Chapter 544: WE CAN ONLY OBEY
After Axel issued his orders, the four royal heirs of the Minor kingdoms each left to carry out their own duties in their respective positions.
He approached closer to the walls, in his runecaster aspect, and the ones who remained were Zena, Zen, Wangnan, and Gareth.
They all paid close attention to him, without Axel needing to say anything.
Axel explained as his hands ran through a crystalline glass-like layer in the complete internal cavity of the hollow mountain, "The Oathbreaker stones are extremely delicate. We cannot simply create cracks in this layer through force or any external intervention."
"Even the slightest bit of misstep in this can render all the layers of Oathbreaker stones to crumble."
"The moment the Oathbreaker stones change color, it will become useless."
"And the bigger and clearer the Oathbreaker stones are, the more useful they are, the more they can be used to break higher levels of contracts."
"Technically speaking, almost all levels of contracts can be broken with enough Oathbreaker stones. As it is a substance that is used to evade certain worldly governing laws, to a limited extent," explained Axel.
’Though demon contracts cannot be broken through Oathbreaker stones, or maybe they could also be broken, but I don’t know the method of it yet...’ thought Axel internally.
He voiced once more, after the short pause, "This is an extremely small mine, where you can practice the right method of excavating these stones."
"Because the other mines we would have to extract the Oathbreaker stones from are multiple times bigger than this, with likely even ten times more extractable stones."
"We cannot make any mistakes on those mines...when extracting."
Axel closed his eyes, and through the ’Energy Sense’ skill, he located the already existing small cracks through the crystalline layer, and these particular cracks could only be sensed through a skill as rare as the ’Energy Sense’.
Because one could not spread their mana or any form of energy within this layer, it would automatically cause the whole layer to crumble.
So, one could only barely sense the mana or energy existing within that crystalline layer, and through that energy, sense the gaps in it.
In fact, by the events of the original storyline, once the Ghost race leaves, pretending to lose the war, and all the minor kingdoms fall under the rule of the Great Kingdoms. It was Lucien himself, with his energy sense skill, who discovered the most perfect way to mine the Oathbreaker stones.
Lucien, as the original main character, was also the one who discovered the multiple hidden Oathbreaker stone mines, which even the Ghost race had failed to find. It was mostly due to the energy sense skill.
Even the reason why Lucien was so terrified when Axel had first entered the battlefield as Osiris was also due to this very skill. He could sense the true, horrendous nature of his demonic energy far more clearly than anyone else.
Axel, through small gaps existing within the clear layer of the Oathbreaker stones, pushed his highly controlled mana with the expertise of the great runecaster he was; his mana subtly worked on widening the gaps, and a small part of the layer, roughly 2 meters in radius, came off automatically, crumbling to about 100 large pieces.
And unlike the Oathbreaker stones excavated by the Ghost race, which were on average the size of a medium coin, these Oathbreaker stones were the size of a fist.
But even then, his execution was not perfect, because this was his first try, as amongst the stones lying in the ground, 1/30th still turned black. But Axel didn’t mind and tried once more.
Another roughly 2-meter-radius, circular section came off the walls. This time, the size of each Oathbreker stone was still the same, about the size of an average adult man’s fist. It seems even if he was extremely good at it, the size of the Oathbreaker stones could not be any bigger.
But the stones that turned black were even fewer in number.
Axel gestured his four followers to come close and said to them, "Use your gentler aspect and energy to sense the cracks. I’ve filled all those untracable gaps with my rune-attributed mana. Since you are all my followers... You should be able to sense my mana, without too much difficulty."
After that, they all tried to do the same as Axel had shown, each using their own methods in different sections of the crystalline layers.
Gareth used his Elemental aspect and used water-attribute, soft mana to push into the gaps where he could sense Axel’s runic mana, and as his phase was the highest among everyone. He managed to get through the initial step much more smoothly and quickly.
Wangnan used his Sylvan aspect but without the corruption magic, using the Nature-attribute mana of the purest form.
Zena used her Knight aspect, as it was an aspect that provided a high level of control over mana.
Zen, who has the Knight (2 stars) and Fighter (1 star) aspects, also used his Knight aspect for the precise control it provides.
Thud!!
Click!!
Crash!!
Tink!!!
One after another, multiple slabs of a large section of the crystalline layer fell off and broke into numerous roughly shaped Oathbreaker stones.
Axel examined how each of them did, and, as he expected, Gareth’s stones were the largest, and his pile had the fewest blackened crystals, followed by Wangnan, Zena, and Zen.
Though there was not much difference in the pile between Wangnan and Zena.
But Zen’s pile had significantly smaller-sized Oathbreaker stones, and almost half of the stones in his pile had turned blackish.
As if sensing the demon’s displeasure towards her brother, Zena’s heart shuddered. But before she could say anything. Axel sighed, "Try once more, and do better...."
Everyone tried a second time, and Zena dared not disobey, but when she saw that only her brother had not improved on the second try, with half of his pile again black.
This time, before Axel could speak, she grabbed her brother’s head and smashed it onto the ground so hard that his forehead cracked, Zen’s entire head was smeared in the blood of his fractured head, Zena pleaded in a trembling voice, "Sirr....Osiris, please.... spare my brother. I BEG YOU, PLEASE...."
Tears fell from her eyes.
The situation dissolved extremely quickly; Wangnan did not understand what was going on, but Gareth understood quite well. The man could only let out a tired sigh. If he did not understand Axel’s mentality after all this time, he would have lived his life in vain.
Axel’s eyes flickered in surprise. He was indeed thinking of ways to kill Zen Karmann through the enemy forces’ hands.
Once the war resumed, this act would both remove a burden from his side and maybe unlock more potential from Zena, as she would boil in rage, for the sake of revenge.
Axel chuckled coldly. Did this bitch just figure him out? Or was it just her instinct?
He eventually stated, "Fine for your sake, I will not kill your brother in any way, but if he doesn’t show enough resolve and promise in the final clash of this war, I will have to pull out the demon bloodline from him forcefully. Which would leave your brother in a half-dead state."
Gareth’s expression became strained as he shook his head, ’That’s right. Axel will not tolerate someone incompetent, not because he is cold or looks down on them. But because he can’t afford any compromise. Only with ruthless determination could he move forward.’
Zena also smashed her head onto the ground. She said in a quivering voice, "Th-Thank you...m-my lord, thank you so much."
Gareth looked towards Wangnan, and the corrupted elf wore a neutral expression, but with his keen eyes, he could tell there was a hint of scorn in the elven figure’s gaze, directed towards Zen.
It seems the Corrupted elf wholeheartedly stood alongside Axel’s decision, whatever that decision may be.
After that, Zen did not dare to try again, his heart filled with trepidation and self-recrimination as he collected the Oathbreaker stones scattered across the floor and placed them into multiple large containers by hand.
For this reason, skilled workers are needed: this part of the task must be done manually.
No energy must touch the Oathbreaker stones directly, because Oathbreaker stones cannot be put into any storage devices.
But that is only according to the knowledge provided by the Ghost race. But there is indeed a way to put them into storage devices, though those have to be uniquely made.
His doppelganger, Axion, had already begun creating that type of storage device in bulk, but it would take a few days to finish.
Time passed as Gareth, Wangnan, and Zena continued to break away chunks of layer upon layer of the crystalline Oathbreaker stones. Their efficiency on the task also continued to increase in small increments.
After 20 hours, Conner had come back. The prince said respectfully, "Lord Osiris, all is ready..."
The necessary workers to move these stones are also right outside this mountain.
Axel nodded as he stood up, and he left the place alongside Gareth, Wangnan, and the Raven prince.
Only Zena and her younger brother remained there.
She grabbed the shoulders of her brother tightly and said in an extremely grave tone, "My brother, please, you have to try more, become more... far more."
"BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE, WE CANNOT RUN FROM THE DEMON. WE CANNOT HIDE FROM THIS DEMON."
"WE CANNOT SCHEME AGAINST HIM...."
"WE CAN ONLY OBEY...."
Comments