Chapter 258: Chapter 140: Ancient God Curse [Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe]
"Yes..."
"I understand."
"I’ll be as quick as possible."
"Rest assured, I will handle this matter properly."
"Yes..."
As the ritual communication ended, Snake Woman Selena let out a soft breath in the Star Tower District.
She then looked up at the Starry Sky District in the celestial dome.
’Priest Aste has tasked me with contacting that Zorn Corick. This might be a bit troublesome.’
’After all, since that battle, the Evil Spirit Wizard has completely vanished without a trace.’
’I heard that after he killed the Divine Blood Berserker, the Star Remnant Divine Kingdom was furious and dispatched an elite squad to hunt him down.’
’They’ve apparently cornered him several times already.’
’But for some time now, his whereabouts have been completely unknown.’
’Regardless, I have to make another trip to the Starry Sky District, and as quickly as possible.’
’Many of the Priests place great importance on this Evil Spirit Wizard, Zorn Corick.’
’I must make contact with him as soon as possible. It’s the only way I’ll have a chance of recruiting him to Priest Aste’s side.’
’If a Messenger from another Priest gets to him first and wins him over, it’ll be a huge problem.’
With this in mind, Snake Woman Selena, who hadn’t been in the ruined Ancient Hall for long, immediately rose to her feet, preparing to re-enter the Starry Sky District.
This, naturally, caused some confusion among her kin within the ruined Ancient Hall.
"Sister Selena, you just got back a few days ago. Weren’t you going to stay here and cultivate for a while?"
"Why... are you heading back to the Starry Sky District so soon?"
"The Holy Crown has ordered me to find and secure the Evil Spirit Wizard, Zorn Corick, who was in the Starry Sky District a while back. The Divine Kingdom intends to cultivate him."
"The Evil Spirit Wizard? You mean the Evil Spirit Wizard who’s become famous across the entire Spirit Realm battlefield recently?"
exclaimed one of the Snake Woman Race People, who had cyan scale armor.
"After word of the battle between the Evil Spirit Wizard and the Divine Blood Berserker in the Starry Sky spread, everyone says that Wizard possesses a powerful Ancient God Curse. Even within the Spirit Realm battlefield, he’s considered one of the top-tier existences."
"But it seems that Evil Spirit Wizard is being hunted right now."
"Sister, you must be extra careful on your trip back to the Starry Sky District."
"Don’t worry, I will be!"
...
「Starry Sky District.」
Upon a celestial body more than 10 kilometers in diameter.
As a Star Orbit in the depths of the hidden Starry Sky completed a convergence of power.
BZZZT!
A beam of blinding light pierced through space.
BOOM—
As the piercing beam struck, the targeted area of the celestial body violently cracked and collapsed. Large swathes of rock were instantly annihilated.
As the terrifying, piercing light slowly faded,
a grim-faced Zorn flew out from a corner of the ruins.
The faint, chaotic aura of being scorched still lingered on him.
His gaze fixed on the Celestial Dome Curtain, where he could still see the fading outline of the ritual.
He could even glimpse some of the figures who had controlled this powerful ritual.
"Hmph!"
Zorn snorted coldly, killing intent surging in his heart.
A moment later, he immediately concealed his aura and swiftly entered the Divine Concealment State, beginning his search for a new hiding place.
If he didn’t leave this place, an elite war party from the Ancient Star Remains Divine Kingdom, led by someone from the Wanderer Sequence, would soon arrive to corner him.
Back in the Starry Spirit Bridge region, after Zorn had slain the Divine Blood Berserker Baluk with an Ancient God Curse,
he was pursued by an elite war party not long after he left.
Zorn was already injured and had expended a great deal of energy.
Furthermore, the elite war party was extremely powerful.
Naturally, Zorn was beaten back repeatedly.
Fortunately, Zorn’s escape methods were formidable, possessing long-range travel capabilities. By activating the power of a Divine Kingdom Passage, he quickly fled far away.
In the following days, while Zorn was recovering from his injuries and processing the Divine Blood that had tainted him,
he was suddenly hit by a surprise attack from that Star Orbit Ceremony.
Luckily, Zorn had been prepared and wasn’t killed instantly.
But his injuries were slightly aggravated as a result.
Over the next two weeks,
Zorn was attacked twice more by that terrifying Star Orbit Ceremony.
Being prepared this time, Zorn naturally didn’t let them succeed again.
But Zorn had already committed this grudge to memory—being relentlessly hunted by the people of the Ancient Star Remains.
Once he obtained that Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse and raised his Level,
Zorn would make sure to slaughter the people of the Ancient Star Remains Divine Kingdom until they trembled in fear.
...
「Half a month later, in the Starry Sky District.」
Within a hidden asteroid belt in the Starry Sky.
Inside the Steam Magical Castle.
After gradually processing the last trace of the contaminating Divine Blood,
the final hint of gloom on Zorn’s face dissipated.
’Whew... I’ve finally, completely processed this damned Divine Blood contamination.’
’Back when I was a Player, if you were tainted by such ancient Divine Blood and didn’t want to reset your character, you had to pay a huge price to refine and cleanse yourself.’
’But for an Evil Spirit Wizard, this kind of corrupting power can be fully processed with just a bit of time.’
’Worthy of a World-level final boss nurtured by the Cosmic Demon Pool.’
As he thought, Zorn looked out at the Starry Sky Region.
’During this time, the Star Orbit Ceremony hasn’t tried to snipe me again.’
’On one hand, the strength of their lock on me has weakened considerably due to the consumption of my Divine Blood in their ritual.’
’On the other, as I processed the Divine Blood, the pulling force grew weaker and weaker.’
’After this half-month, they should have completely lost track of me.’
Recalling the frustrating month of being hunted by those bastards,
the killing intent in Zorn’s heart grew even stronger.
’In the past, I was the final boss who beat up on others. When have I ever been the one chased by my enemies?’
He gradually suppressed his murderous intent.
He looked toward the distant clusters of glowing halos in the asteroid belt.
There were many, many such glowing clusters within this asteroid belt.
The halo Zorn was looking at was just one of many unremarkable clusters.
No one would even pay it much mind.
But Zorn knew.
That place... was the entrance to the breeding ground of a Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse in this Spirit Realm’s ancient battlefield.
Inside, there was not only a powerful Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse, but also a considerable amount of resources.
Once he obtained these resources, he would no longer have to worry about advancing to the Upper Rank Level.
Even his overall strength would increase significantly.
After all, this particular Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse had been gestating for ages, and a massive amount of Ancient God Curse Crystal Source had accumulated within.
During the inheritance, he could also raise the Level of the Ancient God Curse itself.
He could even take it straight to Level 3.
Zorn had been looking forward to this hidden, powerful Ancient God Curse for a long time.
Now that his injuries were fully healed and his enemies could no longer hunt him,
it was time... to make his move.
As he thought, Zorn entered the Divine Concealment State, recalled the Steam Magical Castle, and silently arrived at the core of that unremarkable glowing halo.
After carefully sensing his surroundings and confirming no one else was nearby,
he silently set up a ritual within the cluster of light.
After about half a day, the ritual was ready.
He began to chant an ancient Spell to open the way to the core area where the treasure lay.
As the Spell concluded,
a hazy vortex passage slowly bloomed open.
Once the vortex passage stabilized slightly, Zorn immediately stepped into the Vortex Gate and vanished.
Although he had used the ritual’s power to form a Ritual Curtain that could hide the vortex passage for a while,
as time passed, the vortex passage would definitely break through the Ritual Curtain.
At that point, any Transcendent passing by would inevitably gain some Insight.
Zorn estimated that the ritual’s power could probably contain the vortex for about a week.
A week should be enough time for Zorn to acquire the Middle Rank Level Ancient God Curse.
The days flew by, one by one.
Zorn shuttled back and forth between the hundreds of spherical celestial bodies in the Ancient God Curse region, collecting all sorts of materials and resources.
On the core celestial sphere, which was over ten thousand meters in diameter, as he invested the resources,
the outline of the "Ancient God’s Curtain Robe" on the altar grew increasingly clear.
Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe was the second, and also Middle Rank Level, Ancient God Curse that Zorn intended to master.
This Ancient God Curse could summon the power of the ancient Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe to be worn as armor.
It was said that this Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe was the Divine Robe of a Dominator who had fallen into slumber in the Shadow Rift - Star Dust Plateau.
The entire Shadow Rift - Star Dust Plateau was eternally shrouded in the starry night sky,
precisely because the powerful Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe blanketed the celestial dome.
Once he mastered this powerful Ancient God Curse,
not only would Zorn’s defensive power be passively strengthened,
but after completing the summoning, it would also greatly enhance all of his Witchcraft abilities.
With a mere wave of his hand, he could unleash the immense, destructive might of the "Ancient God’s Curtain Robe."
This summoning-type Ancient God Curse was exceptionally powerful.
Its only drawbacks were its rather long summoning time and enormous energy cost.
But for Zorn, these aspects weren’t too much of a problem.
As Zorn continuously ran back and forth across the map,
he finally, on the sixth day, approaching the seventh,
completed his collection of all the resources.
On the ancient Ritual Platform.
the inheritance of the Ancient God’s Curtain Robe, which glowed with a faint blue starlight and was marked by deep fissures, fully manifested.
"In... and out..."
He took a deep breath.
Zorn slowly extended his palm.
The instant his Sequence collided with that of the Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe,
RUMBLE...
the vast and mighty power of the Ancient God Curse surged into Zorn’s Sequence.
It gradually formed the magic Sequence framework for Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe, which then fused perfectly with Zorn’s own Sequence.
During the inheritance, Zorn also began to absorb the massive amount of Ancient God Curse Crystal Source being channeled from the Ritual Platform to directly raise the Experience and Level of the Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe Sequence.
Zorn’s own Level still needed time to settle and stabilize.
But the Level of Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe had no such requirement.
After the inheritance, as long as he had enough Experience, he could push it directly to its limit of Level 3.
A little less than half a day later,
the Level of the Ancient God Curse, Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe, reached Level 1.
Two days later, its Level rose to Level 2.
Around the fifth day, the Level of Rift: Ancient God’s Curtain Robe successfully advanced to Level 3.
