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Chapter 405: The Destroyed Confidence

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Henyee

"Kill him, now!"

Sophia was the first one who realized what to do. Through Secondary Telepathic Bond, she commanded Frederick to take action.

She was not panicking. She had Frederick, a radiant knight whose power was given by a demon, to fight for her. Also, the gold knight, Metatron, was on her side. Even a senior-rank sorcerer would not be too much of a threat!

Pretending to be afraid, she took a few steps backward. Her right foot reached the floor tile which was a bit untight.

As soon as she entered the hall, Sophia's every single movement was well planned.

Things had gone beyond her expectation. She had to leave right now.

At this time, she saw the beautiful sapphire ring on Beaulac's left hand. Before Sophia could cast any spells to protect herself, the ring suddenly lit up and then a light ray hit her straightly.

Instantly, Sophia realized that her connection to magic had been completely cut off. Although she could still feel her own blood power, the power was constrained within her body. The telepathic bond between Frederick and her had also been disabled.

"Anti-magic Ray?" Sophia's green eyes opened wide. There was no doubt that the stranger who was playing Beaulac was a senior-rank sorcerer!

As a caster, she knew how terrible the power of a senior-rank sorcerer could be. Although she was always quite confident, now Sophia felt her legs trembling. Thus, she turned to look at Frederick with her beautiful and helpless eyes.

Unlike Wrath or Pain, Sophia was still more or less able to communicate with Greed because of her status as a princess and her dazzling beauty.

Frederick burst out a loud cry, "All mine! Mine! You can't take it away!"

Around Frederick, the haze of blood slowly rose and then surrounded him. Targeting the new enemy, Frederick rushed directly at Lucien.

Swept by the blood haze, Prince Beyer went down on his knees, and his green sword was also dropped. He was not able to stand on his feet anymore after using the Anger of Justice.

Prince Beyer's original plan was to frighten Sophia and her people to make some time for himself by using the Anger of Justice, however, somehow Frederick had changed his target and right now the fight was between Beaulac and Frederick.

What was to his surprise was that Beaulac was, in fact, a senior-rank sorcerer.

This provided Beyer with a little hope. No matter, in the end, the sorcerer won or lose, the consequence would not be worse than Sophia and this monster winning the game. At least Beyer could try to talk to the sorcerer. After all, they were not direct enemies.

The enemy of his enemy was his friend!

He realized that the cost of using Justice was great. Beyer felt extremely dizzy and he already could not see clearly. The things that he saw became very blurry.

Seeing Frederick being covered in the blood haze, Lucien's right pupil darkened as if there was a night sky in his eye. In the back velvet of the night sky, there were countless stars.

"Level six radiant knight… Just reached the level. Ability: Fusion and Devouring."

"Crazy. Non-energy body. High spell resistance."

"Blood Haze. A defense spell. Strongly corrosive. Absorbing."

This was the fourth circle spell in the school of Astrology, Analysis.

The spell was built on the caster's knowledge. Using the spell, the caster could assess how powerful his enemy was and find the enemy's strong and weak points.

A bolt of lightning, which just lit up, quickly disappeared in the air. Deniz tried to fight with Frederick against Lucien, but the summoned lightening was instantly devoured by the blood haze.

Frederick was almost right in front of Lucien. Some dim light covered Lucien but also quickly disappeared.

Then the blood maze started swirling, mixing with the sound of the blast. The blood eddies appeared one by one as the air formed the horrible, messy currents.

Soon the maze was divided into parts as the air currents were driving and pulling it. Inside, the disgusting monster with no skin and veins was exposed.

The fifth circle force field spell, Devouring Vortex!

The monster burst out a harsh cry. The veins quickly retreated like wriggly tentacles. At this time, the light purple ring on Lucien's right hand became bright and dazzling.

Gold, green, blue, black… The colorful light spots enclosed the monster and formed a huge vortex, tearing down everything inside that consists of elements.

The body of the monster was destroyed, and the monster's soul was also gone.

When the vortex disappeared, the broken veins were the only things left on the ground.

At this time, the veins started wriggling, as if they were trying to assemble together again!

Lucien's face was expressionless. He reached out his right hand, and his fingers spread out. The mysterious symbols joined together and formed an old book page. Then all the veins exploded silently and then evaporated.

This was a unique magic from the congress, Demon Elegy!

Seeing this, Sophia's body slightly trembled. She could not believe what just happened in front of her: Frederick, whose power was given by the demon, Greed, had been killed so easily like this!

She had no idea how powerful this senior-rank sorcerer was.

Her face turned very pale. She looked back at the entrance of the hall several times, but no one was there.

Holding the sword, Deniz had come back to Sophia. Although he was scared, Deniz still chose to stand in front of the princess to protect her.

Sophia kept telling herself that she had to calm down right now. She had to somehow make more time for herself until Sir Metatron came.

Knowing that the Glorious Crown, Metatron, was still on her side, Sophia came down again. When she was about to make the offer to the mysterious sorcerer to share Sun King's treasure, and promise him that he could leave safely later, the look on Sophia's face slightly changed.

Arthen was having a hard time swallowing down his saliva mixing with blood. Seeing the strange Beaulac, he almost collapsed to the ground. He wondered who this young man was, and which side was he going to help.

Although with his strong willpower as a grand knight, Arthen still managed to stand still, he had no idea what to do. He did not know whether he should launch his attack or defend, or probably just be here waiting for the trial from the fake Beaulac.

Jocelyn, who was beside Arthen, murmured, "This isn't Beaulac… He's not. No wonder all of a sudden he just became so confident and elegant, and so powerful…"

Hearing the praising, Arthen felt rather envious and pissed. He could not bear that Jocelyn had such affection for the fake Beaulac, and he even thought to himself whether Jocelyn was, in fact, hoping to see the fake Beaulac winning the title and the even the entire empire in the end!

Lots of negative emotions were boiling in his mind.

After destroying the demon, Greed, with the mild smile which made Sophia rather scared, Lucien walked to her.

"Sir, the distinguished sorcerer, we can join our hands. You can leave this underground palace safe and sound," said Sophia with a sweet smile, which was also rather touching and delicate. However, at this time, a flash of joy very quickly passed in her eyes in a very unnoticeable manner.

Behind Lucien, the look on Arthen's face suddenly became very creepy. The blue veins under his forehead skin bulged and then quickly turned dark red.

"…!" Seeing the change happened to Arthen, Jocelyn's heart was filled with fear. But before she could cry out, a distorted, dark red vein stuck out from her throat.

Her beautiful eyes quickly dimmed. Her face was written with immeasurable shock and fear.

Arthen's smile became even scarier. The demon, Greed, was not that easy to be killed.

At this time, a cold light ray fiercely burst out from Lucien, who did not even turn around. And the ray hit Arthen directly with great accuracy.

A layer of ice crystal quickly covered his body, as if he had been put into an ice coffin.

The light reflected on the ice coffin was dazzling, but the light was rather cold as if it was capable of freezing one's soul.

What also froze was the smile on Sophia's face.

Very quickly the ice coffin melted down, together taking away Arthen's body, soul, as well as the projection of the demon, Greed, on him. After a few seconds, everything was gone.

Lucien knew from the very beginning that there was no way that Devouring Vortex and Demon Elegy could completely destroy one of the most mysterious demons. He was just luring the demon to find a new body. What could really kill the demon projection was the spell, Silent Ice Coffin.

Lucien's knowledge of the demon was all from the little crystal dragon, Alferris! He had to extend his sincere gratitude to the little dragon!

"Your Highness, was Frederick an uncontrollable monster?" Deniz knew what just happened to Arthen was a horrible sign.

And the rest of the nobles who were still alive also knew this.

Sophia's lips trembled. The way she looked could force a man to show great gentleness and mercy for her. The senior-rank sorcerer's power was beyond her imagination. In front of him, Sophia and Frederick power were like kids holding their toy sword. There was no way that they could fight back.

She did not respond to Deniz's question because of the fear. Again, she looked at the entrance, waiting for her the most powerful support.

Then her eyes instantly lit up like starts had fallen into her eyes, for she saw clearly that the one who she had been waiting for was standing right there.

Sir Metatron had arrived. Because of his age, he had white hair. Thin and tall, he was wearing a white shirt and a pair of fitting trousers and dark brown boots. He looked rather calm.

"Sir Metatron! A vicious sorcerer is here!"

Sophia cried and ran to the old knight as if she was a kid who had been bullied. She did not worry at all that the sorcerer would attack her from behind, for she knew that she was standing within the defense range of a level nine gold knight!

The corner of Metatron's lips curved up. A slightly painful smile was on his face.

Sophia finally saw her bright hope. Finally, everything could come to an end when Sir Metatron killed all her enemies here.

Suddenly, a familiar figure rushed in front of her, and then it was pierced through by a sharp, black thorn.

"…Deniz?"

Staring at Deniz's beautiful face, Sophia was confused. But when she looked up, fear completely seized her heart. The face of Sir Metatron, the Glorious Crown, was written with the most painful smile!

Surrounded by the black mist, the old knight stood there. In the black mist, there were many painful faces. She saw Andris's face, and also Duda's!

"Monster… Sir Metatron is also a monster now!"

That was the end… Sophia's breakdown point was there.

She burst out the bitter scream and collapsed to the ground. All of her elegance and calmness had gone. She even peed her pants.

Deniz tried his best looking back, and left his last words, "Only you… treat me… like a sister…"

His eyes slowly closed, and his breathing stopped.

Sophia's tears ran out of her eyes out of control. They were the tears of sorrow, pain, despair, and regret. Together, these emotions formed a nightmare maze that she could no longer escape.

With the countless painful face, Metatron took a step back. His eyes had no focus.

Sophia cried out loud again and crawled back on the ground with her hands. Her mind could not take this anymore.

"Please…please help me…"

When she almost passed out, the figure that was wearing the black magic robe came to her. Gripping her last line of hope, she looked at Lucien and cried for help.

The young sorcerer was also looking at her, and he sighed,

"Greed…"

Chapter 406: Opportunities Come to Those Who are Prepared

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Henyee

The gentle sigh directly struck Sophia's mind like lightning. The dense smog was driven away, and some memories had come back to her.

After knowing the secret of Sun King from Relph, Sophia chose to collaborate with the Gorse duke and the Glorious Crown in order to win the royal throne. To set up the complex trap, she had betrayed her good friend and the knights who were loyal to her.

However, in the end, the people she chose to collaborate with had turned into the horrible monsters. If Deniz had not chosen to sacrifice himself to save her life, Sophia must have already been killed. All her dreams and ambition would have been turned into foam upon the water.

And this was all because of her greed…

Recalling how she laughed at Frederick, Beyer, and Arthen for their greed, Sophia realized that what was happening to her was rather sarcastic.

Feeling regretful, annoyed, anguished, desperate, abandoned, there were many negative emotions tangling with each other in Sophia's mind. She cherished her life a lot, for she was a princess who owned beauty, wealth, youth, and power. She was not going to give up her life so easily!

"I don't wanna die!"

Sophia cried out loud. She had put all her hope in the mysterious, young sorcerer.

Although the sorcerer's power was horrible and she was his enemy, Sophia believed that as long as her offer was tempting enough, she still had a chance to survive. But if the monster – Sophia looked up at the demon surrounded by the black smog – defeated the sorcerer, she would for sure be killed in great pain!

She shook her head out of fear, and then her green eyes fixed on the young sorcerer. He was her only hope. She could give him anything he wanted!

Trying her best, Sophia forced herself to calm down using magic. However, another round of emotion followed.

She felt extremely nervous and worried.

Although this demon, Pain, was different from the one named Greed, since it was still not fully developed, and it was not one of the seven most mysterious and powerful demons, its host was the body of a level nine gold knight, whose power and speed much surpassed that of senior-rank sorcerers and radiant knights.

Was the mysterious sorcerer able to defeat the demon?

Recalling how the sorcerer just fought, Sophia realized that all of the most powerful spells that he used were from his magic items, and the magic that he cast using his soul power were only up to the fifth circle. Although using magic spells properly in the correct situation was more important than anything, the fact that the young sorcerer never cast a sixth circle spell still concerned her a lot.

Maybe…maybe the young man just became a sixth circle sorcerer in less than a year. Maybe he had not acquired enough sixth circle spells.

Sophia felt more than desperate again.

So she started praying, to the God of Truth. Although she was a sorcerer, and it was rather improper for a sorcerer to pray to the God of Truth, she had no idea what else she could do.

Although it seemed to be a quite long time, in fact, all these emotions went through Sophia's mind just within three seconds.

Metatron murmured as if they were in a dream,

"Come…Come and fall in the deepest pain, as the nature of the world itself is the pain, as well as the nature of life."

Dragging the heavy burden of pain, Metatron forced his way forward. The stars in Lucien's right eye moved faster and faster. However, because of the great disparity in power, Lucien could not get detailed information anymore,

"Relying on Metatron's own willpower which is beyond strong, the demon, Pain, has gained great power from him and is growing very fast. However, Metatron's willpower is still resisting, and this is why Metatron is moving slow and stiff, not as swift as Greed."

Lucien knew that there was no way that he could fight against a level nine knight. Even with his sword, Pale Justice, if he was still not fast enough, Lucien was still going to be killed by Metatron within one stroke.

The distorted faces in the black smog written with great pain started talking:

"The arrival of a newborn brings pain to mother…"

"Growth brings pain…"

"Illness brings pain…"

"Poverty brings pain…"

"Love brings pain…"

"Despair brings pain…"

"Death brings the ultimate pain…"

Each face represented a certain source of pain. The creepy atmosphere which enclosed Lucien started more or less affecting his mind.

Lucien knew that he had to do something.

Forcing himself to stay concentrated, he took out an item from the magic pouch.

At this time, a bright light lit up Metatron's mind like a glorious crown. The power of the light restrained the black smog, thus the pain faces stopped gabbling annoyingly.

Lucien discovered his opportunity! The blood power of Metatron was still resisting the power of the demon!

Once this chance was gone, Lucien would not have a second one to survive!

Very decisively, Lucien threw the tube in the air. Meanwhile, he started casting and making complex hand gestures.

The light became brighter and brighter as if it was going to burn the entire hall down to ashes.

Sophia squinted her eyes, and she had lost all of her hope. Under the brilliant rays from the Glorious Crown, they would all die.

The solid, colorless material in the crystal tube tossing in the air was freezing cold.

Driven by the power of the spell and Lucien's spiritual power conveyed by the hand gestures, the colorless solid started wriggling and became colder and colder. Soon, it became a dim ray and shot out toward Metatron.

When Lucien got his Ice & Snow Medal from Fernando, he was told that the Witch of Iceland had obtained solid helium by exerting high pressure. Thus Lucien asked his teacher to do him a favor and collected two tubes of solid helium for him. The solid helium was put into two very precious magic tubes, which was the most powerful weapon that Lucien had for his adventurous trip.

Lucien always treated his life very seriously!

The ninth-circle spell, owned by Lucien, Snow Goddess's Whip!

The freezing ray fiercely stuck into the bright sunlight.

Metatron did not realize what was going on until the ninth-circle spell was ready. He had no time to dodge, so he could only drag the black smog back and cover himself with it.

The black smog was solidified, as well as Metatron's blood. His skin looked like crystal, reflecting the sunlight. The scene was like a beautiful dream.

Close to the entrance of the hall, air and moisture in the space had gone and the space became totally solid. The only things that were still moving were the distorted faces, but they could not get out of the solidified black smog.

Sophia had no idea what the spell was. The power of the spell was definitely inconceivable. She also could not believe what just happened to Metatron, a level nine knight!

Who was this young man?

Sophia doubted the power of the mysterious sorcerer no more, for he did not use any magic items or scrolls, but just a simple magic tube.

Without any doubt, this mysterious sorcerer was very, very powerful!

Sophia wished that she could have been as powerful as him, so when facing danger, she could protect herself. Out of the great shock, Sophia's mind started wandering.

Lucien, however, was not feeling great right now. Although he had managed to cast the ninth circle spell, he was pushing himself to the limit too much. Snow Goddess's Whip had almost exhausted all of his spiritual power. The headache that Lucien was suffering was killing him.

At this time, the cool and refreshing feeling came from Lucien's left hand. The Holm Crown ring, Origin, had returned the previously saved spiritual power back to Lucien's body. His headache was thus relieved. Seizing the chance, Lucien instantly cast Bull's Strength.

The freezing ice could not kill the demon. Before the ice melted, Lucien had to give it the final stroke!

The ice was melting fast, turning into white moisture rising in the air. Lucien took out a tube of magic potion and drank it all.

Grabbing his sword tight, Lucien strode across the hall toward the demon.

Lifting the sword high, Lucien fiercely hacked the faces off!

Sophia could no understand why the sorcerer all of sudden had turned into a knight. But she did not really care since she knew that the demon was not the young sorcerer's rival and she was safe now.

Pale Justice got right into the black smog ball, and the painful cry from the faces lingered in the hall.

The black smog slowly cleared. The distorted faces were also gone.

Chapter 407: Thanos's Secret

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Henyee

As soon as the demon disappeared, the gloomy and dim hall became bright and graceful like it had been washed clean by clear water.

"You won!" Staring at the mysterious sorcerer, Sophia waves her fist in the air, feeling rather encouraged. Meanwhile, her brain worked fast to think about how she could persuade the sorcerer to work with her.

However, Lucien did not lower his alert. Grabbing Pale Justice tight in his hands, Lucien looked around at the nobles who were still alive. He concentrated his spiritual power on Ice & Snow Medal to activate Silent Coffin at any time he needed.

Lucien knew it well how creepy and cunning a demon could be, and he believed that Pain was not an exception. It was hard to say if Pain had chosen another host among one of the nobles and was waiting for the opportunity to kill Lucien.

In fact, the best way for Lucien to stay safe was to kill all the living things in this hall. However, as the demons were produced by the most extreme negative feelings, Lucien would easily fall into the trap and get lost in his own desire of killing. Then the demons would possess him!

Lucien used his eyes to check every single of the nobles who were still alive one by one. When his eyes rested on them, the coldness in Lucien's eyes made them shiver and scared. They wanted to stay away from the young sorcerer, but they found themselves not able to move.

After that, Lucien turned to stare at Sophia's face.

Sophia's heart missed a beat when the deep, cold eyes looked at her, but she managed to keep calm as she was already mentally prepared. A sweet smile emerged on her face and her petal-like lips slightly opened, ready to communicate with the young sorcerer. No wonder what he would ask for, as long as there was something he desired, there was still hope.

She was quite confident, as she believed that there was no reason that the sorcerer would see her as an enemy who must be killed. She could leave him with the entire treasure of Thanos, as well as the secret. Also, she was not going to become the inheritor of the Gorse Family anyways, and the sorcerer did not know she was planning on killing Beaulac later.

Instead, as long as she was alive, Sophia could bring him more than what he could find in the underground palace, including the secrets of the royal family, the precious, ancient documents, the great wealth, and even herself.

The words for negotiation were right on the tip of her tongue, however, at this time, she noticed that the young sorcerer slightly looked down. She also looked down following him but to see the very obvious wet stain on her dress, and the long, wet trace on the floor left when she was climbing to stay away from the demon.

Sophia's face burned. The sweet smile turned into a distorted grin. She felt that her face was hot enough to cook an egg. She almost wanted to kill herself from the great humiliation.

Sophia annoyedly thought to herself that the sorcerer was a bastard and he was no way close to a gentleman.

Lucien was not in the mood to care about how Sophia was feeling right now, instead, he felt a bit amused. When lost all she had, Sophia failed to maintain her elegance and intelligence. But if Natasha had been here, she would definitely choose to fight until the last second of her life.

Sophia was not even close to Natasha.

In fact, Sophia had just turned into twenty, and she was already a level five caster, due to the great blood power that she possessed. If one possessed the best blood power and was also gifted, he or she would spend much fewer years than most of the sorcerers to make a great achievement, but most sorcerers could reach a higher level in a shorter period of time compared to the knights. Only a small percentage of the nobles could possess the best blood power. To acquire one top power steadily generation after generation, the ancient sorcerers had killed more than a hundred thousand people for their experiments.

But it was still just a beginning. Their future progress still relied on how they trained their own willpower, while arcanists were able to do so by exploring the truth of the world. And this was the reason why although Lucien was only a year elder than Sophia, he was already a sixth-circle sorcerer. If Sophia wanted to become a senior-rank caster, without any help from the outside, she had to spend at least ten to twenty years working on it.

A light green halo spread out. Many instantly felt very tired and fell asleep. Only Sophia was not affected.

Lucien had left the alert magic on the nobles. Once they woke up or tried to do something, Lucien would be informed immediately.

"Bring me to the secret chamber of Sun's King," Lucien said to Sophia in low voice.

"… No problem!" Sophia was a bit surprised and she hurriedly got up from the ground, "I can do anything for you, sir, as long as…"

She paused, for she had no idea what to say next.

Lucien nodded slightly and responded in Beaulac's voice, "As long as you follow my orders, and if the following the orders won't kill you, I am not interested in killing you neither. We are not enemies, and now you've decided to give up the treasure. Also, I'm not staying in the empire. Is that what you want?"

"Exactly!" Sophia's heart went wild with joy. Sorcerers were really smart!

Lucien also grinned, for he had no idea at all if Sophia could survive later.

Relph was the first one walking to the secret chamber under the control of Lucien's spell, followed by Sophia who was dragging Claire on the floor. And Lucien was the last one in the team, who was being very careful sensing the surroundings in case one of them would suddenly turn into the demon.

Entering the chamber, Relph lowered his body and pressed down a grey wall brick. Taking out a silver dagger, Relph cut open his hand and let the blood run down to the brick.

His blood collected, and then he put his harm on the brick. Dim white light came out of his body and went into the brick.

The brick silently absorbed the blood and a gate painted with the weird, ancient patterns emerged in the wall.

Relph had lost half of his life force and looked rather weak. Although he even could not stand still, under the control of Lucien, he still forced himself to open the gate and walked in the second secret chamber.

Seeing that Relph was quite safe, Lucien double checked again. Finally, he led Sophia and Claire into the energy gate.

Behind the gate, there was an ancient hall, decorated with the many wall paintings and covered with many magic circles. The lines of the magic circles finally led to the creepy sacrificial altar in the middle of the hall.

Different from the other altar that they saw down here, this altar was in the color black and dark red, inlaid with the demon horns drawn with the mysterious patterns. In the air above the altar, there was another similar altar but upside down, blazed with the sacred heat feeling like the sun, and there was a magic staff mounted with a huge Sun Stone.

Lucien took a quick glance at the complicated magic circles and the altars and believed that they were used for constraining and extracting. On the one hand, he had to be very careful with Sophia and Relph, and on the other hand, he observed the wall paintings very carefully.

To his great surprise, the first part of the wall paintings resembled Viken's Summoning Ritual: A man whose face was written with hatred was drawing a puppet, and then he threw the puppet in the fire. Finally, a demon with two special-looking horns was summoned.

And the rest of the wall paintings were even more horrendous. When the man had been possessed by the demon and obtained the great power, he killed everyone he hated. However, at this time, a magic circle emerged and constrained him. A middle-aged man wearing a magic crown walked out of the magic circle and pulled out the demon projection from the body of the man. It seemed that the middle-aged man was Thanos. He turned on the altar, dissolved the demon projection, and then absorbed the power in!

Lucien finally realized how Thanos got his power. Thanos managed to catch the projection of the seven demons and absorbed them like obtaining blood power. He was such a crazy and ambitious man!

Lucien was very impressed and shocked, as most sorcerers when facing the seven powerful demons, would choose to stay away from them as possible as they could or to trade with the demons to gain great power. But Thanos chose to study them and eat them in.

For Lucien, what he wanted to find most were Thanos's experiment records and notes, and then the magic staff above.

Sophia pointed at the small door in the corner of the hall and put on a sweet, pleasing smile, "Sir, there are some left notes in the chamber. Uncle Ulrich told me that before Saint Calendar started, a legendary sorcerer already found the place and took away more of the materials."

Was it Viken? Lucien wondered. Was that how Viken's special summoning ritual was created? Then what about Pain Fable? How could it be possible that the summoning ritual had become so accessible?

To some degree, Lucien knew more about this place than Sophia. Although he had so many questions in his mind, he decided to put them aside.

"Sophia, go and get the magic staff."

Sophia's face turned pale. She had no idea if any curses were attached to the magic staff. But she could not disobey the sorcerer's demand.

She looked around, hoping to find someone else to get the magic staff. But the young sorcerer's cold look ended her hope.

Shivering slightly, Sophia walked to the altar and grabbed the magic staff using Mage Hand.

Nothing happened to her. She felt more relaxed and gave the staff to Lucien.

Lucien cast Identification on the magic staff but did not get much information back. However, Lucien was quite excited because that meant the magic staff was at least of level nine. Lucien had to spend a few days to analyze it.

Putting back the magic staff, Lucien walked in the chamber followed by Sophia, Relph, and Claire. Most of the shelves were empty. On the metal desk, several incomplete notebooks were left there.

Chapter 408: Assistant

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Henyee

After casting the constraint spell on Sophia and the rest of them, Lucien checked the notebooks carefully again. Finally, he picked it up.

The notes were very incomplete, and the handwriting was very casually and hard to read. However, from the words and the handwriting, Lucien could tell that the notes were from the same person and the person's tone had changed as he or she aged:

"… After exploring the ancient relic deepest in hell, they, including Solano, and even the teacher, are somehow different now. But why shall I care? They never see hope in me. After all, as a student in Astrology, I cannot even locate my Host Star of Destiny. If my father had not saved my teacher at the cost of his life, the teacher would have abandoned me already. They have no idea what the meaning of my Host Star of Destiny is."

"… They aren't human beings anymore! They are demons! They have been possessed! … I can't let them know I have figured this out. I gotta be very careful…"

"… What I can make sure is that the demons that have possessed them have never been put into any record. They like playing tricks with and distorting human mind by accumulating the negative emotions. I can't stay here anymore. I have to find an excuse to leave…"

"… It was close. They would have caught me if I did not own the special Host Star of Destiny…""… I have finally figured out who they are: Arrogance, Envy, Greed, Hatred, Pain, Lust, Hypocrisy… They are completely different from the other demons that we know…"

"… It was so foolish of Solano… He tried to kill me. He must have no idea that I am already a seventh circle. He's my perfect experiment material who came right in front of my door. I gotta check and see what in hell Demon is…"

"… There's not a single way available for constraining the projection of a demon. What should I do? Maybe I should go and explore the deepest in hell. Hopefully, I can find something…"

"… There's no way out. I'll try if I can merge it with the common demon blood power…"

"… The results turned out to be fascinating. Gifted power can derive from the fusion and become part of the soul. The power can also strengthen one's body and solidify one's cognitive world. Maybe… it can accelerate my progressing…"

"… Since the accumulation of negative emotions can finally lead to the connection with the seven demons, I can do this on purpose. I have to design a special palace and a ritual…"

"… What is this?"

"… I was wrong from the very beginning…"

"… I think I've discovered the secret of the seven demons. I think I've seen the truth of the world…"

Lots of things were missing in the notes. Nothing really significant was left. It seemed that the pieces of notes were not left here by someone on purpose, but were ignored when some people were fighting for them. The winner knew that they were not the important parts and were in a rush leaving.

And then the notes were recollected by the ancestors of the Gorse family and compiled together.

The notes were automatically taken down in Lucien's spirit library. Lucien wondered what the secret was and why it was related to the truth of the world, but the incomplete notes were not able to explain all the questions that he had in his mind. His curiosity was burning his guts.

Calming himself down, Lucien carefully checked the secret chamber again but found nothing else. Using the power of his spirit library, he recorded the design of the altar and the magic circles.

This place itself was a great treasure. According to Thanos, the altar and the magic circles could extract the projection of the demons, confine them, and even absorb them.

For Lucien, the seven demons were too powerful to be controlled. He was not interested in absorbing the projection of the demons to gain power since the risk was too high. However, knowing the way to extract and confine them was a great advantage. Also, studying mysterious creatures was a great fascination for every arcanist, not to mention the fact that they were related to the truth of the world.

Finishing all of these, Lucien put Relph and Claire into sleep and cast the alert spell on them. Then he woke up Sophia,

"I still need you to do something for me. Follow me. Be my assistant."

"Alright," Sophia answered politely, but in her mind, she felt very resentful. Of course, she was not his assistant, but his tool for exploring the unknown areas.

But she could not do anything. Her life was in the sorcerer's control. She could only follow the sorcerer docilely. They left the chamber and came to the portrait of the first Gorse duke.

Sophia was totally shocked when she saw Lucien revealing the entrance of the other chamber. And then great fear rose in her mind. She had no idea if the sorcerer would kill her since she had known the secret.

"If you want to stand there still, you don't have to move anymore." Lucien smiled.

In Sophia's eyes, the smiling face was like that of a demon, which was even more vicious than a demon. She wished that she could punch right in his face.

However, that was just her wish. In reality, she still had to say, "I'm going, sir."

She had no choice.

Walking alone the secret passage, Sophia was very alert with her every single step. Finally, at the end of the passage, she saw the inner palace exactly the same as the outside one and the statue of Thanos.

Looking around, Sophia released a sigh of relief. Her knees had almost lost all the strength.

Lucien led Sophia to the statue and pointed at the right hand of the statue.

"You touch there," said Lucien.

"Nothing's there…" Sophia was very confused. But when she reached out her hand, she paused and looked at the direction where Lucien was standing.

No one was there!

"Keep going." The sorcerer's low voice came from some distance away. Sophia turned around and found that the mysterious sorcerer had already retreated back to the secret passage.

Sophia stammered, "Why… Why are you standing over there?"

"It can be very dangerous," said Lucien honestly.

Instantly, sweat oozed from her forehead.

"Hurry up. We still need time to sign the magic compact." Lucien gently reminded Sophia, still smiling.

Sophia knew that it was a threat. She felt her right hand extremely heavy. Very slowly, she lifted her hand.

"Move," Lucien commanded. Wearing Sun's Corona, he saw that Sophia's hand had touched the edge of the white light ball.

Sophia's thin and beautiful hand was trembling. She had no idea what was going on.

"That's enough." Seeing nothing happened, Lucien was quite confused.

Sophia flopped down to the ground as soon as she heard Lucien's command.

Checking Sophia with the special testing spell, Lucien was certain that she was not lying. Sophia indeed did not feel the light ball and nothing happened to her. To get the first-hand data, Lucien did not control Sophia using magic. Lucien waited for a while to make sure it was completely safe, and then he walked to Sophia.

He made Sophia leave some of her power in Sun's Corona, so she could utilize part of Sun's Corona power just like how Lucien used the Saint Truth Badge for the first time.

Sophia finally saw the creepy white light ball above the right hand of the statue.

"Try again," said Lucien coldly.

Sophia cursed in her mind, but she even did not know who this young sorcerer was.

Taking a deep breath, Sophia kept telling herself that this was the last time she had to bear such a risk. Trembling, she reached out her hand toward the light ball. And within her expectation, the bastard sorcerer had retreated again.

The tip of Sophia's fingers touched the light ball. It was cold.

Her hand went through without any difficulty. When Sophia touched the small gap, she felt something like heavy curtains.

Pulling back her hand, Sophia gasped hard.

"Sir… Nothing happened."

Lucien erased the mark left my Sophia from Sun's Corona. When he was about to give Sophia some further orders, someone triggered the alert magic circles he laid!

The first idea flashing through Lucien's mind was that one of the demons was back.

Lucien put his hand back into the pouch and further retreated to the center of the hall.

"There's another secret chamber here. Interesting." From the other end of the passage, a blond, blue-eyed man slowly walked in.

It was Beyer, the prince.

However, Beyer's eyes were rather sharp and clear, and his gestures were elegant. Obviously, he was not possessed.

His hands crossing behind, Beyer walked past Lucien and looked at the right hand of the statue.

"It's here. I was right."

There was joy in his voice.

The look on Lucien's face suddenly changed. He realized what was going on here.

Meanwhile, Sophia's whole body started trembling. Her voice was full of surprise and

"F… Father?"

Chapter 409: Rudolf II

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Henyee

The feelings were complicated in Sophia's calling. She was afraid that her father would severely punish her because of what she did down here, but meanwhile, she was more than happy to see her father in such a desperate situation, who could save her from the vicious sorcerer.

The man turned around and slightly nodded, "Any conspiracy must be built on power. Do you understand now?"

He was indeed Rudolf II, the emperor of the empire, the legendary leader who was as powerful as a grand arcanist!

But he was using Beyer's body… How did he go through the examination? And somehow… Lucien could not at all sense the imposing air from Rudolf, a legendary.

Lucien had to admit that his nerves were almost stretched to breaking point, as he was now standing in front of a legendary. His body was slightly trembling, but his brain was still working well. Slowly, he pulled out his right hand from the magic pouch.

Rudolf cast a glance at Lucien and then turned back to looked at the statue. To the air, Rudolf said, as if he was just talking to himself, "I didn't notice that a senior-rank sorcerer is also here. You are good, very good."

Although Rudolf was being very arrogant, he was not aggressive. Lucien also did not want to take any rush actions. In the calm voice, Lucien replied,

"I did not notice Your Majesty neither."

"Everything of my family started from here. Our ascendency is derived from this place. Of course, when I am available, I shall come back to see if there are more secrets hiding here and to figure out where we should go in the future. I didn't expect your presence here. You're the surprise." said Rudolf very calmly, with his hands crossing behind his back.

Looking ahead, Rudolf showed the manner that there was nothing here that he had to be afraid of and no secrets he had to hide.

However, Lucien could feel the sore in his muscles from the great intense of his nerves.

Hearing Rudolf's words, Lucien was quite shocked, "So… Your Majesty… You also became a legendary by absorbing the projection of the demons?"

Rudolf sneered, "I'm not as filthy as Ulrich. Fools can only see how they can benefit from absorbing the power of the demons. But Thanos and I… We are out of the control of greed, and we see truth to find our own path. The world belongs to people like us."

Obviously, Rudolf II was not trying to hide his arrogance and confidence at all.

Lucien reflected on Rudolf's words and suddenly got an idea, "So, Your Majesty… To go through the duke's check, you cast your own projection in Prince Beyer's mind or soul beforehand just like the demons. When the time is proper, you get control of the prince's body and grow?"

Rudolf II slowly turned around. It was his first time looking intently at Lucien since he came in. He slightly nodded and said, "Very smart. Although this isn't all correct, basically, I'd say yes."

Rudolf did not tell Lucien where his mistake was. Maybe it was related to some bigger secrets.

Lucien was more than shocked. He wondered what Rudolf did to himself to obtain such creepy but great power just like that of the demons. Also, Lucien had no idea if Rudolf would kill him because he had discovered the secret.

Although Lucien's heart was beating very fast, this was not affecting Lucien's thinking and his belief in hope. He would never give up and yield to the situation!

His right hand was still in the magic pouch. He was ready for the activation at any time.

Sophia, standing below the statue, spent some time watching them talking. Hearing the sorcerer's words, she finally realized what happened and then she cried to her father, whose voice was full of grievance and hatred, "Father, he tried to kill me!"

She wanted the sorcerer to die! Right now!

Before Lucien could take any actions, Rudolf cast a glance at Sophia and said coldly, "Can't you see it? I'm now using Beyer's body. A level seven or eight radiant knight's power is all I can use right now. I'm not able to kill him. And if we fight, under the power, you can't survive."

Lucien was choked. He never expected that the emperor was this straightforward and honest. However, with a second thought, Lucien guessed that maybe Rudolf was just trying to lower his alert… But that was not really necessary.

"I was confident I could kill you. But the ninth circle magic you just cast frightened me a bit. Is that the latest research outcome from the congress?" asked Rudolf very straightforward.

Lucien slightly nodded.

Rudolf also nodded thoughtfully, "My way of doing things is simple. I am not fully confident with killing you, so I won't try, in case the fight will hurt Sophia and Beyer. However, if you are so stupid that you want to seek for trouble, I won't mind it. I can have more sons and daughters, and this is only my projection, so the real me will not get much hurt. You sure you want to do it?"

Then Rudolf turned to Sophia, "Come here."

Sophia was very terrified of the mysterious sorcerer, worrying that he might take actions at any time, but she still walked to her father step by step.

Lucien knew that what Rudolf said made sense.

When Sophia finally reached her father, she could finally relax. Tears were in her eyes, and her body could not help trembling.

"You made two mistakes in your plan. One, you are not powerful enough, and neither are the people who served you. So you have to rely on Metatron to clean up all these things in the end, but in fact you cannot fully trust him. Second, you chose to cooperate with Ulrich, who is a hissing serpent. All the plans he made were beneficial to himself but would not bring him much trouble or risks. He doesn't care about his partners' safety. You should learn from him, Sophia. You shouldn't be here right now, instead, you should stay outside, pretending that you're waiting for rescue in a safe place. As for what happened to Metatron… He's getting old, and his fear of death and pain was utilized by the demon and triggered by the agony of Andris. These were not in you expectation… That's why I said you shouldn't have come down here. You should stay outside like Ulrich."

To their great surprise, Rudolf started analyzing Sophia's failure.

Sophia was very shocked, "F… Father… You don't blame me for almost killing my brother? Many people died down here…"

"A young griffin can only grow in iron and blood," answered Rudolf short and brief, "but you have to deal with the remaining problems on your own."

Sophia finally realized that, from the very beginning, there was no chance at all for her to win since her father had cast his projection on her elder brother, Beyer. She took a quick glance at the mysterious sorcerer, as she felt that her well-plotted scheme was now like a kid's trick being watched by two adults, in spite of the fact that many people died in this kid game.

How childish she was in their eyes! Sophia wondered.

Suddenly, the underground palace started shaking fiercely, together with the magic circles.

"They're almost here…" Rudolf looked up.

Sophia was very encouraged, as she knew that when the rescue came, that would be the end of the mysterious sorcerer. She would not kill him on the spot, instead, she was going to torture him with great patience!

At this time, Lucien instantly activated the item in his right hand.

Although Rudolf II had not launched an attack against him yet, this did not necessary mean that Rudolf would never try to kill him. Once the rescue arrived, Rudolf might trap him, and that would be the end of Lucien!

The magic scroll in Lucien's right hand suddenly lit up and the black haze rising from the scroll enveloped him, and then the power of the black haze broke the magic circles for blocking the space!

The space was distorted by the power, and then the mysterious sorcerer disappeared with the black haze.

"Where did he go?!" Sophia could not believe her eyes.

Rudolf squinted his eyes slightly and murmured in low voice, "Night Travel… from the Vampires?"

But he was not at all surprised with Chaos Teleportation cast following Night Travel.

Seeing that Sophia was still shaking her head, feeling rather upset and annoyed, Rudolf II turned around and said to her, "We shall go outside now. Ulrich should not know the existence of this place. I'll see how things will go…"

He never tried to ruin this place, as he would come back here from time to time.

"Yes, father." answered Sophia in low voice.

"But before this…" Rudolf's voice suddenly became cold.

Reaching out his right hand, which was lit up with some kind of white light, Rudolf grabbed a twisting cluster of shadow out of Sophia.

The projection of Pain did not die out, instead, it was resting on Sophia, waiting for its chance… Sophia's face turned pale again.

Rudolf clenched his fist, and the black shadow burst out bitter scream.

Chapter 410: Outside of the Underground Palace

Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee

In a remote area of Antiffler, a dim ball of light emerged in the darkness and then suddenly expanded into a mysterious gate.

The gate was fiercely pushed open, from which Lucien walked out.

And then everything went back to normal.

Spreading out his spiritual power, Lucien examined the surroundings very carefully.

This was a wooded area with small hills. Except for the several startled animals that were able to resist the cold, there was nothing else nearby.

Lucien finally could lower his guard, and he put the Space Jump scroll back into his magic pouch.

The enchanted seventh circle spell, Chaos Teleportation, could send the caster to an undesignated place. Lucien could have ended up showing up in White Maple Palace of Antiffler, in a cathedral, or in the middle of a random street.

But Lucien got lucky this time. Maybe it was because of the power of the underground palace, or maybe it was because of the special connection formed by Lucien turning himself into Beaulac, Lucien had been sent to the place very close to the villa where Beaulac was hidden.

Casting Invisibility on himself, Lucien rushed toward the direction of the villa.

Lucien decided to leave something for Beaulac.

With these many things happening, Lucien would not bear the risk for staying in Antiffler to improve Beaulac's blood power.

However, Lucien was such a man of his word that he did not want to break his promise. Beaulac, willingly or not, helped Lucien a lot, so Lucien should pay him back.

…

In the old manor of the Gorse family, oppressed by the silence, the nobles all looked very gloomy. Some of them were being seized by the deep sorrow, as their beloved children had died in the competition, in spite of the fact that the competition was always claimed to be very safe by the Gorse family.

"… So this is what happened…" said Ulrich, the Gorse Duke, in deep grief, "A mysterious senior-rank sorcerer fooled us with his unknown transfiguration spell and went down into the underground palace. In the palace, he summoned the ancient demon and controlled Sir Metatron, launched slaughter, and took away our family's treasure, the Sun Staff. By the time when the rescue force managed to get in, Sir Metatron had sacrificed himself, thus Prince Beyer, Princess Sophia, and a few lucky young men were able to survive."

"I understand how you are feeling," continued Ulrich, "as our family also lost Arthen, Relph, and Sir Metatron. The Gorse family will try our best to meet your demands."

This was the "truth" which had been negotiated by the Duke and the Princess. They put all the blame on the mysterious sorcerer. And before the underground palace was broken in, they had decided to kill Relph to make sure the true version of the story would not be revealed.

The rest of the young nobles who joined the competition were all involved in the assassination of the Prince, and they would keep it as a secret within their families. Meanwhile, they had been put to sleep by Lucien, thus they had no idea what happened to Sir Metatron.

Count Porti, whose face resembled Duda, said in a stiff voice, "Demand? I've only got one demand – Find the damned sorcerer! I'll cut him into pieces!"

Duda was his most beloved son.

The rest of the representatives of the noble families agreed. They did not choose to turn into enemies against the Gorse family, since those families which managed to send their youngsters to the competition all had close connections with the Gorse family.

There was no need to suddenly turn hostile because of such an unexpected tragedy. Also, the loss of the Gorse family was way heavier than theirs.

Therefore, the nobles showed their understanding.

"You have my word," said Ulrich decisively, "and the Gorse family shall never give up as well. We must find this vicious sorcerer and burn him to ashes in the underground palace! Although currently, we still haven't figured out who he is because of the creepy transfiguration spell he used. We sent Count Nuremburk to find the grand cardinal, Sir Inman, and the grand cardinal has arrived here. Sir Inman will use divine power in the underground palace to find more clues about the sorcerer."

Count Mecklen nodded with a gloomy face. AlthoughCount Mecklen did not like his son much, Deniz was still his blood.

…

Ten minutes later, the grand cardinal, Inman, who looked middle-aged, walked into the underground palace accompanied by the nobles.

However, the result was to their great disappointment.

"The sorcerer was very careful. The fight between the sorcerer and Sir Metatron caused a lot of damage here, and many clues have been erased," said Inman in a tone full of mercy.

Count Porti's breath became heavy and blue veins popped out on his hands, "Sir Inman, are there any other ways to identify the sorcerer? Are we just letting the young nobles die for nothing? The damned sorcerer deserves the sentence and punishment from God!"

No one present could accept such a result.

Inman remained silent for a few seconds and then nodded, "I'll pray to God to receive the instruction."

Level nine divine spell, Pray!

Porti suddenly cheered up. "Thank you… Thank you so much, Sir Inman!"

Under the many nobles' gaze, Inman and went down on his knees, holding the Saint Truth badge.

The nobles also followed him.

A cluster of pure light enveloped Inman, and in the embrace of the light, Inman said in low voice,

"My almighty God, please reveal to me who the sorcerer in the underground palace is."

The emotionless voice came from an unknown direction above, "Sixth circle, from the Congress of Magic. He has way more powerful magic items than a senior rank sorcerer usually possesses."

Apparently, the information given was not enough for Inman to discover the identity of the sorcerer. Any students of a legendary archmage could possess more powerful magic items than a senior-rank sorcerer.

But the voice just disappeared, and it never came back again.

After a while, Inman stood up and said to the nobles, "He is a student of a legendary archmage. The archmage interfered with my power, so the information revealed is limited. Hopefully, it's helpful."

Hearing Inman's words, Ulrich ground his teeth in anger, "There are only a few hundred sixth-circle sorcerers in the Congress of Magic. One by one… I'll find you!"

…

In the White Maple Palace of Antiffler.

Sophia said to the majestic middle-aged man, "Father, do you know who he is?"

In the underground palace, Sophia saw how her father, Rudolf II, destroyed the clues left in the hall, and how he interfered with Inman's praying just now. Sophia thought that her father had the answer.

Rudolf II answered expressionlessly, "When he cast his transfiguration spell, his fate was closely connected with that of Beaulac. If I hadn't been there, I would not have told the difference. I interrupted Inman's praying just because I don't want him to know that I was down in the underground palace as well, to avoid more trouble…"

"I see…" sighed Sophia out of disappointment.

"He has changed the look of the magic items he was wearing, so we have to spend a lot of time on tracing them back based on their use," said Rudolf II. In fact, he did not really care who the sixth-circle sorcerer was.

Before Sophia responded, Rudolf II continued, "You did not bad this time. You'll have the title – the Duchess of Alman – as your award."

"Re-really?" Sophia was very surprised. Although the manor of the Duchess of Alman was not very big, it contained rich mineral resources, ranking one of the top five most wealthy manors in the empire. It was definitely no inferior to Beyer's Steinburg.

Rudolf II slightly nodded, "You have my word. You and Beyer should work hard. Maybe… I'm not going to be sitting on the throne for too long."

"Yes, father." Sophia was very encouraged.

She remained in the high spirit until she went back to her own palace. The familiar arrangement of her room reminded her of the happy days that she spent with Deniz.

Again, she swore that she would find the damned sorcerer!

…

Beaulac slowly woke up in the bright light. Feeling extremely weak, he recalled the endless dream he went through. In his dream, Beaulac became a level two knight, and he won the title of Count Tillis after beating Arthen.

Beaulac suddenly came back to reality after realizing that he was in his own bedroom. All the memories rushed back to him. He remembered that he was in the study summoning the demon, Greed, and he used his ten years to trade for knight power.

He felt thrilled, as he knew that these were not illusions but something that really happened. Finally, he could stand out for himself against Arthen, and now he could even join the underground palace competition!

However, after Beaulac tried to move his arm, the big smile froze on his face. He was totally shocked to find that he was still a knight squire.

He thought he had signed the compact!

He thought it was not a dream…

When Beaulac was feeling rather depressed, he noticed something in his pocket. Hurriedly, he pulled it out. There were several pieces of paper and a tube of dark-red liquid. The dark red liquid slightly shimmered, and somehow it seemed to be able to attract one's soul.

Unfolding the pieces of paper, Beaulac saw a process diagram which was not very complex. Above the diagram, there were several lines,

"To gain the power of a level two knight and to keep the possibility of becoming a grand knight in the future, please follow the procedures:

First, find a sorcerer or a caster.

Two to nine, complete Embrace surgery following the eight procedures in the diagram. Let the vampire blood become part of your body.

Ten, enjoy the power. There is no side effect at all.

P.S. If you think this is too dangerous, there is still another way: First, find a senior-rank vampire, and two, let it bite you."

Below the diagram, a sketched demon's face was laughing hard.

Damned it!

Beaulac realized what was going on. Blood flushing to his face, he angrily tore the paper into pieces and fiercely threw them to the ground.

He was fooled!

"Damn you!" Beaulac swore, "If I follow your words, I'd be the biggest idiot ever!"

At this time, someone knocked at the door.

Beaulac reluctantly stood up, opened the door, and found that it was uncle Nuremburk.

Nuremburk slightly frowned when seeing how dispirited Beaulac was. When Beaulac started feeling anxious, Nuremburk finally started talking,

"Anyways, congratulations, Beaulac, you've become the new Count of Tillis."

"…?" Beaulac silently opened his mouth but could not make a sound, as if he was right now in a dream.

Nuremburk explained, "Something happened, and we've made sure that you were not involved. To put it in a nutshell, you've become the new Count."

Both Arthen and Relph died. Claire, because of her close connection with Beyer, was not a proper inheritor of the title anymore.

This piece of news was too surprising for Beaulac to digest within a few seconds. After a while, he burst out a cry, "I AM the biggest idiot!"

He shut the door despite the fact that Nuremburk had not left yet. Throwing himself down on the ground, Beaulac hurriedly started collecting the paper pieces that he just threw away!

Beaulac wished that he could still find all the pieces!

…

The dark blue of the ocean connected to the lighter color of the sky, and Lucien was now flying through the clouds.

After several days of effort, Lucien had finally cracked the seal on the magic staff.

Right now, he was leaving his spiritual imprint in it,

"Sun Staff, level nine high-rank magic item. The owner of the staff is the king of all the stars. When the owner casts any astrology spells which are under the ninth circle, the power is improved by one circle.

"The mysterious magic power hiding in the staff enables the owner to cast the eighth circle spell, Maze, three times a day, the ninth circle spell, Thanos' Maze, two times a day, and Imprisonment once a day.

"Any mysterious enemies will be imprisoned — from: Thanos"

Figuring out how powerful the staff was, Lucien was very encouraged. The Kuo-toans' alter was the least challenging and dangerous part of the entire mission, and with the staff, everything would become much easier.

Chapter 411: Strike

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien's mind was broadened by the boundless blue ocean. Slowly, he lowered his altitude and cast Advanced Invisibility on himself.

The closer Lucien was to the ocean, the worse the ocean stank. Lucien activated his Health Belt to keep the disgusting air away from him.

The surface of the breathing blue ocean was covered with grey, black, and dark green bubbles. The bubbles silently grew and broke. Their filthy color dyed the water, producing a sense of chaos.

"Contaminated Water contains lots of space gaps but, unlike that of the Dark Mountain Range, was smaller and more homogenous, connected only to the Abyssal Maw. Affected and contaminated permanently by the devil power, the creatures living in the water have been demonized and become very dangerous."

This piece of information quickly emerged in Lucien's brain. Contaminated Water was far from Solar Islands and Pearl Islands, thus belonging to the deepest part of the Boundless Ocean. Although Lucien had mastered Advanced Fly, it still took Lucien days to arrive here. Of course, he spent the nights resting on islands to prevent overfatigue and to interpret the Sun Staff.

Since Contaminated Water was so far away from the mainland and was quite a poor area without any mines or treasures, the Congress of Magic had not noticed its existence until the Kuo-toans robbed the commercial fleets of the wave stones. Later, the Congress sent some sorcerers here and drew the map.

At that time, Lucien was only a first circle mage, and he was not planning on exploring this area at all. He left it behind his mind after earning one arcana point by sharing the information with the Congress. Later, when he had accepted Rhine's request, he read the Congress' investigation documents with regards to Contaminated Water and the Kuo-toans.

Although Lucien only earned one arcana point from sharing the information, he finally benefited from his own contribution, which proved that the work efficiency of the Affair Committee was pretty good.

Lucien recalled the information on the Kuo-toans' altar and Contaminated Water:

"… the Kuo-toans, intelligent creatures, believers of the Lord of Ocean, Amboula. They have the facility of casting water and illusion spells and are physically strong when fighting underwater. The Kuo-toans are very commonly seen in the area of Storm Strait and the Boundless Ocean. Developing from tribes, they have founded their countries around the Altar. The imperial family lives five thousand kilometers to the northeast side of the Solar Islands."

"… It was said that Amboula, the Lord of Ocean, had fallen asleep in ancient time, thus no prayer was ever answered. In the last thousand years, the power of the Kuo-toan priests was taken over by the imperial family and the priests are now only a symbol of belief and honor. Therefore, the priests are very discontented, but they are not powerful enough to retake what they want…"

"… At the beginning of the fifth month of the year 816, a group of the Kuo-toans living close to the Altar in Contaminated Water claimed that they had received the oracle of Amboula. They called for the followers to collect a great number of materials to open the hidden relic underneath the Altar to awaken Amboula and recover the divine right of the Lord of Ocean. The information and related record have been submitted to the Highest Council as the issue involves divine power."

"… In the first month of the year 817, the Kuo-toans collected enough materials and opened the relic. Edwyn Brook, the Emperor of Control, Chelsea Holt, the Moon Scholar, and a few other leading sorcerers observed the Kuo-toans' rite on site. When the relic was open, the Prince of the Kuo-toans arrived leading his army and took over the control of the relic. Then the awakening rite was held by the Prince…"

"The rite failed. Amboula was not awakened. Brook and the other mages also did not find any remains of Amboula. However, the discovery of the relic still improved the Altar's resistance against contamination, thus many priests believed that the rite still worked and retained part of their hope. They believed that Amboula's power is slowly recovering and as long as they keep worshiping and praying, Amboula will come back to them one day fully recovered."

"Because of interference from the imperial family, the Altar in Contaminated Water area right now only has two seven circle chief priests, two level seven ocean warriors, an order named Blue Guard consisting of a hundred Kuo-toans, and a few thousand of devout followers."

This was the piece of information that made Lucien believed that getting what he wanted from the altar would not be too big of a challenge for him. After all, when Rhine first snuck in, there was a level nine Revered Priest, nine senior-ranks, and three Blue Guard orders. Because of the inner conflict in the Kuo-toans, the Revered Priest and five senior-ranks had gone back to the Ocean Heart Altar, and most of the devout followers and orders were also removed.

Another good thing for Lucien was that since the Kuo-toans had to eat a lot daily and the creatures around Abyssal Maw were very dangerous, the senior-ranks had to lead the rest of the Kuo-toans out seeking for food. Very often, only one senior-rank would be left to guard the Altar, which was a great opportunity for Lucien.

Lucien was worried that once the awakening rite failed, the arrangement left by Rhine would go invalid as well. However, Rhine assured him that the awakening rite would have no problem and could instead strengthen his magic circle.

But at the end of their conversation, Rhine, frowning slightly, said to Lucien,

"For your own safety, when you throw the filthy blood ball into the altar, make sure you grab Pale Justice. As the Altar is connected to Abyssal Maw, the activation of the magic circle could possibly disturb crazy, evil creatures. Although they cannot come to the main material world themselves, they can still contaminate you tracing the connection using their evil power. Sun's Corona can also do the work, but Pale Justice is even better."

Lucien planned to sneak in directly after careful observation.

The ocean waves almost hit Lucien, and the bloody smell of the ocean was overwhelming. Suddenly, a flatfish sprang out of the water, trying to bite Lucien!

The flatfish was different from regular ones. It was totally black and its teeth were as sharp as small daggers. What was more disgusting was that it even had four baby arms on its body, which was glimmering with a layer of faint blue light. The flatfish was just like a monster from nightmares!

Demonized creatures could see through invisibility!

Lucien was drawn out of his thoughts and turned to look at the flatfish.

Instantly, the demonized flatfish resolved into many colorful light spots, returning to pure element form, and disappeared in the waves.

Lucien recalled that when the Altar first received Amboula's oracle in the fifth month of the year 816, Maskelyne's Grand Cross just collapsed. He was sure that this had something to do with the World of Souls…

Lucien stopped himself from thinking too much and cast on himself Water Breath, Move in Water, and some other spells that helped to conceal his trace. Then he dived into the ocean.

The water overwhelmed him like a gentle dream. Following the guidance of the information he collected and the map, Lucien quickly swam toward a cave in the ocean — the Kuo-toans did not live deep in the ocean, but rather in the areas where sea cliffs, walls, and seagrass gathered.

On his way to the underwater cave, Lucien could see strange-looking, half-demonized fish swimming past him, and from time to time, he saw them fighting with each other viciously. About half an hour later, Lucien saw the cave, which was guarded by two fish-head monsters.

...

Three days later, Lucien had become familiar with the daily routine of the Kuo-toans. This day, he secretly knocked out a Kuo-toan and cast Transfiguration to disguise himself. Dragging a demonized sea serpent, Lucien walked straightforward into the cave where Invisibility did not work.

As soon as he turned around the corner, Lucien threw the serpent away into an empty nest and slightly changed his Kuo-toan look. Grabbing his sword, Frose, Lucien carefully approached the Altar.

The Altar for Amboula, the Lord of Ocean, was decorated with a great number of Wave Stones. They looked crystal clear and shined with dreamlike gloss. In front of the altar, there was a grey Kuo-toan whose entire body was wrapped with grease. Its scales had tarnished.

All of a sudden, on the altar, the Murloc statue burst out in blue light. And the light quickly attracted the Kuo-toans who were left here to safeguard the place.

"A stranger is here… The imperial family hasn't given up? Are they still trying to pry into the secret of the Lord of Ocean?" Murmured Branhit, the chief priest with a strong dislike.

Branhit told the Blue Guardians to get prepared.

"When the stranger comes in, catch him using the magic circle. I'll use him to figure out what the imperial family's intention is!"

"Be careful. Although his speed is only that of a level two ocean warrior, he has many magic items around level five."

"Yes, chief priest!" The Blue Guardians answered together. The stupidity of the Murloc sent by the imperial family amused them. How came he picked the time period when the chief priest does daily praying to sneak in!

As soon as the Murloc snuck into the cave, the ocean water suddenly turned dark green. The dark green water could numb the invader and extract his power. Meanwhile, more than ten Blue Guardians, together with hundreds of shadow ocean warriors created by the power of the magic circle, blocked all the possible entrances and exits.

"How dare you!" said the chief priest coldly to the furtive Murloc, "You think you can just walk in with your little toys for slinking?"

Branhit did not take actions. There was no need for him to do anything at all when facing merely a level two Murloc warrior.

However, a glittering halo spread out from the invader all of a sudden, and the cave was instantly filled with a heavy snowstorm.

The Blue Guardians were directly frozen to the ground. If it were not for the fact that Murlocs were good at bearing freezing cold, half of them would have already been dead.

The frost halo spread out very quickly. Under its power, the shadow ocean warriors broke into fine pieces after freezing into ice statues. Even the chief priest, Branhit, was also slowed down for two seconds.

"Damn!"

At this moment, Branhit's heart was filled with fear and hatred. He never expected that the imperial family would directly send a powerful Murloc mage here to kill them all!

The Murloc mages beside Branhit had been turned into ice sculptures, but the magic robe that Branhit was wearing protected him from the frost.

Branhit knew that he must activate the Altar right now!

He was also a senior-rank!

However, the magic staff inlaid with a big Sunstone that appeared in Lucien's hand shocked Branhit.

The light of the magic staff was dazzling. Dark night covered Branhit and a starry sky was summoned!

"Maze… He's of the ninth circle?!" Branhit panicked.

Maze spells usually did not pose an immediate threat to one's life, so Branhit's defense spells were not activated.

In the end, Branhit thought to himself,

"The altar will be ruined…"

"The Lord of Ocean will never forgive me…"

...

Lucien exposed himself to the Murlocs to lower Branhit's alert. When Branhit was slowed down by the frost halo, Lucien trapped him with Thanos' Maze.

Although the maze would only last for five minutes, it was more than sufficient for Lucien to activate the magic circle and leave safely.

Chapter 412: The Strange Maze

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In the cave where the Altar existed, it was of dead silence. This place had been turned into a world of ice. The Blue Guardians had been frozen into exquisite ice statues of different postures: some of them were holding a trident, and some were holding a coral staff. Their shining scales were revealed in the finest details.

Only the part of the ocean water that was close to the Altar still flowed under the extraordinary power. Stepping on the red coral reef, Lucien walked forward and laid his hand against the boundary of the frozen and the unfrozen.

Lucien started his casting. A complicated magic circle showed up in the dark blue water, surrounded by the many mysterious magic symbols.

According to Rhine's description, it would take Lucien three to four minutes to crack the defense magic circle sealed in the Altar, if he wished to avoid triggering the hidden trap. However, Lucien was not worried about this at all. Watching how the magic symbols changed, Lucien made complex gestures and directly opened the defense magic circle using his spiritual power.

Bang! The waves surged fiercely in the cave from the explosive power, and the red coral reef suddenly began to make a deafening sound.

Normally, the chief priest would sense the alert immediately and come to deal with the invaders. However, now the sharp alert could not cause Lucien any trouble, since the chief priest had been captured by Thanos' Maze and the rest of the senior-ranks were far away looking for food.

It was thus a piece of cake for Lucien to walk through the layer of dark blue water and step onto the precious altar made of Wave Stones.

Although Lucien did take some risk with this plan, carrying it out was still much easier and safer than somehow luring the chief priest away from his base.

Even if the chief priest was cautious enough to turn on the Altar against Lucien, Lucien was still confident that he could break out of the encirclement. A level seven chief priest of the Kuo-toans could cast only a very limited number of spells relying on its own talent, as it could not receive power from the Lord of Ocean who had fallen asleep for many years.

For sorcerers, knowing an enemy well beforehand to prepare accordingly was a great advantage.

In the middle of the Altar, there was a dark blue pool where the tall Murloc statues stood. Except for the pool, this area was completely water-free.

Lucien took a look at the statue of the Lord of Ocean: Amboula had six arms and each was holding a trident. Lucien smiled and shook his head at the primordial religious taste of beauty.

Without wasting any time, Lucien cast Strength and Bull's Strength on himself and washed down a tube of magic potion. Holding Pale Justice in his hand, Lucien took out the filthy blood ball from his magic pouch and put it into the pool. The blood ball quickly dissolved in the water and dyed the water into the color of rust.

Lucien stood up and started casting the long and mysterious spell. The ocean water around shivered with his voice.

As the shiver was getting more and more intense, the blood-colored water dyed the statue.

It was not until now that Lucien finally sensed that there were two distorted space gaps within the statue. One belonged to the World of Souls as expected, while the other was warm and comforting, giving Lucien a familiar but also strange feeling.

However, Lucien had to stay focused and had no time to think about it.

When the casting came to an end, the blood merged into the statue, and the water in the pool became clear once more. All of a sudden, the six arms of Amboula started waving, and something very powerful landed from above.

Finishing the last line of his spell, Lucien's eyes saw an entirely different world. His right eye saw that, in a space of black and white, an about ten-meter-long Murloc with tightly closed eyes and lackluster scales was lying in a pale pool. Although he seemed to be dead, its illusory body still gave Lucien a somehow divine feeling of heavy pressure.

Meanwhile, Lucien's left eye saw a silent and deadly wasteland, where countless specters were wandering.

In the middle of the wasteland, there was a grand palace built with huge bones. Under Lucien's gaze, it started becoming more transparent. Surrounded by the specters, dead bodies, and bones, a dreadful monster wearing a long black robe emerged. It was holding a heavy and huge sickle, and its cheekbone was only covered with a thin layer of dried skin. Its two eyes were just two hollow holes, showing no sign of vitality at all.

The monster slightly turned aside. Looking from across a great distance, its sight met that of Lucien.

A freezing feeling came out from the inside of Lucien's body, while irresistible numbness seized him. Lucien could feel that his life force was leaking out and under this speed, he would end up as a decayed corpse in seven to eight seconds.

Although he was still able to think, Lucien could not resist the numbness at all.

Suddenly, a warm stream rose from Lucien's left hand and chest, driving away all the numbness and coldness.

When he was able to move again, Lucien couldn't help but trembled a little. Instantly, the eerie world disappeared and Lucien came back to the altar made of Wave Stone. Facing the statue of Amboula, what just happened to Lucien seemed to be a dream.

Based on his knowledge, Lucien recognized that the wasteland was in fact the place called Skeleton Land. Therefore, the monster he just encountered could be Apomos, one of the devil lords. But according to the legends, he should have gone missing for more than a thousand years.

Apsis ruled Skeleton Land, which was the 123rd layer of Abyssal Maw. He has many titles, and the most important ones were the Lord of Specters, Life Reaper, and the Lord of Death.

Shaking the confusion out of his head, Lucien started erasing all the traces he had left. When he left the Altar, he turned himself into a common demonized fish and swam quietly to a faraway spot in the ocean. Then he cast Invisibility on himself and started flying.

Three minutes later, when Lucien was far away from Contaminated Water, he thought to himself in amusement.

"Every time when I tried to do something, there were always difficulties. I never expected that things would work out so well like this."

"There are always good things and bad things. I guess I am not that unlucky all the time…"

...

In the dark night sky, countless dazzling stars were hanging.

When Branhit approached one of the stars, he found out that it was not a real one, instead, the world he was in was actually an incomplete, very complicated constellation diagram.

Branhit's breath became heavy. He realized that this was the most vicious and strange maze ever.

Although he was not a caster who mastered a lot of spells, Branhit still knew that if he could find the exit of the maze, he would be able to get out earlier. Most mazes were distorted spaces, but this one was different. He had to find the several incomplete constellation diagrams and put them together to find the way out.

For most senior-ranks, this was the most spiteful maze ever! Because most of them were not experts in astrology at all! To get out, one had to either break the maze using power exceeding that of the caster or wait until the maze expired, which usually took three to fifteen minutes.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Two minutes later, Branhit burst out roaring painfully. His eyes were lit up with great anger. His intelligence could not support him to figure out the puzzle pieces!

If Branhit had known that Lucien had already started planning on coming up with more mazes when he reached the eighth or ninth circle, such us Evans' Math Maze, Lucien's Brain Teaser Maze, Evans' Antinomy Maze, Lucien's Riddle Palace, Branhit would have bit his tongue off out of annoyance.

Three minutes later, Branhit desperately watched the star sky breaking into pieces.

He assumed that the Altar must have been ruined already, and the imperial family would not admit what they did for sure.

Branhit knew that even if they had been in a fair fight, there was no chance for him to beat the Murlock, since it had such a powerful magic item.

He wondered if it was the prince who lent the invader the magic items.

Branhit had no idea at all that the invader was in fact not a Murloc but a sorcerer, as he could not see through Lucien's Transfiguration.

When Branhit returned to the cave, he found that the ice was already gone. Except for a few guardians who were injured more seriously by the cold, most of the Murlocs were safe and sound. These Murlocs were looking around with a confused look on their face. Obviously, they were wondering why they were still alive.

"What happened?" Branhit asked himself.

He hurriedly looked back at the Altar, and to his surprise, the Altar remained intact as if nothing had ever happened to it.

Being cautious, Branhit checked the altar carefully but found nothing strange. Now, Branhit was totally lost.

He almost felt that what happened was just his illusion, but the moaning of the few injured Murlocs reminded him that it was not.

The Murloc mage also felt very confused. With some hesitation, he said, "Maybe… Maybe he found the wrong place."

Found the wrong place?!

Branhit cast an angry glance at the mage since the explanation just sounded so absurd. However, he could not find a better answer either. The senior-rank Murloc had frozen the entire guardian team and trapped the seventh circle leader, and then he just left without achieving anything… How was that possible?

...

After a few days, Lucien had flown back to the port. Through a noble's castle in the Duchy of Calais, he entered Night Highland again and caught a vampire viscount there. Turning himself into the viscount, he used another space joint guarded by a vampire marquis using the excuse of gathering materials and arrived at the Dark Mountain Range. Using Viscount Nour's identity too frequently would attract unnecessary attention, and Lucien could not use the space joint in Rhine's castle anymore since Prince Dracula must be closely watching it.

The tall trees had blocked all the sunlight, and the environment was very damp with a moldy smell. Lucien, who had turned himself into a vampire bat, approached Observer's Castle following Rhine's instruction while carefully avoiding the powerful dark creatures.

Two days later, the castle was visible from the distance.

Chapter 413: The Trustworthy One

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

It seemed that the old castle was forever enveloped by darkness at the edge of the cliff. Showering in the cold moonlight, the castle up there looked rather lonely.

Lucien had turned himself into a werewolf with dark fur. Hiding in the trees, he carefully watched the Observer's Castle, which seemed to be reaching for the silver moon. But Lucien was not alone here. In the forest, close to the cliff, many dark creatures were also gazing at the castle.

Any creatures that were more or less knowledgeable should recognize the extraordinary features of the castle. It was reasonable to assume that some greedy dark creatures had already died here trying to break in, while the rest of them were still waiting for a chance.

Their existence was a relief to Lucien, as he did not have to worry about hiding himself anymore. The reason that he had not entered the castle was that he was not sure if Dracula's projection was watching this place. As the strongest vampire, Dracula had the ability to create surveillance projections and to descend whenever Rhine was spotted.

Lucien wondered where the real Dracula was. If Lucien had been him, he would have chosen to stay at the Observer's Castle. Since Rhine had disappeared in the desert to the south of Gusta Empire, waiting for Rhine in his own castle sounded like a good idea.

Lucien also believed that Dracula, as a legendary who had lived for countless years, had enough patience for watching and waiting.

He had to figure out a way in.

Lucien slowly retreated. It was not his way of doing things to directly enter the castle without knowing what risks awaited.

The good thing was that finishing his job in the first three places did not cost him much time, so Lucien had got enough time for planning. Besides, to carry out the last step of his plan, Lucien had to wait for the night when the silver moon was the brightest, which was at least eight days later.

When he was far away from the castle, Lucien found a safe corner and started thinking about the plan.

Lucien hoped that he had someone to talk to, a person who would not dig into his secrets but was still willing to give him suggestions. Lucien knew who the person was, but he did not want her to get into potential trouble.

Stepping on the soft earth, Lucien paced back and forth, unable to make up his mind.

"What will she say?" Lucien thought to himself.

Lucien stared at the big tree with knots in front of him and imagined that it was Natasha.

Lucien believed that the heroic girl in the white suit of armor would grin and say, "All right. I'll help you with this, but you have to write me a composition as a gift."

Natasha never wasted a single word.

If Lucien chose not to turn to Natasha for help, she would definitely give Lucien a lesson: Although the last person one could rely on is always him or herself, a person still needed to ask for help from his or her true friends.

Lucien took a deep breath and removed Transfiguration. Then he put on the monocle and activated Fernando's Electromagnetic Message.

Against the deep silence of the dark forest, the sound of electric currents could be heard very clearly.

Lucien waited for a while, but no one answered. Perhaps Natasha is already asleep… he thought.

When he was about to stop calling, he heard the familiar voice. "Lucien?"

"Yeah, it's me." Hearing Natasha's voice, Lucien suddenly felt at ease.

Natasha's voice showed how surprised she was with receiving Lucien's call. "Are you near the Duchy of Violet? Yesterday I just read the letter you sent me in late June. Your call really surprised me. It took me a while to come to the garden without letting Auntie Camil know."

Lucien felt that they were like those youngsters having a secret phone call behind their parents. He smiled and said, "I'm in the Dark Mountain Range."

"Are you in any trouble? Do you need the help from a brave knight now?" Natasha laughed in low voice.

Lucien became serious. "I need your help, but the task could be dangerous."

Natasha made a click of her tongue and then spoke in a very straightforward way, "Tell me where you are, and I'll come to you. Deal."

Lucien's heart softened, so did his voice. "You might want to bring Auntie Camil with you, but we can't tell her what we will be doing."

Lucien was clearly aware of the fact that, as the Violet Countess and the inheritor of the Duchy of Violet, Natasha could not do as she wanted all the time. When she left the palace, the guards would be with her. Since Lucien could not tell Natasha what was going on, he should at least ask Natasha to bring Camil with her to secure her safety.

"I was about to ask," Natasha grinned. "Alright, tell me where you are."

"No, we move together, and we'll meet at the foot of Mount Skayan." said Lucien. The route from Aalto to Mount Skayan was usually relatively safe, and it would be much easier for Natasha to find him there.

...

It would not take a long time to fly from Aalto to the Dark Mountain Range. But once one entered the area, flying over the tall trees would become much more difficult, since one would easily be exposed to the dark creatures in the mountains.

Two days later, wearing the monocle, Lucien was anxiously walking back and forth at the foot of Mount Skayan. The silver moon over his head was bright and gorgeous.

Lucien started worrying about Natasha, wondering why she had not shown up yet, and why even the electromagnetic message couldn't be delivered.

Although Lucien had chosen a safe route for Natasha, he was still worried: What if Natasha accidentally ran into a powerful being from the Dark Council who happened to pass by?

At this time, Lucien saw two figures rushing out of the forest against the silver moonlight, one black and one purple.

Lucien released a sigh of relief and walked to them.

Both Natasha and Camil were fully armed.

Natasha was not wearing her white armor but a set of dark purple one. It was called the Violet Guardian. In her left hand, there was a small black shield. The shield was very finely crafted and was releasing profound holy power. Natasha's eyes were still of the dreamlike color of purple, and so was her long hair. In Lucien's eyes, she looked like the Goddess of War.

"The Shield of Truth?" Lucien exclaimed casually, despite that he had been hesitant about how to say hello to Natasha after a long separation.

Camil took a cold and meaningful glance at Lucien. Then she walked away.

Natasha lifted the black shield. "This is just a replica. I'm not capable of carrying the true version yet. So, my knight, how can I help you?"

As usual, she did not waste any time.

Lucien took out the clown-faced mask. "You take this. Six days later when the silver moon reaches its full size, put it on a condemned prisoner. The mask will turn him into Mr. Rhine. Then, make him go past Castle Hazlehurst in Province Tiran and let the owner of the castle notice him. Please remember, do not do this yourself." Lucien added.

Lucien explained further, "This is for attracting the attention of Vampire Prince Dracula. So you have to be cautious about your timing. Do not control him all the time. When he gets close to the castle, knock him out or put him to sleep. Then you must leave quickly."

He had to make sure that Natasha knew how horrible the enemy was.

"I see… Mr. Rhine is a vampire, and his role is important. No wonder…" Natasha gently rubbed her chin. "But… if we do it this way, Prince Dracula would find out very soon. Do you have enough time? Maybe we can turn this into an ambush instead. My teacher 'God's Glory' Sir Milton and Sir Sard are definitely interested in besieging the Vampire Prince. In this way, can win you more time. And I'm sure the Grand Cardinal can find two more saints for help."

Without asking what happened, Natasha tried to find a better method. Facing the legendary level vampire, she was only confident if two saints, one Grand Cardinal, and two legendary knights were present.

"No, Cardinal Sard is not trustworthy. We cannot go to him. Without him, the two legendary knights will be killed instantly by Dracula." Lucien shook his head. "Although I must hurry, the time should be enough. Trust me. I won't risk my own life."

"Cardinal Sard is not trustworthy… Something indeed happened in Aalto then…" Natasha spoke thoughtfully, "but I do believe that you cherish your life a lot. After all, you just won that many awards and were listed on the Cleansing List, my genius arcanist."

She chose to trust Lucien.

Lucien put on a complicated smile on his face. "Sending letters is always much slower than how these things spread…"

"But I still like reading your letters," Natasha grinned. Although she was a follower of the God of Truth, she never dug into theology. As for what happened because of the Miracle Experiment, that was a long time ago and she had already accepted it. In fact, she even felt a bit proud of Lucien.

"So, why do you choose the vampire castle in Province Tiran? Is it because that it's close to the North Fortress? So that I can hide in the fortress even if the Prince finds out."

"Also because the owner of Castle Hazlehurst is only of middle-rank…" added Lucien.

Natasha put on a big smile. She looked up at the silver moon and then said to Lucien, "alright, I'll go back now to work on this. You take care of yourself."

"No problem." Lucien nodded.

When taking over the mask and leaving her power in it, Natasha became very surprised. "You've become a senior-rank?"

Only a senior-rank could use this mask.

"Yes, at some cost," answered Lucien honestly.

Natasha looked at Lucien, her eyes filled with joy and surprise. "We are of the same level now! It was right that you chose to study magic, but don't rush. Also, I have to improve myself as well. I can't let you beat me."

Then she flew to Camil. When she was halfway up in the sky, she looked back and grinned. "You aren't doing anything bad, right?"

"Of course not. I'm saving the world," said Lucien half-jokingly.

Natasha burst out laughing. Then she left with Camil.

...

Several days later, after making sure that Natasha was ready, Lucien went back to the Observer's Castle. When the silver moon reached its full size, Lucien returned to the forest under the cliff.