Earlier, on the nameless island that she, Klein, and Alger explored, the feathered serpent that commanded the undead creatures to build a palace for it also exuded a similar breath, but far less than the current one.

Even now, the white feathers belonging to the Quetzalcoatl in Angel's pocket were completely suppressed by Azik's power, and he couldn't put up any resistance at all.

As if he had noticed her and Klein's confusion, Azik turned around. Although his face was calm, his tone was somewhat teasing:

"Those who are high up in the Path of Death have a strong ability to suppress those who are lower down."

It can be seen that if you ask Ludwell to raise his rapier and commit suicide now, he probably won’t dare to resist… Angel muttered, but found that Azik really looked at Ludwell who was crawling on the ground, and said:

"You will be his secret puppet for one year, after which you can return to the spirit world."

His tone was calm and his eyes were indifferent, as if he was asking for a fried egg for tomorrow's breakfast rather than asking the Sequence 5 pirate general in front of him to die voluntarily.

Even Klein was a little stunned. He looked at Ludwell, whose body was trembling under his gorgeous coat. He suspected that he was about to jump up and resist at any time.

But in the end, the "Admiral of Hell" replied in a hoarse voice:
"Yes, the great Archon of Death."

This answer seemed to constitute the last piece of the puzzle of some kind of contract. Beside Azik, countless dark green and pale mysterious symbols appeared from the void, interweaving into the same bronze double doors that had just sealed the "Creeping Hunger", and were imprinted on Ludville's forehead, which was pressed against the deck.

Perhaps it was some kind of agreement witnessed by the "Archon of Death". One year later, whether Klein was willing or not, his secret doll would return to the spirit world... But what was the point of this? The moment he became a secret doll, he was equivalent to death. Could it be that the spirit world, or the underworld it was connected to, had some way to resurrect people?
Thoughts flashed through Angel's mind as he watched Klein walk forward and Ludwell struggle slightly in fear as his spirit thread was initially controlled, but in the end he did not move and obediently became a new secret doll.

Then, he stood up from the deck, straightened his coat, brushed off the dust on his tights, picked up the rapier and hung it back on his waist, and stood between Klein and Angel, standing side by side with the "winner" Enzo.

From beginning to end, the pirates on this ship and other pirate ships did not dare to make any noise or do anything to help their general.

There was one zombie as an exception. It staggered over, holding a blue cufflink in its rotten hands, and handed it to Klein, who indirectly controlled these undead creatures.

So it was you who harmed your captain... Angel chuckled, feeling that everything he had done on this trip was done, so he quietly approached Azik, waiting to hitchhike and leave this sea area.

But she found that the other person was looking at her quietly, with a hint of encouragement in his eyes.

Encouragement... Could it be that he read the exaggerated propaganda on the wanted poster, or the "Big Pirate Series"... An absurd thought popped up in Angel's mind, but then he became a little excited.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled out a dark red, almost black talisman from her pocket. It was a new "disaster" she made using the same enhancement method as the "petrification" talisman, and it should have a stronger lethality.

"One minute, all living people, leave this ship immediately, or you will lose your life!"

She raised the talisman and shouted.

Following Ludwell's example, the pirates who were crawling on the deck looked up blankly. It took them three seconds to recognize the identity of the "Ship Destroyer" and "Golden Queen" in front of them. It took them another three seconds to get up and then flee in all directions.

Some of them pushed the small boat on the deck into the sea, some simply kicked off their shoes and jumped over the side of the ship to escape. Several extraordinary people showed their magical powers and quickly left the new "Black Tulip" and ran as far as they could.

A minute later, there were only Angel and five other people left on the deck, as well as the undead creatures who were forced to kneel.

Now, let's "leave" the entire ship behind... After taking a look at the secret puppet Ludwell, who was wearing a white mask and whose pale flames had almost disappeared from his eyes, Angel charged the spirit into the spell and flicked it off his fingertips. After Azik gently pressed her shoulders and brought her into the spirit world, he whispered:

"Disaster."

In the spiritual world, the "Black Tulip" turned into a black spindle-shaped block and disappeared in a sudden spiritual hurricane, as if it had never existed in the world and had never left its shadow in the spiritual world.

(End of this chapter)