Chapter 140 The Duke's Secret

When Duke Owen spoke of these things, his tone was very calm, as if describing something unrelated to himself, but what he said made the listeners break out in goosebumps.

The power of madness was taking over his body.

Not only was it replacing him physically, but also eroding him on a soul level. He could even clearly feel the process of this erosion. It was terrifying willpower—not to mention ordinary people, how many ordinary warriors could remain as calm as Duke Owen in the face of this situation?

Hao Ren came to the bedside and carefully observed the data on the corruption of Duke Owen's upper body. The data terminal flew down from his shoulder and flew around the wound.

Duke Owen and the silver-haired woman next to the bed were both stunned when they saw the data terminal, with expressions of doubt and thought on their faces, but apart from Leah, no one noticed this little detail.

"It is indeed the result of the power of madness, but this person has delayed the erosion process with his powerful willpower and physical strength," the data terminal's voice sounded in Hao Ren's mind. "A sample has been extracted, let's start considering treatment options."

"We want to know what happened during last night's attack," Vivian suddenly stepped forward and said, "If you can tell us."

Duke Owen looked at everyone present, pondered for a moment, and first threw out a question: "Why are you interested in these things? What do you... know about the changes happening to me?"

"We know a lot," Leah gently extended a finger and pointed to the wound on Duke Owen's chest. The wriggling, corrupted flesh instantly froze. "I can even heal you—but only if you can tell us the details of those black sword knights who turned into monsters."

Duke Owen looked in astonishment at the changes on his wound, a strange look flashed in his eyes, and then he laughed: "It seems it was wise to call you here. There's nothing to hide about what happened last night. I think you've already heard the rumors."

"It is said that a team of Black Sword Knights snuck into the Northern Legion's garrison under the cover of night, and was discovered by the Night Watch Broken Sword Knights," Hao Ren continued. "Originally, the strength of the Broken Sword Knights far exceeded that of the Black Sword Knights, but that raiding team suddenly burst out with monstrous power..."

"They completely turned into monsters," Duke Owen nodded. "There were only a dozen attackers, and I suspect that they mutated in a completely controlled manner within the Northern Legion garrison after making a well-defined plan. Their armor melted like wax, metal and flesh fused and grew together, and a large number of asymmetrical limbs grew from their torsos. A large number of mouthparts and eyes also opened on their heads. It was horrifying. The roars coming from their mouths would make people feel dazed, and looking directly into their eyes would drive those with weak wills crazy on the spot. Ordinary soldiers were no match for those guys at all—the wounds inflicted by swords would heal almost in the blink of an eye, and being stabbed by their limbs or blades was fatal."

As he spoke, Duke Owen pointed to the wound on his chest: "After ordinary soldiers were injured by them, they all turned into similar monsters in a short period of time. Although the monsters transformed in this way could only be active for a short period of time, it was enough to cause catastrophic consequences. And I was actually injured by those monsters, but I lasted longer than the others."

Saying that, he lowered his hand and smiled self-deprecatingly: "Originally, I planned to use myself as a sample and return to the castle so that the scholars and mages here could study what exactly was between my flesh and blood in order to find a way to fight that corruption. But the result was that all treatment plans had no effect, and even Scholar Holman could only extend my life by one day. If you hadn't appeared, I would have been ready to leave the castle."

Duke Owen's implication was very obvious: his so-called leaving the castle was definitely not returning to the front line, but most likely to exile himself to the snowy plains or the Gorgon Abyss, or even to kill himself, because once a warrior as powerful as him was completely transformed... even if he could only survive for a short period of time after the transformation, the damage he could cause would be devastating.

Hao Ren nodded slightly. Duke Owen's description was very detailed and had sufficient reference value. The Black Sword Knights' mutations were undoubtedly caused by the power of madness, and based on the "controllability" and "purposefulness" of their mutations, it could be concluded that there should be a superior individual controlling everything behind them.

After all, the cannon fodder units in the minions of madness have almost no ability to think. Only the superior derivatives or "brain-like" units have the ability to think and command. And in Lahrien, this "brain" should be that Dragon Soul Emperor.

"About when were you attacked?" Lily asked from the side.

Duke Owen thought for a moment: "About half an hour after midnight."

"Then the time matches up," Vivian nodded. "That's when we sensed the 'outburst'."

Charlize asked in confusion: "Outburst? What outburst?"

"Ah, you may not be able to feel that kind of aura, or even if you feel it, you can't distinguish it," Lily waved her hand indifferently. "It was when the blizzard was at its worst last night. At that time, an evil force erupted from the direction of the imperial capital, which basically coincided with the time when Duke Owen was attacked."

Duke Owen, who was lying on the bed, widened his eyes when he heard Lily's words, and a strange look appeared on his face: "Sure enough... you can also sense 'that thing'—you are indeed inheritors?!"

The moment Hao Ren heard the word "inheritor," his eyelids twitched slightly: Sure enough, there are clues here!

But he didn't fully show it. Instead, he nodded calmly: "We do know something, but before we talk in detail, let's heal you first. Leah, I'll leave it to you."

Leah nodded and stepped forward, standing next to Duke Owen, but she didn't take any further action, but just quietly stared at the old man lying on the bed.

The others looked at her curiously, wanting to know how this "little girl" planned to cure the terrible corruption that had happened to the duke.

This strange silence lasted for a few seconds. Just as Duke Owen was feeling uncomfortable from being stared at by Leah and was about to say something, Hao Ren suddenly noticed that some vague shadows had appeared on the bed next to the duke.

It looked like the shadows cast by a body. At first glance, there was nothing unusual, but it appeared facing the sunlight shining in from the window!

Everyone noticed the abnormal "shadow," and the latter initially maintained a motionless appearance, but after a few seconds, it suddenly wriggled.

As if to escape danger, the wriggling black shadow suddenly fluctuated and "swam" quickly away from Leah's line of sight.

However, the shadow didn't escape far at all. Almost as soon as it left the Duke's body, Leah had already flashed to the other side of the bed and reached out to grab the wriggling thing.

The black shadow was directly grabbed from the two-dimensional plane to the three-dimensional space. It struggled violently and shrank in the air into a disgusting mass of soft matter that emitted smoke. However, no matter how hard it struggled, it could not escape from Leah's small palm. Instead, in the process of contacting the latter, it kept making ear-piercing screams and the squeaking sound of flesh burning. Within just half a minute, it had burned away, leaving only a black ball with a diameter of no more than two centimeters.

"Okay, okay, it'll be all gone if it burns any further," Hao Ren saw that even the ball had started to smoke, so he quickly stepped forward and snatched the thing from Leah's hand, throwing it into a pre-prepared sample container. "We have to keep a sample for analysis."

Then he turned his head: "Duke, how do you feel now... uh, cough cough, Duke Owen, Duke Owen?"

After calling out several times, the old man lying on the bed suddenly woke up with a jolt. His face was full of strange expressions: "This... is it over?"

"It wasn't anything complicated to begin with," Leah waved her hand indifferently. "It's just some pollutants after decay. My people can easily deal with it. But you are indeed impressive. An ordinary person... this is the first time I've seen someone who can last this long."

"That's right, that's right, they are indeed inheritors!" Duke Owen's expression became excited. "Whose inheritance do you have? Which era is the predecessor of the World Tree Temple? Such powerful power... is it the Tumen Empire? No, Tumen can't fight against the Gorgons so easily... are you Gorgons, or even before the Gorgons... cough cough, cough cough cough..."

Perhaps he was too excited, or perhaps the weakness accumulated in his body burst out all at once after the power of madness was driven out. The strong old man suddenly coughed violently, and Hao Ren quickly stepped forward to hold him down: "Calm down, calm down, you've finally regained your life, don't throw it away so easily."

Leah also glanced at Duke Owen indifferently: "I just expelled the corrupting force from your body, but the vitality and soul that you have lost are not so easy to recover—especially the latter. Your soul has been eaten away by one-third, which is an irreversible damage. Even I can hardly perfectly repair it. If you are too excited, your body and soul will not be able to withstand it."

"Hoo... hoo..." Duke Owen lay back in his original position, panting heavily. In the face of the miracle personally bestowed by the goddess, the wound on his chest was healing at an alarming rate, but the deficiencies in the body's origin that had been suppressed by the power of madness before suddenly broke out, which made him seem even weaker than before. "I... understand. What will be the consequences of the loss of the soul?"

"You will still be alive, but to be honest, it's probably impossible to be a wise and mighty guardian of the north again," Leah said bluntly. "Your thinking, will, memory, and even personality will be greatly weakened or transformed in a bad direction. Your body will also be affected. Because of the mismatch between the soul and the body, you will find it difficult to control your original body, which will cause it to weaken, and it will continue to weaken until it is consistent with the soul. Of course, ordinary people are basically useless in this situation, but your foundation is very good, and I have also protected and filled the damaged parts as much as possible, so you will not become useless, but all aspects will not reach half of your peak."

"For me... it's no different from being useless," Duke Owen sighed, but then shook his head in relief. "But I should be content with regaining my life."

"Now we can talk about the things you just mentioned," Hao Ren immediately continued, "About the Tumen Empire, the Gorgons, the era, and the inheritors."

(Returned from the annual meeting, achieved the achievement of continuous updates at the annual meeting, but the manuscript is exhausted, life is hopeless.jpg...)