Chapter 234

**

Alice glanced at Allen, who was now staring back at her with a pair of surprised eyes .

This lasted for a few seconds, and after finding his stare a bit too much to handle, she quickly avoided meeting his gaze .

As far as divinity control was concerned, she could legitimately claim to be second only to her grandfather, Raphael .

And as her family had been serving the Imperial Family for quite a long time, she knew almost better than anyone the ‘special traits’ of those carrying the Imperial bloodline .

‘His majesty the Holy Emperor, the Crown Imperial Prince, and the Imperial Prince…’

Every single one of them had this tendency to crazily pour out a ridiculous amount of divinity . They seemed to forget about the threat of divinity depletion and tend to completely lose themselves in the madness to hunt down Vampires .

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But that was the reason why the Imperial Family members were feared so much and seen as threatening existences in the Vampires’ view .

That was perhaps the reason why the ‘Astoria’ family existed for them – a family of ‘Priests’ who supported the Imperial Family from the back .

Especially in the case of Alice – she was the Saintess with a god’s fragment inside her . She possessed truly outstanding talent and strength even when compared to the rest of her family .

Now normally, her strength should’ve been reserved only for the sake of the Holy Emperor, but…

‘There isn’t anyone watching here, so…’

She owed the Seventh Imperial Prince for fully healing her patient in the past . And it also seemed that his majesty had already decided to make his youngest grandson the next Holy Emperor, anyway .

Long story short, there shouldn’t be a problem here .

Of course…

‘If my grandfather gets wind of it, he might faint from shock…’

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Cardinal Raphael might collapse while clutching the back of his neck if he saw the sight of his dear granddaughter lending her assistance to the Seventh Imperial Prince from the back, considering that the boy prince almost succeeded in raping her in the past .

“Hang on, you can tune divinity, you say?”

“Yes, your highness . It’ll be similar to resonance . Something like the one your highness performed back in Laurensis . ”

“I did what now?”

The Seventh Imperial Prince tilted his head in confusion, and Alice could only make a cramped smile .

Back then, the legion of skeleton mages he had summoned went on to cause a resonance of divinity . All the Priests nearby would’ve felt as if they were experiencing a miracle when that happened .

Which shouldn’t be all that surprising, since their divinity resonated and would’ve been enhanced by a great deal for a while .

“Yes, it’ll be like a type of tuning or intervention, your highness, similar to offering a prayer . The idea is to enhance the output of divinity all the while minimising its expenditure as much as possible . ”

On top of that, they could even share divinity .

“Of course, the range of actions I can make will become greatly restricted in the process . ” Alice glanced at Allen while continuing on with her explanation, “However, achieving resonance won’t be difficult if you can provide me with sufficient protection, your highness . I can minimise both your divinity depletion and divinity deviation as much as possible . ”

Allen’s expression showed that he was contemplating this new option .

He then shifted his gaze over to Norman . “What do you think will happen if I attack it from beyond the doorway?”

The aged magician replied with a smile, “It won’t be the same as last time, your highness . It certainly won’t end with a simple warning, I’d wager . ”

This meant that no petty tricks would work here .

Alice quietly waited for Allen’s decision .

She didn’t say anything and stared at him for a while, and eventually, he let out a long sigh .

“Well, in that case…” He looked back at Alice . “I’ll be in your care . ”

She grinned brightly at that .

**

Hans began inscribing a rune letter on a huge piece of parchment . He used ink containing the powder made out of ground magic stone to draw a complicated-looking rune .

He then cautiously placed a lit torch over it and proceeded to melt down the magic stone powder . Some time later, the rune letter solidified .

“Alright, the rune for the defensive magic is now complete . Next up is…”

Hans then dangled some lumps of ancient dragon meat over the parchment, as well as some tree branches .

The group waited for the monsters to take the bait .

Blood dripped noisily as Alice stood on top of the parchment itself .

Even though she was clanging her gauntlets to say she was ready, a tense expression still remained on her face .

She asked, “Will this really be alright?”

“Of course . Just who am I, miss?” Hans pounded on his chest and expressed how confident he was . “Am I not the greatest Alchemist in the world? It should work just fine!”

“What do you mean by ‘it should’? Isn’t that too irresponsible…?”

While muttering that to herself, Alice shifted her gaze to the bush where Allen and Norman should be hiding .

It was somewhat reassuring to know that those two were there, but still…

“I’m telling you, my barrier magic will be potent enough to withstand the angel’s bombardment magic, so you mustn’t wor…”

It was right at that moment that the ground rumbled with a loud ‘Thud-!’

Alice and Hans both turned their heads at the same time . They initially wondered if another ancient dragon had shown up, but they couldn’t see anything .

No, wait – they did see something, but instead, it was a huge flower .

It was about three metres high and boasted rather thick stems .

Just as Hans began tilting his head, something hidden just beneath the earth writhed and shifted . Vines of a ‘tree’ suddenly grabbed hold of his ankles and lifted him up in the air .

The centre of the gorgeous-looking flower split open with a wet ‘splat’ . At the next moment, an undeniably sweet scent wafted out and a pool of flower ‘sap’ could be seen inside its mouth . To Hans, though, that mouth looked like a tunnel leading straight to hell .

“Uwaaaaahk?!”

He screamed desperately .

The vines swung like a bunch of whips and the thick tree branches nearby were shattered into bits . The creature’s power was quite considerable; in a way, it was even stronger than the ancient dragon’s fangs .

One of the vines flew towards Alice’s direction, she was still standing on top of the rune . Right at that moment, the rune emitted bright light and an invisible wall easily blocked the incoming vine .

Alice was surprised by what she saw, while Hans, who was still dangling in the air, clenched his fist triumphantly . “Nice! Now, take a look! Even if it’s an imitation, a barrier generated from the improvised Aztal Rune can…”

Right at that moment, Hans was swallowed up inside the carnivorous plant’s mouth .

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And as if to match the timing, the body of the plant creature exploded spectacularly . Allen had shot it down with his musket .

He and Norman emerged from their hiding place somewhere inside the bush .

The latter began tapping the barrier that had protected Alice with his walking staff, an awed expression etched on his face . “…It is rather surprisingly sturdy, isn’t it? To think that the hardness of a barrier created not out of magic, but simple Alchemy, would be this strong…”

“I guess he really is a genius . ”

While Norman and Allen chatted away, Hans crawled out from the soggy mess of the plant creature’s corpse . He covered up his nose before saying something, “Didn’t I say it, everyone? It took me three days and nights to design and construct that barri… Euw-wuph…”

He suddenly began vomiting, but even then, he still reached out with his hands and began rummaging through the plant creature’s exploded body .

‘I bloody knew it . I shouldn’t have come . Still…’

Hans extracted the sap and seed before putting them away inside a leather pouch . Despite the smell being on the horrendous side, he was still smiling away inside nonetheless .

‘I should be able to make some incredible medicine with these . ’

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All sorts of Alchemic theories rapidly fleeted in and out of Hans’s head .

This sap contained Mana . Hans was thinking that the sap could turn into a truly excellent medicine by adding pure holy water created by the Seventh Imperial Prince, which contained no impurities whatsoever .

“Wow . Your stomach sure is made out of pure A-grade steel, isn’t it? Seriously, though . Are you feeling alright?”

The Seventh Imperial Prince asked, and as his reply, Hans shook around the leather pouch containing the flower sap . “It might come in handy one day, sir . ”

“Really?”

“After all, it’s all for you in the end, sir . ”

Hans wasn’t lying there .

Although he felt deeply unhappy about getting dragged into these sorts of dangerous situations, he was fully cognisant of the fact that he owed the Imperial Prince a huge debt as well .

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The boy prince saved his life during the Orc’s raid in the Aslan desert, and even fought a dragon off during their exploration of the ancient dungeon-slash-tomb .

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Hans got to discover and study ancient runes, and also ended up going on a journey throughout the world .

And finally, the Seventh Imperial Prince didn’t care about Hans’s status and only looked at the latter’s true nature and talent, giving him the kind of treatment that he deserved .

Thanks to these events, Hans’s view of the world had changed .

He was living a dream that no simple peddler would ever get to experience . And the Seventh Imperial Prince had given him the opportunity to live this dream .

Of course, Hans was planning to repay this debt .

“Well, then . Our preparations are now complete . ”

Allen said that while staring at the rune letter that had protected Alice .

Hans’s barrier was verified to be working properly . And Allen too would do his very best to protect Alice .

Meanwhile, it would be her job to support him .

She’d begin the resonance of divinity with him, and through that, he would try to summon two absolute monsters, which was something he had never attempted before .

The highest existence among the undead, the Skeleton King .

The strongest creature from legends, the Bone Dragon .

He’d summon both of them at the same time .

He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes here . And after coming this far, he couldn’t afford to back off, either .

Since they had come to this ‘dungeon’ as adventurers, they must…

“Our goal is this one thing . ”

Everyone shifted their gazes over to Allen .

He grinned deeply and finished the rest of his sentence .

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“And it’s to steal the ancient Holy Emperor’s favourite toy . ”

No adventure would be complete without acquiring a treasure or two, now would it?

Fin .