Azure Scepter

Page 178

Trier suspected that the Holy Sword's criteria for judging good and evil might be different from those of the Alignment Aura.

"What, are you going to perform burning yourself to make me laugh?" the crowd sneered.

Trill remained silent. He twirled his sword with one hand, aimed the blade at the gem, and then flicked his wrist, sending the greatsword's blade slashing straight at the sapphire.

"boom!"

Amidst a chilling, piercing roar, sparks flew and bursts of fire. The crowd cried out in pain as a thick cloud of smoke, resembling a twisted soul, suddenly appeared, then transformed into three purple crystals under the intense heat.

The wailing of the crowd ended before it even began, like a duck with its neck caught in its throat, leaving only weak whimpers.

Although he hadn't examined the purple crystal closely, Trier knew that these seemingly appearing crystals were most likely something like "spell storage stones." Spell storage stones weren't the essence of immortality itself, but rather fragments of it; similar products often appeared when the essence of immortality was damaged.

But in any case, this proves that the Holy Sword's attack was effective.

"Stop! Don't do this!" the crowd pleaded.

Trier remained unmoved; with a slight flick of his wrist, he brought his sword down again.

The greatsword struck the gem, but the black and red flames surging on the blade, like a giant shark that had smelled blood, rushed into the sapphire.

Amidst the pungent smell of smoke, ominous black and red holy flames suddenly pierced through the sapphire, instantly turning the once crystal-clear gem pitch black. As the holy flames spread, the weak whimpers of the onlookers abruptly ceased, but a moment later, as if in a final burst of energy, it screamed again in agony.

Like a hammer striking an iron felt, more purple crystals appeared out of thin air, like sparks flying during blacksmithing.

"I curse you! May you be burned in flames for ten thousand years!" the crowd roared hysterically.

Upon hearing the crowd's words, Trillen frowned immediately—his broken oath was due to the other party's curse...

He took a small step back, gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands, and put the blade behind his back. Then, he suddenly pushed off the ground, and the holy flames traced a perfect arc along the blade before abruptly penetrating into the gem.

"Aaaaaah!" This time, no one could speak anymore; the chilling screams echoed in the basement.

Countless purple crystals fell from the sky, looking at it at first glance like a drizzle of blood.

After swinging the sword three times, Trier let out a soft breath, then turned around and put the holy sword back on the weapon rack.

The daily three "guaranteed hit" attacks have been used up, so there's no point in attacking anymore.

At that moment, countless purple crystals were scattered on the basement floor, and Trier bent down to pick one up.

“Hiss…”

Seemingly due to the excessively high temperature, the stone beneath the purple crystal had melted into a small mass of orange magma. Upon contact with air, the magma immediately reformed into gray rock amidst a cloud of white smoke.

Trier held the purple crystal up to his eyes, and the next moment, he couldn't help but blink.

[Item Name: Echoes of the End]

[Item Level: Legendary (Divine Remnant)]

[Item Type: Consumables/Materials]

[Item Description: This crystal exists between solid and intangible. It is said that ancient dream realm beings used the remains of powerful dream realm rulers as currency, but they were unaware that prolonged contact with the remains of those long since vanished would bring them closer to death.]

[Effects: Crushing this crystal grants the blessing of an unknown ancient demigod, temporarily granting a different perspective. Furthermore, different crystals can attract each other, enhancing the wearer's perception of the dream world.]

[Warning: Crushing the crystal will attract Trill's attention!]

[Note: I curse you! You will be burned in flames for ten thousand years! —A curse from an unknown demigod of the dream world]

"..." Upon seeing the warning, Trillen was speechless.

What does it mean to "attract Trier's attention"?

He shook his head, casually placed the purple crystal on the table, and then picked up the scepter again.

The repulsive force has been greatly weakened, and the soul of the masses has indeed been severely weakened; it has become increasingly feeble.

Trier closed his eyes and slowly channeled his divine power into the scepter. The divine power acted like a probe, and he quickly assessed the condition of everyone.

—After cleaving for three more days with the holy sword, the last remnants of the masses will vanish into thin air, and at that time, I will be able to obtain a scepter that carries divine authority.

Chapter 339 The Fate of Aurelius (Part 1)

"Da da da..."

The clock's pendulum ticked away, and the quill pen swept across the paper, leaving behind neat lines of black Chinese characters.

The next moment, the quill stopped writing.

Trier twirled his pen, then examined the "Upcoming Tasks" he had just finished writing with satisfaction.

"List all the goals first, and then sort them."

He raised an eyebrow, then put the quill back into the ink bottle.

Now that he has found a way to erase the remaining souls of the masses, all the important and urgent tasks have been completed.

However, this does not mean that we can completely relax now—there are still many less urgent, but equally important things to do.

He never procrastinated, and upon returning to Erlav, he immediately began planning his next action objectives in order to improve efficiency.

Prioritizing important but not urgent tasks can greatly improve efficiency.

After a moment's thought, Trier picked up his quill pen again and quickly numbered the items in front of the "Upcoming Tasks".

1. Help Aurelius fulfill his promise to heal the wound ( )

2. Fulfill the promise made to Lady Bloodthorn and assign divine duties—this needs to be completed after the scepter is forged, and is expected to be completed before August 25th.

3. Rebuild the church in the southern duchy, and use the new church to complete necessary tasks such as relief work—delegated to Neue. ( )

4. Arrange for personnel to eliminate the remaining undead and bandits roaming the territory, and stabilize the security of the duchy—handle this to Noy. ( )

5. Awaiting the vampire industrialist's reply and ultimately deciding how to deal with Count Bortard. ( )

6. The arrangements for the Duke's inauguration ceremony in early October—delegated to Neuer. ( )

7. Wait for the diamonds to arrive, then distribute the divine spells to completely resolve the blood plague problem. ( )

8. Explore methods for using divine power and develop low-level divine arts capable of regenerating severed limbs. ( )

9. Collect wealth and use the wish-making spell to increase attributes. ( )

10. Search for clues about the Planeswalker, and while you're at it, visit Fythia's mother. ( )

11. Relying on the rebuilt church, the issue of orphan care will be systematically addressed; Livitt—this will be handled by Noe. ( )

After marking the processing order, Trier only glanced at it before feeling a chill run down his spine.

"This is too much, it's like completing a quest."

He shook his head, then subconsciously remarked, "Luckily, I have the all-around laborer, Noy."

With that thought in mind, he immediately gave the instruction to Noe in his mind, and then drew checkmarks after 3, 4, 6, and 11.

“You’ve already achieved 36.3 in one go, that’s truly commendable.” Trier nodded with satisfaction.

He had expected Noe to protest, since these were all heavy, meticulously planned, and long-term administrative tasks, and they also involved a lot of organizational work from scratch, which was quite difficult. But to his surprise, Noe did not reject these tasks; on the contrary, she seemed quite happy.

"Tedious? No, these tasks are not tedious at all." Noy's tone revealed barely concealed excitement. "Just leave all of these things to me!"

Trillen fell silent. Although he knew Neu was an ambitious and power-hungry man, he couldn't believe that his desire for power was so strong that he would even enjoy this kind of work.

Although Noy wasn't in front of him, he could already imagine Noy's excited, almost euphoric expression...

"Please rest assured." Noy's speech gradually calmed down. "I'm not being stubborn. I will give you a complete and detailed plan first."

"If you need any other help, just let me know—for example, regarding the rebuilding of the church organization, other members of the Vatican won't agree so easily."

“Since you put it that way, then I do need help.” Suddenly, Noy’s tone changed abruptly. “My dear master, could you perhaps spend more time pampering your overworked maid in bed?”

“Look at the results of your work,” Trier said rather ruthlessly.

"Then you'll just have to wait and see," Noi said in a low voice.

After memorizing the plan written in Chinese, Trier threw the paper into the fireplace.

As the plan was burned to ashes, Trier stood up and left the room.

"The first thing I need to do is heal Aurelius's wounds," he thought.

With Losevie's death, the injuries that had been troubling the copper dragon could finally be fully healed.

"Hopefully, this will shift my allegiance slightly. After all, a glass cannon is no match for a hexagonal warrior."

However, the operation suffered a major setback before it even began.

The knight sent by Trier told him that Aurelius was missing—he had left Erlav a week earlier.

Logically, Trier should have temporarily set aside this issue and waited for Auris to return to the city before dealing with it. However, since he had put this matter first on his "Upcoming Tasks," Trier's obsessive-compulsive tendencies kicked in, and he was determined to find Auris and cure his illness.

Since the bronze dragon is missing, let's go find him.

Trier immediately used a "prophecy" spell, but the spell failed, and all the information he received was chaotic and disorganized, like shattered glass.

"How is that possible?" Trier frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

Although he is not skilled in divination spells, with the blessing of divine power, the strength and accuracy of his divination spells are now comparable to those of legendary mages who specialize in this field. Logically speaking, unless there is interference from other divine powers, this situation should not be possible.

However, the problem is that no other divine power can interfere with this matter—there are not many divine beings currently able to operate in the prime material plane, and most of them are sealed or imprisoned. The few divine beings that can move freely all have their own problems to deal with.

"Could it be the devil?" Trier suddenly remembered that Aurelius had tried to make a deal with the devil to cure his illness, but the problem was that the devil had failed to heal the dragon's injuries, so the deal was ultimately not reached.

But in any case, strange occurrences always indicate potential problems.

"This matter must be dealt with as soon as possible," Trier thought to himself.

When Trier found Edith, Edith was half-lying on the bed reading a book.

Bright golden sunlight streamed into the room from the window, illuminating the half-frozen candle on the table and Edith's face.

A few strands of silver-gray hair fell lazily over her shoulders, and her cheeks were slightly flushed, as if the afterglow of last night's revelry still lingered.

With his stealth skill now close to 60, Trill's footsteps were quite light, so Edith did not notice anyone entering.

She casually picked up a cookie, ate it in one bite, and then comfortably turned to the next page of the book.

"Cough cough."

Trier coughed softly to indicate that he had entered.

Edith hurriedly put down the book. Trier glanced at the title and then realized that Edith was actually reading the classic erotic novel, *The Half-Dragon Maid*...

Edith breathed a sigh of relief upon discovering that the visitor was Trier.

“You’re all up too early,” Edith said, shaking the alarm bell next to the tray. “You were all gone when I got up. Wait a moment while I have Vilit help me change my clothes.”

—Velite is Edith's personal maid.

Trier sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to brush a strand of hair from Edith's ear: "Edith, I need your help."

"Ha, you're finally tired?" Edith laughed. "By the light above, I thought you'd never get tired. Don't worry, I'll find a way to convince them."

“It’s not about that,” Trier said quite seriously. “I have a friend who has gone missing, and there might be something going on behind the scenes.”

Edith paused for a moment, then the smile on her face disappeared.

“Wait, I’ll go change my armor right now—Fodia should be practicing archery in the abandoned garden right now. If we can’t find your missing friend using magic, then we’ll have to rely on Fodia’s tracking ability.”

"Didn't you say you just woke up? How do you know where Fatiya went?" Trier couldn't help but complain.

Edith threw off the covers and jumped out of bed: "Getting up is getting up, waking up is waking up—now is the real time to get up. Trier, you can go find Fythia first, I'll go to the barracks to gather the men."

Chapter 340 The Fate of Aurelius (Part Two)

Eraf, the garden destroyed by the Balrog.

A grey dove circled in the sky, its grey wings outstretched, gliding with the high-altitude air currents. Its grey feathers almost blended into the dappled light scattered by the thin mist, with only a touch of emerald green on its neck feathers preventing it from becoming completely grey.

The next instant, a dark brown beam of light suddenly appeared and pierced its neck with remarkable precision.

The grey-feathered dove's fluid movements suddenly froze, and then, as if it had lost all momentum, it fell headfirst to the ground, its bright red blood spraying upwards with the gale.

"Thud." Futia reached out and grabbed her prey. Because the bird carcass was falling too fast, she had to lower her elbow slightly by half an inch to distribute the impact.

Normally, catching a falling object with bare hands would likely result in a fracture, but Fythia's strength is so extraordinary that she can catch falling objects with her bare hands.

The grey dove convulsed, its crimson blood staining its emerald green neck feathers. With a slight twitch of her thumb, Futia cleanly and swiftly snapped the bird's neck bone, ending the poor creature's suffering.

The Grey-feathered Dove is a migratory bird widely distributed throughout human kingdoms. Due to its extremely high flight altitude, it is rarely caught. However, this bird is quite popular in elven society because the elves possess a special cooking technique. Through this special method, the Grey-feathered Dove can temporarily enhance the eater's constitution and restore their strength.

Looking at her prey, Futia couldn't help but smile.

"I won't faint so easily this time," she thought.