Chapter 17: We are in trap

Oldrak's voice echoed through the grand hall, carrying with it a weight of authority and malice.

His appearance was the one of a beautiful prince who was ready to be the king.

"Hunters, you stand before me now, ready to defend a king who has deceived and oppressed his people for far too long," he began, his words dripping with disdain. "Do you truly believe he is worthy of your loyalty? Do you not see the suffering and injustice he has wrought upon his own subjects?"

I kept remaining silent.

I knew that Oldrak was a master in manipulation.

He knew perfectly how to touch the sensitive parts of your soul.

It seemed like he could read everything out of you.

Zepitos and Lyra didn't speak either.

Araknedis's icy form crackled with energy as he glared at Oldrak, his rage barely contained.

"You speak lies, vampire! This king is just and noble, a beacon of hope for the people of Lungi!"

Araknedis tried to control his anger, but he couldn't.

Oldrak was the vampire who slayed all of his village and family.

Nobody knows why he spared him and his sister.

But Oldrak only chuckled darkly, his gaze piercing through Araknedis with unsettling intensity. "Oh… what do we have here? The Icelord? The one with poor talent for magic? The one deceived by his own people? Do you know the monster you're defending right now?"

Araknedis' grip on his ice sword tightened by a lot while his body was trembling with rage.

He grinned his teeth and it seemed like he was about to land a strike on Oldrak, but we all knew that it wasn't a good idea.

The vampire probably knew that.

"Yes. Monster. It's me. Araknedis Icelord. Do you remember me?" His mood changed to a raging one to a psychopatic one.

His voice was full of superiority and malice.

A blue aura started to form around him and his eyes became completely white.

You couldn't even see the iris anymore.

"Oh… of course remember you, Araknedis…" the vampire chuckled and licked his lower lip.

It was a gesture recalling what he done to his people.

Araknedis once told me that he did the same gesture when he killed his mother.

He sucked all of her blood and then "cleaned" his mouth like this.

Luckily, Araknedis didn't fall for his trap.

As Oldrak spoke, Zepitos's eyes darted around the room, his expression unreadable.

In a low voice, he whispered a warning to us, urging us not to move, to remain still as statues in the face of danger.

"We are not here to listen to your twisted lies, vampire," Lyra interjected, her voice cold and resolute. "Whatever your intentions, we will not be swayed."

But Oldrak merely smiled, his gaze shifting to Lyra with unnerving focus. "Ah, the mage with eyes of ice. You see through illusions, do you not? Perhaps you will be the one to see the truth I offer."

"As i said, i'm not here to fight. I'm here for the justice of a better world… and to seek your help…"

Our eyes widened.

Oldrak , one of the strongest general of Legion was seeking our help.

Me and Zepitos were silently looking each other.

I activated my magic sight and saw something horrible.

I saw tons and tons of invisible wires all across the room, ready to cut us into million pieces.

Our rush made us fall directly into his trap.

"We are fucked." That's what i thought.

"No, remember that you have my power… Alex." That was Maria.

In the same instant when Maria spoke, i saw Oldrak turning his gaze to me and looking at my necklace in a scared way.

He didn't speak any words.

All he did was cleaning his throat instead.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, Oldrak conjured images that danced in the air before them, scenes of poverty and suffering, of oppression and cruelty inflicted upon the people of Lungi.

The images painted a grim picture of a kingdom ruled by fear and tyranny, a far cry from the idyllic image it had once portrayed.

We saw the images of abused Demi-humans, a traffic of slaves and people getting tortured and kidnapped.

Lyra was on the verge of vomit after seeing these images.

Despite her being adult in her body and appearance, her mind was the same of a pre-teenage girl.

"Look upon the truth, hunters," Oldrak intoned, his voice reverberating with power and anger. "See the kingdom as it truly is, and ask yourselves if this is the king you would die to protect."

As the images flickered and faded, leaving behind a heavy silence in their wake, we hunters stood frozen, torn between loyalty to their mission to protect the king of Lungi and the unsettling truths laid bare before them.

And in that moment, Zepitos's warning rang clear in our minds, a silent reminder of the danger that lurked in every shadow.

"My lord Legion only wants freedom for everyone of us, in immortality. He wants all of us to be his children…" Oldrak said after turning his back to us and beginning to walk back and forward.

I took a look at the king.

He was terrified by Oldrak but he didn't even try to reply back to him.

He was just hiding behind us and trembling.

Then, Oldrak spoke again.

"So, hunters, now that you saw the truth… what's your answer…? I don't want to fight or hurt innocent people…" he said with a menacing tone.

He then looked right at me.

His eyes were sharp as knives and he sent me a shiver down my spine.

He could kill us at any moment.

Despite that, my heartbeat was still stable.

Vampires can feel your agitation due to their smell for blood.

They can sense your blood circulation.

"You… you…" he then whispered. "Your necklace…" he added.

He then covered his mouth with his right hand.

Sharp fangs painted of a dark black were on his nails.

"What about my necklace, Oldrak?" I asked, with a direct tone.

As soon as i spoke these words, i felt a rush of energy inside my body.

A totally new kind of power was flowing through my veins.

"She gave it to you, right? Haha…" he chuckled maliciously.

"My lord told me that the queen revealed herself after hundreds of years again, but I wasn't expecting that she have chosen a human as her vessel… but you're different…" he then said.

My ears couldn't believe what they heard.

He knew about Maria'a existence.

The other hunters looked at me in a strange way, like they wanted to say "what ?".

But in the same moment that Oldrak was about to speak again, Zepitos talked.

His voice was sharp like a blade.

"Oldrak. I know how good you are at manipulating people. Why didn't you kill us already?" He said while his blades were still rotating around him.

Oldrak let out a small malicious giggle and turned his attention towards Zepitos.

"Oh… I told you… my orders are not to kill… but to purify. My lord said to purify this city after the relic of the queen had been used… and… this false king… made his people suffer for his perversions. That's why i hate humans…" he said while giving a deadly glare to the king, who let out a loud gasp.

"STOP TELLING LIES! YOU MURDERED ALL MY TRIBE! THEY WERE INNOCENT!" Araknedis screamed with a lot of anger in his voice and stepping with his feet on the ground.

His anger was so evident that he even broke a part of the floor with that step, by turning it to ice.

Oldrak then moved his eyes towards Araknedis and lowered his head.

"Oh… I'm so sorry, Icelord… but you don't know the truth and I can't blame you for your anger… but I have a question for you." He then raised his head and looked into Araknedis' eyes with an angry look.

"A tribe killing their own children for being wrong or useless is not a good tribe." He said.

Araknedis' body started to shake with anger, recalling memories from his past.

I could feel all of his anger inside my veins.

His pupils were small and he was doing his best to control his feelings.

A false step would've meant our death.

"How… how…" His voice was barely a whisper.

"How can you be so calm after killing… all those people and children…? You're a monster…" he said, before looking up and down all around the room.

"You'll thank me one day." Oldrak said with a direct tone.

"Alex… He's trying to manipulate you… he wants you to lower your guard so he can easily cut you… be careful…" Maria said to my mind.

"…" I didn't say anything,

Oldrak was watching every single movement coming from us.

Then, while we hunters were staying still, the King spoke.

upon hearing Oldrak's accusations, stepped forward with desperation etched on his face. "No, you mustn't listen to him! It's all lies, I swear it!" he pleaded, his voice trembling with fear and desperation.

"He's trying to manipulate you, to turn you against me!"

But Oldrak's sinister smile only widened, and with a flourish of his hand, he cast a spell that illuminated the hall with a ghastly light.

"Look, Hunters…" he said.

We were still on guard.

Shadows danced across the walls, revealing hidden chambers and secret passages that lay concealed within the palace walls.

As the light revealed the dark secrets of the palace, we hunters watched in horror as scenes of unspeakable cruelty unfolded before them.

We heard the scream of people who were getting tortured, the noise of a whip… lots of things.

Oldrak's magic removed the magic barriers inside the throne room, revealing everything.

The king, once revered as a benevolent ruler, stood revealed as a sadistic tyrant, reveling in the suffering of his own people.

Images flashed before our eyes: torture chambers filled with the anguished cries of the innocent, dungeons where prisoners languished in chains, their bodies broken and their spirits crushed.

The king's facade crumbled before their eyes, his protests silenced by the weight of undeniable evidence.

His hands, stained with the blood of his victims, trembled with guilt and shame as he realized the depth of his own depravity.

"You see now, hunters," Oldrak's voice echoed through the hall, filled with a chilling satisfaction.

"This king is no hero. He is a monster, a tyrant who has betrayed the trust of his people and deserves nothing but condemnation… and the hunter corps… is worse than him for defending such a monstrosity…"

Maria didn't speak to me.

Oldrak's voice was surely telling the truth, and that would've explain why he didn't kill us.

Upon hearing all of these things, the King's face became of a pale white.

He was scared for his life and began to crawl on the floor to our feet, asking us to save him and kill this vampire.

"HE IS A LIAR!! HE IS KEEPING MY DAUGHTER AS HOSTAGE!!!" He said.

Me and the others were still staying silent and calm, except Araknedis who wanted to attack the monster.

He didn't believe his words.

He was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Oldrak, where is the daughter of this king?" I asked with a cold voice.

The vampire looked at me with a "loving" smile.

"She's here…" he then snapped his fingers and after some seconds, the king's daughter arrived.

A beautiful young girl with red hair and blue eyes dressed like a princess.

She was smiling, not showing any feeling of terror or fear.

She walked towards us, still staying distant from us.

"Does she look like she's being kept as hostage…?" Oldrak said.

The King looked at his daughter in disbelief.

"Such a pure and gentle soul getting beaten by her own father… only because of his perversions." Oldrak said with a sad tone.

"As you can see, i healed all of her wounds. Outside and inside." He added.

The king was still standing on his knees.

"Please… give me back my Riamas…" his voice was a desperate whisper full of pain.

His daughter gave him a look of disgust.

"I hate you… you're not my father…" she said with a cold tone.

Words sharper than thousands of knives.

The king had a look of shock written on his face with some tears falling from his face.

Zepitos then spoke.

"Oldrak, what is your true goal?" He asked while a guard position.

Down his feet , there were some electric sparks.

Lyra, on the other hand, was charging a magic spell in her hands.

The tension in the air was palpable and it was raising with every second that passed.

Every moment could be our last.

Every mistake could lead us to death.

"Zepitos… Zepitos…" Oldrak then gave us the sinister grin that he had before.

He then started to clap his hands.

"Congratulations , Zepitos. Even if somebody shows you the truth, you still decide to stay with that corrupted corporation? Why…?"

Zepitos didn't speak.

He was calm. He didn't want to talk with Oldrak.

"LEAVE MY DAUGHTER YOU DISGUSTING MONSTER!"' The king screamed.

After hearing these words, Oldrak's malicious grin was replaced by a look of disgust and hatred.

He let out a sigh and spoke to us again.

Despite us seeing all the disgusting thing that he showed , it was still kinda hard to believe.

Oldrak was a master in manipulating people so we didn't know if he was telling the truth, that's why we didn't do anything.

But the situation was more risky that moment since Oldrak actually had the king's daughter in hostage.

Riamas then looked at me with a look of interest.

"Oldrak-San… who is this guy? I like him." She said while pointing at me.

That was unexpected.

A life or death situation had time for this.

I was confused about her words.

"Oh… hahaha! Youngsters… He is a strong guy. That's why we need him…" Oldrak said while biting his lower lip.

His gesture sent me a shiver down my spine.

"He must join us… please don't hurt him…" Riamas said.

"Join us?" The king said. "Riamas… are you…" he whispered.

"No, she's still a human… but i can turn her into a vampire if she wants." Oldrak said.

The king remained silent.

"So, hunters. What's your answer? Will you join us for the fight for justice… or are you going to defend a false king and fight for a bad cause…?" Oldrak spoke proudly and opened his arms widely.

Thousands of bats then appeared from nothing and hung themselves all across the royal hall.

We were in trap…