Chapter 29: It's Not Kidnapping, If They Don't Refuse
<Achilles' POV>
I… lost?
At that absurd conclusion, my master's words came to my mind.
'You have heaven-defying talent, Achilles. But you are too arrogant. One day you will lose everything because of that arrogance.'
"Protect hero Achilles! He is the last hope of our nation!"
"Protect hero Achilles!"
"Protect hero Achilles!"
The few soldiers who hadn't run away and were still alive attacked Noah in a last-ditch effort.
'No. Don't do that. If you come here…'
"Don't kill them! I surrender…!"
I pleaded with my head on the ground. If it could save more lives, my pride didn't matter to me. Noah didn't show any mercy, however.
"Inverse Sage Heal"
Was this the price I had to pay?
Was I being shown such a scene because of my sins?
Was this Noah's revenge?
"Don't surrender yet. There is a lot to watch."
Noah's cold tone sent shivers down my spine. He killed the innocent soldiers mercilessly as if making a show out of the senseless murders.
"Stop… please…"
In the end, a sword pierced my heart.
"Inverse Sage Heal"
My eyes snapped open. I saw soldiers falling head-first into the ground with their eyes rolled back.
'Di..didn't this happen before?'
Piercing through my inner turmoil, Noah's cold voice rang once again.
"Don't surrender yet. There is a lot to watch."
Noah eliminated every soldier and killed me in the end.
"Inverse Sage Heal"
"H–huh!?"
I saw the same scene for the third time. Noah muttered the exact words before killing the soldiers.
'I see. This is… I'm caught in Noah's Menzen.'
A cold blade pierced the back of my neck.
"Inverse Sage Heal"
The future, no, the hallucination played into its predetermined fate.
But that didn't matter. Knowing that this was a hallucination didn't reduce my anguish. Noah would've killed the soldiers in reality by now.
I was made to watch the scene of my subordinates dying countless times.
"Stop… please… I beg of… you…"
I hated serving royalty. Yet, I liked my job. It was because of those soldiers who I thought of as my own brothers.
Noah killed them.
When was this hell going to end?
"Stop? We've done this 23 times only. That leaves 977 times."
The corner of Noah's lips.
"Didn't I tell you? There is a lot to watch."
***
<Reality>
"It worked." Noah heaved a sigh when he successfully pierced Achilles' mental defense.
{Thou art… heartless.}
Noah rolled his eyes at Hepius' comment. He chose to show Achilles a hallucination instead of killing every soldier in reality. How was he heartless?
{Priest Noah… what are you going to do with Achilles?}
Saintess spoke just as Noah reopened the connection.
"Why do you think I went through the trouble of fighting Achilles?" Noah grinned.
Noah slit his wrist and dropped his blood into Achilles' mouth.
{Don't tell me thou art…!}
Why was Noah breaking Achilles' will to fight?
For this!
Noah activated his skill, "Blood Subordination."
A red magic circle appeared below Achilles and crimson glyphs glowed over his body.
Blood Subordination was one of Noah's bloodline abilities. He got it after becoming a vampire.
[ Blood Subordination: Transform one individual into a lower vampire when they drink your blood. The individual must have surrendered their will to fight, only then will evolution begin. ]
[ Evaluating subordination subject. The subject has no will to fight. Beginning binding ritual. ]
[ Time until evolution: ??? ]
[ Achilles is now your subordinate ]
What should you do after encountering an unkillable, overpowered opponent?
Fight them? Kill them? Run from them?
No, you bring them to your side and work them to bones!
An unkillable overpowered enemy was free, efficient and high-quality labor!
What? Achilles would never surrender to Noah? Then Noah had to beat Achilles until he surrendered!
{Priest Noah, you are laughing weirdly.}
"Cough! Cough! Anyway, we should leave."
A few notifications appeared,
[ Hades is amused by your greedy nature. Hades want— ]
Noah closed the messages. "If you have something to say, come say it to my face."
Hades had been strangely bothering Noah from Stage-1. Noah could guess the reason. It was to take revenge for killing Cerberus twice.
Noah found a sack from the rubble, stashed unconscious Achilles inside as if Achilles was a spoil of war, and resumed his escape.
Thanks to Achilles' rampage the buildings were destroyed and Noah could see a straight path leading to the 3rd border wall.
On his way, Noah spoke, "Aren't you too quiet?"
{Am I? I was but impressed by thy performance and wonderin—}
"Our bet."
Hepius clicked his tongue.
Noah continued, "You don't want to call me master? It's okay I'm magnanimous enough to…"
{Ahhh! Fine, I shall say it! Now be quiet!}
"Say what?" Noah questioned innocently while jumping over the wreckages as he ran.
{...mas…ter…}
"I think I injured my ears in the battle. I didn't hear anything."
{Mast..er..}
"Did I hear a mosquito buzzing?"
{Master! There, I said it! Be quiet now!}
Cecilia giggled at the way the duo behaved. She was relieved. When Noah cut the astral connection suddenly, Cecilia imagined the worst possible outcome. But looking at Noah and Hepius now, no one would think Noah was fighting for his life a few minutes ago.
"There."
Noah landed on the ground outside of the third border wall. The port was further to his right and a vast jungle stretched on his left. Noah entered the jungle to hide.
{Aren't we going to the port?} Cecilia asked.
"No. I don't trust Odysseus."
Noah hadn't forgotten how Shadow got him almost killed or how Shadow was late in taking down the ruin barriers. Not to mention Achilles arrived early and the advisor of the king of Nelio was Odysseus' spy.
Everything that surrounded Odysseus was convoluted.
Going into Odysseus' lair when Noah was exhausted could prove fatal.
[ Ding! Congratulations, you have completed Stage-2 ]
[ You have completed the Primary Objective: Defend Troy ]
[ You have not completed the hidden objective. You will be given a choice. ]
[ 1. Proceed forward to the next stage after receiving basic rewards. ]
[ 2. Remain in Stage-2 and aim for clearing hidden objective. ]
[ Alert! If you choose option 2 and fail, you will be trapped in Stage-2 forever. ]
"I completed the stage," Noah muttered as he read the messages.
{Already? But you only escaped from your execution. How did that defend Troy?} Cecilia asked.
Hepius held his chin, {Ah, I comprehend now. Troy had to be safeguarded for it faced the threat of attack from Nelio. That would explain the child's actions and motivations.}
Noah nodded, " 'Child'? Who is that?"
Viens throbbed on Hepius' neck, {That would explain why ma…ster… was doing what he did.}
[ 29 minutes remaining. Please choose quickly. If you don't make a choice by the end, option 1 will be chosen as default. ]
The timer was running out, so Noah explained to Cecilia in simple words.
"Nelio is no longer in a state to wage war. They lost Achilles and roughly five hundred high-level soldiers. The city also suffered a lot of damage.
"I don't need to defend Troy if there is no one to attack them."
{Ah! Wait…}
Cecilia recalled that Noah had wreaked havoc on Nelio. However, a question came into her mind.
{I might be thinking too much. But didn't Nelio declare war already? In this situation, Troy would take the chance when Nelio is weakened and attack them.}
Cecilia continued, {Even if Nelio is weakened, if they are driven to the corner, they can form an alliance with another nation. In that case, isn't it possible for Troy to be harmed? How did you achieve your goal… No, never mind, maybe I'm just overthinking it.}
Cecilia was able to grasp the political situation in an instant. It was another proof of her being a high-ranking official of a kingdom.
On that note, Noah had ascertained that there were other nations except Nelio and Troy in Stage-2 too. Rather, there was a whole world.
"Saintess, you didn't notice?" Noah spoke.
{No…?}
Noah nodded to himself. Since she couldn't see his status window she might've missed Noah's action.
"I rarely killed any soldier below level 60. Nelio has enough manpower left. Troy has no opening to exploit, so they won't attack first."
In fact, Noah sapped the stamina of soldiers below level 60 with Sage Heal and knocked them out. Since they suddenly fell it was a given to doubt that Noah killed them.
"Nelio has ample soldiers to protect itself. But they don't have enough to wage a war. With this, there won't be any war happening."
Cecilia was shocked.
Noah had completed Stage-2's basic objective with terrifying efficiency. He didn't let greed blind him for momentary benefits and remained focused on the bigger goal which was to complete the objective.
[ 25 minutes remaining. Please choose an option. ]
The system alert appeared again.
"What should I choose?"
Noah had an inkling about the hidden objective's details. But he couldn't be sure.
While Noah was racking his head, red system warnings suddenly appeared.
[ Alert! Alert! Alert! ]
[ Foreign intervention detected ]
[ Stage-2 will be locked indefinitely ]
[ Alert! Alert! Alert! ]
[ God of Death, Hades, is descending ]
Tick! Tok!
The air stopped, noises disappeared, and a deathly stillness prevailed. It was as if time had halted.
A crack appeared in the sky. It slowly split apart, allowing a figure enshrouded in darkness to step into the world.
"@!@DCACSNR@"
[ God of Death, Hades says he has come as per your request. ]
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