The battle reached a climax as Marcius's right arm grabbed the shaft of the spear holding it firmly in place. From his right shoulder downwards, the amor plates had been obliterated. His muscular arm had multiple lacerations. Blood lazily dripped onto the ground. His figure barely upright. With a grunt, his left hand thrust the sword at the heart of the emperor. All of his might into the attack. Waves of burning aura overlapped as they rushed at the emperor.
"Give up Marcius. The battle is over, you have lost." Edward said with pity at duke Marcius. His first words since the battle had begun. Magic missiles and lighting balls collided with the sword forcing it backwards. At the same time, a void crack opened as multiple 12 meter gargantuan lightning spears emerged from the void surrounding the duke. The force contained within enough to kill a thousand swordmasters.
A pin drop silence ensued as the spears came into view. Marcius's body shook as he saw the spears , trembling as the realization hit him. He stumbled a few steps backwards. His shoulders slumped, the sword fell from his grip onto the now destroyed platform. His face ashen and hung low.
The spears entered the void once more. The emperor had fought with roughly half of his might as he built the spears mid fight. He calmed his labored breaths and felt the coolness of his spear, Gale bolt.
That was the only to stop him, crushing his spirit. Though the victor of the right of challenge could determine the fate of the loser, Marcius was a capable man, with his spirit crushed he made for a far more usable pawn.
All eyes fell on him, there was no come back for duke Marcius. His stamina was spent, mana depleted whilst the emperor had laced such a trump card. Edward shook his head and looked at the colosseum since their battle began. It looked like it had been ravaged by a natural disaster.
Seats close to the arena were burnt to ash, the Northern walls of the colosseum had collapsed entirely. Fractures extended as far as the eye could see.
The weaker nobles had retreated from the colosseum entirely. Though most of the nobles had fought in the war with the legion of doom, they had been away from the threat of death for far too long that they had let themselves go. Very few truly sought strength.
" THE VICTOR IS HIS MAJESTY EDWARD!" Lennard's voice extended outside the colosseum as he announced the result of the battle. He was glad but his pale countenance contrasted his emotions. Very few denied the result, the pope was here so there was no way the result would be false. The marquis, counts, vis-counts and barons under duke Marcius despaired. The log that they were holding onto had suddenly sank.
"Your Majesty, let me and my bishops heal you. We do not want any hidden wounds endangering your life." The pope said as he without notice appeared next to the emperor.
He looked towards the collapsed duke as he said " That was a battle well fought Marcius, have no fear. The church shall act in accordance to words of the almighty God Minthes. We shall receive you and your kingdom's people under our protection." The pope acted as if the words he had just said would not cause conflict with the royal faction as he left for the palace.
Emperor Edward gave the pope a side glance and looked at the sky to catch the leaving figure of the royal assembly of magic's arch mage. His shoulders slumped as he released a sigh of relief. The rays of the sun still shone brightly.
West of the empire's capital, in the kingdom of Belford.
The dungeon of Arneth was on of the small dungeons located in the village of Rosewood. Famed for its carpentry in the domain of baron Dalton. The village was run by his bastard son, Morbius Richard Dalton. Nathaniel stood at the entrance of the dungeon ready to do some herb gathering. Light weight black leather armor covered his torso, leather greaves and a short sword sheathed.
He had rested enough and it was time to move, he walked into in to the cave opening covered with moss like plants and vines. This was a 1 floor dungeon split into multiple zones. The monsters were weak being no rank slimes, 2 fanged rose rabbits and grey wolves. A short corridor led into the floor area.
His feet dung into the black sand as he went deeper, his eyes struggled to grasp sight of anything in the darkness, he walked slowly. " Illuminate." He chanted, a small light brightened the darkness. The necklace he wore had a light orb embedded in it. This allowed him to fight while still able to see.
He paid caution to rock slimes. Though their acid sneak attacks left only a slight burn, it was deadly when they surrounded you. He unsheathed the sword as he stabbed on the rock walls. The grey wall wobbled as rock fell down turning into a dead rock slime.
He walked towards the light at the end of the tunnel. The view of the interior of the dungeon fell into sight.
The zones were visible, split into four quadrants. The volcanic, oceanic, forest and desert zones. Red volcanic rock emitted yellow smoke whilst the waves raged . The desert extended beyond the eye's reach and the forest lay close as he descended the cliff into the forest beneath.
An artificial blue sky illuminated the dungeon. Thorny vines attacked as soon as he got into the forest opening, their numbers were low taken care off with a few quick slashes.
He kept an eye out for the herbs as went deeper into the forest. Birds chirped as they hunted from above.
The sack already had a few thousand scent vines. Nathaniel killed a few slimes while collecting herbs however he stayed clear of the area where the grey wolves hunted. The dungeon had already been mapped, with copies sold for 500 copper coins. No rank monsters did not have a mana core inside, mana cores allowed monsters to evolve.
The evolution of course was limited by bloodline purity. Disaster class monsters and calamity monsters hibernated for long periods of time absorbing mana, they unlike humans could naturally absorb mana and purify their bloodlines. The more pure the bloodline became the stronger the legacy abilities inherited by the monster.
Nathaniel slashed at the incoming red slimes. Their fire could barely touch him, it was so slow. The slime liquid painted his leather armor in all kind of colors. He was like a walking rainbow, green slimes lived in the forest while red slimes lived as the boundary between the forest and the volcanic region.
He turned to the growling of a wolf behind him, the wolf let out howl and blocked the path to the corridor. Nathaniel readied the sword. Grey wolves had hard grey fur, hard to stab through unless the sword was enchanted.
Unfortunately he could only afford a normal short sword. The weakness of the wolves was the mouth, eyes or the anus. Looking at the 1 meter furred animal with fans 2 inches long, Nathaniel closed the distance charging at the wolf, the wolf pounced at him. He rotated to his left reverse gripping the blade dodging the paw and fangs, slashing the abdomen from the from front legs to the back. The cut was shallow, red blood dropped on the leaves as the wolf howled and roared at him.
However he was too preoccupied with running to care. The snarling behind him increased as four wolves jumped out of the bushes trailing him. 2 pursued while the other two stayed to defend the injured one " Why am I always running?" He felt as if he was a danger magnet.
He had almost died way too many times than he could count. He panted as reached the bottom of the cliff leading to the corridor. The wolves were on his heels. Rushing up the rock incline he even though about throwing the sack and just running away. Footing was difficult as he sped up.
A juvenile wolf jumped at him from behind as he slipped off a rock, he threw the sack forward into the corridor as the paws dung into the leather he rolled with the wolf on the opening of the corridor, he averted his head left and right taking out the short sword as he tried stabbing the head of wolf the trying gnaw his head off. He kicked upward, his foot lading on the stomach the 2nd wolf pouncing at him.
He used the back end of the weapon to strike the ribs of the juvenile wolf, throwing it off. The two wolves snarled as they rushed at him saliva forming ponds on the ground. They blocked the way into the corridor attempting to throw him off the cliff into the forest down below.
Sweat trickled from Nathaniel's forehead.