Free Web NovelChapter 183: Chapter 183: The Divine Aegis
Chapter 183: The Divine Aegis
The burning quarterdeck of the holy dreadnought groaned under my heavy brass boots.
The Level 82 Grand Inquisitor stumbled backward. He clutched his glowing golden sword with trembling hands. He was ten levels higher than me. But I was not afraid. Fear had left me long ago. freewebnøvel.com
He possessed centuries of refined holy magic and absolute religious indoctrination. But as he looked at my massive green frame wreathed in the pitch black Flame of Death his fanaticism completely cracked. He was terrified.
"You are a blight upon the world!" the Inquisitor screamed. His voice cracked with sheer desperation. "I am the hand of the Pope! I will erase you from the physical plane!"
The Inquisitor raised his golden sword high into the freezing ocean air. He tapped into his absolute core capacity. He initiated a devastating high tier holy spell designed to vaporize entire cities.
A colossal pillar of blinding white light erupted from the heavens. It crashed down directly onto the sinking ship. The sheer conceptual pressure of the divine magic began to instantly melt the surrounding wooden deck. The water around the flagship violently boiled.
"Wrath of the Heavens!" the Inquisitor roared. He brought the massive pillar of light crashing down directly toward my skull.
I did not dodge. I did not raise a kinetic shield.
I simply stepped forward and threw a heavy right hook directly into the center of the descending divine pillar.
The pitch black Flame of Death violently collided with the holy magic. The Inquisitor expected a massive kinetic shockwave. He expected my Level 72 vessel to instantly shatter under his superior level.
Instead the Flame of Death simply opened its conceptual jaws and ate the spell.
The pitch black fire swallowed the blinding white light in a fraction of a second. The city destroying holy magic was entirely erased from existence. It was completely devoured by my Sovereign Law.
The Inquisitor froze. His golden sword crumbled into useless gray ash in his hands.
"Levels are just numbers for mortal men," I growled. My deep baritone voice cut through the roaring ocean wind.
"I am the Forge."
I stepped into his guard. I grabbed the Inquisitor by his armored throat and lifted him entirely off the burning deck. My thick green fingers crushed his pristine white collar. The fanatic gasped for air and kicked his legs wildly.
I ignited my core to burn him alive. But the dying man suddenly let out a broken wet laugh.
Blood spilled from the Inquisitor’s lips. He looked down at me with an expression of pure insane triumph.
"You think you have won," the fanatic choked out. He smiled a jagged bloody smile.
"You sank the vanguard fleet. But you will never touch the Human Continent. The Pope felt the death of the Lightbringer. The Holy Father has already activated the Aegis of Heaven. It is a Level 100 Absolute Divine Shield. It covers our entire coastline. No machine and no demon can ever pierce it."
My glowing red eyes narrowed behind my visor. A Level 100 absolute barrier. The human Pope was cowering behind the highest magical threshold this world could physically generate.
"Then I will break the limits of your world," I whispered.
I unleashed the Flame of Death completely. The dark conceptual fire erupted from my brass gauntlet and instantly incinerated the Inquisitor’s skull. His pristine armor clattered empty onto the burning deck.
I reached into the falling gray ash and ripped his glowing Level 82 magical core into my palm. I crushed the heavy crystal instantly.
DING!
[System Alert: Level 82 Grand Inquisitor Core consumed.]
[Sovereign Core efficiency violently increased. You are now Level 75.]
[Notice: The extreme level gap provided a massive exponential experience bonus.]
I felt the sudden terrifying surge of raw physical density expand through my green muscles. I was three quarters of the way to the absolute limit.
I looked down at the pile of ash. Resting in the center of the scorched wood was a heavy golden compass. It pulsed with a faint pure holy frequency. It was a high tier navigation artifact designed to bypass the chaotic magical storms of the Azure Sea and point directly to the Holy Capital. I picked it up and secured it in my spatial ring. We had the exact coordinates.
Rolf leaped onto the quarterdeck right beside me. The Silver Colossus swung his massive battleaxe to clear the blood from the dual blades. Below us Ursa the Dire-Bear was gleefully tossing the last surviving Paladins into the freezing black water.
"The holy fleet is completely obliterated Alpha," Rolf reported. He slammed his silver fist against his chest plate. He looked out toward the dark eastern horizon.
"Do we order the iron transport ships to advance? Do we march the Beastmen onto their beaches?"
I looked at the dark water. The dying Inquisitor had given me critical tactical intel. Throwing my modernized Beastman horde against an impenetrable Level 100 planetary shield was a complete waste of industrial resources. I needed the ultimate key. I needed the bottom of the Labyrinth.
"No," I commanded coldly. I turned my back to the East.
"Turn the dreadnoughts around. We are sailing West. We are going back to the capital."
Rolf blinked his golden amber eyes in brief confusion but immediately bowed his head. The absolute authority of the Sovereign was never questioned.
---
Two days later.
The heavy iron flagship pulled smoothly into the massive naval docks of the Velkrath capital. The entire city was completely transformed by the Age of Industry upgrade.
Colossal automated cranes moved massive crates of Void Steel across the harbor. The sky was thick with productive gray smog.
The Beastman horde marched off the flat iron barges in perfect disciplined unison.
The ten thousand massive modernized brutes were completely awestruck by the towering factories and the roaring steam engines of their new home.
Ursa the Dire-Bear immediately took command of the lower wards to establish the new barracks.
I walked straight through the cheering crowds of the central plaza. I did not head to the upper levels of the Iron Estate to see Ramona Lysandra Kaelith or Anise.
The Queens were resting safely in the royal chambers. They were secretly carrying the new Ironclad Lineage. The public did not know about the heirs yet. I intended to keep my bloodline entirely secure until the war was won.
I walked directly down the long winding stone stairs into the deepest subterranean level of the palace.
The heavy iron doors of the primary dimensional foundry hissed open.
The massive underground room was blindingly hot. The towering automated hydraulic presses thundered rhythmically in the background. Nyssa stood over her grand drafting table in the center of the room.
The Chief Architect wore a simple stained canvas tank top and heavy leather work pants. She was covered in dark soot and machine grease. Her bright green geometric tattoos pulsed with intense beautiful energy.
She turned around as the heavy iron doors locked securely behind me.
Nyssa smiled brilliantly and pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Master! The Void Steel dreadnoughts performed flawlessly.
The telemetry reports from the Azure Sea confirm a zero percent penetration rate against our hulls. The industrial revolution is completely stable."
I walked slowly across the stone floor. I did not look at her glowing blue blueprints. I looked directly into her bright devoted eyes.
"The fleet is perfect," I rumbled. My deep baritone voice vibrated over the loud mechanical thrum of the automated factory.
I stepped right up to the heavy drafting table. I reached out and gently gripped her slender waist with my massive green hands.
I easily lifted her entirely off the stone floor and sat her directly on the edge of the iron table. I pushed the glowing blueprints aside.
Nyssa gasped softly. Her cheeks flushed bright red beneath the thick machine grease. She immediately wrapped her soft legs around my heavy brass thighs.
"The dreadnoughts are finished," I whispered. I leaned forward and pressed my chest against her soft breasts. I let the heavy suffocating weight of my Domination Aura completely wash over her brilliant mind.
"And the holy war is temporarily paused. The Pope is hiding behind a shield we cannot break today."
Nyssa looked up at me. Her brilliant logical mind instantly connected my words to the promise I had made to her before the Beastman invasion. Her green tattoos flared with intense frantic heat.
"You said when the factories ran autonomously I would have your undivided attention," Nyssa breathed. Her soft hands reached up and gripped the broad scarred muscles of my bare shoulders. She looked at me with pure unadulterated worship.
"You said you would give me an heir."
I leaned down and kissed her neck. My teeth lightly grazed her sensitive skin.
"I am a Sovereign," I growled darkly against her pulse point.
"And I never break a promise to the engine of my empire."
