Chapter 96: Chapter 81: Eve of the Divine Lamp Grand Trial

After splitting up, Isaac drove off in his carriage and quickly caught up to his target.

Of course, it wasn’t that his carriage was particularly fast, nor was his search exceptionally accurate.

Instead, it was because both the two fleeing Adventurers and their pursuers turned pale with fright when they saw Isaac’s pumpkin carriage approach. They froze on the spot, standing ramrod straight, not daring to make a single move.

As Adventurers who made a living with their lives on the line, they weren’t actually afraid of death, so long as the reward was great enough. The Little Divine Lamp was just such a prize—an excellent choice whether to be used or sold.

However, that didn’t mean they feared nothing. In this world, some things are more terrifying than death!

And so, when Isaac arrived, he saw two terrified Adventurers with longswords at their waists. Their hands were in the air, their backs were pressed tightly against a wall, and they had already unfastened all the pouches from their belts and placed them on the ground.

On the other side of the street was the group of pursuers. Armed with a variety of weapons, they had followed the first two’s example—unfastening all their pouches, placing them on the ground, and backing against the wall, watching Isaac with trembling fear.

Isaac: "..."

"The item isn’t with you?" Isaac glanced at the pursuing Adventurers before ignoring them and turning to the two Swordsmen. Though they appeared exceptionally docile, Isaac didn’t let his guard down one bit. ’Warriors are fast. At this distance, if I get careless, they could take my head in less than a second.’

"Not here, not here! It’s with my sworn brother!" answered a bearded man, shaking his head frantically and pointing in a direction.

Isaac glanced in the direction he pointed, and a strange expression crossed his face. ’This is a bit...’

...

"Everyone, could you hand over the Divine Lamp?"

In an alley in the southern part of Philis Town, a black vortex suddenly materialized, blocking the path of four or five Adventurers. The one at the very front was a member of the adventuring party that had obtained the Little Divine Lamp; the rest were his pursuers.

Hearing the voice emanate from the black vortex, everyone’s expression changed. They stopped in their tracks, cautiously watching the vortex and tightening their grips on their longswords.

But when they saw the person who emerged from the black vortex, their faces changed dramatically!

Wheelchair Witch Angel!

The partner of the exceedingly malevolent Wizard of Ten Thousand Spirits, Isaac! Rumor had it she could cripple a person’s legs with a single glance, dooming an Adventurer to spend the rest of their life in impoverished misery—a fate worse than death!

This news had already spread like wildfire throughout Philis Town!

Multiple Adventurers who had been crippled for over a decade had even come forward to testify personally. The story couldn’t be more real!

So, the moment they saw Angel, everyone immediately snapped to attention.

Still, Angel’s menacing aura wasn’t quite on par with Isaac’s. So, terrified as he was, the bearded man decided to take a gamble, unwilling to hand over the Divine Lamp so easily. "The Divine Lamp is with my younger brother," he said with an awkward smile. "You’ve got the wrong person."

The bearded man wasn’t too worried about his lie being exposed. They had decided at the last minute before splitting up who would carry the Divine Lamp, and it was wrapped in a specially prepared Magic Cloth. This cloth could not only block magical fluctuations but could even interfere with prophecy spells to some degree.

So there was a chance he could bluff his way through!

If he had run into Isaac or Philo, he might have actually gotten away with it. It was quite risky for a Wizard to physically search a Warrior. Of course, with Servant Demons and Summoned Creatures in the picture, it still wouldn’t have been easy to fool them.

But Angel didn’t need to search him. She was certain the Divine Lamp was on the bearded man, simply because this was the direction she had chosen.

"This is your last chance. Hand over the Little Divine Lamp, and I will spare your life."

"I would if I could..."

"Kill him." Angel didn’t give the bearded man a chance to finish. She shook her head gently, and the Evil Spirit behind her instantly appeared. The Evil Eye on its brow locked onto the bearded man’s soul, and then a claw swiped down!

Smashing him directly into meat paste!

A claw wreathed in evil energy carefully plucked an object wrapped in Magic Cloth from the meat paste, gave it a gentle shake, and presented the Divine Lamp to Angel.

"GULP!"

The other Adventurers stared at the pile of meat paste on the ground, swallowing hard as cold sweat beaded on their backs. ’Thank God we weren’t the ones who got the Divine Lamp...’

’Because we most likely would’ve made the same decision as him...’

’After all, while Angel also had a fearsome reputation, it was mostly based on rumors, not as... tangible... as Isaac’s track record...’

They still hadn’t figured out what to do with the piles of meat paste Isaac had left behind!

Fortunately, once Angel had the Divine Lamp, she left immediately without turning on them, allowing them to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

And with that, the second Little Divine Lamp was in their possession.

The next day, Philo brought back a third Little Divine Lamp. Apparently, Isaac’s actions the previous night had so terrified the other factions that they had a discussion and simply decided to give one up to his group.

If Isaac were to do that again... that would be a huge problem.

The main issue wasn’t the killing; it would have been better if Isaac had just killed them cleanly. The problem was that even though those people had been turned into meat paste, they were somehow still alive!

Those Magic Net Mages even retained their brains and mouths!

They could still speak normally!

That was the truly horrifying part!

Now, a crowd of family members was raising hell, and since they didn’t dare bother Isaac, they were harassing the other factions instead. Annoyed to death, those factions were more than willing to use a Little Divine Lamp to appease Isaac.

Besides, some factions were already looking to back out of the Divine Lamp Grand Trial, so they had a spare one anyway.

And just like that, what the trio had thought would be the most difficult phase—securing their spots—was completed without Remington even having to lift a finger. Next came the long wait... for all the Divine Lamps to descend.

"Tsk... what a letdown..."

On the second floor of the Veterans Tavern, Isaac leaned against the windowsill, watching the pedestrians on the street with utter boredom and letting out a sigh.

’I originally accepted Philo’s invitation partly because I was interested in the Divine Lamp Grand Trial and the Servant Demons I could summon, and partly because I wanted to get some real combat experience. You can’t get better by just training in isolation. I can’t just rely on brute force for every fight, can I?’

’What if their brick is bigger than mine?’

’And in the end? Neither of those goals has been met...’

Isaac narrowed his eyes. ’Then again, maybe not.’ His greatest strength was that he was never arrogant. ’An Empire this powerful certainly doesn’t rely on Adventurers. The true geniuses are all among the Nobility. These people scrambling for the Little Divine Lamps now won’t necessarily be the ones participating in the Trial. Some are just snatching them to sell, and others are merely proxies for the powerful figures behind the scenes.’

’In any case, the opponents I face in the end might be interesting after all~’

"Sigh... I guess we’ll just have to wait. What do you say, Shushu?" Isaac reached out and playfully poked Shushu.

"Squeak?" Gnawing on a piece of cheese, Shushu looked up with a baffled expression. ’Do I have a say in matters like this? Has my status risen so high?’