Chapter 1 The Situation

　　The battle between the Silver Dragon and the Ten Thousand Man Magic Legion in the city wouldn't end anytime soon, and there was also a high-level Medusa in the city. Suren couldn't think of any way to solve the problem right now.

　　For some reason, he suddenly thought of the girl with long, purple, waterfall-like hair, and a thought popped into his head: "If Yekaterina were here, maybe she could solve the problem."

　　An astrologist's abilities seemed perfectly suited to deal with the current situation.

　　But she was already Empress Yekaterina, and she was getting further and further away from the friend he remembered.

　　Thinking about other things, his thoughts became complicated.

　　Suren smacked his lips again, dispelling the fleeting thought in his mind.

　　He didn't think about the city anymore. He sensed Qian Tiao's spatial coordinates, and with a focused directional shift technique, his entire person disappeared from the spot.

　　......

　　On a hillside a hundred kilometers away, the battle was already over when Suren arrived.

　　The scene was a complete mess.

　　The trees in the forest were scorched black by the fire-breathing flying dragons, and burning flames were still everywhere, with a strong smell of burning in the air.

　　The ground was covered with ravines left by the Thunderous Sword Qi, and large patches of tree stumps had smooth cuts.

　　And even more terrifying was the sight of severed limbs and broken arms, minced meat and organs, and flying human heads all over the ground...

　　Warm, fresh blood flowed from the incomplete corpses, soaking the earth into a blood-red color.

　　Swordsmen were one of the professions with the heaviest killing intent, and their combat methods were very bloody. Any fierce battle was bound to result in rivers of blood.

　　It was as if a large-scale war had just taken place here, a scene of hell.

　　Thousands of knights and their flying dragon mounts had all died tragically here.

　　Several heavily injured, not-yet-dead flying dragons were still struggling and wailing on the ground, their eyes constantly darting towards the lone swordsman in the distance, their eyes filled only with fear, and gradually, they lost their breath.

　　When Suren arrived, the thunderclouds in the sky had just dispersed, and a cloud of steaming blood-colored vapor rose from the ruins. Sunlight shone through the gaps in the clouds, and the eerie feeling of being in hell dissipated a lot.

　　He saw Qian Tiao leaning against a broken tree stump, gasping for breath, and walked over.

　　This gambling addict woman had her sword across her lap, her right arm out of her wide kendo robe, exposing her shoulder. Most of the bandage that served as a chest wrap was stained red, and several deep, bone-deep penetrating wounds could be seen on her skin, obviously caused by dragon spears.

　　Suren frowned slightly and asked, "Qian Tiao-jie, are you injured?"

　　"Yeah, a small problem."

　　Qian Tiao's expression showed no pain, and she replied nonchalantly, "There were a few tricky ones in this Flying Dragon Legion, so it took a little more effort."

　　"..."

　　Suren listened without speaking.

　　Qian Tiao could kill these thousands of Flying Dragon Knights alone, but that didn't mean the enemy wasn't powerful.

　　Knight legions always had the ability to encircle and kill high-level combatants, and well-trained Flying Dragon Knights were even more threatening, especially when they came prepared.

　　The danger of the battle just now was obviously greater than her lighthearted tone suggested.

　　However, Suren also noticed that the sword intent that had not yet been completely contained on Qian Tiao's body surface was obviously different from when they parted a few days ago, even more overbearing and fierce.

　　These past few days, she had been walking all the way from the wilderness, and it seemed she had gained something in kendo.

　　There were two empty medicine bottles on the ground, indicating that she had just given her wounds a simple treatment.

　　However, this gambling addict woman's medical skills only extended to pouring on medicine.

　　It was difficult to quickly heal such penetrating wounds from dragon spears with residual fighting intent with medicine alone.

　　Suren watched as he walked directly to Qian Tiao's side, crystal threads lingering between his fingers, and directly touched her skin.

　　His fingers touched the wound, and strands of silk quickly burrowed into her flesh, stitching it up.

　　Qian Tiao also leaned against the wooden stump with a sense of peace, and her tense nerves relaxed.

　　She slowly exhaled a large mouthful of turbid air and asked, "How are things on your side?"

　　Suren said, "It's quite troublesome. People from the Celestial God Plane are now besieging the eighth-order Silver Dragon in the royal capital, Ekronesa, and the Gracie royal family has been overthrown... You also have a wound on your abdomen, take off your clothes a little."

　　Suren had treated her injuries more than once, and even when they were naked, neither of them felt anything inappropriate.

　　While treating the wound, he briefly explained the previous situation.

　　Qian Tiao listened silently.

　　Before long, the swordsman's robe was removed, and Suren quickly finished treating the wounds where the flesh had been turned outwards.

　　After stitching them up, he applied healing potions, and new flesh grew visibly on the wounds.

　　The silk thread stitching was almost invisible, and after wiping off the bloodstains, she immediately looked as if she hadn't been injured.

　　Suren checked her up and down, didn't see any more wounds, and patted her up and down with satisfaction: "Okay."

　　Qian Tiao rolled her eyes at him and muttered, "Hey, if you're sewing, just sew properly, don't get handsy."

　　Although she was complaining, she didn't stop the lecherous hands, as if she was used to it.

　　Suren grinned.

　　The bandage that served as a chest wrap was already stained with blood, and the sticky feeling was uncomfortable. Qian Tiao stood up and directly untied one end of the bandage.

　　She didn't avoid Suren, and rustled as she unwound the bandage. At this moment, the kendo robe hung around her waist, and with this unraveling, her entire upper body was exposed, revealing the towering peaks in front of her to the air.

　　The sunlight shone down from the clouds, and the angle was just right, creating a graceful angle as she turned slightly to the side.

　　Suren could see at a glance the flat abdomen with distinct abs, and the shimmering scenery that trembled.

　　He didn't restrain his gaze at all, watching with interest.

　　No matter how many times he looked, he always felt that this gambling addict woman's figure had a unique charm, a different kind of beauty full of heroic spirit.

　　Qian Tiao noticed the direct gaze, rolled her eyes, and ignored it, as she was used to it.

　　She took out a new bandage from her storage ring and wrapped it around her chest.

　　It was a little inconvenient to wrap the bandage herself, and Suren watched as he proactively walked behind her and said, "Let me help you."

　　Before Qian Tiao had a chance to refuse, a pair of hands took over.

　　In the next instant, she felt some delicate sensations, and her sword eyebrows furrowed slightly. She wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.

　　It was as if saying it was useless.

　　It was more like gradually... there was nothing to dislike.

　　At this time, the thunderclouds in the sky had dispersed, revealing a blue sky with朵朵 (duoduo, measure word for clouds) white clouds.

　　Time passed slowly.

　　The sun suddenly became brighter.

　　......

　　Suren also asked about the Eternal Night, and there were no major problems.

　　Although there were many Flying Dragon Knights who went to besiege them, they had never seen cannons or various high-speed close-in weapon systems.

　　Naturally, they would be bombarded when they rashly attacked an unfamiliar enemy.

　　Moreover, Gao Zhan, Number Nineteen, Barrett, and others were all on the Eternal Night, as well as a bunch of Mechanical Alchemist's mechanical warriors, so they had a great advantage in melee combat.

　　There was nothing to worry about regarding the battle situation there.

　　Before long, Suren helped Qian Tiao treat her injuries, and the two of them returned to the outskirts of the royal capital, Ekronesa.

　　They wanted to continue watching the battle to see if they could find an opportunity to intervene, and also to observe the methods of the powerhouses from the Celestial God Plane.

　　On the top of a small mountain a dozen kilometers outside the city, Suren and Qian Tiao were holding binoculars, watching the battle in the distance.

　　"There is now a high-level Medusa in the city, possibly higher than seventh-order, extremely dangerous. She has mastered very high earth power, and the possibility of being discovered by rashly approaching the city is very high..."

　　"Also be careful. The leader of the Ten Thousand Man Magic Legion is an eighth-order Celestial God族人 (zu ren, clan member) named Augustus, who has already opened the 'Omniscient Eye'..."

　　"..."

　　As they watched, Suren explained some of the situations that needed attention.

　　Qian Tiao listened thoughtfully.

　　The two watched for a long time, but couldn't think of any opportunity to take advantage of.

　　The Silver Dragon was now fighting desperately, and even eighth-order professionals didn't have much room to intervene in such terrifying combat shockwaves, let alone anyone else.

　　In the face of absolute strength, this was not a level that could be reversed by any strategy.

　　Watching things continue like this, the guys from the Celestial God Plane would most likely be able to solve this Silver Dragon according to their plan, and then completely control the Silver Dragon Kingdom.

　　Suren watched, and the frown on his face never relaxed.

　　This was not the situation he wanted to see.

　　However, just as they were watching, an unexpected situation suddenly occurred.

　　The fighting in the city was very fierce, but suddenly, fighting broke out again a dozen kilometers outside the suburbs of the royal capital, Ekronesa.

　　"Huh... who could be fighting over there?"

　　Through the俯瞰 (fu kan, overlooking) view shared by the black crow, Suren clearly saw obvious traces of battle in the forest to the northwest.

　　But he felt very surprised, who would be fighting at this critical moment?

　　Who was fighting whom?

　　Judging from the intensity of the Dou Qi (fighting spirit) that erupted just now, it was at least a seventh-order knight, and it seemed there was more than one.

　　However, just as the thought of doubt arose in his mind, an even stranger scene occurred.

　　The fighting stopped abruptly as soon as he saw it starting.

　　"It's over?"

　　Suren watched, his eyes turned, and he immediately guessed what had happened.

　　It ended as soon as it started, which meant that the strength of the two sides fighting in that forest was too different!

　　Seventh-order knights were instantly killed?

　　Not many could do that.

　　For some reason, Suren immediately thought of the high-level Medusa he had encountered before.

　　But if it was really the Medusa, what kind of person would be worth her intercepting?

　　Opportunities were fleeting, and Suren thought for a moment and directly said to Qian Tiao beside him, "Qian Tiao-jie, I'll go take a look."

　　Qian Tiao nodded.

　　......

　　With a teleportation, Suren had already appeared at the place where he had detected the fighting.

　　However, he didn't dare to approach rashly, but stopped a few kilometers away.

　　He didn't even dare to stand on the ground, but used his spatial abilities to float in the air.

　　Medusas had "Earth Bloodlines," and Suren had to avoid any contact with large amounts of earth elements to avoid being sensed.

　　He released the black crow and cautiously flew it to the high branches.

　　The shared vision searched through the gaps in the trees and quickly saw a group of grayish "stone sculptures."

　　Looking at their attire, they were a group of royal knights, scattered throughout the forest.

　　They were equipped with fine armor, and each had a different posture, turning their heads to look back, as if being chased by something. Their petrified faces were full of terror, as if they had been petrified the moment they saw something terrifying.

　　The black crow followed the direction the stone sculptures had fled and saw the main force.

　　This was a "stone sculpture group" of about two hundred people.

　　"So it turns out that the king of the Silver Dragon Kingdom actually escaped..."

　　Suren saw the big fat man surrounded by guards in the stone sculpture group and recognized at a glance that this guy was Gracie VIII, the king of the Silver Dragon Kingdom.

　　The rebels had previously broken through the palace, and this King陛下 (bi xia, Your Majesty) had actually escaped.

　　However, now these people had been petrified.

　　"Where's Helen?"

　　Seeing this group of people, Suren suddenly realized why the Medusa had chased after them.

　　Helen was not in the group!

　　The black crow continued to fly forward, but in an inadvertent moment, it seemed to have crashed into a gray light domain.

　　The Great Crow's flapping wings instantly stiffened, and it turned into a stone bird for the second time, falling to the ground and shattering instantly.

　　But in that instant, Suren had seen clearly.

　　In the forest, a Medusa with a head full of snakes was confronting Helen!

　　The Medusa was the one he had encountered in the city before, the one suspected to be an eighth-order Medusa!

　　Seeing the last look before the black crow was petrified, Suren was greatly puzzled: "So 'Helen' and that Medusa are not on the same side?"

　　In the vision shared by the black crow just now, he clearly saw that the way the two sides seemed to be getting along was not very pleasant.

　　......

　　In the distant forest, the shattered Great Crow's dead Qi (aura) re-gathered, and it flapped its wings and flew up again.

　　However, this time it didn't continue to seek death from the same direction, but flew around to the back.

　　In the moment it was petrified, Suren also discovered that the Medusa seemed to have a "weakness."

　　That was that her petrifying gaze had a very small blind spot!

　　The Medusa had a very wide field of vision, and the eyes on her head full of snakes were all within her range of vision capture.

　　It was almost a blind spot-free observation.

　　This was better than humans and any shuangmu (double vision).

　　But Suren also keenly discovered that the petrifying light emitted by the snakes covered the surroundings of her body, but did not cover a very small angle behind her head.

　　The snakes on her head all faced forward, facing the surroundings, and none of them could turn their heads backward.

　　Suren guessed that this might be the Medusa's blind spot, and thought to himself, "I'll know after I try it!"

　　His mind was connected to the black crow, and thinking of this, he directly followed the vicinity of the blind spot in his memory and flew over.

　　The black crow could also teleport, and it didn't let the Medusa discover it, quietly flying over.

　　This attempt was indeed correct!

　　The black crow landed on a tree directly behind the Medusa's head, and the position where it was standing had a cone-shaped gray light coverage blind spot.

　　Although it wasn't big, it was enough to stand on.

　　Suren was also overjoyed, and he felt that he might have discovered a crucial weakness.

　　And he also discovered that this Medusa, in addition to having excellent vision and earth perception, had much worse hearing and sense of smell, even about the same as ordinary humans.

　　It was only because the Great Crow was a phoenix that Suren had the opportunity to discover this weakness.

　　If it were someone else, they would not have had the opportunity to try, and they would have died the moment they saw the Medusa.

　　The black crow stood on the branch, taking in everything.

　　Suren finally saw clearly what was happening.

　　The Medusa was using petrifying light to control Helen, and then seemed to be extracting a golden energy from her body, saying some叽里咕噜 (ji li gu lu, gibberish) words.

　　(Translation as follows:)

　　"Oh, my dear sister, do you remember me? Hahaha, when you remember your dear sister, the tribulation will fail..."

　　"Don't blame me. Blame yourself. No one wants to see a demon emperor who has awakened the power of the bloodline appear. Oh, it's really fortunate that you came to the human world to suffer, otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance. I'll give the power of the true god that you awakened in your body to your younger sister. Don't worry, I won't kill you, you will only lose your power and continue to be a beautiful human..."

　　"..."

　　The black crow did not have the All-Seeing Eye and could not see what the "golden energy" was.

　　But seeing this posture, how could Suren not understand? This Medusa was stripping Helen of some kind of energy in her body.

　　Although he didn't understand what they were saying, it was clear that the two were hostile.

　　Suren guessed that Helen was the Medusa Empress in "tribulation."

　　During the tribulation, she would lose her power, endure various hardships, and then be killed and shed her mortal body.

　　But looking at the current situation, it seemed that an eighth-order Medusa did not want to see Helen become a Medusa, and now wanted to extract the power of the bloodline from Helen midway?

　　......

　　Where there are interests, there are conflicts, jealousy, and competition, even among demigod bloodline creatures.

　　Suren also understood the current situation, it was infighting.

　　He then understood that the Medusa in the forest last time did not seem to be after the scepter in his hand, but to plunder this Helen?

　　And at this moment, in the black crow's vision, looking at the head full of small snakes wriggling behind the Medusa's head, there were five golden snake hairs among them.

　　"These golden snake hairs, could they be the scepter? This guy has collected all five?"

　　Suren's eyes twitched slightly.

　　Taking another look, Helen's body was also gradually showing abnormalities.

　　More and more golden energy was being extracted, and her clear eyes, which seemed to have a perfect world in them, gradually became cloudy and confused, then clear and deep, alternating repeatedly... as if the sealed memories were about to awaken.

　　Suren watched the scene in front of him, his mind racing.

　　Medusa infighting was a great benefit to him!

　　A suspected eighth-order Medusa and a Medusa in tribulation, both of them were bombs that could not be touched.

　　However, since this Medusa was here, it meant that she was not in the royal city?

　　A flash of inspiration occurred in Suren's mind, and he instantly thought of something.

　　Taking another look, he had already disappeared from the spot.

　　......

　　The surrounding scenery changed, and Suren had already returned to the city.

　　The battle was still fierce.

　　Before, because he had destroyed the soul-binding lamp, the residents of the city were not imprisoned, and those who were able to escape had mostly fled the city.

　　Suren watched as there were not many people in the city, so he repeated his old trick and summoned an earth element golem wax figure again.

　　Those people from the Celestial God Plane probably did not expect that Suren would dare to come a second time.

　　Originally, with the Medusa there, it would have been foolproof.

　　But unfortunately, Suren just happened to know that she was busy outside the city and could not spare the time.

　　Even if there were other Medusas in the city now, the threat was greatly reduced.

　　To be on the safe side, Suren also took out the 【Oetzi the Iceman's Shroud】 and wrapped it around his body, isolating all aura.

　　That way, even if the element wax figure was locked on, he would have more opportunities to escape.

　　The earth element波動 (bodong, fluctuations) rolled, and Suren once again dived into the ground.

　　This time he dived deeper and more carefully.

　　Because there were not many people in the city anymore, especially near the nine magic towers, even the buildings had almost been burned by the Silver Dragon's dragon breath in a desperate struggle.

　　Suren had no scruples.

　　This time he chose to stop at a depth of about 1,000 meters.

　　Very smoothly, no one discovered the process of diving this time.

　　He was overjoyed and placed the precisely calculated explosives.

　　The power of the directional blasting could directly blast the magic tower directly above him!

　　However, just by staying for this extra moment, it seemed that he had been discovered again.

　　But this time it was not the Medusa, but a mage from the Celestial God Plane.

　　The earth element wax figure was struck by a mysterious spell, and its soul instantly collapsed.

　　But,

　　It was too late to discover it now.

　　The explosives had been installed in these few breaths, and the detonation device was triggered, and the mages from the Celestial God Plane had no ability to destroy them.

　　Suren had the shroud and was not discovered.

　　The moment the wax figure died, he had already teleported out of the city.

　　At the same time, with a loud "boom," the entire city trembled violently.

　　The ground cracked and bulged, as if some terrifying monster was about to emerge from the ground.

　　Taking another look, a滔天 (tao tian, overflowing) fire light shot up into the sky like a volcanic eruption.

　　The position where the fire light erupted was right under the magic tower on the south side of the city.

　　Because enough explosives were used, with this one blast, the entire magic tower was blasted out of the ground by the violent shockwave.

　　On the sky above the royal capital, Ekronesa, a brilliant light and fire exploded once again.