Francis II had fallen, and although his body continued to twitch slightly due to the powerful vitality inherent to Transcendents, this old King had truly reached the end of his life. In this situation, even the presence of a saint could not save him.
"Honestly, if it weren’t necessary, this would be the worst choice," Duke—or rather Clent—looked down at the dying Francis II, shaking his head and sighing lightly, "I really didn’t want to personally take action."
"You overestimated the capability of the flesh construct," Edmund said in a low voice, "I had already warned you that a King is not so easy to deal with—my father always carried the Ring of Shadow Seal with him, and in the decades of his reign, at least four powerful assassins have perished under the power of this ring."
"The Ring of Shadow Seal... I do know this thing," Clent quietly watched Francis II take his last breath, then bent down, "Now the King no longer needs it, so let ..."
Edmund reached out to stop him, a trace of coldness evident on the young prince’s face: "Master Clent, after all, this is my father."
Clent watched Edmund with a slight, sardonic smile: "It’s rare that you still rember that."
"All this is just to save this..." Edmund said with a frown, but before he could finish, Clent suddenly interrupted him with a wave of his hand, the High Bishop of Oblivion, disguised as a "Legendary Mage," stared intently at the dark rift opening in mid-air: "It seems we have an unexpected guest..."
As Clent’s words fell, a powerful surge of magic instantly spread from him, under the impact of magic, the air between the spatial rift and Francis II began to twist and shake. A small figure shrouded in black ball of shadow soon appeared in front of the two.
The figure was blurry throughout, even its lower half appeared in a state close to vaporization as smoke, but the upper half seed solid and real. This form, between a real creature and a shadow inhabitant, made Edmund and Clent hesitate for a mont, and in that instant of their hesitation, the small figure swiftly dashed towards Francis II, with astonishing speed and nimble technique, it snatched the Ring of Shadow Seal from the King’s finger, then turned and charged towards the Shadow Rift.
"Humph!" Clent let out a cold snort, having sensed the distinct impression of a real creature from the figure, he realized this unexpected visitor would be the biggest uncontrollable factor, without hesitation he followed towards the violently trembling, on the verge of collapse rift.
Edmund, however, did not perceive the nature of the figure, his first thought was the mysterious danger of the shadow inhabitant, so he imdiately called out a warning: "Wait a minute! Master Clent!"
Yet by the ti he shouted, Clent’s figure had already vanished into the Shadow Rift—after the additional impacts, the inherently unstable spatial rift finally exceeded its critical threshold, accompanied by a strange screech, the entire rift abruptly disappeared.
In the luxurious lounge, only the twisted, shattered remnants of the "flesh construct," the corpse of Francis II, and the silently standing crown prince remained.
Amber felt her consciousness rapidly falling within the cracks between the shadow realm and the real world, but even faster than the descent of consciousness, was her heart that kept sinking further—
"I’m going to die, going to die, going to die... Why did I have to stick my nose into the situation! Why did I have to seek clues! I truly witnessed a major event this ti!!"
Amber’s heart regretted her reckless behavior all the way, constantly cursing herself, yet the ring she managed to pull from Francis II’s hand at the last mont remained tightly clutched in her palm—no matter what, this thing must not be let go!
The illusion of rapid descent lasted only a mont, in the next instant, the familiar black and white landscape of the shadow realm unfolded before Amber’s eyes, she had just landed and imdiately confird she was beside that "Black Miasma Vortex," still in the "corresponding region" of the defied Fortress Shadow Testing Grounds.
And then, in the next second, she felt a terrible pressure bearing down on her head—a glance at the old man, who looked decidedly nacing, proved he had indeed pursued her into the shadow realm!
The shadow realm harbors quite dangerous native inhabitants, even legendary powerhouses face the constant risk of perishing here, however, Amber could guarantee that before those shadow inhabitants could be provoked to attack the old mage clothed in the Starry Robe, she would surely be the first to be killed—she may not dare boast otherwise, but her confidence in her fighting ability was substantial enough to always believe she’d be the one beaten to death in any situation...
"Soldrin better be as capable as the old man’s claim!"
Holding onto this last thought, Amber resolutely abandoned her shadowy form, then allowed herself to plumt towards reality.
In the Shadow Testing Grounds, after Amber’s "departure", Soldrin imdiately ordered the soldiers to prepare for vigilance around the area—this is the skill an experienced ranger must possess along with team synergy, because in such ancient ruins exploration, any action by anyone could unpredictably invite dangerous challenges, thus when a teammate says "I’ll scout ahead," it can basically equate to "soon there could be an influx of enemies"...
This isn’t betraying your team, but a normal procedure in a team’s exploration of ruins.
As Soldrin stood on guard at the platform’s edge, a blurry shadow suddenly erged from the circular pit.
The high-ranked Elven Ranger imdiately raised his hand: "Alert—"
Amber’s figure rapidly ford within the blurry shadows, the half-elf barely touched down when she sprang off like she’d stepped on a spring, rushing out while shouting, "I’m leading the enemies here!!!"
This was followed by a string of panicked and incoherent shouts, like "I’ve seen so big news," or "Sothing huge is happening," and "This intel is worth at least two hundred gold coins from the old man."
Soldrin completely ignored Amber’s frantic shouting, having already noticed another figure erging in the round pit, so he loudly ordered again, "Everyone prepare for explosive shooting!"
The figure in the pit fully erged; it was a stranger clad in a Starry Robe.
"Fire!"
Soldrin swung his hand down with force, simultaneously detaching several specially made heavy grenades from himself and throwing them into the pit.
The figure in the Starry Robe evidently reacted in the first instant, but before he could raise a barrier, the Steel Cavalry Combat Group around him had already pulled their trigger—accompanied by several sharp explosive sounds, four heavy explosive howitzers enveloped in pale blue magic halos shot toward the target almost simultaneously.
Then ca a powerful explosion that even Soldrin hadn’t anticipated, the successive explosions almost rged into one sound, and the fierce blast even blew Soldrin away!
Explosive shooting, a common ranger skill, one thod is to compress powerful arcane energy within arrows, using them to cause a great explosion in the targeted area—the alternative thod is to lob a heavy grenade at the enemy’s head.
The second release thod is currently exclusive to the Cecil Clan.
Power! Huge! Powerful!
In the gigantic explosion, Clent felt as if engulfed by a storm, losing his balance while his five senses turned chaotic. A surge ford from the most primitive and volatile energy attacked his protection; the assault was too sudden—his entire life’s spell-casting experience combined hadn’t prepared him for this rapid high-level spell without any fluctuations of magic. In his unpreparedness, his barrier couldn’t unfold, but fortunately, two protective articles he wore activated autonomously, blocking at least half the damage.
Yet as a powerful Transcendent, he still narrowly survived.
He wasn’t the real "Legendary Mage Duke," but he remained a high-level powerhouse, the most adept at survival among the Transcendent professions, a fallen Druid. By relying on his protective articles and sacrificing part of his flesh, he preserved his life in this fleeting mont.
This could be a trap, realizing this, Clent imdiately sought to escape this uncontrolled situation, aiming at least to discern who exactly attacked him.
Soldrin was astounded to see a blood-drenched man dashing out from the explosion’s blaze, even more shocked when he noticed beneath the tattered magic robe the person wore, lay a bark-like grey-brown "skin."
Thorn Skin Spell, Druid abilities?!
Soldrin’s mind raced, but his hands moved faster. The grenades proved ineffective against the swiftly relocating enemy, so he drew his favored short bow, swiftly nocking three arrows on the string. As three arrows emitting arcane glows shot toward the target, the sound of triggering rune triggers and beams piercing the air resonated from all directions, as a barrage of Scorching Rays and small arcane bullets rained upon the enemy!
Multiple attacks landed on Clent, the high-ranked Druid, who endured imnse pain throughout his body until he halted by a pool, imdiately raising his hand toward Soldrin’s direction: "Wither!"
The sensation of vitality fading imdiately surged, Soldrin realized his hands were rapidly enveloped by an ominous grey-white layer, forcing him to halt his attack and counter the spell with his magic power, whereas the other Steel Cavalry Squadron mbers were far from inactive—in this brief interval, the grenade launchers quickly reloaded and aid their launchers at the heavily bleeding enemy by the pool.
At this mont, Clent’s whole body bristled.
Yet the very next instant, an even greater sense of crisis overtook him.
Soldrin and the Steel Cavalry Squadron mbers also ceased all actions instantly.
Behind Clent, the water in the pond churned violently, amidst the uncanny sound resembling so soft-bodied creature stirring underwater and incessant rolling bubbles, nurous thick tentacles suddenly erged from the water, enveloping the terror-stricken fallen Druid.
Soon, more tentacles erged, wrapping around Clent one after another, accompanied by an indignant voice from the water: "I was just sleeping! Did you really need to use howitzers right next to ?!"
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