Chapter 674: The Elders’ Plan

At this moment, the real elder’s eyes widened. She finally realized something.

But Loren ignored her and walked toward the others beside her.

“Are you an elder?”

Loren casually approached one of the merfolk and asked.

“No…”

“Goodbye, then.”

After confirming that she was telling the truth, Loren patted her on the head. In the next instant, she lost all signs of life.

The Sixth-Tier Spell, Death’s Grasp, left no wounds while killing someone. This kept the corpse perfectly intact, making it very convenient to control with necromancy.

“Are you an elder?”

Loren went to the next person. Having learned from the previous example, she answered “yes” this time, but she was lying. Loren killed her as well.

And so, Loren killed everyone except the elder. There really was only one elder here.

As soon as this group fell, Loren used necromancy to raise them again.

“You… you…”

The elder had become completely tongue-tied. She had seen methods like this before, but she had never expected Loren to use them.

Unlike the others, the elders who had personally denied Loren’s identity as the Perpetual Observer were actually the ones who knew his identity most clearly.

It was precisely because they believed Loren was the Perpetual Observer that they could not believe he would do something like this.

She could understand the earlier killings as Loren’s fury at being betrayed. But this inhuman act was nothing like something Loren should have been capable of.

“Who are you, exactly…”

“I am the Perpetual Observer. No one should know that better than you, right?”

The merfolk corpses surrounded the elder in the center. They picked up their weapons, ready to attack the merfolk elder at any moment.

She knew these corpses posed no real threat to her, but if she made any move at all, Loren would act personally.

“According to the records left by the Dawn Princess, you should possess the seven virtues of humility, generosity, tolerance, temperance, calmness, patience, and diligence…”

“That is precisely why I was betrayed by the Orthodox Gods, and why I was abandoned by all of you.

“So now, I am different. I have gained humanity.”

“…”

The elder lowered her head and remained silent.

She had also studied true history. What Loren said was indeed correct.

“Enough. I want to ask you something now. Why are you so young?”

To become an elder, she must already have been a veteran among the merfolk. Yet she was so young. She must have had some other method at her disposal.

The elder continued to keep her head lowered without replying, but Loren had already guessed the answer.

“Let me guess. You could not bear to give up your power, so you used some hidden and forbidden method to extend your lifespan.

“You have actually lived for a very long time. To keep the others from discovering that something was wrong, you have always remained behind the scenes, supporting puppets such as the Merfolk Princess and those fake elders, and controlling merfolk society through them.”

Loren’s lie-detection ability required the other person to speak. If someone truly remained silent like this merfolk elder, then Loren’s lie-detection ability really had no way to function.

But sometimes, saying nothing could still reveal a great deal.

“Looks like that is exactly what happened.”

Loren repaired the elders’ corpses, causing the wounds on their bodies to heal and making them look more realistic.

“Where is the former Merfolk Princess?”

Only now did Loren bring up Melody. He did not even mention her name, making it appear that he did not care about Melody at all and allowing them to believe that they had no leverage over him whatsoever.

“Do you want to live?”

Seeing that the elder refused to respond, Loren began to offer both threats and inducements.

“I swear in the name of the Perpetual Observer that if you cooperate with me from this point onward, I will not kill you.”

Ever since Loren had deceived the God of Light and Fire, he had already begun treating the Perpetual Observer’s credibility like expiring coupons. There was no reason not to use it, especially since it worked so well.

Most importantly, she had no other choice.

“Alright…”

After struggling mentally for some time, the elder ultimately agreed to Loren’s proposal.

She had already made up her mind. Since she had chosen to help Loren, she could only help him to the end and assist him in killing all the other elders.

Otherwise, she would have to pay the price for her betrayal.

“Melody will soon be publicly executed. A great many people will come when that happens…

“After all, she was the former princess. The Merfolk Princess is the highest leader in name, so the occasion will carry considerable importance.”

Loren’s heart jolted, but he still suppressed his other emotions.

“That works out perfectly. I can use that opportunity to tell everyone that I have returned.

“When will the execution begin? Will the other elders come as well?”

“Yes. There are three true elders in total. The three of us all used secret arts to extend our lifespans. I have the least seniority, which is why I was assigned this dangerous mission of dealing with you.

“The execution time is not fixed. They are waiting for my information.

“If I kill you, the execution will proceed as normal. If you defeat me, we will abandon this group of body doubles and use Melody as leverage to protect ourselves as much as possible.”

Since she had already decided to side with Loren, the elder revealed her plan without holding anything back.

From the looks of it, this plan truly was foolproof. At the very least, it could guarantee that the few true elders would survive.

“We know you cannot remain here forever to rule over us. Once you leave, we can continue supporting the Merfolk Princess and take back power…”

No one knew that these true elders wanted to do this, and it would not be difficult for them.

Merfolk society was too isolated. Its people were somewhat innocent and could never outmaneuver these old monsters.

“…”

The elder left Loren speechless. He truly had no way to solve this problem.

He could choose a Merfolk Princess and appoint new elders himself, but that would not be a long-term solution.

Even now, Loren was still waiting for Noah to eventually develop an artificial intelligence capable of managing humans.

“Forget it. We will go to the execution site first. Tell the others that I have already been dealt with, and let the execution proceed.

“Once I reclaim my faith, you can continue assisting the Merfolk Princess.”

Loren was merely painting her a vision of the future. He hated people like this elder most of all. She had to die. If he kept her alive, she would only become a source of disaster.

“Alright!”

The elder was overjoyed when she heard this. Like the God of Light and Fire, she had never once doubted Loren’s credibility.

Loren made Korali invisible with The Hermit card, then picked up the current Merfolk Princess, Crystal. He would need her to speak later as well.

Loren knew Crystal would understand what she was supposed to say. Even if she changed her mind on the spot, Loren could kill her instantly and then use necromancy to control her corpse.

Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion according to Loren’s plan. The execution began. Melody was pushed onto the execution platform, while the fake elders controlled by Loren’s necromancy sat in the key positions.

At this moment, the light had already vanished from Melody’s eyes as she stood on the execution platform.

Just then, Loren lifted the cognitive concealment effect from Melody, cupped her face in his hands, and said:

“Do not be afraid. I am here.”