Chapter 2398: The New Maze Lock and the Knight Who Drew the Sword

Chapter 2398: Chapter 2398: The New Maze Lock and the Knight Who Drew the Sword

"I don’t know what kind of power mortal persistence can have, but I want to be like them, at least to try... Can you give me some spirit?"

The Saint laughed:

"Of course."

The last wisp of lingering white mist surged into Shard’s body, instantly filling him with spirit nearly to the point of explosion, finally accelerating the Ring of Fate behind him to its limit.

In the desert wind, under the silent moonlight, amidst the crackling sound of the campfire, a parchment suddenly floated out from Shard’s pocket.

Every letter of the "Mermaid Princess" story, handwritten by the Chosen of Space - Dorothy Louisa and Lecia Cavendish, was glowing. The glowing letters detached from the parchment one by one and merged into Shard’s Ring of Fate, which was shining almost like the sun.

The spinning of the ring stirred up a gale, but Miss Nate, squinting her eyes, still saw it. A new rune was engraved on that ring.

[From desire arises craving, from craving comes persistence. Mortal souls are so intriguing; those willing to sacrifice rather than give up possess the most precious golden souls. When the story of the Mermaid Princess reaches its end, both she and you, gazing at the newborn sun, share a stone-like temperament.]

[You have listened to the fairy tale you narrated and have received the Enlightenment of civilization.]

Three illusory items and the glowing ink peeling off the parchment transformed into a brass-colored spiritual light, gradually condensing at a point on the rapidly spinning Ring of Fate. Though in the sandy sea, the sounds of seagulls, steam horns of cruise ships, and the crashing of waves appeared at this moment. Amidst these sounds, a new spirit rune revealed the new power Shard possessed.

[Outlander, you have inscribed the Brass Enlightenment Spirit Rune - Mermaid Princess.]

Shard stepped towards the giant corpse of the worm under the moonlight, the sole of his shoe touching the sand surface. From beneath the sand emerged a massive ship’s hull, directly lifting everyone present and the small camp with it.

The more distinct sound of waves was so abrupt in the desert, but looking around again, the surroundings clearly transformed into the ocean at night.

The night in the ocean seemed to have reached its end; behind the rapidly appearing red glow on the horizon, the first ray of sunshine followed Shard’s finger, shining towards the worm corpse’s mouth.

The stone statue of Miss Sander, turning its back to everyone, was thus illuminated by this rising sunlight. And as colorful bubbles densely appeared on the statue itself, the statue, like time reversing, began to lift its petrification from the feet upwards.

The exploding spirit within rapidly consumed, while "she" gently reminded at his ear:

[Outlander, you have gained the Arcane Technique "Maze Lock - Mermaid Princess." Call forth the scenery of the newborn sun over the sea, and anything illuminated by the first ray of sunlight can reverse time, accelerate time, or remove abnormal time effects. There are no limits to range, type, or scene. However, you cannot use this technique to resurrect the dead.]

Accompanying the complete revival of the statue, the bewildered Miss Sander was pulled out from under the stone gate by Old Lady Sianod, and the stone gate fully fell.

Colorful bubbles flew to the sky, the ray of sunlight disappearing, along with the ocean scene.

"Ha~ ha~"

Breathless, Shard fell sitting on the sandy surface, with Miss Mister standing behind him, while Miss Nate still remained by the campfire. The cat looked around, curious due to the change in scenes. Old Lady Sianod supported Miss Sander as they walked towards everyone, the somewhat bewildered Mermaid Girl still unclear about what had happened, but she immediately noticed that green crystal by the campfire:

"Ah! Is this the Heart of the Oasis?"

Shard forced a smile, just about to speak, but suddenly felt the sand surface begin to vibrate.

Thus everyone together looked towards the gigantic corpse of the worm; it wasn’t an earthquake in the "Gravel Golden Sea," but the worm’s corpse was actually moving.

It first shook the massive pale human head, then the dark insect body began to squirm on the sand surface.

"Although time reversal didn’t eliminate the power of the Witch’s sealing, it did interfere with the Sealing Skill, after all, the Maze Lock and sealing are both spatial powers."

Said the knowledgeable Old Lady Sianod, but not only her, even Shard did not again exert his power to protect everyone.

Under the moonlight on the sand sea, the worm gradually erected the upper half of its body, the moonlight elongating its seemingly larger shadow on the shimmering silver sand surface.

An hour had already passed by more than fifty minutes, and the adventure in the Gravel Golden Sea was finally reaching its end. Shard didn’t ask for Miss Mister’s help again; he supported himself on the sand surface, wanting to stand up, using all his strength to try once more to deal with the worm corpse that had only slightly revived with some power.

And Mia, on Shard’s shoulder, this time did not fear large "creature," but hissed and "meowed" again.

But in the end, Shard didn’t need to reluctantly face the final trouble because a massive elemental reaction had already appeared behind him.

He thought it was Miss Mister about to act again, but then realized that such a mixture of "Whisper" and "Miracle" in the elemental reaction definitely wasn’t from a Deity.

Shard heard singing, it was the sound of countless young girls simultaneously singing praises. And beneath the pitch-black sky without stars, pure white light blossomed behind Shard.

When Shard turned his head, he saw Miss Nate holding the stone sword that was about to shatter, walking towards the worm amidst the light blooming like a rose.

Her gray short hair floated in the inexplicable gale and rapidly grew into long gray hair. The ordinary knight’s full-body armor gradually melted in the white light, with the glow outlining blue-white edges and meaningless rune decorations, while the leg armor transformed into a more agile and ornate skirt armor.

The scars on her skin from long years of knight training disappeared bit by bit, and her height surged to nearly match Shard’s in just a few steps.

The resolute lady knight’s appearance became softer in several places, but her determined eyes remained unchanged.

The girls’ singing mingled with the blooming light, and golden miraculous glimmer unfolded behind her, fully coalescing into the first golden stairs. At the same time, steam mist floated in the void, and as the massive hammer fell amidst whistles and bell chimes, the Ring of Fate belonging to the Circle Sorcerer appeared behind her:

Enlightenment - [Blessing], Enlightenment - [Sword], Enlightenment - [Persistence].

"Turns out the ancient witch wanting to become a Circle Sorcerer needs no ritual or magic potion..."

But Shard understood that the newly born first-rank witch was by no means an opponent to this worm, even if she had just awakened in her prime, she could never defeat such a formidable foe.

In the next moment, Miss Nate in the light raised that almost broken stone sword. Realizing what was about to happen, Shard’s eyes widened as he reached out to say something, but the loud dragon roar echoed from the dark night sky where stars did not shine.

Crack!

Golden thunder struck down, hitting the raised stone sword, and then—

Facing an enemy threatening civilization, the apocalyptic worm, compliant;

Possessing a holy sword capable of bearing the Sword of Light, stone sword shattered but its essence compliant;

Heart of justice, compliant;

Confronting a strong foe, compliant.

The stone shell peeled away, and dazzling pure white light blossomed in the sand sea. When the newborn witch swung the sword down, the pure white color transformed into the dark silver resembling her original armor.

The enormous dark silver light pillar sliced open the head of the giant worm’s corpse and then continued downward along the midline of the worm’s body. When the light sword touched the twisted force sealed within the worm’s body, the sword hummed with a light tone before decisively splitting the worm into two halves.

Its body didn’t even have the chance to spread outwards and fall into the sand sea, but was melted in mid-air by the dark silver light sword, dissolving into light spots scattered across the boundless sand sea.

"What on earth happened?"

Miss Sander stared in shock with her mouth agape, while Shard and Old Lady Sianod urgently rushed towards the dimly glowing Miss Nate.

A strong heart, a persistent soul, having witnessed the divine light, caused the "Sword of Light" to evolve into the Second Phase in her hand, but now the light sword has vanished, and the ancient knight’s holy sword collapsed into dust from being unable to bear the power.

This is not a relic, after all.

The glow from the newborn first-rank witch also vanished, but more seriously, her body was becoming transparent, turning into light spots that drift away with the night wind of the sand sea.

Old Lady Sianod, closest to Miss Nate, was the first to embrace the disappearing girl. The old elf tried to cast spells to save her life, but upon realizing something, tears began to stream down her aged face.

Shard didn’t stand there stunned either:

"False Immortality!"

He attempted spellcasting like Old Lady Sianod, but found his arcane techniques were useless for Miss Nate. Although she still existed, it seemed she was already gone.

"Don’t try to hold onto me, it is the price."

Amid Old Lady Sianod’s sobs, the lady knight lay weakly in her arms, gazing at them. Her face turned pale and transparent, yet her eyes continued to shine like stars:

"Even if you saved me, I couldn’t leave this desert. I’ve stayed here too long; I know my body’s condition."

Shard quickly turned to look at Miss Mister who also approached, but the saint shook her head slightly this time:

"She was destined to be unable to leave here before you appeared. As an ordinary person reaching this point, even if not dead yet, her body and soul have long been severely polluted by this sand sea, with even the essence of her soul transforming. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have drawn out that Sword of Light. Do you think such a sword just appears randomly?

Her final life-burning sword only accelerated the process of soul collapse... perhaps it’s for the best."