Chapter 980: Knowledge is Power
The flickering flames above the torches illuminated the dark corridor. The white-haired young lady sauntered in quietly, her eyes half-closed like she was on a mental journey. Her footsteps echoed, and in the darkness where the radiance couldn’t reach, pairs of red eyes gazed at their prey with greed and murderous intent. These hunters enveloped in black crawled up the wall silently, slowly approaching their prey. The young lady didn’t seem to notice that she was in a precarious situation. She muttered under her breath, continued to saunter along the corridor, scanning the broken stone sculptures and activated mechanisms from time to time. At this moment, the silent hunters were ready. They widened their ferocious mouths, revealing their razor-sharp fangs, like the blades of a.s.sa.s.sins waiting to strike a critical blow at an opportune time.
“They are destroyed here too…”
At this moment, the young lady murmured and moved her right arm slightly.
“———!”
A subtle draught of air blew across the corridor, swaying the young lady’s hair slightly. But at the next moment, blood sprayed in streams like raindrops as limbs of shredded corpses pitter-pattered on the floor. In the blink of an eye, the corridor restored its silence. If it weren’t for the amputated limbs, it would be hard for anyone to believe that creatures existed here earlier on.
Karin ignored the chunks of flesh on the floor, raising her right arm with a steel handle in hand. On one side were four to five, black and white b.u.t.ton-like mechanisms. Karin’s slender fingers pressed the b.u.t.tons and shortly after, a blade shot out through the top of the handle, revealing a slim, exquisite blade engraved with mysterious inscriptions. No matter from which angle, it didn’t look like a battle sword at all. Rhode was curious of how she would fight because she had human-like attributes. Her offensive and defensive values were low too, similar to the Spirit Bird. Moreover, with this ornate sword that had significantly greater value than just practicality, Rhode would believe that she was the weakest among the holy sword spirits if she wasn’t the officially recognized forth seat.
But now after witnessing her skills, he discovered that she had her ways in the body of a human. The slim sword in her hand wasn’t an ordinary one at all. According to his observations, the sword was made with thousands upon thousands of fine threads that were thinner than spiderwebs. Unless one reached Rhode’s realm, it would be impossible for one to detect their presence. Not only that, but the threads were also incredibly tough and exceptionally sharp. Karin had also engraved mystical runes on the blade. Even though the threads seemed harmless, they could unleash incomparable lethality with the flow of spiritual powers. It could slash through defensive spiritual spells due to the Order inscriptions carved on the blade.
After being aware of her battle strength, Rhode lamented that magic technologies indeed had the best production capability. Karin was weak, so weak that Anne could thrash her. But with this sword in her hand, not even Gracier and Madaras could defeat her. Order inscriptions appeared only in the late stages of the game, belonging to the top category in forged inscription. Just as the name suggested, it could unleash the power of Order. Besides, as Order inscriptions were the materialization of Order, after Order inscriptions were activated, its effects were ranked among the highest priority.
Such a formidable strength complemented with countless, almost-transparent threads became a deadly combination for Karin. This was why the other holy sword spirits couldn’t retaliate against her. Even though they had unique abilities, Gracier and Madaras would still be second in priority in the face of the Order inscriptions. In other words, Gracier and Madaras could only use their abilities in battle after the Order inscriptions were activated by Karin and this applied for others too. No one would feel great having Karin controlling the battle as soon as it started. Karin completely relied on the handle b.u.t.tons to control the threads, her battle style based entirely on the high-tech weapon. Moreover, it was impressive for a human like her to reach this impressive height.
“Fourth Big Sister is amazing to achieve such formidable strength through matching some low-level Order inscriptions. This isn’t easily achievable by anyone! Hehehe. Even the four arrogant legendary generals will die horrible deaths before you!”
Celestina nodded proudly, gazing at Karin who investigated the mechanisms. Rhode felt amused by her. In fact, this demon young lady had always been an arrogant one. Even though she behaved like a tiny kitten before Gracier, Madaras, and s.h.i.+ra, he could see that those were instinctive reactions after she was beaten up by them in the past. This was his first time seeing Celestina admiring someone wholeheartedly like a love-struck fool.
“How superficial.”
On the contrary, Karin wasn’t as excited as her. She hated the fact that others saw her inventions as only being used for destruction and war. She stared at Celestina coldly.
“I didn’t only create the Heart Piercer for battles; it is meant to adapt to the dangers of various environments. Apart from using spiritual threads in battles, it can still transform into different forms. It is also convenient for everyday life. If not, how do you think the big, soft bed and tent were created when you fought outside back then?”
Karin’s voice was uncharacteristically proud.
It’s like an amazing Swiss Army knife.
The corners of Rhode’s mouth twitched at the sight of Karin’s sword. But he didn’t say a word. After all, it was also a problem about whether she could understand what a Swiss Army knife was.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. According to my observation, the mechanisms on the first three floors basically have no value anymore. Although there were many considerations when building the maze, that was only on the perimeter. Besides, too much time has gone and underground creatures have caused relatively huge damage to them. I estimate that we won’t be gaining the core controlling rights before the eighth floor.”
“Well, we can’t do anything about that. In this case, let’s move on.”
Rhode wasn’t surprised by her answer because it was the same in the game. Most of the underground creatures were elites and there would occasionally be powerful BOSSes like the Golem Puppet. But as they headed farther down, the number of creatures decreased. Initially, he made Karin investigate the place because he wanted to see if the natives had some ‘unique methods’. But it seemed like the experience was the same.
Something worthy of a mention was that the gatekeepers, the Golem Puppets, gave him the thrill of defeating BOSSes. After sensing his dragon soul aura, the Golem Puppets instantly stopped their attacks and obediently cleared the area of other creatures. Mini Bubble Gum got a kick out of it. At this moment, she had dragged Anne along to supervise the golems in completing their jobs. Perhaps this was just an interest of players.
This wasn’t the only benefit of being a dragon soul heir. He could also use his powers to obtain a map of the entire maze and spot the positions of the four teams of apprentices. Richard’s team had reached the second floor while Stewart’s team was still roaming on the first. Rhode suspected that if this continued, it might take years before that “talented genius” came out of the maze.
He had to admit that the apprentices were indeed powerful elites. Although they faced several accidents after entering the maze, none were critically hurt. But this was expected since most creatures were low-level up to the fifth floor. After reaching the sixth to tenth floor, they would face elite creatures at around level 50 and perhaps some lord BOSSes. When that happened, it would truly be a test of their skills.
“Okay, Your Majesty.”
Karin nodded. Then, she turned around and gazed at Christie. At this moment, Christie was sipping water with Bell’s company and didn’t look great. Although she was excited to join Rhode on this adventure, she didn’t feel well after attacking and killing the creatures. She was kind hearted and disliked hurting others. Although the creatures were odd-looking, they were living creatures, after all. Although Christie’s skills improved drastically with the help of the other ‘Christie’, it still wasn’t enough for her to accept killing. In the past, Christie wasn’t as mindful because it was her other self who did the dirty work while she watched from the sideline. But after doing it herself, she found it to be a challenging task.
“Your Majesty… Please pardon my rudeness. Although your intention is well, Her Highness is still young, after all. And she is physically weak as a human. If she continues the journey with us, she will be hurt. As her father, you should care for your daughter—”
“Pfff…!”
Rhode sprayed a mouth of water, put down the water bag in his hand, and looked at Karin helplessly. Indeed, it wasn’t wrong of her to think that they were related due to their similar appearances… Siblings were fine, but surely he didn’t look like her father!
Karin looked at him blankly. Then, she pushed up her gla.s.ses and c.o.c.ked her head to the side curiously. On the other side, Canary had burst into laughter, rolling on the floor with her hands hugging her stomach. Fortunately, Mini Bubble Gum and Anne weren’t around. If not, they would have their fair share of laughter. Christie gazed at Rhode quietly, her complexion flushed in red. Bell didn’t seem to have any response… Could it be that she thought the same?!
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Yes, everything is wrong. Christie isn’t my daughter, Karin…”
Rhode could tolerate being mistaken as her brother, but it was a totally different matter for him to be treated as her father. He quickly explained Christie’s background and clarified the situation with Karin. After hearing his explanation, Karin’s indifferent reaction seemed as though she didn’t feel like she said anything wrong.
“I see, Your Majesty… I thought that Her Highness is the child of you and Madam Christie.”
“Why do you think so?”
Rhode asked curiously. Karin said.
“Because the dragon soul power is too powerful and not anyone could withstand it. So it is impossible for an ordinary body to be impregnated.”
I see…
Rhode finally understood why. No wonder the Creator Dragon Souls were basically the inheritance of powers and couldn’t bear the next generation like humans. For female dragon soul heirs like the Judgment Dragon, Ruling Dragon, and Light Dragon, they couldn’t be pregnant if the man couldn’t withstand their dragon soul powers. On the other hand, a male dragon soul heir like the Dark Dragon had undead creatures as his subjects so it was impossible to have children.
Rhode had thought about this for a while now because after such a long time, none of the women were impregnated by him. He had even suspected that something was wrong with his body after transmigrating to this world… But now it seemed like it wasn’t his problem. Instead, the truth was that his dragon soul powers were too powerful that none of his women could withstand it.
Since this was the case, it wasn’t hard to explain why Karin treated Christie as his child. She must have seen the other ‘Christie’ when she was alive in the past, so it wasn’t strange that she had such thoughts. But…
Rhode suddenly recalled that Marlene had also awakened as a Deity Warden. According to Karin’s theory, did it mean that if he continued his way… Marlene might get pregnant?
Forget it, there’s no point in thinking about that now.
Rhode shook his head, while Karin gazed at the uncertain Christie with knitted brows.
How strange. I sensed some similar aura from her but they don’t have any blood relations at all… Madam Christie, what exactly is going on?
Boom!
At this moment, a deep explosion boomed. The floor began to shake and the torches on the wall flickered. In an instant, the entire world fell into complete darkness.
“Your Majesty.”
Karin said, her voice unprecedentedly determined.
“Yes, I understand.”
Rhode stood to his feet. Shortly after, Canary lit up a flare and it formed a dazzling fire ring that enveloped everyone. Not only Rhode, but Gracier and Madaras also put on a stern expression and clutched their daggers. Celia lifted her sword, bursting with sacred flames. Under the holy radiance, the surrounding darkness faded away as though they were retreating.
“I didn’t expect Chaos to reach this place. It seems like we were too naive…”
“———!”
All of a sudden, the surrounding darkness coalesced, transforming into creatures who pounced on them!