"They won't hurt me. No matter how loudly you shout, it's useless."
Austin flashed a faint smile at Prince Amit.
Princess Esther, who had been escorted back to the Elf Cosmos along with Austin, now stood next to
him, completely dumbfounded.
Back when they had been captured, she had been scared out of her wits, feeling sure that the chances
of them surviving were slim to none.
So what was happening in front of her now was all the more of a shock to her. But for the first time
since their capture, she felt a trickle of hope blooming in her heart.
'Is this why he dared to come back to the Elf Cosmos?' she wondered.
Although she didn't understand what was happening exactly, she could surmise that Austin had a few
tricks up his sleeve that she didn't know about. All she knew was that Prince Amit's men weren't going
to hurt them, after all.
The nonchalance on Austin's face seemed to indicate that he wasn't worried in the slightest, and that
calmed her down as well.
On the other hand, Prince Amit couldn't help but panic. "You brat, did you do something to them?
Tell me what you did to them!
I'm warning you, you're standing on the land of the Elf Cosmos. You can't afford to be presumptuous!"
he shouted.
But of course, only dogs barked; wolves just struck their enemy without warning.
"The land of the Elf Cosmos? Do I look like I care?"
Austin sneered.
The next moment, unbeknownst to everyone, he focused all his attention and energy on using the
Puppet Strings.
This time, countless red threads rushed out of his Soul Sea and swiftly shot out in all directions.
Standing in the hall were numerous creatures who worked for Prince Amit, but only half of them were
strong and skilled enough to be worth controlling.
The other half were weak and only good for carrying out small orders.
Therefore, Austin didn't bother targeting them. He didn't want to waste his secret skill of the Puppet
Strings on them.
Instead, the red threads just rushed towards the former half, the creatures who could really be of use to
him.
Soon, all the creatures that had been attacked by the red threads became obedient and docile. They
were now Austin's slaves.
Most of them had no power to resist at all, so they had been subdued in an instant.
Only one of them, a genuine medium-grade divine god, resisted to some extent.
He was the most powerful martial arts master in Prince Amit's mansion.
Austin guessed that this divine god acted an adviser to Prince Amit. Of course, in his eyes, all of them
were just small fry.
Prince Amit, who had no idea what had just happened right under his nose, began running his mouth
again. "How dare you look down on the Elf Cosmos? What an arrogant asshole!
Everyone, attack this human brat. We must kill him right here without delay!
Whoever launches the strike that kills him will be rewarded handsomely!"
he shouted at his men, but there was a trace of fear in his voice. He knew that something wasn't right,
but he couldn't put his finger on it.
The reality was that half of the creatures in the hall had already become Austin's slaves, while the other
half were just lowly servants.
They had no idea how to fight or capture people, let alone kill someone.
Therefore, no matter how loudly Prince Amit roared, no one took his orders seriously. None of them so
much as moved a finger to take any action.
Instead, they stared at Prince Amit with defiance and even amusement in their eyes, as if they were
watching a circus clown.
Seeing this, a chill went up Prince Amit's spine.
"Brat, what the hell did you do to my people?
Tell me right now!"
he roared at Austin with panic-stricken eyes.
The situation unfolding in front of him was too strange to comprehend.
The loss of control over his people as well as the inability to make sense of what was happening made
fear rise in Prince Amit's heart.
"What did you do?" Princess Esther asked softly.
She was just as puzzled as Prince Amit was by the strange situation in front of her, but contrary to him,
she was feeling nothing but joy and satisfaction in her heart.
Austin had promised her that nothing would happen to them, and it seemed that he would keep that
promise.
Not only was he an honest man, he was also strong and capable. Princess Esther couldn't help but feel
a rush of affection towards him.
"Why are you all standing there? Why aren't you listening to my orders?
Are you betraying me?"
Prince Amit yelled, trying to maintain his sense of authority over his men. Unfortunately, all he received
was an unexpected reply from Austin.
"You are right, Your Highness.
They finally realized that serving you will not bring them a bright future, so they've all decided to
abandon the dark side and join me instead,"
Austin said with a playful smile.
"Nonsense!"
Prince Amit roared in a mixture of shock and anger. Until minutes ago, his men had been loyal and
obedient to him. He couldn't understand how they would have suddenly switched sides.
"It's true. You don't believe it?
Well, I'll show you.
Guys, catch this arrogant prince for me!"
Austin suddenly shouted aloud. Not only was he eager to teach Prince Amit a lesson, but he was also
eager to see the skill of the Puppet Strings in action.
The more he used it, the more he could get accustomed to it.
Prince Amit didn't even have time to react. He was being attacked in his own mansion with no warning.
All the strong masters, including the genuine medium-grade divine god, swarmed up and pounced on
him without hesitation.
He was totally on his own now, so it was impossible for him to resist.
More importantly, he had never imagined that his own men would dare to attack him.
In just a matter of seconds, he was restrained by his own subordinates.
"Stop!
How dare you all betray me?
My father will not forgive you! And you, human brat, how dare you treat me like this?
All of you will die!"
Prince Amit roared angrily like a desperate beast about to be slaughtered.
He knew that his only chance for survival now was to ask his father for help.
The slightest delay could end up with him losing his life.
However, to his dismay, Austin caught him just when he was about to ask the Elf King for help through
spiritual sense.
After all, Austin's spiritual sense was much stronger and much more nuanced. With it, he could
immediately sense the slightest fluctuation in the spiritual sense of all the creatures around him.
Without delay, he used the Secret Reincarnation Skill to separate the space of the hall from the
surrounding environment.
Then, he teleported, taking the entire space of the hall along with him.
During this whole process, he used his powerful spiritual sense to isolate this space from the outside
world, so that no one else would be able to perceive them.
This combined use of spiritual sense and the Secret Reincarnation Skill offered Austin double security.
He was nothing if not careful.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived along with the space he was carrying in front of one of the only two
teleportation arrays in the Elf Cosmos.
"Activate the teleportation array.
We will go to the Shadow Cosmos,"
he ordered through spiritual sense to one of the divine gods of the elf race that he had recently
subdued.
"Yes, master!"
the divine god replied respectfully.
Using his power, he teleported to the gates of a teleportation array.
"Sir!" A flurry of voices called out.
The elves who were responsible for guarding the teleportation arrays were all frightened to see a divine
god suddenly appear in front of them. They all stood up and bowed with great respect.
"Activate the teleportation array. I'm going to the Shadow Cosmos,"
the divine god uttered coldly.
"Yes, sir," the guards replied without any question.
In their eyes, all divine gods deserved the utmost respect and obedience.
They immediately got to work and activated the array in no time.
Once the gates of the array were open, Austin rushed into the array along with the large chunk of
space.
He disappeared as fast as he appeared, unnoticed by the guards.
'Shadow Cosmos, I'm coming, '
he sneered in his heart.
The last time he visited the Shadow Cosmos, he had been hunted down by the members of the
shadow race. No one had been able to bully Austin before that —or after, for that matter. That unique
experience was rooted in his heart so deep that he couldn't swallow the humiliation.
The only way he would be able to move past it was he went back to the Shadow Cosmos and settled
his grudge with Donahue, the leader of the shadow race.
When Austin was on his way to the Shadow Cosmos, the Elf Cosmos was not in peace.
Somewhere in a hidden space in the Elf Cosmos, an old elf who had been sitting cross-legged and
meditating for a long time suddenly opened his eyes with an unexpected cry, his face full of surprise
and confusion.
This old elf was none other than the Elf King, the ruler of the Elf Cosmos!
'It's strange. Why did I suddenly lose contact with my eldest son?
It doesn't make sense.
I have a spiritual avatar in his Soul Sea, so I should be able to sense his existence all the time.
But now... I don't sense him at all.
Is he in danger? What happened to him?
I have to go there and see what's happening right now, '
the Elf King thought worriedly to himself.
He stood up and took a step forward. He then disappeared immediately.
When his foot touched the ground, he had appeared in Prince Amit's mansion.
When he saw the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but let out a horrified scream.
Although the mansion wouldn't look anything out of the ordinary to a commoner's eyes, someone as
powerful as the Elf King was able to identify the difference right away. "A patch of space is
missing!"
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