Chapter 227

"Okay, see you later."

Chen Ce silently left the noisy and uneasy crowd, and took Sona's hand to the other side of the town.

The city lord began organizing the people to handle the funeral arrangements for the poor dead, Mageseekers pretended to wander around the city with Petricite.

To be honest, Chen Ce had no idea what methods those Mageseekers intended to use to frame or harm him, nor did he know exactly when they would act... He only knew that they were going to take advantage of today's demon-hunting operation to make their move.

But it doesn't matter, their plans will definitely be disrupted tonight anyway—they certainly won't expect Nocturne to be found tonight.

At that point, they will be forced to act ahead of schedule.

When the time comes... if they can't hold back, then kill them all, including Nocturne.

"Miss Sona, prepare before night falls."

[Okay...] Sona hugged Etwahl tightly with one arm.

With her other hand, she felt the warmth of the other person's palm.

The sun began to set in the west, and the shadows gradually lengthened.

Chen Ce led Sona around the city, pretending to be something they'd never seen, while the demon Raum continued searching for the whereabouts of that "young demon."

Finally, before night completely enveloped Fossbarrow, it got a general direction—in the northern suburbs of Fossbarrow.

[I've roughly found it... Now I need you to go in that direction... I can find it precisely...]

"So fast?" Chen Ce was a little surprised.

[It's getting impatient... its energy is starting to surge... I can feel its anger...]

Upon hearing this, Chen Ce could roughly guess why Nocturne was "angry" —Lissandra had given it a good lesson in the dream last night, making it understand what it meant to be a "dream master".

This is revenge.

"Okay, I'll go there now..." Chen Ce took Sona's hand and changed direction, heading towards the northern outskirts of the city.

Just then, the other Mageseekers had also been wandering around aimlessly all day also came over.

"Any discoveries, Chen Ce?" The leader waved enthusiastically from dozens of meters away.

"... Not for now." After hesitating for a moment, Chen Ce still didn't tell the truth.

"Oh, that's a real shame... but thankfully, we have some leads." The Mageseekers chuckled. "I think we've found traces of it—quite a few."

"Oh?" Chen Ce stopped, intrigued.

Seeing this, the Mageseekers explained with a smile, "We found traces of that Black Mage in several directions in the city—but unfortunately, we've run out of steam."

"Why?"

"We don't have enough manpower. We split up, but we still can't completely cover the area where those traces were found."

"That's a pity."

"Yes... So, Chen Ce, could you please help us track it down as well?"

"Please speak." Chen Ce had already guessed some of it.

But what he didn't expect was the direction the other person was pointing next—

"The northern outskirts of the city," the Mageseekers. "I need you to search there for traces of the Black Mage —there are clues there too. I'm sure."

It's exactly the direction Raum mentioned...

Chen Ce nodded in acceptance, "No problem, then I'll leave the rest to you."

"Ah, of course." The leader of the Mageseekers smiled—perhaps this was the only genuine smile he had shown in the past few days.

"Then see you later." Chen Ce gave a military salute and immediately led Sona toward the northern suburbs.

Behind him, the Mageseekers watched him with chilling eyes...

The air was filled with the fragrance of pine and wildflowers, a gift from the towering mountains of northern Demacia. Sona enjoyed this blissful connection with nature; however, the smell of earth suddenly brought back a scene from her nightmare, sending a chill down her spine.

As the jungle grew darker, the two searched for a path, and that unsettling sense of envelopment returned... as if the shadows had materialized... into the gaping maw and sharp claws of a demon.

Chen Ce began to unleash demonic power to combat the discomfort.

As they continued forward, Raum kept giving instructions.

Finally, they stopped in a clearing deep in the forest.

Chen Ce saw something strange... a statue.

It resembled a statue of an angel, but its face was smeared with disgusting mud, which had now dried into patches. Its wings were entangled in vines, and one of its hands had been deliberately chiseled off. Its eye sockets seemed to be filled with something like blood and tears, which flowed down in streaks of black ink.

The statue looked strange and ugly standing there, but Chen Ce felt inexplicably familiar with it...

He stepped forward slowly and, in the dim light, made out the face of the angel statue.

This is...

Morgana?

[The statue of the Veiled Lady.] Sona, standing nearby, also recognized the statue—but of course, her recognition differed slightly from Chen Ce's. [I haven't seen one in years... I didn't expect to see a statue of the Veiled Lady here.]

"It doesn't look that good." Chen Ce examined the statue's face, then shook his head. "This is malicious slander."

[Hmm... I think so too.] Sona agreed. [I've seen much older, more realistic statues of the Veiled Lady elsewhere, and those were clearly much more beautiful.]

"How ironic..." Chen Ce couldn't help but sigh.

Compared to another angel, Kayle, the "fallen angel" Morgana truly cared for mortals, yet she was slandered to such an extent by them... Is this truly a testament to the power of those in authority?

Only high-ranking nobles who control the law are more likely to become followers of Kayle.

Ordinary people should worship Morgana.

But now... even ordinary people despise her.

Irony, so ironic...

Chen Ce sighed, then focused his attention on continuing his search for Nocturne under Raum's guidance.

But at that moment, Sona, who was born mute but had exceptionally sensitive hearing, suddenly showed an uneasy expression.

[Someone's...] She gripped Chen Ce's hand tightly. [Someone's approaching...]

"Um?"

Chen Ce almost reflexively placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, while looking in the direction Sona was gesturing.

This is the road we came from.

After waiting for a long time, a blurry figure gradually approached...

No, not just one, but several.

Those few Mageseekers.

Nocturne hasn't even been released yet, and they're already in such a hurry to make a move?

"You're here, Chen Ce..." the leader of the Mageseekers said gently.

But Chen Ce was too lazy to pretend with them anymore. "I've only been here a short time. Did you guys follow me here so soon after I set off?"

Upon hearing this, the leading Mageseekers remained silent, but another Mageseekers beside him asked in a complicated tone in a low voice:

"This isn't what we planned... Let's not do it now... Doing it this way might leave clues..."

Their initial plan was to "use a borrowed knife to kill"—find the Black Mage, have Chen Ce attack him alone, and then betray him—if Chen Ce really had some skill, they could even help the Black Mage take action against Chen Ce if necessary. But now... if they act directly...?

It would be too unsavory to do something like that... it would be easily discovered...

Chen Ce used the power of the demon to glimpse a bit of the [secret] and also overheard a little of the conversation.

But before he could make a move, the leader of the Mageseekers acted first.

A cold glint flashed, and his sword blade was stained with blood.

But... it wasn't Chen Ce's.

It belonged to his teammates, not him.

"...!" The Mageseekers, whose throat had been slit in an instant, stared wide-eyed in disbelief, wanting to question but unable to utter a sound.

"What are you doing?!" The other Mageseekers also drew their swords in alarm.

The leader of the Mageseekers simply laughed.

"You will all die... you all must die..."

A strange wisp of black mist emerged from his bloodshot eyes...

Chapter 87 The Redemption of the Fallen Angel

The sudden turn of events left Chen Ce somewhat bewildered.

He knew, of course, that these Mageseekers were after him, but to attack his own comrade...? That was truly baffling...

He noticed the black mist rising from the other person's eyes... He quickly connected it to Nocturne —a demon possessing a human or something... but something seemed off.

Humans "possessed" by Nocturne have no self-awareness whatsoever; they only roar and attack indiscriminately like a madman who has encountered some kind of extreme fear, but they do not retain any self-awareness.

"This is getting interesting..."

Chen Ce gripped the sword hilt warily, hesitating whether to use his magic directly.

"What are you doing?!" Even more bewildered than Chen Ce were the Mageseekers —they had witnessed an "internal strife."

The crazed Mageseekers didn't reply; he simply used his sword to poke at the corpse of his fallen comrade.

In front of everyone, he slowly severed the latter's head.

The sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh was already terrifying, but the sound of sawing off a cervical vertebra was even more chilling... The crunching sound echoed through the forest until his entire head was severed.

The corpse collapsed onto the muddy ground, two jets of blood spurting from its neck. The head rolled to Chen Ce's feet. At that moment, a wisp of black smoke billowed out of the corpse, like the bubbling, viscous liquid in a burial pit.

The Mageseekers were horrified as a ghostly figure, baring its fangs and brandishing fire in its eyes, burst forth from the head of a dead man.

"Damn it... it's that Black Mage! Run!" someone screamed as they ran toward the town of Fossbarrow.

The others also fled one after another, showing no intention of "capturing the Black Mage."

As for helping Chen Ce, that's out of the question.

They even fired a few burning arrows at Chen Ce while they were fleeing.

The flames ignited the dry, fallen leaves, quickly spreading to the nearby dead trees, then to the grass, the bushes...

In no time, the raging fire blocked the road to the town of Fossbarrow.

Although the process wasn't smooth and the ending was a bit bizarre, they had at least achieved their ultimate goal... Now they needed to use the Black Mage to kill Chen Ce.

The dazzling firelight largely dispelled the darkness, but it also cast long shadows on the group. Chen Ce saw that the shadows projected onto the ground behind him were also grotesquely twisted and menacing, like monsters.

[This isn't the demon's true form...] Raum's voice came at the right moment, [but this mortal also contains a part of its will... You can kill him to find it further...]

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Chen Ce drew the Muramana from its sheath.

Sona, standing to the side, didn't even have time to react before the magical sword light descended.

The distance of just over ten meters was only a blink of an eye for Chen Ce.

[Steel Tempest] is probably one of the fastest sword techniques in the world.

The Mageseekers's head was severed in an instant, as if it were made of paper.

But... no blood flowed out.

The cut surface of his severed neck was pitch black, like a bottomless black hole... Not a drop of blood oozed out; instead, there was an eerie black mist.

Even after his head was severed, it could still speak, "Chen Ce... you will definitely die... definitely..."

Even at this moment, he seemed to retain a sliver of personal consciousness—he remembered that he had come to kill Chen Ce.

But of course, he doesn't remember that he is no longer the real him.

As the black mist descended, Chen Ce was preparing to unleash his demonic power to fight fire with fire, but the girl beside him was one step ahead of him.