Novel Full Chapter 756 Sacrificer - III
Clement bore the Dragon King’s mark. His demise within that labyrinth and subsequent consumption by the skeleton may well have alerted the Dragon King.
Those draconic limbs instantly illuminated Ansel’s understanding… Perhaps the second Dragon Calamity wasn’t solely due to his swift decimation of numerous dragons inciting their hunting instinct.
Rather… the Dragon King had sensed something through Clement as a medium!
This explained the rift’s simultaneous appearance with the second dragon wave. When the rift opened and this monstrosity emerged, the grievously wounded high-tier dragons were suddenly driven into a frenzy, as if provoked.
Regrettably, the creature’s presence merely stimulated their savage nature; they failed to target it specifically. Ansel, having battled the dragon hordes daily at the defensive line, knew well that their objective remained the unleashing of the Dragon King’s ferocity, continuing their hunt and slaughter.
Had that mysterious force concealed within the labyrinth… provoked the Dragon King?
Regardless, the immediate priority was to vanquish this deformed tumor and reclaim Evora.
“It’s troublesome, but not unsolvable,” Hydral murmured.
“We need only excise Evora’s mutated portions and sever the chains binding her. Without the endless immolation of feasting flame… the God from the Machine can accomplish this.”
Ravenna knew the God from the Machine could indeed vanquish this crudely stitched abomination before she suffered severe corruption, but where would Ansel find the aether to squander on such a feat?
Ravenna instinctively grasped Ansel’s hand, imploring, “Ansel, I beseech you, don’t employ your sermon upon yourself again. Perhaps we could still—”
Her words abruptly ceased, her entire being frozen in place.
“Still what?”
Ansel inquired, reciprocating Ravenna’s grip with a smile. The weariness that had previously manifested due to his aether depletion vanished in an instant.
Ravenna met his serene azure eyes, and after a moment of stunned silence, she asked in utter astonishment, “Ansel, how… how…”
How could he recover so swiftly!
Ravenna sensed it—Ansel’s once-exhausted aether was burgeoning at an inconceivable rate. Even a plethora of aether crystals at his disposal would scarcely match this terrifying efficiency. The process of aether absorption typically required method, yet Ansel seemed to be devouring tangible aether, digesting it instantaneously!
Even if… even if Ansel could consume aether so voraciously, from whence came such an immense, oceanic quantity of aether for him to devour?
The corners of Hydral’s lips slowly curled upward, his handsome visage revealing a long-concealed, undisguised smile of malevolence and cruelty.
Ravenna observed this Ansel, at once unfamiliar yet eerily… familiar. She felt no fear at the malice he now exuded, merely a sense of disorientation.
This Ansel, it seemed… was also Ansel.
This thought materialized in her mind.
Then, Ravenna felt Ansel’s call, along with that surging, infinite aether.
“My dear Venna,” the devil whispered in Ravenna’s ear, “I told you. I will win.”
*
Meanwhile, Seraphina, grounded, watched the extraordinary beings charge beyond the defensive line to engage the colossal dragons, her mouth agape.
She had never anticipated Ansel taking such action, nor could she fathom how he, in his depleted state, could possibly contend with the distant monster.
But Ansel had departed, and her consternation served no purpose now. Miss Wolf, who had intended to single-handedly divert the dragon horde to buy Ansel time, now appeared utterly deflated.
In the end… I didn’t help Ansel at all.
Despite this thought and her near-exhaustion, Seraphina dragged her weary body towards the chaotic defensive line.
With the most dangerous dragon species already annihilated by Ansel’s strike, the remaining ones posed no threat to her. If she couldn’t aid Ansel… at the very least, she would see her mission through to the end!
Mindful of Ansel’s concern, she refrained from engaging alone, instead collaborating with the extraordinary beings to resist the dragon calamity while ensuring her own safety.
“Lord Hydral… is truly terrifying. Surely no one in the empire could have withstood that attack?”
“Fool, humans aren’t frenzied dragons. Even an idiot would flee at the sight of Lord Hydral’s display.”
“True… but it’s horrifying nonetheless. Vaporizing seven or eight fifth-stage dragons instantly… simply… tsk tsk tsk.”
As Seraphina wearily slaughtered dragons, she overheard the extraordinary beings’ chatter, primarily focused on Ansel’s cataclysmic strike and… the spoils.
“It’s a shame, really. If a few corpses remained, we might have claimed a share.”
“Speaking of shares… what’s the situation in Sodom? It seems to have descended into chaos. That bitch Suellen isn’t managing anything, and extraordinary beings are running amok throughout the city.”
“Who knows? After this job, we might as well return to East Harbor to sell. Plenty of wealthy folks there.”
“But dragon materials fetch much higher prices in Sodom…”
“Of course. Why else would so many crowd into that small city?”
Seraphina’s movements slowed as she listened.
Sodom, a small city teeming with extraordinary beings…
Suddenly, she shifted her gaze skyward. Despite the distance, her keen eyesight discerned the black steel god-machine materializing before the blood-red rift from which the monstrous creature had emerged!
She wasn’t alone; many extraordinary beings also noticed the reappearance of the God from the Machine.
“Damn… what is that rift? I saw something crawl out of it!”
“More incredible is that Lord Hydral still had the power to summon the God from the Machine after that devastating attack… Is his aether truly inexhaustible?”
Inexhaustible aether…
Fragmented memories, seemingly unrelated, flashed through Seraphina’s mind.
Crafting life, withstanding incineration, aether, a domain filled with extraordinary beings…
In that instant, a chill ran down Seraphina’s spine, piercing her skull.
She immediately turned and sprinted towards the legendary formation behind the battle line.
With pupils constricted to pinpoints, Seraphina could scarcely believe her own thoughts.
But… if, if it were true…
*
Sodom remained prosperous… Though now teetering on the brink of chaos, it still “thrived.”
Despite daily brawls among extraordinary beings, despite constant struggles for power… what of it? As long as the market persisted, extraordinary beings would continue to flock here.
Even today, Sodom stood as the most flourishing domain in the Western Lands, with nearly a tenth of the empire’s extraordinary beings concentrated in one city—an unprecedented spectacle.
“You dare tell me this is an Oaken Blackwolf’s magic crystal? You son of a bitch… trying to cheat me with inferior goods!”
On a bustling trade street in Sodom, an extraordinary being from a shop suddenly lunged out, violently gripping a buyer who had just left. Pinning him to the ground, he snarled, “Exchanging this garbage for a dragon’s eye? You fucking have a death wish?”
Passersby offered no assistance, most relishing the spectacle. In Sodom, a domain where the vast majority pursued only profit, fraud, plunder, and even murder had become commonplace.
The pinned extraordinary being’s face reddened. His palm erupted in flames, blasting the seller away. He then turned to flee.
Swish—
In the next instant, a thrown steel blade severed his head. The blasted seller spat on the ground, sheathed his flying blade, and strode towards the corpse, ready to claim his spoils.
However, as he approached, he suddenly cried out in shock: Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire
“Shit! What in the hell is this?”
Onlookers instinctively turned to look, their expressions quickly mirroring his astonishment.
The corpse… was melting!
No, not melting—it seemed to be transforming into something else. The flesh was being deconstructed, dissolved, becoming… becoming…
“Ae…ther?”
A bystander whispered involuntarily.
For extraordinary beings, this was the most familiar substance—their lifeblood, the source of their power, aether.
But how could a corpse spontaneously transmute into aether?
As if to answer their question, the next second, someone suddenly collapsed to the ground, face frozen in confusion, a gaping hole in their chest.
The entire trade street fell into deathly silence.
In the stillness, shadows that should have remained motionless began to creep, slowly, gradually… and then, the slaughter commenced.
A massacre leaving no survivors. The purest form of butchery.
This carnage wasn’t confined to this street alone. Throughout Sodom, in every corner of this city of sin, an insanely brutal slaughter… had officially begun!
At Sodom’s highest point, a frail girl in a wheelchair slowly removed her mask.
She stood, arms outstretched, eyes closed, gently inhaling the madness and bloodshed carried on the wind.
And… the sweet scent of aether.
From an aerial view, one could see an enormous alchemical array materializing on the ground encompassing all of Sodom!
“This is indeed a mission only I can accomplish,” the woman mused, the alluring black patterns on her left cheek writhing like growing thorns.
“Oh, sinners…”
She opened her eyes, casting a compassionate gaze upon Sodom, now a killing field and inferno.
“Offer everything to Mr. Ansel.”
Marlina, as if divinely inspired, whispered these words, kissing the ring on her nameless finger.
*