Book 1: Chapter 103: Dukes Attack and Kings Chase
Duke Henry Malik's eyes darted around dangerously upon seeing Lone disappearing. The two girls with him didn't even register in his mind, only the ninetails mattered.
Determining that they had somehow escaped, he used a detection-focused lightning magic skill called Current Reading.
It had taken him over a decade of effort to learn this skill but it had served him well in the following decades to find unaffiliated mages. Lone himself may not have any magic but the supposed foreign noble girl did.
Looking in a certain direction, Duke Henry Malik ignored Gilbert entirely and flashed forward only to be stopped by a heavy feeling covering his entire body.
Appearing in front of him quickly, Gilbert gave him a serious look as he protected the two dwarves floating behind him. "You will not give chase to them. You will stay here. Do you not realise how serious of an offence it is to have attacked the guild as you did?"
The growing irritation made itself clear in the duke's eyes. He couldn't voice what he wished to say thanks to the little 'present' Lone had left for him on his face - the hole of Void.
"If you truly wish to go down this path of self-destruction then you must first go through me, but know that I will not be defeated so easily. You would need more than just one SS-ranker to pose a threat to me, Duke Malik. Especially when I imagine chanting magic is no easy task for you with your mouth in such a state. I would need only destroy your conduit and you would be rendered powerless," Gilbert claimed.
"Well then," a new voice said, "it's a darned good thing we're all here, isn't it?"
Gilbert's eyes opened wide in shock. "Duke Leston, Duke Catston and Duke Grindol... Well, on the bright side, at least none of you are trying to pursue Lone and... You don't seem to be in a great condition, Duke Leston."
Duke Leston cracked his neck as he used his feet to check to the structural integrity of the building's roof which he was stood atop as he said, " Heh, I'm fine. Is it really that bright of a side though? Which of Milindo's SS-rankers isn't here to kill you right now, Gilbert?"
"What do you..." Concern and a bit of panic entered the dragonkin's eyes as he came to a realisation. "Ralph."
"That's His Royal Majesty King Heidron to you, beast," Duke Catston hissed as he nocked an arrow on his bow.
Duke Grindol shook his head lightly as he drew his longsword. "Speaking further is meaningless. Tonight, you die for your treason against Milindo, Guildmaster Elksworth."
Gilbert took a deep breath. "If it's only the king... He can manage somehow... Grimsley, Shana, don't move a muscle. If there's one thing I really don't need right now, it's distractions."
The dwarves were more than happy to oblige with such a request as they feared for their lives.
"Also, it's not treason. This is not my country and he is not my king," Gilbert boomed powerfully as the air around him began to shake.
Sophie, Breena and Lone reappeared in the middle of a forest 4-miles away from the Holy City of Ranton. It was damn-near pitch-black even with the moons of Altros, Recrion and the far larger Fal illuminating the night.
It really helped Lone remember just how utterly dark everything got when there were no street lights anywhere. On Goblin Island he had a campfire and later candles and an actual fireplace in his portable fort to keep the darkness at bay.
Both the cities of Ros and Ranton used a mixture of oil and magic crystal-fuelled lamps and lanterns to keep the streets bright for those who needed to traverse in the late hours.
Even when in the dungeon there were usually small traces of light he could detect coming from down the hallway. This darkness... it gave Lone a greater appreciation for nature.
"Sophie?" Lone asked in concern, noticing that they'd, well, stopped teleporting.
Sophie shook her head. "We are spent. We can only afford 2 more Teleportations and that's only if we are willing to gain an even larger headache than we are already enduring, which we would rather we didn't. Let's walk from here on."
"Okay. That's fine. Wanna swap with Soph to lessen the mental burden?" Lone suggested as he grabbed Breena by the hand since he didn't know how well she could see in the dark and he started walking.
Sophie, using Mana Sensing, had no trouble whatsoever matching Lone's somewhat hurried pace as she answered. "No. She isn't ready to meet you yet. We have prevented her from waking up and taking control ever since the tournament. You know just as well as we do that she will break if she sees you as you currently are."
"Right... Safety and a bath first I guess... Sorry that you have to endure this all because of my stupidity," Lone apologised. "I know it's more work but tell me the second anything enters your Mana Sensing's range, okay?"
Sophie nodded through the darkness. "Yes, it was your stupidity, and yes, we shall."
"Haha... Hurts even though it's painfully true... Very painfully true..." Lone chuckled. 'I hope Gilbert, Grimsley and Shana are doing alright... I never did see just how powerful Gilbert or that Malik prick were but the nobles and royals did seem hesitant to fight Gilbert when he stood up for me at the arena and he was able to suppress all of their auras at once even if that strained him...'
To distract himself and perhaps lighten the tense mood a bit, Lone asked Sophie, "Now that we're E-rankers, what's Mana Sensing's range? I never did ask, did I?"
"Didn't you? Hmm. Well, it's 500-meters," Sophie answered plainly.
"That's a massive jump... 15-meters at I-rank, 50 at H-rank, 100 at G-rank and 200 at F-rank if I recall correctly... Is it hard processing all of that information at once? I can only imagine how much data must be getting sent to your brain from using the skill," Lone asked in interest.
Breena stayed dead-silent as the two talked, only daring to listen. She was mostly focusing on the fact that she was holding Lone's hand and she was trying her hardest to not have a panic attack over the physical contact with a male.
The only thing stopping her was knowing that they were fleeing for their lives.
Sophie shrugged even if Lone couldn't see her though he heard her armour clinking about a bit. "We have been using the skill for centuries. Either it does the processing for us or our former immortality changed our mind somehow to endure the burden."
"Or it's no real burden at all," Lone added.
"Or that. We were going off of your assumption that it was strenuous. Trust us, Lone, we know very little about the science of things," Sophie said with a roll of the eyes. "Far less than a former-history teacher almost 1,000-years our junior."
"I'd rather not be reminded of the gap between our age considering our relat-"
"The king just entered our Mana Sensing's range," Sophie said loudly. "Fight or flight?"
"Just the king?" Lone asked back in utter seriousness.
Sophie nodded. "400-meters."
"Teleport away with Breena and wait for me," Lone ordered.
Sophie frowned deeply beneath her helmet. "300-meters."
"You saw how Duke Leston reacted. I can hurt him and I need to settle this. If he chased us this far he can track us somehow. This ends here, one way or another," Lone declared.
"200-meters," Sophie said as she ripped her helmet off and tossed it to the ground.
She approached Lone and grabbed the back of his head before proceeding to kiss him deeply. "Lone, we-... I love you. Succeed."
Lone smiled faintly. "Naturally, lest you'd kill me yourself, huh?"
Sophie's smile and blush were hidden from Lone and she thanked the darkness of night for that as she stepped away, grabbed Breena, then disappeared after saying, "Teleportation."
Lone took a deep breath then reached into his Dimensional Storage and pulled out a premade bonfire. "I really did create a fuckload of shit with my spare time back on Goblin Island, didn't I?"
He found himself a match and lit the oil-covered stack of logs. They set alight immediately and illuminated the surroundings.
The animals hiding nearby and a few creeping lesser monsters scattered in terror despite the temptation of Lone's bloody aroma. Fire was something to be feared to those weak existences.
Sitting down next to the bonfire, Lone grabbed a small handmirror from his Dimensional Storage and then he waited.
'He stopped moving,' the king thought with a frown as he received information from a skill of his.
There was a reason the Heidron line was the one to wear the crown despite several powerful families residing in Milindo and it was rather simple, really - they had a bloodline skill.
It was this skill that put their family above the 4 ducal families that were their equal in pure rank-based strength. It was also the biggest deterrent to enemy nations and the small chance of the nobles creating a dedicated faction intent on overthrowing his family.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Treason Elimination] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 4.
King Heidron immediately slowed his movements as he saw a fire off in the distance through the woods. 'Our bloodline skill has not levelled up since we routed those spies from the Zenor Federation 7-years ago... Is one measly E-ranked foxkin really such a danger to our kingdom?'
Granted, the skill was far less effective on those who weren't identified as citizens of Milindo and it was even less helpful against those who weren't even pretending to be loyal to his kingdom but for him to gain an entire level using it to track and locate one measly foxkin...
King Heidron was an arrogant and prideful man but he was not foolish. He had seen how easily the Primal in control of Lone's body had destroyed Duke Malik's mouth and then proceeded to crush the foolish hero with no resistance whatsoever.
He was also aware of how the man had somehow been able to kill every single slave brought to make him suffer vicariously despite being in ardartian shackles.
"I can hear your footsteps, King Heidron," a familiar voice spoke softly. "No need to hide in the bushes like some trenchcoat streaking predator. Do I really seem like a threat to you?"
The king was not a fool but his pride demanded he showed himself to the animal speaking to him. Approached with majestic strides, His Royal Majesty King Ralph Heidron of Milindo stood proudly over the sitting Lone.
Lone was just staring into a mirror as he slowly worked to peel off the hardened blood that covered his entire body. "A single provocation... That's all it took for you to decide that I needed to die in your stupid little tournament, huh? None of this would have happened if you were a good ruler."
"How dare you, a mere animal, tell us what kind of ruler we are," the king answered. "It is mere curiosity that is sustaining your life, Beast, and do not forget that."
"I said good and not effective for a reason," Lone said with a shrug. "You're a petty and evil little man. It's insane to me that you've lived long enough to become an SS-ranker, not to mention the needed enlightenment, but you're still such a child on the inside."
"How dare yo-"
"Oh, come off it. Shut the fuck up, yeah? I'm in a collar that suppresses magic. You can kill me any second you like. Let me talk, or are you too arrogant even for that, huh? Too scared to hear the honest thoughts of a human from Earth that's been discriminated against just because he turned into a foxkin, eh?" Lone asked with scorn and snark evident in his tone.
"You... What?" King Heidron doubted his ears. 'He's a... summoned hero? No. That is impossible. He is a beastkin! Even were he a summoned hero his origin would not be that of a human's! Changing one's species is impossible. Race we could believe, but species... What is his goal in lying to us like this?'
"You don't believe me, huh? Makes sense given how narrow your mind is," Lone said with a shrug as he slowly stood up. "I have 8 unique skills, y'know? Well, 7 if you don't count my species. That change used up a slot, go figure, right?"
Lone chuckled faintly. "I even have 2 empty slots I can use to create 2 new unique skills whenever I want to."
He waved his hand and his mirror disappeared. "That right there? A unique skill called Dimensional Storage. My absurd healing? Another unique skill called Basic Regeneration. I also have this really powerful skill called Growth Accelerator, oh boy, the things it can do... I do wonder what I'd get from an SS-ranker using that skill..."
The king frowned deeply. "Are you finished? We have been kind and allowed you to speak so impertinently towards us but we have a limit to our respect for kindness."
"Almost," Lone laughed. "By the way, where are the dukes?" he asked as he looked around and squinted his eyes.
"Ha, you think we would require the help of the ducal families to subjugate one escaped fox? No. They are busy rooting out that cancerous guild from our kingdom," King Heidron remarked in mirth.
"Oh... I see..." Lone sighed and shook his head softly. "Mental Destruction."
Suddenly Ralph Heidron felt the force of a volcano erupt in his mind. His legs went weak and he fell to his knees as he immediately started clawing at his head.
"W-What is this, Beast?! What magic have you used on me?! How?!" He spoke the words he wanted to speak but his mind was in chaos. 'It burns! It burns! It burns!'
"Mental Destruction," Lone answered coldly, resulting in the feelings of agony the king felt multiplying several times over. He couldn't even move his limbs anymore, the pain was so great.
Lone slowly walked to the king's side and grabbed him by his head, ripping his crown off. "You won't need this anymore."
He stored the ornamental headpiece in his Dimensional Storage and then gripped the king's hair firmly. "You know, in the time I spent in your dungeon I came to an epiphany of sorts."
Bloody foam was trickling out of Ralph Heidron's mouth, nostrils, ears and eye sockets as he struggled to stay conscious.
"I felt like I deserved a second chance, didn't I? I, who had only provoked that sick paedophile into spending your money so frivolously was so cruelly condemned to death... Only Gilbert demanding otherwise saved my life but even then you wished to torment me to my very soul as you kept me prisoner." Bitterness and anger flowed forth from Lone's words.
He laughed sadly as he stared into the shaking eyes of the king of Milindo. "I learned in the cold, dark, disgusting cell that everyone deserves a second chance... Well, everyone but you. Mental Destruction."
King Heidron grunted loudly as he felt his soul breaking down and his mind collapsing around him.
"Still not enough, huh?" Lone murmured. "Well, now's as good a time as any to tell you that Sophie murdered your son in his bed before we started running. Hahaha, serves the bastard right."
Tears of blood mixed in with the foam spewed forth from the king's eyes.
"Oh, come on, crying? Now? I didn't want to kill your son, that was all Sophie but really, grow the fuck up. How many people have you killed and not thought twice about them? How many sons have you unjustly taken from their fathers?" Lone shook his head. "It doesn't matter now."
"Y'know, I never thought I could hate anyone as much as my dad but you, Daisuke and that motherfucker 'Sir' Ardus proved me wrong... I also never thought I could kill another person and enjoy it but here you are again proving me wrong," Lone chuckled. "You really should have sent all of the dukes after me, you fuckin' idiot."
And with that, Lone used his final Mental Destruction of the day and killed the monarch of a kingdom.
Power flooding into his very veins as he felt the man whose hair he was holding go limp. "I ranked up... D-rank, huh?"
Lone didn't smile or rejoice, no, instead, he stored the corpse, the bonfire and Sophie's helmet which still lay on the ground. He then contacted Sophie via The Summoning Room's telepathy. As he waited for her to return with Breena, he mumbled, "All 4 dukes... Gilbert, Grimsley, Shana... Be safe..."
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