Chapter 71: Chapter 69 Magic Artifact
The whole room was deathly silent, and the surrounding ratmen looked at the huge head above, feeling their limbs stiffened and unable to move.
To talk about it, the reason Austin discovered this ratman tribe and appeared here was entirely because the Beastman Priest had previously flaunted the use of the "Sacred Artifact," thus attracting him over.
With the mobilization of the Dragon Nest Tribe, a large number swept through the nearby Beastman tribes, bringing disaster to the surrounding tribes.
One Beastman tribe after another was conquered, and many Beastman captives were taken to the Dragon Nest Territory, leading to a rapid increase in the population of the Dragon Nest Tribe.
The fires of war were raging in the surrounding tribes, and with the ongoing sweep, the Dragon Nest Tribe began to expand rapidly through annexing other tribes, swelling its population.
During this war, the Dragon Nest Tribe originally had nine Dragon Vein Attendants among the Beastmen, and with nearly six hundred Beastman captives later annexed, the current strength of the Dragon Nest Legion could easily defeat local tribes even without Austin sitting in the central army.
Because of this, after easily sweeping away several tribes, Austin planned to let them act on their own while he flew high and began exploring outward.
Originally, this ratman tribe was covered with tall thatch, and the houses were built with a large amount of thatch, making it really hard to detect if one stumbled carelessly.
But as he flew, suddenly Austin sensed a wave of magic power coming from below. Although it was weak, in a world of magical dead silence within a few miles, that wave was like a beacon in the dark night, drawing Austin over.
That’s why the previous scene happened.
To say this, blame the Beastman Priest, for if he hadn’t activated the scepter’s power, how would it attract Austin over?
"Is it that one?"
Austin’s gaze focused on the scepter beside the Beastman Priest, and his keen senses told him that the wave of magic power earlier was caused by that Red Crystal!
"Little mouse, was that magic wave earlier something you created?"
Austin turned his gaze, focusing on the Ratman Priest.
"Not me, I didn’t say anything, I don’t know."
The Ratman Priest’s mind went blank, and in a panic, the words suddenly blurted out.
Austin: "...."
All ratmen: "...."
At this moment, the Ratman Priest finally reacted, panicked, raising the scepter, visibly seen red glow rippling out, the fire attribute magic power in the air began to gather like a tide toward the Red Crystal under an absorbing force.
In extreme fear, the Ratman Priest accidentally activated the scepter in his hand, and his blank mind couldn’t even think.
The next moment,
Flame Flame Flame!!!
A massive flame burst forth out of nothing in the air, roaring and crashing upward, sweeping all the heat around, carrying a terrifying force and crashing toward Austin.
The terrifying heat twisted the air, sweeping in, and all the ratmen present gave birth to hope in that moment.
Surely worthy of Priest, even facing the giant dragon without any fear!
This mere dragon, how could it be a match for Priest and the Sacred Artifact!
Facing the incoming fireball, Austin reached out his paw, grabbing toward the giant fireball.
Boom!!!
Instantaneously, just like bursting a balloon, the giant fireball was immediately crushed between the giant claws, and fiery serpents shot out from between the claws, then dissipated into nothingness in the air.
Instantly, all the ratmen were like ducks with their necks pinched, unable to make a sound.
"It’s a nice thing, I can tell you don’t know any real magic; this fireball relies on that Red Crystal to be activated, doesn’t it?"
Austin shook his head, snorted, the scales in his paw visibly scorched black, its power seeming unimpressive.
Despite this, Austin could clearly feel that from the momentum of the magic power gathering, the power of the fireball fired was certainly not weak, just reduced when reaching Austin due to the Ratman Priest’s lack of control during its flight.
"Little mouse, are you going to rebel against me?"
Austin fixed his eyes on the Ratman Priest, his voice echoing in the air eerily.
"No no no, I didn’t mean it, Your Highness spare me, please show mercy..."
The Ratman Priest loosened his grip on the scepter, both legs weak, directly kneeling on the ground.
What have I done!!!
Overwhelming fear surged in his heart, the Ratman Priest continually kowtowed begging for mercy, his whole body trembling.
"Sacred Artifact, right, Sacred Artifact! Giants love shiny things!"
Suddenly thinking of something, the Ratman Priest hurriedly picked up the scepter from the ground, raised it high with both hands.
The surrounding ratmen had already been stunned by the change, as the Ratman Priest knelt down, under the frightening dragon might, all the ratmen were crawling on the ground, trembling horribly, ratmen were naturally timid, even more so than kobolds, seeing the Priest’s attack didn’t have any effect, everyone was scared out of their wits.
Austin remained noncommittal, extending his paw to grab the scepter, bringing its fist-sized, smooth Red Crystal to his face for careful examination.
With sharp magical perception, he naturally knew that the wooden stick was just a random decoration, the true effect was caused by the dark red glowing Red Crystal.
Through the flashing light inside, Austin clearly sensed a profound mysterious magic rune hidden in the core of the glow, with strands of fire attribute magic power automatically gathering into the Red Crystal, as if automatically charging.
This Red Crystal probably resembles a magical artifact.
Thus, even ordinary Beastmen could use it to generate fireballs, although the power didn’t differ much from a fireball technique cast by a basic mage.
To truly utilize its effect, it should be handed to a mage-type extraordinary, even a mage just stepping in without learning much else, as long as they can spiritually control the aggregation of fire attribute magic, they can genuinely utilize its effect.
In Yi Austin’s view, if handed to a magic extraordinary, what the Red Crystal would activate wouldn’t be a fireball technique, but a flame burst technique.
"Interesting..."
After observing it closely for a while, thinking for a moment, he already had a suitable candidate for ownership of the scepter in his heart.
"Little mouse, tell me, where did you get this thing?"
Austin turned his gaze back to the Ratman Priest, his voice filled with undeniable authority.