Above The Sky
Chapter 609 - 609 578 Ian and Frost Butterfly's New Aliases 23

609: Chapter 578: Ian and Frost Butterfly’s New Aliases (2/3) 609: Chapter 578: Ian and Frost Butterfly’s New Aliases (2/3) And precisely because the Deceased Monarch could consume the souls of the creatures he killed, he could strengthen himself.

Therefore, for those weaker teams that wanted to enter the Subspace, the Deceased Monarch adopted a laissez-faire approach.

In contrast, forces like the Spirit Wisdom Institute, originally from the laboratory, were single-mindedly trying to intercept those individuals and teams exploring the Subspace.

Of course, they wouldn’t stop the Huai Guang Rescue Team, because the strength of the Huai Guang Rescue Team was indeed formidable.

They wouldn’t be consumed by the Deceased Monarch without reason, and they might even cause him some damage—that’s when the laboratory forces would launch their counterattack.

At that moment, Ian arrived.

Then Ian killed everyone from the Spirit Wisdom Institute.

—It’s hard to keep a straight face.

BY Spirit Wisdom Institute.

It’s difficult to judge whether Ian’s actions helped the Deceased Monarch by killing the enemies of the Lost Souls or reduced the Deceased Monarch’s potential—after all, considering the current commotion at the Fourth Energy Level outside, the likely outcome would be the Deceased Monarch annihilating the laboratory forces, then hatching in Complete Form and leaving the Subspace Labyrinth to enter the outer world.

But because of Ian’s arrival, who preemptively killed everyone from the Spirit Wisdom Institute, the Deceased Monarch couldn’t absorb these people, so there was regret.

So it seems, the Deceased Monarch could at most be at the Third Energy Level now.

But the problem isn’t resolved.

According to Hornagar’s words, the Deceased Monarch is now blocking the exit of the Subspace Labyrinth, waiting for people to walk into his trap…

As long as enough people come in, he can still recover to his prime.

“Interesting,”

That was Ian’s comment, “Looking at this, I did a good job—indeed, no matter when, killing the people from the Spirit Wisdom Institute is definitely the right move.”

Moreover, Ian also noticed a blind spot.

After eliminating everyone from the Spirit Wisdom Institute, as long as he removed the Inspector Knight module from his Entangling Void Armor and changed the paint, then no one else would know his identity.

With his control over his body, just a slight alteration of his features would make his subsequent actions much more convenient.

Especially now that Ian still had the fear aura left by the Nightmare Spawn, which changed his entire demeanor significantly; it was the perfect opportunity to wear a disguise!

No sooner thought than done.

Soon, under the ice mirror formed by the Frost Butterfly, Ian sculpted his new face.

To say it was a new face, in fact, it was the visage from his previous life on Earth.

The handsome young man in Armored Clothing had black hair that fell smoothly over his shoulders; his thin lips pursed tightly, and his similarly black eyes were somewhat indifferent, but the same aqua-silver light flickered deep within them as before.

In this respect, Earth was not much different from Terra—because genetic modification was widespread among the populace, almost everyone was good-looking, at least without the possibility of extremely unattractive individuals.

At most, it was about the conflict between the face shaped by one’s parents and one’s personal aesthetic preferences…

but that wasn’t a big deal either.

However, the temperament was still different.

In this life on Terra, Ian could be said to have both the valor of a Knight and the wisdom of a Scholar, with a special affability in his gaze making one unable to resist getting closer.

Usually, when walking through cities, apart from adults who wanted to offer help with directions, even children would run over to talk with him, and at those times Ian would play along, belonging to the type of popular lover that was beloved by everyone they met.

But in his previous life on Earth, since Ian had always been a researcher and barely socialized outside of necessity, he seemed rather somber and unapproachable.

Although his appearance was handsome, he wasn’t easy to get along with.

The lack of sunlight on his skin, the Armored Clothing that seemed to be covered in shadows after the paint modification, an aloof temperament, coupled with the fear aura of the Nightmare Entity…

Now, Ian looked very much like the type of character who would change the BGM upon appearing, someone who seemed like either a homicidal maniac or a spellcasting Demon Lord at first glance.

“Father is really skilled!”

The Frost Butterfly gave her approval.

Clearly, Ian’s former life’s appearance also greatly matched the Fae aesthetics, at least of the Hua’an line of Fae.

To put it specifically, he looked a bit like the Scholars from the City of Knowledge who would remain secluded at home and not venture outside.

And Ian looked at the gleefully happy Little Fairy and said solemnly with a nod, “It seems I need to give you a makeover as well, otherwise it would still be very easy to expose us—bear with it, I’m going to color you now.”

Frost Butterfly: “(⚆_⚆)”

Although the Little Fairy kept staring pitifully at Ian, the youth—now more aptly a young man—still mercilessly took out a bottle of Shadow Potion from his pouch and carefully began to apply it to the Frost Butterfly.

Soon, the originally happy and icy Little Fairy turned into a pitch-black shadow fairy.

It’s not even clear if it’s a fairy, a dark expanse within the Subspace Labyrinth where even Sublimators struggled to see clearly.

“Not bad,” Ian was satisfied.

“Now it’s very covert.”

Frost Butterfly: “(•_•)”

The Frost Butterfly seemed rather unhappy, but to Ian, it made no difference than if she had too much coffee.

Several times when Hua’an took Frost Butterfly out for blueberry juice or strong coffee, she would return looking pitch-black or blue.

“At least the Shadow Potion is sweet and can make you invisible!” Ian consoled her, and upon hearing that the potion was sweet, Frost Butterfly’s sorrow turned into joy: “Yay, I am sweet!”

It was quite difficult to determine what was important to a fairy.

Ian was in such a hurry to remold a new face mainly because he remembered one thing—

—If the Heavenly Flood King had to make an appearance after all his people were wiped out,

then wouldn’t the Fourth Level powerhouses behind the Spirit Wisdom Institute also appear after their researchers were wiped out by him?

And perhaps…

by some means, make direct contact into the Subspace to find out the reason their side’s forces were annihilated?

Ian couldn’t be certain, but he would make preparations in advance.

And as it turned out, Ian’s caution was indeed meaningful.

Because, while he was using the cameras in the monitoring room of the Spirit Wisdom Institute to observe the situation outside,

he heard a ‘call’ originating from the main campus of the Spirit Wisdom Institute at the monitoring console.

From the Spirit Wisdom Institute’s monitoring room, it was possible to see the situation outside.

Michael and the Tianhong King were still fighting.

The external cameras couldn’t see them fighting high up in the atmosphere, but the mere aftermath, the mystical phenomena of weather violently changing on the ground below, was already dramatic enough.

The entire sky over the Avak region had turned into an ocean of thunderbolts, with blinding light flashing rapidly at the apex of the sky, pouring destructive beams toward the earth, making all creatures still in this region feel fear and helplessness, as if doomsday had arrived.

But even so, Ian could see that many secret squads were in action in this area.

Inspector Knights, King’s Guards from Fiery Flame Land, special operations units of the Spirit Wisdom Institute, knights from The Grand Duchy…

and some most likely belonging to the Seven Cities Alliance or other unknown forces, mysterious squads belonging to personal armed forces of the Nobles, were all converging towards the Central Research Laboratory.

They, of course, knew that it would be extremely dangerous to act rashly under the scrutiny of several Fourth-Level powers—but the secrets within the Avak laboratory were worth the risk.

“They really aren’t afraid to die.”

Ian raised his eyebrows and sighed, “If what Director Hornagar hasn’t deceived me, every single one of these men is nourishment for the Deceased Monarch—the more they send, the faster the Deceased Monarch grows.”

“It seems I either rescue Sio and the remaining souls of the fae before they rush to their deaths, or I get dragged down by these fools.”

Just as Ian was complaining like this, an emergency communication suddenly came through in the monitoring room’s system.

This communication was undeniable and had clearly come directly from a position of higher authority.

[Hornagar, what has happened?]

A phantom image appeared in front of Ian.

He had a long and dense white beard, a face with sharp angles, and a pair of eyes like deep purple gemstones, majestic and profound.

Ian recognized him; it was the Dean of the Spirit Wisdom Institute, ‘The Knower’ Moze Harnack, the one who nearly engaged in an all-out fight with Count Phoenix in the Upper City District.

Chancellor Moze’s projection surveyed the scene within the monitoring room, and the sight of the corpses on the ground caused him to raise an eyebrow and look towards Ian: [I knew it.

After Proxel died, Hornagar couldn’t carry the burden…

Knight, judging by your appearance, you seem to have a personal grudge against our Institute, don’t you?]

“So you’re aware.” Ian was a bit surprised.

He thought the Spirit Wisdom Institute was full of selfish, self-absorbed mad scientists with no self-awareness, but Chancellor Moze seemed quite rational, realizing at a glance that Ian was targeting the Institute because he was displeased with them.

So, he instead laughed and retorted sarcastically, “Stop pretending, I can see you’re angry—how does it feel?

Having your trump card that was supposed to be used for the final competition for data, getting wiped out by me?

Not too pleasant, huh?”

[I don’t expect you fools to understand our cause]

Chancellor Moze appeared very calm, but even as a projection, Ian could completely see that deep down he was actually quite angry: [This time, you win.

But it’s not over yet]

[Tell me, who are you exactly?

So I can at least inscribe it on your tombstone, rather than leaving you nameless and without honour in death.]

To this clumsy attempt at goading, Ian snorted with contempt.

“Me?

I am your nightmare, the punishment for your wicked acts, the thief of your knowledge.”

“As for tombstones, save it to inscribe the names of your own people.”

“Make sure to get a large one.

Otherwise, it might not fit all the names.”