Chapter 330

The cold killing intent made the blood all over Sophia's body freeze.

Almost subconsciously, she reached out and grasped the black feather brooch on her chest.

The next instant, overflowing electric light illuminated the entire palace, followed by a thunderous explosion; that maid named Hana was hit by a bolt of lightning as thick as a wrist, and the whole person was blown away several meters, with a large hole scorched in her chest.

But she was still smiling.

"Mission... completed... Sophia Petrovna cleared... finished..."

With a "clatter," a silver dagger fell to the ground, but the pitch-black luster that originally permeated it still condensed into a phantom of the dagger, drilling into the wound an inch deep behind the Empress.

"Murphy..." Sophia only had time to call out once, and her body went limp.

Murphy stepped forward and caught her body, pressing his hand on the wound on her back; however, what was strange was that the wound was clearly not small, but only a very small amount of blood flowed out.

"Your Majesty!" Grand Shaman Maxim appeared with Murphy, but only reacted at this moment; he rushed forward and shouted to the guards in the hall, "There is an assassin, protect the Emperor!"

The guards were all in a panic; in their eyes, just now the Empress was only summoning a maid, how did she suddenly become in this condition.

Just now, some kind of power prevented them from seeing more information; they didn't even notice the maid's assassination of Sophia, until Murphy and Grand Shaman Maxim suddenly appeared through the lightning teleportation of the black feather, and they were awakened by the thunderous sound.

The other party's power level exceeded them too much, and they could even achieve the effect of a wizard using a repulsion spell to block Muggle perception.

"Murphy," the Empress's azure eyes were losing focus; she still tried hard to see Murphy's face clearly; she reached out a hand and touched the latter's cheek, "for me, protect... them... okay?"

Murphy held her hand, "Don't say silly things, I won't let you die."

The Empress showed a smile at the corner of her mouth, "If..."

Her words were not finished, and she fell into a coma.

Murphy frowned, raised the latter's hand, and kissed it lightly.

In an instant, the petrification venom petrified the Empress entirely.

"This can delay the deterioration of her body," Murphy said, looking at Grand Shaman Maxim, "you go to open the Holy Wall, find Mrs. Yaga to figure out what happened, I'll see how to save her."

The Holy Wall could only be controlled by the Empress herself and several Grand Shamans; now, only Grand Shaman Maxim could do this; only by opening the Holy Wall could the safety of the city be guaranteed.

Maxim still hadn't recovered from the shock, "Your Majesty she..."

"I won't let her die," Murphy said, his tone bland, but at this moment it had a kind of decisive firmness.

"Good. I leave it to you, Lord National Shaman."

Murphy didn't put the Empress down; at this time, he didn't trust anyone, "Bring that woman over."

The maid's body was carried to Murphy's side; he took a look with magic vision and, as expected, saw the ultraviolet magic residue, and the dagger had the same magic residue.

He let the guards prepare a room, then carried the Empress to the bed in the room, untied the clothes on her back, and immediately saw the wound.

The wound was not very deep, only about two centimeters, which was because he made a reaction to interrupt the enemy's assassination the moment he appeared; this degree of stab wound didn't reach the heart at all, and for a wizard with Dittany, it was just a skin wound.

But the black aura that drilled into her wound was extremely unusual.

In Murphy's magic vision, the wound also presented an ultraviolet color; clearly, the dagger was coated with poison, and it was some kind of magical poison.

He drew a wand, "Finite Incantatem!", "Finite Incantatem!"

He used several kinds of counter-spells in a row, but the magic power attached to the wound didn't weaken in the slightest.

The lifting of magic effects has a simple rule: if there is a corresponding targeted counter-spell, even if the magic level of the counter-spell caster is lower than the caster, it may succeed in lifting it.

But if there is no specific counter-spell, then unless the magic power of the counter-spell caster is far higher than the caster, it will fail.

The only thing to be glad about is that petrification fixed the Empress's physical state, and the spread of the magical poison was suppressed.

Murphy thought for a while, and immediately through the mind network, before the Holy Wall was fully deployed, summoned several Aurors and Watchers to the palace through lightning crow teleportation, and even forcibly brought Snape.

He handed the dagger to Snape, "There is a magical poison on this dagger, the power level is very high, and it cannot be lifted through ordinary methods; I hope you can study it."

Snape was the person he knew who was most proficient in potions; if anyone could find a way to lift this kind of magical toxin, it could only be Snape.

"This is..." Snape still didn't understand; he was still tinkering with potions in his room at the time; suddenly a lightning crow broke the window and flew in, grabbed his shoulder and brought him here; he was still in a dazed state.

"Time is tight, someone will explain the ins and outs to you, but now, please start studying immediately."

Snape was still suspicious, but Murphy's expression made him not dare to ask more for a moment; he took the dagger and went to the potion-making room that had already been prepared with several guards.

Afterwards, Murphy simply treated the wound on the Empress's back, then let the Aurors and Watchers guard the room where the Empress was, and left dozens of Lightning Crows in the room, before going out.

Maxim was waiting for him.

"Lord National Shaman, the Holy Wall has resumed operation, but Mrs. Yaga has entered the depths of the Ancestral Mausoleum; the enemy's attack has not stopped; their target is the ancestral coffin inside. I must go to support."

"The attack hasn't stopped?"

Could it be that assassinating the Empress by feinting to the east and attacking the west was not their final goal?

"What is the ancestral coffin?" Murphy asked.

"That is the resting place of the first ancestor who built the city."

Murphy frowned; Arkaim has a history of a few hundred years, maybe even over a thousand; the remains of its founder probably only have a few bones left; what is the Holy Mother digging up people's ancestral graves for?

They were talking, and Snape walked out of the laboratory, "Murphy, this poison is unsolvable."

Murphy's heart tightened, "What do you mean?"

"It's not poison; it's just pure magic power, a magic power with an extremely high power level; it itself is not poisonous, but it will infect low-level magic power, causing it to mutate, which makes it toxic to ordinary wizards. It even travels along the channels of magic power, infecting the soul and destroying the soul of the person."

"You mean, it attacks more than just the flesh?" Murphy was stunned, "Petrification can't stop it?"

"Magic power depends on the body and soul of the wizard; petrifying the flesh can slow down the speed of its erosion, but it cannot completely stop it, because the channel between magic power and soul still exists."

"Is there really no way at all?" Murphy was not reconciled.

"That magic power has a very high power level, but the structure is very simple," Snape said, "if there is another magic power of the same level as a hedge, perhaps, I can formulate a neutralizer to make both sides neutralize each other... but, I have never seen this level of magic power..."

Murphy fell silent.

The Holy Mother's magic power level is extremely high; according to Mrs. Yaga, it actually already exceeds the magic power upper limit of current wizards.

That is to say, in the world today, there should be no wizards of the same power level.

Could it be that he really can only watch the Empress die?

"Lord National Shaman," Maxim on the side suddenly said, "perhaps, the ancestral coffin can help Her Majesty."

(End of chapter)