Chapter 849 Heart Eater <TOC> Chapter 851 Instant Kill
Translator: SumTLMan
At Angel’s behest, Shannon complied.
“Without the interference of the transcendent, I believe we can surely reclaim our lost territories and repel Sea Wave. Even if we still lose the war under such circumstances, we would accept it.” These were Shannon’s exact words, and it was these words that kindled a spark of admiration in Angel for this seemingly delicate princess.
A woman who appraises the situation, prioritizes her nation, and takes up arms just two months after giving birth possesses a unique aura that emanates from within.
Of course, while Angel found Shannon’s actions commendable, it was not solely due to this admiration that he agreed to her request.
As a wizard who adheres to the principle of equivalent exchange, his willingness to acquiesce to Shannon’s demand was primarily sparked by the news about the knight’s sword, which piqued his curiosity.
How did an ordinary knight’s sword acquire traces of the fire element?
As an alchemist, he found this question intriguing; because in Angel’s view, given the sword’s composition, it would be challenging to inherit elemental power—he wanted to investigate this mystery.
Moreover, the trace fire element is an extension of the fire element. He was curious about how the trace fire element was successfully gathered in the Old Land Continent, a place where elements are diluted and extremely inert.
A suspicion lurked in his mind: could Shannon’s secret be related to the “Mystery of Elemental Disappearance” mission?
It was for this reason that Angel was willing to take a two-day break from his retreat and come to investigate.
Angel glanced at Shannon, who was struggling to suppress her joy, “It’s time for you to reveal your secret, isn’t it?”
Shannon appeared somewhat hesitant, fearing that if she revealed her secret now, would Angel withdraw his support?
“Actually, there are many ways for me to uncover your secret. I could even do so without you being aware, obtaining your secret effortlessly.” Angel paused for a moment, “But I didn’t do that. Since I have agreed to your request, I will honor my word.”
Shannon was aware of the wizard’s mysterious abilities. Angel might indeed possess a spell akin to “mind reading”. With this in mind, Shannon finally nodded in agreement.
“Actually, the object that endowed the knight’s sword with elemental power is a kind of…” Shannon’s explanation was brief, as the royal family didn’t have much understanding of this object either.
“Stalactite Fluid?” Angel was slightly taken aback. He had always assumed it would be something capable of absorbing elements, which would fit the mission “Mystery of Elemental Disappearance”. What he hadn’t expected was that it was simply a peculiar stalactite fluid.
According to Shannon’s narrative, this stalactite fluid was the secret of the royal family’s underground palace, a liquid that dripped from a stalactite that had existed for an unknown number of years.
Every three decades, a single droplet of fluid trickles from the stalactite. Anything placed at the point of descent, once anointed by this droplet, becomes imbued with a certain elemental property.
In the eyes of the Shannon royal family, the ideal recipients of such elemental properties are, naturally, weapons ready for combat.
Thus, every thirty years, they select what they deem to be the finest weapon, position it at the drop point, and await the arrival of the stalactite fluid.
“Does each droplet of stalactite fluid imbue the weapon with a faint fire element?” Angel queried Shannon.
Shannon nodded, then shook his head, “It infuses an elemental property, but it’s not necessarily fire. In the royal treasury, there’s a plate imbued with the water element. Every so often, clean water gathers in the plate, regardless of how arid the environment may be.”
Shannon went on to list some of the past treasures of the Shannon royal family: a dagger so sharp it could slice through iron, a sword radiating cold, a staff that conjured a dust storm upon waving…
These weapons bore grand names, such as Dagger of the Gods, Glacial Gaze of the Winter Goddess, End of All Cycles… Even the shattered knight sword Shannon had previously used had a formal name: Wrath of Mularshil.
In the Old Land continent, it is said that the true name of the fire god is Mularshil.
Setting aside the rather grandiose names that invite ridicule, Angel was more intrigued by the stalactite that could drip stalactite fluid of different elemental properties.
Angel had speculated that the so-called stalactite fluid might be an extremely stable elemental aggregate fluid. Otherwise, it couldn’t so easily integrate into other objects.
However, even if it were stable, how could a single stalactite produce completely different elemental aggregate fluids? After all, even if the structure of an element is stable, encountering a contradictory element would inevitably cause some reactions, like water meeting fire.
Yet this stalactite could produce stalactite fluid of the water type, fire type, and even other types… This completely overturned Angel’s imagination.
Unless, the stalactite was a Mysterious Object!
However, Angel quickly began to doubt this speculation. If it truly was a Mysterious Object, it should release a mysterious aura when condensing stalactite fluid, which would naturally be detected by other wizards. It wouldn’t have remained in the Shannon royal family for so long.
Regardless of the specific situation, after dealing with the person summoning the Heart Eater, a visit to the royal city of Sambia would reveal the truth about the stalactite.
With this thought, Angel no longer pressed on the matter of the stalactite and gradually settled into quiet.
Sea Moon City is a port city, housing the largest port of the Goldfinch Empire – the Vichy Harbor. It was here that Angel had first disembarked from the Bohemia.
Therefore, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the location of Sea Moon City.
They set off from Grud Town at four in the afternoon, and by the time they arrived in Sea Moon City, it was just nearing dusk.
After disembarking the Gondola, Angel, accompanied by Shannon, arrived at the military camp situated just outside Sea Moon City.
As they traversed, Angel noted the flurry of salutes from Shannon’s soldiers. However, he could discern a pervasive gloom amongst the ranks, their morale evidently at a low ebb.
Moreover, in the eyes of these soldiers, their gaze towards Shannon held not just reverence but was tinged predominantly with pity and empathy.
Many soldiers found Shannon’s arrival stirring a maelstrom of emotions within them, their expressions a mix of wanting to speak yet choosing to stay silent.
When Angel and Shannon finally reached the main tent, Shannon sighed, “I am afraid my soldiers have presented a poor spectacle for you.”
“If we were to face Sea Wave with the current morale of these troops, even if I could restrain their extraordinary combatant, the chances of Goldfinch emerging victorious are slim,” Angel responded in a neutral tone.
“The morale of the army has been struck by the fear of the Heart Eater. If we can deal with the Heart Eater, I believe the morale of the soldiers will certainly be revived.”
Angel chose not to refute, simply replying, “We can only hope so.”
Before their arrival at Sea Moon City, Shannon had informed Angel that they did not need to actively seek out this extraordinary being. As the commander of the stationed army in Sea Moon City, Shannon was inevitably the target, as in every decapitation mission, the commander is the first to fall. Moreover, as a royal princess, her death would undoubtedly plunge the army into chaos.
Therefore, all they needed to do was to walk into the military camp unabashedly, and Sea Wave’s informants would relay their arrival to the extraordinary being, and the Heart Eater would come to them of its own accord.
Because everyone understood this situation, hence when Shannon returned to the camp, the gaze of every soldier held a hint of pity, as they knew the Heart Eater had set its sights on her.
In the hearts of the soldiers, Shannon was essentially tagged with a label of impending death.
“If nothing unexpected occurs, they will make their move tonight,” Shannon, reclining on a fur-covered bench in the tent, informed Angel.
Angel, seated by the window, lifted the curtain made of rain cloth to look outside. He noticed a stark absence of people outside the tent, apart from a golden armored knight, there was no one else.
Angel relayed his observations to Shannon.
Shannon replied, “I had dismissed the guards outside. They would inevitably become cannon fodder when the Heart Eater arrives, so it’s better to let them leave. Moreover, the Heart Eater generally only targets the commander, leaves after the kill, and it’s unnecessary to cause harm to the other soldiers.”
“As for the golden armored knight, he is General Aaron who accompanied me to the Elegant Plum Province this time. He is also a member of the Monne family. I originally wanted him to leave as well, but he refused, determined to fight the Heart Eater to avenge his grievances.”
Angel commented, “There’s courage in knowing defeat yet daring to confront it. Sadly, it seems wisdom has been abandoned in this case.”
While awaiting the arrival of their adversary, Angel did not idle away. Instead, he continued to mull over some key elements of ‘Dream Entry’.
It was only when the lunar disc rose high into the sky, the candlelight flickering within the tent, did he slowly open his eyes.
The entire camp was eerily quiet, as if everyone had fallen asleep. However, Angel, through his mental tendrils, discovered that most of the soldiers were not resting, but silently gazing in the direction of the main tent, their eyes seemingly filled with prayers that the Heart Eater would not come.
Suddenly, a question sprang up in Angel’s mind, and he asked Shannon curiously, “The transcendent being wrote a letter asking for treasures… how did he come to know this secret?”
“This was due to our oversight,” Shannon sighed deeply. “Upon receiving the letter, my father flew into a rage, believing that this secret could not possibly be known by outsiders and that there must be a traitor within the royal family. After careful investigation, it was discovered that the third queen was missing, and through further inquiries, we found a correspondence between her and Sea Wave.”
“The third queen turned out to be from Sea Wave. Her initial purpose in getting close to my third brother was to infiltrate the royal family and obtain war intelligence. But instead of obtaining the war intelligence, she learned about the Red Lotus Bow that could shoot flaming arrows stored in my third brother’s secret treasury.”
“However, my third brother didn’t know about the Stalactite Fluid, he only knew that the royal family had a treasure that could create elemental weapons.”
“Later, the third queen deliberately intoxicated my third brother and got this information, which was then passed to Sea Wave through underground channels. Presumably, this was when their transcendent being started to take notice.”
At this point in the story, Shannon’s eyes welled up with tears.
“It was because of the third queen’s betrayal and the fact that the information came from my third brother, that he felt guilty. During the Heart Eater’s attack on the royal family, he sacrificed himself, activating the treasure and defeating the Heart Eater.”
After hearing this, Angel originally intended to ask her what exactly the treasure that could defeat the Heart Eater was.
However, seeing Shannon sink into sorrow, he ultimately didn’t voice the question. Once this matter was resolved, he would naturally find out when he arrived at the capital.
As the night deepened and the moon reached its zenith, Angel suddenly opened his eyes in the candle-lit main tent.