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Supreme Magus Chapter 1674

Chapter 1666 - Opening Moves (Part 2)

The Royal Constables shared Lith's doubts but came to different conclusions, considering the prisoners that the City Lords had kept alive as hostages that the traitors intended to use as a deterrent since most of them belonged to noble families loyal to the Royal Court.

Meanwhile, several hundreds of kilometers away from Zeska, several Spirit Warp Steps opened inside Syrook's lair.

"Gods, I love it when a plan comes together." The Mad Queen said while taking control of the now masterless defensive arrays with but a swing of Arthan's Sword.

She had taken care of memorizing the dimensional coordinates of the Black Dragon's home during their past dealings in the hope of his death.

Now not only would she take all the riches he had collected from the cities of Nestrar instead of half, but also those that Syrook had stockpiled during his life, his magical legacy, and all the magical weapons that he had bartered for himself in exchange for his Origin Flames.

"I can't believe that you tricked him the same way you did with Xedros." Jormun held the small Valeron in his arms while the Emperor Beasts collected everything that wasn't bolted to the ground.

They would keep those for last.

"Even though he was born during my imprisonment in Huryole and we barely knew each other, Syrook was still a cousin of mine. I introduced him to you." His tone was cold, suspecting her to have deceived him.

"I would never do that to you. It wasn't a trick, just a contingency plan." Thrud shook her head. "I really needed a powerful retainer for the Nestrar region and I would have provided Syrook with all he needed to deal with the Council.

"Yet I couldn't afford to waste months of planning and preparation if he screwed up. That's the reason why I had to clean up his mess and plant my Skinwalkers. This way, with or without him, I still have the Nestrar region under my command and no one suspects anything."

Skinwalkers were monsters capable of taking the form of the last being they consumed, as long as they devoured them whole. The skin and bones would give them the ability to copy their physical appearance down to the life force to perfection while consuming the brain granted them their victim's memories.

The only things they couldn't imitate were the mana organs responsible for bloodline abilities and the mana core.

They were terrifying predators in the wilds or for isolated villages since it was impossible to recognize them until it was too late. They failed to be a real threat for an organized militia because a Skinwalker could keep up the appearances only until they weren't hungry.

Then their feral nature would start to take over, making it harder for them to behave until they either fed or were discovered.

Thrud had experimented with them, discovering that not even the Unwavering Loyalty array allowed them to survive Awakening. Their faulty cores would burst every time and even though the Golden Griffon could keep them alive, their eternal agony made them useless.

What the array could do was to force them to suppress their instincts and hunger to the point that they could keep mimicking the same person to perfection until Thrud decided otherwise.

The real nobles who had opposed her plans had long been replaced by the Skinwalkers that now were considered heroes of the resistance and had the full trust of the Crown.

They would take the key position in every city and help Thrud to expand her influence. Syrook or not, the Nestrar region was already under her command and soon there would be others.

The crises that the Archmages like Manohar had been called to solve were all part of Thrud's plan to put her pieces into place so that when the game started it would take her just a few moves to checkmate her opponents.

"Wait, who are those people?" Thrud pointed at the two beautiful women who stood right next to Syrook's throne.

One had long blonde hair streaked red and blue all over while the other had long wavy black hair with orange and yellow streaks.

They wore sandals, a white silk roman toga with a deep neckline and side slits that left most of their slender legs exposed, and a golden sash on their waist. They kept their eyes low, not speaking a word while waiting for their master's return.

"Their clothes and role are part of an old Dragon custom that dates back when Dad was worshipped as the god of knowledge." Jormun turned his gaze away in embarrassment. "He only took women as priestesses and Awakened them so that-"

"They could get old and beautiful enough to his fancy?" Thrud completed the phrase for him with a sneer. "I can almost see Leegaain spreading "knowledge" left and right."

"No, so that they could achieve the time and power necessary to learn from him." Jormun turned to a shade of purple in shame. "Dad would take people of all races and gender as students."

"Yeah, and I guess it's just a coincidence that he only kept women around him and that there are so many species of Dragons and lesser Dragons." Thrud's voice oozed sarcasm as she examined the two handmaidens.

There was no trace of slave spells, they were just two healthy humans.

"Is master Syrook really dead?" The blonde asked.

"Yes." Thrud nodded. "You are free to go."

"Go where?" The brunette replied. "We are orphans that he picked up like strays and that he raised as pets. There is no one waiting for us out there and we know nothing but magic."

"Take this and make a life for yourself." Jormun handed to each one of them a bag full of gold. It was enough for them to live for decades without worries.

"How is a bunch of metal supposed to help? How do we get food with this?" The blonde asked while making her bag jingle.

From their puzzled look Thrud understood how literal the expression they had used to describe their ignorance was.

"Do you know how to deal with babies?" Thrud said.

"No. Syrook was only interested in partners that could help him to strengthen his bloodline and always left his failed experiments with their mothers." The brunette replied.

"Well, you need a place to stay and I could use a couple of nannies. You'll learn."

***

Blood Desert, Heavenly Plume tribe, a few days later.

Lith returned to his family as soon as the last rebel city surrendered and the sowing started without a hitch.

"Thank you so much, son." Raaz hugged Lith as soon as he came out of the Warp Gate.

He had been so worried about the outcome of the mission that he had waited for Lith alone, to speak with him in private without worrying Elina.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to put even more pressure on you, but I haven't had a good night's sleep ever since you told us that we couldn't return to Lutia until we got our security detail back.

"I know that a house and a bunch of cultivated fields are nothing compared to our lives, but it's all I have left of my parents."

"By the Great Mother, a Divine Beast!" Queen Sylpha said while looking at Tyris who was sitting beside the Royals, disguised as her Constable Griffon alias. "Someone should really do something."

Meanwhile, the Royal Court went into an uproar. The Kingdom had several countermeasures to deal with such powerful creatures but no one wanted to pay the price. Each faction tried to goad their respective rivals into volunteering with the most creative arguments.

"The last time we had to deal with a Dragon it was the Kellar region to slay it. I say that for once the Ernas region can prove that its title as a founding pillar of the Kingdom isn't just for show." Duchess Lassa said.

"You say it like it was yesterday but it actually happened 300 years ago!" Archduke Gunyin Ernas, Phloria's oldest brother, said.

"On top of that, your region didn't do much, it was just one of your Archmages who dealt the finishing blow. The Ernas household has yet to recover from the squabble with Deirus which happened just a few months ago instead.

"I say it's time that the Horman region pulls its weight!"

"My region is dealing with the famine, monster waves, and with a further decrease in birth rates. We have no people to spare, send someone else." Duke Jyian replied.

"Everyone is dealing with the famine jackass!" The room roared as one.

'Why should I care?' Tyris replied to both Meron and Sylpha via a mind link. 'He's not one of my children. A Guardian doesn't deal with such low level squabbles.'

'But he's still the offspring of one of your kind!' Meron rebuked.

'Then call Leegaain.' She replied with a scoff. 'There's a reason why I established the Archmages, the Highmasters, the Queen's corps, and the Corpse. Use them instead of whining to me.'

'At least say something to raise the morale!' Sylpha begged.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Royal Court." Tyris stood up and the room fell into silence as her natural charisma made the nobles behave in the hope to gain her approval. "Our Kingdom is facing a crisis that requires us to pool up our wits and resources, not to play a dignified game of hot potato.

"That said, I hereby bear witness that Spellbreaker Verhen completed his mission and petition for restoring the security detail of the city of Lutia. Do you have anything to add, Spellbreaker Verhen?"

"Yes. If my friend and I have to deal with that thing, we call dibs on the corpse. Verhen out." Solus blushed up to her ears while saying such a thing in front of the entire Royal Court.

Yet even while performing what looked like an anime beam battle, Lith was adamant that she followed his script.

"A reasonable request. All in favor?" Meron asked while looking at Sylpha who rose her hand. "It's unanimous, then. To the victor will go the spoils according to their contributions."

As its name implied, the Griffon Kingdom was no democracy. The votes of the Royal couple were the only two that mattered.

Suddenly every member of the Court offered their best artifacts and Archmages, working together as one well-oiled machine to get to the site of the battle before it was over. Otherwise they would lose all claims on the spoils of war.

"Isn't it wonderful when people set aside their personal interests for the greater good?" Tyris's voice oozed sarcasm while pointing at the nobles.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away, the battle went on.

"What are you doing laying there on the ground and crying like babies?" Solus did her best Lith impression even though she really felt for the situation of their fellow soldiers.

"Quaron violated the terms of our fight so this isn't a one on one battle anymore. Fight with me to take the traitor down first and that overgrown lizard later. There are no gods on Mogar, our fate is ours to make!"

Then, she turned towards Zeska.

"You have been promised freedom, but all that awaits you is to live under the heel of a creature that has no idea how hard it is to make a piece of bread. Quaron had promised me to surrender your city if I defeated him, but he lied to me as well.

"How many of you knew about the Dragon? How many things has he hidden from you in order to have your compliant obedience? How can you still put your lives in his hands?"

One after the other, the soldiers of the regiment stood up and started to weave their best spells while their respective commanding officers coordinated with each other after regaining their cool.

At the same time, inside Zeska, the people stopped fighting and started talking about whether to keep believing in Quaron or not.

Syrook could hear every single word yet he didn't like any of them.

He had invested too much time and effort to make his lapdog win the hearts of the commoners to let whoever was now in that armor ruin everything.

He unleashed against Solus a tier five Spirit Spell, Breakdown, that he had prepared for Lith.

Upon hitting, the hexa elemental emerald sphere would implode on its target and cause their death. Air and earth would block Solus, respectively by inducing an electric seizure and by trapping her limbs in a prison of rock.

Fire and water would alternate in pulses, causing a thermal shock that would damage her equipment and sap her strength by making it impossible for her to breathe. Darkness and light would constantly eat at her and heal her in a cycle that would consume her vitality until her body lacked the necessary energy to keep living.

Solus was too busy checking the script and was caught unprepared in the middle of her speech. She gritted her teeth and had the Sage Staff revert to its true appearance, revealing the set of three colored crystals and as many Evil Eyes.

Then, she emitted a burst of emerald energy that made Breakdown bounce against the Sage Staff and hit the barrier that protected Quaron, making it collapse before he could recover completely.

"What have you done, you pesky thing?" Syrook turned toward her and roared.

Once again, violet light flashed through the scales on in chest while he prepared a second wave of Origin Flames.

"Where do you think you are going?" Lith exploited the moment of distraction to close the distance between them and punch the Black Dragon in the stomach.

Being five meters (16.4 feet) shorter, hitting Syrook's head would have been difficult due to the fact that the neck of a Dragon took almost one-fourth of their body length. At the same time, however, it also meant that their body would be smaller and their limbs shorter compared to a humanoid.

The hit snapped Syrook out of his frenzy and when Lith tried to follow up with a front kick, the Black Dragon simply wrapped the incoming leg with his tail to block the Tiamat in place.

"Poor idiot! Did you really think that my long neck is just for show?" The Black Dragon bellowed. "It allows me to attack freely in every direction and to use my maw as a sixth limb whereas, with your short neck, you are all bark and no bite!"

Supreme Magus

Supreme Magus

N/A
Score 8.7
Status: Ongoing Type: Author: Released: 2019 Native Language: Chinese
Derek McCoy was a man who spent his entire life facing adversity and injustice. After being forced to settle with surviving rather than living, he had finally found his place in the world, until everything was taken from him one last time. After losing his life to avenge his murdered brother, he reincarnates until he finds a world worth living in, a world filled with magic and monsters. Follow him along his journey, from grieving brother to alien soldier. From infant to Supreme Magus.

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