Chapter 934: Act 107 – Nature Affinity Badge VI
QiYala was about to say “No way,” but Brendel had already reached out and covered the mouths of the two little girls—now was not the time to discuss this.
The darkness seemed to return to silence, the underground world was eerily quiet. QiYala and the Sprite turned their eyes in the dark, and after a moment, they heard rustling sounds from the other side of the deep shadow. Soon, many writhing black shapes appeared on the ground and walls—countless rats and insects, scattering as if fleeing from a disaster, rushing past where Brendel and the others were.
The two little girls were so frightened by this scene that they almost screamed, if not for Brendel tightly covering their mouths—they held onto his arms, trying hard to close their eyes and not see it, goosebumps all over their bodies.
These lowly creatures instinctively sensed the looming danger and made such a choice, indicating that two dragons were coming in their direction. The dragon might they emitted was like the most conspicuous torchlight in the darkness.
After a while, everyone realized this fact.
Brendel had pulled the three ladies back into one of the branching passageways, and the four of them quietly stayed under the cloak. After a moment, indeed, two silhouettes appeared at the other end of the darkness. Brendel saw at first glance that it was Modest and Gwenethlyn in their humanoid forms, and the others were so tense they felt like their hearts were in their throats, but the two dragons did not immediately charge in their direction. Instead, Gwenethlyn and Modest’s speed was gradually slowing down.
The two women furrowed their brows tightly.
Modest was the first to notice that Brendel and the others had suddenly disappeared from her perception; her sensing ability was far inferior to Gwenethlyn’s. The latter possessed the bloodline of a dragon, making her one of the best in predictive abilities among all dragonkind. But almost simultaneously, Gwenethlyn also lost track of Brendel and the others; she frowned slightly, glancing around curiously, her steps unnaturally slowing.
The former naturally picked up on this subtle change and looked in disbelief at Gwenethlyn, unable to believe that Brendel managed to escape right under her nose.
“He got away,” Gwenethlyn replied indifferently as she noticed Modest’s gaze. “But not far. I can feel he should still be nearby. He must have used some kind of power to suddenly vanish from my sight.”
“Is it a teleportation spell?” Modest asked in surprise.
“No, it’s not,” Gwenethlyn shook her head. “A teleportation spell would cause disturbances in the laws of space, but I haven’t felt any magical waves. It felt as if Brendel just suddenly disappeared into thin air in front of me.”
The Dragon Queen frowned slightly and said, “I can sense they haven’t left. They must have blocked my perception with something.”
“The Cloak of Shadows can’t do that,” Modest replied indignantly. “That little guy has so many tricks; I never thought he was just a minor noble among humans—”
Gwenethlyn remained noncommittal about this, as she had already spotted the branching junction ahead.
When the Dragon Queen’s cold, cutting gaze swept past them, the three ladies and the Sprite froze in place like they had been petrified; although they knew they were separated by a cloak, they still felt a strong illusion that they had been discovered. In fact, even Brendel took a light breath; he was aware of the Cloak’s effects, but he was afraid that Gwenethlyn might suddenly become suspicious and stop to investigate. That could spell trouble.
The Cloak of Shadows has a duration.
Fortunately, Gwenethlyn’s gaze swept through the long underground cavern without lingering anywhere. She only signaled Modest with her eyes, and then both entered the two branching caves, one to the left and one to the right.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Those hiding under the cloak seemed to understand what it meant to “pass the time like a year.” Until Romaine was the first to release a sigh of relief; it seemed like a long exhale was contagious, as the other ladies followed suit, Brendel, as the only man among them, naturally had to show enough courage and composure. Although he was equally nervous, he just let out a light breath. He gestured to the others to stay still; dragons can sense their surroundings through their laws, and their perception range was vast. He was estimating Gwenethlyn and Modest’s speed, predicting when they would delve deeper into the Great Hive.
This was not Brendel’s first time facing a dragon, nor was it his first time playing hide and seek with such a boss-level creature. However, this time he dared not time it too tightly; after all, this was not a game, and he only had one chance of failure.
The key was that he was worried about Gwenethlyn’s sensing ability, surpassing that of a “common dragon.” She had clearly suspected they were still hiding in the vicinity, so how far would she go into the Great Hive? That remained a question.
For these reasons, he had to be extra cautious and did not immediately remove the Cloak of Shadows.
Of course, he wasn’t planning to use up the Cloak’s duration all at once; in his plans, he would still need to use it two or three more times.
After making a hand gesture to QiYala and the Sprite, he quietly began counting the seconds. He didn’t expect that his caution would pay off. Just as he counted to ten, a shadow flashed, and Gwenethlyn suddenly emerged from the cave. At that moment, Brendel and the others were nearly scared out of their wits—especially Brendel. After a moment of relief, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat anxious; the Cloak still had half its duration left, but no one knew what Gwenethlyn was returning for.
Gwenethlyn circled around the cave, moving from one end to the other as if contemplating something, then came back to the entrance of the branching cave, slightly furrowing her brow.
Seeing this, Brendel’s brow furrowed even deeper. With less than a minute left, that dragon still had the leisure to ponder life. What was this nonsense?
What were they supposed to do now? It seemed like the Dragon Queen was not planning to leave, and Brendel instinctively placed his hand on the Elapsing Pointer. If she didn’t leave soon, he would have to activate the Elapsing Pointer to take a gamble. However, appearing in front of her now would make using the same trick to deceive her next time much more difficult. He could only hope that the acceleration from the Elapsing Pointer would create a gap in her reaction time, enabling him to emerge from behind her without her realizing it.
He held the Elapsing Pointer, momentarily hesitant. To fight or not to fight—that was the question.
If he were alone, given his habitual gambler’s temperament in such situations, he would have been all in, but now he still had Romaine beside him.
Thirty seconds left.
Brendel licked his lips, and just then, he saw Gwenethlyn begin to move again. She slowly approached the branching passage, this time choosing the side that Modest had previously entered. “Is she going to look for Modest?” Brendel thought; it couldn’t have been better. He couldn’t help but pray, “Hurry up, dear Dragon Queen, there’s nothing here worth your while!”
It seemed that the Dragon Queen heard his prayer. After giving the cave one last sweeping glance, she finally elegantly stepped towards the direction where Modest had disappeared. Watching her slow pace, Brendel’s heart tightened; with twenty seconds left, time was running short.
Gwenethlyn finally entered the cave, but as soon as she stepped in, she stopped and turned, looking in the direction where Brendel was.
At that moment, Brendel was so frightened that his heart nearly stopped.
Did she find them?
That was impossible—
The Cloak of Shadows was as effective in concealing aura as the mountains’ charm and the Sky Blue Spear—it was its only purpose. Even William had admitted he couldn’t see through the Cloak of Shadows. How could a dragon do anything more than just be a boss? There was no reason to be overly concerned; he had seen many before; she couldn’t have found them. Most likely, she was merely suspicious, trying to coax them into revealing themselves.
As if confirming Brendel’s suspicions, the Dragon Queen spoke, “How long are you going to hide over there?”
Brendel instinctively covered the Sprite’s mouth to prevent this somewhat dull little guy from revealing all of them.
QiYala also tightly shut her mouth; she was the smartest among them—at least she thought so—so she obviously wouldn’t fall for this little trick.
Gwenethlyn’s eyes flashed with anger as she stared at the group: “Do you think I’m blind? The Cloak of Shadows, William invested quite a bit into you lot. It seems you indeed came here for the Sky Blue Spear. It’s a pity you made such a poor excuse—it’s too clumsy; you human nobles have a dark history, and how could such an excuse be trusted?”
Brendel was finally stunned.
How did she find out?
The cloak had twenty seconds left; there was no way he calculated it wrong. Could the abilities of the Seven-Fold Dragon truly be so monstrous that it could ignore even gifts from the gods?
But Gwenethlyn seemed to have seen through his astonishment. She sneered, “William is wise but has his moments of folly, to entrust the Cloak of Shadows to you foolish beings. This cloak originally belongs to dragonkind; it is woven from the breath of Shadow Dragons. The shadow of the Shadow Dragon only appears for a specific moment each day, and this cloak perfectly inherits that trait. Did you think it could cover your aura indefinitely by holding it up like this?”
“What do you mean?”
Gwenethlyn was finally angered: “How long do you plan to keep that rag up? Its effective duration has long since expired!”
Brendel and the others seemed startled by her outburst and instinctively lowered their hands, discovering that the Cloak of Shadows had indeed lost its magical potency—this was not right. The duration clearly hadn’t finished; Brendel felt completely innocent. He was very certain that even now, the cloak should have about five seconds of duration left. Suddenly hesitating, he sensed a faint fluctuation in the air; he realized it was Gwenethlyn’s line of law, the law of death. Gwenethlyn had been projecting her realm of extremes.
The Cloak of Shadows had been interfered with under this powerful law, causing its duration to be greatly shortened.
Damn.
Brendel finally understood that he had come to this realization a bit too late, and this was due to Gwenethlyn’s law power being too subtle. If it were a projection of Modest’s level, he would have immediately noticed the anomaly, but this silent erosion often led to people overlooking dangers, falling into traps unknowingly.
He could vaguely sense that Gwenethlyn’s line of law was currently more concentrated than ever—she must have long since discovered them. Her act of pretending to walk toward the junction was just to buy time to seal this area with her law realm. Brendel, feeling troubled, finally released his hand from the Elapsing Pointer; he understood this item was now no longer useful. The entire place was effectively within Gwenethlyn’s law realm, essentially her realm of extremes. Unless she opened this area, no one could hope to escape.
Previously in the valley, she hadn’t the capacity to seal such a large area in the main material plane, but here, she could do so effortlessly.
Brendel didn’t expect to end up shooting himself in the foot.
“Now we have no conditions to discuss,” Gwenethlyn replied coldly. “If you wish to keep your corpse intact, hand over the Earth Sword.”
“Since I’m going to die anyway, why should I make it easier for you?” Brendel retorted crossly.
“That’s different. Don’t forget that you have your territory. I can kill you, but I may not have time to vent my anger in your little kingdom. You wouldn’t want me to waste time going there, would you?” Gwenethlyn replied nonchalantly.
This was an outright threat, and Brendel’s expression fell immediately.
He had to admit that she had him by the throat.
He remained silent for a moment, and finally sighed as if resigned, “Fine, I admit defeat, but can you let them go?”
He looked over at Romaine and the others.
Romaine was startled and quickly gripped his hand tightly. Merchant Miss bit her lip and said nothing, but her actions indicated her intentions.
“You bastard…” QiYala frowned as if pondering a way to escape; this was a dilemma that had her thoroughly stumped.
Among everyone, only the Sprite seemed utterly petrified, standing like a pillar.
Before Gwenethlyn could respond, Brendel knew the temperament of dragons well. He decisively opened a dimensional portal and reached inside to grab something—
It was a long nail.
Gwenethlyn’s expression changed for the first time upon seeing the object: “You actually have this!”
Brendel indicated that he not only had it but had many of them. However, he didn’t have time for idle chatter now; Gwenethlyn had sealed this area with her line of law, which meant she had effectively pulled Brendel and the others into her realm of extremes. The moment Brendel retrieved the God-Slaying Demonic Spike, she realized something was amiss—but the Dragon Queen, after all, was no fool at William’s level. Her reaction was very quick. In the underground cave, a black light suddenly flickered, and Brendel saw the swirling black smoke beneath him fading like flowing water. In an instant, the Dragon Queen’s lines of law had completely dissipated.
At that moment, he had to act. The cold light flashed in his hand as the Demonic Spike plunged heavily into two of Gwenethlyn’s lines of law. The Dragon Queen let out a suppressed grunt. An entity of her level would not easily be injured, but once hurt, it wouldn’t be a trivial wound. She swiftly severed the connection between those two lines and herself to prevent the horrific God-Slaying Demonic Spike from tying her to a total loss of elemental power. Gwenethlyn’s decisiveness saved her life, but laws and elements should not be trifled with; this was the foundation of Vaunte’s existence, the bond between mortal life and the entire world. Although this act of lizard-shedding saved her life, it meant she had stabbed herself heavily in a vital area.
Brendel was waiting for this opportunity. The moment the Dragon Queen was injured, he promptly grabbed the Elapsing Pointer, took QiYala, Romaine, and the Sprite, and ran. He understood this was his only chance; even though the Dragon Queen was injured, if she was desperate to stop him, there still wouldn’t be a major problem.
Indeed, Gwenethlyn immediately demonstrated his assumption through her actions.
At this moment, she was completely enraged. She never imagined Brendel could injure her, and it was a severe wound—not like those minor scrapes Modest dealt previously. Given her current loss, it would take her a long time to recover, which was almost a fatal blow to their plans at this critical time. “Trying to run!” the Dragon Queen roared, finally unleashing her full power—factoring in her injuries, exploding all her power had a significant effect on her condition, but in her rage, Gwenethlyn couldn’t care less. She directly launched a silver light.
As soon as Brendel saw the light, he was so frightened that he nearly lost his mind. He finally realized he had gone too far; the damn dragon had used an artifact against him.
That was the Grip of Tiamat, an artifact held by the Seven-Fold Dragon King. He hadn’t expected it to be in Gwenethlyn’s hands. The critical point was that this artifact was a storage-type, and Gwenethlyn actually used this crucial energy storage for herself. Brendel didn’t know whether to say he was too lucky or unfortunate.
But at least he understood one point.
He could not escape now.
The Grip of Tiamat was a legendary artifact of the Arbiter’s court, described in Crusian mythology as a holy object used to bind divine criminals. Although it was merely a legend, using it to bind a human was definitely overkill.
Brendel watched as the silver light descended upon him. But at that moment, he suddenly saw a flash of green light, and another almost identical green ring radiated from the Sprite.
Nature Affinity Badge!
Brendel instantly understood what it was.
……
(PS: I forgot to post this after uploading yesterday; I just noticed it this morning, which is quite amusing—I lost my perfect attendance because of it. Sorry, dear readers, I’m really overwhelmed. Please show some support; my heart is breaking!)
