Chapter 198: Chapter 198 Puppet_1
The surprise attack from the mercury golem caught the priest off guard, and he reflexively turned around, but by then the mercury had already clung to his back and shoulders.
The mercury golem weighed at least half a ton, and a normal person hit and then pressed by it would probably break several bones. But with the priest’s giant-like stature, his heavyweight class was clearly a notch above that of the mercury sphere.
So he not only withstood the weight of the mercury golem but also had the strength to struggle. He reached out to grab and remove the foreign substance that had climbed onto him, but his fingers unexpectedly sunk into the mass.
In his astonishment, the mercury sphere morphed and crawled onto his wrist.
Aiden calmly took out a whistle and blew two short blasts.
His approach, sword in hand, towards the priest had been merely to draw the priest’s attention, allowing the mercury sphere behind him to complete its sneak attack more smoothly.
These two short blasts were Aiden’s command; upon hearing them, the mercury golem immediately wrapped around Father Bales’s neck and the hand reaching for his neck, then swiftly morphed into heavy iron rings around his neck and wrist, connected by a very thick iron chain.
The next instant, the mercury golem automatically hardened, completely securing the priest’s hands.
It had become a pair of shackles.
This was the result of Aiden’s training. After acquiring the mercury golem, he had been dedicated to training it as a tool for subduing prisoners, teaching it to take on various shapes of shackles every day, and he had achieved quite impressive results.
He then blew three short blasts on the whistle.
This time, it was an execution order.
The shackles formed by the mercury sphere began to sprout spikes on the inside, slowly piercing through the thick hide of the synthetic beast’s neck. No matter how strong the synthetic beast’s muscles were, they were not impenetrable.
As long as the mercury golem pierced the throat, it could find passages to burrow into—the esophagus, the windpipe, the carotid artery... It had firmly grabbed the priest’s vulnerabilities.
Father Bales’s eyes suddenly widened, clearly feeling this bizarre entity threatening his life.
In horror, he looked ahead and saw Aiden had already raised his gun and aimed it at his eyes.
"Wait, wait a minute!" Father Bales desperately shouted before his throat was punctured, "I surrender! Don’t kill me!!"
"Warden, be careful, it may be a trick!" Daili, hearing the conversation, called out a warning.
"Don’t waste words with him, just finish him off!" Presia also spoke up.
This was the experience accumulated from the Great Witch’s constant battles with Judges, Bounty Hunters, and even other Wizards. Witches had a rather challenging time surviving in this world, so they were used to showing no mercy when facing dangerous opponents.
When they heard the priest speak, their first reaction was that the opponent was faking a surrender.
Veronica said nothing; she was well aware that she didn’t fully understand the current situation, so she chose to trust Aiden’s judgment. However, she had locked onto the priest’s movements, ready to rush forward if he made any sneaky moves and shoot him at the fastest speed.
Aiden heard the shouts from behind but did nothing, pondering for a moment before he blew one short whistle.
The mercury golem paused its movements, and Father Bales felt the spikes that had penetrated stop from going deeper, allowing him a slight breath of relief.
"Mr. Bales, right? Since you wish to surrender, let’s talk then. I hope you’ll cooperate," Aiden said, looking up into Bales’s eyes.
"What are you thinking?!" Presia exclaimed.
Aiden raised his hand, gesturing for her to be quiet.
Father Bales took a few heavy breaths before finally nodding.
"Do I need to introduce myself?" Aiden asked.
"Aiden Galahad, warden of the Rose Iron Prison," came the response after a moment of silence from Father Bales.
Aiden nodded slightly. The fact that Father Bales knew his information indicated that the Harvest Mother Cult had indeed been gathering intelligence on him, which aligned with what the fortune teller Melissa had said.
"Then I’ll cut to the chase— you’re not the true leader of the cult, are you?" Aiden said bluntly.
From the process of the battle to Father Bales’s pleas for mercy, Aiden had already clearly sensed that Father Bales was excessively weak and... unusually afraid of dying.
Two hundred years had passed since the fall of the Old Lese Kingdom, and the Harvest Mother Cult with its intention of restoration had persisted to this day. If the cult’s leader were a saint who "propagated" authority, they would have had to undergo more than one "inheritance" to keep themselves, or rather, their will, "alive" until now.
Melissa had once said that the effect of "inheritance" of power was the direct overlay of will. The cult leader, possessing the "inheritance" power and having gone through several generations, should at least have the will to use this power when necessary, and this will should have been passed down continuously.
But the fact that Father Bales, because of his fear of death, gave up a critical opportunity to attack, and even begged for mercy at the end, made him seem particularly contradictory.
In other words, it was quite possible that Father Bales didn’t have control over the "inheritance" power at all.
And the power of "inheritance," from the standpoint of a cult leader, was almost impossible to impart to others—this would only result in the loss of their accumulated memories and abilities.
Thus, Aiden guessed that Father Bales was neither a saint who "propagated" authority nor necessarily the true leader of the cult.
A puppet figurehead, put in place to attract fire—such things were not uncommon.
Of course, the possibility that Father Bales was deceiving him also existed, but Aiden thought after weighing the options, he could afford to take this risk under the circumstances.
By comparison, the danger was even greater if there were another true leader of the cult. He had now participated in a direct assault on the Harvest Mother Cult, and if the true leader of the cult escaped and decided to settle accounts after the fall, the situation could become even more troublesome.
After a long while, Father Bales seemed to nod with some difficulty.
"Who is the true leader of this cult? Sister Neve?" Aiden persisted.
"Yes," Father Bales spoke, his facial muscles twitching as if it was a great effort to give that answer.
"Isn’t she your daughter?" Aiden squinted his eyes.
Information gathered from witch assemblies indicated that Sister Neve was Father Bales’s only daughter, and even the fortune teller Melissa had informed Aiden of this, leading him to firmly believe it.
"..." The Father fell silent.
"My acceptance of your surrender is conditional on your cooperation, I hope you understand that," Aiden urged.
"Neve... she is indeed my only daughter, but she is actually already dead. The one now occupying her body..." Father Bales spoke slowly, his voice heavy, "is my mother."
