Chương 980: [928] - Y04.028 - Trouble Under The Steel II

Victory! XP Gained: +1 500 XP: 7 400 -> 8 900"Adam!" Morkarai shouted, his voice echoing through the hallway. A bead of sweat dropped down from the side of his forehead as he stared at the scene before him. Adam towered over the Prince of the Mermen, the royal guard pointed his trident towards the half elf who had beaten his Prince unconscious.

It was not the fact that Adam, whose greatest strength was perhaps his great Defence, had managed to beat the Prince without his puthral armour, which caused the Prince to pause, but the fact that Adam's eyes were so full of shock and terror.

"Vonda," Adam gasped, feeling the dread fill his heart, before he stepped over the unconscious Prince. Health: 91 -> 71 The guard slammed the back of his trident against Adam, causing the half elf to stumble forward, though he continued to dart forward. Several guards emerged suddenly, from both sides of the hallway upon hearing the echoes of the battle, and upon seeing the Prince down, and a fleeing half elf, they readied their longspears.

"Wait, Adam," Morkarai called.

"We need to check on Vonda," Adam replied, grabbing onto the fire giant Prince's shirt, gripping it tight.

"Now."

"It will take more time if you rush."

"You don't understand!"

"No, you do not understand," Morkarai replied, inhaling deeply before placing a large hand over Adam's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Explain yourself at once."

"The Prince harassed me until we fought, but I made a mistake during the fight."

"So you killed him?"

"What? No." Adam glanced back towards the unconscious Prince.

"I'll get him up." Lay on Hands: 35 -> 34 The Prince gasped for air as his eyes fell open to see the form of the retreating half elf, before the sight of his royal guard peeked down towards him.

'What?'

"Come on," Adam urged, motioning a hand for the fire giant to lead them, who stood awkwardly.

'You should at least explain yourself...' Morkarai sighed, before leading the way towards the guards.

"Step aside." The guards held their spears towards the pair, though their spears remained focused mostly upon the half elf, and not towards their guest.

"Is this how you will treat me?" Morkarai asked, his beard shifting slightly as he narrowed his eyes.

"You should know who I am."

"You must remain while the matter is explained."

"Is this how it is? Your Prince forces me into a spar and then you threaten me once he loses? I gave him the dignity of a clean defeat!" Adam grit his teeth, clenching his fists.

'I can't make a mess right now, Vonda's in danger. Damn it! This is why I hate nobles.'

"How did you do it?" the merman prince asked.

"You should not have been able to defeat me so simply."

"I used all the powers afforded to me by the Divine to defeat you."

"It is impossible for you to defeat me." Adam inhaled deeply. He closed his eyes, reaching up to his amulet.

"Prince Morkarai. If anything happens to Vonda or my child because they've delayed me, know that I'm going to make a mess." Morkarai could feel the throbbing in his head.

"Why would something happen to Vonda or your child."

"I… made a mistake."

"What did you do?"

"I wasn't thinking straight," Adam admitted. Adam, in his anger and annoyance, had plucked a Thread of Fate, and thus Fate was forever changed. It was only upon seeing the words of victory, that he had realised what he had done.

"Prince Merza, there is an emergency that I need to tend to," Morkarai said.

"Will you stop us from moving?" Prince Merza, full of fury and shame, glared at the half elf, who seemed to be entirely ignoring him.

"You may go." He motioned a hand towards the guards, who pulled their longspears back and allowed the pair to leave, their steps echoing through the hallway, before the lighter set quickened into a sprint.

"Vonda!" Adam said, panting for air as he stormed into the room.

"Are you okay?"

"Adam?" Vonda replied, staring up at the half elf, her eyes full of curiosity.

"I'm fine. What's the matter?"

"Are you sure?" Adam asked, quickly taking his place beside her, taking her hand within his own.

"I'm fine," Vonda assured, rubbing her thumb along the sides of his thumb gently.

"I'm such an idiot." Adam placed his head against her shoulder, shaking his head.

'Oh man. What was I thinking?' Jurot remained silent, staring at the half elf, wondering what would have made him behave like this.

'To have a child is so scary.' Morkarai was still uncertain what Adam had done, but he took his place opposite the half elf, crossing his arms.

"You should explain yourself. What happened, and how did you defeat Prince Merza?" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"He picked a fight with me so we sparred. I beat him up with a couple of…" Adam wasn't sure how to describe it to the fire giant.

"Let's just say that I got lucky, and then I made my own luck."

"What was the rumble of thunder?"

"Thunderous Smite." Morkarai inhaled deeply, glancing aside, wondering how Adam could do something so stupid.

"You should be glad I had arrived quickly."

"Yeah…" Adam held onto Vonda's hands, the woman understanding what had spooked Adam so much. Omen: 9'Why the hell am I using my Omen right now? Am I an idiot?' Adam pressed his forehead against Vonda's for a moment, before planting a kiss on her cheek and pulling back.

'Damn it, you idiot! Damn it!'

"It will be fine." Vonda squeezed his hands once more, before slipping a hand away, while intertwining her left hand with his right hand, brushing her thumb along the back of his hand.

"It's fine." Adam leaned back in his chair, feeling the warmth of his wife's hands against his own. Her hands felt rough, and yet so soft.

"It is a good tale to defeat Prince Merza," Jurot said, noting how his brother jolted upon his voice, their eyes meeting one another's.

"Jurot? How long have you been here."

"I was always here."

"Seriously…" Morkarai glanced down towards Adam, noting his seasilk clothing.

"You managed to defeat the Prince dressed like that?"

"Why? Am I not dressed fancy enough to win?" Morkarai shook his head, reaching up to cover his eyes, before leaning back.

'Adam…' Vonda and Jurot exchanged a look, understanding what Morkarai was getting at, meanwhile Adam's slowly calmed down and fell deep into his thoughts.

'I did beat him pretty easily with my smites, but it's not like I'll only be sparring with tons of crazy strong people.' Adam glanced aside towards his Health.

'I can be taken out pretty easily still. I burst him down with all of Wraith and a pretty strong Divine Smite, a whole 3 Mana, but I can't do that often. I can't use my fights against Prince Morkarai and the merman Prince as a barometer on how strong I really am.' While Adam thought about how strong he truly was, his brother did the same.

'Adam can defeat Prince Merza with his ability to shift Fate and his magical weapons. Without them, how would he fair? Without a Greater shield, and his Greater Enhanced axe, how strong is he? He should not overestimate himself yet.'

'Wraith can only drop down three charges, and I shouldn't dip into stronger Divine Smites yet, not when they don't scale as well,' Adam thought.

'If I can somehow have a weapon deal 2D6 with 1 Mana, and then spend 1 Mana on my Divine Smite to deal 2D6, I can make one attack with 6D6 plus 9. That's, what, ten attacks for 60D6 plus 90? An average of about…' [300.]'Thanks. Yeah, three hundred if I manage to hit every single attack. That's what, thirty per hit? That's crazy high. Right now I can burst someone down with Wraith, I've cleared a whole hundred, but if they only have fifty or sixty, then a hundred damage is overkill.

I burn out too quickly, and even though my damage is good for bursting, my Defence is better suited for longer fights against most people. I'm pretty tough with my puthral and my shield, so I should be able to last a while unless I'm against any area of effect stuff.' Adam let out a long sigh.

'Living is so difficult when you're as stupid as me.' Morkarai was also deep in thought. He would need to speak with the Princess later to explain everything. He would need to listen to Prince Merza's words first and then he'd need to call upon Adam for the truth. He was fairly certain he could keep Adam alive as long as he spoke the truth, but there was the matter of Adam paying the appropriate respect.

"Hey, Prince Morkarai?" Adam called out. Morkarai tensed up.

"Yes?"

"How come you're walking around without guards?"

"I have you to escort me."

"No, I mean, when you were making your way to the Iyr."

"I travelled with another group while I made my way to the Iyr."

"Didn't you run into any trouble?"

"I crushed stone into dust and they thought against it."

"Damn. You're so manly."

"Adam… may we speak alone?"

"Sure." Adam followed Morkarai out, having no idea the mess he had caused while the mermen royalty argued against one another elsewhere. His heart had long calmed from his anxiety, Vonda's presence a gentle light that pushed away whatever darkness dared to dance too close to her husband.

"About Vonda…"

"Yeah?"

"I am sorry, truly. If I had known she was pregnant, I would not have brought her in such a manner."

"I know…" Adam decided against threatening the Prince.

"Vonda will be alright, and so will my little one. They're both going to be okay…" Morkarai could hear it within the half elf's voice.

"I will pray they will both remain healthy."

"Yeah." The Prince allowed Adam to return back to Vonda, and since Jurot was there, he expected there to be little trouble. The guilt continued to eat away at his heart.

'I should speak with my betrothed.'

"How ridiculous! He must have used something underhanded to defeat me!" Prince Merza snarled, tossing the bottle against the wall, grabbing another to see if he could strike the same spot again.

"It is assured," the guard replied, trying to recall the fight. It had lasted just a few moments, with the Prince eagerly dancing around the half elf, before the half elf struck with such a viciousness that the Prince fell a moment later.

"Are you done with your tantrum?" Princess Miza asked, sipping at her wine, noting all the good wine her foolish younger brother was wasting away. A knock at the door took their attention, while the guard beside the door exclaimed.

"Prince Morkarai requests an audience."

"Inform him to wait a moment with our apologies," Princess Miza replied, allowing the servants to clean up the area first, before allowing the Prince to step within.

"I didn't expect to meet you again like that," Morkarai said, grasping Merza's forearm.

"I was defeated by unknown magics," Merza replied, puffing up his chest.

"I am ashamed to say I let down my guard."

"It's no shame to say you lost to Adam. Even I lost to him, though I held back at the time."

"You lost to the boy?" Merza asked, the shock evident within his eyes. Morkarai glanced aside to the Princess, before taking a seat beside her, allowing her servants to pour him a warm drink.

"I've come to speak with you both about my friend."

"It seems you've kept many things a secret from us," the Princess said, before sipping her warm drink.

"I will continue to keep many things a secret from you, but you should be glad that you found that Ray Vonda was pregnant, otherwise Prince Merza here had almost spoilt my gift to you."

"Your gift to me is a meeting with the boy?"

"You are smart enough to understand why it was my gift now, surely." Princess Miza stared deep into Morkarai's eyes for a long moment.

It was already something that Adam had managed to meet with her younger sister and managed to save her with his alchemy, it was another thing that his alchemic abilities were surpassed by his great fighting abilities, so great that they were, even if he only had a hand in killing Vandra, he had essentially defeated a Coralguard, as well as her younger brother, whose strength surpassed the Grandmasters of the landkin.

"Are you saying he has the ability to defeat me?" Prince Merza asked, narrowing his eyes towards the fire giant.

"Even without his ridiculously great defensive capabilities, he beat you so handily, your guards almost killed him. If anything would have happened to him, I would have broken the engagement, not wanting to befall whatever curse would have taken you." Princess Miza sat up straighter, her eyes glued to Morkarai's, which met hers as he glared towards her.

"I should be glad to say nothing happened."

"Yes," Morkarai stated, feeling the heat within him quickly dissipate.

"You should be so glad. I will speak with Adam to make sure your relationship with him is still secured, but I cannot say the same between the relationship between your brother and he."

"I do not need to be so close with a boy," Merza said, causing his elder sister to glare at him, though he avoided the glare by glancing aside towards the wall.

'Just how much do you prize the boy for you to threaten such a thing?' Miza thought.