Chapter 334: The King is the State!

After surviving a disaster,

Helen snapped awake from her daze.

Her nose turned sour, and she buried her head, throwing herself into the embrace of the figure before her, venting the lingering dread and excitement in her heart.

"I almost thought I’d never see you again!"

"It’s alright now, it’s alright..."

Lorne gently patted the girl’s soft back, comforting her in a soft voice, before raising his head to look at the courtyard in the distance.

Dozens of ordinary people, both old and young, were clutching kitchen utensils and farming tools they had picked up at random.

They stood trembling at the open doorway, wanting to come out together to help.

"You saved these people?"

Lorne used the question to divert Helen’s attention.

"Not exactly..." Helen answered in a small voice.

Then, realizing this was a place with many eyes and ears, she hurriedly stood up from the man’s embrace. Feeling somewhat bashful, she added, "I just saw they had nowhere to go and it was very dangerous outside, so I let them come inside to hide."

As she spoke, a trace of anxiety surfaced on the girl’s face.

"Not only did I not stay inside the room obediently, but I also let outsiders into the house. You guys won’t blame me, right?"

"How could we?

Desperate times call for desperate measures. You did very well, and we are proud of you!"

Lorne smiled slightly, as he raised his hand, and rubbed Helen’s small head, which had drooped down due to unease, answering with solemnity.

No matter what Helen’s reputation was in her original destiny, at this very moment, her actions were fully worthy of her status as a divine descendant, and equally worthy of the status of a hero.

Being able to stand forward at a critical juncture to protect the weak with her strength, this point alone was enough to completely change Lorne’s view of this "disastrous beauty" in his impression, inspiring respect in his heart.

Hearing the praise originating from the person she admired,

Helen’s face couldn’t help but turn red on the spot.

Just as the girl gathered enough courage, wanting to pour out more of her feelings to the figure before her, the teeth-grinding sound of grinding bones echoed across the surroundings once again.

At the same time, the vortex-shaped bloody clouds that had been ripped open by a corner inside the sky aggregated and rotated anew.

"The royal palace astrolabe tower!

The node where the auras converge is right there!"

Accompanying them,

Atalanta leaped down from the eaves, transmitting the results of her observations to Lorne.

Lorne nodded and his expression turned solemn as he seriously instructed Helen.

"Bring these conscious people into that courtyard. I have set up a protection curse inside, so it will be very safe.

Therefore, without my permission, absolutely do not come out!"

"Good!"

Helen held her magic wand, nodding with solemnity.

At this very moment, the girl finally understood exactly where that layer of golden light before the gate that resisted the external erosion had originated.

’He truly cares about me!’

Perceiving the subtle care and concern released invisibly by the other party, coupled with the suspension bridge effect of being saved in the nick of time,

Helen’s heart overflowed with sweetness, her level of self-persuasion elevating further.

"You guys can rest assured to do what you must. I will protect them well right here!"

The girl straightened her small posture, tightly gripping the magic wand with her sweaty palm, and solemnly delivered her guarantee.

Although she didn’t know why Lorne didn’t have good feelings towards her initially, but now that he finally had them, Helen wanted to use this to leave a better impression before the person she liked.

"Mm, then be careful."

Lorne nodded, watching the few individuals safely enter the small courtyard.

And this simple sentence of courtesy caused Helen’s pretty face to turn even redder.

The girl firmly resolved to stay until the absolute end before entering the door, that resolute expression even carrying a bit of meaning akin to generously marching to her death.

It was a pity that Lorne was clearly not in the mood to pay too much attention to Helen’s small thoughts.

Once he confirmed that the few individuals were safe, he decisively led Atalanta, heading all the way toward the Arcadian Royal Palace at the center of the city.

Standing alone before the gate of the small courtyard, Helen watched the two figures walking in tandem and forming mutual flanks upon the street, her eyes filled entirely with envy and longing.

~~

At this very moment, because the foundation of the Arcadian royal capital was reversed by a large-scale ritual spell driving the celestial signs, the entire city was progressively transforming toward the Underworld land.

Densely packed skeletons and roaming spirits crawled out from the fissures in the ground, attempting to hunt fresh lives to make up for the deathly void within their bodies.

"Get lost!"

Accompanied by a freezing, violent shout, a blazing white light-flame ignited furiously across

Lorne’s body, the dazzling brightness waving outward in rows of light-shaped ripples.

Any skeletons and roaming spirits that came into contact with these ripples stopped their movements one after another.

The death energy permeating their bodies was exactly like snow encountering a blazing sun, dissolving and vanishing in an instant, and their venomous, delirious auras also gradually tended toward peacefulness under the tinting of the brightness.

Within the pure white brightness, there was no telling what they witnessed, yet the corners of their mouths actually upturned into a sliver of satisfied, joyous curvature one after another, the single remaining wisp of lingering thoughts drifting away with the wind.

As Lorne and Atalanta traversed across the street, the skeletons and roaming spirits behind them disintegrated one after another, merging back into the gray-black mist of death.

Everything, dust to dust, earth to earth.

Very quickly, under Lorne’s powerful path-clearing, the two arrived rapidly before the main gates of the royal palace.

But this landmark structure of Arcadia had completely changed its appearance by now.

A turbid stream of the Underworld River mixed with dark red and muddy yellow flowed and swirled across the ground and buildings in a posture that violated the common-sense laws of physics.

Distorted, ferocious countenances boiled and roared within the river water and deathly mist, as if welcoming the descent of their monarch.

So noisy!

Lorne let out a cold snort.

Holding his spear in his right hand, he brandished it forward. The massive bronze gates forged from refined steel shattered into bean dregs, and the Underworld River water and Underworld roaming spirits wrapped upon them subsequently vanished into thin smoke because of it.

But the next moment, dozens of divine-blooded royal guards clad in bronze armor and holding spear-shields and battle bows lunged out from within the main gates, jointly launching low roars that appeared as if they had gone mad.

"Immortality!"

"Immortality!!"

"Immortality!!!"

Lorne swept a glance over.

Seeing the bloated, deformed limbs and the deathly mist wrapped entirely around them beneath that armor, he turned his head to remind Atalanta beside him with a shake of his head.

"Death energy has entered their bodies, their life signs are cut off.

They are beyond saving..."

Understanding the intent, Atalanta immediately raised the Bow of Heaven, drawing the bowstring to full extension as she shot a dense rain of arrows forward.

Puff, puff, puff, puff!

With an endless sound of sharp weapons entering flesh, the rows of divine-blooded royal guards pouncing up were instantly shot into hedgehogs.

But whether they were hit in the head by arrows or had their hearts destroyed, not a single one of these divine-blooded royal guards collapsed. Instead, they braved the arrows covering their bodies as they brandished their weapons, rushing toward the two outsiders who had stepped into the royal palace.

Seeing this situation, Lorne quickly raised his hand to chant incantations, attempting to banish these immortal monsters rushing up.

However, the purifying divine holy words, which possessed miraculous effects against the undead, brought minimal results at this moment.

"Immortality!"

"Immortality!!"

"Immortality!!!"

The madman-like divine-blooded royal guards shouted out loud, frantically brandishing their weapons.

"They can’t be killed? What is going on here?"

Leaping to avoid two feathered arrows and a javelin, Atalanta drew closer to Lorne, asking with a furrowed brow.

The latter brandished his long spear, the sharp spear-glow cutting two divine-blooded royal guards who rushed forward into dozens of chunks in a flash.

The chunks of meat dropping to the ground didn’t spill even a single drop of fresh blood.

On the contrary, rows of meat whiskers resembling earthworms extended out from the surfaces of the cuts, carrying the chunks of meat as they crawled and aggregated toward a common direction, piecing back together a complete body anew.

Seeing this situation,

Lorne thrust his long spear forward, cutting the absolute center chunk of meat into even finer pieces.

A dark-red crystal as fine as dust and connecting with meat fibers was revealed before his eyes, flickering brightly and dimly.

At the same time, the surrounding flesh and blood seemed to perceive a unique command, crawling collectively toward that dark-red crystal.

"It’s the Philosopher’s Stone!

They have all been implanted with the Philosopher’s Stone inside their bodies.

Catalyzed by the death energy, although their souls have been obliterated, their bodies are immortal because of it!"

Lorne spoke out the answer with a dark face, a sliver of grim severity promptly flashing within his eyes.

While this so-called elixir bestowed immortality upon men, it would equally turn men into monsters that blindly begged for life.

It transcended death, yet it also desecrated life.

It seemed that person wanted to do more than just use the beast tide to eliminate the humans on the surface and make sacrifices to the Monster Progenitor Typhon to thereby obtain grace; he additionally intended to utilize the Philosopher’s Stone to turn Arcadia into a testing ground, personally forging an undead army!

"Get out of the way!"

Pulling Atalanta behind his back, Lorne looked at the divine-blooded royal guards pouncing up one after another around them and let out a light sigh, as he slowly gathered the Spear of Nation-Founding, chanting with solemnity.

"Radiance, up to this point!"

Instantly, a surging silver-white etheric storm—driven by the [Flame] authority, took shape in the blink of an eye, turning into a blazing incinerating wind.

Sweeping toward all directions, it melted the divine-blooded royal guards upon the square along with the Philosopher’s Stones inside their bodies into ashes in the blink of an eye.

’Warriors who were still holding onto your posts until the final moment—may you sleep eternally right here.’

Lorne murmured a word toward the ash filling the ground like snow, then waved his hand to Atalanta, preparing to continue advancing toward the astrolabe tower inside the royal palace.

However, the very instant the two stepped forward, a sharp cutting sound transmitted from the surrounding air, and several interwoven streaks of silver light struck.

Puff, puff, puff, puff!

The silver in mid-air scraped past the two dodging figures by a hair’s breadth, cutting two marble pillars upon the square into several segments.

Borrowing the smoke and dust drifting around them, Atalanta witnessed the true appearance of these silver lights.

Those were rows of silver threads as fine as cattle hair, fragile on the surface yet incomparably tenacious and sharp.

Furthermore, these things seemed to be alive?

Right at the instant this doubt rose within Atalanta’s heart, several wisps of silver threads traced horizontally and vertically, forming a complex outline.

Intersecting and combining with one another, a complex three-dimensional object appearing exactly like a wickerwork craft emerged, possessing ferocious wings, a bird beak, and sharp talons.

That was an exquisite silver thread craft modeled after a giant eagle.

Chirp~ Chirp~!

The unique creation let out a high-pitched screech appearing exactly like a metallic blade scraping past.

Shuttling forward like a sharp arrow, its beak and talons, sharp as razors, pounced and bit toward the two people upon the square.

Lorne kicked the ground aggressively with his right foot, and the silver thread giant eagle was vibrated into dispersion by the violent magical power.

But the next moment, those drifting silver threads aggregated back into the shape of the giant eagle along with the murmurs in the distance, launching an attack once again.

The cat ears atop Atalanta’s head twitched slightly and she immediately looked toward several thick stone pillars upon the corridor far off.

"It’s the alchemists of the Hermetic sect, behind the pillars!

Leave it to me!"

Lorne nodded, holding the long spear horizontally before his chest with both hands.

Understanding the intent,

Atalanta immediately leaped to step upon the spear shaft, bending her knees and arching her waist.

Then borrowing the force to leap, she broke through the blockade of the silver thread giant eagle like a cannonball leaving the barrel.

Rushing aggressively onto the corridor, she shot several arrows in succession toward the several Hermetic alchemists hidden behind the stone pillars.

Before the alchemists who had been closed in upon could even react, they were shot into hedgehogs, pinned firmly against the wall.

With the prior warning of the divine-blooded royal guards,

Atalanta didn’t strive for a single-strike kill.

Instead, while destroying the vital areas of the opponents, she pinned them down to restrict their movements.

This method indeed proved effective.

The restrained alchemists were unable to move an inch, only capable of launching impotent roars.

At the same time, their abdomens began to writhe, and monsters appearing exactly like white wax accumulations attempted to break out of their cocoons from within the flesh.

However, Atalanta, who had slaughtered her way all the way from the beginning of the corridor to the end, turned around unhurriedly.

Looking at those arrows swirled with floating light across the bodies of the alchemists, she forcefully clenched her fist.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

In an instant, the arrows engraved with explosive runes exploded with a thunderous roar one after another, blasting the alchemists along with the artificial lives breeding inside their bodies into a mass of shredded meat filling the ground.

Witnessing that figure handling it composedly, Lorne nodded with relief, then stepped across the scattered silver threads filling the floor, entering the royal palace grand hall together with Atalanta.

And by crossing through this place, they could arrive directly at the rear astrolabe tower.

At this time, inside the dim grand hall, it was empty and dead silent.

A figure draped in splendid attire sat leaning upon the throne with a gold crown tilted on his head.

Deeply burying his head, his body shivered continuously, as if enduring a certain agony.

The instant he heard someone stepping into the grand hall, the figure upon the throne raised his head violently, launching a roar with red eyes.

"Medicine! Give me the medicine!"

Looking at that old face beneath whose skin it appeared as if countless earthworms were floating,

Lorne felt thoughtful as he reached out his hand, took out that fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone picked up from Hippomenes’s escape scene.

"You’re asking for this?"

"Medicine, medicine! Give it to me!"

The absolute instant he saw that fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone, the King of Arcadia stood up excitedly all at once, wanting to pounce forward to snatch it.

Bang!

However, before the King of Arcadia could draw near, Atalanta flew up and kicked out, kicking him away indignantly.

Simultaneously drawing her bowstring to full extension, a sharp arrow poised for action pointed right at this king’s forehead.

"The person in collusion with that bastard Hippomenes; it actually turned out to be you!"

The commander appointment before departing, Hippomenes’s turning of his coat, the extinguishing of the Temple of Artemis’s sacred fire, the dangerous large-scale ritual spell easily unfolding inside the city...

Coupled with the King of Arcadia before their eyes being so desirous of the fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone, the full answer was not difficult to guess.

—Conquering old age and sickness and transcending death was a temptation that the people of the world could hardly refuse.

—And the higher the position the emperors, generals, and ministers held, the more incapable they were of seeing through this point.

Of course, fearing death was not shameful.

What truly made it unendurable for Atalanta was that the person before her had actually dragged the entirety of Arcadia into the abyss for his own survival, sacrificing who knows how many people’s lives for it.

"Just for this so-called medicine?

Just for this thing?"

Atalanta grabbed that fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone out of Lorne’s hand, furiously rebuking the culprit before her eyes.

"Are you worthy of the people of Arcadia? Are you worthy of those warriors who died because of you?"

The chaotic consciousness of the King of Arcadia recovered a few fractions of clarity, furiously arguing for himself.

"What do you know? This King did all this for the sake of Arcadia!

I waited for so many years yet never once waited for a son to arrive to inherit my throne!

If this King falls at this very moment, the bloodline and inheritance of the royal family will be cut off from now on. Therefore, this King absolutely cannot die!"

As if to vent the hardships he had suppressed, and equally as if to convince himself and the Arcadian girl opposite him at this very moment, the King of Arcadia extended his gaunt hand, commanding in a deep voice.

"The King is the State! As long as I live, Arcadia will endure long in the world! Their sacrifices will not be in vain; both Arcadia and I will keep their dedication in mind.

If you are truly thinking for the sake of Arcadia, hand the medicine over to me!"

Under the expectant gaze of the King of Arcadia, Atalanta extended her hand.

Then, she loosened her five fingers, tossing it onto the ground and stamped it into pieces with a single foot, letting out a disdainful, cold snort.

"No one should have to sacrifice for your survival. If the continuation of Arcadia needs to be borne by a person like you, this country might as well be destroyed!"

Watching with his own eyes as the elixir he yearned for actually turned into dust, the single remaining piece of rationality within the King of Arcadia was completely washed away.

No longer able to restrain the fury in his heart, he roared with a distorted countenance.

"You’re looking for death!"

At the same time, bursts of bone dislocation sounds transmitted over.

The aged body of the King of Arcadia was like a balloon pumped with air, his flesh continuously bulging, his limbs starting to distort, turning into a monster standing a full three meters tall after a moment.

’Is this the "immortality" you pursued?’

Atalanta let out a disdainful, cold smile, as she raised the Bow of Heaven, her icy arrowhead pointing toward the King of Arcadia’s head, preparing to slay this tyrant who brought disaster to their homeland.

However, just as the huntress was about to loosen the bowstring, a hand pressed down on the arrow, and a low voice transmitted from beside her ear.

"He can die, but it shouldn’t be you who does the deed."

"Why?"

Atalanta looked blankly at her teacher beside her, her face full of incomprehension.

"Because, he is your father..."

Lorne let out a helpless sigh as he summoned his Spear and stepped forward.

"Better let me do it."

(End of this Chapter)

...

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