Chapter 3353: The Price of Arrogance

————It's late, and there's still an hour to go~~

————I came back late today, plus I have diarrhea~

"It's not about what I want, but what the Alliance needs right now! The Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory needs more details on that ritual spell to break free from the persistent disadvantage against similar rituals discovered elsewhere."

"So—" The Senior Mage quickly understood the importance of his mission this time and immediately fell silent. Xia Duo did not urge him; the final moment had not yet arrived, and there was still time to wait for the other party's decision.

But he did not wait long. In less than five seconds, he received the other party's promise: "I will fight until the last moment. I hope the Alliance will not forget our sacrifice."

Even across the entire Northland, a Senior Mage is considered a figure at the pinnacle of the pyramid. Such a person is undoubtedly protective of their own life, yet in this world, there still exist things higher than life.

At least they still exist in the Elf World, and coupled with the traditional Elf belief that death is not the end, that is why such a Senior Mage is willing to sacrifice himself.

If this were a Senior Arcanist of Netheril, I am afraid it would not be the case that just grabbing one would yield such resolve.

Of course, this is not to say that Netherese Mages are all selfish. Rather, Netheril is currently in an era of classical fading; some superiors still possess classical heroic ideals or lordly qualities, while others have long since fallen.

Under these circumstances, if there is no new ideology of justice to occupy the minds of mages, selfishness will expand infinitely until the entire nation completely collapses and rots away.

The previous words were not transmitted from the Senior Mage's conscious mind, but while in a deep Mind Link, Xia Duo could still perceive what the other party wanted to say—

And now, Xia Duo saw a hero among the elves.

All along, Xia Duo has had a sterling reputation for personal credibility. This is thanks to the widespread dissemination of the Great Xia Code; even if it is not the specific content, the mere act of creating the code is enough to establish an adamantine-like reputation for him.

The Elf World has both of these factors: it retains many classical romantic heroic ideals and has formed a concept of order based on a republic of noble families relatively early.

If Xia Duo had not appeared, that might have been an inevitable trend, but Xia Duo's appearance brought too many variables, with the Northland Alliance outside and the New Covenant inside.

Even if his personal power is limited and it is difficult to push the Alliance to provide compensation, he will personally provide full compensation.

Although there are still many elves in the Elf World who think he acts too simply and crudely—those elves are mostly Cormanthor Elves—or think he is too stubborn—those elves are mostly Illefarn or Evereska Elves.

This group of elves, who are at least Elite Mages, although they have many misunderstandings about the spellcasting instructions provided by Xia Duo, do not lack the basic ability to judge the situation. They know they have personally wasted the only possible chance to escape.

After all, even the most foolish elf would not welcome an alien chamber of commerce with no guaranteed credibility just because the other party saved them.

This is actually a rare opportunity to shape the consciousness of the Alliance. Xia Duo will certainly not miss it. His words are definitely not just to appease the emotions of these Elf Mages, but he will truly do so.

Or perhaps they think he is too arrogant—these elves are mainly Cormanthor Elves, stemming from his performance during his visit to Cormanthor—but regardless of which country the elves are from, they are relatively accepting of Xia Duo's personal credibility.

It is nothing more than the fact that Yierlan is now more or less paralyzed. If even a regional power like Yierlan has been reduced to this state by the Darkness Society, what kind of ending will the other countries of the Alliance face?

Some of these negative emotions are directed at the Alliance, some at Xia Duo, but more are directed at the Darkness Society, and at that Darkness Society mage at the bottom of Tear Drop Lake!

But even so, it allowed the ritual host of the Darkness Society to stabilize the situation and even find time to launch a counterattack.

As for Xia Duo's promise, those dozen or so Elf Mages did not ask for the specific details. On one hand, they really could not spare the extra energy to dwell on that under the current circumstances; on the other hand, Xia Duo's personal credibility was still at work.

Order, and the collective interests brought about by order, will become the main theme of the new era. In order to maintain such collective interests, countless mages willing to sacrifice for them will emerge.

"The Alliance will prevail!"

Subsequently, he no longer hid it and informed everyone in the Mind Link that the Alliance needed everyone to try their best to probe for more details of the ritual, with the subtext that there might be sacrifices.

"Everyone, please work together to face the enemy. Here, I promise you that regardless of the outcome of this operation, the families you belong to will certainly receive the care of the Alliance and myself. The Alliance will not fail any hero."

The so-called republic is actually public affairs, and what it represents is naturally the public interest. Similarly, there will be superiors and ordinary elves willing to sacrifice for it.

"Consultant Xia Duo, do you think the Alliance can really defeat the Darkness Society? I heard—"

"Pay attention and stay focused. Do not let your mind wander."

At his position, what he considers is no longer just his personal interests, but also his Territory, the Alliance, and even the future public interest of the Main Plane, which is the republic.

Furthermore, Xia Duo is already representing the official Alliance by virtue of his current status as an Alliance Consultant.

Such a request is somewhat demanding under these circumstances, but the situation forced these Alliance Mages to either advance or retreat, to succeed or die. It took about half a minute before they stabilized their spellcasting.

Xia Duo did not promise anything else this time, because he truly did not have a one-hundred-percent certainty of defeating the Darkness Society. So he just used a slogan to express his determination. Mind Link has the advantage of being able to make people share the same intent.

His firm personal credibility also played a very important role.

Therefore, Xia Duo's current promise, for the eighteen Elf Mages by Tear Drop Lake, is no less effective than the guarantees of the official Alliance or the Crown Kings of their respective countries.

In that single instant, three spellcasting sequences appeared with varying degrees of chaos. Fortunately, the Alliance Mages were on the offensive at this time, so it would not collapse immediately.

For a time, the Mind Link was filled with feelings of determination and resentment. Even that Senior Mage who was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the Alliance produced a large amount of negative emotion.

In a sense, it could be considered reaching a state of "sharing a common hatred for the enemy."

But this also allowed the ritual host of the Darkness Society to completely take the upper hand. Now it is no longer a question of whether these Alliance Mages want to retreat, but a question of whether the enemy is willing to let them go!

The reason why the Time Tower Void Warehouse Chamber of Commerce was able to enter the Yierlan market so smoothly is not just as simple as him saving Meite'er.