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Chapter 275: Misunderstanding
Unlike the Justice League, who had never heard of the name "Teth-Adam," the moment it popped up, Orin Vale knew what he was dealing with.
Just as Marvel fabricated the high-tech nation of Wakanda, DC has a similar place called Kahndaq. This place is also an ancient country with a long civilization, and it's known for a very impressive magical metal called "Eternity Alloy."
It's just that Kahndaq wasn't as lucky as the Wakandans. They had no advanced technology, not even sovereignty, and for many years existed in a state similar to a colony. This situation only improved when their destined king returned after five thousand years.
That was Teth-Adam, also known as Black Adam.
Black Adam was once chosen as the successor to the Wizard Shazam, possessing the power of six gods and able to transform into a nearly invincible, magic-based superman by uttering the spell "Shazam." But his rampage made the Wizard Shazam regret his choice. Shazam defeated him and sealed him deep within Kahndaq.
In almost every parallel world, in any version, Black Adam is eventually unearthed from his tomb to once again ascend the throne and become the new monarch of Kahndaq. Some say he is a brutal, tyrannical dictator, but it is undeniable that he did drive out the colonizers and bring peace to his nation. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. He had the support of the populace, who loved him and were willing to be ruled by him, and Black Adam always put his country and his people first.
So, as one could imagine, the Western nations, who constantly prattled on about freedom and democracy, saw him as a thorn in their side. More than once, they tried to organize armies and metahumans to overthrow his regime, but he was simply too powerful for them.
Evidently, what the archaeologist's team had excavated was Black Adam's tomb, the place where he was sealed.
Orin Vale hadn't been there to see it himself, but if it followed the DCEU movie's plot, then Black Adam wasn't the only one there. According to the movie's plot, Black Adam has an arch-nemesis named Sabbac, a super demon who is almost as strong as he is. And the crown used to awaken the demon was sealed in Black Adam's tomb.
To a certain extent, the scene in the movie where Black Adam's tomb is discovered is somewhat bizarre. There were no mechanisms or traps of any kind. The demon's crown was just brazenly suspended in the center of the space, and the spell to awaken Black Adam was arrogantly carved on the floor.
So, extrapolating from this, the mindset of the Old Wizard who sealed them back then might have been something like this.
Old Wizard: I think I'll just toss the demon's crown in this cave. You can walk right in, no traps or anything. And the surrounding area is all flat rock, convenient for me to carve a detailed instruction manual for the crown right onto the stone, just in case someone finds this thing in the future and doesn't know how to use it.
Oh, right, I also have to make sure the crown is floating in a spotlight, making it look like a grand prize, in case a Starcraft player wanders in and can't find it. Oh, right, I also have to hide it in Teth-Adam's tomb, and while I'm at it, write down the spell to break Adam's seal. It would be best to design an idiot-proof spell, the kind that works just by being read aloud, in case the one to enter is some magic-illiterate muggle.
All in all, it's hard to imagine what kind of mindset the Old Wizard had back then to create such a seal. From the entrance guide to the unsealing instructions, everything was meticulously and clearly marked, more detailed than some product manuals today, as if he were afraid someone wouldn't understand and be unable to break the seal.
It's hard not to suspect the sealer's true intentions upon seeing this seal.
In any case, the woman was successfully saved. Adrianna had already heard of the Justice League's reputation, and now that she had been rescued, she trusted the heroes completely. Without much suspicion, she revealed the location of the tomb.
The Blood Cultists' target was most likely this tomb. Perhaps they were looking for new allies, but whether their target was the demon Sabbac or Black Adam was hard to say. Both of them belonged to the dark magic side of things, and even Black Adam was a character who was both good and evil.
Orin Vale mused that when he had time, he could perhaps go check out the tomb, or go back and ask the Old Wizard. Hopefully, he wasn't so senile that he couldn't remember what mindset he was in when he set up this seal that left one speechless.
But first, the target had gotten away, and they would definitely need someone to take the blame.
"..."
"One mission! You had one mission!"
Sure enough, as soon as they returned, they saw the Commander begin to roar in anger.
"You were told to watch the perimeter, to tighten the perimeter! Where is she? Where did she go!?"
The losses suffered by the Blood Cultists this time were nothing short of disastrous. The dispatched teams were almost completely wiped out. Only their squad, which had originally been observing from the periphery, returned, battered and bruised.
"Commander, it's not that we didn't try..." Orin Vale said with a look of indignation, reciting his prepared lines. "We had already intercepted the woman. We were just a hair's breadth away from succeeding. But..."
His expression turned solemn as he lowered his voice and said gravely.
"There's a mole among us!"
The Commander's expression changed slightly. "Who?"
Orin Vale thought to himself, *It's not a question of 'who.' You should be asking 'which ones.'*
*And to be honest? All of us standing in front of you are...*
Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. So, Orin Vale put on a stern face and said seriously, "No need to worry, Commander. Although the mission was a failure, it was not without its gains. I have already identified the traitors in our squad."
With a wave of his hand, the few True Believers in the squad were immediately brought forward. Each was bound in shackles, unconscious, and roughly thrown onto the floor.
The men slowly regained consciousness, looking around in a daze. Their vacant eyes seemed to be asking the three ultimate questions of existence: "Who am I? Where am I? What happened?"
These few True Believers had done almost nothing the entire time. They were sent by their captain to stand guard and observe on the periphery, bored out of their minds for ages, before each one of them suddenly blacked out and fainted.
When they woke up, they were already tied up and thrown here.
"We were just about to capture the target when these men suddenly launched a sneak attack. We were caught completely off guard, thrown into chaos by the attack, and that's what gave the woman an opportunity to slip away."
Orin Vale wore an expression of profound grief and indignation.
"It was premeditated. They must be undercover agents planted among us by A.R.G.U.S.! No wonder A.R.G.U.S. knew all our information so accurately during the purge in Central City. There must be more undercover agents within our ranks."
"I'd bet that the other teams that failed in this operation also have A.R.G.U.S. spies hidden among them! A pity about all those brothers..."
The more the Commander listened, the darker his face became. He turned to look at the bound men and asked coldly, "Is this true?"
How could the Believers not understand the situation by now? The first one to react became furious and was about to curse, "You're the traitor!"
But then, the disguised Martian Manhunter's eyes flashed red, and he activated his mind control. The words on the cultist's lips changed to: "That's right, we are A.R.G.U.S. Agents. As they say, evil can never triumph over good. You lunatic cultists and your false gods can go eat shit!"
The Commander's eyes narrowed, and he trembled with rage.
"Fine... A.R.G.U.S., it's you again... Very good..."
Only then did the Believer snap out of it. Seeing the Commander's menacing expression, his face turned deathly pale. He trembled for a long time before managing to squeeze out a phrase.
"M-misunderstanding..."
(end of chapter)
Unlike the Justice League, who had never heard of the name "Teth-Adam," the moment it popped up, Orin Vale knew what he was dealing with.
Just as Marvel fabricated the high-tech nation of Wakanda, DC has a similar place called Kahndaq. This place is also an ancient country with a long civilization, and it's known for a very impressive magical metal called "Eternity Alloy."
It's just that Kahndaq wasn't as lucky as the Wakandans. They had no advanced technology, not even sovereignty, and for many years existed in a state similar to a colony. This situation only improved when their destined king returned after five thousand years.
That was Teth-Adam, also known as Black Adam.
Black Adam was once chosen as the successor to the Wizard Shazam, possessing the power of six gods and able to transform into a nearly invincible, magic-based superman by uttering the spell "Shazam." But his rampage made the Wizard Shazam regret his choice. Shazam defeated him and sealed him deep within Kahndaq.
In almost every parallel world, in any version, Black Adam is eventually unearthed from his tomb to once again ascend the throne and become the new monarch of Kahndaq. Some say he is a brutal, tyrannical dictator, but it is undeniable that he did drive out the colonizers and bring peace to his nation. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. He had the support of the populace, who loved him and were willing to be ruled by him, and Black Adam always put his country and his people first.
So, as one could imagine, the Western nations, who constantly prattled on about freedom and democracy, saw him as a thorn in their side. More than once, they tried to organize armies and metahumans to overthrow his regime, but he was simply too powerful for them.
Evidently, what the archaeologist's team had excavated was Black Adam's tomb, the place where he was sealed.
Orin Vale hadn't been there to see it himself, but if it followed the DCEU movie's plot, then Black Adam wasn't the only one there. According to the movie's plot, Black Adam has an arch-nemesis named Sabbac, a super demon who is almost as strong as he is. And the crown used to awaken the demon was sealed in Black Adam's tomb.
To a certain extent, the scene in the movie where Black Adam's tomb is discovered is somewhat bizarre. There were no mechanisms or traps of any kind. The demon's crown was just brazenly suspended in the center of the space, and the spell to awaken Black Adam was arrogantly carved on the floor.
So, extrapolating from this, the mindset of the Old Wizard who sealed them back then might have been something like this.
Old Wizard: I think I'll just toss the demon's crown in this cave. You can walk right in, no traps or anything. And the surrounding area is all flat rock, convenient for me to carve a detailed instruction manual for the crown right onto the stone, just in case someone finds this thing in the future and doesn't know how to use it.
Oh, right, I also have to make sure the crown is floating in a spotlight, making it look like a grand prize, in case a Starcraft player wanders in and can't find it. Oh, right, I also have to hide it in Teth-Adam's tomb, and while I'm at it, write down the spell to break Adam's seal. It would be best to design an idiot-proof spell, the kind that works just by being read aloud, in case the one to enter is some magic-illiterate muggle.
All in all, it's hard to imagine what kind of mindset the Old Wizard had back then to create such a seal. From the entrance guide to the unsealing instructions, everything was meticulously and clearly marked, more detailed than some product manuals today, as if he were afraid someone wouldn't understand and be unable to break the seal.
It's hard not to suspect the sealer's true intentions upon seeing this seal.
In any case, the woman was successfully saved. Adrianna had already heard of the Justice League's reputation, and now that she had been rescued, she trusted the heroes completely. Without much suspicion, she revealed the location of the tomb.
The Blood Cultists' target was most likely this tomb. Perhaps they were looking for new allies, but whether their target was the demon Sabbac or Black Adam was hard to say. Both of them belonged to the dark magic side of things, and even Black Adam was a character who was both good and evil.
Orin Vale mused that when he had time, he could perhaps go check out the tomb, or go back and ask the Old Wizard. Hopefully, he wasn't so senile that he couldn't remember what mindset he was in when he set up this seal that left one speechless.
But first, the target had gotten away, and they would definitely need someone to take the blame.
"..."
"One mission! You had one mission!"
Sure enough, as soon as they returned, they saw the Commander begin to roar in anger.
"You were told to watch the perimeter, to tighten the perimeter! Where is she? Where did she go!?"
The losses suffered by the Blood Cultists this time were nothing short of disastrous. The dispatched teams were almost completely wiped out. Only their squad, which had originally been observing from the periphery, returned, battered and bruised.
"Commander, it's not that we didn't try..." Orin Vale said with a look of indignation, reciting his prepared lines. "We had already intercepted the woman. We were just a hair's breadth away from succeeding. But..."
His expression turned solemn as he lowered his voice and said gravely.
"There's a mole among us!"
The Commander's expression changed slightly. "Who?"
Orin Vale thought to himself, *It's not a question of 'who.' You should be asking 'which ones.'*
*And to be honest? All of us standing in front of you are...*
Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. So, Orin Vale put on a stern face and said seriously, "No need to worry, Commander. Although the mission was a failure, it was not without its gains. I have already identified the traitors in our squad."
With a wave of his hand, the few True Believers in the squad were immediately brought forward. Each was bound in shackles, unconscious, and roughly thrown onto the floor.
The men slowly regained consciousness, looking around in a daze. Their vacant eyes seemed to be asking the three ultimate questions of existence: "Who am I? Where am I? What happened?"
These few True Believers had done almost nothing the entire time. They were sent by their captain to stand guard and observe on the periphery, bored out of their minds for ages, before each one of them suddenly blacked out and fainted.
When they woke up, they were already tied up and thrown here.
"We were just about to capture the target when these men suddenly launched a sneak attack. We were caught completely off guard, thrown into chaos by the attack, and that's what gave the woman an opportunity to slip away."
Orin Vale wore an expression of profound grief and indignation.
"It was premeditated. They must be undercover agents planted among us by A.R.G.U.S.! No wonder A.R.G.U.S. knew all our information so accurately during the purge in Central City. There must be more undercover agents within our ranks."
"I'd bet that the other teams that failed in this operation also have A.R.G.U.S. spies hidden among them! A pity about all those brothers..."
The more the Commander listened, the darker his face became. He turned to look at the bound men and asked coldly, "Is this true?"
How could the Believers not understand the situation by now? The first one to react became furious and was about to curse, "You're the traitor!"
But then, the disguised Martian Manhunter's eyes flashed red, and he activated his mind control. The words on the cultist's lips changed to: "That's right, we are A.R.G.U.S. Agents. As they say, evil can never triumph over good. You lunatic cultists and your false gods can go eat shit!"
The Commander's eyes narrowed, and he trembled with rage.
"Fine... A.R.G.U.S., it's you again... Very good..."
Only then did the Believer snap out of it. Seeing the Commander's menacing expression, his face turned deathly pale. He trembled for a long time before managing to squeeze out a phrase.
"M-misunderstanding..."
(end of chapter)
