Way of the Knights

Chapter 863: Intel Gathering

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Raven valued Geezer's warning…he really did but he can't just do that right now. 

Geezer told him to run away. If possible, leave Divine Realm and never turn back. That's not something Raven could just do. That option isn't even included in list. 

Divine Realm was Humanity's home and as the leader of the Dawn Council, Raven can't run away to save himself. Even if he could, he wouldn't do so. 

Well, it's not like this is the time to be thinking about that anyways. Raven had other matters to attend to. Mainly nursing Geezer back to health and making sure that this ship wouldn't be able to warn the main force about his interception. 

Raven had already freed Geezer from the chains that bound him. He also took him to his Inner Cosmos, placed near the towering World Tree set ablaze by the white Cleansing Flames. This environment shall help erode the petulant will of the Abyssals from further damaging Geezer's consciousness. Plus, this will make sure he's safe and will recover well. 

As he left Geezer to heal, Raven took over the Abyssals ship. 

He's in the main control room with the sealed Abyssals, currently plundering all intel they gathered over the course of their expedition. 

The language they used was quite difficult to decipher. Nevertheless, it didn't pose too much of a challenge for Raven. The records he got has important details that helped him conceal his actions. 

For example, this ship's course is set by this group's immediate supervisor. There's a list of spatial coordinates in the records that this group has to check. Every time they arrive at the coordinates listed, they are required to report to the main force and inform them about what they found out. 

There's only a one way channel for this expedition group to use. They could only send reports and not receive any, which really made Raven's life less complicated. Additionally, they just arrived at the last set of coordinates on the list. According to the records, they were supposed to be heading back to the main ship by now to unload their harvest and profit. 

This is probably the best scenario that Raven could ever hope for. There's practically no risk here. He didn't need to contact the main force nor report about anything just to conceal his movements. Well, that also blows off his chance of gauging the strength of their force but it's all good. All he needed was to but more time anyhow. 

Also, this group was unlucky.

Greed got the better of them. Again, they're supposed to be heading back to the main ship already but they hubris made them bold and search for more benefits along the way. They never would've imagined that someone like Raven would just suddenly appear out of nowhere and easily shut them down without even being able to fight back. 

Now, every single one of them is sealed permanently. Only Raven has the ability to unseal them so it might as well be permanent. If he wants to, they could turn into another set of unlimited energy supplies, after all these things are immortal. 

Next, Raven checked the inventory. 

The Abyssals' ship was packed with a lot of stuff. Mainly slaves, but there's also a few trinkets here and there that they've collected. 

The trinkets weren't too impressive, most of them came from the Outer World so they're mediocre at best. They weren't particularly useful to Raven so he planned on just dumping them to the treasury of the Dawn Council once he returned. 

As for the slaves, well…

Their condition isn't the most optimal. And this is Raven being generous.

He would commend those who managed to still keep their wits about them but that's all. Other than that, it's a lost cause. That's not even mentioning those who completely submitted to the lull of evil already. 

It would be merciful if he just killed them all with his own hands. There's no way to save them from this anyways. 

In fact, that's just what Raven did. 

First, Raven killed those who were completely broken. He didn't leave a body behind just in case. Then he moved on to those who still have some awareness left in them. 

Every single one of those people practically begged him to end them. End their suffering already. Raven granted their request, hoping that if they ever get reincarnated, they'll have a pleasant life. Again, Raven didn't leave a body behind. 

Once he freed the slaves. He went back to the control room to look for more clues. 

He didn't have high hopes of getting any intel about the main force of the Abyssals but he'll take anything he could get. 

Fortunately, he saw something. Though it's a bit strange actually. 

It wasn't an official record nor an order. He didn't even find it at the control room. It was placed one a personal quarter, one that he presumed owned by an abyssal he caught. 

It's…some kind of diary. Very weird, isn't it? 

He never imagined that an Abyssal would ever think about writing a diary but well, the evidence is right before his very eyes. 

And although it wasn't much, he still got some important clues about the Abyssals' main force. 

The first few pages of the diary was filled with nonsense. But it contained some descriptions that could be pieced together. Raven complied every clue that he got and basically got the main gist of it. 

Long story short, the main force of the Abyssals' were frightening indeed. 

Imagine the entirety of the Divine Realm, yeah? Now, give that an ability to move around like a shuttle and you have the basic look of what the Abyssals' Main Ship looked like. 

It was a moving realm in itself. No wonder the Divine Realm why even Geezer was wary of them.  action

At his previous life, Raven never got to see the whole scale of the invasion. He was mainly fighting within the Divine Realm, even his showdown with the Abyssal Emperor happened in the Divine Realm. He never got to venture outside and see what the main force looked like. 

The spectacle he imagined gave him chills and anxiety. 

He was right all along. Even with his plans set in motion, Divine Realm is nowhere near ready for their invasion. 

Aside from providing Raven with a basic description of the main force, the diary also held a few important notes that he needed to keep in mind. 

Apparently, the main ship won't move unless it is personally ordered by their emperor. The Emperor needs to be physically around his subjects and verbally announce the movement of the ship. This was an edict that has been passed down ever since in their lineage and none dared to revoke it. Not even the current Emperor. 

Raven guessed that the 'mobile realm' takes way too much energy to move, which is practical and understandable. Although they have a constant supply of resources thanks to their expeditions, they can't afford to waste them willy nilly, that's why an edict like this was passed. 

Next, the ship can warp. 

Yep. That's freaky right there. Just imagining the entire ship suddenly warping near the Divine Realm was enough to give Raven a massive headache. What's worse is that, Raven can't do anything about that. 

First of all, his strength is nowhere near enough to lock the space around the Divine Realm, much less cover it's immediate vicinity. Sure, he could probably do it with seals but that task would be harder than re-purposing the Enteral Division Wall – and that took him years to do. Raven wasn't sure how much time he has so it was risky to even start that. 

As for the last piece of intel the diary gave, it's about the societal structure of the Abyssals. 

It wasn't an important intel per se, but it's still has some uses. 

Basically, their ranks are divided as such: Slaves, Workers, Soldiers, Commanders, Generals, Governors, King, and finally, Emperor. 

The diary said that there's only a single Emperor but there's one that's just as strong and charismatic as the real one.

It's a 'he' according to the diary and he calls himself the sworn brother of the Emperor. The one who wrote the diary mentioned that he wasn't well liked since they saw him as a snake that vied for the throne. But apparently, his skills are the real deal. 

Raven can't remember if there's anyone like this in his previous life. 

He faced the Abyssal Emperor, that's for certain since he looked and acted as one. The weaker abyssals addressed him as such so he didn't really think much about it but now, he's starting to doubt. 

What if the one he faced was the other one and not the real emperor? 

Well, doubting doesn't really help at this moment. Either way, if what the diary said was true, then it's more troublesome that he expected. 

One Abyssal Emperor was already too much for him to handle and now something tells him that there's another one? What bullshit is this? 

"Ugh…this can't do.. I'm afraid I'd have to search through their memories."