Ariel departed with a broad smile across her face, clearly making a beeline for the royal palace.
Anbaixiu wasted no time either. After dismissing everyone, he began digging right where he stood.
Three days was almost certainly out of the question. That foolish princess might well realize something was amiss in half a day, then come charging back with the Raging Tide Legion to put an end to him.
Time waited for no one. He had to act now.
This was where a wizard's strengths truly shone; nothing proved more convenient for excavating than magic.
As Anbaixiu channeled his mana, a deep fissure tore through the ground, as though hollowed out by an invisible drill, swiftly opening into an abyss-like crater.
Anbaixiu leaped straight inside, seizing every second to tunnel downward.
There was no telling if he could find the artifact he needed before the princess caught on.
Meanwhile, Ariel truly believed "Mengge Grayriver" had experienced a change of heart and become a kindred spirit. For the sake of this newfound camaraderie, she stormed straight into the royal palace.
Her path blazed with fire, sparks, and a swirling trail of dust.
The King was in the middle of a meal when Ariel barged in unannounced, the gale and dust trailing her nearly ruining the spread on the table.
Wiping the grime from his face, the King asked, "What on earth is the panic about this time?"
The King of Raging Tide indulged this daughter endlessly, and for good reason: who else among his children was a legend? Out of the dozen or so sons and daughters he had sired, she alone had received the blessings of Talos.
Ariel declared excitedly, "Father, Mengge Grayriver told me he has a way to contact the Silent Night Pirates. We can hold peace talks and avoid a war!"
The King eyed Ariel, then said sternly, "Did you go and duel him?!"
Ariel's expression turned awkward, and she could only explain, "I did tell him to duel me, but he refused. That's not what happened! I didn't force him—he did it of his own accord!"
The King rolled his eyes and placated his daughter, "Fine, fine, I get it. You didn't beat him to death, did you?"
Ariel hurriedly replied, "Of course not... Wait, no, I really didn't force him! Truly!"
"You dare claim you didn't raise a hand? Do you dare swear before the gods that you didn't raise your hammer against him?!"
"Well..." Ariel tried her best to explain. "I did lift a hand against him... but... in short, it isn't what you think, Father! He truly did it willingly!"
The King waved an impatient hand. "Enough. Just tell me plainly: how badly is he hurt? Has he been sent for healing?"
Ariel finally lost her temper, shouting at her father, "Why won't you believe me?! He truly was willing! I didn't force him!"
The King's patience snapped as well, his tone turning utterly grave. "Enough, Ariel. Even my tolerance has its limits. I order you: no more violence against him! Otherwise, I will discipline you myself!"
Unable to stomach such an injustice, Ariel fumed, "If you don't believe me, Father, then come with me to see him! Ask him yourself!"
"Ask him how? In front of you, so you can beat him again tomorrow? Do you think I don't know your temper, Ariel? You only ever know how to reason with your fists—just like me!"
Both father and daughter possessed fiery tempers. Having argued to this point, neither could hold back any longer.
Ariel simply slammed her warhammer onto the dining table and said to the King, "I knew this day would come. Father, since neither of us can convince the other, let's settle this the traditional way of the Raging Tide Kingdom."
Looking at the warhammer wrapped in crackling lightning, the King asked in a low voice, "You wish to challenge me to a Duel Before the Gods?!"
In a realm like the Raging Tide Kingdom that revered violence and destruction, reasoning often failed; only fists could persuade.
A Duel Before the Gods was regarded as the highest form of dispute resolution. Both parties would duel before the statue of Talos; whoever won was naturally in the right, while the loser had to unconditionally concede.
Conceding defeat was permitted, but in most cases, the duel ended only with the death of one combatant.
"That's right! Since you won't believe a word I say, let the gods judge who is right!"
Arcs of thunder erupted from Ariel's eyes. The sheer power radiating from her caused stray electric sparks to dance in the air.
In any other kingdom, this would be an outright attempt at patricide and usurpation. Yet in the Raging Tide Kingdom, it was nothing of the sort. For a successor to challenge the reigning king was tradition; it was merely unexpected that this day had arrived so soon.
The King rose to his feet. Standing a full head taller than Ariel, he possessed a far sturdier, more imposing physique.
The gossamer sparks in the air instantly surged with violent agitation. Two distinct currents collided, detonating into countless bursts of flame. The King looked down, glaring at his daughter, and said, "Fine. If you win, you will be the new king, and everything in the kingdom will be yours to command!"
"I will win!" Ariel declared with utter confidence.
The King sneered. "Hah. If bragging worked, what would we need warhammers for? Ariel, if you lose, you will obey my commands without question."
Ariel readily agreed. "You want me to refrain from using violence against Mengge Grayriver, right? Fine, I accept. If I lose, I swear not to touch a single hair on his head."
"No. I want you to marry him!" the King stated with absolute gravity.
"Impossible! He's twenty years older than me!" Ariel refused without hesitation.
The King said earnestly, "In this entire kingdom, which man of your generation qualifies as a hero? Mengge is already the most outstanding among them. Why else do you think I entrusted him with so much authority? He might be a bit older, but his wife passed away a few years ago. It's the perfect match. Would you rather marry a cowardly, incompetent weakling?!"
The talent in the Raging Tide Kingdom had deteriorated with each passing generation. Men of Ariel's age were either foolish, weak, or cowardly. This was the consequence of how the kingdom was governed; the population remained stagnant while the proportion of capable individuals dwindled.
The old king only wished to unite the kingdom's two most exceptional figures, hoping they might produce an even wiser and mightier heir. Otherwise, there was no telling how many years the Raging Tide Kingdom had left.
There was no way Ariel could ever accept marrying an old man like Mengge Grayriver, but the King gave her no chance to back out.
"You were the one who initiated this Duel Before the Gods. I am wagering the throne itself, so you must put up a stake of equal weight. A mere betrothal is getting off cheap. Ariel, do you dare blaspheme the gods?!"
The King's words made Ariel grind her teeth, yet she dared not withdraw her challenge. She could only snap at him, "I will win!"
The King chuckled smugly. "Hah. I've heard that countless times before, and every last one of them fell beneath my hand."
The dispute between father and daughter was paused in this drastic fashion. A Duel Before the Gods was a sacred affair that required preparation, let alone one concerning the kingdom's royal succession, which demanded even longer to arrange.
The King no longer had the spare attention to worry about the Silent Night Pirates. Ariel's talent was extraordinary, and even he was not entirely certain of victory against his daughter, requiring him to focus entirely on preparing for the fight.
Neither seemed to consider what would happen if both were gravely injured in the duel, only for the undead of the Silent Night Pirates to attack the capital.
All they cared about was finishing the duel swiftly to settle their long-standing disagreement once and for all, uniting the kingdom's strength behind a single voice.
Ariel had originally intended to buy time for Anbaixiu. Quite by accident, she had ensured that no one cared in the slightest about what Mengge Grayriver was up to.
Anbaixiu drilled diligently into the earth, estimating he had bored down over a hundred meters. Yet the subterranean rock and soil looked no different, without the faintest trace of an artifact.
Standing deep underground, Anbaixiu rubbed his chin.
"This isn't right. What was fate's hint supposed to mean? Did I misunderstand it again?"
Fate never provided false answers; it could only be his own flawed comprehension.
The withered leaf had come to rest upon Mengge Grayriver's head. It had not meant that the man knew where the artifact was, nor had it pointed to the ground beneath his feet. What, then, could it signify?
Anbaixiu had no choice but to mentally reexamine every piece of intelligence he had gathered.
First, the elves had buried the artifact seventeen hundred years ago to prevent the Demonic Dragon Tyrant from rewinding time, thereby allowing Arthur Ryan to defeat him. Since no one other than the Demonic Dragon Tyrant could wield the artifact, the elves had never intended for anyone to find it when they hid it away.
"Artifacts generally possess tremendous power, and legends can already sense the presence of divine power, so it had to be sealed with magic. To endure seventeen hundred years of time, it couldn't have been an ordinary sealing spell, but rather a magical item capable of sustaining a seal over a vast span..."
Anbaixiu began putting himself in the shoes of the elves, attempting to deduce where the artifact could be hidden. The magic the elves excelled at ought to have left detectable traces.
Yet no matter how carefully Anbaixiu attuned his senses, he found no clues whatsoever.
"No, that's not it. According to Catherine, the previous Elven King wasn't skilled in magic, meaning the method used to seal the artifact likely didn't come from the elves... It was Arthur Ryan! He stole the artifact from the Demonic Dragon Tyrant, and he was the one who asked the elves for help in hiding it.
"If he could steal it, that means he could sever the connection between the Demonic Dragon Tyrant and the artifact. That wasn't an elven method, but a paladin's—no, to be precise, the power of the Lord of the Dawn's Holy Light. I think I understand now."
Anbaixiu realized he had been mistaken from the very start. The withered leaf had indeed pointed out the location where the artifact was hidden, but it had never pointed underground.
Casting Fly, Anbaixiu ascended back to the mouth of the pit. Looking into the empty air, he gauged the height at which the withered leaf had drifted down, then unraveled his perception into fine threads to probe the space.
After a long while, Anbaixiu finally detected a peculiar sensation.
There, in the empty air, was a tiny, invisible seam. Only by concentrating his perception to the absolute limit could he detect a minuscule abnormality—a spatial rift thinner than a strand of hair.
Chapter 181