A notification appeared in front of Dave as he was being led to the central pyramid.
***
Your special trait, [King Slayer] will be disabled the moment the Puppet King discovers your identity. You are advised to act before the 1,000% damage bonus on your first attack is nullified.
***
Dave had already guessed as much. It was only natural that the passive skill will be nullified when the king discovers him. He will be on guard that way. Dave began formulating his action plan. He didn't know the full layout of the pyramid, but knew that the inside was large enough to support all of his troops. The nine manticores included. He just needed a good opportunity to strike the Puppet King while he was off guard.
The guards walked Dave along the city streets, black skinned people looked at Dave with interest, because of the number of guards taking him. After a while moving, the pyramid was in sight.
It was impressive as ever, layers of golden and black stones placed on top of each other and ending in an enormous red jewel at the top. I the middle of the pyramid was a long staircase that extended all the way to the middle of the pyramid where there were two lit braziers next to the pyramid entrance.
There were thousands of heavy armored soldiers standing in front of the pyramid. They were wearing golden armors and had ornamental banners and shields.
"These are the royal guards, you better behave. They can behead you instantly if you refuse to coöperate," The captain gave Dave a word of advice.
Dave smiled and said, "You don't seem to like them that much."
"Yes, because these things…they are monsters."
"Monsters, you say," Dave mumbled under his breath. It seemed to him that the Cindered and these royal guards weren't on accord. Probably, these Royal Guards belong to the Ash King.
He understood a few things from the various interactions and books he read about the Pharaoh's Crypt. The Cindered were oppressed under the Ash King's might. They were used as sacrifices, and were harvested for knowledge on how to make the Forbidden Chapters. They seemed more like victims than enemies.
The captain said, "I don't know how you obtained that token, but it's for your best interest to tell the king all the truth. You can't get away from his True Eye with lies and twisting your words."
Dave didn't understand how this 'True Eye' can be related to telling lies, but he didn't care. He was resigned to fight today, no matter the circumstances.
When the guards arrived at the foot of the pyramid, they handed Dave over to these guards. A few dozen of Royal Guards took Dave and shooed away the guards. They wore full helmets, so Dave could only see what laid beyond the helmets eye slits. And what he saw, were red cat-like irises staring at him, emotionless.
The guards led Dave through the stairs. When they arrived to the braziers, what was the entrance to the temple was a red teleportation gate. This gate had one symbol instead of the twelve teleportation symbols of Conquest Cities.
Entering through the gate, Dave found himself standing in domed hall. The hall could fit a dozen Olympic stadiums and still have some room to spare. Simply speaking, it was enormous.
In the middle of the hall was a large pedestal that had a golden throne atop. A man in white was sitting calmly atop the throne. It was the same man Dave saw on the litter, the day he saw the sphinx getting fed.
At the corners of the hall were hundreds of royal guards. They were here for the safety of the Puppet King who as obviously the man sitting on the throne. Dave looked behind him, the gate was unguarded as all the royal guards were escorting him and the rest of them converged toward the king.
Dave inspected the king as soon as he was in range.
***
Lakhbar (Chosen of the Demon King)
Raid Boss
Level: 450
Tier: Epic
Base damage: 85,000-90,000
Danger Level: ☠☠
HP: 200,000
PD: 150,000
MD:150,000
Skills:
[Blessed One] (Passive) Unknown Effects.
Lore
The chosen of the Ash King, Lakhbar was appointed a king in the place of the diseased Pharaoh. His aim is to offer tribute to the Ash King, and supply him with soldiers, magic and wealth to empower the Ash King's demonic army.
***
Dave didn't know what Lakhbar's passive did, but he noticed something interesting in the puppet king's status screen. This boss had a very low HP bar.
Dave's glaive could deal at most 225,000 in damage to a 0 defense target. But Lakhbar had 150,000 damage, so at most he would take a quarter of his HP in a normal situation. But thanks to the +1,000 damage from the currently active trait [King Slayer] he could one shot him.
The royal guards led Dave to the foot of the throne and forced him to kneel to Lakhbar by the guards.
Standing up, the king opened its arms wide and spoke, "Welcome to our humble abode, merchant. Tell us, how did you get that token?" The king said.
The guards around Dave were too close for him to use any long-ranged skills, most likely, the skill will reveal his hostile intentions and will render the [King Slayer] trait useless.
Dave said while kneeling, "It was a matter of luck that I got this token," Dave said.
"I see you say no lies. But tell me, how did you get it and where? Our foster lord has already gave us a description of the thief who stole this token. He took that and another much precious object with it. The Chaos Pigmy. I wonder, if you have that too?"
"So, you think that me and whoever stole whatever that you are talking about are one and the same?" Dave asked.
"I didn't say it, but you didn't deny it," The king smiled.
Dave suddenly disappeared from his place, leaving the guards surprised.
The Royal Guards looked up, what they saw was that the Puppet king in white, had his robes stained in crimson blood. A sharp pointy blade was protruding from his chest.
Behind the puppet king was Dave, he had used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting behind the puppet king and stabbed with his glaive through his back.
[-200,000]
"I guess you are right," Dave said, "I'm the one who took the token and the pigmy, what you gonna do about it?" Dave chuckled.
Dave jerked the glaive back, the king dropped down from the pedestal to the floor. His blood staining the floor. The royal guards, seemed uninterested with what just occurred.
This made Dave a bit apprehensive, not only were the guards not attacking him. The raid clear server announcement never came.
Suddenly, the body of the puppet king shuddered. The king moved both his hands and stood up.
Looking at Dave menacingly.
"Kill him!" the king shouted and the royal guards all moved at his command and converged toward Dave.
'What the fuck is happening?' Dave was at a loss, he was sure he downed the puppet king's HP to 0.
Reading through the King's stats again, Dave was left at a loss of words.
***
Lakhbar (Chosen of the Demon King)
Raid Boss
Level: 450
Tier: Epic
Base damage: 85,000-90,000
Danger Level: ☠☠
HP: 400,000
PD: 150,000
MD:150,000
Skills:
[Blessed One] (Passive) Revives stronger after death. Each Death Increases the base HP pool by ???% HP.
Lore
The chosen of the Ash King, Lakhbar was appointed a king in the place of the diseased Pharaoh. His aim is to offer tribute to the Ash King, and supply him with soldiers, magic and wealth to empower the Ash King's demonic army.
***
"You gotta be fucking with me, this thing can revive back?" Dave cursed and hopped away from the incoming horde of royal guards.
"Guess it's time I call the boyz," Dave grabbed tiny from his bag and threw him high in the air.
"Tiny I choose you! Bring em out! ALL OF THEM!"
Tiny expanded in mid-air and grew bones, hide and skin, morphing from a harmless looking black slime, to a hideous Grave Lord. Falling to the ground, Tiny landed on his feet. He opened his arms and chains strapped to sarcophagi hung down from them. The sarcophagi opened, black swirling vortexes ejected out hundreds upon hundreds of undead all over the room.
"Bud," Dave shouted as he ran toward his units and rode on grumpy.
"Break the entrance gate, we're gonna be having a private party here!"
