Read Novel Full Chapter 560: A Flag that Began a Race to Darkness?
Chapter 560: A Flag that Began a Race to Darkness?
[12 Minutes Before]
A maid held up her hands, summoning a wide barrier large enough to cover the width of the corridor - it had the durability similar to steel. But that fact didn’t matter to the True Darkness as it skewered through the barrier with ease.
Before the maid was about to suffer the same fate, the air beneath her feet swept her away - bringing her back to a tall, elderly, posh man.
The Head Butler shook his head, watching as the True Darkness ate through the barrier. "Simple defences like yours are useless in the face of corruption, my dear, especially in the face of True Darkness."
Every corruption had a uniqueness that separated it from the others.
True Flames had the ability to burn intangible concepts.
True Flesh was a gigantic hivemind.
And True Darkness... Had the ability to ignore all forms of defences.
Flying through the corridors of the mansion, the Head Butler swept everyone up with his air magic - running away from the darkness that chased after them like a silent locust swarm.
And as he did that, he stumbled upon another group of servants that happened to be flying through the air, but not of his doing.
Elara, the maid who had brought Marionette to this estate, had used her magic to manipulate the gravity to pull her and the other servants away from the darkness.
Meeting up with the Head Butler, they continued their escape from the darkness - swiftly moving towards the Gardener’s lab while saving all the servants along the way.
As they did this, everyone watched as the True Darkness devoured everything it came in contact with.
Chairs, chandeliers, tables and desks, even the rugs. Nothing was spared from its seemingly insatiable hunger. And it seemed to be moving faster by the second.
All that it devoured fueled its growth.
"Tch." The Head Butler clicked his tongue, "What a foul mess this all will be afterwards!"
The Gardener, who was still in the process of adding a few finishing touches to the poison, sensed something.
He emitted a faint amount of mana and spread it throughout the inside of the mansion; that was where he found the entire mansion to be underattack by darkness.
The Gardener’s face twitched in frustration. ’She couldn’t contain just a bit longer?’
Pulling on a lever, he watched as the contents of the cauldron were sent towards the large tube of liquid. He was 90% of the way done.
"It seems that I would have to use it much earlier than expected..."
As he said this, he watched as the door to his lab was dissolved through by darkness.
The sea of darkness from the corridor flooded into his room, only to be repelled back by the Gardener’s high volume of mana.
Coming in contact with the Gardener’s refined mana, the darkness began to slowly break apart, but quickly reformed. This caused the Gardener to frown as he expended more of his mana; he needed to get the poison done fast, or else the damage done to the area would be too much.
***
Lillian, dodging another wave of True Darkness, found her phone to vibrate and ring incessantly inside her pocket.
After another flip, Lillian answered with an unintentional—
"Hello!?"
—Shout.
"It’s me—ugh...!" Marionette groaned on the otherside of the phone.
At this moment, Marionette was doing her best to regain control of the True Darkness. What was like an unruly child before was now like a rebellious teenager lashing out at everything.
"How’s your current situation?" Marionette asked.
"Ehm, haha—! Well, I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest!" Lillian laughed nervously in response.
"I see—" Marionette’s face contorted in pain; what she was experiencing was something akin to having her veins pulled out of her wrist and her blood being acid.
Yet, Marionette still kept her cool - enduring.
"I was told you have a medicine for me. Preferably, now would be a good time for me to take it."
"I figured with all that’s going on! A-anyway, unless you have a plan, I don’t think I can get anywhere close to you."
Standing on a solid platform of water, Lillian looked over the entire estate that was ravaged by darkness. She then settled her gaze on the dense black mass on the side of the mansion.
That spot was directly next to where her room was previously; before being destroyed, of course.
It was also where Marionette’s room was and where she currently was. And Lillian doubted she would even be able to get close to it before being attacked.
There was no point in trying to push back the True Darkness unless you had enough refined mana to purify it, but that was a feat only Tier 4 mages could pull off - Tier 3, rarely.
And Lillian wasn’t someone who had anticipated this so early on... There was also the fact that she had nothing to practice on; thus, she was completely unprepared for this.
That was...
If she didn’t have the System Shop.
[ 545,611 Points]
Lillian glanced over her points, unable to marvel at them due to the situation. But she knew there was a lot, and just enough for what she wanted to buy.
She looked at the 3d screen.
A banner as tall as an armoured soldier with the symbols of a jagged sword, a half-broken shield, and a sun behind it. A pole made of a matte-black material and covered in faint veins of dull gold - its tip had a blunt and crown-like cap.
It was a flag.
[Item Name: Flag of Reclamation]
[Item Type: Tool]
[Item Rank: 5]
[Item Grade: 3]
[Item Description: A worn, torn banner of a powerful empire that existed long ago. This empire went under the name of "Bellona".
The empire was, without a doubt, the smallest of the three that existed at the time, but in terms of strength, it was undoubtedly the largest. With countless Grandmaster Mages under its belt, the empire was tasked with the purpose of facing the monsters of the Third Epoch.
They had gone through all sorts of horrors imaginable, and their encounter with the corruption was only inevitable. At that time, the knowledge of purifying with mana alone was unknown; thus, the creation of this flag was made.
Forged from the remains of a corrupted monster of light, their king was gifted a flag - a symbol of reclamation to take back the corrupted land that once belonged to their forefathers.]
[Enchantments: Reclamation, Resist Corruption, Anti-Overwrite, Authority of Light, Lumen Aegis]
[Reclamation: Upon the planting of the flag, the area that is within a 150-metre diameter from it will be affected by its enchantments.]
[Resist Corruption: Allies within {Reclamation} will have a strong resistance to the effects of corruption.]
[Anti-Overwrite: Actions within {Reclamation} that would target anything related to reality would be prevented.]
[Authority of Light: Darkness that holds malicious intentions would be greatly weakened and deterred within {Reclamation}.]
[Lumen Aegis: Attacks towards allies within {Reclamation} that hold the properties of "Absolute" will become dodgeable. Damage from corruption-related attacks will partially be converted to non-lethal damage.]
[Price: 100,000 TP]
Lillian cringed when she saw the price of the flag. In the past, she hadn’t ever bought something of this level. The ability to weaken corruption, to prevent attacks on reality, and even make attacks that would be sure to hit be dodgeable: it was definitely understandable.
It was also a Rank 5 item; a Rank A monster needed to be killed for this to be crafted.
Although Lillian needed as many points as she could get, she wasted no time in buying the flag. She showed no hesitation, for any currency she had held no value to her as long as it was for Marionette.
She had promised that in her Trial.
[545,611 -> 445,611 TP]
Pushing her hand deep into the black square on the system screen, Lillian forcibly pulled out a flagpole that was 4.5 metres long; the banner was 2.5 metres.
The matte-black flag pole had a metallic-like feel to her fingers, and the dull veins of gold had a slight warmth to them.
Swinging around the flag like it was a polearm, Lillian stabbed the flag downwards. Since the Flag of Reclamation didn’t specify how it should be planted and where...
Lillian had decided to plant the flag into the water platform beneath her.
"[Reclamation]!"
What resulted was the glowing of the flagpole, its dull golden veins becoming radiant with light, which leaked out like the sap of a tree.
And the moment she did this, the True Darkness that was within 100 metres of diameter began to recede like the waves hitting the shore.
Most of the darkness inside the mansion dissipated, the damage from them becoming revealed before the illuminating light that sprouted from the Flag of Reclamation.
At this moment, unknown to Lillian, a race had begun.
With her flag causing the True Darkness to greatly weaken, the Gardener was able to burst out of his lab - now having finished concocting the poison needed to greatly weaken his niece.
Unaware that Lillian may still be alive from the surprise flooding of darkness, he sped towards Marionette’s room.
It was now a race to see who would get to Marionette first.
Lillian, with her mystical medicine that would allow Marionette better control over the corruption, or the Gardener, with his non-lethal poison that would weaken Marionette enough stop the True Darkness from rampaging.