My System Just Exploded, And You Ask Me to Become a God?-Chapter 17 --Dark Chain

With a furious roar, Harvey's flaming aura wrapped around his sword as he slashed down at the Dark Chain.

"Clang!"

A crisp metallic sound rang out, followed by a burst of sparks.

To everyone's shock, Harvey's sword actually snapped in two—the tip shattered and fell to the ground.

"What?!"

Harvey gasped in disbelief, staring at the broken blade in his hands.

This was a weapon forged from refined magic steel, and he had even infused it with his aura—

yet it couldn't even put a dent in the chain?

As if enraged by the provocation, the Dark Chain lashed out violently, rapidly extending to coil tightly around Harvey.

It was trying to strangle him.

Just as the deadly chain was about to crush him, a blinding golden light suddenly burst forth from in front of Harvey.

Magical energy, glowing with solid golden brilliance, instantly enveloped the Dark Chain.

"Zzzz..."

A sharp, corrosive hiss echoed through the air.

Under the golden light, the Dark Chain began to dissolve rapidly,

until it finally evaporated into wisps of black smoke and vanished.

Harvey froze, staring blankly at what had just happened.

Who had saved him?

He looked around, only to find all the nearby students equally stunned.

At the rear of the group, Joad frowned slightly—Harvey was far too reckless.

If he hadn't intervened in time, Harvey might've died right then and there.

Joad thought to himself as he slowly lowered his gaze to his palm,

where, at some point, a miniature black chain had silently appeared.

It was entirely black, eerily cold to the touch, and made of the exact same material as the Dark Chain from before.

Frowning deeply, Joad looked from the chain in his hand to the battlefield's center.

This Dark Chain... could it be the national artifact of Ironchain Principality?

The tiny chain trembled slightly, as if responding to some distant call.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the battlefield—

the cloaked attacker suddenly noticed Headmaster Simar charging rapidly toward him.

Without hesitation, he gave up trying to kill Leit and opted to flee before being discovered.

"Trying to run?"

Joad let out a cold chuckle. His figure flickered like a ghost and disappeared from sight.

Moments later, he reappeared directly in the path of the fleeing attacker.

"You've got nowhere to run."

Joad's voice was low as he casually tossed out dozens of sealing spells.

Even a Grand Archmage wouldn't be able to break free of them immediately—let alone a mere elite mage.

"So, tell me—who are you?"

But the cloaked figure remained perfectly still.

Frowning, Joad stepped forward and yanked off the figure's mask—

and the sight beneath it sent a chill down his spine.

Underneath the mask was a pale, lifeless face.

Its eyes were dull and hollow—completely devoid of life.

"A puppet?!"

Joad's pupils contracted, his heart filled with shock.

He never imagined that the one attacking Leit would be... a puppet.

And not just any puppet, but one with the power of a mid-tier elite mage!

That was no small feat.

Necropuppetry—an ancient and mysterious magical technique—

used specialized alchemy to reanimate the corpses of powerful mages,

allowing them to retain a portion of their strength from life.

But creating a puppet was extremely difficult and resource-intensive.

The process consumed massive amounts of rare magical materials, with a low success rate.

In fact, creating a puppet with the power of a mid-tier elite mage

cost three times as much as training an actual elite mage!

No rational person would choose this route.

But despite that, necropuppetry remained popular among mages—

because puppets could handle certain... inconvenient, untraceable tasks.

Like assassinating Leit.

Even if the puppet was discovered, no one could trace it back to the true mastermind.

Yet to go so far—deploying such a precious puppet just to kill a mere student?

Who was behind this? What were they after?

Joad's mind was filled with questions.

Anyone capable of commanding a puppet like this was definitely not ordinary.

"You people really went all out just to kill one student, huh?"

Joad sneered with a hint of mockery.

The puppet didn't respond. It simply raised its head mechanically, staring at Joad with those dead eyes.

Joad frowned, realizing there was no point in trying to interrogate a puppet.

However... the materials used in this puppet were quite valuable.

In just a few minutes, he disassembled the puppet, salvaging all the useful components into his storage pouch.

Even factoring in inevitable losses, the materials alone were worth at least 70,000 mana stones.

On the surface, this was a huge profit.

But Joad felt no joy—because this attempt on Leit's life hinted at something far more sinister.

The Mington Principality really didn't know when to quit.

To go so far just to target Ilan Principality—they had even stooped to these lowly tactics.

But... how did they even get their hands on the Dark Chain?

That artifact was of great significance to Ironchain Principality—

it had once belonged to the First Grand Duke of Ironchain!

And yet, it was now being used by a puppet...

Clearly, whoever orchestrated this attack didn't want their identity known.

It was almost impossible to explain this away.

Unless the entire Ironchain Principality was full of fools,

why would they use their most famous artifact to assassinate a mere student?

So the only logical conclusion was—

the Dark Chain must have been stolen by someone from Mington Principality.

That thought deepened Joad's frown.

Right now, the Dark Chain in his hand was like a hot potato.

If Ironchain Principality hadn't noticed it was missing, then all was well.

But if they had—and they traced its magical signature to Ilan Principality—

then things would get messy fast.

Ilan Principality would be hard-pressed to explain themselves.

After all, no one would believe that someone had gone to the trouble of stealing an elite-rank artifact

just to assassinate a student.

Even if war didn't break out between Ilan and Ironchain,

distrust would fester, and tensions would be inevitable.

So whether or not Mington Principality succeeded in killing Leit,

this assassination attempt had already sown discord between Ilan and Ironchain.

It might even be the spark that ignited war.

Mington Principality had certainly played their cards well.

Joad felt a bit frustrated.

Why were they going to such lengths to target Ilan Principality?

He'd heard that Duke Mington was a woman.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

Could it be that she and the Grand Duke of Ilan had some sort of... personal history?

Cough cough!

Joad quickly shook his head, tossing those ridiculous thoughts aside.

Right now, the most important thing was to figure out what Mington Principality was really after.

Why were they targeting Leit?

He was just a regular student.

Talented, sure—but not worth this level of effort, right?

Could it be that Mington Principality feared his potential—

that he might one day threaten their magical supremacy?

Or... was it something he did during the Luminous Pearl Kingdom's trial last year?

Wait—Duke Mington... Leit...

Suddenly, Joad recalled something Leit had told him.

Joad hadn't gone on the expedition last year,

but Leit had mentioned the Luminous Pearl Trial in passing.

At the time, Leit's rank was too low to achieve a high ranking,

but oddly enough, Duke Mington had taken a liking to him,

even inviting him to study at Mington Royal Academy.

Leit had politely declined—since his family was in Ilan.

And now... considering the Dark Chain...

It was worth noting that the Dark Chain's specialty wasn't offense—it was entrapment.

Could it be that... Duke Mington was actually interested in Leit?!

The corner of Joad's mouth twitched.

If that were the case... well... maybe it wasn't such a bad situation?

Duke Mington was wealthy. She was also a woman.

If Leit married into her household, would Joad ever be short on mana stones again?

But then again... House Rima was also pretty rich...

How was he supposed to "sell" Leit for the best price?

Joad sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration.