CHAPTER 6

March 12, 2019

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1

"We are here." Queen Isabella views the window. The Carriage goes up a hill onto the semi-circle driveway.

Damon peeks out of the window and is astonished by the massive structure. He observed and reflected on the reading about the Parthenon and the Athenian Acropolis. The stylobate or platform is exactly three steps, and the whole building stands on the platform. It follows an octastyle due to the eight columns at its entrance. However, what is different is that there was an East and West Chamber connected to the center of the main building through a corridor. It was a changing moment for him as he got to see such a magnificent structure for the first time.

The carriage reached the front entrance. The Queen and Thaeda went off first while Damion followed behind. As they walked up the stylobate and reached the main entrance, Damion was blocked entry by a pair of guards assigned duty at the place.

"What the!" Damion jerked back.

"What are you men doing?!" The Queen gasped and turned to the entrance guards.

While the two guards from the driver seats ran up to the scene with their swords drawn, "Stand down you two." They responded aggressively, protecting Damion by his side.

What mess did I get myself into here? Damion thought and was bewildered by the tension because the general atmosphere of the guards aren't on the same page. His eyes glance at the two guards that blocked him and the ones protecting him.

The guards blocking him all have specific neck markings, and their pupils are distorted red with dark circles under their eyes compared with the two protecting Damion do not. The entrance opens with a pack of red themed soldiers now targeting Damion.

“Sorry, you can’t come in. Only the Queen and Thaeda.” one of them said.

“General?! What are you doing?!!” Queen Isaella screamed.

“My Queen, I can’t allow a stranger into the residence.” the suspicious general replied.

Stranger? Queen, not top of the order but the General. That is very strange and unfortunate. Don’t tell me I have to do this. Damion's right-hand nudges into his robe. He whispers to the guard at his right, “We are heavily surrounded. Get Ready.”

“Mmm,” The right guard responded and sneakily tapped his partner, gesturing a signal.

“What the hell is this?!” Thaeda, feeling conflicted.

“You let him in now!” Queen Isaella confronted the general.

“Don’t make me do this.”

She is offering me lunch, and I’m starving like hell. Damion’s stomach grumbles. A pop-up appears along all the health bars of the soldiers on the scene, including the Queen and Thaeda.

⚠ New Objective Added ⚠:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes. (0/50)

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

Gladiators

180/180

Archers

170/170

General

300/300

The Queen

50/50

Thaeda

50/75

Hunger

10% decrease in Attack damage.

Duration: Until the user is fed otherwise hunger will progress to extreme starvation within five hours, decreasing stats further.

Here goes nothing. Fuck this, the hunger is pissing me off.

To not his surprise, the place is surrounded by many soldiers, called Hoplites based on the I.E.P. He looks up at the roof of the structure, and the ones behind a few columns have their bows out. Archers scattered around as well. With my defense and stamina, I should be ok. It’s the Queen and Thaeda I’m worried about.

“Alright I’ll leave,” he told one of the entrance guards. His right hand is still in his robe as he holds firmly on the guard’s shoulder with his left hand. The guard tries to nudge Damion off, but his hand grips tighter as he tries to resist. “Hands Off!” the guard said.

“Ah. I don’t think so.” Damion grins as his eyes shine blue.

BANG BANG BANG.

Weapon Bond

LV: 1

+25% Iryoku

Any equipped weapon gets a 10% buff to its dmg and ammo.

Applies to any item as long as it is a weapon.

The guard spurted blood out of its mouth, splashing Damion’s face. He then jerked his eyes to the other guard. BANG. Both entrance guards collapsed, drowning in their puddle of blood.

Overkill I

Achievement Unlocked.

Achievement book created in Knowledge.

All automatically reloaded, Damion pulled out his M16 Carbine, one armed with his left. “Happy Birthday folks!” He chuckled, pulling the trigger. All the Hoplites spread out, and the general takes the Queen hostage and runs inside.

“MMMMM” The Queen screams at the bottom of her lungs despite her mouth being covered.

As the door is about to close, Damion drops his Glock, summoning his sword. You aren’t going anywhere. “EEE YAH!!” He threw the sword.

“UG. AHH”

The whole scene abruptly stopped with the eyes of the gladiators and archers expressed in horror.

The general loosened his grip on the Queen. He staggered to his feet and legs, turning to the entrance, with Damion giving him the stare.

“How does it feel?” Damion yelled across.

“You-” the general pointed at Damion as he was spurting blood violently.

“I’m sorry! I Can’t Hear you! Speak UP!” Damion placed his right hand on his ear.

“This is not the”

“Uh-uh. Not that bullshit line.” Damion shakes his head. “I’ve heard that too many times now. All of your covers have been blown. No way someone like me can’t take notice of your guard’s eyes and the mark on their necks.” He points at the remaining guards and the General.

“You traitor!” Damion snaps his fingers. “HELLBRINGER!”

He fires one bullet at the edge of the blade, igniting sparks, emitting flames out of the blades. The General agonizes in pain before being roasted alive. “You two. Go protect them.” He told the two guards at this side to take the Queen and Thaeda to safety. Damion then ran to the burned corpse, yanked his sword off, and unleashed a slice of burning energy on the remaining hoplites. Everyone starts fighting again as Damion wipes each and everyone remaining left.

“GET HIM!”

Damion impaled a gladiator through the neck and rams through a group of archers and gladiators to one of the columns. He unloads the M16 Magazine, and it then bounced back into the slot, reloading the rifle, and Damion fires at them. The bullets swam through their skulls with ease, and blood splattered around the area. The column got stained with blood as a result. He pulled out his sword, letting the bodies fall onto the platform. Blood continuously flows out of their skulls, like a river, flowing down the steps.

Pew. “What the?” He looked down behind him, seeing an arrow behind his foot. He tilts up in view seeing archers, startling them. Damion roared and ran up to them. The archers tried to reload but ran away at the last minute, distraught. With his sword he unleashed a slash of energy, striking their feet. All collapsed.

“No, please. Please.” one of the archers pleads as it crawls away as Damion gets closer. He grasps one of them and stabs in the chest and slices its upper body and head open. He then shot it to shatter and did the same for the remaining archers.

⚠ Objective ⚠:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes. (42/50)

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

He scans around for any hidden enemies at the entrance. "Found you!" He dropped the rifle and sword and sprinted to the cauldron, next to the door and tossed it to them, hiding east of the entrance. Couple of embers reached contact and ignited fire across their bodies causing the group to disperse. It’s too late for escape as the second they try to run, Damion already got his grip back on the M4 rifle and the sword. He pulled the trigger firing the backs of the remaining hoplites.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Objective Completed:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes.

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

The whole place is a gargantuan mess. Blood splattered and tainted many of the exterior walls and columns. Debris scattered all over the platform and near the entrance and the columns also suffered damage from the bullet shots. Damion went to the few sites and dissipated the small sized fires. After crumbling up a few embers, he placed the cauldron back in its prior position and kept all the remaining flammable embers inside.

Finally, I'm starving. Damion heads up to the entrance and hears company from behind. He hides behind one of the columns.

A convoy of carriages appears up to the driveway. Seriously, again?! He peeks behind the column and pairs of hoplites come out as well and a few who wore similar clothes as the Queen, especially the cloak. He looks carefully at the necks, the eyes and no abnormalities. Friends. Good. The notable thing about these hoplites specifically, is they also have capes unlike the ones belonging to the General. Their color theme is blue making Damion wonder if color has any significance. He walks out of the column spooking them, while gripping his rifle.

"Who the hell are you?!" Few of the hoplites deployed their swords and other hand gripped on the shields.

"If you are not a traitor to the Queen, I assume you must have heard of Damion?" Damion said while his eyes glared at all of the convoys.

"We heard a guest is with the queen."

"Well, he is standing in front of you, dealing with this mess you just witnessed." Damion pointed at himself.

The hoplites all stared at each other in confusion and sheathed their swords.

"Good, I guess you guys aren't traitors then."

"What do you mean traitors?" A man in the cloak asked.

"As you can see, the dead bodies here are the enemies of the Queen. Notable features include marks on their necks and distorted red eyes. Based on what I observe, none of you guys have them. If you know what that could be, we can discuss it during lunch, inside." Damion opens the door and leeway the convoy to enter.

EXP Gained:

Level 10 (150/190) +2036

Enemies Killed:

32 Gladiators x 38= 1216

18 Archers x 40 = 720

1 General = 100

Once everyone enters the building, Damion closes the door and is confronted by a few hoplites, who are curious about what he is carrying.

"Gentleman?" Damion said.

"What's that you holding?"

"Oh, this. It is a rifle and a weapon. You guys have never heard of this, so I understand your curiosity." Damion demonstrated this once by reloading the M4 Carbine. “That’s how you reload, meaning refill the weapon. Now I will converse with you all who are curious about the situation after I finish my meal as a guest with The Queen. Any Questions?” Damion said. He internally feels strange and aware he has no political power or role in civilian life other than as a VIP guest. He still went with the situation as it leads, disregarding the strangeness.

The guards shake their heads. “No sir. We take our leave.” They all went to their area.

Damion suddenly noticed someone far in the hallway passing by through the dark, and it got startled briefly when its head turned to him, illuminating openly in the dark red light eyes. “Hey! You!!” He yelled, causing it to start running, and Damion quickly followed it into the hallway in their direction. A few hoplites earlier peeked out seeing him sprinting. “Scatter around the building, search for the traitors!” Damion shouted.

⚠ New Objective ⚠:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes.

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

* Chase the hoplite escapee

Level UP

10 >>>>14

14(494/500)

+160 Gold (1900 -> 2060)

+8 Inventory Slots

+4 Skill Tree Points

Base Stats: (STA:+38, ATK: +41, DEF: +25.6, CRIT: +8, SPD: +2, IRU: +20 )

Stamina: 482 -> 634|| Attack: 376.04 -> 540.04|| Defense: 224.85 -> 327.25|| Critical: 84.8 ->116.8|| Speed: 54.32 -> 62.32|| Iryoku: 255.2 -> 295.2

The hoplites are all divided up where a group protects the ones wearing cloaks, and the other follows Damion and further split up once they reach the stairway. Two more groups were made where one went along the stairway and the other scramble further on the same floor. He ran up the long stairway in just two steps.

“What the.” he heard from behind.

Damion began to feel the effects of the leveling up more significantly as he effortlessly sped up through the dim hallway, keeping up with the escapee. Both reach through another set of stairs and growing irritated, Damion nudges his foot taps, leaping him up directly behind the escapee and giving a slight sidekick to his Achilles heel. The escapee lost balance and tripped to the floor and rolled up to the base of the stairs, banging hard.

“Jesus.” Damion muttered, cringing from the loud impact.

He went up to the escapee and pulled it towards a brighter area. As I thought, another General’s follower. The escapee was head down, and he flipped it over to its back. A vein ruptured from its forehead, leaking a batch of blood. “Is there anyone else besides you hiding in this building? I’m not asking you again.” Damion interrogates the hoplite escapee while reloading his rifle.

“Mytikas belong to us.”

Damion fires one round next to the hoplite escapee, startling him.

“I’m pretty sure I said I’m not gonna ask again! Is there anyone else other than you hiding in this damn building!!” He yelled so loud it gave a loud echo.

“Down…”

“Downstairs?!”

Damion hears footsteps and the group of hoplites catched up. “This is the guy?” One of them asked.

“Yes. I got my answer. You can ask more questions if you want.” He then leans to the hoplite whispering, “Then kill him after.”

Objective Completed:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes.

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

* Chase the hoplite escapee

He headed downstairs, and as he caught up with the other group, Damion passed by a large map in a frame mounted on the wall. It’s titled “World Map of Dourhines,” and the map is color coded. He looked everywhere till he saw Mytikas below in blue, surrounded by the red part.

Legend

* Mytikas Kingdom

* Xacrobar Empire

* Neutral

2

Damion then sees the flag of the Xacrobar Empire with its emblem as exactly as the ones on the necks. You gotta be shitting me. This is a whole spy mission. He temporarily put his rifle in his robe and unmounted the map from the wall and sprinted through the hallways without hitting anything ahead. Eventually reaching the room where the ones in cloak and few hoplites are at, Damion placed the map on an empty table.

“What’s the meaning of this?” a middle aged man in a cloak asked.

“Huge Issue. Those markings are exactly as the emblem on the flags of the Xacrobar Empire.”

Everyone in the room went into a state of shock.

“That can’t be possible. The treaty was supposed to keep us in peace.” other said.

“Well that such a treaty is considered invalid then with all these shenanigans.” Damion replied.

All the ones in a cloak sat down in despair. “So they want the whole continent to themselves. This treaty is just for namesake.” One of them leans up, focusing its eyes on Damion. “I’m willing to put my vote into your leadership and help us.”

“What?!” All three except one revolted.

“We only just heard about him. How can you put your trust in that man easily?”

As the ones in the cloak argue, Damion, frustrated by the loud noise, pulls out his rifle and starts opening fire on the doorway. “Can you old gentlemen shut up for a damn minute.” Everyone shuts their mouths and holds their ears in pain.

“Ok Ok Ok! Can you please don’t use that thing again. Ow!” One of them said, and Damion lowered his rifle.

“I understand the frustrations but those arguments and all are not gonna go anywhere, especially when I just woken up from a short coma not even knowing where I’m at. Then I got pulled into this situation and had to catch up with the details quickly to understand what is at stake here.”

All men in cloak settled down while still holding one of their ears. “What is happening to our head.”

“Your eardrums just busted from my weapon’s loud noise. It will take a few weeks at most to fully heal. Anyway, what do you mean by your vote?”

“I want you to lead the military, keeping us from being occupied. Obviously the Queen is the final decision but we can make the early declaration.”

“So like a senate basically.”

They nodded.

As they started to explain, a bloodied hoplite came in, reaching behind Damion. “We have a problem.”

“Excuse me.” Both went to the entryway, “What’s the problem?”

“We found a couple more hiding downstairs and they won’t talk to us. You might need to interrogate them.”

“I already have enough clues for who is the main culprit. So we don’t need them.”

The hoplite nodded and looked back into the room, “Sir, look.”

“What?” Damion looked back into the room.

“Look at their wrist.”

“No way.” Damion closes his eyes, internally infuriated, clenching his neck and jaw.

“Yes Way.” the hoplite said and gave the other hoplites in the room a gesture, signaling them to leave.

“Why are you guys leaving?” the men in cloaks bewildered.

⚠ New Objective ⚠:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes.

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

* Chase the hoplite escapee

* Eliminate the Men in Cloak.

“Fuck. I saw it. I’ll catch up with you. Go.” He barged back into the room with his grip on the rifle and opened fire on the four men. Blood poured all over the table, and the men’s lifeless bodies slumped to the table. Damion checked the wrists, “Christ. Almost fooled myself.” he muttered, confirming the hoplite’s observation.

“I Have to tell the Queen.” He ran out of the room, catching up to the rest of the hoplites with the rest of the hoplites with the captured traitors.

Objective Completed:

* Annihilate all Hoplites that are marked and with distorted red eyes.

* Kill the General. No Mercy.

* Eliminate the Men in Cloak.