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Chapter 780: Impossible, Absolutely Impossible
No matter how you looked at it, these stairs leading underground didn't seem like a cellar built by an ordinary household. After all, the broken wall at the entrance was obvious to anyone. And just standing before the stairs, Hayato's party could feel the dark aura continuously emerging from the Underground.
Coupled with the guidance of the **Millennium Ring**, there was no doubt that these stairs likely led to the source of power for the large groups of **Skull Servant** in the Thief Village.
Hayato and Kaiba exchanged glances. The two of them walked side-by-side at the front, descending the stairs, with Karim and Isis following closely behind. Malik initially wanted to back out and didn't want to go down. But Hayato and the others didn't even need to urge him; just the sound of the **Skull Servant** outside the door scraping against the wall was enough to scare Malik into quickly following them.
The stairs weren't very long. After descending them, Hayato and the others arrived in a spacious Underground Space. What met their eyes was pitch-black darkness, only vaguely able to see a figure sitting on a raised area not far from the stairs. That spot was also where the dark aura was most concentrated.
There was no need to guess; the attack by the **Skull Servant** before must have been orchestrated by that person. The impatient Karim walked ahead, approaching the direction where the figure was, and questioned, "Hey, you sneaky rat hiding over there! Were you the one manipulating those monsters on the Ground to plot against us?!"
In response to Karim's question, as his voice fell, firelight suddenly ignited all around the Underground Space, illuminating the darkness. The sudden flames made Karim's nerves instinctively tense up, but after realizing there were no other special circumstances, he regained his composure and looked towards the figure still in the unlit darkness.
"Who exactly are you?!"
Karim questioned again, and this time, the fellow finally reacted, raising his head to look at Karim. For an instant, Karim felt as if he had suddenly been plunged into ice water, a feeling of being seen through completely, from the inside out.
Looking at Karim, the person said, "I am a priest."
"Unlike you priests who serve the Pharaoh, light, and the gods, I am a priest who serves the Underworld and the Abyss, a priest who serves darkness." Standing up, the figure in the darkness looked down upon everyone. "I am the Great Dark Priest."
"Heh, what nonsense is this, Great Dark Priest?" Karim said scornfully. But as the opponent stood up and the flickering firelight illuminated the figure, Karim's brows furrowed tightly. "Th-That's!"
A mess of waist-length red hair looked as if it had been dyed with blood. He wore purple armor emanating evil energy. A cloak concealed most of his body, revealing only dark palms with sharp fingernails. Even his face was largely covered by a mask, exposing only the left eye.
But it was this exposed left eye that greatly shocked Karim, because the left eye of the person before him was clearly the **Millennium Eye**! Wasn't that Priest Aknadin's **Millennium Item**?!
Not only that, looking down along the opponent's body, he was standing on a human-shaped tablet. It had many blanks on it, the shapes of which corresponded perfectly to all seven **Millennium Items** that Karim knew of. And at this moment, two of the blanks on the tablet were filled with gold. Those were—
"The **Millennium Key**, and the **Millennium Rod**!?" Isis stepped forward in shock, barely able to believe what her eyes saw. Not only Priest Aknadin's **Millennium Eye**, but even the Pharaoh's **Millennium Rod** and Priest Shada's **Millennium Key** had appeared here! Who exactly was this opponent?!
"Great Dark Priest..." Kaiba watched the Great Dark Priest, his eyes slightly narrowed. Somehow, Kaiba had the illusion that he had seen this opponent somewhere before. And as Kaiba was watching the Great Dark Priest, the Great Dark Priest actually looked towards Kaiba as well, seeing his existence.
Kaiba's appearance and unique aura made the Great Dark Priest's gaze linger for a moment longer, but he still withdrew his gaze and looked at the sole person in the party who still maintained composure. He opened his mouth and said, "Hayato Kobayashi, you've finally arrived here. You even brought me three more **Millennium Items**."
The **Millennium Rod** and **Millennium Key** were embedded in the tablet, the Great Dark Priest wore the **Millennium Eye** on his eye, while Karim and Isis respectively possessed the **Millennium Scale** and **Millennium Necklace**. The **Millennium Ring** was on Hayato. This meant that at this moment, besides the **Millennium Rod** with Seto, a total of six **Millennium Items** were gathered here!
"Great Dark Priest? Heh, a boring title. But I can play along with you a little." Hayato knew that the Great Dark Priest was Priest Aknadin, but he wasn't in a hurry to reveal this fact. Instead, he looked at the opponent and said, "The **Millennium Rod** and **Millennium Key**, you didn't happen to steal them while the Pharaoh and Priest Shada were unconscious, did you?"
The Great Dark Priest nodded, not avoiding the question and directly admitted, "That's right. Although the methods might seem despicable to you, as long as I can achieve my goal, everything is worth it."
"Stole them? How did this suspicious-looking guy manage to sneak into the Royal Palace?" Hearing the Great Dark Priest's words, Karim was also stunned and subconsciously put the blame on Seto. "I get it now! It must be that idiot Seto! I knew that guy couldn't do the task the Pharaoh assigned him properly."
Hearing Karim's words, although he knew the opponent was talking about the guy who somehow looked exactly like him, because his own name had the same pronunciation as the opponent's name, Karim's words felt like they were directed at himself. Kaiba snorted in annoyance, showing his displeasure.
Isis, unlike Karim, didn't have an issue with Seto. She had a different guess: "Even if Priest Seto was negligent in arranging the security within the Royal Palace, the Pharaoh and Priest Shada were injured and temporarily unconscious before, as Hayato said, right? It's impossible that there weren't guards assigned to protect them."
"To be able to drive away the guards protecting the Pharaoh and the priests, Great Dark Priest, is it possible that you are someone we know from the Royal Palace?"
Karim said without hesitation, "Impossible, Absolutely Impossible!"
"I, Karim, have judged countless criminals in my lifetime, so I can tell good from bad by their scent." Pointing a finger at the Great Dark Priest, Karim said firmly, "This guy stinks terribly, giving off a scent even worse than vomit! I've never seen anyone more evil than him!"
"Are you trying to tell me that this guy could be someone I know, someone great like Priest Aknadin?"
Karim said again without hesitation, "Impossible, Absolutely Impossible!"
End of Chapter
No matter how you looked at it, these stairs leading underground didn't seem like a cellar built by an ordinary household. After all, the broken wall at the entrance was obvious to anyone. And just standing before the stairs, Hayato's party could feel the dark aura continuously emerging from the Underground.
Coupled with the guidance of the **Millennium Ring**, there was no doubt that these stairs likely led to the source of power for the large groups of **Skull Servant** in the Thief Village.
Hayato and Kaiba exchanged glances. The two of them walked side-by-side at the front, descending the stairs, with Karim and Isis following closely behind. Malik initially wanted to back out and didn't want to go down. But Hayato and the others didn't even need to urge him; just the sound of the **Skull Servant** outside the door scraping against the wall was enough to scare Malik into quickly following them.
The stairs weren't very long. After descending them, Hayato and the others arrived in a spacious Underground Space. What met their eyes was pitch-black darkness, only vaguely able to see a figure sitting on a raised area not far from the stairs. That spot was also where the dark aura was most concentrated.
There was no need to guess; the attack by the **Skull Servant** before must have been orchestrated by that person. The impatient Karim walked ahead, approaching the direction where the figure was, and questioned, "Hey, you sneaky rat hiding over there! Were you the one manipulating those monsters on the Ground to plot against us?!"
In response to Karim's question, as his voice fell, firelight suddenly ignited all around the Underground Space, illuminating the darkness. The sudden flames made Karim's nerves instinctively tense up, but after realizing there were no other special circumstances, he regained his composure and looked towards the figure still in the unlit darkness.
"Who exactly are you?!"
Karim questioned again, and this time, the fellow finally reacted, raising his head to look at Karim. For an instant, Karim felt as if he had suddenly been plunged into ice water, a feeling of being seen through completely, from the inside out.
Looking at Karim, the person said, "I am a priest."
"Unlike you priests who serve the Pharaoh, light, and the gods, I am a priest who serves the Underworld and the Abyss, a priest who serves darkness." Standing up, the figure in the darkness looked down upon everyone. "I am the Great Dark Priest."
"Heh, what nonsense is this, Great Dark Priest?" Karim said scornfully. But as the opponent stood up and the flickering firelight illuminated the figure, Karim's brows furrowed tightly. "Th-That's!"
A mess of waist-length red hair looked as if it had been dyed with blood. He wore purple armor emanating evil energy. A cloak concealed most of his body, revealing only dark palms with sharp fingernails. Even his face was largely covered by a mask, exposing only the left eye.
But it was this exposed left eye that greatly shocked Karim, because the left eye of the person before him was clearly the **Millennium Eye**! Wasn't that Priest Aknadin's **Millennium Item**?!
Not only that, looking down along the opponent's body, he was standing on a human-shaped tablet. It had many blanks on it, the shapes of which corresponded perfectly to all seven **Millennium Items** that Karim knew of. And at this moment, two of the blanks on the tablet were filled with gold. Those were—
"The **Millennium Key**, and the **Millennium Rod**!?" Isis stepped forward in shock, barely able to believe what her eyes saw. Not only Priest Aknadin's **Millennium Eye**, but even the Pharaoh's **Millennium Rod** and Priest Shada's **Millennium Key** had appeared here! Who exactly was this opponent?!
"Great Dark Priest..." Kaiba watched the Great Dark Priest, his eyes slightly narrowed. Somehow, Kaiba had the illusion that he had seen this opponent somewhere before. And as Kaiba was watching the Great Dark Priest, the Great Dark Priest actually looked towards Kaiba as well, seeing his existence.
Kaiba's appearance and unique aura made the Great Dark Priest's gaze linger for a moment longer, but he still withdrew his gaze and looked at the sole person in the party who still maintained composure. He opened his mouth and said, "Hayato Kobayashi, you've finally arrived here. You even brought me three more **Millennium Items**."
The **Millennium Rod** and **Millennium Key** were embedded in the tablet, the Great Dark Priest wore the **Millennium Eye** on his eye, while Karim and Isis respectively possessed the **Millennium Scale** and **Millennium Necklace**. The **Millennium Ring** was on Hayato. This meant that at this moment, besides the **Millennium Rod** with Seto, a total of six **Millennium Items** were gathered here!
"Great Dark Priest? Heh, a boring title. But I can play along with you a little." Hayato knew that the Great Dark Priest was Priest Aknadin, but he wasn't in a hurry to reveal this fact. Instead, he looked at the opponent and said, "The **Millennium Rod** and **Millennium Key**, you didn't happen to steal them while the Pharaoh and Priest Shada were unconscious, did you?"
The Great Dark Priest nodded, not avoiding the question and directly admitted, "That's right. Although the methods might seem despicable to you, as long as I can achieve my goal, everything is worth it."
"Stole them? How did this suspicious-looking guy manage to sneak into the Royal Palace?" Hearing the Great Dark Priest's words, Karim was also stunned and subconsciously put the blame on Seto. "I get it now! It must be that idiot Seto! I knew that guy couldn't do the task the Pharaoh assigned him properly."
Hearing Karim's words, although he knew the opponent was talking about the guy who somehow looked exactly like him, because his own name had the same pronunciation as the opponent's name, Karim's words felt like they were directed at himself. Kaiba snorted in annoyance, showing his displeasure.
Isis, unlike Karim, didn't have an issue with Seto. She had a different guess: "Even if Priest Seto was negligent in arranging the security within the Royal Palace, the Pharaoh and Priest Shada were injured and temporarily unconscious before, as Hayato said, right? It's impossible that there weren't guards assigned to protect them."
"To be able to drive away the guards protecting the Pharaoh and the priests, Great Dark Priest, is it possible that you are someone we know from the Royal Palace?"
Karim said without hesitation, "Impossible, Absolutely Impossible!"
"I, Karim, have judged countless criminals in my lifetime, so I can tell good from bad by their scent." Pointing a finger at the Great Dark Priest, Karim said firmly, "This guy stinks terribly, giving off a scent even worse than vomit! I've never seen anyone more evil than him!"
"Are you trying to tell me that this guy could be someone I know, someone great like Priest Aknadin?"
Karim said again without hesitation, "Impossible, Absolutely Impossible!"
End of Chapter
