The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 166 - 122: Taboo Words

Chapter 166: Chapter 122: Taboo Words

Black Crystal is a type of material that can store a significant amount of Spiritual Energy and is commonly used as an energy source for various apparatuses, instruments, or ceremonies.

It has many advantages, the only downside being that it is not easy to preserve, as its spiritual structure will degrade over time, ultimately becoming ordinary crystal.

But this was not a problem for Rod at all.

The Dream World itself had a very strong preservation effect, and the storage beneath the stone platform could even be considered a state of time suspension, where any material could be kept as fresh as when it was first stored.

Rod sighed.

Anyway, it’s going to be reimbursed. The Royal City, being so affluent, surely wouldn’t be stingy over such a small amount of money, right?

"I have them," Rod said.

Mina asked, "How many?"

"About a hundred or so," he replied.

Steel Hand hesitated for a moment, "Is your sleeve that big?"

Rod glanced at him, "Can’t I have luggage?"

Mina panicked, "Black Crystals require special preservation; if you just toss them in your clothing, their spirituality will be depleted in a few days! Hurry and take them out!"

Rod snorted, "How do you know my clothes are ordinary? Can’t I wear something high-end? Clothes that have a preservation effect?"

Turning away, he left the rest staring at each other in bewilderment.

"There are clothes like that?"

——

Shortly thereafter, Rod returned to the basement carrying a luggage bag.

Mina rushed forward, snatched the luggage from his hands, and looked inside.

A whole bunch of Black Crystals packed among the clothing!

She took one out, inspected it in her hand, and her large eyes filled with incredulous surprise.

"This, this is almost like new, and some are filled with energy!"

Immediately, she turned her gaze to Rod’s clothing.

"Isn’t this just ordinary clothing?"

Mina pulled out a pair of underwear and examined them closely, finding nothing unusual.

Rod snatched them back, "They’ve lost their effect now that you’ve sniffed them."

Mina’s eyebrows shot up, "What do you mean by that?"

A logistics member shouted, "Mina! Quick, put them in here! The energy from the fully charged Black Crystals drains quickly!"

Mina, as if snapping out of a trance, quickly worked with her assistant to transfer the Black Crystals into a special preservation case.

Then, with a light swipe of her finger, some translucent substance remained on the surface of the case, enveloping it.

"This is my Spirituality. As long as I’m here, this batch of Black Crystals can be preserved for more than fifteen days," she claimed.

Fifteen days.

However, the supplies from the Giant Fortress had also arrived.

The people in the basement all let out a long sigh of relief, Steel Hand was so excited he could barely speak, "Brother Rod, I really don’t know how to thank you..."

Humanity +51.

Well, your thanks have arrived.

Rod smiled, but then immediately turned serious again, "But you still have to pay the money."

Steel Hand repeatedly agreed, "Of course, of course!"

Mina muttered, "Money, money, money, that’s all you think about."

Rod glanced at her, "What else should I want, if not money? You? Will you give yourself to me?"

Humanity +1

"No way! Go back to your daydreaming!"

——

With ample energy supplied to the Spiritual Energy Generator, the subsequent battles became smoother—they no longer had to fight under harsh conditions and were forced to leave the fortress.

They only had to stand guard at Sword Pass, eliminating the most threatening monsters one by one according to pre-established tactics.

The terrain of Sword Pass was exceptionally favorable, flanked by the towering Dead Mountain Range, where monsters generally did not dare to disturb those creatures that had been silent in the Black Fog for countless years.

Only a few monsters would climb over Death Mountain, but they generally did not attack Sword Pass from the summit.

Without flyers, most monsters posed little threat to the combatants on the city wall.

With reasonable tactical arrangements, the situation had temporarily stabilized.

The combatants took turns fighting on the city wall, while logistics personnel were responsible for caring for the wounded, cleaning up the battlefield, and all other activities.

Mina watched over the Spiritual Energy Generator in the basement.

Mo’er stood in front of the Guardian Fire, adding Fuel Element and adjusting the flames as needed, while managing those who came to restore their Spiritual Energy by the fire.

Steel Hand and his deputy alternated in the command room to direct the battle, regularly reporting to their superiors at Dawn Fortress and requesting supplies from the Giant Fortress.

They usually used Spirit Crow Messengers for communication, as spiritual communication could not penetrate the Black Fog and was only usable locally.

Besides that, only the oldest and most traditional methods remained—messengers.

But unless it was the most important correspondence, messengers were unlikely to arrive.

Dawn Fortress rarely replied, but would send battle zone intelligence reports every few days.

From these reports, Steel Hand and the others learned that a part of the Black Tide had swept over the outer defense lines, applying tremendous pressure.

The Royal City had fully mobilized the battle groups from all sectors to form combat clusters, defending the core area and supporting the front lines.

The Seventh Defense Zone was under great pressure, and Guardian Jon admitted that Dawn Fortress was facing significant difficulties. They had to lure more monsters in order to relieve the fortress’s pressure and requested everywhere to do their utmost to hold their ground and prevent any threats from breaching the defense lines.

The intelligence from Dawn Fortress filled Steel Hand with both concern and pride.

He was worried about the overall grim situation, but proud that Sword Pass was stable.

But he also knew that all this was thanks to the reinforcement squad from the Royal City.

The power of this squad had repeatedly exceeded his expectations, especially the Fire Guardian Mo’er, who could be considered the one who understood monsters the best. He always added the most suitable Fuel Element to the fire at the most appropriate time, causing precise and critical damage to the monsters.

Efficiency was the only assessment they had for him.

And Moon’s Radiance Bach had become their defensive core.

Whenever this powerful Moon Bowman stood on the city walls, nothing could threaten the people there.

Dark Leaf was also a very strong close-range killer, with both offensive and defensive capabilities, swift and agile. Every time a flyer landed on the parapet, he would be at the forefront of the battle with monsters, significantly reducing the pressure on the others.

Besides, there were outstanding close-range fighters like Beowood, Reslin, Anna, top-level crowd controllers like Egger, excellent healers like Karamon, and so on, and so on.

Of course, the most unusual among them was Rod.

This guy’s data on paper seemed extremely low, and the names of his Fire Sparks seemed laughable, but in reality, he was the most unpredictable and surprising of all.

To ensure the combatants’ fighting power, Steel Hand had set a rule that no combatant should fight for more than six clock hours at a stretch.

But usually, most people couldn’t last that long, needing to step down after about four clock hours to meditate and recover at the Guardian Fire Sacrificial Ground.

But this guy seemed to wish he could stay on the city wall for sixteen clock hours a day, firing True Silver Bullets and Thunder Stones as if they cost him nothing.

What’s more outrageous was that there were no such supplies stored in Sword Pass, yet he never seemed to run out, and no one knew where he got them from.

But whenever he was asked about it, he would respond with "You guys wouldn’t understand," "Did you see that?" "Is it strange for a Fire Spark Ability User to have some weird abilities?" "I’m spending my own money!" and the like.

He was somewhat restrained initially until one day, the regular supplies from Giant Fortress reached Sword Pass.

Among them were quite a few True Silver Bullets and Thunder Stones.

He immediately grabbed them all without any courtesy, claiming they were all to reimburse him.

Steel Hand tried to explain that these were supplied as provisions, and reimbursements didn’t even have this item, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be delivered at this time.

"Then consider it a reimbursement! If anyone has a problem with that, they can compete with me in a pistol duel. If they win, it’s all theirs," Rod retorted.

After dropping that line, he moved all the items into his room.

The only one better at pistol dueling than him here was Mina, but since she was stationed in the basement and wouldn’t dispute with Rod, these naturally became his possessions.

No one truly minded, as he was the most effective one to make use of them here.

After all, this guy was practically sleeping on the city wall every day, and he couldn’t be pulled down. If anyone tried too hard, he’d retort with, "Do you guys even know what ’grass’ is?" and leave them speechless.

The "grass" Fire Spark was indeed very strong, making everyone drool with envy.

It was only after using the Spiritual Energy Cannon that Rod would descend from the city wall for rest.

Everyone had reserved a spot for him in the Guardian Fire Sacrificial Ground, but to their surprise, he returned to his room to sleep instead.

His justification was, "I don’t like closing my eyes when there are men around."

Such a sexually charged statement left everyone speechless, and even when Steel Hand managed to gather nine female combatants to meditate and recover with him in the Sacrificial Altar, with Fire Guardian Mo’er there as a male, he couldn’t possibly leave.

Therefore, they had no choice but to reluctantly accept his ’kind’ gesture.

But what no one knew was that this was a choice Rod made after precise calculation.

The monsters didn’t come at Sword Pass like a tide for them to slaughter; they arrived in groups, each consisting of about three to four hundred, with irregular intervals—sometimes short, sometimes a bit longer.

The majority of the monsters that came to Sword Pass were Ungraded, which are not yet fully formed.

Mature Level monsters were not as common.

And the level above Mature was even rarer.

Aside from rare cases, after a shot of "Spiritual Quartet," most monsters turned to ashes, thus reducing the efficiency of their cleanup, making it unnecessary to forcibly use "Awakening."

Efficiency, after all, is what mattered the most.

Although there was a substantial amount of True Silver Bullets and Thunder Stones, they weren’t infinite.

During this period, Rod was averaging about ten thousand Soul Without Spirit per day, and if he used "Spiritual Quartet," it could reach over twenty thousand.

This efficiency was explosive.

This expedition was simply the best choice he made, and joining the secret branch was the most important step in his life.

Here, he experienced a leap in growth.

Rod finally understood why he seemed so weak before.

Because he was indeed weak.

Looking back now, the idea of defeating Dream Invaders with just a Spirit Gun and Thunder Stones was simply daydreaming.

Here, Rod’s Soul Strength was growing every day.

But most people didn’t notice, as Spirit Guns and Thunder Stones did not reflect such changes.

Only when he used "Spiritual Quartet," did Dark Leaf, Steel Hand, and a few other stronger combatants notice that his Spiritual Energy seemed to have become stronger.

As for this, Rod explained, "In this world, there’s no path to begin with. The more you shoot, the more familiar you become with it."

Even though Dark Leaf and Steel Hand didn’t quite understand what that meant, it was always good news for a team member to become stronger.

Rod’s presence greatly relieved the defensive pressure on Sword Pass, allowing more combatants more time to rest and recover. It indirectly reduced the dangers of getting injured and stopped the vicious cycle of worsening situations due to prolonged exhaustion and decreased numbers from injuries.

Without this reinforcement squad, it would be hard to imagine the current situation.

Steel Hand had already decided that after the war, he would report their merits to the Military War Department without omission.

And so, with everyone working hard, the situation at Sword Pass rapidly improved.

If nothing unexpected happened, Sword Pass could completely become the most outstanding post in the Seventh Defense Zone during this Black Tide.

Everyone became optimistic again, and laughter once more echoed within the walls of Sword Pass.

The team captain, Black Fish, was already planning his wedding. After this battle, he intended to go back to the Royal City and propose to his fiancée.

For this, he was so excited that he couldn’t sleep for several days, continuously describing his dream of a perfect life on the city wall to his comrades, and sincerely inviting Rod, his favorite buddy, to be their witness.

Upon hearing this, Rod’s brows furrowed.

What are you doing?

Are you allowed to say such forbidden words?