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Chapter 396: The Beginning of the Game

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Beyer looked at Arthen confirmedly and smiled, "This is a great opportunity for me to face a real fight, and as a knight, this is always what I have been pursuing. I am here as a knight, not a prince."

Then, he turned to the duke, "Uncle Ulrich, since you have let Sophia in, I believe that you won't turn me down, right? I have won my father's permission as well."

The old duke sighed, "You young people… Alright…"

His lowered his gaze, and all his emotions were hidden in his blue eyes.

Nuremburk laughed, "Good for you, Beyer. A knight shall face the real fight. If I had not gone to the north and joined the battle against Schachran Empire, probably I would've never had the chance of becoming a radiant knight. The blood and fights taught me how to become a radiant knight."

"You've always been my role model, uncle Nuremburk." Beyer grinned. Then, he turned around and walked to Arthen. Very casually, he said, "My friend, I hope we can fight together."

Arthen suddenly looked very excited. He went down on one knee and said respectfully, "This is my great honor, my prince. I am your knight forever."

All the nobles on Arthen's side became excited as well. Gaining the power of the prince had given them the faith again that they would win!

This was why Arthen was so excited. The presence of the prince had brought him great hope again!

Lucien was a bit concerned. Seeing the look on Beaulac's face, Sophia smiled, "This is getting more interesting. Without my brother, the game would be unfair for them."

Right now, Arthen was only a level-three grand knight.

"Unfair…" Lucien was a bit amused by Sophia's words. He looked over Sophia's nose and observed the look on Claire's and Relph's faces.

Claire was biting her lips unconsciously, and her eyes had lost their focus. Relph's right hand was holding tight in a fist against his mouth. Both of them looked a bit disappointed. Obviously, the prince's presence greatly discouraged them.

At this time, a young man, around seventeen or eighteen, among the rest of the nobles stood out, "Sir, I wish to resign."

Ulrich looked at him seriously.

The young noble said in a very depressed way, "They are too powerful. There is no way that I can win."

"Very smart," said Duda in a triumphant tone.

Ulrich did not comment on it. Sometimes quitting did not suggest one's cowardice, but intelligence.

Following him, the rest of the candidates except for Arthen, Beaulac, Claire, and Relph had all decided to quit.

"Your momentum is overwhelming, Your Highness," said Andris in a very pleasing manner. "You're the most talented knight among the younger generation."

The blessed family owned the blood power called Seraph, but each of the family members had different powers. Some were better at close combat, some specialized in casting, and some were good at both. The blood power of Rudolf II was quite balanced, called the Angel King. Sophia's blood power called the Angel of Wind had turned her into an alchemist specializing in casting, and Beyer's blood power named the Angel of Justice made him very competitive in close combat.

Beyer shook his head and said, "Although I am quite confident, I have to say that I am not the most talented knight in our generation. Princess Natasha in the Duchy of Violet became a radiant knight at the age of twenty-six. This is even very rare in history. She possesses the two top blood powers at the same time, and with that willpower, she is totally capable of becoming a gold knight. I admire her very much, but I know right now I am still not good enough for her. I hope that I can become a radiant knight as soon as possible, so I can go to Aalto to see her one day… I wonder if the legends about her are true…"

Beyer said so very straightforwardly. Obviously, Natasha was a role model and dream lady to him.

"Maybe Natasha will be the future queen of our empire," said Andris.

Lucien rubbed his chin and watched them meaningfully.

"My brother's dream will never come true. The church will never let the Duchy of Violet go back to our empire again. You gotta know that Princess Natasha is already the Countess of Violet," said Sophia in low voice, smiling.

Deniz combed the hair on his forehead with his hand, "It's hard to say. Love can turn people into idiots. If both the empire and the duchy show the same firm attitude, the church cannot make the decision."

"Then it's all up to Beyer now." Sophia giggled.

Lucien thought to himself that Sophia's bother would be rather hopeless in front of Natasha. He would say that Sophia would have a greater chance.

It was close to the time. Ulrich, the Gorse duke declared,

"The competition has started. The first candidate among you four who can enter the secret chamber hanged with the paintings of our family's ancestors is the winner. If no one can reach the chamber, the one who can make it until the end wins. Remember, the underground palace is always changing. No matter how much money you spent buying the maps, they are useless. Also, once you enter the palace, you will be sent to different locations. Don't stay where you are. It's a waste of time."

No rules. Basically, there were no rules in the underground palace. However, in the competition, no one could bring his or her attendant, and their blood power had to be examined in case someone had hired a radiant knight to play his or her role through transformation.

The weird stone gate behind Ulrich slowly turned black, like the open mouth of a monster. Arthen was the first one standing in front of it.

Count Nuremburk took out a Gorse pin and stabbed it in the back of Arthen's hand.

Lucien knew that it was for testing his blood power. He was a bit concerned as he wondered if the transformation mask was capable of hiding him from it.

A drop of blood hung at the pinpoint and was quickly absorbed.

Nuremburk slightly nodded, "You can go in now, Arthen."

Arthen walked to the gate. Before entering the palace, he looked back at Beaulac in a provoking manner and swung his fist. Before Lucien responded, Arthen had disappeared in the darkness.

Then it was Lucien's turn.

Lucien reached out his left hand calmly, trying his best to control his heartbeat and muscle. Lucien felt a slight electric shock when the pin stuck into his skin.

Once the pin left his hand, Lucien suddenly became very alert. If he was identified, he would seize the best chance holding Sophia as his hostage to leave that place.

The drop of blood looked like a mini silver moon, and the moonlight was gentle and soft. It trembled slightly at the pinpoint, and Lucien's heart missed a beat.

A second later, the drop of blood was absorbed.

"You may go in now, Beaulac," said the count, "but where are your weapon and armor?"

Lucien pointed at his pouch and answered respectfully, "They are all here."

Nuremburk nodded and did not ask further. At the same time, Relph and Claire who were standing behind Lucien looked a bit surprised.

They could tell that Beaulac had awakened the blood power called Silver Moon.

Without looking back, Lucien walked into the darkness very calmly.

…

It felt that he had gone through a thick and cold layer of mist. Lucien now found himself in a spacious servant room placed with rows of wood beds and several old wardrobes.

Lucien put on Fire Weaver's Bracelet, Sidestep Boots, Transformation Robe, and Ogre Glove. Then, he turned his magic robe into a silver armor. Holding the sword named Frost in his hand, Lucien left the room and stepped into the corridor. Using the information given by Rhine, he started looking for the secret chamber.

Lucien was told that once there was an alchemical life in this underground palace, but somehow it had disappeared. Thus this palace was under the constant change following its own instinct, and the order resembled Thanos' horoscope.

Lucien walked slowly in the underground palace, observing the flow of energy.

Since he had no idea if the duke and the rest of the nobles could see what was going on down there, Lucien was being very cautious. He never extended his spiritual power.

Turning around the corner, Lucien ran right into Andris and Jocelyn in the open room in front of him.

"Haha, you useless waste! Where is your princess? Where are your helpers?" Andris laughed hard, wearing his black armor. "It seems that God has abandoned you!"

Andris held his heavy sword high and rushed directly at Beaulac.

Jocelyn and the helpers felt quite lucky. Running into Beaulac when he was alone was a great opportunity for them. Once he found the princess and Deniz, Beaulac would be big trouble to them.

At the same time, Jocelyn also showed mercy in her eyes. After all, Beaulac had loved her for so long.

Maybe Beaulac was held still by the fear, as he did not move at all. Andris jumped up high and launched a fierce hack at Beaulac.

"Go to hell!" yelled Andris.

Suddenly, a pair of silver hands stopped his heavy sword.

The hands were rather cold, but they were powerful enough to stop Andris' momentum, who was right now hanging in the air like a helpless frog.

Jocelyn and the rest of the nobles were totally shocked, having no idea what to do.

Andris looked into Beaulac's blue eyes, and somehow a great fear seized him.

The light of a sword flashed, and Andris felt a chill. His armor cracked open right in the middle, including the inner shirt. When his armor and clothes fell on the ground in halves, Andris became totally naked.

If the power went in an inch further… Andris dared not to think. Losing all the strength in his legs, he kneeled down on the ground.

"I said… Don't beg for my mercy in front of me." Lucien shook his head.

Chapter 397: The Strange Change

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Under the light of the everlasting torches in the underground palace, Beaulac's shining armor looked rather cold. In Andris's eyes, Beaulac was the most horrible demon. He had no idea what just happened. He had no idea why his armor all of a sudden became as vulnerable as an eggshell.

Jocelyn and the nobles refused to believe what they just saw as if they were watching an opera of a very vicious theme. They could not figure out how Beaulac could have become so powerful within just a single month.

With the level-four chainmail named Rose and the pair of level-three daggers given by her father, and together with all of her magic and divine items, Jocelyn was clearly aware of the fact that she still would not have been able to stop Andris' heavy sword. However, Beaulac held the edge of the sword like it was just a kid's toy.

Therefore she was certain that Beaulac had at least one extraordinary item that could improve his power to level five, and the sword Beaulac was carrying was at least a level-three weapon. Also, obviously, Beaulac had awakened his blood power, maybe a long ago. Jocelyn felt humiliated and angry knowing that Beaulac had lied to her.

Meanwhile, she also could not help feeling jealous. Beaulac's father, Beckman, was the most loved kid of the previous old duke. Thus, the items that Beaulac had were way better than hers.

Jocelyn came from a very distinguished family, and her father was one of the most glorious nobles of the empire. In her father's hands, there was vast land and great treasure. Through the years, they had collected quite a few middle-rank extraordinary items. However, since her family did not have any casters, the family could not produce any weapons or items on their own. Therefore, Jocelyn did not have many choices when picking her weapons and equipment from the family's treasury.

On the other hand, the Gorse family had produced many blood-power casters, and they had also secretly collected some magic books and alchemy manuals. Only the royal family's treasury could compete with theirs in regard to the collection of low and middle-rank extraordinary items.

However, what Jocelyn did not know was that, in fact, Beaulac's father's extraordinary items had all somehow gone missing after his death, or Beaulac would not have been so frustrated for such a long time.

"He's a demon…"

"Is he a knight…?"

"Run!"

Jocelyn was pulled out from her own thoughts by the noise and shouts. All of their helpers had run away rather awkwardly. No one dared to get one step closer to Lucien, not to mention saving Adris from him.

Watching them hurriedly fleeing away like wild dogs and hens, Jocelyn felt very disgusted.

Feeling relatively confident that Beaulac would not harm her, Jocelyn crossed her daggers in front of her chest and started retreating. As she expected, Beaulac did not chase after her.

After retreating to the other corridor, Jocelyn started to blame herself that she was still thinking of the Gorse family's treasury in that situation. If her enemy had been someone else, she would have been in great trouble now. Obviously, she lacked real fighting experience.

Meanwhile, Jocelyn had to concede that Beaulac's power made him very charming in her eyes again.

Watching them fleeing away, Lucien stood there still. Andris was right now kneeling on the floor, his body shaking out of fear.

"Who is there!" Lucien suddenly lifted his sword and looked at the corner alertly.

The figure in the shadow around the corner started to applaud and a female voice came, "The princess who needs the protection of the knight."

It was Sophia, who was holding a jade-green magic staff in her hand. She smiled, "I've seen your blood power. You're a real knight, Beaulac. Can you protect me, a vulnerable princess? The way you held the heavy sword was very impressive!"

Although she was saying so, her tone was quite calm.

"I've always been the princess' knight," responded Lucien meaningfully.

Nodded with satisfaction, Sophia cast a look at the naked noble on the floor curiously and shyly. Hurriedly, Sophia covered her eyes with her left hand, but Lucien could tell that she was still peeping through the gap of her fingers.

Seeing that the princess was there, Andris felt his face burning like fire. He just wanted to kill himself right there!

"Let's go, Your Highness. We shall not waste our time," said Lucien. When the princess and the prince showed up, Lucien had some weird hunch. Therefore, he believed that Sophia knew some secrets of this place. It was better to stay close to her.

Sophia looked back and walked to Lucien, "No problem. I'll figure out how the palace is changing. And you, my dear knight, you protect me."

After Lucien and Sophia left, Andris finally raised his head again, and his face was totally flushed. He felt very humiliated that Beaulac did not even want to have a fight with him.

"Haha, Andris, what are you doing here, with your naked butt?"

The voice was rather familiar.

Andris suddenly jumped up with his hands covering his lower parts. Turning around, he saw that the several nobles who just fled away had come back.

"Don't let Jocelyn see this, haha!" Another young noble burst out laughing so hard.

"You were always saying that among all the high-level squires, you're the most powerful one. But why you couldn't even handle Beaulac's one single hack? Look at yourself…" The young noble who disliked Andris seized the chance to humiliate him even further.

"Why Beaulac did not hurt you and send you out of the palace? Well, did you…? Hahaha…" said another noble in a dirty tone.

The words were like arrows stabbing right into Andris' heart. Holding his fists tight against the floor, Andris could feel the blood rushing to his brain. Shame, hatred, and the lingering fear were burning his guts. He felt extremely dizzy, and his eyes had gone red.

"Are you alright, Andris?"

It was Jocelyn's voice.

Andris could not help bursting into tears, but crying did not really help.

…

Proceeding along the several corridors, Lucien suddenly looked back. They had gone through three gates.

"Beaulac, what is it?" asked Sophia, who was studying the layout of the palace.

Lucien slightly shook his head, frowned, "Nothing big. I felt someone was watching us from behind."

"But my warning spell did not go on," said Sophia.

"Maybe I am wrong," responded Lucien. Of course, he would not tell Sophia that he had felt some strange changes in this underground palace. He sensed something familiar, but they also disappeared all of a sudden. And only a senior-rank sorcerer who had a deep understanding of magic circles could notice.

Lucien held the sword in his hand tight, feeling the power changing in the palace.

Sophia did not ask further. Holding her magic staff, she walked beside Lucien and gave him directions from time to time.

Lucien was surprised that the direction given by Sophia was completely correct. When they were proceeding, Sophia was in a pretty good mood and she kept playing jokes.

"Wait!" Lucien lifted his left hand and stopped Sophia.

"What is it?" Sophia bit her lips and became serious.

"I smell… blood," said Lucien, frowning his eyebrows.

Sophia got excited, "It's time to let them see my fireballs!"

"Watch out." Lucien held the sword with both hands, and very carefully, he pushed open the gate in front of them.

The metal gate slowly opened, and the strong smell of blood was overwhelming. Lucien saw a black figure kneeling down on the floor, and there was a man wearing black armor lying in front of the figure. The man's throat was cut open, and blood gushed out from the cut.

Hearing their footsteps, the black figure hurriedly turned around. It was Duda!

Looking down, Lucien saw the big cut in the man's throat more clear. The cut was so deep that the man's vertebra was revealed. Obviously, the man had already died.

Lucien recognized the dead man. He was Relph's helper, one of Relph's noble friends.

"I… I didn't mean it!" Duda's face was as pale as death.

Chapter 398: The Different Sophia

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"Did… Did you kill him?" Sophia asked with her voice trembling. It was her first time seeing someone that she knew die right in front of her. The bloody scene and the disgusting smell were poking at her nerves. In her expectation, as this was just a competition, no one should be killed in this underground palace.

Lucien was already used to this. Pretending that he did not want to see the body, Lucien looked up at the ceiling of the underground palace. He wondered if the teleportation magic circles were still working after the strange change happened to this place. Having no idea whether the change was normal or someone did something to the palace on purpose, Lucien decided to be more cautious. However, on the other hand, if the magic field covering the palace had changed, probably now the duke and the counts on the outside were not able to observe them anymore.

If that was true, it would be a piece of good news for Lucien. When no one was watching, Lucien could completely reveal his power. Then it would be much easier for him to find the secret chamber to carry out the magic rite.

However, what concerned him was the fact that he still had no idea where the gold knight and Metatron were. Before figuring this out, Lucien still had to be very cautious and stay with Sophia.

Duda kneeled down with his hands on the ground, murmuring in great fear, "I… I didn't mean to kill… kill him. He was… standing there still, doing nothing! He just wouldn't go! I don't know why! This wasn't my fault! Not my fault!"

Duda went hysterical, shouting and yelling.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, that was the term that rose in Lucien's mind. It was Duda's first time killing a person without any mental preparation, a person that actually he knew in person.

"Calm down, Duda. Calm down. This isn't your fault. The magic circles in this palace have gone wrong," Lucien tried to comfort Duda in a quite professional manner. Lucien had been reading some psychology books to cope with the possible mental side effects left by using Transformation Mask

His deep and soft voice also calmed Sophia down. She was quite surprised that Beaulac could remain so calm when facing death and such unknown changes directly.

"He's right. It's not your fault," agreed Sophia, "…It was the magic circles…"

Like a drowning man clutching at a straw, Duda hurriedly nodded, "That's right! That's right! Something went wrong with the magic circles."

Seeing that Duda had calmed down a bit, Lucien took out his pocket watch and said to him, "Can you tell us what just happened?"

Eager to get rid of the horrible feeling of guilt, Duda told the complete story to them.

After entering the underground palace, when Duda was trying to find Arthen and his helpers, he went right into another young noble. The two enthusiastic young men immediately started their fight.

For the first time, the fight was not a performance, not a test. It was real. And there were no mentors watching them. Duda got more and more excited, and the hiding beast in his heart came out. After several rounds of combat, Duda knocked off the young noble's sword. And seizing the great opportunity, Duda used all of his power to hack at his enemy's neck. It was an all-out hack, as Duda knew that before a participant was severely hurt in this underground palace, the person would be sent out to receive immediate medical treatment through the magic circles.

However, the warm blood that burst out from the young man's neck greatly shocked Duda. Duda could never forget the desperate look on that person's face. And when the young noble's body collapsed to the ground, the look remained unchanged.

Based on Duda's account, Lucien confirmed the time. The moment when Lucien sensed the difference in this underground palace was the time when the magic circle failed to work.

"At that time, you told me that someone was watching us," said Sophia in a low voice, in case Duda heard their conversation.

Lucien nodded, "My blood power enables me to sense some upcoming dangers. Maybe because the power is related to astrology."

Sophia did not see any problems in Beaulac's explanation, and she said using the tone of a delicate and charming little girl, "I did not expect this at all… Beaulac, who did this? What's that person's plan?"

Sophia's green eyes and her petal-like lips would easily arouse the tenderness in most men's heart. They would totally forget the fact that Sophia herself was a level-five blood power alchemist and tried their very best to protect her in their arms.

However, in Lucien's mind, his response was rather cold. To him, although Sophia was right beside him when the change happened, he still could not rule out the possibility that it was the princess who did all of this.

"No worries, Your Highness. I'll protect you with my life." Lucien pretended that he had completely fallen in love with Sophia. With a bit hesitation, he reached out his left hand and gently patted on Sophia's shoulder.

Sophia slightly nodded and her arms climbed onto Lucien's left arm. With her body leaning against Lucien's, Sophia said, "I am a caster. Only with the protection of a brave knight can I fully exert my power. If we support each other, we can destroy all the conspiracy. I can help you become the next duke. At that time, we…"

"I will destroy all the conspiracy! For you!" Like all men who were carried away by their passion and love towards a woman, Beaulac promised the princess very confidently, as if all of a sudden, he had become unstoppable.

Meanwhile, Beaulac's right hand which was holding the sword lowered to his waist.

After a short while, Sophia suddenly took a few steps back with her flushed face as if she felt too shy to stay this close to Beaulac. On the other hand, Beaulac also grabbed the sword tight again, but he had taken out the Holm Crown Ring, Electron, and put it on already.

"Only two people can do this: my brother, or Arthen. While my brother is the future emperor, Arthen is the one who is most likely to become the future duke. They have the power to make Sir Metatron, the Glorious Crown, work with them. After all, Sir Metatron is no longer young, and thus he had to consider his family's future," Sophia stopped acting like a little girl and analyzed seriously, "and with no doubt, their targets are you and me. My father loves me, and the empire had queens before. It also happened before that the first successor in order died before ascending to the throne. My brother won't feel safe when I am still alive! No wonder he wants to be part of the competition as well."

"Sir Metratron is also helping them? What shall we do?" Lucien pretended that he was deeply shocked, "They are not afraid of the investigation? His Majesty will be enraged if you die."

The look on Sophia's face was rather gloomy, "They have taken actions, and they must have been prepared for what is coming to them. Maybe even uncle Ulrich is their ally as well! Once we die, they can say anything they want! But there's still hope for us…"

"Hope?" Beaulac was very confused.

Sophia nodded and said in low voice, "Although Sir Metatron is very powerful, like I said, he's old, and his power is receding. If we can find the secret chamber first, through a hidden passage, we can go into the inner structure of the palace. There we can find a powerful scroll which is used to control the powerful magic circles. My father told me this when he was in this competition, and I am sure he only told the secret to me."

When she finished her words, Sophia looked up and said to the young man both solemnly and helplessly, "Beaulac, are you going to fight for me? Are you going to pursue the hope with me?"

"I am forever your knight, Your Highness. I shall never retreat." Beaulac nodded affectionately.

There were tears in the princess's eyes. "Then, we should set off to find the secret chamber right now! We can only rely on each other!"

Sophia was rather satisfied seeing that Beaulac had become totally carried away by her provocative words. Turning around, she asked Duda to find a safe place to hide and wait until the end of the game.

The moment when she turned around, the excited look on Beaulac's face twitched a bit.

Lucien knew that he was right. The princess indeed knew the existence of the inner structure of the palace.

But what did the princess want? Her personality just changed so fast.

And why would she needed Beaulac to help her?

Chapter 399: The Denouncement

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the underground palace, Lucien was running fast along the corridor like a shadow, and Sophia, after casting Speed on herself, was following close behind him. However, they could not move at their full speed since they had to stop and figure out the direction from time to time.

"Watch out. The door up ahead is dangerous. There's a magic circle behind it," Sophia said after closely studying the magic patterns around and comparing them to those on the map.

Lucien, who had been aware of the danger behind the door long before the warning, pretended to be lost and said while frowning, "What shall we do, then? Cracking the magic circle would be a waste of time."

Sophia was amused by Lucien's words, and it seemed that her fear had gone completely, "We're not cracking it. We are going around it. This is not a test from the Congress of Magic. Except for me, barely do anyone knows about magic. The rest of the candidates will either go around or wait until the magic circles become invalid."

"So which takes longer? Waiting, or going around?" asked Lucien. He felt that he was like a professor, trying his best to give the clues to the student.

Sophia answered without hesitation, "We go around. Take this way to the room. It is connected to the other corridor."

As she was saying it, she was pointing at the room with the rosewood door. As a caster, her face was lit up with pride.

Like a teacher, Lucien nodded in his mind. Then, he took a few steps forward before Sophia and pushed open the door.

In the underground palace, sensing failed to work. Lucien was also unable to spread out his spiritual power as Sophia was right beside him.

The rosewood door was even heavier than Lucien's expectation as if it was made of the most precious metal, not wood. When the door slowly opened, the stench that came out was overwhelming.

"Be careful!" Sophia hurriedly reminded him.

At the same time, Beaulac made a sudden dodge aside as if he was well-prepared.

Sophia quickly lifted her jade-colored staff and a strong wind was brought to the space.

"Toxic gas?" asked Lucien, although he had known the answer.

Sophia nodded seriously, "Maybe someone just passed here and activated the magic circle. Do be careful."

Lucien nodded and grabbed his blue sword tight. He walked into the room using the knight pace ready for fighting.

In the room, the wardrobe, couch, and the desk had all been severely damaged, and the pieces were scattered all around the floor. Clearly, a fierce combat had just taken place there.

On the ground on the other side, there were two young nobles. Their faces had turned black and their hands showed contractures, like chicken feet. At the corners of their mouths, there were stains of vomit.

"They have been poisoned… to death?" Lucien recognized that they were the two nobles helping Arthen, and one of them had even awakened his blood power.

A short cry came from the back when Sophia saw the two bodies. Her face turned gloomy again, "They are Deniz's cousin, but they died here. No matter how the competition ends at this time, your family is going to face big trouble. The noble families will unite together. It will cost a lot for the Gorse family to pacify their wrath."

"The damned plotters! The bloody traitors in our family!" cursed Lucien, just like what Beaulac would do. Then, he slowly moved to the two bodies and carefully checked the wounds.

To Lucien's surprise, he saw a big dent in the chest of one body. A human being was very unlikely to be able to launch such a horrible attack on the body!

As soon as the thought struck Lucien's mind, he instantly made a sideways roll. The next moment, the rosewood door broke into pieces, and a strong wind blew in.

"Steel golem!" cried Sophia to remind Lucien.

Lucien pressed his elbow against the ground and turned around. He saw a big steel golem about four meters tall. Two red spots, which were the golem's eyes, were shining coldly. The golem lifted its huge hammer high, which swooped down right upon Lucien.

Lucien knew that he could not use magic right now, so he made a swift dodge and then hacked at the side of the huge hammer with the sword, Frost.

Bang!

In the sharp sound of the metal collision, the heavy hammer was hacked sideways. Under the great power, Lucien's hands felt very numb, and right now they were trembling slightly.

The power of the steel golem had greatly exceeded that of a grand knight. Although Lucien was wearing the Ogre glove, it was still hard for him to take the pain.

The steel monster, however, was not much influenced. After swinging the hammer in a semicircle in the air, the weapon was swung right toward Lucien again!

Both of Lucien's hands shone with a layer of silver-colored light. He pulled back the sword and blocked the fierce attack.

Suddenly, wind blew fiercely. It turned into countless blades targeting the golem. However, the many blades only managed to leave some scratches on its steel body.

Lacking experience in a real battlefield, at the very beginning, Sophia had picked the wrong magic!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Without being affected, the golem wielded its heavy hammer continuously, and facing the great power, Lucien was busy with defending, which was the only thing he could do at that moment.

Lucien still remembered what Natasha and John had taught him to fight like a knight. However, the room was not spacious enough for him to move freely. Step by step, Lucien could only retreat to reduce the great pressure on his sword.

The power of the golem was around that of a level-five grand knight. Lucien started to feel tired. However, he did not panic. Although his hands were shaking, he still held the sword very tight.

A blue light started to shine, and the golem and its hammer were gradually covered with a layer of ice and frost. Although the golem was not hurt, it started to act slower and slower.

at

Seizing the chance, Lucien took a step forward and avoided the attack of the heavy hammer. With all his strength, Lucien managed to hack the knee of the golem.

Bang! This was Lucien's first time attacking the golem. A layer of ice climbed onto the golem's knee. Although the thin layer broke into the fine pieces as soon as the steel golem moved, it slowed the monster down for one second. Very decisively, Lucien attacked the other knee joint of the golem.

A strong wind blew, which turned into many ropes. The neck, knees, elbows, wrists of the golem were all constrained, and now it was moving even slower.

Lucien's fighting had inspired Sophia. Now she knew what to do to help him!

It was time for Lucien to launch his full attack. Like raindrops in a fierce storm, Lucien's sword fell on the body of the steel golem without stop.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The smile on Lucien's face was confident. He felt that his blood was burning because of the fight!

The golem's red-light eyes shone. It's iron jaw opened, and from it, a greenish-yellow gas came out.

When Lucien was about to dodge, the gas was pushed backward by the strong wind.

Dissipate Smoke. Sophia chose the proper magic again!

With his feet pressing against the ground, Lucien rushed forward again. His swift movement made the heavy hammer miss its target again. With another successful hack, the steel golem moved very slowly like it was already rusty.

However, Lucien's level-four sword could only leave some shallow cuts in the golem. With so many cuts, its knee joints were still able to move. For a few times, Lucien was almost hit by the dangerous, big hammer.

Still, at this time, Lucien felt a strong pulling force from the opposite direction, attracting the sword in his hand. Meanwhile, the golem was even not able to move forward an inch at all!

After around ten seconds, the low sound of metal cracking came from inside of the golem. The two red light spots dimmed. Then, the steel monster collapsed like a falling small hill.

It seemed that Sophia had finally come up with the idea that the spells creating a strong magnetic field worked best for beating the steel monster. So she cast her talent magic spell – the level-five spell, Magnetic Field Shock.

Lucien was glad that right now he was not in his teacher's palace, the Lord of Storm, since most advanced steel golems produced by the Congress of Magic were still able to fight in a strong magnetic field for a few minutes, and during those few minutes, a steel golem was able to kill most middle-rank sorcerers and grand knights.

Gasping hard, Lucien felt very exhausted, yet he also felt very good after the great workout. Ever since he became a sorcerer, he hardly ever fought physically anymore. For a few times, he almost used magic.

From the fight, Lucien realized the importance of exercise again.

As usual, his brain was filled with many strange thoughts.

Seeing that Beaulac was gasping hard, Sophia approached him with her flushed face, "Sorry… I was too nervous. All the knowledge that I learned… did not come to me until later. Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. It's your first time facing a real monster, and you did very well, Your Highness," said Lucien, who felt that his power was recovering very fast when his blood was running fast. At the same time, he was wondering if the power of wind was equal to electromagnetic force in this world. This was because he was told that Princess Sophia had the blood power called the Angel of Wind, but her talent still allowed her to cast the spells that created strong magnetic fields.

According to what Lucien knew, the Congress of Magic had redefined the four elements. Many arcanists had agreed on the statement that the element of wind represented electromagnetic force, and the element of earth was created by gravity. However, there was no agreement on how the element of fire and water were related to the other fundamental forces.

"This was a cruel fight. It is so nice having you as my knight," said Sophia gently.

"My pleasure." Lucien pretended to be very excited.

Sophia nodded, "We take a short break and then move on."

When she was casting the spells to check the corridors ahead, Lucien looked down and slightly shook his head. He believed that Sophia was testing him during the fight.

Unless she was scared out of her mind, or no one had taught Sophia how to stay focused, there was no way that the interval time between two of her spells was this long! Within a minute, Sophia had only used four spells. Even taking into consideration the time she needed for thinking, it was still too slow.

After a while, Lucien and Sophia set off again.

To avoid all the rooms filled with dangerous magic circles, they somehow arrived at another hall directly from the original one they were in.

In this hall, more than ten nobles were already gathering!

Relph and Claire were standing in two separate corners in the hall, and each of them had two to three young nobles on their side. In the opposite corner of the hall, Arthen and his helpers were ready for the fight.

In the middle of the hall, a few bodies were on the ground, with blood and flesh everywhere.

Their faces were written with fear. They were scared by the real death right in front of them.

From their numbers, Lucien guessed that probably most of the nobles had not found the correct way, or they had been scared out of their mind and were now trying to find a safe place to hide, like Duda. For those nobles who were there, they had already proved their competence. If they were still alive when they got out of this place, they would probably become the leaders of their generation.

"You! You changed the magic circles! Beaulac!" Seeing Lucien and Sophia, Arthen cried out loud, with his sword in his right hand and shield in left hand, and his voice was filled with strong hatred, "You want us all to die here!"

"Among us, only the princess is a caster, and she is able to change the magic circles. And she supports you!" shouted another young noble.

"Claire, Relph! We should kill Beaulac together first!" Another noble also yelled.

All of the young nobles were more than furious.

Chapter 400: The Many Unexpected Changes

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien was not much influenced by their denouncement, as this was totally within his expectation. Also, he knew that he was much more powerful than all of them.

With his great confidence, Lucien remained rather calm.

However, Sophia was so angry that her face had turned pale, "That's nonsense! When the magic circle first started changing, Beaulac and I were finding the correct path! We had no time for that!"

"There is no witness. Only Your Highness and Beaulac!" Arthen put on a cold sneer. The rest of the nobles including Relph and Claire also fixed them with a distrustful glare.

Seeing the situation, Sophia got even more irritated and her whole body was shaking, "This is a legendary sorcerer's underground palace. There's no way that I could change the magic circles here!"

"Is that right? I remember that His Majesty once took this test as well, thus he knew the layout of this place very well. Now His Majesty has already reached the legendary level, and he's capable enough of interfering with the magic circles here. Maybe…maybe somehow you got to the method by accident, Your Highness, and you believed that you could control the test and trap Sir Metatron. You have picked Beaulac, this useless piece of trash, to be your tool, so you can control the Gorse family! Or why a spoiled princess would want to come down here?!" Arthen's words resonated in the hall.

Hearing what Arthen just said, now the nobles were staring at Sophia as if she was a beautiful but dangerous succubus. The way they looked at Sophia was full of alert and hatred, and they could rush forward together and kill the princess at any time!

To be honest, after hearing Arthen's words, Lucien also became suspicious of Sophia's purpose of coming down there. Although Arthen did not have any evidence, his explanation did make sense. Lucien also had many questions in his mind.

However, since when Arthen became this articulate? According to what Lucien got to know from Beaulac, giving speech was never Arthen's strength. Was Arthen playing the role of a muscular but simple-minded knight all the time?

Also, Sophia never left Lucien's side since they met in the underground palace, and thus she hardly had any chance to interfere with the magic circles. If she had set up all the tricks in advance, how did Sophia know where to find Beaulac in time? Also, there was no need for Sophia to hide her purpose from Beaulac, as there were so many excuses that she could find. If Beaulac had known that the princess was willing to spend this much effort supporting him, he would definitely pledge his allegiance to the princess and protect her safety with his own life. However, right now, once Beaulac heard the accusation from the others, it was very likely that he would feel suspicious.

Sophia stamped her feet out of frustration, and she turned to Lucien with tears in her eyes, "Do you trust me?"

"I trust you with my heart." Lucien looked at Sophia to comfort her, but meanwhile, he was estimating how far the secret chamber was from the hall.

There was a charming smile on Sophia's face, like a blooming tulip. "As long as you trust me, I am not afraid of their accusation at all."

Seeing how close the princess and Beaulac were, many of the young nobles who had a secret crush on the princess were very pissed. Out of their great rage, they wanted to put them on the burning gallows right away.

Arthen knew that all of the young nobles had reached the climax of their irritation, thus he lifted the sword in his right hand and cried out loud, "Relph, Claire, do you want to die here? If you don't, we shall stay together and kill them first!"

The look on Relph's face was complicated, but finally, he answered aloud, "Arthen, I'll follow you!"

He had trusted Arthen's words.

"Good, what about you, Claire?" said Arthen. At the same time, he lifted the black shield covered with a layer of magic symbols, in case Sophia would cast magic at any time.

Maybe Sophia was too shocked by the situation, but there was no sign that she would launch her attack first before the other nobles gathering together, while Lucien had decided to wait and see how things would change. In the meantime, he was still working on figuring out where the secret chamber would be.

Claire was also wearing a tight chain mail like Jocelyn, which showed her curved figure perfectly. But Claire's chain mail was black.

"Me?" Claire squinted her eyes slightly, and she smiled, "I'll fight with Her Highness and Beaulac."

"What?!"

The rest of the nobles could not believe their ears.

Arthen said calmly, "Are you one of them, Claire?"

"Stop your nonsense, Arthen," Claire lifted her blond eyebrow. "I'm doing so because I think you are the one who did all of these! Facing this situation, we should stop fighting against each other and wait for uncle Ulrich to send the rescue in. Only the murderer would want to provoke such a big conflict so he could kill all the people he wished before others arrived! Arthen, confess! What do you want?!"

As she was questioning Arthen, Claire and the nobles who supported her were moving toward Sophia.

Sophia was very surprised, "Thank you, Claire! You deserve the name, 'the Wisdom Gorse'!" At this time, she noticed that Beaulac was looking at the other direction, "What are you looking at, Beaulac?"

Lucien had remembered the layout of this place. He turned around and the corner of his mouth twitched, "I'm… Uh… I'm looking for a little boy named Conan, Edogawa Conan."

The murder, the secret chamber, dead bodies… These were all the key elements in the Japanese cartoon Detective Conan.

"What… Conan? Never heard this weird name before. A little boy? How can he come down here? How do you know him?" Sophia was very confused.

"Sorry, I was just joking. He's… uh… He's just a little boy that I know. Every time I see him, bad things happen. I was… joking, really." Lucien was a bit embarrassed. He had no idea where and why his sense of humor just came out in this situation.

Surprisingly, Sophia understood Lucien's strange response and nodded to him. Then, she turned back to Claire and said sincerely, "I have to say that I did not like you much before, Claire, but now I must apologize because I did not discover your wisdom and beauty earlier. Please forgive me, Claire."

"No worries, Your Highness," Claire smiled. "Under your radiance, I'm not that eye-catching."

When Claire turned around to face Arthen, she blinked at Lucien to remind him that their agreement still worked.

Arthen's face was rather gloomy, "Claire, if we don't unite, Beaulac and the princess will leave us no chance. Compromise and yielding will bring us no safety!"

"That's right!" agreed Relph and the rest of nobles loud.

Lucien had also observed the reaction of the nobles, and with the psychology knowledge he learned, he saw their immediate consensus rather suspicious.

"Fight! Only fight brings safety! Only fight can get us out alive!" Arthen patted on his shield with his sword and shouted. As if Arthen's vigor and posture had affected the nobles following him, the morale was extremely high.

Arthen's body was covered with a layer of dazzling light and he took the lead rushing toward Lucien, Sophia, and Claire. The entire hall was slightly shaking from his heavy steps.

As the knight, Lucien held the sword Frost tight with both of his hands and ran toward Arthen. Claire followed him close.

In Arthen's team, a black tornado was summoned. Several nobles were scooped up high by the wind force and in the next second thrown to the ground fiercely. They directly passed out.

No one could resist the power of a level-five blood power caster without the strength of a grand knight or the same level extraordinary magic or divine items. However, Sophia was clearly restraining herself as she had no plan on killing them, or it would bring her big troubles when she got out.

In the tornado, however, Arthen was as steady as a big rock. In a few seconds, he had come in front of Lucien and launched his attack!

Lucien also wielded his sword from the bottom to the top, and Frost directly hit Arthen's level-five magic sword.

Bang!

To Lucien's great surprise, he felt no strength in Arthen's sword.

With a single hack, Arthen was blown backward as if there was some fierce wind, and as soon as he hit the ground, he kept moving back.

At this time, Lucien heard an exclamation from behind. In the next second, the soft female body ran straight into him. Then with several strong magic waves, four transparent walls had surrounded them!

"Claire… What are you doing!?" Sophia angrily asked Claire, who was standing outside of the walls. It was Sophia who ran into Lucien, and her shield of wind already had many cracks.

Claire smiled coldly, "Your Highness, I have always been on Arthen's side."

"Claire, you…!" Sophia was so pissed that she was speechless.

Lucien noticed that Relph was also in the wall trap when Relph questioned Claire furiously, "You are with the royal family, aren't you? Why are you helping Arthen?"

Slightly frowning, Lucien stared at the transparent wall in front of them. To him, the way the power was flowing in the walls and how the magic symbols were changing were strange.

At this time, except for Arthen, Claire, and the several nobles who had passed out on the ground, the rest of them were all trapped.

They finally realized the truth. A young noble yelled, "You were the one who changed the magic circles. It was you!"

"Hahahaha…" laughed Arthen loud, "I'll have nothing to worry when you all die! There is no way that Claire will want to fight against me because of the dukedom! Soon she will marry the prince!"

"Is that you, my brother?" Sophia finally understood everything, and she turned to look at the other direction with a smile.

"Sophia, you're never my target. I was just wondering how our father managed to make the breakthrough and reach the legendary level. However, it is also not bad if I can take advantage of this and kill you, my sister. I know what you are doing, Sophia." From the other entrance of the hall, prince Beyer walked in calmly.

Claire hurriedly walked to the prince, with an admiring look on her radiant face. Obviously, she had fallen in love.

Arthen said to the prince respectfully, "Your Highness, Sir Metatron only promised to give us five minutes. We have to do this now."

"Turn on the anti-magic circles and let out the toxic gas and golems. Sophia is the only one you have to be careful with. Then, find Deniz and finish him," said Beyer as if he was just dealing with something very unimportant.

Arthen took out a colorful stamper of the size of a fist and walked to Beyer. He was ready to end the nobles' lives.

All of a sudden, a bright light flashed.

The look on Arthen's face froze. In the next second, he was rolling back and forth on the ground. A pool of blood came out from underneath Arthen's body.

All of them in the transparent wall trap saw the prince coldly pulling out his sword from Arthen's chest.

"Why… Why?" Arthen did not die right away because of his power as a grand knight. However, if he did not receive treatment as soon as possible, his death was just a matter of time.

Beyer put on a triumphant smile. "It would be even better if my love was also the Duchess of the Gorse family."

There was also a big smile on Claire's face. She was looking at Beyer as if he was her idol.

Beyer took a step forward. He was about to behead Arthen to end his life.

Suddenly, a thick bolt of lightning dropped from the ceiling, and it hit the sword right before it hacked at Arthen's neck!

"Deniz!" Claire was shocked. She had no idea how long Deniz had been hiding, and why he did not take action earlier.

The look on Beyer's face suddenly changed when green wind ropes bound his wrists and ankles tight.

Smiling while holding her staff, Sophia walked out of the transparent walls without any effort.

Meanwhile, the light of a spell, Curing Wind, gently fell onto Arthen's chest.

Some of Relph's people were now keeping Lucien in control; some had surrounded Claire, and others were helping Deniz.

"You…?!" With all the constraints, as the man who was close to becoming a radiant knight, Beyer was still able to block Deniz's attacks in succession.

Arthen coughed, "Your Highness, all of us are the knights of the princess."

White wings spread out behind Sophia, covered with many green light spots as if the wind elves were flying around her.

…

Duda, hiding in the corner, was gasping hard with his lowered head. Suddenly, he saw a pair of brand new boots walking toward him.

Chapter 401: The Causes

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Duda was still panicking after killing the other noble by mistake and experiencing all the changes in the underground palace. Seeing that someone was standing right in front of him, his brain was completely blank. Slowly, he looked up and saw the man who was wearing a pair of brand new boots.

"It's you…" Duda felt much relieved seeing his friend, Andris. After releasing a sigh, Duda's heart started beating fast and fiercely again, as if his heart was trying to compensate the beats that it missed in the previous few seconds.

"It's me," said Andris with the corner of his mouth curling up.

"I'll tell you. This underground palace is horrible! The teleportation magic circles are not working. Come here, Andris. We wait here until the competition finishes…" Duda hurriedly told his trusted friend what had happened, but he did not mention the part where he killed someone.

Then, Duda became confused, "Where is your armor?"

Duda remembered clearly that in the morning when they came here together, Andris was fully equipped with a set of the black armor, instead of the white shirt and the tight pants he was wearing now. The only part that had not been changed was the pair of brand new boots.

The weird smile on Andris' face lingered, and he did not answer his friend's question, but murmured, "You think it's horrible here? I think this place is nice." Andris closed his eyes, and if he was tasting a glass of beautiful wine, "I have smelled the blood, the sweet aroma… I have also smelled the pain, hatred, and greed that have been piling up for hundreds of years…"

Duda somehow felt very cold, and his heart was full of fear, "Andris? Are you alright? You killed someone by mistake… too?"

"Killed someone by mistake?" The muscles in Andris' face suddenly started wriggling very fast, like a flour dough.

Very quickly, his hand went through Duda's chest. "Like this?" Andris asked like he was sleep-talking.

Duda's face was written with such great fear that it had been twisted. He saw that Andris' face quickly aged and became terribly wrinkled, but a second later, his face became young and familiar to Duda again.

Now Andris had retreated his right hand. The hand was holding Duda's heart, bloody, but still beating.

Before falling into the eternal darkness, Duda saw what his own heart looked like.

"The pain is so sweet," Andris closed his eyes and tasted the smell of blood in the air.

…

In the hall, the six pairs of white wings behind Sophia were slightly flapping. She was now like the Monarch of Wind described in the legends, and her face was written with mercy in the holy light, which made her look even more gorgeous.

In Lucien's eyes, although Sophia was definitely a beauty, she was too young and inexperienced. Compared to the outstanding beauties such as Natasha and Silvia, her beauty was not as impressive. However, at that moment, like an angel, Sophia was no inferior to anyone.

Her magic staff pointed forward, and more wind ropes severely restrained the prince's movements and were further strengthened. Deniz, whose hair was tied in a ponytail, looked very determined. His successive attacks were like bolts of lightning, forcing Beyer to hurriedly retreat.

On the other side, Arthen had been cured by Sophia's power, and surprisingly, his strength had also fully recovered. It seemed that Arthen's blood power might be quite special.

Holding a black shield, Arthen charged toward the prince with the dazzling sword in his right hand. How dared Arthen, who had just become a grand knight, to launch the direct combat against the prince?

Beyer's sword shining with a dim green light blocked Arthen's attack, however, as soon as the two swords crossed, the prince felt the great strength from Arthen's weapon.

What sword was Arthen using? Beyer had no idea.

"My brother, Arthen is fully equipped with a level-five knight armor, called the Nameless Starlight. Anyone who fights against him will become slower and slower, including you. Now since you have been confined, Arthen can finally exert the power of his equipment," said Sophia coldly to her brother. Meanwhile, Sophia further numbed Beyer with small clusters of lightning.

Deniz's and Arthen's swords were now right above Beyer's head!

Suddenly, white wings spread out behind Beyer and embraced him in the middle.

Bolts of lightning and starlight fiercely burst out when the swords hacked at the wings. Many white feathers were falling to the ground. The wings had given Beyer a few seconds to fight back. Wielding his green sword, the prince managed to force Deniz and Arthen back.

However, when Beyer was about to take a step forward and launch a second attack, the space around him suddenly twisted, and for a second Beyer lost his balance.

"Twisted Magnetic Field!"

Seizing the chance, Deniz and Arthen quickly turned around and rushed at the prince again.

Feeblemind, Hypnosis, Fear, Sleep, Wind Rope, Twisted Magnetic Field, Magnetic Field Vibrating, Spider Net… Sophia cast a series of spells to constrain her brother. She did not try to attack but was interfering with Beyer's movement properly to create the chances for the two knights.

Sophia's strategy worked, and Beyer was now in a disadvantageous situation. In the ancient magic system, the element of wind was linked to Illusion.

However, because of his blood power, Seraph, Beyer was very resistant to magic. Most of Sophia's spells could only affect him a little bit, and the light from Beyer's wings soon drove the magic effects away.

Sophia stuck to her own pace. On the one hand, she kept casting her spells, and on the other hand, she kept distracting Beyer.

"My brother, are you still trying to figure out where our father got his power from? Are you still wondering why he managed to reach the legendary level? Think about it. Why could you find the hidden document? Do you think our father would have written down his biggest secret?"

Beyer's heart sank, "Was it you?"

"Ha, I did quite a good job in imitating our father's handwriting, right? If you had never seen those documents, you would have never come down here, and you would have never left me such a great chance to kill you." The smile on Sophia's face was still pure.

"So the secret does not exist?" Beyer murmured. His hope had been destroyed. Deniz's and Arthen's swords almost cut him. Claire was also almost defeated by the several nobles who had awakened their blood powers.

"No, it does exist, but it belongs only to us. Me and my knights! I am very lucky. Relph found this biggest secret from the family legend, thus we were able to put you into this trap. Including Arthen, they are my knights. They are willing to do everything for me, even at the cost of their lives! Our performance wasn't bad, right?" Sophia's smile was very charming by nature, and her petal-like lips could easily seize a man's heart, "Also, many thanks to Beaulac, this little fool. You thought I was trying to control and help Beaulac, but you had no idea what my true purpose was."

Then she turned around, and within her expectation, she saw the expressionless face of Beaulac. She slightly pouted and said to Lucien like a little girl, "I do like you very much. Without you, my brother would never have fallen into our trap."

"You…" Lucien responded as if he was totally speechless. In his mind, he had almost figured out the location of the secret chamber.

Sophia giggled, "Stop playing. I know you're not simple-minded and you never fell in love with me."

"How do you know?" Lucien asked sincerely. He always regarded himself as a good actor, and he had no idea which part of his performance failed.

After further confining Beyer with the wind ropes, Sophia answered, "Your enthusiasm was just on the surface. I saw no heart-felt passion. You know, women are always very sensitive in this aspect. I was also playing my role. No matter what plan you have, it is not important anymore."

Now Lucien was really speechless.

Turning back to her brother again, Sophia kept pissing Beyer off, "You are even crueler than what I expected. You had almost killed Arthen before we carried out our plan. You almost ruined the plan."

Although she was saying so, she was not worrying and her voice had no fear at all, as if everything was under her control.

"It was you who found the secret?" Lucien said to Relph who was standing beside him.

Relph had cast the spell, Slow, on Beaulac and made him unable to move freely. Now he laughed hard, feeling rather proud of himself, "Right! It was me! You were quite surprised that all of a sudden I had awakened the blood power, Sun, weren't you?"

"Was it fake?" Lucien would never tell Relph that he had seen it through already.

The triumphant smile on Relph's face was even bigger, "It was not a blood power. I'm a sorcerer, an honorable sorcerer! The Gorse family is the descendant of the Sun King, Thanos, the greatest sorcerer ever! But now they are begging for awakening their blood powers, which came from the experiments that the sorcerers did on their slaves. That's completely wrong! So I have been secretly studying magic, and by chance, I found a secret scroll left by the Sun King. Thus, I discovered the big secret of this underground palace, the secret that made Sun King so powerful!"

Lucien did not respond, so Relph kept showing off.

"In the secret chamber hung with many paintings, there is another chamber. It requires the blood of a real Thanos' descendant and half of his life force. When everything is ready, we will use your blood to open the gate and acquire the unimaginable power. At that time, I will become as powerful as the Sun King, and then I can marry…"

Relph's voice lowered. He took a glance at Sophia with the corner of his eyes.

Lucien guessed that Relph was talking about a different chamber, not the one Rhine told him. He wondered how many secrets were still hiding here.

Seeing that Beaulac did not reply, Relph was quite disappointed, "You don't want to say anything, Beaulac?"

"…Well, thanks for telling me," said Lucien sincerely.

…

Hearing Sophia's words, Beyer burst out laughing all of a sudden, "My dear sister, thank you. I'm so glad to hear that the secret does exist!"

Beyer's six pairs of wings saved him again from Deniz's and Arthen's swords and Sophia's magic, but one of the wings almost broke.

At this time, Lucien sensed the ancient and horrible power under the wings. Then, he saw Beyer holding a small scale in his right hand. The left side of the scale was white and the right side black.

"Justice Scale?" The look on Sophia's face suddenly changed.

It was a well-known divine item from Holy Heilz Empire. It was said that the scale was left by God and its power could be compared to that of a legendary leader.

Obviously, the scale Beyer was holding was just a projection of the real item, like the duplicate of the Sword of Truth that Lucien saw before. However, the projection was still a level-five extraordinary item, and a projected item like that always had some special power that anyone under legendary level was unable to be immune to.

Even if the power could only be used once, the scale was already powerful enough to turn the things around!

Chapter 402: Three Sighs

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The small scale was a piece of toy. The white and black pan went up and down in turns, and soon they reached the balance. Instantly, the atmosphere around Beyer somehow became very weird.

The wind ropes constraining Beyer suddenly broke into pieces; the big and thick spider net was gone, and the twisted magnetic field had also calmed down. On the other side, the bolts of lightning attached to Deniz's sword had died out, and the dazzling starlight surrounding Arthen had also disappeared.

In the middle of the hall, Sophia flapped her six pairs of wings. A summoned piece of cloud with the strong power of death had been driven away as soon as it approached Beyer.

Deniz bit his lips tight. He could not feel his power of lightning anymore.

In the range of the power of Justice Scale, any extraordinary power should obey the order!

Beyer felt revitalized again after getting rid of all the constraints. Lifting his green sword named Demon Horn, Beyer said to his enemies loud, "Come and show me your real power! Show me what you've got!"

Flapping his wings, Beyer had come to Arthen and raised his sword.

"Without all the items, you are nothing!" Beyer sneered.

So far, the power of the scale had been used up.

Arthen hurriedly lifted his shield to defend himself. But as soon as the shield touched the sword, Beyer disappeared right in front of Arthen.

Arthen had lost his target! Instantly, his heart sank. However, in the next second, he quickly swung his sword backward.

Bang!

Arthen was unable to resist the great strength. Losing his balance, he was thrown on the ground, and Beyer's sword was right above his head!

A flash of lightning blocked Beyer's attack. It was Deniz, who was holding the sword with both his hands. However, this one single confrontation had consumed much of his strength.

In Beyer's eyes, Deniz, who just became a grand knight and was far away from reaching the level of a radiant knight, was not a threat at all.

Beyer was very confident. Moving fast, he exchanged several blows with Deniz within a few seconds. Deniz could feel that the green sword that Beyer was using was slowing down his speed and weakening his strength.

When Beyer and Deniz were fighting, Sophia did not do much because she was unable to lock onto Beyer. Although some proper spells that Sophia knew could be useful in this scenario, she could not use them as the spells did not fall into the range of magic that she could cast with her blood power.

This was the destiny of a caster. The spells that a caster could use only were decided by his or her blood power, and working hard could not help at all.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Beyer hacked faster and faster.

Suddenly, Beyer jumped out from his fight against Deniz and came right to Sophia.

"A caster thinks she can kill me?!" shouted Beyer.

Sophia was totally surprised. At that moment, she had forgotten to jump away with the wind!

Under the great force coming from Beyer's green sword, Sophia's wind shield started cracking into pieces!

Arthen hurriedly rushed back to his princess and blocked Beyer's following attacks. Sophia hurriedly stayed away from Beyer to get ready to cast again.

Without all the constraints, Beyer could fully exert his power, and his series of attacks had loaded Sophia, Deniz, and Arthen with great pressure. When he had the chance, Arthen even killed one of the nobles who was fighting against Claire, thus much of Claire's stress had been removed.

Lucien, however, was right now just a bystander. After seeing Beyer's power, and he had understood why Sophia decided to make such a complicated plan to kill her brother. Meanwhile, he was also learning some fighting skills from watching Beyer.

Beside Lucien, Relph was very nervous watching the fight, with his hands clenching into fists. Lucien had to say that Relph was not at all a good sorcerer when it came to staying focused. As a sorcerer, Relph's mind was far from being strong. Comparatively speaking, Sophia was doing a way better job in staying calm during the fight.

Lucien had figured out the rough direction to find the chamber, but it would still take some time for him to find the more accurate location.

"That's all you've got, Sophia?" Beyer's shouting was as loud as thunder!

Neither Deniz nor Arthen could stop him.

Seeing this, Sophia secretly took a few steps back.

At this time, Lucien, who was right now staring at a piece of gray tile in the middle of the hall,

had also figured out how to get into the secret chamber.

However, what was out of Lucien's expectation was that, before he could take any action, Sophia had stamped on the tile very decisively. Walking backward, she reached the entrance of the secret chamber!

A low but deep noise came from underneath the hall. One of the stone walls in the hall had turned into an old gate and it opened for them slowly.

Relph was not surprised seeing the secret chamber there, but he had no idea why the princess had chosen to open the gate at that moment.

The knights were still fighting without being distracted, but Beyer had sped up his hacking even further. Clearly, he was rushing to kill the two grand knights as soon as possible before any unexpected changes could take place.

…

Above the ground, the Duke Ulrich and the rest of the leaders of the family had already noticed the weird changes in the palace, but the dark gate had refused their entry.

"We have to break in! If the prince and the princess died in there, His Majesty would be so furious that who knows what he would do! That might be the end of the Gorse family!" said Count Nuremburk very anxiously. Behind him, there was a cluster of dark air, in which countless dim stars were orbiting.

Nuremburk lifted his hand and the stars followed his order. They fiercely rushed toward the dark gate and hit it with great force!

Bang! The explosive sound was deafening.

However, a legendary archmage's palace was not that easy to be broken into!

Another count agreed with great anger, "When I get to know who did this, I will peel off his skin, slowly!"

He was not exaggerating. He did skin people! He was Count Wolfgang, the Blood Curse.

"Why Sir Metatron did not control the core of the palace to turn on the magic circles again?" murmured the duke gloomily. Staring at the dark gate, he was not rushing to take any action.

Nuremburk and the rest of the nobles were shocked. One of them hurriedly asked, "You are saying… Sir Metatron is involved in this? Is he out of his mind? Many of them down there are from other big families!"

"Many of them are down there, but… not all of them," said Ulrich gloomily.

"What shall we do then?" asked Count Wolfgang, slightly frowning.

Ulrich mused, "If Sir Metatron's plan works, the Gorse family will become the biggest supporter of the future emperor, and the entire family will benefit from it. If he fails, we know nothing about this plan. We shall try our best to save them, so if anything happens, the worst scenario will be the emperor killing Sir Metatron and his family members, but the biggest part of the family can still stay safe."

"I see. We can have your helper here. He is a senior-rank sorcerer, and he's more resourceful than we are. If he still doesn't know what to do, we have to have His Majesty here. We cannot let the other legendaries know. We have to make as fewer people know this as possible!" said Nuremburk, who was looking at Ulrich seriously.

The other gold knight of the Gorse family was sent by the emperor to the dimension under the control of the empire. As the descendant of Sun King, the Gorse family, with its many precious magic books and records, could easily attract many sorcerers from the ancient magic system secretly.

Very seriously, Ulrich nodded.

…

Squeaking, the ancient stone gate slowly opened.

Lucien stopped himself from rushing into the secret chamber as he had no idea if Metatron was in there. But at this time, he sensed the strong smell of blood from the chamber.

What happened? Lucien frowned.

After a while, Relph also noticed the smell. With his nose twitching, Relph said confusedly, "Blood… A lot of… blood?"

Sophia was still focusing on the fight, helping Deniz and Arthen against Beyer.

As the gate opened more, Lucien and the rest of the nobles finally saw what had happened in the chamber: blood was everywhere on the walls, and the paintings of the family members had all been horribly stained. On the floor, there were pieces of bones and flesh scattered around, and some of them were even on the walls.

The chamber was like a slaughterhouse!

In the slaughterhouse, there was a black figure quite familiar to Lucien. The figure was twitching and writhing as if it felt horribly itchy. When feeling the light, the figure hurriedly turned around.

It had a pale face, covered with many bulging red veins.

The figure looked around the hall and burst out laughing, "Beaulac, I have become a radiant knight! A radiant knight! I have… finally… become a radiant knight!" The figure became more and more hysterical.

Shocked by the extremely horrible scene, Beyer, Deniz, and Claire had stopped fighting and were staring at the strange man in great alert.

"…Frederick?" Lucien recognized him. Fredrick was Beaulac's secret guard. Why was he there?

At this time, Sophia smiled, "Yes… You've become a radiant knight. You deserve everything that you want, say, the dukedom, the endless wealth, and marrying a princess like me."

"Yes… I'm a radiant knight now, and I can have everything that I never dared to dream of. Your Highness, my love, tell me, why are you frowning?" Frederick laughed hard.

Watching the scene, a strange idea came to Lucien.

"It's him! He wants to kill me!" Sophia pointed at Beyer and almost burst into tears.

Frederick heard Sophia's words and nodded, "I see… He's the prince… If I kill you, Your Highness, can I become the emperor?"

It seemed that Frederick was now completely a psycho. Suddenly, he turned to Lucien and grinned, "Thank you for the rite, with Greed."

His words were like a clap of thunder in Lucien's brain. Lucien realized what had happened, but he also had no idea how it happened!

As soon as Frederick finished his words, he came to Beyer with an astonishing speed. Within one single punch, Fredrick hit the green sword in front of the prince. The prince was forced to take a few steps back by the great strength.

Seeing this, Sophia sighed with surprise, "Greed…"

Above the palace, the duke felt something when he was trying to break the gate. He turned around and looked at the rest of the family leaders, and there was the combination of mercy and sneer in his eyes. He sighed, "Greed…"

Putting his right hand into the magic pouch when seeing that Beyer was in great danger in front of Frederick, Lucien also sighed, "Greed…"

Relph had no idea what was going on, but when he turned around, he saw Beaulac easily take out a piece of item from the pouch, despite the restraint of the magic effect on him.

It was a black badge, with shining silver stars on it.

One, two, three… six! There were six stars!

Relph's eyeballs almost jumped out. Most of the nobles might not be able to recognize it, but as a sorcerer, Relph knew what the badge was as soon as he saw the stars!

This was… an arcana badge! For a senior-rank arcanist!

This was a senior-rank arcanist's badge enchanted with the constant magic effect, Free Move!

Chapter 403: Astonishment

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"Level six… arcanist!" Relph was totally shocked. In his eyes, Beaulac suddenly became so strange to him. No… He should say that the man standing in front of him was right now a total stranger to him. There was no way that the real Beaulac could have become a senior-rank as he had never left Antiffler before.

It must be that a senior-rank sorcerer or archmage had turned into Beaulac and used some special ways to hide from the blood power check done by Nuremburk. As for the purpose, the sorcerer was certainly there to pursue the secret left by Sun King.

Suddenly, a scene flashed past his mind: he remembered the sincere appreciation from Beaulac after he bragged about the existence of another secret chamber and showed off by telling Beaulac how to open the chamber.

"…Well, thanks for telling me."

That was what Beaulac… no, the arcanist, said.

Relph could not believe how stupid he had been. Although he wanted to cry out loud to remind the princess, Deniz, and Arthen that this was not really Beaulac, he was clearly aware of how powerful a senior-rank arcanist was. Within a second, the arcanist could easily kill him with a single glance; and even if all the nobles present had decided to unite together, the arcanist could still kill them one by one within half a minute.

The only way to survive was to yield and wait until Sir Metatron showed up in time as agreed.

Relph had absolutely no idea how the senior-rank arcanist managed to creep in. It was like a lion staying with a flock of sheep!

He could not help trembling out of the great fear and could not concentrate his spiritual power at all. However, he knew that there was no need for him to stay concentrated as he had no chance to cast when standing beside a senior-rank arcanist. Although he was already very close to obtaining the secret of Sun King and he did dream of becoming a sixth-circle sorcerer, Relph was only looking forward to using his power to acquire glory and high status.

A level-six arcanist was very likely a seventh or eighth-circle sorcerer or even a ninth-circle archmage! Relph had completely given up resistance.

"Smart." Lucien smiled and took a glance at Relph, whose face had completely turned pale.

Relph nodded like a golem as he was incapable of thinking. Staring at the blue eyes of the fake Beaulac, Relph fell deeper and deeper into them…

Very easily, Lucien had seized the control of Relph's mind, putting him in a great panic.

The fifth-circle illusion spell, Dominate Person!

When knowing that his experience in Castle Bertren was a test from his teacher, the Lord of Storm, Lucien also got to know that it was the little crystal dragon, Alferris, that was playing the demon, Hatred. From the Lord of Storm and Alferris, Lucien had learned a lot more in details about the seven mysterious demons from hell and realized that Pain Fable was not merely a joke.

According to Fernando and Alferris' speculation, when certain negative emotions piled up, the projection of the corresponding demon would show up, and this process did not require the help of any special rite. The rites that people believed in were for improving the projections' power to make them grow, and the rites thus were in fact not magic rites, but just something that further convinced people of the existence of the evil power.

Therefore, it seemed that even the most absurd magic rite could also summon a powerful demon.

Pain Fable played a very important role in collecting a person's negative emotions. A person who enjoyed reading the fables tended to gain the connection to the mysterious demons including Wrath, Envy, Greed and so on. At this time, the person's mind could become twisted, but without the stimulation of a major accident or any following rites, the person could not gain a great evil power.

In other words, the steps of a rite did not matter, and what mattered was the rite itself. Without a rite, the projection of a demon could not gain its power. Meanwhile, what was more important than the rite was the gathering of negative emotions, or there was no way that a demon could cast its projection in one's mind.

When Lucien's was deceiving Beaulac into following the pure made-up rite, the former randomly made a joke about the steps of the rite, since he was quite certain that, without the emotional foundation shaped by the special book such as Pain Fable, neither Beaulac nor Frederick could successfully summon the projection of Greed.

However, what was going on right now was totally out of Lucien's expectation. Frederick had successfully summoned Greed using the ridiculous magic rite made up by Lucien, and had gained the power of a radiant knight!

Although his power was not yet fully developed, Frederick was unstoppable. The creepy and horrible look on his twisted face had made Lucien believe that all of these was a masterpiece done by the demon, Greed!

Lucien had no idea how Fredrick had collected such a strong feeling of greed within a single month. Was it from watching Beaulac summoning the demon? Or was it because of this creepy underground palace?

However, no matter what it was, Lucien had to hurry up, even if he had to use magic! As time passed by and more people were killed, Frederick's power as a radiant knight would be fully developed!

From the few rounds of the fight between Fredrick and Beyer, Lucien speculated that he still had three to four minutes to take actions. He first had to turn on the magic circle in case later anything unexpected would happen. After all, this was Lucien's ultimate purpose in going down there.

While keeping Relph under control, using Secondary Telepathic Bond, Lucien made sure that neither Relph nor Metatron knew the existence of the other secret passage and the inner part of the palace, and then he secretly examined the slaughterhouse-like chamber and made sure that no one was in it.

Then, when Sophia was busy with casting spells to help Beyer defeat Fredrick, Lucien cast Persistent Image and Gaseous Form and sneaked into the chamber where they found Frederick.

Compared to Frederick's power, what concerned Lucien much more was the fact that Metatron was also down there in the palace. But as long as he was not in the secret chamber, things would be much easier!

Once Lucien stepped into the secret chamber, he was overwhelmed by the strong, disgusting smell of blood and flesh, but he was not affected by it at all. He walked to the painting of the first Gorse Duke and started casting a long and strange spell, with the help of complex hand gestures.

The sound of metal collisions was loud, and no one wanted to stay close to the secret chamber because of the strong smell of blood. Therefore, no one heard the low voice casting a spell in the chamber.

Finally, Lucien finished casting the long spell given by Rhine. In the gas form, his body rose in the air and somehow entered the painting!

Inside the painting, there was a passage which was not very long. Without any barriers, Lucien had successfully entered the inner layer of the palace, which looked exactly the same as the hall above the ground!

In the middle of the hall, there was a sun altar, on which there was the statue of Sun King, Thanos.

It was a middle-aged man looking up, as if nothing else was worthy of his attention except for the endless and mysterious starry sky.

Thanos' face was well-featured and the look on it was serious. The statue was wearing a magic crown inlaid with magic precious stones and a black magic robe with complicated red patterns on it.

The statue was very well-built, which showed the great manner of Sun King when he was still alive. Meanwhile, the statue's right hand reached out, as if it was holding something invisible.

Lucien could simply put the gorse brooch back on the statue and then he could start the advanced magic rite, but now, he frowned and stood where he was.

Why… Why he could not sense the existence of the World of Souls?

According to Lucien's experience in the tomb of Finks, he believed that the three places that Rhine told him should all have some close connection to the World of Souls, but…

After a few seconds' of thinking, Lucien took out Sun's Corona and wore it around his neck.

Instantly, his eyes became blurry and the statue changed.

Above the right hand reaching out, there was a half-transparent, white light ball. However, there were other colors hiding underneath, that Lucien could not tell what they were with his bare eyes. The light ball was going through some constant changes, like a beating heart.

The light ball felt very familiar to Lucien, just like the rust-colored one that Lucien saw in Finks' tomb. Although it was right there in front of him, he felt that the light ball did not exist in this world.

In the light ball, there was a small black crack, twisted and disgusting.

Lucien sensed the weak smell of death from the crack.

The gap of the World of Souls was wrapped in the light ball! No wonder Lucien could not feel its existence!

Lucien still had a few more minutes, thus he could not help being curious and wondered what was in the light ball.

Calming down, he cast a series of detection spells, but all of them directly went through the light ball.

After thinking carefully, Lucien cast a few layers of defensive spells on himself. Then, with great determination, he reached out his hand.

His fingers slowly touched the margin of the light ball.

Chapter 404: The Ruthless Sophia

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The light balls kept swelling bigger and then shrinking smaller. A glowing white radiance was flowing inside. Lucien's fingers approached the light ball slowly, but when he was almost touching it, his hand stopped!

Lucien felt his heart beating very fast as if it was going to jump out of his chest. His heart-beating pace closely followed the contraction frequency of the light ball.

Lucien had a thin layer of sweat covering his forehead. He had no idea why he just decided to take such a great risk by touching this mysterious light ball when he knew completely nothing about it? What if the light ball had exploded? What if it had contained some kind of curse?

He felt very lucky that his discretion and prudence had stopped him in the last second. Meanwhile, Lucien also reckoned that it was very strange of him to be this reckless. Somehow at that moment, he was caught by his curiosity and greed. Although he was clearly aware of the danger, he could not help reaching out his hand.

Lucien withdrew his hand and stared at the mysterious light ball in front of him. Trying his best, he was analyzing what just happened.

He wondered why. Was it because of the underground palace, or the arrival of the demon, Greed? Or was it because of the light ball itself?

Or perhaps… they were the same thing? Were they all connected?

There were so many thoughts in Lucien's mind, but he soon made a decision: He could not simply focus on the light ball, instead, he should also try to look for the materials or documents left by Sun King somewhere else. Lucien could waste his time here no more. He had to hurry up and carry out the magic rite to activate the magic circle left by Rhine.

Rhine had checked this place carefully and did not find anything else except for the magic circles here. It seemed that the other secret chamber that Sophia and Relph just mentioned was more likely to be the one keeping all the precious documents of Sun King.

Lucien took out the gorse brooch containing the unknown power and carefully put it on the statue's left chest. The brooch had now been put back to where it belonged.

Taking a few steps back, Lucien started to activate the magic circle using complex hand gestures and an incomprehensible spell.

…

In the hall above.

The fight was becoming more and more intense, and Frederick's pale face was covered with countless protruding veins. Although he looked terrible, Frederick's power had grown stronger and stronger, and even the prince was not his match.

Since Arthen's power all came from the divine and magic items he had, he could not follow the prince's and Frederick's pace anymore. Right now he was standing beside one of the gates in case Beyer decided to flee.

Deniz was the same. Now he was not in the fight either. Frederick's way of fighting was too crazy and rude to take anyone else into consideration. Anyone who tried to help Frederick could be severely hurt by him. Therefore, Deniz was now standing in front of the other gate.

Only Sophia could follow Frederick's movements. The series of spells she cast had really put Beyer in an even bitter situation. Counting the seconds, Beyer had no idea how much longer he could hang in there!

Sophia had also put Claire back into sleep. However, she never tried to use Claire to threaten Beyer as she knew it clearly that a woman was never that important to her elder brother. Sophia had decided to save Claire until later in case more blood from the Gorse Family was required in the secret chamber.

At this time, the look on Arthen's face suddenly changed and he pulled the gate of the hall open.

"Jocelyn, what happened?" Arthen asked hurriedly.

Jocelyn's face had completely turned pale. Stumbling into the hall, she grabbed Arthen's arm and cried, "Run! Andris has turned into a monster! …Monster!"

"…What?" Being grabbed by the arm, Arthen, for a second, did not know what to do. He had no idea what Jocelyn was talking about. Speaking of monster, they also had one there.

It seemed that Jocelyn had been scared so bad that the words from her mouth had become messy, "Monster… Andris is a monster! Killed many people! No… ate! He ate people! Run!"

In the end, Jocelyn started wailing. Her face was covered with tears.

Seeing that Beyer and Frederick's fight was still going on, Arthen held Jocelyn in his arms and asked, "What do you mean…? He ate people? What happened? Are you alright?"

"I don't know. Andris has turned into a monster…" Jocelyn was still repeating herself. "He has forgotten me…"

Arthen could not understand Jocelyn, so he turned to look at Sophia for help.

Slightly frowning, Sophia pointed at Frederick. She was telling Arthen not to worry since they had a radiant knight there!

Arthen indeed calmed down immediately. That was right. They had Frederick, who was gradually mastering his power better and better. Even a monster was not a threat to them!

Arthen turned to comfort Jocelyn, and Sophia also cast a spell to calm her down. The gentle green light fell on Jocelyn's hair like a piece of veil. Slowly, Jocelyn's bitter crying had been replaced by weak sobs from time to time.

Seeing that everything had been under control and how Frederick was fighting Beyer for her like a monster, there was a triumphant but sarcastic smile on Sophia's face.

Greed was the most powerful sin. Thus, no one could escape the punishment.

Sophia took a glance at Beaulac, who was standing there just like a fool, and then looked at Relph. She gave Relph a hint with the eyes, telling him to get ready for the next step of their plan. Later Relph would take Beaulac to the secret chamber together with Sophia and Claire, and Arthen and his people would be killed by Frederick who had already turned lunatic.

Once Sophia got the secret of Sun King, Sir Metatron would come to the stage. Sir Metatron would kill the monster, Frederick, who would have already killed many young nobles, even including the prince, as well as Relph. People would get to know that it was Relph, the vicious sorcerer, who summoned the evil power and turned Frederick into such a beast.

Sophia had the entire play in her mind:

One of the inheritors of the Gorse family had been deluded by the demon and lost his belief as his years of effort of awakening his blood power still eventually turned out to be in vain. The young heritor thus became a vicious sorcerer, and by accident, he discovered the magic rite for summoning the demons from the most ancient books of the family. From the books, he also found the powerful spell which could temporarily deactivate the magic circles in the underground palace. Therefore, the young inheritor, whose name was Relph, decided to use the magic rite and the spell to defeat all the other candidates and become the count.

However, the summoned demon went out of control. Seizing the soul of a secret guard, the demon launched a horrible massacre in the underground palace. When Sir Metatron finally broke the magic circles and came in, only the princess survived as she was hiding in a secret chamber all the time.

The citizens would mourn for the righteous prince; they would mourn for the loyal knight whose name was Arthen; and the young noble whose name was Beaulac…

The entire play was flawless!

Sophia took a glance at Deniz with a sorry look on her face. She did not want to do this, but she had to. Anyone who knew what happened down here, except for uncle Ulrich, Sir Metatron and herself, had to be killed.

She did not have the power to kill the Gorse Count and the Glorious Crown, or she would have chosen to kill the two of them as well!

Only when the soul and body were not able to be found anymore could a dead person keep a secret safe!

Beyer was feeling his arms getting rather heavy. In his eyes, Frederick was moving so fast that he had turned into blurry shadows. The prince knew that he had reached his limit.

He knew that he had to go all out.

Looking rather determined, Beyer held his willpower strong. The hanging wings behind his back suddenly stretched out and a radiance started flowing out. The feathers fell, and the wings quickly disappeared. A layer of holy light covered Beyer. Even his green sword, Demon Horn, was dyed milk-white.

"The Anger of Justice!" Sophia burst out.

Only when the blood power, the Angel of Justice, reached the level equivalent to that of a radiant knight, could it exert the ability called Anger of Justice! The Anger of Justice could launch a powerful attack on all evil creatures by improving the knight's power by one level!

But how was this possible? Beyer was not yet a radiant knight!

The holy light flashed past, but it was so bright that the entire hall was lit up.

When the light was gone, Beyer was gasping hard, with the sword in his hands. He had completely lost his blond hair, and the wrinkled scalp was revealed! But he was still standing there!

Frederick took a few steps back and a bloody cut appeared in his face. The cut extended and stretched fast. Frederick's head was almost cut open in half!

Beyer's heart was full of hope. He guessed that his victory had come.

Sophia frowned. She wondered if Frederick had died.

Deniz and Arthen were deeply shocked by Beyer's incredible power, and they had no idea what to do next.

However, the corner of Frederick's lips curled up, even with his head cut open.

The creepy smile made them very nervous and scared. And at this time, the veins that were hiding underneath his skin were now stretching out like countless, scary tentacles!

The alien-looking blood veins quickly reached the corners of the hall and completely covered the gate and the walls.

The several main thick veins went right into the bodies on the floor. Soon, the bodies shrank and became the nutrient for Frederick through the veins.

"Come to me. This is what I deserve!" murmured Fredrick, whose tone was filled with vicious greed. Meanwhile, the deep cut in his head started healing very fast.

"Mon… Monster!" Jocelyn was shocked by the disgusting and horrible scene again.

They had no idea if Frederick should still be regarded as a human being. Was he going to be out of control?

Seeing that the entrance to the secret chamber had not been fully covered by the veins, Sophia, who grabbed Claire, started moving to the secret chamber secretly. She gave Relph a hint, asking him to grab Beaulac and come with her.

Frederick's power had exceeded Sophia's expectation. They could waste their time here no more.

However, when she took a glance at Relph, what she saw greatly surprised her. Beaulac, who was just standing there like a fool, had turned into piles of foams as soon as the veins touched his body.

Foam?

For a second, Sophia was beyond confused. However, when she saw the veins turning into ashes when she reached the secret chamber, she suddenly understood what just happened. She saw an almost transparent figure come out of the air and reveal itself. It was Beaulac!

Sophia realized that Beaulac was, in fact, a sorcerer who used the fake blood power to hide his own identity. He had just sneaked in to find the treasure of Sun King.

Sophia was always aware of the fact that Beaulac was not a fool. He pretended that he was in love with Sophia but had his own plans. However, Sophia did not care. No matter what plan Beaulac had, in Sophia's mind, he was never a threat to her in the presence of Frederick and Sir Metatron. And now she had finally figured out what Beaulac wanted.

"Catch him, Deniz!" cried Sophia.

She also moved. Flapping her six pairs of wings, green wind ropes were summoned surrounding Beaulac. Meanwhile, since Claire had fallen into sleep, another young noble on Sophia's side, whose name was Joseph, had the chance to rush at Beaulac, holding the sword tight in his hands.

However, at this time, Sophia was shocked when she saw her wind ropes being quickly absorbed by a summoned light wall. As the magic symbols in the wall flowed fast, the wind ropes were all gone.

"Douglas' Absorbing Wall?!" Sophia recognized the wall.

At this time, Joseph had arrived in front of Lucien before Deniz's lightning bolts were summoned. In front of Joseph, the young man with clear blue eyes was wearing a mild smile.

Puff… A cluster of black fume directly covered Joseph.

Deniz's eyes suddenly opened big, and out of his astonishment, the summoned lighting bolts attached to his sword had disappeared: he saw that, when the black fume dispersed, there was a pink rabbit on the floor, but Joseph had disappeared.

Rabbit?

Baleful Polymorph!

"You aren't Beaulac?!"

Sophia's face turned pale. For the first time, she was mildly in panic. It was not because of the fact that the fake Beaulac could cast the fourth-circle spell, Douglas' Absorbing Wall, or the fifth-circle spell, Baleful Polymorph; what mattered was how easily the light wall absorbed the wind ropes and ald how he could cast a fifth-circle spell without any effort!

Silence had seized all of the young nobles, except for Frederick, who had turned into a complete monster.