Chapter 144: Chapter 124 Arrival of the Early Morning_1
Duanmu Huai had no idea what was happening above, and he had no interest in finding out.
For Duanmu Huai, what he needed to do now was destroy the ritual’s core. As for the issues above, he would leave them to Kevin and the others to handle. After all, this country was blessed by Sigma, not by him. Could the fate of the Empire be any of his concern? Was Sigma expecting to fleece him?
Not to mention, Duanmu Huai was busy himself!
Although he didn’t know what was happening above, shortly after, a large group of Plague creatures rushed from the other side of the sewer and launched an attack on Duanmu Huai and the others. It must be said that for these beings, whose bodies were already rotten and stinking, the sewer was their home field. The mere sight of these creatures, covered in the filth of the sewer yet utterly unperturbed, was enough to cause anyone to lose their mind.
The Elf Princess initially fought alongside Duanmu Huai, but after a few rounds, she couldn’t help but choose to retreat—these creatures were just too disgusting.
However, luckily, Duanmu Huai didn’t need to go hand-to-hand with these filthy creatures as he did before.
After all, his time studying at Manaria Magic Academy hadn’t been a waste!
Duanmu Huai raised his hand, and soon, under the influence of the Gravity Gloves, the sewer began to tremble. Broken stones whistled forward like bullets, hitting the bulky bodies of the Plague monsters and stopping their advance. At the same time, he released a spell card with a swipe of his left hand.
A biting chill spewed out, freezing the flowing water in front of him. A giant ice avatar emerged from the frozen water, blocking the path of the Plague monsters like a wall. As the Ice Avatar held back the Plague Monsters, Duanmu Huai made another move. A bolt of lightning shot out, piercing through the Ice Avatar and hitting the Plague Army within. The Plague monsters struck by the lightning howled in agony. However, before the Plague creatures could recover, sharp ice thorns, like spears from the sky, directly penetrated their bodies, nailing them firmly to the ground.
Chain Lightning Strike! Then… Ice Spike Strike! Finally… Freezing Storm!!!
The howling cold wind filled the entire sewer, freezing everything in its path. Even the flowing water in the sewer turned into solid ice at this moment. As for the Plague monsters, they were directly frozen into ice sculptures and then shattered completely.
Seeing the scene in front of her, the Elf Princess murmured in surprise, nearly at a loss for words.
Ann continued to absorb magical power, while Ogis was standing guard beside her. Even though the Elf Princess wanted to go over and check the situation, the doll-like girl firmly refused her approach—if Duanmu Huai told her to protect Ann and not let anyone near, naturally Ogis would obey.
So, the Elf Princess had to shift her attention and watch Duanmu Huai’s battle.
But to the Elf Princess’s surprise, this man could actually use magic!
And it’s very powerful too!?
How is this possible?!
The Elf Princess almost did not believe her own eyes. Generally, when most people saw Duanmu Huai’s outfit and him, their first reaction would be that this man was a very fierce warrior, but they would definitely not associate him with magic. But seeing Duanmu Huai manipulating wind and rain in front of her, he displayed the skill, calmness, and maturity of a Mage.
Moreover, the magic he cast was quite strong. Though it was unclear, the Elf Princess could feel that Duanmu Huai was using a very unique spiritual energy technique. Right… just like that young lady.
Thinking of this, the Elf Princess once again looked at Ann, who was fervently absorbing the energy of the magic crystal, and her brows furrowed slightly.
Many people don’t know that human magic and High Elves have a very close relationship. A long time ago, the High Elves taught human magic at the request of humans, and the Magic Academy in Aldorf was established as a result. So, the magic used by humans and High Elves are fundamentally the same.
However… theirs is completely different.
Whether it’s the young girl named Ann or the magic that Duanmu Huai uses, their way of handling spiritual energy is completely different from the high elves. Moreover, from their skilled techniques, it can be seen that this is not the result of a random improvement by someone, but a systematic usage method.
Could it be that the Empire has established a new magic research system at some point?
Thinking of this, the Elf Princess’s eyes lit up.
Perhaps… this might be an opportunity.
“We have succeeded!!!”
At this time, Ann’s shout interrupted the Elf Princess’s thinking. She turned her head and was surprised to see that the spiritual energy bound by the magic circle in front of Ann was gradually weakening. It turned into a stream flowing into the magic book in Ann’s hand. Soon, accompanied by the influx of spiritual energy, the black text on the magic book in Ann’s hand began to change into the shimmering blue magic symbols. As the pages turned, many energies were absorbed and transformed.
But what surprised the Elf Princess most was… Ann didn’t show any discomfort or unease at all. On the contrary, she was guiding this power very smoothly and competently, not showing any difficulty.
How is this possible?
The Elf Princess knew very well how fragile humans were. Ordinary people would probably mutate just by getting close to such a density of spiritual energy. Right now, Ann was in the heart of the spiritual energy. In theory, even if the spiritual energy was not out of control, her body should show various changes when invaded by spiritual energy—human mages working more with spiritual energy would mutate more, eventually turning into monsters.
However, this girl was completely unconcerned, to the point that the Elf Princess was wondering if she was a half-elf.
But she doesn’t look like one…
Meanwhile, as the last trace of the spiritual energy was absorbed by the Sorcerer’s Book, Ann breathed a sigh of relief. The Dimension Stone, which had been floating in mid-air and emitting dazzling light, now fell to the ground like a piece of gray glass, then shattered with a “bang”, turning into a pile of fragments on the floor.
With the dissipation of the swirling magical power, everything came to an end.
After once again repulsing the attack of the Plague Magic Beasts, the enemy seemed to realize that their plan had failed and stopped launching attacks. Duanmu Huai also led the others out of the underground sewer after this.
When everyone crawled out of the sewer, the sky in front of them was already showing the colors of dawn, and the view of Aldorf city seemed to be peaceful.
Thus, a new day had arrived.
Duanmu Huai learned about what had happened within Aldorf city from General Pastte later. On the night of the banquet, several Evil God Cultists attempted to start fires in Aldorf city to cause a commotion. Fortunately, General Pastte had enacted martial law that night, arresting anyone who dared to step out of their house, leading to minimal damage.
As for the royal palace, it wasn’t so lucky. Duanmu Huai saw the entire palace was ravaged as if it had been bombed, with holes everywhere. He heard this was the result of a fight between the Emperor and his three unfilial sons. In short…. in the end, these three unfortunate guys were beheaded, paraded through the streets, and then burnt to death.
In this way, this troublesome matter was somewhat resolved.
Of course, it wasn’t the end for the Emperor. He still had to consolidate power across the land and continue to prevent the Northern Barbarians from coming down south – but this had nothing to do with Duanmu Huai anymore.
“Are you sure all you want is this?”
The Emperor, sitting on the throne, asked Duanmu Huai in front of him. Duanmu Huai nodded in reply.
“Of course, it’s what we agreed upon. You’re not going back on your word, are you?”
Upon hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, the Emperor shook his head with a bitter smile. He then made a gesture, and soon, several attendants came over and handed over what they had in their hands – the remaining three Holy Artifacts.
This was the agreed upon reward between the two parties.
“If you wish, I could give you a piece of land, even give you the title of Earl…”
“Sorry, I’m not interested.”
Duanmu Huai, extending his hand to pick up the Holy Artifacts, shook his head at the Emperor’s offer.
“I have more important things to do. From now on… you’ll have to work hard on your own, Your Majesty The Emperor.”
“You’re right, with the current state of the empire…I do have a lot to handle.”
Saying this, the Emperor sighed and looked at Duanmu Huai again.
“In that case, I wish you all the best. Either way, you and your battle team saved this city. If it weren’t for you all disrupting their nefarious plans, the entirety of Aldorf might have been completely destroyed by now. I will broadcast your deeds throughout the empire, so that everyone will know that it was you who saved our nation.”
Hearing the Emperor’s words, Duanmu Huai nodded.
“Don’t forget to mention our team’s name.”
“I understand, the Pink Bunny Battle team…uh, I will remember that.”
Faced with Duanmu Huai’s request, the Emperor froze for a second, but he still nodded quickly in response.
“By the way… now that you’ve given me the Holy Artifacts, who do you plan to choose as the next heir to the empire?”
Looking at the Holy Artifacts in his hand, Duanmu Huai curiously looked at the Imperial Emperor – his three sons had revolted, so who was he planning to choose as the next heir to the empire?
However, as Duanmu saw it, the Emperor didn’t need to be too depressed about this. After all, he wasn’t the first emperor to have rebellious sons.
“I’ve come up with a completely new idea.”
The Emperor thought for a moment, and then decided to share his idea with Duanmu Huai.
“As you can see, blood ties can’t guarantee loyalty. My foolish children can go against me for various reasons. If they take over the empire, it will only bring pain and disaster to the country. So, I plan to implement a new electoral system – I will appoint the lords of the various territories within the empire as electors, and when I abdicate, the next Emperor will be chosen from among these electors. There will be no consideration for family background or status, only achievements… only the one with the most support can become the Emperor.”
Listening to the Emperor’s answer, Duanmu Huai was speechless.
Well… best of luck then.
After that, Duanmu Huai bid farewell to the Emperor and returned to the space station with Ogis and Ann.
As for him, he didn’t care what the Emperor’s reward was. Next comes the real substantial transformation of his own space station!