CHAPTER 52 ROYAL ENDEAVOR
I took a moment to rest, get my mana back. While I was doing that I went ahead and checked the pings I had gotten from dealing with the four bandits trying to break into the store.
‘Ping’ [Enforcer Level 352 / Brawler Level 332] Has been slain - 5 ability points awarded
‘Ping’ [Duelist Level 132 / Thief Level 132] Has been slain - 5 ability points awarded
‘Ping’ [Brigand Level 103 / Thief Level 53 / Adventurer Level 171] Has been slain - 10 ability points awarded
‘Ping’ [Bouncer Level 212 / Bandit Level 172] Has been slain - 5 ability points awarded
‘Ping’ [Battlemage - Lightning] Has leveled up 1 > 2
‘Ping’ [Bladedancer - Lightning] Has leveled up 1 > 2
‘Ping’ [Identify] Has leveled up 6 > 7
‘Ping’ [Sword Apprentice] Has leveled up 16 > 18
‘Ping’ [Wood Manipulation] Has leveled up 1 > 2
That was a few tidy levels. I’d take what I could get I guess.
A loud roar broke me out of my reverie.
Fuck, right. The Harbinger. In the scuffle I’d just had, I’d kinda forgotten that there was a city-wide emergency happening at the moment.
I glanced up to see it swinging wildly against the barrier that was around the palace, but it didn’t seem to be making much headway.
I slowly pushed myself to my feet, making sure I had my balance. I’d managed to calm down enough that I was no longer functioning on pure adrenaline, and my legs had finally stopped giving off that twinging pain they did whenever you got out of high tension moments like I’d just been in.
I took off at a light jog continuing to make my way to the guild, hopefully I wouldn’t run into anymore people trying to loot.
As I ran I kept a good eye on The Harbinger. It hadn’t seemed to be changing its tactics. Just slamming its arms against the barrier in vain. Each blow thundered across the barrier causing it to flash and come into view around the entirety of the palace before slightly fading before The Harbinger hit it again.
This carried on for the next thirty seconds before something finally changed.
The barrier cracked as The Harbinger hit it, the crack slowly spread across the entire length of the barrier. Meanwhile the monstrosity didn’t give it a single moment to try and recover the damage that had been dealt.
“Oh yikes…” I whispered to myself.
Hopefully someone on the inside had a plan on what to do. Either that or I’d take the thing decimating the palace building and then getting bored and leaving. I could totally deal with that, especially since I realistically didn’t feel any attachment to this kingdom.
I’d sworn my allegiance to one country, and one country only. That wasn’t going to change just ‘cause I was in a different world.
I jogged along humming the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The rest of this event seemed to be someone else's problem at this point.
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“Absolutely not! I can not let you go out there! What if something were to happen to you? Loriel is nowhere near ready to take your place at this point in time.” Ragnar yelled.
His liege certainly had a tendency for brute-force schemes, but this was one area such a forthright plan just wouldn’t work. It hadn’t worked on The Harbinger before, there was no reason to believe that it would now.
The Queen turned to look at her champion. Piercing him with a stare that went straight through the soul.
Champion generally tended to refer to someone that fought in place of the person they were championing because they were stronger than them. In the case of Queen Ashendra this was the opposite. Ashendra was the stronger of the two of them. And it wasn’t by a small margin either.
Ragnar had considerable strength sitting at [Level 8946]. This level easily put him as the second highest level in the kingdom. However, the implication also would leave people thinking that he had comparable strength to the highest level person in the kingdom. Which would also be untrue.
Queen Ashendra sat at a royal [Level 9897]. One tier and a thousand levels beyond where he was now. That’s where the Queen sat. She had claimed her throne by force, she had held it by force, and she would continue to hold it by force, until someone managed to become strong enough to take it from her.
She had toured the world and gone many different places before she was a Queen. Technically she wasn’t even of royal lineage, having started out as a normal adventurer, working her ways through dungeon after dungeon. Achieving success after success.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
He had never been able to confirm half the rumors surrounding the Queens adventures. Rumors such as never having lost a fight. Ever. In every physical or verbal engagement she had put herself into, the side she had supported had won, even if they had been losing terribly.
Given the way she liked to handle problems, he could see such a rumor being true. But the Queen had refused to answer in clear terms and would usually just respond with a coy smile and ask, “And what do you believe, Ragnar?”
It infuriated him.
It also infuriated him that her current plan was much like the ones of old, where she would ride out and meet her opponent in a fair fight, head-on. The Harbinger was not something you fought fair against, or even met head-on if you could help it.
“Ragnar,” The Queen started, her voice calm, dignified, and resolute. It echoed through the hall they were standing in, but filled the space completely making her voice seem powerful compared to the tinny echo that his voice was giving off in the area.
“I am going. I was merely informing you of my decision, not asking for advice. My initial plan was to move out as soon as it showed on our doorstep, but you pleaded with me to wait. So I humored you. Now, one of my spell-blades is out for the rest of the fight, it’s extremely likely the other has been killed, and nearly 20% of my city has been destroyed in the rampage so far.”
She rested a hand on the silver blade that hung at her side, the pommel had a ruby in it that swirled with color and power. A sealed spell. Another thing she had never told him about. He’d asked a few times, but she’d merely answered he was better off not knowing somethings entirely. So he hadn’t pressed the issue.
“I’ve waited long enough. I’ve been patient long enough. I’ve watched long enough. This beast has roamed freely in my kingdom long. Enough. I will drive it from my city. If it thinks it can fight me here on even ground…” If Ragnar hadn’t known better, he would’ve said the smile the came to her face would’ve been cocky. Arrogant. But instead it was…
Cold.
With those words she turned around and continued her march leaving Ragnar standing by himself. He heaved a sigh, he had tried at the very least. So at the very most he could do what little he could to support her in this fight.
He would support her, even if it cost him his life. That was his job as [Champion to the Queen].
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Ashendra stepped out of the palace just in time to see her barrier crack. She frowned slightly at that. She’d hoped that it’d be able to at least withstand an hour's worth of damage, but to start failing after five minutes?
She had been slacking on her training if that was the case.
The Harbinger immediately snapped its head to her position now that she was in sight of the beast.
“So I was your target all along? That makes this easy for both of us then.”
She let her mana pulse outwards, slowly spreading outwards from the central point of the city. Expanding, expanding, and expanding until it encompassed the entire city, bringing with it a soft chill that was the personal signature of her mana.
She could now feel the entire city, feel the breaths of each individual person. She also knew instinctively where everything was. The nearest flower shop was 974.56 feet south by southwest from her current position. The nearest loaf of bread… In her bedchambers.
She could feel the weapons people were carrying and their intentions, she knew the levels and races of every person within her domain. She could see the one lone elf jogging along the streets making his way to the adventurers guild, and she could feel the powerful heart of a World Tree beating within his chest.
She could even feel The Harbinger.
Although saying it that way wasn’t entirely correct, it was more that she could feel the absence of its presence. The area it occupied knew it was supposed to be giving off a signal to her class, but it wasn’t for whatever reason people hadn’t been able to detect it before.
It was of no matter to her, as long as she could tell where it was, regardless of how it was done, was enough for her.
Denying the pull of gravity on her body, she floated upwards slowly to meet her opponent at eye level.
And when she spoke, her voice carried through the entire city, it emanated power and resolve.
“Harbinger,” The Queen started, her voice filling the mind and soul of all who heard her and empowered those who fell under her banner, “You’ve attacked my kingdom and you’ve killed my people.”
Ashendra’s mana kept building up, becoming a beacon in the sky as she glowed with power, the winds around her picking up and the temperatures dropping as if there was a blizzard entirely centered on her position.
The mana blanketing the entire city in return glowed with warmth, both as a protection to her citizens and as a reminder of her promise when she had taken the throne.
“I [Swore] when I took the throne from the Tyrant Ilvane that I would bring a golden age to this kingdom. That I would do my best to ensure that the citizens wanted for nothing and would not know hardship like his rule ever again. I promised I would be their vanguard in times of strife, whether it was economic or physical.”
And still her mana kept building, the frozen storm around her kept expanding outwards, at this point covering the entirety of the royal district that held the palace within. Unable to expand past the cracked barrier that currently surrounded the palace, it instead built up inside. Like steam with an enclosure, the pressure built up trying to expand outwards but being completely unable to go anywhere.
“Many people tried to get me to break that promise this day, saying that it was too dangerous to go out and face an opponent they believe to be unbeatable. And to some degree, I understand their fear. But I will not bend in the face of opposition, no matter the consequences.”
Ashendra shook her head and the storm grew still around her, flakes of snow softly falling to the ground over the entire city.
“Part of the legend to my ascension as Queen of the Kingdom is that I’ve never lost a fight, no matter what form it may take. It brings me great pleasure to be able to confirm this to you, Harbinger. I have never lost a fight, and ours will be no different. You stand within my realm and seek to fight me where none would dare simply because of the level of strength it allows me to wield.”
“I will strike you down with the cold hatred of a thousand winters. In my name as Queen of the Seltas Kingdom, I challenge you.”
With her words, the barrier surrounding the palace shattered, no longer able to contain her mana within. The mana she had built up exploded outwards in a massive wave of power. And if not for her protections she had placed over the entire city beforehand they all would’ve frozen through to their cores immediately.
Instead the wave passed through them harmlessly, imparting healing and strength to them, and would hopefully allow them to withstand the next engagement.
It was all she could do for them at this point.
She pulled her sword from its sheath at her waist and then dismissed the sheath with a flick of her wrist, allowing it to dissolve into flakes of crystal that joined the blizzard surrounding the city.
The blade was entirely translucent, being made of pure ice. She had crafted it herself many, many years ago, in the Caverns of Yrlt. And since then it had been by her side for some of her most horrific engagements, empowering her to push beyond and withstand blows that would’ve shattered thousands of lesser blades.
It had endured and been all the more powerful for it. She had no doubt in her mind that it would withstand the fury of The Harbinger if she needed it too. But she planned to end this before it got any further. Enough death had reigned today, she would make sure there would be no more on her watch.
She leveled the blade at her opponent, mana building up within it, and spoke directly to her opponent for the last time before she engaged.
“You may not decline.”