Free Web NovelChapter 217: Chapter 217: The Corsair’s Tribute, A Lucrative Extermination
The grand hall of Zephyria was a monument to Lucifer’s dark ascendance.
But Lady Scarlett, kneeling before the obsidian war table, wasn’t looking at the smooth, polished architecture or the floating starlight orbs. The hardened mercenary captain was staring at the massive, glowing red holographic map of the Kentari Ringworld’s lower levels.
She was staring at the greatest payday in the history of the cosmos.
"The bugs hoard Precursor tech in their hives," Scarlett repeated, her voice dropping to a harsh, eager whisper. "And you are giving me a fleet to go get it."
Lucifer stood over her, his arms crossed casually over his dark leather breastplate. The ruby-red Blade of Ruin hung quietly at his hip.
"I am giving you the tools to do the job," Lucifer corrected smoothly. "Thrain will forge the gunships. Fast-attack vessels, heavy on the aether-cannons, light on the armor. You aren’t meant to tank the swarm. You are meant to kite them. Fly in, burn the hives, extract the loot, and fly out."
He gestured to the glowing red hologram.
"The Xenophage reproduce infinitely," Lucifer continued, his void-swirling eyes tracking the pulsing biological data. "If you try to hold ground down there, they will bury your fleet in bodies. The Crimson Corsairs will operate as a highly mobile, hit-and-run extermination force. You do not stop moving."
Scarlett stood up. She didn’t bother dusting off her dented crimson armor. She looked at the Warlord with a mix of absolute awe and fierce, unadulterated mercenary greed.
"Commander," Scarlett grinned, the jagged scar on her face twisting into a terrifying smile. "You don’t have to explain hit-and-run to a ranger. We invented it. We’ll burn them out so fast the bugs won’t even know what hit them."
She slammed her fist against her breastplate one last time, a crisp, final salute.
"The Corsairs accept the contract, Emperor," Scarlett vowed. "We will clear the basement."
"Go see Thrain in the forge," Lucifer ordered, dismissing her. "He has the blueprints for the gunships. Try not to drink his entire ale stash while you wait."
"No promises," Scarlett laughed roughly, turning on her heel and jogging out of the grand hall.
Lucifer watched her go. He didn’t just trust her because she was a competent fighter. He trusted her because her motivations were incredibly simple to manage. As long as the gold flowed and the weapons hit hard, Scarlett would gladly march into the mouth of hell for him.
"She is eager," Elara noted quietly.
The Twilight Sovereign stepped out of the shadows near the balcony doors. She had removed her iridescent helmet, her long silver hair falling over her dark, Mythic-tier armor. Her golden eyes tracked the departing mercenary. ƒrēewebnovel.com
"She’s a pirate," Lucifer replied smoothly, walking over to the heavy oak doors and pulling them shut. "And I just gave her a very big ocean to plunder. The Xenophage threat on the Ringworld will be neutralized in a month without me having to deploy a single Paladin-Mech or Glacial Wyrm."
"It is efficient," Sarah agreed, walking into the room.
The Cosmic Eclipse Sovereign moved with a terrifying, silent grace, her midnight-blue gown shifting around her. The white coronas in her pitch-black eyes flared softly as she looked at the holographic map.
"But Lucifer," Sarah added, her resonant, multi-layered voice carrying a note of caution. "The Ringworld is vast. The Corsairs can clear the lower levels, but the Precursor technology is heavily encrypted. Lyriana gave us the basic access codes, but her brothers locked the highest-tier armories behind archaic magical ciphers. If we want to fully assimilate this continent, we need to crack the deep vaults."
"We will," Lucifer stated coldly.
He didn’t plan on leaving any locked doors in his new empire.
"I have a specific vault in mind," Lucifer said, tapping a rune on the obsidian table.
The hologram shifted. The red map of the bug infestation vanished, replaced by a highly detailed, three-dimensional schematic of Zephyria’s own lower levels.
Lucifer zoomed in on the Aether-Forge.
"The Star-Shatter Cannon was destroyed during the World-Eater fight," Lucifer explained, pointing to the empty space near the Void-Core Reactor where the massive artillery piece used to sit. "The blast melted the barrel. It’s useless slag. I need a new primary siege weapon."
"You want Thrain to build another one?" Elara asked, frowning slightly. "He can, but it took him a week to forge the first one, and that was with the temporal acceleration dust."
"I don’t want another cannon," Lucifer corrected smoothly. A dark, predatory smirk touched his lips. "I want an upgrade."
He opened his Dimensional Vault.
Lucifer reached into the dark spatial rift and pulled out an item he had kept hidden since the early days of his regression.
It was a staff.
But it was not a weapon forged of clean silver or polished wood. It was an incredibly ugly, twisted, jagged piece of blackened bone. At the top of the staff, clutched in a skeletal hand, was a massive, glowing, sickly green crystal that reeked of absolute, unadulterated death magic.
[Item: The Evil God’s Staff]
[Tier: Cursed Relic (Tier 7)]
[Description: A conduit for chaotic necrotic energy. Highly volatile.]
"That is vile," Elara stated flatly, taking a half-step back as the staff’s aura pushed against her twilight magic. "It smells like a rotting graveyard."
"It smells like potential," Lucifer countered smoothly.
He had looted the staff from a hidden dungeon Boss weeks ago. It was a powerful weapon, but it was too chaotic and unpredictable to use in a standard fight. The necrotic energy had a habit of backfiring on the user.
"You’re going to use the Apex Multiplier on it," Sarah guessed, her cosmic eyes narrowing.
"I am," Lucifer confirmed. "But I need the perfect environment. I need the Aether-Forge at maximum output, and I need absolute silence."
Lucifer didn’t wait for them to argue. He turned and walked out of the grand hall, carrying the cursed staff in his left hand.
The descent to the Aether-Forge was quick.
Lucifer bypassed the bustling residential tiers, where the mortals were settling into their new lives. He reached the heavy iron doors of the subterranean cavern and pushed them open.
The forge was sweltering. The massive Void-Core Reactor hummed with a deep, infinite blue and purple light.
Dwarf King Thrain was standing over the main anvil, currently berating a squad of Phantom Rangers who were awkwardly trying to load crates of refined Umbral Ore onto a conveyor belt.
"Lift with your legs, you useless beanpoles!" Thrain roared, waving a heavy wrench. "That ore is denser than your thick skulls! Put your back into it!"
"Thrain," Lucifer’s voice cut through the shouting.
The dwarf froze. He spun around, instantly dropping the wrench. The Rangers scrambled out of the way, bowing their heads respectfully.
"Emperor!" Thrain greeted, wiping a thick smear of sweat from his forehead. He saw the Warlord holding the ugly, twisted bone staff. The dwarf’s expert eyes immediately recognized the chaotic, dangerous magic radiating from the item.
"Clear the room," Lucifer ordered smoothly.
Thrain didn’t ask questions. He gestured sharply to the Rangers. "You heard him! Out! Take a break! Go drink that cheap ale the quartermaster brewed!"
The Rangers quickly filed out of the heavy iron doors, leaving Lucifer and Thrain alone in the massive cavern.
Lucifer walked up to the main anvil. He placed the Evil God’s Staff onto the glowing hot metal. The bone hissed slightly, but it did not melt.
"I am going to force an evolution on this relic," Lucifer explained smoothly to the dwarf. "I need you to manage the thermal runoff. If the necrotic energy violently expands, I need you to dump the heat directly into the Sanguine Grid before it cracks the reactor casing."
"Understood, Warlord," Thrain grunted, grabbing a heavy pair of Star-Metal tongs and moving to the primary control console. "I’ll keep the pipes clear. Hit it."
Lucifer didn’t draw his sword. He didn’t put on the Gauntlet of the Void King.
He simply placed his bare, right hand directly over the glowing green crystal of the cursed staff.
Lucifer closed his void-swirling eyes.
"System," Lucifer commanded silently in his mind.
He channeled his massive, infinite Level 50 Archmage core directly into the staff. He didn’t just push mana; he pushed the absolute, suffocating dark matter of his Void Monarch class.
"Target: Evil God’s Staff."
[Target Acquired.]
"Apply the Apex Multiplier," Lucifer whispered fiercely. "Ten thousand times. Force structural purification."
[Divine Talent: Apex Multiplier Activated!]
[Applying 10,000x multiplier to Magical Condensation and Structural Evolution...]
[Warning: Relic Stability Critical.]
The Evil God’s Staff screamed.
It was a high, metallic shriek of agonizing magic. The ugly, twisted bone began to violently warp. The sickly green light of the crystal flared to a blinding intensity, desperately fighting the overwhelming influx of Void energy.
"Heat spike!" Thrain roared from the console, furiously pulling levers. "The dark magic is trying to vent! I am pushing the runoff into the blood wards!"
Lucifer didn’t let go. He clamped down harder, forcing the Void magic deeper into the relic.
The bone shattered.
It didn’t explode into shrapnel. The bone instantly turned to fine, gray ash, completely consumed by the multiplied magic.
The green crystal shattered next.
But the magic didn’t dissipate.
A blinding flash of pure, pitch-black and vibrant violet light erupted from the anvil. The shockwave was entirely contained within Lucifer’s grip.
Lucifer slowly opened his eyes.
He pulled his hand back.
Resting on the anvil was no longer a twisted bone staff.
It was a masterpiece of lethal elegance. It was a sleek, perfectly smooth scepter forged entirely of pitch-black dark matter, swirling with faint, glowing silver constellations. At the top of the scepter hovered a jagged, multifaceted crystal of pure, unadulterated violet Void-fire. It radiated an aura of absolute, terrifying destruction, completely devoid of the chaotic, rotting stench of the old relic.
[System: Relic Evolution Complete!]
[New Item Acquired: The Void-Calamity Scepter.]
[Tier: Divine Artifact (Tier 10)]
[Effect: Channels raw Void magic. Attacks inflicted by this weapon bypass all conceptual and physical defenses. Generates localized spatial tears on impact.]
Lucifer picked up the scepter.
It felt weightless. It hummed perfectly in tune with his own Void Monarch core. It was the ultimate, flawless execution tool.
"Beautiful," Thrain breathed, stepping away from the console and staring at the weapon in awe. "You didn’t just forge a weapon, Warlord. You condensed a black hole onto a stick."
Lucifer smirked, a cold, highly satisfied expression.
He gripped the Void-Calamity Scepter tightly.
"It will do," Lucifer said smoothly.
Before he could test the weapon, the air inside the Aether-Forge suddenly, violently warped.
It was not a standard Umbral tear. It was not a celestial portal.
The space directly above the main anvil twisted inward, groaning with immense, heavy physical pressure. The temperature in the forge skyrocketed, completely overriding the cooling systems. The air smelled strongly of molten steel, burning coal, and pure, unfiltered creation magic.
Lucifer’s void-swirling eyes narrowed sharply. He gripped the new scepter, ready to strike.
A colossal figure stepped out of the spatial distortion.
It was a dwarf.
But it was not King Thrain.
This dwarf was fifteen feet tall, entirely composed of living, burning magma and thick, dark iron plating. His beard was a cascading waterfall of bright orange fire. He carried a hammer that looked heavy enough to crack a planet in half.
[System Warning: Divine Manifestation Detected!]
[Entity: Avatar of Thaurissan, The God of Forging.]
[Level: 85 - Divine Craftsman.]
Thrain gasped, dropping to his knees instantly. The mortal dwarf stared up at the burning god with absolute, unadulterated religious terror.
"Thaurissan," Thrain whispered. "The First Smith."
Lucifer did not kneel. He didn’t flinch.
He stood perfectly still, the Void-Calamity Scepter humming in his hand. He looked at the fifteen-foot, burning God of Forging.
Thaurissan did not raise his hammer to attack. The God looked down at the newly forged scepter in Lucifer’s hand, his fiery eyes wide with absolute, profound shock.
The God of Forging fell to both knees.
The impact shook the entire cavern. The massive, burning dwarf bowed his head deeply, pressing his fiery beard against the metal floor of the Aether-Forge directly in front of Lucifer.
"Master," Thaurissan’s voice rumbled, a deep, earth-shaking sound of pure awe. "I felt the resonance across the cosmos. Teach me your secrets."
