Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 108

He could only go through the passageway because the pyramid structure made of magic stones would block magic. At this time, he could barely go in and out by himself, but if he wanted to bring others, he could only go through the passageway that was not blocked by magic stones.

"When the time comes, you restrain that woman, the others disrupt them, and I'll take care of the target," the man continued. Since the ideal scenario wasn't achieved, he had no choice but to resort to force.

“If things go wrong, don’t linger. I’ll lead you to safety,” the man said. He was not impulsive; he knew when to retreat if things couldn’t be handled, and he wouldn’t abandon his comrades. He did his best to protect them, and that was precisely his charm.

On the other side, inside the pyramid.

"Be on high alert, they're coming," Ronan warned. The enemy wouldn't be foolish enough to try and deplete Dinia's magic.

At this point, apart from Sebastian, who might be the target and hadn't separated from them, all the other weaklings below the rank of 1 had already gone underground.

Chapter 242 Action, Bad Woman, Bad Man

The leader of the purple-clad organization took out a medicine bottle and drank the entire bottle of golden liquid. A thick white mist spewed from his mouth and nostrils like a blower.

"Action!" At the command, the leader cast the Freigo family's inherited spatial magic, leading his old friend Lison, the organization's core members from the Empire's "Poison Sword" Cassel, the Kingdom's wanted fourth-tier elemental mage "Unextinguished Fire" Conte, and "Gambler" De, as they passed through the mushroom cluster blocking the passageway.

When they arrived behind Dinia, it took Dinia half a second to react as she was maintaining the mushroom cluster.

In that half-second, Lison had already completed the spell.

A humanoid iron coffin filled with iron spikes had trapped Dinia inside. Unfortunately for her, Dinia was least afraid of this kind of trapping magic. Her mushroom reincarnation technique allowed her to reincarnate on any mushroom she created.

The original floor of the first level of the pyramid had collapsed, and now the entire ground of the first level was covered with her mushrooms. Almost at the same time that she was trapped inside, Dinia had already grown back from another place, but the moment she grew out, that iron maiden-like thing trapped her inside again.

For Dinia now, this reincarnation consumes almost no mana, but for Lison, each release of "Iron Maiden" is quite costly. Without the support of others, he needs to exert all his strength to restrain Dinia for even a few seconds.

As expected of the continent's number one female mage, who has already become one of the top few at only the fifth rank, she is too difficult to deal with.

Here, Lisen is limiting Dinia.

On the other side, Cassel was suppressing Ronan. Poison was his specialty, but swordsmanship was his true skill. This was the first time Ronan had encountered someone who could force him to cower and defend in close combat with melee weapons. In this man's hands, a sword was like countless swords surrounding you, leaving you with no chance to retaliate.

Conte is a dual elementalist of earth and fire. In an instant, dozens of earth people with flames engulfing their bodies appeared. The fire attack was extremely powerful, and the earth people themselves had extremely strong defenses. He alone suppressed Noah, who was not particularly strong in combat, and Elena, who was good at group battles but lacked individual strength.

As for Sebastian and Olivia, their ability to barely protect themselves was predicated on the fact that they were not actually listed as "enemies."

On the other side, the German auxiliary leader.

De was nicknamed the Gambler because his magic was very special. One of his abilities was that he could roll dice and the result of the dice had a 50% success rate in predicting the next action of a target. Once the prediction was successful, the target would inevitably act according to the prediction. It was a causal law that meant either success or failure.

Of course, as a fourth-tier official, his magic is not limited to this; there are other limitations and interference methods as well.

In that instant, the leader attacked Fies, and Dinia also cast a spell to attack the leader, stopping his actions.

The reason she could cast the spell was that Dinia had already seen through Lison's magic. Instead of reincarnation, she started a mushroom rain inside the pyramid, and her body kept moving around in the mushroom rain. Lison couldn't track her movements at all.

But Dinia's attack missed; instead of capturing the leader, she captured Faith.

The leader teleported in mid-air and landed on the coffin next to him.

He was able to dodge the attack not because he reacted quickly, nor because of his spatial magic, which was now extremely weak, but because his target was not the expressionless Faith. The attack on Faith was a feint, and Dinia mistakenly thought that his target was Faith.

"Got it. Did you think I didn't know your true form was inside the coffin?" the leader thought to himself. He then cast a spell, preparing to take the coffin and his other accomplices away.

"Don't even think about it." Dinia teleported at supersonic speed, appearing instantly behind the three purple-clad figures present as if he were a clone, and activated his magic.

The moment Dinia touched the man in purple, the man's body began to turn into a mushroom. If they weren't strong enough, they would have turned into mushrooms in an instant.

"Leave!"

Dinia cast a spell, drawing all the mushrooms towards her, while she herself attacked the purple-clad leader on the coffin.

Unexpectedly, her hand passed straight through the other person's body, and the other person seemed to become ethereal like a ghost.

Conversely, Dinia's arm twisted in a spiral, with bone and flesh twisted into a pretzel, as if not a force twisting her arm, but the space around her arm itself.

The attack was originally aimed at Dinia's head, but he was too weak to hit Dinia's vitals.

This delayed Dinia's movements, and the leader of the purple-clad men seized the opportunity to forcefully activate magic. If they didn't leave now, none of them would be able to escape. However, the two forces pulled against each other, and the mushroom-shaped part was torn off.

In the end, all the purple-clad men left, leaving behind only a pile of mushrooms. Soon, the mushrooms dissipated, turning into a bloody patch of flesh, all torn alive from the backs of the three purple-clad men.

At this moment, Faith had already collapsed, her eyes lifeless, completely resembling a puppet.

“Miscalculation.” Ronan scratched his head, somewhat annoyed. He should have realized that the other party’s target was unlikely to be Sebastian and Olivia, because they were weak, and it was unlikely to be him and Dinia, because they were too strong. So it could only be Faith.

"Heh, that's not necessarily true." At that moment, a woman's voice came, and then the mushroom-shaped ground was broken open, revealing a bald head, the same bald Ragman who had come with Faith.

“Don’t be surprised, it’s me speaking,” said the bald Ragman, in a completely woman’s voice.

Then, the bald head of the Ragman shattered like broken porcelain, and a woman who looked exactly like Faith emerged from his body. She then pointed her index finger at her own lips with a seductive air and said, "I am who I am."

Then, with a flick of her wrist, the fallen Faith stood up again. "This is my puppet. How is it? Realistic, isn't it?"

"Ha, you even fooled us." Ronan was anything but happy.

"Of course, a girl needs to be careful and protect herself when she's out and about." With that, Faith walked over to Ronan, tilted her head slightly, and gently stroked Ronan's cheek with her finger. "Don't you think so, you bad boy?"

"A bad man?" Ronan laughed. "Am I bad?"

“Seducing a saintess is no ordinary evil,” Faith replied, then her eyes sharpened. “However, since you’ve already succeeded, that’s a different story.”

Ronan was completely stunned. "Holy crap, are you one of those mentally ill people?"

Wieland has a group of Dinia's fanatical fans who insist that the Holy Son of the Seven Saints is not male but female, and that Dinia is the reincarnation of a saint. They all act like lunatics.

Faith didn't mind Ronan calling her mentally ill. "That's a complete misunderstanding. Besides, our history didn't begin with the appearance of the saintess. Why was I so wary of that man in purple, Mr. Ronan? Can you guess why?"

Dinia had no intention of speaking to Faith and went straight to Ronan's side. "It's time to go back."

“Please allow me to come along,” Faith pleaded. “Even if I can’t, please let me tell you something.”

Chapter 243 Why didn't I pursue it? It's not too bad. I'm from your hometown.

Once outside the pyramids, Ronan and Dinia quickly walked to the front.

At this moment, Ronan asked in a low voice, "What just happened?" He was asking why Dinia didn't chase after the man in purple. The others, including Ronan, weren't strong enough, and if they chased after him, they might be killed, but Dinia could.

The purple-clad leader's spatial magic could never instantly transport someone far away.

The reason is simple: if he could teleport people over extremely long distances, would he need to bring them to the outer perimeter of the pyramids? He could easily perform a skit like "I came in, I came out again, what are you going to do about it?" a few kilometers away at the foot of the mountain.

But he didn't, which means that the casting range of his teleportation spells with others is very limited.

Ronan's judgment was entirely correct. The purple-clad leader's movement distance when traveling with his men was indeed very limited, and even when he traveled alone, the movement distance was also very limited.

His long-distance teleportation is actually just pulling a marked person from any location back to a certain location; it doesn't allow a person to be freely transferred back and forth.

“They have a flying machine made of the same material as magic stone,” Dinia said, gesturing to indicate its shape, which was roughly that of an airship.

“No wonder,” Ronan sighed.

The other side made thorough preparations to ensure their escape from this isolated mountain. The existence of this aircraft further confirmed that the purple-clad man had explored an alternate dimension left behind by some otherworldly being. They not only obtained this aircraft but also learned some secrets. This is why they sent people to that alternate dimension island in the first place and why they came to this pyramid this time.

Two days later.

The purple-clad men were temporarily gathered in a camp located between the Kingdom of Fas and the colony of the Kingdom of Weyland.

Lison, the foreign player, left alone and returned to his own estate.

On this trip, a large chunk of flesh and skin was torn off the backs of Kassel, Conte, and De. Even though they were not in mortal danger due to their physical condition, after applying ointment and bandaging with white cloth, they could only lie face down, experiencing a continuous burning pain in their backs. Even the slightest movement caused excruciating pain.

"This is my responsibility; there was a mistake in the intelligence about her." As the leader, the man took the blame upon himself.

Actually, this wasn't an intelligence error; rather, they hadn't expected that Dinia would advance another rank during her trial, going from rank 5 to rank 6, significantly increasing her strength and almost delivering a triple kill to them in an instant.

None of the three spoke; they only felt regretful, as their goal had not been achieved this time.

"For me, it's not too bad." As the leader, he certainly couldn't say anything discouraging.

There was something in the coffin; otherwise, how could he have been fooled?

Faith's own magic is to turn people into puppets, and she also has a twin sister whose magic is to turn puppets into humans.

It is unknown which year or what she was thinking, but the Faith sisters attempted to achieve immortality. She first turned herself into a puppet, and then her twin sister humanized her. She became a strange life form that was somewhere between a puppet and a human. It is said that in order to become the only one, she broke her promise and killed her sister, turning her into a puppet.

The thing in the coffin was also a puppet made of human flesh.

The leader of the purple-clad men could use this as a transitional body, and didn't even need to worry about a soul rejection reaction. However, the puppet had two flaws. First, once the puppet was damaged, he couldn't perfectly repair it; humans can heal themselves, but puppets are much harder to repair. Second, what he was truly concerned about was that after the body became a puppet, some senses would be severely impaired, causing a person's animalistic and human nature to gradually disappear.

To achieve true immortality, one must ultimately gather the three elements: the Spirit Origin Transfer Technique, a crystal skull as a vessel, and the Primal Species with unlimited regenerative abilities.

"You all stay here to recuperate for now. I'll return to the mainland first. This puppet still needs to be inspected," said the leader of the purple-clad men. Why would he dare use it without an inspection?

The three people lying down nodded slightly; this grudge could only be remembered for now.

"The plan to help those two seize power and return to the kingdom to succeed to the throne?" The question was asked by Gaston, one of the organization's four core members who stayed at the base and did not participate in the operation.

"Worldly matters are not our focus. We can do them, but there's no need. Given our current situation, there's even less reason for us to concern ourselves with them. Besides, we only hoped to cause some trouble for the kingdom. We didn't expect two good-for-nothings to accomplish anything. It would be good enough if they could even save their lives against Ronan and that woman," the leader said.

“But they are after all…” Gaston wanted to say something more, but was glared at by the leader and stopped in his tracks.

"Let them die, they're not people I care about." The leader said, then turned his gaze to the crowd, "You are the ones who matter."

Meanwhile, in the Twin Bears tribe, Sebastian and Olivia were staying with the people they brought, while Faith came to Ronan's side alone.

Noah walked away from the start, knowing that Ronan might be discussing some private matters that were inconvenient for him to know, and he had no interest in knowing them anyway.

"...So, we were both on the verge of death at the time, and we had no choice but to take the risk. I, who started first, survived, but she was unable to cast spells after the puppetization began and eventually became a puppet herself."

Faith finished telling Ronan and the others her story.

“Nobody will believe your story,” Ronan said.

“I don’t even believe it myself,” Faith said. “The story of me killing my twin sister with my own hands to become the only immortal being is more believable, isn’t it, Mr. Divine Servant?” She called Dinia a saint and Ronan a divine servant, meaning one who serves God.

At this moment, a curious Elena came over and pinched Faith's arm, "You don't seem like a puppet at all, you're no different from a real person."

Faith laughed and replied, "The difference is inside. My chest cavity is a little different from a normal person's, but the rest of me is no different from a real person, and even better." As she spoke, Faith changed from sitting upright with her legs together to crossing her legs. Her skirt was very long, and for a moment Ronan could only see the brown stockings on her calves.

The color of the stockings, combined with her nun's habit, should have made her seem very "ascetic," but the way she spoke and acted made her exceptionally arouse forbidden desires.

“Don’t let me hear that name again, and also, tone down your behavior,” Dinia said sternly.

"I will follow your instructions," Faith said, seemingly respectfully.

"Hmm?" Dinia frowned.

“Alright, you’re right.” Faith smiled, no longer using that form of address or putting on a deferential demeanor, and simply extended her hand to shake hands with Dinia. “So, may we be friends, Ms. Dinia?”

"A handshake is fine, but friendship isn't necessary," Dinya said bluntly.

Faith turned to Ronan. "So, Mr. Ronan, may I join the organization you manage?"

“I don’t accept foreigners here, especially Weylanders,” Ronan stated.

Faith leaned forward, getting closer to Ronan, who was sitting across the table. "I'm a proper Frenchwoman, and from your country too."

Chapter 244 The Smell of Gunpowder, There's a Mole Inside, I Can't Sleep

Seeing that no one believed she was from Ronan's hometown, she reached into her clothes and pulled out a blue-gold medal of the Holy Oath Knights. The medal was gold with a blue ribbon, on which was her name and the date she joined: Faith Wright Agris, 1569.

The Holy Oath Knights are not a knightly order organized by the church, but rather by several lords in the southeastern coastal region of the kingdom, about seventy or eighty years ago. This order participated in suppressing a rebellion more than ten years ago, and Ronan, who had contributed to the victory, joined the order and also has a similar badge.

Faith joined in 1569, which is more than a decade ago; she is at least several years older than him.

"How old are you?" Ronan asked curiously.

Faith put her index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture and replied, "A woman's age is a secret, but I've seen what you looked like when you were young; you were definitely the most handsome boy in the South."

Elena sat back down next to Ronan and interjected, "Those who say that are usually older women."

“Haha, that’s true.” Faith wasn’t annoyed. “I’m not like Miss Elena, who’s in the prime of her life, but my time has stood still.”

“I’m different from ordinary people, not because I’m a full-fledged being,” Elena retorted. She inherited the power of the moon goddess and was a demigod, so she wouldn’t age either.

Ronan sensed tension and clapped his hands. "Alright, let's get down to business."

“Alright, let’s get down to business,” Faith agreed. “Let’s talk about those purple-clad men first. We don’t know the name of their organization, nor do we know who their members are. Even in the pyramid, they were all wearing fake faces. However, you saw the magic their leader used, which makes us suspect that he is a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Fas.”

"All we know are two things. First, they are trying to find all the relics of the gods, and I think you are well aware of that as well."

Of course it's clear that Ronan, Dinia, and Elena have all been to the alternate dimension left behind by the otherworldly beings, and it's a fact that the other party has also been there.

"Secondly, the leader of the purple-clad people is pursuing immortality."

"Including this time at this pyramid, we've had four encounters with them in total, and we met their leader three times. Each time, his physical condition was different. The first time, we finally found their secret base, and he was an old man who was dying, the kind of person who would fall apart if he moved even slightly. Unfortunately, he still managed to escape. The second time, he was a young man, and it was during this time that he took what we were originally planning to take from the ruins of the gods. The strength he displayed then was far greater than it is now. The third time was this time, and he was very weak."

"Therefore, there is reason to believe that he is constantly changing bodies in search of immortality. So, as soon as I learned of the appearance of this pyramid, I rushed over and also took precautions against it."

Faith stopped there.

But clearly, she still has many things to hide.

Why was the Holy Maiden Church, to which she belonged, so certain that the woman in purple would come, and even timed it perfectly? Why did they send her even after knowing this? There's also a major question, which Ronan only realized after everything was over: if the woman in purple's target was Faith and the pyramids, then dragging him into it and making them go to the pyramids would only increase their own difficulties, wouldn't it?

Returning to the original question, is it really a coincidence that all three parties were targeted by the same tactic?