Summoning the Holy Sword

It went without saying that the undead creatures were no match for Rhode’s group. Even before Rhode took action, the pitiful undead creatures and vampire vanished into thin air from the ruthless attack of his group.

“Alright then, Your Majesty Rhode. I shall take my leave now.”

The trouble around Erin wasn’t even worthy of her attention. She looked at the sky to confirm that she had indeed returned to the Dragon Soul Continent and smiled at Rhode to bid her goodbye. Even though this moon princess seemed relaxed throughout the journey, it was impossible for her to not be homesick after so long, after all. Rhode empathized with her, which was why he nodded silently in agreement. Gazing at his expression, Erin smiled and left after metamorphosing into a dazzling light that burst into the sky. Up until this moment, Rhode turned to his surroundings and spotted the group of mercenaries staring blankly from the side.

Lavita and the mercenaries were astounded. A few moments ago, they were surrounded the masses of undead creatures and about to be wiped out. But now, in the blink of an eye, the undead creatures were all annihilated without leaving behind any remains. The group couldn’t help but sigh in relief. They thought they were going to be dead for sure and didn’t expect to face such a situation. Of course, they didn’t think that these people were summoned by Lavita, which was why they raised their guard against them, as they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They were afraid that they had entered the tiger’s den after merely surviving death.

Erin’s departure also attracted their attention. Up until this moment, the middle-aged man finally spotted Rhode standing at the side.

“Bos—!”

The middle-aged man screamed instantly and within a split second, he covered his mouth abruptly. If he didn’t just escape death, he wouldn’t have behaved in such a disrespectful manner. After all, Rhode was the Void Dragon. Even though the middle-aged man and the mercenaries often bragged about how they fought alongside the Void Dragon before, it was all in the past, after all. Rhode might have changed and who knew what would happen to the middle-aged man for acting rudely.

Even though the man’s voice wasn’t soft, it didn’t sound too loud either. However, Rhode obviously heard his yell. He turned around, gazed at the mercenaries, and twitched his brows.

“Oh, it’s you. Come on over.”

“Aight, Boss.”

Meanwhile, in Grandia, Gillian, Marlene, and the others had already sensed Rhode’s aura. As Rhode was in a different world from them earlier, they couldn’t communicate with one another. But now, after he returned, communications between them were restored as they were his card spirits. In the blink of an eye, as the group stepped out the entrance of the palace, Rhode’s group was already present.

“Rhode!”

Upon seeing him, tears welled up in Marlene’s eyes. After not seeing him for so long, she felt really lonely. If it weren’t for the affairs of the continent occupying her mind, perhaps she would crumble to this bitter yearning. She came to a halt, widened her eyes, and stared strangely at the young lady beside him. At that moment, Christie, Cassidy, and Alice were also looking at her with odd expressions. After a few moments, Christie blinked and shortly after, an illusory spirit drifted out of her body, staring at the young lady ahead. Then, she asked.

“Marybelle?”

“Long time no see, Big Sister Christie.”

Upon hearing Christie’s question, Marybelle took a step forward, revealing a kind smile on her usually expressionless face. This surprised Rhode. Of course, he knew that the deity wardens were as close as sisters. But he didn’t expect the feeling of closeness to remain the same despite all these years. Marybelle rarely displayed such a gentle expression. For her to present such a smile, it was enough to prove how deep their relationship was.

“Big Sister Marybelle!”

At that moment, in a loud, high-pitched scream, Cassidy pounced over and wrapped her arms around Marybelle.

“I thought you were never coming back! Big Sister Marybelle, everyone misses you so much!”

“I didn’t expect myself to return either.”

As Marybelle stroked Cassidy’s hair softly, she couldn’t help but let out a sigh. In her days of being imprisoned on Earth, she kept reminiscing about the little details of them. If it weren’t for the beautiful memories, perhaps she would have forgotten who exactly she was.

“Your Majesty Rhode, what exactly…”

Alice padded over, revealing a rare look of surprise. As the History Deity Warden, she knew the exact reason of Marybelle’s disappearance back then. Thereafter, the other sisters were heartbroken as they thought they could never meet Marybelle again. Due to that reason, the seven deity wardens became what was known to be the six deity wardens. Despite that, Marybelle had always been an unforgettable pain in their hearts. And now, everyone was thrilled upon seeing Marybelle standing before them, perfectly unharmed.

“That will be a long story for later.”

Rhode forced a smile to Alice’s question. At that moment, he heard a crisp, melodious voice.

“That’s right, Big Brother. Those are small matters. Right now, we need to pay attention to the Dragon Soul Continent.”

“Huh?”

Upon hearing this voice, everyone was taken aback. They turned around and spotted a young lady who wore a black dress and looked exactly the same as Rhode, sauntering toward them with a warm, gentle smile. The instant the group saw the young lady, they were rooted in their place and at a complete loss for words.

Even though everyone was eager to catch up with one another, Lilian’s situation couldn’t afford to be delayed any longer. That was why Marlene wasn’t caught up in the loving moment. She calmed herself and explained the happenings in the Dragon Soul Continent to Rhode, as well as the ambush on Lilian, and the Dark Dragon’s strange behaviors.

“Let’s head there now.”

After hearing Marlene’s narration, Rhode was shocked. Despite that, he didn’t comment much, but quickly headed to the temporary imperial residence beside the palace in Grandia. Back then, as Lilian loved the environment here, Rhode gifted the residence to her. Lilian treated this place as her home and didn’t leave this place before. On the other hand, Rhode felt like it was also a good decision on his part. After all, Grandia had tight security measures, strong defenses, and Sonia to watch after her too, so there shouldn’t be any problem.

But something terrible still managed to happen.

At this thought, Rhode couldn’t help but arrange his thoughts, let out a sigh, and extended his arm to push open the door.

“Your Majesty Rhode.”

Upon seeing his arrival, Sonia stood up hurriedly to bow. As Rhode’s summoned spirit, Sonia had already sensed his return. She initially wanted to welcome him personally, but Rhode spoke to her through the spiritual communication and asked her to look after Lilian instead. That was why Sonia remained in this place and waited for him. But after noticing the young lady in a black dress following closely behind him, Sonia couldn’t help but shift her astonishing gaze back and forth between them.

“Alright, she is my younger sister. Stop eyeing.”

Rhode wasn’t too mindful about Sonia’s reaction because almost everyone had the same reaction as her when they witnessed his younger sister. Rhode simply waved his hand airily without explaining further. Then, he looked down at the bedridden Lilian. Upon looking at her complexion, Rhode couldn’t help but knit his brow. The little girl had lost her vigor. Her fair, tender skin turned dry and yellow and her body had also thinned. She lay on the bed with her eyes closed as though she was severely ill.

Her right arm that was dangling outside of the bed was startling—skinny and pitch-black like it was all skin and bone. If it weren’t for the white bracelet on her wrist emanating a spiritual radiance to stop the black presence’s erosion, perhaps the situation would be worse by now.

“Her Majesty Lilian hasn’t eaten for days.”

Sonia cleared her mind and reported in Rhode’s ear softly. She was apparently in a bad mood.

“Even though Miss Marlene and the rest tried to think of ways to stop that black presence from eroding her, Her Majesty Lilian didn’t regain her consciousness and has been having nightmares. I don’t have any way to help her…”

“Got it.”

Upon hearing Sonia’s guilty response, Rhode patted her shoulder gently and turned to the young lady beside him.

“Marybelle, do you have a solution?”

Looking at this scene, Rhode turned grim. The joy in him from returning to the continent was long gone. Of course, he knew that those Chaos beings were a mysterious bunch, but he didn’t expect Lilian to be hurt so seriously. According to Marlene, if it weren’t for her constitution, which coincidentally restrained the undead attribute of Chaos, perhaps not even he could come up with any ideas.

“Please let me take a look, Your Majesty.”

Marybelle said and took a step forward. She puckered her brows, carefully observing the black presence that eroded Lilian’s arm. Meanwhile, no one spoke a word as they watched Marybelle work her magic. After all, she had fought such presences for the longest time and was the most experienced. And now, they could only rely upon her to deal with this mysterious erosion of Chaos.

Marybelle examined cautiously. After almost an hour, she stood up with a solemn look and everyone’s heart sank.

“Marybelle, how is it?”

Rhode let out a cough and asked. Upon hearing his question, Marybelle turned to him and shook her head slightly.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I don’t think we can keep Her Majesty Lilian’s arm by relying upon my power only.”