Chương 17: Ruins of the King

We arrived at the huge, overgrown Castle of Craiovia. It was a colossal structure, easily over 1, 400 years old, its massive walls and towers still imposing despite centuries of decay taking its toll. In its prime, it must have housed 33, 000 people, entire districts, markets, barracks, and noble quarters now swallowed by vines, moss, and wild trees. The sheer scale made it feel like a sleeping giant. Gordin, riding behind us, recycled his story for the newcomers.

"King Dacram the Third ruined his own nation with seemingly good intentions. He wished for infinite currency to help his people, but it destroyed the economy. Now, over a thousand years later, he is remembered only as a fool and the King of Ruin. His young son, his heir, had it even rougher... trying to rule a collapsing kingdom with no resources and no experience was doomed to fail from the beginning and so it did, never fully recovering."

We left the carriage in a relatively safe, hidden spot a short distance from the castle and approached on foot. The broken outer wall loomed ahead like a shattered crown, calling welcome to anyone who dared enter. Mitsumare took the lead position as the strongest among us. He drew no ordinary weapon, only an empty sheath. In a chilling, resonant voice he intoned, "Mezameyo! Ore no Reiken!" From the sheath, his Animo gathered and manifested a translucent spirit sword.

It looked almost alive, visible yet not quite solid, neither fully an object nor a living Vestuto. It hummed with eerie power. The moment we stepped inside the ruined courtyard, a swarm of massive Dregs, crimson-shelled swarmers, colossal insects the size of 2 to 4 meters with glowing mandibles that dripped sizzling venom, surged toward us, spewing corrosive acid. Mitsumare moved first. With a single strike, Ippon-me, his spirit sword vibrated like a living organism and sliced through six Dregs in one fluid motion.

The blade then seemed to drink in their spirit energy from the sharp edge. He sheathed it calmly as the creatures dissolved. Theodoros, the huge man from Helenia, charged next. Partial Seeker of Skys formed around his arms. He air-walked with wind bursting from his back like wings, crushing four Dregs with devastating aerial strikes. Ursen followed, chanting a hymn in a clear, ringing voice: "In Light shall I be blessed, and the ignorant enemy punished, for I am the follower of Light.

Each step brings me closer to your doom." His two middle-length swords became a storm of silver light. To only me in the group, it looked like he delivered only three or four cuts at most, a beautiful, flowing blur. But Galer and two others counted six precise strikes. Husher and the rest saw seven. Ursen himself moved with such blinding speed that he actually landed eight lethal cuts in the span of a heartbeat. The swarmers didn't even have time to scream before they fell apart in clean, geometric sections.

Olafigum hurled his huge battle axe; it flew out and returned like a boomerang while the Dregs suddenly fought their own shadows. Distracted, they were easy prey for his finishing blow. Rachina transformed into a humanoid Woldrian earth Attribute Vestuto form, fangs bared, and ravaged the right flank, splitting enemies clean in two. Justine created small black orbs at his fingertips and fired them like hummingbirds.

They pierced the brains of three Dregs, leaving the bodies looking untouched as they dropped like dead flies right after impact. Mariana danced with her rapier, a fiery ballet of elegance. The tip heated white-hot while the rest stayed cool. When she pierced a Dreg, the insides burned and burst without damaging the outer shell... brutal in its grace. Galer cut three with his golden knives and light-infused legs. Husher's bubbly barrage took another three.

I managed to kill one with a well-timed longsword thrust, earning a proud nod from Galer. Gordin watched from behind with a happy grin.

"Quick done work!" Then the ground trembled. A Giant Dreg Queen, twice the size and power of the others, charged forward, furious at the slaughter of her workers and lost children. She targeted Mitsumare first, as he was the one who made the most damage. Mitsumare countered with his spirit sword. The impact created a shockwave that canceled both forces. The others joined in, but the Queen was overwhelming. She spat acid that forced us to dodge constantly.

Gordin shouted as a historian, "If Dregs receive enough damage, they enter Assault Form! The others died too fast, but this one… we could not kill quickly enough." The Queen's shell cracked and reformed her whole body. She shrank to 2. 30 meters but sprouted wings, becoming far stronger and faster, as she is now in assault form. The Animo readers, Mitsumare, Husher, and Ursen... called out in surprise of her new found Animo: "1, 600!"

We all attacked with everything we had: Husher's bubbles, Galer's light cuts, Mitsumare's spirit sword, and the rest of the group's strongest moves. The Queen dodged like a dancing butterfly, then countered with fire-acid that reduced visibility. Mitsumare activated Nihon-me... his second strike. The spirit sword grew larger, gained eyes and a mouth, and struck like a hungry predator. The Queen countered by throwing her wings at the blade, then lunged at Mitsumare, who was visibly straining from the Animo drain.

Theodoros flew in, catching her mid-air and ripping off both arms with raw strength. The rest of us poured on damage until the killing blow came from Justine, supported by Ursen's precise light strikes. The Queen finally collapsed after 3 minutes of brutal fighting. We pressed deeper into the castle. More Dregs came, but Gordin explained to us, as some questioned how if the queen is dead, they followed a patriarchal hierarchy, the King had to be killed for them to truly scatter away from this terrain.

After another fierce skirmish, we reached the inner zone near the main gate. Hundreds of eggs lay scattered, and a colossal Dreg King stood guard at 6 meters tall whom overlooked his babies, turned his eyes towards us, while we wanted to go past him. He wasn't enraged like the Queen; he attacked with cold, calculated strength, still in his normal form. The ten of us fought him for ten grueling minutes. The battle was brutal and perfectly coordinated. Mitsumare's spirit sword clashed with the King's mandibles.

Theodoros used aerial wind strikes. Rachina's Woldrian form tore into flanks, ripping some of his shell. Justine's black orbs pierced weak points. Mariana's fiery rapier dance burned internals on contact. Husher's bubbles protected and imploded. Galer's light cuts and kicks flashed everywhere on the kings legs. I contributed where I could, refusing to be sidelined, going also for his legs.

After receiving enough damage the King finally entered Assault Form, shrinking to 4 meters with no wings but surging to an Animo level of 1, 880. The readers called out in shock... the jump was far greater than expected. We got serious. The battle turned into absolute chaos. The Dreg King moved with terrifying speed and precision, his serrated forelegs whipping through the air like living scythes. Each strike carried enough force to shatter stone.

Mitsumare met him head-on, his spirit sword clashing violently against the King's mandibles, creating sparks and shockwaves that shook the ancient castle. Theodoros air-walked above, raining down powerful wind enhanced strikes from the sky, trying to pin the beast down onto fixed location. Rachina, in her humanoid Woldrian form, tore again deeper into the King's flanks with raw savagery, ripping chunks of chitinous armor away.

Justine fired black orbs that pierced deep into found weak joint in his upper leg, while Mariana danced around with her fiery rapier, burning through exposed flesh with white-hot precision. Husher's bubbling implosions exploded against the King's carapace, cracking armor and slowing its movements. Galer flashed in and out with blinding light cuts and kicks, targeting this time his eyes. In this battle i stayed out.

The only thing i did with one arm, I charged in whenever I saw an egg beginning to crack and bringing a new baby to the world, thrusting my longsword into any their exposed movements... killing before emerging into our Terrarum. For ten grueling minutes the fight raged. The ground cracked beneath us. Ancient pillars collapsed. The air filled with the stench of burning chitin and blood. The Dreg King adapted frighteningly fast, using its smaller, more agile form to dodge and counter with brutal efficiency.

It nearly impaled Mitsumare with a surprise thrust, and one sweeping strike sent Theodoros crashing into a wall. But we refused to break. Justine, perfectly supported by Ursen's precise light-enhanced strikes that blinded and weakened the King's defenses further, found the final opening. With a roar, Justine unleashed a concentrated barrage of black orbs straight into the monster's exposed throat. The King let out a deafening screech as its body convulsed.

Galer and Husher poured everything they had left into the final assault. The Dreg King fell with a final, earth-shaking crash, its massive body collapsing in a heap of broken chitin and green ichor. We opened the now accessible massive gate and pushed deeper inside the castle. Inside, we encountered Jackals, ghostly yet fully corporeal monsters with tough bodies that could absorb massive damage. The fight lasted one hour and twenty-eight minutes of relentless combat until every last one was cleaned up.

Exhausted but determined, we continued. Out of nowhere a Dullahan, a headless armored figure wielding an enormous spiked morningstar, blocked our path. We fought it for a good twenty minutes in an epic, swirling melee. The morningstar smashed stone and sent shockwaves through the hall. Husher's bubbles tanked hits, Mariana and Rachina flanked with fang and fire, and the rest of us poured on damage until Husher landed the final decisive blow with Mariana and Rachina's support.

Deeper still, Gordin found the passage to the cellar stage, which was behind a dusted and cut up Portrait of the King. The air grew thick with dust, it felt like no one had ventured here in a thousand years. The other areas had been alive with animals and monsters, but the cellar held only humanoid skeletons, most likely abandoned prisoners from the boy king's time. Gordin searched for the correct mechanism with straight determination.

Others suggested simply breaking everything down with their attacks, but he prohibited it.

"It could destroy the under-caves as well. What I'm seeking is down there. NO ATTACKING until we are through this. This is a test of brains, not brawn." He found two identical symbols inside different Prison cells. After a moment of thought, he touched one embedded eye and the mouth of the other. A hidden blackened room opened up, revealing the entrance to the under-caves. Everyone clapped in awe. Some asked how he knew of this hidden mechanism with curiosity. Gordin smiled while answering.

"The king made it as a jest riddle. If this symbol is a human and only the eyes shine, why is the right eye red and the left green? Green is always considered a positive color, so you light it up. Red is often considered an aggressive color, so you hide it. The other symbol was an open-mouthed human. You take the red from the first and 'swallow' it here, meaning aggression must be swallowed before entry." We ventured into the unknown under-cave, hearts pounding with anticipation and the thrill of discovery.

The real challenge lay ahead now.