Chapter 30: Nyphili

Vulcan gazed at the new opponent wearing the ape mask. Were these some strange cultists? No matter, even with this new enemy, he still had several plans to deal with him. Three steel sentries surrounded the ape-masked man.

"You truly don't understand your place; bring more. It won't matter," said the ape-masked man as his body collapsed into his own shadow. Vulcan scanned the area. Where the hell did he go? The fact he could teleport made it far more difficult for him to defeat the man. Just then, a dark hand took hold of a sentry and dragged it into its own shadow. It vanished along with the enemy and was later spit out a few feet away from them. After that another sentry was gone. It was infuriating him, and he even seemed to lose track of where his sentry went as if it was a separate dimension or something. A few seconds later, the sentry dropped from a dark corner, torn to shreds and its limbs broken.

How predictable. Vulcan turned around and slashed his sword behind him. Shadows drew back from where he was standing, a dismembered hand falling limp on the ground.

"You bastard, how did you manage to sense me?" called the ape-masked man as he appeared in front of Vulcan, clutching the stump on his arm. "Please, you may be stronger but your moves are as predictable as your lame tricks," called out Vulcan, giving a mocking laugh to taunt the man. This was the last straw for the guy, and he disappeared once more, appearing again in front of Vulcan instead of from behind. The masked man's fist went through the steel chest of Vulcan. "Hehe, nothing to say now, tough guy?" the man said as he mocked Vulcan. But the feeling of superiority only lasted a few moments before the man felt this thing's insides were too hard for it to be made of flesh.

"Yeah, give me a hug!" said Vulcan as he grabbed onto the masked man. "What are you-" panicking, the man disappeared into the shadows with Vulcan, but what he failed to realize was that the steel sentry began to glow red-hot.

Just then, an audible rumble shook the ground, and the shadows themselves trembled. Dark blood began to leak from everyone's shadows, along with some chunks of meat and organs. It was strange; his vision went dark, but watching a notification in his system told Vulcan that the man died with the sentry as it self-destructed. Soon, the attackers only numbered four in total. They were surrounded and culled like the rest.

"Idiot, what am I going to tell the white prince now?" gritting his teeth, said the wolf-masked man. At least he would report back to his superiors what had happened here. Maybe they would understand that the intel wasn't accurate and that a much larger and stronger force would be needed if they wished to stop the convoy from reaching the capital.

Just then, a high-speed object was approaching him. He jumped to the side as the thing flew away. Barely getting a glimpse of it told him it was a man on a fast-moving beast. Did they also have beast riders? Where the hell were they hiding this entire time? Another one passed by; this time, it knicked him with a glowing blade. Then another, and soon he was being attacked from all sides.

"Enough!" Taking no more, he hit the floor as a wide field of shadow spikes surrounded him. Some of the shadow spikes pierced the hover bikes, sending the sentries on top flying forward. Seeing the opponents flying mid-air, the wolf-masked man cut them in half. "Come out, you cowards; I will show you the gap between you and I!" said the man, yelling at his surroundings.

Just then, a red energy blast came directly at him from the dark. He placed his weapon to deflect the beam from hitting him. To his surprise, the energy melted through his weapon and hit him right in the abdomen. He fell helplessly onto the ground; the attack pierced through his body. He was losing blood quickly, and so he began to crawl. The shadows, if he escaped through the shadows, it would be fine. Even if it hurt his pride to flee like this, he needed to report back. His body began to slowly sink into the ground; his lack of concentration from the pain made it harder for him to phase through. As he nearly disappeared, several hands grabbed onto him and pulled him out forcefully from the ground.

"Do you have any idea who you're messing with!?" he desperately said as his escape was thwarted.

"I do," and he was stabbed through the heart. The masked man let out a gasp of air, and his body slumped while being held up by the sentries.

[Agent of Nyphili lvl 50 defeated, 10,000 EP collected]

Agent of Nyphil? This was what Belmont had accused him of being when he first met the guard commander at the command tent in Krestfall. What a coincidence that now he had been targeted by such people. Was it really a coincidence? Who exactly sent them? He had suspected Lord Roriksten. He had been the only person he had shown his power to other than Jason or Jess, but they had been with him always. It must have been Lord Roriksten, but why? I guess he would play it off for now when he met the man again. Let's see if he gave off any signs of betrayal. He would love to kill the man, but the plan took priority. Just then, he received another row of notifications from his system.

[Congratulations level has increased to 40]

[New Body Mod Blueprint: Invisibility Cloak]

[New Miscellaneous Blueprint: Jetpack]

[New Weapon Blueprint: Silenced Volt shock sniper]

Vulcan couldn't help but fist pump the air. Oh, how good it felt to finally reach level 40. The fight with the ant queen had left him at the very cusp of leveling; this last fight was just what he needed. Invisibility Cloak, silenced sniper, AND a jetpack. He was thinking of forming a specialized unit of sentries using these new toys. Right now, it would take a lot of time to equip the rest of his sentries with these things, but man, wouldn't it be the best to have some special sentry commando teams keeping watch over him and his people? Taking out his enemy from far away, it was every man's dream come true. He had to calm himself down a little; they were still in the middle of nowhere, and he had received several casualties on his part and even some destroyed hover bikes. They would head out and replace those that needed replacing. Good thing the attackers didn't harm the armored carriages since they were after what was inside of them. Things were about to get a whole lot more interesting.

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Off in a distant land was a large capital city. Several large flying airships could be seen in the sky, traveling from one part of the kingdom to another. What attracted more attention was the large castle in the middle of the capital. It was a beautiful palace with white ivory towers and large walls. The knights guarding here wore impressive armor that reflected the wealth and power of this great kingdom.

Inside the palace, deep in the throne room, was an old man. He was King Olman of the great northern kingdom of Margoria. He was holding council with some of his advisors at the moment. "That is all, your Majesty," said an old advisor as he finished his report.

"Hmm, very good advisor. Please keep doing your great service to our kingdom," said King Olman. The advisor bowed in thanks for the praise, and as soon as another advisor was about to do his report, the large doors to the throne room opened, and in walked a handsome man with flowing white hair and platinum armor. This was the first prince and heir to the Margorian throne, Prince Wilfred Von Margoria.

"We will continue our talks later, my advisors. I must speak with my son in private," said King Olman with a hint of pride in his son.

"There is no need, Father. I have just arrived to report that the ogre tribe causing troubles at the edge of our territory has been wiped out," explained the prince.

The king broke out into a large grin, "Have I not said before that my son is the strongest in this entire continent? Well done, my son. You will be a fine king when I finally retire the crown," said King Olman. Everyone here knew that the king was a low gold stage fighter and still had more than a century until he would retire. His son, on the other hand, had already reached the same stage, and many considered the king should retire. His son had already surpassed his own father in strength and in politics, having annexed a previous kingdom into their territory while the king was busy marrying his 20th wife.

"Thank you, father. It fills me with great joy to have your praise. If you will excuse me, the trip back to the capital has left me a bit tired," explained the prince.

"Of course, you deserve it, my son. We will talk more in the morning," said the king as the prince left the throne room. After walking into his own private chambers, the prince sat down at his desk. He exhaled a small breath and opened his eyes, "Report," he said as a large clump of shadows collected themselves and formed a bird-masked man kneeling in front of his desk.

"White prince, we have lost contact with our agents in the south. They have failed our Lord Nyphil," reported the bird-masked man.

"Really? Remind me what their mission was again?" asked the white prince.

"To retrieve a secret weapon that the Rodden kingdom has made to counterattack the Oros Kingdoms troops. It was said in the intel that the new secret weapon might be a relic of the Ancient Empire of Kalibor that was retrieved from ruins they found," explained the masked man.

"Interesting, send word to the order. Send out our silver stage fighter teams, retrieve the artifact at all costs before it reaches the capital."