A Peacock Husband of Five Princesses by day, a Noble Assassin by Night-Chapter 76: Gabriel’s true intentions (1/2)
Artemis nodded, her mind swirling with the weight of this new gift. She had known she was always destined for something greater, but now she could feel the raw power inside her—dark, chaotic, and unyielding. She would need time to master it, but with it came the possibility of reshaping the world itself.
Elsewhere in the tower, Laura and Seraphina moved cautiously through the winding corridors, their eyes sharp, senses heightened. They had come across another isolated chamber, tucked away in the deepest part of the tower. The air was thick with mystery, and they exchanged a glance before stepping inside.
The chamber was modest, with little more than a stone pedestal at its center. On the pedestal rested a treasure chest, its surface unremarkable yet undeniably ancient. The two women approached it with a mix of curiosity and caution.
Seraphina knelt down first, her fingers brushing the lid of the chest. It opened with a soft creak, revealing two items inside. A blank magic tome, its pages empty but brimming with some sort of mysterious aura, and a peach fruit, glowing faintly with an inner light. They both stared at it in wonder, sensing that whatever lay before them held power beyond their comprehension.
Laura reached out, picking up the fruit carefully. "What do you think this is?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Seraphina’s eyes narrowed as she studied it. "I don’t know. But something tells me that it needs to be consumed as soon as possible."
The women shared a brief look, before Laura tossed it to Seraphina and she started munching it. Meanwhile, Laura went on bonding with the magic tome.
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Coincidentally, the moment both of them were done, the tower’s existence flickered, then vanished in an instant, leaving nothing but confusion in its wake. On the island, the adventurers found themselves disoriented, many stumbling as they adjusted to their surroundings. The sudden absence of the tower left most feeling empty-handed, as if the very ground they stood on had stolen away their hard-earned prizes. Stay updated via novelbuddy
The murmurs spread like wildfire.
Some of the adventurers had found treasures—hidden weapons, rare artifacts—but many had nothing to show for their efforts.
Those who had filled their storage rings were now left to wonder if the treasures they had taken were even real. Those who hadn’t been so fortunate found their weapons taken from them, stripped away in the blink of an eye. Only those who bonded the equipment with their souls in the tower or consumed the magical fruits ended up fortunate.
"The tower was supposed to last 24 hours!" one adventurer shouted. "It disappeared too quickly! Someone must have claimed the celestial treasure."
"What’s going on?"
"Where is that magic crystal?"
"The dagger... it is gone..."
"Haha, I did the right thing, bonding with the sword. This sword is mine."
The whispers grew louder, each adventurer wondering who among them had walked away with the ultimate prize. Had someone truly managed to claim the fabled Sword of Zurin, or were the stories about the tower fabricated?
Laura and Seraphina, however, weren’t concerned with the mutterings around them. Their focus was on one thing—finding Kael. The two women moved through the crowd, their eyes scanning every face, but they couldn’t see him. Panic began to rise in Laura’s chest.
"Where is he?" she muttered, her voice tight.
Seraphina placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He’s fine. He has to be. We’ll find him."
Meanwhile, Kael had already left the lake in a boat, returning to the treehouse as quickly as possible. He walked inside, his eyes immediately landing on the man still sitting there, waiting for him. The stranger looked up as Kael entered, a curious gleam in his eyes.
"Well? Did you find what you were looking for?" the man asked.
Kael stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "No, I found a couple of magic scrolls." He opened his storage ring, pulling out one scroll at random, handing it over to the man. "Take this one," he said, his voice casual.
The man took the scroll, examining it briefly. "A magic scroll with a freezing spell. This is a good find, indeed."
"This one carries the spell of lightning strike." Kael then tossed a second one, watching as the man’s eyes flickered with interest.
Kael straightened, his gaze hardening. "Look, I tried my best, but this is the most I could do. I don’t have the power to convince my mother-in-law to give up such treasure, either. All I need is information about my sister. Where is she? How about just telling me the territory she was in for these two magic scrolls? You are not losing out on anything here."
Gabriel, the man sitting before him, merely shrugged as he tossed both of the scrolls at the table, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "Sorry, a deal’s a deal. Either the sword or the necklace. If you have nothing, then the deal is off," he said nonchalantly.
Kael’s patience snapped at once.
With no Seraphina or Laura at his side, Kael didn’t care to pretend to be weak.
His hand shot out, grabbing Gabriel by the collar. His anger flared, though he kept his voice low, dangerous. "I don’t care about the deal. You’re going to tell me where she is."
Gabriel’s smile widened, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "Just as I thought, you trained your physical body to the peak due to the lack of your mana reserves. However, you still aren’t a match for me. But fear not, I’ll tell you, alright... if you’ll have to make it out of here alive, that is."
Kael’s grip tightened, his eyes narrowing. It was then he sensed the presence of a few Tier-6 experts surrounding the house. He knew he was being followed as soon as he boarded the boat, but he had thought little of it. A group of Tier-6 adventurers wasn’t much of a threat to someone like him, anyway.
"Alive?" Kael muttered, his tone low. "I’m not leaving here without answers."
Gabriel shook his head, his expression calmer as he freed Kael’s grip from his collar. "Kael, it’s not me you need to worry about. Those aren’t my friends following you." His gaze turned cold, and his voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "Those are my targets. The real fishes I was waiting to catch."
Kael’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but before he could react, Gabriel moved toward the door. "Stay inside. You’ll want to stay out of this."
Kael stood still, his senses heightened as he listened intently from within the treehouse. Gabriel walked out, and Kael watched through the open window, eyes narrowing as Gabriel’s aura began to shift. A wave of energy pulsed from him, revealing his soul realm into Tier-7.
"Hmm? Why was he suppressing his soul realm? Toying with those clowns?" Kael wondered.
Gabriel’s voice, calm yet commanding, echoed through the air as he spoke to the assassins surrounding the place. "I’ve been waiting for you, Clowns from the Ark."
The group of clowns with cone hats—masked assassins known for their strange, unsettling appearance—didn’t speak a word. They just stood there, unblinking, their presence almost suffocating in its silence.
Kael’s gaze locked onto them, trying to make sense of the situation. What did this person want with the Clowns? Why did he say that they were his real targets?
Was he a bait for the Clowns of Ark? Kael’s eyes widened in realization.
Just as the tension reached its peak, a new figure emerged from the shadows—a final clown, but this one was different.
He wore a crown, an odd, regal touch that made him stand apart from the others. Gabriel spoke again, his voice now mixed with a strange familiarity.
"King Clown."
The King Clown, towering over the others, turned his masked face toward Gabriel, his presence equally imposing. His voice was deep and raspy, carrying an unsettling calmness. "Who are you?" he asked, his words filled with an unspoken challenge.
Gabriel’s aura flared once again, pushing his soul realm into Tier-8—matching the King Clown’s strength exactly. Kael’s frown deepened. "Still pretending? What is this guy playing?"
Gabriel’s lips curled into a thin smile. "You don’t need to know."
Without warning, Gabriel raised his hand, and a crackling energy filled the air. The ground trembled as a grand spell sealed itself into the environment, trapping everyone within a massive barrier. The entire area, including the clowns, was caught in the shimmering dome.
The King Clown’s expression remained impassive as Gabriel’s eyes flickered with cold calculation. "From the beginning, my target was never you, Kael," he said aloud, his eyes glancing at Kael’s figure from the window in the corner. "You were just bait. Bait to draw them out."
Kael, still inside the room, nodded. "Indeed, it is as I expected. Just because I seemed lucky, it doesn’t make sense for anyone to think that I can claim the Sword of Zurin. I just thought that he figured out my true strength back then."
"Clowns of Ark," Gabriel continued as if the words were as familiar to him as his own breath. "They’ve been after you for some time now, Kael. They want you to convince Mia to awaken their founder. You asked me where Mia was at. Well, I’ll tell you now. Mia is imprisoned in Clowns of Ark’s Headquarters."
