Shadow of the Beautiful World

After hundreds of years of inheritance and evolution, the League of Assassins is already a very mature organization with a complete operating system inside.

Regardless of whether there is a ninja master or not, the internal affairs of this organization will be promoted according to a fixed process.

Even at the moment when Master Ninja had just passed away, the members of the Assassin League still did not stop searching for the city of Assassins, Nandarbat. The last order issued by Master Ninja was to abandon the exposed Nandalbat and transfer all the remaining forces of the Assassin League stronghold to Interlaken, Switzerland.

That was the territory that Lars Al Ghul obtained hundreds of years ago. The League of Assassins built a backup base in the Jungfrau mountain range a long time ago.

In the midst of preparing for the large-scale migration, Merlin quietly observed the operating rules of this mysterious organization as an outsider.

Although he is not a member of the League of Assassins, observing the behavior of this ancient organization can also bring him a lot of inspiration and experience in managing sl.d. in the future.

To be honest, there are not many opportunities for such observations.

Especially the ancient organization in front of him, its internal behavior is exactly the opposite of the segmented management advocated by Nick Fury, the manager of S.H.I.E.L.D.

At least in Merlin's eyes, there is no obvious class distinction among these assassins, and what they advocate and implement is obviously a group combat thinking.

The entire Assassin Alliance is like a whole, when they do anything, they don't seem to go alone.

A larger version of 'Brotherhood.'

Merlin who was standing on a city wall pushed his glasses, and said in a low voice:

Constrain members with established rules and a sense of mission, and strengthen the concept of rules in continuous training, just like the legendary Spartans. While advocating personal glory, they also pursue collective honor.

But this kind of thinking is more suitable for small and medium-sized organizations, and it needs a strong leader to maintain it and lead by example, otherwise various problems will easily arise.

Merlin shook his head:

When it comes to managing a large organization, Fury's method is obviously easier and faster.

What are you doing standing here?

Just when Merlin was about to leave, Thalia, wearing a long mourning black dress, came to Merlin.

I'm just looking at the scenery.

Merlin pointed to the towering snow-capped mountains in the distance, and said to Talia:

I'm curious, how many secrets are hidden on this snow-capped mountain on the ridge of the world?

Then I'm afraid you will be disappointed.

Talia stepped forward and stood with Merlin. She looked at the mountains towering into the sky like lying snow dragons in the distance. She said:

I grew up here, and my father stayed here for more than 300 years. For such a long time, my father failed to know all the secrets in this mountain range.

For a while, I was as curious as you about the secrets hidden in this mountain. I tried to explore it, but my father stopped me.

Thalia says:

He warned me more than once that there are several places in this snow mountain that are very dangerous to ordinary people, and some people call those places 'holy places'. Do you know what that means?

Um.

Merlin nodded, and he replied:

Since it is a holy place, it means that it is not a place for ordinary people to set foot in.

As long as you know.

Thalia brushed her hair and said:

Although in the eyes of ordinary people, you are mysterious and powerful. But in the eyes of higher powers, you are no different from ordinary people. There are many secrets that are very dangerous. Merlin, the secrets in the mountains there, are not Now you can explore.

Facing Thalia's kind warning, Merlin didn't answer or deny it.

After a while, he withdrew his gaze from the snow-capped mountains, turned to look at Thalia, and said:

Then let's discuss the practical issues. About my compensation?

I brought it to you.

Thalia waved her hand, and the two silent female warriors walked up the city wall with two wooden boxes. Thalia pointed to the two boxes and said:

That's what you want.

Merlin stepped forward and picked up the smaller box first. He opened the box, and there were two irregular pieces of parchment inside. It was the treasure map about the Berserker's staff that Thalia had given to Merlin. The two vacant ones.

But next to the parchment, there was a bank card.

Merlin twisted the bank card and looked back at Talia, who shrugged at him and said:

When I was young and reckless, I did something wrong and caused trouble. You can take it as my apology.

All right.

Merlin hesitated for a few seconds, but in the end he still did not refuse the apologetic gift. Although very vulgar, money is still quite useful in this day and age.

As a senior agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Merlin is not really a rich man.

Although he controls the cash flow of the sl.d. department and has the power to allocate funds freely, it is public funds after all, and Merlin's bottom line is not so low as to pry Fury's corner.

His other identity was that of a wizard without a job, and he had to spend money to research new alchemy formulas and buy new magic materials. To be honest, after jumping into the two big pits of potion science and alchemy, Merlin's daily expenses have actually been maintained at a very extreme state.

Of course, things like money were not necessary for Merlin, so he didn't pay too much attention to them.

He put the first small box into his pocket, then moved his fingers and opened the second box.

The moment the box was opened, a chilly wind suddenly appeared on the city wall, blowing Thalia's long hair back and forth, and in that wind, there were faint whispers, It sounds noisy.

Cletus's red pot.

Merlin looked at the box in front of him, the quaint, rough-made, without any embellishment, the amphora that looked ordinary at first glance, he could feel an obscure and dark force entangled in the box. On the pot.

He stretched out his fingers and touched the surface of the clay pot. At this moment, the hidden power of that entanglement made Merlin's fingers feel frozen and tingling.

This means that the power of the seal in the jar in front of him can easily destroy Merlin's defense, and even to a certain extent, suppress the dark magic power in Merlin's body from the Sangong.

He withdrew his fingers, took the wooden box carefully, and said softly:

Sure enough, it's a dangerous thing

Do you know the specific origin of this thing?

Thalia, who was standing beside Merlin, asked:

I just learned the name of this jar from my father. My father told me that it is part of a set of powerful magic tools, and it is extremely dangerous. He stored it in the deepest part of the treasure house, using a hundred-year-old black A spell left by a wizard seals it.

Master Ninja's prudence is correct.

Merlin put the wooden box into a large sealed box, and then locked several anti-magic locks on the box. While casting a confinement spell on the sealed box, he explained to Thalia:

This red pot is not an ordinary magic weapon. Even in the wizard's Ministry of Magic, such a thing will be given the highest level of security.

What's in this jar?

Talia watched Merlin's actions, and she couldn't help asking:

A demon?

Yes, a demon that is said to have been born in ancient times was sealed forever by another mysterious force tens of thousands of years before the birth of world civilization.

Merlin says:

But since it's a seal, it can definitely be destroyed. But what's interesting about the red jar is that the ancient demons sealed in the jar cannot be summoned alone.

Tell me in detail.

Thalia leaned against the wall on one side, and she said:

I'm not in a good mood right now. Listening to wizards tell stories might be a good pastime.

It's not really a secret.

Merlin put the sealed box that was imprisoned several times into the magic pocket, and then said to Thalia:

Many wizards have heard tales of red pots, but few have seen them.

Cletus' Red Pot, which is part of a set of Dark Artifacts, its full name is 'Green Bell, Silver Wheel, and Red Pot'. Inside each of these three items, an ancient demon is sealed, No one knows the reason, but they were indeed given a very strange binding rule by the mysterious sealer.

Merlin stretched out his fingers, made a salutation, shaking, and turning movements, he said:

Only when performing the three actions of worshiping the red pot, shaking the green bell, and turning the silver wheel at the same time, the seals of the ancient three demons will be opened for a short time. And the life that has performed these three actions will get All the powers of the ancient Three Demons are unreserved but there is a time limit, it can only last for 100 years.

After 100 years, if the user who got the ancient three magic powers has not died, he will be sacrificed to the three demon heads as a sacrifice, and they will also be free. But freedom is also There is a time limit, which is also 100 years.

Like a mentor imparting knowledge, Merlin said to Thalia:

After the 100 years of freedom are over, regardless of whether the ancient three demons are willing or not, they will be re-sealed into the three magic weapons, waiting for the next reincarnation.

No one knows how long the green bell, the silver wheel and the red pot have existed on the earth, but the only thing that is certain is that this strange reincarnation has never been interrupted. Every 100 years, there will be several supernatural incidents related to the three magic tools. Events happen, and of course, the way they unfold, often with massive bloodshed and catastrophe.

Oh, is that so?

Thalia's eyes narrowed, and she said to Merlin:

Now I regret giving you the red jar so hastily.

Stop!

Merlin stretched out his hand, grabbed a lock of Talia's hair, and pulled it a little harder, as if it was a punishment, he warned:

I know what you're thinking, but your father's refusal to tell you the story of the red pot is to prevent you from giving birth to dangerous thoughts. Listen to me, Thalia, gaining power by collecting the three magic weapons sounds beautiful But it's a deadly trap.

Merlin said seriously:

First of all, if one or two of the three magic weapons are not collected, using one or two of them alone will only arouse the power of the demon in the magic weapon in a destructive way, and it will destroy the surrounding monsters indiscriminately. Anything, not even the user is exempt.

Secondly, in all the records of the wizards, none of the few lucky ones who have collected all the three magic weapons can live to be 100 years old safely. No more than 3 times.

Merlin warned:

This fully proves a truth. That is, people who rashly make deals with demons will never end well. So, Thalia, for Bruce's sake, I advise you, it's best not to touch anything. Wrong mind.

You know it's so dangerous, why are you collecting it?

Thalia knocked off Merlin's hand pulling her hair, she crossed her arms and asked suspiciously:

I'm very suspicious now. You may have clues about the other two magic weapons, but unfortunately, I have no evidence.

You think too much.

Merlin said with a normal expression:

The clues of the three magic weapons are illusory. My luck is not good enough to gather them all in just a few years. Where is Damian? It's time for a physical examination.

Merlin changed the topic a little bluntly. Obviously, he didn't want to talk too much with Thalia about the three magic weapons.

Because Taliana's guess from a woman's intuition was correct.

Not only did Merlin have clues about the Three Magic Weapons, he even had another Three Magic Weapons besides the red pot.

That is Yustu's green bell.

In 1989, when Merlin was just starting his own travels, he encountered an old crook in Chicago, the half-learned psychic who tried to help Merlin exorcise with an accidental green bell, but he got away with it.

It almost killed Merlin, and that time the green bell was awakened in less than 2 seconds, and the magic power it erupted almost leveled a street.

The green bell was later recovered by Fury. Its code name in S.H.I.E.L.D. is 89084-1. Since it was recovered, the green bell has been stored in a warehouse at base 084.

After Merlin became a level 7 agent, he only found out about it when he was looking through the files. Of course, he didn't know at that time that the red pot was in the hands of the League of Assassins.

This can be regarded as an unexpected gain from Merlin's journey of revenge.

The Three Magic Weapons are very dangerous, but they are also very powerful things. Due to Merlin's current situation, he needs more cards to deal with what may happen in the future.

If he can gather all three magic weapons, that dangerous thing will become the most powerful one among Merlin's trump cards.

But what's worse is that due to the long time and few occurrences, even the oldest wizard literature is unclear about the true strength of the Three Devils.

Perhaps the three ancient demons were really powerful existences, but it is also very likely that they have become weak for a long time, and have even fallen.

If Merlin is unlucky, then the three magical weapons he spent a lot of energy collecting may be a piece of waste that cannot be used, or whose power is far less than expected.

follow me.

Thalia turned and walked down the wall, she said to Merlin:

My son adores his grandfather very much. My father's death has dealt a great blow to Damian. Now I have to coordinate the migration of the Assassin League, and I don't have much time to enlighten him.

The child is indeed very strong, but this is the first time he has experienced the loss of a loved one since he was born.

Merlin, I hope you can help me enlighten Damian so that he can get out of the shadow of his soul as soon as possible.

Facing Thalia's request, Merlin hesitated for a moment, he nodded and said:

All right.

But I also have a request, Talia, you have to send Damian to Bruce, and let Damian stay by your side for the next time. To be honest, I am not at ease.