Chapter 77

"Child, you should not have come before me." Desa's pale face bore a strange smile, as if mocking Eragon's foolishness.

"I will tear open your chest with this spear," Eragon roared, the tip of the dragon spear glowing with a fiery heat. Saphira's wings stopped flapping, and she used dragon magic to enhance the attack.

With a loud boom, Saphira broke the sound barrier, bringing Eragon to Desa's front. She raised her head and spat out a fierce flame, scorching the hell bats. A spear tip, mixed with the dragon's fire, pierced through the red flames, carrying the massive spear body and the powerful momentum, reaching Desa.

It hit.

Eragon's face lit up with excitement, but his joy was short-lived. The empty feeling on the spear almost made him vomit blood.

Just as Desa was about to be hit, he transformed into a black mist, dodging the attack. At the same time, the hell bats flipped and came to Saphira's underside, their massive fangs biting into her belly, even through the chainmail armor, unable to withstand the sharp teeth of the hell bats.

"Aaaah!" Saphira let out a painful cry, but she couldn't reach the injured spot.

"Shriek and wail," Desa laughed, appearing on the hell bats, hanging under Saphira's belly, letting the dragon's blood flow from her wound, splashing his face red. But Desa was even more excited, shouting, "Listen, she is groaning, and then she will die."

"Get away!" Aya shouted, standing steadily on the magic eagle. An arrow in her hand glowed green, and a magic arrow pierced the hell bat's eye from hundreds of meters away, passing through its misty body.

The natural energy attached to the arrow caused the hell bat pain, and it released Saphira.

Chuci disappeared, and before Desa could find him, Chuci revealed himself.

A giant dragon, like a diamond, soared in the sky. As the black mist was dispelled by Chuci's alchemy, sunlight shone on Vian, and every scale reflected a dazzling light.

At the most critical moment, Vian grew again.

Though the nearly forty-meter dragon was not as large as Saphira, as a magic amplifier, Chuci was quite satisfied.

The alchemy array was fully activated.

But that was not the main attack. At the center of the amplification array was a small magic rune.

Desa could analyze the basic fire transmutation from their exchange, so why couldn't Chuci learn a couple of targeted spells from his vast library of magic?

"Prz Natural Restoration" This was a healing spell, but it was different from the usual magic that provides healing. It was a spell that stimulated and corrected abnormal conditions. Used on Eragon, it would remove his buffs and restore his stamina. Used on Saphira, it would revert her to her juvenile form and allow her to grow normally, which were long-term and beneficial effects.

But used on Desa, it was a deadly poison.

Desa, to achieve immortality, had transformed himself into an undead warlock, a non-human monster. If touched by Natural Restoration, his transformed body would revert, and centuries of life would be returned to him in an instant, aging him to death.

"Foolish dream," Desa dared not turn into black mist, as such movement would be slow. The hell bats carried him away from Chuci, the only way to escape his magic range.

"I'll give you nine and three-quarters of a breath to run, and you still won't escape." Chuci created such a grand array, finally setting up the perfect situation for the weak to overcome the strong. How could he let Desa escape? The alchemy array activated, and Vian provided full dragon power to activate the magic. Natural Restoration transformed from a single-target spell into a wide-area attack, instantly enveloping the entire Varden Basin, including Desa, who could not escape. In a series of screams, his flesh began to reanimate and rapidly age, time mercilessly taking away his life and strength.

"You win, but you will never win," death made Desa even calmer. His eyes were as terrifying as ever, his twisted smile directed at Eragon, his hoarse voice like a curse or a prophecy, "Child, you will be the only failure."

With those words, Desa turned into a cloud of ash and dissipated in the sky.

No one noticed the small dragon Saphira, the melting voodoo doll in the sunlight, the dead enemies on the ground, or the fighting allies. When the warlock Desa died, the black mist cleared, revealing a clear blue sky. Only the diamond-like crystal dragon and Chuci proved that the victory belonged to Varden.

"The warlock is dead." The morale of the Varden warriors soared, and their exhausted bodies seemed to regain new strength. The effects of Natural Restoration allowed them to pick up their broken weapons and continue attacking the northern army.

"Quickly retreat, leave a rear guard, and the rest withdraw." The northern army's bravery and discipline far surpassed the king's army and the Urgals. Even as these two forces scattered, they maintained relatively intact formations. General Wilson of the northern army made a decisive decision, leaving some soldiers to block the king's army and the Urgals as a meat shield, and leading the rest to retreat quickly and orderly.

When the Varden killed off the king's army and the Urgals, the rear guard had already retreated into the tunnels, using horses to collapse the tunnels, cutting off the Varden's pursuit.

"Indeed, they are a regular army, not a wild regime like Varden." Chuci held a book with twisted and strange characters, which he couldn't understand, but he could read the imprints with his mental power.

What a dramatic plot.

Chuci, while marveling at Desa's generous gift, felt that such drama would occur in any world, in any character. But before that, Chuci still thought he should visit the capital to see if Gabrathis, the tyrant in the people's mouths, was truly a corrupt and cruel ruler.

The plan to go to the capital was beautiful, but Varden needed Chuci, the half-baked magician, more after the war. This included the damaged buildings, Saphira's regrowth, Eragon's paralysis from the crash, and the collapsed tunnels. Chuci dispatched all his magic puppets and worked day and night for seven or eight days to handle the more important parts. Eragon's condition was controlled, and with another half-month of rest, he could walk again.

Amidst the busy work, Chuci also quietly took some time to spend sweet and romantic nights with Aya.

When the dwarves started working on the tunnels again, Chuci, taking advantage of the early morning light, rode the dragon south.

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