Chapter 21: Acquiring the Artifact! Seeking Recommendation Votes
2015-07-22
Author: 诸生浮屠
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Awooo!
The ground was littered with the corpses of numerous Abyss Werewolves, unable to advance despite repeated assaults, even failing to reach their target. Finally, even these ferociously strong Abyss Werewolves were demoralized. As the massive black-furred werewolf at the forefront retreated, Eugene did not hesitate to stomp his foot to awaken the elements, shaking Soren off in a tremor and swiftly retreating behind. The heroic spirits had been slain, and with no way to break through Soren’s defenses, Eugene’s objective shifted to restraining Soren, hoping that the Warlord of Werewolves could make a move.
However, it was unsurprisingly disappointing!
Aside from the many corpses of the Abyss Werewolves left behind, this group had made no real progress.
The enemy retreated.
A thunderous cheer erupted from behind Soren, and the priests led by Milan knelt before his figure, their faces filled with reverence as they prayed and praised on the battle-scarred battlefield. The destruction caused by the combat at the Legend Rank was quite astonishing; even high-level professionists could be directly harmed by the core clash between Soren and Eugene. Each encounter left pockmarked traces on the ground, and fortunately, this was in a wild area; otherwise, the city walls might have collapsed.
Soren did not pursue.
The reason was simple!
Throughout the battle, Soren had not truly landed a hit on Eugene. He hadn’t even forced out the other’s elemental defenses. However, Eugene hadn’t really hit Soren either, and it could be said that they were evenly matched.
A hard fight would result in mutual destruction.
This was not something Soren wished to see, and presumably, Eugene didn’t want to either.
Soren had many tasks to accomplish, the most important of which was to bring his needed Half-Elf believers to the Pirate Islands, and Eugene’s survival was crucial to this. As long as Eugene was alive, the crisis in Leaffall City had not been resolved; it was only with the threat still looming that Soren could take people far overseas. Otherwise, if the Half-Orc Army retreated, even if Soren relied on the influence of the Church to deliver prophecies of greater disasters to come, many ordinary people might be reluctant to leave their homes.
For mortals, what they saw was predominantly the present!
Soren was not a soft-hearted person.
However, to achieve his goals, he could allow enemies to linger for a time.
“Board the ship!”
Soren glanced at the others and said in a deep voice, “Prepare to retreat! The First Fleet will stay nearby to assist; the rest will escort the civilians out.”
Order after order was given.
Finally, Soren approached the Mind Sorcerer Die, speaking softly, “You will accompany them, deliver the civilians to the harbor, and then return; we can’t let the pirates harass these civilians.”
The Half-Elf First Mate was steady and ruthless in his actions. With him around, Soren was confident no one would dare disobey his orders.
The Mind Sorcerer nodded silently, “Understood.”
These believers were foundational, and among them were many small children. After all that had happened today, these children would carry deep memories; with a little nurturing, they could become a solid foundation for the future. The faith conversion of adults, even if successful, mostly resulted in nominal believers. However, many devout believers could emerge from these children, and there was even potential for zealots to develop. This aspect was exceptionally important for Soren’s future plans.
He absolutely couldn’t allow these children to be left with bad shadows of the Church during their formative years!
In the end.
Soren approached the priests. Civilians could be sent away directly; however, these priests had to remain.
Soren’s grand scheme wasn’t merely to take away this small number of people!
“Tomorrow, you will bring a batch of food and weapons back.”
Soren looked down at the kneeling priests and said solemnly, “I will send people to assist you secretly. Once the fleet returns, we will send off the second batch of civilians.”
The priests present reflected on his words, nodding in agreement, “My lord, rest assured! We understand what we should do!”
Soren revealed a slight smile, slowly stating, “Very good.”
“Milan.”
“Come with me.”
The petite Holy Spirit Priest immediately stood up and obediently followed Soren into the captain’s cabin.
“My lord.”
The delicate little girl humbly lowered her head and softly asked, “What is your command, my lord?”
Soren turned to look at her, deepening his voice, “Why was that Half-Orc so focused on you? Just now, it seemed to have the intention to kill you at all costs!”
A hint of surprise appeared on Milan’s face, then she shook her head in confusion, “I… I don’t know!…”
“Wait!…”
“Could it be because of this?!…”
The little girl seemed to ponder and quickly took out a deep green flail, handing it to Soren, whispering, “This is a treasure of the Church, said to be a part of a very powerful artifact! Because my chosen weapon is a flail, the Bishop temporarily entrusted it to me. I just started learning combat skills and was planning to present it to you when we met!”
A flail?
Soren frowned upon hearing this, took it in hand for a look, and suddenly felt a shock throughout his body.
—【Time Flail * Poison】!
Indeed.
Eugene targeted the Holy Spirit Priest Milan not out of hatred, but for this artifact fragment.
“Item Type: Time Flail【Poison】 (Fragment)
Item Level: 【First Rank Artifact】
Item Description: This is a part of a legendary artifact, and due to the missing four fragments, its power is probably less than that of a legendary equipment. However, it possesses astonishing potential; as one of the most powerful artifacts in the entire Material Plane, whoever can gather all five heads of the Time Flail will possess fearsome powers comparable to god-slaying and demon-slaying! The God of Slaughter once used this weapon to defeat enemies in the last Investiture of the Gods, and this weapon has been tainted with the【Blood of the Gods】, retaining the residual aura of slaughter.
Equipment Requirements: Above 14 points of strength【Strength Requirement +2】.
Equipment Effects: Artifact Characteristics, Blood of the Gods, Poison Damage, Armor Piercing Characteristics, Maim, +3 Sharpness, +5 Durability, +10 Armor Piercing, +5 Shatter Damage.
Weapon Special Effect: 【Artifact Characteristics】, this weapon is a legendary artifact that cannot be destroyed by conventional means and is immune to disintegration spells; only a legendary disintegration spell has a 1% chance to destroy this artifact; however, the destroyer will also suffer backlash from divine power.
Weapon Special Effect: 【Blood of the Gods】, this weapon has been soaked in the blood of countless Greater Demons, Demigods, Demi-Gods, and even true deities over the long years. Some powerful beings who coveted the God of Slaughter’s title have perished at its hands. Even though this is just a fragment of the artifact, the power of the Blood of the Gods is soaked into the Time Flail.
Weapon Special Effect: 【Poison Damage】, this is the poison head among the five heads of the Time Flail. Due to its restoration of only one-fifth of the fragment, this weapon can only exert a relatively weak power, dealing an additional 5 points of poison damage to the target upon contact with any enemy.
Weapon Special Effect: 【Armor Piercing Characteristics】, as a five-head flail of artifact level, the Time Flail possesses terrifying armor-piercing capabilities. Even equipped with only one of the flail heads, it can easily break through most armor defenses. Upon hitting an enemy, 【Time Flail】 can directly ignore all armor below the extraordinary level, including full-body armor, and cannot block its attacks. When the five heads of the Time Flail are fully combined, its armor-piercing characteristics will be further enhanced, rendering even legendary level armor incapable of withstanding its damage!
Weapon Special Effect: 【Maim】, the Time Flail possesses horrific lethality; when attacking an enemy, there is a certain chance to directly maim the target. When an enemy is attacked by the Time Flail, they must make a forced Fortitude saving throw, or their movement speed and attack speed will be reduced due to the maiming. The number of flail heads of the Time Flail determines the power of this ability.”
………………
The Time Flail!
Indeed, it was one of the fragments of that artifact.
Soren gripped the artifact fragment in his hand, feeling a familiar aura within, the power of the【Blood of the Gods】, this weapon had truly slain powerful beings who once possessed the title of God of Slaughter!
The Blood of the Gods soaked this weapon.
As one of the most notorious artifacts in the Material Plane, the number of enemies slain by the Time Flail was probably greater than that of the Holy Avenger because its complete form is a five-headed flail!
A single flail shaft connected to five flail heads, corresponding to fire, acid, ice, poison, and electricity; once touched by any one of the flail heads in battle, all five attributes would explode together—a feeling difficult to describe! More importantly, as one of the most powerful heavy weapons, the Time Flail has a certain chance to directly maim enemies, even high-level demons could instantly have their legs broken by a mere graze; it is one of the easiest weapons in the Material Plane to inflict the maimed condition!
“This thing is too dangerous to carry on you.”
Soren held the Time Flail【Poison】in his hand and said slowly, “The King of Werewolves is likely looking for it; it’s better to keep it with me for now.”
Milan nodded obediently, “Mm.”
Soren looked up and down at the little girl before him; she was quite charming in appearance, slim in build; while she had not fully developed yet, she would surely grow into a great beauty in the future.
This was one of the strange things!
Women in this world seemed inexplicably powerful, wielding weapons that were even bolder than men’s.
Not to mention the little girl before him.
Soren recalled the priestess from Amber City, who also wielded a flail; such a hugely damaging weapon should be used by ‘Ringwraiths’ or boss-level characters, right?
Why did these little girls all have a fondness for such weapons?
The style was completely off!
……………(To be continued ~^~)