Chapter 326: "The Holy King's Crown" and the Final Holy War! A Degraded Tenth-Tier Magic
A legendary undead like a Soul Eater was something that even members of their Black Scripture would have to treat with caution.
And it died... just like that?
"I shouldn't be seeing things."
Stargazer Far-Sight silently confirmed it in her heart, her expression tense, because this was not the only frightening matter.
An adventurer who could merge with a highest-tier angel!
The Alliance Leader of Zuranon, capable of fighting a Dominion Authority!
If her clairvoyance was not mistaken, that Alliance Leader was probably not dead yet.
The out-of-spec item, the "Magic Sealing Crystal," was lost!
The Sunlight Scripture had suffered disastrous losses, with less than half its members remaining. Captain Nigun was dead.
"Alright, alright, compared to the first few things, these last two don't seem like such a big deal anymore."
Stargazer Far-Sight ground her back teeth. She clenched them so hard that the pressure on her skull caused even an expert like her to experience a ringing in her ears.
As Stargazer Far-Sight stopped her observation and tried to sort out her muddled brain to figure out how to report this in detail, at that moment—
On the battlefield in the Hills Region, littered with flesh, severed limbs, and corpses.
Kelart, her eyes usually sinister, now held a sacred and solemn expression as she took out a crown from a magical leather pouch. It was primarily made of gold, adorned with translucent, ice-like crystals.
Looking at the magic item in her hand, Kelart's breathing grew slightly ragged. Logically, she should not have needed to come along for this crusade to quell the disastrous undead uprising.
But for the sake of the Holy Kingdom, and for Her Highness the Holy Queen!
Kelart did not feel at ease entrusting this national treasure to anyone else, not even her sister, Remedios.
This crown was not just a symbol of status and power, but the national treasure of the Holy Kingdom, named "The Holy King's Crown"!
It was a magic item that encapsulated the Grand Ritual Magic "Final Holy War," passed down through generations in the Holy Kingdom, containing a terrifying power beyond imagination!
As far as Kelart knew, this magic item had only been used once since the founding of the Holy Kingdom, and that was during the time of the first Holy King!
As the prime minister and a close friend of the Holy Princess, Kelart could naturally access information that was normally beyond her reach, even some secrets of the Bessarez Royal Family.
Unfortunately, what interested Kelart the most was how the first Holy King had obtained this national treasure, but there were no records of it. She could only speculate that it was related to the legendary Six Great Gods.
Suppressing the various thoughts in her mind, Kelart's gaze sharpened as she looked at the priests who had risen to their feet and gathered around her.
"Everyone, prepare!"
*Rustle—*
As if they had rehearsed this long ago, even though the Cleric Corps had lost half its members, the designated positions were quickly filled by other priests.
In the blink of an eye, more than fifty priests stood centered on Kelart, forming a decentralized, web-like formation, standing respectfully and ramrod straight in their positions.
"Let us begin!"
Kelart quickly scanned the formation, and after confirming everyone's position, she slowly raised the crown in her hands above her head.
In truth, it would not have originally required so many people. It was just that everyone had just been through a battle and their internal magic power was already low, so more people were needed to gather it.
The so-called "Grand Ritual" was a method of concentrating a group's magic power onto a single caster to store a large amount of it over a period of time.
Because of this, it was extremely dangerous for the one bearing the burden. The most basic requirement was that the bearer had to possess the power to use fifth-tier magic and step into the Heroic Realm.
Of course, a normal Grand Ritual would not be as simple as this. It was just that "The Holy King's Crown" was a special magic item that contained the power of the Grand Ritual, omitting the complex ritual process.
*Swish!*
The next moment, all the priests assumed a devout prayer stance and began chanting in low voices. Streams of faint white, holy magic power emerged from their bodies.
It transformed into a faint white light, like ripples on the surface of water from a falling raindrop, forming waves of energy that converged on the crown in Kelart's hands.
The faces of the surrounding priests turned pale at a visible rate. They all began to tremble uncontrollably, a sign of physical weakness caused by excessive magic power consumption.
The crown trembled lightly!
A massive magic circle covering all the priests present appeared above Kelart's head.
*Thrum—Thrum—*
The astonishing fluctuation of magic power and the sight of the giant magic circle made the demi-humans, who had just caught their breath, look toward Kelart's position with confusion and doubt.
"What is that?"
Tang Zheng, sitting on the ghoul dog, froze. The pale, weak expression he feigned was fixed on his face as he abruptly raised his head to look at this sudden development.
He had just been using all his strength to control his shadow clone to search for the vanished Alliance Leader. Given the powerful attack unleashed by the Dominion Authority, even if the Alliance Leader was not dead, he was bound to be severely injured.
"The Holy King's Crown, our Holy Kingdom's national treasure," Remedios explained, standing to the side with her arms crossed and making no attempt to hide it.
The Holy King's Crown?
Tang Zheng immediately realized this was the trump card the Holy Kingdom's side had brought, the one he had been curious about.
It was a magic item!
He was somewhat surprised.
That was the crown the Holy Princess carried, yet it had been brought here. This point alone showed the immense trust Holy Princess Calca had in Kelart.
"You plan to make a move on the demi-humans," Tang Zheng said suddenly, his gaze focused.
If he remembered correctly, this magic item stored a spell called "Final Holy War," but its specific effect was unknown.
Because in the original work, Holy Princess Calca had been captured by the demon general disguised as Demiurge before she had a chance to use this magic item.
According to the information Demiurge had gathered and analyzed, neither the Abelion Hills nor the Holy Kingdom possessed power that he needed to be concerned about.
Therefore, even if the magic within this item had been unleashed, it would not have had any effect on the final outcome.
"How did you know?" When Remedios heard Tang Zheng say, "they're going to make a move on the demi-humans," her light-brown pupils widened in astonishment.
She had not said anything just now.
Her sister had been the one to tell her about Kelart's plan to use this opportunity to exterminate all the demi-humans. She was shocked that Tang Zheng had managed to guess it.
Seeing Remedios's astonished look, Tang Zheng, in turn, was a little surprised. "You think that's hard to guess?"
"The war is already over. Using your Holy Kingdom's national treasure at this time... isn't it obvious?"
"It's not hard to guess?" Remedios muttered under her breath, her eyes vacant, completely lacking the intense, unyielding style she had during combat.
"You came to my side."
Tang Zheng fell silent for a moment, then looked at Remedios seriously. "Wasn't it Commander Kelart's arrangement to guard against the possibility of me assisting the demi-humans?"
Remedios's pupils widened slightly.
"What!"
"I was just afraid you'd fall off and die!" Remedios retorted, her eyes wide as she clenched her fists.
Tang Zheng suddenly realized that Remedios might be more... hmm... "clever" than he had imagined.
And this woman, since when had she become so friendly to him?
"So, you plan to help the demi-humans, right!" Remedios, first exasperated, suddenly came to a realization and placed one hand on her sword hilt. "You bastard!"
"Sigh~"
Tang Zheng pondered for a moment and let out a sigh.
"What do you mean by that!" Remedios said, displeased.
Tang Zheng did not respond, instead looking back in Kelart's direction. He was very curious about this magic called "Final Holy War."
Because the name of this spell was very similar to a certain tenth-tier spell!
Back then, when he saw "Final Holy War," he had subconsciously thought it was a tenth-tier spell. But then he thought it was unlikely, and after rechecking, he found it was off by just one character.
For a full twenty seconds!
The huge, holy magic circle suddenly flashed brightly and dissipated into motes of light.
Kelart's spirits lifted. Holding the crown high with both hands, she let out a low cry, "Final Holy War!"
In an instant!
A huge vortex made of dense, pure white bubbles appeared in the sky above Kelart. Immediately after, a dense "rustling" sound came from within the bubble vortex.
It sounded like many suits of armor rubbing against each other!
*Whoosh—*
*Whoosh— Whoosh—*
A Guardian Archangel holding a bright yellow spear was the first to fly out of the holy bubble vortex, and then, as if some kind of reaction had been triggered.
A dense swarm of Guardian Angels continuously flew out of the holy vortex, rapidly gathering in the sky above. In just a few breaths, 128 Guardian Archangels appeared in everyone's sight!
However, this was not the end.
After all the Guardian Angels had flown out, another stir came from the vortex. Flame Archangels holding flame swords then flew out.
Sixty-four Flame Archangels gathered in the sky!
The holy vortex trembled again!
This time, it was Principalities of Tranquility that appeared, their number reaching thirty-two in one go.
Only at this moment did the holy vortex finally dissipate completely!
The scene of 224 angels appearing at once stunned almost everyone, especially the powerful figures of the thirty-two fourth-tier Principalities of Tranquility, whose oppressive presence made the pupils of the demi-humans contract.
"Is this the ability of 'The Holy King's Crown'!?"
Remedios could no longer be bothered to be angry about what Tang Zheng had said. She tilted her head up, revealing her fair neck, her face filled with disbelief.
*Thud, thud, thud—*
As the spell's activation was complete, all the priests who participated in the ritual collapsed to the ground, some falling directly into unconsciousness.
Kelart's shoulders swayed twice as she staggered to steady herself, looking up at the imposing angel legion in the sky, each one radiating a holy light.
Her pair of light-brown eyes sparkled with incomparable brilliance.
"Is this the power of the national treasure?"
Kelart murmured to herself, her fingers gripping the crown so tightly they turned white, as if afraid it would fall from her hands.
At this moment, she finally began to understand how the first Holy King had founded the nation with the help of this national treasure!
Compared to everyone else's shock on the battlefield, Tang Zheng subconsciously straightened his back, his face filled with an expression of surprise and astonishment that was in no way less than anyone else's.
Final Holy War?
Isn't this the tenth-tier magic, "Armageddon: Good"?!
*Buzz—*
The stat panel vibrated and appeared before Tang Zheng's eyes.
*Discovered Fourth-Tier Magic 「Grand Ritual - Armageddon: Good (Degraded)」, requires base spellcasting level (22-28), current conditions met.*
*Consume one skill point to learn?*
*Discovered degraded magic—Consume skill points to perform repair?*
Tang Zheng looked at the information appearing on the system panel, his eyes first showing shock, then delight.
It really was that tenth-tier spell, just in a "degraded" state.
What both surprised and delighted Tang Zheng was that it could actually be repaired.
"Repair," Tang Zheng commanded in his mind without any hesitation.
This was a genuine tenth-tier spell, and one of the most special types at that. This was more than just a pleasant surprise.
*Consume one skill point, upgrade to Fifth-Tier Magic 「Grand Ritual - Armageddon: Good (Degraded)」.*
*Consume one skill point, upgrade to Sixth-Tier Magic 「Grand Ritual - Armageddon: Good (Degraded)」.*
...
*Consume one skill point, upgrade to Tenth-Tier Magic 「Grand Ritual - Armageddon (Good)」.*
[Skill Points: 72→67]
.....
Skill: Grand Ritual - Armageddon (Good) - Tenth-Tier
Cost: 80 Magic Power, 1,500,000 Experience
Description: Upon activation—
Can summon 128 Level 10 Angels.
Can summon 64 Level 20 Angels.
Can summon 32 Level 30 Angels.
Can summon 8 Level 40 Angels.
Can summon 4 Level 50 Angels.
Can summon 2 Level 60 Angels.
Can summon 1 Level 70 Angel.
The caster may also choose to convert high-tier angels into low-tier angels to obtain a larger quantity, approximately doubling their numbers.
This spell can be used three times per day!
.....
Tang Zheng's pupils dilated slightly as he looked at this spell's information.
One must know that the tenth-tier "Summon Angel" could only summon a single Level 70 angel, yet this was also a tenth-tier spell.
The number of angels summoned by "Grand Ritual - Armageddon (Good)" was terrifyingly large; it could be called a superweapon.
Furthermore, the tenth-tier Summon Angel spell was also affected by the player's level, while this tenth-tier spell could apparently be used directly.
Even with Tang Zheng's current strength, he would be in danger if he had to face this spell and might even need to retreat immediately.
How could he not be excited?
Suddenly, Tang Zheng remembered something, and the excitement in his heart instantly dissipated.
He remembered that in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, among the 41 Players, there was one named Ulbert who had imitated a World-Class Item capable of infinitely summoning demons and even swallowing the entire world.
He had created a magic item that stored the tenth-tier spell "Armageddon: Evil".
It was in the image of a demon with six arms, each clutching a gem, capable of unleashing "Armageddon: Evil" six times in a row.
Tang Zheng's gaze fell on the skill's information. He found that it could only be used three times a day, not even as good as the other player's item.
Instead, its effect was the same as the degraded magic item in the Bone King's hands.
Thinking of this, the excitement Tang Zheng had just felt vanished without a trace.
Comparing yourself to others is really...
(end of chapter)