The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 353 - 247: The Gray-robed Fire Guardian

Chapter 353: Chapter 247: The Gray-robed Fire Guardian

"Rod!"

Everyone exclaimed in unison. Captain O’Hara was the first to react, leaping forward to block the second strike from the shadowy figure.

Molly’s mist quickly enveloped Rod, pulling him away from the danger zone.

Anna burst into a purple mist, transforming into a fully armored centaur.

With a leap, she picked up Rod onto her back. With a kick of her front hoofs, she flipped and leapt out of the building in two steps.

Behind them, O’Hara, Conrad, and Beowood were already clashing with the grey shadow.

Anna urgently asked, "Molly, how is Rod’s injury?"

Molly’s calm voice came through the mist.

"The blade has pierced his right lung. There’s no corruption, no curse."

A bottle of Blood Element flew out from Rod’s body, pouring into his mouth under the guidance of the mist.

The blood’s liquid form evaporated upon entry, turning into red steam that diffused into Rod’s body, healing his wound at a visibly fast rate.

The bleeding gradually stopped, and Rod awoke from his unconscious state, opening his eyes.

Anna was almost in tears of joy, "Rod, you’re awake!"

Rod felt a warm sensation throughout his body and a throbbing pain in his chest, but it was no longer severe. Recalling the moment he was stabbed, he immediately understood what had happened and shouted.

"Be careful, that creature is very strong. It has been lying dormant with high concealment abilities, and I didn’t see it at first!"

Boom!

A loud noise!

The circular building collapsed halfway.

Beowood flew out from the dust, his body drenched in blood.

The grey shadow shot out swiftly, a streak of light aiming straight for his forehead.

Clang!

Once again, it was O’Hara who took the brunt of the sword strike.

His pure steel body was incredibly hard, his body surging with Spiritual Energy, and his two arms clamped the long sword like steel pillars.

A grating sound of friction rose, like two pieces of steel grinding against each other.

O’Hara was never before encountered an object that could be pulled away while clenched by him. He urgently shouted, "Conrad! Quick!"

A slight figure silently reached behind, focusing Spiritual Energy in his fingertips. His characteristic was "Blast," and any object touched by his fingertips would explode.

Conrad remained silent until the last moment, then with a sudden burst of strength, he lashed out with his finger and bellowed, "Die, monster!"

Swipe!

The grey shadow vanished.

Conrad only hit the air, and unable to withdraw his force in time, his fingertip made contact with O’Hara.

Fortunately, he quickly dissipated his Spiritual Energy, only managing to burst O’Hara’s sleeve.

"What? How did it vanish?"

Rod shouted, "It blinked! It can teleport through space! It’s a hundred steps behind you on the right!"

Everyone hastily turned around and indeed saw the grey shadow.

It stopped, as if inspecting the group.

For the first time, everyone got a clear look at its shape.

It was a very special monster.

It wore a grey robe, extremely old and dusty, as if woven from the ashes themselves.

Under the grey robe, the person was also grey, dust embedded in his withered face, even his eyes were the same shade of grey.

Only the long sword in its hand was extremely bright, not like the domineering brilliance of the sun, but like the stars in the night sky—bright without being dazzling.

Rod kept staring at it.

In his Eye of the Soul, its soul was very peculiar, pure black waveforms ebbing and flowing, jagged-like, its entire soul body’s light internalized, darkness hidden, giving off a bizarre feeling of extreme brightness without emitting any light.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed across his mind, and Rod remembered something the King had once mentioned to him.

"Without light, in a state of no light, this monster has a Source!"

Combining previous knowledge, he immediately concluded that this was a Strong Monster! A Fallen who once had been human.

"He’s a Fire Guardian, the Fire Guardian of Star Town!"

The group soon came to realize the truth.

Awie shouted, "Lord Rod is right. He’s not just a Fire Guardian, but also a Fire Priest of the Starry Kingdom! The sword he holds is the Star Sword, forged with the power of stars, a weapon that only a High-Rank Fire Priest can possess!"

"After the fire of Star Town was extinguished, he has been dormant in the Golden Soul Artifact for one thousand five hundred years!"

"His fall is related to fire. The Golden Soul Artifact represents his obsession, so the moment Lord Rod touched the Artifact, it awakened him from his deep slumber!"

Rod initially had only a vague idea, but with Awie’s explanation, the entire event suddenly became clear.

Considering its extreme speed and blinking ability, Rod immediately surmised that it might have devoured the Fire Seed of the Guardian Fire.

According to the King, the Fire Seed was an extremely unique Source Material.

Source Materials are laws that have become materialized and exist in the material world.

And the Source is the quantified law.

Their essence is the same, both being physical manifestations of the law, just existing in different forms.

Fire Seed, this unique Source Material, possesses the law of three pillars—time, space, and vitality.

The grey shadow’s speed was astonishingly fast, perhaps due to accelerating its own time, and its use of blinking teleportation made use of space’s characteristics.

Only vitality had not yet been showcased, but the evidence was quite conclusive.

Rod remembered clearly that the King had told him that beside every Holy Fire Seed there would be a monster once called a King.

Therefore, beside the Fire Seed of Guardian Fire, there might also be a monster once called a Fire Guardian, which, after devouring the Fire Seed, became a formidable enemy with powers over the domains of time, space, and vitality.

Rod quickly shared his speculation with the group and said.

"The King told me that killing a monster that has devoured a Fire Seed, you can obtain that Fire Seed."

Avie suddenly realized, "So that’s how it is, no wonder we couldn’t find the Fire Spark in Star Town, we thought it was lost, but turns out it was devoured. Such a thing is quite rare."

All of their spirits were instantly exhilarated.

Obtaining a Fire Seed is considered a top-tier merit in Royal City, and only with lighting the Guardian Fire can humanity expand into the darkness.

The brighter the fire, the larger the human settlements can be.

And there weren’t many Fire Seeds left in Royal City; they could only be used for emergencies.

This was the biggest reason the opposition opposed expansion—there were no Fire Seeds.

Having obtained a Fire Seed was the greatest motivation for those advocating for war, as well as the biggest appeal to the neutrals.

Moreover, they could reignite Star Town’s Fire Seed directly, without needing to apply to Royal City.

For everyone who longed for human victory, how inspiring was this?

O’Hara and the others began quickly chugging potions, with Beowood even consuming the long-treasured vigor potion he had.

Rod fulfilled his obligation, keeping a close watch on the robed figure.

"Its Soul Waveform vibrates rapidly, according to the burst of Spiritual Power Strength just now, it should be at the initial stage of Strong Level."

Strong monsters were formidable foes, much tougher than Fierce Level monsters.

And creatures possessing a Source were far tougher than average monsters.

Molly immediately ordered, "Avie, go notify everyone to stay away from this place."

Avie turned around and dashed off immediately.

Anna said anxiously, "Why? Aren’t we calling for reinforcements?"

Molly replied calmly, "This is a Strong monster, combatants below level six don’t need to come here."

Just then, the robed figure suddenly moved, transforming into a grey shadow, charging like lightning towards Avie who was running away.

Clang!

O’Hara, quick to react, blocked it head-on with his sword striking against its arm, emitting a sound of metal clashing against metal.

O’Hara felt a jolt in his Spiritual Energy, as if his Pure Steel Body was barely holding up.

The shadow struck with another sword slash, O’Hara caught the sword with both hands, but the massive impact forced him to step back.

He immediately realized that if this continued, his body would surely be cut open; Soul Traits required the support of Spiritual Energy, and once depleted, Pure Steel would turn into mere flesh, and one sword strike would be fatal.

At the third sword stroke, O’Hara instinctively used his fragile chest to take the sword, clamped the blade with his arms, and shouted, "Quick!"

The tacit understanding with his old partner had Conrad already positioned behind the creature, striking it with a Blast Finger.

This was their most commonly used tactic.

The robed figure activated its flicker ability once more.

Rod shouted, "To the right! At nine o’clock! Two hundred steps!"

"Got it!"

Beowood, with speed comparable to the robed figure, flashed behind it, hands brimming with Spiritual Energy, delivering a heavy punch to the back of the robed figure’s head.

Bang!

It was like hitting a large clump of grey.

A cloud of dust shrouded the entire square.

Rod shouted urgently, "It’s not dead, Beowood, watch your side!"

With a grunt of pain, Beowood was unable to dodge in time and got his right leg pierced.

Luckily, O’Hara and Conrad swiftly caught up, engaging the creature in combat.

Beowood tilted his head to drink another bottle of Blood Element and then rejoined the fight.

Four figures battled fiercely in the dust, their intense Spiritual Power Waves rippling like a lake under a torrential downpour. The three warriors were adept at close-range physical combat, their rapid movements intertwining like lightning, making it impossible to distinguish clearly.

Rod, sitting on Anna, kept a close watch on the battle, continuously providing various pieces of information.

But the three fighters still rapidly fell into a disadvantageous position.

The robed figure was too fast, capable of accelerating its own time at will, thereby multiplying its speed.

If it weren’t for Rod perceiving the Spiritual Power Waveform when it activated its acceleration ability and warning them in advance every time, all three of them would have been overwhelmed by now.

The robe’s flicker ability was likewise. Rod could see the faint ripples in space, spotting its positions in advance.

Even with such help, they were unable to withstand the robed figure’s fierce onslaught.

The dormant creature needed some time to fully awaken, to arouse all its Spiritual Energy, and it was far from its strongest state at present.

The robed figure grew stronger as it fought, its speed increasing, while the three warriors became weaker with more wounds accumulating, Blood Element unable to fully heal them, and their Spiritual Energy being massively drained.

Feeling anxious, Rod knew he couldn’t join this level of close-quarters combat; the Spiritual Power Cannon wouldn’t be able to hit such an agile target.

After a while, O’Hara was stabbed through the shoulder, and although Beowood and Conrad managed to drive the monster away in time, it indicated that O’Hara’s Pure Steel Body was failing.

Rod felt heavy-hearted; he had to join the fight now.

Pulling out Condensed Light, he loaded his only one hundred-fold Spirit Realm Bullet into it.

This Spirit Realm Bullet contained a hundred Sealing Spirit Bullets, extremely unstable and sealed by Rod’s power.

Rod was well aware of the power of Condensed Light; a fifty-fold Spirit Realm Bullet could instantly kill anything in Star Town, but it was too expensive for him to use liberally.

A one hundred-fold Spirit Realm Bullet would certainly cause damage if it hit.

"Molly, Speed me up, I’m going in!"

Anna exclaimed, "Rod, let’s retreat for now! My Centaur form is very agile, it won’t be able to catch us."

Rod dismounted from the Centaur, laughing as he patted her buttocks.

"Darling, if anybody gets hurt, carry them away quickly."

Anna’s face flushed red, but she replied, "Okay."

A powerful sense of speed emanated from the mist attached to him; it was the power of the Wind Black Silk.

Molly stated calmly, "Lord Rod, I can provide limited defense and can attack the monster to a certain extent; please make good use of me."

Rod felt his blood boil and shouted, "Alright! I’m on it!"

He pulled out the Flesh Armor from the Dream Realm, and with a flash of Spiritual Light.

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