Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Before the Blue Gate, Maltimus grabbed the gold trident in his right hand and extended his left hand into the void.
Illusionary ripples surrounded the blackened arm where a sulfuric fire was burning. The closer it was to the palm, the more it was like a lake where intense ripples were surging out.
The front end of the palm was completely blurred, as if the core of the ripples was connected to a different world.
Gentle light spread out of the gold trident in Maltimus’ right hand, resulting in the shiver of the Blue Gate. Hazy blueness sprayed out and attempted to cover the whole hollow.
Aglaea took one step back. The shadow of the elven tree behind her suddenly became concrete, and weird limbs grew out of the fuzzy root of the tree one after another. They entangled with each other into a monster and penetrated into the hazy blue light.
As a result, the ripples of light were soothed, like an ocean where the tornado had come to an end.
In the space around Aglaea that seemed to have been brushed by flood, the “mud” that was tightly clutched by the root was not blown away.
Therefore, she exited the range of the Blue Gate at ease without being locked at all.
However, after half melting with the elven tree, her face was rather pale. It was obvious that she had paid a high price.
The moment she exited the range of the Blue Gate, Aglaea raised her bow and aimed it at the Lord of Hell.
Fleeing in panic would give the enemy an opportunity to attack from the back. Therefore, she planned to use an attack to defend herself so that Maltimus would have to focus on self-protection for now. That way, she would be able to escape safely.
Spots of green light glowed on Aglaea’s fingertips, and Nature’s Heart glowed behind her. In the meantime, Maltimus also aimed the gold trident at her. It seemed that he was ready to use one of the five strongest abilities of this body.
Right then, Maltimus’ left hand that extended into the void suddenly glittered, as if a tiny sun had just broken out in his hands.
BOOM!
The illusionary ripples were broken, and his left hand was obliterated. However, the all-consuming storm of energy did not stop at all but continued surging at Maltimus.
Maltimus’ body suddenly blurred. He seemed to have entered a different time and space, and he seemed to be spreading throughout the world, living in the heart of every intelligent creature that had negative feelings.
The unpredictable and intangible feelings emerged. The essence of demigods was quite similar to the Blue Gate, the elven tree, and God’s Glory, but it lacked something of critical importance compared with the Furnace of Souls.
The energy storm drowned Maltimus, but the most evil “voice” continued to echo inside.
“Sinful Rebirth!”
Seeing that it was impossible to hit Maltimus who was in a storm of energy, Aglaea dropped her bow. Then, her body blurred and disappeared.
Could there be a better moment of escape than right now?
The remnant shadow of the elven tree slowly faded in the dark ocean. The energy storm finally died down, and the illusionary body became concrete. His right hand was still holding the gold trident, and his left hand was still intact.
“What spell was that?” Maltimus, who did not seem to have been hurt, stared at the void before him.
A level-three legendary sorcerer had hurt him, who had almost arrived in person without the help of anybody else, forcing him to recover with extraordinary powers. That was something that never happened even in the Age of Myths! If the attack were a bit more powerful, it wouldn’t have been so easy for him to recover.
The Lord of Hell stood quietly before the Blue Gate just like that, neither chasing after the elven queen nor trying to break into Lucien’s Atomic Universe.
His body changed and resumed the appearance of Harex, with sapphire scales around the body and a blue crown above the head.
However, the crimson eyes were much redder, and the indifferent gaze in them became a mockery.
He seemed to be staring at the deep black water up above, with the same mocking smile on the corners of his lips.
On the ocean, the sunset raised the most beautiful gold waves.
In the middle of a cluster of reefs, “Mermaid Princess” Doris patted the water with her gold tail softly.
She suddenly sensed the most extreme and evil air erupting from the bottom of the ocean. Then, she saw that the regular fish in the ocean was blackened, their eyes bloodshot.
Such an unexpected change did not surprise her. She merely spoke to herself, “Why did they not stop him from arriving at the main material world? Nobody would benefit from this.”
Then, her face was twisted for a moment, and her voice became old and coarse as she said, “The Silver Moon is glad to see him arrive at the main material world steadily to share the pressure of dealing with me. As a matter of fact, Maltimus would never forget his real opponent. However, they don’t know at all how much I have earned recently. When I succeed, they will only be clowns in the circus.”
The voice was exactly from Benedict III, or “King of Calamities” Viken!
Doris’ beautiful voice came out again. “Was the Silver Moon around?”
“Probably. My Host Star of Destiny sensed something. After all, Lucien Evans has known the location of the Blue Gate, and he has plenty of chances to explore it in the future. Maltimus cannot stay here forever. I’ll never be reassured until I figure out the oddities of this world.” The old and coarse voice came out of her mouth. She seemed to have accommodated Viken’s projection willingly.
As a brutal but definitely distinguished sorcerer, pursuing the truth of the world still flowed in Viken’s veins. He believed that individuals could not be separated from the world, particularly for demigods.
It could be seen from the fact that demigods had to count on hell, abyss, the Silver Moon, or Mountain Paradise in order not to be killed. Therefore, it could be quite risky if one were to improve himself without figuring out the mysteries of the world. He certainly would not do such a thing unless he absolutely had no other choices.
The weirdest thing about this world that all the legendary experts felt was that planets could not be discovered and the Boundless Ocean had no end. Therefore, even though Lucien and the Congress of Magic were his nemeses, he was still glad to see them explore and study the problems.
Doris’ gentle voice came over. “The Silver Moon might be waiting for you to attack…”
She looked at the surging waves far away with blurry eyes, her voice as unpredictable as dream talk.
In the ocean in another direction, a handsome man wearing a red shirt and a black high-collar coat was walking on the ocean, but there was forever a thin layer of blankness between his glittering shoes and the blue water.
His head slightly lowered as he stared at his reflection in the ocean and the setting sun.
The last light of the sun floated along with the wave, covering his reflection in a gold cape.
Behind his reflection, in the middle of the sunset, a silver moon that was not in the sky emitted a cold brilliance. It seemed to be there as it had always been.
……
In the Allyn magic tower in the City in the Sky…
“Aglaea has returned to the Elven Court. The Lord of Hell did not pursue him.” In Hathaway’s library, Douglas, who had dropped his research and arrived, reported the result of his communication with the elven queen.
It had already been five years since Hellen started to supervise Allyn. It was Hathaway’s turn to watch over the City in the Sky now.
“I’m glad to hear that.” Although Aglaea had her own ambitions and was not entirely on the Congress’ side, it was definitely better to have one more top legendary ally now that the Lord of Hell had arrived.
Hathaway controlled the magic circle unhurriedly and said, “All the legendary sorcerers have been informed of the Lord of Hell’s possible ambush.”
Except for the few top legends, even the grand arcanists had to treat the matter prudently. If they were attacked by the Lord of Hell without any preparation, it was possible that they would be killed immediately. Therefore, after Hathaway and Natasha submitted the intelligence to Hathaway, her first decision was to inform the legendary sorcerers who were not out and to contact the legendary sorcerers who were out on missions in an emergency.
Although the emergency devices could not contact the sorcerers in alternate dimensions, they would know that another hostile demigod had reached the main material world the moment they returned.
“I thought that the stable situation would go on. I did not expect such a great change.” Oliver, who had just returned, shook his head in a bitter smile.
Vicente, looking at the half-opened defense outside, said coldly, “It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Maltimus almost considers his interests to be most important, and his greatest enemies are Viken and the South Church. It’s possible that there will be opportunities for cooperation.”
Fernando was devoted to the studies of neutrons and fission, so he had half closed the Thunder Hell. He hadn’t received the message yet.
“However, devils have no boundaries. With enough returns, he will sell us and work with Viken without any hesitation. So, the best choice is to banish him out of the main material world,” Lucien said firmly.
“With us alone? There’s only a one percent chance if all the legendary sorcerers join their hands. But what about the other enemies?” The voice of Erica, Master of Transformation, came from the projection of her demiplanes. She was watching over the branch in Calais in case of the Lord of Hell’s attack.
Lucien nodded his head. “The mission certainly cannot be done by ourselves. I’m planning to go to the Night Highland and visit the Silver-Eyed Count to ask for the help of the God of Silver Moon.”
Everybody in the Highest Council knew his friendship with Rhine and Alterna. So, nobody felt anything wrong about the proposal. However, Douglas shook his head and sighed. “The possibility is not very high. For the Silver Moon, it’s a wonderful thing that Maltimus has reached the main material world.”
Lucien had been rather anxious after the Lord of Hell’s unexpected arrival and never considered the overall situation. After hearing what the president said, he was briefly stunned and realized that it was true.
“Although the odds are not high, I would like to give it a shot.” Never to give up and never to give in was Lucien’s motto.
Douglas nodded. “Let Fernando do it. You’ve been terribly wounded, and the Robe of Grand Arcanists and the Shield of Truth have to be fixed immediately while they can still be fixed. It’s inappropriate for you to go out right now.”
“Alright. I’ll write a letter and ask my teacher to bring it over.” Lucien remembered his teacher’s connection with the King of Nightmare as well as the King of Nightmare’s relationship with the Dark Congress. So, he did not insist.
After he returned to the Atomic Universe, Lucien heaved a sigh. It was true that there were no eternal allies.
Calming himself down, Lucien did not immediately fix the two legendary items. Instead, he brought out a pen and a paper to sort out the data of his exploration.
“Are they still helpful when we didn’t explore the Blue Gate?” Natasha, who was treating her wounds, looked at Lucien curiously.
Lucien smiled. “For other people, they may be useless, but I had a speculation before. Therefore, those data are just for confirmation. It’s not entirely impossible for me to find out the secrets behind it.”
“Are there mathematical models where one presses forward all the time only to reach the original point in the end?” Knowing that Lucien had been stressing that mathematics should be the foundation of analysis and research, Natasha asked casually.
Lucien nodded solemnly. “There is. However, the problem is why it behaves like that.”
