Puppet and Dark Forces
After the fierce battle, the Morning Star military were all injured and had wholeheartedly broken out from the enemy’s siege. Without having any fight left in them, they had put in so much work for nothing.
Leylin chose to withdraw at this moment- a selfless and noble model of action that many were grateful to emulate. Of course,there were some who took him for a fool.
But Leylin paid no heed to this, and expressionlessly retreated to the back to rest and watch the great battle.
"Although our enemies continue to battle half-heartedly, if they can’t find a way out, a fight to the death with them would be frightening! The most important thing is that I am not a follower of the Trial’s Eye, so there is no incentive for me to risk my life for this battle..."
Leylin shook his head and formed his own thoughts.
“And now is the chance!”
"A.I. Chip! Execute Plan 1!”
[Beep! Mission established! Initiating plan! Intelligent Body No. 1 is ready!] The A.I. Chip replied faithfully.
“Very good, undo the bloodline seal!”
With Leylin’s will, his body’s formerly dormant bloodline power became berserk, although the Thousand Snake Curse had absorbed a lot of bloodline power, the strength of a rank 5 Warlock could still awaken in Leylin.
“This feeling is the strength of a Warlock! Shadow puppet! " Leylin almost wanted to roar loudly, but managed to hold back. This was urgent after all, and a spell formation was transferred out immediately.
A shadow puppet that looked exactly like Leylin began to take shape, and with the help of A.I. Chip, it simulated Leylin so perfectly to life, to the point where even acquaintances could not differentiate between the two, let alone these strangers.
The enormous shadow of a serpent emerged like a black arrow shooting out from under the surface of the sea where Leylin was standing, and quickly disappeared into the deep sea. Due to the secretive nature of the giant snake, with the help of the power of the shadow, those fixated on the battlefield failed to notice anything.
“The Evil King’s True Eye! Death Ray!”
At this time, the battlefield had reached its climax. Several Guardians tried to flee but were stopped, and the war continued. In the core of the battle, an enormous illusory shadow of a Beholder emerged.
The elder Beholder Beyclarke demonstrated the power of its innate skill, which was stronger than the power displayed by Geiger Dole. Not only did its phantom look real, the death ray that emerged from its pupils was also substantial, with a strong aura of death.
“My lord Flapwing, the Ruler of Chaos! Please watch over us and come to the aid of your loyal subjects, and resolve our current predicament..."
In the face of this death light, even the governor of Elias did not dare to be careless.
In the midst of the high-spirited chanting, the bird Dignitary behind the governor unleashed a enormous grey-coloured power, without even asking for the slightest sacrifice.
This was also the privilege of a rank 4 Sacrificer, they were able to receive power first, then sacrifice later.
The grey power was all over the governor’s body, not only suppressing all his injuries but steadily flowing into the body of the Nighthawk under him.
“Oh oh!" Accompanied by loud and clear cries of the hawk, the giant Nighthawk seemed to be covered in an extra layer of gray feathers. Its body even enlarged considerably and began to change from its original form as a Nighthawk, transforming into the appearance of the bird dignitary.
After the transformation, the Nighthawk’s aura became even more powerful, and its aura even suggested a breakthrough from rank 4. With a terrifying gale, it suddenly charged into the death ray.
A massive red ray of light exploded with a faint roar, and even those with the strength of Morning Star could not look directly at it. From the core of the explosion, a few pieces of grey feathers seemed to float down softly.
After the glare had dissipated, the Nighthawk flew back to the governor. It barely suffered any visible injuries, but the death ray from earlier had disappeared without a trace.
“Haa! Using both Sacrificer and beast spirit magic to this level, governor, you are pretty good!”
Bayclark seemed to be rather surprised and said, "Your eyes are now worthy of being in my collection!”
While emitting the soul undulations, the shadow of the Trial’s Eye emerged from behind Bayclark, along with gold lightning flickering midair.
“Trial’s Eye!” “Trial’s Eye!” “Trial’s Eye!”
The friction from the thunder and lightning caused a sizzling sound, along with the faint whistle of a gale. The sounds all came together to form a defeaning roar, as strong Trialforce descended through an unknown channel, Belinda and other priests were affected, seemingly reaping benefits from that.
“Haaa! The gap between ranks renders all efforts futile. I am still a rank 5 Sacrificer, and I can unleash a little Trialpower! Under the Lord’s trial, everything will be burnt to ashes!”
Bayclark looked incredibly pious as he made the announcement, which seemed more like a declaration. With that, a golden light fell and swept away the gray power.
The gray power clashed with the golden light, and like snow melting away from the sun, it quickly began dissipating. The Elias’ governor’s face turned deathly pale as he watched this scene.
The reason why this had happened was not because the Filthbird was not as good as the Trial’s Eye, but it was due to their Sacrificers being of different ranks, resulting in the different level of power being called upon.
The ranking of the Sacrificers were of the same as the Magi, with an insurmountable chasm between each rank.
If a rank 4 Sacrificer’s communication channel was like a river, then the rank 5 Sacrificer’s communication channel was like the ocean; the quality and quantity were unrivalled. Therefore, Elias’ Governor’s defeat was inevitable.
“Dignitary! My clan and my dream will all fail just like this?”
The great Trialpower, even when it was isolated to this area, made the transmission of the Filthbird’s power much more difficult. It even severed his final escape route. The governor immediately looked all around him, and was utterly devastated at the sight of their soldiers and elder guards’ defeat.
The time where he had come to the Hale Continent and established the colonial base was filled with hardships. The subsequent crises where he had faced life or death choices all came back to him, and the governor went into a trance-like state.
This sort of situation happening to this formidable person was almost unconsciable.
“Haaa! Have you lost all hope? Heathen, I’ll completely restrict your ability, and then complete the final ritual. With your physical qualities, you might give me a pleasant surprise! Heee...”
Bayclark laughed sinisterly, and suddenly, three vertical eyes widened.
“That’s wrong! In this instant, he hadn’t slipped into his fantasies of his own accord, but this is...dreamforce! Retreat!"
A massive force of Trialpower flowed into Bayclark like a golden electrical current, forcing out traces of a dark red fog.
It was then that Bayclark discovered they had already been surrounded by a layer of dark red fog.
It was also because of the influence of dreamforce that made the governor of Elias see illusions.
“Belinda, Nick! What are you both doing?”
Under the influence of the dreamland, even Bayclark’s men displayed a certain degree of a trance-like state, allowing some important targets to escape. Upon seeing this, Bayclark immediately burst out shouting.
"What’s going on? Is there someone from the same clan here?"
’Nick’ looked at this scene in shock, his eyes were filled with surprise. The shadow puppet and A.I. Chip’s intelligence worked together, vividly projecting Leylin’s gestures and actions.
"No! This ability to connect to dreamforce is not a mixed-blood’s ability. This was the work of a pure-blooded Alabaster Devilsnake!”
Belinda also recovered from her trance, but the price was the opponent fleeing the battlefield, though now she couldn’t pay any attention to that.
Although some of the mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake had the ability to connect to the Dreamscape, when it was so large-scale and it could even pulled Bayclark into its illusory trap, it could not be the work of a mixed-blood! Belinda was very sure of this.
Belinda shuddered at what this could mean.
"Even if they were a direct descendant of the Matriarch, is it possible for them to fight against the Filthbird? Perhaps they have fully matured, otherwise they absolutely couldn’t have concealed themselves from Lord Bayclark...”
Thinking of this, Belinda quietly moved to Nick’s side.
“Something is wrong! Take care of yourself and pay attention to my command!" Belinda whispered to Nick secretly.
"Do not worry! I know we don’t have to force ourselves. If we face a pure-blooded noble, the bloodline suppression would be enough to make us lose most of our strength..."
The A.I. Chip’s imitation of ’Nick’ was filled with a look of worry.
“Who is that? Come out!”
Golden lightning swept across and the increasingly concentrated red fog tangled together continuously.
It was very obvious that after the initial rage and shock, Bayclark also realised that the huge amount of power used to summon dreamforce could not have been the work of Belinda and Nick, both rank 4 mixed-blood.
To its knowledge, this could only be done by a mature Alabaster Devilsnake or a Pale Devil clan member. Also, the Pale Devils had always been loyal to the direct descendants of the Snake Dowager. The meaning behind these actions aroused the suspicion of Belinda and Bayclark.
With loud rumbling sounds, the crimson dreamforce began to stick together, forming a few red silhouette which surrounded Bayclark and the rest.
“Let’s go!" A giant force pulled the governor and several other survivors into the red fog.