Chapter 256

【Whoosh~~】

In the extremely faint sound of water, Luosen passed through the sewer and slowly rose to the surface of the well water.

Looking up, it was the mouth of the well; faint starlight shone through the opening, casting the well interior in a frosty white.

At the same time, a barely audible breathing sound also transmitted into the well.

【Hoo~~~~Whoosh~~~Hoo~~~~Whoosh~~~】

The sound was deep and heavy, not like a human voice, but like the breathing of some huge creature; judging by the frequency of air vibration, its size was not small.

Immediately have Laifu conduct an analysis.

Soon they concluded: 'The target's chest cavity volume is estimated to exceed ten thousand liters, about 80 meters from the well.'

"Great partner~~ Such a huge chest cavity, definitely a colossal beast!"

This is definitely not a human species; combining various intel from the Holy Elf Empire, he inferred this thing should be a dragon.

It must be a flying dragon.

Because earth dragons and sea dragons cannot escape Zhuo Ya's perception, silently entering the palace would be difficult even with cover.

"The dragon race is the elves' combat species, especially good at fighting, with extremely abundant mana, and both magical resistance and physical defense are astonishingly high; using ordinary magic to clash head‑on with them would definitely cause a huge commotion."

With such a huge commotion, once the fight was over, the whole of Mei Da Xilin would know.

After a brief thought, combining known intel on flying dragons, Luosen devised a countermeasure.

He raised his hand and lightly tapped the water surface.

【Dingdong~~~Dingdong~~Dingdong~~~】

The clear water sound echoed in the well.

Soon, the flying dragon's breathing grew heavy, accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps.

The footsteps kept extending toward the well.

Luosen felt a surge of joy: 'The intel from Shenwei Tianfu is truly spot‑on.'

He said: 'The flying dragon's body is overwhelmingly strong in every aspect, making them very confident. When facing an opponent, their first thought is not to call for help, but to rely on their own strength to solve the problem.'

Seeing the flying dragon continually approach, Luosen tensed his focus, allocating maximum computing power to his clone's Heart of the War God, his eyes fixed on the well opening.

After a moment, a small part of a ferocious, huge dragon head appeared above the well, a large golden‑yellow eye gazing curiously at the crystal.

This detail shows that the dragon race is very confident in its defenses and not very wary of unknown things.

If it were a mortal mage, they would surely not easily stick their head out to look.

Luosen was waiting for exactly this instant.

The Heart of the War God instantly operated at its peak, three lines working together, mana surging frantically into the artifact Linking Magic Ring.

In an instant, less than a tenth of a second, three death‑judgment rays were triggered.

They shot almost simultaneously at the giant dragon's skull.

After the first three, another three followed, and then another three.

In about less than half a second, Luosen, multitasking, produced nine death‑judgment rays.

In Luosen's perception, the flying dragon's power level is Legendary 4, so the chance of a single ray causing death is about 34%.

Therefore, as long as we judge nine times in a row, we can almost reduce the opponent's survival probability to a low‑probability event.

Of course, if the opponent is unlucky, the first ray could already shatter their soul, after all a 34% chance is not low.

The death‑judgment rays consume little mana; their light is very dim, just a faint white beam barely stronger than starlight.

Because the disturbance is truly too weak, and the power aura is also rather faint, it didn't even alert the giant dragon.

That flying dragon didn't even make any evasive move, just letting those pale white threads strike its face.

One reason is that the rays are fired quickly; another is that this spell is simply too weak.

【Pup pup pup pup~Dang!】

The first four rays hit his face, feeling nothing, but the fifth ray took effect, successfully declaring the giant dragon dead.

All that could be seen was the giant dragon shudder violently, its focused gaze instantly scattering, its massive body going limp and collapsing to the ground.

Its powerful soul shattered within, turning into wisps of light mist that rose from every pore.

And the uncontrolled power from the soul's shattering directly cooked its brain.

Without a brain, the body quickly lost vitality.

In short, this incredibly powerful Legendary 4 dragon died for no apparent reason.

The entire battle lasted less than one second, with barely any disturbance, yet it still alerted the defenses of the Shadowless Palace.

【Beep~~】

A shrill alarm sounded immediately, many solar light orbs were launched into the sky, bathing the Shadowless Palace in bright daylight.

Anyway, having been exposed, Luosen no longer hid.

【Whoosh~】

While still in the well, Luosen expended 1,500 mana tubes to unleash a massive phase turbulence.

This spell will cause great chaos in the ring, enough to block phase‑transfer formations within a 50‑li radius for the next hour.

This is to prevent the Lord of Radiance from escaping via phase transfer.

Because the casting speed was too fast and the mana surge too strong, the Wraith Resonance Staff in his hand exploded into fragments.

But it's fine; he still has two more.

Immediately after, he bolstered himself with the Umbra Secret Technique.

This technique might not evade detection entirely, but it can let him avoid most Shadow Guards' visual scouting, greatly lowering the chance of being attacked by them.

At the same time, he swiftly flew out of the well, using his clone as a relay, the Linking Magic Ring opened a view into the void.

From a bird's‑eye view, he observed the Shadowless Palace's reaction.

At this moment, he detected three legendary power fluctuations.

One of them retreated toward the ground, while the other two quickly rushed toward his position.

Also rushing toward the garden were large amounts of ordinary magical fluctuations, numbering over 1,000.

They were clearly the Shadow Guards protecting the Shadowless Palace.

This situation was practically like stirring up a hornet's nest.

But the faint combat movements of the Life-and-Death Judgment Ray were still useful, allowing him to sense that although the opponent was fully on guard, they were not exerting their full strength.

Obviously, neither the legendary powerhouses nor the Shadow Guards had yet figured out the current situation.

This is Luosen's opportunity! Outside the well is the garden, planted with vast Starlight Roses, its scale three times that of the Empress's Starlight Rose Garden, and a large patch of Starlight Roses had been trampled into mud by a giant dragon.

Luosen flashed, using a high-level Flight Spell, and pursued the retreating legendary powerhouse.

Three legendary powerhouses: two attacked, one retreated.

The one who retreated was surely the Lord of Light.

Luosen's goal was to kill the Lord of Light, so he naturally gave chase immediately.

The two legendary powerhouses also noticed Luosen, instantly changing direction to charge at him.

Within five seconds, Luosen encountered the first legendary powerhouse.

At that moment, Luosen still hadn't made out the opponent's appearance when the Heart of the War God activated.

Three-line operation.

Two lines activated the Life-and-Death Judgment Ray, one line maintained Undying Fate.

Poof poof poof~~~ Ding!

The fourth strike successfully triggered Death Judgment.

Poof~~~

But it was the opponent's instinctive counterstrike, seemingly a curse, yet it halted midway because the soul shattered.

Only then did Luosen see the opponent's appearance.

It was actually an elf.

More precisely, he was a high-ranking gold-eyed elf, male, with a status far superior to the three legendary elf mages he had previously captured, and his strength was greater as well.

But unfortunately, he faced Luosen bolstered by the Heart of the War God.

Two legendary powerhouses were killed in succession, and the Shadowless Palace was thoroughly alarmed.

A large number of Shadow Guards were activated, at least three thousand!

The retreating legendary powerhouse fled even faster, while the other legendary powerhouse rushed at Luosen at full speed.

Because the battle revealed his position, at least a hundred nearby Shadow Guards detected Luosen and rushed toward him.

The remaining two thousand Shadow Guards had not yet detected Luosen; they were carrying legendary artifacts, searching the Shadowless Palace like headless flies.

Facing such a situation, Luosen did not dare be careless.

He flashed a thought, activated Flight Spell, and at top speed broke out of the encirclement of a hundred Shadow Guards, continuing to chase the fleeing legendary powerhouse.

The Shadowless Palace was vast, but for Flight Spell it was still small.

Flight Spell bolstered by the Shadow Shade Secret Technique was also extremely concealed; for a time, hardly anyone noticed Luosen's trail.

Within five seconds, Luosen saw another legendary powerhouse.

It was a Demon Apostle, shrouded in a layer of eerie blood shadow, making his exact appearance indiscernible.

He also detected Luosen, reacting with lightning speed.

Numerous sheets of blood shadow surged toward Luosen like unfurling banners.

Wherever the blood shadow passed, trees snapped, flowers were severed, stones were cut, and the cut surfaces were as smooth as mirrors.

This speed was truly fast, the attack truly fierce, with strength at least of legendary tier six.

Based on Luosen's own reaction speed, there was no time to dodge; he could only block with magic.

But the Heart of the War God reacted a step faster than the Demon Apostle.

He swiftly descended to the ground, the Undying Fate Domain activated to the utmost, dodging the blood shadow attack by a hair's breadth, and instantly retaliated with a stacked-wave focused arcane ray at the Demon Apostle.

Hiss~~

The Demon Apostle flickered his body, dodging the arcane ray by a hair's breadth.

Poof Ding!

But right after came the Life-and-Death Judgment Ray.

The Demon Apostle's luck was also truly terrible, or perhaps his soul was too fragile, and the second ray judged him dead.

At this moment, the first batch of Shadow Guards arrived! Bang bang bang bang!

A barrage of rapid-fire guns opened fire on Luosen, with at least thirty people firing simultaneously.

But due to the interference of the Undying Fate Technique, these attacks all turned into mere body outlines.

The cost was that Luosen's mana poured out like a flood, evaporating at a rate of thirty tubes per second, and as the Shadow Guards increased, the evaporation rate rose sharply.

If left to endure the opponent's attacks, even the most abundant mana would be exhausted.

He continued to pursue the Lord of Light at full speed while launching a counterattack.

Mass Mind Terror Technique, an eighth-ring spell, powered by legendary 7.5 mana, with a mana capacity of two Luosen.

This is a very ordinary high-ring spell, but because the mobilized mana intensity is extremely high, its effect range is considerable, reaching a diameter of forty meters.

A deep violet light sphere was thrown into the area where the Shadow Guards were most densely packed, and it exploded.

Within the forty-meter radius, the Shadow Guards immediately clutched their heads and fled, losing control of bowels and bladder.

The besieged Luosen instantly felt the pressure ease somewhat.

At this moment, he rushed to the gate of a palace, clearly sensing a legendary fluctuation deep inside the palace, the straight-line distance less than a hundred meters! It was obvious that this was the Lord of Light Messiah.

At this moment, less than 20 seconds have passed since Luosen killed the legendary flying dragon! In the void's view, Luosen can see the Lord of Radiance charging into an underground passage.

One can imagine that ahead of the passage is most likely an underground palace with astonishing defensive power.

If he runs in, this beheading plan will probably fail.

Luosen accelerates fiercely. "Whooo—"

Amid the whistling wind, Luosen breaks through the last wave of Shadow Guard's resistance and rushes to the entrance passage of the underground palace.

About fifty meters ahead, a massive rune gate is rapidly descending, leaving a gap of less than forty centimeters from the ground.

Luosen immediately tries to prop the falling gate with something, only to find the passage empty.

He then attempts to block the falling gate with a spell.

It fails.

The underground palace gate is extremely heavy, weighing over ten tons; both the door and its frame have very high anti‑magic resistance, so even a hundred percent of his power yields less than one percent, making it impossible to stop.

And judging by the gate's closing speed, there's no time to rush through.

Through the gap, one can feel the Lord of Radiance's silhouette moving rapidly away, while behind Luosen a swarm of Shadow Guards pours in like ants.

The underground palace gate is also extremely sturdy; Luosen can't break it in a short time— even a cannon barrage would take a while.

If the Shadow Guards block the passage, this assassination will be completely failed.

There's no choice; Luosen can only use Undying Fate to stubbornly endure the Shadow Guards' attacks and fire a life‑or‑death judgment ray at the Lord of Radiance's back.

"Puff puff puff—"

After three shots, the Lord of Radiance turns and slips into a blind spot.

Luosen smirks: "That old guy's luck is something!"

Just as the gate is about to close, a stone sculpture flies past Luosen at high speed, and in a split second it wedges itself into the narrowing gap.

"Boom— crack—"

The underground palace gate stops descending.

Luosen sees clearly that it's a decorative granite sculpture at the main hall entrance.

"Quick— quick, go in!"

It's Zhuo Ya!

Because she cast a spell, she emerges from invisibility.

She simply uses Float Technique, dashing at high speed from Luosen's side toward the gap in the underground palace gate.

"Bang bang bang bang—"

A portion of the Shadow Guards fire at Zhuo Ya without hesitation.

Those guarding the Lord of Radiance's sleeping quarters are elite among elites, wielding the finest weapons.

Each shot from the fire gun reaches Ten Rings, and at least thirty fire at once.

If they hit, they can instantly kill any legendary mage.

And that's not all.

At least dozens of Four‑ring‑strength cursed spells fall through the air toward the two, cast by a cursed mage among the Shadow Guards!

And a large number of explosive fire bombs are thrown, estimated at fifty or sixty.

This is an outright kill!

If a different legendary mage were in the passage, they'd be reduced to nothing.

But Luosen reacts a fraction of a second faster.

He doesn't hesitate to pour his mana violently into the Undying Fate spell, half of it onto himself and the other half onto Zhuo Ya.

In an instant, Luosen feels his mana surge out, consuming a full 200 mana tubes in half a second.

The mana flow is so rapid that the Ghost Resonance Staff emits a "clack clack" cracking sound, with several fissures appearing inside.

This is the price of confronting direct death fate.

If he didn't have the Ghost Resonance Staff and relied only on the Original Legendary Crystal Staff, both he and Zhuo Ya would now be beaten to death by the Lord of Radiance's loyal hunting dogs in this underground passage, with their bodies never found.

But thanks to the delay from Undying Fate, Luosen gains a breathing chance.

He immediately throws a Group Fear Terror Technique toward the rear passage.

The passage erupts into chaos.

Luosen seizes the chance to slip through the gap into the underground palace and promptly moves the jammed stone aside.

"Boom——"

The underground palace's one‑meter‑thick rune‑gilded gate closes, sealing all the Shadow Guards outside while Luosen, Zhuo Ya, and the Lord of Radiance remain inside.

"Whooo——"

"I thought I was going to die."

Zhuo Ya lets out a long sigh; in that instant she clearly smelled a heavy whiff of death.

Luosen smiles faintly: "Even if it's death, I won't let fresh flowers wither before my eyes."

Zhuo Ya instantly doesn't know whether she's crying or laughing, and can only sigh: "Ah— Luosen— I truly admire you."

Luosen mouths toward the depths of the underground palace: "Let's hurry and chase after him, don't let him get far."

He worries that the old thing has set a high‑power trap inside the underground palace.

"Alright!"

The two immediately sprint at full speed to catch up.

The distance between them was already short, and Luosen's speed is far faster than the Lord of Radiance's.

The gap shrinks rapidly.

Soon, Luosen sees the Lord of Radiance's silhouette again.

He was tall and straight, his hair slightly mixed with some white, he haphazardly draped a thin nightgown over himself, barefoot, holding a legendary crystal staff.

He looked quite disheveled.

Obviously, he had been startled awake from his sleep and then began to flee for his life.

Unfortunately, he ultimately did not escape.

Luosen shouted: "Mise, stop running, or you'll die right away."

By now, about a minute and a half had passed since Luosen's outbreak.

He had consumed about 5,600 units of mana in total, and two spirit-resonance staffs were damaged.

His words took effect.

The Lord of Light halted his steps, turned around, and looked at the two people behind him.

His gaze swept over Luosen, then settled on Zhuo Ya who had caught up, his brown-black eyes filling with intense shock and despair.

"Zhuo Ya, I never expected you to betray me and even team up with this little bastard!"

Zhuo Ya sighed softly: "Grandfather, I also didn't expect you, who claims to be the human race's heaven‑mandated savior, to actually join forces with demons."

A flicker of anger appeared on the Lord of Light's face: "I was forced!"

Zhuo Ya sighed again: "Me too."

The Lord of Light's anger intensified, his beard trembling: "You have no idea how serious this is!"

"I know, you're afraid of the Lord of Truth, right?"

The Lord of Light's expression stalled: "Since you know, you should choose the same path as I."

"Facing the former ruler of this world, the only way for us mortals to survive is to surrender."

Zhuo Ya shook her head: "Grandfather, you don't represent humanity. Your choice to surrender doesn't mean others will make the same choice!"

"I, and Luosen of Weilan, choose to fight!"

"Foolish! Arrogant!"

The Lord of Light burst out cursing.

Having come to this point, Luosen didn't want to waste words, turning his head to look at Zhuo Ya.

"Is it over now?"

Zhuo Ya gave Mise one last glance, turned her back to him, and said: "Let's end it."

As soon as her words fell, the Lord of Light went 'plop' and knelt on the ground.

"Wait! I surrender! Spare my life!"

'Clatter~~'

He threw away the legendary crystal staff he was holding.

Facing Luosen, he didn't even have the courage to resist.

He had lived so many years, believing that reaching Legendary was already the pinnacle of mortal power, never expecting that someone would treat Legendary powerhouses like dogs to be slaughtered.

Three Legendary powerhouses couldn't even buy two minutes of time.

How could he resist?

This unusual commotion made Zhuo Ya turn around again, looking at her grandfather who once stood high above all, now kneeling on both knees begging for his life; her face showed deep disillusionment.

"Grandfather, you once held a great image in my heart; now you have destroyed it all with your own hands."

The Lord of Light's face twitched, yet he crawled forward on his knees a few steps: "Bu Ye Gong's Shadow Guards need someone to restrain them, and the faith of the Church of Light needs someone to bear it."

"If you kill me, Bu Ye Gong will fall into chaos, and the faith of the Church of Light will lose all support."

"It would be better to spare my life, letting me peacefully hand everything over to you—or to Luosen. As long as you work it out, I'll accept whatever."

That made some sense.

Zhuo Ya turned her head to look at Luosen, sending a telepathic message: "Better to—"

Luosen replied via telepathy: "I'll later help you craft a true‑god puppet, and this puppet will be named Lord of Light, allowing seamless takeover of the followers."

"As for Bu Ye Gong's Shadow Guards, as soon as they see the corpse of the Lord of Light, their only option will be to follow you."

He dislikes dragging things out and never shows mercy to those who deserve death.

Zhuo Ya glanced once more at her grandfather, feeling a twinge of reluctance, but ultimately she steeled herself: "Then let's send him on his way."

She turned her back again to the Lord of Light.

The Lord of Light immediately realized he had no chance and burst out cursing.

"You damned couple, you will definitely not have a good ending!"

"Once the Lord of Truth returns, you will face the most terrible torment in the world!"

"Luosen~Zhuo Ya, your souls will surely be stuffed by the Lord of Truth into the most lowly, filthy bodies, to suffer for a thousand, ten thousand years."

Luosen said nothing, merely repeatedly triggering life‑and‑death judgment rays at Mise.

'Pop pop pop pop pop clang!'

The Lord of Light's body shuddered, a thick light mist steaming from all his pores, then he went 'plop' and collapsed to the ground, dead.

Zhuo Ya heard it, her body trembled slightly, and she asked in a quivering voice: "Is he dead?"

"He's dead. He died swiftly, without any pain."

"Then that's good."

Zhuo Ya slowly turned around, looking at her grandfather's corpse entwined with eerie light mist, and instantly felt the mental weight completely lift, her whole being unusually light from inside out.

But this lightness lasted only a moment before a new pressure arose.

"Lord of Truth."

Luosen gave a slight smile: "The Lord of Truth is indeed strong, but not invincible; there are ways to counter him."

This smile infected Zhuo Ya, and she smiled too: "Then, Your Majesty the Emperor of the Natural Empire, what do you plan to do next?"

"Of course it's the United Natural Alliance. Also, help Your Majesty to create a glorious divine religion managed by a true god."

"Very good."

"Pausing, Zhuo Ya said: 'Please also help me subdue the First Shadow Guard.'"

"Luosen took a step back, performed a radiant salute to Zhuo Ya, and smiled: 'As you wish, Empress of the Radiant Empire.'"

"(End of chapter)"