Chapter 267. The Cursed Prince

Chapter 267: 267. The Cursed Prince

Meanwhile, Bors took the chance to launch his most powerful attack on the monsters here.

As he held his broadsword high in a ceremonial way, winds from a mile radius began to gather at its tip.

A storm cloud started forming directly above his sword and one could hear faint lightning snaking inside.

Of course, all of this took more than ten seconds. Every 4th Circler in the monster army, including Issac concentrated their attacks on Bors, aiming to disrupt his ultimate attack.

However, the royal generals stood on their way, willing to sacrifice themselves at this opportune time.

If the dark mages weren’t totally spent, it would be easy to disrupt Bors. However, there were only two remaining who could still battle. They teamed up with spellcasters like Edgar, Minerva and Linda to trap the royal generals.

This allowed Issac, Ash and the two elven swordsmen to reach Bors. However, the royal commander also had his own secret techniques. He had somehow spawned a tornado around himself, which was hard to bypass in a short time.

Although it also affected the kingdom’s soldiers, Bors had no expression on his face as he kept charging his attack from the brewing storm’s eye.

"It’s not possible at this point, we have no time..."

"But I can sense the master, he’s almost here!"

Whooo! Whooo!

The loud gusts of wind carried away Issac and Ash’s voices as they desperately attacked Bors.

"Heh, foolish." The royal commander sneered, as a thick bolt of lightning directly hit his sword tip.

Now! Bors swung his sword downwards.

"Storm Release!"

...

At the royal palace, Averon and his ministers watched the battle unfolding from the throne room’s balcony. Two 4th circle knights stood guard around him.

The palace itself was on heavy alert, and had activated all magic arrays, except one. The king hadn’t forgotten about the Isenwings who could return to cause trouble in such times.

But after that day, those traitors were nowhere to be seen.

"My Sophia... Cecil, Daphne, Shirley..." Averon listlessly muttered his wife and daughters’ names.

At this moment, he and the ministers noticed the wind picking up. In mere seconds, this wind turned into a loud gust, making the nearby maids cling to their skirts. The sky itself was darkening around the battlefield.

"That’s... What’s happening?" The ministers began to chatter and saw the king’s expression turn solemn.

"Don’t follow me." Averon turned around and left the balcony.

While the confused ministers kept gazing at the battlefield, an inconspicuous shadow flickered in a corner.

Going into a secret corridor, the king lightly tapped the floor with his feet.

"Your Majesty." An aged man suddenly appeared beside him and bowed, wearing a loose white robe with a Philips emblem.

This was the King’s Hand, the de facto leader of ministers. He usually remained lowkey, thus very few people in the palace knew that he was actually a peak 4th Circle Mage.

Acting as Averon’s speaker in royal proceedings was only his secondary role. His primary role was to only protect the king, no matter what happened. That’s why he hadn’t acted when the queen was taken hostage.

"Thaddeus, my brother has been forced to use his ultimate skill. We can’t delay any longer, bring me to the underground seal." Averon had a distinct sorrow in his voice, as well as a hint of fear.

"Your Majesty, are you really planning to..." Thaddeus’s eyes widened.

"The enemies are at our doorstep. Even if we must face annihilation, it has to be done our way!" Averon grit his teeth resolutely.

"But..."

"If you’re not bringing me there, I’ll climb down myself!"

This attitude made Thaddeus see that stubborn young man from decades ago, the prince who was not yet a king. Once this Averon made up his mind, it was impossible to convince him.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Thaddeus sighed. Grabbing the King’s shoulder, he softly chanted a few arcane words and snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the two disappeared. A second later, a frustrated tongue-clicking sound resounded in the corridor.

"Underground seal, huh... That teleport link is concealed, but I can still sense the mana density. Don’t think I can’t tail you." A slightly young, boyish voice sounded before its owner left the corridor.

Averon and Thaddeus reappeared deep under the royal palace. There was a man-made dungeon here.

The structure of this place was rather grand and ancient, dating more than a thousand years back. It was first built to punish the worst enemies of the Phillips royal family, but was ironically repurposed to cage a prince later on.

The late king had brought Averon and Bors here once and introduced them to that man.

’He seemed so amiable back then, if father hadn’t warned us... perhaps we would’ve already been bewitched...’ Averon felt chills as he and Thaddeus walked deeper into the dungeon, going through the long passages which had moldy murals.

After some time, he reached a tightly shut bronze door which had a complicated magic array carved into it.

There was another magic array on the floor which still had chaotic magic crystals. The floor array siphoned off the ambient mana of the leyline directly below, keeping its own expenditure extremely low.

The siphoned mana was then changed into specific attributes and transferred to the door’s array, constantly powering it up.

If any of these two arrays were to be damaged, the whole underground structure would collapse. Thus, it was impossible to bypass this restriction through brute force.

You had to be an exceptionally capable mage to disassemble it while turning off various safety mechanisms. That was still risky.

To open these bronze doors as intended, one had to have the Phillips bloodline while also knowing the specific passcodes only passed down to the kings.

"Wait here." Averon took a deep breath as he approached the door while unsheathing his sword.

Making a small cut on his thumb, he smeared his blood on the door where the handles were supposed to be. In an instant, the sealing arrays simultaneously lit up.

"History." A monotone voice sounded.

Averon glanced at the bottom of the bronze door and muttered, "Sealed on the 3rd Heroic Eon, Year 693 of the Origin Calendar by Averon I, first descendant of the founding King Ruther."

One of the circular magic circles on the door quickly spun, being replaced by a smaller one. Then that same monotone voice came.

"Reason."

"Practicing dark magic. Committing uncountable human sacrifices and near annihilation of the royal bloodline."

All arrays simultaneously dimmed as a dark red magic circle appeared.

"Entity."

"Dominik the Cursed Prince, stripped of the Philips name. A fifth circle warlock." Averon paused for a second and added, "...Presumed to be unkillable."

As soon as the last word was said, the mana coming from the siphoning array on the floor increased by threefold. Then, a soft creak resounded in the silent underground.

Although Averon knew that the person inside would still be restricted, he couldn’t help but be nervous as he pushed the heavy door open.