Chapter 355: The Truth of the Conspiracy?

As Ansu dodged Angelu's continuous onslaught, a sudden wave of intense discomfort washed over his body.

His casting speed and mana mobilization began to fall behind his thoughts; even though he had anticipated the opponent's attacks, he was always half a beat too slow.

He looked down at his wrist.

The eye-like mark stared up at him menacingly, its patterns pulsing wildly with his heartbeat as a sharp pain spread from his wrist to his entire body.

To make matters worse, the originally pure mana within his body was gradually becoming turbid. Every time he cast a spell, a faint, filthy black mist would drift from his body.

Do I have the mana plague too?

Ansu had never feared corruption before. Even deep in the heart of the South, he had always been the most clear-headed one in the party.

This was the first time he had personally experienced the feeling of being eroded by corruption.

Everything in his field of vision began to warp crazily. The entire world seemed to come alive as bizarre illusions stacked layer upon layer before his eyes, as if he had accidentally eaten poisonous mushrooms...

A brief lapse in concentration allowed a ray of Disintegration to shatter several layers of his defenses.

Crisp shattering sounds rang out one after another, and the residual black magic energy slammed heavily into him.

But the sharp pain actually cleared his mind a bit. Ansu gritted his teeth and channeled his mana once more.

He needed to buy a little more time, because the intelligence hadn't been synchronized yet.

Using the brief window of dodging high in the air, Ansu pulled out the 《Future Diary》 and quickly flipped through a few pages with one hand.

Unfortunately, the entries were pitifully sparse. There were only a few scattered lines on the first day, and the subsequent pages were completely blank.

It seemed that after finding the Filthy Heart, he had quickly fallen into that illusion.

Slipping the diary away, he pulled out the constantly flashing magitech communicator.

It had been flashing non-stop, with messages popping up one after another. Ansu looked closely and saw they were all from Vera.

Big brother, where are you?

The camp says they lost contact with you guys. The situation is very serious. The battle mage regiment is fighting the demon army... Did you see my message? Please reply to me when you see this, okay?

Bro, are you okay over there... I'm really worried about you.

Today is my birthday, brother! You promised to spend it with me...

Brother, I beg you! Please reply to me, okay? I won't be spoiled anymore. I'll be good and listen to you. As long as you come back, anything is fine! I really can't live without you... You must come back safely!

Looking at the screen filled with anxious words, Ansu's lips curled into a bitter smile.

Vera must be worried out of her mind...

He had almost forgotten that today was Vera's birthday, and he had never expected her birthday would turn out like this...

Back in Nitre Town, he had specially promised to throw her the liveliest birthday party, but with one dangerous situation after another, that promise had ultimately gone unfulfilled.

Giving him no more time to catch his breath, Angelu's figure warped through space and blocked his path once again.

“You're quite good at running,” Angelu sneered, looking up at the sky. “But this time, you won't escape!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Ansu felt the sky above him suddenly darken.

Several powerful surges of mana pressed down out of nowhere, like an invisible net, tightly suppressing all mana fluctuations around him.

At the same time, the defensive magic items on his body made overburdened cracking sounds.

Crack, crack...

The magical glows dimmed one after another.

Then, five mages wearing deep blue academy robes and holding ornate staves slowly appeared, each of them radiating the powerful pressure unique to the Saint Tier.

“You're finally here,” Angelu said, glancing at them. “Have those other guys been dealt with?”

“A bit troublesome,” the leading academy mage replied, shaking his head. “Fortunately, the strongest among them was only high-tier, so it didn't take much effort.”

Ansu's heart instantly sank to the bottom.

Five pairs of eyes locked onto him simultaneously.

The next moment, several spells focused fire on him. The overwhelming surge of mana almost crushed the entire sky.

None of Ansu's defenses worked anymore. Layer after layer of light shields shattered in front of him, scattering tiny magical sparks in all directions.

The five Saint Tier mages didn't even use complex formulas; they simply condensed their attacks with the purest mana. Several mana spears, solid as steel, pierced through the shattered remnants of his shields and brutally impaled his body.

Ansu let out a muffled groan and fell from midair like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily onto the muddy, flesh-covered ground.

A piercing pain immediately shot from his chest as warm blood gushed out uncontrollably.

It's over...

Ansu's consciousness began to fade, and his fingers limply went loose.

The only thing he could do was painfully turn his head to look at the magitech communicator that had rolled into the pool of blood.

In his daze, older messages were still scrolling up. Aside from Vera's, there were also messages from Freya, Altina, and the rear camp...

And—

Ansu's eyes froze slightly.

He saw several messages from the Norvigel laboratory.

Ansu, something happened to Professor Duncan!

Professor Duncan suddenly collapsed during his research. An unexplained eye-like scar has appeared on his wrist, and his body is on the verge of death from corruption!

Ansu's chaotic consciousness cleared for a brief second. Professor Duncan was cursed too?

But he was far away in Norvigel in the North, thousands of miles away. How could the 'claws' of the Filthy Heart reach that far?

Forcing himself to stay awake, he coughed up a mouthful of black blood mixed with visceral fragments and continued scrolling up the communication history.

Most of them were messages from the lab: after Professor Duncan collapsed, Valger was now in charge... And because contact had been lost with him and Celia, coupled with the demon army's surprise attack, the entire rear had descended into utter chaos.

But Ansu's greatest doubt right now was...

Why did it have to be Professor Duncan?

Why was the professor also afflicted with the exact same curse that he and Celia had?

Professor Duncan hadn't participated in this operation at all. He wasn't a party member, and he posed no threat to the Filthy Heart. They were completely unrelated...

In his final moments of lucidity, Ansu painfully raised his eyes to look at the slowly pulsing Filthy Heart in midair.

The scattered clues in his mind slowly connected at this moment...

At this moment,

Barcas slowly walked over, stepping on the sticky, fleshy ground.

He stopped, looking down at the weakly breathing Ansu in the pool of blood, his tense face finally relaxing.

It was the relief of having eliminated a major thorn in his side.

Yet, under his watchful gaze, Ansu painfully squeezed out a hideous smile and suddenly spoke calmly:

“The Filthy Heart... has nothing to do with the curse, does it?”

Barcas's eyes flickered slightly.

“You've been misleading us from the very beginning.” Ansu stared intently at him, his voice hoarse. “The curse that can kill us, that can kill Celia, doesn't come from the Filthy Heart. It comes from another power.”

“The Filthy Heart is another plan of yours, a plan to destroy the human world. It was just used by you to draw attention and divert our gaze...”

Barcas's expression changed dramatically, and he immediately turned to exchange a glance with Angelu.

“How does he know?”

“Who are you asking?” Angelu sneered. “Who cares! Figuring it out only now is far too late!”

This guy was clearly on the verge of death.

Yet, Ansu slowly let a faint smile play on his lips.

He had received confirmation.

And that smile made Barcas feel increasingly uneasy.

It wasn't the tragic laugh of a dying man at all... instead, it looked like a sigh of relief after validating a hypothesis.

But such a smile was the one thing that shouldn't appear on Ansu's face right now!

Something was wrong!

But... what exactly was wrong?

Barcas rapidly recalled Ansu's every action just now. A thought suddenly surged up, causing him to furrow his brows tightly.

“You... did you do this on purpose? Are you deliberately courting death?”

“I guessed right, didn't I, Morris!” Intense unease flooded Barcas's heart, his tone suddenly growing urgent.

“I knew you wouldn't be so easy to deal with! What other trump cards do you have? What on earth are you trying to do?”

Ansu revealed a mocking smile and suddenly opened his hand.

An already activated Annihilation Grenade appeared out of thin air and slowly rolled onto the ground.

“Goodbye~”

The crimson marrowstone was originally a dangerous item Barcas had smuggled from Elune. Returning it to him now could be considered a decent "gift" in return.

“Not good!!”

Barcas's pupils shrank rapidly, and Angelu grabbed him, retreating at high speed.

In less than two seconds, a terrifying red vortex exploded violently. An annihilating force collapsed inward, completely devouring everything in the vicinity.

Amidst the earth-shattering explosion, the Filthy Heart let out a shrill shriek.

...