{WARNING: GORE TOWARDS THE END OF THE CHAPTER.}
After thinking for a good while what he was going to do next, Daneel teleported back to the sect.
The main issue he had right now was whether he could pull this operation off without using the Basilisk's Breath, which he had gotten quite used to after utilizing it almost daily since he had obtained it.
After the disturbing revelation regarding the Empire Spirit, Daneel couldn't discount the possibility that there might be a backdoor in the technique which could leave him wide open for possession.
Yes, he had started to call it 'possession' in his head, as he had started to treat the remnants of those Heroes as pesky but dangerous demons that he had to get rid of if possible.
As there had been cases before where the Empire Spirits had almost succeeded in taking over someone's body, Daneel had asked the system to look for information regarding this process, and whether it was possible for it to happen even if one was far away from any Empire Spirit.
After all, it made sense that the poor individuals who had been trapped by the Empire Spirits must have trusted them fully.
[All reports point to the victim being in close proximity of the Empire Spirit, and even continuously having to be in contact with the physical container of the Empire Spirit during the transfer. Usually, the guise of opening the last level and giving the strongest inheritance in Angaria is used.]
Those sly assh*les.
Well, this was good news, but still, Daneel decided to only use the inheritance if he had no other way. After all, just because something hadn't happened before didn't mean it couldn't happen now. Besides, according to what he had heard, the Spirits that had survived to this day were the strongest of those from that era, and that might mean that they had far more tricks than the others.
With this thought, Daneel was once again reminded of Eldinor, and his decision to pay a visit to that place to check for the Empire Spirit.
However, he needed to take care of this matter first.
Taking out the other part of the locator trinket given by Percy, Daneel checked it and saw that the location it was pointing to was near the south border of the Sect.
The south of the Sect was mainly overrun by forests, unlike the other three sides which had more inhabitants and important structures set up.
It was said that this area was meant to be the place where resting areas and homes would be built and assigned to the Heroes of the Sect.
However, with the decline of Energy, Heroes had become few and far in between and this area was just a forgotten landscape with occasional ruins of grand mansions that had once existed there.
These structures had all been ignored for the past few hundreds of years, so nature had taken its course and reclaimed those areas for its own.
The locator trinket was indicating that the place where the Mad Doctor was waiting for him was at a depth of 1400 m under the ground, at a spot that was marked by the remnants of a large mansion.
Daneel was surveying the place from high up in the sky, while making sure with the system that no one was surveilling him.
He had come up with a simple plan: somehow pull the Mad Doctor away, so that he could step in, kill them all, and leave.
However, this plan had a major flaw: the Mad Doctor's secret bunker would definitely have advanced teleportation detection formations that even Daneel would need a few seconds to fool completely.
The moment the Mad Doctor got the signal that he had arrived, he would teleport back, meaning that Daneel would have less than a second to kill all of the scum.
These were all Warriors, with tough bodies that would require Daneel to cast a strong spell in order to kill them all in such a short span of time.
Hesitantly, he asked the system whether it was possible.
[Negative. Host's speed of casting at Amateur Warrior level is insufficient according to the projections.]
There it was.
The limitation of his damn power!
Although Daneel was equipped with a Peak Champion complexity level system, he was only an Amateur Warrior.
It was exactly like back when he had had the system at the Peak Warrior level: although he could cast spells at that complexity, he just couldn't do it as quickly as an actual Warrior.
In other words, he was like a horse carriage being steered by an F-1 driver.
The driver wanted to go fast, but the horses just couldn't oblige.
So, that plan was out of the question.
However, as Daneel stood in the air and thought among the swirling clouds, he suddenly got a brainwave.
He had been considering all of the tools he had, so he had managed to hit upon an idea.
"System, is it possible to combine Mind Control with the Basilisk's Breath?"
….
In the underground room which had various pits scattered around.
All of those who had been involved in that sensational activity in the Black Raven Kingdom were still here, submerged in the various liquids with only their head on the outside.
Meanwhile, the Mad Doctor was sitting in the center of the cave on a throne made of skulls that he loved to conjure when he was alone.
With his eyes closed and his head resting on his left hand that was propped up on the armrest, he looked like he was sleep, but the reality was that he was patiently waiting for his prey to arrive.
To think that that kid had thought that he would get away with placing a locator trinket in a place that was covered by a Champion's domain.
He had always thought that the kid didn't have enough backbone to even think about taking revenge on him.
Hence, he had ignored him, but this blatant action had made him focus on him again.
After flaying him alive and using all of his favorite torture methods, he had managed to make the kid swear to obey everything he said, effectively wiping away all possible risk from him.
Still, he had been able to see it in his eyes that the kid had only agreed to swear because it would mean staying alive to try again later.
Seeing this, he had rejoiced that his blood flowed in this bastard's veins, after all.
Well, he could knock himself out.
Instructing him to tell that ex-sect member of the Goddess's Sanctum that the coast of clear, he waited, looking forward to see who would appear.
It would either be the King of Lanthanor, or the ex-sect member himself.
Either way, the Mad Doctor would have a new plaything to pass his time.
Just as he was thinking whether he should send a clone to grab some food, he heard a sudden message in his ears.
"Breach has been detected in the Central Tower! All Champions, assemble with your true bodies!"
It was a direct order from the Sect master himself, so the Mad Doctor was just about to teleport away, but he paused as a thought occurred to him.
Could this be a ploy to pull him away so that his son and the others could be targeted?
He was an old monster that had lived for hundreds of years, and he was even known for his wicked cunningness.
So, it was natural that such a simple ploy which was at the level of a child occurred to him.
Hence, even though there was no time, the Mad Doctor left behind an Amateur Champion level clone of his before teleporting to the headquarters of the sect.
His opponent wouldn't have chosen such a simple plan, right?
Wrong.
As soon as he teleported away, he felt the teleportation detection formations go off, which made him shift his consciousness to his clone with a cold smile on his face.
As soon the image in front of his eyes shifted from the corridor in the Central Tower he had teleported to to the underground cave, he saw a man with a broad back standing in front of him.
"Hey, guys! Happy deathday!", he shouted, drawing the shocked attention of all the submerged sect members in the room, who saw him and widened their eyes.
By this time, the Mad Doctor had already lunged forward at a dizzying speed, moving so fast that only a blur could be seen.
His hands were stretched out like claws, and in a moment, he would tear through his opponent.
However, just before he got his hands on the intruder, the man vanished, leaving behind nothing but empty air.
Dammit! He had gotten away!
Although the plan had been simple, it was effective: all Champions were required to definitely report to the Central Tower as quickly as possible when summoned by the Sect Master.
Immediately notifying the Sect Leader that there was an intruder in the sect, the Mad Doctor turned to his son and the others to make sure they were Ok.
Although their faces seemed frozen due to the shock, they looked all right.
The enemy had gotten away, but he had not accomplished his goal.
It did feel very, very frustrating, but the Mad Doctor still took solace in this fact.
Well, all hell would break loose soon anyway when the news about the inheritance that belonged to the King of Lanthanor would get out, so he could use that opportunity to target both that bratty King and his master once again.
Closing his eyes, he was just about to disperse his clone and shift consciousness back to his main body, when he suddenly felt that something was very, very wrong.
By the time he opened his eyes again, it was too late.
"AAAAHHH! FREEEE-"
"NO MORE! NO MORE! NO-"
"HAHA! YOU CAN'T CHASE ME NOW-"
As loud screams like these reverberated in the cave suddenly, they became replaced by gurgling sounds, due to the fact that each and every one of the teenagers in the pools had killed themselves.
Some had cast spells to behead themselves. Others had plucked out their hearts and crushed them with their hands. One had even cast a spell to mince his own body in little pieces, which floated in the liquid.
Frantically, the Mad Doctor looked towards his son's pool.
Drawing in a sharp breath, he saw that his son had chosen to gouge his eyes out. Wait, no, it wasn't just his eyes…all of his organs, including his manhood that had grown back, had been separated from his body by himself and were floating beside his lifeless head.
As the Mad Doctor took in this sight, he raised his head and roared in agony, while veins popped up on his forehead, looking like they would burst at any moment and unleash hell on this world.
Meanwhile, the one responsible for this unbelievable occurrence had just lied down on the bed in his dormitory, his eyes shining with the light of one who had just meted out justice while simultaneously also pulling out weeds that would have bothered him later.
As a notification sounded in his head, a small smile came on his face, while he ticked off an item on his list.
[Newly developed spell "Eternity in a Breath" deployed successfully. All traces of the spell's execution have been erased.]