Silent Crown

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The way that knights fight a war was straight-forward - no matter what the tactics were and no matter what the strategy was - its only goal was to "destroy the enemies physically".

Therefore, their strengths lied differently with the musicians. They didn't need to be multifunctional, nor did they require long time study and research, and they didn't even need a teacher to guide them.

Like everyone in a war, they need combat skills and experiences, good weather conditions and mental and physical conditions, favorable general situations of the war and luck. But what's most important for them, were two simple factors: speed and strength.

Those who were faster and stronger would always win the battle. Therefore, since the invention of the armored knights, everyone had been trying all means to pursue speed and strength. And that philosophy had caused the creation of numerous monsters by the workshops.

At that time, the most powerful machine was the Courtyard Snake published several months ago by the Asgardian National Alchemy Lab. It had drawn the attention of the whole world even before it was made, as it surpassed the previous most powerful machine - the Hercules.

The making of the Courtyard Snake consumed tens of thousands of tons of steel and precious materials and a total of 300,000 men were hired to labor in the workshops for 5 years. Around the site where it was assembled, a new heavy industry city was generated during the 5 years. The amount of black gold consumed for the interior wirings and piping was equal to two years of total black gold output of the whole world.

A mere prototype of the Courtyard Snake had cost half of the money that Asgardian's national treasury had accumulated.

Powered by at least 6 super aether engines and piloted by 16 grand knights and 40 musicians, the Courtyard Snake was above 100 meters tall and heavier than a battleship. It was a walking fortress once it was in operation.

What's more, it also had with it 3 military divisions, 6 special armored cavalier forces and a general military unit of more than 1,000 men.

It could function as a decisive factor in any direct conflict. No one knew exactly where its limit of strength lied. However, for the Courtyard Snake, it was as easy as a child stamping a sand fortress on the beach to push down the wall of a well-guarded city. As a gigantic war machine of its size, it was born to fight a catastrophe. Its power represents the best of the nation, to which the strength of a mortal man could never be comparable.

Yet the armor that Ye Qingxuan was facing, was equally tough to handle to the Courtyard Snake.

Different with the Courtyard Snake, the biggest advantage of Lancelot's armor was its speed, which could almost defeat time. The alchemy armor was built at the peak time of Arthur's reign and had cost the country countless treasures and money. It was the guard for Arthur's path to godly ascension and his eternal reign.

The alchemy armor had capabilities far beyond the reach of any mortal man, and it could only be used by the best knight who could bear the terrible pressure it inflicted upon him. The one who was wearing it now, was one of the best knights in the western world - Lancelot, who was called "the one favored by victory".

In terms of explosive force, when Lancelot drew his sword, even an aetherized scepter musician could not dodge the fatal strike. Luckily for Ye Qingxuan, Lancelot couldn't maintain that sort of speed for long. Ye Qingxuan was not sure how long would it take for the armor to resume that speed, but if he didn't seize the opportunity and let the armor accumulate power for the next acceleration, he would have to gamble his life on his luck.

Fortunately, Ye Qingxuan was quite good at gamble with his life.

"No hurry. Let's sit down and drink some water. We could talk thing over." Facing the golden light roaring toward him, Ye Qingxuan smiled and dipped the Baton of Change on the ground to play the first note of his movement.

Instantly, endless ocean waves of magnificent melodies burst out of the baton clashing against each other, the booming of which shook the whole battle field. Everyone on the battlefield was terrified by the horrible images included in the melodies.

It was like ridding on a shabby boat in the sea, where towering sea waves raise above and cut out the sun light. The waves bulldozed forward on the sea surface, casting its shadow all over the space. The sea water generated deafening noise like the sound of iron rubbing against iron, which was causing unspeakable pain in everyone's ears.

The shadow pressed down. And suddenly, there was nothing but silence. All the roaring, shouting, screaming and whining were gone. As if isolated by the thick wall of sea water, silence devoured everything. The light went out, and darkness fell. Only when they raised their heads and looked above could they see the sea surface and the dim light. The storm was still raging the sea surface, yet the battle field was buried down into the bottom of the sea.

Everyone was suffocated. They breathed hard, but no air was there. Their faces turned green due to lack of oxygen. Despair seized everyone.

Then comes the terrible undercurrent and the massive water pressure.

They were falling, falling down more and more quickly as if there would be no end to the falling.

It was like several years had elapsed, or was it only a slip of a second? Finally, they saw the bottomless ocean abyss under the sea, which was like a giant monster opening its mouth widely, waiting for any prey trapped in the illusion to devour them into the deepest darkness.

The darkness seemed tangible, as if it was grinding the bones of everyone enveloped in it. Everything in the darkness would finally dissolve and fall into eternal sleep.

The Ocean Abyss Symphony!

The illusion of the sea sealed the space, leaving no way to escape from it. With the melodies projecting the images of massive tides as its starting point, it implanted into the enemy's head a powerful illusion. With Ye Qingxuan's perfect skills, the deployment of the strategic level symphony was finished smoothly, with no flaw in it at all.

The Royal Music Division was dragged into it instantly. They were pushed down the dark fall even before they could put up a fight. Only it was a very short moment, it was expanded by tens of thousands of times in the mind of the musicians. Almost one third of the Royal Music Division members had been stunned by the ocean abyss that was coming nearer and nearer and lost their will to fight.

Then, when the chief musician raised his hand to prepare for the summoning of oddities which could consume the illusional realm, there suddenly came the hot alchemy light in the deep sea.

From the deepest part of the darkness, the knight that had suffered most from the ocean abyss raised the Lance of Dragon Slayer in his hand, which shone brightly and tore up the darkness apart.

The light then soared high up into the air, leaving a pale white tail along its path. Only within a split second that it crossed the whole ocean abyss.

Trapped in the core of the illusion, Lancelot, with his unyielding will, was able to negate the illusion which had turned into reality and tear up the illusion by brutal force. He escaped from the trap and trusted his lance at the illusion. Along with the aether interaction, he destroyed all the key joints of the illusion.

The aether circulation was cut off at the key points by the lance of dragon slayer.

Ye Qingxuan jumped out from behind the illusion. He immediately felt danger before he could utter a word. He subconsciously moved his head to one side and the next moment, Lancelot was right in front of him.

The ferocious mask was right in front of his eyes. The blade of the lance, turned into hot red due to the friction in the air, roared past his ear, the deafening sound nearly tearing up his ear drum. The spearhead scrubbed his chick and left a narrow yet long scar on his face, which caused him great pain that he almost trembled.

There was no way to dodge this strike.

Leaning close to the lance, Ye Qingxuan stepped one step forward. Opening his arm with a warm smile on his face, he hugged his "uncle" who was just one foot away from him.

The Hug of Death.

The strings of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei tightened suddenly and wrung together, producing a booming sound like the iron drum.

A music theory seed grew out of the Symphony of Predestination. With Ye Qingxuan's swift movement, the seed was pushed into the body of Lancelot. And then, began the nature interference!

The music theory seed integrated into the heart and suck the blood to feed itself. Then, it grew and sprouted. Then, a green fire blossomed on the plant.

As Over the Burning Ashes!

The music theories passed down from Abraham came alive in Ye Qingxuan's hands. Through nature interference, it turned the blood within Lancelot's body into burning fire, burning him from inside out.

In Ye Qingxuan's right hand, the music theories from the Emerald Tablet converged and 36 perception threads stretched out and attached themselves onto the armor.

The next moment, Ye Qingxuan retreated at lightening speed and rolled on the ground to evade the swiping of the lance of dragon slayer. Yet, the end of the lance brushed past his shoulder and smashed onto the ground. The rocks on the ground were smashed into pieces and bounced onto Ye Qingxuan's face. It was really hurt.

What a pity it is that he was not able to embrace Lancelot.

If the hug was successful, Lancelot might be badly wounded.

The perception would have connected in parallel with the alchemy matrix and broken the four-layer balance through music theory invasion to overload the aether engine and make it explode.

Lancelot successfully forced Ye Qingxuan to retreat. But before he could begin his counter-attack, Lancelot felt the fierce fire inside his body. He didn't hesitate at all and turned the spearhead to himself and cut open the old wound on his chest.

The steel was pierced through, giving off sharp scrubbing noise. The wound burst open, but, instead of blood, it was fire that spurt out it.

The fire was cut off by the spear.

Then, the music theory seed inhabited on the heart was dug out and broke into pieces in the air.

Then, dark firebirds covered the severe wound and closed the hole in Lancelot's body. the armor was then repaired, and the most formidable knight of Anglo was standing in front of Ye Qingxuan again.

Yet, Ye Qingxuan smiled.

It worked!

At that moment, moonlight converged around Ye Qingxuan. The moonlight was as if tangible and turned into dozens of blades, floating in the air.

The crystal-like blades integrated into the moonlight. It was hard to tell them from the shinning moonlight. Only their thin shadow could be seen on the ground.

Fling of swords!

Powered by the symphony of Predestination, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei played the Seal of Moonlight 16 times. In a short moment, he played from Declaration of Sincerity, Obedience to the physical laws to Conquer of Han, breath of depth, Loss of Life until the 18th chapter, the Fling of Swords!

The illusional image of rainbow flinging across the sun emerged in the sky and 16 ferocious swords were locked on Lancelot. With the waving of hand by Ye Qingxuan, all the 16 swords pierced through the air and flied towards Lancelot.

The sword were not tangible but only virtual images, but the sound of them piercing through the air was loud and sharp, like the ferocious shouting of numerous men.

The movement was so powerful that It would take only a split second to kill any enemy!