CHAPTER 104
THE GROWTH IN RIVALRY
Two days have passed since Delimira had broken her second circle, she kept relapsing after it and Sierra had to nurse her all the time. They have achieved the first phase intended to become a sword mage but Delimira had not regained consciousness till now. Hans had visited her sometimes, and looking at her with ManaVision, he found her whole body smokey, filled with dead mana, crawling inside her. He tried to control the dead mana inside her and realised that the only mana that his control did not reach was this.
He was thinking of her acquiring yet another powerful thing which was out of his calculation. And on one of his visits, she opened her eyes. Hans ran to Sierra, to inform her of somewhat good news but another worrisome news had already seeped into the mansion. Looking Hodges down in worry, Hans asked about it and the butler responded, showing him the newspaper
"They attacked Alliance Headquarters"
Hans snatched the newspaper to read in detail and was running in excitement after reading. The Eclipse emerged again and sent a clear message that they are powerful and soon will come for revenge. Adrian the fourth-ranked knight had fought Norwin in stalemate and forced the hero king to summon his beasts. Soon he found himself in front of Rudolf's study and barged in,
"Hey gramps, did you read, today’s news?" he asked.
Rudolf was not surprised, after all, he had already received the news last night in more detail. He was discussing the same thing with Sierra and looking at her Hans told her about Delimira waking up. Sierr nodded and asked him to leave the adults talking. The attack in the strongest body of Genas was a ballsy move but what surprised them more was their way of executing the attack, Eclipse as the feared ones, had not claimed a single life after launching such a big attack like they were slapping the strongest force in Genas.
They continued to ponder giving each other some assertions and reasonings while Hans ran back to the resting Delimira and showed her the news. She carefully read and then asked him,
"Was there no news of the undead army?"
"No," Hans responded, " Xandor was not mentioned."
Delimira frowned,
"Then there is definitely more to it."
"Of course, there is, after raising that lineup, they went ahead and did nothing like - "
Both said in unison,
"THEY WERE A DISTRACTION."
Both looked at each other then Hans said first,
"But why?"
Delimira just stared at him so Hans asked,
"What?"
"It's really easy to have a conversation with you, Chris would have taken ages to reach that conclusion"
"Stop the flattery, but a distraction for what?"
"Dunno, they are your people. Prince Hans."
"Looks like you recovered well to run your mouth Winters."
"Yes, your majesty."
Hans was used to her way so he did not mind her much but asked another thing,
"So can you summon krosh spirit?"
Delimira asked with a frown,
"You were studying?"
"I had to, you are going through a power-up, I at least need to know the ins and outs to keep you in check."
Delimira smirked, "Not now, but I'll soon have it, the krosh Spirit," she said, trying to feel her strength by clenching her fist. She started sitting up but Sierra entered the room and ordered her to lie down, there was still one more day she needed to rest. And Hans did not waste much time there, it was evident that Delimira was going to grow under Sierra. One thing Hans liked in Delimira despite her irritating demeanour, was that she worked really hard.
Reaching his training ground, he resolved, It was time to speed up his training. He picked up the book and opened it to read again, trying to find something that he missed. There was a change in his practice regime. He stopped practising swords since he came here and this day too, he skipped it. Delimira was growing so he concluded, to grow his mage prowess, he needed to accept the fact that he was forever a mage so sword training was just a waste of time, at least for now.
Taking in a long breath he summoned an entire field of similar plants in mere moments, he also noticed since the practice of Parallel sprouting, his activation time for VeganBind and the production time of SeedBullet has significantly decreased. Before this Hans had to do every production linearly but now, he could germinate orca vines and seedBullets simultaneously. This also heightened his control over mana, and as the day passed, another one dawned crisp and clear.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He was in a self-created garden, far more beautiful than the one gardeners were pruning right now, they could feel their livelihood threatens just with one glance at the majestic garden of their young lord, filled with vitality and mana. Not knowing their thoughts, Hans was feeling proud of finally succeeding in SilvaOruts. It was not just ten square metres but a big area covered with a flower bed. All of his sudden improvement was a result of witnessing Delimira's growth in power, causing his gears to shift to the next level.
As Rudolf used to say to him in the past 'The rivalry is best to boost a person’s growth' and it was pushing forward to both of them because Delimira was thinking the same. Hans found a nice spot and like the garden had heard his will, the place protruded and the hard branches came out making an idol structure to sit. Smirking he sat and was proud of himself. He felt connected with the whole place and recalled Samson's words when he called this a mini sanctuary, he just needs to think and things happen on their own. Satisfied with the accomplishment, he went ahead and started practising to improve its casting time.
The SilvaOrtus of this scale took him half an hour and to apply this practically, he needed to achieve this instantly. He took out the book, but before opening it, he glanced around, feeling surprised that no one had come to praise him like they usually did for his every little accomplishment. Oddly enough, there was no knight in training present, they usually marvelled at every little thing Hans did so not getting the awe expressions from them somehow rubbed him. He came out from his garden and followed the cheering sound from somewhere.
Reaching the place, he saw his old man and Deli clashing swords, well Deli’s was not a sword but a rapier. Hans felt betrayed as Rudolf was using aura against her, something he had never done when practising with him. But what surprised him more was her keeping up with the attacks. The envy was hitting him hard, however, he knew he needed to observe her closely to avoid any surprises when fighting against her in future so he shoved his feelings and concentrated on her.
The most surprising thing he observed was when the spar heated up a dark smoke gushed out of her and her skin started to show visible cracks like a drought land but in those cracks, he could see a faint light. As the cracks increased, the smoke followed and Delimira’s enchanted beauty turned into something threatening and Hans envied that look too. It looked like something straight coming out of fantasy books.
He sighed and suddenly she disappeared jolting Hans once more as his ManaVison failed to detect her presence but Rudolf was different even if he could not see, his experience had honed his senses into catching the faintest movements around him. Moving his sword to the back, he blocked an invisible sword and she appeared, Hans gritted his teeth and mumbled,
"Shit!!"
He came here to brag but did not feel like doing now, He sneaked out front of the field before anyone could see him there. Racking his brain for understanding her disappearance, he realised that Krosh art was the polar opposite of his, where he dealt with live mana Deli was becoming the master of the dead. This gave him another headache and he searched the book for more answers.
THE ALLIANCE HEADQUARTERS, UTAR
The attack was short but effective like they were measuring the capabilities of Alliance. Norwin and Adrian really fought tooth and nail the other night as the mountain they fought on turned into a sea of ice and fire. Norwin was analysing the situation as his aide was addressing the alliance members. Most of the nation’s leaders got summoned to the headquarters. Reina, the representative and queen of the Elven Nation Clandor said,
"For what reasons they resurfaced in this bold way?"
The aide replied instead of Norwin
"I don’t know but we do not suffer any casualties, I like to say we are strong enough to achieve that, but I will be lying. They were toying with us."
The queen responded,
"I know that is why I am asking, what was the motive?"
"We do not know."
The conversation soon turned into a heated discussion and the world leaders started throeing their opinions while their leader Norwin was thinking something else entirely.
OUTSKIRTS OF CLANDOR
Adrian had to put more strength into running away than clashing with Norwin. In times like these, he envied the skills of Dijkstra who possessed the guts to literally spank Norwin’s ass and run away many times. He didn't suffer any wounds but was exhausted and upon reaching the rendezvous point, he was given a palm-sized metallic sphere. looking at the object, Adrian said,
"Command Centre: SCAN"
Notice : This is the eye from the idol of the thunder god, worshipped in the late 400s.
Notice : A Greater Thunder Gem is within the object
Adrian smiled and ordered his force to a complete retreat.
ROYAL CITY, CLANDOR
Since Utar was protected by Alliance, no sane person was going to attack the place and that confidence followed by lack of security was what allowed the Eclipse to daringly sneaked in but Clandor was home to the most cautious race on Genas and their security, similar to their scepticism was no joke. It was a well-protected nation and the capital housed many powerful warlocks, If Parv boasted of being the nation of knights then Clandor was equivalent to the nation of mages and their mages were far more powerful than others. Their knights on the other hand lacked but were catching up to others quickly proving there was a reason behind their arrogance and holier-than-thou attitude.
The journey to the royal castle was full of dangers for Xandor and his first captain Bryan. It was a covert operation and they couldn't afford to be reckless because the country was under the jurisdiction of the second-ranking Knight and the agenda of fighting clandor was not in the schedule for them. Xandor's ultimate objective was to create an army of the undead and use the ensuing pandemonium to acquire the "Blessing of the Wind," an esteemed ceremonial necklace that had been handed down through generations of the Elven monarchy.
The thing about the great mana gems was that they were hard to detect as almost every one of them was covered in some sort of protection, appearing as a jewel. So even their owners were not aware of possessing it, and not breaking the prejudice, its current owner, Princess Allynna was enjoying her day, unaware that she was going to see the scariest man in the world.
As the Eclipse duo forged ahead, Dijkstra lurked in their shadow, hot on their heels and with his sights set on the Clandor royal mansion. His objective was to take down the Elven King's aide and even the World's second-ranked knight could not stop Dijkstra from claiming that life.
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