Star Forge Titan

Anyone who wants to go to the battlefield where monsters are fighting each other can go, but the only possible way to survive now is inside the heavily guarded palace.

What's more... a thief never leaves empty-handed!

Chapter 72: Notes of the Witch King

In nature, when faced with ferocious predators, small animals always tend to use various means to hide their existence in order to escape.

As a naturally small, intelligent race, halflings have been adept at using various means to conceal their tracks since the days of tribal civilization. It's precisely because of this that extraordinary individuals born from this small group often tend to choose classes like Rogue.

Of course, there are some special halfling individuals who will become warriors or even vanguards, which are positions that have high physical requirements, but Lilim is obviously not among them.

When passing by the shadow cast by a towering palace wall, the halfling girl instinctively wanted to hide in it and sneaked along the shadow, but at this moment, she was shocked to find that there were no less than twenty halflings hiding in the shadow.

Their identity as halflings allowed them to escape the fate of having their vitality drained by the Witch-King, and they are now hiding in the shadows and trying to wait for the end of the battle.

"Look somewhere else quickly. There's no room for anyone here." A halfling dressed as a servant with an extremely haggard face lowered his voice and shouted:

Although he was dressed like a servant, he was also extremely fat, just like the other halflings who had lived in Fayoum for a long time.

"..." Lilim's cheek twitched. The two monsters were clearly fighting fiercely, but these guys actually wanted to continue hiding in this way.

"This place will soon be dragged into the battlefield, so let's run away." Although time was running out, the half-orc girl with twin ponytails couldn't help but whisper a suggestion.

"..." There was no response. The other silent halflings looked at Lilith with strange eyes. It was obvious that they did not agree with her statement and had no intention of leaving this area which they thought was safe.

Unlike the former who had just arrived in Faiyum, many halflings who had lived here for many years had become extremely arrogant and complacent because of the unusually preferential racial bias policy. They even believed that as the same race as the Witch King, they should naturally be treated preferentially, even in the face of the current dire situation.

By the way, these guys are just servants, cooks or court jesters in the Witch King's court, but they are called halfling nobles by residents of other races outside, which is particularly ironic.

Lilim had always felt out of place, and now, this incomprehensible feeling of difference was becoming even stronger. To her, they looked like idiots cast by a mage with a mental disability. Could such a fool really be one of her own?

In addition, even though she was also covered by the preferential policy for halflings, Lilim never believed that a cruel ruler like the Witch-King who regularly drained the vitality of the residents would give extra preferential treatment to anyone just because they were of the same race.

Could it be that, although the halflings of Fayum City are not openly subject to the blood tax that drains their vitality, they are secretly suffering from some more silent evil magic?

Looking at the halfling servants who were as fat as pigs in the shadows, or in fact, the real nobles of Faiyum City, Lilim shook her head without time to think and ran quickly forward.

The sound of collapsing buildings behind them grew louder, signaling that the fierce battle between the two wizard kings, after activating their beastly forms, was reaching a fever pitch. Even though the third wizard king was clearly at a disadvantage, the tenacious vitality of his beastly form could not be completely extinguished in a short period of time.

A dying monster, a dying fourth-level being, the power that can be unleashed must be terrifying and crazy, and it can easily destroy the entire city with a wave of its hand.

Lilim gritted her teeth and ran forward desperately. She didn't want to get caught up in the monster battle. At this moment, leaving as quickly as possible was the best option. However, the path leading to the main gate was already blocked by the battlefield between two monsters, leaving the halfling girl with few options.

Lilith vaguely remembered that if she continued moving north from the palace kitchen, there was a road directly connected to the Witch King's bedroom. It was the servants' passage through which the servants used to deliver meals.

The Third Sorcerer King's chambers were vast, with multiple entrances and exits. Those areas were once heavily guarded, but that was no longer the case. The horrific battle between the two enormous monsters was enough to drive most sane guards to flight.

In other words, if nothing unexpected happens, as long as Lilim passes through the palace complex which covers a large area, she can successfully bypass the monster battlefield and escape from the palace of the Third Witch King.

But generally when nothing unexpected happens, the accident happens.

Roar!

The monster's roar was deafening. Although the center of the battle was several kilometers away from Lilith's bedroom, the sound still turned into a tangible air wave, bringing with it a terrifying impact that was no less than a hurricane in nature.

The surrounding trees were blown down, not to mention the halfling girl, who weighed only half as much as a normal human. Lilim, forced off the ground, screamed and clung to the outward-leaping edge of a palace building. As she barely managed to control herself, she saw the palace wall she had just left collapsing at a visible speed.

The heavy bricks that made up the palace walls collapsed as quickly as a castle on the beach being swallowed by the waves. As for the halflings hiding behind the palace walls, their fate was naturally self-evident.

Lilim bit her lip. Although she had a bad relationship with that group of people, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pity for her own kind at this horrific scene, like a natural disaster. And even more so, despair.

Roars and impacts followed one after another. At the edge of their field of vision, two monsters fiercely clashed, unleashing terrifying power that shook the very earth. Even as a transcendent being, possessing physical prowess superior to that of an ordinary person, the halfling girl's fingers gradually loosened.

This can't go on...

An idea appeared particularly clearly in Lilith's mind. She hardened her heart and loosened her fingers, allowing her body to turn into a fallen leaf caught in the strong wind, and was driven by the shock wave to fly diagonally upwards.

This force was so terrifying, but the half-orc girl, who was in the air and no longer under any force, was not injured. Instead, she took advantage of the gap when the next wave of impact had not yet arrived and gravity began to drag her down, and quickly took off her coat with the agility of a thief, then twisted her waist hard to spin herself into a ball.

In this very brief moment, Lilith used her hands and feet to fix the four corners of the coat, allowing the not-so-heavy white robe to be blown up by the wind, using the air resistance to slow down her descent.

The next second, the shock wave generated by the fight between the Witch King and the Wizard King hit again, and the twin ponytails behind the half-orc girl flew up, and her whole body turned into a kite and floated high up.

The ground in her field of vision was shifting rapidly. Lilim gritted her teeth, gripping the edge of her coat tightly. After gaining sufficient distance, and bypassing a palace building sturdy enough to block the impact of the aftermath of the battle, the halfling girl finally seized the opportunity to let go of her coat and fall to the ground.

Lilith got on all fours like a nimble cat, then rolled over to absorb the remaining impact. She squatted on the ground in a cold sweat, gasping for breath.

When she looked up and glanced around, she found that she had not actually landed. The place she was in was actually a not-too-exaggerated viewing balcony, and connected to it was an extremely gorgeous and luxurious study.

Despite its extravagance, the study exudes a sense of unpretentious warmth. The floorboards beneath are paved with wooden floorboards, a rare commodity in the quiet desert. These wide, flat boards require wood that takes years to mature.

Wood like this can only be produced in a few oases that can last for many years, so it is much more expensive than in other countries, and most of the time it is only used to make more expensive furniture.

At present, these rare materials have been made into floors that are casually spread throughout the study, and even on the walls, deliberately creating a style that is particularly warm but not like a palace. It is still the most traditional typical half-man cave style, which is half underground and half above ground with a large amount of warm wood inside.

If Lilith hadn't just looked down at the entire building from a high vantage point, she would never have imagined that this room was located in the center of the entire palace complex.

Just looking at the decoration style of the study, she even felt like she was back in her hometown of Shire.

Now is not the time to be idle...

Lilith patted her chubby cheeks, shook her head, and was about to walk out of the study to continue looking for a way out of the Witch King's Court. The scope of the battle between the two Witch Kings was getting larger and larger, and it was possible that it would reach here at any time.

But just before leaving the study, the halfling girl suddenly noticed a writing desk illuminated by sunlight placed near the balcony.

On a tilted wooden shelf, a thick notebook with a back cover wrapped in cowhide and made of smooth parchment was quietly spread out.

Is that the memoir of the Third Wizard King?

This thought immediately arose in Lilim's mind, followed by an irrepressible curiosity.

According to tradition, elderly halflings often write their own memoirs. In a sense, this can be seen as a halfling's summary of his or her life, or in other words, their diary.

Although most normal people would not plant mines in their study, out of caution, Lilith made a quick check to make sure there were no magic traps around before tiptoeing towards the open thick notebook and standing on tiptoe to peek at the contents from a distance.

However, on the smooth and flat surface of the parchment, there was an unfinished paragraph written in an extremely sloppy and slightly crazy handwriting.

"Those consumables are becoming increasingly unusable. These past two days, I've been dreaming more and more about that city, that magnificent underground fortress built by giants, suspended above the magma sea..."

The ink dripping on the paper shows that the writer paused and hesitated for a long time before continuing to write the subsequent text.

"Is it you calling me?"

"Abyss!!!"

Chapter 73: So, the boy decided to upgrade

It was obvious that the situation did not allow him to stop, and it was obvious that the fight between the giant beasts in the distance was becoming more and more intense.

But Lilith felt that the messy and scribbled handwriting in front of her had an inexplicable attraction.

Just as the halfling girl was about to continue reading involuntarily, she suddenly tilted her neck back and slammed her head hard on the table.

Boom!

After the dull sound, a streak of blood flowed from Lilim's forehead, but her eyes became clear again.

What the hell are those Witch Kings up to!

Those guys are really not good people!

The two thoughts raced through her mind. Lilim tore a piece of cloth from her clothes to wrap around the wound, and couldn't help but roar silently in her heart with both anger and fear.

Although it was just a short, scribbled text, it let her know the horrifying truth behind the Third Witch King's so-called preferential treatment policy. At the same time, it also made the halfling girl more certain of another truth that frightened her.

All five Sorcerer-Kings, the five Sorcerer-Kings who ruled the five largest city-states, regardless of their outward manifestations of permissive, cruel, or biased ruling styles, their deep spiritual essences were likely to have fallen into a terrifying state that seemed rational but was actually extremely insane.

This can't go on!

After confirming this, the first thought that popped into Lilim's mind was this.

Although his first thought was how to stop the other party, he immediately realized another more difficult problem.

Who else can fight against such a terrifying existence as the Witch King?

A Freedom Fist fighter? Or...

A figure who had just parted and whose memory had not yet faded suddenly appeared in Lilim's mind.

For some reason, she had an inexplicable feeling that the stranger with messy black hair and golden eyes would be more likely to defeat the Witch King than the legendary resistance army.

"Oh, never mind! Let's get out of here first!" The distressed half-orc girl rubbed her hair randomly and couldn't help but complain loudly, breaking the thief's stealth code.

However, despite her constant complaints, her actions did not stop at all. She struggled to close the thick memoir, and Lilith tied it up tightly with a belt as if she were treating a dangerous animal she had captured.

There was no time to look for a possible safe. The halfling girl threw the bundled Memoirs of the Witch-King behind her like a shield, and then mercilessly tore off a curtain with exquisite embroidery patterns that looked extremely expensive, and then quickly walked to the viewing balcony of this private study.

Considering the inevitable magical traps and detection devices in the bedroom, as well as the monster battlefield that was getting closer and closer, Lilith did not plan to leave through the corridor via the ordinary road, as that would be time-consuming and unsafe, and might also lead to various other troubles.

On the contrary, no matter what kind of defense system or warning magic, most of them only consider various situations where others invade from the outside, and are unlikely to deliberately guard against the possibility that "one's own" people who are already inside the building will jump directly from the balcony regardless of their life or death.

Lilith jumped nimbly onto the balcony handrail, which was carefully carved from white marble. As she thought about this, she looked at the ground that was so far away from her and couldn't help swallowing.

Don't be nervous, Lilim. You're a halfling girl who's going to become the legendary top-grade charr chef. How could you just stay in a place like this? You're dying like a rat accidentally stepped on in the aftermath of a fight between two transcendents!

After mentally encouraging herself, Lilim took a deep breath, shook open the curtains, and jumped out from the balcony as before.

If an ordinary human being did such a thing, it would be simply courting death. The little resistance provided by the curtains would not be able to change the fate of turning him into a pool of meat paste under the action of gravity.

However, the halfling's much lighter weight than an ordinary person and the wanderer's flexible posture allowed Lilith to successfully use the wide and expensive curtain to land safely in a manner similar to a parachute.

Even until her feet touched the ground again, Lilith could still feel her heart beating wildly.

After adjusting the belt that held the Memoirs of the Witch-King and confirming that she was already in the palace garden, the halfling girl immediately let go of her messy twin ponytails and began to run as fast as she could along the garden path planted with a lot of vegetation.

The short figure, which was only the height of an ordinary person, was like a football kicked with all its strength by a superstar player. It rolled, crawled, jumped and leaped across the green stone road and rushed towards the palace wall closest to the outer edge.

Run, run, run!

If not now, when?

Run towards the hope of escaping, twintails!

Lilim ran as fast as she could, like a weak little rabbit being chased by seventeen or eighteen strong hounds.

When an unprecedentedly loud wail was heard from behind, accompanied by the death of the third wizard king and the complete destruction of the city-state of Faiyum, the small and agile figure of the halfling girl had already gone deep into the desert, and even the footprints left behind her were completely disappeared under the wind and sand.

On the other side of the desert, Alvin, who had killed a Witch King with his own hands, was facing the serious gaze of his senior brother Brad.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Using a fourth-level ritual to complete a third-level advancement is such an incredible thing. Even for a genius like you, it's extremely dangerous, right?"

"Besides, the teacher himself has never actually completed the so-called fourth-level ritual. Ultimately, it's just a possibility deduced based on existing data." Brad said in a low voice:

Just as the Free Fists, fresh from their battle, were desperately searching for survivors in the ruins of the city, news of the Third Sorcerer King's defeat struck a chord among all members of the Fighter Council. The Sorcerer King's death wasn't necessarily good news, especially for Ivan, who knew of the Gaia Disc's existence.

The black-haired youth, holding three-fifths of the disc fragment, seemed to be in the lead. However, considering the First Sorcerer King's knowledge of this mysterious disc, and the information inequality between the two sides, the situation was at best a draw. Considering the disadvantages brought on by this information asymmetry, it could even be said that he was slightly at a disadvantage.

So, faced with this stalemate, Alvin made a very straightforward decision.

He wants to complete his promotion and become a formal upper-level transcendent.

Frankly speaking, this is not too difficult for the descendants of Titan who have already determined the power of their souls.

But the promotion ceremony that Alvin planned to choose was extraordinary, because it was not essentially a ceremony for promotion to the third level, but a fourth-level ceremony called Sky Fighter, which was recorded in Master Rigor's boxing notes.

"If it's just a Fist Fighter promotion, it's fine. But the Sky-Splitting Fist, the Azure Fist, or the truly complete version of the Fist Fighter's fourth-tier class—the Sky Fighter—I still think it's too dangerous."

"What's more, the teacher took into account the objective conditions of the Fist Fighters and the Silent Desert and made a special choice at the beginning of the design so that this promotion ceremony does not require the use of those extremely expensive and rare materials. Instead, it only requires the person who is promoted to master the true meaning of boxing and possess a sufficiently large amount of his own 'qi'." At this point, Brad couldn't help but sigh again, feeling that the deceased teacher was too idealistic.

"But things aren't perfect. Just considering the two conditions mentioned above, they might not be any simpler than the rare materials required for other third-tier promotion rituals."

"But I just happen to meet these two conditions, don't I?" Aiwen smiled at his helpless senior brother and said in a calm tone:

Yes, although Alvin is still only a second-level Ash Knight, as a boxer, he has fully comprehended the true meaning of boxing and reached the master level that can stimulate the power of the "Fighting Qi Steel Armor".

At the same time, even without considering the Pool of Light, the black-haired boy, a mere second-level Transcendent, already possessed far more magical power than fellow second-level Transcendents, even surpassing some third-level Transcendents by a wide margin. Therefore, when it came to accumulating the 'Chi' for his boxing techniques, Ivan had no problem at all.

In addition, this method of using higher-level materials or higher-level rituals to force promotion is not something new for Alvin that has never been seen before or will never be seen again.

Not to mention the similar deeds he had witnessed in the virtual world of Palladio, even in this real Palladio, he was fortunate enough to experience the same thing firsthand.

That was the rare promotion method that Ivan had once achieved when he was promoted to the Ash Knight. Perhaps only those gifted individuals known as the "Seed of Perfection" could accomplish.

——Extraordinary sublimation.

Chapter 74: Sky Fighter

The wind whistled across the desert, bringing up wisps of drifting sand and dust.

Alvin stood alone on a sand dune, and in the distance he could vaguely see a small black dot waving at him.

Considering the significant impact of a super-level promotion, Ivan chose to travel to the desert, far from the ruins of Shakara City, to complete the relevant rituals. Although there was still much work to be done there, his senior brother Brad was still worried and insisted on coming with him.