Chapter 756: Let's Go
The body was crushed and distorted, and finally—amid desperate screams—turned into a ball of light. The revealed Life Sigil Relic Spirit struggled frantically, the surface of the rune cage constantly bulging with lumps, its contraction suddenly slowing down.
At this moment, Anderson transformed into smoke and slipped into the Arcane Wheel, with Leon personally taking over the next steps.
With Anderson fully merged with the Arcane Wheel, the previously unstable rune cage instantly became solid. Now, with Leon directly controlling the Arcane Wheel, the rune cage gradually shrank, dragging the struggling ball of light inside toward the Arcane Wheel.
After more than ten seconds, the Life Sigil Relic Spirit finally let out a hopeless wail. Countless runes, together with the ball of light, all returned to the Arcane Wheel.
In an instant, countless runes on the Arcane Wheel began to ripple slowly. At the very center, a faintly glowing ball of light flickered on and off.
Leon manipulated the Arcane Wheel and sneered.
“A Relic Spirit that's been separated from its main body for who knows how long, and it still thinks it can escape?”
The Life Sigil Relic Spirit and the Life Sigil Crystal hadn't merged for over a century. Without the Relic Spirit, the Life Sigil Crystal became unusable—most of its power lost.
But as a Relic Spirit, escaping from its true magical artifact is no less impactful than the main body itself. Most directly, the Relic Spirit has nowhere to recover; if it’s injured, the passing of time could turn that into a fatal threat.
This Relic Spirit was nowhere near its peak—its strength capped at level thirty-five. There was no way it could escape the combined suppression of the Arcane Wheel and Anderson.
Ever since the Arcane Wheel advanced into a true magical artifact, Anderson became its Relic Spirit. And Anderson was no fledgling spirit—he was mature, worldly, and paired with a fully awakened artifact, their power was anything but ordinary.
What’s more, Anderson had been controlling the Arcane Wheel for ages. Their bond was unbreakable—suppressing the Life Sigil Relic Spirit was child's play.
Last time, we didn’t know he was the Relic Spirit, so he used his precognitive ability to escape. But this time, there’s no way he’s slipping away again.
Leon deduced that this Relic Spirit could only foresee events two seconds ahead. So, step by step, he set the trap just beyond that window. By the time it realized, it was already too late.
The others were a bit surprised—this time, subduing the Relic Spirit had gone unexpectedly smoothly.
Reina cradled the unconscious Elsa and asked, "Merlin, what should we do? She still hasn’t woken up, and even the Elixir of Life is losing its effect..."
Leon sighed softly. "Her mana has been completely corrupted—from the inside out. The simplest way to save her is to expel all the mana from her body. Once it’s gone, she’ll wake up. But for a Dark Elf, mana is as vital as life itself. Doing this would be no different than killing her. Now, the only one who can save her... is herself."
With that, Leon pulled out a pile of tools: crystal quills, Stellar Ink, and several special materials.
He carefully processed the materials, triple-checking everything before finally relaxing. When setting up the alchemical array, Leon’s rune inscription slowed to a crawl—barely a tenth of his usual speed...
Leon had to be extra cautious—he was about to set up the legendary alchemical array that could awaken Elsa’s Skyborne Bloodline. The requirements for this array were incredibly strict; even the slightest flaw could cause the entire activation to fail.
Normal alchemical arrays just need to be passable to work, but this special one demanded true excellence.
In the future, this array would become infamous—because its setup never reached the required level of excellence, attempts to awaken the Skyborne Bloodline always failed. Centuries later, it was still known as a failed creation, until someone finally uncovered the real reason for those failures.
When Leon first came looking for the Life Sigil Relic Spirit, he’d already planned to use it to activate Elsa’s Skyborne Bloodline. He’d been wondering how to get the Dark Elves to lend him the Life Sigil Crystal—who could have guessed the Relic Spirit would run off?
It was a stroke of luck—once he found the Relic Spirit, he could negotiate safe passage with the Dark Elves and use the spirit itself. The success rate was even higher than using the Life Sigil Crystal!
Besides, Elsa was badly hurt, and the unique nature of Dark Elves meant that none of the methods Leon knew could save both her life and her power.
The best solution was to awaken the Skyborne Bloodline. Once activated, this miraculous bloodline would heal her wounds from within—and even boost her strength.
Once the alchemical array was ready, Leon placed Elsa at its center, then set the Arcane Wheel at the array’s energy core.
Anderson drifted out of the Arcane Wheel, appearing outside the array, cackling as he stared at the artifact.
Without Anderson’s suppression, the Arcane Wheel alone couldn’t contain the Life Sigil Relic Spirit anymore.
Soon, a wisp of smoky light slowly seeped out from the center of the Arcane Wheel, as if probing its surroundings.
For more than a second, Leon didn’t make a move—he just sneered, watching.
(Irrelevant passage. Skipped translation.)
Suddenly, the Life Sigil Relic Spirit seemed to sense something, and the light that had seeped out instantly tried to retreat back into the Arcane Wheel.
But in that instant, the entire alchemical array lit up. Runes came alive, glowing faintly. The thread-like wisp of light from the Arcane Wheel was frozen midair—no matter what, it couldn’t get back inside.
The next moment, as the array activated, strands of light—like drifting silk—were forcibly pulled out of the Arcane Wheel, as if by an endless rope.
Countless rays scattered, diffusing throughout the array. The alchemical array was fully activated!
A mysterious, obscure power surged through the array, and then all of it converged on Elsa, lying at its center.
In an instant, Elsa’s skin seemed to glow—her complexion turned green, but then slowly returned to normal.
The Relic Spirit’s agonized screams echoed, but it was powerless to stop its strength from draining away.
As soon as the array caught hold of even a thread of its power, it was like grabbing the end of a string—forcing the Relic Spirit’s strength out, strand by strand.
Over an hour passed. The Life Sigil Relic Spirit had long since fallen silent, and the light at the center of the Arcane Wheel grew faint.
Only then did the array stop extracting the Relic Spirit’s power, instead channeling all the energy within into Elsa’s body.
Countless luminous runes followed the flow of power into Elsa, and she absorbed the entire array.
Leon finally let out a breath. For the array to be fully absorbed by its target meant the setup was flawless—Elsa’s chances of awakening the Skyborne Bloodline were now at their peak.
The Life Sigil Relic Spirit was the Dark Elves’ source—using it as the activation energy made for the highest possible success rate.
Anderson drifted over to inspect the Arcane Wheel. The Relic Spirit was now so weak that the artifact alone could keep it suppressed.
Leon checked on Elsa, sensing a new power stirring within her. Her skin had returned to the Dark Elves’ signature pale hue. From here on, it was up to her.
With nothing else urgent, their next priority was returning to the Dark Elf tribe—to take the path leading up to the Tree of Wisdom’s summit.
Later, Leon stood before a massive door, gazing at it in deep thought. He didn’t move for a long time.
After a long while, Leon snapped out of his reverie and said to the others, "Let’s go..."
Beta had also stood before the door with Leon for some time. When he realized Leon didn’t intend to open it, he was surprised.
"Lord Merlin, this door is mentioned in Ashen Orc legends. There’s a prophecy that one day, the Ashen Orcs will find a door—and opening it will restore their former glory. This door looks so strange, it must be the one from the prophecy..."
Beta quickly recounted the Ashen Orc Tribe’s legend, recalling their past glory and sharing everything he knew—all in hopes of persuading Leon to open the door.
Leon simply shook his head and smiled. "Let’s go..."
Beta glanced back at the door, hesitated, but didn’t dare touch it.
Forget it—if Lord Merlin won’t touch the door, he must have seen something special. He’s never made a serious mistake before, so there must be a reason. I’d better not touch it either...
In the end, cowardly Beta didn’t dare touch the door and hurried to catch up with Leon and the others.
With the Life Sigil Relic Spirit captured, the journey back went smoothly—almost no danger at all.
But not far from the exit, they saw Rodney blocking the only way out with his army. Hundreds of wyverns circled overhead, and on the ground, orc wolf riders and orc slaves were ready for battle. Black smoke billowed from the Ashen Orc Warlock corps.