stjorthotic Chapter 266 Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Chapter 266 Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Chapter 266 Sorry, I couldn't help it for a moment.
It seemed to take her brain a moment to process the information: all the guards and Valkyries were subdued? The Elf King and his arrogant son were dead? And that was it—the end?
"You actually managed to subdue all the guards and Valkyries all by yourself—" Sherry's voice trailed off, finally becoming a murmur, "...and even the Elf King—"
Her gaze returned to the platform, as if she were seeing things.
Li Ang followed her gaze, a rare expression of guilt appearing on his face.
"Yes—I killed them."
Li Ang honestly admitted it, and then continued apologetically, "Just now, I was overcome with anger—and in a moment of impulse—I couldn't hold back. I'm sorry, I didn't consider August's feelings. After all, he's family, and I shouldn't have acted directly."
He looked at Shirley and continued sincerely, "I will explain things to August myself."
Shirley looked at him like this, a hint of surprise flashed in her icy blue vertical pupils, and then she couldn't help but chuckle. However, because her strength had not fully recovered, the laughter quickly turned into a light cough.
She waved her hand, waiting until she calmed down before speaking, her tone full of amusement and exasperation: "Why are you apologizing? Our original plan was also to get rid of these two. With them around, how could His Highness August's throne be secure? And how could he possibly implement those reforms that the conservatives consider 'heretical'?"
She pointed at Phoenix's corpse, her voice lowered, carrying a coldness devoid of pity: "This old king, who reigned for hundreds of years, was stubborn and arrogant, treating the Titans' bounty as his private property, regarding all life except pure-blood elves as worthless weeds, and all orcs wishing they could devour his blood and flesh. As for Reihart—"
Shirley curled her lip, making no attempt to hide her disgust: "He's worse than his father. Objectively speaking, at least the old king still possessed the ability and authority of a ruler, but Reihart is just a spoiled, self-important fool, his mind filled only with 'pure blood' and 'elven supremacy.' With them around, forget about reforms; it's questionable whether His Highness August will even live to be crowned."
She looked at Li Ang and said earnestly, "So, you've solved a huge problem for us, really."
Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief and smiled somewhat sheepishly: "Okay, I was overthinking it. I was worried that August would be furious, after all—they are his blood relatives, no matter what."
"Blood relatives?" Shirley shook her head. "The Elven princes have many offspring. Phoenix alone has more than a dozen wives with official titles, and there are at least dozens of princes and princesses in total. The only people His Highness August cares about are his deceased mother and his sister Alicia, who was chosen as a sacrifice but managed to escape."
She paused, her tone becoming unusually calm: "As for this father and that brother—there's almost no interaction between His Highness August and them, aside from necessary courtly formalities. There's no hatred, but there's no real kinship either. You don't need to worry about that."
Li Ang nodded, indicating that he understood.
Suddenly remembering something, Shirley's eyes lit up, and she asked eagerly, "By the way, where's the scepter? I remember the Elf King was holding that Holy Judgment Scepter just now, where is it now?"
As she spoke, her gaze swept across the ground near the platform.
Li Ang pointed towards the north gate of the Holy City: "I threw it there."
"Throw—throw it over?" Shirley's eyes widened, and her ears stood up straight.
"You just threw something so important over there?"
Her voice unconsciously rose, her tone filled with disbelief and a hint of frustration as she continued.
"That's a strategic weapon capable of casting level five spells! It's a crucial token for His Highness August's successful takeover of the royal court! You just—throw it over like that? What if it breaks? What if it gets lost? What if some clueless elf picks it up?"
Faced with Shirley's barrage of questions, Li Ang remained calm. He explained, "I controlled the force and direction, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"Should?" Sherry's tail thumped the ground impatiently.
"Well, most likely—" Li Ang added, his tone still calm.
Shirley looked at his indifferent expression, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled, forcing herself to calm down.
She rubbed her temples and waved her hand helplessly: "Never mind—His Highness should be able to handle it. Let's leave here first. There are so many elves here, and even though they can't move right now, they're still an eyesore."
Leon agreed, continuing to support Eve with one hand while gesturing to Sherry with the other, "Can you walk?"
"No problem." Sherry stretched her arms and legs. Although she was still a little weak, she could move around without much difficulty. She led the way out of the altar, with Leon and Eve following closely behind.
They passed through the elves held in place by wind pressure, walked through the ravaged altar area, and left the area directly covered by the Tree of Life.
Along the way, one could occasionally see a few elven residents hiding behind doors and windows, peering out in fear, but no one dared to come out and stop them.
On the other side, the battlefield outside the North Gate was still noisy, but the situation had become clearer.
August had just led his orc warriors to defeat a group of elven cavalry attempting to retreat from the flank, and was now standing on a slightly elevated earthen slope, observing the movements in the direction of the breach in the city wall.
He remained on tenterhooks; Li Ang had ventured deep into the Divine Court, his fate uncertain; had the ritual been stopped? Had Eve been rescued?
Just as he was gazing intently into the distance, a dazzling golden light suddenly shone in the sky!
At first, the light was just a dazzling point of light, but it quickly tore through the sky, leaving a long golden trail, like a falling meteor, and shot straight toward his location at an astonishing speed!
"Enemy attack! Protect the Great Cave Master!" The guard captain beside him, a lynx warrior with extremely fast reflexes, roared sharply and instantly pounced on August, trying to push him away.
August himself also had his pupils shrink and his heart almost stop beating. He would never mistake the familiar and terrifying pressure contained in that golden light; it was the [Holy Judgment Scepter]!
Was it a full-force attack from King Phoenix? Or did Leigh Hart use the royal secrets?
Leon failed? Are they trying to wipe him out, the traitor, along with the surrounding orcs?
The shadow of death had never been so clear. He could even feel his back instantly soaked with cold sweat, and his hand holding the sword trembled slightly. The golden light came too fast and seemed to have locked onto his body, leaving him nowhere to hide.