Vol 3. Chapter 79: Fury
???
Hmm? This feeling? An earthquake?
As the strange tremors reached him, Xue Tianao could not help frowning, and an ominous premonition emerged within his heart.
That direction is?
Hmm??!
Th-this feeling?!
...
However,
before Xue Tianao could figure out exactly what had happened in the south, the sight before him, along with a strange aura, abruptly dragged his attention back. The Child of Destiny's eyes suddenly contracted as an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
?!!
'Wh... what?! What... what happened?!!'
Wtf!
Looking at the scene before him, Xue Tianao felt as though Pikachu had grabbed his head and blasted him with a hundred-million-volt attack. His mind completely crashed, leaving him frozen stupidly in place...
Actually,
it was not only Xue Tianao. In the VIP seats, the representatives of the various powers, including the members of the Asumos Church, as well as the countless thousands of citizens behind them watching the coronation ceremony, all revealed completely unprepared expressions at that moment.
Even the members of the Black Rose Family, in order to blend in with their surroundings, put on 'astonished' expressions, their eyes widening and their mouths falling slightly open...
'Wow~' (deadpan)
At this moment,
under everyone's dumbfounded gazes, Avalind, the founding emperor who had been bestowing the crown upon Xue Tianao, suddenly trembled violently! An indescribably painful expression appeared on the phantom's face. The white and blue energy forming the phantom began to gradually collapse,
and the phantom itself gradually became increasingly ethereal.
As this sudden change occurred,
the High Priest maintaining the magic formation abruptly suffered some kind of backlash. Caught completely off guard, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and the staff radiating white light fell from the ceremonial platform. The six high-ranking priests assisting her were similarly affected by the backlash, instantly bleeding from all seven orifices as they collapsed to the ground and let out waves of agonized groans.
Because their strength was insufficient, these high-ranking priests soon departed this world.
"Crack..."
Having lost the priests' power that sustained it, the pure-white magic formation suspended high in the sky suddenly developed countless cracks before completely collapsing, transforming into magical energy particles that filled the sky before dissipating.
And the founding emperor's phantom inevitably shattered apart as well...
?!!!
Looking at this completely unexpected scene, Xue Tianao, sensing that something was terribly wrong, anxiously reached out a 'helping hand' toward the phantom.
He had finally waited until today! Why did something have to go wrong at this critical moment!!
But what could he possibly do now?
After realizing that he was completely powerless, Xue Tianao let out a heart-wrenching cry of grief from the depths of his heart.
"No, no, no!!!!!"
And so, accompanied by Xue Tianao's anguished wailing,
the phantom of the founding emperor of the Snow Night Empire staggered before crashing heavily to the ground.
"Boom~"
Accompanied by a crisp, thunderous sound, the enormous phantom disintegrated into countless blue-white motes of light that filled the sky. Meanwhile, the crown Xue Tianao had dreamed of day and night abruptly plummeted from the air under his grief-stricken gaze and smashed heavily onto the ground.
Then, as a cold wind swept past, the crown formed from soul power could not escape the fate of shattering either. Right before Xue Tianao's anguished eyes, it turned into golden powder scattered across the ground before being carried away by the wind...
"My... my, my crown..."
My...
My...
My epic-level mission...
H-how could this happen...
The goal he had worked toward for so many years,
the success that had already been within arm's reach, was just... gone?
The cooked duck had flown away?!
At that thought, Xue Tianao's face flushed crimson, and he felt an overwhelming urge to cough up blood.
Moreover,
judging from the collapse of the founding emperor's phantom and the High Priest coughing up blood, it seemed impossible to repeat the coronation ceremony anytime soon. Furthermore, if the source of those tremors just now had really been the Imperial Mausoleum, then...
My mission failed?
The moment he realized this, Xue Tianao's mind fell into a daze. His entire body went weak, and under everyone's watchful eyes, he simply dropped to his knees atop the ceremonial platform...
Meanwhile,
after witnessing this unbelievable scene, the citizens of the Snow Night Empire began looking at one another, seeing shock, astonishment, suspicion, and many other complicated emotions reflected in each other's eyes. Within the Snow Night Empire, most people did not believe in the Asumos Church. What they worshipped were the Ancestral Spirits.
In their eyes, the Ancestral Spirits were the great power that protected them from harm and safeguarded the continued existence of the Snow Night Empire.
Therefore,
the High Priest responsible for communicating with the Ancestral Spirits possessed an extremely high status within the Empire.
And among these Ancestral Spirits, the royal Ancestral Spirit—the founding emperor, Avalind—was an existence that no other spirit could compare to.
But,
now,
during the new emperor's coronation ceremony for Xue Tianao, this founding emperor had inexplicably collapsed into blue light that filled the sky. At the same time, the High Priest had suffered a severe injury and fallen to the ground.
The citizens could not sense what was happening at the Imperial Mausoleum, much less understand why the founding emperor's phantom had collapsed.
But in their eyes, this was undoubtedly an ominous sign.
And the culprit behind all of this...
Thinking of this, the gazes of Sky Dome's citizens, many officials, and even the knights all converged upon the blond-haired man kneeling on the ground.
"The founding emperor's phantom exploded... Could it... could it have been because of His Majesty?"
"It's possible. Maybe the Ancestral Spirit became angry and refused to let Xue Tianao inherit the Empire? Look, even the crown formed from the Ancestral Spirit's power fell to the ground and shattered..."
"And the High Priest also coughed up blood..."
"Could it be because Xue Tianao ordered the coronation ceremony to be held ahead of schedule, angering the Ancestral Spirits?"
"Th-that's... possible..."
...
...
For a time, the crowd began looking at one another and whispering among themselves.
After noticing the situation behind her, Miss Mengxi looked playfully toward the blond-haired man on the ceremonial platform.
Seeing Xue Tianao looking so utterly devastated, Miss Mengxi could not help gloatingly raising a hand to cover her mouth as she let out a bell-like giggle.
Naturally, Mengxi was immensely delighted to see that disgusting Xue Tianao suffer such a setback.
"But... the phantom suddenly shattered?"
Why did it shatter?
Thinking of this, Mengxi raised her brows slightly and thoughtfully glanced from the corner of her eye toward the Black Rose Family not far away. When the founding emperor of the Snow Night Empire collapsed, almost everyone, including her, had revealed astonished expressions...
Although most members of the Black Rose Family had also displayed expressions of surprise, some of the knights had been unable to suppress their snickering.
Having caught this scene, Mengxi quickly reached a conclusion.
"Those people definitely know something."
Or rather,
they were the ones who did it...
'Hmm? Wait, why... is someone missing?'
Just as Mengxi was observing the Black Rose Family, a trace of suspicion flashed through the silver-haired girl's eyes.
At that moment, Mengxi realized that the black-robed figure who had previously attracted quite a bit of her attention and had been seated in the place of honor had already disappeared without a trace...
'Gone...'
Mengxi narrowed her eyes meaningfully.
--
Meanwhile,
as the citizens' endless discussions entered his ears, Xue Tianao finally managed to accept the reality that his epic-level mission ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) had completely failed after remaining dazed for a long while. For the moment, he dragged his consciousness out of the mire of shock.
Feeling the strange gazes the citizens were directing toward him, Xue Tianao clenched both fists with extreme unwillingness.
'Bastards! XXX! Fuck!!'
Xue Tianao could not help furiously cursing inwardly.
Now,
not only had his mission failed, causing him to lose his opportunity to quickly become an Eighth-Tier existence, but the public support he had painstakingly cultivated for so long was actually beginning to waver because of this scene?!
Wait?
Speaking of which, hadn't he... accidentally ended up kneeling on the ground?
Upon noticing his current disgraceful state, Xue Tianao's eyes abruptly contracted, and an intense sense of humiliation surged into his heart.
Damn it!
The furious Xue Tianao slowly rose from the ground and stared venomously toward the distant location of the Imperial Mausoleum.
When he had first felt the tremors, he had already associated them with the Imperial Mausoleum.
And now?
The founding emperor's phantom had exploded right before his eyes, making Xue Tianao even more certain of his previous guess.
Damn it,
that useless Noka!
With the strength of a Seventh-Tier powerhouse combined with the characteristics of the Mist Rain Barrier, failing to defend the place was bad enough, but he had not even caused the slightest disturbance!
Someone had actually attacked the Imperial Mausoleum without making a sound?!
If he had known this would happen,
he should have sent Luokefei to guard it!
And besides,
'Who the fuck is it?! Who actually dares attack the Imperial Mausoleum at a time like this?!'
Fury continuously surged through Xue Tianao's heart. His blue eyes were already filled with icy malice, while pale-golden magical power brimming with killing intent gradually began gathering around his body.
However, just as Xue Tianao was preparing to personally head toward the Imperial Mausoleum to investigate,
a Royal Knight suddenly rushed into Dragon Dance Square in an extremely disheveled state. Under Xue Tianao's displeased gaze, he hurried onto the ceremonial platform.
Facing the panting soldier, Xue Tianao reprimanded him unhappily:
"What are you doing?! Countless distinguished guests are watching! Where are your man—"
But before Xue Tianao could finish,
the visibly distressed knight hurriedly raised his head, revealing a face filled with panic. For once, he directly interrupted Xue Tianao:
"Your Majesty! S-s-something terrible has happened! O-outside the city! Abyss... Abyss Demons have appeared!! A... a massive horde of Abyss Demons!!"
??!!
"Wh... what did you say?!"