Chapter 2 - The Figure In Black

***

The Royal Council Chamber.

There was a dense silence looming inside the room as those who sit at the table had darkened faces. Their eyes didn't dare to rise and view the king who was fuming with displeasure and anger.

And then, a voice broke the silence.

"Mr Blaze Bronte, may I hear what the head of the Royal Magic Research would like to say on this occasion?"

The king's voice was devoid of hostility. Yet it had a suffocating amount of pressure. Upon hearing his words, a man in his mid-fifties amassed courage and slowly stood.

"Your majesty, the artilleries are all repaired and ready for deployment. The shield artefacts have been improved. The prototype knight armour is available at your disposal."

The words trailed off into the silence and the chamber was silent again. The advisors and ministers of the king could only glance at each other with complete comprehension of the situation.

Sigh...

A mouthful of air left king Raimund Tasgall's lips and his figure slowly raised. The chair enveloped in exquisite carvings was pushed back as he rose.

"The kingdom of Gwilherm, Lenart and Yehudah had sustained serious damage from a recent Rift attack."

Muffled gasps resonated inside the four walls as soon as the king spoke. His eyes had an unchanging expression as if he had anticipated this reaction.

The limitless land of the continent was primarily divided into five regions - a central region and the four directions. To the north of the kingdom was the Prime Celestial Reserve, a land isolated and guarded by hideous creatures like Dragons and Behemoth. Except for that part, the four remaining regions were habitable.

The 3 neighbouring kingdoms of Swanhild were much larger and powerful in terms of history and strength. When considering them, Swanhild is nothing but an immature teen.

So, the reaction was within the limits of imagination.

Raimund raised his right hand and the voices faded away. The eyes conveying distress and unrest were fixated on the king.

"In the wake of these attacks, Yahudah and Lenart kingdoms have plans to summon other-world reinforcements. Though the probability of success is lingering around 20%, they are taking the risk."

After a brief pause, he continued-

"I have rejected the necessity to summon other-world heroes to our nation. I have faith in our people and that shall keep us alive. if we don't trust ourselves, then who will have their faith in us?"

The king then proceeded to allocate resource to the research department and the Royal Magical Academy. After considering the words of the advisors, Raimund gave a stiff nod regarding the efficiency of Adventurer's Guild in the context.

After almost an hour of discussion, the council was adjourned. As everyone left the chamber, the king remained seated on his throne. It was then his most trusted accomplice neared him.

"Your majesty..."

Raimund raised his eyes and caught the glimpse of the minister standing before him. The dark circles beneath the eyes of a man in his late sixties were revealed when the king raised his sight.

"What is it, Augustus?"

The right palm supported the king's chin as the old man's face reflected an urge to flee from the politics and the administration that was pressing down on him. The train of thoughts was temporarily paused as Raimund probed.

"Your majesty, I have some confidential information to share."

The solemnness of the voice that fell in his ears knitted the brows of the king as his head was tilted. It took a moment to comprehend the meaning of the minister's pause and the king raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Woosh...

A surge of energy was released from the king's royal ring and it collided with the four walls of the chamber. Promptly, the soundproof function was activated and the walls acquired a layer of insulation on them.

"Speak."

Upon hearing the king's words, the minister flipped his left palm and an emerald as big as his fist popped out of the space ring.

"Your majesty, we found a potential ally in the Southern Forest a few days ago."

At once, the king asked, "The Southern Forest?"

As an enclosure of vegetation known for the notorious residents, the Southern Forest had immense mineral and Mana Stone veins left unexplored. Adventurers and the army alike gamble their lives while fetching and escorting freight carriages from there. Thus it was normal to find anything positive about the forest as a piece of good news.

The king's feedback gave the minister a green light to continue and he spoke-

"Yes, my lord.

Two days ago, a convoy carrying minerals and raw materials for the kingdom was attacked by a group of monsters. The horde consisting of Mountain Bulls almost wiped out the forty knights we assigned as guards. The cavalry almost experienced a complete eradication when an unknown individual entered the scene."

"So, you have evidence?", the king asked pointing at the gem in the minister's hand.

"Luckily, the carriages had our latest security system and were able to capture the images of the person." The minister replied and then imbued his Mana into the gem.

A few seconds later, a stream of light was projected upward from the stone. Using his Mana, the minister quickly displayed the aforementioned incident.

"Can you come a little closer?"

The king displayed enthusiasm as he asked the minister to step closer. Promptly, the man took a couple of steps forward and the frames of images became clearer.

In the air was a bunch of vaguely projected images with no fluency between the frames. The minister continued to tweak with his Mana and his effort bore fruit.

"Your majesty, the convoy..."

"Sshhh.....!"

The minister was about to speak something when the king forcefully dispelled his initiative. The old man's eyes which once reflected despair was now piercing the images with a keen vigour.

A rough brown trail could be seen through the deluge of trees on either side of the track. The spookiness of the environment was evident as the minister unconsciously gulped down his saliva at once.

-Squad leader, we have a bunch of Mountain Bulls approaching us.

-Everyone, maintain your formation.

-The beasts are closing on us fast!

Several unintelligible noises could be heard in the background as the perspective of the view shifted from one to the another abruptly. Every single frame that popped up had the figure of bulky bulls taking a considerable space of it.

Seconds later, the projection began to twitch and alter. The images became murky and the king's eyes shifted to the minister for an explanation.

"Your majesty, we still have no idea why the image recording devices act weirdly when beasts come in range. We are currently researching on the issue and we hope to solve it soon."

Without taking his eyes off the emerald, the minister replied while trying to navigate the image fast forward. He effortlessly pulled off the trick and the sight that unveiled was blood-curdling.

The guarding troops were facing a complete elimination when facing the Mountain Bull horde. Only a few were standing intact while many lost limbs to these quadrupedal brutes.

-Charge!

The murky figure of the squad leader roared and charged ahead. Following him was a few of his subordinates whose faces reflected the sight of certain death. Yet, their dutiful resolve did not waver a bit.

Crash!

The soldiers were thrown away like pebbles after coming in contact with the sturdy physique of the beasts. Their swords were shattered and they came rolling towards the carriage in an act of retreat. But in actuality, their attacks bounced off of the beasts' tough skin.

Like a bunch of veteran bandits, the Mountain Bulls paced at the carriages leisurely. There was a belittling expression on their faces as an intimidating aura exploded from them.

And this act of lowering the guard caused two Mountain Bulls to be skewered by a spear that came from their right!

"..."

Raimund's eyes went flawless circles as he beheld the quickness of the attack. To his keen eyes, all he could see was a trail of afterimage homing in on the beasts.

Graww...!

Two Mountain Bulls fell lifeless after the spear pierced their trunk with an unparallel strength. The remaining beasts were stunned for a moment before analysing the situation.

The sight of two of their comrades falling lifeless invoked a sense of anger in the horde. But their erupting emotion was quickly suppressed by the sight of the wound the beasts sustained.

A hole larger than a human head was blasted through the sturdy skin and impenetrable defence of the beasts!

The Mountain Bulls were in a daze as they caught sight of the reason for death. And as they stood there idly, a figure in black emerged from the very direction the spear came.

Slash!

A Mountain Bull failed to react quickly and an axe severed its head from its torso. The flesh was cleaved apart like a piece of tender meat and blood flowed from the beast's body like a stream.

Immediately, the scene went distorted and the projection of images came to an end.

For a period of two minutes, the chamber was deathly silent. The minister who stored the emerald in his space ring could almost hear the flood of queries inside the king's head.

"My king, I know that you've several questions. But the information we have is limited.

Ah, and there's one more thing. The squad leader of the mission was able to give a detailed account of the incident."