Valerie's Location

--- Chapter 424 ---

Skypiea. 

Skye and Sonares stared at each other. It was awkward because one was the shadow dragon, and the other was the True Dragon with lightning and fire elements that should have been stronger than the former, but that was far from the truth.

'Is this existence above True Dragon?' Sonares could feel every fiber of her being screaming in danger when facing this shadow dragon. 

Meanwhile, Skye gave Sonares an odd expression because this young dragon stared too much.

Eventually, Skye ignored Sonares and stared at the floating island not far away with a hint of longing. The island wasn't big, but the concentration of divine energy (Immortal Qi) there was overwhelming, enough for the shadow dragon to sigh in helplessness.

It was evident that the woman Huo Yuhao cared for was very important to him, and he didn't hesitate to use his precious divine energy for her.

"It seems we are going to have another queen..." Skye mumbled, glancing at the eternal shadow in its consciousness where the shadow army resides.

"I have stopped counting after thirteen and just follow the flow."

"As long as my liege is happy, we, the eternal shadow army, are happy."

On the floating island is a hut brimming with vitality. Even the wood used for the hut started sprouting with green leaves. 

Huo Yuhao placed Liu Mei on the bed, tidying her clothes and covering her with a soft blanket. 

"You know that I can take care of her." Raikou smiled in amusement. "You should focus more on other things, Honey."

"Mei won't go anywhere." 

Huo Yuhao chuckled wryly, "You made it sound easy. The guilt in my heart was too much. Mei has been waiting for me for thousands of years, and leaving her again will make me a scumbag." 

"Well, at least you're conscious." Raikou gave him a humorous look.

"Uugh." Huo Yuhao held his chest in pain. 

"Having a harem is too tough." 

"Fortunately, I'm not an ordinary man!"

Raikou patted Huo Yuhao's hand, "Well, not an ordinary man. You're busy, so you better be quick and finish all your troubles today." 

"I will take care of Mei in your stead."

"So, go!"

"I will be back soon." Huo Yuhao sighed and reluctantly turned around because Rossweisse recently sent him details about Neos Artificer. He gave Liu Mei another look before vanishing from the hut. 

After Huo Yuhao had gone, Raikou made a stool and sat beside the bed, humming a lullaby for Liu Mei. Her power as the Goddess of Nurturer activated, speeding the recovery rate of Liu Mei's exhausted mind.

Raikou grabbed Liu Mei's hand and felt the roughness from swinging too many swords. "You're a strong woman, Mei. Stronger than me and some other women in Dragon Nest." 

"In fact, I feel somewhat ashamed because you loved him much earlier than us from Draconic Deus, dedicating your life to him." 

"Even then, we don't know it happens..."

"We just love him so much." 

"I'm sure you do, too." 

"So, I don't mind giving you the first place when we are here because only at this time we can enjoy ourselves. After all, we can't defeat Mistress Yun'er, Scathach, and Ying'er." 

"They are too strong..." Raikou giggled, recalling her first experience with Mother Fox. "I could only describe it as one-sided domination because she was protective of her territory."

"But together, we can ally this Harem!"

...

...

Unknown to Huo Yuhao, factions formed in his harem. Well, it's not too serious.

Huo Yuhao flew with Skye to the unknown island where Sabo and other teams of the Soul Guide Department were trapped and saw a group of black clouds in the sky.

BOOM!

An explosion occurred on the island.

"Not good! Skye dove down quickly!" Huo Yuhao ordered the shadow dragon. 

Skye nodded and dove down like a homing missile. It landed on the destroyed ground of the island, seeing a group of people surrounding an ancient machinery. These people are none other than Sabo and his friends.

"..." Huo Yuhao stared at them blankly.

"..." Sabo and others also stared at him blankly.

"Oh, Yuhao-sama, you're here!" Rossweisse's excited voice came from the ancient machinery. "I found the lost knowledge of ancient technology from this broken machine." 

"It seemed you're right that this island was part of higher dimensional civilization because the fuel alone mimicked how the sun works through magical induction and manipulation." 

"Noes Artificer. They are indigenous in the field of magical tools." 

Huo Yuhao sighed, "Are there any more clues regarding them?" 

Rossweisse patted dust away from her dress and replied, "Yes, there are magical formations beneath this island. A spatial-type, but someone broke it a long time ago." 

"I can reverse engineer it and make a new portal." 

"Should I do it?" 

"No, not now." Huo Yuhao immediately shared Liu Mei's situation with the goddess of magic, and she immediately went nuts. Her magical power went haywire for a split second, creating a storm around the island.

Rossweisse calmed herself down, "But Mei is fine, right?" 

Huo Yuhao nodded, "I repaired Liu Mei's origin as I did to Robin when Phantom Lord attacked her, even giving her a new Martial Soul and evolving the old one. However, the exhaustion of having her mind and body stay awake for thousands of years must recover naturally." 

"My divine power will help you recover in a day or two." 

"In the meantime, we must find Valeria quickly and regroup to face the Neos Artificer as one." 

"I have worked on Sacred Gear's radar. It's working, but there are too many fragments of Sephiroth Graal in this world." Rossweisse answered bitterly. "On East Blue alone, the radar detected over one thousand fragments." 

"Can we just focus on the strongest signal?" Huo Yuhao pointed out calmly.

Rosseisse sighed and responded, "I can't do it. Although Sacred Gear is magical, the Bible God invented this system meticulously and left me with no crumbs left." 

"If there is a person who could detect Sacred Gear's owner, then it would be you, Yuhao-sama." 

"After all, you're humanity's new god in Draconic Deus."  

"Sacred Gear System..." Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and fell into a deep thought because he did inherit some powers left by the Bible God, but it was an unknown passive skill. It never exposed its function to him.

"What do you think?" Rossweisse crossed her arms. "Can you access the Sephiroth Graal's backdoor?" 

Huo Yuhao sat down and pondered, "Give me a minute." 

He closed his eyes and immersed himself in the feeling of humanity left by Bible God. He could sense strong faith from countless believers of the Bible God.

Then, he detected a faint line in the corner of his consciousness. This line is a fail-safe system placed on the Sacred Gear, the True Balance Breaker, once the wielder is in danger or corrupted by the power beyond control.

Huo Yuhao connected his mind with this line and saw many scenes, from Sacred Gear Owner in the Draconic Deus, including Hyoudou Issei and Vali Lucifer, to Valerie Tepes.

Huo Yuhao found himself in darkness when he accessed Sephiroth Graal's backdoor. Everything around him felt like mud, mirroring the experience Valeria underwent recently.

"Y-Yuhao-sama?" A weak voice called him out.

Huo Yuaho turned around and saw a beautiful half-vampire getting held on a golden cross made of unknown material. "Valerie, what happened to you? Where is this?" 

Valeria weakly stared at Huo Yuhao, "God's Valley." 

"Someone trapped me there." 

"They called it the Devil Blood Island now." 

"Hurry up, Yuhao-sama..." 

"Valeria can't endure this any longer..." 

Thud!

Huo Yuhao returned to his body and blinked a few times. "God's Valley, and Devil Blood Island. No wonder Fujitora doesn't know the location of this place because the World Governments covered the matter of hunting slaves there." 

"Not to mention, the fight between Garp, Roger, and Rocks happened there." 

"Do you get it? Have you traced Valeria's location?" Rossweisse asked while handing him a bottle of water.

Huo Yuhao drank the water and replied, "Yes. I know where Valerie is located, and we are going to rescue her soon!"