Chapter 498: Divine Armor

The battle with Oda Kenta was simple and swift. Among those present were seven top-tier legends and three demigods working in concert, two of whom could even contend with sorcerers for a short time.

With so many powerful figures joining forces, it took only three minutes for Oda Kenta to follow in the footsteps of his 'partner' Delarosa.

Before performing the sacrifice for the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor', Li Mochen directly had Delphinia lift the blockade on the Astral Plane, making a show of continuing the assault. But in the end, the Red Dragon Cult's Archpriest Jarad and his dragon consort had vanished. Apart from these two, no other demigods from the Red Dragon Cult arrived.

Li Mochen gave a light snort, then pretended to use the 'Celestial Mechanism Arcane Locking Star Secret Art' to divine the locations of the Red Dragon Cult's demigods. The result was a chaotic blur, with no clear direction. This was partly due to insufficient information and partly because the other side had employed some spell or artifact to obscure the celestial mechanisms.

Li Mochen did not let it go. He deliberately took out an astrolabe and spat a mouthful of blood onto it. Then the resistance from the other side grew even stronger; in an instant, thousands of directions flooded his mind—clearly a tampered divination result, not worth looking at.

In such a situation, if he used merit to make a wish, he still had a fifty percent chance of locating those individuals. However, Li Mochen's purpose was merely to intimidate; he was in no condition to unleash another 'North-South Polarity Annihilation Divine Light'.

Li Mochen now had enough merit, but his body could not handle it. He would have to wait at least ten days to fully recover his vitality before attempting it.

Moreover, this newly acquired 'North-South Polarity Annihilation Divine Light' was easy to guard against. Once the enemy was alerted, there were many ways to evade it or use specially crafted artifacts to withstand it head-on.

Of course, if one day Li Mochen elevated his divine authority over life and death to a high level, the outcome would be different. Then, not only these demigods, but even the lich Paracelsus, a sorcerer, would be doomed, unable to resist his authority no matter what.

After scaring off Jarad, Li Mochen had Delphinia seal the void again, cutting off all prying eyes—the latter had just received benefits from Li Mochen, so she was very attentive during the subsequent sacrifice.

As Li Mochen began the sacrifice, Wallace Carroll stood frowning to the side, watching silently. Only after Li Mochen completed all the rituals did he speak: "That is Barbarossa's Scarlet Dragon Armor? You put me in a difficult position, Mr. Wieldenstone. You are trying to master forbidden power."

Li Mochen understood the reason. Any government would be reluctant to see power grow outside the system, much like the Eastern saying: 'Scholars disrupt law with letters, knights defy authority with martial prowess.'

Especially a powerful local force like the Wieldenstone family, which the central authorities would try to suppress. Although the family had always cooperated with the FBI, the latter would be happy to see their downfall if conditions allowed.

And Li Mochen, due to his predecessor, had a deep enmity with certain individuals in the CIA who represented national interests.

So Wallace Carroll was in a dilemma. At this moment, with a little interference, he could cause Li Mochen's sacrifice to fail.

If he stood by, he might witness the birth of a future source of chaos in America right under his nose.

"I am a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record."

Li Mochen replied with a smile: "Mr. Carroll, you wouldn't break the law, would you?"

"Of course! You have no record of illegal activity, and I hope you will maintain that."

Carroll shook his head, then tore open the void with Delphinia's tacit permission: "Good luck to you, lucky Andrei!"

As he stepped into the Astral Plane, the few people he brought followed behind him.

Li Mochen glanced at the still-unhealed spatial barrier, then turned his gaze back to the present. His eyes now showed intense anticipation.

The sacrifice of these two demigods had a tremendous impact on the papal curse and seal within the dragon armor, with an effect even greater than that of Babos and Magdalen, far exceeding Li Mochen's expectations.

Especially the dragon lich Delarosa; its entire vital energy and the essence of its power were almost completely preserved and collected by Li Mochen. This greatly shook the source of the curse on the Scarlet Dragon Armor, leaving it battered and broken.

He estimated that his soul power could now resist the curse for at least three and a half hours. Moreover, even without sacrificing a demigod of the 'Air' element, Li Mochen could fully unseal this mythical equipment using his virtual divine office and his own power.

Li Mochen was eager to put on this mythical equipment.

Its help to him was beyond comparison with his current Light Demon No. 4.

Just the two mid-level divine authorities made Li Mochen covet them. One was the mid-level 'Gladiator Divine Authority', and the other was the mid-level 'War Divine Authority'. The former was particularly rare even among war gods.

Whoever wielded this divine authority, in a direct battle, by killing an opponent alone, could completely strip the opponent's power, magic, source energy, domain, and divine authority, all for their own use.

The mid-level 'Gladiator Divine Authority' allowed the Scarlet Dragon Armor to absorb the power and abilities of at least three individuals, stacking them onto the armor, with no upper limit.

That is, if one day Li Mochen could slay the Lord of Radiance, he could obtain the Lord of Radiance's power almost completely.

As for the 'War Divine Authority', it was also an exceptionally powerful authority. It could boost the morale and combat effectiveness of subordinates and followers while weakening the enemy. As long as a war related to oneself was ongoing, the power of the Scarlet Dragon Armor would continuously grow until the armor's limit.

This was somewhat similar to 'Battle Wind', but Battle Wind was more inclined to personal combat, with power increasing very quickly. The 'War Divine Authority', on the other hand, could benefit his subordinates and followers.

This reminded Li Mochen of 'Spartacus'. In various magical history accounts, that powerful gladiator who nearly single-handedly overthrew the Roman Empire and dealt a heavy blow to the rebranded Olympian gods had once displayed a similar divine authority.

The power inherited by this Scarlet Dragon Armor likely came from this King of Gladiators. Li Mochen thought that if his guess was correct, then the 'Blood Crown' might be imbued with Spartacus's most crucial ability. The complete Scarlet Dragon Armor might be terrifyingly high in rank among mythical equipment.

For now, however, Li Mochen had no mind to think about how to restore the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor'. He faced a new problem: his mana was insufficient again. Fully activating the Scarlet Dragon Armor for seven minutes consumed far more than his mana pool. That meant his external elixir 'Three Dragons', made less than two months ago, was already facing obsolescence.

Li Mochen had to refine a new external elixir or add a new mana source—if the latter, a wizard's tower seemed a good choice.