The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 1691: Double Onslaught (2)

Outside of the Desolate Zone.

Marquess Darius crashed and rolled across the ground from being hurled out.

He stumbled until the momentum halted.

Swish!

Life energy surged across his entire body, coursing through every nook and cranny of his body—casting a subtle shimmer that made his skin glow. He was healing. Rapidly. Now that he was outside the dome, he could access his power again.

He pushed his body off the ground and stared ahead, his breath coming in heavy, ragged bursts.

“I can’t believe we survived that…”

Against Immortal Slugs, the initial cast of the Desolate Zone was the most lethal.

Once the main body wrapped around the prey, it was basically game over.

External help is the only way for the prey to escape; other people who weren’t latched onto by the initial burst were the only ones who could free the nobles. In this case—Rex, along with the other he led, was able to save him and the other nobles.

It was luck.

Had it not been for Rex doing the heavy-lifting, the nobles would’ve all died.

Empress Morgana is the only one who would survive, probably.

“But I’ve never encountered someone who could become a Demon Spirit like him,” Marquess Darius whispered, but quickly shook his head. “No—that’s not what’s important right now. Haxel… He needs to pay for this.”

Marquess Darius stood up and headed to where the crowd gathered.

His eyes burned with unrelenting fury.

“Where’s Haxel?!” He roared, his aura crushing the ground underneath him with each step, scaring the soldiers who were oblivious to what was going on. “Where is that traitor?! Setting a trap that could kill many nobles is an imperial offense! Unacceptable! Execution is too light a punishment for him!!”

Some nobles turned to him in question.

“Marquess Darius, what are you implying? That someone set this as a trap to kill us?”

“And Knight Haxel is the one behind this?”

“Yes,” Marquess Darius nodded grimly. “I’ve had my suspicion, and this confirmed it.”

Clearly, the other nobles also had their own suspicion.

The Voidal Prince of the Shattered Bones Monarchy was moving far too suspiciously for it to be merely wandering around the border. It constantly cut off their paths, almost as if guiding them somewhere, to a trap zone. The other nobles weren’t fools—they could all sense the danger.

But they dismissed it.

All because their unease was soothed by the simple fact that Empress Morgana was with them.

Her presence alone made them believe nothing could possibly go wrong.

Nobody dared to attack her in the heart of the empire, and that mindset made them careless.

Guided by anger from the fact that a mere knight who swore to always fight for the empire and protect its people dared to attack them like this, breaking every oath that a knight should uphold, all the nobles turned to the legions.

“Where is Haxel?” Marquess Darius pointed at one soldier.

“I… I don’t know, Sir.”

Then, he turned to the legion as a whole, “Have any of you seen Haxel?”

Some of them answered that Haxel went ahead to help Rex not long after and left the Seeker Flare.

But since Haxel wasn’t seen anywhere in the Desolate Zone, then he must’ve fled.

“Daughter,” Marquess Darius turned to Althea, who seemed still in shock from what had happened. “I assign you to lead the soldiers to spread around—and find Haxel. If he ran away, then he mustn’t reach far without the help of any Seekers.”

“Yes, Father.” Althea snapped out of her daze and nodded.

She, along with a few nobles, took several dozen of the soldiers to find Haxel.

As for the rest—the mission is not over yet, and they need to regroup with Empress Morgana ahead.

However, before doing that, Marquess Darius pointed at the powerful Seeker that was levitating above the Desolate Zone’s reach. She and another Seeker were capable of avoiding the initial bursts and had been blocking the Black Rift from making the Desolate Zone harder to deal with.

“Light up the surroundings.” Marquess Darius commanded with a signaling nod.

Immediately, the Seeker moved.

Her eyes shimmered with unrestrained power as her body burst with life energy.

Within a five-mile radius, the entire world was swept away from the Black Rift.

An advantage for those who would be searching for Haxel, as he wouldn’t be able to use the Black Rift for cover with this. It lasted only ten minutes, but with their speed, that’s plenty of room to sweep the entire area.

“The White Mask hadn’t been eaten yet,” A noble looked at the horde.

“Yes,” Another chimed. “The horde hadn’t gone berserk. Even though this trap was made to kill us, it could end up as a good thing for us as long as the White Mask couldn’t break free—from the Immortal Slugs.”

“It wouldn’t be able to escape,” Another chimed, shrugging his shoulders. “It has nobody to help.”

A noblewoman with short bob-cut hair crossed her arms, “What about Sir Rex? He’s still inside.”

From her tone of mentioning Rex’s name, it was clear that she wasn’t fond of him, perhaps because he commanded her without respect earlier, but he was still the reason they could all survive. Leaving him in there would not sit right in her stomach.

“Our bodies are still connected to the Immortal Slugs,” the other noble shook his head. “If we go inside right now, we’ll be weakened as badly as before. Besides, he should be more than capable of protecting himself in there.”

“I agree. Let’s meet up with Her Majesty, see what she wants to do now.” Another noble added. “After all, it’s a knight’s duty to sacrifice his life to save us. Who cares if he died as long as he did his job? In fact, it must’ve been an honor for him to save us.”

Marquess Darius exhaled roughly through his nose.

Eventually, he nodded, and the nobles circled the Desolate Zone in search of Empress Morgana.

…

Meanwhile, inside the Desolate Zone.

Rex stared at Ethan.

The entire right side of his body was torn completely, blood pooled underneath him—and he struggled to breathe properly as each gasp came in ragged and wet. Yet, instead of worrying about his own life, his first words were to ask if the last noble made it out safely.

Even forcing a smile through the pain.

It made Rex feel complicated.

Swish!

Rex grabbed Ethan and leaped out of the way in time as another black pillar struck.

Once they were a safe distance away, Rex placed Ethan down and contemplated.

System, check his conditions.

<Analyzing…>

<Notice: Severe trauma detected—entire right side torn; extensive hemorrhage, collapsed lung, exposed rib and muscle tissue, unstable pulse, oxygen saturation below survival threshold, and great damage to the Spiritual Veins.>

<Life expectancy: under three minutes.>

Rex read the notification and frowned.

I should make him a pack member. It’s probably best if Mira is not alone in this realm. I mean, there’s One, but he’s not exactly humanoid and couldn’t interact properly. Besides, he’s got great willpower, and he’s not that bad at all.

…

<Ethan Azka>

Status: Relieved.

Race: Beast Warrior Spirit

Power: Master Immortal (1) — Physical Supreme.

Soul Artifact: Iron Muscle Fibers — B-grade (Hybrid)

Echo: Flash Combat

Spiritual Points: 1,280,000 (+100,000)

Strength: 822,500 (+300,000)

Agility: 900,335 (+200,000)

Endurance: 910,000 (+350,000)

…

Despite having a weak Soul Artifact at B-grade—Ethan has an incredibly high Spiritual Points, which shows his dedication. Spiritual Points represent the reserve of the Spiritual Veins, and increasing them could only be done through training or breakthroughs.

In fact, he even rivalled Rex’s spiritual points when he got out of the Forsaken Tower.

It was an incredible feat.

So, turning Ethan wouldn’t be a waste at all, especially since Rex knew what kind of person he was.

Nothing wrong would appear if Ethan became a pack member right now.

I should do it right now.

“I really wanted to be a knight…”

Rex was about to turn Ethan, but his hand stopped mid-track.

He was about to cut his palm to feed Ethan his blood, but he stopped.

“All I wanted to become was a knight, and I dedicated my entire life to achieving it. But earlier… when you readily risked your life to save the nobles I… I hesitated. I took the cowardly way out, deciding to stay out of it. After all, what can a nobody like me do? Pathetic, right?”

A small chuckle escaped Ethan’s lips.

And Rex could hear clearly that it was hard for him to admit this.

“But seeing you take those attacks for Princess Althea… Seeing how fierce you were in protecting the nobles… It helped me a lot. It helped get over this cowardice mentality. For that, I wanted to thank you, Sir Rex. That’s what I wanted to say before I… passed.”

Rex stared at Ethan motionlessly, hearing what he had to say.

Initially, he wanted to turn Ethan into a pack member, but he decided not to do it.

One could already see inside Ethan’s eyes that he had already accepted death.

Keeping him alive by turning him into a Werewolf would’ve been a disrespect to that determination.

He reminded me of Kyle.

Rex nodded his head and knelt down, “Don’t feel pathetic, you’re not. It’s normal for you to be hesitant. Many would be in your position, but not many have the will and bravery to overcome it to help like you did. So, no, you’re not pathetic. And don’t thank me.”

He stared at Ethan intently, placing his hand on Ethan’s shoulder as a form of acknowledgment.

“Even if it took watching me to awaken it—the seed was already there within you,” Rex said, tapping his shoulder. “Whether it was me or someone else, you’d have chosen to help—because that’s who you are, and that’s who you’ve always wanted to be. You may not bear the title of a knight, but in my eyes, you already are one.”

As he said that, Rex hauled Ethan up to his shoulder.

On the other hand, April also felt a surge of relief as she watched Rex and Ethan save the last noble successfully. Though Ethan was hurt badly and might even die, this at least mitigated the wicked plan Haxel was plotting in the shadows.

Now, the nobles should be safe, and the mission should continue without a hitch.

’Matter of fact, this ended up better than what we hoped for,’ April turned to look at the serpent and the White Mask that were still struggling as they were being pulled into the fissure. ’The White Mask will die, and Empress Morgana’s reputation will skyrocket.’

Killing a Voidal Monarch is a huge deal.

Letting the White Mask settle in the Burrowing Valley is good, but not nearly as good as killing it.

With its death, the empire wouldn’t need to add another forbidden zone within its territory.

And since Empress Morgana was the one leading, her seat as the Empress would be solidified.

Killing a Voidal Monarch is one heck of a coronation achievement.

All hostile nobles would be forced to swallow their discontent and acknowledge Empress Morgana as a true empress. And that is a big step for Empress Morgana, as this would lead to her possessing real political power.

No more talk about being a doll empress anymore.

“Hmm?”

April turned to the side when she caught something moving in her periphery.

Her eyes widened when she met a sinister smile.

Before she could properly register who it was, her pupils dilated when she saw a glistening dagger being thrown towards her. In reflex, she raised her hand to block the dagger in time, but her breath hitched when the attacker was already upon her.

From his posture and momentum, he was intending to shoulder-charge her.

’He… He wants to push me to the fissure?!’

Bam!

Upon impact, the air in her lungs was forced out as she let out a painful grunt.

She tossed and stumbled backward, meters away from the cursed fissure.

’I’m going to fall!’

Bam!

“As expected, you’re going to play cheaply. You’re a snake, and I’ve dealt with people like you in the past. Don’t think you can bear your fangs without me knowing, Haxel…”