Rivers of the Night

Chapter 830 830: I See

After a long while, Theron chuckled.

He had said it himself that this woman was sharp. If she wasn't, then he wouldn't have been so easy to deal with in the first place.

While Theron hadn't given her anything real to peg her deductions on, there were things about his story that were still holes. Namely, there was one thing he immediately thought of.

The Nightingale Sect.

Rumors that it had been targeted by a Demon Chosen had never really been resolved. It was easy to forget about it, but that was certainly a loose end that Theron couldn't really manage.

For someone as intelligent as Ameridia, she would have certainly investigated him. And this investigation wouldn't have started just now. It would have started when she learned who killed her clan members.

Theron had never hidden his name. And even if he had hidden it, the resources at Ameridia's fingertips were too vast for it to have mattered.

"You don't seem nearly as shocked as you should."

"I think you're assuming that I should fear you," Theron replied, a calm, gentle smile replacing his laughter. But there was something in his eyes that seemed to say that he was far more serious now than before.

"Shouldn't you? Are you aware of where you're trapped right now?"

"If by where you mean this cage and not the fact it's your encampment, then yes. Dwarf Star Mana Ore is quite the investment for a dungeon you don't store anyone in. Unfortunately, it has a pretty big weakness."

Chi.

Theron lightly pulled on his cuffs, and they crumbled as though they had been rusted through entirely.

Ameridia's eyes narrowed.

"You see, Dwarf Star Mana Ore is incredibly dense, and incredibly heavy. The trouble with that, though, is that the chemical structures that form it are likewise incredibly close. They're concentrated together under an exceptional amount of pressure, more than a diamond could even begin to fathom."

Theron brought his freed hands together, separating his fingers and slotting them into one another.

"Under normal circumstances, those bonds are quite tough and exceptional. But, if they're shifted in just the right way, they slip. Suddenly, positive charges are faced with other positive charges, and negative charges are faced with other negative charges. Once that happens, they slough off almost like graphite, peeling away in layers.

"Dwarf Star is so dense and tough that no one realizes something else fundamental about it."

Theron reached a hand forward and grabbed at a bar that split Ameridia's face in half from his vantage point. Dark Mana bloomed, and it crumbled, revealing her full visage to him. Well, at least the Space Mana–obscured version.

"It's incredibly brittle."

Yet, the look in Ameridia's eyes was incredibly calm. So unbothered and chilly, one would have never expected there was anything shocking that Theron had done at all.

But Theron himself seemed entirely unimpressed with her as well. He also didn't feel like what he had done just now was worthy of a great reaction.

Despite this, he knew quite well that if it was someone else that stood here, that would be a shocking matter. Just the theory behind destroying Dwarf Star Mana Ore would be enough to send much of the world into a frenzy.

As one of the densest materials in the universe, the Mana Ore was used in countless applications. More than 90% of dungeons of a certain caliber used Dwarf Star Mana Ore in some form.

The idea that Theron had found a way to make it utterly worthless… should have left Ameridia floored.

In reality, she probably should have been quite shocked about it all. Inwardly, she had re-evaluated Theron at an even higher level than before.

But as far as Ameridia was concerned, this was just what talents did. She herself had surprised countless people. Maybe her name had long appeared before the Demon God.

Surprise was one thing, but she would never completely lose sense of calm.

"Why have you come here?"

"Didn't your Timeless Fairy already tell you why I came?"

"The Soul Mirror isn't infallible."

"Isn't it? I feel like if you really felt that, you wouldn't be talking to me right now at all."

"To normal people, it is. To someone who potentially has an identical item… I don't believe so."

Theron inwardly shook his head. He really was at a huge advantage when it came to dealing with Ameridia.

It wasn't a surprise she knew about the Dagger Call Platform. The day he learned that someone had an item similar to the Dagger Call Platform was the very same day he had been forced to use it out in the open.

If not for the Dagger Call Platform, he would have lost his life to the Dome of Heaven Realm Matriarch of the Hall of Ice and Heart.

If General Ameridia had already investigated far back enough to learn that he might be a Demon Chosen, then how could she miss out on this?

It was unlikely her feelers stretched into the realms of the Demon Corps. So she probably didn't know he was a Demon Duke already. But it didn't matter.

Either way, she knew the Dagger Call Platform existed.

"I told the truth," Theron said with a smile. "I want to wipe out the Demon Corps."

"Is that so…"

She fell into silence for a long while.

The silence only grew heavier as time went on, and Theron couldn't help but notice just how… quiet it was down here. This region was perfectly sealed. There wasn't the slightest thing that could leak.

If not for the subtle growling in Alpha's chest, there wouldn't be the slightest bit of noise at all. But seemingly realizing that something was wrong, even Alpha was slowly growing more silent.

Theron's eyes narrowed.

There was a slight shift in the air, and he noticed the sparkle before it even happened. Inwardly, though, he felt that it could only be expected.

"Well, I cannot have such a person in my legion. It's best that you die."