Read Novel Full Chapter 1324 Underestimated
Chapter 1324 Underestimated
The undead obeyed without a sound. Their formation moved with chilling precision, surrounding the mobile fortress upon which Quinlan sat. The Drowned King eyed the blue-skinned soldiers who were still standing upon piles of bones. 'The skeletal sentries of the carriage...' he realized darkly.
The strange, blue-skinned entities stared back with empty calm, their expressions unreadable.
The Dwarven King focused on Quinlan. "So this is your strategy? You plan to blackmail us into letting you join our forces?"
The Elven Queen added, "We are mere hours away from crossing into the human lands. Even if you manage to alert Alexios, he will struggle to organize any meaningful response in time."
Quinlan leaned back slightly. "Is that so?" His tone carried a thread of amusement. "Why don't we test it?"
The Dwarven King's hammer scraped the table. "You are surrounded. If you call that man again, we will crush you. Are you truly willing to throw away your and your allies' lives just to alert your enemy?"
Quinlan nodded. "You bring up my exact point, King Ragnar. He's my enemy and yours as well. So why are we still pretending this is complicated? I don't understand. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, isn't that right?"
The projection room shifted as several dwarves and elves exchanged looks.
"And…" Quinlan added, tapping the lich skulls in his palm with absent ease, "It sounds like you believe that we're deadweight, useless nobodies. A liability you might have to tolerate due to being forced to."
He lifted his chin and met their gazes head-on.
"But let me ask you something."
His eyes shone with more conviction than ever, turning so bright that all who saw them were taken aback.
"Aren't you underestimating us a bit too much?"
Slowly, he raised both hands and channeled a heat so intense it blistered the air around him. The lich skulls he held ignited with flames of bright red that were devouring the bone instantly. The two skulls hissed and cracked, bones turning to ash in moments.
Even the undead halted mid-step, their hollow eyes locked on him, their rasping breaths suspended.
Then, something impossible happened.
The pitch-black armor Quinlan wore began to shift. Red veins flared along its surface, writhing and pulsating as if alive. The dwarves in the projection room widened their eyes at the sight of the armor twisting in ways that defied their understanding of what should be possible.
Plates slid, edges sharpened, then softened as the warlike bulk of a warlord's armor transformed into the sleek, tailored elegance of a suit. Every line, every seam bespoke authority, not aggression. Quinlan now looked less like a battlefield tyrant and more like a man leading a giant business.
The dwarves in the projection leapt to their feet with incredible speed, especially when the armor created a strange red flame that seemed to brush against his skin.
However, instead of harming him, the flames seemed… protective, almost affectionate, wrapping around him like a living cloak.
As the armor shifted into the sleek, elegant suit, the flames reached his hair. Stray strands lifted, straightened, and aligned themselves neatly with the precision of a master stylist, perfectly complementing the new formality of his attire. Not a single lock remained out of place.
The armor became a hair stylist, using its harmless flames to tidy its master's appearance. As a loyal and dedicated armor, Synchra wanted her master to look the part not only with the suit but also to become the whole package, so she ventured to truly complete the transformation.
She did so right before the watching eyes of the dwarven leadership.
"WHAT?!" one dwarf shouted in pure shock, with fists gripping the edges of the table. "What is that armor?! Who made it?! Which clan made such a leap in technology?!"
Quinlan didn't answer. At the same time as the armor began styling his hair, from the palm of his other hand, a green seed sprouted. Within seconds, it grew with a speed that made eyes ache to follow, twisting and curling until it formed the shape of a small girl. Her skin was a vibrant green, her hair composed entirely of delicate leaves that rustled audibly in the wind. She stood on his palm, balancing herself cutely with parted arms, then rose onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his cheek.
"Daddy!!" she shouted with a bright, gleeful, full-of-life voice.
"What in the Holy Mother…?"
"Lady Luminara, help us…"
"I've never seen such an entity! What is she?!"
Gasps erupted from the elves in the projection room. The Elven Queen's eyes widened as several of her attendants scrambled from their seats only to walk closer to the display, as if that would let them understand the living miracle they were looking at.
"Daddy, who are those pretty ladies? They are looking at Rosie strangely…" the girl pouted, looking a bit scared. She climbed up to his shoulder and hid behind his head, away from the projection, only to timidly peek out from behind him and blink right at the Elf Queen.
Quinlan reached behind to pat the girl's leafy hair. "Those pretty ladies are going to become our allies. Maybe you can play with them if they agree to work together," he said and held the girl effortlessly with his expression softening for a fraction of a heartbeat. The contrast was dizzying: a man capable of burning lich skulls to ash and commanding ethereal armies, yet tender enough to cradle such a tiny, delicate being.
It was too stark a shift.
In response to his words of potential 'playing together with the pretty ladies,' multiple elven eyes could be seen turning sparkly. They didn't know whatever this little green creature truly was, but to say their curiosity was piqued would be the understatement of the century. Clearly, she was deeply in tune with Mother Nature, and for most elves, that much was more than enough.
After all, even Sylvaris fell to her knees and cried tears of joy when she first met Rosie.
She was just that much of a unique girl.
Naturally, it was all a deliberate move, a theatrical play.
The living embodiment of nature to grab the attention of the elves, and a living suit of armor to shock the dwarves.
Two spectacles of power no one present could have anticipated.
Quinlan's gaze swept across the projection room, through the dwarves, past the elves, and toward the clearing where Thorga and Serelis kneeled, still catching their breath.
Then, his devilish grin returned. With his hair styled perfectly and his left cheek being needily nuzzled against by a creature of legend, he asked,
"Queen Myrasyn, King Ragnar, what do you say? Shall we get down to business?"