Chapter 1300: Lifted Seal

“I’m finally back…”

Once again stepping on familiar ground, Rhode finally relaxed his tense body. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time now to take things easy and enjoy the holiday sunshine and peaceful afternoons on the beaches of Hawaii. The battle in the water elemental plane made him realize that the current situation wasn’t going to allow him to continue to be at ease. Since a battle against Chaos occurred in the water elemental plane, it meant that the other elemental planes might not be any better. But then again, Gillian was the fire elemental lord, so why wasn’t she worried about the fire elemental plane at all?

“Don’t worry, Master. Even if something happens, it won’t be anything huge.”

Facing Gillian’s confidence, Rhode couldn’t comment much. Anyway, he couldn’t possibly let her open the elemental channel and head to the fire elemental plane to ‘put out the fire’. Since even Gillian said so herself, Rhode no longer cared about such trivial matters, but focused immediately on the next important issue ahead.

After recovering the Book of Elements, all three books were finally in Rhode’s hands. Next, he needed to awaken the spirits hibernating in the three books and turn them into his card spirits. According to his younger sister, as long as the ten holy sword cards were collected, he could activate the enchanted field and fight against Chaos.

However, Rhode still had a hard time imagining how he would go about fighting Chaos with the ten holy sword cards. He understood their abilities better than anyone. After all, he had been using them ever since he transmigrated to the Dragon Soul Continent. He was also certain that they were powerful, but that was about all. After removing the remaining seals, and in addition to the boost of his Taboo Halo, the holy sword card spirits could battle alongside level 85 peak players, but that was about it. They weren’t as powerful as the seven deity wardens and compared to an archangel like Lydia, they were about the same. So how would they be able to go against Chaos with this level of strength?

Anyway, Rhode didn’t have any way to turn them into even more terrifying beings. In his perspective, the seven deity wardens that were so godlike and qualified to even become game masters of the game still covered their heads and sneaked away like rats in the face of Chaos. Some of them reincarnated, while some fled home. In that case, what sort of powers did the holy sword card spirits possess that made them strong enough against the invasion of Chaos?

But no matter what, since the younger sister said this was the only way without the Order Star, Rhode was left without a choice.

“We finally reached the next step of the plan…”

Looking at the three, heavy, and different-colored books before him, Rhode lowered his head, opened his eyes, and gazed at his surroundings. Currently, the holy sword card spirits had manifested and were looking at him quietly. And one by one, he swept glances across their faces, from Celia, who was the first to follow him around, to Celestina, who often disobeyed his commands, though was subdued by him later. There was also Gracier and Madaras, who went with him everywhere and never expressed their opinions. Shira, who was exceptionally dangerous, was always at the forefront of the battlefield. Little Five, who was indifferent and rarely said a word. Last but not least, the plan creator of the holy sword card deck and the only human among them, Karin.

The seven holy sword card spirits stood there, looking at him silently. Celia seemed as steady as ever, albeit revealing some anticipation and concern. Celestina crossed her arms and looked away with an occasional arrogant look, trying to act as if she didn’t care about what was going on. Gracier and Madaras were still the same as always. They held hands and stood at the side without making a noise, while long hoods covered half their faces. However, the slightly upturned corners of their mouths displayed their excitement. On the other side, Shira leaned on her longsword uncharacteristically, showing her usual, broken grin, staring at the three books with crazy, murderous eyes. Drifting beside her, Little Five gazed into the void with her ethereal eyes. No one knew what she was thinking about. As for Karin…

“Inspection complete, Master. All three books are in perfect condition. Theoretically speaking, there should be no problem in removing the seals.”

After inspecting the seals of the Book of Elements, Book of Life, and Book of Death, Karin lifted her head and spoke with a solemn expression.

“Come to think of it, why are they the only ones who require additional seals, Karin? Are they really that strong?”

At that moment, Rhode finally asked the question from deep inside his mind. As for why Karin used this unique method to seal the three card spirits, no one knew exactly what happened. No matter if it was Marlene who restored the memories of a deity warden or Celia and the rest who became card spirits or his younger sister, no one knew the reason. Because in the first place, the younger sister simply gave the orders, while the rest executed them. As long as everything turned out fine, the process wasn’t within her concern.

“That isn’t the case, Master. Strictly speaking, even though the three big sisters are indeed much stronger than us, compared to the rest…” Karin said, shifting her gaze to Marybelle, Marlene, Alice, and the rest so the subject of comparison was clearly self-evident. “… They aren’t actually that powerful. As a matter of fact, if you didn’t gather us, the other seven holy sword cards, there would br no need to go through all this trouble. If you received these three cards in the first place, you could have summoned them directly, Master.”

“Oh? Why is that so?”

Upon hearing Karin’s words, Rhode was taken aback. He considered the possibility of being unable to remove the seals of the three cards without gathering the other seven. But now, according to Karin, he could remove their seals straight away if he only received the three cards without gathering the rest?

What kind of logic is that?

“Due to resonance, Master.”

Karin, on the other hand, wasn’t annoyed in the least. Shortly after, she explained to him in detail.

“If you look closely at our attributes, you’ll see the reason why.”

“Attributes?”

Rhode was stunned. Then, as though he recalled something, he turned to the crowd… It was at that moment when he realized that with the addition of the three card spirits sealed within the books, he could form three small, unique groups. One group would be led by Celestina and Shira, representing darkness. The other would be led by Gracier and Madaras as the nature group. The last group would be of the light attribute guided by Celia and Little Five (Perhaps it might be unimaginable for many, but, in fact, a specter was an existence of the light attribute). If Rhode were to carefully sort the three groups and awaken the card spirits, he would realize that the three books happened to rule over the darkness, light, and elemental attributes respectively. In this case, the ‘resonance’ that Karin mentioned would also be comprehensible. The same attribute would resonate and provide a boost in strength, which was basic knowledge to players. There was no need for Karin to explain further because this time, Rhode finally understood what she meant.

As a matter of fact, the three card spirits acted as resonance. As soon as they were activated, they would resonate with those of the same attributes as them, leading to an outburst of increased power. This source of energy was undoubtedly powerful, which was why Karin sealed them in the books. If Rhode were to receive the three card spirits without gathering any of the other card spirits, he would lose the resonance of the same attributes, so they wouldn’t cause too much damage even if they were awakened.

But on the other hand, if only one of the light, darkness, and elements was awakened and the remaining two attributes weren’t present to hold down the other two sides of the triangle, the triangle of balance would collapse. When that happened… Although Karin didn’t say it outright, it was definitely not something that they could dismiss with a smile.

In that case…

“Karin, what about yours?”

If Rhode were to split them into groups, Karin would be in an odd position. She wasn’t a being of a certain, specific attribute, but was a human instead…

“I am the essential core that coordinates and removes seals and consciousnesses.”

Yeah, I thought so.

Upon hearing her response, Rhode more or less understood his younger sister’s thoughts now. If the card spirits were gathered, they happened to make up the entire ecosystem of the Dragon Soul Continent. Souls and angels represented life and light. Undead creatures and demons represented death and darkness. White elves represented nature, while humans lived within the continent. This was a complete system with its own ‘Order’. It seemed like this was perhaps the key to resisting the invasion of Chaos.

“Let’s start.”

At this thought, Rhode said without any hesitation. Upon hearing his words, Karin nodded, turned around, and gestured to the other six card spirits. After witnessing her hand gesture, the six card spirits went up to him and spread out. After they stood in place, Karin confirmed their position, lifted her head, and nodded at Rhode.

“We can begin now, Master.”

“I got it…”

Upon hearing Karin’s words, Rhode restrained his expression. His face, devoid of expression, became increasingly heavier. He extended his arm and along with this action, a summoning ritual flickering in magical brilliance emanated on the back of his hand. Magical threads spread out comfortably, coalescing into an enormous ritual that shrouded everyone.

“Hmm?”

Looking at this scene, Rhode couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. This wasn’t his first time casting a summoning ritual. Be it in the game or reality, he had seen countless of such intricate and gorgeous summoning rituals. But at that moment, when he gazed at the summoning ritual under his feet, he was stunned to discover that it actually fit perfectly the positions occupied by the seven holy sword card spirits within the respective circles. In the past, he didn’t know what purpose the circles within the summoning ritual served. He thought they were simply part of the design pattern. But now, it seemed like they were reserved for the rightful holy sword card spirits.

However, now wasn’t the time to consider such things. Rhode collected his thoughts, stretched out his arm, and waved it forward. Along with his movement, the three books that were lying still before him floated in midair as if guided by something and drifted into the three remaining circles. As soon as that happened, dazzling, colorful light pillars shot up from the circles all of a sudden, enveloping the seven holy sword cards spirits and the three sealed books.

At that moment, a system prompt that Rhode couldn’t be more familiar with appeared before his eyes.

[Detected resonances. Confirm to awaken?]

[Warning: Strong resonances detected. Increase in power is overpowering and likely to cause damage to a certain extent. Confirm to continue?]

Yes.

Gazing at the system prompt, Rhode nodded. These three cards were truly outstanding. This was the first time the system prompt gave him a warning during the summoning process…

Boom!

The instant Rhode nodded, he heard a thunderous rumble. The light pillars that shrouded the ten holy sword card spirits flickered in an array of colorful brilliance. The light pillars enveloping Celia and Little Five shone in a pure whiteness filled with vitality. On the other hand, the light pillar enfolding Celestina and Shira shone in a mysterious darkness and deep purple hue, where visible waves of darkness and death exuded from within and extended in all directions. Both light and darkness bit, rotated, and resisted each other like gears. A war between light and darkness seemed to be on the horizon, like a fight between these two sides was inevitable.

But at that moment, the elemental brilliances flickered.

It was like a combination of rushing waves, whistling hurricanes, bursting flames, and rumbling lands. The pure, unparalleled elemental power was forcefully thrust between light and darkness, blocking and easing both sides that had begun to collide intensely. Shortly after, under the intrusion of the elemental power, the light and darkness that seemed like two head-to-head bulls came to a standstill. They gradually merged under the elements to form a whole new existence… It looked simply like the reproduction of the creation of the Dragon Soul Continent!

Just as this thought cropped up in Rhode’s mind, the light pillars became increasingly dazzling. A series of flashing lights erupted and even he had to squint his eyes. But even so, he could still clearly hear the system prompts ringing in his ears.

The land trembled, air reverberated, and deep eruptions like thunderclaps rang out from time to time. Not only was Rhode caught in the middle of it, but the rest who were watching from afar were also forced to turn away from this powerful energy. It was so strong that even Rhode was a little worried that he would be swept away and crushed to his demise. Now, he finally understood why Karin specifically warned him about the increase in power of the three cards.

Others might not be aware of it, but Rhode, who was stranded in the middle of it, sensed the surging power of light and death circulating, and the solid power of elements was his only barrier. He felt like he was standing on the top of a lone rock, while roaring storms and whirlpools swarmed him from all directions. He couldn’t move a muscle and could only wait in helpless silence. As a matter of fact, none of the three powers were actually strong at first. But soon after, he realized that, along with the responses of the other six holy sword card spirits, the powers exploding out of the three books multiplied!

Rhode didn’t notice that the steel chains sealing the three books had shattered entirely. The powerful force crushed them over ruthlessly, turning the seals into nothingness. The three thick, different-colored books opened up and their pages flapped swiftly in the winds. Shortly after, a colorful array of lights metamorphosed into a lightning bolt that jumped out from the gaps between the pages, bursting and coalescing in the surroundings…

Boom…!

The ground shook once again. This time, the entire world had as though lost its colors and brilliance. Everything stopped like the crowd falling into a deep silence before the opening of a stage play.

This scene didn’t last for long. it could also be said that it lasted for only a split second before the brilliance dissipated.

When Rhode opened his eyes again, he spotted three unfamiliar beings in front of him.

They were the last three holy sword card spirits.