Chapter 57: The Panther Knight
~Master, why did you tell that man the location of that artefact? It is quite a powerful one.~ Alpyhn asked as she floated silently around my shoulder, invisible to the surrounding eyes.
~It was that, or be subjected to whatever they're gonna put me through. Truth be told, the current me has little possibility of escaping from them, Adrian's at the level of a Mage King, and there's the other three Supreme clan leaders around him. But all in all, it worked out pretty well in my favour.~
~Why's that?~
~He made an oath to never hurt me, so that's a start. And telling him the location of the artefact will put me in a good light and maybe coax him over to my side in the future.~
~That is not a bad idea master. You're thinking ahead.~
~Now then.~
I narrowed my eyes as I felt a tingling sensation on the back of my neck. I looked back and found everyone on the street staring at me. Even those in the buildings peeked through the blinds of the windows.
"Haaa…" I let out a sigh.
"Why does he have to make this so troublesome. Alpy lend me a hand."
Gesturing with my unicorn ring, I made seem like I was using an artefact for the upcoming magic that Alphyn was going to cast.
"Infinite Blooming Mirage."
In a flash of brilliant light, hundreds and thousands of my mirror copies split to all corners of the city.
~You learned quite a fancy trick. Not bad.~ I ruffled her fur.
~Thank you master! Every single one of them has at least the power of a first circle. And clones will split off to form other clones with a limited will of their own. So long as you supply me with mana, they will keep multiplying.~
I've been supplying my unicorn ring with mana everyday ever since I got it, so I'll not run out anytime soon. It will keep them away from our backs for a while.
Trying to look inconspicuous, we strolled down the street. Hiding in plain sight was usually the best strategy when running away, because mostly no one expects it. They would simply assume I was one of the clones.
The city was abuzz from the thousands of shoes slapping concrete ground. Every citizen of Dreamless City were armed to their teeth, searching every nook and cranny of alleyways.
20 minutes later when we were halfway across the city, I noticed something peculiar. Staying close to the dark corners of the streets, there was a demi stalking from the shadows. There wasn't any murderous intent coming from him, so I found that interesting. Acting like I did not notice his presence, I entered an empty cafe and brewed myself some wyn tea. A short while later, a silent presence enter the shop slowly with his hands up, revealing himself to be a were-panther.
"I mean you no harm-."
I raised my hand stopping him mid-sentence.
"Take a seat, I've prepared tea."
"You- How did you know I was coming." He asked with a suspicious look in his eye
"My senses are better than most."
Were-panthers were well known for being one of the stealthiest species on the continent. Their inate racial trait was that any movement they made will never produce any sound, making them perfect infiltrators and assassins. Failing to approach their targets without alerting puts a huge hit on their pride, but he knew this mission was more important than his feelings.
He sat down gracefully like a natural feline predator, a puzzled expression etched on his face.
"Are you really so important that his majesty ordered me to abandon this post just to assist you in escaping?"
"I didn't ask for this, but if I were to guess, I simply hold more value." I stated.
"You are full of yourself, this better be worth my progression of two years."
"Not my problem. Since you're here, we can progress through this city much faster now. I don't believe we've introduced ourselves, I'm Eric
Pendragon, which you probably knew, you are?"
"I am Sir Geraldwin Xuceall, one of the ten royal knights. My previous mission has ended, now you are my mission. We have no time to waste, let's go"
"Lead the wa-" My sentence ended midway as a silver dagger flew through my head from behind.
"NO!" Sir Geraldwin exclaimed in shock.
"Calm yourself, that was merely one of my mirror copy," I appeared from the second floor balcony as my clone faded away.
"So meticulous and paranoid, they are one of the few that doesn't let go of even a single one. I am both impressed and annoyed by their dedication." Lying on the ground 3 feet away from me was the attacker, gasping in harsh and ragged breaths. Bleeding profusely from both stumps, he had moments before dying.
"Such is the life of a mercenary, today simply wasn't your day."
Throwing away the decapitated arms of my assailant, I proceeded down the stairs, only to be greeted by a knight with a strange expression.
"You… are a teen, yet so cold-blooded. And kill without a single emotion. Not sure what to think of this."
"Let's go, there's more to come." Ignoring his previous remarks, I tilted my head away and left.
Having the knight with me increased my travelling speed tremendously. Knowledge of every nook and cranny of the city naturally came in his job description. We almost never encountered anyone during the shortcuts through the city, and the ones that we have, were easily disposed of.
Before long, we arrived in front of a large excavation site. I guess it was to no ones surprise that there were already a few guys anticipating us. They were covering the entrance of the underground mining site.
"Leave this to me, as a knight I have to fulfil my duties." Sir Geraldwin said.
"Be my guest."
Claws outstretched, he leaped towards them with ferocious grace, each step building up momentum, until he was nothing but a blur to them. With incredibly agile movements, he weaved through all attacks with millimetres to spare. Such precision frightened the attackers, making them step back. Because all of them were there for individual gain, none of them were working together, thus breaking their already flimsy formation into pieces. This made an easy picking for Sir Geraldwin as he diced them up one after another. Seeing as he was about to clean up the remaining ones, I started looking for the drilling machines.
~Hey, sweet dreams over, I've a question.~
I nudged Alphyn, who was rolled over on all fours in mid air, snoring away.
~Hmmmm? What is it?~
~How do these machines look like?~
~They were invented five hundred years ago, powered by monster cores to make massive underground roads. You'll know it when you see the machine.~ Alphyn replied.
~What's the point of all these, when you can just use magic and get things done faster. Also all those monster cores going to waste.~
~Not everyone is like you Master. They don't have the near limitless mana to expand like dragons do. So they have to think of creative ways to do stuff like these.~
By this point, I've walk deep enough to find several machines with giant silver drills on the front.
~Hold on, before taking the machine. I want to collect the cores from the others.~
Destroying the machines was harder than I thought. Since they were made for high intensity drilling, their durability is pretty high. I collected 10 b-ranked cores and placed them into my spacial ring.
~Now how do I operates this.~
I looked at the confusing number of buttons on the panel and looked back at Alphyn, a pleading look in my eyes.
~Get with the times old man, or we'll leave you behind!~
~….~
~Hehe! I guess it can't be helped. Place your hand on this sphere and I'll instruct you from there.~
-1 Minutes Later
~Wooohooo, stoooooop!~
~What's the matter?~
~That is not a speed the drilling machine should be travelling at, you've injected too much mana.~
~Oops.~
"Are you playing around?" The chiding voice of Sir Geraldwin came from the entrance.
"Umm…"
"Anyways, the guys have been taken care of. Let's move. We'll travel far enough until we are out of the city borders."
The rest of the journey was smooth sailing, we emerged above ground into the outskirts of a deserted village.
"There will be an escort coming from the Kingdom, let's take shelter here for the night," Sir Geraldwin said.
"I have a better idea, how about we go there now." I proposed.
~Markeil.~
~….~
~MARKEIL.~
~Yes My Lord!~
~I do not like to repeat myself, next time that happens, there will be punishment.~
~Thank you for your benevolence, My Lord!~
~Now get me out of here, there's a passenger with me too.~
"What's your plan by the way?" The knight asked.
"Any moment now…" I placed my hand on his shoulder.
In the next instant, we were zipped away and into the grand room.
"I recognise this place, it's the teleporter room in the Crystal Duke's place! How do you have access?"
"Connections, it helps," I didn't elaborate further as I left to find the king.
— New chapter is coming soon — Write a review
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone