Chapter 41: Tide of Battle Part 3 [MOON]

Rose was panting after she finished casting her spell. I guess that took a toll on her but she insisted it was due to all the running and climbing that she did. Having said that, we are now on our way to the castle. John assumed me that he will be fine as the Elementalist will be helping him out. The both of them seems to know who that imposter is. Was I wrong to assume that it was a demon? I am more worried about Zen though. He is all alone fighting in the castle and who knows what powerful soldiers are there to protect her. I can see Rose getting anxious about her brother as she kept increasing her speed as she ran. Zen should be fine, he is strong. Have faith in that, Lily. But why do I keep feeling a bad premonition?

We crossed the bridge and is close to the castle now. No time to waste fighting soldiers. We will need to charge through instead.

BOOOOMM!!

W… what was that? Did something just exploded at the top of the castle? Something flew but it was too fast to catch what it was. Was someone screaming loudly earlier? That place seems like the location where the Queen gives her speeches.

Rose looked as though she had saw a ghost. She went pale and started rushing into the castle. Did she saw something that I couldn’t?

There was barely any soldiers in the castle. Some adventurers were here and we told them to stop any soldiers from coming through. We rushed through and headed to the throne room. Any soldiers that were unlucky to appear in front of Rose were immediately slammed with the hilt of her rapier to their head. Hopefully they didn’t die from that. I can tell that she is not thinking straight right now. It did not took us long before we reached the door to the throne room.

I told Rose to stand back as I got ready my stance. I punched the door which caused it to rip apart from its frame. Inside, we saw the demon sitting on the throne. A demon… woman? I never knew they existed. Do demons procreate through male and female? I never knew how they multiplied in the first place. Where is Zen though? I don’t see him anywhere.

Rose approached the throne and unsheathed her rapier. I stayed close behind her in case of an ambush.

“Where. Is. Zen?” she demanded as she pointed her rapier at the demon woman.

The demon remained seated crossed legged, resting her face on her hand and her eyes closed. She looked amused at the situation as I saw her smirked but she did not responded to Rose’s question.

“I said… where is..” but was interrupted by the Queen with a “He’s dead”.

Both of us gasp a little. How is it possible for Zen to be dead? He is strong. There is no way this female demon is capable of killing him so easily.

“Y… you lie,” I gritted my teeth.

“You saw him flying earlier, didn’t you? I was certain the commotion was loud enough for your pointy ears to catch it earlier,” she jest.

Rose charged directly at the Queen but was intercepted by an armoured soldier that appeared out of nowhere. I helped her block the attack from the soldier who was wielding a greatsword. Rose took advantage of that moment and pushed her attack after I blocked for her.

“OUT OF MY WAY!!” she shouted and used triple stab on the soldier.

The soldier pushed me away with his immerse strength, skilfully blocked all of her attacks and even managed to block counter her. This soldier is very experienced and strong. I doubt we can handle him alone.

“Bow to your Queen should you wish for an audience with her. Otherwise my captain will discipline those that disobey,” demanded the Queen.

“You are not a Queen!” I shouted amidst fighting the captain.

“I AM a Queen! Feast your eyes upon the Demon Queen. The rightful ruler of humanity,” she sneered.

“So you gave up in ruling demons and decided to rule over humans instead? How low faith you have in your own kind,” mocked Rose.

“We demons are the rightful rulers of this world. The Demon King seek to rule it with an iron-fist through his demon lackeys. But look where that brought him? The God he serves only demands death and destruction. I, on the other hand, rule through deception and intelligence just like my God demands. And I shall do his bidding,” she smiled at the end.

“Your identity has been exposed. You think the humans will continue to serve you? You’re delusional to think that we are that foolish,” said Rose.

“A minor set-back in the grand scheme of my plans. After I kill the both of you, I can restore this city to a higher degree with all the traitors head for the world to see,” she made a demonic laughed.

This captain isn’t budging. He is like a solid rock preventing us from getting closer. Even with both of us attacking him, he is able to block all of them with the occasional counter. Rose tapped on my shoulder to signal me. Time to take this into high-gear. I activated imperfect Concentration and casted Lightning Fortification on my gauntlets. I attacked first, giving Rose the time she needed to prepare herself.

This captain is strong and his armour feels unreal. Even with his greatsword and heavy armour, he is still able to move nimbly and block all of my attacks. My flurry of punches connects with his sword and armour but he remained at the exact location. Other opponents would be flying about now.

PING!

I managed to block his counter despite me bombarding him with my flurry of punches. So that is his fighting tactic, making use of his heavy armour and greatsword to absorb damage while looking for an opportunity to counter or aim for weak spots. Is this soldier human or demon? He must be a demon. No human can take on my punches head-on without moving an inch.

The captain suddenly started going on the offensive. Is he changing tactics? Flurry of swipes was swung at me at demonic speed. I am using all my strength and speed just to block or dodge his attacks. An attack went for my abdomen. Alright, I get it. My abdomen is one of my weak spot.

I blocked the attack with my gauntlets and guided my gauntlets to secure the sword with my spikes as it had some holes. Zen told me that my gauntlets looked like a superhero that he once remembered. Something about a guy dressing up as a bat. If that was real, then that “superhero” clearly have issues. I secured the sword holding it in place. The captain was trying to pull back but I held on as long as I can. I wanted to pull the blade out of his grip but that is an impossible task with his strength. If the blade was smaller then I could had tried to break it apart but it was just too big for me snap it.

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I charged up my Lightning Fortification and started shocking the captain. Normal beings would be slumping to their knees now but this captain stood firm. Does my spell not effect him at all? His metal armour and sword are excellent conductors which is perfect for me lightning spell. However, despite all the punches I gave him and now a direct lightning spell at point black, he still looked unaffected.

The captain suddenly stomped his feet hard and did a heavy pull that dragged me off my feet. I went flying towards him and he took a swung at me. I managed to block it but it hurt my arm while sending me flying backwards. I gripped my injured arm that was spasming now and glared at the captain. How insanely strong is this captain?

“Any particular reason that you are fighting alone, missy? To gauge your strength or just plain foolishness in the name of honour?” asked the Queen.

“I am not human to follow the honour of fighting alone. I was merely a distraction to allow her to get ready,” I smirked.

“W…. what is she?” the Queen was looking up behind me.

Rose is floating above behind me right now with her semi-transparent golden wings. She called it Sacred Wings which not only buffs all her stats and spells, it also gives her extra mobility that exceed even Zen’s obnoxious Agility stats. Sadly, this spell only affects herself.

Rose flew straight at the captain and performed quintuple stabbed on the captain. Heavy armour meant nothing to her as her weapon is also buffed by a spell called Fa Jin Zhòu or something that completely ignores armour and impacts the inner body directly. These two spells was the reason why Zen was knocked unconscious even with his Rend cloak. It is a formidable combo that defies what normal adventurers are capable off.

The captain was sent knocked backwards from her stabs. Rose did not give in and pushed her attack. The captain reacted quickly and swung his greatsword downwards but was no match for her speed. Rose dodged the swing by sliding across and performed a stab in the gap between the armour. She looked as though she is gliding around with her wings. It was a direct hit and Rose twisted her rapier for good measure. Blood started spewing from the captain’s helmet and his wound.

The captain swung his arm towards Rose with ferocity but Rose had already leaped backwards. We can win this. I should join Rose in bringing down this captain so we can finally kill the Demon Queen. More blood was flowing from the captain’s wound. We should be able to kill him after this. Aim for his helmet and destroy his brain. Let’s end this.

Rose gave me a small nod as she was at the opposite end of me while the captain smack in between us. I re-activated Concentration once more and fortified my gauntlets with lightning.We pincered the captain on both sides. There is no way he is able to block all of our attacks.

Shhhhhrrrrrr!!

Both Rose and I skidded to a halt before our attacks hit him. Something sharp stopped us in our tracks. Bright red spikes or thorns protruded from his armour. Wait, more like it was wrapped around his armour. Rose and I managed to stop ourselves before we pierced ourselves against the thorns but we still had some minor cuts as it appeared out of nowhere. What is this? Where did it even come from?

The thorns started to liquify and wrapped around him. Wait.. those thorns were made from his blood? Who is controlling it? It did not seemed like he is the one controlling the blood.

I took a quick glance to look at the Demon Queen. Bastard, she was the one controlling the movement of the blood. Her hand movement is very clearly showing that she is in control of the captain’s blood. Is that her spell? Things is going to get harder from here.

Blood started to flow to the captain’s left arm forming to what looked like a bloody shield with spikes. Oh boy, a fully armoured soldier with a giant sword and shield. What is this? Some kind of crucible knight or something?!

Rose seemed to realised that the Demon Queen was controlling the blood without even turning to look at her. She did the unthinkable and rushed towards the Queen but the captain matched her speed and stopped Rose from going closer. The captain’s speed increased? How? Rose’s speed should be close to the speed of light but he captain was able to catch up? I stood on Rose’s side. Not sure how long her spell can last but we need to end this captain quickly. I get the feeling that we are not going to kill the both of them unscathed. That bloody spiked shield is going to cause a lot of trouble for us.

***

“How interesting, when did you know it was me?” asked the imposter.

“We were looking for you. We know that you were working with the Queen and information gathering was one of your expertise. We are certain that you will want to know things that even the Queen does not. And that is how you fell for our trap,” I explained.

“How does telling Rick factor into the trap? From what I recall, there was nothing from with the message given,” he retaliated.

“We know you will do whatever it takes to gather information. What better way if not to follow the man who instigated the war himself? But in order to do that, you will need to get close to him. So we knew you were aiming for one of Zen’s close friend. So we spread out a message to all of his close friend without him even knowing. We were expecting you to not get the memo,” I jested at him.

“What do you mean? There was nothing of value with the message,” he demanded.

“I believe you remember what the Dark Lord told you right? ‘Zen will be appearing at this location after he escaped from the castle. If you know what is best for him, I will be counting on you’,” I laughed at him.

“How is that a code? That message doesn’t even tell us anything aside from the location,” he sneered.

“That is because you never actually knew Zen. If you were one of his close friends, you will know that the best thing to do for him was to fulfil your duty assigned to you. Not meeting up with him at that location. That is the memo that the real Rick would had gotten and you did not,” I smirked at him.

All he replied was a ‘tsk’. Pretty sure he was annoyed at the fact that he was trapped by such a simple code.

“You were willing to take a gamble that I would not kill Zen before he even comes into the city? How absurd for you all to gamble on his life,” he spat.

“Knowing you, you would rather gather information that you can use instead of just killing Zen. You are a tactician after all. Obtaining a bargaining chip had always been your forte. And besides, if you were planning to kill Zen, he will not die so easily. I trained and sparred with him to make sure that he can take on a guildmaster on his own,” I said.

“Now, what is your end goal? Why work for the Queen all of a sudden? I do not believe that you would be willing to become her henchmen just to gather information for her. You even willingly sacrifice your entire guild just to serve under her. I doubt many guild members of the Dragon guild were willing to follow your decision,” I continued.

“Hahaha! None of you are aware on what the Queen is capable of. You don’t even know what she did for all of us behind the scenes. I was there when she saved me before. And now I am just returning the favour. I do like to thank Pietro for finding out Zen’s identity. It was the right decision to send him on the secret task together with the three of you,” chuckled the Dragon Lord.

“Where… is he? Did you kill him? What the hell did the Queen even do for you that you were willing to sacrifice him? He… had a pregnant wife waiting for him when he went missing. His wife came to me as he had mentioned my name before to her. And I intend on finding out what happened to him!” I shouted.

“On the grand scheme of things, his death meant little. I serve the Queen and her orders are absolute!” he answered.

“Why? What did the Queen saved you from that warrants you to do such despicable thing? You are the guildmaster and your guild members follow your orders and they trust you to do the right thing. But for you to kill them just to obtain information? Just how low did you fall?” I gave him a disappointed look.

“Enough talk. Let’s kill each other,” he said as he summoned his halberd to his side.

It seems that he knows how to use Sunder spell. Can he use Rend as well, I wonder? That is going to be troublesome. The Elementalist tapped on my shoulder and shook his head. I guess even he realised that it is not possible to save the Dragon Lord and change his mind. While the both of us wanted to bring him to justice, we were hoping for imprisonment rather than direct execution.

The Dragon Lord charged at us. The Elementalist was quiet throughout the whole conversation but he stood ready. His halberd gives him an advantage over range which the both of us do not have. The Elementalist uses two daggers as his main weapons. I threw my axe at the Dragon Lord and he deflected it away. I teleported to my axe and now we will pincer him in between. Both the Elementalist and I attacked him furiously from both sides but he is able to fend off our attacks by using both ends of his halberd. His strength, movement and speed does not match a human. Something is wrong here.

He managed to cut the Elementalist with the bladed tip and hit me on my stomach. Even with all my muscles, his insane strength hurt me when it looked like a gentle poke. Bloody hell just what is he?

The Elementalist looked at his wound and shrugged it off. He then started using his spells. He coated one dagger with fire while the other with… ice? Wait what? I thought the only elemental spells were fire and lightning?! It would seemed that he is using Concentration too.

I followed suit and started using Bloodlust. I withheld from using other spells in the meantime and frenzy as well. Quite pointless as I am certain that the Dragon Lord is capable of blocking it’s effects.

The Elementalist charged in first. His dual daggers are quick but the Dragon Lord was capable of matching his speed. I joined the fray and poured in my attacks from the other end. The Dragon Lord is certainly being pushed back now. I reduced the size of my axe to that of a hand axe for faster attack speed. We were making wounds on the Dragon Lord now.

The Dragon Lord was bleeding in several places now. But.. so were we, albeit less than him. He actually managed to injured the both of us despite getting pincered. But his wounds were strangely bleeding more than it should. Those wounds are from the daggers of the Elementalist. Is it because of his spells?

“Hurt, doesn’t it? How does it feel to be burned, frozen and bleed at the same time? You do well to remember that you should never betray the adventurer’s guild ever again,” warned the Elementalist.

“To waste the blood given by the Queen, how can I face her after this? To be injured like this while only fighting against two guildmasters, I should be punished!” he roared.

He activated bloodlust. Is the Elementalist capable of using Higher State Of Mind? He charged at the Elementalist and used Fury Strikes. I can barely even see those attacks. Such speed were those strikes. The Elementalist somehow were able to block them but subsequent attacks were not so lucky. I rushed in to help him. I increased the size of my axe as large as I can and slammed on the Dragon Lord.

It left a large sliced crater but the Dragon Lord was able to dodge it. Things are not looking good now. Since when was the Dragon Lord this powerful? And what did he meant by blood given by the Queen?