Chapter 630 The Final Step
Kellor could never have expected that this stoic commander who had always been known for his decisiveness would be capable of breaking through to become a Warrior so instantly.
Their expectations had all been shattered, which led to all three of them rethinking everything they knew about Luther.
Of course, in a way, it could be said that the King had won, because it had taken less than a day.
Finally closing his jaw after seeing Luther immediately begin to run forward through the rooms which had all been deactivated in order to get to where they were, Kellor turned to see what the King would say.
That was when he saw a strange sight. Just like before, when Cassandra had been ready to roast the balls of the person who was responsible for her capture, the King had one hand over his crotch protectively, almost as if someone was threatening the family jewels again.
For a moment, Kellor was dazed, but he immediately understood what might have happened.
Could… Luther also have given a similar threat? After all, anyone who found themselves freed from such a situation would immediately use the oath stone to contact the King.
In order to see whether his suspicion was right, Kellor asked a question in a low tone.
"My King, did Luther also…"
He didn't need to say anymore, as the King immediately turned to him with just a slight bit of panic on his face, which made it abundantly clear that his suspicion had been right.
What a coincidence!
It could now truly be said that the commanders of Lanthanor were truly in sync, as there was no proof better than the two threats that had both been directed in the same direction.
Kellor controlled his laughter, as he didn't want the scene to repeat, but he heartily chuckled inside his mind. Of course, Faxul noticed this, and asked what the matter was, to which Kellor directly gave the answer, causing the King's best friend to burst out with laughter that echoed in the room, causing a light blush to enter the King's face.
Of course, he could tell what must have happened, and in response, he simply smiled mischievously and said, "You two forget that I won the bet. Just you wait. There's a lot of 'fun' waiting for you, soon."
The laughter immediately stopped as both Kellor and Faxul felt a chill run up their spines.
It was in situations like these that they understood just how unlucky the King's enemies must be, as his words were capable of causing such fear to appear in them, too, even though he wasn't really serious.
Indeed, Daneel was half joking, but he really did not envy what he was probably going to put these two through. Well, they had laughed, so they would pay the price.
As for the coincidence, he decided not to comment on it, except to wonder why there was suddenly such an ardent interest in targeting balls. Still, it was an unpleasant topic which he just wanted to forget, so he only waited for Luther to enter the room that they were in without saying anything.
Taking the cue, the two other men in the room also remained silent, but they did chuckle from time to time, which always halted when they remembered what the King had said.
Just what had they walked into by making that bet before?
Knowing that they would find out soon, they just hoped that it wasn't anything too bad.
Soon, the wooden door in front of them which had been placed just a few hours ago burst open, giving way to Luther whose fists were ready, expecting to find the mastermind behind this entire plan at this place.
His initial plan had been to somehow climb out of this place and reach the Palace so that he could fulfill his duty of protecting the King, but he had been unsuccessful in finding any way out except for the one that led forward through the many rooms that were present in front of him. Of course, it had been smooth sailing through them all, as none of the deadly traps and mechanisms that were present were active. However, eyeing them, he could get a clear picture of everything that he would have been in for if he hadn't managed to break through instantly when feeling the intense need to perform his duty, no matter what.
He was someone who would give his all for those whom he decided to follow, and it was the same both for the father who had adopted him when he had been found alone, and this King whom he had chosen to follow wholeheartedly after seeing how he truly loved the people of the Kingdom which he had come to cherish after staying in it for a long time.
It, too, had taken him in when he had been alone.
So, when he saw the King patiently waiting for him in this room accompanied by two familiar men who were in a strange cycle of chuckling to themselves, stopping that abruptly and then chuckling again, he did not understand what was going on.
The King spoke up to dispel his doubts.
"Calm down, Luther. I was the one who placed you here, as I wanted you to find the 'push' inside yourself and break through to become a Warrior. You had been stuck in the Human realm for too long. Little did we know that all it needed was a simple situation in which you thought I was in danger."
Luther had to take a few seconds to comprehend this, but when he did, a small smile appeared on his face before he folded his arms behind his back and looked down, remembering the threat that he had sent before that had been directed at the King, even though he didn't know whom he had been cursing at that time.
Seeing this, as these two new about it anyway, Daneel decided to just own up to what had happened.
"It's an incredible coincidence that both you and Cassandra chose to go for 'those' as soon as you were capable of exacting revenge on whoever was responsible for abducting you and placing you here. I guess that any man who chooses to oppose you two should really be careful."
Daneel had only said this to lighten the atmosphere, but he could never have expected the kind of answer he would receive.
"Oh, it is not that much of a coincidence, Your Majesty. Us three commanders would often strategize about how we we would go about handling a foe whose power level was unknown to us. If it's a man, the best option was to go for the balls, as it is unlikely that even someone who has ascended to heights that we cannot comprehend has special protection over this special area. It is something that many tend to forget about, so our plan was to target it as it would have the most chance of success. I suspect that even Aran will react in the same way when he breaks through."
Oh, now it made sense.
It turned out that he had been right - anyone who targeted these three commanders of his would definitely regret doing so.
This also made the laughter from the two now jovial people beside him to begin once again, which made Daneel decided to end this quickly.
Nodding in response, he said, "Well, good to know. You can get back to the sect. You must've dropped a lot of duties to get over here so quickly, right? I really value that, and I'm also really appreciative of the need that erupted in you when you realized that you had to get out and protect the King. I am honored to count you as one of those whom I can trust my life with."
In response, Luther simply bowed, as no more words are necessary.
Always a man of duty, he did not feel that it was something to be appreciated, but he still accepted these words and it did feel good when he heard them.
Daneel flicked his fingers, allowing Luther to teleport away and making sure that he would emerge at the foothold of the Hidden Kill Sect.
With this matter done, only Aran was left, but there was no way to speed up a break through that was being incited by the illusion formation. All he could do was make sure that the formation was maintained, and hope that there would be no problems. Faxul was charged with constantly keeping an eye on him so that Aran could be saved if possible, and with that, Daneel moved on to the next item on his list.
Of course, in the list of people who could break through, Eloise could also have been present, but it was different for her as she might be able to break through naturally instead of having to be 'pushed' by Daneel. Besides, their conversation was still fresh in his mind, and he had already planned their next meeting perfectly.
Putting that aside, Daneel dispersed the Grand Court Mage and the Black Raven King after actually feeling happy about just how much their personalities had changed since the time that he had first met them.
Nothing much needed to be said about Faxul, who had had the most drastic change, but as for Kellor-he was someone who had broken down and cried when he had seen that Daneel might be the one whom he had been waiting for. The man had always been weighed down by all the things he had had to do under the orders of the previous King, and it was only now that he was getting out of their shadow and returning back to who he originally. And that 'original him' was a very likable uncle, who was always ready to help, and who always had his best interests and heart.
Going back to his chamber, Daneel got to the last thing on his list - to make all the provisions necessary for the Legacy Battle.
He already knew that his Mageroot would be completely restricted after he went back to the sect. So, he would be foolish if he didn't use it for all it's worth and prepare a lot of countermeasures to handle any type of situation he might face. He had the chance to do so, and it would be dumb to waste it.
Of course, he could cast Mageroot-less spells, but that would be a dead giveaway as that Chief would easily be able to sense what was going on. Before, his antics had only gone unnoticed as there had been no one at that level watching.
Taking a moment, Daneel pondered deeply on the plan that had slowly begun to form from the moment he had entered the sect.
He now had full clarity regarding the Legacy Battle - it was basically a free for all, but there were all sorts of factions that formed so that more people could aim to survive until the final days, which would give them more chance of being selected to be trained harder by the Chief.
For anyone else, the goal was to stay in the competition, but for him, it was to win.
However, the problem was that even he didn't know the metrics for one to win, so after a lot of thought, Daneel decided to do things the brute force way, as that was the best option in such cases.
If there was only one person remaining at the end of the battle, wouldn't that guy be directly crowned the winner? He was pretty sure that there must have been no contest where something like this would have happened, but he still decided to verify that.
For now, though, he acted on this, and formulated the plan that was actually inspired by one of his favorite movies back on Earth.
Of course, he would have to make a lot of modifications to it, but he had to say that he was excited to see how it would all turn out. It was definitely going to be a blast, and he just couldn't wait to snatch that scroll from its resting place.
And so, Daneel began all the preparations necessary after taking a few hours to hammer out all the finer details of his plan. He also made many backup plans, as he did not wish to be caught off-guard.
A week later, as he arrived back at the sect at the agreed time, his clothes were completely filled with trinkets.
This made him feel really glad that the sect only checked the maximum level of the trinkets, and not the number.
After all, why would a Sect with a Hero-level Chief fear a simple Human or Warrior level trinket?
So, after getting in with all of his tools intact, a smile that stretched from ear to ear appeared on Daneel's face, as he knew that he was now ready to face anything that might come his way.
Humming a merry tune, the King walked down the path to reach his cottage, almost as if he already owned the damn place.