The Saint was still inside the ritual hall, busy finishing the final preparations before the ritual began.
Almost everything was ready.
The magic circles were carefully drawn, and magical energy surrounded the place, while the Dark Elf elders stood by her side, waiting for the moment the Seed arrived so the Saint could begin performing the ritual herself.
And finally...
The Saint finished her final preparations.
She looked at the ritual before her, then smiled confidently as she said:
"Finally... Now, after the Seed arrives and undergoes this ritual, it will become entirely ours."
She was confident in the success of what she had planned.
Once the Seed arrived here and the ritual began, it would not be easy for anyone else to use or control it.
But...
Before the Elf elders could respond to her, and before the Saint could finish her words...
Something happened that no one expected.
Suddenly...
An intense light flooded the entire place.
The Saint's eyes widened in shock.
"What is this?!"
And in the next moment...
A massive explosion occurred, shaking the entire palace.
The walls shook violently, and a tremendous spiritual power surged in all directions, shattering large parts of the place in mere moments.
The Saint could not react fast enough.
However, with quick instinct, she immediately raised her power.
Instead of trying to escape, she chose to protect herself and the ritual.
She unleashed her dark power with everything she had, then enveloped herself and the magic circles with it, attempting to prevent the force of the explosion from reaching them directly.
A few short moments passed...
Then the explosion began to subside.
A heavy silence fell over the place.
The Saint slowly opened her eyes.
She was still standing.
The first thing she did was look towards the ritual circles.
Then she looked at them with deep concern, making sure they hadn't been destroyed.
After ensuring that nothing had happened to the ritual, she felt some relief.
"Nothing happened to it..."
But this relief did not last long.
She turned her gaze to her own body.
She was injured from the impact of the explosion.
Then she looked around...
She saw the Dark Elf elders lying in different places, they too had suffered injuries.
The palace itself had been turned into a ruined place, no longer resembling the place she had been standing in moments before.
The Saint's expression changed.
Intense anger appeared in her eyes.
Then she forcefully released her aura.
Her energy spread throughout the ruined palace, pressing down on the place with tremendous force.
She screamed angrily:
"Who did this?!"
No one was able to answer.
But the Saint did not wait.
Her mind began to work rapidly, trying to understand what had happened and who could be behind this attack.
Then something else more important crossed her mind.
The Seed.
Her expression changed immediately.
She said as she spread her power across the place:
"Find the Seed!"
Then she screamed:
"We must ensure its safety!"
As soon as she said that, the Elf elders who had not suffered serious injuries made their move.
They set off quickly with the Saint, and began searching throughout the ruined palace for the Seed.
As for the Black Elk...
He had witnessed the explosion that shook the palace.
He stopped for a moment, and looked in its direction.
He had gone out into the city to search for the source of the chaos and the intruders, but he could not ignore what had happened.
For the palace itself had suffered a powerful attack.
Therefore, he immediately turned around and dashed at tremendous speed towards the palace.
He wanted to make sure of two things.
The safety of the Saint...
And the safety of the Seed.
And at the same time...
Far from the palace, and underground...
There was a tunnel created by Yord.
Specifically to escape with Nout and Aul from the Dark Elf kingdom.
Nout, Aul, and Yord were walking inside it quickly, moving away from the scene of chaos.
The tunnel was narrow and dark, but it was enough to hide them from the eyes of the Dark Elves who were preoccupied with what had happened in the city and the palace.
Nout was walking calmly, as if everything that had happened was part of the plan he had wanted from the very beginning.
As for Yord and Aul...
They were looking at him with intense curiosity.
Yord was unable to hold back her curiosity any longer.
She looked at Nout, then said:
"Did you find out what that Seed is, Nout?"
She paused for a moment, then continued while looking at him with interest:
"And is it with you?"
(Author's Note):
Hello everyone! Thank you for your continuous support of this novel; your comments and interactions mean the world to me.
Stepping away from our story here for a moment, I wanted to share another project I've been working on with great passion. I have started publishing a webtoon (comic) on the Webtoon platform titled "Me and the Wolf."
It is a [Comedy / Fantasy] story about a miserable young man and a cunning wolf who is constantly getting him into trouble! If you enjoy my writing style and the way I build scenarios, I promise you're going to love this comic.
I would be so grateful if you could go check it out, subscribe to the series, and let me know what you think in the comments there!
🔍 Search on the Webtoon app for: [Me and the Wolf]