With a bright flash, Rosly unleashed all of the power he had left, at the expense of sacrificing his body and life.
Quickly, a huge blast of mana expanded around where he had been and fully engulfed both Argus and Kellam, who had been laughing at Rosly’s sorry state just a moment before.
Yet now their eyes had gone wide, as the second ranked great knight sacrificed his life to try and take out those he viewed as traitors to his king.
Unfortunately for him, as the dust cleared, both Argus and Kellam were left completely unharmed, as a powerful barrier of water had been erected around them
“What a waste. That bastard made me use a tier eight spell sealing talisman that was ridiculously difficult to get.” Kellam said looking at the spot where Rosly had just been with disdain.
“Oh well, once we get our rewards for our successful job completed, even that will seem like just a trinket.” Argus said as he walked towards the remains of Rosly.
However, all that was left to show that the man had ever been here was his amethros mace and shield, which were the only things on him that survived his suicide explosion.
“Oh, are we going to keep those? Certainly, they are very valuable and would more than make up for the talisman I just used.” Kellam said looking at the amethros equipment greedily.
“No, it will be best if I hand them over. I do not need any suspicion being cast on me in case I need to use my connections here again.” Argus said as he picked up the mace and shield.
He then stored them away into his time box and said, “I do not feel Cibor’s presence anymore, so Marek and the others must have just finished up. You should hurry and make yourself scarce. Though if you are feeling up to it, last time I saw Francis he was fighting Ziemia, and if you are lucky, you might be able to kill the two of them.”.
Shaking his head, Kellam said, “No that is too much for me. You know that I am better at gathering information and subterfuge. I am only level sixty-six, so I have no intention of getting caught up in their battle. I will just disappear fairly quietly, maybe picking off any stragglers I find along the way.”
Nodding his head Argus said, “I suppose that is fine. We already passed the quota of one million, and got rid of the most dangerous people, so anything more is just extra.”
“Yeah, but it is too bad about Tesia bringing all those people back to life. It took me quite some time to convince the king to use the entire city and its population as a trap. And I am sure we would have gotten a huge bonus had we killed more than double the number we were asked to.” Kellam said with a disappointed expression.
Shrugging his shoulders, Argus responded, “No need to get too greedy. We accomplished what we wanted to, and it was all thanks to that king who is incredibly, vain, insecure, and greedy. We had to wait three generations for him, but I guess it was worth it.”
Hearing this, Kellam began laughing and said, “You do not even know the half of it. Even without us, I bet he would have led this kingdom to civil war in twenty years or so. We simply helped speed things along.”
“Yes well, it has been good to catch up with you, but if we wait much longer others may show up. Hurry up and get out of here, and I will meet up with you in a few months when I can slip away from here without burning any bridges. Our next mission is going to be just as, if not more important. Our master has gotten wind of a powerful player we may be able to get on our side, and it will be up to us to get him to join.” Argus said
Kellam then moved to leave but stopped remembering something.
“I nearly forgot. Take this.” Kellam said as he threw a dark badge towards Argus.
“That is my badge as leader of the whispers. With that you can get into the throne room without having to go through the trouble of disabling the barrier. Also, about now the men I left in their to watch the king should be succumbing to the poison I spiked their alertness potions with. If you hurry, you can claim some more glory for yourself before anyone else shows up.”
After saying that, Kellam disappeared in to a whisp of shadows, as he quickly made his way out of the kingdom of Tralenstein.
Once Kellam was gone, Argus looked towards the throne room which was still unscathed even after the devastating battle that had happened around it.
Still, as powerful as the defenses around this area were, it did not really matter since Argus now had a key.
Holding out the badge that Kellam had given him, Argus watched as the magical locks and defenses around the door receded.
Then with one large push, Argus threw the two doors open and brazenly walked into the throne room.
Looking around, as expected the king was perched high up on his throne, looking down on anyone else who was in the room.
However, his numerous guards who normally stood at attention, were all keeled over and grasping for breath, as the poison Kellam had slipped them was starting to work.
Of course, there were other people in the room, like the king’s two dozen most trusted servants, his three wives, and children.
And as the king saw Argus, his eyes turned fierce, and a furious expression came over his face.
“Argus how the hell did you get in here? Where is Rosly, and Kellam? I know that the two of them said they would deal with you and your lot.” The king said not having grasped the reality of the situation yet.
Smiling Argus said, “Oh I already dealt with those two. Rosly in particular put up a good fight, but in the end, he was too weak since his master kept him on such a short leash.”
Standing up the king looked hatefully at Argus and said, “Former third ranked great knight Argus Deimos, I King Cyryl Tralenstein, fine you guilty of treason and sentence you to death.”
Cyryl then held out the device that allowed for a king to give noble titles towards Argus, and a powerful magic began to seep out of it.
This was the power that was given to those that wielded these devices and governed territory.
They could use specific spells, to punish their subjects should they get out of line, and even a lower-leveled lord could kill or injure a higher-leveled opponent.
Of course, the king of a nation wielded this power to its greatest extent, and now Cyryl was exercising his right to execute a traitor.
Yet Argus just smirked as he saw this, and continued to walk forward as the black smoke from the magic device that gave kings their power coiled around him.
However, as this magic that should have at the very least horribly injured Argus swirled around him, he simply pushed through it as if he had just walked through some fog.
Seeing this, the king was stunned, since his power should have worked on anyone within his domain, and especially a traitor.
“You really are a foolish king are you not. You have no idea about what that thing in your possession really does. You think that your title as king means anything right now. A king’s power is directly correlated to the faith and belief his people have in him. Now how many people left in this kingdom do you think still see you as their king?” Argus said mocking Cyryl.
For the first time fear began to creep onto the proud king’s face, and in response Argus smiled demonically.
After that, Argus rushed around the room, and killed every man, woman, and child in the throne room other than the king.
Seeing Argus begin slaughtering his closest retainers and family, the king who to this point had been assured that everything was going to end well and was confident that he would still win, finally thought of fleeing.
Except as he tried to activate the teleportation artifact he had, Argus just chuckled, soaked in blood from all of those he had just killed.
“Did you really think that we would not have prepared for something like that? You are not getting away from here. I need you to finish your role as the tyrant king and be executed in front of the masses.” Argus said as he approached the king, who was now the only other living person in the room.
“Don’t come any closer.” Cyryl said as he pulled out two spell sealing talismans.
Stopping and looking at these talismans, Argus could immediately tell that sealed within each one was a tier nine spell, and something that could be considered a national treasure.
“Oh, to think that you had something like those hidden away. However, those are not going to help you out here. Go ahead and try to use them and see how that ends for you.” Argus said mocking the king’s final attempt to keep him at bay.
Argus then continued walking forward, and Cyryl panicking threw one of the talismans forward.
But in response Argus threw his own magical device which was shaped like a small ball.
A field of shimmering white light began to be emitted by this sphere and the talisman that the king threw, failed to unleash the spell sealed within and dropped to the floor harmlessly.
After that, Argus picked up the talisman, and placed into one of his pockets before saying, “Even a tier nine spell is worthless if you cannot activate it. Though it is a pity I had to use something as rare as a formation disruption sphere. At the very least, these talismans will make up for it.”
Closing the remaining distance to the king in a flash, Argus grabbed both of the king’s hands, and snapped them to prevent any other type of resistance.
He had already had his fun tormenting the king, and now he needed to get serious to make sure that the desperate man did not have any other tricks up his sleeves.
“I will be taking this.” Argus said as he pocketed the other talisman the king had.
He then grabbed the king by the back of his neck and dragged him out of the throne room while saying, “Now it is time for you to pay for your crimes against your own kingdom and its people.”