Chapter Forty: Elemental Commander

"Return to the Knights, those adventurers might be of some use as well. With our well-trained order cooperating with my magic, we shouldn’t suffer too many casualties."

Haig was deeply hesitant. His spear had just pierced the monster lunging at him, yet his body was bound by a mass of Blackwater Serpents, unable to leave the lakeshore.

He had to decide quickly, or it would be too late when the other monsters returned.

"Get out of my way!"

With a furious shout, Haig ignited the flames around him, once again binding the serpents. But it was clear the glow from his light armor was already dimming; he wouldn’t be able to sustain this for much longer. The battle beneath the Blackwater Lake had also drained much of his strength. Even a fourth-tier warrior could not stand alone against a thousand.

“Haig, don’t let your personal guards die in vain,” Matthew spoke again, uttering words that sent a shock through Haig.

“What happened to them? Weren’t they supposed to lay down the crystal and leave once they reached the target distance?”

Matthew’s face remained expressionless. “They were admirable protectors. In order to buy you more time, most of them held out to the very end.”

In truth, if Matthew hadn’t spoken to them again before the operation, the guards probably wouldn’t have acted as they did. From the start, Matthew had little hope for a plan riddled with flaws. His real intention was to use the knights to deal with the monsters.

After all, he was only the vice-captain, and also a mage of the Truth Society—he wouldn’t be held responsible for any disaster.

As for the divine shard, absorbing it wasn’t so simple. Haig, unaware of these details, was doomed to fail. By then, Matthew would simply take the shard as agreed and absorb it swiftly. Even if Haig learned the truth later, he could do nothing about it.

After listening to Matthew, Haig felt something was amiss.

Matthew urged him again, “Go now, or it’ll be too late when they form a circle around us.”

“….”

In the end, Haig abandoned his last line of resistance. Had the divine shard not been within reach, he might still have given up. But now, after expending so many magical artifacts and sacrificing the loyal guards who had followed him, it would be too great a pity to just leave the prize behind.

Monsters from all directions were converging to recover the divine shard, except for the route leading back to the knights—no guards had drawn the monsters away in that direction, making it the safest path. Perhaps, subconsciously, he’d intended this from the beginning.

“Let’s go, back to the Knights,” Haig said helplessly.

At the very moment he made his choice, Chu Yun in the Mirror World made his own decision.

If earlier he felt a little guilty about stealing Haig’s spoils, now Chu Yun saw himself as an agent of justice.

He had just estimated the number of monsters—at least two thousand in all. Even if not all would give chase, the knights and the caravan would still face close to a thousand foes.

Haig’s knights numbered three hundred, and the caravan’s guards and adventurers with combat ability totaled fewer than a hundred. Four hundred versus nearly a thousand monsters—under the command of a third-tier mage and a fourth-tier warrior, even victory would come at a harrowing cost.

“They must be stopped. This shard is mine now,” Chu Yun thought, grinning as he launched his attack.

Haig had just broken free from the serpents and had not yet fully left the lakeshore. Chu Yun opened a passage across the lake’s surface, and an enhanced Mana Burst shot through the water toward Haig.

The tier-one Mana Burst was far more powerful and had greater range. Most importantly, after the spell was cast, Chu Yun could manipulate the lingering spell matrix to direct its trajectory.

Facing this sudden attack, Haig was not slow to react—he activated the magic shield on his wrist, ready to block the spell.

But just before the Mana Burst struck his shield, the torrent of energy abruptly changed course.

“Hmph, missed your mark?” Haig scoffed.

But what happened next left him aghast. The Mana Burst’s real target had never been him, but the case at his waist containing the divine shard.

With a thunderous explosion, the case detonated, and a divine shard radiating colored light was flung into the air.

Chu Yun had anticipated using this tactic against real-world enemies, so whenever he entered the Mirror World, he found time to practice. His carriage’s interior was lined with mirrors at every angle—anyone unaware might think him vain.

The training paid off. With the steering boost of the tier-one Mana Burst, his accuracy was perfect.

As the divine shard fell toward the lake’s surface, the Mirror Gate opened at Chu Yun’s will.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Chu Yun swam toward the descending shard, afraid it would vanish into the water.

The Blackwater Serpents in the Mirror World were bound to their real-world bodies, and these creatures seemed to have no reaction to the divine shard.

Chu Yun safely caught the shard. The fragment, which had begun to turn transparent and fade away, slowly recovered upon contact with him. Yet even at full restoration, something was off—the shard’s glow steadily weakened, like a candle about to die.

A fallen god’s divinity, once dropped into the mortal world without a vessel, would shatter into divine shards. Even protected by Chu Yun in the Mirror World, the shard would continue to erode, breaking into smaller fragments until it disappeared.

As if unwilling to fade, this divine shard began to merge into Chu Yun’s body as it dimmed, disappearing into his palm.

“Hm? What’s happening? Isn’t it supposed to take a long time to absorb a divine shard?”

Staring at his empty hand, Chu Yun almost thought the shard had vanished.

Fortunately, at that moment, streams of information flooded his mind—the divine shard, with nowhere left to escape, had been forcibly absorbed by him.

[Congratulations, you have obtained Divine Shard x5.]

[The divine shard has been converted into a corresponding divine shard. Collect more to synthesize a complete divinity.]

[Mirror Divinity Shard: 2/10, Mirror World duration cost reduced by 20%.]

Each divine shard contained different powers. This one had five units of energy, but once converted to Chu Yun’s Mirror Divinity, only two units remained.

Different divinities had different compatibilities and conversion rates. Chu Yun wasn’t sure how strong he would be once his divinity was complete. Nonetheless, this shard gave him more than just a piece of his own divinity—it brought an unexpected surprise.

[Congratulations, your personal specialty “Fire Element Affinity” has been upgraded to “Fire Element Commander.”]

[Fire Element Commander: Fire spells’ power +50%, elemental resistance +50%.]

[Congratulations, you have mastered the tier-five spell “Summon Fire Element.”]

[Note: Although you possess the spell model and casting method, only use it when your mental strength is sufficient to avoid losing control.]

“Could this divine shard have belonged to the Fire God?”