Oyufemos Country, in the grand arena.
Although the large audience seats were empty, a middle-aged man draped in a slanted white robe with an erald forehead ornant enthusiastically raised his arms and shouted:
"The winning side can enjoy a grand feast, the losing side must continue with empty stomachs. Slaves, give it your all to please the great King Oyufemos, Your Majesty! Let the combat begin!"
Clang—!
Then he forcefully rang the bronze bell beside him.
Whizz! Whizz!
Heavy bronze gates on both sides of the grand arena opened, and two figures shot into the sand-covered field.
Finally free from the confinent of the prison bars, the Tier 2 Peak Black Wizard, with a darkened face, took the lead in the assault:
"It's all your fault, you three fools! Do you know where this is? The mishap you've caused this ti is going to doom us all!"
Opposite him, Stephanie, holding a spear, was not one to be trifled with, and retorted unyieldingly:
"Ha, how can you bla us? It was clearly you who attacked us without saying a word. If it wasn't for you foul Black Wizards, the 'Theseus' would have long escaped.
And from the very beginning, you were the ones setting traps, trying to capture those peculiar... aboriginals?
I haven't even asked you unfortunate ones why you sneakily ca here together with those bizarre creatures?"
The couple lived on the Celebes Islands in Gorontalo, and were familiar with the "Black Pyramid". Moreover, they had crossed paths at the [Clock Tower] during a struggle for the [Ancient Scroll].
The plan enforced by the "Eye of Wealth" was: buy whoever can be bought, and corrupt whoever cannot be bought.
The "Black Pyramid", composed of many Road Extraordinary, Black Wizards, and Wise Demons, was determined by their alignnt attributes to mostly not be benign.
No matter if the Ancient Gods or Evil Gods were anti-human monsters, corruption was unnecessary as they had already succumbed to the onslaught of wealth.
Due to their understanding of the "Broken Star Sea", they beca the vanguard of the Ancient Gods' actions.
"Having been captured in the heartland of the Remnant Race's nation, even if a large force ca, it couldn't rescue us from here. It's all your fault!!!"
As personnel paving the way for the main force, the Black Wizard didn't know exactly what "Eye of Wealth" and Ancient God's followers intended by capturing these "Remnant Race", but he knew more than Stephanie and understood the dangers of penetrating this empire's core area.
Trapped and infected with unknown fear by nearby Ancient God's followers, he hysterically smashed the [Cursed Stone Coffin] he could only carry on his back after his Magic Pocket was taken away, and angrily lifted the lid.
Rustle...
Black sacred beetles composed of fine black sand surged towards Stephanie like a sandstorm.
[Witchcraft: Black Ant!]
Boom!
Stephanie stomped forcefully, her entire life energy field like a fiery furnace, the majestic Combat Qi Fla snapped the headband off, her golden-red hair fluttering in the wind.
"Enough talk, prepare to die!"
Even though her weapon was damaged and there was no Swift Sword to be found in this country, for a Great Knight who had already advanced a step beyond her sister Liweina into the Tier 3 Peak, even a spear didn't impede the wielding of [Rose Swordsmanship].
Boom! Boom!...
In the black sandstorm, crimson Combat Qi Flas exploded.
With a husband who was an Upper-Rank Wizard close to two hundred years old, Stephanie was far more adept at fighting Wizards than an average Great Knight, especially considering the Black Wizard retained only one Witchcraft Tool, greatly diminishing his strength.
Though the female knight wore a tal collar around her slender neck, and her clothes were tattered with even her boots lost, her imposing presence was still like that of a Valkyrie.
Five minutes later.
She seized the weakness of her opponent's mobility loss due to missing equipnt, and swung her spear like a stormy hamr, pounding it down upon him.
Bang—!
Reduced this incessantly blabbering spitter of venom to minced at.
A mummy apparition wrapped in dried, yellow bandages escaped his body, swiftly burrowing into the coffin nearby, followed by another figure leaping out of it.
Appearing unscathed, this body's neck too bore a collar.
However, unlike Stephanie's tal collar, it was a semi-ethereal rune collar, targeting the soul, and was far more troubleso than a tal collar.
Clap! Clap! Clap!...
Applause resounded in the special front row seating, the sole audience mber.
"Interesting, interesting."
The kingdom's king, also "Divine Son" Oyufemos, with golden curly hair and an sunlight-like handso face, adorned in a vivid red robe, revealing half a marble-sculpted, robust chest.
Embracing two beautifully smiling slave girls dressed in sheer fabric, enjoying the fruit and wine offered to his lips.
"These miraculous extraordinaires, wholly different from the empire's system, will be the stars of the arena co the day of gathering.
After exhausting their life and courage, they will die gloriously, allowing to write this year's alliance pact with their blood on the temple pillars of Sea God Amphitrite! Hahaha..."
...
Ariane Country in the southern sea.
Coming out of the Great Library, Aiven and Darktili walked down the city's wide and clean streets, with blue and white electric sparks flickering beneath their feet, taking steps of over ten ters at a ti.
However, while the manifestation of the sparks was similar, their essence was different.
Unlike today's humans, who grow stronger from weakness and can even gradually grow into a "Truth Embodint" comparable to a demigod,
the Zongderilic people, born as an extraordinary race, naturally wield the ability of the "Life Magnetic Field." This ability grows naturally as their bloodline matures over ti, with no notion of self-improvent.
But since the power of lightning is rooted in the body, Aiven, who possesses the [Desperate Thunder Swordsmanship] and has been promoted to a [Badge Knight], finds it effortless to disguise himself.
Aiven also indirectly confird that although [Desperate Thunder Swordsmanship] resembles the abilities of the Zongderilic people, its origin clearly does not belong to this civilization.
"It's so prosperous, just like the legendary Utopia."
Having witnessed the wonders of the city firsthand, Aiven couldn't help but sigh inwardly. If it weren't for pressing matters, he would've liked to explore it thoroughly.
After reviewing the library's information, Aiven realized that the scale of this empire far exceeded his initial expectations.
It's not the kind of small city-state with a few thousand people that dare to call itself a country, playing "house," but a vast empire with island territories totaling 5 million square kiloters, half the size of the Galliot Duchy.
The entire empire's land is subdivided into 90,000 military regions beyond the general division of ten kingdoms. Each region is equipped with a commander responsible for deploying 12 soldiers, two warhorses, a chariot, and all necessary supplies.
The total population is about 12 million, with roughly 2 million being recognized as citizens because they are born extraordinary, while others mainly comprise slaves and servants.
Among flying device pilots, Actaeon and Darktili are outstanding figures; otherwise, they would never qualify to enter the National Great Library.
Yet beneath the dazzling brilliance lies a hidden indulgence and enjoynt culture, making Aiven, who also governs over a million people, frown secretly.
"Hehe, co quickly."
"Last night's opera..."
Voluptuous white-skinned won drink and frolic in the city's ubiquitous open-air cold and hot springs, exhibiting bold and open behavior, while most n indulge in debauchery, presenting a hedonistic spectacle.
Even Darktili, who was anxious about the task, lingered at the roadside in sweet nothings with a familiar beautiful lady he encountered.
As they gradually moved away from the concentric downtown, more and more ragged slaves appeared along the roadside.
This sight made Aiven, noticing it for the first ti, feel like he had suddenly traveled from a utopian paradise to a high-tech, low-life "cyberpunk" world.
One can imagine that with a total population of 12 million, each kingdom accommodates roughly a million people.
While ensuring the ruling elite's extravagant lifestyle, slaves in the city and provinces on surrounding islands naturally beco the exploitative targets of top-tier city citizens, soldiers, nobles, and priests.
But this seemingly "sick" highly developed civilization was not Aiven's concern for the ti being.
When Darktili said they had a mission of imnse glory to execute, Aiven had already decided to bail. Though he discovered the unexpected ancient Zongderilic civilization, he never forgot that his primary objective in coming to the "Broken Star Sea" was to find Jelos and Stephanie.
This vast civilization could wait for another visit.
However, when Darktili revealed that their specific mission was to be sent to the neighboring Oyufemos Country to attend the Ten Kings eting, and Oyufemos declared capturing slaves with unseen miraculous abilities, Aiven imdiately changed his mind.
According to tradition, the ten kings governing this civilization et every five years to discuss the distribution of interests and division of power, with the grand slave gladiator battles being the event's highlight.
The results of these gladiator battles significantly influence the rankings of the countries involved.
It wasn't impossible that Jelos and House Stephanie, who possess Tier 3 strength, and have gone missing, were captured by getting too close to the Zongderilic people's territory.
For them, who jointly possess "Adventurer's Blood" and a "Golden Compass," it was better to go with the flow and entrust the upcoming journey to the "Extraordinary Gathering Effect" than to search aimlessly without knowing the other's whereabouts.
When they rushed to the "airport."
Sparkling...
The Engineering Institute, responsible for advanced technology, was conducting the final inspection of these fixed-wing propeller electric flying devices.
Aiven also saw the internal structure of a disassembled flying device for the first ti.
"That's..."
He couldn't help but focus on an item inside his [Witchcraft Garden].
A damaged copper-covered circuit board, burnt silicon chips, transistors... with more than half the material turned into shiny black insectoid chitin, clearly polluted by so unknown existence.
The structure was very primitive, and the workmanship sowhat crude.
It was an [Integrated Circuit] obtained from the [Clock Tower], which Aiven judged to belong to an era at least advanced to the electrical age and once part of a simple electronic device.
At this mont, Aiven noticed that this item was identical to a component inside the flying device.
He couldn't help but feel a new sense of doubt, seemingly unintentionally asking his teammate next to him:
"Darktili, have you flown outside the islands where we live?"
The pilot next to him seed to hear sothing ridiculous and patted Aiven on the shoulder:
"Actaeon, what nonsense are you talking about? Besides the lands protected by the Sea God Amphitrite, the whole world outside has long been flooded, and whoever goes never returns!"
'There's a problem!!!'
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