Chapter 144. The Divine Artifact’s Massacre, and the Old Serpent Frightened into a Forced Breakthrough
The instant the old man stepped out of the Secret Realm with that pitch-black Divine Artifact in his arms, his figure appeared above the walls of the Silver Oakleaf Royal Capital.
A violent wind whipped his robes into the air. Below him lay a battlefield in the heat of slaughter, where the soldiers’ furious roars and the hydras’ hissing wove together into a symphony of despair.
He raised a hand and suspended the Divine Artifact in midair, then began to chant in an ancient divine tongue.
The language was obscure and incomprehensible, each syllable like a poisoned ice spike piercing the eardrums of every living being present.
The mont the soldiers on the walls heard those divine words, their eyes instantly turned vacant. So suddenly drew their swords and slit their own throats, even wearing eerie smiles as the blades cut across their necks.
Others turned their weapons around and hacked madly at the comrades beside them, bellowing gibberish that no one could understand.
Chaos spread like a plague. Very soon, an empty ring had been cleared around the old man, leaving behind nothing but corpses strewn in every direction.
Yet he seed not to see any of it and continued chanting until the final syllable fell.
The Divine Artifact in the sky suddenly exploded, and its dazzling red radiance blazed forth like a second sun, sweeping straight toward the masses of hydras outside the city.
A bizarre scene unfolded. The instant the hydras were touched by that light, their scales peeled away, and their flesh lted at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In no more than a breath, they were reduced to enormous skeletons. The serpent bones still retained traces of lingering red light, exuding a grim and deathly stillness.
The surviving hydras writhed in terror, trying to flee this region of death, only to find their bodies bound by invisible chains, utterly unable to move.
The red radiance rolled over them like a tide. Bones piled into mountains across the wilderness, and even the air was filled with the scorched stench of charred bone.
In less than half an hour, every hydra around the Royal Capital had been wiped out.
The Divine Artifact swayed slightly in the air, as if savoring the “feast,” then slowly descended back into the old man’s hands.
Holding the Divine Artifact, he lowered his gaze toward the ground below. Almost no soldiers remained alive on the walls, and those who had survived were all half-mad. Beneath the walls, white bones had piled into ridge after ridge of little mountains, reflecting the sunlight into a miserable pallor.
There was no expression on his face, neither the joy of victory nor sorrow for the dead.
Only within those clouded eyes did there flicker a trace of indescribable exhaustion, as though that battle had drained away the last spark of vitality in him.
When Kroll II received news from the Silver Oakleaf Royal Capital, he was standing in his study, looking over a map.
When he heard that the Divine Artifact had wiped out tens of thousands of hydras without even borrowing divine power, and had even backfired upon its own soldiers, he could not help but freeze.
Even he had not expected the Silver Oakleaf Kingdom to possess such a Divine Artifact, one that could be used without divine power.
He imdiately took out a Communication Crystal and connected to Fenlilan’s channel, reporting every detail of the upheaval in Silver Oakleaf, his tone unable to hide his shock.
“Ancestor, the power of that Divine Artifact is beyond imagination. If it—”
“I know.”
Fenlilan’s voice ca from the other end of the crystal, calm and unreadable, and then the communication was cut off at once.
Kroll II held the still-warm crystal, his brows drawn tight.
Ancestor’s reaction was far too indifferent. Could it be... that he knew the origin of this Divine Artifact?
At that mont, Fenlilan was standing outside the central command tent of the Gold Legion, gazing in the direction of the Silver Oakleaf Royal Capital.
A trace of red light still lingered on the horizon from the Divine Artifact’s eruption, like a frozen streak of blood.
He stood silent for a mont, then turned and ordered the Legion Commander beside him,
“Speed up the march. Kill every hydra we encounter along the way without exception.”
Legion Commander Kru was startled.
“My lord, didn’t you say before—”
“Carry out the order.”
Fenlilan’s voice held no emotion, yet it carried an authority that allowed no disobedience.
The Legion Commander dared not say another word and imdiately turned to pass down the command.
The Gold Legion, which had previously advanced as leisurely as if out for a stroll, suddenly accelerated. Their gilded armor joined together beneath the sunlight into a flowing river of light, their horses’ hooves shattered the morning dew, and their long spears pointed straight ahead.
Every hydra they encountered on the road, great or small, was torn apart without rcy, and serpent blood stained red the road leading to the Royal Capital.
Fenlilan watched the legion’s retreating figures as they raced ahead, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the Spatial Ring he wore.
Silver Oakleaf’s Divine Artifact... if it really was that thing, then Pandora’s box had been opened. He had to go and see it at once.
He had originally intended to let Silver Oakleaf and the Hydra Clan cripple one another, but now he had changed his mind. If that Divine Artifact lost control, it might be even more dangerous than the hydras.
He had to reach the Royal Capital as quickly as possible and see with his own eyes whether it was truly the Divine Artifact he suspected.
At that very mont, heaven and earth suddenly dimd, as though an enormous black curtain had been thrown across the sky.
Across the continent, whether they were Domain-Level Powerhouses hidden deep in remote mountains or Demigod existences seated within secret clan lands, all of them raised their eyes toward the east, their gazes filled with shock and suspicion.
A violent surge of energy was rising into the heavens from the direction of the Magic Serpent Fortress, carrying the savage brutality unique to magical beasts and clearly delivering a single ssage.
A magical beast was forcibly ascending to Demigod.
“How outrageous.”
Within so ancient castle, a white-haired old man smashed a stone table apart with one palm.
“Who gave it the audacity?”
It was an iron law of the continent that anyone seeking to break through to Demigod had to report in advance to the Ancient Council. Only after review and approval could the breakthrough proceed.
Those who broke through without authorization would, at best, be exiled to the Void Battlefield. At worst, they would be erased on the spot by the Council’s powerhouses. There were no exceptions.
For this magical beast to dare violate that rule so openly was nothing less than a provocation against the order of the entire continent.
Outside the central command tent of the Gold Legion, Fenlilan stared at the rolling black clouds in the eastern sky, his brows knotted tightly together.
He recognized that energy fluctuation better than anyone. It belonged to the old hydra within the Magic Serpent Fortress.
“I never thought... it would be frightened into breaking through ahead of ti by the Divine Artifact.”
He murmured softly.
Silver Oakleaf’s Divine Artifact had wiped out the serpent swarm around the Royal Capital. Without question, it had struck that old serpent hard. Its instinct for survival had left it no room to hesitate. It could only take the desperate gamble of breaking through at the fastest speed possible in order to save itself.
But that was precisely the most foolish choice.
Fenlilan could already sense several powerful auras gathering from all across the continent toward the east, each of them carrying the pressure of a Demigod.
And deep within the Magic Serpent Fortress, that old hydra had reached the final stage of its transformation.
Its nine heads howled in agony, and its newly born scales burst with dazzling red light. The turbulent flow of energy around it was nearly tearing space apart.
It could feel the hostility approaching from every direction, but there was no way back now. If it stopped, it would die. If it broke through, there might still be a sliver of hope.
Within the black clouds, a thick bolt of violet lightning struck downward, hitting the direction of the Magic Serpent Fortress dead on.
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