Chapter 278

The tension in the throne room is palpable. Giving the luxuriously decorated throne room, with its polished marble floors and rows of elaborately decorated pillars an atmosphere more suitable to a back alley before a gang fight than a Royal audience. 

Cain quickly searches through the Guild Bank, finding the item that the Guild made for King James. It’s a simple-looking pair of black iron gauntlets. Legendary Quality of course, and they give a bonus to all healing done and received. But more importantly, they’ve got a Crusader Exclusive ability on them.

[Forced Confession] increases the chance those under the effect of the Crusader’s truth detection ability will give more complete and truthful answers. 

Dimnys understood the assignment when she made these, they are exactly what King James is going to need today. 

Being the closest to the King, Cain steps forward and drops to one knee, holding out the gift. “I, Duke Cain of Long Fang Valley, swear that I remain loyal to King James. Your Majesty, Please accept this gift as a sign of my dedication.”

Gwen makes a noise that Cain takes as laughter before running to him in her fluffy white fox form and gathering the Gauntlets. King James looks down at them, noticing the ability imbued on them, and quickly equips them, replacing the golden gauntlets of the official Royal armor. 

“The Crown thanks you for your thoughtful gift, Duke Cain. Rise, and make way for the rest of our loyal subjects.”

Cain steps back beside Archibald and Chen, who both give him a strange look, wondering what he’s playing at. Traditionally the advisors would go first, and Archibald is the only one present, then the few ministers here today, before Dukes like Cain would pledge. 

“They have an effect that helps force people to speak the whole truth,” Cain whispers, and the two men hold in their laughter while Archibald steps forward to make his uniquely pompous declaration of loyalty. 

“I, Duke Archibald, Administrator of the Capital Region, Lord of the North Valley and Royal Advisor, do at this moment swear that I am a loyal retainer of King James.”

After Archibald, things start going smoothly, with the majority of the room stepping forward to give honest pledges of loyalty. They’re two dozen noble pledges in to the process when the bravest of the Upper Nobles in the Anti-Royal faction attempts to skirt the issue. 

“Earl Mooney remains loyal to my nation of Skyview.” The man pledges, and King James lifts a hand to stop him from retreating away from the aisle. 

“To the nation, but not to the King? We require an answer, Earl Mooney.” King James insists. 

Those with keen eyes can see him trying to formulate a half-truth before his mouth seems to move involuntarily. “I shall never be loyal to a crown that doesn’t sit upon my own head.”

He looks just as horrified as those around him by his outburst. Before he has a chance to speak again, a Shadow detaches itself from the roof and drops down, injecting the Earl with something that knocks him out before the Felian Assassin binds his hands and moves him to the middle of the aisle. 

That’s the last straw for the Anti-Royal faction, and they all draw weapons, nearly a fifth of the assembled Nobles charging towards the throne. Cain steps forward into their line of attack, his Scimitar and spear in hand, confident that since everyone is without their combat skills, and because he has almost all of his Companions merged with him, that he will be able to hold this position. 

Then the Aura of the two hidden Primal Echoes flares to full power. The sense of Existential Dread stops many in their tracks, where they’re grabbed and either restrained or executed by the loyal Nobles. Those that keep advancing meet a wall of raised blades before the assassins begin to come out from hiding, picking off one after another until the red carpet down the aisle in the middle of the room is littered with bodies and drenched with fresh blood. 

Though the area is quickly subdued, that’s not enough to end the threat, as several Upper Nobles did not attend Court today. Their intentions in being absent today have already become clear, though. Even as the traitors inside attacked, a force assembled of the Rebel Nobles’ armies has begun its advance on the palace.

Shops lock their doors, residents run inside to hide, and over the course of the next few minutes, the city changes from bustling activity to nearly abandoned except for the thousands of transfers advancing on the Royal Compound. 

Reports from the Palace Guards and informants in the city begin to filter into the throne room. The numbers of transfers aren’t as bad as many had feared. Roughly fifteen thousand first and second advancement fighters and two thousand summons, mostly Elementals. 

There are no signs of undead, but the Noble Registry says there should be at least two Necromancers among their numbers. Of the loyalist Nobles here in the palace, only Archibald has a significant force already in the city. Duke Chen has nearly two hundred, but many of the others that live in the Capital only count a dozen capable transfers among their guards.

When word of an attack came, the palace guard locked down the public transport circle, but many still have them at their homes, as Cain does. Allies for both sides are rushing to their Lord’s aid already, giving the King only a minute or so to make his decision and battle plans. 

“Guards, imprison these traitors; we will hold a trial for them later. All loyal Nobles to the Palace walls and call your armies for the defense of the crown.” James declares. 

With so many transfers, this fight could be gruesome, so Cain decides it would be best to try out that [Modify] skill properly. 

The most vulnerable among them is definitely Mythryll, who cannot Merge with a Summon for safety. If he could give her a good defensive skill, it would put his mind at ease.

Laura is an Ancient Dragon with an impressively effective Ancient quality version of [Draconian Resilience] which reduces all damage done to her and caps the damage she takes per hit. No Ancient Quality Summon is easy to kill, but Laura is extra durable even without armor, just what he’s looking for. 

“Mythryll, do you mind if I use my new skill on you to grant you a defensive ability? It will probably change your appearance a little, though.” Cain asks the elegantly dressed Elf.

“I don’t see why not; I’ll just revert when it wears off, right?”

“Maybe? It doesn’t state a duration. But when I used it on a second Puppet, the first one had to choose to keep it or not.” Cain shrugs, still unsure how exactly it works. 

It takes Mythryll a few seconds to decide, but she eventually nods her agreement. “Let’s try it then and decide if I’ll keep it or not based on what happens.”

Cain activates [Modify] with Mythryll as the target and grants her the [Draconian Resilience] ability. At first, nothing seems to have changed, so both Cain and Misha look her over carefully, finding no visible changes. She’s still the same short, blonde Elf. 

Even when Misha finds her hands over Mythryll, checking if she’s gained scales or a hidden tail or something, there is nothing to find. 

Cain sees an option to revert the modification when he scans Mythryll with his interface, checking for more significant changes. But more notably, he also notices she is no longer an Elf but a High Elf.

[I have the option to revert the changes, but I noticed that it also changed your species to High Elf. Maybe you should step into a private room and check more closely before you decide?] Cain sends a party message, not wanting that particular aspect of his ability to become public knowledge at this moment. 

Granting buffs and temporary skills isn’t unheard of and will help his reputation, but changing someone’s species entirely is incredibly useful for infiltration, among many other things. Especially since, as he suspects from the skill description, those changes can be permanent. 

Misha drags Mythryll back into a meeting room like the one where Cain interviewed the Beastkin yesterday, locking the door before ordering the Elf to strip. What she finds is all Elf, though—no signs of scales, leathery skin, discoloration, or anything out of the ordinary until Mythryll smiles at the news and Misha notices she’s got fangs. Six in total, two long and two short ones up top, and two short ones on the bottom jaw.

The round and pointy shape looks more akin to a Dragon’s teeth than the narrower fangs of a vampire, which gives Misha an idea. 

“Can I check your blood?” She asks Mythryll, seemingly out of the blue. There is no reason to refuse, though, so the Elf holds her arm out, and Misha nicks it with a dagger.

A thin line of deep blue blood, nearly black and the same shade as Laura’s, appears on her arm before the wound closes underneath. That answers the pertinent questions. High Elves have more carnivorous teeth than Forest Elves as well as Dragon blood. But other than that, the changes seem minimal and unobtrusive. 

“It’s Laura’s blood; I’m not going to get a horrendous sweet tooth, am I?” Mythryll jokes as they leave the room to rejoin Cain and catch up to the other Nobles. 

They follow Dukes Chen and Archibald across the courtyard as they waited with the King and were among the last to leave. The three Nobles plus their four Companions surround King James, who begins sending out raid party invites to all of the senior Nobles.

Most of the people they brought with them were arm candy, not combatants, so the majority of the Dukes and Earls all get into one Raid group, with a few left broken off to lead their own. 

Archibald was one such case, but Duke Chen has his Assistants lead the two raid groups from his Sect, who have assembled just outside the walls. Archibald is still standing beside the King on the walls, while his forces have joined with Duke Chen’s, forming the central bulwark of the troops, while all other reinforcements have fallen to their flanks in the open gardens that surround the palace compound. 

Misha moves behind the King, causing James to turn and see what she’s doing, rightly concerned about betrayal. 

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll watch your back because I’m immune to all forms of mind control abilities and spells. That way you don’t need to worry about your enemies turning your defenders and getting you stabbed in the back.”

King James looks highly relieved at that news and focuses on the reports coming in from the city about the approaching forces. There are still a few minutes before the two forces engage, and the final pre-battle orders are going out, shuffling units around to better balance classes in every area. 

Thousands of loyalists have already arrived to aid in the defense, but the Rebel forces still outnumber them three to one. More forces for both sides will be arriving in the city at the battle goes on, changing the balance, but currently the defenders are outnumbered three to one. 

They have kept most of the spell casters and archers on the walls for line of sight and extra range, but the melee classes are outside. At this level, no siege weapons are needed to breach a castle, only a number of transfers with an appropriate skill. Because of that, it’s unwise to let an attacker actually reach the walls. 

“You three, stay here by me. Duke Cain, hold off on your summons until I give the order; I want them fully engaged when your summons appear.” That’s the last direction the King gets time for before the first sounds of battle start.