Chapter 1261: Snatching the Demon Origin's Fragment (1)
Prof. K arrived in front of the castle and intended to rush inside.
His eyes never averted away from the pure chaos energy trail, snaking its way unnoticeably into the castle. Not even the guards guarding the castle walls, were able to notice it—it was faint and blended with the backdrop sky behind it.
Spotting this faint purple trail was hard because of that.
If one were not actively searching for it, it would pass by unnoticed.
Ugrok, guarding the gate to the castle, stopped Prof. K seeing that he was rushing inside.
"Let me through, there is something I need to check!" Prof. K said impatiently, trying to push through but Ugrok blocked his way stubbornly. "What's the meaning of this, Urgok? Why are you stopping me? This is important!"
Unbothered, Ugrok shook his head, "Rex is not home, Ugrok told to let nobody inside"
"I'm not nobody! I'm a part of the Silverstar Pack!" Prof. K rebutted fiercely.
His frantic response was spiked because he had lost sight of the trail of pure chaos energy, it vanished behind the castle walls. Clenching his jaw resolutely, Prof. K's eyes glowed green as he morphed into his Werewolf form and puffed into green smoke.
At the sight of this, Ugrok pointed at him and commanded, "Stop him!"
Since Gelmar was not around, Ugrok was appointed to be the captain of the castle guards.
Because of that, the guards instantly responded to his command.
Swoosh!
Channeling their extensive mana—six Awakened pointed their hands towards Prof. K, and did not hesitate to cast a group spell. Upon their chant, Prof. K in his smoke form was boxed by a cube made of mana and was encased inside.
Not stopping at that, the Awakened continued their spell as the air within the cube distorted.
It was a mind attack that assaulted Prof. K from all directions.
All of the Awakened were only in the seventh-rank realm, but their group spell was powerful.
Powerful enough to overpower Prof. K who was at the eighth-rank realm.
Despite his intangible form he was affected greatly by this spell, forcing him to revert back to his physical form—clutching his head that felt like it was about to explode in pain. Ugrok then landed right before him with a heavy thud, "Nobody is allowed inside, Ugrok told you"
"Raargghk- you don't understand!" Prof. K grunted in pain, trying his best to endure the spell.
As this situation continued, the entrance to the castle was opened.
Sensing the commotion, Evelyn stepped outside and was greeted by this sight.
She was accompanied by Valthor and another Dark Elf behind her.
Upon seeing that Prof. K was being restrained by the castle guards and Ugrok, she frowned.
"Ugrok apologize for disturbing you," Ugrok bowed as Evelyn approached him elegantly.
Reaching him, Evelyn placed her hand on Ugrok's arm.
Noticing the gesture, Ugrok signaled to the Awakened on the walls to seize their spell.
Prof. K gasped for breath, panting heavily as the energy cube vanished, he felt his head was still throbbing painfully from the spell, and was glad that it was over. Lifting his gaze, he saw Evelyn and weakly bowed his head, "E- Empress... thank you"
"It's rare for you to come here, professor. What gives?" Evelyn asked questioningly.
Slowly recovering, Prof. K stood up, "Before I tell, can you allow me to check the castle?"
Evelyn raised an eyebrow, when she heard this—but knowing that Prof. K wouldn't come, if it was not important coupled with the palpable urgency on his face, she nodded her head. She stepped aside to make way for Prof. K, "Go ahead, I gave you my permission"
As soon as Prof. K gained her permission, he instantly sprinted to circle the castle.
He checked the entire premise meticulously, searching for something.
Following from the back was Evelyn, she was looking over him to see what he was doing.
Sweeping every nook and corner of the area—Prof. K then proceeded to go inside the castle, he did the same thing inside, checking every corner of the castle. Eventually, Prof. K stopped in the middle of the alley.
Glancing to his left he found a door and when he pushed it open, it revealed a staircase.
A staircase leads down to the basement.
Evelyn went over to him and looked at the staircase, "Did you sense the Angels?"
"Angels...?" Prof. K tilted his head in confusion.
Realizing that he might not know about Catherine and Radiel, Evelyn explained, "I'm sure you heard about the Angel problem. Rex captured two Angels, and placed them in the basement, imprisoned there until he knew what to do with them"
Just as Prof. K was about to answer, his periphery caught sight of something moving.
Looking back to the basement, his eyes widened seeing the purple trail was there.
Its presence was so light that even Evelyn didn't sense it.
"Can I see them?" Prof. K asked, but his eyes were glued onto the depth of the staircase.
Allowing Prof. K to see the Angels, was not a problem—but since the Angels witnessed Rex, being wounded from the incident with the powerful Chaos Spawn, they might've planned to escape by using this opportunity.
Nevertheless, Evelyn decided to let Prof. K see them as it seemed important.
If Catherine and Radiel tried anything, she would make sure they paid the price.
Leading the way to the basement, Evelyn and Prof. K reached a single door that was dimly lit.
Rex had modified the door to make it a prison so that the Angels would be locked inside—the door could only be opened from the outside and the ones who could open the door were him and Evelyn.
Grabbing the handle, Evelyn pulled the door open, revealing a bed chamber.
She stepped inside with Prof. K following behind him.
Catherine and Radiel's attention snapped to them instantly, they had been locked here ever since their arrival at the castle—so the door being opened made their hearts pound. Prof. K looked at them before his eyes widened slightly.
It was his first time seeing an Angel, and his curiosity as a researcher flared.
However, he quickly shook off his daze.
Ignoring the Angels, Prof. K began searching for the trail of pure chaos energy—scanning the entire room with his eyes. He remained silent, confusing Catherine and Radiel until finally, his eyes landed on Radiel.
Prof. K found the purple trail he was looking for.
He frowned when he saw that it was halfway into Radiel's forehead, forcing its way inside.
Not only Prof. K, but Evelyn also noticed the wiggling purple trail as her eyebrows dipped into a frown. It was only now, that she sensed the very faint presence of chaos, akin to the Chaos Spawn in the hospital.
Both of them watch in surprise as the purple trail seeped into Radiel's forehead.
For some reason, however, Radiel and also Catherine didn't realize it.
Even though the trail of pure chaos energy was evident in this dark room, they were looking at Prof. K and Evelyn with a mixture of confusion, and nervousness. It was clear that both of them were oblivious to the trail that had seeped into Radiel's head.
Upon seeing this, Evelyn and Prof. K exchanged a look to check if they were seeing things.
But they didn't, their gazes showed that they saw the same thing.
...
Meanwhile, back to the Dwarven Kingdom.
Splashes of violent energy continued to decimate the area in front of the Dwarven Kingdom, causing the Dwarven people to hide underground for safety, as the clash between Rex—and Caraptaros raged on without any sign of stopping.
Rex coughed a mouthful of blood as their cash continued.
His internal organs were under assault by the overwhelming pressure crashing down onto his body, causing his entire body to cascade with his own blood. However—with Calidora's help, the pace of his blood loss was slowed.
On top of that, his mind was also being attacked by the Demon Origin's consciousness.
It felt like his head was being cracked and split into two.
This mental warfare, though excruciating, fueled Rex's manic resolve for this moment.
He had faced physical and power-related crumbling before—but his mind had never faltered even once. Because of that—there was only a maniacal smile on his face as he glared at the pair of demonic eyes above Caraptaros.
...
<Sudden Quest!>
Objective: Achieve triumph over the Demon Origin's fragment and turn Caraptaros!
Description: As a candidate for invincibility—triumph over the mind is the most important! If the mind is weak, the prospect of achieving invincibility would be an impossible task. Prove the user's resilience of the mind by shattering the Demon Origin's fragment!
Rewards: 10 Million Gold, 20 Skill Upgrade, and Versatile Origin Fragment.
...
Upon seeing the sudden quest, Rex's eyes flashed as he laughed even harder.
His laughter came from the System giving him another reason to prevail.
Avoiding the second failure was already motivation enough for Rex, but now that the System was rewarding him, with such enticing rewards—there was no way, he would lose here. In an instant, he felt his body full of energy as adrenaline played its part.
Despite the enormous pressure weighing down on him, Rex capitalized on his willpower.
He used his willpower alone to inch closer to Caraptaros once again.
Roar!!
His massive astral projection behind him and the Demon Origin's eyes were locked in a fierce standoff, each exerting immense presence. Rex knew he couldn't win if he played fair—so he decided to abide by the System's recommendation.
As he drew near, he summoned an item from his inventory.
It was a pouch filled with a warm, steaming liquid.
Steadying his breath, he summoned every ounce of willpower he had to make a forceful act, striking the water barrier from the Conduit of Aquaheart covering Caraptaros' body with the pouch and splashing its deep emerald contents onto it.
Calidra harvested this liquid, it came from a ninth-rank realm mutated snake she killed.
Not killed directly by her but through the mutated animals she controlled.
Controlling a ninth-rank realm mutated animal with her Eyes of Terror, was still too much for her but she still could control a swarm of eighth-rank realm mutated animals without a hitch—a swarm strong enough to take down the snake.
As the venom mixed with the pure water barrier, both of their effects became stronger.
Shngg!!
In an instant, Caraptaros' flames were suppressed even harder.
Despite wanting to escape from this situation, it couldn't, it doesn't have the capability to do that as it could let out a howling roar of pain. Rex felt the burden lessen significantly, he was now able to see the path to his triumph.
Now that Caraptaros' was out of the bout, the Demon Origin's fragment was all that was left.
Rex would need to neutralize it now before Caraptaros recovers.
Moving with renewed determination, Rex pressed on and placed his hand on Caraptaros.
In a swirling rampage of clashing energy, he exhaled steadily, calming his nerves before Rex closed his eyes. He calmed himself amidst the chaos—disassociating from the surroundings until the entire world became mute.
His steady breathing was the only thing he could hear.
Rex focused on his senses, locking onto the small trace of extremely profound energy right at the center of Caraptaros' body. It was Origin energy—the location of the Demon Origin's fragment, the thing he intended to aim for.
Now that his target was identified, Rex began to channel his power.
Every ounce of his kingly energy began to flow down from his forehead to his right arm—and gathered in his hand. Slowly but surely the kingly energy began to create a burning sensation in his right hand.
From Calidora's point of view, Rex's aura suddenly vanished without a trace.
Such a thing made the Conduit of Aquaheart work even harder to suppress Caraptaros' fire.
Calidora watched anxiously as the cracks on the conduit deepened and spread.
Just then, however—her ears picked up Rex drawing a sharp breath before opening his eyes once again. Red and dark kingly energy coalesced within his plan before a third energy, cold and piercing, a blue energy with the same nature as the others joined.
Sensing this, Calidora's eyes widened in shock, "A third kingly energy...?"
Before she could react further—Rex grunted as he fired a highly concentrated beam of kingly energy from his palm, no larger than the size of a pencil. His energy pierced through the hard skin covering Carpataros' body easily.
Swoosh!