Chapter 327: The True Secret Society, the Magic Sealing Crystal Secured
A group of angels gently beat their wings, suspended in the sky. Their holy radiance intertwined and echoed!
The 32 Tranquility Archon Angels at the forefront each held a silver spear-like staff. Their four pairs of wings formed a continuous sheet, and the unparalleled, breathtaking sight silenced the entire battlefield.
Kelart swayed, a morbid flush appearing on his pale face, weakened from excessive magic power consumption.
"Her Majesty, Holy Queen Calca..."
A wave of excitement and fervor surged through Kelart's brown pupils.
Although this power couldn't compare to the angels summoned by the Slane Theocracy, it was still enough to easily dictate the victory of a war!
Humans... Why?
The Green Leaf Witch, holding the unconscious Enri, quickly retreated to Tang Zheng's position, her eyes warily fixed on Kelart's direction.
In her experience, humans had always been weak beings, but everything she had experienced today shattered her entire understanding.
"Cuiye, put Enri on Xiao Hei's back."
A calm and steady voice sounded softly.
The Green Leaf Witch dazedly came to her senses and quickly replied, "Yes."
"Awooo."
The Ghoul Dog prostrated itself, and Tang Zheng stepped off its back.
Only then did the Green Leaf Witch carefully place Enri onto the Ghoul Dog's back.
Looking at the unconscious Enri.
"She should just be exhausted." Tang Zheng felt relieved.
The power of that last attack was too strong, and Enri's level was too low. Even by borrowing the power of her class itself, her body could barely withstand it.
His gaze swept over the Green Leaf Witch beside him.
Tang Zheng could roughly guess her thoughts. Was it because the power displayed by the humans was too shocking?
Heh.
Tang Zheng chuckled inwardly, his gaze returning to the Cleric Corps, or more precisely, to the crown in Kelart's hands.
The crown, which had originally shimmered with a golden luster and was adorned with bright crystals, had become extremely dim. Even the transparent crystals on it were a dull, dusty gray.
"The magical luster has completely vanished."
"It probably can't be used consecutively and might even need a long time to recover."
After observing the crown's state, Tang Zheng had already deduced some information.
If it was like this for the Holy Kingdom, the Theocracy was likely much the same.
The Magic Sealing Crystal was a part of the Slane Theocracy's foundation. In the eyes of the people of this Otherworld, it was an extremely rare item.
Even for a Player, it was a relatively valuable item.
And the process for the Slane Theocracy to infuse the 7th-tier "Angel Summoning" into a Magic Sealing Crystal required an enormous expenditure of manpower and resources to complete.
This was by no means a conventional method.
"If I remember correctly, these angels should be Neutral summoned creatures." Tang Zheng stared at Kelart, wanting to see how he would command these angels.
He had actually wanted to test the new tenth-tier magic he had mastered. After all, the magic Kelart activated with the crown was a degraded version, but the current situation was clearly unsuitable.
"Final War (Evil)" and "Armageddon (Good)" had similar effects.
The original work mentioned that the demons summoned by "Final War (Evil)" were not considered allies of the summoner. Aside from not attacking the summoner, they would attack everything else around them indiscriminately.
Therefore, it was generally used for things like sacrifices, offering magic, or activating rituals. This could also be considered a restriction of the magic.
"As expected of 'Good'-aligned angels."
Tang Zheng observed that these summoned angels had not made any move since they appeared. He mused, "At least they're much friendlier than the demons that attack indiscriminately upon arrival."
At this moment.
Kelart slowly lowered the crown he had been holding above his head. A devout expression appeared on his cheeks as he held the crown before his chest with both hands.
"I am Kelart Custodio, Chief Priest of the Holy Kingdom's Temple and Captain of the Cleric Corps."
"I ask you, honored angels, to annihilate these demi-humans!"
Kelart raised his head slightly, looking directly at the host of angels in the sky, and spoke in a solemn and serious tone.
A brief silence!
*Rustle—*
The host of angels began to beat their wings, swooping down towards the demi-humans on the battlefield.
Seeing this.
"Not a command or an order, but a 'negotiation'? Or perhaps it's to give these summoned Neutral angels a more explicit target."
A thought stirred in Tang Zheng's mind, and he vaguely began to understand the trick to commanding these angels.
The Otherworld was a real world, not a game, so some magic would differ from how it appeared in the game. This was something Tang Zheng paid close attention to.
*Whoosh— Whoosh—*
Over 200 angels streaked through the sky!
In particular, the 32 Tranquility Archon Angels plunged into the midst of the demi-humans in a mere moment.
Having just been through a war, the mentally and physically exhausted demi-human troops simply could not withstand the power of these angels.
The enraged roars and miserable screams of the demi-humans instantly echoed through the sky!
"It developed just as I expected."
Tang Zheng watched this scene, his eyes flickering for a moment before returning to calm.
Was Kelart cruel? Did he betray the previous cooperation agreement?
That was only from the perspective of the demi-human faction.
Tang Zheng was no saint. The number of demi-humans he himself had slaughtered was not small, and he had no justifiable reason to stop any of this.
The hatred between the Holy Kingdom and the demi-humans had persisted for hundreds of years. It couldn't be stopped or forgotten with just a few words.
How could the Holy Kingdom possibly give up an opportunity like this, unless a greater benefit or an unstoppable power appeared!
The remaining forces of the Sunlight Scripture watched all of this unfold with indifference, showing no intention of intervening.
The secret task that the Cardinal of the Slane Theocracy had covertly given Captain Nigun—'to prevent the Holy Kingdom from completely annihilating the demi-humans'—was known only to Captain Nigun himself.
Now that Captain Nigun was dead, there was naturally no one to stop it.
"Hm!"
Tang Zheng's gaze suddenly focused, his attention immediately shifting to his shadow clone. "Found him!"
The mountain range south of the hills.
The shadow clone descended rapidly from the sky, looking into a deep pit located in a crevice of the mountain range.
To say the Alliance Leader was in a miserable state would be an understatement. The black mist that had enveloped his entire body had completely dissipated, and a pure black magic robe hung in tatters on his frame.
His true appearance, which had always been hidden, was revealed!
It was an incomparably hideous sight. His entire body had no skin, looking like a skeleton that had not yet completely decomposed.
The surface of the skeleton was covered with a thin layer of red flesh. This was especially obvious on his cheeks, where the crimson, dried flesh was most prominent. Lacking the support of skin and muscle, the remaining flesh on his entire face hung loosely.
Especially that pair of protruding, cold white eyes—one large and one small—was terrifying.
Tang Zheng had been somewhat suspicious before, but now seeing his appearance, he was completely certain that the other party was an undead.
The Alliance Leader's exposed jawbone was slightly slanted, preventing his mouth from closing completely, leaving it in a perpetually open state.
"To think I would lose to a mere priest."
The Alliance Leader trembled as he climbed out of the pit. His entire body emitted a sizzling sound as it was corroded by the holy, purifying energy. Enduring the feeling of weakness, he looked at the shadow clone descending from the sky, his jawbone clacking up and down.
"Surprised, aren't you... that I... am not dead? How could I possibly die before the great God returns!"
"This world... is far vaster and more terrifying than you can imagine. Do you know... why I'm doing all this?"
"In the eyes of ordinary people, Zuranon is... an evil secret society, but in this world, there exists... a secret society even more terrifying than Zuranon!"
The Alliance Leader's hoarse, grating voice sounded out, weak yet fanatical.
To have endured a full-powered blow from the Dominion Authority and survived, as an undead, could only mean that the Alliance Leader possessed some kind of powerful magic item.
Of course, Tang Zheng knew the Alliance Leader was stalling for time. The shadow clone couldn't speak and had no intention of doing so. It raised its hand, preparing to launch a magic attack.
"Wait, wait!"
Seeing that the shadow clone, despite having the upper hand, showed no signs of questioning or curiosity, the Alliance Leader's plan to stall for time was shattered. He panicked and immediately mobilized what little magic power he had left.
"Teleportation!"
A magic ring on the Alliance Leader's left middle finger flashed with a faint light, and his trembling body suddenly distorted.
"One-Sided Duel."
The shadow clone saw the disappearing Alliance Leader and immediately followed up by casting its own magic.
The next instant.
Their vision blurred.
Both of them vanished from their spot simultaneously. When they reappeared, they were in a dry jungle.
The shadow clone quickly locked onto the Alliance Leader not far away and, without hesitation, began to cast magic again: "Thun..."
For him to have been able to cast "Teleportation" once in his state was already surprising enough for Tang Zheng. It was impossible for him to have enough spare magic power to cast it again.
*Whoosh—*
A piercing sound of something cutting through the air came from behind the shadow clone. It was so fast that a normal magic caster's reaction time would be insufficient to dodge.
However!
The shadow clone was no normal magic caster. For a moment, Tang Zheng considered letting the shadow clone take the hit, but after a brief hesitation, he quickly switched spells:
"Dimensional Shift!"
*Swish!*
The shadow clone instantly vanished, reappearing over ten meters away.
The short dagger pierced the air with a hiss!
"Oh my, to think you could dodge that. You're quite the cautious one."
A surprised voice sounded.
The shadow clone stood ten meters away, looking at the person who had just attacked it. It was Clementine, who had been sent flying by the Alliance Leader and disappeared in the chaos.
Tang Zheng, seeing this through the shadow clone's eyes, immediately understood. This was clearly a backup plan arranged by the Alliance Leader.
"You didn't kill him, so my identity has been exposed."
Clementine's right hand reached behind her, grabbing at her cloak, and she pulled out another short dagger, a savage grin on her face as she looked at the shadow clone.
"As long as you kill him, no one will... know your identity has been exposed," the Alliance Leader said, his voice faltering.
"Ooh~"
Clementine drew out the sound, tilting her head at an angle and looking sideways at the Alliance Leader. "Even if he does tell someone, no one would believe him, right, Lord Alliance Leader?"
Hearing this, the Alliance Leader's cold white pupils shrank. He immediately realized that Clementine, seeing his current weakened state, was probably having other ideas.
His original backup plan didn't just consist of Clementine; the Gray-robed Mage was also part of it!
However, upon seeing the birth of the Soul Eater demon, the Alliance Leader had already realized the Gray-robed Mage was dead.
"Hehe..."
The Alliance Leader's withered arm, covered in a layer of red flesh, drooped. His hideous face twisted, and flames seemed to burn faintly in his eyes. "My dear high disciple, you should understand that only I can help you achieve your goal."
The savage smile on Clementine's lips grew even wider. Her aura became like that of a wild beast preparing to hunt.
Tang Zheng felt that the shadow clone's inability to speak was a troublesome matter because he suddenly wanted to cooperate with Clementine to get rid of the Alliance Leader and then secretly control Zuranon.
The information the Alliance Leader had just deliberately revealed, the mention of another evil society!
This finally allowed Tang Zheng to figure out something that had been puzzling him.
Why had the Alliance Leader stirred up such a huge commotion between the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy, and why had he only brought two of his powerful high disciples?
Because from the very beginning, the Alliance Leader had planned for failure!
In other words, the Alliance Leader's true goal was to use the commotion created by the legendary undead to attract the attention of another, true secret society.
This secret society was—Body of the Abyss!
Tang Zheng also knew another extremely obscure secret: the current Body of the Abyss was controlled by a True Dragon Lord.
Using the influence created by Zuranon to make contact with the Body of the Abyss was a good method.
But!
The shadow clone couldn't speak, let alone express his intentions, and Tang Zheng, currently in the center of the battlefield, couldn't just disappear and rush over here.
Clementine held a short dagger in each hand and fixed her gaze on Tang Zheng once more. Her rounded, powerful legs tensed and lowered as she assumed a cheetah's pounce.
*Skraaa—*
A hoarse screech came from above.
It was a skeletal griffin!
Clementine licked the corner of her mouth, her attacking motion pausing.
The skeletal griffin quickly appeared above the Alliance Leader's head, causing his tense nerves to relax.
*Clack.*
The Alliance Leader took out a semi-transparent crystal from a magic leather pouch in his robes and tossed it up towards the skeletal griffin in the air.
This transparent crystal was precisely the Magic Sealing Crystal that Captain Nigun had used up before!
Clementine's pupils dilated as she looked at the Alliance Leader in disbelief.
"I don't think there's any problem between... us that can't be resolved. Take this Magic Sealing Crystal as a greeting gift for our first meeting."
The Alliance Leader looked at Tang Zheng and let out a strange laugh.
"Skraw!"
The skeletal griffin clutched the Magic Sealing Crystal tightly, flapped its wings, and shot straight up into the sky, flying towards the center of the battlefield.
The other party was clearly gambling that Tang Zheng would either continue to fight Clementine here or give chase to the fleeing skeletal griffin.
Such an endless stream of tricks!
As expected of the Alliance Leader. If the shadow clone truly only had the power of 5th-tier magic, it would probably choose to pursue the skeletal griffin right now.
"Teleportation!"
The shadow clone's figure vanished in an instant.
The Alliance Leader's expression relaxed. He immediately looked at Clementine. "Let's go, quickly!"
The skeletal griffin's movement speed was extremely fast. Even with teleportation magic, which instantly moves you to a target's location, it was impossible to lock on quickly if the target was moving at high speed.
Teleportation magic was originally a support spell, not meant for combat.
However!
Just as the Alliance Leader finished speaking, before he could take two steps.
The air not far away distorted.
The shadow clone, holding the Magic Sealing Crystal in one hand, reappeared before the two of them.
"How is that possible!!" The Alliance Leader let out a sharp roar from his hoarse throat, his voice filled with disbelief.
"Silver Knight's Lance."
The clone raised a single hand and aimed it at the Alliance Leader. A silver spear, over two meters long, materialized and instantly pierced through the Alliance Leader.
(end of chapter)