Chapter 1406
Rives made no effort to hide his admiration. Even after failing, his gaze stayed calm and forthright—a trait Leon couldn’t help but appreciate. Deep down, Leon was sure: with Storm Tower in Rives’ hands, it would grow far stronger than ever before. As long as this man didn’t drop dead halfway, he’d be one of Northend’s true heavyweights.
Daenoson, by contrast, just didn’t have that kind of resolve. It might look like a small thing, but for a faction’s future, that gap was a chasm.
Archmage Leon Merlin, how exactly do we get out of here now?
Daenoson couldn’t help blurting out. Now that everything was over, only a few scraps of ore remained. Getting out of here was all that mattered.
Leon pointed at the little beastkin—clutching Hubert’s thigh, snoring away.
If we want out, we’re relying on her. Like I said before, this god-demon wasn’t just reincarnating—she was reviving, and she left behind enough traps to make sure if anyone found that giant egg, the whole space would be locked down tight. No one’s leaving.
You’ve probably noticed: summoning spells are useless, demi-planes won’t open, and anything that could get us out is sealed off. You can’t see much from here, but it’s all locked down by that gray mist...
As Leon finished, Daenoson and Rives’ faces fell. Everyone knew just how terrifying that gray mist was—the Faceless Abomination, supposedly unkillable, was turned to ash the moment it touched it. None of them fancied their chances in that fog.
If the god-demon hadn’t been forced into reincarnation, even if they didn’t end up killing each other, they’d be stuck here—dead or alive—until the god-demon finally woke up.
But for a god-demon that spent so much power waiting to be revived, the fate that awaited everyone after its resurrection would be anything but pleasant...
Leon didn’t explain how the little beastkin appeared, letting them believe it was all deliberate—far better than thinking it was a lucky accident. At least now, the two were completely intimidated, desperate enough to go after the Sanctum of Light’s mages first just to prove themselves...
Leon stood at a distance, watching Hubert. Hubert’s face was stiff, barely daring to move. Even the little beastkin’s slightest twitch made him break out in a cold sweat—who knew what she might do next?
A single burp could wipe out a fifth-rank Sky Mage. At this point, nothing would surprise anyone—after all, this was the reincarnation of a god-demon.
How many years had it been since Northend saw a god-demon’s reincarnation? Since the Third Dynasty, nothing like this had happened; only during the Naiser Dynasty did it occur, and every time, the pureblood elves and five-colored dragons destroyed the reincarnated god-demon without hesitation. They’d never allow one to rise again...
With the strength of this era, there’s no way to withstand a god-demon’s power. It’s utterly hopeless.
Hubert, you don’t need to be so tense. You’re family to this little beastkin—she’s got your blood. Don’t worry, she won’t suddenly kill you.
Hubert was on the verge of tears, standing there frozen in fear.
Archmage Merlin, please think of something—I don’t want to die, not at the hands of a little beastkin. If I do, I’ll never be able to rest in peace…
Any Elixir of Life you lost, I’ll replace.
"Huh?"
Hearing Leon promise to replace all his lost Elixir of Life, Hubert instantly lit up, grinning from ear to ear. For a moment, he forgot all about his predicament. Suddenly, even the little beastkin seemed much more agreeable.
"Archmage Merlin, I lost more than fifty—no, sixty bottles just now, and they were all the kind you made yourself. You said so yourself, I didn’t ask for it!"
Andefa’s three faces rolled their eyes in perfect unison, mumbling under their breath.
"Damn, still an idiot..."
Leon squinted and grinned, producing a hundred bottles of Elixir of Life for Hubert.
"The extras are for the little one—call it a snack."
Hubert beamed, forgetting the beastkin still clinging to his leg like a koala. In a flash, he stashed all hundred bottles away, then generously handed one to the little beastkin.
The sleeping beastkin sniffed, catching the scent of the Elixir of Life—the pure life force inside was the tastiest milk imaginable. She opened her eyes, rubbed them with a chubby hand, legs still locked around Hubert’s thigh, grabbed the bottle, bit off the top with a crunch, and gulped down the potion.
She even devoured the leftover bottle as a snack—her appetite was downright terrifying...
After finishing one bottle, the little beastkin pawed at Hubert again and fished out another Elixir of Life he’d hidden somewhere. Crunch, crunch—she polished off the whole thing.
After wolfing down seven or eight bottles in a row, she finally stopped, grinning at Hubert.
"Damn, that was years of my stash... Still, she’s got an appetite like mine. Here, have some roast meat."
Hubert, mourning his lost elixirs, pulled out a giant roast beast leg—over a meter and a half long—and handed it to the little beastkin. She didn’t hesitate. Barely a meter tall, she clamped her legs around Hubert’s thigh, grabbed the massive leg with both hands, and started eating, getting grease everywhere.
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In less than five minutes, the little beastkin had devoured the entire roast leg—even the bones, which she crunched up like teething biscuits and swallowed. Her bite strength was downright scary...
Hubert just kept grinning.
"Not bad, not bad. Eating well means strength—just like me..."
Hubert bragged, grinning wide, while everyone else watched in shock. This beastkin—barely ten years old and underdeveloped at that—was polishing off a roast leg several times her size in minutes. Only Hubert thought it was normal; the rest broke out in cold sweat.
"Not bad, not bad. Eating well means strength—just like me..."
After eating her fill, the little beastkin copied Hubert’s wide grin, parroting his words as if picking up his language was child’s play.
Hubert reached out and wiped the grease off her face, not too carefully, then handed her another pile of snacks.
"If you’re still hungry, keep eating. But don’t copy how I talk."
The little beastkin just grinned back.
"Mama, I’m not copying you..."
That one word turned Hubert a little green.
"Don’t call me Mama—call me Papa! That’s right, Papa!"
"Why Mama Papa? Mama is Mama..."
"You have to say Papa, not Mama!"
Andefa covered all three faces with three hands, unable to watch. Daenoson and Rives looked equally weirded out. None of them could believe that this cute little beastkin had been so vicious just moments ago...
After watching for a while, Leon figured it was safe enough. He took out a special Elixir of Life and approached slowly. This potion worked as well as a Sanctum of Light limb-regrowth spell—if you lost an arm or a leg, one dose would have it growing back, with no side effects or risk of burning out your life force.
The little beastkin sniffed, eyed Leon warily, and bared her baby fangs, imitating Hubert’s snarl. Hubert, meanwhile, watched Leon’s potion with longing—he’d wanted one for ages but never managed to get his hands on it.
When it came to top-tier survival potions, Hubert could never have too many...
Just as Hubert hesitated, wondering if he should take it and swap a regular one for the beastkin, she snatched it out of Leon’s hand, bit into the bottle, gulped down the potion, and—true to form—ate the bottle too.
With her snack in hand, the beastkin’s fangs disappeared, and she instantly turned back into a cute little cub.
"Hey, little one, let me ask you something—do you remember your past?"
She ignored Leon, hugging Hubert’s leg tight. Hubert patted her head.
"Answer quickly, Archmage Merlin’s asking you a question. You can answer—he gave you all those treats, and the roast beast leg, and more..."
With Hubert’s encouragement, the little one finally nodded.
"Just a bit. Most of my memories vanished during the sudden reincarnation."
Leon nodded, unsurprised. Just looking at the little one, you could tell she didn’t remember much about the Seventy-Third Deity. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so easy to deal with. She’d become a whole new person—not just a reincarnation of a god-demon.
Whether she remembered or not—that was crucial.
"What’s the truth behind the destruction? What’s the key?"
Leon went straight for the heart of it. Northend had been destroyed three times, with a fourth apocalypse looming in the future. It all felt orchestrated—someone pulling the strings behind the scenes. The Seventy-Third Deity’s downfall had to be because he’d learned something.
In all of history, there’d never been a successful revival of the Seventy-Third Deity—just scraps of legend left behind.
It seemed the Seventy-Third Deity had never managed to come back here. If not for Leon and Hubert’s presence, who had stopped the revival?
Whoever blocked the revival left no clues. Why? Who was it?
Even without Leon, someone would’ve shown up to stop the Seventy-Third Deity’s revival—maybe even prevent reincarnation, erasing all trace from the world for millennia.
That left only one possibility: according to the records, the Seventy-Third Deity was killed before revival. That wasn’t something any ordinary godfire-bearer could pull off. By current estimates, the Deity might have revived within a thousand years, but no terrifying powerhouse had appeared in that time.
So the only answer left was the hidden eye in the darkness—the mastermind personally took out the Seventy-Third Deity. Only the hand behind Northend’s endless cycle of ruin could pull that off.
When the little beastkin heard Leon’s question, her eyes flashed with killing intent, and she blurted out:
"Undead Plane."
After saying it, even she looked puzzled, as if she didn’t understand.
Leon frowned. Undead Plane? Was the truth of destruction there? Or was it just the key?
"Is the truth behind the destruction in the Undead Plane? Or is the key there—or maybe the most important clue?"
The little beastkin shook her head.
"I don’t know. I just remember—if you want the truth, go to the Undead Plane. That’s the crucial place. The rest... I don’t remember at all."
(This chapter isn’t over yet~.~ Click next page for more!)
Leon shook his head and stopped pressing the beastkin. At least he had a direction now. Still, the Undead Plane was a surprise.
The mastermind hiding in the Undead Plane? Impossible. Northend had conquered the Undead Plane before—if the mastermind was from there, they’d never have let it happen.
When a plane is conquered, its source is affected. The Undead Plane is one of the highest planes—conquering it brings Northend far more benefit than taking hundreds or thousands of ordinary planes.
After conquering a plane, its source is shaken, and Northend’s strongest imprint their mark on it. That plane becomes attached to Northend, which greatly benefits Northend’s own source.
In the future, as Northend’s magic fades, many try to conquer the Undead Plane and other supreme planes, hoping to attach them to Northend and delay the end. Even if it doesn’t fully restore the magic, it could buy tens of thousands more years—enough time for the mages to find a solution.
But after endless planes were conquered, when Northend’s magic began to fail and the strong started to fall, Northend could no longer keep those planes in check. Conquering a supreme plane became impossible.
In the end, they could only build an incomplete sheltering tower to buy time. But as magic and the world’s source dried up, the stronger you were, the faster you died—a vicious cycle, leaving everyone waiting for the end.
Leon had considered the Undead Plane before, but dismissed it right away. Of all the supreme planes, only the Undead Plane had been conquered more than once.
But now, with the little beastkin’s clue, he had to check the Undead Plane for answers. Even if the truth wasn’t there, the key clue had to be.
Daenoson and Rives were totally lost, unable to follow Leon and the beastkin’s conversation. Still, they caught the words ‘Undead Plane’ and ‘destruction.’
"Archmage Merlin, what’s going on? Destruction, Undead Plane—if there’s anything I can help with, just say the word."
Rives spoke up decisively, eager to help—and curious too. Anything tied to the Undead Plane and destruction was bound to be big. He thought of Grand Astrologer Agalon, and figured Leon wasn’t investigating alone; it must be Agalon’s mission.
A peak Sky Mage—some even claimed Agalon was Odin Kingdom’s strongest. If he was involved, it was no simple matter.
Leon didn’t explain much, just gave a brief answer.
"It’s about the destruction in past eras. I’m just interested, that’s all."
Leon didn’t elaborate, but Rives’ eyes flashed with understanding.
Of course—it had to be Grand Astrologer Agalon’s interest. Agalon had been studying this for ages, and must know something about this place. Trusting Leon with the job, not caring about a god-demon’s reincarnation...
No doubt about it—Leon was Agalon’s disciple. Only someone like Leon would catch Agalon’s eye...
Good thing I never crossed him, and our relationship is at least passable. When I get back, I’ll have Storm Tower strengthen its partnership with the Gilded Rose—maybe one day, we’ll be working with the Star Academy.
Star Academy... three Saint Alchemists, plus Agalon, that makes four. Leon’s alchemy skills are almost at the Saint level too. Soon, Star Academy will have five Saint Alchemists...
Those terrifying new steel warships Leon brought must be Star Academy’s latest research. With planes getting more important, Star Academy’s warships will give them a huge edge in conquest.
If I can get on Leon’s good side, maybe I’ll get one of those terrifying new warships...
Rives didn’t ask any more, and Daenoson could tell Leon wasn’t going to say much. Their relationship wasn’t close anyway—just getting out alive was enough for now...