Chapter 74: Arrival in the Northern Marches

As Daina and Ace fled at high speed, a group of people wearing pointed hoods and gray-gold cloth robes were leaping and traversing through the shadows.

Ace sensed the approach of that group. He leaned over and whispered to Daina: “Turn left, then run north.”

Daina felt a tickle in her ear, and her heart gave an involuntary leap.

“Mhm.”

She immediately changed direction, evading the group of dark worshipers.

The dark worshipers quickly approached the ritual site, finding that the entire village had become a playground for small Demons, permeated with the stench of sulfur.

“Do not go any closer, unless you wish to be sacrificed to the Lord right now.”

A leading dark worshiper warned. He took out a black skull that exuded an ominous aura and muttered incantations in a wicked, chaotic voice.

If Ace had been there, he would have recognized this as the Demon language he had discovered.

The dark worshipers collectively shouted. The skull floated toward the village of viscous black blood, melting into the black blood.

The ground shook violently. After their collective shout, the dark worshipers quickly retreated and fled.

Ace felt the strange sense of impending disaster grow stronger. The moment the unknown presence descended, it would be a power he could absolutely not resist.

Those strange hooded people are gone. Daina and I must quickly get away too!

Ace thought this, and chanted: “Airiness!”

Daina felt their weight suddenly lessen. Her running and leaping speed instantly accelerated. Ace looked back toward the village and could see a giant hand tear open a spatial rift. A tide of more Demons seemed eager to surge out, and the owner of the giant hand seemed intent on descending personally, but they were all blocked by an invisible barrier.

The giant hand tried several times but could not break the barrier. It emitted a soul-shaking roar. The rift slowly disappeared.

After a long time, a large, winged Demon projected itself out of the viscous black blood, accompanied by over 10 ordinary Demons.

As soon as it appeared, the hundreds of small Demons jumping and running in the village immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to make a sound. The great Demon spoke in the Abyssal tongue: “Transform this place into an Abyssal Altar to welcome the Great Lord of Darkness, Dorkabach!”

The Demons began to move, leading the small Demons to hunt living beings in the surrounding area to build the altar.

On the other side, the dark worshipers, having learned that the ritual was complete, retreated entirely, no longer engaging Dikens.

Dikens cautiously investigated, finding that the enemy had indeed retreated. He frowned deeply.

“Damn it! I might have fallen for a trick. They were stalling for time!”

He continued forward and discovered the village that had been submerged in black blood and was undergoing Abyssal transformation. He resisted the Demons’ attacks while slowly leading his men in retreat.

At the same time, he waved to his orderly: “Gather the cavalry! Three riders per team. Divide into 10 teams and depart at different times and from different directions to the city-state. Request aid from the Great Hero Arnold Bain!”

Daina ran without stopping. The two finally escaped the danger.

They looked into each other’s eyes, fully alert with the clarity of surviving a catastrophe.

“Fresh and Clean!”

Ace followed the magical rhythm, waving his arm, removing the blood and dust from Daina’s body. However, the injury on her arm and her torn clothes could not be restored.

He thought for a moment, then spoke in a strange cadence: “Remove Corruption! Swiftly Restore! Freshly Mend!”

Accompanied by the three incantations, Daina’s clothes were restored to their original state. The Abyssal aura in the wound was partially expelled, and her injured arm began to heal gradually.

Ace adjusted the cadence again: “Expel Corrosion! Luminous Nourishment!”

After more than 10 consecutive attempts, combined with Daina’s own Inherent Mana resistance, the deeply bone-seated Abyssal corrosive aura was finally completely purged.

“Teacher Ace, you are truly incredible. You developed so many applications from a single Magical Trickery spell. With just this one spell, you almost possess all spells.” Daina said admiringly, looking at her slowly healing wound and her restored clothes.

“No, I am merely fortunate and have some background in language research. This spell, where intention, language, and gesture are all important, actually has significant limitations. Most simulated spells are slightly weaker than the original Spell Model spells.” Ace smiled gently and spoke humbly.

“Even so, it is still incredible! I don’t care. Teacher Ace is the smartest and most incredible.”

“We cannot stay here. It is too bizarre and dangerous! The path south is blocked. We must head north to the Northern Marches, where the city-state’s Great Hero is stationed.” Ace said.

“Grumble!”

Daina’s stomach let out a hungry sound. Her face flushed slightly as she turned away.

“We’ll head north, and look for something to eat along the way,” Ace said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Dikens Rona’s troops were on the verge of annihilation.

Demons are the equivalent of human Heroes. Even their projections, though a step down in strength, possessed Pseudo-Hero power. Even before the great Demon projection intervened, the few ordinary Demon projections had driven Dikens’s troops to despair.

Dikens led the remnants of his forces, fleeing south.

He was covered in wounds. His prominent aquiline nose was somewhat smashed, ruining his handsome appearance. The Demons pursued them all the way to the Royal Territory before finally stopping.

The next day, shocking news spread throughout the city-state:

The Third Inspection Squad led by Dikens Rona, numbering 1,000 men—five Nobles, 300 Citizens, and over 600 Freemen—was completely wiped out. No one survived, except for a few reconnaissance cavalry and Dikens himself.

One-fifth of the households in the entire Royal City wore mourning clothes, and the whole city wept. This was the greatest defeat the city had suffered in nearly 30 years.

The dark worshipers had brutally massacred residents of over a dozen villages and used a wicked ritual to summon a horde of Demons. Great Hero Arnold Bain personally sent his student, Dikens Rona, to the dungeon, then led seven Heroes to eliminate the Demons.

All this, however, was irrelevant to Ace and Daina. Almost a month passed, and the Northern City-State was finally within sight.

During this month, Monsters gradually became more frequent, and Daina’s points continuously increased.

Through experimentation, Daina discovered that any rune she discovered could be recorded on her Rune Page for free. The Spell Models she had purchased also provided the complete runes.

If she used runes to combine and develop a Spell Model, whether new or old, she would receive it for free. This greatly enhanced Daina’s passion for research and development.

Using newly discovered runes, she developed a complete new series of Mana Crystal Shaping Spells.

She could instantly form a full Mana Crystal suit of armor that covered her entire body, and a Mana Crystal weapon spell imbued with lightning attributes, as well as unstable Mana Crystal weapons that could be projected.

Ace looked at the prompts in his Grimoire and smiled. Daina’s contributions to him were immense. Without him expending any effort, she had provided an excellent method for applying Inherent Mana.

Ace analogized this method to the Soul Rune level. The basic principles were similarly applicable. Unintentionally, Ace’s Enchanted Martial Arts and Mana Crystal Shaping Spells became even more powerful than Daina’s.

This was the greatest use of the Grimoire: cultivating excellent contractors to serve as the reserve force for the future organization. It allowed him to absorb their wisdom, utilize their talents, and harness their research potential to make himself stronger.

He gained more than just this. The knowledge of the bizarre ritual, recorded by the Spirit of the Book, lay quietly in his Grimoire, waiting for him to explore its secrets.

And so, accompanied by research along the way, the two arrived at one of the city-state’s three great settlements: the Northern March Fortress.

The entire Northern March Fortress was built upon a hill that extended from the Larr Mountains. It was a mountain city, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The mottled city walls were covered with thick ice and snow. Beneath the ice and snow, thick moss grew, and faint red and black bloodstains were still visible, recording a period of fire and tears, the eternal war between humans and Monsters!

Fierce cold wind, rampant Monsters, bloody Monster Hunters, rampant barbarism, the border of civilization—this was the Northern March!