After the battle in the City of Peyton had concluded, General Fahad ordered his men to take the bodies of the soldiers who had perished and gather them in the city's center.
Lux told him that he could help the souls of the deceased move on to the next life and offered to do so. Naturally, the General was more than happy to agree.
This was the least that the General could do for his men who had fought with their lives to protect their Kingdom from the Monster invasion.
It took some time to gather all the bodies. By the time they finished, the sun had already set, cloaking the land in darkness.
"I will now begin," Lux declared as he respectfully bowed toward the soldiers who died in the battle.
The Half-Elf then raised both of his hands toward the heavens and a faint ripple spread in the surroundings.
A moment later, white butterflies started to appear all over the city as the wandering ghosts of the dead answered Lux's summons.
"So pretty," Cai said softly while looking at the butterflies that were dancing in the surroundings, illuminating the city.
"Wei~" Fei Fei, who was perched on top of Cai's head, agreed while looking at this picturesque scene in front of them.
Even Aur and the members of the Crystal Palace, who were used to seeing beautiful sceneries, couldn't help but be mesmerized by the otherworldly beauty that they were witnessing.
After circling the city once, the butterflies rose up toward the sky, creating something similar to a bridge of light that connected the Earth and the Heavens.
This phenomenon lasted for half an hour, ending when the last butterfly disappeared into the horizon as it crossed to the Cycle of Reincarnation.
Lux did this ceremony for a reason.
He wanted to know if the Yelan Kingdom was connected to the outside world, just like the Blackrock Clan.
Although Lux looked calm on the surface, deep down, he was very startled by his discovery.
Although the Yelan Kingdom was indeed inside a Dungeon, this world was also connected to the whole of Elysium.
What did this mean? It meant that everyone inside this Domain was living in a miniature world that was hundreds of times smaller than the world of Elysium.
The Half-Elf would even go so far as to think that the Sacred Dungeon was similar to Zangrila, a place that no one could enter from the outside unless they were to use a special method to do so.
Lux was very tempted to ask his Master, Gaap, for a second opinion. Unfortunately, the Old Halfling was currently sleeping inside the Mayor's Residence, and the Half-Elf didn't want to disturb him.
Although Gaap didn't say anything to him, Lux could tell that the old Halfling was quite exhausted after saving them and cleaning up the rest of the Monster Army with his summons.
Knowing this, he didn't want to disturb his rest and decided to just put his questions on hold for the time being.
"Is it done?" General Fahad inquired.
Although he had a feeling that the ceremony was over, he still wanted to confirm his thoughts.
Lux nodded. "Yes. It is over. Their spirits have moved on to the other side."
A sigh of relief escaped General Fahad's lips before bowing his head to thank Lux. Now that the spirits of the departed had been put to rest, he was feeling a little bit better, knowing that all of them had moved on to a better place.
"It will take a while before our messengers reach Great General Sherlock and Great General Watson," General Fahad stated. "At most, it will take a day or two before we can pass on the message that the Giant Earth Turtle has been dealt with."
"Good," Lux replied. "I will wait until they give a reply before deciding what my Mercenary Group would do next."
Since Lux had declared in the past war that he was the leader of a Mercenary Group, he decided to use that same setup in order to make things less complicated.
This also saved him the trouble of making up other excuses, which he didn't want to do in the first place.
After parting with the General of the Yelan Army, Lux asked the members of the different factions to rest for the time being.
Currently, they had nothing else to do but wait for confirmation from Great General Sherlock and Great General Watson that the Monster Army had been eliminated from the territories of the Yelan Kingdom.
Lux summoned his Soul Book and once again checked his Quest Objectives.
—--------------------
< Clash of Titans >
< Quest Objectives >
[Main Quest]
– Prevent the complete destruction of the Yelan and Ammarian Kingdoms
[Sub Quest]
– Defeat at least two of the three Dreadnaught-Ranked World Bosses and put an end to their tyranny.
– Quest will automatically fail when 80% of the territories of both the Yelan and Ammarian Kingdoms are destroyed by the Monster Army.
—--------------------
'As long as we secure the territories of the Yelan Kingdom, this quest will not fail,' Lux thought. 'But it won't be completed unless we go to the Ammarian Kingdom and deal with the two remaining Dreadnaught-Ranked World Bosses.'
Lux understood that in order to get the maximum quest rewards, he needed to wipe out the entire Monster Army from the face of the map, leaving not a single one of them behind.
While the Half-Elf was laying down the groundwork of his plan to finish the mission as early as possible, the silver-haired Devil in the Ammarian Kingdom was also busy formulating ways to deal with the current situation.
'There is no need to fight them,' the silver-haired Devil thought after spending hours of pondering. 'All I need to do is secure that Dragon Humanoid and suppress his soul. As long as I am able to become the dominant party, I will be able to control his body, allowing me to leave this place for good.'
Although his original goal was to kill Lux and avenge his previous failure, Gaap's appearance had thrown a wrench into his plans.
Since that was the case, the silver-haired Devil decided to focus on his main objective, which was to possess Aur's body and use the power of the Abyss to suppress the Dragonoid's soul, sealing it away at the deepest corner of his subconscious mind.
By doing so, he would become the sole owner of the body, allowing him to do whatever he wished to do with it.
Truth be told, the silver-haired Devil wouldn't care even if the entire Monster Army were wiped out as long as he was able to secure Aur's body. In fact, he intended to use the Monster Army as a distraction, while he focused his attention on the Dragon Prince, whom he had selected to become the vessel of his soul.
His true body was still trapped at the Final Gate of the Apocalypse. The only reason why he was able to move to the other Dimension within the Domain of the Fallen was his ability to create temporary bodies, which people referred to as homunculi.
The body he's currently possessing was one of his best creations, allowing him to temporarily use it as a vessel and have the Rank of a Dreadnaught World Boss.
'I better lay out the groundwork just to be sure,' the silver-haired Devil mused as he looked at the projection in front of him. 'I must do it as subtly as I can so no one will become suspicious when I finally take over the body.'
Ever since Aur appeared on the Gate of Famine, the silver-haired Devil had been paying very close attention to him.
He was analyzing and memorizing the Dragon Prince's mannerisms, as well as overall character.
This way, he would be able to free his own body using Aur's power and influence when they returned to the Sacred Dungeon to clear the final gate.
—-------------
Vahan Empire…
Emperor Andreas stared long and hard at the projections in front of him.
Currently, he was observing all the feedback coming from the artifacts that Prince Cyrus, Nero, Malcolm, and the other members of the Skystead Alliance were wearing.
After finding out that Lux had such a powerful Master, the Emperor, who had always desired to expand his territory, felt a bit unnerved by the sudden turn of events.
The appearance of the Dragon Borns from the Crystal Palace was already surprising enough. He thought that if he could become one of their allies, the conquest of the surrounding territories would be easier.
However, after seeing that even the four Saints, who served as Aur's bodyguards, were quite fearful of the Old Halfling, his plans for conquest hung in a delicate balance.
'That Half-Elf and I still have some bad blood between us,' Emperor Andreas thought. 'Is it too late to fix our relationship?'
The Emperor of the Vahan Empire didn't know the answer to this question, but deep inside, he was hoping that Lux and he could decide on a compromise.
Out of all the people that were observing the Half-Elf after he entered the Gate of the Famine, it was Emperor Vahan who was starting to feel the pressure about making Lux his enemy.
Before, he thought that the red-headed teenager was someone that he could easily kill if he wanted to.
However, after seeing his incredibly speedy growth, the Emperor was feeling a bit apprehensive that it might only take a year, or two, before the Half-Elf came to look for him to settle old scores.
If that were to really happen, he was afraid that, even if the entirety of the Skystead Alliance were to declare war against the Half-Elf, the one who would lose in the end would be them.
