Robert had supported the stranger in her endeavor to separate, because the fewer people there were, the greater his, no, their chances. At first he just wanted to finish off the young lord. See him whimper on his knees. He wanted to see the whole family whine. His half-brother was supposed to find out he was stabbed by him, but that damn family dog was always around.
All his life he waited to find opportunities to make them pay. A bastard, he was nothing more than that, just the bastard of their common father and he should always be grateful when his mother, who served the Astoria house as a maid, said to him. Grateful for what? To serve another young man like a pet even though they shared the same blood? To crawl in front of them? The only difference was that his mother wasn't born noble, but why should he crawl from these scraps?
Oh, how he regretted not seeing the older of the two die, the look on his face with which he met death. He would have paid any price for it, but the news had been reward enough. He fell into a sinkhole with thousands of other unworthy and beastly people. A death without any honor, without his bones being brought back from the battlefield.
Still, it pained him to have to put up with this tearful fuck. In addition, he would have killed the older of the two himself. That disgusting fuck that liked to torment him when he got bored or assaulted his mother, like father like son, it crossed his mind. Who would have believed that he would find his fate here on this plateau? He wasn't alone anymore and as long as he stayed here he would never be again.
Deep inside he could feel it, feel how it grew, how it spoke to him, communicated, he could feel its feelings and as soon as the sun rose the other group would be overrun by them just like this one.
Could he ever have imagined that a lack of magical talent would open this up to him? The options he had now? It told him they would become one as the other in the other beings could never become. It told him that their hosts were so far unsuitable. They needed a certain body temperature in order to thrive, to spawn, to grow. In addition, mana seemed to inhabit weak people more easily. The serpent beings took the mana naturally into their bodies and if it had not been for the portal and the mana poor environment, they would not even be able to survive.
It also helped him in his revenge, slowly he began to fertilize the other knights with the parasites, but not everyone developed as quickly as his own! As it told him, he was special, something that he had known all his life without anyone else knowing or seeing it.
The smaller of the two deserved to die too. He always looked away when his brother got bored again and called him to torture him. Before he started training to be a knight, he was practically a pet that was kept on a leash and like a pet he let him eat from a bowl. Sometimes he even went for a walk with him, wearing a collar and a leash. That sick piece of shit had already got what it deserved.
And the joy he couldn't show after the news came from the battlefield that he was among the missing, how upset his father was about losing his heir. The tears of this noble whore for her beloved little sadist. Until that one moment he doubted that there was a dark god who answered his prayers.
They fought their way up through the different levels to the top of the pyramid, there he wanted to destroy the ring with their help so that the portal could come out of its enclosure and the filter could fail, but first he wanted to enjoy his revenge. At every small opportunity he discussed with the young lord their chances of success.
Bard was a little uncomfortable with how much Robert insisted that destroying the ring would solve the problem, also he felt the constant glances from him as they dug into his back. He remembered looking the other way when he was tormented. Did he want to avoid going back? Without any doubt. His brother was raised to rule from birth while drowning himself in books on history as well as the glorious expeditions of men.
He also felt a little uncomfortable since the absence of Magna. After all, she'd put him back in the arms of his people, if it hadn't been for that damned Lark and scared them like that. Not once did he feel he had been lied to by her. He also really wanted this reward. With the help of this technology, his fiefdom would experience a whole new boom. It would improve people's lives, bring security, but most of all it should strengthen their homes. They had stumbled for a long time, forced to make admissions to their political rivals.
His brother was to return to their home with renewed glory, but instead passed away, taking most of their military might with him to death. Her house was dying now more than ever, either he would bring something back or his parents would keep borrowing money from the Crown to keep the standard up. Their area did not have many resources either. They included a few villages and a few baronies, but basically he could only charge taxes from the baron. In the territory of the barony itself or in the direct domain of the knights, they had no control, even if they were obliged to do so. Especially since their mines were dry, their wealth slowly faded. Instead, they squeezed everything out of their people.
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Bard wondered if the others had such little resistance, too. Was it the building? What was the reason? Should he have gone with her and the others? Why did it seem so easy to him compared to his first exploration of the city?
Lark wondered about the low resistance, at least according to the young lord's story they should experience a lot more resistance, and he didn't like the fact that they parted with the mercenaries. His job was to protect him and the more meat shields they had the safer the young lord would be.
Of course Lark didn't miss Robert's intentions to kill, he knew those eyes, damn it, he knew the fate of the boy. It was a shame to waste talent in such a way. As long as it did not become an acute problem, it could always be disposed of later, on their way up they had already lost one or the other of the knights. Each one was another loss to the house.
As the day dawned, the attacks grew more violent than those before them became a much smaller problem. Bard was increasingly surprised at how many Robert successfully finished off. When they came back, he should make him a barony. Skilled knights were rare, and he somehow owed it to him for what his brother did to him. He would also be a good antithesis to him. Loyal, but a dissenting voice. Always an advantage to make sure of your own point of view.
Robert couldn't help but grin. The eyes that Bard made for him, while he didn't actually slaughter their enemies, but they practically surrendered to him. This admiration, oh how would it be enjoyed, those eyes looked at him when he slowly drove his sword down his throat! They had a lot of time, it was unlikely that the others would be successful. But he had to sort out more of the others first. As soon as they saw him, he let the other parasites attack the others more and more. Slowly, but with more time, more and more of his former comrades fell in the fight against the other parasites.
Robert was supposed to feel bad because he liked them, they had been his only family in this world. They fought back to back in more than one battle. Fortunately, the parasite noticed the emerging feelings and immediately began to suppress them again. After he sought his vengeance, Robert had no more thought of resisting the other in him. Sometimes their methods were not the same. Inwardly he apologized to the boys who took him into their circle, apologized to the woman and child he left behind, but this thing in him was right, if he didn't demand his vengeance, then he would never have demanded it.
The situation became more and more dangerous and Lark had to intervene, he was forced to prance between them. Inside Robert felt that it would soon be time for his revenge! Soon, he ordered a great deal more for Lark. No matter how fast, how secretly he has been. At some point he could no longer handle the mass. Just a little more until the time comes! Just tire the man a little more.
Lark felt that the beings took him as focus, but did they take him because he was the greatest danger or was someone controlling them? More and more of the beings rushed towards him. Soon he had to retire. His daggers danced through the eyes inside the skull, forcing more and more of them to the ground, while the few remaining knights still protected the young lord. Inwardly, he knew it was a mistake to come here. The second mistake was breaking up with a potential healer.
Exhausted, they had to hide in one of the small rooms, so that two knights with their shields were able to seal the passage.
Lark: We should get through to the others! That was an insane idea of going on alone.
Bard: Maybe ...
Robert insisted: No, I disagree. I protect the young lord as fervently as any of my fallen comrades. We're not far from the top.
Robert wasn't going to give up here, definitely not, they had come this far, soon they would unleash the gate, he urgently had to lower the attack.
Robert: I said the attacks would ease again.
That was what Lark wanted to see, after harassing the man, the attacks slowly subsided, whatever happened to Robert, something had changed him and he had become a constant threat to the young lord.
Before he finished him off, he had to lead him away from the young lord, he couldn't protect him when the target was so close to Bard. Should he initiate it? The kid just couldn't act. He missed it everywhere, but mostly when it came to hiding something. He had to separate them.
Robert also saw the change in the situation. Lark must have smelled something, at the same moment he let the attacks pick up again, but without hesitation. This time they had to run over you before Lark could intervene. Hours, Robert had spent hours bringing her up this way. He still needed her to destroy the ring. Soon all of his brothers and sisters would be free! Wait a minute, did he not have any brothers and sisters? Was that really his thoughts?
Bard was shocked the moment they were out of the room and being attacked again in whole new masses. It overshadowed all previous attacks. The intensity with which the masses clashed against his last defenders. More and more of his people went to the ground never to get up again. He himself stayed close to Robert, who was still standing steadfast in the chaos and for him embodied everything a knight should be.
Lark couldn't do much against the many enemies, but he could grab the young lord and let him slip under his stealth. They could still get to each other.
Between his dagger dance between their enemies, he threw a dagger at Robert's throat, which he blocked with the shield before the other landed in his armpit, causing Robert to drop his sword and scream.
At the same moment, all of their enemies paused for a few seconds while the inhuman scream echoed through the hallways. Instead of waiting to look, he grabbed the young lord, covered his mouth, and disappeared into stealth with him.
Robert: I'll find you! You filthy Astoria dog. I will find you and let you watch as I peel off the skin of the young lord!
Bard hadn't seen it coming, at first he wanted to protest, but Robert's exclamation revealed a truth that he liked to suppress. This man was not a dissenting voice, he hated him from the bottom of his heart.
Robert could tear the damn ring without her, but it would take longer. Ready to destroy the ring, this thing in him wanted to lead him to this one, but the emotions of his vengeance burned stronger than the parasite's control. If he would find them both, they would pay.