As a genius alchemist, Lapis was talented in many areas. But if there was one thing she was really good at, it was ‘explosion’. The Plane Destruction Bomb was the most destructive among all the alchemical weapons she created. It forcefully fused Order and Chaos and used their collision as an explosive attack that was almost as powerful as a nuclear bomb. Not only that, but if Rhode were to lay out the Plane Destruction Bombs in a circle and set them off at once, the damage would be enough to create a dark hole-like existence that would suck in everything. When that happened, be it Order or Chaos, everything would be destroyed. Nothing would remain; no Chaos, Order, or anything that could be defined. It would obliterate all matter.
Rhode’s idea was to place the Plane Destruction Bombs all over the Darkness Capital, lure Ion over, and set them off. This way, he could kill two birds with one stone. Not only could he take down Ion, but Chaos would also be unable to rush into the Dragon Soul Continent for the time being. Even though this method sounded simple, unfortunately, it was a tactic that ‘killed 1000 enemies, while hurting 800 allies’. As the Plane Destruction Bomb was too powerful, Rhode was mentally prepared for the first layer of defense to be completely devoured. Besides, no one knew whether the ‘dark hole’ created by the explosion would pull the entire continent in. If that were to happen, Rhode would be finding trouble for himself. In that case, for safety’s sake, he could place the Plane Destruction Bombs in the center of the Darkness Capital. This way, it would only hit the first outer layer of the continent and decrease its damage to the maximum.
However, this was only in theory, after all. Considering the dangers, Rhode wasn’t willing to risk trying the Plane Destruction Bomb on the Dragon Soul Continent. If things went too far, perhaps he would destroy the continent before Chaos did it.
But now…
“There are some troubles in the Darkness Capital right now. Seems like we can only act according to circumstances now.”
Rhode said, taking a glance at the Plane Destruction Bomb in Lapis’s hands again.
“Lapis, how many did you bring this time?”
“… Erm…”
Upon hearing Rhode’s question, Lapis lowered her head in some embarrassment. Then, she blushed and said softly.
“… Sir Rhode, I made 50 of them and brought them all here. I wonder if that is enough…?”
After hearing Lapis’s bashful reply, the corner of Rhode’s eye twitched. For some unknown reason, this shy and innocent alchemy elf in his eyes suddenly turned into a nuclear arsenal that was counting down the days.
“… Didn’t you say five is enough?”
“Yes… But even so, I’m afraid they aren’t enough. That is why I brought all of them…”
Lapis responded, gazing at Rhode with blush and lowering her head quickly. Rhode’s expressionless face perfectly depicted his emotions. He looked at the worried Lapis, opened his mouth slightly to take in a deep breath, and extended his arm to pat her shoulder gently.
“Well done, Lapis. But you must be careful. If you miscalculate, we may also be swept into it. For safety’s sake, you must be more cautious.”
“Yes, I will take note, Sir Rhode.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s words, Lapis nodded obediently, lifted her head, and gazed at Rhode. Then, she continued.
“Erm… I don’t mind. As long as I can be with Sir Rhode, it doesn’t matter even if an accident were to happen…”
“Cough, cough. Alright, now isn’t the time for that. Let’s move out. We’ll have plenty of time for that later. Let’s focus on accomplishing our task now. Alright, get ready and we’ll move out straight away.”
Rhode let out a cough, interrupted upon realizing that Lapis seemed to be heading into another topic, and gestured to the rest. Upon hearing his reply, Lapis didn’t have any reaction, but also ‘coughed’ gently and followed closely behind him. On the other hand, Icy Snow and Lesa looked curiously at the alchemy elf. However, after staying silent for a while, they also followed Rhode without raising any questions.
But this didn’t mean that others also remained silent.
“… Rhode, pardon me asking, but how do you usually treat Lapis?”
At that moment, Canary’s concerned voice sounded in his head. Even though they weren’t transported to the same place as Lesa, the ‘signal transmitter’ was around, so Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were also aware of what was happening on Rhode’s side. That was why they naturally heard the conversation between Rhode and Lapis.
“… Not too bad, I guess.”
Facing Canary’s question, Rhode answered in an uncertain tone. Frankly, Lapis’s presence was too insignificant. She was also busy most of the time, so she spent much less time with Rhode. It was usually Canary, Mini Bubble Gum, Anne, Christie, Marlene, and Lize who were always by his side. On the other hand, Lapis only headed out once in a while and spent most of her time researching in the lab. Only when she came up with some new gadgets would she step out of her nest, scuttle to Rhode to show her invention, and both of them would spend the night together. Come to think of it, they seldom interacted with each other apart from that. Lapis was a true geek who always stayed home. Besides, she had a gentle and quiet personality and basically never spoke her mind…
All of a sudden, Rhode felt a chill run down his spine.
“… Leader, for some reason, I have this feeling that I’m gonna die in the hands of our own people. In order to prove to me that this is just an illusion, please make sure you treat Big Sister Lapis well…”
Mini Bubble Gum’s tone of voice didn’t sound like she was cracking a joke. Rhode was also aware that this time, this young lady wasn’t joking at the slightest.
Yes, illusion. Everything is an illusion. It doesn’t scare me.
At this thought, Rhode shook his head, tossed that bizarre thought to the back of his head, and focused on the current situation. After all, they only had one goal now, and that was to raze the Darkness Capital to the ground while Ion was out attacking with his armies. In this way, the consequences of Ion and his armies were predictable. But Rhode wouldn’t be that foolish to think that Ion wouldn’t leave behind any forces. After all, he wasn’t a pure Chaos creature who would only look ahead and not look back. Moreover, Rhode also wouldn’t let his guard down even if he were in a true Chaos nest as it would be more terrifying than a heavily guarded fortress. Because one had no ways of knowing whether there would be anything left behind by Chaos Lords ‘accidentally’. Or perhaps a Chaos Lord returning home to sleep after an exhausting battle, only to trap the intruders inside its home… Such instances had happened more than once in the game.
At that moment, the scouts responded. According to their findings, there were a total of three beings in the caliber of Chaos Lords in the Darkness Capital. They were located in the central palace of the city. But as for who exactly the three Chaos Lords were, no one knew. After all, there were countless Chaos Lords. In the game, players had only killed just one percent of them and hadn’t encountered the rest. Like this time when Ion led his armies in the battlefield, Rhode was only able to recognize the Horned Behemoth. As for the other Chaos Lords, he had never seen them before.
“Bubble, Canary, lead your teams respectively. As usual, don’t cause a ruckus. Bubble, focus on providing support this time… Let…” Rhode came to a pause, sensed the environment a little, and continued. “… Mirror lead the team. Can you do it, Mirror?”
“… If Bubble is willing to obey my orders, there should be no issues…”
Upon hearing Rhode’s question, a dreadful voice sounded. After hearing her response, Mini Bubble Gum let out a snort and eventually gave up the role of a leader. It wasn’t surprising since if Bubble were to display her prowess, she would undoubtedly smash their plan to sneak into their destination.
“Alright, move out!”
After ensuring that everyone was ready, Rhode squatted in the shadow and stared at the corner of the street ahead. The instant the steel skeleton guards turned the corner, he commanded and shuttled across the shadows swiftly in a trail of afterimages, arriving beside the steel skeleton guards. At the same time he unsheathed the sword, a dozen players clad in dark cloaks appeared in midair around the steel skeleton guards. The leading, petite shadowy figure extended her arm and tossed a pitch-black, semi-circle enchanted field that enveloped the steel skeleton guards immediately. The black radiance flashed and the entire world had as though been shielded completely. At the same time, Rhode’s blade punctured the body of one of the steel skeleton guards.
“———!”
Along with this attack, several bolts of light erupted from the steel skeleton guard. It tried to turn and retaliate, but at that moment, a thief leaped in the air with daggers in his hands and pierced its eyes. Meanwhile, four of the thief’s shadow clones also struck the other steel skeleton guards. But the moment the thief and his shadow clones disappeared from sight, a knight standing beside Rhode raised and slashed his longsword into one of the steel skeleton guards. Blade rays dazzled. The longsword penetrated the solid body of steel and white, holy flames erupted as the steel skeleton guard crumbled onto the ground.
The trio’s coordination was simply wonderful. Everything took less than 10 seconds from the moment Rhode lashed out and controlled the steel skeleton guards to the knight ending their lives with his holy strike. Before the unfortunate steel skeleton guards even budged, they were thoroughly punished. On the other side, the remaining steel skeleton guards didn’t have it any better either. They were also surrounded by the rest of the group at the same time, collapsing to the ground without having the chance to grunt.
The moment the steel skeleton guards fell onto the ground, a mage wrapped in a pitch-black robe on the other side let out a snarl and extended his arm. Shortly after, along with his action, an emerald brilliance emanated from his fingertips and shrouded the enemy corpses. The moment the emerald brilliance shone, the corpses turned into powder and vanished from sight.
“Phew…”
As the pitch-black enchanted field that enfolded the street dispersed, winds began to whistle again. Rhode lifted his head and turned to Icy Snow. Upon detecting his gaze, the young lady shook her head slightly. After receiving her response, Rhode gave a hand gesture in silence.
The bustling street was now emptied. At a glance, it was as though nothing had happened.
After wiping out the patrols, the group arrived at the northern gate of the Darkness Palace. Along the way, Rhode confirmed that the odd steel skeleton guards weren’t interconnected with one another. He also attempted to eliminate a team of patrols across the street. But the team of patrols on the other side didn’t respond in the slightest. It seemed like even though they were a twisted variant of Order, they were still beings influenced by Chaos, after all. It wasn’t realistic at all to expect them to act as rigorously as Order.
This is the place.
Rhode gazed silently at the sealed steel door. According to the thieves’ reports, the aura of one of the Chaos Lords was discovered here. If Rhode recalled correctly, the back of the northern gate of the Darkness Palace was a huge garden and plaza, which was unsuitable for concealment. Even if the Camp Reversal Badge could conceal their presence, no one knew what the Chaos Lord would do. That was why for safety’s sake, it was best to eliminate the Chaos Lord. However, this place was the lowest level of terrain in the Darkness Palace. As soon as they broke out in a fight, it would likely attract the attention of the other two Chaos Lords. That was why the best way was to attack the three Chaos Lords at the same time. The party that annihilated their Chaos Lord first would assist the other parties until all the threats were removed. They would then set up the Plane Destruction Bomb and get the hell out of there…
It sounded easy, but doing it was entirely different. Even though Rhode had wiped out the patrols of the Darkness Capital, this place was already contaminated by Chaos. As long as Chaos had the intention, it wouldn’t be hard for them to summon more Chaos creatures. That was why when the battle began, it could also be said that not only must Rhode’s group take on a Chaos Lord, but they must also face Chaos creatures. Under such aggression, it wasn’t as simple as eradicating the Chaos Lord and planting the Plane Destruction Bomb. Moreover, Ion would definitely realize the situation and return with his armies after Rhode officially launched an attack on the Darkness Capital. It could also be said that it would be an arrow of no return. As soon as Rhode attacked, there was no turning back and it would be a race against time.
Seems like I can only resort to that now.
At this thought, Rhode knitted his brows, pondered, and let out a sigh.
“Canary, Mirror, split and send out half of your mages and clerics.”
“… Got it, Leader. I’ll get to it right now…”
Upon hearing Rhode’s command, that unwavering voice sounded instantly. Canary remained silent for a few moments before asking.
“Rhode, do you intend to wrap around the entire palace to establish an Order enchanted field?”
“Based on the current situation, this is the best way. We can make the most of our time and ensure that the operation is done without any interference.”
“But our damage output will be affected… Besides, this time we didn’t bring many spell casters with us. The Darkness Palace is really huge too. If we are to send out half of our spell casters to maintain the enchanted field… Over at the BOSS’s side…”
“I’ll be the main attacker on the BOSS’s side. You guys will be in charge of containing them. Be careful; as long as you’re alive, everything is fine. I will defeat the Chaos Lord as soon as I can and meet up with you.”
“… Okay then.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s answer, Canary nodded in agreement. After receiving her answer, Rhode took in a deep breath, lifted his head, and gazed at the pitch-black palace shrouded in fog.
Everything is alright here. I wonder if Orchid Heart is doing well on her side…
