NOVEL WEB Chapter 18: Chapter 18- Secret of two artifacts (1)
[ Fuck you all, bastards who dared to come against this immortal! ]
'...shut up,' Akhil, who had just barged into the room, was about to make an impression on the woman who always had that sense of pride by demonstrating how he was here to save her; he interrupted without letting him complete his dialogue.
[ Host, it's time to shine! ]
"What?! What is he doing here?" One of the guards was clearly taken aback, considering they had expected the king to already be busy with the saintess while inevitably waiting for his death—not for him to arrive here and be brought directly inside the Queen's Palace, which was the least expected place for him to be seen.
Indeed, being soldiers, they already knew about the clear rivalry between both of them, due to having impure bloodlines. Quinn always looked down on him and never allowed him to step foot in the queen's palace. But now, he had seemingly returned from the brink of death and was standing in front of them, causing their eyes to visibly widen.
"What are you waiting for? Isn't he just an impure bloodline? Kill him!" The globed man, knowing well that although the man stood before him, he was definitely a king and a worthy opponent—even though his artifacts were mostly at shattered tier—also recognized that he was under the effect of an aphrodisiac. The chances of them winning this battle were enhanced, and even if he needed to sacrifice his life, there was no way he would return empty-handed without the completion of his mission.
"Y-yes sir, kill him! Or we will be dead!" The soldiers were agitated, stating their keen awareness that if they were to lack or slack off now, they would meet execution, and unlike the person from the empire, they would not be able to escape given their families were here. So all three of them charged towards him.
Swish!
Clank!
Suddenly, a wooden stick appeared in one of the soldier's hands as he swung it directly toward a fellow soldier. But even before it could hit him, a shield appeared—made of wood with a metal border. The sound that rang out from the collision of their artifacts was metallic.
"It appears Duke Ronen is really desperate to get rid of you, Lady Astarra," one of the soldiers noted, making sure to mention who was behind all of this in front of Astarra. This would hopefully provoke her stubbornness, which was evident from the surprise and violent reactions of the soldiers and the cloaked man, who reaffirmed his claim.
The major reason he mentioned it was to agitate that cloaked man who seemed to possess a Dim Tier Artifact.
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
ARTIFACT POSSESSED:
Name: Veinrend Fang
Tier: Dim
Dominion: DORMANT
Integrity: 68%
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
In a battle, strength is not the only thing that is important, but a sane mind too. And given this information, which would have been the most confidential one, as no one until then was aware that it was the Duke who had orchestrated all this event.
So Akhil used this information to catch that man off guard, making him take a very wrong decision in anger and dash at him like a bull.
"Wh-what?" Standing there, Astarra, despite dealing with her numbed mind, couldn't help but feel a sudden silence fill her whole body upon realizing that the one behind all this was her own brother. Her eyes widened as her jaws clenched in anger, realizing how naive she had been to think her brother would want to save her, even at the cost of sacrificing his position as the head of the family.
"You! Kill him! He can't remain alive now!" Without a single word, the man in assassin's clothes dashed forward, closing the distance to Akhil within a second, arriving with a metalized sword in his hand and lunging towards the shield between them. As his sword collided with the shield, it shattered.
Naturally, an artifact could not be completely destroyed until the host was killed, but after reaching a certain value, they would vanish. And as it did, contrary to what the assassin had expected, the socket did not throw him back; instead, a sword directly pierced through his heart as he was caught off guard.
"Kughh—!?" His eyes widened as he saw a sword embedded in his chest. Unlike the information he had received from the information guild about the king of this kingdom possessing only one artifact, it appeared he possessed two. His anger and sudden outrage had led him to make a mistake that cost him his life.
Thud.
With a resonating sound, the body of the cloaked figure fell to the ground—dead.
"Now, will you all surrender or will your families be killed afterwards?", Lys lifted his gaze and looked towards the remaining soldiers, threatening them with a clear intent to either kill them or to kill their families if they did not surrender here, as deaths were inevitable for them. But if they surrendered on their own accord, then their families would not suffer and they would be the ones to die. If not, after he kills them, he would kill the family too.
"N-no, W-we surrender," as he had expected, those people didn't have that much moral value, only being sold with money. Realizing what would be their outcome would be after even the strongest among them died, they surrendered.
Without hesitation, the killer moved forward and, in a single swift motion, cut off three heads. Blood splattered as all four people, who had been alive and retaliating just moments ago, now lay dead, some of them with headless bodies in the midst of a pool of blood.
"Y...you...how two—haah...haah...", The Queen, standing there, was hardly controlling her body. Suddenly, seeing how, like how she had anticipated that he would not be able to deal with them, and thought to give him some help was clearly taken away, seeing how he had pulled out a sword and killed the man something clearly unexpected.
"You just never saw me as someone with potential, Lady Astarra—" After looking towards her, he completed those words while visibly seeing how her body stumbled forward, approaching him with feet erratic. As she brushed past others, she arrived before him, grabbing his collar.
"Y...ou... kne...w this..", Astarra arrived and supporting herself by his collar clearly showed her anger realizing that he had hidden from her the fact that it was indeed the Duke, even though he was aware of the information that it was the Duke who was trying to deteriorate and create civil war inside the kingdom, yet he remained silent and did not tell her.
"Would you have listened to me?", Akhil Ripley placed his thumb over her chin before lifting her face to his level, causing her edgy eyes to meet his, with clenched jaws and a gripped hand over his, sort of wanting an answer. But as her lips parted, quivering.
"What?"
Before she could complete her words, her lips were sealed by a kiss.