< Asmodeus… Were you fully aware of my fluctuating karmic luck?> Mordred sent a telepathic message while refining the revolver-type artifact given by Sakuya. < Once I complete the mana pool refinement, my negative luck should shift towards the positives… Otherwise, Sakuya wouldn’t have given me a magic gun that is ‘coincidentally’ incompatible with her combat style. Can I assume that the mana pool refinement, resulting in a grade-S mana pool, is a significant event where fate converges within this timeline, a fate checkpoint, so to speak? >
< My deepest apologies, Your Majesty… I cannot deny nor confirm that. > Asmodeus didn’t waver.
< Does it have any relation to the Captain of Twin Helix? > He asked once more.
< … >
Her silence in response left Mordred feeling frustrated. It seems like Asmodeus’ [Sudden Inspiration] had revealed more than she had let on. Sovereigns could discern lies, but when a Sovereign lies to another, it is possible for Mordred to be deceived. Nobody enjoys being bamboozled or led astray, yet he understands why Asmodeus would deceive or withhold information.
Karma operates based on the outcomes, not the method.
Even if Asmodeus uses a ‘blink once for yes and twice for no’ method, ultimately it is Asmodeus who confirms or denies. Even if they were to use more complex methods to circumvent the karmic repercussions, they currently lacked the capability to do so. The karmic backlash from leaking certain information, especially if it pertains to the future, would push both her and Mordred’s luck down to extreme negative, as if the heavenly dao itself were determined to prevent the predicted future from aligning with the true future.
That’s just the way things are, otherwise, time-path would already be the mainstream cultivation path in the world.
This karmic backlash is particularly severe since both of them are otherworldly invaders who are universally rejected by the World’s Will. When one’s luck becomes so negative, unfortunate circumstances would appear one after another.
Considering Mordred has to hide from the World’s Will, it is in his best interest to maintain positive luck.
As Asmodeus couldn’t confirm or deny his inquiries, the future holds great unpredictability.
One thing is certain: one or more members of Twin Helix is somehow related to a sovereign, and Mordred suspects it could either be the captain, Ayame, or Katyusha.
Therefore, identifying the sovereign is of great importance.
Before the Great Archmage’s demise, there were fewer than thirty publicly known sovereigns with their true bodies within Morgen World, excluding the popes of the Sacred Alliance’s churches and their Dragon Knights, as well as those in hiding.
Among the thirty-or-so sovereigns of Morgen World, Mordred’s relationship with them are amicable to a select few. And even then, they couldn’t openly provide support to Mordred because they have to keep up appearances to protect themselves.
If, perchance, they are connected to a sovereign who isn’t allied with him, that would be a significant matter.
Sovereigns are the peak of the world, or a civilization. They relatively have no weakness and thus are extremely difficult to kill, often possessing conditional immortality (Mordred) or supernatural detection abilities that bypass the law of causality (Asmodeus). Partially due to their cultivation base, their luck and accumulation is also monstrous enough to weather whatever storms that came to get them.
Even if Mordred is currently just a ghost of his former self, he was still a sovereign. His accumulated karmic luck prevents him from being killed by a random person, even if his luck is extremely negative. At most, he may have to reveal some secret methods to save himself, sacrificing some of his trump cards in the process. However, sovereigns have countless decks of cards at their disposal, so depleting them completely would take a considerable amount of time.
However, when someone is related to a sovereign, things become more complicated.
Sovereigns have the ability to scheme or defend against schemes across timelines, even without mastering time-path methods. Their mere presence often serves as an anchor for a country’s karmic luck. In fact, only a country governed by a rank 6 Sovereign can be considered as a ‘proper’ country in Morgen World.
So, if Mordred were to encounter someone related to a Sovereign, there would be a conflict of karmic luck.
“It’s faster than I expected!” Sakuya praised. “I shouldn't underestimate a grade-S spirit talent, I suppose.”
Her comment brought Mordred’s attention back to reality. “It’s all thanks to your guidance…” he replied, suppressing his yawn. It is easy for him to refine an artifact into his own, but his spiritual force is depleted in the process. Exhausting one’s spiritual force causes one’s soul to be excited, his mind burdened. He needs to pacify it as soon as possible.
“It’s really too much for a mage apprentice like yourself. Plus, you didn't get any sleep last night. You can rest your head on my lap, and I’ll wake you up when we arrive.” Sakuya presented her lap.
Since he couldn’t pacify his soul by murdering someone, he opted for the next best thing: sleep. “Hmm, I’ll take you up on your offer,” Mordred wasn’t a virgin, and obviously not a teenager, he wouldn't be flustered by flirting with Sakuya.
“Hey…” Sakuya whispered as he gently stroke Mordred’s black hair which had a tinge of red in its roots, his head resting atop of her lap, “Were you aware that in our Kingdom’s culture, a woman giving a lap pillow to a man is another way of courting?”
“Yes.” Mordred replied, opening his drowsy eyes and holding Sakuya’s hand that had been caressing his hair. “Miss Sakuya, I might be too young for now, but I will become someone worthy to court you.”
Mordred's truesoul had a corrosive nature that could subjugate those exposed to his soul radiation over time. Perhaps, it was that, but it could also be due to the fatal attractions that Astaroth's bloodline inherently possessed towards fire-path lifeforms, or perhaps there are other factors worth considering. Regardless of the cause, when Mordred held Sakuya’s hand, she experienced an indescribable sensation that overwhelmed her heart and disrupted her logical thinking. Unfortunately, the warmage mistakenly interpreted this intense feeling as love, and Mordred reinforced her misunderstanding by reciprocating her advances.
Just as Mordred barely closed his sleepy eyes, he could feel Sakuya’s body temperature rising back to noticeable heat. “Miss Sakuya, what happened?”
Sakuya’s face is heating up, her breath is heavy as if she’s enduring something. “N- nothing.” ‘I definitely don’t want to eat you right now…’ She whispered in her mind. ‘I will prove that I’m not like that horny ape Kenji! Just wait a few years before Satoru matures… b- but… the temptation of an unripe fruit is too alluring… ’ “Hnng!” Sakuya made a weird sound in frustration as her thighs rubbed against each other.
< Your Majesty… > Asmodeus' telepathic message resounded in Mordred’s mind as he tried to ignore Sakuya’s weird behavior, < Were you aware that she has a fetish for young, immature boys, and your mortal shell is currently within her strike zone? >
< I don’t care. Her truesoul has been contaminated by my soul radiation due to her aggressive intimacy with me. Although it is too weak to affect her judgment, she’ll succumbed in one way or another. > Mordred replied, his tone tinged with indifference. < I’m going to sleep. If there’s anything worth my time, wake me up. >
With those words, he severed his consciousness from his body, assuming a state akin to a lifeless corpse. Were it not for his beating heart and faint breathing, his mortal shell would have truly resemble a corpse.
< Oh no, His Majesty truly went to sleep. Does he not care about this perverted woman masturbating with His Majesty’s head on her lap… > Astaroth grumbled through gritted teeth as she implored Asmodeus to wake him up. < Your Majesty, please don’t allow this pervert to do as she pleases to His Majesty… at least let me have that privilege first… >
Asmodeus metaphorically rolled her eyes, suppressing the urge to simply slap the archdemon to death.
When Mordred finally woke up, he felt inclined to complain. < Four hours, thirteen minutes and four seconds… can’t I get a decent 8-hour sleep? I guess I’ll have to murder something to pacify my soul... > His senses were astute enough to perceive the passage of time even while he slept. < Now then, what situation caused my danger perception to flare up? >
As he opened his eyes, the first thing that he saw when he opened his eyes were Sakuya’s bosom and the roof of the carriage. Disregarding the strange and somewhat lewd scent this carriage has, he quickly followed Sakuya’s gaze.
The carriage had come to an abrupt halt. Upon seeing Mordred awaken, Sakuya hastily wiped her flushed face. In an instant, she had recovered from the afterglow of multiple climaxes. “I need to prepare, the vice-captain has issued a command to assemble. What would you do?”
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“Can I contribute to the fight?” Mordred asked as he brandished the .44 magnum revolver. “I want to test the artifact you gave me.”
“The vice-captain should’ve erected a defensive line with her kobold army, but there’s no guarantee that the enemy won’t be able to bypass them. It’s best for you to be prepared, but I’d rather not expose you to the danger of wild territories.”
“I understand.” Mordred acquiesced, not pushing the matter further.
The two disembarked from the carriage. The scenery around them was completely different from the grassy, hilly plains near Mira village. They now found themselves in a brown, hilly area adorned with copious amounts of large rocks. Observing the unnatural and fractured shape of the rocky terrain, Mordred quickly deduced that it must have been caused by a high-rank entity using magic or bloodline abilities to gouge the ground and shake the earth..
As he glanced at the carriage they had emerged from, Mordred silently accepted the preferential treatment he had received. The other apprentices from Mira village were housed in lower-quality carriages, undoubtedly enduring the minor, uncomfortable vibrations throughout the journey.
Swoosh! Sakuya’s figure burst into flames as she leaped high into the air, disappearing from his side.
‘Huh… that’s [Monumental Fire Path],’ Mordred thought as his gaze followed the trail of red plasma in the air, a result of Sakuya’s movement method. ‘Wait, this is not the time to admire the development of the movement-type method that I disseminated. I need to assess the situation as soon as possible.’
Without delay, Mordred climbed up the carriage. From this elevated vantage point, he swiftly grasped the current situation.
All fifteen carriages that departed from Mira village, with the giant lizard pulling it, had taken a circular defensive wall formation. The carriages were cleverly designed, they were like bricks, capable of being assembled into a defensive wall in emergencies. A towering kobold warrior, one with two meter tall body height, has assumed command over the apprentices in setting up the defensive formation. They were armed with metal swords, shields, maces, spears, or bows, depending on their preferences, and were instructed to defend themselves if necessary.
Upon noticing Mordred climbing up from Sakuya’s extravagant carriage, some of the youths pointed at him, but the kobold warrior ordered them to keep quiet. Among them, Mordred spotted Hiro and a few other familiar faces wearing solemn expressions, indicating their understanding of the gravity of the situation and the preferential treatment Mordred had received. However, Mordred remains uninterested in their condition or any feeling of jealousy.
Shifting his attention, Mordred surveyed the opponents that Twin Helix faced. “It’s no wonder a formidable team like Twin Helix had to stop the carriages and adopt a defensive formation,” Mordred remarked unconsciously, observing the chaotic battlefield unfolding before him. Despite the swift response from the team members, Sumire’s kobold army had borne the brunt of the ambush.
It was green versus red.
Green of greenskins, and red of kobolds.
The enemy forces consist of greenskins, which was a group of races categorized into one for simplicity sake. Starting from the weakest gretchens, goblins, hobgoblins, orks, all the way to the trolls and their variants.
Although Sumire’s mutant kobold army would be at a disadvantage against an ork horde, it appeared that the ambushers were a smaller greenskin horde consisting of gretchens, goblins, and hobgoblins, with no orks in sight. Meanwhile the mutant kobolds were engaged in a battle against several hundred goblins and their variants, the members of Twin Helix were occupied with the hobs.
‘Is this Twin Helix’s luck… or them being unlucky?’ Mordred scrutinized the battlefield that split into four fronts.
The northern front is where the kobold army is engaging with the goblin and gretchens.
Gretchens, being in the early stage of the greenskins lifecycle, were not a significant threat. They were akin to infants compared to humans, possessing extremely weak physical bodies that barely reached a height of 1 meter. Armed with crude weapons such as sharpened stones bound to sticks for makeshift axes or slingshots, killing Gretchens was relatively simple due to their similar physiology to humans. A stab to the heart or a crushed brain would instantly dispatch them.
On the other hand, goblins posed a greater danger than gretchens. They were the next phase of the greenskin lifecycle, evolved from gretchens or comparable to human children. With height ranging from 1 to 1.2 meters, slightly hunched backs, prominent noses, and green skins, most goblins were equivalent to rank 0 body cultivators. This meant that their strength surpassed that of the human race. In scientific terms, the density of muscle mass per cubic millimeter is significantly higher than that of humans.
‘Most’ goblins are rank 0 is a fact that needs to be emphasized because greenskins would branch out into multiple sub-races after they become goblins.
Some could evolve into goblin variants, hobs- eventually becoming orks, or even trolls, depending on various factors.
Hobgoblins, or hobs for short, represent the next phase in the greenskin lifecycle if they do not mutate into goblin variants. They resemble human teenagers, standing between 1.5 to 1.8 meters tall with straight backs, higher intellect, and greater adaptation capabilities compared to goblins. Again, most hobs are rank 1 lifeforms, meaning that although most of them are, there is a high degree of variation that allows them to deviate from it.
From the current situation, despite being outnumbered by a ratio of 1:5, Sumire’s mutant kobold army gains an advantage due to their physical abilities enhanced by magic machinery armor, equipped with advances weapons such as heat sabers, vibroblades, and other high-tech weaponry that couldn’t be procured easily. Some members of the kobold army even wieldied gunpowder-based guns, although they were in the minority. On the other hand, the greenkins they faced consisted of goblin mages, priests, and other variants, but they were unlikely to defeat the mutant army in the short term, especially considering the kobold’s higher advantage in cultivation base.
The eastern and western sides of the battlefield were also engaged in combat, although not with the main force of greenskins. Utilizing their intellect similar to humans, the hobgoblins successfully lured in groups of beasts to serve as the cornerstone of their ambush. In the Land of Autumn Rain, the most common types of beasts belonged to the earth-path, water-path, wind-path, or lightning-path. In this case, the approaching beasts were earth-path creatures known as six-legged crocs.
The threat posed by the six-legged crocs stemmed from their imposing size, standing at almost 2.5 meters tall and measuring over 6 meters in length. Their large physique alone presented a challenge, but their brown hides, covered in a flexible layer of ceramite bio-armor, made them even more formidable. Blunt weapons, such as maces and hammers, would merely bounce off their rubbery hide due to its inherent resistance to such weapons.
Therefore the most effective method to kill them is sharp weapons, but no sane human would wrestle against a large beast like that, especially when there’s more than a dozen of these hulking beasts at once. The sight of a crocodile beast rushing against oneself is quite overwhelming, even for hunters who are specialized to hunt beasts. Nevertheless, the flanks were protected by the siblings Kurogane and Shirogane, supported by the majority of Twin Helix's members, including Sakuya.
The real problem, however, emerged from the rear formation, where the group of hobs consisted of nearly fifty hobgoblins equipped with randomly assembled magic machinery armor.
Unlike the well-crafted magic machinery armor of the kobold army, the armor worn by the hobs appeared to be haphazardly put together and barely functional as augmented suits. To an expert in refinement-path, it would seem that their magic machinery armor shouldn't be capable of functioning at all. However, the greenskins possessed special racial traits that couldn't be replicated by other races, which was the [Greenskin Mental Network]: when in close proximity, greenskins can contribute to the expansion of a mental network where they can share emotions and mental energy.
The issue arises with the function of this mental network, which extends to faith as well.
The greenskin god is a brute, having no contribution to the development of civilization and instead being its bane. One of the concepts embraced by the greenskin god upon its divine ascension is plunder. As long as the strength of their Greenskin Mental Network is sufficiently powerful, greenskins are capable of plundering any tools and equipping themselves with them. Even if the quality of the plundered artifacts is reduced to garbage-tier, rendering them seemingly non-functional, the greenskins' faith in their patron deity allows them to use these items as intended. Instead of relying on fuel and logic, greenskins can operate plundered technological artifacts through faith alone, becoming a true menace to civilization.
“[Greenskin Mental Network] possessed quantum probabilistic capabilities, altering reality by somewhat ignoring the laws of causality, but first of all, how the fuck did they acquire magic machinery artifacts?” Mordred wondered, before metaphorically slapping his forehead in realization. ‘Ah! The current trend of magic machinery artifacts is related to my minor inheritances. Since I’ve left countless millions of them hidden in all corners of the world, it’s not strange that some of my inheritances are plundered by greenskins… although they shouldn’t possess the intellectual capacity to unlock any of my protected inheritances. They are greenskins-proofed, after all.’
‘Have I shot myself in the foot this time?’ Mordred squinted his eyes suspiciously, rejecting that detection. ‘No, it must be those elves. They always enjoy playing their ‘political balancing games’, causing chaos and discord in other regions.’ He quickly arrived at a conclusion.
Nonetheless, the southern side, which is the most dangerous, is being handled by Kenji and Katyusha, a duo praised as the strongest within the team in the absence of Ayame and the captain.
Currently, all four fronts are at a standstill. This ambush would have easily decimated a normal team, but Twin Helix's accumulated strength makes it impossible for a small greenskin horde to eliminate them. However, Mordred knew that this wasn't the full extent of Twin Helix's power.
‘There’s no sign of Sumire, Alanis, and Kumo. I assume they are not present in the battlefield due to their specialization and the fact that they are high-priority targets. Nevertheless, the arrangement of personnel must be a deliberate scheme. The northern front should be broken right about… now!’
Boom! Just as he had anticipated, the kobold army became overwhelmed when a group of hobs suddenly appeared on their side of the battlefield, using an unexpected bomb. This was a two-layered ambush: the gretchens and goblins, despite their magic machinery armors, were unable to kill even a single kobold, but the hobs, equipped with their own armor, were capable of doing so. With the kobolds occupied by the hobs, the gretchens and goblins began pouring in towards the defensive wall formation.
'I see,' Mordred nodded in understanding. 'Sumire is planning to expose the youths of Mira village to the harsh realities of the outside world. Although I don't recall incentivizing hunters to recruit experienced youths when I founded the Hunter Association and its academic subsidiaries, my memories are unreliable, after all.'
He leaped from Sakuya's carriage to the next one, approaching the "broken" defensive line where goblins and gretchens were gathering to siege up. ‘Heh, I can finally pacify my exited soul!’