Chapter 862: Illusion Crystal

This miserable BOSS fight was finally over. As Serras's projection crumbled completely, its tentacles also turned into ashes. After Bell woke up, the major problem that everyone was concerned about was finally resolved. Bell used her strength of Order and enhanced the barrier. After confirming that there were no more threats around, everyone began their rest.

However, Rhode wasn't willing to let it end just yet. At this moment, he pulled a long face while gazing at Serras's remains within the Order barrier, which was a huge pile of rotten flesh, two empty eye sockets, and a large mouth full of sharp teeth. This was what was known to the players as a corpse, but when Rhode looked at it, his first reaction wasn't to loot its body. Instead, he wanted to torture it even more... He couldn't be blamed because he realized that he had lost a dozen Bow Knights, more than 30 mercenaries, and half of the Elf Rangers. On the other hand, Lesa, Anne, and the others were only slightly injured. Although Lesa could consume her spiritual powers to revive the heroic spirits, in this Land of Chaos... It wasn't possible at all.

Rhode initially thought that with the Bow Knights' strength, they could reach the tinder without losing any one of them. However, this was totally unexpected. If he weren't that unlucky to meet that damned projection of Serras, he wouldn't have ended up in this predicament. But, come to think of it, Serras and its projection were spiritually the same. Although Rhode couldn't slaughter Serras through its projection, at least he knew the fact that Serras was rolling in pain somewhere in the Bottomless abyss right now and that comforted him.

"Phew... Stay calm... Stay calm..."

It was meaningless to think of reviving the dead now. Rhode took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. Then, he turned to everyone.

"Marlene."

"Rhode?"

Marlene stood to her feet and went up to him. After entering the Land of Chaos, Marlene knew that she wasn't useful in battles as a Mage, which was why she had been taking care of Christie and Bell. At this moment, she was deeply curious.Did I do something wrong?

Then, she immediately got her answer

"Loot the battlefield."

"..."

Marlene froze on the spot and turned her head stiffly to the disgusting pile of flesh, revealing a rare, horrified expression. Marlene was never afraid of death, but she shrunk in the face of that revolting corpse. After all, there were a lot of things in this world that were much scarier than death to women.

"R-Rhode?"

"Faster, we're leaving here soon."

To Rhode, this pile of junk was nothing more than a BOSS corpse full of chances for an equipment drop. Marlene was dubious that she might even chop off her hands after 'looting' it.Oh my goodness, is this part of the training that fate gives me?

"Rhode... Do I really have to..."

Marlene literally felt like dying. But she didn't realize that Rhode was in a more difficult spot than she thought. If it wasn't for the 'Unlucky Looting Aura', he would have gone ahead already. Therefore, Rhode ignored her pitiful gaze entirely. Not only that, but he also showed a hand gesture with a strong message—don't hesitate.Do it now!

"Yes..."

Marlene let out a hopeless sigh. Then, she went up to the corpse like a pitiful young lady walking to the edge of the cliff and was about to jump right off to her death. At the moment, Rhode couldn't look straight at the corpse.Marlene, can you be faster?! Who am I gonna look for if the corpse vanishes into the wind!

Fortunately, even though Marlene wasn't willing at all, she quickly began digging for 'gold'. In fact, she had seen all sorts of creatures as a Mage. But the problem was that Serras was too unbearable to look at.

This is life...Rhode displayed a regretful expression. He wanted to 'loot' the corpse but his luck was horrible. On the other hand, Marlene who didn't wish to touch the corpse at all had such blessings. He felt uncomfortable watching her doing it alone.

"Anne."

Rhode beckoned to the young lady, who jumped up and ran toward him.

"Hmm? Is anything the matter, Leader?"

"How's your injury?"

Anne puffed out her chest proudly and said, "Don't worry, Leader. It's just an abrasion, nothing much."

"Is it... Good to hear that."

Rhode nodded while moving his right hand about. Anne swirled her eyes curiously, lowering her gaze to his right hand on her chest. Then, she looked up.

"Leader, what are you doing?"

"Nothing, I was just looking... and I feel uncomfortable not touching anything at the moment."

I can't touch corpses, but as for bosoms... That's another matter entirely.

"So are you feeling better now, Leader?"

"Yes, much better. The shape is perfect and soft too."

"Heh heh."

Anne grinned and not only that, but she also proudly turned to Lize who was watching both of them with complicated glances. Upon sensing Anne's gaze, Lize instinctively held her chest before knitting her brows and letting out a sigh. Then, she turned around and continued to focus on healing the others.

After striking a balance in his mind, Rhode put his right hand away and patted on Anne's head. After all, they were in public and he had something else to handle.

Rhode swung his right arm and a scarlet card emerged in his hand. On the front of the card was a picture of a girl bound by steel chains and floating in midair. Behind her was an enormous sword that punctured the chains and struck into the ground firmly. Above the picture was a huge 'VI', while at the bottom of the card were the numbers 15 and 13 respectively. The scarlet base of this card was dazzling.

[Eternal Holy Sword 6th Position: Slaughter. Undead Attribute. Unfuseable——crazy and pain are the source of happiness for the dead.

The eternal dead cannot be killed again—Undead Characteristic.

All things belong to the first king of immortality—Cross-border Domination.

The stimulation of blood is the ultimate belonging of power—Strength Multiplication.]

Rhode had to admit that this 5th holy sword card perhaps was the most powerful one. The undead characteristic ensured that Shira wouldn't be killed. On the other hand, if he were to fuse with this card, he could receive its special effects. Besides, the Strength Multiplication could increase his strength by two to three times whenever he summoned Shira in her sword form. Although [Strength Multiplication] wasn't as useful as the [Self-Affirmation] that he had, they could complement each other. After all, he couldn't possibly use [Self-Affirmation] to enhance his strength every time.

But what he valued the most was [Cross-border Domination].

The Undead Creatures were hierarchical and this wasn't due to the ruling style of the Country of Darkness. Instead, it was because of their race. The Undead Creatures weren't natural souls, but souls that returned from the dead. Judging from this aspect, their strength and authority instantly decided their statuses. No matter the Vampires, Death Knights, Liches, Necromancers, they all fell under this rule. It could be said that in the world of the undead, the commands of the higher-ups were absolute.

But now, Rhode obtained Shira who was known as the first undead and this made her superior over all the other Undead Creatures. Currently, her dominance on the Undead Creatures was only below the Dark Dragon and Night Wyverns and almost on par with the four legendary generals. This meant that if the Undead Army were to attack, Rhode could summon her and she could unconditionally control the minds of mid to low-grade Undead Creatures. As for high-grade Undead Creatures, they would also turn into her chess pieces and playthings if they failed to resist her mental manipulation.

Rhode had to admit that he was delighted and depressed at the same time. He was glad that Shira could manipulate the troops of the Undead Army if they were to attack with the human wave method in the future. On the other hand, the Country of Darkness wouldn't let this matter off. If they discovered another being who held equal authority as the four legendary generals, Rhode was sure that he would face them or beings above them in battles instead, such as Erin or the Dark Dragon... He wouldn't be smiling when that happened.

It seems like enhancing my strength is still the most important.

Rhode let out a sigh and put away the card. Although he was sure that the holy sword cards would get stronger as he grew in level, he didn't think that the highest level of holy sword cards was capable of taking down the Creator Dragon Souls. If Lilian could lend him a helping hand, perhaps he wouldn't need to worry about the Dark Dragon. However, he didn't think that Lilian would be helpful in battles after hearing about her situation from Sonia. If he had players under him right now, perhaps he stood a chance. But now, even if he gathered Canary, Mini Bubble Gum, Orchid Heart, and used the Sphere of Mystery to summon four more projections, they still wouldn't stand a chance.

Rhode shook his head and shrugged helplessly. Even if he could upgrade his level and defeat one of the four legendary generals in a battle, it was impossible to defeat the Dark Dragon without the Light Dragon despite the three Archangels joining forces. As for the Judgment and Ruling Dragons in the Country of Law, they definitely wouldn't get involved with the war. It seemed like after exploring the Land of Chaos, Rhode had to consider ways of letting Lilian restore her strength.

"Rhode, what is this?"

Rhode looked up curiously to Marlene's question. At this moment, she stood before him palely and in her hand was a fist-sized, glittering crystal.

Rhode scanned the crystal.

Wow, it seems like I've made the right choice letting her come.

Rhode took over the colorful, dazzling crystal and at this moment, a system prompt emerged before him.

[Received Illusion Crystal (Can be broken up). Requires Alchemy Skill LV7 and above]

Rhode was baffled and the gloominess that he felt from the battle with Serras earlier on instantly disappeared without a trace. At this moment, he hoped that a few more of Serras's projections would show up because with Marlene around, he would definitely strike it rich!

"Rhode, do you know what this is?"

"Of course."

Rhode took in a deep breath to calm himself down. Then, he said.

"This is the Illusion Crystal."

"..."

Marlene was stunned.

It was no surprise that Marlene had such a reaction. The Illusion Crystal was in fact a top grade magic crystal. But unlike the magic crystals found in the deep underground, the Illusion Crystal held properties that were out of this world. As the magic crystal with the highest purity, it could store a massive amount of magical powers. It could also be said that a piece of Illusion Crystal in the size of a fingernail could store magical powers sufficient to power all the magic cannons on a warship for a year and a half. Not only that, but the Illusion Crystal could also self-replenish its magic powers. But it wouldn't be extracting the powers from the land. Instead, it would absorb them from the border caught between Chaos and Order.

In the eyes of the Mages, the Illusion Crystal was a supreme treasure, but no one was capable of mining them. On the entire Light Mainland, only the Mage Tower in the Mage Association possessed a small piece of Illusion Crystal. Besides, it was safeguarded by dozens of legendary Mages. It was that small piece of Illusion Crystal in the size of a fingernail that powered all the magic weapons in the Mage Association. Apart from that, the Illusion Crystal could also provide all sorts of legendary attributes and properties to weapons and armor. In other words, with a sufficient number of Illusion Crystals, players could build a set of armor with immune properties to physical, magical, skill attacks or a sword that could deal hundreds of thousands of damage with a single cut. In the past, there were NPC Mages who attempted to use the Illusion Crystal to create magical tools that would last for eternity. However, none of them succeeded as the Illusion Crystals were too rare and would bring a lot of danger to themselves.

But it was due to this that the Illusion Crystal was known as the most supreme item among the spell casters.

Even in the game, not many players had the chance to receive it, where only a handful of people managed to get them from defeating Chaos BOSSes. Some of the players sold the Illusion Crystal for a huge amount of money while some used it in their guild as the stepping stone to rise in power.

But Rhode had to admit that treasuring a jade ring had become a crime.

He clearly remembered that the only Illusion Crystal that he had in his guild was also 'taken' from the other guild.

And now, it was quietly sitting in his hand, emanating a gentle glow.