Chapter 537: The Druid's Ability and a Visit

The sky's body froze stiff, as if it had been petrified.

It just happened to lock Aurelio's stunned expression in place.

Its jet-black skin rapidly faded, turning a color close to dirt.

Then, like sand scattered by a gale, it crumbled to dust.

Its clothing, weapons, and gear fell along with the collapse of its body.

Rod naturally accepted them with a smile.

A pull of 【Gravity Wave】 in his hand drew every last thing into his palm.

Now wasn't the time for a close look — he dumped the lot into his spell satchel.

【Gained Negative Buff: Hero's Curse】

【Stacks: 1】

【Details: Spirit recovery -5%, Casting speed -5%, Strength and Constitution -5%】

【Huo Mian Cheng Gong】

【Latest Effect: Spirit recovery -1%, Casting speed -1%, Strength and Constitution -1%】

He looked at the data on his panel.

Rod sighed inwardly, "Just as I thought."

The half-deer's hero prophecy might have been self-serving, but it still borrowed or went along with the power of the legendary River of Prophecy.

Naturally, there was a measure of fortune involved.

Put simply, the appearance of a hero carries a certain sense of "going with the will of heaven."

And killing a hero candidate, as a matter of course, brings certain negative effects.

No wonder even a place like Deepwater City took the hero prophecy so seriously.

"Even if I forced a successful exemption, it still took effect. Good thing the reduction isn't much."

Rod caught sight of the Blood Thorn Clan leader Tessaya in the distance, pale with shock, as if she'd seen a ghost, and even forcing herself to tank a round of Sharon's spells, she was madly fleeing in the opposite direction from Rod.

And in the distance, the half-goat Miss Miss Ainala, who had already drawn her black-gold longsword.

What a bit of a pity.

This sister was also a 【Hero Candidate】.

But killing someone like her just to stack the curse would hardly be worth it.

Ugh.

The hero prophecy really is disgusting.

"You killed Aurelio?! You killed a hero candidate?? Do you have any idea that this is an act that will plunge the entire Dusk Hills into chaos!"

Miss Miss Ainala flung the broken Dedication Body Sword in her hand to the ground in disgust, shouting her question at Rod in the sky.

Her expression had already grown somewhat ferocious and crazed.

"Aurelio and I were candidates of the same half-deer. He was stubborn, yes, but he was a gentle, powerful man — the peace of Shi Ying Town and Coral Bay couldn't do without him."

As she spoke,

she released the spirit within her, forming a great pale-green net.

It enveloped the rubble and stones around her.

Quickly, the ruins of the building fused together, and slowly a ten-meter-tall rock giant rose to its feet.

This half-goat was a druid.

But not every druid specialized in wild-shape transformations.

Some summon and strengthen natural creatures.

Some amplify spells to resonate with specific terrain.

Others control fungi and toxins, granting death a new life.

As for the Miss Miss Ainala before him, with two streams of fresh blood gushing from her nose and her eyes bloodshot.

She was naturally of the "summon and strengthen" type.

Summoning elementals of rock and earth from below, and granting them even more powerful bodies.

"I have to kill you, I have to kill you! Only this way can I stop the coming crisis and strife! Kill one to save the masses!"

Rod couldn't be bothered to look at her.

He drew the other sword at his waist — 【Quivering Soul Blade】, pale as porcelain.

Slime Xiao Hei's 【Black-Gold Coating】 instantly stained it black and gold, though he deliberately left gaps and open spots on the sword for the thirty-six bulging, wriggling Demonic Eyes of Fear.

He casually swung a slash at the rock giant.

A massive surge of spirit attached itself in the arc of the swing, and the enormous spirit blade of 【Giant-Slaying Slash】 flashed and vanished.

The rock giant went rigid all over.

Its upper half slid horizontally downward with a rumble, cleanly split in two.

"Since you've already spent quite a while in the little black room, you might as well stay locked up a while longer."

As he spoke,

he spread his palm, and four Humus Ice Blades shot out, pinning her four limbs straight to the ground.

Then the thirty-six Demonic Eyes of Fear suddenly snapped open all at once, swiveled with a gurgle, and fixed their gaze squarely on Miss Miss Ainala with a swish.

Miss Miss Ainala, who hadn't even had time to cry out in pain, was suddenly struck as if by lightning.

Eyes wide, she stared fixedly at Rod.

But tears and drool streamed down her face.

She collapsed lifelessly to the ground, trembling and convulsing without stop.

Rod no longer bothered with her.

He turned and flew toward the dark elf mages on the city wall.

Their dozen or so people, along with their spellcasting, had barely been able to hold off the forest-side mages for a while.

But the moment Rod arrived, sandwiched between both sides, they collapsed in an instant.

He went in for close combat, cutting through them on the wall like slicing melons and chopping vegetables.

You run, I chase, that sort of thing.

The whole scene was a spray of blood and limbs flying everywhere.

If it weren't for Dimia taking one look at him and instructing him to stop damaging the city wall, saying it would be detrimental to post-war restoration or something.

Fine then.

It seemed the Witch Young Lady should have long had the idea of occupying Coral Bay.

That made sense — this place was, after all, a port, with considerable strategic and commercial value.

Coincidentally, after Rod finished robbing the giant dragon, a large batch of Jin Along had nowhere to be spent; investing it here should be a fine idea.

With Dimia, a member of the city hall, backing him, taking over large swathes of this place legitimately meant that even if Aethelon truly recovered and came here to inspect later, there'd be nothing he could do to Rod.

Not long after.

The threatening mages had all been dealt with by him.

As for the eighth-tier leader Tassaya, who was being hunted down by Sharon and Lily...

A certain dog-person solemnly declared they had to cut off the opponent's head with their own hands.

He couldn't very well butt in, then.

But with his killing intent roused yet unsatisfied, he ran into the chaotic melee on the battlefield and slaughtered around indiscriminately.

As a result, he got thoroughly scolded by Eve, who said that him mixing into the crowd and killing indiscriminately would instead panic and scatter the dark elves, making handling them even more of a waste of time later.

Fine.

There were only about a hundred or so dark elf grunts left anyway — leaving them to the girls would do.

Rod could only slink back to the rear to check on the girls' injuries.

Going back to look, he only then realized.

Turns out quite a few of them were injured.

The ghoul Pan Ni had her magic power completely drained, her legs so weak she couldn't stand, duck-sitting on Dimia's mana-restoration ritual.

Apparently this was already her second time coming over to replenish her magic power — fortunately, a ghoul's body was absurdly tough.

The female beastman Emmy was covered in blood and wounds; two consecutive 【Berserker】 activations had left her completely drained.

She was having her wounds treated by a medical kit while leaning against a tree, dozing off.

The spider-morph elf Watching Yuna had clearly overdone it a bit — two of her jointed limbs were broken, and she sat to the side with a pale face.

Not counting the half-wolf Olga, the tree spirit Vivian, the land naga Eve, the witch Dimia, the dog-person Sharon, the halfling Lily, and the star-spirit person Hailey, who were still on the battlefield.

The rest had, more or less, a bit of blood on them.

Fortunately, the injuries were clearly not serious.

After Rod visited each of the girls with light injuries one by one.

He strode through this medical area.

Arriving at a temporary tent.

At a glance, he saw Rat Girl Number Thirteen lying on the bed, her bottom propped against the headboard, two full, plump yet firm long legs resting against the tent's canvas, kicking playfully.

On the other side.

Was the heavily injured elf Lady Kali.

Her body was wrapped in bandages everywhere; she sat ramrod-straight by the bed, checking on the battlefield's situation through the rabbit-person Ona's spell-cast magical viewpoint.

"Oh, Rod's come to see you, Lady Kali."

Ona said with a smile.

This eighth-tier mage was in the uninjured stage — apparently she'd broken through two mage squads in a row, and only a corner of her white robe had been burned.

(End of this chapter)