Xias's Death

Plague Curse differed from Fire Curse Technique. Fire Curse Technique required a continuous output of magic power, while Plague Curse only needed to be cast once for disease to cling to the target. However, a single purification spell could dispel the curse.

"Judging by the depth of their magic power, their Magic Level is definitely above ours. If this continues, Commander Xias's life force may be exhausted."

Lloyd Hillbo, chief healing mage of the Chaos Knights, shook his head helplessly and cast another purification spell, dispelling the Plague Curse on Xias.

Everyone in the knights frowned. Having such a terrifying mage, one so skilled in curses, within an enemy kingdom was truly a headache.

"We can only hope to find that mage as soon as possible."

"Why not just slaughter and raze Lundria? They must be hiding inside!"

"What if we fail to kill them and they go into hiding instead? A mage who controls such terrifying curses, hiding in the shadows and cursing us every day... that would be too frightening."

Everyone was deeply conflicted. Curse Magic had originally been the sort of magic that could not be brought into the open, yet now there was someone who could ignore spells such as Curse Tracing and Curse Counter.

Moreover, the other party's reserves of magic power were simply terrifying. The curses had not stopped from yesterday until now.

Damn it!

They had clearly prepared to annex the Uruk Kingdom, yet such an unexpected complication had suddenly appeared.

Lloyd Hillbo, chief healing mage of the Chaos Knights, dispelled the Plague Curse on Xias.

Hekate frowned.

If that man had not cast a purification spell every few minutes, Xias would have died long ago.

"This healer is asking for it too."

Hekate muttered to herself.

Far away in the Chaos Kingdom, Lloyd had no idea that he had already been targeted. He was still preparing recovery potions for Xias. Falling ill repeatedly and being purified repeatedly put an enormous strain on the body.

Just then, Bang!

A strange sound rang out in the quiet room.

The next moment, a blinding flare of fire suddenly appeared.

Azure flames erupted over Lloyd's body. Before he could react, the searing flames burned him into a scream. The agonizing pain left him unable even to cast a magic shield to protect himself. In mere moments, he was reduced to a pile of ashes.

As a healer, Lloyd wore no protective equipment at all.

The Fire Curse Technique, stacked to 200% power, was unleashed completely upon him.

The several Chaos Knights present stared in stunned disbelief. Then fury filled their eyes, instantly turning them bloodshot!

After the magic healer's death, the Plague Curse descended upon Xias once more, gradually twisting the expression on his unconscious face.

After a prolonged tug-of-war, his body's cells finally could no longer hold on. Half an hour later, Xias died of heart failure.

Arthurx, the king who rushed over upon hearing the news, had eyes as dark as an abyss. He glanced at Xias's disease-swollen corpse and snorted coldly. "We lost one strong warrior, so they must lose ten. Add that condition to their surrender agreement!"

That coward hiding his head and showing his tail, refusing to reveal their true face, must have a weakness. Just let me find it.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The third day.

Hekate woke comfortably from bed. She had spent quite a bit of lifespan killing Xias yesterday, and afterward she had been too exhausted to continue cultivating through Meditation. Instead, she had slept properly for the first time in a long while.

She casually tapped the lottery function on Gift of Fate.

Duang~

Gift of Fate: Magic Level increased by 1 Star, lifespan reduced by 500 years.

Hekate waved a hand and accepted the gift. Five hundred years of lifespan was nothing.

Soon, she broke through from a 7-star Archmage to an 8-star Archmage.

The tranquil magic power within her body surged once again.

She would have to spend time stabilizing it again.

At noon.

Natasha went out shopping with her mother. After returning, she came to Hekate's room.

"Hekate, look at this! What is it?!" Natasha's eyes gleamed as she pulled a sapphire brooch from her clothes.

Hekate took it and touched it.

Azure Brooch: Rare-Tier · Brooch. Contains one cubic meter of storage space.

"...Where did you pick this up?" Hekate was stunned. Last time, Natasha had picked up an Insight Ring; this time, she had picked up a spatial brooch. Wasn't this luck a little absurd?

Natasha smiled. "When I went shopping with Lady Audrey today, we ran into two very arrogant people. One of them bumped into me as they passed by, and this thing ended up hanging on my dress."

Could you be the heroine of some underdog novel? Your whole family dies, then you come to ask me for help, and I refuse you, helping you unlock the whole 'thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river' storyline.

Hekate froze for a moment, then said, "Natasha, am I good to you?"

"Hm? Of course you are. Why ask that?" Natasha asked in confusion.

"Then if you become a super powerful person someday, don't hit me."

Natasha could not help laughing. "Hehe, you really know how to joke. I'm still an Apprentice Mage, while you're already an Intermediate Mage. How could I possibly hit you?"

Looking at the girl's adorable smile, Hekate somehow recalled how Star had described her as a block of wood a few days ago.

Hekate shook her head and poured magic power into the brooch. A layer of magical restriction flashed across the sapphire's surface, but she forcibly broke it. The contents of the space immediately spilled onto the floor.

There were some currencies circulating in the Uruk Kingdom and Chaos Kingdom, as well as some documents.

Natasha cried out in surprise. She had not expected the brooch to store items, much less so much money. Hekate ignored the currency and picked up the documents to read through them.

It was the Uruk Kingdom's surrender agreement, and it had been revised.

"Natasha, you can have all this money. I'll keep the brooch and these documents for now." Hekate put away the documents, then gave all the gold pounds to Natasha.

Natasha beamed. "Then I won't stand on ceremony~"

The girl left with currency worth several hundred gold pounds.

Hekate carefully studied the surrender agreement and immediately understood that the brooch had been dropped by a negotiator sent by the Chaos Kingdom.

Natasha's luck was truly unbelievable. She could even pick up something like this.

"This Chaos Kingdom really thinks too highly of itself. They actually want to execute Teacher Ivin." Hekate was speechless.

Many conditions had been added to the surrender agreement. One of them stated that Commander Xias had died because of an unknown Curse Mage within the Uruk Kingdom, causing the King of Chaos to deeply feel that the kingdom's surrender was insincere. If the kingdom could execute the following ten Magi, the King of Chaos would be able to see its sincerity.

Teacher Ivin was on that execution list.

To Hekate, that was simply courting death.

Teacher Ivin had treated her well and was also a responsible teacher. How could Hekate possibly allow an enemy kingdom to execute her?

"Who are the envoys who arrived in the Uruk Kingdom today?" Hekate walked to the window and activated Star Speech.

Jasper Franklin and Richard Abel from the Chaos Kingdom, Monroe Walter from the Peters Kingdom, and Ralph Malthus from the Silbon Kingdom.

Hekate frowned. She had thought that only Chaos envoys had come, but envoys from neighboring kingdoms had arrived as well.

The Peters Kingdom lay beyond the northern mountains, while the Silbon Kingdom lay overseas. Both kingdoms bordered the Uruk Kingdom, though neither was as close as Chaos.

"What are people from Peters and Silbon doing here?"

They came to mooch.