Chapter 284: Rebellion
However...
Before Leon could approach, the Dragonblood Orc suddenly let out a guttural growl.
Earlier, when the Dragonblood Orc was fusing with a drop of Golden Three-Headed Dragon's Blood, his green skin had already turned red. Now, with a single growl, that red skin darkened to a blood-red hue, making him seem both drenched in blood and ablaze with fire. The aura radiating from him was like that of an ancient beast. When his eyes swept over the crowd, even Suas, a titled Archmage, felt the dangerous sensation of being stared down by a predator...
"Bet you didn’t expect this!" Hubert, now fused with the Golden Three-Headed Dragon's Blood, could feel boundless power coursing through his body. It was as if he could tear open the sky and shatter the earth with a single gesture. That unprecedented sense of strength, combined with the fearful gazes of those around him, made him forget all his past suffering. "Matthew Merlin, the Hubert standing before you now isn’t someone you can boss around anymore. Hurry up and break my soul contract!"
"You want me to break the soul contract?" Leon looked at the Dragonblood Orc, his expression faintly amused.
“Of course!”
"Matthew Merlin, surely you know that once a soul contract is signed, it can never be broken—unless the soul is completely destroyed..."
“I...” For the Dragonblood Orc, soul contracts were obviously too complicated. But since he’d spoken up, he couldn’t back down so easily. With that in mind, he simply became unreasonable: “How should I know all that? I don’t care! Just break the soul contract—otherwise...”
“Otherwise, what?” Leon frowned slightly.
At that moment, the others might not have noticed anything amiss, but William Merlin, who knew Leon best, instinctively pressed a hand to his forehead...
“Hubert, that idiot, is about to have a very bad day...”
Too bad...
The Dragonblood Orc had no idea he was striding further down the road to disaster...
At this moment, Hubert was completely absorbed in his newfound power. The surge of unprecedented strength had inflated his confidence to the extreme...
“Otherwise, I’ll show you what Hubert can really do!”
As he said this, the Dragonblood Orc slammed his fist into the ground...
A deafening boom echoed through the air...
In an instant, shards of stone flew everywhere. Hubert’s punch had smashed straight through the stone beneath his feet—Moonstone, no less, a mineral as hard as steel...
Yet just as everyone was stunned by Hubert’s punch, a low roar, like spring thunder, erupted from deep within Vaughn's Vault...
Then...
The leaders of all the major factions watched as Hubert actually wrenched a Moonstone slab, several meters wide and weighing over a thousand pounds, straight out of the ground...
For a moment, the leaders of the factions were left utterly speechless.
What kind of strength is this...
Is he really an orc? Or is he actually a dragon master of illusions, disguised as an orc?
“Now do you see how formidable Hubert is? Hurry up, hurry up, break my soul contract already...”
“You talk too much...” Leon’s voice echoed from afar.
Then...
Hubert’s roar was abruptly cut off. Everyone saw a giant hand descend from above, its overwhelming pressure instantly enveloping the entire vault. In that moment, even Salomon and Lance—both ninth-tier Archmages—went pale, and Sylas West, a titled Archmage, felt an irresistible force bearing down...
Poor Hubert didn’t even get to finish his sentence before that enormous hand slammed him and the giant slab of Moonstone into the ground...
A thunderous crash rang out, shaking the entire vault. Shards of stone flew, dust filled the air—everything trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
At that moment, everyone was left in a daze...
A full minute passed before the dust finally began to clear...
Everyone could now clearly see a massive crater, ten meters across and several meters deep, gouged into the supposedly indestructible Moonstone floor. Lying in the pit was the Dragonblood Orc, blood streaming from his nose. Even now, he clung stubbornly to the thousand-pound slab of Moonstone—but gone was his earlier arrogance, replaced by a heartbreaking confusion and fear...
"Want me to break your soul contract? No problem—come back when you can wrestle a dragon barehanded." Leon’s voice was dry, almost mocking. With that, he waved his hand, and a tiny flame, no larger than a thumb, suddenly appeared in his palm.
The flame looked weak and dim, like a lone candle flickering in a storm, ready to go out at any moment.
“Master, Master, I was wrong, I was wrong, please spare me...” But as soon as Hubert saw that tiny flame, he began to wail and sob, his cries echoing from the crater.
"Heh, didn’t you want to show me how strong you are?" Leon remained unmoved, releasing the weak, dim flame and letting it drift down toward Hubert in the pit. "Why don’t you see what I can do first?"
"No, no, please don’t, Master, spare me, spare me..." Hubert sobbed miserably, snot and tears streaming down his face as he struggled and begged, trying desperately to avoid the drifting flame...
But there was no escape...
The instant the flame touched the bottom of the pit, a blinding burst of fire erupted with a thunderous boom...
"Alright, everyone, personal matters are settled. Now, let's talk about how we're dividing up these magical materials..." After finishing, Leon dusted off his hands and called the joint exploration team together to distribute the spoils from the vault.
...Hubert’s agonized screams echoed through the vault, sending chills down everyone’s spine as they looked at the young mage.
A few of the braver ones even snuck a glance behind them...
They saw dozens of Flame Chains crisscrossing the pit, binding Hubert as tightly as a fly in a spider’s web. He couldn’t move at all. Beneath him, flames roared, and even from a distance, everyone could smell the stench of burning flesh.
Even more terrifying, those Flame Chains didn’t just bind Hubert—they transformed into dozens of Flame Whips, cracking and lashing across his body. Blood and flesh flew, screams echoed...
"Cousin, isn’t that a bit much..." William Merlin’s voice was half-worried, half-amused—the only one present who truly understood Leon.
As one of Leon’s most trusted people, William Merlin knew exactly how high Leon’s hopes were for the Dragonblood Orc—he’d personally promised Hubert a future as a Swordmaster. This was just Leon’s way of teaching him a lesson.
In fact...
Others might not know, but William Merlin was well aware that Leon’s strength had already reached a despair-inducing level. Killing the Dragonblood Orc would be as easy as flicking his wrist.
"It's fine..." Leon smiled and shook his head, ignoring Hubert's miserable cries.
William Merlin had guessed right...
Leon really just wanted to teach Hubert a lesson.
Leon knew perfectly well that while soul contracts were the most secure type, they were also the weakest in terms of actual restraint. For a cunning, cowardly Dragonblood Orc, the contract’s power was hardly enough. Leon wanted to use this lesson to show Hubert that rebellion comes with a price...
As for killing the Dragonblood Orc...
The thought had never even crossed Leon’s mind.
Others might have simply found that giant hand’s power astonishing, but only Leon knew just how terrifying it truly was...
To put it bluntly, that was the force of a sixth-tier spell.
For a mage, that’s peak-level power.
Yet such a devastating spell only made Hubert’s nose bleed...
If word got out, countless mages would despair. What did this mean? It meant that for the Dragonblood Orc, even spells at the Mage level would be little more than superficial wounds. Imagine—a being with strength rivaling a dragon, with magical resistance that ignores mage-level spells. Once fully equipped, he’d be a nightmare for anyone.
And that’s not all...
The Dragonblood Orc also inherited spellcasting abilities through his bloodline...
With such limitless potential, there’s no way Leon would ever kill him.
If Hubert acts up, it’s no big deal. Just let Saedus have a chat with him—if once doesn’t work, try twice, or three times. After ten rounds of roasting, if he’s still not obedient, he’ll be well done by then, right?
With these thoughts, Leon began sorting through the magical materials.
This haul was truly astonishing—the vault was packed with magical materials of every kind. Even Leon, with all his experience, was dazzled by the sheer variety.
Leon didn’t hold back; he picked out seven or eight types, all rare magical materials he’d only heard of but never seen before. His eyes darted eagerly from one chest to another...
Unfortunately, after searching for ages, Leon still couldn’t find that elusive glimmer of deep blue he was hoping to see...