"Is that the only line you know?" Lana contemptuously retorted.
Her words came before Edith's body had even hit the ground.
Edith offered no reply—she had thoroughly turned into a corpse, reverting to her mountain-of-flesh state.
A massive heart pulsated within.
"The heart of Oksd, finally, it's mine!"
"Teacher Bain, it seems you've misjudged this time. The final victor is still me, Lana Mokos. I will undoubtedly become the most powerful being in the Mokos family!"
Lana Mokos burst into maniacal laughter, her face awash with madness.
She then began chanting incantations, her hands shaping mystical symbols.
The enormous heart before her shrunk, and she held it in her hand, marveling again, "Ah, the heart of a deity—truly incomparable!"
However, Lana failed to notice that the heart in her hand seemed somewhat less vital.
While it still pulsated, it lacked both the force and vitality of the original heart of Oksd.
Why that was, perhaps only Edith knew the secret.
Unfortunately, Edith was already dead, and it seemed as though the secret would disappear along with the demise of the cave deep within the Red Jade Valley.
However, among Eluna and her departing companions, a small wooden box in Komait's backpack emitted a blood-red glow.
Inside, a heart pulsated furiously, exuding an aura of sanctity that was suppressed by the box and could not escape.
Meanwhile, in Ethan's Space Ring lay a journal left behind by the ancient kingdom.
Ethan and the others had only skimmed through the opening information on its pages.
Due to Komait's experiment with the Godslayer Dagger contained within the box, which shattered the blade, they had been interrupted and hadn't proceeded further with their reading.
So, they hadn't noticed the information recorded later on.
[Oksd, Devourer Oksd...]
[Well, that name is a bit of a mouthful for me; I prefer to call it 'the little one.']
[If my guess is correct, by the time you're reading this line, you may have realized who I am. Yes, I am the creator of Oksd. As for my name, let's keep that a secret for now. But the information to follow may be of some use to you.]
[Oksd's original form was that of a special creature, a six-eyed ape. This species has six eyes on their foreheads, and it is said that the king among the six-eyed apes has a seventh eye, which usually possesses inconceivable abilities. However, I've never seen one. Nevertheless, Oksd is an anomaly among six-eyed apes; it has two hearts.]
[The two hearts make Oksd far more vital than ordinary beings, which means it could be used for more hazardous experiments. And indeed, we conducted such tests.]
[We failed a few times, but Oksd always survived.]
[...]
[During one such experiment, we discovered that the food ingested by Oksd was transformed into an incredibly potent blood. This blood was extraordinarily viscous and possessed inexplicable properties.]
[What a surprise!]
[To further our research, we began feeding Oksd a variety of expensive elixirs and treasures. True to form, Oksd transformed them into even more valuable substances.]
[But then...]
[Greed is like a rolling stone atop a mountain—once it starts, it cannot be stopped.]
[This was the onset of greed, and likewise, the onset of destruction.]
[As Oksd transformed those precious substances, he also absorbed vast amounts of energy. His form grew increasingly immense, his strength increasingly formidable.]
[Until one day, he chose to rebel!]
[It was only then that we understood the monster we had created; Oksd had acquired the power akin to that of a deity!]
[We had to destroy this monster to survive.]
[...]
[In the end, we failed. Oksd was not wholly vanquished.]
[But we did leave behind a countermeasure.]
[...]
[That Godslayer Dagger was but a joke. The true countermeasure is this small wooden box, which we call the "Devourer's Nest"—such an amusing name. By dripping blood from Oksd's heart onto it, the Devourer's Nest will seal away Oksd's true heart. Only then could Oksd be truly destroyed.]
[Ah...upon reflection, the Godslayer Dagger does serve a purpose—it can bleed Oksd's heart.]
[...]
Scattered messages filled the pages that followed the notes.
These, Ethan and the others had naturally not seen.
Yet, by some stroke of fate, the true heart of Oksd found itself sealed within the small wooden box known as the Devourer's Nest.
What Lana had acquired was genuine as well, but it was Oksd's second heart—a detail neither party was aware of.
After leaving the cavernous pit formed by the cave-in, Eluna and her companions traversed the path they'd come, walking past the colossal skeletons of fallen beasts and crossing the desert.
As they made their way, a swarm of sandworms burst forth from the ground.
Eluna instinctively prepared for battle, only to be reminded by Sherry that these sandworms had already been tamed by Ethan.
Observing that the creatures showed no malice, Eluna relaxed and initiated casual conversation with Sherry and Pale Wolf, filling the air with anecdotes about their prior journey with Ethan.
Time seemed to slip away effortlessly in the chatter.
In a matter of days, the group had passed the ruined remains of the Gama Empire and arrived at the mouth of Red Jade Valley.
The barrier that had once sealed the entrance had long vanished.
The word about red jade had spread, drawing countless adventurers to the scene.
Yet, Eluna and her party exited the valley mostly unnoticed—perhaps due in part to their haggard appearance.
The journey back was uneventful and smooth.
Several more days passed, and Eluna, Komait, Sherry, and Pale Wolf, along with an unconscious Ethan, returned to the Abandoned Temple.
Mia had awoken on the road. As they arrived, Victor, who was busy with administrative matters in his territory, sensed their return and rushed out to greet them.
"Lord Ethan?"
"What has happened?"
Victor stepped forward, his face paling as he saw Ethan's unconscious state and the wounds that marred his body.
After a brief explanation from Mia, he quickly made arrangements for Ethan's care.
As a Scholar, Victor had some knowledge of potions.
After examining Ethan, he turned to Mia, Eluna, and Sherry, who had gathered around, and said,
"Lord Ethan is essentially fine. His internal condition is a bit complex at the moment. The Blood Source that was consumed hasn't been fully assimilated and is continually releasing energy."
"Meanwhile, the Languages of Nature he controls—Holy Light and Dragon—are operating autonomously, both healing his wounds and fortifying his physical strength. These elements are in balance."
"Victor, can you simplify that?" Mia found the technical jargon hard to follow.
Pausing for a moment, Victor summarized, "Lord Ethan is okay, but when he will wake is uncertain."
"How long will that be?" Mia pressed on.
"At least six months," Victor estimated.
Hearing this, Mia, Sherry, and the others exhaled in relief.
Six months didn't seem too long.
However, that ostensibly short span turned out to be frenetic enough to leave them breathless, even shifting their perception to view the half-year as far too long.
During this time, word about Red Jade Valley spread like wildfire.
Learning about the existence of red jade—a miraculous substance—kingdoms became restless.
One after another, they dispatched armies and recruited heroes to stake their claim, eventually uncovering an entire mine of red jade.
And thus, war broke out.
In a contest marked by ferocious struggle, the various kingdoms fought to the death.
The power dynamics shifted significantly as many Heroes and Dark Lords leveraged the newly-acquired red jade to enhance their abilities.
The scope of the war became so vast that several kingdoms crumbled into oblivion.
Just as an alliance led by the Sunset Empire seemed poised for victory, the Azure Empire launched a ruthless invasion.
The already-fragile Sunset alliance shattered, bowing down to the might of Azure Empire, with several neighboring kingdoms surrendering in the process.
Among them, Blackstone Dwarf Kingdom, once under Ethan's rule, met its end.
Yet even amidst such tumult, Mia and her associates found themselves without the luxury of despair.
For the Azure Empire had already initiated a campaign against the Dark Lords.
Having seized control of the red jade mines, they offered this precious material as a bounty to assemble a large host of Heroes, aiming to purge the continent of its Dark Lords.
The initial sweep was swift, but momentum soon waned with the emergence of a force called the Devil Guild.
Comprising formidable Dark Lords, the Devil Guild successfully orchestrated a counter-offensive, capturing cities previously held by Heroes and turning the tide against the Azure Empire.
The situation reached a stalemate.
Apart from Devil Guild, several other notable alliances made their presence felt.
The Flame Witch Guild from Stone Rock Harbor, the Crazy Blood Guild within the Elven Forest, and the Snowy Plains Dark Lord Guild in the Northern Snow Plains all obstructed Azure Empire's plan to annihilate Dark Lords, pushing them to the brink of abandoning their campaign.
Yet the Azure Empire, a colossus of imperial might, could not be so easily bowed.
Time seemed to dissolve in this seesaw of tensions and the world held its breath in a grim deadlock.
And then, in the blink of an eye, half a year passed.
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