Chapter 170: The Swordheart Guardian

The party split up to explore. Only after confirming there was no fifth entrance did they leave the instance.

"It can support a thousand entries a day without shortening its lifespan," Cassian said. "Form your own parties and run it as often as you like. Just watch for the other races."

Darian looked at him.

"You’re planning to clear it alone, aren’t you?"

"I’ll try."

Cassian made no effort to deny it. He did not immediately enter again, though. First, he returned to his Domain.

He opened the Exchange and traded the Sword Nurturing book, along with nineteen million Aether, for a Legendary Skill Book: the Veinheart Sword-Nurturing Art.

Then he called Celia over and handed her the book.

"Legendary Sword Nurturing?" Her eyes lit up.

There were many forms of the art. This one drew on an Aether Vein’s aura to build power in a sword more quickly.

His Domain already had the Vein, and he supplied his Heroes with all the Moonrice they needed for cultivation. The art suited Celia perfectly.

Give her half a year, perhaps a year, to nurture a strike. With her Sword Intent at Lesser Perfection, the sword she finally drew would be something to see.

Soon afterward, the portal flashed again.

This time Cassian brought Liora, Crystal Maidens, and Stormlance Valkyries. They entered a new mirrored space. The city walls stood intact, and every enemy had returned.

"At last. I can stop holding back."

He smiled and pointed to the familiar city.

"Liora. Destroy it."

"Yes, Lord."

She walked forward a few steps and began to chant. The air throughout the instance grew heavy, as though an immense storm were about to break.

A minute later, she pointed her staff.

"Blizzard!"

A Legendary Three-Star Hero, strengthened by a Gold Battle Name, was already terrifying. With Frost Will amplifying her spell, Liora could devastate a city.

Dark clouds swallowed the sky. Power surged through the air, driving countless blades of ice before it.

Every delicate snowflake had become a weapon.

A squad of swordsmen vanished in the whirling snow. A few short screams escaped before their bodies burst into bloody mist.

White and red swept through the streets. The entire city became a frozen hell.

[Your Hero Liora Ashmere has killed a Swordsman...]

More notices followed, too quickly to read.

"Now that’s a proper clearing spell," Cassian said happily. "Leave a job like this to a mage."

Few places outside a large instance offered Liora such a perfect field of targets.

Meteor Hell was Legendary, but it was a compound spell of three schools. Neither Frost Will nor Flame Will amplified it, and its coverage was far smaller than Blizzard’s.

——

West of the city, twenty Wingfolk Lords stared at the catastrophe before them.

They had entered twenty minutes ago. They had not even finished clearing the outer district on their side of the city. Now the great city they had been afraid to approach was being destroyed.

A Lord from another entrance had done this.

But how could anyone be this strong?

"Are they really newcomers from the same opening as us? Could someone from an older sector have got in?"

A young Wingfolk woman cried out in terror.

"No wonder our Warden never came back. He must have run into them!"

"Quiet!" their young leader hissed. "Do you want to get us killed?"

He pointed back the way they had come.

"Everyone, return to the arrival point. If that Lord finds us, we’re dead!"

They fled the instance without even learning their opponent’s race. None of them wanted to stay long enough to find out.

Cassian knew nothing about them. Even if he had, he would scarcely have bothered. He could spend that time clearing another run.

——

The Blizzard lasted for dozens of seconds, until Liora’s Aether ran dry and the clouds finally dispersed.

Cassian had received more than ten thousand combat notices.

Fewer than a hundred enemies remained in the whole city, most of them Rare Sword Dancers. The Crystal Maidens and Stormlance finished them with ease.

Soon, he stood before the Lord’s residence again.

This time he was careful. Elara’s guess proved correct.

The city lord seemed less aware than before. His nurtured sword strike had weakened considerably too. It could still kill a Level-45 Legendary troop in one blow, but it posed no threat to Cassian.

He killed the Boss with one punch and checked the haul.

With the Aether Vein improving his drops, he had collected dozens more Rare Troop Sigils and an Epic one.

"Almost ten million Battle Essence, hundreds of thousands of Aether, and all these Sigils. This instance is worth every minute."

Its only drawback was that a Lord had to lead each party inside. Otherwise, he could have left the work entirely to his troops.

Cassian opened the Exchange and listed twenty Sword Dancer Sigils at five hundred thousand Aether each. He restricted purchases to Lords of Riftward Marches.

Two months into the Realm, Rare troops were still in high demand. Every Sigil sold almost at once.

Ten million Aether came in.

"This is practically robbery."

He laughed.

"Again. Two hundred clears, and the instance is mine."

Cassian enjoyed himself. The Lords of Riftward watched batch after batch of Sword Dancer Sigils appear on the Exchange and struggled to understand what they were seeing.

[So many Rares, and every one bound to Sword Dancers. Did the Commander find a treasury?]

[Could another instance have appeared? A troop instance?]

Word would get out eventually. Cassian had no objection.

"He’s clearing it this quickly?" Elara muttered. "I knew he was still hiding something."

She listed a few Sigils of her own. With her access to the Dwarven Royal Hall and her Eclipse Chapterhouse, she had little use for ordinary Rare troops.

That all but confirmed the rumor.

In less than an hour, the news spread throughout Tidecrown. Riftward Region had another instance—a large one that produced Rare troops.

The Black Banner Lords seethed with envy.

[Why do these instances keep appearing in Crown territory?]

[Riftward again! Is this what Fortune does?]

[Why are the Sigils restricted to Riftward Marches? We’re all Humans. Cassian is discriminating against Black Banner Lords!]

[Just wait. When Ashvale Marches takes first in Agriculture, every Region under us will have two Fortune.]

[First place belongs to Lord Beric Kelshore’s Marches. You can have second.]

[Is Kelshore trying to challenge Lord Tervain?]

Before long, they were arguing among themselves.

Several of the powerful Lords who had recently relocated to Coldridge contacted Adrian at once. Since Riftward was an ally, they said, it should share the large instance immediately.

The sheer shamelessness of it made even Adrian laugh in anger.

——

Eleven days passed.

To Cassian’s surprise, no other races appeared in the instance again. It saved him a great deal of trouble.

Darian finally located a Hall of Renown through his extensive contacts. Cassian handed over the Legendary Hero Soul he had bought and reserved for him. With that Soul, Maren advanced to Legendary.

Darian became the second Lord in Riftward Marches to command a Legendary Hero, after Cassian.

A golden fist struck. The Boss burst apart.

Cassian had killed him for the two hundredth time. He was thoroughly sick of the sight.

[Your Swordheart Instance Authority has reached 200.]

[You have become the Instance Guardian.]

Seven or eight hours a day, and he had finally done it.

He examined his new permissions. A smile spread across his face.

"Seal the arrival points."

Cassian swept a hand through the air. Three portals dimmed and fell silent. Only the one leading to Riftward Marches remained open.

"Now I can let the other War Lords run it safely. They can leave the Boss alone if they have to."

Even pushing himself, he could only manage twenty-odd clears a day. Most of the instance’s daily capacity had gone unused.

During those days, Riftward’s population had fallen to thirty-six thousand Lords. The other Crown Marches had fared worse. Some had lost almost half their people.

The numbers had begun to settle over the last few days. Most of those who wanted to leave had already gone.

Three days remained before the second Marches Ranking was settled.

As far as everyone else was concerned, the Crown Marches were already out of the contest. With so many Lords gone, they had no chance at the top three.

Cassian thought otherwise.

"I wonder how high the Black Banner’s Agriculture Index has reached. Darian said he could find out, but I still haven’t heard from him."

Just then, his panel chimed.

Darian was requesting a video call.