Chapter 161 161 – Another Magic Circle

It's been a few days since I arrived at the Ascaind nation's capital. I have to teleport first to the nearest point from Durcia to this country and then travel manually.

On that trip, I learned that the news of the prophet's disappearance had spread widely, and it caused great panic. People have even fled from their homes far away to other countries. They hope to escape from the dark age to come.

Well, it's useless because I'm going to rule this whole world, though.

"She still hasn't woken up yet?" Ayre entered the room I was in and came over to me, who was sitting on a chair.

"Yeah." I kept looking at the prophet still lying on a bed.

Yes, they are crying over the loss of Velvet, even though the prophet is in this capital, hidden in a basement belonging to a noble who worships me. The officials wouldn't be able to inspect the house of a high-status person in detail.

Sometimes I want to laugh at things like this. Tricking those people is something fun.

"I feel she will wake up in just a moment." I smiled while Lexi brought her dimly lit hand to the prophet's forehead.

"She should have woken up already." The doctor muttered. "This is even longer than when I gave her that sleeping drug before…."

Lexi flinched because Velvet's eyes suddenly opened. The prophet was about to reach the doctor, but I moved faster and caught the dragon daughter's hand.

"Good afternoon, my love." I gave her a warm smile while she showed me a disgusted expression. "How do you feel already back in your hometown?"

She opened her mouth, clearly not believing what I was saying.

Yes, it was strange to bring her to this city, which was the center of her supporters' gathering.

"You can't get out of here." Ayre chimed in. "The door to this room is locked. Screaming for help is also useless. I've used silencer magic here."

"So, sit down and watch this show." I let go of my grip on her hand, and Lexi moved away so the prophet couldn't attack her.

Ayre raised her right hand, causing a magic circle to appear on the wooden floor, glowing yellow and full of runes. Both Lexi and the prophet gasped at that.

Then, the shapeshifter general sprinkled white powder from a small glass bottle onto that circle.

"Is that really giganpoppy extract?" The doctor hissed.

Ayre smiled after the contents of that bottle ran out. "Yes, and this is what Lord Vorn obtained five hundred years ago. It's amazing that this thing hasn't been damaged after such a long period."

Lexi gulped, looking increasingly curious about what she saw.

"No magic can affect me." Velvet got up from the bed. "I will stay in God's way…."

She grimaced when I grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Oh, this magic won't directly affect you." I shrugged with a wide smile.

Ayre stuck a large metal needle the size of an index finger into the magic circle, then said to me again. "Everything is ready, my lord."

"All right." While continuing to restrain the prophet from doing anything unnecessary, I opened my game UI, then selected the [Great Sacrifice] skill.

After that, a list of various things I could sacrifice appeared, starting from some skills to various body organs.

Damn, it turns out I have so many precious things in me. And indeed, I would feel a great loss if any of these ones on the list was lost forever.

If only that passive skill to increase the building speed of my workers was on this list, I would definitely choose it. Unfortunately, the skill turned out to be not that important to me.

I let out an extraordinarily long sigh and selected [Burning Fists] from the list.

[Are you sure you want to sacrifice this?]

[Yes] [No]

Well, I had imagined how fun fighting with this skill would be, but I had no other choice.

I selected [Yes], and another text appeared.

[Are you going to give [Burning fists] to the magic circle in front of you?]

And, of course, I chose [Yes] again.

In that instant, I felt something burning inside my body. A string of orange light tendrils extended from my chest towards the magic circle.

"Incredible…. It's like absorbing the dragon power…." Lexi hissed as those things looked like they were sinking into the magic circle.

"W-what exactly are you going to do?" Velvet started to look nervous.

"Just wait." I can't deny it. I'm also starting to feel excited about this, even though I lost something precious just now.

Ayre started to chant the spell with a blank expression. As time passed, the light from that thing grew brighter and more dazzling, to the point that it made me shield my eyes with my arm.

And then, that light gradually disappeared. When I lowered my arm, I saw a young man with short dark blue hair lying at the location where the magic circle was before.

Long red whip wounds filled his bare-chested body. And when he raised his head, I found many bruises and cuts on his face. His left eye couldn't even open because of the huge bruising, his lips were also bleeding, and his nose was bent in the wrong direction.

Velvet widened her eyes, her chin dropped to its maximum, and her body began to shake uncontrollably.

In a barely audible voice, the man asked. "V-velvet? Is that you?"

I released my grip on that woman. She quickly got off the bed, knelt before the man, and held his head. "Adrian!? What happened to you!?" She then looked at me with rage. "What did you do to Adrian!!??"

"Try asking your best friend, am I the one who tortured him?" I answered while folding my arms across my chest.

Velvet glanced at Adrian again.

"No, not him." That man shook his head with tears on his face.

"Just tell me who they are, then." I tried to convince Adrian. "Isn't there any other reason to hide the truth?"

He was on the verge of death, after all.

Adrian looked down. "Officials from Ascaind did it."

Velvet choked hard. "What?"

My lips formed a big smile. This mission of bringing in the prophet's childhood friend was a huge success.