The Draugr pulled his blade out of the body of the Elven Patriarch and smiled. Although the smile was creepy, it gave its intended effect on the other Patriarchs and made them shout out in fear.
“Why did you kill him?” William inquired in a troubled tone. “Didn’t you have your fill of killing a while ago?”
The Draugr gave a dry chuckle and scratched its head. It was acting as if it was an innocent child that had made a mistake.
“Alright, no killing for now, okay?” William coaxed the undead warrior and made it back away.
The Half-Elf then looked down on the dead Patriarch with a troubled expression.
“Oh dear, what should I do with you?” William rubbed his chin as he pondered. “Well, for the time being, why don’t you stand up first?”
William snapped his fingers and the lifeless corpse propped itself up to stand once again. It even did a comical pose as if waiting for William to praise it.
“You vile creature!” the Patriarch of the Saleh Clan cursed out loud. “Using Death Magic is a transgression to all living things! Also, where did you take our Demigod? Are you not afraid of the Wrath of the Heavens?! Are you not afraid of the Gods?!”
William smiled when he heard the Patriarch’s condemnation. “Wrath of the Heavens? You Elves should have thought of that first before you came here to wage war on us. As for the Gods? Why should I be afraid of them?
“Ah! Thank you for reminding me about the Gods. I don’t really get along with the Sun God, so I’ll make sure to take a piss on his altars, statues, and temples, when I visit the Central Continent.”
William didn’t know if it was only his imagination, but for a brief moment, he thought he heard Lily’s loud laughter, after he said that he would piss on the statues of the Sun God in the Central Continent.
“Y-You! Heretic! You even slander the Gods! You and your bloodline will be cursed for eter–ack!”
The undead Patriarch who was doing a comical pose a moment ago used its dagger to stab the neck of the Patriarch of the Saleh Clan.
The old man spat a mouthful of blood as he stared fearfully at William. “I d-don’t want to t-turn into an undea…”
“You talk too much,” William cut off the Patriarch from finishing his words.
The Undead Patriarch that had stabbed the Elf’s neck took that as a hint to continue his act. It then stabbed the Elf’s chest and ended his life once and for all.
A few seconds later, a second undead stood up and just like the first undead patriarch, it did a comical pose by raising both of its hands in the air as if praising the sun.
“Forgive me, but I’m not an expert in torture,” William said with a teasing smile. He then turned to the Arcane Spectral Lich and gave it a brief bow. “Your Majesty, how about you handle the rest?”
The Lich nodded its head and created black chains in the air. Those chains tied up the bodies of the Patriarchs including Shafel. Suddenly, several silver chains materialized in the air and pierced through the Patriarchs’ chests where their hearts were located.
A few seconds later, William saw an interesting sight. The Arcane Spectral Lich waved his hand in an attempt to pull out the silver chains from the Patriarchs’ bodies.
Soon, screams of despair reverberated in the air as the Lich pulled out the souls of the Elves that it had bound with its powers.
The First King of the Hellan Kingdom was a scholar, and his specialty was Soul Research. In his pursuit of immortality, he tried to find a way to keep his soul alive, even after death. It was quite unfortunate that he lost the bet with Malacai when he failed to resist the corruption of its Scepter.
In fact, the three Sovereigns who rode on top of the Bone Dragons were once powerful men during their era. Unfortunately, they also wished to become immortal, but the immortality that they had found was not the one that they had envisioned.
Sadly, it was now too late for regrets. All of them had achieved their goals, but they had become Malacai’s subordinates in the process. Only William was able to resist the corruption of the Scepter after paying a high price for it.
The Arcane Spectral Lich then opened a black bottle, and the souls of all the Patriarchs were sucked inside it.
Having lost their souls, their bodies collapsed on the ground. It was still alive, but since there was no soul inside it, they were as good as dead.
It was the Arcane Spectral Lich who had asked William earlier if the Half-Elf could hand over the remaining Patriarchs to him. Seeing that both of their goals were the same, William agreed to the Lich’s request.
After getting what he wanted, the Lich gave William a bow before returning to its Bone Dragon.
William then turned his head to the side only to see Psoglav gnawing on an arm. Naturally, the arm belonged to Elandorr who was currently being kicked repeatedly by Kasogonaga without mercy.
Psoglav noticed his stare and gave him a satisfied smile. “You want some?”
“I’ll pass,” William replied before shifting his attention to Alessio, and the men that had captured the Patriarch’s of the clan.
All of them felt their hearts tremble when William’s gaze landed on them. They had seen how the Half-Elf had treated the Patriarchs of their Clans, and were worried that they would suffer the same fate.
“Relax, I will keep my word and not kill any of you,” William said with indifference.
Alessio and the other Elves internally breathed a sigh of relief. Since William had already said that he wouldn’t kill them then it must be true, right?
“All of you go over there,” William ordered as he pointed in a direction, over a hundred meters away from the Elven women. “I don’t want to see your faces.”
Alessio and the Elves hurriedly obeyed their command as they cursed William in their heart. If they could only speak out loud, all of them would also be saying that they didn’t want to see his face either.
Arslan who was part of the Elven Princess’ entourage clenched his fist as he eyed Alessio and the Elves from a distance. The corner of the young man’s lips curled up into a smile as he channeled his magic to the ground.
Moments later, a loud explosion took place and Alessio, as well as the Elves near him howled in pain. The Leader of Deus that was stationed in the Silvermoon Continent, had his lower half blasted to pieces.
The other Elves that were near the area of explosion had their legs destroyed as well. Panic immediately ensued among the remaining survivors as they ran towards the place where the Elven Women had huddled themselves.
“Y-You lied,” Alessio said hatefully as he glared at William. His lower half had been completely obliterated. Unless a powerful restoration spell was cast on him, he would die in less than five minutes.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t lie,” William replied with a frown. “You should probably ask him, instead of me.”
William raised his chin and pointed it in the direction where Princess Eowyn and her entourage was stationed.
Arslan and William exchanged a glance, and the Prodigy of the Zelan Dynasty placed his arms over his chest and gave William a respectful bow.
Princess Eowyn, and her wards, noticed this exchange and connected the dots together. Arslan was well known for his undetectable Earth Bombs that could instantly kill any Elves of the Platinum Rank.
However, it was not only one, but three Earth Bombs that exploded at the same time. It was more than enough to end the life of anyone, but the latter decided not to kill Alessio instantly. He wanted the hateful Elf to suffer first before his life ended.
Arslan had sneakily planted the bombs in a location, and asked William to lead Alessio to that place in order to have his revenge.
The Half-Elf had rejected Arslan’s condition to kill the Elven Princess, so the latter compromised and asked for Alessio’s life. The Elf was the one responsible for the creation of the Ash Golems, and for Arslan, that was an unforgivable act.
Due to their need to increase their fighting force, Alessio had ordered the Elves to torture the survivors of the Zelan Dynasty, while Princess Eowyn was not in the capital. Some of the children were not strong enough to endure the torture and died right away.
These dead children were then thrown into a pit where Alessio conducted a vile ceremony and transformed them into Ash Golems.
Frankly, Arslan only wanted to kill Princess Eowyn because it would be a great blow to the Elven Army. He knew that the Princess was innocent, so when William rejected his offer, he shifted his attention to his original target, which was Alessio.
The Half-Elf readily agreed to his request, and tweaked the Slave Collar that was on his neck. Arslan would be able to use his powers, and send William some crucial information about the movements of the Elves, while spying on the Elven Princess.
“Y-You,” Princess Eowyn looked at Arslan in disbelief. “Why?”
Arslan looked at the Elven Princess with pity. “You’re far too naive. You must have grown up a sheltered lady. A flower in a greenhouse that had no idea about the horrors of the outside world.”
Arslan removed the collar on his neck and threw it on the ground. The Blademaster that guarded the Princess stood in front of her and raised his sword in Arslan’s direction.
“Don’t you dare harm the princess!” The Blademaster growled.
He wouldn’t be able to face the Elven King if something happened to Princess Eowyn. His comrade had already died under Nuckelavee’s strike, and he was the only one that remained to protect the daughter of his King.
Arslan ignored the Blademaster’s words. He just eyed Princess Eowyn as he continued his words.
“You asked me why, so I’ll give you an answer,” Arslan said as he raised his hand and pointed it at Alessio, who was miraculously still alive and howling in pain. “Because this is the will of the victors of this war.”
Arslan once again snapped his finger, and the ground underneath Alessio’s head swelled up.
Princess Eowyn closed her eyes and averted her gaze, just in time to hear a loud explosion take place.
She didn’t need to see the result of the explosion, because there was no need to see anything. This was how the Leader of Deus in the Silvermoon Continent had met his end, but Arslan was not finished, at least not yet.
Arslan once again glanced in the Princess’ direction before saying a few more words that the latter would remember her the rest of her life.
“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their silence at times of crisis,” Arslan said before walking away towards Prince Alaric and the members of the Freedom Fighters.
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. Remember that, Your Highness. It is not too late for you, and the Elven Royal Family, to learn from your mistakes.”
Princess Eowyn felt her cheeks burn in shame and guilt due to Arslan’s words. She had silently turned a blind eye to the things that were happening in the Zelan Dynasty, thinking that it was the Elves’ way of venting out their frustration due to sufferings that they had experienced in the hands of Humans.
She thought that after venting it out for a while, the Elves would change their views and treat the Humans more kindly. However, she was wrong.
And now, the Elven Race had paid the price for the consequences of their actions.
