Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 707  Seraph

After half an hour, Max walked out of the war temple, his brows furrowed just like other people coming out.

"It's too much. How can they be so expensive when they are all one-time-use items? Someone commented in frustration.

Just as Alton had said, in formation, artifact, and talisman sections, new items were added. But not only were all of them way too expensive—50,000 for the cheapest among the three, a talisman that, when used, cut off the demons' or anyone else's connection with their core, stopping them from self-destructing—but all of them were one-time-use items.

The cheapest formation was priced at 60,000, while a metal ball, which was a complex artifact, was priced at 55,000, and this was after a fifty percent discount.

The formations had a wide range and could be activated beforehand or when needed, but because they took a little over a second—which was quite fast, but not too fast, as the demons also only needed a few seconds to detonate their core—Max didn't buy it.

He also didn't buy the talisman even though it could be activated almost instantly because he had a nagging feeling the demons might have countermeasures for it. So, instead, he bought the metal ball, or as it was called, Seraph, named after its creator's name. As stated earlier, it was a complex artifact. One only needed to carry it with them, and as long as it had enough mana, it would sense if someone in a hundred meters tried to self-destruct and would activate on its own and stop the core detonation.

Since he had less than 100,000 merits, he could only buy one. Just as he was about to leave, a voice stopped him.

"Sir Overlord, please wait."

"Hmm?" Max turned around and saw a white-haired old man, who was nearing the peak of the Four Star realm, running toward him. Since he only told his new nickname, "Overlord," to the first group he saved from the demons' core detonation, he knew this old man should be from that group, but he didn't remember seeing him.

The old man gave him a respectful bow before introducing himself, "Sir Overlord, I'm Juan Ming, the patriarch of the Ming family."

"Ming family?" Max immediately remembered little Ruo, and his expression turned cold.

The old man shivered and hastily apologized, "I'm deeply sorry for that descendant of mine's behavior."

"What about little Ruo? Aren't you sorry for abandoning her?" Max asked, his tone cold.

Juan cursed his useless son in his mind before saying, "Because I usually cultivate in seclusion, my descendants don't disturb me unless it's something very important. So, I did not know my useless son had made his maid pregnant and that he forced her to leave her child at her father's place. If I knew…"

"You wouldn't have done anything." Max said, interrupting him.

Juan's expression hardened. Then he took a deep breath and nodded, "You are right, Overlord. I wouldn't have. But after I realized that the little girl was fortunate enough to become your friend, I immediately punished my son and had him take her mother as his official wife. I also sent him to bring little Ruo and her grandfather to the family, but you had taken them to the Fuller family. So, I—"

"They never were your responsibilities and will never be. I'll look after them." Max interrupted him before adding, "So, unless little Ruo wants to go to your family, no one from your family should ever try to approach her. Understand?"

Gulp!

"I understand, Overlord." Juan nodded.

"Good." Max was about to leave when he paused and asked, "Those Five Star mages, who are they? Are they from the Green Leaf? If yes, which family or organization?"

He understood the Williams family, the four noble families, and other families like the Daltons were stronger than what they publicly revealed, but the number of Five Star mages on the battlefield that didn't belong to any of these forces was quite a lot.

How could a force that had a peak Five Star mage at the helm not be known?

"No, Overlord. They are not from the green leaf, but from the nearby kingdoms."

Juan Ming's answer made him narrow his eyes, "From the nearby kingdoms? Why are they here? Shouldn't they be fighting in their own kingdoms?"

"They should be." Juan nodded, "But their kingdoms aren't as strong as the Green Leaf and are comparatively isolated. And given the fierceness of the demon race this time, they believe their kingdoms will soon fall. So, they chose to leave early."

Just then, a hushed silence fell on the battlefield.

"What happened?" Juan muttered, n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Suddenly, Max felt his communication crystal buzz in his spatial ring. When he heard the message, his expression fell.

The message was from Martha.

[All the Green Leaf's neighboring kingdoms had fallen.]

For a brief moment, the thought that if he hadn't asked Juan about those Five Star mages, this wouldn't have happened appeared in his mind.

Noticing his expression, Juan asked, "What happened, sir Overlord?"

"The nearby kingdoms fell." Max answered. Then he turned around and said, "Don't die. Even though little Ruo has no familial feelings for you, she might be sad if she finds out her grandfather died."

Juan snapped out of his daze that he fell into after hearing the news and hurriedly said, "Yes, Overlord. I'll do my best to survive."

'It didn't go as bad as I thought it would.' He thought, his gaze flickering.

…

Max was worried that now that the other kingdoms had fallen, the Green Leaf would face more pressure and sent Wyomin a message regarding it.

[There is no need for you to worry about it.] This was the response he received. He wanted to ask her to explain the situation, but knowing she most likely wouldn't, he did not and went to Martha's formation house.

…

Unlike what Max might expect, the demons weren't celebrating the news about the other kingdoms; instead, the entire demon city was silent.

Inside the main building, the main hall was thick with tension as Yshoy, Vigil, and other demon emperors wore heavy expressions.

After a while, Vigil sighed, "Human alliance, how ruthless!"