Chapter 492: Constraints

Constraints

Within the Baruch Royal Palace, in the picturesque royal garden—the grassy lawns underfoot—a white-clad Vania, sword in hand, staggered backward several steps. Eyes wide, she clutched her throat, staring ahead in alarm. Between her fingers, blood dripped onto the grass, staining the blades red.

Moments later, a faint golden glow spread across the hand pressed to her wound, and the ten shallow gashes on her neck swiftly healed until they stopped bleeding and vanished. Even so, the astonishment in Vania’s eyes didn’t fade.

From Shadi’s intel, Vania knew Muhtar had some ability to amplify and rebound any injury he received, but it required a spoken command to activate. The plan was for Vania, Dorothy, and Shadi to overwhelm Muhtar with a swift offensive so he’d never have the chance to utter that declaration. Vania had also been carefully monitoring everything Muhtar said. If she caught him making a retaliation pronouncement, she would stop attacking instantly.

Yet neither Shadi nor Vania had anticipated that Muhtar’s so-called commandment would be invoked in the form of spirit speech. Strictly speaking, spirit speech wasn’t a spoken language—it was more like a vibration-based exchange between spirits, as though one’s soul were acting as the vocal organ.

Typically, using spirit speech was far faster than regular speech: the speaker could complete a declaration in a fraction of a second, quicker than vocalizing words. Additionally, spirit speech carried powerful secrecy: only the undead and Beyonders of the Silence domain could perceive or use it. Ordinary people and anyone lacking Silence as a primary or auxiliary spirituality would never notice it at all.

Shadi’s intel included the knowledge that Muhtar’s “commandment” took effect after a pronouncement, but no one foresaw that it could be delivered via spirit speech. Vania, diligently listening for Muhtar’s verbal recitation, nearly fell for it anyway.

By delivering his “commandment” in spirit speech, Muhtar ensured that most people couldn’t hear it and would unknowingly continue their attack. After injuring him, they’d be hit with the tenfold counter-injury. Even a small cut could become deadly when magnified. For instance, Vania had only slightly nicked Muhtar’s neck, but in return her own throat was nearly sliced open. If Shadi, who could hear spirit speech hadn’t warned her at the last moment, and if Dorothy hadn’t used the Marionette Mark’s power to help Vania stop in time, she would already have paid with her life.

“Hmph… quick reflexes there, I see…”

Observing Vania swiftly healing herself, Muhtar’s eyes flickered darkly. He’d killed countless confident foes with the combination of spirit speech and the retaliatory commandment, yet here his trick was thwarted. That meant dealing with these two from now on would be more troublesome.

But only a bit troublesome. Even counting that mysterious lightning overhead, Muhtar was convinced he wouldn’t lose to them.

At this, Muhtar touched two other rings on his hand, activating hidden mechanisms inside. Each ring contained a sealed sigil and a stored spiritual reserve. In a flash, those sigils’ effects were added to Muhtar’s own power.

They were high-level Chalice and Shadow sigils that directly boosted his physical strength. By expending a large chunk of stored spirituality, Muhtar now effectively possessed the physique and reaction speed of someone at second-stage Chalice and second-stage Shadow.

These advanced sigils were extremely potent, consuming vast resources—over ten points of spirituality plus a fortune’s worth of money, and specialized connections to acquire. Such items were beyond the means of most Beyonders. But Muhtar, as a Crimson-rank, had the resources to pull it off.

Bolstered by this twofold physical enhancement, Muhtar withdrew a scimitar from beneath his cloak. Scimitar in hand, he lunged straight at Vania. At the same time, he rescinded the prior “No leaving the palace” commandment and once again used spirit speech to declare a new one.

“Commandment: Those who face me in battle—no evading.”

He swept his gaze over Vania and Shadi, plainly including them both in this fresh commandment. Hearing the content, Shadi shouted a warning to Vania.

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“Careful! Now you can’t harm him—or evade him—either one triggers his commandment!”

At Shadi’s words, Vania faltered. She was already evading Muhtar’s incoming slash out of reflex. Dodging that frontal cut triggered the new penalty. Instantly, the back of her habit tore, leaving a deep lash mark across her bare skin. It looked like a savage whip strike had flayed her flesh.

Reeling from the commandment’s blow, Vania let out a cry of pain. The sudden agony caused her to stumble, nearly toppling over. Muhtar seized the opening and slashed again. Just before he could land the blow, an ice shard flew in from afar—striking Muhtar’s scimitar with a sharp clang. The weapon’s trajectory skewed slightly, courtesy of Shadi’s well-timed shot from a short distance away.

Muhtar’s strike, disrupted by Shadi, fell short. As he readied another slash, Vania steadied herself, lifting her sword to parry.

Initially, Vania thought “no evading” applied only to fleeing, not simple dodging. But her recent attempt to sidestep triggered the whip of retribution. Had Shadi not intervened, she’d have likely been finished off.

Seeing his second attempt fail, Muhtar glowered. He attacked again, but Vania, recalling Shadi’s words, could neither run, nor dodge, nor strike Muhtar, lest she break a commandment. Her only option was to block repeatedly. With the advanced sigils stacked, Muhtar’s physical speed and strength exceeded that of most White Ash foes, including Vania. Were it not for her refined sword skills and Insight, she wouldn’t be able to keep up her defense at all.

Shadi, meanwhile, fared little better. Pinned by dual commandments, he had no real way to handle Muhtar. An outright attack risked the retaliatory blow. He couldn’t run off to seek aid or mount a head-on clash—he didn’t have Vania’s martial prowess or advanced sigils beyond a few cheap ones on par with his Devouring Sigil. Such meager enhancements would never let him last long in close combat with Muhtar. Thus, his best move was to hurl ice spears intermittently to nudge Muhtar’s blade off course, buying Vania precious moments to parry.

“Setut! He’s tougher than expected—our plan is shot. Now what do we do?!”

Shadi urgently questioned Setut within himself. They had understood Muhtar's abilities and devised a joint ambush plan, aiming to overwhelm Muhtar so he wouldn't have the chance to pronounce his commandments. But unexpectedly, Muhtar didn’t even need to speak aloud; he could pronounce them through spirit speech alone—undetectable and swift, impossible to interrupt.

"Heh… Your original plan severely underestimated a Creator-rank," Setut said sarcastically within Shadi. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

"That old madman obviously can use soul incantations. He normally makes a show of verbalizing his commandments precisely to guard against moves like yours. He's been wary of you from the very beginning. You thought your shallow intel alone could topple him? That was utterly naive."

"You're right. We were careless. I never expected Muhtar would keep this trick hidden," Shadi admitted hastily.

"But now’s not the time to dwell on that—what matters is how we deal with him. Setut, do you have any solutions?"

"Solutions aren't impossible," Setut replied, "It’s like before—I need to synchronize your soul so you can temporarily wield a small portion of my Creator-rank power. But this requires time. Let's hope that sword-dancing nun can hold on until then… I never thought that girl who looked like a mere decorative vase could fight so well."

Shadi felt some relief hearing Setut’s response. He turned his gaze anxiously toward the ongoing fierce battle, hoping Vania could hold out until preparations were complete.

Meanwhile, Shadi wasn't the only anxious one.

In the distant hidden realm within the Temple of Revelation Runes, Dorothy sat anxiously, observing the distant battle with a worried expression.

Compared to when she had first entered the temple, the hidden space had transformed significantly. The floating texts had disappeared entirely, replaced by dense lightning-shaped glyphs across every wall. At the center, the ancient sigil of Heaven's Arbiter emanated a strange, glowing radiance with tiny arcs of electricity continuously dancing across its surface.

Since entering the hidden realm yesterday, Dorothy had not stepped outside. To combat Muhtar and his Savior’s Advent Sect who had entrenched themselves in Yadith, Dorothy had activated an ancient city defense system built into the temple—a legacy from a capital city of the First Dynasty seven thousand years ago. She discovered this system through the temple's own informational records and accessed it using its internal search tool.

This defense system was specifically designed for Beyonders of the Roaring Fury Path. Its effect was astonishing: it could utilize the temple's pre-stored spirituality to summon storm clouds in a radius exceeding fifty kilometers around the temple. It expanded the lightning caster's effective range to that entire radius and granted a panoramic aerial view of the entire region below.

Thus, Dorothy, empowered by the system, gained the ability to cast lightning at any point within Yadith and the surrounding areas, all without personally consuming her own spirituality. The temple's massive reserves of stored spirituality were so abundant that they could sustain an entire war.

In other words, this defense system was a high-level support device explicitly tailored to Roaring Fury Path Beyonders. The stronger the Thunder Elementalist wielding it, the greater its potential. Unfortunately, Dorothy remained at the White Ash-rank, limiting the maximum potential of the lightning she could cast. She could strike lightning across the entire city, but its power still capped at White Ash rank, explaining why her previous lightning strike failed to kill Muhtar outright.

Initially, Dorothy believed victory would be guaranteed with this powerful system, unlimited lightning strikes within a fifty-kilometer radius, and an aerial view of the entire battlefield. Even against a Crimson-rank Beyonder, she felt confident of success. Yet now, Muhtar’s abilities as an Ascetic Path Crimson-rank Beyonder proved more troublesome than Dorothy could have imagined.

According to information received from Shadi, Muhtar belonged to a Beyonder path called the Holy Father Path within the Radiance Church, also known as the Ascetic Path outside the Church. It was a branch of the Lantern Path with a Lantern primary and Silence auxiliary spirituality. Muhtar’s rank, Crimson-rank, was titled "Commandment Enforcer."

Ascetic Path Beyonders strengthened their minds through rigorous adherence to commandments, enabling them to enforce special constraints on themselves, allies, and enemies. At Black Earth-rank, Ascetic Beyonders used commandments primarily to strengthen their own willpower and resist external influences. At White Ash-rank, they extended commandments to willing allies, and at Crimson-rank, they could impose commandments directly upon enemies, forcing them to endure severe constraints.

Dorothy found this ability disgusting enough upon first hearing it, yet the current situation exceeded even her worst expectations.

“He can enforce commandments on others and gain a tenfold damage reflection. Even worse, opponents must fight him head-on—no running, no dodging. On top of that, his passive skill allows him to withstand massive amounts of damage, so attacking vital points won’t work… Assassinations are useless… He can’t be interrupted from chanting his skills…

“Tenfold reflection, forced taunts, unavoidable attacks, extreme HP pool, immunity to critical hits, invulnerability to instant-kill moves, unstoppable skill-casting…

“If such a boss appeared in a game, players would ragequit in frustration. This is literally a walking disaster of game design!”

Observing the distant fight in the royal gardens, Dorothy silently lamented. Now that she understood Muhtar's commandment effects, she had no idea how to deal with him. She wasn't certain whether Muhtar’s damage reflection would apply to her own attacks—if she tried to strike Muhtar down with lightning, would she accidentally kill herself due to reflection?

“No, these commandments are too obscure,” Dorothy thought anxiously.

“We have no clarity on their exact range, strength, or the maximum number of commandments he can impose simultaneously. Fighting him without clear information is simply impossible. Before we can find a way to counteract his commandments, we must understand exactly how they function.”

Having made up her mind, Dorothy abandoned the risky idea of attacking Muhtar directly. Instead, she decided to test and verify the mechanics of Muhtar’s commandments, using her Spiritual Thread Path abilities.

She shifted her view to another location within the palace grounds, focusing on the ongoing chaotic battle. Using the bird’s-eye perspective provided by the city defense system, Dorothy began extending her invisible spiritual threads outward, controlling the numerous corpses scattered across the battlefield and compelling them to pick up the weapons they held in life.