Upper Wind Moon, April 5th.
Calinsha.
The Inn of "Colorless Tranquility".
After a day of travel, the group who fought the Undead on the Hills had returned.
Minori stood before the transparent glass window, looking out at the bustling street as usual. This Hills War, which caused heavy casualties and shocked both the demi-human and human sides,
For ordinary people, it was neither known nor felt.
However.
Minori knew that what happened in the Abelion Hills would soon spread.
Neither the Holy Kingdom nor the Adventurer's Guild would conceal news of such an inspiring event – the elimination of the undead that caused the unrest.
But some information needed to be kept secret.
The remaining personnel from the three parties – Minori, the Holy Kingdom, and the Slane Theocracy – had discussed it.
The main information to be concealed was the intelligence about the "Dominion Authority" summoned by the Slane Theocracy. Once this information was concealed, some details would need to be discussed by the three parties.
Minori was very clear that what the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy truly cared about was the method he possessed that allowed him to fuse with angels.
However, Kelart and the remnants of the [Sunlight Scripture] couldn't make decisions on their own and needed to return to their respective countries to report.
Minori withdrew his gaze from the window, turned around, and looked at Enri, who was lying asleep on the large wooden bed in the guest room.
She had been unconscious for a day and two nights.
There was no particular reason; it was entirely due to excessive physical exhaustion.
Breaking through her own level limit and using high-level strength clearly and inevitably caused certain after-effects.
"Her level is too low; she needs to raise it quickly to adapt to the power." Minori gently shook his head. He speculated that Enri should wake up soon.
Back then, when Brain broke through his limit and unleashed 40-level destructive power, it directly caused his physical body to collapse. Enri only fell unconscious for a while; the cost is much lower.
"It won't be long before your fame is probably greater than mine, the leader."
Minori thought of something, let out a light chuckle, and got up to walk to the hall outside the guest room.
The temporary result of their three-party discussion was that the Death Knight and the leader of [Zurrernorn] were resolved through the combined efforts of the three parties.
This way, the matter of the "Dominion Authority" could be covered up, and incidentally, Minori's method of fusing with angels could also be indirectly hidden.
However, regarding the achievement of eliminating the Death Knight, a legendary undead, Kelart and the other side proactively mentioned they would assist in promoting it, as compensation for concealing Minori's achievement.
In reality, it was still problematic; the performance of "Free Will" in this incident forced both sides to treat them with caution.
In the hall.
Besides Kuro, the Verdant Witch was not there.
Because the Verdant Witch did not return with Minori but instead stayed in the Abelion Hills.
The reason Minori agreed to stop Kelart was that Rokesh indeed offered sufficient conditions.
This was Minori's original goal, but the outcome changed slightly.
In simple terms, their goal was...
Nothing more than wanting to gain Minori's protection. There were many conditions offered, such as treasures from various tribes, demi-human blood, and so on.
But facing these conditions, which were tailored to his potential interests and could make any adventurer's heart pound, Minori remained indifferent.
Finally.
Rokesh actually steeled himself and expressed submission to the Verdant Witch, willing to let the Verdant Witch become the king ruling the surviving tribes in the Hills region.
The Hills now, having suffered the disaster of the undead, have fewer than 30,000 surviving demi-humans, the vast majority of whom are young and women from various tribes.
The former top powerhouses of each tribe, the "Ten Demi-human Heroes" who intimidated all sides, are now only "Beast General" Hector and "Rainbow Scales" Rokesh remaining.
Under these circumstances.
The Hills demi-humans could no longer withstand any disaster.
While the people from the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy both showed extreme hostility towards demi-humans, only Minori, because of his relationship with Go Gin and the Verdant Witch, did not show hostility towards demi-humans.
Coupled with the power displayed by Minori and Enri respectively.
Prompted "Rainbow Scales" Rokesh to make this decision.
"By this time, the Verdant Witch should have already met with the Mist Witch and the Lizardman Cruche."
Minori stretched, thinking, and walked over to the sofa in the living room to sit down.
The Lizardman Cruche had been staying in the true gathering place of the demi-humans, and had also used the 4th-tier magic "Cloud Manipulation" to solve the lack of water and drought conditions, gaining great fame among the Hills demi-humans.
Currently.
Whether secretly or openly, Minori already had absolute control over the entire Abelion Hills.
As for whether "Rainbow Scales" Rokesh had truly submitted, or was just outwardly agreeing to deal with the crisis first while secretly accumulating strength or something?
Minori didn't care at all.
"'Fame,' once gained..."
"It's difficult to get rid of it again."
Minori said to Kuro beside him, "Right, Kuro."
"Woof." Kuro first wagged its tail.
"Looks like you agree with this point of view too."
Minori patted Kuro's head and smiled lightly: "The Twin Witches, the Lizardman Cruche, coupled with Go Gin, should be enough to stabilize the Hills demi-humans who are currently licking their wounds."
"Speaking of which, the original plan was to have Go Gin openly lead the Abelion Hills, but this outcome isn't bad either."
"As for "Rainbow Scales" Rokesh, such a cunning demi-human, after using his reputation to stabilize the situation, it's better to deal with him secretly to avoid unnecessary trouble."
"Be a good watchdog at home, Kuro."
"Teleport!"
Minori took advantage of this time when no one was bothering him to first check his gains.
The air twisted for a moment.
Minori's figure disappeared from the room. As his vision changed, fiery red light appeared before his eyes.
Lava Zone.
The Shadow Clone stood quietly on the rocky ground, red-hot from the high temperature. Beside it lay the shattered body of the Alliance Leader.
The scorching high temperature caused the withered flesh covering the skeleton to turn black and charred. There was a faint smell of roasted rotten flesh in the air.
"You've worked hard."
Minori spoke lightly to the Shadow Clone. With a thought in his mind...
The Shadow Clone's body became ethereal, dispersing like a burst bubble and vanishing. The red robe it wore fell to the ground.
With a "clink."
The Sealing Crystal also fell from the vanished "Shadow Clone," hitting the ground with a crisp sound and rolling to Minori's feet.
"After the Heroic Spirit Soul fused with the Shadow Clone, its duration far exceeded what I initially expected, and it even compensated for the Heroic Spirit Soul's inability to use magic."
Minori bent down to pick up the Sealing Crystal, his eyes bright.
Apart from being unable to speak or use job skills, it could be treated entirely as a true clone's combat power!
Just the result of this experiment alone...
Can be called a huge gain!
"'Sealing Crystal,' a game item from 'YGGDRASIL.'"
Minori looked down at the Sealing Crystal in his hand, which was crystal clear and composed of several sharp cylindrical crystals, feeling a bit excited:
"This magic item is truly wasted in the hands of the Slane Theocracy."
The Sealing Crystal can store the power of tier magic, but the Slane Theocracy could only store some low-tier magic. If that were the only capability, it couldn't be called a "waste."
In the game "YGGDRASIL," whether it was magic scrolls, wands, or staves, they could all achieve this.
The true value of the "Sealing Crystal" is that it can store the power of Super-Tier Magic!
When Ainz first saw Captain Nigun take out the Sealing Crystal, he immediately had Albedo activate a special skill to protect him.
This was because he was worried that the Sealing Crystal stored power at the "Super" level, and he even suspected if levels like Stellar Seraph or Supreme Seraph might appear.
It is clear!
The power limit that the "Sealing Crystal" can store far exceeds the power of "Tier Magic."
"Strange, logically speaking, the 'Great Tomb of Nazarick' shouldn't lack Sealing Crystals. The Bone King also mentioned that Sealing Crystals aren't considered precious."
Minori held the Sealing Crystal in his hand, a look of doubt flashing in his eyes:
"Why hasn't it been used? After all, unlike scrolls, Sealing Crystals can be used continuously."
"Using it against people from this world would naturally be a waste, but it wasn't used even when fighting Shalltear. Instead, they used a pay-to-win item, the Hourglass, which eliminates Super-Tier Magic casting time."
Minori silently pondered. With limited information, the possibilities he could barely deduce were...
First: The method of storing "Super-Tier Magic" might be relatively special, requiring the means of a dedicated life-skill player.
Second: Using a Sealing Crystal to cast Super-Tier Magic might also require casting time, so it's not as good as casting it oneself.
He shook his head.
After all, these were just guesses. There were other possibilities; perhaps they simply didn't intend to use them.
"No matter what, the 'Sealing Crystal' is what truly deserves to be called a resource."
Minori admired the crystal for a moment and reluctantly put it into his item box. He didn't possess "Super-Tier Magic," so he couldn't even experiment with it.
Currently.
The things he could barely consider resources in his possession were only two: the newly acquired Sealing Crystal and the stored 10th-tier scrolls.
He started making them from January 15th of this year, averaging one per day. So far, he had stored 75 blank 10th-tier scrolls.
It should actually be 80 sheets, but for 5 days he was in the Hills region and couldn't make them secretly.
The acquisition of the "Sealing Crystal" can be considered compensation for the loss.
Looking at the Alliance Leader's body.
"There has been no sign of revival."
"So, there shouldn't be anyone hidden behind the leader." Minori pondered for a moment.
If that was the case, controlling [Zurrernorn] would be much simpler.
"First, let's experiment with another big gain." Minori's spirits became excited as he looked at the information on the status panel.
10th-Tier Magic - "Great Rite: Ultimate War (Good)"!
"Casting this magic actually consumes 80 mana points and 1.5 million experience points... Hiss..."
"This is too exaggerated!"
Minori hadn't observed carefully before, but now seeing the magic's cost, his brow twitched.
He did know about some special magic spells that not only required mana but also had issues with experience points or cooldown time.
Minori wasn't surprised by the mere 80 mana point cost.
Among 10th-tier magic spells, the mana cost of some spells is not fixed.
For example, "Reality Slash" has the top-tier mana consumption, and "Mercy of Shasrara" is second only to "Reality Slash."
There are also types with continuous consumption - "Memory Manipulation."
It's a huge mana consumer!
According to the Bone King, if one were to delete 5 days of a person's memory, the massive MP consumption would exceed the limit of an average magic caster, which is 1300 mana points.
Even for an MP owner like the Bone King, whose MP exceeds the norm, trying to find the location of the Dwarf race through the Lizardman's memory resulted in only a shallow search due to the rapid mana consumption.
"1.5 million experience points consumption..."
"Experience is already scarce, and the ways to acquire it are limited."
Minori felt a bit of a headache.
Right!
I almost forgot about the [Mad Mage]'s job skill "Mad Meditation," which can offset the cost of one magic cast.
[TL: Broken]
Summoning the Angel Army
"10th-Tier Magic -"
"Mad Meditation: 'Great Rite: Ultimate War (Good)'!" Minori activated the job skill and let out a low chant.
Buzz -
A massive vortex of sacred bubbles appeared above Minori's head. Dense sacred light surged, dyeing the valley, which was glowing red from the light and heat emitted by the lava sea, silver-white.
Rustle~
Rustle~
The sound of wings flapping and armor rubbing came from the white bubble vortex.
The next moment!
Dense Guardian Angels flew out from the vortex first.
Minori immediately activated "Ninjutsu: Detection" to observe.
128 2nd-Tier Guardian Angels (Lv 10)
64 3rd-Tier Flame Angels (Lv 20)
32 5th-Tier Power Angels (Lv 30)
"Huh?"
Minori was startled.
Why are there no 4th-tier angels? It skipped directly from 3rd-tier to 5th-tier.
"Could it be because of 'Maximize Magic' that the magic was used to its maximum value, so all levels were capped at multiples of 10?"
"Skipping the 4th-tier angels between (Lv 22~28)."
Minori didn't have time to think. Another angel with even more astonishing presence flew out from the bubble vortex.
It had three pairs of wings. The topmost pair looked more like ornaments than wings. In its hand, it held a standard round solar shield!
8 6th-Tier Archangels (Lv 40)
The information about this angel appeared in Minori's mind simultaneously.
Thump -
A vibration sounded within the bubble vortex.
It was like the collision and humming sound made by a heavy wheel pressing down on the ground, a sort of mechanical sound.
The next moment!
Holy sacred flames surged out from the vortex!
Amidst the flames, an angel with a strong sense of holiness, flapping three pairs of wings that had lost any metallic texture, flew out!
This was a strange angel that looked somewhat similar to a "Dominion Authority," with no head or feet. The halo above its head was brighter and larger!
Its two arms were placed before its chest, palms facing each other. In the very center of the two palms was a flaming wheel. Inside the wheel was a hollowed-out pattern of an open eye.
The entire wheel, while wrapped in flames, emitted a faint bronze luster!
4 8th-Tier Thrones (Lv 50)
"Indeed, just like the 4th-tier angels, it also skipped the 7th-tier (Lv 43~49) Dominion Authority." Minori narrowed his eyes.
He felt a powerful aura emerge!
The white sacred flames gushed out from the vortex even more densely!
Swish!
Two angels almost identical to the "Thrones" successively flew out from the vortex again. The bodies of these two angels were enveloped in a sacred white flame-like ethereal energy.
An invisible pressure surged forth, surpassing even all the previous angels!
Minori noticed that although the appearance of these two Thrones was the same, the flaming wheels in their hands were different; there was a smaller wheel nested inside!
2 9th-Tier Judgment Thrones (Lv 60)
Rumble -
The vortex vibrated violently.
A massive figure, nearly six meters tall, far surpassing all the other angels in size, squeezed out from the vortex, as if the bubble vortex couldn't contain this power!