Chapter 1134 - Artifact Obtained
The small, temporary seal Mietzel had left behind could not stop the foxgirl’s slender hand at all.
There was a slight pop as the seal broke apart.
The Libram of Wisdom turned into a ball of white light and instantly started to fly away.
Rose, the foxgirl, covered her mouth as she laughed. Her bright red tail waved as several dozen translucent threads wrapped around the Libram and dragged it to her.
“An artifact. This is an artifact! And to think you would—”
She could not finish her words. The smile on her pretty face vanished, replaced with one of utter terror and fear. Her tail, which was wrapped around the Libram, swung outwards in an attempt to hurl the artifact into the distance.
But it was too late!
Before she could react, a fearsome, blinding blade of light suddenly appeared above the Libram of Wisdom and dove into Rose’s voluptuous body.
The next second, the foxgirl let out a deafening scream as the blade of light cleaved her entire body in half. The warm blood inside her, as well as the shards of her organs, were all vaporized by the violent divine power. All that was left were her two scorched legs falling limply to the ground.
The werewolf, who had been watching Greem closely the whole time, turned back at the commotion only to witness the horrifying sight of Rose being torn apart by the Sword of Judgment hidden within the Libram of Wisdom.
“Rose!”
The werewolf couldn’t help but let out a howl of shock and fury. He turned quickly, his sharp claw slashing at the hovering Libam and smashing it back into the ground.
A milky-white, holy light radiated from the Libram of Wisdom the moment it crashed into the ground. It shook violently against the earth as if someone in the distance was trying to summon it.
The werewolf’s eyes were wide with anger at the sight of Rose’s death.
Rose had not just been an ordinary partner for him, but a lover whose life was intertwined with his.
As such, the werewolf was furious when he saw Rose’s ‘murderer’ attempting to escape. He lunged forward, using both of his claws to press the Libram to the ground as he bent down and opened his mouth in an attempt to devour the Libram whole.
However, just as he was about to complete this action, a vicious wind whistled around him. A surge of unusual golden flames had wrapped around his body.
The werewolf turned his head around, extreme terror appearing in his crimson eyes.
Unfortunately, the golden flames had already burned through his defensive forcefield before he could take any further action. Half of his body had been ignited with fire.
The werewolf immediately let out a tragic and horrifying scream. He could no longer care about suppressing the Libram of Wisdom. His silhouette flickered as he teleported a thousand meters away, escaping from the rest of the golden flames that were surging towards him. It was then that he attempted to put out the flames already burning on him.
However, what terrified him was the fact that his poison wolfblood energy could only suppress the spread of the golden fire. It could not extinguish the flames at all.
It was almost…almost as if the golden flames had a life of their own!
“Fire laws…goddammit! These are fire laws!”
As a high-grade believer of the Beast God, the werewolf naturally knew the terror of law powers.
A flame containing the power of principles could only be neutralized by an exorbitant amount of elementium energy or a law power of a different nature. There were no other solutions apart from these two!
Unfortunately, neither of these options were available to him at the moment.
As reluctant and hateful as he felt, the werewolf had no choice but to drag his burning, crackling body into the distance.
Greem did not bother chasing after the werewolf. Instead, he teleported to the Libram of Wisdom and opened his palm. The strange, pitch-black orb in his palm let out an incredible amount of shadow substance, instantly enveloping everything within a hundred meters into a world of shadows.
Under the powerful restrictive effects of the Orb of Shadows, the unrelenting Libram of Wisdom finally fell silent. It was slowly dragged into the darkness by shadow chains extending out of the air.
After five minutes, Greem finally managed to seal the Libram of Wisdom within the Orb of Shadows.
The Fifth Grade Orb of Shadows was the only thing he had on him that could suppress the divine runes on the Fifth Grade Libram of Wisdom. Otherwise, he would have had to watch as the Libram of Wisdom slipped from between his fingers, without being able to stop it in any manner at all.
Fortunately, this was Morrian Plane, where the planar laws were in chaos and flux. Even the God of Wisdom Hierro could not entirely grasp the condition of the artifact through the channels of faith while he was far away in the World of Gods. Otherwise, Greem would not have had such an easy time sealing the Libram of Wisdom.
Even so, when Greem wiped away the sweat on his forehead, let out a breath of air and put away the Orb of Shadows, he heard a mighty voice ring in his mind.
“Shadow power? Who are you, and why have you sealed my artifact with shadow power? Where is Mietzel?”
Greem was surprised, and the golden flames on his body erupted wildly, firmly protecting him within.
His overwhelming spiritual senses and Burning Domain instantly spread out in a kilometer’s radius around him, yet he could not detect the person who was speaking to him.
[Beep. Detecting unusual faith channel. Channel medium: Libram of Wisdom. Condition: Sealed.]
Upon listening to the Chip’s feedback, Greem realized that the one conveying information to his mind was none other than the Libram of Wisdom he had just sealed. The only person who could directly speak to him through the Libram of Wisdom couldn’t be anyone else than the God of Wisdom Hierro.
He was a powerful god, after all, and Greem had no interest in making a spiritual acquaintance out of such a mighty individual. Greem drew several fire runes in the air and sealed the Orb of Shadows as well.
He had used the Orb of Shadows’ power to seal the Libram of Wisdom, and now he was sealing the Orb of Shadows with the power of the fire laws. With this double layer of seals, the God of Wisdom Hierro shouldn’t be able to project any of his power here!
Just as expected, as the fire runes spun around the Orb of Shadows and sealed it as a fiery magma ball, the God of Wisdom’s voice turned softer and more intermittent.
“You must be an adept from the World of Adepts! Since you can control the Orb of Shadows, you must be someone from the Dark Witches?”
Greem did not reply to any of the god’s questions.
The channel of faith was an unusual way by which the gods collected the power of faith and transmitted their divine power. With his current knowledge reserves and abilities, Greem had no way of completely sealing off the Libram of Wisdom and its channel of faith. His only option was to cut off the power that the God of Wisdom was transmitting through the Libram.
Consequently, the Libram of Wisdom had become a simple ‘telephone.’ God of Wisdom Hierro could only continually harass Greem verbally, without any means to take proper action.
“I don’t care what you did to Mietzel. As long as you release the seal of darkness on the Libram of Wisdom, I can look past all of your transgressions.
“…O, adept who walks in darkness, give up your pointless resistance! My divine rune has been etched upon the Libram of Wisdom. You will not be able to use its power without my permission. Rather than a useless artiact, why don’t you return it to me, and I can offer you a powerful pseudo-artifact (Fourth Grade) in its place?”
Greem ignored the God of Wisdom’s words.
At any rate, he had already sealed the Libram of Wisdom. Hierro could not come over, and as talkative as he was, Greem had already made up his mind to not engage in a conversation.
It was obviously the first time Hierro had met such a diffic
ult person to deal with. If it were any other plane, he would have projected his divine power without hesitation just to kill this bastard that had murdered Mietzel and sealed his Libram.
Unfortunately, there was simply no way he could project his power into Morrian Plane at the moment!
“Tell me, what is it exactly that you want? Pseudo-artifacts, divine power crystals, resource planes, otherworldly beauties? As long as you return the Libram of Wisdom, I will open my treasury and offer you anything within. How about it?”
It was clear that the Libram of Wisdom was incredibly important to Hierro. He was even willing to let go of the grudge of his murdered son to negotiate with his killer.
However, Greem ignored his offer and bent down to search the corpse of the foxgirl. He found a strange earring on her body, still radiating traces of space energy.
It should be her storage equipment!
That said, the way in which storage equipment was used in the World of Gods was different from the adepts. Greem would have to take it back and do some research before he could find a way to break its seal.
Just as Greem tidied up the battlefield, the dust cloud in the distance parted. A towering, jade-white figure slowly emerged from within.
It was Lich Kanganas.
He held a limp body in his hand. Judging from the appearance and the clothes, it was the god’s son, Mietzel. All signs of life and soul aura had faded from his body, and it was obvious he was thoroughly dead.
“The Libram of Wisdom is not with him!”
Kanganas stopped a thousand meters away from Greem. His powerful, glowing soulfire pierced through his ruby eyes and stared at Greem.
His tone was uncertain and unclear, as if he was explaining something while questioning at the same time.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t manage to get the Libram of Wisdom either. I was ambushed by two believers of the Beast God earlier. It took me a lot just to chase them away!” Greem raised his palms with a look of frustration on his face, clearly not admitting to Kanganas’ silent accusation.
Kanganas’ soulfire subtly swept past the foxgirl’s corpse. He couldn’t help but be surprised.
It’s the foxgirl. Then where was the other one? The werewolf?
Kanganas couldn’t help but start thinking to himself.
Chapter 1135 - Equal Status
The atmosphere instantly turned solemn and awkward with Lich Kanganas’ arrival.
Neither of them was a good person to begin with. The only reason the alliance had been formed was due to an agreement of interests. Now that the matter had settled, the deeper conflicts behind it finally surfaced.
Kanganas’ cold, chilling gaze slithered around Greem’s body, over and over, as if he was assessing how much he could trust Greem’s words while at the same time wondering if he should start another battle.
If Greem were just an ordinary Fourth Grade adept, Kanganas would have started the battle without any hesitation. After all, adepts had the best Physique among all spellcasters. They were the best candidates for making undead servants.
However, after the battle earlier, Kanganas had a basic understanding of Greem’s terrifying power. He was genuinely pondering if he should fight Greem.
Given his current equipment, power, and the lack of his undead army, taking down the fire adept would be somewhat difficult. The flames that the fire adepts controlled and used were very unusual. They contained many strange law powers, making it exceedingly difficult to deal with the fire.
If the other two adepts were to come over and help, they just might be able to turn the tables against him.
When that happened, it wouldn’t be a matter of whether Kanganas wanted to fight, but whether the three adepts were willing to let him leave!
The smile on Greem’s face was unchanging even as he silently sensed the powerful spiritual pressure emanating from the lich’s soulfire. However, the air around him had already started distorting slightly. Layers of translucent flames had spread across his entire body. All it would take was a single thought, and they would turn into a ferocious, violent tide of blazing flames.
During this moment of glaring tension, the lich took a step back and dispelled the overwhelming spiritual pressure he was unleashing.
“Let’s properly reacquaint ourselves, shall we?! I am Kanganas, a member of the Great Pan-Universe Alliance of Liches, intermediate Fourth Grade, now residing in the Skeletal Plane. Proficient in potion brewing and undead modifications.” Lich Kanganas bowed elegantly and introduced himself once again.
This action of his indicated very clearly that he now regarded Greem as a ‘client’ or ‘companion’ of equal status.
It was somewhat unexpected, but Greem returned the gesture with a smile.
“I am Greem, a new elder of the Zhentarim Association in the World of Adepts. Beginner Fourth Grade. I own a human kingdom known as the Crimson Dynasty, and I typically reside in my Fire Throne adept tower. As for what I’m proficient in…that would be golem creation and magical pattern carving!”
“Your power has won my respect. You have the qualifications to be my ‘friend’. Here is my contact. Perhaps we might have much-needed goods we could exchange with each other after this war is over. If you have any particularly excellent goods in your hands, I am confident that my treasury will be able to offer a satisfactory item in exchange!”
Having said that, the lich raised his right hand. The jade-white ring finger abruptly broke off and flew towards Greem under the guidance of an unknown power.
Greem still had a smile on his face. An unusual blue light flickered briefly in his black eyes, quickly scanning the fingerbone and making sure there were no offensive spells, curse spells, or magical traps contained within. It was only then that he grabbed the fingerbone with his hand.
[Beep. Detecting unusual spiritual brand. Energy aura matches that of the lich. It can be used for ultra-long-range spiritual communication. No unusual attachments.]
Greem toyed with the bone for a moment. After the Chip ensured that there were no hidden risks, he put it in his pouch and took out a fire crystal.
Greem’s finger started moving through the air, creating blazing fire runes that rapidly spun around the fire crystal. When all the runes were completed, they glowed with a bright red light. These fire runes had formed a three-dimensional fire array according to some profound principle and slowly entered the crystal.
“This is my contact. I look forward very much to the next time we meet!”
Lich Kanganas took the newly enchanted fire crystal, gave Greem a deep look, and finally turned to leave.
When the lich’s chilling aura vanished from his spiritual senses, Greem’s Spirit finally relaxed. He let out a long breath of air.
One had to admit; you had to be incredibly careful when dealing with these ancient relics. Even a slight moment of carelessness could land you in a horrible fate. They had only been talking for fifteen minutes, yet Greem already felt his Spirit on the verge of fatigue.
Not to mention, he had been fighting, running, and moving ceaselessly for the past two days and nights. That contributed to his lethargy as well. Even though his forty points of Spirit allowed him to go weeks without sleep, the fatigue to his Spirit would continue to accumulate and pile up.
He was likely to make a misjudgment or a mistake if he was put in a dangerous situation in his current condition. It was time to find a place to have some proper rest!
Greem sent out several messages.
A short moment later, Adept Holly and the two-headed siblings hurried over and met up with him.
The three adepts didn’t dare stay too long in the ruins of the floating city. They decided on a direction and hastily left the area.
…………
Morrian Plane’s sky had turned blood red.
The plane trembled, and the laws were in chaos.
Endless fires and fearsome spacestorms ravaged the land on every piece of ground below the vast skies that stretched on for m
illions and millions of kilometers. The closer the regions were to a floating city or a famous arcane tower, the more obvious the destruction and the more damaged the environment.
Nearly one-third of the floating cities in the plane had crashed to the ground as flaming fireballs. Another half had been invaded and brutalized by otherworldly invaders, their inhabitants slaughtered, leaving only floating wastelands drifting through the air.
Less than one-tenth of the citizens of these floating cities had survived the calamity.
Without the support of the system of arcane energy from the floating cities, the arcane fortresses outside the planar barrier stopped functioning as well.
The arcane war finally came to an end after a hundred and seventeen years. The Arcane Empire had been defeated!
With this, the homeland of the Arcane Empire, Morrian Plane, would be invaded by countless otherworldly races. These invaders would rush all over without end, brazenly slaughtering people and raiding for loot and slaves.
That included powerful individual beings like the disaster creatures, the starbeasts, various space creatures, and the elementium lords, as well as intelligent races such as the adepts, the underminers, the ironforged, and the shadow creatures.
The former had come to the plane for a feast. They had slaughtered without worry or care, just to taste fresh meat as well as collect some delicious planar origin substance along the way. The latter was more concerned with the knowledge and civilization of the Arcane Empire, as well as rare resources and materials that were harder to find outside of Morrian Plane.
The reason they were so audacious in their actions was that Morrian Plane had quickly begun falling apart over the past week.
With the Arcane Empire’s defeat, countless rifts of various sizes had been torn into the firm planar barrier of Morrian Plane by the invading forces. The vicious spacestorm outside the barrier had thus descended into the plane, disintegrating everything within into tiny, invisible particles and scattering them into every corner of the plane.
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