Chapter 474.2: Ancestral Memories (2)

Shortly after those words were said, the gaze coming from the shadows slowly vanished.

Roel kept his gaze straight ahead, not bothering to scan his surroundings. It was a provocation directed at the Collector, daring the latter to come at him now that he was unguarded. However, there was no response from the enemy.

The Collector knew that Roel was bait. The Witch Queen had already spread her surveillance all around. There was no way they would let him go easily if he dared make a move here. On top of that, the other awakener of the Ascart Bloodline, Lilian, was also in the vicinity. It was clearly unwise to make a move now.

After the Collector’s gaze faded away, the Witch Queen finally revealed herself beside Roel.

“What a tough nut to crack. He didn’t fall for it,” Artasia remarked frowningly.

“Mmhm,” Roel replied calmly.

He didn’t think that the Collector would make a move at this point, but it was still worth a try.

In the sky, the World Serpent loosened her bite, and the burning Treant High Priest fell into the ground with a loud thud. Along with the fallen treant’s death, the irritating fog that had plagued them for weeks finally started to disperse.

With this, the fight was finally over.

…

Inside the dilapidated town that had now been reduced to ruins, Roel was looking quietly at the burning fallen treant before him when Lilian arrived under the accompaniment of her army.

The flame spirits disappeared shortly after Roel sealed Portas Eye off with his frost aura, alleviating the situation over on Lilian’s side. Worried about Roel’s safety, she immediately rushed over to reinforce him, only to discover that the battle had ended even earlier here.

She cast a sweeping glance at the devastation around her as she made her way toward Roel. To her surprise, the latter seemed to have something on his mind as he stared at the flames before him that he was oblivious to her arrival.

Sensing that there was something wrong with him, her worry returned once more. She nervously walked up to him and asked.

“Roel, are you alright?”

“Senior? My apologies, I was thinking about something. I was able to subdue the High Priest without much of an issue. What about you?”

“I’m fine. While those flame spirits are strong, they don’t know how to cooperate with one another, so they weren’t able to pose a threat to me. I’m surprised that you ended the battle so quickly on your side.”

“I was lucky. That’s the true form of the Savior’s High Priest. Peytra happens to naturally curb his race.”

Roel gestured to the inferno before him as he shared the details of the earlier battle. Lilian nodded in response.

“I see. It would indeed be hard for a treant to challenge the Primordial Mother Goddess’ authority, especially when it’s in a weakened state. However, that heart…”

“…”

Lilian’s expression hardened up as she thought about Roel’s deduction.

If Roel’s deduction was spot-on, it would mean that their ancestor, after being killed by the Savior’s worshipers, had been used as a magic tool for at least a thousand years. There was no clan who could forgive the defilement of their ancestors.

While Lilian and Roel didn’t share the Arde family name, they still felt strongly about the matter.

Lilian alternated her gaze between the burning corpse of the fallen treant and the livid Roel, and she couldn’t help but feel a heartache. So, she grabbed his hand and advised.

“Don’t look anymore, Roel. I know that it’s hard to quell your anger, but you have already avenged our ancestor.”

She gently stroked Roel’s cheek, hoping to distract him from the awful cruelty. Roel was momentarily surprised by her gesture, but he soon shook his head.

“That’s not it, senior. While I’m emotionally affected by the plight of our ancestor, it’s not to the extent of disconsolate. Our ancestors have chosen to devote their lives to fighting the Fallens; their deaths are pitiful but not pathetic. I’m waiting for the flames to finish burning before retrieving our ancestor’s heart.”

“From these flames?” Lilian sounded surprised.

“Senior, have you forgotten? Just like how the disappearance spell our ancestor obtained through the Kingmaker Bloodline was ineffective on us, the spells we have obtained through our bloodline would be ineffective on him too.”

“I see.”

Lilian nodded in agreement to Roel’s words.

The two of them watched as the Treant High Priest’s body slowly broke down in the flames. It was only when the flames calmed down a little that Peytra transformed into a small golden serpent and dived into the fallen treant’s ashes.

It didn’t take long for the results to be out. Under Roel and Lilian’s nervous stares, the golden serpent emerged from the flames with a crimson heart.

The heart was dripping with lava so hot that it burned right through the ground, but even so, it continued to beat with fervor. The thousand-year-old heart was unharmed by the extreme temperature it was put under!

Roel stared at the heart for a brief moment before extending his hand toward it.

Naturally, the two of them hadn’t dug out this heart from the ashes of the fallen treant just so to admire it. Roel’s intention was to bring the heart back to the Ascart House’s ancestral land to be buried, but more important than that, there were people waiting to be saved.

Paul and the others were still missing despite the battle with the Treant High Priest having long concluded. There could only be one possibility behind that—the spell that had been cast on them hadn’t been dispelled yet.

The only clue left was the beating heart containing remnants of divine power, so it was of paramount importance for them to retrieve and inspect it.

The heart that continued beating despite the heat waves pulsating from it left Roel feeling a little uncomfortable, but he persisted in reaching out for it. As his hand came into contact with the heart, countless memories suddenly flooded his mind.

“This!”

“What’s wrong, Roel?”

Roel’s mind blanked out from the massive influx of information, causing him to stagger weakly. Shocked, Lilian quickly reached out to support him. She took a quick scan of the surroundings before activating her defensive spell.

“Ten Fortresses.”

As she erected walls that were even sturdier than steel around them, her soldiers quickly formed a circular formation around them and pointed their weapons outward. The enemy might have been reduced to ashes, but they couldn’t afford to get careless when it came to the Fallens. Lilian wouldn’t risk anything when it came to Roel’s safety.

As a result, in the center of the ruined town, surrounded by soldiers and a layer of wall, Lilian rested Roel’s body on hers and nervously waited for him to recover. A long time later, when the fog around them had completely dispersed, Roel finally opened his eyes.

“Roel, are you alright? What happened earlier?”

“I’m fine. I just saw… a lot of things,” Roel replied with a bitter smile.

Shaking his head, he began sharing what he had seen earlier.