466: A Kingly Reward

A Kingly Reward

 "No, we're good, we had fun watching this spar but we would not like to exhaust you before this event starts," Spoke the White Ghost saving everyone else the awkwardness of a battle against the Lich that brought down one of the game's strongest players with an utmost ease.

The lich in question smiled, "It is understandable, though we undead do not tire, or exhaust, we understand what you wish for. Then, shall we move to the main hall?"

White Ghost didn't miss the underlying scorn, but he didn't dare rebut the lich, he, who was the only one among the players that could possibly kill the Lich was stripped out of his prows, which would mean utter and complete humiliation to anyone daring to fight the lich. Even Warlord will find himself at a disadvantage, his Legacy enabled him to shine in the battlefield, against many opponents, and not a single NPC in a spar, he would be destroyed with ease if the Lich used the same combo again.

"Please lead the way," White Ghost said.

Du'Rhaza clapped his hands, teleporting all the players to the Bone Palace entrance, they were all being led by the death knights that were standing at the gate. There was no way for any of the players to sneak out of the encirclement to spy on the city's fortifications but from within the walls of the Undead City, they had seen what would make anyone's skin crawl.

Undead, not just regular tiered ones, but Death Knights and Doom Knights, standing on the rooftops, on the streets, and even on the walls of the Bone Palace, all gazing at them with unflinching, uncaring and pitiless eyes.

The players, against all their better judgment, felt like they were sheep being led to the slaughterhouse, and they had no say in it.

Once they arrived at the palace's main entrance, a chorus of sounds, music, unholy, loud, and blood pumping blasted from horns and drums that sounded through the whole of the city.

A voice spoke up, loud and clear for all to hear, even sounded higher than the beating of the blood shivering music.

"Leaders of the World of Conquest have arrived! Welcome to his Majesty, The Undead King's abode.

The players moved slowly up the spiraling stairs where many Undead waited in still attention. They all had their palms on the pummels of their swords.

Once the players reached the top of the tower and were in the King's Hall, they noticed the presence of many others at the side of the king.

Bar the six Abyssal Knights, who were forever present by the King's side, and at his command, Dagla was nowhere to be seen.

The Ice Queen, ruler of frost stood along with her companion Jura. The Elven King, one of the rarest NPCs to see in the world of Conquest, and presumably the mightiest of the Overworld dwellers.

Omen, The Hand of the Lords, a mighty half deity, who was able to single-handedly stop every adventurer from Conquest to obtain an ancient relic belonging to the God of the Night Nox. The Relic was presumed to be an S class legacy Item that could release the quest for the Night God Nox. But due to how powerful Jura was, no player was able to best him in a one versus one.

Balaam, the Oracle, the one who was responsible for the protection of one of the world's pillars. The mountain of Glory, that would hold the world of Conquest from submitting to chaos, and protecting I from external dangers as told in books. Balaam was not just a simple Oracle; he was a powerful entity on his own. Many tried to fight him and see what powers he had, and what forces he was prevented from entering the game world. But none managed to do so, and the Mountain of Glory remains standing to this day.

Lords and ladies of the World of Conquest, known by their neutral stand regarding the forces of the Undead have all been invited, some were dukes and counts belonging to the different kingdoms of the world of Conquest, and some were rogue powerful entities that accepted the King's Invitation.

The Undead King was sitting on his throne, a hand supporting his chin, and the other holding the skull on the armrest. Once the players entered the room, all eyes turned to them, for a fraction of a second then returned to where they were the first time. Speaking to each other, not caring for the presence of such people.

Perhaps the King's Invitation had exactly such a purpose, Warlord and Wan Yi, the hotheads of the group were the first to understand and be offended, but they were soon calmed down by their right hands. The rest didn't care, they wanted to see what was going to happen now.

Yet the final and most important character of the game was not present at all.

"Where is he?" asked Wan Yi.

"Who?"

"Skelly, I don't see him, isn't he supposed to be here, I mean this whole thing is about his coronation and stuff."

"You should know, that in these events the main character always enters last. He should be here any moment now, and this event will end and we will get our EXP and rewards for attending." Warlord spoke while having both hands folded in front of him.

"I bet he's trying to take one of the temples down while we're all gathered here." The guild leader of Arkadia spoke.

"I doubt it, at least for my region, I placed more than two thousand players to guard the entrance of the Ash King's temple." Zhang Shi spoke.

"Just two thousand?" the voice of a seductive beauty spoke through the hall.

It was no wonder that all these entities that were present in the hall could easily hear what the players were talking about.

"Do you think two thousand are enough to stop Kis'Shtiengbrah?" she added.

"Shit, it's her." Zhang Shi uttered.

"Oh, if it isn't you, who dared harm his majesty, Lord Kis'Shtiengbrah, how fortunate it is to see you here," Lilith Spoke in a cold tone enough to send shivers down the spine of a cold-blooded snake.

Zhang Shi backed up, his hand on his sword and ready to battle.

"Fret not, we are obliged by the Knight's code of honor, we do not attack our guests. Unless the guest is acting in a manner unbefitting of their status."

"Chill dude," Valentine said, "She's yanking on your chains, don't let her rattle you. They're all looking for an excuse to kill us, don't give them that."

"Smart man, still, you have not answered me, Follower of the Blood God. Do you believe two thousand are enough to stop the might of lord prince Kis'Shtiengbrah?"

"Yes. He could be strong, but the fortification I have in my kingdom is more than enough to stop even your undead army." Zhang Shi proudly declared.

"Is that so, then perhaps you shall be surprised," Lilith smiled.

Zhang Shi frowned, he immediately called his HQ and requested an immediate briefing and detailed report on what is happening under the cathedral that hosted the Ash King's temple.

The response came immediately, nothing was going on, and everything was perfectly good. No one trespassed into their kingdom and the players inside the dungeon haven't reported anything out of the ordinary.

Having been calmed by the good news, Zhang Shi smiled back at the vampire and said, "As I said, he can't do shit to my turf."

Not a second passed, a notification popped up in front of the players.

Conquest Server Announcement!

Player Kis'Shtiengbrah had successfully thwarted the plans of the Ash-King to offer players of the Northern Kingdom his Demonic Powers.

Currently, the Ash King's Northern Demonic Temple is no longer active!

"Bloody hell???" Zhang Shi blurted the words, unbelieving his eyes or ears.

Lilith's smirk only served to add more salt to his fresh wound as he called the HQ immediately.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

"Sir, we don't know, everything is perfectly fine, even the chalice, it's right here, that notification must be faulty!"

"Get Albert to explain!"

A few seconds later, the same player called Zhang Shi, speaking words that made him speechless.

"What's going on?" White Ghost barely managed to hold the scorn and ask a question properly.

"Albert says nothing is wrong with the server notification and he did take the chalice. But I don't understand if he did, why is it still in its place?" Zhang Shi asked.

"Do you have a player that could share a live feed from the temple?"

Zhang Shi hesitated at replying, but White Ghost said, "Dude, your temple is already ruined, there is no need for me to care or give a damn about what kind of stuff you have there, once Skelly took the chalice, all of that is useless, share the feed, I could probably see what went wrong."

Zhang Shi had to trust what conquest community called the mightiest strategist of the game had to say, perhaps he could see more than what Zhang Shi could, and even if he saw the traps and other surprises he had there, that wouldn't mean much anymore.

Zhang Shi shared the feed, and like what the player had just said, everything was intact, even the chalice was in its place.

However, White Ghost still frowned as he was checking the feed.

"Tell the player to look closely at the lava, something doesn't add up."

Zhang Shi did as asked and once the player focused on the magma, White Ghost smiled and said, "You better call your players and have them leave the area fast. Otherwise, they'll start dying."

"Why, what's going on?" Zhang Shi asked.

"The Lava current, on the far side of the lake, it's moving faster than near the bridge. They're in an illusion, all of that is fake. And if what happened in the first of Skelly's attacks on the chalice, a Sworn Stalwart might be there, your call."1

Zhang Shi took a shocked breath and shouted orders for the players to cast Vows of Silence, a skill that could disable all the magic in an area.

Almost immediately after one of the players cast the spell, the whole of the cave morphed and changed to its actual current status, the chalice was no longer there, and an enormous Stalwart was Standing right in front of the player filming the whole thing.

The illusion was so strong that the player had not even noticed that his HP had drained to the critical level from just the Sworn Stalwart's presence in the vicinity.

Chaos unfurled as the Stalwart finally began its massacre.

Zhang Shi stopped the feed, saving himself further embarrassment.

Lilith didn't even need to speak, she didn't have to, Zhang Shi had been humiliated enough for one day.

Without a notice, two undead walked through the hall's entrance.

"Hey, supp everyone," Dave spoke in a cheerful voice, next to him was Dagla.

"You're a slave driver lord prince," Dagla was shaking his head.

"Well, you said the favor was too much, so…"

"Yes, yes, but I haven't cast an illusion such as that one in a long time," Dagla replied.

The two were smiling without a care in the world.

"Childe, I see you come with yet another successful raid upon the Ash King's dominion.

"Yeah, he's really bad at guarding his thingies. Oh, hey guys, you're all here," Dave said addressing the guildies.

"Sorry Zhang Shi, but honestly man, you should really level up your trapping techniques, a child would have seen through those, man."

Zhang Shi was about to go on a murder rampage, but it was clear to everyone that that was not going to happen, and if it did, it was nothing short than a suicide with all these powerful entities present right now.

"Lord, I have come to you with a great present," Dagla said.

"Well, speak, what is it that you wish to gift this King?"

Dagla smiled then clapped his hands.

Right after the hand clap, the sound of a vicious, thundering dragon roared in the skies above the Undead Realm.

The undead king waved a hand, causing the entire roof of the King's Hall to disappear or become see-through, Dave couldn't tell which at the time.

Right under the shine of the broken moon, the silhouette of a bone dragon flew across the sky.

The Bone Dragon, fully intact and vicious in nature roared continuously then it parched on one of the walls of the Undead City.

"A wonderful gift indeed, but, We have yet to know of the death of another Dragon but the one Our Childe had slain lately, is this the body of another dragon?"

"No, your majesty, in fact," Dagla hesitated then said, "This is the dragon that Lord Kis'Shtiengbrah had slain himself, but he asked me to reanimate it and gift it to you, as a payment for a favor I have given him."

"What was the favor?" the king asked.

"It was my personal aid in controlling the cities of Qin and aiding Kis'Shtiengbrah with some minor matters," Dagla said.

The undead king nodded and turned to Dave, "You have done well by repaying what you are owed, but I believe that a dragon as a gift is too much to repay a favor as small as that one, don't you believe so, Dagla."

"I have said the same."

"Very well, then I shall repay your kindness both, Dagla, you may enter the royal treasury, take whatever you wish as your reward."

"May I take the Lifeless Drops?"

"Indeed, you may."

The Undead King then turned to Dave and said. "As for you Childe, I have nothing in my treasury that could be worth your time. Weapons and armor, you have better than all I have in there, gold is meaningless, and terrain, you have of as much as one king can rule by themselves. So, what should your award be?" the Undead King said.

"I need nothing, all I want I have already obtained, and if I need anything else I'll get it with my own hands."

"Spoken like a true Undead, yet it shall not satisfy Us to appear miserly in front of Our audience." The Undead King stood up.

"Then here ye, from here onwards, the Undead Prince, Kis'Shtiengbrah shall have a one-time command over my army. All of the Undead Army. You may lead it to burn and pillage or petty vengeance, all is forgiven and all shall be overlooked."

The Undead King's words fell heavy on everyone's ears, not even Dave could believe it…

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