Chapter 269 (1): Magic Is Useful in That Way

“Father!”

“Vera!”

The dark-skinned woman took Vera’s smaller hand and ran toward the setting sun, pursuing the youth they had lost. A father was trying to make up for ‘his’ absence during the child’s childhood. They roamed the rural field, having a grand family bonding time.

Wayne couldn’t bear to think about the bizarre scene further. With a shudder, he took off his jacket and put it on the dark elf.

The surgery went smoothly with no hiccups. The female elf was female at birth. Doctor Wayne had not accidentally cut off the bits during surgery.

In other words, this wasn’t Vera’s father. It would make more sense for her to be Vera’s mother!

Since the elf could potentially be his mother-in-law, Wayne respectfully covered up her naked body. He wondered why Vera’s mother, Carter, would turn out to be a follower of the Goddess of Darkness.

It didn’t make sense! He remembered Vera and Dick saying that both Vera’s parents followed the Goddess of Sun. Vera’s father, Cushing, was even the current Sun Knight’s squire, possessing part of the knight’s power. He wouldn’t have started a family with an elf from the enemy camp. So...

“Mother-in-law is a spy the Church of Sun sent to the Church of Darkness rather than the other way around!”

Wayne tried his best to convince himself, but the facts shattered his wishful thinking. The dark elf’s life essence made her physical form incredibly powerful, reaching the level of a legendary mage. She could rival Senna in this regard.

It was too far-fetched for a spy to reach Legendary rank with an enemy faith!

Wayne didn’t want to admit it, but he had no choice but to urge Vera to face reality. Her mother came from the Church of Darkness and had gotten close to her father with ulterior motives; she was most likely seeking the power of the Sun Knight.

There was no point in dwelling on that now. No thoughts remained in the elf’s empty shell. Vera had finally found her mother, but...

While he was lamenting Vera’s tragic life, a coffin glowing with golden light appeared from the intersection of the black and white halves of the world. The warm Sun’s power was unmistakably the Sun Knight’s lost divine power.

He held onto the coffin with his tentacles. Before he could have a good look, the

Book of Greed

impatiently lunged and took a large bite.

Gulp!

The book was satisfied. Although the small portion of the Sun Knight’s power wasn’t particularly strong and was as filling as a snack, it was better than nothing.

Wayne smoothed his hand across the glowing coffin, using Sun’s power. Once the glow dissipated, a figure fell to the ground. The woman with radiant blonde hair was in deep slumber, dressed in a mage robe. Her serene appearance made her look like a sleeping beauty waiting for her prince to wake her up. Her arms were crossed before her chest, and she was holding a knight medal.

The Sun Knight’s power came from the medal, establishing the coffin-like barrier to protect her thoughts and body from corruption. Her resemblance to Vera made Wayne realize that she was Vera’s actual mother. The dark elf...

“Who the hell are you?”

The elf couldn’t be Vera’s father, and she wasn’t Vera’s mother. Flabbergasted, Wayne grabbed his jacket and put it back on.

We aren’t close. Don’t wear my jacket, or they’ll misunderstand me!

He glanced at the dark elf. He hadn’t realized what a beauty she was. Her figure was alluring, and her skin was fine and smooth, glowing with a darkness that came from inside her to give her an unorthodox, seductive charm.

He glanced at her once more. Her thoughts had dissipated, so she would never wake up again. Wayne didn’t know who she was, but he planned to collect her since a legendary mage’s body would be valuable for research purposes.

Meanwhile, the lead priest had returned to their original form after losing their host body. They were the combined thoughts of the monsters in Golden City, the amalgamation of thirty thousand monsters and the brain of the nest that was the city. They had taken over the female elf’s body and manipulated the glowing coffin with tentacles, converting energy with tremendous psychic power to borrow the Sun Knight’s power.

Technically, it wasn’t so much borrowing but converting. The medal protected Carter from Golden City’s corruption, so each time the city launched an attack, the medal would fight back. Golden City treated it as a power source, converting the counterattack into energy it could use to enhance the monsters’ will.

The Golden City had handed over the body it took over and the Sun Knight’s power. It was time for Wayne to honor his part of the deal.

“Kekekeke—”

Wayne laughed, pushing to corrupt the city at a faster rate. He drove the monsters inhabiting it away and turned the black nest white, reshaping it.

The city fought back furiously, lashing at him for his dishonesty.

Wayne didn’t care about the criticism. They had made the deal privately with no third party serving as a witness. When no one was there to hear the promise, he couldn’t have broken it. And once he had corrupted the Golden City fully, they would be family, so the broken promise would be nothing but an inside joke.

The city attempted to corrupt Wayne instead, but ended up losing more. Left with no choice, it abandoned the territory it had lost and divided to protect itself.

Boom!

The massive black sphere of flesh lying prostrate on the plain split. A quarter of the black flesh fell to the ground and recombined into a smaller sphere, extending eight tendrils to drag the body back toward the black mountains with difficulty.

With every struggling step, a large number of monsters fell off. The city had shrunk too much to house as many inhabitants, so the old and weak were abandoned first.

The remaining three quarters of the sphere slowly turned white, propping itself up with eight tentacles. Veins bulged all over its pale surface. The distorted face on the top part melted, splitting into a vertical line.

Rip!

A massive, fiendish eye opened, radiating whispers indiscriminately to convey knowledge to all onlookers. The black sphere cried out in pain, its eight tentacles drooping weakly. It tried to argue but ended up shot down. Its body rotted rapidly, turning into black sludge and melting into the ground below.

The monsters had lost the home that they depended on for survival. Whining in a chorus, they gradually softened into slimes without shells, wriggling and following the black sludge underground.

The pale sphere extended its tentacles, spreading its thoughts to summon Vera and Valkyrie, who had gone far. Acting like amplifiers, the tentacles transmitted Wayne’s voice clearly to Vera’s and Valkyrie’s minds. The ancient and booming tone made Vera raise her hackles in shock.

Come back, Vera. It’s Wayne.

Bullshit. Wayne’s not like you!

Cut the nonsense. I have your mother.

Vera refused to believe him. It wasn’t until a large tentacle reached out and opened like a blooming flower, exposing Wayne and a slumbering Carter, that she approached cautiously.

“Come on. Stop running. Where do you think you can run off to?”

Wayne extended his tentacle to grab onto her, pulling her to his side. She screamed in fright, her twin tails swishing about.

“Are you really Wayne?”

Vera stared at the human before her fearfully. He did look like Wayne, but his thoughts were a complex mess that had blended with the white monstrosity below, hardly a human being.

“Rather than me, you should be looking at your mother. She seems to have been asleep for a long time, and her thoughts are rigid.”

Wayne pointed at the sleeping woman on the ground. She looked no older than twenty-four, and when Vera, who looked eighteen, was with her, they looked more like siblings than mother and daughter.

Magic was useful in that way!

Wayne frowned. He had found Carter, but not Cushing. If this were a typical melodrama, the story would’ve gone like this: Cushing crossed the Ocean of Mist with his knight medal, and when his party was wiped out by the Golden City’s incredible power, he sealed his wife, Carter, to protect her as he fought the monstrosity alone.

Or perhaps Cushing had another plan. Perhaps he had wanted to wake up his wife personally, but something stopped him. Given his absence, he might have become one with the Golden City long ago.

Wayne came up to Vera. Instead of sharing his speculation, he said gently, “Auntie Carter has been waiting for you. You should be able to wake her up.”

He wiped the girl’s tears and continued, “I believe Father-in-law is still alive, only he’s kept away by some obstacles for the time being.”

Vera nodded while biting her lower lip. More and more of her tears fell on Carter’s face like rain. Were this a typical melodrama, Carter would’ve awakened.

But it didn’t happen. Vera had tried everything, including telling her mother stories and saying how she had missed her. The only thing she hadn’t tried was a kiss for the sleeping beauty. Still, Carter remained in slumber.

Wayne’s eyebrow raised. If nothing else worked, he would have to perform surgery on Vera’s mother. Given his lack of experience, Carter could turn out like Senna after the surgery. He didn’t want to resort to that unless there was no other choice.