Chapter 606: Unfathomable
"We were a step too late once again..."
The three Monarchs of the Africor Continent didn't seem perturbed at the words. The world shook around them, and it seemed that the pyramid was going to be reset once more.
King Roderic stood with his usual obsidian beard and bronze band across his forehead, his fierce amber eyes more a reflection of his usual state of stoicism rather than any fear or apprehension at what was happening around them.
By his side, there were the other two Monarchs of their nation.
King Thorian seemed quite feminine and soft compared to Roderic. His frame was slight, and from time to time he would extend a long, slender finger from the large sleeves of his robes that looked more woman than man.
This finger drew across the air as though he was calculating something before shifting his glasses slightly and vanishing into his large sleeves once more.
Of them all, he was the only one not dressed in armor, including Queen Amara.
The Queen had a head of fiery red hair and a valiant air to her that was quite shockingly reminiscent of Cassarae. Those that knew her would likely agree. Though her tongue wasn't nearly as fierce as Cassarae's, her large, heavy great sword she carried on her back told its own tale.
It was quite the contrast to see a woman clearly in her late thirties display such a demeanor, but she wore it well. Her retainers respected her all the more for it.
Amara's braided ponytail swayed as she looked up into the skies.
"We will start again," she said lightly. "This should be the third and final."
"It is only troublesome because we do not know who the third party is. I'm presuming that one of them is a representative of Legacy. But the other..."
"General Thora died and was unable to let us know who the one who infiltrated our city was. But there are eyewitness reports that a black-scaled man appeared in several locations, jumping from building to building."
"Then Sylas Grimblade."
"Not confirmed, but likely. The odds that there would be someone with the same abilities, who would also be nearby like he was, are unlikely."
"He is more of a danger than I thought," King Roderic interjected into the conversation between Amara and Thorian. "If I had known, I would have done more."
"It's unlikely that it would have changed much of anything," Thorian shook his head. "There are only two explanations if it is really him. Either we underestimated his ability to gather people around him, or... he is the Rune Master himself. In which case, that is incredibly troublesome."
Amara's eyes narrowed. "A Rune Master with such skill and combat prowess at once... but it would make sense. For anyone to make it so far on their own, they would either have had to rely on secret help and were thus not as alone as we assumed, or... they were a jack of all trades."
"Jack of all wouldn't be enough," Thorian disagreed. "He's a master."
The three spoke about these matters casually, still not panicking in the slightest.
They and their entourage calmly left the pyramid and then began once again. The stress of the situation didn't bother them at all... as though there was nothing to be stressed about to begin with.
Legacy's greatest strength was also its greatest weakness. It was too obsessed with secrecy to the point that even the governments of the world couldn't quite see through them all.
However, because of that, they never committed too much to a single mission and were always working on too many things at once. Even if they felt this situation was important, there were probably a half dozen other important pivot points in the world that they were trying to claim for themselves.
As far as these three Monarchs were concerned... they had overestimated themselves, and they had also underestimated the value of this Dungeon. At least, that was the assumption of these three.
Then there was Sylas...
They had high opinions of him, and their words reflected that. But to put things bluntly... there were levels to the way the world functioned, and the moment it was proven to them that Sylas didn't have the backing of the Grimblade family, though their opinions of him only rose as a result, he ceased to be someone that they took very seriously.
How could the might of one person compare to that of a nation?
The governments hadn't been preparing for as long as Legacy, but they had a more focused approach to preparation. The sudden end to the Trial had caught them off guard, but it had already been over eight months since then.
Everything that they had put in place for decades, no... centuries, were finally starting to bear fruit. The City Steles hadn't been used just yet, but Class Steles, special Professions, unique Legendary Path Treasures, some of which had already been leveled up beyond reasonable standards...
The number of trump cards they had was unfathomable.
And it wasn't just a matter of foundation and planning either. Or maybe it was precisely because of those two things that the personal strengths of the highest individuals in the various governments couldn't be underestimated.
There was a reason that the Leaderboard was occupied by the hidden families alone, and there was no one of the governments and Legacy to be found.
In fact, if not for the fact that the hidden families were having a competition between their heir candidates, they wouldn't be on that list either.
If one took the Level Leaderboard as the end-all, be-all of strength... well... one wouldn't be
too far from ending up like Ragnar Ravenclaw, the former tenth place.
And the way the three Monarchs walked around exuded precisely that confidence in themselves. But it wasn't just them... each one came with four retainers, and each one of them exuded the very same confidence.
The power of these people was unfathomable.