Chapter 187: Kurtz's Scheme
Wild laughter echoed in the empty space. Grausam collapsed to the ground, black blood gushing from his wound, staining him completely dark, yet his face bore a twisted, victorious smile.
Holy Sword El's Light had already been teleported away. Once it fell into the hands of Schlacht, the core objective of the plan would be achieved.
This 'feat' was enough to etch his name into the entire history of the Demon Race.
"His Majesty the Demon King shall rule the world! Hahaha, listen!"
His wild laughter was interrupted by violent coughing, and foul blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed from his mouth.
Having endured several enhanced light arrows from Serie, coupled with the severe injury of his severed arm, his life was rapidly ebbing away.
Serie stared intently at where the spatial rift had vanished, leaving only ripples of space shattering and then repairing itself.
The holy sword was stolen right under her nose.
To let these demons so easily snatch the holy sword was an utter humiliation!
And the culprit was right beside her, still letting out that grating, wild laughter.
Killing intent instantly locked onto Grausam on the ground.
Serie raised her hand, and light began to condense at her fingertips.
She wanted to utterly erase this damned demon, along with his filthy soul, from this world.
"Wait, Serie."
However, Kurtz stopped her attack before it could even be unleashed.
Serie paused her movements and turned to look at Kurtz, a hint of questioning in her eyes.
Because she had clearly warned him just now, but he had done nothing, allowing Holy Sword El's Light to be taken.
What exactly was he thinking?
Kurtz met Serie's gaze, his expression still calm, his eyes briefly lingering on Grausam on the ground before turning to where El's Light had vanished.
"Why!?" Serie questioned. "With your ability, you could have completely stopped El's Light before the spatial rift fully closed."
Flamme was also startled by Teacher Serie's question.
Everything that just happened was too fast.
From the holy sword being corrupted, to Grausam repelling Teacher Serie with the sword, and finally to Teacher Kurtz instantly severing his arm and detonating the crystal to teleport El's Light away.
All of this happened in just a few breaths, so fast that she didn't even have time to cast a single spell.
She had originally thought that Teacher Kurtz hadn't had time to prevent El's Light from being teleported away, but now it seemed there was another scheme at play?
Even Grausam on the ground looked at Kurtz with surprise and uncertainty.
Kurtz did not immediately answer Serie's question. He slowly raised his right hand, palm facing upwards.
A faint, pale golden thread of light, as if alive, appeared and coiled in his palm.
"You see, the connection between me and El's Light has not been severed."
El's Light was his first holy sword. Kurtz had participated in both its initial forging and its later reforging.
Not to mention, the magic for storing faith power inside it was designed by him, so he had long since established a connection with it.
Serie narrowed her eyes. As a top-tier mage, she immediately sensed the essence of that thread of light.
It was the magical resonance between El's Light and Kurtz.
Extremely faint, but definitely present.
This meant that although the holy sword had been corrupted and even teleported away, it still maintained some mysterious connection with Kurtz.
"So what!?" Serie's confusion did not disappear, but instead intensified. "The holy sword has been corrupted, and even taken by the demons. Can you stop them from using the faith power inside it across endless space?"
If the demons had simply taken El's Light, Serie wouldn't have been worried.
Sometimes, letting the demons become a little stronger adds some fun to this world.
But the prerequisite was that this power had to be controllable.
Faith's power was too strong.
As someone who had personally fought the Goddess alongside Kurtz back then, Serie naturally understood how terrifying the power of faith could be.
Undoubtedly, now that the age of myths had ended and gods no longer existed, faith power was the strongest power in this world.
And now, this power had been seized by the demons.
"Look at him!" Serie pointed at Grausam on the ground. "He only used a tiny fraction of faith power just now, yet it was enough to repel my attack. If Schlacht, or that so-called new Demon King, gains control of all the faith power, the consequences would be unimaginable."
Her words struck Flamme's heart like a heavy hammer, and a hint of triumph flashed in Grausam's eyes.
"Rest assured, Serie." Kurtz's tone was very gentle, as if comforting a startled Hakimi. "What Grausam just called upon was only a tiny wisp of faith power that leaked from El's Light's surface, it was but a single hair of its true power."
"But he became stronger by relying on that power."
"I thought you'd be happy to see that." Kurtz hinted.
"This is different." Serie shook her head. "Controllable chaos and chaos with unpredictable outcomes are not the same thing."
"Is that so? I see." Kurtz paused. "But don't worry. Have you forgotten? A thousand years ago, when I was adding magic to El's Light, what restriction did I place on it?"
This sentence made Grausam on the ground suddenly widen his eyes, and even Flamme cast a curious glance.
"A restriction, huh…"
The surfacing of distant memories suppressed Serie's anger. "It seems there was indeed something like that."
She remembered.
Kurtz had told her about it back then.
It was when they were helping the allied forces break the siege, and Kurtz had mentioned it when he created the Pseudo-God Strike magic.
To prevent this magic from being misused, he would add a restriction to it, allowing it to be used only against demons and in battles to save the world.
And the reason El's Light could absorb human faith power was because it contained not only magic for storing faith power but also the magic runes for Pseudo-God Strike.
Only then could El's Light be used to turn the tide of battle at a crucial moment.
"But what if the demons can break your seal restriction?"
"They can, of course."
Kurtz's words made Serie's brow furrow again, but the following sentence made it relax.
"However, that will take a very long time. I don't think it's possible to complete without several hundred years of effort."
The Pseudo-God Strike magic he created was not that easy to break.
The magic in the spellbook written by Norn was open source. He had originally hoped that learners could freely adapt and develop upon it.
However, magic like this, Pseudo-God Strike, was heavily encrypted.
Unless your talent also lies in creation, just understanding this magical formula would take decades of effort.
[End of Chapter]