Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery

The scene before him startled Audiss.

A mummy walked up the dimly lit stairs.

As luck would have it, the light from the 'Luminous Cylinder' shone directly on the mummy's face.

The two ladies behind Audiss covered their mouths tightly, preventing themselves from screaming.

The mummy, wearing a captain's hat, seemed to see Audiss and the others, and suddenly quickened its pace.

Audiss, on a whim, pushed Phili and Renata back into the room they had just hidden in.

After closing the door again, the footsteps outside became less hurried, returning to their previous, normal pace.

As the sound of footsteps approached, the two ladies began to tremble again.

It was indeed difficult for them, encountering such a thing only on the second day of their voyage.

If they could scream, the psychological pressure wouldn't be so great.

But now they couldn't scream or speak, only sob silently.

At the same time, Audiss also noticed that the mummies huddled in the corner were also trembling, even the one who had hanged himself seemed to be shaking so much that he wanted to jump down.

It was evident how much psychological trauma the footsteps were causing them.

The footsteps stopped outside the door, and Audiss quickly took out an 'Invisibility Scroll,' but he suddenly realized a very serious problem: without reciting the incantation, how could he use the scroll?

However, he immediately thought that as a 'Scroll Professor,' he didn't necessarily need to recite incantations when using scrolls.

He only needed to use his extraordinary power to use the scroll normally.

But if it were extraordinary individuals from other paths, besides infusing spirituality into the scroll, they would definitely need an incantation to open it.

Thinking of this, Audiss threw out the scroll and silently recited in Ancient Hermes: Activate!

The scroll shattered as expected, first forming a black vortex, and then the figures of Audiss and the two ladies disappeared.

Audiss gestured for Phili to turn off the 'Luminous Cylinder,' and the two sides faced each other silently through the door.

Finally, the footsteps outside sounded again, and the other party left.

The three people inside the door quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Audiss was about to open the door after hearing the footsteps outside fade away, but Phili and Renata pulled him back together.

The three people who had used the Invisibility Scroll could see each other.

Audiss looked back and saw the two ladies shaking their heads desperately, their faces full of tears.

So Audiss took out paper and pen and wrote in the notebook: Only this mummy on the entire ship is active. There must be something special about it. We must follow it to see. You can stay here and wait for me.

After the two ladies finished reading, Audiss closed the notebook and gently pushed open the door. The outside was still dark, and the footsteps of the mummy were still echoing outside.

Audiss stepped forward to follow. Although Audiss would also be afraid of this kind of tangible thing, he would not back down.

Because he knew that destroying the material existence of such a thing would basically completely destroy the other party.

What he feared was the kind of thing that left you in a disheveled state without even knowing what it looked like.

After a brief struggle, the two ladies still chose to follow.

After all, there were four strangely behaving mummies in the room, and it felt safer to follow behind Audiss.

The mummy wearing the captain's hat wasn't walking fast, and Audiss wasn't in a hurry to catch up, so he just listened to the footsteps and followed far behind.

When they reached the upper floor and passed by the dining hall, Audiss noticed that the poses of the mummies seemed to have changed somewhat!

Some mummies facing the stairwell seemed to be looking at the location of Audiss and the others with their shriveled eyes.

But they were destined not to see anything, because Audiss and the others were currently in a state of invisibility.

After passing through the brightly lit dining hall, the three people came to the deck again.

The sea breeze outside was still icy, making them feel as if they had returned to the normal world all at once.

The outside was still pitch black, and the ship seemed to be sailing in an endless darkness.

It seemed like it would never reach the next island, forever drifting on the sea.

It seemed that the ghost ship had once again intersected with the 'Argo.'

Creak ~ Clang ~

The sound of opening and closing doors came from above.

Audiss saw that the second floor of the deck was lit up, which should be the captain's cabin.

Quickly going up the stairs, Audiss gestured to the two ladies behind him to keep a distance.

Then, Audiss slowly pushed open the door, as if it had been blown open by the wind.

But when the door was half open, Audiss saw that the mummy wearing the captain's hat was standing inside the doorway.

Its shriveled eyes were quietly staring at Audiss, as if it had seen through Audiss's invisibility.

The two ladies behind him almost turned around and jumped into the water.

However, Audiss was not flustered. His hand had already reached into his leather bag, ready to give the other party a few scrolls at any time.

After confronting each other for two or three seconds, the mummy wearing the captain's hat suddenly turned around and walked towards the spacious chair in the room.

The front of the chair was also the best position on the ship, with a huge glass window from which one could see the sea in front of the ghost ship.

The captain's cabin was large, with living furniture such as a bed and wardrobe.

In the center of the room were three desks placed side by side, covered with a sea chart, with some mapping tools, notes, and books scattered on them, and there seemed to be a telescope.

Audiss glanced at the mummy sitting motionless in the chair, then gently stepped forward to the desk.

There was indeed a telescope on the table. The moment he saw the telescope, Audiss's eyes suddenly became very deep, and the 'Eye of Peeking Secrets' quietly opened on its own.

A illusory corridor first formed in front of him, and then the corridor quickly retreated. Amidst Audiss's feeling of dizziness, he arrived at the end of the corridor.

At the end was a huge glass window, the same glass window in front of the mummy wearing the captain's hat.

Audiss saw a seaside city outside the glass window.

It was like a mirage, somewhat illusory, with shadows like spiritual bodies walking back and forth in the city, looking very lively.

Below this seaside city, there seemed to be an extremely huge warship.

It was slowly moving forward, carrying that illusory city, roaming on the sea.

Then, the scene in front of Audiss shattered, his vision recovered, and he returned to the captain's cabin of the ghost ship.

Feeling somewhat dizzy, Audiss quickly glanced at the mummy. Seeing that it was still motionless there, Audiss quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He stood by the table for a while, feeling that the discomfort had eased, and immediately went to look at the sea chart spread on the table.

Judging from the routes marked on the sea chart, the ship had been constantly wandering in the eastern part of the Furious Sea, seemingly looking for something.

And the current location is on the western side of the Furious Sea, and it is not clear why it came here again?

Audiss briefly looked at the names of the books, all of which were about the Trensoester Empire. He quietly opened the notebook, which were also notes left by the great nobles of the Trensoester Empire.

Finally, Audiss focused his attention on the unfolded nautical log.

He didn't turn the pages, just looked at the opened page.

There were scribbled words on it: '... We found it. We have been at sea for three years, and we finally found it.

That is the 'Trensoester Empire'! The ship with the treasure of the Trensoester Empire!

No one thought that it would be in such a deep place in the Furious Sea.

The environment here is too dangerous. Many crew members died inexplicably, but all of this is worth it...

... This ship is too big, like an island!

It looks very special, but I don't know how to communicate with the ghosts on this ship. It must be very dangerous to board the ship rashly...

... I don't know why, disaster came like this. I seemed to hear a grand voice say: Silence here!

So, whoever speaks, dies inexplicably!

The 'Empire' is alive, no one can approach it!

We must leave here as soon as possible! Otherwise, we will all die!

That grand voice also said: The ship that escapes will never be able to dock.

The Furious Sea suddenly became more furious, but we can survive it!

That solemn voice also said: The people on that ship, although on the sea, will die of dehydration.

The moisture in our bodies quickly began to drain away. We died! We died!

This ship has changed. When we found out, it was too late!

We have become mummies!

We will never be able to leave this ship, and we will never be able to dock!'

The last three lines were written very messily, and just looking at them made Audiss feel a little uncomfortable.

He also did not expect that this ship had actually found the legendary 'Trensoester Empire.'

It is said that it was a ship the size of a city, and all the wealth of the empire was transferred to that ship, but none of the Trensoester family boarded the ship.

Strangely, that ship just disappeared, and no one knew where it went.

Even now, people still claim to have seen that ghost ship on a foggy night.

Audiss never thought that it was the 'Trensoester Empire' that turned this ship into a ghost ship.

It's just that the grand voice coming from that ship seems to be more than just the ability of the 'Arbitrator' pathway.

“Silence here” is still the ability of this pathway.

But the latter two sentences are more like curses!

Just as he was thinking about this, Audiss felt something spiritually. He looked up and saw that the mummy wearing the captain's hat suddenly stood up and stared at Audiss for two or three seconds.

This basically confirmed to Audiss that even though he was still invisible, the other party could see him.

Audiss still didn't act rashly. He knew very well that in this kind of environment, danger would erupt suddenly after doing something, or even saying a word that shouldn't be said.

Right now, this ship was also very dangerous, but the real danger was still lurking in the dark.

Now wasn't the time to attack rashly.

The mummy came to the desk and stood opposite Audiss.

This made the two ladies outside the door breathe rapidly, sweating for Audiss, feeling as if they were about to faint in place of Captain.

Audiss confronted the mummy for two or three seconds, then suddenly picked up the pen on the desk and wrote in the blank space of the diary: Hello.

He wanted to see if the other party had any intelligence.

The mummy picked up the pen and wrote: Everyone must die.

Audiss was stunned. This sentence looked very familiar. Wasn't there supposed to be another sentence, "Including myself"?

Audiss wrote again: What's wrong with this ship?

Having seen this sentence in the ship's log, Audiss realized that this should be a very important piece of information.

The mummy wrote: Requesting entry to port… It's alive…

Audiss suddenly felt a chill run down his spine: The ship… is alive?

Then he realized that the mummy in front of him still retained some intelligence, but not much.

Audiss wrote again: How can we get rid of the ghost ship?

The mummy wrote: We are all dead, turned into mummies. People who come to this ship will also become mummies after a while.

Audiss frowned. This didn't seem to answer his question, but it seemed to answer it.

At least it gave a hint: This ship is the key!

Audiss wrote again: What is your last wish?

The mummy wrote: Resurrection.

Audiss twitched the corner of his mouth: How about something else?

Mummy: Nothing else.

Audiss finally wrote: Thank you.

With that, he carefully bypassed the desk and walked towards the door.

During this time, the mummy kept turning its head to watch Audiss until the door of the captain's room closed.

Coming outside, the two ladies finally breathed a long sigh of relief, while also admiring Captain's courage.

Audiss didn't leave the second floor immediately, but thought in the cool breeze, should he go back and greet the ship with the "Spirit Wave Cannon"?

But the mummy's reminder might not be useful, or it couldn't be ruled out that it was lying. After all, these mummies had been on the ship for so long, and it was likely that they had been completely controlled by the ship.

After thinking for a moment, Audiss took out his notebook and wrote: Let's go find the other crew members first.

The two ladies nodded, having no objection to this.

Audiss came to the dining room for the third time. He noticed that the postures of the dozen or so mummies here had changed again.

It was as if they were having a good time drinking and eating as soon as Audiss left, and then when the door opened, they were just pretending to be dead.

Turning on the "Aura Tube", the group came to the floor below the deck again.

Just halfway down the stairs, Audiss heard someone running fast below. He looked down vigilantly and saw Basel running quickly from the stairwell.

It seemed that during the "two ships converging" just now, the ghost ship had captured Basel again.

After seeing Audiss, Basel was somewhat surprised, but immediately raised his index finger to his lips.

Thanks to Emperor Rosell's popularization, some gestures that Audiss was very familiar with had already become widespread.

Audiss was wondering how Basel knew not to make a sound when he saw mummies crawling out of the stairs behind Basel.

These mummies were different from the "Mummy Captain" above, and the mummies in the dining room. Their clothes were very tattered, and they all had obvious scars on their bodies.

They climbed quickly on the walls and roof like geckos, but they didn't take the stairs.

In that instant, it was as if a nest of reptiles had run out.

Audiss took out a scroll and didn't throw it out immediately, because these mummies didn't seem to be very aggressive at the moment.

Basel made a "keep silent" gesture again, and covered his mouth and nose, indicating not to make any noise.

The group of mummies crawled over Basel's head and both sides at an extremely fast speed, and then crawled towards the stairs, almost touching Audiss and the other two, and quickly climbed up.

There were a large number of these mummies, about a hundred or so. Audiss felt that they crawled for a long time before they all passed.

After these monster-like mummies left, Feli and Renata's legs went limp, and they sat down on the stairs.

Basel tiptoed forward and gestured in front of Audiss.

Audiss was stunned for a moment, and quickly took out a notebook and pen and handed them to him.

Basel breathed a long sigh of relief and wrote in the notebook: They chase sounds. As long as you don't make a sound, they won't attack. Eliaser is below, he is trapped. I accidentally stepped on something just now and alarmed those mummies, so I didn't have time to help him.

Audiss was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that making too much noise wouldn't work. He wrote: You lead the way, let's go down and take a look.

Basel turned around and walked ahead, carefully going down the stairs. The corridor below was darker and colder.

In this floor's corridor, there were many mummy remains. Some of them fell on the ground without making a sound, and some had only half an arm or half a leg left, but they were still moving around.

Audiss frowned, realizing that the monster-like mummies were obviously different from the "Mummy Captain" and the others.

In one of the rooms, Audiss and others saw Eliaser stuck in the ship's hull. This room was a bit strange. The ground was covered with cylindrical objects, more than one meter high and of varying thickness.

The surface of these cylinders was a layer of wooden floor. Audiss had a feeling that they didn't look like they should be on this ship.

Seeing Audiss and others coming, Eliaser, who was in the center of the room, just smiled wryly because he couldn't communicate verbally. One of his legs was stuck in a cylinder.

At the door, Audiss made a gesture to let everyone wait outside. He entered the door and carefully observed one of the cylinders.

From the outside, they didn't seem to have any signs of life.

Then how could Eliaser's leg be stuck in there?

Because Eliaser didn't make a gesture to stop him, Audiss bypassed the cylinders and came to Eliaser, took out paper and pen and wrote: How did you get trapped?

Then he handed the notebook and pen to Eliaser, but Eliaser didn't reach out to take it, but continued to show a wry smile.

Audiss was stunned for a moment, not understanding what the other party meant.

Clang ~

Just then, the door was suddenly closed.

Audiss realized that something was wrong and immediately threw out a "Defense Scroll".

He saw Eliaser's figure quickly fading and eventually disappearing. At the top of all the cylinders, black, shriveled things like sea anemones with tentacles stretched out.

The tentacles also had barbs like sharp teeth, grabbing onto the defense barrier, looking very sharp.

If there was no defense barrier, these barbs would definitely be able to cut the flesh and tear off pieces of flesh and blood.

Perhaps the other party's purpose was not to tear off flesh and blood, but to suck up blood and water from the body.

At this time, Audiss understood that this was a very simple trap. After the ghost ship encountered a new ship at sea, because people were captured in batches, the figure of a companion was presented in this room, using this method to trick others into coming in to rescue them.

The other party's disguise was too real. Even Audiss, who had the "Eye of Secrets", didn't notice it.

But now was not the time to consider this. Audiss tried to throw out a "Sun Scroll", and a ray of strong light filled the room. The black sea anemone-like things immediately shrank back into the cylinder.

Taking advantage of the strong light, Audiss carefully looked inside. The cylinder was made of wooden floor boards, like a wooden barrel.

The black sea anemone-like creature was very soft, hidden at the bottom of the barrel.

But because the light was too strong, it still seemed to make it very uncomfortable, so after it moved again, it left the bottom of the barrel, revealing a layer of illusory white substance at the bottom.

Those substances were flowing slowly like liquid. Suddenly, an eye appeared at the bottom of the barrel, staring at Audiss coldly.

Audiss quickly retracted his gaze and checked his own condition to make sure there were no problems before breathing a sigh of relief.

While the strong light of the "Sun Scroll" was still there, Audiss quickly came to the door and opened it.

The moment the door opened, a mummy approached Audiss unhurriedly.

Audiss quickly retreated, and only after taking a closer look did he realize that the walls and ceiling of the corridor were covered with mummies.

The mummy just now was not rushing towards Audiss, but it was originally lying on the door. Because the door opened inward, it gave the illusion that the mummy was rushing towards him.

Before Audiss opened the door, these mummies seemed to be lying honestly in the corridor.

After opening the door, the strong light inside the door also made these mummies avoid it. Obviously, they also didn't like the scorching light very much.

But Basel and others had disappeared.

Since these mummies were lying here so honestly, it meant that Basel and the others might have hidden themselves.

Audiss still didn't attack these mummies, because although they looked ugly and a bit scary, making Audiss want to throw a scroll at them,

But they had never shown aggression, or rather, the conditions that would trigger their attack hadn't been triggered yet.

Holding a "Defense Scroll" in his hand, Odis cautiously entered the corridor. Seeing that these monster-like mummified corpses still didn't attack him, Odis decided not to join Bazel and the others just yet, but to explore the ship first.

Only by understanding the environment of this ship could he find a chance to escape it completely.

Continuing forward, Odis discovered that many of the doors on this level were open, and inside were the same cylindrical objects as in the previous room.

In one of the rooms, Odis saw that several cylindrical objects had been knocked over, and there was a large hole in the hull of the ship.

Odis immediately realized that Yilesher might have escaped from here, but he didn't know if he had successfully escaped.

Because the "Wind Favored" could fly and dive, there was no need to worry about him too much.

Continuing forward, at the stairwell, Odis saw faint white light emanating from the floor below, as if there were white figures moving around.

He cautiously went down and saw that there were indeed some pure white, illusory figures walking back and forth below, or rather, floating around.

Those figures were all spirits!

They walked around the corridor as casually as if they were strolling down the street, their expressions appearing very peaceful.

When they met, they would nod in greeting, and even stop as if they were talking.

The doors on this level were all open, and inside were illusory figures, some standing, some sitting, much like a normal scene of life.

Perhaps due to the light emitted by the spirits, the walls on this level seemed to emit a faint white light, and the ceiling had a layer of illusory liquid that seemed to flow.

Odis realized that this was the flowing liquid he had just seen in the "bucket".

However, there was no eye on it this time.

Odis cautiously came to the corridor on this level, agilely avoiding the spirits and observing the situation here.

Suddenly, he noticed that there seemed to be a layer of powder on the ground. He squatted down and looked at it, and it turned out to be a layer of "Wraith Dust"!

Odis looked at the spirits around him. With so many spirits gathered here, it was not surprising to find this stuff.

"Wraith Dust" was a necromantic, very high-level spiritual material. Odis remembered that 20 grams sold for as much as 500 pounds!

Odis took a deep breath, quickly took off his coat, tore off the sleeves, and scraped here and there, quickly gathering a small pile of about 50 grams.

There was still a lot of dust on the ground, but Odis didn't continue to collect it, because the most important thing now was to observe this ghost ship.

The surrounding spirits seemed to completely ignore Odis's existence, still walking back and forth freely.

Odis observed for a while, but couldn't find the key. He returned to the stairs, and when he was halfway up, he looked back again.

Suddenly, Odis was stunned. The scene in front of him was like... just like the scene presented on the "Trentoster Empire"!

Odis's mind suddenly cleared, and he found the key to the problem!

The main body of this ghost ship was not those mummified corpses, but the ship itself!

Because it was affected by the "Empire", it possessed certain living characteristics.

It wasn't that it came to life like a creature, but that it formed a structure similar to the "Soul City" on the "Empire" at the bottom of the cabin.

These spirits, who seemed to live freely here, should be partly from the crew and partly from the spirits "collected" by the ghost ship wandering at sea later.

The original crew appeared in two different states. Some of the crew's spirits were completely imprisoned at the bottom, so they became those monster-like walking corpses, completely controlled by the ship.

After all, this ship originally had no life, so the senses of those mummified corpses were different from those of humans. They had no vision or touch, and would only attack when a sound was made.

Because the "Empire" once stipulated "No talking here", anyone who violated this rule would be "punished" by the mummified corpses.

There were also some crew members, including the "Mummified Corpse Captain" and those mummified corpses in the restaurant, whose spirits were only partially imprisoned at the bottom.

So they became beings that were like living corpses and ghosts. They were usually in the state of living corpses and had a certain amount of intelligence.

Having figured this out, Odis looked at the floor below again. The key to the problem was here!

First, Odis thought that he had to destroy the "ecosystem" that the ship had already formed, composed of living corpses and spirits, so that the ship was in a state similar to downtime, taking the opportunity to escape.

The "Spirit Wave Cannon" might not be very useful. After all, the current state of this ship was a bit strange, and external attacks might hardly affect the operation of its core parts.

He could only destroy it from the inside!

Odis carefully observed these spirits again. If he sent them all back to the underworld, would the balance of this ship be broken?

As for how to send them to the underworld, Odis had a "Spirit Shattering Scroll" that attacked spirits, which could easily kill these unprepared spirits.

If it didn't work, he had follow-up plans.

But he also knew very well that the moment he attacked, the mummified corpses lying in the corridor above, and this ship, would instantly regard him as an enemy.

So he first used an "Invisibility Scroll", then a "Defense Scroll", and finally a "Speed Scroll".

He was still a little uneasy, but that was all he could do.

Taking a deep breath, Odis took out two "Spirit Shattering Scrolls" from his bag and threw them to both sides of the corridor.

Who knew that at the moment the scrolls exploded, the illusory liquid on the top of the corridor suddenly drooped down, wrapping the two scrolls.

The scrolls exploded with pure white light, but the attack on the spirits was wrapped by the illusory liquid.

Odis twitched the corner of his mouth. He thought the ship's reaction would be slow, but he didn't expect the other party's reaction speed to be so fast after feeling the threat.

At this time, the spirits at the bottom looked at Odis with indifferent eyes, and the mummified corpses upstairs also surrounded the stairwell.

The "Invisibility Scroll" was useless at all!

This was not surprising, after all, this ship seemed to be affected by a very high level, which made it appear very high level in some aspects.

Although he was besieged, Odis was not panicked at all at this time. He shouted to the top: "Attention! I'm going to throw a 'bomb'!"

This was to tell Bazel and the others, lest they were also in the outer corridor.

Anyway, he had been targeted, and Odis was not afraid of the "no talking" rule.

Almost at the same time as he gave the reminder, Odis had already thrown out an "Explosion Scroll".

Boom~

A violent explosion occurred in the corridor on the upper floor, because it was a long and narrow corridor.

The flames generated by the explosion swept through the entire corridor, and even sprayed from the stairs to other floors.

At this time, Odis, who was standing on the stairs, was not harmed by the shock wave and flames because of the protection of the "Defense Scroll".

But those mummified corpses were not so lucky. A large part of them were directly blown to pieces, and the rest were burning with flames.

However, the mummified corpses did not retreat. Even with flames burning on their bodies, they still struck the "Defense Shield" in front of Odis.

The ship was a wooden structure, but the explosion did not cause too much damage to the hull, and the flames quickly went out.

Odis felt a chill down his spine. The spirits on the lower floor rushed up, their expressions ferocious, attacking the "Defense Shield" like evil spirits.

Odis threw out an "Ice and Snow Scroll" to temporarily freeze the mummified corpses above, and rushed through their encirclement towards the top.

It didn't matter if the first plan didn't work, because he still had a follow-up plan.