Azure Scepter

Page 147

However, Trier encountered unprecedented difficulties in creating the entrance to the underground mirror city of Wirth.

The underground city of Mirror Velt, as the "city that was never born but has already passed away," does not exist entirely in the prime material plane. It is located in the dream realm, at the intersection of the material world and the negative energy plane, a place of chaos in time and space, making it extremely difficult to enter.

There are only three ways to enter the underground city of Wilt: either physically enter through the dark crypt beneath the city hall, or project your soul into the city by lighting expensive blood candles, or forcibly enter by using magic and divine power to tear apart divine power.

However, all three methods encountered unexpected obstacles.

That was five days after Trier and the others, Lady Bloodthorn and Saint Seir reached an agreement, with less than fifteen days left until the final window he had predicted.

Trier sat at his desk, which was covered with various colored calculation sheets, neatly arranged in different categories. The sheer number of sheets nearly buried his head, yet each stack was marked with a scarlet cross.

“This is impossible…” Trier put down his pen, looking somewhat bewildered. He muttered to himself, “According to Master Branlot’s complex equations for space, there is no solution to destroy the barrier of the underground mirror city of Wilt at the current point in time, not even a topological structure. This is impossible… Could I have calculated it wrong?”

“Master, since the calculations are so difficult, why not just physically enter through the dark cave beneath the city hall?” Noy floated over the wall and handed a cup of coffee to Trier.

“I received news the day before yesterday that the city hall of Wilt City has gone missing.” Trier rubbed his forehead and casually cast a healing spell on himself.

Because of his professional expertise, his healing powers can now dispel illness and fatigue. As the warm holy light appeared, Trier's weariness and restlessness vanished instantly.

He picked up his coffee cup and quietly gazed at the rising steam from the black coffee, the warm and sweet aroma bringing him a sense of peace.

"What do you mean the city hall of Wilt has disappeared?" Noy was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened in disbelief.

"It means exactly what it says. According to Chief Spy Nordman, the city hall suddenly disappeared from the prime material plane in the dead of night before Saint Seil's Day, along with the city officials, clerks, guards, and dozens of other people on duty inside. Now, only a wasteland remains on the site of the city hall."

"This is too..." Noi paused for a moment, seemingly considering his words, "It's too unbelievable—Master, what could have caused this?"

“Some powerful being violently destroyed the connection point between that place and the Dream Realm. When the connection point was destroyed, it swept the people and matter in the vicinity into the Dream Realm. If I’m not mistaken, the culprit should be the water fairy Fusada. She wants to delay our advance.” Trier stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the devastated city of Eraf.

After that bloody and brutal massacre, the entire city is now filled with a sense of oppression and sorrow, and even the magnificent Lighthouse Grand Theater in the distance seems to be tinged with a gray hue.

"Does that mean we can only rely on blood-fat candles?" Noi asked with considerable concern.

Trier shook his head.

“That’s unrealistic. In the entire Prime Material Plane, only a few factories in the Great Swamp produce Blood Fat Candles. Their production and inventory simply cannot support us deploying a large army there. And without a large army, if we only deploy the Legends, it will be difficult for us to find the right path by relying on our numerical advantage, because every street and every house in that city is constantly expanding. If the water sprites set up several more layers of mazes, we won’t be able to find Lorraine’s hiding place even after more than ten years.”

"Then isn't there any other way?"

Trier turned around and shook his head again.

"There is also a very simple and direct way."

He held up one finger: "Physical excavation—we'll physically dig down about 2000 meters, set an accurate coordinate, and then use a portal to transport people down there."

"Can't we use a hypnotic spell to blast a passage?" Noy asked.

“The situation there is quite unique. Due to the chaotic spatial conditions, the direction of spells is affected, making it virtually impossible to succeed,” Trier said. “In addition, spells like turning fossils into mud to replace manual labor won’t work either, for the same reason.”

"Fortunately, the amount of construction work is not large. Due to the undead scourge, there are a large number of refugees in various parts of the Southern Duchy. In addition, there is the labor force of the Asmo army. As long as we finalize the construction plan, we can reopen the passage in five days at most."

Noi nodded, then said, "Oh, right, Master, there's one more thing. I heard from my aunt..."

“The Duke has recently woken up.” Trier paused for a moment. “—This is too coincidental. There must be some information behind it that we don’t yet have. But in any case, we should go to Wilt.”

“It’s not about that.” Noi suddenly gave a strange, hesitant look.

Trier raised an eyebrow at the other person: "Any more news?"

Neu nodded, then revealed news that greatly shocked Trier—

“I suppose you’ll have another reason to go to Wilt,” Neu said. “The first thing the Duke did after waking up was to decide to hold a grand wedding for himself. The messenger should be on his way now.”

Chapter 286 The Shadow

Wedding day, Wirth, Golden Boulevard.

Under a clear blue sky, the sun shone down with waves of heat, and even with silk parasols hanging above all the streets of Wirth, people could still feel the heat.

At this moment, the bustling crowd had filled the entire avenue in front of the cathedral, with the procession of celebrants dragging beer barrels and wine jars all over town. From emaciated refugees barely clothed, to thieves in cloaks taking advantage of the chaos to steal, to the well-dressed, gold-and-silver-adorned residents of the upper town, everyone was shoulder to shoulder, pushing and shoving.

Amidst the bustling and chaotic crowd, colorful flags fluttered in the wind, and the air was filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread and the sticky, sweaty smell unique to festivals.

Free food and wine were distributed everywhere on the streets, and the bards hired by the Duke were performing with great enthusiasm. Invited theatrical performers could be seen from time to time on the lawns of the palace gardens. The sun was shining brightly, and the whole city seemed to be radiating a dreamlike golden glow.

Although people still die from the plague from time to time, they have long since understood its transmission and path, and after months of terrifying trials, they have become numb rather than initially panicked and desperate. Now, people have even become somewhat accustomed to suffering; the guards swiftly and cleanly execute the transformed zombies, while most others continue to laugh and joke.

A flock of white doves swept across the sky to the accompaniment of a light and lively melody, and a burst of exclamations and laughter immediately rose from the ground. The next moment, a white dove slowly landed on the relief of the Arc de Triomphe in front of the Golden Palace.

Behind the Arc de Triomphe is a giant drawbridge made of gold. The density of people on the drawbridge is quite low because the Golden Palace is behind the drawbridge, and no one is allowed to enter without permission.

At this moment, a dozen strange warriors dressed in black plate armor and wielding greatswords engraved with bizarre runes silently advanced across the bridge. They followed quietly to the elderly nobleman leading the way, while behind them were Trier, Edith, and Feudia—Noy had already entered the castle ahead of time to make the necessary arrangements.

These black-armored warriors were all undead minions that Trier had repaired, while Trier walked slowly, casually setting up various triggerable spells nearby.

As an extremely cautious person, Trier had already dispatched a large number of spies to Wilt before arriving in the city, along with magical surveillance devices carried by the spies. Now the entire city of Wilt is covered by the surveillance network he created. However, even after going to such an obsessive level, Trier is still tirelessly adding new insurance for his safety.

“Aren’t you guys going to consider changing your clothes? This looks really weird…” Futia glanced at Trier and Edith and couldn’t help but complain, “You’re wearing so much armor, it’s like you’re going to war.”

At this moment, Trier was wearing three layers of armor: a layer of plate armor under a layer of chainmail, and a black cotton cloak over the plate armor. All the joints were inlaid with tanned leather and highly elastic mithril plates. With the addition of the rather bulky armor, his body looked several sizes wider.

Edith was no less impressive. She even abandoned her usual light but poorly protective chainmail skirt, donning a set of heavy gray plate armor without any heraldic emblems. She stayed close to Trir, sword and shield never leaving her hands. Her right index finger constantly rested on the holy emblem on the sword hilt, her eyes frequently scanning any suspicious spots around her. At this moment, her silent and seasoned demeanor made her look neither like a princess nor a paladin, but rather like a raider scouting the area...

“What if a bloody massacre like the one in ‘The Wedding of Carol’ happens?” Edith’s gaze swept across the Golden Palace in the distance. “We need to learn from the play. The situation is still unclear, so we might as well be cautious. After all, caution is a virtue of careful consideration.”

Although Edith lowered her voice, the old nobleman leading the way still turned around with considerable surprise and gave Edith a deep look.

“You are a guest, and your rights as a guest are naturally inviolable,” the old nobleman said quite seriously. “Your Highness, while caution is certainly a virtue of thoughtful consideration, caution in etiquette is far more important than caution in action.”

Having endured the cruel betrayal and trials of the massacre night, Edith's personality had undergone a complete transformation. Now she no longer cared about such formalities, so she completely ignored the old nobleman's words, while Futia blushed a little.

Unlike Trier and Edith's heavy armor, Futia surprisingly changed into a formal dress.

Her soft, golden hair cascaded down her slender, beautiful shoulders, while the black star pendant around her neck added to her elegant demeanor. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and to ease the awkwardness, she somewhat restrained herself by gathering her hair around her forehead. Her bare forearms, exposed between her black gauze gloves and triple-layered blue tulle dress, were dazzlingly white.

"Sir, is there anything else I should be aware of?" Faudia glanced at Trier, who was lost in thought, and then took the initiative to smooth things over.

Seeing that someone was offering a way out, the old nobleman breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his tone and said, "Your Excellency, you and your clan are exemplars of etiquette and experts in elegance. I'm afraid I cannot explain it with my limited knowledge."

—Before setting off for Wilt, the king suddenly sent a letter of appointment. In the letter, Fatiya, who was not originally officially appointed by the Kingdom of Orco, was directly granted the position of the king's special envoy.

The letter of appointment was clearly a gesture of goodwill from the king towards Princess Edith.

When Futia received the letter of appointment, she was extremely shocked. After all, not long ago, the king had just ordered the stripping of Edith's right to succession. But with the failure of Oris, the king changed his stance naturally and confidently, like a chameleon.

The other party's shamelessness left Futia in awe.

Trier was quite relaxed as she set up the magic while listening to the conversation around her.

After several days of investigation, he had some new ideas about why his calculation of the entrance to Wirth City had failed.

If all goes well, you should be able to find the answer within a few hours at the earliest.

Once this biggest obstacle is overcome, the overall situation will be settled. All that remains is to find the entrance, send the Asmo army in, find Losevie's life box, and finally kill Losevie. Then the Blood Plague Crisis will be completely over.

Upon realizing this, Trier couldn't help but smile.

However, at this very moment, a hidden unease, like the uneven skin of a dead person frozen to death in winter, slowly rose from the depths of his heart.

Trier's comfort vanished instantly.

His "early warning spell" was actually triggered!

"Warning" is a ninth-circle divination spell. As the name suggests, "Warning" enhances the recipient's sixth sense, providing early warning of imminent major threats. In gaming terms, the recipient will never be in a state of "being ambushed" or "panic," and will gain a full 2 ​​points of AC and a Insight bonus to saving throws.

At this moment, Trier was somewhat uneasy, but not nervous. After all, his current combat power was comparable to that of a demigod, and there were very few beings in the entire prime material plane who could threaten him. He had already prepared corresponding contingency plans through exhaustive search.

The most urgent task now is to avoid attracting the enemy's attention, locate the enemy, and then strike a fatal blow.

Trier casually turned his head to look behind him, while secretly activating his divine vision.

In an instant, Trier's vision suddenly expanded, and then everything in the world vanished into nothingness. Silver lines slowly rose up, reconstructing the entire world together with the bronze nodes. The next moment, the points and lines began to move, and green clouds representing life attached themselves to the points and lines.

Among them, in the small chapel not far away, one life stood out, because that life was shimmering with a faint scarlet color—he harbored hostility towards Trier.

"Found it," Trier thought.

The next moment, he withdrew from the divine vision and then saw the face of the hostile person.

Then, Trier was stunned.

The hostile party was a bald old man with a withered and haggard face, and this haggard old man was Trier's grandfather, the protagonist of today's wedding, the Duke of the South.

"A bloody wedding?" Trier thought to himself.

He initially intended to kill his opponent directly with a Death Finger technique from a distance, but after a moment's thought, he gave up on doing so.

The game "Azure Scepter" does indeed have a patricide curse. If you kill your closest relatives, you will receive a patricide curse effect without any explanation of its effects.

Before the Age of Bugs update, everyone thought that the patricide curse was just a minor debuff that greatly reduced the favorability of others. However, in the final battle of the Age of Bugs update, the chief wizard of the Gerdran Witch Council died mysteriously from a magical rampage, and after that, players began to pay attention to it.

In an effort to test the hidden effects of the patricide curse, some deranged players deliberately chose to have children in the game and then kill them with their own hands. After numerous bloody experiments and statistical analyses, they finally reached a conclusion.

The curse of patricide inflicts a hidden -2 AC, AB and saving throw luck penalty, and is also affected by certain special spells. This effect lasts for 10 years and is limited to three generations. This effect is only triggered by directly killing someone; it will not be triggered by hiring someone to commit murder, orchestrating, or creating an environment that is prone to accidents.

As Trier pondered this, he activated his divine vision again and began to use his divine perception to sense the Duke's emotions.

The Duke was merely a high-ranking warrior, and had just recovered from a long illness, so Trier succeeded easily.

Intense guilt, a hint of wariness, hidden jealousy, and boiling unease—but within that wooden, frail body, as weak as a walking corpse, there was not a trace of murderous intent.

Why would someone pose a threat if they had no intention to kill?

Trier frowned, pondered for a moment, and then felt a chill run down his spine!

Hostility does not equate to threat!

It wasn't the Duke who triggered the "early warning spell"!

The triggering mechanism of the "early warning technique" is quite rigid; it only issues an early warning when there is a major threat.

Something else triggered the warning!

Trier jerked his head up and reflexively looked ahead—in the floor-to-ceiling windows of the throne room on the second floor of the main castle behind the courtyard, a blurry black shadow was pressed against the window, staring straight at him!

What is this stuff?

Divine vision didn't detect this thing!?

How can it be? !

In the blink of an eye, Trier's pupils suddenly contracted. Although he was surrounded by people and the sun was shining brightly and warmly, he felt a chill that went straight to his bones. At this moment, he felt as if he had instantly entered some indescribable other dimension from the human world.

His heart pounded, and under the intense stimulation of adrenaline, time seemed to stand still. Without the slightest hesitation, Trier raised his hand and unleashed a modified version of Death Finger, imbued with the "Deadly Magic" and "Soul-Eating Frost," at the shadowy figure.

The magic arrived in an instant. The shadowy figure trembled violently, and in a flash, the viscous black mist enveloped the entire French window like a swamp. However, in less than half a second, both the black mist and the shadowy figure silently vanished into nothingness.

Trier closed his eyes and tried to sense the other party's whereabouts through negative energy. However, strangely, even the negative energy that should theoretically be attached to the other party was gone. The spying shadow disappeared without a trace, as if the shadow did not exist at all and was merely a hallucination caused by his mental breakdown.

Trier was silent for a moment, then a sense of absurdity mixed with shock washed over him.

His Death Finger was incredibly powerful; even a god in sainthood would be severely injured if hit. He was quite certain he had hit his target, since the throne room was unaffected by the Death Finger—yet the dark figure was completely unharmed, and even its negative energy had disappeared!

This scene completely overturned Trier's understanding; for the first time since his transmigration, he felt a profound shock.

"Trier?" Faudia's worried voice came from beside her ear, "Are you alright? You're sweating a lot."

Trier took a deep breath, suppressing his unease, and then shook his head slightly: "Did you see the shadowy figure? In the direction of the glass in the throne room on the second floor of the main castle."

"A shadowy figure?" The old nobleman, who was very particular about etiquette, looked up in great surprise. "The throne room is clearly full of people. The craftsmen are preparing the tiara for the bride there. Your Excellency Trier, you..."

"Am I hallucinating?" Trier mentally filled in the other person's blank.

At that moment, Edith, who had been silent all along, quietly patted Trier on the back.

Trier turned to look at Edith, but the princess shook her head slightly.

As if guided by a wish, Trier looked at the princess's finger and then discovered that she was secretly pointing to the palace gardens at the end of the suspension bridge.

Beneath the Four Seasons Tree, a tall man, his face pale and covered in cold sweat, stared blankly at the throne room on the second floor of the Golden Palace. His black pupils were filled with confusion. He wiped his sweat, and beneath the cuffs of his red and black tuxedo with gold thread, one could vaguely see the luster of metal and a signal transmission tube made of purple crystal.

Without a doubt, they were a pair of mechanical arms.

—He is Trier's uncle, Harlan's father, the second son of the Duke of the South, and the Earl of Cohen of Harlan.

He saw the dark figure too!

Chapter 287 A Shocking Turn of Events at the Wedding (Part 1)

Although he was quite shocked, Trier did not make any rash moves at this moment.

As a seasoned schemer, he knew that the key to dealing with conspiracies was to "remain unchanged amidst change," so he simply shifted his gaze nonchalantly. Since the strange shadowy figure hadn't attacked directly but instead chose to frighten him, it was highly likely that the other party lacked the ability to act directly, and its purpose was probably to hope that he would make a mistake in his haste.

What he needed to do now was not to chat with his uncle, but to quickly calculate the location of the entrance to the underground city of Wirth, while patiently waiting for the enemy to reveal a weakness.

With this thought in mind, Trier quietly crushed a spell storage stone containing the "Spell Sequence"—the spell sequence contained three spells: "Greater Invisibility," "Projection," and "Illusory Sound."

In the next instant, the light underwent a slightly ambiguous refraction, and as Trier entered a state of invisibility, a lifelike illusion composed of light and shadow appeared in an instant.