NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1032
<1032 – Master of Darkness (10)>
The pruned Everlasting Grass let out a sorrowful cry as it fiddled with its bare roots and stems, “Buuuu…”
Oknodie and the other humans honestly thought it was just getting what it deserved, showing no shred of sympathy.
“Buuuu… Why do you all, lowly beings, swarm around me while I’m just trying to enjoy some noble treatment? Isn’t it too much to mess around with offerings?”
In response to the Everlasting Grass’s lament, Oknodie casually lifted a pair of garden shears and replied, “Cut the vanity!”
Even Oknodie, who was treated with utmost respect as a lady by the Dark Princess and the Princess of the Weird, wasn’t that arrogant.
As the eldest daughter of Darkness meticulously pruned both body and soul, Jiang felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
‘Isn’t that the soul bonsai that Chairman of the Foundation used to do…?’
Compared to prancing around with a person’s soul, the act of bonsai-ing raw Spirit Herbs felt less wicked…
But thinking of Oknodie doing something reminiscent of Chairman of the Foundation was a tad eerie, making both him and Oknodie worry about what she might become in the future during this mother-daughter moment.
“Awuwu, what do you think? Do you still think you’re going to lose?”
“Awuwu!”
“Yeah, if you’ve trimmed the roots and branches this much, you should win!”
The Howling Mandragora fiercely struck the weakened Everlasting Grass with its little roots.
Faced with reversed attributes, the Everlasting Grass burst into tears, feeling utterly tormented.
“If you don’t want to suffer more humiliation, make a contract and stay quietly!”
“Puuuu…”
Eventually, Oknodie signed a contract that came with various restrictions, including a ban on vitality absorption and escape.
Thus, the Everlasting Grass not only lost mobility but also had its body largely bonsai-ed, leading to a drastic drop in its stats and the loss of future freedom.
If one were to list it out, Oknodie would sound rather cruel, but considering it was a wicked plant that consumed one person each day as an offering, such a fate felt entirely justified.
“Oknodie, but why go this far just to harvest the Everlasting Grass?”
“Huh? Do you give reasons while harvesting poisonous stuff?”
“…Can you at least abandon the prejudice that assassins collect anything poison-related?”
“Oh snap, sorry!”
“I do collect it, though.”
“Wheeeing.”
Jiang, feeling victorious at having caught Oknodie off guard, secretly grinned.
“But seriously, why the Everlasting Grass? It’s overlapping with the lecture materials Professor Red Mountain marked.”
“I was just going around farming obvious Spirit Herbs, and it had markings of the familiar Western mana, so it was easy to spot!”
“…….”
Both Jiang and Senior Instructor were left speechless by this shocking truth.
Until now, they had thought they were hiding to protect the Spirit Herbs from Oknodie.
But, in fact, it had backfired spectacularly.
While they stood to protect the herbs, Oknodie had become aware of their coordinates.
It was like announcing to the entire Eastern Empire, “Here are the Spirit Herbs, please come farm them!”
Of course, Oknodie wasn’t spreading the word across an expansive area one neighborhood away.
But through various events, she could identify which places were empty, leading to her catching on right then and there.
In a way, both Oknodie and Professor Red Mountain had a knack for noticing others’ weaknesses.
Although Oknodie might not realize it, the Professor would never admit to such a thing.
“Senior, but where is the Professor?”
“Good question. We’ve been calling for so long.”
Honestly, it felt like if they were to lose him now, it would be what he deserved.
Had he rushed to help right away, it might have been different.
Instead, Oknodie arrived first, saving the two of them, making it completely natural to side with her over the Professor.
“Professor? There he is.”
But an unexpected voice replied to their query.
It was Sadi Chocolate, casually leaning against the garden door, acting all chill.
Sadi pointed somewhere with the fan they had harvested from the East.
At the end of that direction was the palace.
Not just the garden, but the inner part known as the Imperial Palace’s heart.
“If you go further in from here, what you’ll find is…”
“The domain of the Heavenly Sovereign.”
Sia’s eyes turned icy cold.
“The one responsible for all the corruption in the Eastern Empire. The mastermind that has condoned and aided all this tragedy.”
Sing’s sword rattled and vibrated within its sheath, responding to its owner’s fury.
A representation of the superb level of unity between them!
Witnessing this, Jiang thought to himself.
Whenever meal time rolled around, Oknodie’s spoon would tremble on its own.
Was Oknodie at a level that had reached divine unity?
“Jiang, how about you wait here and let the Professor take you back soon?”
“Oknodie, you’re going inside, right?”
“Of course!”
“Then I’m going with you. If I come all the way here just to turn back feeling uneasy, I won’t sleep for a month.”
Oknodie nodded in agreement.
While they were completing a quest, they could never shake off the thought of “so what happens at the end?” if they overlooked the continuation of the linked quest.
Even if it was a detour along the way, they had to see the conclusion if they wanted to sleep soundly at night!
Goooooo.
On the way towards the palace’s heart.
Awuwu wasn’t able to withstand the ominous atmosphere and cried, wanting to go home.
So much so that the Howling Mandragora, unable to escape the dormitory, even requested permission to return out of desperation, proving that the vibe in the palace’s heart was downright unsettling.
It was even more terrifying than the courtyard garden of the Everlasting Grass, which was used to absorb people as offerings!
As Okaashii-ne’s attendant emerged, laughing softly, they provided the reason.
“The palace is the center where the negative energies from all over the Eastern Empire gather, harnessed through the Spirit Vein. With the Everlasting Grass at its core, it attracts the wicked powers that converge nationwide, making it perfect for training amidst such high-density energy, if you’re a Demon Minion who can withstand Dark Mana.”
“…Why is a Demon Minion in the palace of the East?”
After hearing the explanation, even more questions arose—a bizarre explanation!
The attendant of Okaashii-ne today merely tossed out a tidbit to get Jiang riled up again and then vanished smoothly into the air.
Even Jiang, who had mastered advanced divine techniques, could hardly touch such subtle stealth techniques.
“Stop. This area is where the Heavenly Sovereign resides.”
“Please step back, unapproved visitors.”
Despite the words of the attendants guarding the Inner Palace, Oknodie and her party’s gazes were drawn toward the hallway’s end.
The energy waves generated from the clash of strong individuals in Professor Class sent their bodies into a slight wobble—it was unsettling.
“So, how do I obtain permission?”
“You’ll need to schedule an audience with the Summoning Hall still staying in the Outer Palace, and enter according to the designated plan.”
“I see. Next time, I’ll come in that way. Right now, please sleep!”
Oknodie tossed something filled with sleep-inducing powder directly onto the floor.
Whomp!
Clouds of sleep powder quickly spread up from the ground.
As the bright yellow powder rose like fog, the inner palace attendants pulled out their substantial fists hidden in their sleeves.
“Words alone won’t cut it.”
“If words don’t work, I’ll forcibly remove you.”
For inner palace attendants, their sleep resistance must be extraordinarily high—they might not have even noticed the sleep powder had been released!
Oknodie immediately threw a second sleep powder grenade onto the ground.
The followers behind her gasped and stumbled back in shock at the overwhelmingly potent sleep powder.
“Cough. No matter how many times you try, it’s useless.”
“How foolish to think you could surpass the inner palace attendants’ resistance training.”
By the time the third grenade was thrown, the two inner palace attendants had laughed off Oknodie’s wasteful use of sleep powder.
But the moment they took a step forward, soon facing the fourth sleep powder grenade, a different kind of pressure began weighing on them as visibility faded.
“No, cough cough.”
“How many more are you going to throw, cough.”
Before they even finished that sentence, another sleep powder grenade flew!
With visibility diminished, the two attendants found themselves kneeling and groping along the walls as sleep powder erupted again toward them.
It was hard to imagine just how saturated they were in sleep powder—it was as excessive as throwing cheese powder on pizza!
“Wow. To endure as many as ten sleep powder grenades, that’s impressive!”
“Cough, cough…! At this point, it’s clearly… ineffective…”
“Given the situation, I’ll have to push to a hundred now!”
As Oknodie held up yet another sleep powder grenade, the inner palace attendants fell into despair.
Suffocated by the sleep powder, unable to breathe, they collapsed with a loud thud.
“Hey? What are you all doing there?”
The party had retreated at least 200 meters back, gesturing for Oknodie to go ahead and not to worry about them.
Fearless, Oknodie charged ahead on her own, crossing the hallway into the Heavenly Sovereign’s private room.
“Come here!”
“What a noisy guest. Will you not show some decorum?”
“If it’s not too rude, would it be alright if I ambushed?”
“How rude. That’s not allowed.”
“I see!”
“Have you accepted this?”
“Since you say it’s not allowed, it’s regrettable. Goodbye!”
Oknodie closed the door behind her.
But the door’s gap opened slightly.
Through the crack, Oknodie opened the remaining pouch of sleep powder and used telekinesis to shove it all in.
However, being a Heavenly Sovereign, even if they were a false one, they were undeniably different from the inner palace attendants who had remained helpless.
As the Sovereign waved their palm through the air with an elegant movement, the door burst open, and the sleep powder flowed back out into the hallway.
The party, just behind Oknodie and ready to enter, had to evade the pouring sleep powder, scrambling back out into the hallway.