Chapter 329: Harvest, Releasing *Armageddon (Good)*
Third Year Before the New Calendar.
Month of the High Wind, April 5th.
Kalinxia.
The "Colorless Serenity" Inn.
After a day's journey, the group that had gone to subjugate the undead in the hills had returned.
Tang Zheng stood before the transparent glass window, gazing out at the street, which was as bustling as ever. This war in the hills, with its heavy casualties, had shaken both the demi-humans and humans.
To the common people, it was something they neither knew about nor could perceive.
However.
Tang Zheng knew that news of what had happened in the Abelion Hills would soon spread.
Neither the Holy Kingdom nor the Adventurer's Guild would conceal such morale-boosting news about quelling the chaos caused by the undead.
But some information had to be kept secret.
The remaining personnel from the three parties—Tang Zheng, the Holy Kingdom, and the Slane Theocracy—had already discussed this.
The main piece of information to be concealed was the "Archangel Dominion" summoned by the Slane Theocracy. Once this information was hidden, certain details would require negotiation among the three parties.
Tang Zheng was well aware that what the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy truly cared about was the method he possessed to merge with an angel.
However, neither Kelart nor the remnant forces of the Sunlight Scripture had the authority to make such decisions. They needed to return to their respective countries and report.
Tang Zheng withdrew his gaze from the window, turned around, and looked at the large wooden bed in the guest room. Enri was lying there, fast asleep.
She had been unconscious for a day and two nights.
It wasn't for any special reason; it was entirely due to excessive stamina depletion.
Breaking through her level cap to wield power far beyond it had, predictably, resulted in some side effects.
"Her level is too low. She needs to raise it as quickly as possible to adapt to her power." Tang Zheng shook his head gently. He surmised that Enri should be waking up soon.
Back when Brain pushed past his limits to unleash the destructive force of a level 40 warrior, his body itself collapsed. Enri was merely unconscious for a while, a much lower price to pay.
"Before long, your fame will probably surpass even mine as the leader."
A thought occurred to Tang Zheng, and he let out a soft chuckle before getting up and walking out into the main hall of the suite.
The three parties had temporarily agreed to claim that the Death Knight and the Zuranon Alliance Leader were defeated through their combined efforts.
This would cover up the matter of the Archangel Dominion and, incidentally, also conceal the method Tang Zheng possessed to merge with an angel.
But as for the merit of eliminating the Soul Eater, that legendary undead, Kelart's side had proactively offered to help publicize it as compensation for downplaying Tang Zheng's other contributions.
In truth, the situation was still tense. The performance of Free Will in this incident had forced both parties to treat them with extreme caution.
In the main hall.
Besides the Ghoul Dog, the Green Leaf Witch was not present.
The Green Leaf Witch had not returned with Tang Zheng. Instead, she had remained in the Abelion Hills.
The reason Tang Zheng had agreed to stop Kelart was that Kōkosh of the Seven-Colored Scales had indeed offered sufficient terms.
This had been Tang Zheng's original goal, though the outcome had changed slightly.
To put it simply, their objective was to obtain Tang Zheng's protection. The conditions were numerous, including the treasures of various tribes, the blood of demi-humans, and so on.
But in the face of these conditions tailored to his supposed preferences, conditions that would make any adventurer's heart race, Tang Zheng remained impassive.
Ultimately.
Kōkosh of the Seven-Colored Scales steeled his resolve and declared his allegiance to the Green Leaf Witch, willing to let her become the ruler of the remaining tribes in the hills.
The hills, having now endured the calamity of the undead, had fewer than 30,000 surviving demi-humans, the vast majority of whom were the young and the women of the various tribes.
The tribes' former top-tier powers, the Ten Evils of the Demi-Humans that once intimidated all, were now reduced to just two: the Beast General Hector Weiss and Kōkosh of the Seven-Colored Scales.
Under these circumstances.
The demi-humans of the hills could not withstand another calamity.
The people from both the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy displayed extreme hostility towards demi-humans. Only Tang Zheng, due to his connections with Gagaran and the Green Leaf Witch, showed no animosity.
Coupled with the power that Tang Zheng and Enri had each displayed.
All these factors prompted Kōkosh of the Seven-Colored Scales to make his decision.
"By now, the Green Leaf Witch should have met with the White Mist Witch and Lizardman Kuru Xue."
Tang Zheng stretched lazily. As he pondered, he walked over and sat down on the sofa in the living room.
Lizardman Kuru Xue and her companion had been staying in the true gathering place of the demi-humans. They had even used the fourth-tier spell, *Cloud Manipulation*, to solve the problems of water shortage and drought, gaining considerable fame among the demi-humans of the hills.
As of now.
Whether overtly or covertly, Tang Zheng already had absolute control over the entire Abelion Hills.
As for whether Kōkosh of the Seven-Colored Scales had truly submitted, or was merely feigning compliance to survive the crisis while secretly building up strength?
Tang Zheng couldn't care less.
"Once a 'title' is given,"
"it becomes difficult to take away."
Tang Zheng turned to the Ghoul Dog beside him and said, "Right, Xiao Hei?"
"Awoo," the Ghoul Dog replied, wagging its tail.
"It seems you agree with that view."
Tang Zheng patted the Ghoul Dog's head with a faint smile. "The Twin Witches, Lizardman Kuru Xue, along with Gagaran, should be enough to stabilize the demi-humans of the hills, who are currently licking their wounds."
"Speaking of which, the original plan was to have Gagaran openly lead the Abelion Hills, but this outcome isn't bad either."
"As for Kōkosh of the Seven-Colored Scales... for a demi-human that smart, once we've used his prestige to stabilize the situation, it's best to deal with him secretly. It will prevent unnecessary trouble."
"Guard the house well, Xiao Hei."
*Teleport*!
Taking advantage of this period of no interruptions, Tang Zheng decided to first confirm his gains.
The air distorted for a moment.
Tang Zheng's figure vanished from the room. As his vision shifted, a fiery red light appeared before his eyes.
Lava Zone.
The shadow clone stood quietly on the rock ground, scorched red by the high temperatures. Beside it lay the shattered body of the Alliance Leader.
The intense heat had turned the dried flesh on the skeleton black, and a faint smell of burnt carrion hung in the air.
"Good work."
Tang Zheng spoke calmly to the shadow clone, and with a thought, the clone's body turned illusory, dissipating like a burst bubble. The red robe it wore fell to the ground.
*Clink!*
The Magic Sealing Crystal also fell from the disappearing "shadow clone," clattering against the ground with a crisp sound and rolling to Tang Zheng's feet.
"After fusing a Soul of a Heroic Spirit with the shadow clone, its duration far exceeded my initial expectations. It even compensated for the Heroic Spirit's inability to use magic."
Tang Zheng bent down to pick up the Magic Sealing Crystal, his eyes bright.
Apart from being unable to speak and use class skills, it could be considered a true combat clone!
This experimental result alone could be considered a massive harvest!
"The Magic Sealing Crystal, a game item from YGGDRASIL."
Tang Zheng looked down at the translucent Magic Sealing Crystal in his hand, formed from several sharp, cylindrical crystals, his heart burning with excitement.
"This magic item is truly wasted in the hands of the Slane Theocracy."
The Magic Sealing Crystal could store the power of tier magic. The Slane Theocracy could only store some low-tier magic. If that was all, it couldn't really be called a "waste."
In the game YGGDRASIL, whether it was a magic scroll, a wand, or a staff, they could all achieve this.
The true value of the "Magic Sealing Crystal" was its ability to store the power of Super-Tier Magic!
The first time the Bone King saw Captain Nigun take out a Magic Sealing Crystal, he immediately had Albedo use a special skill to protect him.
He was worried that the Magic Sealing Crystal stored the power of a "Seraph" level angel, and even suspected that it might contain something on the level of a Stellar Seraph or Supreme Seraph.
This showed!
The upper limit of the power that the "Magic Sealing Crystal" could store far exceeded that of tier magic.
"Strange. Logically, the Great Tomb of Nazarick shouldn't be short on Magic Sealing Crystals. The Bone King also mentioned that they weren't particularly rare."
Tang Zheng clutched the Magic Sealing Crystal, a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
"Why has it never been used? After all, unlike a scroll, a Magic Sealing Crystal can be used repeatedly."
"Using it against the people of this new world would be a waste, but it wasn't used against Shalltear either. Instead, an hourglass—a cash shop item that eliminates the casting time for Super-Tier magic—was used instead."
Tang Zheng thought silently. With limited information, he could only speculate.
One: The method for storing Super-Tier Magic might be special, requiring the skills of a dedicated life-class player.
Two: Casting Super-Tier Magic from a Magic Sealing Crystal also requires a casting time, so it's no better than casting it yourself.
He shook his head.
These were just guesses in the end. There could be other possibilities; perhaps they simply had no intention of using it.
"In any case, the 'Magic Sealing Crystal' is something that can truly be called a resource."
Tang Zheng admired the crystal for a moment before reluctantly placing it into his item box. He had not mastered any Super-Tier Magic, so he couldn't even conduct experiments.
Currently.
He only had two things that could barely be considered resources: the newly acquired Magic Sealing Crystal, and his stockpile of tenth-tier scrolls.
He had started making them on January 15th of this year, averaging one per day. He had now stockpiled 75 blank tenth-tier scrolls.
It should have been 80, but he had spent five days in the hills and was unable to produce them in secret.
The acquisition of the "Magic Sealing Crystal" could be considered compensation for that loss.
He looked at the alliance leader's corpse.
"There have been no signs of resurrection."
"Does this mean there's no one hiding behind the Alliance Leader?" Tang Zheng pondered for a moment.
If so, taking control of Zuranon would be much simpler.
"First, to test the other major gain." Tang Zheng's spirits soared as he looked at the information on his status panel.
Tenth-Tier Magic—*Grand Ritual: Armageddon (Good)*!
"Casting one spell actually costs 80 mana and 1.5 million experience... *Hiss*..."
"This is too ridiculous!"
Tang Zheng hadn't looked closely before, but now, seeing the spell's cost, his brow twitched.
He knew of some special spells that required not only mana but also had an experience point cost or a cooldown period.
The cost of 80 mana alone did not surprise Tang Zheng.
Among tenth-tier spells, the mana cost of some was not fixed.
For example, there was *Reality Slash*, which had one of the highest mana costs, and *Mercy of the Sala Twin Trees*, second only to it.
There were also types with continuous costs—like *Memory Manipulation*.
That was a huge mana drainer!
According to the Bone King, erasing five days of a person's memories would consume an enormous amount of MP, exceeding the limit of a typical magic caster, which was 1300 mana.
Even for someone like the Bone King with his exceptional MP pool, when he tried to search the lizardmen's memories to find the location of the dwarves, the rapid mana drain forced him to perform only a shallow search.
"A cost of 1.5 million experience..."
"Experience is already scarce, and the ways to obtain it are limited."
Tang Zheng had a bit of a headache.
That's right!
He almost forgot about the Mad Mage's class skill, *Mad Meditation*, which could negate the cost of a single spell casting.
"Tenth-Tier Magic—"
"*Mad Meditation: Grand Ritual - Armageddon (Good)!*" Tang Zheng activated his class skill and let out a low chant.
*Omm—*
A massive vortex of sacred bubbles appeared above Tang Zheng's head. A dense holy light surged, dyeing the valley, already illuminated red by the light and heat of the magma sea, a silvery white.
*Flap, flap... Clink, clank...*
*Flap, flap... Clink, clank...*
The sounds of flapping wings and scraping armor came from within the white bubble vortex.
The next moment!
A dense swarm of Guardian Angels was the first to fly out of the vortex.
Tang Zheng immediately activated *Ninjutsu: Detect* to observe them.
128 Second-Tier Guardian Angels (Level 10)
64 Third-Tier Flame Angels (Level 20)
32 Fifth-Tier Purifying Powers (Level 30)
"Hm?"
Tang Zheng was taken aback.
Why were there no fourth-tier angels? It jumped directly from third-tier to fifth-tier.
"Could it be because of Super Magic Master, which maximizes the magic's effect, so all the levels are multiples of 10?"
"It skipped the fourth-tier angels, which are between level 22 and 28."
Before Tang Zheng could ponder further, angels with an even more astonishing presence flew out from the bubble vortex.
They had three pairs of wings, with the topmost pair looking more like ornaments than actual wings. In its hands, it held a standard, round sun shield!
8 Sixth-Tier Virtues of Shelter (Level 40)
Information about this angel appeared in Tang Zheng's mind.
*Dong—*
A tremor echoed from within the bubble vortex.
It was like the heavy impact of a wheel pressing onto the ground, a humming collision that sounded somewhat mechanical.
The next instant!
A pure, holy flame surged out of the vortex!
Within the flames, an angel with an intensely sacred feel beat three pairs of wings, which had lost any hint of a metallic texture, and flew out!
This was a bizarre, headless and footless angel that looked somewhat similar to an Archangel Dominion, but the halo above its head was brighter and larger!
Its two arms were placed before its chest, palms facing each other. In the very center of its two palms was a flaming wheel, and inside the wheel was a hollowed-out image of an open eye.
The entire wheel, while engulfed in flames, shimmered with a faint, almost imperceptible bronze luster!
4 Eighth-Tier Throne Angels of Regulation (Level 50)
"As expected, just like with the fourth-tier angels, it also skipped the seventh-tier (Level 43-49) Archangel Dominion," Tang Zheng's eyes narrowed.
He felt a powerful aura emerge!
The white, holy flames gushed out from the vortex even more intensely!
*Swoosh!*
Two more angels, almost identical to the Throne Angel of Regulation, flew out of the vortex one after another. Their bodies were enveloped in an ethereal energy shaped like a holy white flame.
An intangible pressure washed over him, even surpassing all the previous angels combined!
Tang Zheng noticed that although these two throne angels looked the same, the flaming wheels in their hands were different—inside the large wheel was an even smaller wheel!
2 Ninth-Tier Throne Angels of Judgment (Level 60)
*BOOM—*
The vortex trembled violently.
A massive figure, nearly six meters tall and far larger than any of the other angels, squeezed out of the vortex, as if the bubble vortex could no longer contain its power!
(end of chapter)