Chapter 378 Chapter 172 Under the Arena
Verafia’s slender footsteps followed behind the Marquis as she gazed upwards, listening to his deep voice recounting the story.
Although Marquis Mays only mentioned it briefly, his account was much more complete and accurate than Chrisis, who was still a child at the time and whose story was heavily supplemented by rumors from adulthood.
According to Marquis Mays’ description, Count Philip was originally a paranoid medical doctor who strayed from the path in a failed human experiment and converted to a dark cult.
Finally, the spell Philip developed by combining black magic and forbidden powers could alter a person’s physical form and life patterns, ultimately engulfing the entire city in an explosion.
“What Chrisis and Miss Vera said isn’t much different from what I saw… A strange magical power enveloped the city, the entire city was undergoing a mutation, and those who were contaminated, whether their bones, flesh, or life forms, underwent irreversible deformities. The strength of an ordinary person, after mutation, could even rival an elite soldier who possessed Dou Qi.”
Marquis Mays seemed to be reminiscing about the past. He suddenly let out a cold laugh, “In this regard, Philip didn’t lie. His black magic did indeed transform people’s lives. However, it’s laughable that after I severed one of his deformed arms, he wanted to use this vitality to summon a heretical evil god.”
“Mutation, altering one’s body structure with vitality, and the Church of the Dead Word…”
Verafia realized she had let slip something she shouldn’t have and quickly stopped speaking. She raised her scorching golden eyes and found Marquis Mays looking at her.
“The Church of the Dead Word, why did Miss Vera suddenly mention them?”
“Ah. Just now, inside that Ward, I indeed felt a strange vitality. If my guess is correct, if your father’s strength were to decrease significantly, he might be able to change his body structure, just as you said…”
Verafia lightly tilted her small face upwards, blinked her eyes, and said with a serious expression.
“Is that so? The Church of the Dead Word… If these people are indeed like Philip, then their intentions are likely not simple. I hope the White Wolf Knight Order and Bishop Patel’s people can bring good news today.”
Marquis Mays pondered, resting his chin on his hand. He suddenly raised his face and smiled at the young girl, “Miss Vera, it seems I owe you another favor.”
“Hmph ha, what’s this?”
Verafia waved her small hand, lifted her face, and her crisp, bell-like laughter filled the air.
Verafia didn’t know if Philip’s black magic and the power of the Creation Divine Spark in the Church of the Dead Word had any common ground, but it was an excuse she came up with casually. As for Marquis Mays… why was he getting more into it?
Verafia suppressed the urge to complain in her heart and raised her bright, big eyes again: “However, this kind of spell that manipulates vitality… it looks very interesting.”
Marquis Mays smiled, not taking the girl’s casual words too seriously, and continued, “I personally ventured into Philip’s territory. I have a guess that the Dark Cult behind Philip, rather than causing trouble through him, was conducting an experiment… or perhaps looking for certain specific individuals.”
“Experiment, specific individuals?”
“This is just my guess, Miss Vera doesn’t need to worry about it. Moreover, both Philip and the Dark Cult behind him have already turned to ashes, and the subsequent investigation by the Kingdom yielded nothing.”
Marquis Mays shook his head and smiled, “Whatever their intentions were, they are likely unknown to the world.”
Verafia nodded as if she understood, but not quite. However, she didn’t really care much in her heart… the reason being, just as Marquis Mays said.
—
Lorinc, the bright sunlight at noon streamed into the arena of the Black Knight’s castle, casting straight shadows on the white stone-paved ground.
After rounds of elimination, all participating members adopted a knockout system where they fought each other in pairs.
The eight individuals who were the last to stand in the arena had undoubtedly secured their core qualifications.
“Hmm… Is big brother’s swordsmanship already this strong?”
Beneath the arena, Shiel, her slender and delicate body clad in a long dress adorned with gorgeous embellishments, lightly grasped her white jade fingertips.
The girl tilted her small head, gazing at the black-haired young man on the arena, whose body was not exactly imposing but remarkably steadfast. Her delicate silver-blue hair flowed down like a trickling stream.
Although Shiel had felt a bit awkward at first and stayed far away, she couldn’t resist her inner impulse and ran to the side of Dofiraia and the other girls.
“Hmph-hmph, of course!”
The Ice Dragon Girl proudly tilted her head. Her beautiful, exquisite small dragon horns under her ice-crystal-like long hair looked exceptionally beautiful in the sunlight.
The girl’s snow-white, jade-like small face lit up with excitement in her pair of frost-blue big eyes, and her clear voice was filled with joy.
“Ig trains swordsmanship with me every night, so it’s only natural for him to reach this level!”
Although for Ophi, the little princess of the Dragon Clan, these humans were completely insignificant in terms of strength or skill, she was still very happy to see her friend win.
However, after Ophi spoke, she realized her words might sound like she was taking all the credit.
So, the Ice Dragon Girl slightly swayed her slender dragon tail, raised her small face, and stuck out her small tongue: “Um… but Verafia taught Ig swordsmanship. I was just his sparring partner.”
“Verafia…”
Shiel softly uttered her name, her slender fingertips fiddling with the hem of her skirt, a complex expression appearing in her eyes.
She decisively shook her head and turned to look at Dofiraia, who was dressed in an ice-blue magic dress beside her: “But, senior Dofiraia, in the conversation you had with big brother back then, didn’t big brother mention he had been promoted to Gold Rank… Why is it that when I see his Dou Qi, it’s always at the Silver Rank?”
“This… I don’t know?”
Dofiraia tilted her head, looking somewhat puzzled. She had also watched Ig’s match. From beginning to end, the black-haired young man had only won through swordsmanship and had not unleashed his Dou Qi, which had reached the Gold Rank.
Although her initial mention of Ig’s promotion to Gold Rank was just a guess, judging by Ig’s confident tone and expression at the time, there was no way there was a problem with his promotion that prevented him from using it.
“If I had to guess, perhaps the enemies Ig faced weren’t strong enough to force him to reveal his true strength… maybe, in his opinion, swordsmanship alone was sufficient?”
