Chapter 409: Astolfo’s Great Crisis (Part 2)

Chapter 409: Astolfo’s Great Crisis (Part 2)

Despite his rage, Vlad III retained a degree of rationality.

The stakes targeting Chiron did not attack directly but formed a conical cage around him, trapping him inside.

However, the stakes aimed at Astolfo were not so gentle; like before, they targeted his vital points with lethal intent.

Chiron's expression changed. He wanted to help but was blocked by the cage of stakes. By the time he smashed the cage with his fists, Astolfo had already disappeared.

Disappeared?

Yes, he had disappeared.

While Chiron couldn't rescue him in time, someone else could. This person also knew "Mana Burst." Just before Astolfo was impaled, a palm strike sent him flying to the other side of the throne room with a gust of magical energy.

That person was none other than the final member of the trio who helped Sieg escape—Black Assassin Matou Shinji. His reaction mirrored Chiron's. After saving Astolfo, he stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

"Grand Duke, please calm your anger."

"Archer! Assassin! Do you intend to oppose me? Do you also wish to defy me?"

Vlad III's furious voice echoed through the throne room, and black mist began to swirl in his blood-red eyes.

"Extreme punishment—"

"No!" Darnic tensed up, ready to intervene, but the Romanian tyrant acted first.

"—Kazikli Bey!"

Vlad III's expression remained grim as he stared at his Master. Darnic kept his head lowered, his face showing no change, though the veins on his wrist, hidden by his sleeve, twitched, causing the Command Spells on it to tremble as well.

Silence. No one spoke or moved even slightly. The entire throne room seemed to freeze—until the lord seated on the throne exhaled a breath of black mist and slowly lowered his raised right hand, allowing the air in the room to flow once more.

"Very well, in your name, for the past merits of Archer and Assassin, and because you have evaded the 'Impaling' three times, I will give you a chance to explain."

"Thank you, Grand Duke," Darnic bowed and stepped aside.

"Thank you for your mercy, Grand Duke," Chiron bowed a second time.

Shinji flipped off the stake and also bowed.

Only Astolfo, holding his head, looked around nervously. Shinji couldn't tolerate it and took a few steps over, tapping Astolfo on the head with the staff of the goddess, scolding, "You, too, bow!"

"Oh," Astolfo rubbed his head and reluctantly bowed.

You idiot, if you keep messing around, you might die here. This is not the same Grand Duke from before.

Shinji sighed helplessly. The staff of the Egyptian goddess switched its power from protection to healing, spreading from his right hand to his left.

Everyone thought he had blocked Vlad III's impalement, but only he knew he hadn't completely. Though it was just a bit, the tip of the stake had indeed pierced Shinji's palm, drawing a drop of blood-stained gold from the Buddha's light. One stake was like this; what about ten, a hundred? It's known that the Grand Duke's total number of stakes is twenty thousand! After all, he wasn't a Buddha with a vajra body, only possessing a left arm achieved through external means.

Moreover, Vlad III's class was troublesome. In the original timeline, Vlad III was a Lancer, with his heroic side maximized by the local boost, making him even wiser and braver than in life. Even when Astolfo let Sieg escape and caused the loss of one of the faction's biggest aces, Siegfried, he merely ordered Astolfo's imprisonment and immediately entered spirit form to suppress his rage.

But now, he wasn't the wise and brave Lancer, but the madman class with the Berserker skill. Although Berserker EX had an extreme reflex effect, allowing him to view things calmly, a calm madman was still a madman. He was now closer to the tyrant he was in life. Perhaps Astolfo's crime didn't deserve death, but would a tyrant care, especially in wartime?

Not to mention, this tyrant was in an unprecedentedly powerful state. If things went wrong, the entire Millennia Fortress could be affected.