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Chapter 485: Pulled In

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The dark purple Violet Guardian, the pure black battle dress, the small and exquisite yet dark and thick holy shield, the silver-white longsword etched with simple patterns, and her chiseled features coupled with resolute deep silver-purple eyes… At that moment, Natasha was totally different from her friendly hospitable self. Instead, she was emanating a foreboding air.

Suppressing his surprise, he wondered with mixed feelings of joy and worry why he and Natasha could run into each other at a place like this, and where were the Violet Duchy gold knights and radiant knights under Natasha's command. Under normal circumstances, the South Church would never let the order of knights to be jumbled up. The nobles were only faithful to their own masters. The senior-rank personnel could make arrangements for them, but they're by no means obligated to abide by them.

Natasha must have entered this alternate dimension as the leader of the Violet Duchy's gold knights and radiant knights, so why was she unprotected? Why did she leave her troops?

No, Lucien quickly corrected himself — there was still someone protecting her. Lucien noticed that behind Natasha was a silhouette that almost melded into her shadows. It was "Blue Tide" Camil in a black dress.

Ramiro did not see Francis as his ally, which means that he was most likely from the North Church. Why was Natasha collaborating with him? The elder in white robes was definitely a senior-rank priest, and the gloomy man seemed to the night watcher ranking nineteenth, level-eight radiant knight, the "Fire of Purification" Danniel. They would never side with Francis.

Lucien was puzzled. Natasha's brother had died in the war against the Northern heretics, which in turn caused her mother to pass away early. She would never ally with people of the North Church.

Many night watchers kept their bloodline, history, and real name under wraps. However, those with a high ranking were rather famous, and their code name and real name were known by most large organizations. As a result, Lucien had been able to find the identity of his attacker in the spirit library after Ramiro's self explosion. It mattered little whether Ramiro was his real name. That wealth of information provided by the spirit library also allowed Lucien to deduce from the aura and demeanor of the gloomy man that he was the Fire of Purification.

Two royal knights of the South Church, a senior-rank night watcher, a senior-rank from the South Church, and a radiant knight who seemed to belong to the North Church's Executioners — this combination seemed quite strange to Lucien. Maybe it was Sophia who brought this band of people together to form this temporary alliance? Lucien remembered Sophia who had remained out of sight so far. There was for sure something fishy about her father Rudolf II. She herself was not a devout follower either. Coupled with her nobility, she was a prime candidate to become a strategist.

The battlefield was quiet for a short while. Francis and his lot were scared and confused by the strange behavior of the Lord of War, while Antanas looked at them with a mocking smile. He surveyed the surroundings before taunting. "Just the lot of you? Come at me together!"

He raised the huge war hammer, and the surroundings were instantly transformed into a gory battlefield. Knights on horseback and on foot swarmed out from behind Him. They looked fanatic, battle-ready, and terrifying. In a mere second, he had assembled a banner of knights of at least grand knight status.

Everyone killed by Antanas and his subordinates who had died in battle would enter His semi-illusory frontier of war and participate in endless crusade until even their souls perish.

The key difference between the gold knights and radiant knights was that of the semi-illusory willpower frontier, which could span for several hundred meters. Antanas was undoubtedly developing his powers in the direction of knights.

"Kill!" Antanas roared.

"Kill!" His cry was echoed by the countless knights behind him. Their cries converged into a deafening cry, their lust for battle was so imposing that even senior-ranks took a step back involuntarily.

I am the Lord of War, I am the Leader of Armies!

Antanas and his men charged towards Natasha. As a divine-blooded who honed his skills on the battlefield, he could easily sense that she was the weakest among the enemy

Flags waving, spears raised, and divine spells flew. Francis, Danniel, the senior-rank priest, and Camil all felt their willpower robbed, causing them to react a split-second slower than usual.

Natasha was instead visibly excited. She did not avoid the brunt of the charge, rather, she jumped directly at the war hammer head-on with her shield raised high.

Bang! A small but horrifying crack appeared at the point where the black shield collided with the war hammer. The space around them seemed to congeal and solidify. With the point of impact as the center, shockwaves radiated relentlessly outward, and divine powers and spears from outside the sphere could not penetrate the solidified space.

Natasha's features were tense. She looked so lonely, yet so determined.

"Doesn't she know to dodge! Daring to fight a level-nine gold knight front-on when she's a mere level seven! Even if she had the replica of the level-nine Shield of Truth, she shouldn't be this reckless!" Lucien cursed silently. A part of him wanted to drag Natasha back from the battlefield.

Although she had risen to level seven last year, the difference in power between her and Antanas was still immense. Further, there were plenty of level eight radiant knights around to protect her! She should really take a lesson from Sophia, who was not even showing herself in a situation like this after receiving Rudolf II's teachings.

A tome of heavy divine aura appeared in front of the white-robed elder. The pages turned rapidly while divine light flashed. A huge column of light connecting sky and earth then struck at Antanas.

A layer of what looked like rust and blood appeared on Antanas' body, shielding him from the Sunstrike. However, the knights who were charging with him were evaporated.

He attempted to strike at the elder, but Natasha would never let an opportunity like this to slip away. Her silver-purple eyes were cold, and she struck with her longsword. An otherworldly crack that looked like it could sever anything appeared in front of the swing.

Antanas's gaze tightened and forcibly changed his direction, evading the strike. Then, he struck a flurry of blows at Natasha with the warhammer. In the surrounding frontier of war, the spirit knights materialized once more.

At the same time, the darkness in the sky turned into the sea, crashing down on Antanas.

Simultaneously, silent white flames rose from the ground and lunged at Antanas.

The pages of the Cannon in front of the elder were flipping rapidly, and lights kept flashing. They were continuously buffing Natasha with divine power, blessing, war tide, and the like.

Their only chance of winning was if she could bind Antanas with her replica.

After Camil and Fire of Purification joined the battle, Natasha found some room to breathe. She shook her shield and readjusted her form. It looked like the relentless barrage of attacks by Antanas had turned her body numb with pain.

Francis looked at Bero, and communicated to him via a divine spell akin to Soul Connection. "If you can help them bind Antanas, I will then assist my lord to kill Asin. After my lord absorbs the "Hidden Death and Resurrection" godhood from Asin, he would rise to the level of Antanas and the situation would be under our control".

"No Problem."

When the Lord of War appeared, the God of Love and Beauty Asin's face was filled with heartfelt joy. Upon seeing that Antanas was tied down by his enemies, her expression changed a couple of times. Taking advantage of the fact that Asin was still trapped by the starlight cage, she tried to flee.

"It would do Antanas the most good for me to not be captured!" She thought to herself.

"Come back here!" Francis, who had been keeping an eye on her, transformed into a Hydra, and a think black mist enveloped the surroundings.

Starlight shone but immediately dimmed. Knowing that it would be difficult to break out directly and not wanting to fight with Francis, Asin suddenly plunged down and tried to escape via the Solna river.

"I command you, freeze!" Ell had managed to escape from the starlight cage and used the Command that he had newly acquired after absorbing the God of Storm.

Starlight radiated from Asin's body, and her eyes turned lifeless for a while. The controlled plunge suddenly lost direction, and she fell into the river.

"Chance!" Ell and Francis both rushed towards the Solna River.

Lucien looked at the scene resignedly. Asin hand landed right in front of him!

Just as Lucien tried to transform and escape in an effort to remain hidden, His left hand raised involuntarily.

Lucien seemed to have heard something similar to "Cheese!"

This isn't the time to be thinking about food! Lucien cried silently. However, his left hand betrayed him and his transformation failed. his left hand pulled him towards Asin.

Asin had barely recovered from the freezing spell before she saw a handsome man with black eyes appear from the river. His aura was so great and powerful, it caused even the false god to tremble. It was a feeling of meeting one's natural predator.

Driven by fear, Asin unleashed a torrent of divine powers. However, the hand that was reaching towards her was unaffected by the attacks. It penetrated the protection sphere and landed on her neck.

All divine powers disintegrated upon contact with Lucien's left hand!

Ell and Francis halted halfway in their rush when they saw the flashes of divine power in the river. Asin seemed to have unleashed her potential, and a scary one at that. They slowed down, guarding themselves against a possible final attack as well as making sure that she doesn't escape via other routes.

The flashes finally died down, and they were greeted with an unbelievable scene. The beautiful and sexy Asin was held at her neck by a handsome young man, and her godhood was being slowly extracted from her.

"Who is he?" Ell and Francis were gob-smacked. Who on earth was this powerful man?

Lucien's eyes met with theirs. He shook his head resignedly and greeted them casually.

"Good Evening."

Can he say that he'd been handed the wrong script?

Chapter 486: Take Actions

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"Lucien?"

"Lucien Evans?"

Natasha, Camil, the Fire of Purification, and the rest who were sieging Antanas had all noticed what was going on here. Some were surprised and some were confused. But all the mood swings only lasted for less than a second. Facing s false god, they had to be fully devoted to the fight.

Francis, however, did not recognize Lucien immediately. Judging from how the young man grabbed Asin, Francis assumed that he was a mysterious and powerful knight. Therefore, Francis first tried to search among the names of those radiant knights and gold knights in the main material world for a match.

Power flowed into Lucien's left hand; It was the godhood of death and resurrection. Lucien felt that Alterna was slowly awakening.

However, when the part of the godhood which was related to death and resurrection had been absorbed, and Asin's remaining godhood of "incarnation of beauty and love" and "star of dusk and dawn" had just started emitting, Lucien sensed that Alterna had terminated the intaking process and pushed Asin away. Alterna did so to avoid the possible conflicts with the cognitive world, and what was more important was that absorbing this part of godhood would possibly result in turning to a female.

Having no idea what just happened, Asin felt that there was such a mess in Her head. When the mysterious, black-haired man grabbed Her throat, Asin thought that it was the end of everything. But why did he let Her go after taking away only part of her godhood?

Alterna was obviously being very picky about her food.

Lucien then sent Natasha a message using Whispering Wind.

At this time, Ell had recovered from the great shock and was extremely angry seeing that his own prey had been taken. With anger and greed, Ell said in his cold and resounding voice,

"I command you, to die!"

The running river water quickly turned pale, the life force of it leaking away. However, the Command spell failed to hurt Lucien at all. It seemed that Lucien's left hand had this creepy power which turned Ell's spell completely invalid!

What was going on? Ell took a step back, unable to believe what just happened. Ever since Ell was able to use Command, although sometimes the spell might not be able to directly kill the target, the target would at least be more or less affected. However, this time, it was totally different. It even seemed like Ell had never cast the spell!

In Ell's eyes, the young man standing in the river was as quiet as a demon hiding in the darkness.

Suddenly, the demon in Ell's eyes moved. Its muscles bulged as a layer of moonlight covered him. As it fiercely jumped out of the river, the demon's left hand reached out, targeting directly at Ell Himself!

Lucien was not the kind of person who would only sign and complain when things went wrong. He knew that since he was now exposed, trying to run away would become totally useless when facing Antanas and the possible legendary sorcerer hiding around. He had to seize the chance to feed the relevant godhoods to Alterna and help Her recover, as this was his biggest hope to survive!

This time, Lucien's action was not driven by the hungry Alterna. Instead, he had taken the initiative and turned himself into a radiant knight to launch against Ell, for Ell's godhoods of resurrection, eternal life, moonlight, redemption, and destruction were exactly what Lucien wanted!

An almighty and supreme will spread out from Lucien's left hand. Ell's mind became slow as if the will was born to be invincible for Ell. Ell was just standing there, unable to give an effective response.

"Idiot! He's driven crazy by his own godhood!" Francis was pissed off seeing that Ell just launched such a reckless attack at the mysterious knight in the river. He was hesitant with whether he should help Ell.

But as soon as he saw Lucien jumped out of the river. Francis had made sure that the man was just a level-six radiant knight. It was probably just that he had a special blood power that could refrain godhood and divine-like spells.

Francis grabbed the heavy sword and jumped down, aiming at Lucien.

Instantly, a huge swirl seemed to appear on the ground, pulling all the black miasma in. The miasma joined together and formed a black hydra. With its mixed power of lightning, toxin, acid and so forth, the hydra fiercely charged at Lucien.

Left hand in the front, right hand grabbing Pale Justice, Lucien dodged the huge black hydra which was big enough for blocking the entire sky and then quickly sprang up from the ground. His left fist, swung by his muscular arm, punched in the miasma.

As if something just snapped, when Lucien punched in the miasma, the black miasm quickly dissipated. And the silver moon in the night sky reappeared.

The heavy sword, now covered with cracks, dropped onto the ground. Francis stumbled backward. He could not believe it.

Stamping against the ground, Lucien dashed at Francis as quickly as a flash of moonlight.

With no time for more actions, Francis hurriedly swept the heavy sword for defense.

Lucien instantly lowered his body and avoided the sword, then he punched in Francis's chest using his left hand.

Seeing this, Francis's body twitched and clusters of black miasma were released. He was trying to counteract the power.

Bang! The miasma could not stop Lucien's punch! The clusters of black smog suddenly became pieces of flesh!

Francis's rib bones snapped. Blood spurted out of his mouth. It was such a powerful strike that Francis was directly blown away.

Francis's bones had all broken, and his guts were severely damaged as well. Everything he could see was now covered in spots of red. He could not even move a single finger now. Yet compared with the damage on his body, the great shock and fear towards that left hand were even clearer in his mind: The power within this punching was so horrible!

Seeing that what the demon had done to Francis within a few seconds, Ell's mind was also filled with shock and fear. But at least Francis had won Ell a few seconds, so as soon as Ell got rid of the confinement from the almighty will, He turned himself into a flash of moonlight and was about to escape.

Suddenly, an elegant left hand appeared in front of Ell's eyes, on which there was a layer of cold shine. Then the hand clenched into a fist and punched at Ell's face.

"No!!!" Ell was no longer able to maintain his dignity under great fear. His face had become more than twisted because of the desperation, and many divine-like spells were activated. Ell cast some of them, and the rest of them were triggered by the divine items Ell was carrying. There were transparent force fields, flame shields, silent darkness, billowing waves of death, and swirling specters.

However, none of them could stop Lucien's left fist. With the blowing fierce wind, Lucien punched into Ell's face.

Bang! All the spell shields were cracked as if they were no more than a piece of paper.

Ell burst out a ground-shaking, bitter cry. But the cry was suffocated by the blood gushing out from his mouth, nose, and eyes. The center part of Ell's face had been punched in. Blood splashed everywhere, together with some white tissues.

Lucien grabbed Ell's head as if he was grabbing a half-cracked watermelon. Ell was indeed a false god, as He was still alive after such a strong strike.

However, suddenly, Ell's body became shadowy and he flashed away from Lucien's hand, appearing again about ten meters away on the rock in the darkness. Lying on the rock, Ell was trying his best to maintain his life.

Lucien looked up in great alert, knowing that this was not Ell's own power. Someone saved Ell!

Antanas looked at Lucien with a creepy smile on his face. Ignoring the siege against him, Antanas took off his eyepatch.

Under the patch, there was a light ball whose color was a mixture of black, white, and grey. The colors seemed to be interacting as if they represented countless changes, while at the same time seemed to be silent and still as if they carried the secret of the origin of the world.

The muscles ion Antanas's face started rotting away very quickly. The yellowish, festering flesh turned pale. The bones underneath were revealed, with the rotten fleshes hanging on.

Around him, the world started to twist. All the colors and sounds faded away. Only eternal silence and the colors of black, white, and grey were left.

In such a world, Natasha, Camil and the rest of them's movement became extremely slowly, like small insects being trapped in a drop of pine resin.

"I was about to let Ell take in Asin to reach level nine, so I can save some trouble. But what a surprise, here you are."

Antanas' voice was as harsh as a piece of iron covered in thick rust.

Chapter 487: Ups and Downs

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien's face was grim. He did not say a word but lifted his left hand. His fingers stretched out straight, and his left arm and hand were like a sword.

Suddenly, the environment around him started to twist. The darkness retreated and cold moonlight enveloped him. The silver moon in the sky, however, disappeared.

"You've recovered to some extent after taking in Asin's godhood of death, but it's not enough." Antanas' harsh voice sounded like a sharp claw scratching a piece of rusted iron sheet. He lifted the warhammer covered in the grey flame of soul and fiercely swung it at Lucien.

The hundred-meter distance between them seemed to have vanished, and the hammer instantly came in front of Lucien. The realm of black, white and grey followed the track of the hammer and extended like a paintbrush, yet instead of adding colors, the realm took away the color and sound of all the objects on its way, burying them in everlasting silence.

Lucien watched Antanas coming for him in great calmness. All the motions were colorless and silent. Suddenly, a huge silver moon rose behind him. The moon was so big and bright as if it had descended from the sky. In Lucien's left hand, black flame suddenly burnt up and formed a sword of black fire.

Lucien swung the sword at Antanas using all his strength. His robe fluttered up in the wind, while dazzling light beamed from the silver moon. The moonlight crashed together with the concrete black, white, and grey.

The whole world seemed to become obscure. There was no color, no sound, no time, and no space.

The illusion lasted for less than a second. Natasha and the rest saw a small crack appearing on the color of black, white and grey, and then more cracks followed. As the cracks grew bigger and bigger, colors and sound came in.

All of a sudden, the world of black, white and grey collapsed. The world had recovered to what it was supposed to be. However, Natasha and the rest of them still felt great numbness and could not fully control their own movements.

They, however, had seen the result of the fight.

Antanas was floating in the air. The temple cliff below him was gone. There was a giant deep hole in the ground, and huge swirls of river water gushed into the deep hole of voidness, trying to fill it up.

Pieces of rotten flesh were falling from Antanas' face and body. The bones revealed were covered in the color of rust and blood, which was dyed by the godhood of war. The light ball of black, white and grey now looked much more transparent and rigid.

Obviously, Antanas was badly injured.

However, compared to Lucien Evans, who had been blown away to the other side of the Solna River, Antanas' situation was still much better. When Lucien got struck away, he crushed down countless trees and river rocks before finally hitting on the ground. Lucien was now not able to move at all, and his left hand now looked pale and grey.

"I told you. Not enough!" Antanas' hoarse laugh could drive anyone crazy.

When the mysterious existence from the World of Souls was still recovering, Alterna interrupted it. Therefore, now it was still the Lord of War's side which was dominating. But under the influence of the mysterious existence, Antanas had become even crazier.

Antanas took a step forward. Looking at his enemy lying on the ground and struggling, Antanas's mind was full of joy and pride. "Your power will help me recover. Although I can't kill you now, I can send you to a long, long sleep. Alterna, take your time to come back!"

Antanas lifted the hammer, and the power of black, white and grey became contagious again.

Lucien could hear the death knell ringing for him.

Suddenly, the world of black, white and grey was lit on green flame and instantly collapsed.

Antanas appeared again, surrounded by a grey and white of death and silence, which was very different from his own black, grey, and white. It was the power of decay, and there were bitter souls and spirits howling and swirling.

"Ahh!" The bitter cry came from Asin. In great agony, Asin's life force was taken away by the power in the air. Within several seconds, His face had become extremely pale and His two green eyes had now become two flickering clusters of red flame. The air of death was emitted from his body.

The same thing happened to Ell, whose head was broken like a crushed watermelon, Ell released several painful moans and then stopped bleeding. What was now coming out of his body now was the light yellow corpse fluid. But maybe it was due to his godhood, the speed of life force leaving his body was much slower. He had not yet been turned into a walking dead.

Surrounding the Temple of War, within the radius of two hundred meters, countless Husum trees withered and rotted. The power in the air was absorbing their life force. The rich and moist soil had instantly lost all of its moist and become full of cracks. As soon as the water of the Solna River flowed into this area, it became deadly pale and awfully smelly.

One of the senior-rank priest exclaimed, "Life Ritual? The Demigod-lich?!"

As soon as he finished the words, the divine light surrounding him attracted the attack of the power of death. As if there was some kind of horrible alchemical reaction between the death power and the pure light, a horrible explosion occurred. This at lease level-eight red robe cardinal exploded, and his life force was thrown into midair.

The death power also attacked Danniel, the Fire of Purification. The shield pf white flame surrounding him was now much dimmer. He had to lean against his sword to prevent himself from falling down, and his life force was also quickly leaving his body.

Natasha was the first to realize what was going on. She ran to Camil and lifted her duplicate of the Shield of Truth in front of them. There were already tiny cracks on the shield.

But even the black shield was losing its color, as if it was losing life force as well. Natasha knew that the shield would become decayed in a minute or two, but she had no other choices.

Bero the God of Sun's eyes lost their focus. While His life force was being taken away, Bero's whole body was slightly twitching.

Lucien struggled to stand up. His left hand now looked completely grey, and he was having a hard time breathing.

Francis, lying on the ground and unable to move, tried hard to turn his neck. Looking at the area which now resembled the Skeleton Land, he felt lucky that the mysterious knight just threw him so away from Antanas that he was not in the cover range of the dreadful power.

Within the range, filthy dark clouds gathered in the sky. A black bolt of lightning lit up, and then it started raining. The horrible rotten smell made the severely injured Ell directly pass out.

The polluted greyish-white raindrops fell onto the ground, and the ground suddenly turned pale. Countless skeletons and bodies buried deep underneath broke out from the soil and slowly stood up. Showering in the rain, their death power became greater and greater.

Anything that the raindrops touched, including Daniel's fire of purification and Natasha's Shield of Truth, started rotting. But fortunately, they were not the main target, therefore, the raindrops falling on them were not heavy. However, the rain poured over Antanas, polluting everything and eating into his realm of black, white and grey.

Antanas lifted the hammer again, but his power had been reduced.

However, as the mysterious existence in the World of Souls, Antanas' hammer could still make the spirits, specters, and walking deads acknowledge allegiance to him.

When Antanas was almost out of the confinement, a cold voice came from the sky,

"Spirit Confinement."

The broken souls and spirits surrounding Antanas twisted into the flashes of soul light and quickly sneaked into Antanas's body. Antanas' whole body swelled bigger and bigger. Grey and white liquid flowed out from the corners of his eyes, and Antanas could only stand there still like a stone statue.

"Life Ritual." The cold voice came, again.

The polluted clouds collapsed onto Antanas. Meanwhile, countless undead rushed towards Antanas and became part of the clouds.

Antanas' life force was fiercely pushed out of his body. Losing the inner support, Antanas' tall and strong body became saggy. The warhammer dropped onto the ground, and Antanas' skull snapped into pieces.

The solidified light ball of black, white and grey went out of his eye socket, fell onto the ground, and broke into a few equally-sized pieces.

The pieces still had the almighty power of eternity and supremacy, but it felt that the pieces had lost the soul and will within it. The black, white and grey slowly spread out from the pieces, dyeing the surrounding objects, but now the process was totally meaningless and purposeless.

An illusionary Mage's Hand appeared in the air, trying to pick up the light ball pieces. However, the hand directly went through them, as if the pieces were not in this dimension.

"Hm?" The voice sounded confused.

A lich in a black cloak appeared in the sky. His head had no flesh at all but just a white skull. In each of his two hollow black eye sockets, a fine, needle-like red light spot was flickering.

It was him. Congus, the Demigod-lich. Lucien released a sigh in his mind.

Congus was not in a rush to collect the broken pieces from the mysterious existence in the World of Souls. Instead, Congus turned to look at Lucien. He would never leave the chance to Alterna to recover. Alterna was his only threat on the spot.

"Life Depri…" Congus said two strange words. They were the most primitive magic words.

Congus was not going to underestimate Alterna by any chance. He directly used a legendary spell to eradicate Lucien and his left hand.

However, before Congus could finish the second word, a flash of bright light hacked at him from behind. The light possessed this very positive power that reminded Lucien of all the good characteristics including order, honesty, kindness, and so on.

The magic defense spells automatically triggered dissolved under the light. But Congus had flashily moved to another spot. As a legendary sorcerer, he was constantly prepared for sudden attacks.

The two needle-like red spots turned to look at the attacker. It was Bero, the God of Sun, who supposedly had lost all his power under Life Ritual.

However, now Bero was standing up straight in the air and spoke in a commanding tone.

"This is just a reminder."

"Who are you?" Asked Congus. He felt the power coming out from Bero rather familiar, but it wasn't Bero's own power, and Congus could not recall who it belonged to.

Bero did not answer the question. Countless white wings spread out behind him. Bero said to Congus in a solemn tone, "anything that dies must fall into the eternal sleep. This is the order of life. You filthy, evil creature, face this sentence!"

Then a scale, the left side white and right side black, appeared in front of Bero. After several swings, it reached its balance. The grey and white and horrible pale clouds then instantly disappeared, but the polluted land and the dying trees still remained the same.

"The Scale of Justice! You're Rudolf II!"

Congus did not have a clue how Rudolf II came here, but nevertheless he quickly cast the legendary spell on Rudolf II.

"Life Deprivation!"

Congus believed that this was just a projection of Rudolf, so he was positive that even though Rudolf had brought the Scale with him, the projection was still not a match to Congus himself.

Silently, Bero's face aged as if time passed by on him very fast. The wings behind him closed, converging into a streak of light.

"Comply with the order, Congus."

"The Light of Order!"

The streak of light rapidly expanded, filling in every corner of the world, carrying the power to dissolve anything that was unnatural in the space.

Meanwhile, Congus opened his mouth big and let out an awful howling — Demigod-lich's Howling!

Natasha's eyes lost focus again, and she had also lost the ability to hear or smell. The Shield of Truth in front of her cracked rapidly.

At this time, under the cold and bright moonlight, Lucien rose up into the air across the river. Wearing his long black coat, Lucien lifted his left hand up high, the flame of destruction twining it.

Francis and Camil thought that Lucien and Alterna had used up all of their power.

However, this was not the case. Before taking in the godhood of the Lord of Underworld, Alterna was already able to launch a full round of attack. Now, after absorbing one more godhood, plus the half-month sleep, how could Alterna lose the ability to fight after only one single strike?

Lucien came to the Temple of War on purpose. To get out of the trouble, he was trying to make the legendary archmage who had been watching him all the time and Antanas fight against each other. Before this fight, Lucien had taken Congus' arrival into his consideration, therefore, he did not use Alterna's full power.

Facing Alterna who had been severely injured, and the mysterious existence from the World of Souls who was still able to fight, Congus would definitely deal with the latter first.

Lucien would let them fight first.

Also, since Lucien happened to see Sophia around, and he knew that the Emperor had touched the secret behind the seven ancient demons, Lucien had also expected that Rudolf II would also get involved in this.

The power of silver moon had quickly repaired Lucien's body. When the huge moon rose again, covering the real silver moon in the sky.

Shocked, Congus and Rudolf II saw Lucien bow slightly. And then Lucien dropped his left hand down, and the moonshine suddenly expanded and filled up their vision.

Was it because Lucien was smarter and more sophisticated than them?

No, it was simply because Lucien knew much more information than Antanas. Lucien knew that there was a legendary hiding around and that Rudolf II was able to arrive at any time. Therefore, he could draw up the best plan.

The information gap was Lucien's advantage!

The silver moon tonight was so bright that Congus and Rudolf II would never ever forget this scene.

Chapter 488: Ups and Downs II

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In the endless silver moonlight, a fine black line appeared and grew bigger and bigger.

It was a long sword covered in black flame. The black fire blazed so brightly that it seemed like it could devour anything.

Francis who was at a distance could only fell that the black was drawing in all the light. Even time was slowed down and become solidified in it.

But he soon realized that this was simply his illusion, as he saw the dark green and greyish white colors as well as bright and rigid light coming out from the darkness.

In the end, the darkness overwhelmed everything again and retreated within a second.

When the silver moon rose up again, under its brilliant rays, Lucien was floating in the air. His Pale Justice had been thrown to the other side of the river and was now stuck in the ground beside Natasha, his left hand was hanging beside his body weakly, and his face was as pale as a piece of paper. This one strike had consumed all of the power that Alterna had accumulated as well as Lucien's blood power after transformation. Now Lucien had gone back to the original shape of his figure.

The Temple of War and the peak where the temple once stood on were both gone. Congus stood still in midair, while Rudolf II had fallen to the ground. His black-and-white scale was gone as well. Maybe the scale was also just a projection.

The night breeze blew lightly. Congus's black magic cloak and robe fluttered and turned into tiny pieces. The white skeleton inside was revealed, and then as if the skeleton was melting, drops of white liquid fell to the ground, taking away the last slight of life force from the ground.

Congus' whole set of skeleton had broken down. When the skull cracked, the two needle-like light spots instantly died out. However, underneath the white skull, a smaller delicate golden skull was revealed. It possessed an extremely horrible power. In the eye sockets of the golden skull, the needle-like red spots lit up again.

"You'll never be able to run away." Congus, who was now only a golden skull, said to Lucien gloomily, the two lines of teeth opening and closing.

Then the golden skull also cracked. Inside the skull, there was an ancient ring. In the next second, the gold skull and ring disappeared together.

Lucien's heart suddenly sank. Congus had a resurrection spot nearby!

Lucien did understand that it was impossible for Alterna to kill Congus and Rudolf II using one strike when Alterna was still recovering. However, since he was now facing the projection of Rudolf II, Lucien was still hoping that Alterna's power could completely destroy this body of Congus so that he could only resurrect in his phylactery in the main material world. This would win him some precious time. However, things did not go as he wished.

But Lucien did not panic. He was the Secretive, and he had reunited with Natasha. Lucien just need carefully hide himself and find the Congress of Magic, then he would not need to worry about Congus anymore. It would at least take Congus half an hour to return. And what was more important was that…

Lucien's sight shifted to the solidified pieces of black, white and grey floating in the air — Once Alterna absorbed the pieces, Congus would definitely try to stay away as far as possible.

When Alterna's power further recovered, Alterna would be able to completely wipe Congus out!

A creepy smile crept onto Sun God Bero's face, and He suddenly collapsed onto the ground into a pile of ash.

Ell, Natasha, Camil, Francis, Danniel, and the rest of them had all either became unconscious or lost all their strength, while Asin had become an undead creature, yet it still kept some consciousness and knew that Lucien was definitely the one it should stay away from.

"I'm starving…" Lucien's left hand reached out and pulled Lucien up. It pressed against one of the pieces in the air, and then the rest of the pieces were also gradually pulled over and blended together.

Suddenly, the sound of wind disappeared in Lucien's ears, and colors disappeared in Lucien's eyes. All he could see was a space filled with black, white and grey. Anything that was over a meter away looked completely blurry. Lucien felt that he was in an isolated space, and even his mind had slowed down.

Francis tried hard to look up at Lucien, who was floating in the air still. He saw that, on Lucien's left hand, the color of silver was fighting against a mixture of black, white and grey. Lucien's eyes had lost focus as if he had lost his soul.

At this time, Danniel the Fire of Purification turned his neck. A mysterious smile rose on his face. Then he slowly stood up and flew towards Lucien with the sword in his hand.

"You know that my projection wouldn't die easily, but you have still turned to take in the essential pieces. Have you become too pretentious?" Danniel spoke, but the voice definitely belonged to Rudolf II!

However, the power from the projection was lower than the legendary level. It seemed that the power of the projection depended on the host.

"Huh, Lucien Evans knew that the projection would not die easily? How did he know?" In the noble district of the city of Husum, Sophia was sitting on the bed, staring at the black and white scale in front of her. She was watching the fight at the Temple of War using the divine item and the connection she had with the projection. However, her father's words confused her.

She would never forget what happened in the underground palace of Sun's King three years ago. She had looked for the mysterious sorcerer for a long time to take her revenge but had not gained a single clue. Later, she gradually put this aside and started focusing on improving herself.

Before leaving the Congress, Lucien had submitted the two magic spells which he used in the underground palace. Because the principles of the two magic spells were quite simple, many sorcerers had also created similar spells based on the principles. As a result, the intelligence section ignored this, and Sophia thus missed the most important clue for tracking the mysterious sorcerer.

However, as a legendary, Rudolf II had instantly recognized Lucien Evans. After all, Lucien was not trying to hide his spiritual power at all.

Rudolf II talked to Lucien first to show that this was not a sneak attack. Then, lifting the long sword named the Fire of Purification, Rudolf II hacked at Lucien against the moonlight.

The sword was quick. The sword reflecting the silver moonlight seemed to possess many virtues, such as honesty, kindness, order.

When the white sword inlaid with the patterns of flame was only an inch away from Lucien's head, an ordinary-looking long sword came horizontally and blocked its way.

The clang of the blades was crispy. The Fire of Purification bounced back, and so did the ordinary-looking sword.

"You're still able to move?" Rudolf II said in astonishment to the beautiful young lady with a determined look standing in front of him.

Although it was not surprising that Natasha was still alive since she was not the main target of Congus's Life Ritual, it was indeed a miracle that she could still fight.

"Because, from the very beginning, Lucien had reminded me that the power of a legendary was coming. so I was prepared." Natasha's silver-purple eyes stared at Rudolf II tightly. "Although two items were destroyed, it was Aunty Camil's power that was consumed. I was not injured much, and even took the chance during Life Ritual and slightly recovered from the previous fight."

Holding Pale Justice in her hand, which was thrown to her side by Lucien on purpose, Natasha stood between Lucien and Rudolf II. Her duplicate of the Shield of Truth and the level-eight Sword of Balance had been destroyed. Pale Justice survived because of its special property against Necromancy power.

"So he knew that Congus would come…" Rudolf II sighed.

Then he lifted the sword and launched a new round of attack as fast as raindrops in a storm hitting the ground. The area around him started to become hotter and hotter as if all the filthy things in the dimension have started burning.

The power of Danniel, the Fire of Purification, had been improved to the level of a gold knight with the projection of Rudolf II.

Natasha, however, was only focusing on defense, and her defense was perfect.

The metal blades were clanging like a string of notes.

Natasha was a level-seven knight, and even with Pale Justice, her power and defense had only reached level eight. However, her fighting skills and supreme blood power had compensated for the gap between the power of Rudolf II's projection and hers. Also, Rudolf II himself was not good at fighting as a knight as he had chose the other path of balance, and he was now not capable of casting many spells because of Alterna's previous strike.

After a minute, the two sides were still fighting, with no one showing any dominant advantages.

"You're indeed very talented among the younger generation." Rudolf II nodded and said, "but if you keep staying in my way, I'll kill you."

Natasha sneered. "Have you ever seen a real knight running away from the battlefield?"

"Then I'll let you die as a decent knight," replied Rudolf II.

The white wings spread out behind Rudolf II again, but this time, the feathers were less abundant and much dimmer.

Luminescent spots flew out of the wings and joined together. A thick book began to take its shape. Rudolf II hacked his sword down, and the book turned itself to a specific page.

The Angel King! The Prothonotary in Mountain Paradise!

Smile disappeared from Natasha's face. With a very serious look on her face, Natasha immediately swung her sword. As if the sky just cracked, a number of illusionary gaps appeared around her. Acting like a shield, the gaps blocked the attack from the Fire of Purification.

Bang! The sound was so loud that Sophia, who was watching far away, could not help covering her ears.

Sophia saw that Natasha's hands were bleeding hard. However, the pair of hands were still holding the sword tight, and the owner of the pair of hands was still standing at where she had been. Sophia was very impressed. She knew that her elder brother had a secret crush on Natasha, and now she had understood the reason.

Then, in great astonishment, Sophia saw that, behind Natasha, Lucien's eyes rolled and then his whole person came back to life!

However, what shocked Sophia the most was the staff inlaid with the big Sun Stone that Lucien was now holding in his hand and pointing at Rudolf II.

"It's him!" Sophia burst out. Her body was slightly trembling. The deep fear was still in her mind.

"That Bastard!"

Lucien felt that he just woke up from a long, long dream after a few years. His soul had reached the seventh circle. However, nothing around him changed. Lucien remembered the situation that he was facing. Therefore, Lucien quickly calmed down and lifted the Sun Staff to cast Confinement.

A flash of light sparkled. Rudolf II's fierce attack continued. Natasha could barely have the time for taking a breath.

To Lucien's great surprise, Rudolf II was immune to Confinement!

Lucien did once learn that some really powerful legendaries were immune to spells like Confinement and Maze, but he had never met one before. He had not expected to meet one today. But it might be also because what was standing in front of him was just a projection of Rudolf II.

On Lucien's left hand, the silver light suppressed the mixture of black, white and grey, but it would take quite a while for Alterna to fully take in the power. Therefore, without hesitation, Lucien took out a colorless tube and started chanting.

"It's that spell…!" Sophia hurriedly shouted, as if she was trying to remind her father. Her forehead was covered with a fine layer of cold sweat.

Chapter 489: More to Come

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Inside the translucent tube was a frozen colorless material that emitted extreme coldness. Even looking at it would make one feel frozen to bones.

As Lucien was casting the spell, the material in the tube started to boil and the tube seemed that it was going to break at any time.

Seeing this, Rudolf II slightly shook his head. He knew what Lucien was going to do, and he also knew the greatest problem with this spell —The chanting time was too long, so long that he could easily break it off.

The pages of the book behind him turned its pages and threw a deceleration spell at Natasha. Meanwhile, Rudolf II flew to the other direction and left the range where Lucien's spiritual power was locked on.

Rudolf II had seen Lucien cast this spell, Snow Goddess' Whip, before. He knew what the advantages and disadvantages were.

As a ninth-circle ice and snow spell which could create a temperature extremely close to the absolute zero, the spell itself was perfect when its caster was an archmage. However, if the caster was not yet level nine, the casting would take at least three to four seconds, which was too long to truly imperial a radiant knight or gold knight in a real fight.

Dragging the sword named Fire of Purification, Rudolf II flashed to midair and prepared for the next round of attack. He knew that he should never leave any gaps for Lucien, otherwise as a senior-rank sorcerer, Lucien would seize the chance to cast a series of helping spells on Natasha. Rudolf II was using Danniel's body, and he knew how much power he could use. When Natasha's power was strengthened by senior-rank spells, she would have a great chance to defeat Danniel, whose power had only just reached the bottom line of a gold knight — This was why a senior-rank sorcerer could be very threatening.

Also, if the fight went on for too long, when Alterna fully absorbed the pieces of Essence, or when Congus returned, there would be no chance left for Rudolf II.

Rudolf II's wings flapped, but at this time he noticed that Lucien's casting had stopped.

He realized that something was wrong when he saw the smile on Lucien's face. There was a silver coin in Lucien's right hand, and his body was covered with long, snake-like electric currents, while the space around him was distorted by the magnetic field.

The colorless material in the tube was the same as before. The tube fell down, shining in the darkness of the night.

It was a lie! Lucien was just pretending to be casting!

Rudolf II was furious, for as the "incarnation of the virtues", he absolutely hated to be deceived.

However, Lucien, at this time, instantly finished casting Lucien's Electromagnetic Gun since this spell was engraved into his soul. In the next blink, Rudolf II was under the heavy bombardment of the thick electric beam. It was so fast that he had no time to avoid it!

Rudolf II's face was grim. His wings folded together as a shield, covering his whole body under layers of white feathers.

Bang! The blast was deafening!

The burnt feathers twirled to the ground, revealing the hole in the middle of the wings. Even Rudolf II's chest was severely battered; his body trembled slightly and he temporarily lost the ability to move.

Yet the power of this sixth-circle spell was still not strong enough and could not cause fatal damage to a gold knight's body.

However, Rudolf II's temporary inability to move was all that Lucien needed. Lucien activated the Ice & Snow Medal he was wearing and a freezing ray instantly darted at Rudolf II's wounded chest.

With the wound as the center, layer of ice immediately froze over Rudolf II's body, as if a man-shaped ice coffin was specially made for him.

Lucien was planning on casting Resistance Reduction first and then Silent Coffin. However, when they were actually fighting, Lucien found that Danniel's armor had already been severely damaged by Congus' Life Ritual and Filthy Rain.

The light of the silver moon lit up the ice coffin. As if the moonlight had a temperature, the ice coffin quickly melted down, together with Danniel's body and the projection in it.

At this moment, Lucien grabbed the tube of solidified helium with Mage's Hand. Throwing it up in the air, he started casting again.

This time, the tube broke into pieces while Lucien was halfway through his chanting. The colorless material turned into a dim ray and bitterly whipped on the half-melted coffin following the gesture of Lucien's right hand.

The ice coffin lit up in blue light. The remanent part of Danniel's body became an ice statue. Then, the statue melted into raindrops and evaporated.

Suddenly, Natasha crossed the than ten-meter distance with a leap and hacked at the vapor fiercely with Pale Justice.

An illusionary face formed in the vapor and split into pieces under the attack.

Without a body, the projection was the same as a specter. The blade of Pale Justice was its invincible opponent.

"What a tough fight…" Lucien murmured.

When the specter disappeared, Sophia started trembling at a long distance away from the battlefield. Again, she realized how deceitful and unpredictable Lucien was. In her eyes, Lucien was a demon taking the form of a human being!

It took Sophia a while to calm down. She felt lucky that this time she was just observing this remotely.

She wiped off the cold sweat on her forehead and sighed. "A grand-arcanist-to-be, a great musician… He's much more talented than a demon.

"No wonder even Natasha would fall for him. Brother, there's no hope for you at all."

…

Putting aside the sword, Natasha carefully examined herself, both body and soul. The power of Rudolf II was so weird that she had to be extremely cautious.

"Don't worry too much. He has been severely injured by the strike from Alterna. The projection has lost the power to possess a body or a soul again," said Lucien to Natasha in a comforting tone. Meanwhile, he also checked himself to make sure that his soul remained intact.

Natasha nodded but still checked again carefully and also asked Camil to do the same. Only after then did she finally smile and said, "it never occurred to me that Alterna is right now in your left hand. Is it affecting your activities somehow?"

Lucien found Natasha's smile rather meaningful. He lifted one eyebrow and asked, "what activities?"

"Like when you need your left hand…" Natasha pretended to be very serious but then burst out laughing. This made Lucien feel warm in his heart. That they could still discuss gentlemen topics together made him feel that everything was still the same between them after several years.

Natasha then suppressed her emotions and looked around, "this isn't a perfect place for joking. We gotta go before the Demigod-lich returns."

"Tell me where the Congress is. I'll go on my own," said Lucien.

Natasha lifted an eyebrow and rubbed her chin.

Seeing this, Lucien hurriedly explained. "My Host Star of Destiny is special, plus that I am with Alterna, so Congus can't find me. If I go with you, it brings danger to both of us."

Natasha nodded and accepted this reason. She said to Lucien decisively, "to get to the controlled area of the Congress of Magic, you should head east, cross the desert, and then cross an ocean. The continent you'll arrive in is the one the Congress of Magic is searching through. This area is supposed to belong to the Church, but they haven't come to the west yet. Take care. Don't trust the rest of the grand arcanists except your teacher and granny Hathaway."

"I'll hit the road right now," said Lucien. "Here, you keep Pale…"

Natasha cut Lucien off, smiling. "I keep Pale Justice with me? I'd love to. But I prefer to have it next time. Pale Justice should be protecting you right now until you are safe. I'm also heading for the same continent. If I can find granny Hathaway and the Lord of Storm before you do, I'll ask them to come and find you."

Natasha did not conceal her liking for Pale Justice, but she also did not hesitate when she handed it to Lucien.

Lucien nodded. When he reached out his hand to take over Pale Justice, a strange feeling suddenly struck him. The mixed colors of black, white and grey covered his body, and the aura of the World of Souls came out. Meanwhile, the silver-white light on his left hand was trying hard to keep the situation under control.

Natasha raised Pale Justice and swung it at Lucien. With a dim flash, the concrete black, white and grey started to collapse and was again controlled by the silver-white.

"What is it?" Asked Natasha concernedly.

Lucien took a while to feel Alterna's will in his hand, and he sighed. "Alterna's taking in the pieces, but it's a hard process. The situation that just happened may happen again from time to time. But generally, Alterna's still in control, so it's not a big problem."

"How long is this going to take?" Natasha frowned. "If this keeps happening, Demigod-lich will definitely be able to find you. He knows you're heading for the east."

Lucien took a deep breath and said, "about a week."

Although a week was long and dangerous, Lucien somehow had this strange feeling — How Alterna fully absorb the mysterious existence in the World of Souls in only a week? Maybe there was something unusual going on.

"That's… too long. What about this? I'll go with you, and we can hide in the mountains in the north. It's easier to hide from the Demigod-lich in the forests." Natasha suggested seriously. "Aunty Camil will head to the east to seek help from granny Hathaway and the Lord of Storm. I can also use Pale Justice to help you control the conflict between the two powers. Since I'm helping you, I think Alterna should be willing to help me cover up my power and destiny track, right? It's not going to cost a great deal of Alterna's power…"

Lucien remained silent for a few seconds and then felt the power in his left hand. Finally, he said,

"Alterna said yes, but I think you should go to the east and let Camil stay with me."

"This is my business. Camil should not be involved in this. Also, aunty Camil had used up most of her power. Even with the potions, it will take her at least half a day to recover. And Demigod-lich won't wait for half a day to come here." After taking a glance at Camil, Natasha said to Lucien in great determination.

Lucien looked around. He knew that the time they had was rather limited, so he didn't waste his words.

"Alright, let's go."

Natasha nodded. She flew to Camil and talked to her for a white. Obviously, they had an argument. Camil's cold blue eyes stared at Lucien full of anger, but finally, she put aside her weapon and stumbled away.

Natasha and Lucien then used all kinds of methods to remove their traces, and then they headed for the north.

After a while, Francis, who was lying on the ground far away from where they fought, started feeling strength coming back to his body and his broken bones healing. When he finally was able to stand up, Ell's smiling face suddenly appeared in front of him.

Ell's shattered head and face had recovered. He now looked even more gloomy and mysterious than before.

"You have proved yourself again. We shall leave this place temporarily."

Francis was shocked that Ell had recovered this fast. But smart as he was, Francis did not ask but lowered his head and said in the great but pretended respect, "I will only follow you, Your Almightiness."

Ell nodded in satisfaction. He vailed his eyes, blocking the mixture of concrete black, white and grey within.

Then Ell and Francis hurriedly left the city of Husum.

Chapter 490: The Trip

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After heading to the north along the river valley for several minutes, Lucien told Natasha that they had to change the direction and head toward the east. Using Advanced Flying, Lucien and Natasha flew as fast as they could in the new direction. Meanwhile, Lucien removed the layer of dim moonlight on Natasha.

"You're attracting Demigod-lich's attention so that aunty Camil can leave the city of Husum and go into the desert in the east in safety, right?" asked Natasha. She did not complain at all when Lucien suddenly changed the plan, instead, she accepted Lucien's decision and realized his plan right away. They had gone through fire and water multiple times together. They knew each other well.

Natasha knew that on the east side of the desert was a secret liaison magic circle set up by the Congress of Magic. The magic circle could send voice messages across the ocean to the areas under the control of the Congress.

Once knowing where Lucien was, Fernando and Hathaway could go back to the main material world first and then open another Portal to Alternate Realm to the northern mountains in Erdo Peninsula. This was the fastest route, although it would still cost them a day to come.

If a radiant knight was familiar with all the semi-solidified space barriers in this dimension, he or she would be able to get to the liaison magic circle in the desert within two days; if not, it would take three to four days. Unfortunately, Camil belongs to the latter.

Flying at a high speed in the sky, they could hear the wind howl as it thrashed the coldness into their bones. Lucien smiled. He nodded and said to Natasha via the telepathic bond between them, "it Demigod-lich can't find our traces when he returns, he will definitely go after Camil, who is the closest person to us that survived the fight. When he gets aunty Camil, we will lose all our hope of waiting for Hathaway and my teacher's help. What's even worse is that he will for sure use aunty Camil to threaten us. We must eliminate this potential danger."

"That's true. If Demigod-lich can lock on our trace, he will come after us." Natasha agreed. "Thus, as long as aunty Camil can hide properly, she will have enough time to recover."

"In this dimension, even a legendary's spiritual power field only has a radius of three hundred meters. At that time, aunty Camil will have already left the city of Husum. By then, Demigod-lich will have a very difficult time if he still wants to find her. And we all know that following one's track of destiny isn't very accurate." Natasha added. "Within a day, aunty Camil will be able to get in the mountains in the northeast, where His Excellency Varantine is patrolling. Unless he loses his mind and wants to challenge the Church right now by himself, Demigod-lich will have no choice but to give up tracking down aunty Camil."

Natasha, who was flying in the air like a sharp arrow, completely understood Lucien's plan. She told Lucien where Varantine was, in case he would run into Varantine.

To escape by fueling a fight between Varantine and Demigod-lich was not a possible plan, because Varantine could always inform the Church, and then Lucien would have to run away from the entire Church's hunting. The situation would be much, much more dangerous than what they were facing now.

"So we have to keep distracting Demigod-lich for a whole day," said Lucien seriously.

Natasha lifted her left eyebrow, "You are not worried that aunty Camil might tell His Excellency Varantine about you?"

"There's no perfect plan facing such a great danger," said Lucien honestly, "but after seven days, when Alterna finishes absorbing the pieces, I might be able to survive even facing the Pope. And, I trust you."

Natasha lips curved into a smile,

"I told aunty Camil that it would only take Alterna four days to fully absorb the pieces. If she chooses not to sell you out and successfully sends the message to the Congress, the Lord of Storm and granny Hathaway will come find you even earlier than you planned. If she indeed sells you out, when the Pope sends the priests here, it will have been three days later. His Holiness will definitely consider how big is their chance of winning when facing Alterna, who will have recovered to the level of demigod. I don't think he will take the risk, especially when he's currently unable to cast God's Arrival."

Lucien tilted his head and examined Natasha up to down. He was quite impressed. "I thought you were always very straightforward, no matter when fighting or dealing with things. I didn't expect it at all that you could also be very sophisticated. But… aunty Camil has been protecting you for so many years, won't you feel bad lying to her?"

Natasha grinned. "Hey, I gave aunty Camil the wrong message because you deceived me in the first place. A dignified knight like me doesn't lie."

After the joke, the look on Natasha's face became more serious. "Although I do like to solve problems on my own, as the future duchess, I've always been living in great caution, or what happened to me last time with my cousin Verdi would definitely happen again. I trust that aunty Camil will never betray me, but I am not so sure whether she'd also not betray you. Maybe in her eyes, sending you to the gallows is the best way to protect me from the danger of being hunted by Demigod-lich. I can't count on anybody by simply saying 'I trust her.'"

Lucien saw a true duchess in front of him — decisive, determined, and cautious.

What was even more important was that Natasha still knew what she really wanted.

Lucien smiled lightly. "We've done this much, and the rest of the things are not within our control. We should head northward and eastward in turns, so that Demigod-lich will believe that we're heading for the desert in the east following an irregular route."

At this time, the concrete colors black, white and grey climbed onto Lucien's left hand again and then covered his entire body. The flying spell was interrupted, and Lucien instantly fell from the sky.

With a dive, Natasha clutched Lucien. Then she pulled out Pale Justice and swung it at the mix of black, white and grey.

However, this time one single strike turned out to be insufficient. Natasha frowned and kept hacking at it. After three times, the mixture of colors finally retreated.

"Are you alright?" Asked Natasha in concern.

Lucien said calmly, "don't worry. The fight can get quite intense. When the absorption process approaches the end, there'll be a big one."

"You gotta ask Alterna some rewards when Alterna recovers," said Natasha half-jokingly. "You're taking such a huge risk."

Lucien answered thoughtfully, "In fact, I think I've got some rewards already. Every time when this happens, the world around me stops working, but meanwhile, my soul is still growing stronger together with my cognitive world. When I first got struck by it, it felt like that I directly skipped two years. The two-year growth has turned out to be a great boost to my soul. Now, the power of my soul is at the seventh circle. When I finish analyzing a seventh-circle spell, I'll try to advance."

"This is not fair. We are at the same level again!" Natasha exclaimed in great surprise. "… I was working very hard to be a level higher than you. After this ends, you have to reward me as well!"

"I will, as long as you're not asking me to wear weird costumes," Lucien revealed Natasha's secret thoughts.

Natasha shrugged. "Alright, then you'd better get up."

Lucien finally realized that Natasha had been holding him in her arms all the time during the conversation. With a shy smile on his face, Lucien cast Advanced Fly again.

…

Half a day later, Lucien and Natasha arrived at a small town in the northern mountain range. Now, they were hiding in a mud hut and taking a break.

"The outbreak is happening so unpredictably! Before, we could still handle it, but after Demigod-lich sent out his specter minions, we are now under great pressure," said Natasha.

Natasha's eyes were fixed sharply on Lucien's left hand, where the one to blame was residing. The only thing that could comfort her now was that according to Lucien, Alterna was a cute-looking blond girl. Thus, Natasha could still put up with Alterna. She also wondered why Lucien was always caught in big troubles.

Lucien could do nothing about this. "It's completely out of my control. There's no pattern in this at all."

In the past hour, they had run into two teams of senior-rank specters. Many thanks to the fact that Pale Justice was the great bane of the specters, they were able to escape. Otherwise, they would have already been caught by Demigod-lich.

Natasha was about to say something to relax. Suddenly, the monotonous colors of black, white and grey haunted Lucien again.

She looked rather alert and serious. Pulling out Pale Justice, she hacked at the color layer from an angle as the many times she did before.

This time, the colors faded away immediately. But Natasha did not have time for celebrating. The next moment, Natasha leaped forward. Clutching Lucien, who was still not able to move, she rolled out of the mud hut.

Bang!

The mud wall was penetrated by a huge piece of stone. After a few shakes, the hut collapsed to the ground, raising dust everywhere.

Natasha held the sword and stood in front of Lucien. She saw the disgusting, rotten monster.

It was a group of huge apes two to three times tall as a man. But they had no skin, thus the green, rotten muscles and tissues were all revealed. In each of their hands, there was a huge stone.

"Only a group of middle-rank Rotten Looters?" Natasha sneered. Her movements were so fast that the series of piercing and striking only took her a couple of seconds.

When Natasha returned to where she was standing earlier, the huge apes had all collapsed to the ground one by one. Their huge bodies quickly dissolved into piles of pus and then disappeared.

"There must be a high-rank undead creature as the leader behind! Let's go!" Lucien reminded. Besides, he did not want to get the innocent residents nearby involved.

After casting Speed on themselves, Lucien and Natasha ran into the mountains, changing their directions aimlessly.

A few seconds later, Natasha suddenly took a wide leap onto the big tree beside them and pierced through a huge animal. It was another Rotten Looter.

"We're still being followed," said Natasha seriously.

Lucien looked back and frowned. "Something's tracking us. We have to find it out, or Demigod-lich will be coming for us soon."

Chapter 491: The Lunatic

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"How?" Asked Natasha. Although she was an expert in anti-tracking, she knew that everything was different in this dimension where everyone's spiritual power and willpower were both restrained, so she asked for Lucien's advice.

Sorcerers were known for their multiple spells serving different and specific purposes. This was another advantage that they had over knights and clergies.

Lucien took out his monocle and covered his left eye with it. Images and scenes flashed through his left pupil. Meanwhile, electromagnetic waves spread out from his eye and his body to every direction, then providing feedback to him from time to time.

Using the fifth-circle spell Eye of Thunder and Lightning, Lucien was now like a radar in human shape.

"The feedback from over three hundred meters is weak and chaotic somehow… Is this the special suppression of this world? It feels like magnetic pollution." Lucien said to Natasha through the telepathic bond between them. "But don't worry. Let's keep moving forward. You keep pretending that you're still seeking around but have found nothing so that we can lure it closer to us. We gotta hurry up, there isn't much time left for us."

"Alright." Natasha agreed.

Clenching onto Pale Justice, she walked deeper into the forest with Lucien.

Lucien then cast True Seeing on Natasha and himself, pretending that they were still on great alert but could find nothing.

After a minute, Lucien and Natasha quickly exchanged a look and suddenly accelerated. Like two flashes of shadow, they sprinted towards the end of the path, ready to turn left.

At this time, Lucien stopped without any signs and cast Move Earth, a sixth-circle spell!

The ground within a hundred meters started shaking fiercely. Invisible waves spread out, and trees fell one by one.

From the thick crown of an old tree, a black figure lost its balance and fell onto the ground.

The blackness of the figure could absorb in most electromagnetic waves including visible light, thus generating an alternative sense of invisibility. Without True Seeing, Lucien and Natasha would not be able to see it or sense it at all.

Natasha dashed forward and wielded Pale Justice downward in great momentum.

The black figure turned out to be a human-shaped monster with the head of a white tiger. The aura of death surrounding it was extremely dense. Its power should be able to directly manipulate low-rank and middle-rank specters.

Fast and agile, it dodged to the side in midair and avoided Natasha's blade. Then the black claws came for Natasha like sharp blades. Meanwhile, its power waves spread out — it was going to use its ability to cast magic-like spells!

However, the tiger-head monster suddenly lost its strength and fell right onto the blade of Natasha's sword.

Pale Justice was a legendary-level sword when facing evil creatures. Without much effort, the sword penetrated through the monster's body. Black miasma came out, and the body started rotting very fast.

"It's a senior-rank evil beast, good at tracking and assassination," said Natasha to Lucien through the telepathic bond. "Did you create this spell on your own? I've never heard such a powerful senior-rank spell that can interfere with gravity to such a degree."

"Yes, I did. It's called 'Gravity Chaos', a spell of the field of Astrology," said Lucien. He accidentally came up with the spell during the derivation of the Special Theory of Relativity.

Natasha was simply being curious, so she didn't ask further. "We gotta hurry up and leave — Watch out!"

Before she finished her words, a huge rock twice the size of the previous one that destroyed the mud hut rushed out of the woods towards them fiercely, stirring up a very strong blow.

Natasha stepped forward and swang Pale Justice at the huge rock. This one single strike slowed down the rock a little bit and slightly changed its direction. Lucien made the best use of the time and shot out a ray of green light at the rock.

The ray was so thin compared to the size of the rock, like a toothpick on a desk. However, the huge rock instantly broke down into tiny green light dots and scattered to the ground.

Something in the woods burst out in an extremely bitter howl. The howling was so sharp and miserable that one's mind could very easily be disturbed.

Natasha held Pale Justice in front of Lucien and herself. As soon as the evil howling touched the sword, it split into two halves from the middle just like a rushing flood around a small isolated island, thus Natasha and Lucien were not affected at all. However, the wild beasts nearby were all panicking under the great evilness.

Stamping on the tree trunks, a giant over five meters tall cut its own way through the woods and walked out.

The giant's skin was nearly black, and it had a pair of eerie orange eyes, pointy ears, but no hair. Its dirty nails were also orange. The most disturbing thing was that it was surrounded by a cluster of spirits forming a cloud. The horrible howl that they just heard actually came from the spirits.

"A Dead Gaint! At least level seven!" Lucien immediately recognized it. "There are two kinds of spirits surrounding it. One is those that came from the enemies it killed before, and they can be easily killed by Pale Justice. But the others came from the Dead Giants themselves and are passed down the generations as guardians. These spirits are not evil, so Pale Justice won't work well. We have to kill the giant to destroy the spirits!"

"Be careful with its Unholy Blight and Flame Strike."

Through the telepathic bond, Lucien told Natasha the basic information about the enemy.

Natasha grabbed the sword and said, "help me so I can approach the giant. Let's finish it as soon as possible."

With many years of hard training and a powerful weapon, Natasha was not afraid of the giant at all. All she wanted was to save more time.

"I'll use Exorcist Halo to suppress the spirits," said Lucien. Although he had many options, he believed that Sun's Corona would definitely be most effective in this situation.

Natasha was ready. She bent her knees and was ready to strike.

However, at this time, a layer of concrete black, white and grey suddenly covered Lucien. He had totally lost his ability to move.

"Damn!" Natasha could not hold back the swearing. She knew that she had to stop the giant first.

Yet the Death Giant had already made its move when the colors first appeared and had now arrived right in front of Natasha.

Spirits howled and cried. Natasha, who was not yet fully prepared, was knocked off into the air by the giant. Meanwhile, although the eerie shadows surrounding it had dimmed, the giant still launched its second attack.

Pale Justice kept colliding with the evil spirits, yet much of its power was restrained due to the guardian spirits.

When Natasha was defending herself, the Death Giant found the opportunity and rushed at Lucien, who was completely incapable of fighting.

Natasha's silver-purple eyes became cold. She turned back a somersault and came back to Lucien. Then using all her strength, she sprang up and swang the sword at the Dead Giant's chest.

The Dead Giant had to stop its attack to defend itself from the fatal attack. The spirits formed a black shadow that blocked Pale Justice, and its sharp orange nails came straight to Natasha.

Natasha, however, had given up defense. She let the nails sink into her rerebrace, and meanwhile, pulled the sword and slashed across the neck of the Dead Giant.

The giant grabbed its own neck with its hands, trying to stop the black blood from bursting out.

Natasha would leave it no more chance. Stepping on the ground, she was ready to leap up again and launch her second round of attack.

At this time, a beam of holy light came from the sky and encased the giant within.

The giant lost all of its life force. The surrounding spirits were finally released and slowly disappeared in the light beam.

"Are you alright?" Lucien flew to Natasha and asked concernedly.

Natasha coughed and pointed at her left shoulder. "You gotta fix this for me later."

There was a deep crack in her violet rerebrace. Her left upper arm was injured, and traces of black blood came out from the wound.

Lucien hurriedly stopped the bleeding and said to Natasha, frowning, "there's death curse in a Dead Giant's nails, and there's also toxins. Although as a radiant knight and with your top blood power, you won't die like the others. But your power will be reduced to below senior-rank. The best solution is the seventh-circle spell, Pure Blessing. A fourth-circle spell called Remove Curse shall also work, but it must be supported by some potions."

Natasha smiled. "So… you do not have the materiels to brew the potions now, right? — Wait, are you also injured?"

Lucien did not look good. His face now looked abnormally dark. Obviously, he had been affected by Unholy Blight — When struck by the colors of black, white and grey, he was not able to defend himself at all.

Lucien did not realize it until Natasha pointed out. He hurried cast a spell on himself to prevent the situation from getting worse. "I didn't notice it. This also can only be completely removed using the corresponding spell and the potion called Heart of Sun."

Natasha grinned. "You didn't even notice that your own injury. You do care about me a lot, don't you?"

Honest and straightforward as usual, she did not feel shy at all.

Lucien, on the other hand, felt a bit shy, so he switched the topic. "I do have most of the materials of the potions. But there's one missing called Bloody Family. It's a kind of red flower that is everywhere in the main material world. So I don't have them with me."

"Let's go then. This world resembles the main material world, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find the flower. We can also ask people living in the nearby small town." Natasha stood up.

Lucien nodded and cast the spells to take away the giant's heart, nails, and the piece of skin on its chest. In the future, he would use these materials to make the senior-rank magic items Dead Giant Belt and Curse Dagger.

Luckily, Demigod-lich had not caught them up yet.

…

It was a small town in the mountains where residents relied on hunting and logging.

Lucien, whose face was still abnormally dark, found nothing about the red flowers after asking the passers-by. By now, Natasha was already having difficulty lifting her left arm.

Lucien walked to a very old man and asked, "Sir, may I ask you something?"

"What?" The old man pointed at his ear.

Lucien took out a couple of copper coins used by the locals and tossed them. "Sir, I'd like to know if you know someone good at telling plants nearby."

The old man's eyes lit up. "There is one."

Lucien smiled and handed him the coins. "More specific?"

"Sir, if you just need a guide, you don't have to go to Nika the Lunatic. He's filthy and cruel, obsessed with cutting plants, animals, and beasts into small pieces every day. He says he's looking for the secret of gods. He's gone nuts…" When mentioning Nika, the old man was obviously full of disgust.

"The secret of gods?" Lucien and Natasha asked at the same time. Their left eyebrow lifted at the same angle.

The old man nodded hard, "Yes, he keeps telling people that the blessed power comes from the strange patterns on the horrible monsters. He wants to understand the patterns! Trust me, he's gone nuts. He's been acting weird since he was a kid. Things around him were always on fire or got broken. He must have been possessed by a demon!"

Lucien was very interested, "Where is he?"

"You'd better think twice…" said the old man, but when he saw the shiny silver coin in Lucien's hand, he hurriedly added. "… Well, people did not like him, so he had moved deep into that mountain. Follow the path and you'll find him."

Chapter 492: The Pioneer

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After the previous several rounds of outbursts, it seemed that Alterna had temporarily come into control of the situation. It's been more than half a day since the last time the creepy colors crept out. Therefore, Lucien and Natasha had a relatively easy morning, which was a quite good thing to them as they were both injured.

Now it was already afternoon, and it was very hot. The sun was hanging up high above in the sky. Streams of sunlight fell through the leaves, casting bright light spots on the ground.

Natasha looked around and grinned, "I thought our injured looks would attract robbers, especially after you showed off the coins you have in front of the villagers. But the morning was quieter than I thought. That was much less fun."

"This is a world with no knights and sorcerers, remember? Although you're injured, the set of armor you're wearing is definitely a great threat to those who are interested in us. In their eyes, only the Divine-blooded and the Blessed can afford such a set of armor. They're not out of their mind…" Lucien grinned, and then he added casually, "also, compared to wealth, your beauty is for sure more appealing to them. I saw a couple of guys secretly tracking you in the town."

Natasha shot a glance at Lucien and said, "how could you be so sure that their target was me? By the way, look at the castle. It isn't bad, is it? I wonder if the guy named Nika had stepped onto the path of the ancient sorcerers."

In the front, where the black willows grew the thickest, there was a castle in the shape of a fortress covered with green vines and withered leaves. Although the color of the construction was hard to tell through the layers of plants, the pointy end of it had much resembled that of an orthodox sorcerer's magic tower. To the earliest generations of sorcerers, the pointy ends pulled them closer to the sky, as well as the truth of the world.

When they heard the anecdotes about Nika, both Lucien and Natasha related them to the origin of sorcerers.

Perhaps in the Age of Mythology and the Age of Steam, when dragons, elves, and werewolves ruled the land, it was because of the efforts of those lunatics like Nika that human beings were able to ascend to the power throne. However, because those ancient sorcerers had later gone down too far along the crazy and cruel path, they finally got their karma.

While in this world which was still ruled by divine right, magic had sprouted inevitably. Maybe Nika was not alone here in this world. Maybe in other places, there were more "lunatics" studying and researching just like Nika.

"Nika never learned meditation, nor is he able to cast any spells. But simply by using the incidental surges of his spiritual power, he could already move things and light things on fire. This means that his spiritual power had reached the third or fourth circle, and he's for sure much more talented in magic than I am. I'm afraid only a few sorcerers in the Congress such as Mr. Brook could rival him before learning magic systematically. He's such a genius. With so many years of hard work, it's sensible that he has made such an achievement." Lucien commented objectively.

However, being talented in magic did not necessarily mean being successful. Among the several geniuses that Lucien that mentioned, only Brook managed to reach the legendary level. In the history of magic, there were pioneers who were probably even more gifted than Nika, but none of them ascended to the senior-rank. However, it was because of the foundation they laid that the following generations could go further and further.

Talking, Lucien and Natasha approached the lonely castle.

A white, unusual-looking bird landed on the stone pillar in front of the castle.

"This's Nika's castle. Mr. Nika, the Wise, does not welcome any visitors." Chirped the little bird with its head held up high proudly.

Lucien smiled. "We wish to visit Mr. Nika the Wise, because we were told that he is an expert in plants and monster patterns. I'm also studying those, so I'd like to exchange some ideas with Mr. Nika."

"Umm? You're not another mocker?" Said the bird surprisedly, "you said you're also studying the secrets of the gods, but how could there be two lunatics? I don't know if you're lying or not. Hmm, I gotta test you first. Do you know what I am?"

"You're the only white crow in the world, Mr. Nika's pet, and you're intelligent," said Lucien smilingly.

The bird flapped its wings, content. "Great answer. But I gotta ask Nika first to see if he agrees to see you, another lunatic!"

After the bird flew into the window above, Natasha asked Lucien, "it's white because it's feathers have been dyed, right? There's no white crow according to Creature Encyclopedia."

"So it's the only white crow in the world. Other crows don't dye themselves." Lucien grinned.

Natasha realized and shook her head, smiling. "Alright."

A few minutes later, the castle gate squeaked and slowly opened. Behind the gate, a blond boy in a short, white robe said to them politely, "my teacher wants to meet you in his research room."

"Teacher? Are you Mr. Nika's student?" Lucien asked. He was having a difficult time believing that such a well-known lunatic would have a student, a boy who was only around eight or nine! Lucien wondered if the boy was kidnapped by Nika to use for human experiments.

The little boy was very familiar with the look on Lucien's face, as he had seen it many times before. "I AM Mr. Nika's student! Mr. Nika is not crazy, but a truly wise man! He knows those gods' secrets and has extraordinary powers. People say bad things about him because they are afraid of him!"

Then the little boy turned around angrily before Natasha and Lucien could say anything.

Lucien first checked around as usual and made sure that there were no magic defense circles, then he held Natasha by her right arm and walked in with her together, as Natasha's left arm had become completely paralytic.

Walking through the shabby hall and then up the stairs, they came to a dark corridor. Just as they entered the corridor, the little boy who was still angry at them suddenly spoke. "Mr. Nika is not crazy, really. He's been cutting up the plants and monsters because he wants to study them. Those hunters also kill, and they are used to blood, but they accuse Mr. Nika of being cruel. They just don't like the scenes of the experiments."

He was trying his best to defend Mr. Nika, hoping that the two visitors would agree with him.

"I understand." Lucien nodded. As a sorcerer, he was also familiar with anatomy. Meanwhile, Lucien also appreciated the little boy; he is a good student.

When he heard that Lucien said he understood, the little boy was encouraged, so he continued. "The patterns do hold the secrets of the gods. It's true! Mr. Nika has figured out how the power works, so he can manipulate flame and ice. He can also put people asleep and slow down a fall from high up. He's even more powerful than the Divine-blooded and the priests!"

"Really?" Natasha also tried to be supportive.

As the conversation went on well, the little boy became quite cheerful. "Really! I also know a little about it. Look!"

The little boy murmured some weird syllables, and his expression became rather serious. Some slight amount of magic waves emerged and formed an invisible hand. The hand then took down one of the candleholders from the left side of the corridor.

"It's a primitive version of Mage's Hand," said Lucien to Natasha through the telepathic bond.

The spell had not been simplified yet, and the boy was mimicking the language of the monsters.

"It's cool, right?" The little boy raised in the candleholder in pride. Seeing that the two visitors were nodding approvingly, his face glowed with excitement. "Mr. Nika is way, way more powerful than I am! We have neither the divine blood nor the power from gods. It all comes from hard work!"

"Mr. Nika said that we human beings have to rely on ourselves to get rid of the control of the false gods. Others don't understand, but I do. He's a truly wise man. He's even smarter than the gods!" The little boy exclaimed full of admiration.

"Indeed, a great pioneer," said Lucien seriously.

The little boy's effort to persuade the visitors was adorable. After being encouraged, he kept talking and talking, unconsciously letting out many secrets of his teacher and the place.

Soon, the three of them came to a door covered with grey beast skin, on which were complicated magic patterns.

It was a Stoner's skin. Lucien slightly frowned. It seemed that Nika was even more powerful than he thought. Although a Stoner was not as stout as a Stone Lizard, it was still a senior-rank creature as it was able to cast the sixth-circle spell, Petrification.

The little boy knocked at the specific section of the door and said, "Mr. Nika found it in a valley. But the patterns are too complicated, so he's still trying to figure out their secrets. Mr. Nika uses the skin to protect the research room."

Then the door opened. The smell of blood that came out from it was overwhelming. The entire room was like a showroom of organs.

In this world, glass had not been invented. The weird-looking hearts, eyeballs, guts, and chunks of flesh were randomly placed everywhere. The windows in the room were narrow, so the entire space was quite dark. It's normal for someone to feel scared when staying in this room.

A middle-aged man whose black hair was all messy was concentrating on drawing something. On the operation desk in front of him lied a very terrifying monster. The upper part of the monster was a naked woman, and the lower part consisted of eight giant, black spider legs. The naked woman body was covered with mysterious patterns, and its mouth was protruding.

Lucien slightly nodded. It was a woman-spider.

The little boy felt a bit sorry as his teacher completely ignored the visitors. "Mr. Nika is always fully devoted to it when studying the patterns. He will ignore everything else, whether its eating, sleeping, or teaching me. It won't take long, though."

Lucien and Natasha exchanged a look, for they were in a hurry. Then Lucien turned to look at the parchment sheet in front of Nika.

There was a very complex pattern on the sheet and a rough coordinate system. Nika's eyebrows was twisted together. It seemed that he was facing a serious problem.

"(25, 78, 39)," Lucien suddenly spoke.

Nika unconsciously followed Lucien's instruction and traced his quill pen to the spot, then his eyes opened big and he turned around.

"You know this?"

The little boy was totally lost. Was this visitor teaching Mr. Nika?

"To analyze this kind of pattern, you must break it up. One of the coordinates is…" Lucien gave another pair of coordinates.

Following Lucien's instruction, Nika finished the analysis of part of the pattern. He stared at the numbers for a couple of seconds, and then his expression changed to a mixture of excitement and mania. He suddenly strode to Lucien.

"How did you figure this out?" Nika's voice was dry and hoarse.

Lucien did not answer him directly.

"When you're studying the patterns, you also need to look out at the world. The patterns are indeed mysterious and full of secrets, but what about the world? The sun and moon rise and fall; water flows from a higher position to the lower. What are the secrets behind them? Why is it when we jump up, we always fall back to the ground? Why don't we float up toward the sky?"

"What's about it? It's normal. We must fall back. It's the ground." The little boy chipped in.

Nika, however, was shocked.