Chapter 509 Attack End
"Pfft. You? A mere Peak Champion wants to fight against two Heroes? You must have a deathwish!"
An expression of amusement appeared on the face of the thin man, before he cackled wildly.
Saying these words while laughing, he wiped the tears that had appeared due to his abrupt laughter.
Marcus glanced back at Daneel, and as he did so, Daneel saw an expression of resolve on his face.
"Yes. A debt is a debt. You'll have to go through me if you want to kill him."
"Enough."
Boom!
A blazing inferno suddenly came into being around Marcus, and just the residue heat that got through the barrier made Daneel's skin blister even further.
He could imagine the immense temperature that Marcus must be being subjected to, so when he saw the man just thrust his hands out and form a solid white barrier which managed to resist the fire, he was pretty surprised.
"Hmm. A pure Fighter. Impressive."
Drakos said this in his head, which made Daneel raise both his eyebrows.
So Marcus was a pure Fighter, too, just like that old man?
"Does that make him stronger or something?", asked Daneel, which made Drakos ponder for a bit before answering.
"Not always. But in this case, this man's path is oriented toward defense, and defensive Fighters are some of the toughest beings to deal with. Back in the Empire, they were called 'cockroaches', which wasn't an insult in any way as the term was used to refer to their attribute of surviving no matter what was thrown at them."
As realization flashed across Daneel's face, he suddenly felt glad that he had unwittingly saved this man's son during the Olympics. He would have done that even if there was no reward associated with it, so it was quite surprising to see someone like this who considered it a debt and was also willing to go so far in order to repay it.
Such people were rare.
"Humph! Quick! He must have informed the Head! Just kill them both before he comes!"
Nodding, the thin man extended his hands, too, which made a strange change come over the inferno.
Until now, it had been in the form of a globe of white flames around them that had already melted everything, including the walls and the floor. They were floating in space while those flames were pushing ever inward to devour them, with only Marcus's barrier in the way. Daneel had considered whether to add his own barriers in order to help, but he rejected that as he could detect that they would be pretty useless.
This temperature…was just a little bit too much.
A Hero wasn't someone to be scoffed at, after all.
The change that came upon this globe of fire was that large, barbed thorns had appeared around it. They seemed to be made of a strange purple material, and as Daneel viewed them with his elemental vision, he saw that the sheer complexity of the elemental make up of that material was dizzying.
Right after the thorns appeared, they were given way by the flames, and as they came into contact with the barrier, a very weird phenomenon was seen.
As they latched on to the barrier and pulled, small holes started appearing, almost as if the thorns were capable of pulling away the Energy that Marcus was using somehow without having a Mageroot.
The holes were tiny, but they were enough to cause the temperature inside to rise abruptly.
Marcus screamed with defiance. He had stretched his arms outward to conjure the barrier, and he pushed forward with them now, willing the barrier to become whole again.
Yet, no matter how many times he did that, the thorns kept poking holes.
Thankfully, Daneel's barrier was still fine, which meant that although the temperature he was being subjected to had risen to a level where he had no other choice but to deploy his own barrier to make sure that he wouldn't burn up to a crisp, it was still nothing compared to what was outside.
Even Marcus's Champion level body seemed to be unable to resist. His skin started to blister and crack before falling off, yet, miraculously, Daneel watched as new skin popped up quickly and tried to cover up his flesh and muscles.
However, there seemed to be a limit. After 5 times of this happening, no new skin appeared, which meant that Marcus's naked body soon became devoid of skin, leaving behind a grotesque figure of just flesh, muscles and bones.
The clothes which looked precious had melted away long ago, and there were only a few shreds of skin left.
At this moment, Daneel's anger reached a level where he couldn't control it anymore. This man had come here to protect him, yet he was being roasted alive in front of him.
If it weren't for Drakos and the system both telling him that Marcus's vitality was still strong, he would have stepped in long ago.
It felt as if a long time had passed since Marcus arrived, but in reality, barely 2 seconds had elapsed.
Yet, Marcus was at his limit. It seemed that facing 2 people who were a major level above him was no joke.
Daneel had observed that even though his skin was gone, there was some sort of invisible layer which was protecting the rest of him. Even that started to fail now, as even the flesh underneath it had started to melt.
Enough was enough.
Taking a moment, Daneel first imprinted the faces of these two Heroes into his memory. Fury consumed him, while he resolved that he would definitely get his revenge on them.
"Drakos, prepare to teleport us away.", he said, as he had decided that he wouldn't let someone die for him.
He would never be able to live with it.
The reason he was concealing Drakos's existence was that historically, no matter what type of possession it was, the Big 4 would always hunt those that got the approval of Empire Spirits.
Yet, it didn't matter to Daneel anymore. Whatever would come, he would just handle it rather than regret later that he had let someone die while defending him when he had the ability to stop it.
Such was his bottom line, and he wasn't willing to cross it.
"A moment, Young King. I sense someone approaching."
As Daneel heard this from the Ancient Dragon, his tense mood finally relaxed, but he didn't let that show on his face.
BAM!
With a loud sound, another hole appeared in the Palace of Eldinor, and this time, it was caused by an immaculately dressed man with a neat, short beard.
"Enough, you two.", he said, and his words seemed to contain a power that immediately made the two Heroes drop their hands.
They appeared extremely agitated for a second, but following that, they nodded, which made both the globe of fire and the thorns disappear.
Marcus collapsed to the ground, while Daneel did the same, as he, too, was grievously injured.
Yet, he suddenly experienced a familiar feeling go through him.
It was as if light had somehow turned solid and entered his body before going through it and healing him in the process.
He felt rejuvenated, as if he had just had a great night's sleep.
The goo turned to liquid and fell away, while Daneel slowly stood up and took a deep breath.
This….was a true healing spell.
From the Mad Doctor's journals, he knew that it could only be cast by those highly talented in healing skills. The last time he had experienced it was when the Matron had used the spell to heal him when he had been close to death due to the actions of the black-robed man in the Black Raven Kingdom.
Marcus, however, didn't get the same treatment. He was enclosed in a white, glowing ball before he floated in the air and appeared beside the newly arrived man.
"I've got my eye on you two now. You dared to try this stunt because the punishment was just a century of isolation, right? Well, I'm changing the rule. Henceforth, the mandate will state that if anyone lays a hand on an integral figure in the Central Continent, or goes on a rampage for any reason, their resources will be cut away for 10 years, and they will also be locked in my house. You two know how much I like to entertain my guests with my flute skills."
As soon as that old man said the last sentence, shudders of fear passed through both the Heroes.
Huh? Why were they scared of a simple flute?
"Get out of here. I'll clean up. And spread this to the others."
Nodding, the two Heroes shot a glance at Daneel before teleporting away.
Their expressions said that this wasn't over, and Daneel agreed.
The most frustrating thing was that he didn't even know why they had wanted to kill him so much. It had looked like it was just irritation that they hadn't been able to obtain what they came for, but something told him that there might be more to it.
Still, whatever it was, he would find out when the time came for them to bear the full wrath of his fury.
After the two disappeared, the old man sighed as he saw the 15 dead elves.
Pointing his finger at each of the three holes, he made them go back to normal using a spell that looked like it was reversing time.
From Drakos, Daneel found out that this was a high-level Hero spell that could detect the previous state of something and return it to that status.
After the Palace returned to normal, the old man looked at Daneel and said, "Finish your business here. If someone notices that those elves are missing, tell them that they were killed by the Big 4 because they plotted against their own Kingdom's wishes. I'll come back later to talk to you. They will be un-frozen in 1 minute after my departure."
Seeing the King of Lanthanor nod dazedly, the old man turned around and was about to fly away, but he turned his head and left one last sentence before leaving.
"One last thing. His debt to you is cleared. You're on your own from now."
This time, Daneel nodded firmly.
Yes, his debt was more than cleared.
After he watched the old man and the glowing white ball which contained Marcus fly away, he turned back to the court and saw that everything had been frozen from the moment when those two had appeared.
So, the document of the alliance was still on the carved table in the center, and Eldra was still waiting for him to sign with a smile.
The only difference was that 15 elves out of the 100 or so in the room were missing, but that wouldn't be noticed in a short period of time.
So, Daneel just took his place again. Exactly after a minute, time seemed to resume.
Daneel signed the document, and history was made. The First Alliance came into being, but little did the others know that such a dangerous event had taken place right before this consequential event.
What followed was the official process of Eldra surrendering her post to Katerina, stating that she felt guilty that something like this had occurred without her being able to stop it. The people implored her to stay, stating that they didn't blame her even though some had seen her like that on that day, but she just told them that she would still help them in every way she could.
Katerina was welcomed as Queen by all, mainly because of the right chords that she had struck in all the elves of the Kingdom by taking up charge in those horrific moments. Everyone remembered her as the resourceful leader who had stood by them even though they were all scared, and this was exactly what Daneel had wanted.
Finally, a few hours later, he was sitting in a room with the two beautiful elves in front of him.
First, he recited the truth behind the deaths of those 15 elves, which had caused a stir that had been put on hold due to all the events.
As shock flashed across the faces of both the elves, Daneel stated the thing that he had been waiting to say for a long time.
He had been looking forward to this eagerly, and now that it was here, he couldn't control his excitement, which was already high because of the rewards he had obtained from the system after the signing which he had put away to explore again carefully later, after this day was done.
"I need all the Enchanters you can muster for a very, very ambitious project of mine that will change the face of this continent, forever."
....
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