Chapter 342: Chapter 314: Necessary Sacrifice

As the Fishman lord’s voice faded, the gazes of the other lords snapped to Marais.

Their expressions were a mix of astonishment, confusion, and a faint glimmer of hope.

Even the Di Luo Dwarf lord clenched his jaw and fell silent. Though the fury in his single eye had not died, he ultimately refrained from another outburst.

Everyone knew their situation was desperate.

If Marais truly had a way to turn things around, even if only to offer them a path of retreat, they were willing to swallow their resentment and hear her out.

But Marais simply leaned back in her chair, her face devoid of expression, showing no intention of speaking.

The hearts of the assembled lords sank.

The Fishman lord opened his mouth, about to ask again, when a voice suddenly rang out from a corner of the room.

"Do not worry. I have a way to deal with the army of Nine Nether City."

The voice was hoarse and low, carrying a cold, parched quality that did not belong to a living creature.

The expressions on every face changed. Following the sound with their eyes, they saw a shadow in the corner of the council hall suddenly bulge, as if stretched from within, before rapidly coalescing into a vague, humanoid silhouette.

Two crimson points of light suddenly flared to life where its eyes should be, like a pair of smoldering embers, their cold gaze sweeping over everyone present.

The lords were stunned.

The Gleystone-man lord was the first to react. He shot up from his seat, a dim gray halo appearing on his stony skin, and his rough voice boomed, "Who are you?"

The hands of the other lords flew to their weapons, their horrified gazes locked on the shadowy figure.

’To think that someone could sneak this close on our own turf, completely undetected.’

This meant that if the entity harbored any killing intent, it could have struck moments ago when they were completely defenseless.

And among those present, few, if any, would have been able to dodge it.

The shadowy figure gave a low chuckle and said, "I am a partner of Vion City."

The lords turned their heads, their expressions a mixture of shock and suspicion. Only then did they notice that Marais and the other Dark Elf Queens all wore grim expressions, showing not a hint of surprise.

Clearly, they had known of this creature’s existence all along.

The lords exchanged glances, their faces collectively turning grim.

By now, they were beginning to sense that something was wrong.

’This war with Nine Nether City... perhaps, from start to finish, it was all just an elaborately woven conspiracy.’

’We’ve been tricked by the damned Dark Elves!’

But now, it was too late for regrets.

On the battlefield outside, their soldiers were still being slaughtered.

The priority was to find a way to resolve the current crisis.

As for settling scores, that could wait until after they made it off this battlefield alive.

The Fishman lord frowned at the shadowy figure, his voice low. "What is your plan?"

The shadowy figure didn’t answer, instead tilting its head slightly to look at the Water Curtain floating in the air.

The others followed its gaze, and their pupils contracted sharply.

On the Water Curtain’s display, the battlefield had undergone a bizarre transformation at some unknown point.

The corpses strewn across the ground were silently seeping wisps of grayish-white mist.

Like threads drawn from each corpse by an invisible hand, they converged from all directions toward a single area in the center of the battlefield, rapidly forming a vast, swirling mass of fog.

This sudden, strange phenomenon quickly drew the attention of both sides.

A loud horn blast echoed from the rear of the Silver Moon Race’s army.

Hearing the call, the disciples of Taichu City disengaged from the battle without hesitation. Their figures flashed before they sank into the earth, vanishing into the rock strata in the blink of an eye.

At the sound of the horn, the Elf army on the front lines also decisively halted their pursuit. They tightened their formation and began an orderly retreat.

Seeing this, the routed soldiers of the allied underground army thought the enemy was retreating. A flicker of relief at having survived washed over them, but before they could rejoice, they heard a strange whistling sound from behind.

They turned to look and saw the grayish-white mist suddenly billow upward, like an immense, world-devouring maw swooping down to engulf them.

Soldiers touched by the mist didn’t even have time to scream as their bodies withered at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Their skin rapidly lost all color, their muscles caved in, their eye sockets hollowed, and their pupils went slack. They looked like desiccated corpses, drained of all moisture. Within two or three breaths, their entire bodies collapsed, falling to the ground, never to move again.

The soldiers behind them were scared witless by this sight, scrambling and crawling in their haste to flee.

But the mist spread faster than they could have imagined. As if alive, the thin, grayish-white haze crept rapidly across the ground, swallowing every living thing it touched.

Tens of thousands of soldiers fell silently within the mist, like stalks of wheat mown down by a scythe, disappearing row after row into the grayish-white haze.

Aside from the Dark Elves, who had been ordered beforehand to retreat to the edge of the battlefield, more than half of the allied army was devoured by the bizarre gray mist.

In the command center, the lords’ faces paled.

"Stop it!"

"Marais, what in the world are you trying to do?!"

"Are you insane? Why are you attacking your own allies?"

The Di Luo Dwarf lord, who had been suppressing his fury, could finally take it no longer.

He whipped the War Axe from his belt, his single eye burning with a murderous intent that seemed ready to overflow.

"I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you black-skinned bitches!"

The instant the last word left his lips, he erupted, lunging toward the shadowy figure. His War Axe, wrapped in a dark red, bloody light, came crashing down.

The shadowy figure let out a cold sneer. It didn’t dodge, instead reaching out to grab the descending axe blade.

Grayish-black energy surged from its palm, wrapping around its entire hand like a living thing.

The next moment, palm and axe collided violently in mid-air.

The expected scene—the sharp War Axe cleaving the hand in two—did not occur.

The instant the dark red, bloody light on the axe blade touched the grayish-black mist, it dimmed like frost under a scorching sun, dissipating without a sound.

Then, the grayish-black mist crept up the axe handle and onto the Di Luo Dwarf lord’s arm.

Before everyone’s horrified eyes, the leather armor on his arm rapidly cracked and peeled away, as if weathered for centuries, revealing the skin beneath.

Then, in an instant, the skin itself turned ashen and dry, becoming covered in fine wrinkles like the bark of an old tree.

The Di Luo Dwarf lord let out a bloodcurdling scream, staggering backward until his back slammed heavily into the wall with a dull thud.

He looked down to see that his entire right hand had become an ashen, shriveled limb, like a piece of dead wood. It looked as if it had been taken from a corpse that had been dead for a very long time.

Countless grayish-black lines were spreading up from his wrist. Wherever they passed, flesh withered and sinews died, and even the outline of the bones took on an unnatural, ashen color.

He clutched the arm tightly, his face contorted in agony. His gaze toward the shadowy figure now held nothing but terror.

The other lords gasped in unison, their eyes filled with horror.

Kazimo wasn’t the strongest among them, but he was a Legendary Tier expert nonetheless.

Yet before this shadowy figure, he hadn’t even lasted a single move before his arm was casually crippled.

’This mysterious figure’s power is terrifying!’

Even Marais’s expression changed, a hint of solemnity flashing deep within her pupils.

’I knew the shadow was strong, but I never imagined it would be this powerful.’

’This level of power puts it on par with a veteran Legend, at the very least.’

’Until now, Marais had never even heard of the Ring of Annihilation. She’d assumed it was just some clandestine organization that liked to lurk in the shadows and pull petty schemes.’

’But now, it seemed she had clearly underestimated this "partner."’

’An expert at the veteran Legend level would be considered among the undisputed top-tier powerhouses on the Dawn Continent.’

’An organization that could produce a warrior of this caliber must have an incredibly deep foundation.’

’The Ring of Annihilation’s strength is likely far greater than I imagined.’

Marais suddenly regretted cooperating with the Ring of Annihilation.

She had thought it was a partnership of mutual exploitation, but now, it was clear she was bargaining with a tiger for its skin.

’In the end, I might not even realize when I’m being devoured.’

The shadowy figure slowly withdrew its hand. A wisp of grayish-black mist still clung to its fingertips as they fell to its side. Its tone, however, was as casual as idle chatter. "Why is everyone so angry? This is all for the sake of victory. A necessary sacrifice."

"If I hadn’t intervened, they would have died at the hands of Nine Nether City’s army anyway. Better to make use of what would otherwise be wasted and have them contribute to defeating Nine Nether City."

The lords’ expressions were dark and uncertain, but none of them replied.

The Di Luo Dwarf lord coughed up a thick wad of phlegm streaked with grayish-black blood. His single eye, full of shock and anger, glared at the shadowy figure, but he couldn’t utter a single word.

With the unfathomably powerful shadow and seven Dark Elf Queens, they would likely be no match if a fight broke out.

The shadowy figure paid them no mind, turning its gaze back to the Water Curtain.

On the screen, having devoured tens of thousands of allied soldiers, the grayish-white mist had swelled to a heart-stopping size.

It no longer roiled along the ground but hung like an entire inverted sea of grayish-white clouds, pressing down heavily over the battlefield and obscuring more than half of the cavern’s vaulted ceiling.

Within the mist, countless twisted faces could be faintly seen, writhing and struggling, letting out silent screams.

The Silver Moon Race’s army had by now retreated to a safe distance.

Second Elder stood on a raised stone platform, his gaze heavy as he stared at the sea of grayish-white clouds that had nearly solidified. His brow was furrowed into deep ravines.

Beside him, Cedric, Romance, Elena, and Darian all wore expressions of shocked uncertainty.

"What is that?" Elena asked, stunned. "Is this the work of the Red Blood Fertile Soil? Why would they attack their own people?"

No one answered her question.

They, too, were completely baffled by the inexplicable situation.

They had no idea what those underground creatures were trying to pull.

Second Elder’s gaze darkened. Just as he was about to order the army to retreat further, his expression suddenly changed, and he turned to look behind him.

The others sensed it at the same time and turned as one.

They saw a beam of Profound Gold Sword Light tear through the air from the far distance, carving a dazzling trajectory under the dark, vaulted ceiling.

A smile instantly appeared on Romance’s face. "Anton’s here."

The expressions of the others relaxed almost simultaneously.

In that instant, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

Anton was here. Now, everything would be manageable.

There was no problem he couldn’t solve.

The Profound Gold Sword Light swept over the battlefield in an instant, then came to a halt.

The light receded like a tide, revealing Anton’s figure.

He hovered in mid-air, his moon-white robes fluttering slightly in the gloomy, swirling wind. His gaze swept over the corpse-strewn ground and fell upon the roiling sea of grayish-white clouds. An eyebrow arched.

"Such a dense aura of death."

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