Supreme Magus

Chapter 4325: The Invincible King (Part 1)

"Did you find something with Earth Vision?" Tista repeated the scan, but none of the spells stored in the Mouth detected magical signatures.

"Yeah, I didn’t touch anything in case they are connected to a silent alarm." Nalrond also checked around with Life and Fire Vision, but aside from his companions, there was nothing to see.

"What you sensed on the wall are the remnants of an array." Solus said after checking it with the Eyes. "An ancient array physically carved in the rock. It’s inactive for so long that the erosion of the stone has made most of the runes unreadable."

"And the one on the floor is a spike pit." Protector checked on it from a safe distance with Invigoration. "The blades inside are made of normal metal and so rusted that a breeze is enough to turn them into dust."

"How did whoever built this place expect to kill anyone with that junk?" Tista scoffed.

"Most likely with poison." Quylla replied. "Also, I bet that triggering the trap would have activated the dormant and until that moment undetectable array, which in turn would have caused a cave-in and sounded an alarm.

"Even if you survived the collapse of the ceiling, the constructs would have rushed here to finish you off."

As they approached the underground facility, they found more elaborate, powerful traps that combined magic with mechanical devices. Yet the ravages of time had turned runes into scratches and clockwork gears into moss patches.

"I suspect that our late host knew about Awakened and didn’t want them here." Lith said. "It’s the only reason to keep the arrays inactive and rely on mechanical traps. Life Vision can spot neither, taking away an Awakened’s greatest advantage."

"That or maybe they knew they were about to die and wanted the arrays to last." Solus replied. "In their inactive state, magical formations can work for a long time even after the imprint of their maker disappears.

"I have a few theories about this place, but it’s too soon to tell. Let’s go deeper and see if we find something else."

Nalrond shapeshifted into his Agni form and Morok into its real body, that of a Tyrant 3.5 meters (11’6") tall, covered in prismatic scales, with reverse-V shaped bone protuberances on his back, and reverse-jointed legs.

They both possessed the ability to perceive the elemental imbalance produced by arrays, be they active or not, by detecting the fluctuations in the world energy they produced.

Away from a mana geyser and with nothing to interfere with their mystical senses, the two men were confident to spot hidden compartments and spells, no matter how well they had been cloaked.

Yet only Nalrond’s Earth Vision spotted something as they moved deeper, and what he found confirmed what they already knew. There were many traps along the way to the underground facility, but most were mechanical.

As the group got closer to their destination, the trapdoors became larger, and the spike pits they covered became deeper. Time and lack of maintenance had jammed the delicate mechanisms, sealing the trapdoors so well that only a powerful earth magic spell could pry them apart.

Quylla examined the few still readable runes of the various deactivated arrays they encountered, jotting them down and looking for a match in her books.

"I think I got something." They had entered the warren of tunnels for less than an hour, but thanks to the Mouth and Nalrond’s Earth Vision, they had already covered half the distance. "There is no record of this place, but I identified these spells.

"They date back to about 6,000 years ago, and were developed during the reign of Zarkar Teneb, also known as the ’Invincible King’."

"The who?" Solus switched all the tomes inside Soluspedia with the history books in her possession, but found no mention of such a person.

"Your run-of-the-mill conqueror turned tyrant as soon as he got rid of his competition." Quylla shrugged. "The only two noteworthy things about Teneb are his meteoric rise that gave birth to several legends, and his unmatched skill as a general.

"Even after he was killed, his enemies honored him by passing down in their chronicles that the Invincible King had never been defeated."

"I’m sorry, but you lost me." Tista tilted her head in confusion. "How could this guy be killed without being defeated first?"

"Teneb was undefeated as a general, not as a warrior." Quylla shook her head. "His enemies lured him into an ambush alone with his honor guard and slaughtered him with overwhelming numbers."

"That’s a cowardly move if I ever heard one, but at least it’s better than being poisoned." Lith nodded. "What about the legends surrounding the Invincible King?"

"Again, nothing special. Zarkar Teneb was a nameless farmer who, after angering a petty local noble, was forced to escape to avoid persecution. A few years later, he returned as a powerful mage, conquered his old village, slayed the noble, and from there he built his empire.

"And you call this nothing special?" Morok furrowed his many brows. "This Teneb guy might as well be the First King’s ancestor. How is he any worse than Valeron?"

"Easy. Teneb was cruel, oppressed the people of the countries he invaded, and had no qualms about turning those who displeased him into slaves." Quylla replied. "He used forced labor to strip the newly conquered lands of their magical resources and amassed them in his capital."

"I stand corrected. The Invincible King is nothing like Valeron the First." The Tyrant retched. "How long did his rule last?"

"Guys like that never last long." She shrugged. "After about twenty years and stockpiling enough treasures to rival the current Royal Vaults, the Invincible King was betrayed by his vassals.

"Teneb was, after all, invincible as long as he stood at the head of an army, so his enemies within his court and the rebel forces joined hands. The nobles wanted to get rid of the Invincible King and steal his treasures, while the rebels wanted freedom.

"During the parade to celebrate the 21st year of his rule, the local militia turned against him, and the adoring crowd revealed itself to be the rebel army in disguise. You can imagine the rest. The funny part is what happened after the Invincible King died.

"The nobles hadn’t considered that letting inside the city walls an army of angry people and locking out of the capital the loyal soldiers wasn’t such a good idea. After the Invincible King was dead, the rebels stormed the castle.

"The nobles retreated inside the imprintless Royal Chambers, hoping to find and use Teneb’s war artifacts to defend themselves. Imagine their surprise when they found the armory and even the treasury empty.

"The nobles were slaughtered that same day, and the Invincible King’s empire crumbled in a matter of months."

"How can you be so sure that the nobles didn’t find anything useful?" Lith asked.

"Because after its victory, the rebel alliance fell apart as well, and the soldiers assembled by the various factions returned to their respective countries. All of them left behind a separate retelling of the story, and they all curse the Invincible King for robbing them.

"The former members of the rebel army never recovered a single mana crystal or nugget of silver that was stolen from their lands."