Elara reached out and checked his pulse.
After confirming that he was completely dead, she pulled out the dagger that had pierced through the chief's throat.
Bright red blood spurted out again.
Elara used her spear to pry open the corpse of the giant mutated pangolin that had been blasted to death, then dragged the chief's body out.
She first felt around the arm that had launched the "photon cannon" and, as expected, found some kind of fully transparent thing that resembled a protective armguard.
Elara fumbled around his arm for a moment, pulled off the armguard, then pried open the chief's eyes and peeled off the purple lenses that looked like contact lenses.
The System automatically popped up with related information the moment she touched those two items.
[Ding~ Congratulations, you have obtained an item: [Auto-Locking Cannon] (Ancient Form Version)]
[Description]: This is one of the weapons once embedded in a giant creature. It has now automatically adapted to this era as an ancient armguard form and can turn invisible. Though the weapon's power and sensitivity have significantly decreased due to the erosion of countless years, its destructive force still allows it to dominate in this ancient age.
[Special Traits]: This weapon can absorb many types of energy to recharge itself and can fire powerful tracking "photon cannons" and "photon scatter cannons."
Although its lethality and tracking ability have declined due to wear and tear, its power in this ancient time is still comparable to a "nuclear bomb," capable of destroying anything in its path.
Each time it fires a "photon cannon," it consumes twenty percent of its energy.
[Energy]: Currently, it has sixty percent remaining energy. It can be replenished through direct injection or natural recovery.
[Ding~ Congratulations, you have obtained a pair of [Eyes of Illusion] (Ancient Form Version)]
[Description]: This is a rare weapon focused on mental attack and control. It has now adapted to this era as an ancient (contact lens) form and can turn invisible.
Though its mental control power has weakened after countless years of erosion, it still possesses a powerful, ghost-like ability to confuse and manipulate in this ancient time.
[Special Traits]: This weapon can perform the [Disorder of the Mind] control ability and the [Memory Sync] function to read memories.
[Disorder of the Mind]: Can confuse and control enemies, causing them to unconsciously act as you wish. Each use consumes twenty percent of its energy.
[Heart of Infiltration]: This can invade the enemy's mind, read their memories, and detect the secrets they hide deep in their hearts.
(Note: Due to erosion from the passage of time, this function has greatly declined. After reading the opponent's memories, there's a high chance it will damage their mind, making them mentally dull or disabled. So please consider carefully before using it each time.)
Each use of [Heart of Infiltration] consumes fifty percent of the energy.
[Energy]: Currently, twenty percent of energy remains. It can be restored either by direct injection or natural recovery.
They were both indeed very powerful weapons... Now they belonged to her too.
Elara put away these two divine items and continued to search the body of the top-ranked enemy.
Unfortunately, the top-ranked enemy didn't carry the same kind of secret intel lists as those Blood Tower assassins she killed earlier.
Aside from some basic medicines and weapons, he barely had anything else on him.
Elara looted everything useful from the corpse and destroyed all suspicious remnants. Then she raised her eyes and looked around.
As expected, the Salvia Emperor, who had been shivering in fear and hiding in a corner, was nowhere to be seen.
Elara took out the [Map Tracker] and found that the man was now crawling slowly and nervously toward the exit, trembling like a quail.
She stared at the red dot labeled Salvia Emperor on the map for a while, then drew her dagger and cut off the top-ranked enemy's head, carrying it in her hand.
The Salvia Emperor looked like he had already been scared out of his wits. But earlier, when she almost stabbed his neck, he still didn't even try to retrieve the Divine Mirror.
He appeared timid and weak, but in truth, his mental defenses were quite solid. It really wouldn't be easy to make him use that Divine Mirror recklessly.
She needed to provoke him a bit.
Elara carried the top-ranked enemy's severed head and walked toward where the Salvia Emperor was crawling cautiously.
This underground space was right beneath the Forbidden Palace. The palace attendants nearby didn't dare come close. Plus, the noise from Uno's assassination attempt had drawn away most of the guards and shadow troops. That made this area even more deserted, leaving no one around to assist or cover for the crawling emperor.
As Elara moved toward the Salvia Emperor, the Puppet Soldier that followed Uno also sent back his report.
He had taken care of the second and third top-ranked enemies, along with a large number of shadow guards and palace soldiers who had come out from the imperial palace.
Right now, the shadow guards and palace guards in the Salvia Imperial Palace were searching for his whereabouts with high alert.
There weren't many people coming toward the Forbidden Palace, so he would take care of this group in advance, preventing them from getting close.
This way, Elara would have enough time to slowly wear down the Salvia Emperor.
...
Inside the narrow and dark underground passage, the Salvia Emperor was trembling and crawling along, his legs so weak that he could barely move.
"Swish!"
A sharp and chilling wind suddenly sliced past his ear, cutting off a strand of hair dangling from it.
It also slashed his cheek, leaving behind a long bloody mark.
Already terrified, the Salvia Emperor froze on the spot, his breath nearly stopping as he collapsed in place.
The next second, his neck was grabbed by a slender hand, slightly callused.
This hand looked incredibly beautiful, but as it clenched his neck, the Salvia Emperor felt as though it was about to crush his throat.
He had no choice but to tilt his head back, his face turning red from the pressure and fear.
"You... ha... ha..."
The Salvia Emperor could barely speak with her hand around his neck.
Elara, gripping his throat, directly lifted him off the ground.
As she watched his face turn more purple, she threw him hard against the wall.
A sharp dagger once again brushed past the Salvia Emperor's face and stabbed into the stone wall beside his ear.
"You should know what it means for me to be standing in front of you right now."
Elara leaned in closer to the Salvia Emperor.
She slowly drew the dagger from the wall beside his ear, its sharp edge scraping across his cheek as if she were wiping a blade with his face.
The Salvia Emperor stared at the face that looked exactly like his most trusted palace servant, but the eyes above were cold and mocking like a cat toying with a mouse.
The stinging pain on his face urged him to follow her demand.
He frantically nodded, his fear intensifying, but the hands at his sides still didn't reach for the Divine Mirror.
Elara clicked her tongue and simply took out the newly acquired [Eyes of Bewitchment].
There was still twenty percent energy left in the [Eyes of Bewitchment], enough for one more use of its control power.
However, as she looked at the purple lens in her hand, which resembled contact lenses, Elara frowned slightly.
[System, I don't want to wear contact lenses someone else has worn. Since this thing can change form, can it turn into something else?]
[Uh, Master, how about using your mutated spiritual tendrils to touch it? These divine items come from the future and seem to rely heavily on mental energy. You might succeed if you use yours.]
Elara followed the System's suggestion and touched the [Purple Eye] with her mental energy.
Sure enough, in the next second, the pale purple contact lens transformed into a pair of delicate and beautiful earrings, shaped like teardrops.