Chapter 381: Norton
Ace didn’t hesitate in the slightest. He immediately opened a Portal, and with a few flashes, he left Bakar City. He had no intention of confronting a Pseudo-Rank Legendary Hero head-on. According to Aleias’s intelligence, this kind of Pseudo-Rank Legend, achieved through status power, would lose its legendary power once it left the range of the City-State.
“A corpse with Level 2 Life Artisan Bloodline, temporary brainwashing control over Helix, plus a Quasi-Noble Phantasm ‘Hammer of the Pseudo-Vassal’, a dagger that chills my tailbone, and a small stone city capable of sealing space. One could say the harvest is plentiful!”
Ace hovered at the border of Bakar City-State, watching the pale golden light slowly approaching, runes flickering in his eyes.
King Ludendorff of Bakar was furious. He hadn’t expected that in such a short time, Bunian would be dead and the ‘Hammer of the Pseudo-Vassal’ stolen. He dared not leave the City-State’s range, so he could only glare furiously at Ace opposite him, throwing out hundreds of energy hammers to vent the resentment in his heart.
“Dark Raven Devil, is this a declaration of war against the five Northern City-States?”
Ace gently took off his top hat, his silvery-white hair drifting in the wind. Elegantly dodging the energy hammers thrown by the opponent using the Portal spell, he spoke in a clear and gentle voice: “No, dear Majesty Ludendorff, I come for peace.”
Ludendorff had never seen such a brazen person. attacking their doorstep and shouting for peace—was there something wrong with his brain?
“Is your peace killing my capable general and snatching our Quasi-Noble Phantasm?”
Ace raised both hands elegantly high toward the sky, then placed one hand over his chest and pressed the other on the void, bowing slightly to Ludendorff. He said solemnly: “You have been besieging us all along. Today, representing the High Tower, I announce that as long as your five Northern City-States do not agree to a truce with us under the witness of the Deities, every Divine Descendant among you must be vigilant. I will carry out assassinations without a bottom line.
“From this day forth, the skies of Salia will be shrouded by ghosts. Panic and unease will spread in your hearts. Peace is never easy; without pain, there can be no true peace!
“May Your Majesty think carefully: whether to engage in limitless harm or to acknowledge us and reach a truce agreement.”
Ace’s figure slowly turned into a dreamlike bubble and vanished. It turned out he had already left long ago, leaving only a dream phantom to converse with Ludendorff.
Ludendorff stared at the spot where Ace disappeared, seemingly wanting to memorize this enemy who appeared both elegant and crazy. A thought flashed repeatedly in his mind: Are we really going to let a human faction not controlled by Divine Descendants rise in the Salia region?
He thought for a moment, returned to the palace, and used a mirror-like wonder.
After leaving Bakar City-State, Ace skipped Milne City directly and headed for Norton City-State to the west of Milne.
Inside the Mental Imagery World, the Glazed Heart Fire was burning Bunian’s corpse, extracting the Artisan Bloodline within bit by bit. The corpse of a Great Hero was quite durable against burning. Although it was already charred black, only a small portion of the Artisan Bloodline had been extracted.
Ace controlled the power of the Heart Fire, keeping it from burning completely. He only used 20% power. If the power was too high, it would burn both the Artisan Bloodline and the corpse into ashes. Around 20% was a relatively safe level.
He flew somewhat leisurely in the sky, interrogating Helix about the intelligence of each City-State.
Helix, completely soul-controlled by Ace, answered very obediently: “Lord Ace, Bakar City-State only had two Great Heroes. Bunian among them has already been executed. King Ludendorff cannot leave the City-State’s range, so the threat from that state is basically zero. Milne also has only two Great Heroes left: myself and King Yves.
“Norton City-State has two Great Heroes. One of them is a Golden Hero named Malgan. He possesses immense strength and extremely fast movement speed. Even you, Lord Ace, might find it hard to withstand a full-force strike from him.
“Eric City-State has four Great Heroes. The ones that can be mobilized are the Jim Brothers. They are triplets. Although their individual strength isn’t strong, their combined strength when working together cannot be underestimated.
“Bain City-State has four Great Heroes. Besides the King, there is one named Arnold, who moved to Medimus City-State in the south due to discord with the King. The remaining two Great Heroes are called Kerr and Gat. They are also brothers and are considered veteran Great Heroes with extremely rich combat experience.”
Listening to Helix’s words, Ace’s True Spirit closed its eyes, pondering.
“Malgan’s strength should be very strong. It would be better to directly banish him to the outer plane and not give him a chance to return.
“The Jim Brothers are inseparable. I must banish one of them as well. No need to send him to the outer plane; just separating them temporarily to give me a chance to defeat them one by one will suffice.
“Against Kerr and Gat, I’ll adopt the same operational thinking. In short, disrupt their coordination, create local superiority, and thoroughly defeat and kill them.”
Ace released Helix from the Mental Imagery World. He himself transformed into a shadow and merged into Helix’s shadow, entering Norton City-State together with Helix.
Just then, Ludendorff also activated that magical mirror. As the mist dissipated, the mirror gradually brightened. In the palace of Eric City-State, a mirror appeared in front of King Gladstone of Eric City-State.
“King Gladstone, I apologize for disturbing you.”
Gladstone was startled at first, then looked closely and saw it was Ludendorff. He waved his hand and said seriously, “No matter. you used the Universal Mirror, so there must be important matters.”
Ludendorff nodded and said in a heavy voice, “Bunian is dead. He was killed personally by the ‘Dark Raven Devil’ in his mansion within Bakar City. It is almost certain that the ‘Dark Raven Devil’ possesses strength comparable to a Golden Hero and had insight into Bunian’s weaknesses, otherwise, he couldn’t have killed Bunian so easily.”
Gladstone said with a solemn expression, “Are you saying there’s an insider?”
Ludendorff replied, “It is very likely someone betrayed us. But the urgent task is not to purge insiders, but to gather the Great Heroes at the palace. If necessary, use the status power of the City-State to wield the power of a Pseudo-Rank Legend, avoiding the continued assassination of our Great Heroes by the ‘Dark Raven Devil’!
“Once I have contacted everyone, we will gather our manpower in one place and crusade against the Desecrator!”
After speaking, Ludendorff canceled the connection with Gladstone and turned to contact the King of Norton City-State.
Gladstone sighed deeply, then ordered someone to invite the Jim Brothers to wait for Ludendorff’s news together at the palace.
Ludendorff let out a long breath. Bloodline power flowed through the Universal Mirror, slowly searching for the imprint left for the King of Norton. A blurry mirror gradually appeared in the Norton Palace.
Helix also arrived inside Norton City. After displaying the token from Milne City, he entered the city without any obstruction and headed straight for the mansion of the Golden Hero Malgan.
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com