Chapter 897: Looting
After falling from a height of over a hundred meters, the Radiance Commander showed no reaction at all. The ground split open with cracks where he landed, his crimson battle aura armor vanished, and his body was mangled beyond recognition.
He's dead? What just happened?
Anderson, who was about to make a move, was stunned. Just moments ago, the Radiance Commander acted as if he'd consumed a dozen explosive potions, yet now he’d suddenly dropped dead.
It wasn’t just Anderson—everyone was dumbfounded. Even the fifty Battalion Mages forgot to keep casting their spells.
Just a second ago, he looked like he was about to break through to Sky Rank, even unleashing a hint of Sky Rank power. Now, he’d died suddenly for no apparent reason. No one understood what was happening.
At this moment, Leon finally lifted his head from deep thought. He didn’t seem surprised at all by the situation—in fact, there was a knowing look in his eyes.
"It wasn’t his own power. Trying to wield it—how could there not be a price? Besides, he’s only a Ninth-Rank Sword Saint, yet he tried to tap into Sky Rank power. Lasting five minutes before dying is almost unbelievable."
More and more members of the Mage Legion are advancing to Title Archmage, and their power keeps growing. Fighting a Ninth-Rank Title Archmage might still be tricky, but against a Ninth-Rank Sword Saint, they’re at least unbeatable. Even if the Radiance Commander erupted with power beyond his rank, the Mage Legion could still hold out for several minutes without losing.
Ever since returning to Radiance Fortress, Leon had been fully activating his mana array gear to sense the fortress’s aura. He could always faintly feel something unusual about this place.
After the Radiance Commander erupted, the aura Leon sensed suddenly multiplied. He had no time to worry about anything else—he poured all his focus into driving his mana array gear, trying to deduce the source of that faint aura.
Even after the Radiance Commander’s sudden death, Leon couldn’t pinpoint it exactly. All he could tell was that the strange aura came from Radiance Fortress itself.
The Radiance Commander’s power also originated from Radiance Fortress—or more precisely, from somewhere beneath it. Down there, something terrifying seemed to be lying in wait.
Unfortunately, the Radiance Commander was too weak. Though a Ninth-Rank Sword Saint, he was far from the strongest of his rank. Trying to use extraordinary power, he didn’t even last five minutes before burning out and dying.
Leon only managed to deduce that there was a dormant power beneath Radiance Fortress, but not its exact location. The aura flickered in and out, making it nearly impossible to track.
If only that guy had lasted a bit longer—didn’t die so quickly...
Leon sighed inwardly. For once, he genuinely wished the Radiance Commander hadn’t died so fast. That’s why he’d held back Anderson and Reina—the stronger the Radiance Commander’s outburst, the faster he’d burn out and die.
Leon, Reina, Anderson, and the Alchemical Golem—all four could fight at the level of a Ninth-Rank Title Archmage. Leon himself could now easily defeat some ordinary Ninth-Rank Title Archmages.
If this group had joined the battle, the Radiance Commander’s life flame would have snuffed out in less than two minutes.
Even after five minutes, Leon still hadn’t calculated anything precise, and his face was full of regret.
Wagner, who’d decided to tag along and blend in, wore a strange expression. Seeing Leon’s look of regret, his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Damn, does this guy actually think the Radiance Commander died too quickly?
No, I must be imagining things. I’m overthinking it. Damn it, why is Radiance Fortress so strong? Didn’t the Radiance Commander say he was just an ordinary Ninth-Rank Sword Saint—only broke through a few years ago? Yet he had this hidden trump card, even managed to unleash a hint of Sky Rank power.
Good thing I didn’t join the fight. If my men hadn’t died earlier, I’d be doomed in the final battle. No way they could withstand the Radiance Commander’s outburst for five minutes...
Wagner’s face grew complicated. Maybe he was just too stressed—he was starting to hallucinate.
With the Radiance Commander suddenly dropping dead, everything else became easy. Every Black Iron Orc involved was wiped out, and Leon led his people into Radiance Fortress.
Radiance Fortress was claimed, and the points were finally tallied.
Leon checked the crystal. After adding up all the scraps, and factoring in the final contribution of Radiance Fortress, he’d earned a total of 430,000 points.
That was at least double what he’d expected. Leon thought it was reasonable, though—Radiance Fortress was much harder to conquer than anticipated. Not just the barrier before, but also the Radiance Commander’s last outburst—all of it made the assault far more difficult and had a much larger impact on the entire campaign than anyone predicted.
On the other side, Wagner quietly pulled out his own crystal orb to check. For their part in attacking Radiance Fortress, they’d only gotten 110,000 points—he instantly felt the sting.
They’d known destroying the Black Iron Orcs’ sacred relic would earn plenty of points, but no one expected the cost to be so high...
If only they’d let Leon Merlin handle the relic’s destruction...
Wagner felt the sting—remembering that the George Family barely contributed to this raid. All the heavy lifting was done by the Merlin Family; they just picked up the leftovers. If their losses hadn’t been so great, they could’ve ended up with eighty percent of the final points. But when it came to the crucial assault on Radiance Fortress, the George Family barely lifted a finger, and the outcome was completely different.
If not for the big batch of points from destroying the relic earlier, they might not have gotten anything at all. Now, with a few points trickling in, all they could do was watch helplessly.
Leon’s men, led by Hubert, had already started a frenzied looting spree.
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The Black Iron Orcs’ greatest hoard—decades, even centuries of accumulation—was all stored in Radiance Fortress. It far surpassed the collections of the surrounding tribes.
Just the rare magical ores alone weighed several thousand kilograms, and every piece was top-tier magical metal—even pre-refined, ready for use after a little extra tempering. This haul was greater than the Merlin Family’s entire annual yield.
Besides these, there were countless gemstones that formed alongside magical metal veins. The Black Iron Orcs are born warriors—these magic gems were useless to them, nothing but pretty trinkets for their collections.
This windfall landed squarely in Leon’s lap—so many magic gems, enough to embed one in every staff.
Wagner's eyes were red with envy. All the loot he'd gathered from raiding those tribes, added together, wasn't worth even a single chest of magical gems...
Damn it, when did magical gems start being counted by the chest? Chest after chest of magical gems—my god, Elemental Amber, Bloodstone...
There are even five pieces of Starry Eyes. How can there be so many of these things that are practically like having an extra reservoir of mana?
Ordinary magical gems are one thing, but if a Starry Eye is embedded in a staff, it's almost like gaining an extra mana vortex. As long as you charge it up in advance, you can use it directly in battle. When casting high-level spells, tapping into the mana inside the Starry Eye can cut casting time by more than half!
Only the top elites of the George Family ever qualify to own such things—Wagner himself doesn't even have one. Yet here, they've managed to scavenge five at once!
The largest Starry Eye can store enough mana to rival the entire reserves of an Eighth-Rank Title Archmage!
Besides these magical gems, there’s also a mountain of alchemical materials for potion-making—literally counted by the crate...
And all the crates are the gigantic kind used by Black Iron Orcs—almost two meters tall each...
There are more than a dozen crates stuffed with all kinds of materials...
Leon was stunned when he saw all these materials. With so much, you could brew enough potions for everyone to take an alchemical bath...
With the Merlin Family now in charge of Radiance Fortress, rebuilding was incredibly simple. Except for the main gate, there was basically nothing that needed to be rebuilt.
Clearing out the surrounding tribes was just as easy. Kurum led the Mage Legion on a sweep, and it only took two days. Leon didn’t bother with any of it.
Even the restoration and defense of Radiance Fortress was handled by William, running around taking care of everything.
Leon spent his days like a hands-off lord, wandering all over Radiance Fortress.
Wagner stayed in Radiance Fortress for three days before, red-faced and frustrated, shutting himself in his room. He was too devastated—not to mention the points, just the treasure found here was dozens of times more than what the George Family had ever uncovered, and some materials were nearly extinct in Northrend.
What Wagner found even harder to accept was that, on the very first day inside Radiance Fortress, he sensed Leon’s level had increased. Although the feeling faded quickly, Wagner knew Leon had gotten stronger. But what really frustrated him was that he still couldn’t figure out just how strong Leon actually was...
Everyone else was run off their feet, while Leon continued to roam Radiance Fortress, seemingly aimless, leaving his footprints from the grand central avenue to the most remote corners.
A dozen or so Wizard’s Eyes floated within a hundred meters of Leon, and beside him, two Mage Hands gripped quill pens, scribbling away on a thick stack of parchment that drifted along as Leon moved.
The two Mage Hands almost never stopped, constantly calculating something on the parchment. Sheets of draft paper hovered in midair, following Leon, and his eyes seemed to lose focus, endless runes swirling within them as his arcane array whirred ceaselessly.