Chapter 159: Seal Broken

Luo De paid no attention to the rat-man's corpse.

He lifted the 【Sacrificial Body Sword】 to eye level.

The gap shattered by the broken blade named Starfire Thunder reached deep into the spine; the entire blade's stress and tension were unbalanced.

The blow that had just split the rat-man in two had utterly deformed and skewed the blade.

Although the faint spiritual glow of 【Memory Metal】 had begun repairing it, clearly it would not be usable in the short term.

There were several spare steel swords in the spell satchel; it didn't much matter.

"Sharpness is only 45—not nearly enough."

In contrast was a damaged longsword, completely rusted.

"Starfire Thunder?"

Tally leapt from the shadows with the still-shaken Naga Eve.

When danger struck, the succubus, well-fed and satisfied, still got things done—she had pulled the Naga into the shadows early and escaped unharmed.

Fortunately, since awakening her 【Duchess Bloodline】, her spells had grown increasingly effortless; otherwise, she might have been ripped straight out by that wild spiritual force.

Having accomplished something, Tally always came to claim credit.

She jumped into Luo De's arms, smugly demanding a kiss.

"My god, that move nearly had seventh-rank power!"

Eve exclaimed, "You took it head-on—and nothing happened?!"

"Thanks to the dragon scales you gave me earlier."

The words reminded the Naga of her defeat in the open labyrinth; her mood soured instantly, and she refused to respond.

"Maybe Mianqiang seventh-rank."

Luo De picked up the Starfire Thunder.

It was nearly a rusted black iron bar, its edges violently curled into spirals—likely to maintain rotational momentum upon launch.

Clearly, it couldn't be used as a sword.

After returning, I'll ask if repair is possible; if not, give it to Bond the horse-girl.

The rat-man's strike had far greater penetration than Celine the zombie's 【Comet Current】.

Though aided by an external object, it was still seventh-rank.

Yet it still failed to pierce the defense of the 【Dragon Scale Spell】.

Aside from that.

Luo De was also intrigued by the rat-man's spiritual technique that appeared suddenly above his head.

The creature wasn't a mage—he couldn't use 【Spatial Teleport】—yet there was no spiritual fluctuation from rapid bodily movement.

The Naga was indeed greedy by nature.

While Luo De had just picked up the broken blade, Eve had already scavenged every valuable item nearby.

"Share it?"

She had been gleeful, but remembering someone else was present, she asked reluctantly.

She clearly had no intention of sharing.

Luo De glanced over.

No interest.

He'd thought the rat-man's longbow might be something good, but it was even worse in quality than Bond's sickle-claw shortbow.

Eve beamed, then reluctantly turned to Tally.

After all, this creature had just saved her life.

"What about you?"

The succubus had never cared much for such material things.

Tally had transformed into a seven- or eight-year-old girl, sitting on Luo De's shoulder, grinning as she chewed his hair.

She laughed:

"I don't want any. If you want to repay me, let me taste the essence you've poured into your body. I've heard men give different flavors to different women."

"Actually, Naga don't have a tradition of repaying favors."

The three chatted for a while.

They successfully retrieved a green crystal sphere from the center of this constructed space.

It emitted a faint green glow, with a subtle spiritual vibration hidden within.

It strangely gave Luo De a sense of familiarity—like the spiritual dimension of the Fear Field.

After securing the treasure of this stable space,

the unfinished underground city trembled slightly, then fell still.

Presumably, this space wasn't large enough to risk collapse—at least for now?

They descended along the rope.

Returned to the tunnel.

After advancing nearly thirty more minutes,

they finally encountered the ritual seal Eve had mentioned.

A nondescript array, its magical runes surprisingly fresh and potent.

Luo De, having trained in magic, could tell this ritual seal had been established very recently.

The magic and complexity of the ritual were far beyond what a low-rank amateur could manage.

It was unlikely the work of Shiying Town.

The city hall had already built earthen walls in the upper layers—why add another seal inside?

A wandering rogue mage?

Hard to say.

Too many people had been wandering the Twilight Hills lately; even if a couple slipped in, it wouldn't be surprising.

"Who cares who made it—let's break it open first."

The Naga didn't care about details.

The green crystal sphere activated, instantly expanding a net-like energy field that pressed firmly against all walls of the chamber.

"Oh? Not spiritual, not magical?"

The rat-man's technology was oddly interesting.

He could harness non-spiritual forces—clearly, we shouldn't underestimate them just because they dwell underground.

"I'll go first."

Eve stepped forward.

She pulled out a magic ring.

Activated it.

The spiritual energy released from the ring formed a thin thread, slowly extending into the ritual seal.

After a moment, the ritual's magic weakened slightly.

"Huh? Still not below the minimum threshold—there's more to it."

She pulled out another ring and repeated the process.

"I've been meaning to ask—where did you get so many magic rings? I thought the Heavenly Flower Kingdom stopped exporting to Aiselon."

"Stopped exports? No—the Heavenly Flower Kingdom only halted official exports to Aiselon; exports to its various tribal groups within the kingdom have increased, not decreased."

After all, Aiselon is still a human-ruled kingdom.

As its power waned, it began supporting unstable internal factions to corrode its own environment.

Though I don't understand Aiselon's countermeasures, clearly the Heavenly Flower Kingdom's goal has been achieved.

After all, chaos has spread from the central cities all the way to Shiying Town at the far western frontier.

Soon after,

the ritual was sufficiently corroded.

Eve quickly shed part of her clothing, leaving only her undergarments and a loose vest.

Her body swelled, reverting to her true Naga form.

Her undergarments became a short skirt; the loose vest became a tight, midriff-baring top.

Her plump, beautifully shaped white lower half.

The heavy bunnies beneath were now faintly visible.

"Hey, don't stare like that."

"Sorry."

Her magic rings could only temporarily weaken the ritual seal—they couldn't fully dismantle it.

Modern magical rituals had evolved with certain countermeasures built in.

Unless a mage arrived to personally dismantle it, merely weakening it with rings wouldn't remove it—and might even trigger other rituals.

Of course, spiritual warriors had their own method.

They always preferred brute force.

They believed that once a ritual's magic reached a certain threshold, forcibly breaking through it would activate the emergency measures with the weakest power.

Then it became a gamble: whether your ritual's emergency response was stronger, or my body was harder.

I thought you had some good plan—if I'd known, I'd have called Selina over. She's at least a mage.

You don't understand. Mages dismantle things too slowly—extremely slowly. There are so many tombs in Jingmo; which one of them didn't our Naga break through using this method? This is our specially made ring. Wait for a mage? They'd take a whole month to dismantle just one!

(End of Chapter)