Chapter 73 Tears of the King [Part 1] And more.

“We’re lost,” Cassandra said for the eighteenth time.

Aidan sighed. "No, we don't. I know exactly where we are."

“I know that too, because this damn road looks exactly the same as it did a few minutes ago!” Cassandra said impatiently. “Admit it, Great Musician. Your music let us in, but it can’t get us to Knox.”

"And what are your thoughts, Lady Witcher?"

"Shut up." Elaine stopped abruptly. "What was that sound?"

“You mean there are other sounds besides this annoying elf’s voice?” Cassandra asked, but then paused and drew her longsword.

They carefully approached the corner, where they saw dark green tree roots climbing from the ceiling all the way to the ground, like the veins of a giant.

A dark shadow darted among the tree roots.

Cassandra walked in front, about to slash her longsword at the shadowy figure, but at the last moment she saw the figure's true form.

A large, brownish-gray rat.

"What a relief." The Witcher breathed a sigh of relief. "Just a rat."

Aidan took a few steps forward.

“This is no ordinary rat,” he said with great interest. “It’s a cursed human. I can hear the human melody in his soul… a little boy who wants to be a knight.”

The mouse squeaked.

He turned to Elaine. “Princess, please allow me to cast a small spell so that we may communicate.”

Elaine nodded. The potion of control allowed her to control Aidan's power. Soon, the squeaking of the mice transformed into the language of the human boy.

"Who are you?" the mouse asked fearfully. "By the way, are you an elf?"

“Yes, that’s me,” Aidan said with a smile. “My name is Aidan. Have you heard of me?”

“No,” said the mouse. “Oh no, yes. Ashlyn dreamed about you.”

Aidan's smile faded. "Ashline?"

Elaine immediately said, "Tell us everything."

When the truth was revealed, although Zach fainted, he still vaguely caught some of the earliest key information, such as that Knox was actually a variant of the middle name of Lanrit.

"So it was all my uncle's fault," Elaine concluded after listening.

Zach nodded.

“I can take you to them,” he said. “My memory works very well in mazes. And I have a feeling these paths are leading us to that place.”

It was true. Elaine could feel it too, as if someone was helping them navigate the maze from the shadows.

They walked back and forth in the dark tunnel, following the music of Zack and Aidan. The sounds of snakes along the way quickened their pace.

“I dare say it was Hydra.” Cassandra gritted her teeth. “I took down one of those things that escaped from the maze last year. They were locked in cells, but Knox must have figured out a way to release them.”

They walked a little further, and Cassandra stopped in front of some blue scraps of cloth.

"What's this?"

Elaine bent down, picked up the scraps of cloth, her face tense.

“Lucas’s cloak,” she whispered. “He left us ‘breadcrumbs’…we’re not far from him.”

The road shifted and changed, eventually forming a flower-lined avenue that seemed to beckon them warmly. Elaine could hear several male voices coming from the end of the avenue.

“I guess my ‘dead’ uncle is there.” Elaine gripped her short sword. “Come on, guys.”

Lucas realized that, somehow, he had really turned into a cat again. And in his cat form, he didn't have a single wound on his body.

He immediately broke free from the thorns and lunged at Lanrit with his sharp claws.

Lanrit's eyes widened, clearly not expecting this turn of events. The black cat viciously bit his uncle's arm, tearing off his magnificent robe.

A bottle of sky-blue potion rolled out of Lanrit's pocket. A magic control potion.

“Luc...Lucas?” Nicholas II was completely bewildered. “Am I dreaming?”

“You didn’t.” Lucas said with a hint of smugness, even though his father couldn’t understand cat language. “Surprise!”

Just then, a sound of crystal shattering came from the dragon crystal behind them.

First a dot appeared, then a crack spread across the green crystal surface. A golden-green light emanated from the crack, bathing the entire room in a shimmering, forest-like glow.

The light grew brighter and brighter until it turned into pure white, blinding everyone, including the cat.

When Lucas regained his sight, he saw Ashlin standing in front of Cynthia's solidified crystal, her eyes even greener than the dragon crystal behind her.

She still held the green fluorite staff as before (of course, they all knew she didn't actually need it), wore an oversized witch's hat, had seeds stuck in her cloak, and her blonde hair was mixed with... pink syrup?

Lucas wasted not a second. While Lanrit was still in shock, he immediately jumped down and smelled the magic-controlling potion.

Cream, mint, spider silk, magnet powder, and starlight.

"That's easy," Lucas thought. Based on "Magic and the Unfathomable Connections Between Different Forms of Magic IV" and Grummel's Three Laws of Magic, he could easily come up with a suitable spell.

He already had a draft of how to break the curse in his mind. But the biggest problem was, who would cast it? He wasn't a wizard, and Ashlin's magic was controlled.

Just then, a short sword flew through the air in a whirl and pinned Lanrit's sleeve to the wall.

“You need to work on your aim, Elaine,” Cassandra said dejectedly.

“I threw it very accurately,” Elaine retorted. “I didn’t intend to kill him right now.”

Elaine and Cassandra walked toward Lanrit, but Lanrit twirled his fingers, and several thorns sprang up from them.

“Yes, forest magic is more fun than illusion,” he said with relish.

Aidan stood idly to one side, strumming the strings while glancing at Ashlin, seemingly not intending to join in.

Lucas immediately had an idea, but the whole cat was suddenly picked up.

“Wait, Ashlin, it’s not time yet.” Lucas quickly pushed her away. “I know how to restore your magic! Take out the notebook I gave you.”

Ashlin frantically flipped through her notebook. Lucas was intently pondering the draft of the antidote.

Within seconds, the incantation appeared on the notebook.

He dodged the thorns, picked up the notebook, and went to Elaine's side.

“Use Aidan’s magic to cast this spell,” Lucas said, unsure how many words Elaine’s cat language she could understand.

But his sister seemed to understand what he meant and waved to Aidan.

In an instant, violet magic filled the labyrinth.

Aidan looked at his hands with delight. His magic, too, had been restored by Lucas's spell.

Ashlin's body trembled, and the green fluorite on her staff hummed. The thorns that had been controlled by Lanrit suddenly changed hands, releasing Elaine and Cassandra, and ran towards Lanrit.

Lanrit was bound by thorns, his silver staff rolling to the ground. No matter how powerful he was, he wasn't a descendant of gods; the stolen magic could only be cast through a medium. Without his staff, he was no different from an ordinary person. Ashlind raised her hand, and another thorn confiscated Lanrit's staff.

In the chaos, Zack brought her a small glass bottle.

The King's Tears.

Aidan obediently picked up the magic flute.

However, before he could even begin to play, countless hissing sounds entered everyone's ears.

Lanrit burst into laughter.

"Come and meet my pet, everyone. I just called her here," he said excitedly. "Meet my dear Hydra."

The Hydra was as tall and terrifying as the legends described. Upon entering, the room seemed to shrink and become smaller. Its nine heads and necks, covered in jet-black scales, twisted and squeezed onto its massive body.

Cassandra immediately shot an arrow at one of its heads. The head rammed into the wall, smashing a hole in it, but another one quickly grew from its neck.

“Alright, it seems we’ll have to try them one by one!” she said, nocking another arrow. “We must find the leader.”

The hydra hissed and stretched its heads toward them. One of its heads deliberately took a detour, passing right past Ashlin.

Ashlin quickly dodged backward, but the bottle in her hand was knocked over by the snake.

The tiny glass bottle flew through the air before finally crashing to the ground and shattering.

The king's tears sank into the concrete floor of the maze.

“Damn it,” Ashlin cursed.

Lucas looked at his father, but his father just stared at them blankly.

No, they can't have come for nothing. This one-time spell must be used completely to ensure that no one can ever break Cynthia's curse again.

Elaine brandished her silver sword at the Hydra and chopped off two more wrong heads.

Ashlin's palm glowed with a terrifying green light, and vines continued to grow from the cracks in the wall, binding the hydra's forepaws. She forcefully pulled her hand back, the vines retracted, and the hydra was immobilized, letting out a sharp hiss.

Cassandra leaped up and chopped off the head of the one that had screamed the loudest. The head fell, black blood flowed on the ground, and no new head grew back on the neck.

The remaining eight heads hissed weakly before finally drooping limply.

Lanritt wasn't surprised at all; instead, like the audience in the theater, he was even happier.

“There’s more.” Elaine realized.

It refers more to monsters than to the Hydra.

All the monsters imprisoned in the labyrinth heeded Lanrit's call and rushed over, hungry and thirsty.

“They obey me,” Lanrit said. “My dear Nicholas, I have learned something from you.”

Nicholas II realized what was happening. "Dragon training magic."

“Not bad. Dragon taming magic only requires a little bit of evil modification to tame the monsters in the labyrinth... I thought I wouldn't need them anymore.”

Lanrit faces the monster.

“Come on, children!” he cheered. “Kill them, let me go, and I will take you back to the surface, let you breathe fresh air, and let the whole world descend into chaos.”