Chapter 240 : Chapter 240
Chapter 240. Killing Intent
It was not merely an accumulation of mana, but something closer to a deeper weaving that approached the essence of life itself.
Every single mana circuit perfectly simulated the human nervous system. Its complexity was enough to make any contemporary alchemy master feel so ashamed that they would smash their head into a wall.
“Extract memory fragment.”
Logaris raised two fingers like a blade and lightly drew them across his temple. His face instantly turned pale, his body swayed slightly, and a pale blue halo was drawn out from between his brows.
The moment that halo sank into the blank body—
Bzzz—!
An invisible wave swept across the entire room. Ripples spread over the surface of the blank body like water. Its originally vague facial contours began to sharpen, gradually taking on Logaris’s appearance.
Though it was still very crude, and its mana fluctuation was only around the initial stage of the Fifth Tier, the moment it opened its eyes, Sylvia actually had the illusion that another living, breathing Logaris was standing there.
Maggie’s spirit, which had been floating in midair and watching the show the whole time, raised an eyebrow at last. A trace of surprise appeared in her originally indifferent gaze.
“Not bad.” The former Tower Master rarely offered a positive evaluation, though her tone remained arrogant as ever. “The hardest part of Soul Mapping is merging consciousness with a dead object. While that does have something to do with the excellent materials you chose, I still have to say that even in my era, there were no more than three alchemists who could make that step this steadily on their very first attempt.”
“Stop flattering each other like merchants.” Logaris wiped away his sweat, his face somewhat pale. Even for him, this kind of high-intensity mental partitioning was no small burden. “This thing still has to soak in a cultivation tank for three days and three nights before it fully takes shape.”
He looked rather regretfully at the “avatar” that had yet to fully awaken.
This avatar possessed only Fifth-Tier strength, but its advantages were that it did not fear death and could perfectly execute his tactical intentions. Unfortunately, there was not enough time.
Three days was far too long.
To Logaris, time was life.
“In that case, I’ll make something practical first.”
Logaris did not dwell on it. He decisively sealed the still-incubating avatar into a Stasis Field. Then he turned back to the mountain-like pile of treasures and books and precisely pulled out a black-covered notebook, whose title was written in an encrypted language—
Interference with Fate and Anti-Divination Matrix.
“What are you doing?” Sylvia looked at Logaris’s movements, somewhat puzzled.
Without turning around, Logaris rapidly flipped through those obscure runes while speaking in a cool tone. “In this world, killing people is actually very easy. What is difficult is dealing with the corpse afterward, and not being discovered by those charlatans who stare at crystal balls all day.”
Without turning around, Logaris swept his fingertip through the air and called up the visitor log records of the tower. As the authority unlocked, rows upon rows of red failure records appeared, shocking to the eye.
“Look at this, Sylvia. Over the past few years, someone has been constantly trying to break through the tower’s outer defenses. Although he stopped each time before the second layer, the ‘Lock of Reason,’ it is obvious that this was Carlisle.”
Logaris pushed up his glasses, and a cold curve rose at the corner of his mouth. “He has definitely come here more than once. This tower is located in an independent subspace, and its coordinates are extraordinarily well hidden. There are probably fewer than ten people in the entire world who know about this place. To me, this is an undeveloped treasure trove. But to them, it is a perfect graveyard.”
“You mean...” Sylvia’s eyes sharpened. She did not lose her rationality merely because they were about to get rid of a rival. Instead, she frowned slightly.
She strode to Logaris’s side, looked at the complex matrix, and said in a low voice, “This really is a perfect opportunity for an ambush, but what concerns me is what happens afterward. No matter how useless Carlisle is, he is still the supreme commander of the southeastern front. He holds a full fifty thousand troops under his command, along with control of the entire Scream Fortress.”
Sylvia’s finger drew a red line across the holographic map in the air. That was the defensive line of the Great Howling Rift.
“If he dies without explanation, those fifty thousand troops will immediately fall into chaos without a leader. If a Beast Tide erupts at that moment and the defensive line collapses, the entire kingdom will have to clean up the mess in the end, and we will not be able to avoid the consequences either.”
Logaris stopped what he was doing and turned around with great interest. “So, my dear Acting Governor, what is your suggestion?”
“Carlisle’s entry into this tower is an absolute secret. Other than his confidants, no one knows. If he dies inside, the outside world’s first reaction will not be ‘death,’ but ‘disappearance.’”
“Disappearance means his death cannot be confirmed. If his death cannot be confirmed, then the Royal Capital will not be able to assign a new commander immediately, and the deputy officers below him will not dare take over lightly.”
A dangerous curve rose at the corner of Sylvia’s lips as she looked at Logaris. “That is the time gap we need to exploit.”
“After Carlisle ‘disappears,’ send a message to Victor immediately. Let him ‘reinforce’ the southeastern front under the pretext of a ‘joint exercise’ or ‘strengthening defenses.’ This is an opportunity.”
The admiration in Logaris’s eyes deepened. He seemed to have guessed Sylvia’s plan, and a playful smile curved his lips. “You want to...”
“Not only kill him, but also swallow his legacy. But I cannot appear in person.”
Sylvia released the sword hilt and lightly tapped the scabbard with her fingers, a politician’s cold gleam flashing in her eyes. “I am, after all, the ruler of the Northern Territory. If I appear in the Southern Territory, it will be far too suspicious. Even if I might still be the prime suspect, at the very least I have to keep up appearances.”
She turned and looked straight into Logaris’s eyes, her tone becoming swift and certain. “But you are different. You have always been stationed at the fortress. You are a perfectly legitimate ‘allied commander.’
“Once Carlisle disappears in an ‘accident,’ the allied forces will be leaderless, and someone will have to step forward to take command.”
“Given Carlisle’s cautious nature, he will absolutely bring his confidant Balton with him when he enters the tower.”
“At that point, among the Sixth-Tier powerhouses in the allied army, aside from you, there will only be that old veteran Karlsas from Father’s faction. That old man is loyal, disciplined, and never oversteps his bounds. Based on what I know of him, even in a sudden situation like ‘the prince has gone missing,’ he would most likely only choose conservative actions that remain within the rules.”
“And among Carlisle’s fifty thousand troops, the number absolutely loyal to him is not large. Most of them are just kingdom soldiers drawing their pay. The First Prince’s influence cannot reach into the Southern Territory, and as for Father... as long as the situation does not spiral out of control, he will only remain neutral and watch.”
A cold smile rose on Sylvia’s lips. “This is our chance. Use this time gap to dispatch more soldiers and increase the chips in your hand. Logaris, with this opportunity, perhaps before the news fully ferments, you can forcibly swallow the southeastern borderlands that Carlisle has spent years building up!”