Chapter 599: Book 5: Chapter 198: Disorder

Book 5: Chapter 198: Disorder

Verjade gasped, stumbling several steps back from the shocking image in the puddle.

“What’s going on?”

“What happened?”

“Did you see it clearly?”

Noticing Verjade’s distress, the others crowded around, anxiously bombarding him with questions.

“Lucy… she’s… not coming back…” Verjade gulped, his voice strained.

“What?” The group was startled. They understood all too well what his ominous words implied.

Lucy’s teammate from the previous round, a purple-haired woman who had been particularly close to her, stepped forward in disbelief.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be just a test? Did that foolish woman actually challenge Princess Estelle for real? Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense for her to be gone so quickly within a few minutes.”

“From the image, it doesn’t seem like Lucy was killed by Princess Estelle. She… committed suicide.”

“What?”

“Suicide?”

“Why would she do that?”

Confusion swept through the crowd. All eyes fixed on Verjade, the sole witness to the scene, hoping that he could provide an explanation.

Verjade scratched at his thinning hair, a gesture that belied his usual composed demeanor. “How should I know? I only saw Lucy pull out a dagger and kill herself. I didn’t see anything else.”

“Heh, how useless. What’s the point of having you if you saw it as though you didn’t?” the same voice from earlier taunted.

Verjade scanned the silent crowd with a blank expression. “Let me repeat myself, if you think you can do better, then do it yourself. Or you can at least say that in my face. What good does it do to skulk around making snide remarks?”

The voice fell silent again.

The crowd was momentarily quiet too, each person seemingly deep in thought, considering their next move.

Suddenly, someone exclaimed, “Ah, I know! It was an illusion! Princess Estelle must have cast an illusion spell, causing Lucy to lose herself in it and ultimately be driven to suicide. There’s no other explanation.”

“Illusion?”

“Princess Estelle knows how to do that?”

“Never heard of that.”

The area was abuzz once again.

As one of the tournament’s two most prominent figures, Princess Estelle’s matches had been extensively observed, and her tactics had been studied repeatedly. Books detailing her skills before the tournament had fetched astronomical prices. The more one studied Princess Estelle, the more formidable she appeared.

As a member of the Holy Dragon Empire’s imperial family, Princess Estelle possessed a high-purity dragon bloodline.

Rumor had it that after being accepted as a disciple by the empire’s guardian, Taylor, she was gifted three drops of dragon blood. After refining this gift, experts proclaimed her to possess a physique unbeatable by peers of the same level.

However, her prowess extended beyond mere physical resilience. Her dragon lineage also granted her a natural affinity for magic, which was further cultivated under the personal tutelage of the dean of the Imperial Magic Academy.

Although her magical prowess did not match her physical abilities, it was still enough to outclass her peers by a wide margin.

The guardian’s disciple, invincible bloodline, unbeatable in close combat, and magic that could crush peers—each of these reputations shone like a star. Any single one could inspire awe and admiration.

But was it possible that among her stellar accolades, Princess Estelle was also a young master of illusions?

“Princess Estelle can use illusions? That’s new.” The crowd murmured, puzzled and intrigued.

“Maybe no one has ever pushed her to reveal her full capabilities, so she never needed to use it?”

One person’s eyes lit up with speculation. “Does this mean the rumors Ness mentioned about Princess Estelle being seriously injured are true? Perhaps she’s resorting to her trump card because she’s desperate.”

“But how certain are you? What if this is just another of Princess Estelle’s tricks to sow paranoia?” another queried.

“Exactly, and who uses an illusion as a lethal weapon? Aren’t those typically just supplementary tricks?”

“Don’t be so quick to judge; this is Princess Estelle we’re talking about. What if she’s honed her illusions to a deadly level, able to incapacitate with a glance?”

“Oh great, if that’s the case, we might as well pack up, go home, and sleep while we await our doom.”

“How unambitious. The only way to verify this is to test it out and see for ourselves.”

“Huh? You’re volunteering?”

All eyes turned expectantly to the brave soul who had suggested testing the theory.

“I… uh, I’d rather not…”

The once-bold speaker quickly backtracked. After all, the last person who went to ‘test’ the theory had dramatically exited this round.

“Ugh, aren’t we just going in circles here?” Verjade clutched his head and secretly cursed these pieces of trash around him. “In the end, no one dares to test the waters again, right?”

“That’s right, whoever goes is a fool.”

“Yeah, we’re here to clear the way for the competition, not to get killed. I don’t care who wants to go, but I’m staying put.”

“But our task is to eliminate the obstacle that is Princess Estelle.”

“Ah… this is a dead end, damn it.”

“Oh God, for heaven’s sake, could you show mercy on us mere mortals and take away that monster named Princess Estelle?”

“It’s a pity we can’t view the footage of the match where Princess Luna defeated Princess Estelle. If only we could, we’d know exactly what we’re up against. I heard the live broadcast was cut because some betting-addicted host wrecked the equipment in a fit of rage. Why don’t people like him go to hell?”

“Ugh, stop. You’ve just reminded me that we have Princess Luna to think about. Why is this so difficult? My stomach is starting to hurt.”

Despite the chaotic situation, the group was unable to reach a consensus.

“Enough, what’s going on here?” With a commanding shout, Ballmer descended from the sky. He surveyed the chaotic group, his pale face caked with as much displeasure as if he had slapped on two pounds of powder.

“We were given the order to attack over twenty minutes ago. Why hasn’t anything been done?”

“We’re discussing how best to test Princess Estelle’s abilities.”

“Test?” Ballmer was enraged. “There are over forty of you hiding here, and there’s only one injured opponent on the other side. What is there to test? If you had all charged at once, you might have been home enjoying dinner by now.”

“Heh, that’s ridiculous.” A dissenting voice rang out before continuing, “Charge together? How would you coordinate that? Based on my calculations, given the space constraints of Mount Coffin’s summit, Princess Estelle’s positioning, and the need to avoid friendly fire, only three of us can effectively attack her at any one time.”

“Can’t you guys do it by rotation then? With this many of you, a rotation strategy would wear her down eventually!” Ballmer countered, glaring fiercely at the group.

“Hehe.”