Chapter 159: Seal Broken

Rod paid no mind to the corpse of the rat-man.

He lifted the 【Sword of Devoted Sacrifice】 before his eyes.

The notch shattered by the broken sword named Starfire Thunder ran deep to the sword's spine, and the stress and tension of the entire blade were already unbalanced.

The very strike that had just cleaved the rat-man in two had thoroughly deformed and skewed it.

Although the faint spiritual glow of the 【Memory Metal】 had already begun to repair itself, it was obvious that it could not be used again in the short term.

There were still a few spare steel swords in the spell satchel, so it mattered little.

"Sharpness is only 45; it's a bit lacking."

In comparison stood a damaged longsword covered entirely in rust.

"Starfire Thunder?"

Tally jumped out of the shadows, accompanied by the still-terrified Naga Eve.

When danger struck, the satiated succubus still worked; she had pulled the Naga into the shadows to flee early, thereby dodging disaster.

It was also fortunate that her spells had become increasingly proficient after awakening the 【Grand Duke Bloodline】; otherwise, she might truly have been dragged out by that raging spiritual force.

Having accomplished the deed, Tally always came to claim credit.

She leaped into Rod's arms, proudly seeking a kiss.

"Good heavens, this move nearly possesses the power of a Seventh Tier!"

Eve exclaimed, "You withstood it head-on, yet nothing happened to you?!"

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

These words reminded the Naga of her defeat in the open-air labyrinth, instantly putting her in a foul mood, making her too lazy to respond.

"Barely Seventh Tier, at best."

Rod picked up that Starfire Thunder.

It was almost an iron bar rusted black, with the blades on both sides violently curled into a spiral, presumably to maintain a spinning momentum when fired.

It seemed it could not be used as a sword.

I'll consult upon returning to see if there is any possibility of repair; if not, I'll give it to the pony-girl Little Little Bangde to use.

The rat-man's strike possessed penetration power far exceeding Zombie Celine's 【Comet Torrent】.

Although relying on external items, it was still Seventh Tier.

Yet it still could not pierce the defense of the 【Dragon Scale Art】.

Beyond that.

Rod was also quite interested in the spiritual art that caused this rat-man to suddenly appear above his head.

This fellow was not a mage and could not use skills like 【Spatial Teleportation】, yet there was no spiritual fluctuation of physical high-speed movement.

The Naga was indeed greedy by nature.

Regarding the operation of looting corpses, Rod had barely picked up that broken sword when Eve had already scavenged everything of value in the vicinity.

"Shall we split it?"

She had been in high spirits, but remembering someone else was nearby, she could only reluctantly ask.

She looked like she didn't want to share at all.

Rod cast a glance.

He had no interest.

He had thought the longbow used by the rat-man might be something good, but it turned out its quality wasn't even as good as Little Little Bangde's sickle-claw shortbow.

Eve was overjoyed, then reluctantly looked toward Tally.

After all, this fellow had just saved her life.

"What about you?"

The succubus had never shown much interest in such external items.

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

She laughed:

"I don't want it. If you want to repay me, let me taste the essence your master has poured into your body. I've heard that men impart different flavors when treating different women."

"Actually, we Naga have no habit of repaying favors."

The three chatted for some time.

They successfully obtained a green crystal sphere in the center of this construction space.

It emitted a faint green light, and hidden within was a trace of spiritual fluctuation.

It inexplicably gave Rod a sense of familiarity, somewhat like the spiritual dimension feeling within the Fear Field.

After securing the treasure of the stable space.

This unfinished underground city trembled slightly, then returned to calm.

Presumably, this space is not yet too large, so there is no immediate danger of collapse?

They left along the rope.

Returning once more to the tunnel.

They advanced for nearly thirty minutes.

Only then did they finally encounter the ritual seal Eve had mentioned.

An unremarkable magic array, yet the mana of the runes upon it was surprisingly abundant and fresh.

Rod, having practiced mana, could see that this ritual seal had absolutely been established only recently.

Judging by the mana and the complexity of the ritual, it was certainly not something a low-tier novice could produce.

It was highly unlikely to be the work of Shi Ying Town.

The City Hall had already built earthen walls in the shallow layer, so why build another seal inside it?

Is it a wandering wild mage?

Hard to say.

Lately there have just been too many people wandering around the Dusk Hills; even if one or two slipped in, it's hard to say.

"Who cares whose it is, let's crack it open first."

The Naga didn't bother thinking that much.

The green crystal sphere was activated, and immediately a layer of fishing-net-shaped energy spread outward, pressing against the cave wall at 360 degrees with no blind spots.

"Oh? It's not spiritual energy, nor magical power?"

The Kobolds' technology really is a bit interesting.

To think they can harness non-spiritual power — looks like we can't underestimate them just because they live underground.

"I'll go first."

Eve strode forward.

She took out a magic ring.

Activate.

The spiritual energy that drilled out from the surface of the activated ring turned into a thread of silk, slowly extending into the ritual seal.

After a moment, the ritual's magical power was somewhat diminished.

"Huh? It hasn't reached the minimum value yet — there's something here."

Having said that, she took out another one and did the same.

"I've been wanting to ask this for a while now — where do you get so many magic rings? I remember the Celestial Court Flower Kingdom stopped supplying Aethelon."

"Stopped exporting? Not exactly. The Celestial Court Flower Kingdom only stopped official exports to Aethelon; exports to the various races and tribes within Aethelon's territory have not decreased but actually increased."

When all is said and done, Aethelon is still a kingdom ruled by humans.

As national power wanes, they instead come to support other unstable factions within, using this to corrode the internal environment.

Although I don't quite understand what Aethelon's countermeasures are, judging from the current situation, the Celestial Court Flower Kingdom's objective has indeed been achieved.

After all, the calamity has already burned from the central cities all the way to Shi Ying Town on the far western frontier.

After a short while.

The ritual was corroded to a certain degree.

Eve hurriedly took off part of her clothing, leaving only her undergarments and a loose vest.

Her body grew larger, transforming back into her Naga true form.

The undergarments became a short skirt, and the loose vest became a fitted midriff-baring crop top.

Plump and shapely snow-white southern hemispheres.

The weighty rabbits also peeked out faintly as a result.

"Hey, stop staring like that."

"Sorry."

Her magic rings could only temporarily weaken the intensity of the ritual seal, but couldn't completely deconstruct it.

Modern magical rituals have undergone certain evolution, and there are already certain countermeasures built in.

Unless a mage arrives in person to deconstruct it, merely weakening it with magic rings won't dismantle it — and might even activate other rituals.

Of course, the spiritual warriors have their own way.

They've always been good at brute-forcing things.

They firmly believe that once the ritual's magical power reaches a certain standard threshold, forcibly breaking through the ritual will result in the weakest activated emergency measures.

Then, it's a gamble between whether your ritual's emergency measures are strong enough, or whether my flesh is hard enough.

"Thought you had some good plan — should've known better than to call Selina over; she's at least a mage."

"You don't understand — mage deconstruction is slow, very slow. Jingmo's tombs are full of them; which one wasn't broken through by us Naga using this method? These are our specially made rings — wait for a mage? They'd need a whole month just to deconstruct one!"

(End of chapter)