novelraw Chapter 221 - 220 - Invincible Body
Chapter 221 - 220 - Invincible Body
The Regent felt all life nearly leave his body. He had been weak before but now he suspected he really was dying. His Qi did not connect to the world anymore. His body felt so heavy, and his fonts were weakening.
Death was coming but compared to what he was looking at, he realized the grave error they had made. The Relic was crumbling. It was going to happen eventually but their best estimates had put it at tens of thousands of years before it began to fail.
It would likely be millions of years before it became unusable.
Now, however, he watched as a massive pillar of light faded and the walls collapsed as if all cohesive power was lost. The Trial of Stone was spent and Lind Frey could not be held accountable as he had forced it to work at full power himself.
Were the spirits truly after the destruction of Altair? What karma had they sewn that they would be crushed by a mere Stone Tier?
Hearty laughter came from Crown Prince Ryu that the Regent felt offended by but he was nowhere near powerful enough even at his peak to challenge the prince of Darkmoor Kingdom. His son looked ill but no one noticed the Regent's fading condition.
The sound of footsteps came out of the stone dust kicked up by the collapse of the Relic as a bloody and black covered Lind Frey emerged. The Regent's eyes narrowed to see how weak the boy looked. It was a chance!
The Regent channeled the last of his cultivation into his dantian and launched an attack at the low Gold Tier before anyone could react. Many had been using techniques to protect themselves as the Qi in the world was much thinner after the Relic consumed it all.
The Regent felt a numbness spread throughout his body but his aim was true. A rough stone spear flew across the ground and slammed into Lind's heart. The smile that had been about to spread was replaced with horror.
The shattered spear shaft fell away but Lind was no more injured than when he emerged. He had just taken a low Gold Tier attack and it did not even scratch him! Darkness closed in as all hope fled his broken soul.
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Lind was not sure what had just happened on many levels. He had been through a final tempering that if he had not been through the month-long process would have easily killed him. He felt weak as a newborn but power was swiftly returning as he carefully walked out of the wreckage of the spent Relic.
He had thought he would see a Ruin collapse before a Relic, but now he knew what could come when a Relic no longer had Qi to hold it together. The process was normally slow but Lind had pulled out all the remaining Qi as he was fairly certain it was originally part of an Immortal Inheritance.
He wondered at the final message of the last golem but just then he had been hit by something that felt like a light tap before the Regent fell over dead. It took his tired mind a moment to grasp he had been attacked but a moment more to comprehend why horror was dawning on the Altairan nobles.
A low Gold Tier attack had barely affected him?! How strong was his body?!
Lind carefully bent over and picked up the staff still full of Gold Tier quality Qi and easily snapped it in 2 with a single fist. He quickly checked his body and felt shocked.
Mid Iron Tier. He was at mid Iron Tier but could withstand Gold Tier attacks! He still felt something and both Gold and Diamond minor realm increases were exponential growth in power. He would need to practice with the Maidens when he had a chance to.
"My Brother, you never cease to surprise me!" A voice he had never expected to hear again was quickly interrupted by golden fur burying him. A slimy feeling began to cover his body and it tickled! He was being licked!
"Stop that! Those are impurities! They are bad!" Lind easily pushed back the lioness but she only treated it as a game and pawed at him. Her claws could not even scratch him so he had no fear of being hurt but he had to get cleaned up! He had things to do!
The Qi was strangely thin but Lind was now far more efficient than before he entered the Relic. All were stunned as water suddenly appeared at mid Iron Tier quality but the power was far above that! The crowd found it hard to gauge what level of strength Lind Frey had just summoned.
"Much bett–" He did not even get to really speak before the licking began again. A tired sigh and a clear sign of surrender made the lioness purr at him while playfully trying to knock him over. Lind's body responded by instinct to keep himself upright.
Many of the battle hardened warriors felt a tremor of fear in their hearts but could not understand why. What had happened that their instincts were wary? Some of them were Diamond Tiers to a Sky Realm but none could pin down the source of the disturbance.
"Powerful. I want to fight him." A female voice drew Lind's eyes but the demoness he saw made him tilt his head. She seemed familiar. He had never met her, but the familiarity remained until he saw the sword on her hip. It finally came together!
"You are senior Callisto! It is a pleasure to meet you at last. Solon likes to brag about you when not being annoying." Lind noticed her eyes went from pleased to suddenly a very cold feeling that made several people back up.
He noticed Crown Prince Ryu at last but the man was suddenly very interested in looking up at the sky. Lind could have sworn the man was saying a prayer to the spirits.
"What, exactly, did little Solon say about me?" Oh dear. Lind realized he had let his tired mind and spirit allow him to put his friend in danger. He tried to quickly think of the least offensive but Solon was mouthy. He often let his mouth lead him into danger for the fun of it.
"Um, ah, h-he may have told me how beautiful your sword play was. He also may have said he wished he could have faced you in a duel or in battle. Things like that." The lioness was rubbing her head against him and he wanted to badly hide behind her as the cold eyes of the demoness seemed to look through his soul.
"I see, Ryu, I will be back." Callisto summoned a massive flying sword and shot into the sky like a bolt of lightning. At that speed, she would reach higher density Qi very quickly so it should not be an issue to keep flying.
"Ryu, should I warn Solon?" Ryu scratched the side of his cheek with a serious look on his face as he shrugged while the rest were flummoxed by the swift turn of events.
"Pray hard and hope he is on a mission somewhere very dangerous. It may be his only hope." Ryu then smiled at Lind but the latter held his hand up first as he approached the corpse of the Regent. Lewis was kneeling weakly next to his father.
There were plenty of witnesses to what occurred and no one could stop what was to come next.
"Lewis, you are not responsible but you understand what my standing here means, correct?" The boy flinched but the nobles swiftly knelt and there was no dismissal in their eyes now. Their king was before them. Lewis slowly stood up and knelt down.
"We await your command, my King." There were no other direct royal heirs. There were no longer any doubts about Lind's authority. The sudden flutter of crimson robes covered Lind as he stood imperiously over the natives of Altair.
"My friends and acquaintances from afar, I officially welcome you to my Kingdom. Please join me in 2 days for a banquet to properly welcome you all." Many bowed in acceptance while Lind turned to Ryu and smirked at him. "I suppose you want a fight?"
Ryu tilted his head back and laughed loudly while approaching Lind, hugging him tight. Lind noted that Ryu was at the peak of Gold Tier and he truly felt the strength in his limbs but it was within his reach.
Peak Gold Tier! His body was ridiculous!
"Ready to go home?" The lioness roared and pulled Lind once more on to her back and took off back to the castle. Ryu laughed and pulled his ship into his storage ring. A Gold Tier easily had the power to sprint all the way back to the castle and Ryu happily did so.
All the rest made their way out of the ravine to reach higher density Qi to use their own artifacts or power of flight to get ready for the banquet. Communication jades were lighting up and word spread far beyond the border of Sarth of what happened.
The ravine became quiet as all that was left was Lewis and the nobles. The dead body of the Regent had been taken by Lind but no one knew what he would do with it. After the last powerful cultivator left, a few of the nobles stood up and began to make their way to the carriages.
A few trembled and knew they had no escape. The witnesses had seen everything so denial was impossible and even political maneuvers were closed off. Lind Frey was their king and they could do nothing to stop him!
They looked almost vacantly at the now empty space where the Relic had once stood. It had been there for close to a million years. It had helped choose heirs of Altair for so long that there was nothing more appropriate then to brag about the Trial of Stone to foreign visitors.
Now, they had an outsider of royal blood that not only survived but clearly discovered the true purpose of the Relic. It made invincible bodies! It was a tempering Relic! Those were more precious than even a peak World Stone mine! The Stardust Emporium would have negotiated for massive resources to have access to the Relic.
All the woes of Altair could have been solved just by the Relic they prided themselves on.
Dead-eyed nobles slowly followed their more vigorous fellow lords to the carriages until only Lewis remained. He had not moved and no one bothered about him. A month ago he was a rising star and it was a shining future for them all, but it was all dust now.
It had crumbled with the Relic.
"Father, why? Why did we ever try to use him? Why didn't we truly court him as the son of his royal highness? Why?" There was no cure for regret and Lewis pulled out his dagger before moving to plunge it into his heart.
A hand suddenly appeared and stopped his hand cold. It was a dark lavender and Cyntilla was revealed as the illusion plate burnt out. Her virulent green eyes bored down into Lewis as tears fell from his face.
"You don't get to run away, little boy. Your King does not grant you that mercy." Cyntilla's cold voice paired with her sadistic smile made all hope die in Lewis' heart. She then tied him up and hauled him like a sack of wheat as she quickly took off after her beloved.