Midnight.
Dark, damp, and cold, with countless rodents and small insects rustling in the pitch-black corners of the cell.
A female Extraordinary with clear traits of an outsider, even in her tattered clothes, had wandering eyes and an evidently unstable deanor as she looked at the Tier 3 "Blasphemous Cultist" among the Ancient God's followers who served as their backbone.
Perhaps trying to comfort herself:
"Mr. Chapatic, don't we have Tier 4 Transcendents in our main force? According to the agreed ti, they should have arrived by now. Once they realize we're missing, they'll certainly try to find us, won't they?"
No matter how vile, even the worst scoundrels fear death, and the Extraordinary within the "Black Pyramid" are no exception.
The frontline personnel scattered across various locations were unaware of the Main Gods' comprehensive plan, only knowing that they needed to prepare for prolonged combat with the goal of collecting as many nails from the Ancestral Zongderelik People as possible.
At the sa ti, they were particularly cautious to only operate on the periphery of the islands and not venture too deep into the territory of the Ancient Remnant Race, as that represented absolute danger. They didn't need to have their own opinions; they just had to follow the instructions from above.
However.
After the unfortunate event, a long ti had passed, and the oppressive feeling of seeing no hope for rescue for so long had most people's nerves on edge, desperately needing so external support to keep them going.
But this Chapatic "Blasphemous Cultist" had also lost the patience he used to maintain the team's morale and imdiately shattered her fantasy without rcy:
"Stop deceiving yourself. We've been abandoned. Given how the Church works, they would never send people into dangerous territory to rescue us. We should think about how to endure the upcoming combat; surviving one more day is better than nothing."
Even these "Blasphemous Cultists," originally mostly nobles from the Atrean Native Empire "Kuma Empire," had been imprisoned in the Mist Sea along with the "Maze God" Aihote for three hundred years.
They had never been to the outside world, let alone the "Broken Star Sea."
But the "Kuma Civilization," which had existed for over three thousand years, not only led the era in mathematics, astronomy, and calendars. As the oldest branch of all existing civilizations in the Material World, it also preserved many of the Material World's hidden histories.
A typical representation of this is the secret scroll combining calendar and prophecy—the "Zorjin Calendar."
Not only do they know what's on the "Dongyi Islands," one of the four major islands of the "Broken Star Sea," but they also know as clearly what's on the other three islands.
These Kuma People who joined the Ancient God's followers for immortality might be the group that understands the ancient secrets of these islands the most in the Material World, second to none.
It's hard to say that when the "Maze God" Aihote and the mysterious Master of the Mist Sea Loygor chose to target the Kuma Empire initially, they didn't consider this factor.
Except for not knowing the inexplicable ti limit due to their rank, Chapatic understands this place even better than Petrich, the "Sea God's Son."
Therefore, aside from the nail-collecting task, they initially dared not have any dealings with the ancient civilizations here. Now, at this point, they understand even more clearly the danger of their current situation and know that staying too long within the Zongderilic Empire spells trouble.
And his straightforward remarks unsurprisingly brought forth a wail from the cell.
"I don't want to die!"
"We accepted the 'Eye of Wealth' commission for more wealth, more power; how can we die in such a ridiculous place for no reason?"
"..."
With less than three days left until the gathering eting of the Ten Kings.
A group including Black Wizards from the "Black Pyramid," unorthodox path Transcendents, and followers from several Evil God Churches had already been transferred from the initial dungeon to the Grand Arena, along with the slaves or gladiators brought by various kings.
The Jelos couple and First Mate Lam, of course, were no exception.
Just because they had three days left before their deadly match, their treatnt improved sowhat; at least, they got to eat their fill every day.
Hearing the guys in the cell across the way becoming hysterical and crying while chatting, Jelos couldn't help but knock on his cell's tal bars and shout at them:
"Hey, what are you guys afraid of? Even if it's a duel with other kings' slaves, it's not necessarily a sure death. If you perform well, joining that king's ranks isn't out of the question.
Besides, don't you have Evil Gods backing you? Get them to manifest and save you!"
Though the three had pinned their greatest hopes on Aiven, they hadn't abandoned the idea of saving themselves, either. From the mont they realized these people clearly knew more, they had been trying to gather as much information as possible.
Before they could respond.
Bang!
The main door of the arena's cell opened, and a dozen Zongderilic People in splendid clothes filed in.
"Your Majesty Ariane, please look. These people also speak the Jatata Language and can communicate normally, but among them, there is a coarse slang we cannot understand.
If they try to feign ignorance, just give them a brutal lesson."
Although in the upcoming "Pre-King Combat," the two countries are rivals, this General doesn't care much about the loss of these "slaves."
Since the "Divine Sons" initially decided to use such a childish thod as the "Pre-King Combat" to determine rights and interests between kingdoms, naturally, they knew they weren't too concerned about the prizes after the combat.
Being at the pinnacle of both mundane and transcendent realms, these individuals enjoy the process of combat itself and the unparalleled honor of personally writing an alliance on the divine pillar and paying homage to the gods.
After all, their crowns are so radiant and precious that they can only look up at the sky, incapable of lowering their heads to glance at the humble mortals.
Leading the team straight to the cell holding the outsiders, the rowdy advance party fell completely silent, anxiously watching the grim-faced Zongderilic People.
"Hmm..."
The harsh environnt made the god-like Arian, as radiant as the sun, sowhat unaccustod. Arian took out a silk handkerchief to cover his nose, already regretting his sudden whim to co here.
Looking closely, the female Black Wizard with a pale face and emaciated body, the unorthodox path Extraordinary who had turned themselves into sothing not quite human or ghost... utterly did not fit his aesthetics, not to ntion the grotesque Ancient God's Followers who didn't even resemble people.
Just a glance made his interest sharply decline.
"General Iamos, the slaves you captured might indeed possess strange abilities, but there's really nothing else comndable..."
At this mont, the esteed King suddenly turned his gaze to another cell, and upon seeing a figure, his eyes instantly lit up.
Although having gone through several battles with clothes already tattered on her body, it couldn't hide Stephanie's inherently captivating colors.
The female Great Knight with brilliant golden-red long hair had refined features with a hint of wildness, tall and agile, with a perfect curve. Even simply sitting on the straw-covered ground, she seed like a beautiful leopard ready to pounce at any mont.
Even among the two million Extraordinary citizens of the Empire, there weren't too many won who had naturally grown to Tier 3.
And this beautiful woman, who was from the Royal Family and had road the seas for years developing a unique charisma, struck Arian's heart like a bolt of lightning.
"This woman... I want her!"
Bam—!
The two people and a parrot, not knowing what was happening, saw soldiers as fierce as wolves and tigers open the cell door to grab people. Just as they were about to resist, they saw the Zongderilic soldier at the front wink at them lightly.
Their hearts jolted, although the appearance didn't match, but that familiar gaze...
"You..."
Outside the cell, the general nad Iamos had no intention of explaining to the slaves, anyway, the woman was dood not to survive until tomorrow morning in the hands of the Divine Son.
Holding a [Copper Plate Key] with blue patterns, he activated it directly.
Crackle!
The collars on the slaves' necks were made of a unique Zongderilic tal "mountain copper," not only indestructible but also capable of isolating any Extraordinary powers, with wide applications in cutting-edge technological creations.
Of course, it's also an excellent material for making [Extraordinary Handcuffs].
The mountain copper collar's strong blue electric light easily knocked out Jelos and Stephanie, whose abilities were restrained, to the ground.
"Hahaha, take her, let's go."
Darktili was about to step forward to make an impression in front of the King, but Aiven got there first and carried Stephanie away.
...
Swish, swish, swish...
The unexpected sound of water in her ears suddenly awakened Stephanie, finding herself lying in a luxuriously decorated bathroom, with two female slaves still asleep on the floor beside her.
"Ha, Your Highness, are you surprised?"
Seeing Aiven, back in his original form and smiling at her, Stephanie's nerves, tense from fear and worry during this ti, finally relaxed slightly. She got up from the ground and let out a heavy sigh.
Then she curtsied formally as a lady:
"His Majesty Galliot is truly reliable to actually find this ghostly place; Stephanie will not forget your kindness."
"Your Highness, let's skip the pleasantries; we need to be quick. That Arian, Your Majesty, although he ordered the female slaves to wash you clean before sending you over, didn't seem to have much patience."
Stephanie shot Aiven a glare but didn't dwell on his teasing, only touched the collar on her neck and frowned slightly:
"The collar has functions like punishnt, positioning, and power restriction. Keeping it is like a ti bomb, and we can't run far.
The key with punishnt authority should be in the hands of the prison guard and Arena manager, but the key that can unlock it should be personally kept by that King Oyufemos who got excited at the sight of prey.
Besides, we've tried before, this collar isn't affected by Extraordinary powers. Jelos has also used the Transformation Technique on , but it was completely ineffective. Your magic probably won't work on this thing either, right?"
Hearing this, Aiven thought for a mont, not feeling troubled, and confidently proposed his fail-safe solution.
"No worries, leave it to ! All I need to do is cut off your head, remove the collar, and then reattach it for you."
The Eldest Princess couldn't help but take a step back, are you kidding ?
"Your Highness, trust in my skills, it's fine. Plus, my sword is swift, definitely won't let you feel a bit of pain during the process. Co on, extend your neck, ti waits for no one."
"You..."
Seeing Aiven gradually approaching with a sharp longsword ford from frost-white Sword Qi, realizing he was serious, Stephanie's lake-green eyes, similar to Liweina's, widened.
"In ancient tis, they scraped bones to treat poison; now, there's the story of beheading to remove the collar—it could be a legendary tale."
As the words lingered in her ears, the Eldest Princess, still unable to accept Aiven's proposal, saw a flash of lightning before her eyes, and suddenly felt a chill on her neck, realizing... she was flying.
"Uh..."
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