Chapter 295: Faceless Hermitage Association, Hand Decree of the Great Monarch of the Void

Chapter 295: Chapter 295: Faceless Hermitage Association, Hand Decree of the Great Monarch of the Void

’It’s a real shame, though. The Hunter class should have a complete Skill System, but all I got was a single Breathing Technique. The whole thing feels too incomplete.’

’I’ll just have to make up for it with my own unique mechanics.’

’Legend has it that Valerian returned alive after killing Calgaros, the Abyss Fire Calamity. That completely contradicts the Specialty’s description.’

’And I’m sure Valerian used this ability more than once. It might have had some side effects, but they shouldn’t have been fatal.’

’There must be more to the story of Valerian’s death.’

Still, that battle had been a real eye-opener. So this was the kind of devastation Legendary Powerhouses could unleash.

A battle between experts of that caliber could actually alter the very weather.

After a moment of reflection, he felt an urgent desire to test a hypothesis in actual combat.

’When I activate Suffocation Mode and my life drops to zero, will that cost be judged by my Miracle as a form of "suffering"?’

’If it is...’

’...then after my resurrection mechanic triggers and rebuilds my body, I can toss that suffering of death directly into the Melting Furnace to be incinerated.’

’Death in exchange for a burst of power, and resurrection producing suffering in exchange for a buff.’

’It creates a perfect cycle.’

He could clearly feel his combat mechanics spiraling toward a kind of frenzied madness.

All of this was forcibly cobbled together from various rare Specialties and Miraculous Feats.

There were bound to be a few uniquely blessed freaks in this world, individuals with combat mechanics completely different from his own, yet just as bizarre.

But such people had to be few and far between.

Take the "Crowned Stars" that Julius had mentioned a few days ago, for instance.

Those geniuses who bore the title of Pole Star had all reached that pinnacle through long periods of accumulation, backed by an insane investment of countless top-tier resources from major powers.

And here he was, already closing in on them, just by exploiting his system’s panel.

As his Power made great leaps, he delved deeper and deeper into his panel’s potential.

The Lance of today was completely transformed, his confidence swelling with each passing moment.

He decided to set a short-term goal for himself.

He didn’t just want to defeat those so-called geniuses.

At the Excellence Tier, he would make every single Crowned Star feel nothing but utter, absolute despair when they faced him.

’Wouldn’t that be far more interesting than a simple victory?’

’Tomorrow morning, when I go deal with that Iron Guard, it’ll be the perfect opportunity to test the power of this ultimate state on that unlucky monster.’

’Plus, I can reset the cooldown on [Overstepping Gods].’

’I’ll finish this Summer Crown, claim the ultimate completion title, and then lead the ten thousand-plus people in this camp out of here, alive and unscathed.’

Lance clenched his fists. He was now confident he could achieve it all.

The only variable that gave him a sliver of unease was the Crimson Bell of Death, whose whereabouts remained unknown.

Based on the clues he’d pieced together from other teams, that group held a considerable number of rare items from the Underground City.

Felix had also found it strange, because White River Province wasn’t actually where the Crimson Bell of Death usually operated.

Yet this time, they had appeared here so abruptly.

It was far too strange.

’There’s no telling what kind of trouble those vipers, lurking in the shadows, will stir up at a critical moment.’

’I have to stay vigilant.’

...

「Inside the Crimson Bell of Death’s temporary camp.」

After ten straight days and nights of bloody slaughter, they had finally cleared out the entire Demon Tide that had swarmed the area.

If the rules for the second half of the Summer Crown hadn’t been forcibly triggered, changing the Underground City’s mechanics and stopping the rampaging Demons from the second area from besieging them...

...their small squad probably would have been ground down and killed by the endless sea of monsters.

Cassis leaned against the rock wall, eyes closed, checking the team leaderboard in his mind.

His expression was exceptionally grim.

In just ten days of forced defensive battles, the sheer volume of Demons they’d slaughtered had pushed their squad’s Summer Crown Value into the top ten on the team leaderboard.

To break into the top ten on a leaderboard with hundreds of teams just by killing monsters spoke volumes about how horrifying their experience had been.

Cassis wearily opened his eyes and unfastened a small metal box from his belt.

He opened the box. Inside, several Gels giving off a faint red glow were arranged neatly.

He pinched a Gel between two fingers, tossed it into his mouth, and bit down hard.

The metallic taste of blood instantly filled his mouth, but at the same time, the pangs of hunger were forcibly suppressed by its power.

This was "Crimson Gel," a special supply item created by the organization using a Fire-Stealing Marvel.

Its only purpose was to stave off hunger.

In the Underground City, a single pellet provided all the calories needed to sustain a full day of high-intensity combat.

However, a product from a Marvel that defied the laws of nature inevitably came with side effects.

If a user stopped consuming the Gel for more than twenty-four hours, they would immediately fall into a deep slumber.

The body would require a period of sleep equal to the number of days the Gel had been continuously consumed to repay the overdrawn energy.

Over the past ten days, in order to maintain their high-intensity fighting, each of them had consumed more than twenty Gels.

This meant that once the mission was over, they would have to remain in a deep sleep for nearly a month just to recover.

Cassis felt the artificial satiation in his stomach. Over the past few days, he had come to the clear realization that the chain-reaction explosion he had so carefully orchestrated had undoubtedly failed.

Not only that, but because they had been bogged down by the Demon Tide, they had missed their final opportunity to hunt the Heroic Spirit Species.

However, when he later learned from the Dark Elf’s description that the awakened Heroic Spirit was none other than the historical figure "Galeos," any trace of regret he’d felt about not hunting it sooner vanished completely.

That was the king from the founding of the Iris Kingdom, the one known as the "Bronze Dragon"!

Cassis had originally assumed the Underground City would only summon some lesser-known, relatively weak Heroic Spirits from the annals of history.

He had never imagined it would be a top-tier Heroic Spirit who held the title of a king!

In the entire history of the Province’s Underground City explorations over the past several decades, there was not a single record of a King Level Heroic Spirit Species being successfully defeated.

The only things recorded in the Guild archives were cautionary tales of entire parties being wiped out.

However, the primary objective of the Crimson Bell of Death mobilizing in full force to come here wasn’t to hunt some Heroic Spirit Species in the first place.

This time, the Crimson Bell of Death had deployed four elite squads within the Province.

In addition to this "Lord’s Certificate" at Rusted Stone Echo, three adjacent "Lord’s Certificates" on the borders of nearby provinces were also their targets.

Each squad had a different tactical objective.

The order given to the squad Cassis led was to acquire Summer Crown Value by any means necessary, as much as possible.

They had to ensure that their squad obtained the highest Crown Value among the four "Lord’s Certificates" that had opened concurrently in the region!

That was why all their previously planned massacres, explosions, and pursuits of special achievements had one single purpose: to rack up Crown Value.

As for the other three squads assigned to the other Underground Cities, their mission was to perform a specific sacrificial ritual in their respective areas.

Their task was to use an item provided by the organization to activate a localized "Earth-Sundering Monarchy"!

And in the end, Cassis’s squad, the one with the highest Crown Value, would act as the harvester, reaping the final reward of this grand ritual spanning four "Lord’s Certificates."

The resources consumed for this plan were astronomical.

The value of the Underground City items carried by Cassis’s squad alone was staggering.

To say nothing of the other three squads, who shouldered the great responsibility of initiating the ritual; the High Tier Materials they had consumed were innumerable.

And the one providing all these vast resources was the secret order backing the Crimson Bell of Death.

The Faceless Hermitage Association.

A terrorist organization, severely suppressed within the Kingdom, that secretly worshipped a hidden Evil God.

The reason they had invested so heavily in choosing White River Province as the ritual site... was because the "Earth-Sundering Monarchy" level of the Summer Crown was completely different from a "Lord’s Certificate."

It was influenced by the historical legacy of its Province, causing it to generate a unique, historically-themed reward upon the ritual’s successful completion.

The Faceless Hermitage Association intended to use the link between the four Lord’s Certificates in this Summer Crown to obtain a unique item that had been lost to history.

As for the item’s purpose, that was beyond the knowledge of a peripheral agent like Cassis.

He only knew that if the ritual succeeded, all hell would break loose in this region.

None of that was his concern.

The only thought in his mind now was completing the mission assigned by the organization.

However, due to the sudden intervention of the Heroic Spirit Species, their mission to farm points had met with unprecedented resistance.

Based on the changes in Crown Value on the team leaderboard over the past three days, he had already reached a conclusion.

The large Guild teams currently in the top three had likely reached some kind of cooperative agreement, forming a massive alliance to clear the event.

They were preparing to gather all their forces and brute-force their way through this Summer Crown.

The current rule set for the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon was naturally suited for large-scale point farming by those large teams.

If that alliance of Guilds really managed to push through all three areas and successfully trigger the final clear settlement... Cassis had no guarantee that his squad’s current Crown Value would be enough to secure the top spot among the teams in all four Underground Cities.

Fortunately, the Hermitage Order backing them was meticulous and had considered every possible variable.

Cassis reached out, feeling for something inside his Inner Armor.

In a hidden compartment, there was a scroll written on special parchment: the [Hand Decree of the Great Monarch of the Void].

It was a consumable marvel, rare even within the Hermitage Order.

With this item in hand, even if the quest to clear the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon’s Summer Crown ended in total failure and the normal settlement channel closed... he could still use this Hand Decree to force open an independent settlement opportunity just for his squad.

"Since we probably can’t compete with their monster-killing speed head-on, we’ll have to change our approach."

Cassis sneered.

They would have to use every trick up their sleeve, every trump card they held, to kill more High Tier Adventurers and forcibly seize their Crown Value.

Furthermore, they would have to sabotage the entire operation at a critical moment, ensuring that the attempt to clear the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon’s Summer Crown ended in total failure.

As long as everyone else failed, they, with their Hand Decree, would be the sole victors.

This way, they should be able to perfectly complete the mission assigned by the organization.