69novels Chapter 189 Phoenix and Demon King, Ancient Monsters!
Chapter 189 Phoenix and Demon King, Ancient Monsters!
Chapter 189 Phoenix and Demon King, Ancient Monsters!
Outside the village, apart from Eclair and Mengmeng who were out, all the hundred or so residents had gathered, their expectant and Zhixin-like eyes fixed on the tightly closed gate.
The village contains their homes and daily facilities, as well as their loved ones and friends.
Through the old village chief's introduction, they learned that the person carrying out this commission was a renowned mage from the most famous guild in the Kingdom of Fiore.
The chances of success are greater than ever before.
Therefore, this is their last hope. If even Lady Lucy cannot accomplish it, then they will really have to consider moving away from this hometown that holds countless memories!
Whoosh.
The closed gate was slowly pushed open, and Chess, Lucy, and the Dark Magician Girl walked out of the village and came to the group.
"Lady Lucy, how is it? Has the anomaly of the demon egg been resolved?" The old village chief hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, his voice trembling.
He had witnessed the tornado that had inexplicably appeared earlier, and now that he saw the black fog that had permeated the village beginning to dissipate, he couldn't help but feel excited.
As the squad's "captain," Lucy bore the brunt of all the stares directed at her.
Seeing the hope in the villagers' eyes, Lucy sighed softly and shook her head, saying, "I'm sorry, it may take a little more time."
Although Bei didn't know what Chess was planning to do next, she had an inexplicable confidence that he would definitely be able to complete the task, so she didn't show any particular frustration. She could even think to herself, "Can you please stop calling me Lady Lucy?"
I still feel kind of embarrassed.
"I see." Unlike Lucy, the old village chief and the villagers who had been waiting for the results for a long time lowered their heads with gloomy expressions.
"So, Lady Lucy, what should we do next?" Chase looked up at Lucy and asked.
"Ah, yes, yes, what should I do—" Lucy's eyes darted around nervously, and her smile was quite forced.
"The magic egg seems to have the ability to absorb magic power, and the closer you are, the stronger the effect."
Chase ignored him, frowning and brooding to himself, "To investigate the anomaly of the demon egg, we must enter the underground tunnels."
But doing so might play right into their trap.
"Damn it, is there any way to get inside by paying a small amount of magic power?"
Lucy was about to say, "How would I know?" when suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind, and she seemed to understand the hint in Chase's words: "Wait,"
I see!"
Once her thoughts were clear, she instantly became energetic, having previously felt completely insecure. She then pulled a silver key from the keychain at her waist.
"Open! Gate of Canis Minor, Pru!"
A magic circle flashed, and Puru, looking rather dazed and walking with a shaky gait, appeared, raising his hand high to greet the villagers who had gathered around him:
Pfft pfft~!
However, it was met with silence.
Seeing Lucy's confident demeanor, the villagers thought she was about to unleash a spell powerful enough to blind them.
And all you got was a little white dog?
Menghao might be able to kick him away with a single kick!
Compared to the disappointment written all over their faces, Chase nodded with satisfaction, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Yes, that's exactly what he wanted to convey to Lucy.
To find out why the magic egg is acting strangely, we must go through the unknown underground passage. However, going directly in will not only drain our magic power, but also lead to many unpredictable dangers.
Under these circumstances, sending a weaker Protoss to scout ahead and learn about the situation inside is the safest approach!
If it were just Chase alone, he would be strong enough to avoid all this trouble and could simply overpower everyone with sheer force.
But Lucy is different; being a weakling, she needs more accurate judgment and careful thinking to deal with complex and ever-changing requests.
This is a quality that an excellent mage must possess, and it's also what SS wanted to teach Lucy, besides her hard skills like the Celestial Spirit Robe!
Soon, Pru, who had received the exploration mission from Lucy, stepped forward with a determined expression.
His gait, comparable to that of an eighty-year-old, seemed somewhat unreliable.
In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the situation, and also to give Pru a companion so that he wouldn't be too afraid, Chess summoned Kuriboh to accompany him.
Under the bewildered gazes of the entire village, the two adorable creatures set off together toward the underground altar in the center of the village.
Since Lucy had dealt with most of the demon villagers in the village, Pru and Kuriboh had a smooth journey without encountering much resistance.
Upon arriving at the central square, they exchanged glances, encouraged each other with the encrypted language of "Kuri Kuri" and "Pupu Pupu Pupu," and then stepped straight into the stone gate, slowly advancing down the dark and damp stairs.
Through magical transference, Chase shared Kuriboh's vision.
After descending the narrow, elongated path and passing through the flickering firelight, the view suddenly opened up before you.
The space here resembles an inverted giant bowl, surrounded by walls made of light yellow stone bricks, on which are engraved ancient runes that have faded with the passage of time.
At the center of the space is a square altar covered in moss, with a black and purple egg floating on top of it.
According to the information provided by the old village chief, this egg should have been a fossil, a grayish-white inanimate object.
And now, the creatures inside seem poised to hatch at any moment!
A crimson aura enveloped the entire altar, acting as a form of self-protection and serving as the sole source of light in the space.
Instead of signaling Chestnut Ball to test the strength of the energy circle, Chess focused his attention on the altar and the surrounding stone walls.
Both the blurry runes engraved on it and the overall style gave him a very familiar sense of déjà vu.
The scene here is exactly the same as the Moon Ruins that Leon and the others used to activate the Moon Drops on Karuna Island!
If the demonized villagers resembled the inhabitants of Karuna Island, it could be explained as a coincidence. But now, Chess is 100% certain that there must be some commonality between the two!
This information is quite useful; it might be the key clue to unraveling the mystery of the Demon Egg and completing the SS commission!
After learning about the situation around the demon egg, things became much simpler.
Kuriboh stretched out its two claws and hugged Pru in its arms. Pru, understanding the gesture, raised its pointed nose and aimed it at the energy halo around the magic egg.
"Curry! Curry! (Brother Pru, let's show this weirdo our high-energy combo!)"
"Puff puff~ puff! (Received from Brother Kuriboh, this is a drill that breaks through the sky!!)"
The chestnut ball, hovering in mid-air, suddenly accelerated, its eyes resolute and unyielding, and swooped down in a suicidal attack.
Whoosh!
After the shout, the two adorable creatures crashed straight into the energy circle.
Then, naturally, it dissipated into countless points of light, without even causing a ripple. Chase's vision was suddenly plunged into darkness, returning him to the scene outside the village.
He smiled and shook his head.
Although he didn't know what those two guys were excited about, he greatly admired their behavior: "They really are worthy of being my card monster partners." "So, what's going on, Chess? What's the situation inside?" Lucy leaned over with curiosity in her eyes.
She didn't have Chase's convenient bio-link visual sharing magic; she only knew that the Gate of Canis Minor had been passively closed in that instant.
The old village chief and the villagers also gathered around.
After all, they hadn't seen the altar since the demon egg started acting strangely, for safety reasons.
During this time, the mages who accepted the commission were also unable to complete the underground passage, so they were eager to know what changes had occurred to the magic egg after several years.
Chess coughed lightly and briefly described the scene he had seen underground.
"What?! The demon egg has turned dark purple? And there's a terrifying creature inside?!" The villagers broke out in a cold sweat.
Some of the more timid children were so frightened that they cried out loud and clung tightly to their parents' trouser legs.
Lucy, who had already suspected this, noticed another important piece of information: "Wait, Chesgo, you said the altar where the magic egg is stored is a miniature version of the Moon Ruins on Karuna Island?"
"It should be right," Chase affirmed.
"In other words, if we go to Karuna Island now, we can gather clues about the Demon Egg!" Lucy said matter-of-factly.
"That makes sense, but there's no need to go to such lengths."
As he spoke, Chess took out a regular card and then a magic crystal ball from it. "I have Ultear's contact information here."
Driven by a wicked sense of humor to witness Leon resurrect the demon Deliora, Ultear spent a considerable amount of time on Karuna Island and possesses a deep understanding of the Moon Ruins.
Moreover, as a member of the council, she must have access to far more things and secrets than the average person.
Asking directly is obviously more convenient and faster than making a trip. As for why Chess had Ultear's contact information, it was back in the Tower of Paradise when Ultear, prepared to die, proactively provided it to him as a precaution, so as to promptly reveal the whereabouts of the Devil's Heart and Hades.
I never expected it would come in handy at a time like this.
The magic crystal is easy to operate, somewhat like modern landline telephone communication. Simply inject magic into it and dial the stored target line to achieve instant two-way communication.
Sizzle, sizzle.
Chase placed one hand on the magic crystal ball, waited a few seconds, and then the screen flickered with static before the "video call" was successfully connected.
On the other side of the screen, a hazy mist swirls around, and Urudia is sitting in a bathtub, soaking in the bath, the snow-white foam covering her private parts.
"Chess? I didn't expect you to contact me first." Ultear held up the crystal ball in her palm, her expression somewhat surprised.
He was taking a bath, yet he calmly answered the phone!
Lucy's cheeks flushed slightly, her eyes widened, and she thought to herself that Uru's daughter, who had trained Gray, was indeed formidable.
She was the only one in the entire room who would care about such a strange place. "Well, there's something I wanted to ask you, about Karuna Island," Chess said, getting straight to the point.
There's no need for all those roundabout pleasantries with Urutia.
Hearing him say that, Ultear then noticed Lucy and the Dark Magician Girl in the picture, as well as the unfamiliar village background.
"Fairy Tail submitted an SS-rank commission for the Forest of Bondari yesterday. It seems that you are the ones who accepted the commission, right?"
.
"Tell me, what do you need my help with?"
Chess tidied up his story a bit, and then recounted what he had seen at the underground altar, as well as the villagers' demonization and many other similarities to Karuna Island.
After listening, Urudia lowered her head and pondered for a while, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.
"I never imagined that the demon egg from that village had such a history. It seems that the ancient legend must be true." "So, Ultear, do you really know the reason for the demon egg's abnormality?" Lucy asked impatiently.
Under her persistent questioning, Urudia slowly revealed the rumors she had heard.
About five hundred years ago, a special monster called "Phoenix" brought great disaster to the world. At that time, there was a monster of the same level as it, namely the so-called demon lord "Demon King".
In their struggle for more resources and status, these two powerful monsters waged a century-long battle.
The final result was that the Demon King, who possessed the ability to absorb power and demonize other creatures, was defeated and annihilated by the Phoenix.
The phoenix, severely wounded in the great battle, was seized upon by the Fire Clan, who were skilled in sealing magic, and permanently sealed inside the Phoenix Stone.
Even now, the Council still holds the Arrow of Destruction, a magical artifact that can completely destroy the Undead Phoenix, which was entrusted to it by the mage Calander (Eclair's father)!
However, since the phoenix and the demon king had completely disappeared from the world, over time, the councilors stopped paying much attention to it and simply regarded it as a mysterious and ancient legend.
The reason why the demon villagers and the demon egg altar in the Forest of Boendali are so similar to those on Karuna Island is that...
The reason is most likely that the demons on Karuna Island are descendants of humans who were demonized by the Demon King five hundred years ago!
This explains why the demons on Karuna Island, after being affected by the Moon Drops, experienced memory confusion specifically about "we are human," rather than other creatures or other things.
Because their ancestors were originally human beings!
"Chase, Lucy, if I'm not mistaken, that demon egg should be the Demon King who wreaked havoc hundreds of years ago, and it has survived to this day in this way."
"Although we don't know what caused it to malfunction at this time, it's clearly showing signs of a full recovery!"
At this point, Ultear abruptly stood up from the bathtub, her expression turning extremely serious. "This is a serious matter; we need to inform those old men as soon as possible!"
After telling Chess not to make any rash moves for the time being, she quickly changed her clothes and hurriedly hung up the phone.
"Demon King—"
"There are such terrifying things in the village?!"
Lucy stood there dumbfounded, regretting once again why she had been so presumptuous as to follow Chess to carry out this ridiculous commission.
The villagers' reaction was even more incredulous than hers; everyone turned pale and remained speechless for a long time.
"Um, regarding the reason that lady mentioned earlier, I think I should know."
The old village chief walked over shakily, his cloudy eyes filled with an incredibly complex expression, and slowly revealed the truth he had guessed.
"According to Eclair, the half of the stone she was wearing around her neck was the Phoenix Stone."
"Perhaps the Demon King sensed the presence of the Phoenix's aura, which is why he has become unstable—"