"A soulbound artifact," King Septimius muttered as he gazed at the Key of Agartha that was hovering in front of him.
Unable to touch the key, he resorted to using his heightened senses to better understand its properties. He wanted to know just what kind of artifact it was.
As the King of Agartha, he could sense that it was an artifact that held great power, and not only that, it also possessed a small piece of the Core of Elysium, which greatly surprised him.
"You said that you got this as a reward after clearing a Dungeon," King Septimius said. "What is the name of that Dungeon?"
"The Sacred Dungeon," Lux replied.
King Septimius' expression stiffened after hearing Lux's reply.
"This Sacred Dungeon you speak about, does it have a restriction that allows only those of the Initiate Rank and below to enter it?" King Septimius asked. "Also, does it have five gates inside of it? Gates of Conquest, War, Famine, Death, and Apocalypse?"
This time, it was Lux's turn to be surprised, and his reaction was enough to confirm King Septimius' assumption, which made the King of Agartha sigh internally.
"Even with all the precautions we took, it was still not enough to prevent people like you from entering the Domain of the Fallen," King Septimius stated. "I don't know if I should be angry or amazed at how daring you Highlanders are.
"Tell me, there are supposed to be Argonaut and Dreadnaught-Ranked Monsters inside the Dungeon that would serve as guards attacking those who dare to challenge the Domain. Mere Initiates should be unable to defeat them. How were you able to even reach the location of the Sacred Dungeon with so many Monsters guarding the place?"
Lux pondered for a bit before answering King Septimius' question. In the end, after careful consideration, he decided to give a safe answer.
"I got lucky," Lux replied.
The King of Agartha snorted. "So that explains it. It seems that our Predecessors have greatly underestimated the young men and women of this generation. Tell me, how many Gates have been conquered?"
"Four."
"…So, the Gate that still remains unconquered is the Gate of the Apocalypse."
The King of Agartha sneered after hearing Lux's reply. Since the foolish people from the Surface World wanted to see the secret that they had locked up inside the Gate of Apocalypse so badly, then so be it.
They would experience firsthand that there were some things that must be left untouched no matter what.
"Fools," King Septimius said. "All of you are fools."
The King of Agartha then flicked his hand, and the Key of Agartha flew back to Lux and landed on the palm of the Half-Elf's hand.
Since the Gates had already been opened, he decided to send a few of his agents to determine the status of the last Gate of the Apocalypse.
'There's no need to rush,' King Septimius thought. 'I'll order my people to do something about it after I deal with these two trespassers.'
King Septimius looked at the Half-Elf with an annoyed expression on his face.
However, although he was annoyed, he still admired the Half-Elf for being one of the individuals that managed to do the impossible.
It wasn't easy to conquer the Four Gates, which served as the Seals to prevent the Gate of the Apocalypse from opening.
Because of this, King Septimius had no choice but to acknowledge the red-headed teenager's strength.
"So you've come to see my daughter, Aurora," King Septimius stated. "And, what do you plan to do after you see her?"
"I plan to take her back to the Surface World with me," Lux replied.
"Hahaha! You plan to bring a walking Calamity to the Surface World?" King Septimius laughed out loud after hearing Lux's reply. "Good one, Half-Elf. For a minute, I was even tempted to give you my approval just to see the Surface World fall into ruin. Do you know about my Daughter's background?"
Lux nodded. "Misfortune's Beloved."
King Septimius sneered. "Right. Someone who had the power to give bad luck to the people around her. And yet, you wish to bring that girl to the Surface World. You sure have guts, boy."
The other High Ranking nobles and ministers of the King of Agartha laughed as well. Just like their King, they wanted to see the chaos that would transpire once Aurora set foot in the realm above the ground.
The catastrophe she had caused in Agartha still haunted all of them after so many years, and they were very tempted to see other people fall into ruin as well.
"Now, let's set aside my pitiful daughter for the time being," King Septimius stated. "Let's talk about what I should do with the two of you. Do you know the punishment for people who illegally enter Agartha without my permission?"
"Saintess Cleo said that our memories will be erased before we are sent back to the Surface World," Lux replied.
"Indeed, that is how we dealt with those who tried to sneak inside Agartha in the past," King Septimius nodded. "However, two days ago, when the High Council had heard that two Highlanders had managed to arrive in our Kingdom, they sent me a proposal.
"They said that erasing the memories of trespassers was too lenient a punishment. Do you want to know their proposal, boy?"
Lux nodded because there was nothing he could do aside from nodding his head.
"A Public Execution in the form of a Gladiator Match," King Septimius smiled. "Meaning, both of you will go to the Coliseum and fight the battle-hardened criminals of our kingdom in a death match. The person who is able to kill you will have their crimes lifted and be set free.
"This will not be a one-on-one battle, but a Battle Royale. Two verses hundreds of criminals," King Septimius stated. "At the very least, all of them will be C-Rankers and below. A D-Ranker, and a Grade-A Apostle won't be able to survive such a fate. Especially that Halfling, who is only an Apostle. So how about the two of you beg for your lives right now?"
Lux and Gaap didn't reply and remained silent. What King Septimius and the rest of his subordinates didn't know was that the Half-Elf and the Halfling were talking through their Guild Chat.
"Hahaha! Master, he looks down on you because you are just an Apostle," Lux gloated. "C-Rankers? They court death!"
"He will only send in C-Rankers? I guess they can serve as new Undead for your Army," Gaap commented. "Asmodeus has been telling me that he is in dire need of Ranker Corpses to be used for his experiments. This is a good time to collect some raw materials for his study."
King Septimius, his Ministers, and the High-Ranking Nobles, all thought that Lux's and Gaap's silence was due to the fact that they were quaking in fear after hearing that they would be sent into a Death Match.
What they didn't know was that the two Necromancers were giving King Septimius a thumbs up in their hearts, applauding him for being generous—unknowingly giving them hundreds of dead bodies that would help bolster the Half-Elf's Undead Legion.
However, they couldn't say this out loud, so Lux decided to take the Initiative to speak his mind.
"What if we survive this Death Match?" Lux asked. "Two of us against battle-hardened Criminals that are C-Rankers and below is a nearly impossible task. However, what if we succeed? Will we get anything in return?"
"Hoh? It seems that you believe that you have a chance of winning." King Septimius sneered.
"Since I have nothing to lose, isn't it best if I ask for something on the off chance that my Master and I actually manage to survive?" Lux smiled. "How about we regain our freedom and be given His Majesty's permission to explore Agartha to our heart's content? How does that sound?"
"Hah! You are very bold, Lux," Cleo, who had been listening silently, smiled. "If you manage to survive this hurdle, I don't mind becoming your subordinate for a year. Heck, you can even order me to call you Daddy if you want."
"Be careful what you wish for, Lady Cleo," Lux smiled back at the beautiful Saintess who didn't know what kind of trouble she was putting herself in. "It might just come true."
The other High-Ranking Nobles also thought that this was a very amusing situation, so they also imitated the Saint and offered Lux precious treasures as a reward for surviving the Death Match.
A few of them even declared that they would marry their daughters to him if he managed to last for half an hour in the battle.
The corner of King Septimius' lips rose slightly as he looked at the Half-Elf and the Halfling, who didn't seem too shaken about the punishment that he planned to give them.
Although he was doubtful that the two people would manage to succeed, a part of him wanted to see them overcome this situation and prove him wrong.
"Very well. In two days, the two of you will be sent to the Gladiator's Coliseum in order to fight for your freedom," King Septimius declared. "If you manage to win, I will allow the two of you to move unhindered in my Domain. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good," Lux replied, but deep in his heart, he was laughing non-stop.
If they were going to only fight C-Rankers, his Master, Gaap, was more than enough to annihilate hundreds of them with a single slap of Antero's gigantic hand.
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