Release that Witch

Everyone rested their eyes on the Nightmare.

So did Hackzord.

The Nightmare Lord, Valkries, was the most special lord out of the nine lords. As the very first lord, it had led most of the lords on the floor to their upgrades. During the first Battle of Divine Will, it had established a close relationship with human beings, and it was even rumored that there were still some believers in human cities. Although the Nightmare was not the strongest lord, it was powerful enough to alter its physical appearance. However, it seemed to prefer the look after its upgrade — blue skinned, with a horn sprouting from its head, and a third eye on its forehead.

Although the Nightmare did not look remotely human, its fashion style and act of demeanor were quite manlike, and it was also the first lord who had learned to speak the human language.

In other words, the Nightmare was the complete opposite of the Silent Disaster. Its sheer, delicate white robe displayed every single thread of fabric and afforded the Nightmare a sense of aloofness that separated it from the rest of them.

The Nightmare looked relaxed and indifferent, but Hackzord knew its understanding of the Realm of Mind was astoundingly profound.

Hackzord would not have complained about anything had the Nightmare Lord been startled earlier.

In fact, it was the only lord that Hackzord failed to understand.

If any of the other lords had seated themselves so unceremoniously like the Nightmare, Hackzord would have doubted its loyalty.

Surprisingly, the king also appeared to be perfectly fine with the Nightmare’s attitude.

”Well, what did you find?”

”I’m just wondering if there’s such a possibility,” Valkries said as it straightened up. ”Whether there’s an upgrade method unknown to us or not, let’s just suppose that a male human possessed an ability like a witch, then this ability must have a lot to do with the Realm of Mind. Otherwise, the Silent Lord wouldn’t have been so petrified.”

A red fleck glimmered underneath the Silent Disaster’s helmet. It said, ”I’ve been guarding the legacy shard for nearly 200 years and have seen many humans. Most of them either fled or drowned. Only one person I met two years ago managed to confront me, but she was a woman.”

”Witches could possibly achieve that, but I don’t really care about that person’s gender. I’m actually more concerned about the ability itself. Perhaps, this man hasn’t even noticed that he’s already powerful enough to leave a mark in the Realm of Mind.”

”I agree with you,” Hackzord rejoined. After all, the Realm of Mind was one of its expertises. ”But I don’t really see the point here. The Realm of Mind is vast. It would be almost impossible to find a mark left by a specific individual.”

”Perhaps,” Valkries neither approved nor denied. ”But I still want to give it a shot, using the connection between the different legacy shards. What do you think?”

Mildy taken aback, Hackzord asked, ”Have you already learned to sense the connection between the shards?”

The defeat of the underground civilization significantly increased the magic power of the entire race. They were thus able to sense the Birth Towers. Gradually, they realized that both the communication with the Birth Tower and the legacy shards had to be completed through the Realm of Mind. Therefore, in theory, they could always search along the communication line for what was connected on the other end.

Nevertheless, this was simply a theory. The Realm of Mind was chaotic and random like the whirling sea. It was extremely hard to look for a thin thread hidden underneath the surface of the water. The deeper this thin thread was, the more susceptible it was to the influences of the currents. Hackzord could barely maintain its position in the Realm, let alone looking for a faintly discernible ”connection line”.

It had never thought of using this method.

Did Valkries already surpass it in the understanding of the Origin of Magic?

”Maybe,” Valkries answered leisurely. ”But I won’t know until I try it out. If I could find the mark left by that man, we could probably know the answer.”

Hackzord thought the mark would not be much of help. The mind was complicated. Even for the mind of someone of the same race, they had to do a lot of research, feel, and make numerous deductions to learn the truth, not to mention that they were now going to search for the mind of a person of another race. Forcing its way into someone’s mind would lead to madness and disorder. Hackzord wanted to talk sense into the Nightmare, but when it saw Valkries’ white robe, his words somehow rested on the tip of its tongue.

Perhaps, the Nightmare Lord did have some feasible way to achieve this.

”The Sky Lord is now guarding the legacy shards. Ask him if you want to try,” said the king.

”As you command,” Valkries said while placing its hand on its chest. ”However, it should be noted that there’s no guarantee that we could find the answer before human beings upgrade. There are many variables, and the search requires a lot of time. There’s a possibility that the upgrade of human race would cause substantial damage to us. I believe the Sky Lord has a Plan B after we lose Taquila, right? If Plan B fails again, everything we’ve done so far would be wasted.”

”You’re being too cautious...” the Blood Conqueror said gruffly.

”I held the upgrade ceremony for Ursrook. After it upgraded, it learned a lot about humans from me,” Valkries said mildly as it closed its eyes again. ”It was definitely gifted, and I don’t think its warning is a word out of delirium. Therefore, I uphold its suggestion of sending more troops to the Fertile Plains.”

”Seconded,” the Silent Disaster rejoined.

The king lapsed into a short silence and looked toward the other commanders including the Bloody Conqueror. ”Are you able to increase the forces by ten times to support the Sky Lord while maintaining the current defense?”

”Sire...”

”I’m asking whether you can or can’t.”

There was a brief silence in the hall.

To Hackzord’s surprise, the Mask broke the silence. ”Yes, sire, I can manage. As long as you could provide me with more resources for my research, I can develop more powerful, diverse symbiotic demons. They won’t be restricted by their parents and will be much more powerful than junior demons. Ten times more powerful! More importantly, they’ll not affect the battle at the front.”

”But that’ll consume many God’s Stones,” the Resentful Heart said apprehensively. ”If we lose control, the consequences will be devastating.”

”When we wipe out those low lives, we’ll have plenty of God’s Stones!”

”Are you sure you can make it in time?” the Bloody Conqueror retorted irritably.

The Mask paused for a second and said, ”Well, it’ll be a little difficult to provide so many symbiotic demons at a time, but I don’t think human beings will react that fast. We may be able to vanquish them with just half of the suggested number. In that case, we could probably save half of our resources. It would be better than nothing...”

”Enough,” the king interrupted the conversation. ”Let’s do what the Mask said. Anyway, we can’t let human beings live on the Land of Dawn for another 400 years. We must take the entire continent after this Battle of Divine Will!”

”As you wish!” chorused all the lords as they bent their heads.