Chapter 475: Turning Point

For the last ten or so minutes, Ethan had been floating high above the skies of Krygon Province, doing everything he could to locate his father.

He continuously searched for even the slightest trace of Nathan’s presence or energy.

Despite having borrowed Arael’s Supernatural Awareness passive and flying across different parts of the province to expand the range of his senses, he still was unable to pick up anything specific.

At times, he wondered whether the range of his Supernatural Awareness was too limited, or whether Nathan was not even somewhere within Krygon Province.

Then, a familiar voice suddenly reached him through his mind.

"Warden of the Departed."

There was a brief pause of roughly two seconds before the same voice spoke again

"King of Life and Death."

Ethan’s expression changed slightly. "Hmm?"

It was Dark Bella’s eerie voice.

Just as Ethan could choose to reach out to the Mistress by calling her true names and titles, creating a mystical connection that allowed him to reach her, she was now attempting to do the same with him.

The only difference was that this was Ethan’s first time experiencing the phenomenon from the receiving end.

It felt similar to the way Percival could use the Spirit King’s sigil to establish a connection with him, but there was something distinctly different about it.

The moment Ethan expressed his willingness to answer the Mistress’s call, a mystical connection immediately formed.

This happened even before he could respond verbally to confirm that he could hear her.

And once the connection was established, Ethan suddenly became aware of her position and immediate surroundings.

He could see Dark Bella through his mind’s eye; moving as a shadow from place to place across the Demon Continent.

As long as the mystical connection was maintained, a deity would always know the location of anyone who had called upon them.

This was precisely why the gods warned their Blessed never to call out the true names or titles of the Evil Goddess.

For the moment they did, she would immediately be able to establish a mystical connection with them and determine their direction and location.

Ethan and Dark Bella then exchanged a brief communication through the connection, with Ethan informing her of where he currently was.

A split second later, a mass of darkness suddenly left the ground below.

Dark Bella traveled through the shadows, rapidly making her way upward until she emerged into the sky and arrived beside Ethan above the skies of Krygon Province.

"I know what has happened to your father," she began.

There was a sad, almost sorrowful expression on her face as she spoke.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. "What happened? Do you know where he is?"

Dark Bella shook her head. "No. But he was lured away by the other demon lords. Their intention is to kill him."

She then went on to explain what had happened between herself and Morgana at the Demon King’s castle.

She told Ethan about Morgana’s confession and explained that the reason they would be unable to locate Nathan was because of a particular spell; Rule of the Area.

Dark Bella explained how the spell worked and how it isolated an enormous area from the surrounding world, preventing anything outside of it from interacting with or even sensing what was happening within.

As long as the spell remained active, searching for Nathan through conventional means would be virtually impossible.

They would have to wait until the spellcaster could no longer maintain it and the barrier finally disappeared.

Dark Bella sighed. "Yet again, I am reminded of my weakness."

Her voice carried a hint of annoyance.

"If I were even a fraction of what my true self was, I would have been able to find where your father is being ambushed."

Under normal circumstances, finding them would have been incredibly simple for the Mistress.

She would only need to reach into the darkness spread throughout every plane of reality and search through it.

There was almost nowhere in this world that did not contain some form of darkness.

And wherever darkness existed, so did the Mistress.

Even if that darkness existed outside the physical plane of reality itself, it was still connected to her.

But despite being the Mistress and the embodiment of darkness itself, Dark Bella did not currently possess the level of power necessary to support that title.

Krygon Province was already an enormous distance away from the Great Serpent’s Pass, and the Demon Continent itself was vast, covering roughly forty million square kilometers.

She had not yet regained enough of her former power to extend her awareness through the darkness scattered across an entire continent.

Ethan gave a nod. He was quiet for a moment before turning his gaze into the distance.

"The ten of them may be regarded as Extraordinary, and if they are fighting somewhere on this continent, then it doesn’t matter how far it stretches.... People like us should be able to sense that much magical energy converging in one place."

He paused before turning back toward Bella.

"This Rule of the Area spell you spoke of... it’s being cast by one of these lords. Unless that lord is significantly stronger than the rest of them, then he shouldn’t be able to hide people of similar power levels indefinitely....Which means, sooner or later, that spell will drop. And when it does, we’ll be able to know where he is."

Dark Bella then added. "He could be dead by the time that happens."

Ethan turned away again, his gaze settling in another direction. "Maybe."

Then a smile appeared on his face. "But I’d like to think that if that spell hasn’t dropped up until this very moment, then it means he’s still fighting."

His expression hardened slightly. "I’m just going to hope he’s able to hold on until the spell drops."

"And when it does..."

He said nothing more, but lightning sparks suddenly flickered through his eyes.

——

Back at the Great Serpent’s Pass...

Smoke and dust still clouded the area where Nathan had been buried under the barrage of attacks. Slowly, however, the thick haze began to clear as Eolagar moved forward.

The massive berserker continued walking until he finally stopped before Nathan who was still alive.

He was reeling in pain and breathing slowly, his entire body battered from the relentless assault. His clothes were torn, blood covered his skin, and wounds could be seen across nearly every part of his body.

His regeneration had already begun closing many of them, but even with that, his condition was terrible.

Thankfully, Nathan had not taken the full brunt of every attack that had been thrown at him.

A good number of them had been intercepted through his control over the vengeful spirits. He had commandeered the spirits to seize control of Mezoris’s arrows and even several of Brilvos’s bone attacks before they could strike him.

For the attacks that got through, he relied heavily on his regeneration to repair the damage as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, his regeneration speed was naturally enhanced by his amplification trait, increasing its speed to two hundred percent of its normal rate.

That allowed Nathan to remain alive for as long as he had.

Eolagar grinned as he looked down at the helpless man before him.

The massive berserker bent down and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him from the ground with one hand.

The other demon lords began closing in.

Among them was a demon with extremely long pale-blue hair that flowed past his waist. Two dark, curved horns rose from his head, while a thin black line ran down from beneath his blue eyes. He wore a loose white robe which revealed the black markings on his bare chest.

In his right hand was a long silver sword.

But it was the object in his other hand that had played a greater role in the battle.

A black lantern hung from his hand by a chain, while pale blue mist continuously spilled from its interior and curled around his body.

His name was Toglon.

A Grade 10 Toolbearer Demon.

Toglon had not directly engaged Nathan during the battle. He had followed behind the others, allowing the other demon lords to handle the confrontation themselves.

Even so, his presence had influenced the battle tremendously.

The blue mist released by his lantern had spread throughout the battlefield, carrying with it a peculiar effect.

Misfortune.

Once Toglon designated a target, the lantern’s effect would begin working against them, causing misfortune to accumulate around that individual.

And throughout this battle, Nathan had been the target.

The consequences of that ability had already become painfully evident.

The Toolbearer class was a subclass of the Necromancer class, and it was also one of the rarest classes on the Demon Continent. Its defining ability was the creation and use of weapons, each capable of possessing different effects.

In Gritnia, however, Toolbearers were viewed somewhat differently. They were still considered summoners, with the distinction being that their summons were object-type summons rather than the conventional spirit-type summons.

Eolagar grinned. "You have lived long enough."

He raised his massive axe, preparing to bring it down on Nathan.

But before he could strike, something completely unexpected happened.

Nathan suddenly opened his mouth and a flurry of purple lights burst from within him, streaming outward in countless directions toward Eolagar, several thousand of them surging forward at once.

These were the 2,735 vengeful spirits currently under Nathan’s control.

They entered Eolagar from every possible opening. Some passed through his eyes, others through his nose and mouth, while more entered through his ears. The spirits poured into his body from every available point, flooding directly into the berserker.

At the same time, Eolagar’s grip loosened as he released Nathan’s neck, causing Nathan to fall heavily to the ground.

The berserker staggered several steps backward, with one hand clutching his head as he grunted in pain. He shook his head repeatedly, struggling against the strange sensation spreading throughout his body.

The other demon lords watched with uncertainty, unsure of what Nathan had just done.

Unfortunately for Eorlaga, all 2,735 vengeful spirits were trying to take over his body at the same time.

—

Meanwhile, far behind the battlefield, Zelith was beginning to falter.

She was still maintaining the Rule of the Area spell, but her breathing had grown heavier as she struggled to keep it active. She gritted her teeth and continued pouring her magical energy into the spell.

The Rule of the Area was attempting to isolate all of these demon lords, each possessing immense magical power, from the outside world. On top of that, countless powerful spells and abilities had already been unleashed within the enclosed region.

The more powerful individuals inside the area, and the more magical energy being released within it, the more difficult it became for Zelith to maintain the spell.

She could feel the spell reaching its limit.