Chapter 386: The Puzzle with missing pieces... Part-2.


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    Staring at the setting sun, Idri continued in a solemn voice.


    "In that strange underground building, I found a familiar type of altar on Floor 1, which is the lowest floor..."


    "There are old records of the previous Dragon King finding various simr altars in that time when Mana first descended in this world..."


    "The previous Dragon King spected that those Altars all had a forbidden magic tainted with miasma and corruption hidden inside them... The previous dragon king destroyed all of those altars himself..."


    "This prevented the forbidden magic from spreading into our world; if not for his that action, there would have been a lot of people in this world who would have mastered horrible and cruel magic forms by now..."


    Forbidden magic mostly refers to those practices or spells that use life force, souls, and corruption as their power source.


    The process of extracting life force and soul from an individual is extremely cruel, as most of the time you need a corrupted evil soul in these types of magic.


    Thus, you would need to torture the victim immensely to the point that their soul gets corrupted with hatred and miasma.


    There have been no reports of people doing these practices because they arepletely illegal all over the world.


    The world alliance has strict rules, and unless you want an SS-ranker to pay you a visit personally, you wouldn''t want to break those rules no matter what.


    Given the existence of SS-rankers like Ashtel, who prioritize the safety of the people above all else, it is impossible that they will allow such evil practices to continue.


    The whole is always under the watch of the alliance except for the Demon Continent; thus, even if someone wants to use forbidden magic on a vast scale, they can''t unless they themselves are in the Demon Continent.


    "The situation has changed now... Neo Aldif likely found the altar intact and then broke it to loot the forbidden magic inside..."


    "ording to the inscriptions on the altar, the forbidden magic that was stored in that hidden altar is likely rted to summoned beast evolution and human body possession or something like that..."


    "The previous king figured out how to decode those inscriptions and taught it to me just in case..."


    "I think that Neo wants to enhance and evolve his summoned beasts using this forbidden magic..."


    At that moment, Idri nced at Link and spoke in a solemn tone.


    "And we can all imagine what his goal could be..."


    At that moment, a look of realization came upon the whole group, including Link.


    "T-this!? B-but is it really possible!?"


    Link was the one who was most shocked by this situation.


    "Yes... his primary goal is Ashtel Rex..."


    In the whole world alliance, Ashtel Rex is the strongest SS-ranker; he can go toe to toe with Idri if the worst-case scenario happens. That''s why Idri respects him and has never tried to fight him.


    Even Idri tried to woo Ashtel Rex; he even tried to offer his own daughter as a bargaining chip; he offered his daughter''s hand for marriage with Link, just so he could get the talented Link and the strong Ashtel Rex on his side.


    Ashtel''s existence alone is enough to decrease the crime rate in the whole human empire and remain below 0.3% at all times.


    Due to Ashtel Rex, the police in the human empire have be a joke; they literally beg the government to give them work, as they don''t have any cases to investigate all year long.


    This decreases their sry, and people have even started to say that they don''t even need police anymore.


    Criminals consider their life choices a hundred times as the fear of Ashtel Rex is just too big. "In your human empire and even in the alliance, Ashtel Rex is the reason why everything is so stable; his existence is the reason why the other SS-rankers dare not raise a finger towards the human race..."


    Idri clenched his fist a bit and smiled.


    "I dare say that even if I send Fenix and the other SS-rankers under mymand to fight him altogether, the final victor will still be Ashtel Rex in the end..."


    "I never underestimate the power of my opponents, Link; your father is the only person I


    think can rival me and can keep me at bay when I go all out..."


    "But this is also the reason why your father is the biggest thorn in the eyes of a lot of people..."


    Ashtel Rex is a benevolent and kind hero and the symbol of hope for the people of the human empire, but for many people, he''s the biggest obstacle and the most annoying thorn stuck in their flesh that refuses toe out.


    "As long as he is standing proud and strong, as long as your father''s fist is still supporting the sky for you, not a single evil-minded person will dare to even breathe too loudly in his


    presence..."


    "But... what if that ''Symbol of Hope'' doesn''t exist anymore?... What if the person keeping everything stable suddenly disappears?"


    "Then everything will change; the power dynamics of the whole world will change... In fact,


    even the demons will start moving more arrogantly if he disappears..."


    Hearing those words, Link frowned deeply and asked in a solemn tone,


    "B-but... I-I really can''t see Father losing to some random evil magic like that-"


    Idriughed a bit at those words and interjected.


    "It''s not about defeating or losing; maybe Neo has some other ns; he might be aiming to only weaken Ashtel to some extent..."


    "Actually, I refuse to believe that Neo is working alone in this matter; he might have someone else working with him..."


    The solemn look on Idri''s face deepened.


    "If he''s resorting to forbidden magic, I won''t be surprised if Neo has already coborated with the demons..."


    "The world has many tricks and techniques hidden in it''s secret hiding ces; among those infinite possibilities, I won''t be surprised if someone finds the ''Perfect'' counter for Ashtel


    too..."


    Liam frowned at that moment and asked,


    "But what would he gain from defeating Link''s father? Wouldn''t that just weaken humanity and, in turn, harm him too?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Idri frowned at Liam but still answered in a calm voice.


    "There can be any kind of reason... Maybe his real goal isn''t even Ashtel at all... Maybe he wants to achieve something that is just too evil, and Ashtel might be the one blocking his path


    forward...."


    "There are just too many possibilities; only he might know about it all..."


    Idri shook his head, looked at Link once more, and then spoke.


    "Link, a fine warrior must be ready for all circumstances; you should do the same. Although I can''t see Ashtel losing to anyone, you should still be ready for the worst-case scenario..."


    "If for some reason Ashtel Rex goes out ofmission, then the next person everyone will ce their hopes on will be you..."


    "You will have to withstand the pressure from all over the world; everyone will hope for you to grow up fast and stabilize the situation in Ashtel''s stead..."


    Idri sighed at those words.


    "Raji and Jin are just kiddos with not much talent and power; they alone can''t stabilize the entire human race and the position of humanity in the world alliance..."


    Jin has no hope of going further than he already has; thus, he will likely not even reach Neo''s level for hundreds of years.


    On the other hand, Raji worked hard to grow up to the level where she could exact a bit of revenge from Neo for what he did, but even her improvement speed slowed down


    considerably after reaching rank SS.


    Forget about Ashtel; she will need decades to even reach Neo''s level of strength. (Neo let her


    beat him on purpose; she couldn''t have done it otherwise...)


    In other words, Link has more hope for reaching Ashtel''s level than nearly all the current SS- rankers, including those from the alliance.


    "Just pray that nothing happens to Ashtel or get ready to bear immense pressure; you only have these two choices... After all, you are still too weak to even beat Neo''s mimic beasts, let


    alone his real body..."


    Although Idri doesn''t like Neo, he has fought the guy once, and it can be said that Neo can hold his own for a few hours even in front of the strongest person in the world, which is already an amazing feat.


    Raji and Jin wouldn''t havested that long if they were the ones fighting with Idri at that


    moment.


    In fact, Neo forced Idri to allow him to stay; other weaker SS-rankers couldn''t have even dreamed of forcing his hand like that, as they would have been dead by that point. Although Idri doesn''t know what Neo is actually aiming for, he knows one thing for sure: Neo


    is definitely not a small fry who can be ignored.


    "Well, that''s it... Let''s go back to the dragon pce now..."


    A confused look appeared on Sin''s face as she asked,


    "Uh, you already know about it all; then why aren''t we taking any action against him?"


    Idriughed a bit at those words and patted Sin''s head as if he were pitying a kid who


    lacked insight.


    "Sin, these things are but the concern of the human empire and the alliance; it has nothing


    to do with us; we dragons are a neutral party..."


    "Neo tried to harm the dragon valley, so I will definitely punish him for that, but everything


    else has nothing to do with us..."


    "And I am sure that Ashtel Rex can handle these small waves; in fact, I am kind of curious how


    things will turn out..."


    A look of amusement appeared on Idri''s face as he opened a portal for the group.


    "Follow me..."


    ...


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here!


    Question of the day.


    What do you think? What might be Neo''s ultimate n?


    (Tell me your thoughts in thements)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones!!