Vol. 4 Chapter 13: Dire (Patreon)

With a pair of guards, the Wisterian king, Leodoule, ran back to the palace, heading for the throne room. But when they reached the hallway directly to it, the path was mostly blocked by the collapsed ceiling. He was a bit annoyed, but there was no time to wallow in it.

They climbed over the rubble and they used their Armament Magic to blow a hole through the path when they couldn’t go through. It didn’t take long before they got through and reached the throne room.

One knight with him grew curious. “Why are we here, Your Majesty?”

The other knight was similarly puzzled. They would understand if the king decided to flee. However, coming back here to the palace throne room, they couldn’t understand why the king would put himself at risk like this.

“Here we’ll find what can help us in this predicament.”

Leodoule walked towards his throne and moved it aside. He looked down on the floor where it was once placed. He crouched down and reached out to the cold and smooth floor. Pouring a small amount of mana into it, he pushed down. A small part of the floor was indeed shifted, and after that, there was a faint sound of some mechanism moving.

He stepped back and watched a part of the floor move aside with a heavy sound, gradually forming a hole in the floor. The two knights curiously glanced at it. Once the mechanism stopped moving, in the thin rectangular hole was a dark staircase going down. The way beyond was coated in utter darkness.

Leodoule turned towards the two.

“Only the ruling monarch may enter from here on out. Defend the pathway.”

The two knights looked at each other before nodding.

“Understood.”

They wanted to ask what could be under there. But they decided not to pry. The royal family have their secrets, and knights such as them, even of noble birth, even more so of commoner descent, have no right to know what it could be, or the right to inquire.

As the two knights stood on guard, the king proceeded down the narrow staircase. His every step echoed, and the longer it lasted the deeper he went down. When it became truly dark, he held out his hand and a ball of light lit up in his palm. Despite going down more than a couple of dozen steps, he has yet to reach the end of it.

It had been a long time since he was here. In fact, he has been here only a few times. The first being introduced to him by this father. He couldn’t truly comprehend what this place was at that time. He was told that this place was made by the Lord of Compassion. Who was rarely and otherwise known as the Ruling Deity of Beasts.

What kind of god the Lord was, it was hinted in the name. He controls beasts, or perhaps that could mean monsters. There were theories that because of his influence Wisteria was burdened with a forest filled with powerful monsters. Perhaps they were allies once. Perhaps before Wisteria became what it currently was, it coexisted with beasts. There have been few accounts mentioning different manners of creatures roaming publicly in the Wisterian lands in the old era.

The other times he visited was to practice the magic in this place. Truth be told, he would prefer not to use it. It was just dangerous for him to use, and too difficult. Even though he didn’t use it completely, just getting familiar with the feeling of its magic was hard enough. It was why it must be used in a desperate time such as this.

He took a deep breath. And he arrived at the end of the staircase. Before him was an extending dark corridor. The pathway was of simplistic design, different from how one would usually expect from a holy setting. But it didn’t have a sign of aging. Aside from the usual dust from years of no cleaning, the place had no cracks, molds, or signs of decay.

He continued through the corridor, until moments later, he arrived at a decently sized circular chamber. He approached one of the torches and cast fire to light them. The room became clearer as more torches were lit.

The walls were embedded with blue colored veins made of some sort of crystal. There were numerous of them going up to the ceiling, but if one were to trace them, they were all connected. Their root was the floor at the center of the room, where a magic circle was drawn with the same crystal. On the top, bottom, and both sides of the very center of the magic circle were chunks of blue crystal.

Leodoule removed the scabbard hanging from his waist and put his weapon on the side. He took a deep breath. He prayed to his gods that everything would go well. He slowly stepped inside the magic circle as he stared at the wall up front, where there were writings carved into it.

‘Whosoever prayeth and offereth their wishes within the circle shalt be granted a glimpse of divine power. Thou shalt be the master of the beasts the Lord hath given.’

The king stopped and kneeled on both knees at the center of the circle and closed his eyes. He released his mana, and gradually, the circular crystals at the innermost circle began to shine, and the light gradually spread out through the crystal lines.

The moving light first reached the crystal chunks, and they too began to glow. But they first glowed in blue before turning into bright violet. And with that, all light changed to that same noble hue. Gradually, the entire magic circle began to glow before spreading to the walls.

All the while, the king winced. The light flickered. He was having difficulties proceeding. It was painful. His body inside was in pain, or to be precise, it was not physically, but rather his Mystic Medium. He was pushing his mana harder than usual, and there seemed to be another force clashing with it. Like merging or taking over. He couldn’t exactly tell, but it was straining him terribly.

But he pushed on.

His progress was slow, but it was to be expected. There was a process to this divine spell. And it will take some time. That was, if he wouldn’t pass out. But this was merely the first step, the next step, the true initiation and actually using the working spell, was a different matter. It would be a new challenge entirely.

That said, he had to be faster. He must. Otherwise, it would be too late.

Without his realization, an observer watched from behind him, intrigued.

***

Alruwin watched the humans begin storming the palace walls. They quickly scaled over it, and they moved like the bugs that they were. He turned towards the elves left with him.

“Go and assist the humans in their assault. If you find the targets, you know what to do. I will attack from their western wall and focus on searching for our primary targets.”

But of course, he was intending on slaying the humans in his way. The mission here was to help the Empire win this battle. If they overwhelm the palace, the elves will achieve what they want either way.

And with that, the elves began their move, except for the archer that remained, for he had mostly exhausted his mana. Alruwin ran to the palace’s western wall with incredible speed, along with an elf who ran further ahead of him. Upon arrival, he swiftly climbed up all the way to the top pretty easily, where he was surrounded by violence and death.

He nonchalantly drew out his beautiful and graceful sword. It was made of a precious metal called Arihaltium, making one of the most durable weapons in the world below. And quite possible, one of the deadliest, but that part he was reluctant to think about. There were plenty of dangerous weapons the mystic race possessed. The world below was richer in resources with magical traits compared to this land where he stood upon. Here, they hardly have the crystals used to make teleportation dust, and they had to use their own for the mission. Even the other type of crystal used to store magic was rare here.

Alruwin took a deep breath and observed the human enemies before him. He took a step forward, and almost in an instant, he cut through two human soldiers. A huge amount of blood splattered into the air. It was so easy to land his blade when his enemies were distracted.

He moved forward again, cutting through more soldiers. The imperial knights in his way looked at him with wide eyes, shocked at how ruthlessly he just cut through groups of people, and too easily at that. Even easily cutting through the metal armor. But Alruwin was completely unfazed by what he was doing. For there was no point in feeling anything for these bugs, these imbeciles.

As he moved to kill some more, a dual wielding knight suddenly charged towards him. The two blades bursting with magic of fire and frost. The human was swinging his swords at Alruwin with a deadly swiftness and heavy weight. Any other would have struggled or even died quickly upon receiving such attacks. However, Alruwin blocked all of it.

He parried one blade and casually dodged the other. Just as he was about to land an attack, another human knight came from behind him, the long sword raised, about to swing it down. Alruwin sighed and stepped sideways, and the human’s sword merely hit the air.

“You’re going down here and now, elf,” the dual wielding human said with certainty.

Alruwin couldn’t help but chuckle at the sheer absurdity that this insignificant insect had just declared. It was just such a stupid thing to utter. And thus, he didn’t even bother giving a brief response.

The two enemies held their stance, glaring at Alruwin, waiting for him to move. Alruwin shifted his sword, and he took a step forward. At the same time, he cast magic into his sword. The knight swung both his blades at him, and Alruwin swung forward.

His precious blade cut through the two swords at once. The knight was shocked to witness both his blades get cut in half. And Alruwin, without a moment wasted, slashed at his enemy’s chest. Again, easily cutting through the elite’s armor, and cleaving through flesh. Like cutting through paper.

The knight gritted his teeth through the pain. However, against Alruwin’s expectations, the knight kept standing and suddenly charged towards him.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

The knight tackled the elf, keeping him in place. And at the same time, the other knight moved in to thrust his sword at his enemy.

Damn human!

Before the knight’s sword could reach him, Alruwin used all of his might and kneed the knight holding him. The latter was sent hurling upwards into the air. Alruwin quickly deflected the enemy blade and he raised his other hand, pointing at the muscular knight above. Multiple small wind bursts were shot at the knight, denting and breached through his armor, as he was kept being pushed upward.

At the same time, Alruwin cut the hand of the enemy before him then swiftly slashing sideways. The knight staggered back as blood spilled out from his hand and at the side of his body. As fatal as it was, he immediately dropped to the floor.

Alruwin looked up and saw the enemy knight falling. He pointed his sword to the sky, and the knight fell directly to his blade, piercing through the chest. The knight glared at the elf as blood leaked out of his mouth. But it only took a moment before his life completely faded away.

Alruwin casually dropped the corpse and pulled out his sword.

These humans were not too different from those in the world below. They pointlessly struggle. They held onto life despite their body being ripped apart. They struggled and kept fighting, despite there being no hope. They hide when eventually they will be found.

In the end, they all ultimately fail.

They die, they get captured, they get sent to the mines or wherever their labor may be needed. They were no one special, and thus their fate was as it should be. To serve the needs of those above them. Even how much they cry to the divine, no help would come. No matter how many heroes they may have, the mystic race, blessed by the gods, triumphs.

With that matter done, he continued on slaying more enemies before him. While at the same time, he searched for the valuable targets. But he found none. So he kept moving further south as he slain more humans. On the way, he encountered another elf who was killing his own share of humans with a pair of curved blades.

“Found anyone?” Alruwin asked.

“No.”

“Then we keep reducing the enemy’s number.”

Eventually, they will be so few that they’ll be able to find them. But there was also another possible place that they may find one at least.

They reached the southwestern part of the wall. Alruwin stood at the edge and looked at the south, or to be precise, by the broken part of the southern wall. Looking further away, there were a few imperial forces out there, facing Wisterian knights. But then he noticed one in particular that stood out in the bright moonlight, running in the fields with a large group of humans.

It was a faintly glistening platinum, no, it was not as white as that. It was silver. There was only one person with that shade. And judging from her physique, he was certain who it was. And with her was what seemed to be the first prince.

However, Alruwin’s eyes were focused on the silver-haired woman. She was among the main targets, but not number one. Still, looking at that shade of her hair, it irked him. So similar to their ultimate target.

“Alruwin, are we going for it?”

“... Yes.”

And they swiftly began their move, running towards the fleeing large group of humans as they traversed the green landscape. Alruwin cut through the enemy that got in his way, until eventually, they too touched the green grasses.

The two elves chased after their target.

“Enemy from the rear!”

“Stop them!”

The knights tried to hold them off. But the two elves got through them without much time spent.

“They’re going for the Queen!”

“Don’t let them through!”

Alruwin spawned a swarm of vines to take care of the knights, either attacking or obstructing them.

“Mother!” the first prince cried.

“Go, Your Majesty! Don’t look back!”

As they got closer, an old man and a knight got in their way. The other elf faced the old man, swinging his curved swords at him. But the old man merely used his arms to block and attack. The elf was a bit surprised by how strong he was. But still, a human couldn’t keep up with an elf for long. The elf slashed the old man’s hard forearm.

Now, with that old man distracted, the queen lost one of her guards.

Alruwin sent a pair of wind slashes at the knight in front of him before spawning a group of thorny vines to wrap around the knight.

With that, Alruwin was given an opening. And he used his wind to propel himself forward.

“NO!” the old man shouted, trying to run towards the one he should protect. But his opponent moved to stop him, slashing the old man’s back.

Alruwin immediately reached beside the target. The silver-haired woman looked at him with wide eyes. And the elf extended his sword forward.