The two mages fell into an awkward silence. It was obvious they did not share Soll's sentiment. To them, every family that opposed the Crown Princess was better off dead.
Sensing their dissatisfaction, Soll said with an indifferent tone,
"With the current strength of her Highness, she could not bring back the dead to life yet. It will be a waste to kill them now."
What he said made sense and both accepted his decision better.
"That's true," the older woman agreed. "Although their mage levels are so-so, once her Highness revive their souls, their mage levels will also receive a huge boost."
The older man sighed, "If only her Highness can also boost our levels, I don't mind becoming her puppet."
"From what I know, the previous Soul Emperor did something similar," the older woman replied thoughtfully. She looked at Soll furtively, checking his reaction regarding their topic.
Because their rank within their respective families was not that high, the information they were able to access was limited. They knew too little about the previous Soul Emperor.
But that was not the case with Soll.
Soll was a hidden trump card by the original Royal Family-- the Winfrey Family. He was not a family member but an orphan they took in. They nurtured him after discovering his talent and basically gave him a new leash in life. The gratitude he had for the Winfrey Family made it so he could never betray them. Because of this, the Winfrey Family was not afraid to share far more confidential information with him.
The older woman wanted to know more about the previous Soul Emperor and was hoping to get some information from Soll.
Unfortunately, Soll's expression remained indifferent. It was unknown if he was feigning ignorance, or he simply did not care about their topic.
Failing to take the hint of what the older woman was trying to do, the older man replied with a slight shake of his head, "I heard that one too. But it was a piece of unconfirmed information."
The older woman could not help but shot the older man a glare. But because both were wearing hoods, they failed to see each other's expressions.
"Wait for my return," Soll ignored their conversation and prepared to leave. He roused his magic energy and in an instant, his robe turned into flames as he shot forward toward the Lumley Family residence at a speed that almost surpassed what a combat mage with enhanced sight could follow.
The two older mages were astonished. But their reaction was short-lived because Soll's speed was something to be expected given his mage level and innate magic.
In only a few seconds, Soll was already near the rear of the first group of mages attacking the Lumley's wall.
"Stand aside," Soll commanded the mages below. His voice was not loud, but everyone heard him loud and clear.
In an instant, the mages below stopped their attacks and retreated.
At the same time, Eoin and the other leaders felt something was amiss when the bombardment abruptly stopped.
The Lumley Patriarch also felt something was wrong and gave a command, "Tell everyone to deploy the Lumley Family's second to fifth defensive layer."
"Yes, Patriarch."
A Lumley family member waiting on the side replied and sent out the order at once.
The walls around the Lumley residence lit up and four layers of light golden arrays appeared on their surface. After which, four more layers of the residence's veil-like barrier appeared.
Soll, saw additional barriers appearing but did not care much about them. He simply roused his magic energy and raised his hand.
A fireball, created from magma rather than flames, formed before him. In a blink of an eye, the less than half a meter diameter fireball expanded into a fifty-meter diameter.
The mages who were still within thirty meters' range of Soll, immediately felt their clothes burn, and their skin tingle in pain, from the fireball's heat. Their scalps almost went numb in fear of getting burned to death, but they managed to stay calm enough and reinforced their magic barriers.
As soon as the fireball grew, Soll made a throwing movement using his raised hand and the fireball flew toward the Lumley's wall at an astonishing speed.
Everyone inside the conference hall gaped in shock at the incoming fireball.
"Activate the additional defensive array!"
"Fall back, everyone!"
Eoin and the Lumley Patriarch's blood turned cold as they shouted at the same time.
BOOOM!
CRACKLE! SHATTER!
The magma-like fireball collided with the first layer of the Lumley's barrier and was shattered in an instant.
SHATTER! SHATTER! CRACK!
The second and third layers also shattered easily against the magma-like fireball. The fourth layer managed to withstand the latter's momentum but still received large angry cracks. It was obvious it did not have enough substance to fully stop the magma-like fireball's momentum.
Just before the fourth layer of the barrier shattered, the additional defensive array that the Courtenay Family set up around the Lumley residence lit up above. After which, a faint silver color veil enveloped the whole residence starting from above, forming a silver-colored barrier.
Soll's eyes narrowed as he saw the silver barrier. Others might not recognize that barrier, but he could. He had just read a report that included such a barrier.
'That barrier looks like the one protecting the Regis Inner Walls...!' He thought with furrowed brows.
That was right. The defensive array the Courtenay Family created around the Lumley residence was a replica of Cade's saint-tier defensive array. Although it was a replica, it did not possess most of the effect in Cade's defensive array because the Courtenay Family was still working on deciphering it.
The truth, the Crown Princess had ordered the Courtenay Family to lead the project in deciphering the Regis Estate's defensive array. Her intention was not for them to have the ability to destroy it but to use it. Having such a potent defensive array would be good to have at her disposal.
Unfortunately, Kyran managed to turn the Courtenay Family to his side before they could even share a prototype of the defensive array with Haylee. Apart from this, the latter seemed confident about the Courtenay Family's loyalty that she did not leave any mark on them or even a fail-safe measure in case they revolt against her. If she did, she would have long known they were no longer on her side and would have tried to deal with them early.
Anyhow, Soll recognized the barrier but felt something was also amiss.
'No... it is a little different,' he thought. 'The silver sheen of this barrier is lacking... It is only a replica...'
The flames around his body intensified as realization hit him.
It was impossible for the Lumley Family to know about the situation with the Regis Clan or even the formula on how to create a replica of the Regis's barrier. They had only joined-- or at least, they were supposed to have joined the Crown Princess's side. The only ones who knew about the barrier were the Courtenay Family and they were working on deciphering it.
'Did they defect?'
Although the Lumley Family was suspected to have already fallen under Kyran, they did not believe he would give them a saint-tier defensive array formation which was why Soll thought of the Courtenay Family's involvement instead.
With no way of proving his theory, Soll did not dwell on the matter of the Courtenay Family defecting from the Crown Princess's side. Instead, he sent a coded message to her and focused on his task.
Soll's magma-like fireball finally collided with the silver barrier and the ground shook from the intensity. However, before he could boost the magic energy within the fireball and let it continue in destroying the silver barrier, the fireball seemed to have lost its momentum entirely and cracks appeared on its surface.
BOOM!
A surge of scorching hot shockwave spread in all directions as the fireball exploded.
Soll was undaunted as the shockwave came at him. His magic barrier easily protected him. He continued to look at the silver barrier with a cold expression.
While the defensive array appeared omnipotent, Soll did not believe it would last because it was only a replica and lacked the real capability and effect of the original one.
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
More magma-like fireballs appeared above the Lumley residence after Soll summoned more.
If one fireball was not enough, how about several at the same time?
When Eoin and the rest saw this, they felt their blood run cold.
Just as Soll guessed, their silver barrier was a far cry from the original. Nevertheless, they were confident it could withstand an Archamagus's attack.
But having several Archamagus-level attacks fall on the barrier at the same time was a different story. There was no telling if the barrier would last for ten seconds.
While the Courtenay and Lumley Families were in such a predicament, something similar was happening in Noser.
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