The Gatekeeper Chapter 11- The One Who Is Known As The 'Strongest'.

Around the same time, near the walls surrounding the south side of the Royal Capital.

"What the h.e.l.l is happening!!??"

"Why is there a storm out of nowhere!!??"

"There are cyclones of ice!?"

"A blizzard is coming our way!!"

"Run! Evacuate now!!"

A huge commotion broke out; panicked knights were running around desperately, no one had any idea as to what was happening.

About 40 seconds ago, the clouds turned black over an area around five kilometres away from the wall, what followed this strange phenomenon were tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons. The knight order went into panic. The knights which surrounded the Royal Capital were in no way inferior to those who stand at the border, but what unfolded in front of their eyes was something that they just couldn't comprehend.

In under 1 minute, all the personnel stationed around the south entrance of the Royal Capital, witnessed with their own eyes, the unnatural phenomenon which had the destructive power to annihilate them all.

If this level of disaster was to befall them, they were certain that they would not survive, they were closest to the incoming disaster and there was no way to stop it. The only option that remained was to run for their lives.

After 2 minutes elapsed, the disaster, just as mysteriously as it had appeared, vanished. Leaving behind an overwhelming amount of ice, as if indicating that it was indeed real, and not some hallucination. Every person who witnessed this was shocked beyond belief.

Even the Great General Bernard Lenach was unable to contain his astonishment. Despite being at the age of 40, he had a well-trained body of more than 2 metres in height, a rough face covered in black beard, and keen black eyes, this man had the physical prowess which would even overshadow that of an army of demihumans. He is a master swordsman, and not a stranger to the battlefield, in addition to his impressive physical capabilities, he is also a renowned mage, capable of casting strong Earth magic of advance level. He was once considered the strongest man in the entire kingdom, but here he was, shocked to the core, unable to a.n.a.lyze the situation. He arrived just at the right time, he saw the disaster at its peak and also how it disappeared.

As the people stopped panicking, they saw something even more absurd, but they could not call it a disaster. What they saw before their eyes was the beauty emanated by the blue flames as it instantly melted the ice away, the flames danced in the air, as if inviting them to join it in the dance of death. The flames were as bewitching as they were destructive. They were entranced by the radiant blue flames, so much so that none of them even considered the danger that the flame presented, even if the flame were to engulf them right here, they wouldn't mind in the slightest.

After about 30 seconds, the flames at which they were staring so earnestly, vanished without a trace. Nothing followed, or they weren't able to see it from this distance.

General Bernard acted instantly and dispersed some of the best knights, in order to confirm the situation.

After the squad left for the location of disaster; accompanied by several knights who were also witnesses to the incident, he went to the only person in the whole kingdom who was stronger than himself.

The crown prince of the Kingdom Athena, Vernyx Silbinas Athena.

Immediately upon entering the meeting room prepared for them, Bernards' and his subordinates' eyes fell upon the extremely attractive Crown Prince sitting on an exquisite chair and caressing a large beast which appeared to be sleeping near his feet. It was a large wolf-like beast but was significantly thinner and more majestic in comparison to one, it had silky purple coloured fur on its whole body which only signified its presence. The knights could feel the beast's pressure even from a distance of several meters.

It was not an ordinary summoned beast, it surely belonged to the upper stratum of the beast hierarchy.

As the beast opened its eyes, it stood up on its four legs and stationed itself beside its master's chair with a proud expression. But then, something ever more bizarre happened, the majestic and grand beast, spoke.

"Master, there are some guests here to see you."

Everyone gasped together, the 10 knights were baffled by the sweet, mature and womanly voice the beast produced. The only people in the room who remained unaffected by this were the Crown Prince and Bernard.

"Greetings, Benki, how have you been?"

Bernard earnestly greeted the beast. Every soldier looked at him with eyes filled with confusion and puzzlement.

The beast simply bows and says in a very dignified manner.

"Greetings to you as well, Great General Bernard Lenach-sama. I have been well."

The beast says in a womanly voice, comes forth, raises her head and continues.

"Greetings, knights from the Imperial army. My name is Benki, and I am the loyal and faithful servant of my lord, Vernyx-sama."

They were shaken. They all heard the words spoken by the majestic beast. They all knew about summoning magic and types of beasts, some of them had a servant of their own. Unquestionably, beasts owned by these commoners were far inferior to that of which were owned by the n.o.bility. The beasts these knights owned were nothing more than low-level, semi-intelligent creatures who were at rock-bottom in terms of power and authority among their fellow kin.

A beast has to be provided with constant mana for as long as the beast inhabits this world. Beasts consume a lot of mana, and thus, are only summoned during battles and other such important tasks. Any number of beasts can be summoned by a magician and made into a servant, but controlling even two beasts at the same time in the real world puts tremendous burden on a mage. Even if the magician hails from a n.o.ble family, it is a huge risk as the life force of the mage may be depleted and result in death.

Life force is basically mana. And same as the human body has brain limiters for its strength, it has brain limiters for mana as well. If the mana of a being is completely exhausted, then that being's death is certain. Overexerting one's life force is a common occurrence in the field of battle, but in recent times, people tend to avoid overexerting themselves as exhaustion of life force can result in a decrease in lifespan, or when it is completely exhausted due to some unfortunate circ.u.mstances, even death. Currently, no ways to replenish life force have been discovered, however, ways to use light magic to replenish life force are constantly being researched by many researchers across the world.

The beast in front of the knights clearly occupied a high ranking among the beast hierarchical tree. The knights return to their senses and bow towards the awe-inspiring creature in front of them. The creature returns their bow, one of the knights directly addresses the beast while trembling, and asks a question which has been looming in the minds of everyone present.

"U-Umm. Benki-san, are you one of 'those' creatures which tower above all else in the realm of the beasts?"

The beast faces the man who addressed her and speaks softly.

"And what makes you think that?"

The soldier, flushed, answers her while being as calm as he could.

"N-No, it's just that you can converse with us normally, a trait only possessed by the more intelligent creatures which are said to be superior to all other beasts."

The fierce face of the feminine beast loosens up, making it look more charming.

"Fufufufu… I can see why you humans would think that. But if you believe that, you are truly naive. We intelligent beasts can also control magic elements like humans. But, similar to how you humans have disparity among individuals which hail from different families, we beasts do as well. In human terms, I am just a mere commoner among the intelligent beasts, I can only control one element, water. Certainly, it's power output is higher compared to you humans, but it can be considered near negligible compared to the power commanded by the beings who reign at the top."

As soon as she said this, she returned back to the side of her master.

Silence engulfed the room as the soldier try to comprehend the words uttered so nonchalantly by the beast, who could probably ma.s.sacre them all in the blink of an eye. The silence is broken by the sound of heartfelt laughter.

"Fufufu hahaha. Don't be so concerned. According to Benki here, the whole beast world is ruled by 4 sisters. Each of them, a being which possesses the power to obliterate an entire nation by themselves. Alas, they have never been summoned to this world, none came even close to pique the interest of these overwhelming sisters. These sisters rule the beast realm with an iron fist and maintain order and peace in the beast world."

The once indifferent Bernard now had a doubt in his mind and rather hiding it, he directly asked Vernyx.

"Your Highness, what kind of beasts are these 4 sisters?"

Vernyx, now facing the only person he had any respect for in the entire kingdom, answered in an unconcerned tone.

"They are Dragons."

The knights gasp at the mention of dragons.

Dragons, said to be one of the strongest creatures to exist, ama.s.sing power as they age, they truly are the embodiment of power. Each dragon is said to live for tens of thousands of years, acc.u.mulating power and knowledge as it ages. Other creatures more powerful than young dragon do exist, but none can match a dragon's intellect and power once it reaches a certain age in its lifetime.

The first one to recover from the shock is Bernard, and says to Vernyx in a sarcastic tone.

"Let's just pray that they never appear in this world."

Vernyx sneers and then asks Bernard in a serious tone.

"That was the Divine ice magic, 'Wrath of Khione', wasn't it?"

Bernard replies with an equally serious tone.

"Yes, but frankly speaking, it was on a totally different level in terms of power from what His Majesty, and the Princess are capable of."

Divine cla.s.s magic, being the hardest and most powerful type of magic, took decades worth of hard work and will power to master. The youngest person who was successfully able to cast a divine cla.s.s spell was none other than the Crown Prince. He had already dueled the other fourteen magicians in the country capable of casting divine cla.s.s magic, but was utterly disgusted by the power of those spells. The crown prince destroyed all of them, and after defeating the strongest man in the nation in a one-on-one, no restrictions duel, s.n.a.t.c.hed the t.i.tle of strongest man in the nation.

"Do you suspect that the spell was cast by someone from the Dragon Order?"

Vernyx asked with a concerned look across his face.

"No, it's highly unlikely, if they were planning to infiltrate, they wouldn't want to expose themselves at such an early stage, especially in such a wide open area."

Bernard had a valid point.

"But still, if they were the members of Dragon Order, we can't let our guard down. Strengthen our defences and start to collect all the Adamant.i.te and Mythril ranked adventurers in the Kingdom. They would also be interested in the upcoming festival."

"Yes Your Highness, and also…"

Bernard started to explain about the blue flame with sparkling eyes, the flame clearly piqued his interest. Vernyx listened earnestly, and after Bernard finished, he sank back into his chair, losing himself in thoughts.

After a minute or so he sits up straight and speaks.

"Hmm… this is truly interesting. General Bernard Lenach, I have decided to hold the annual festival sooner than planned. The people from The Great Empire 'HADES' are coming as well, let's give them a grand welcome."

Vernyx said this with a huge smile on his face. The reason for which could only be deduced by Bernard. Vernyx's thirst for battle was second to none, this fact was only known to Bernard because he was once the same as him, drunk on power, and looking down upon everyone because of his superior strength. But then Vernyx came about and defeated him, overthrowing his throne of the strongest man in the Kingdom.

But, Dragon Order was an organization which had members who even outcla.s.sed Vernyx. Rumours had it that the top magicians in the Dragon Order could cast two or even three Divine Spells, it was a well-known fact that they could manipulate elements with exemplary precision, and with power beyond that of the divine spells.

Dragon Order is a top-secret organization said to inhabit a small deserted region; out of the jurisdiction of any nation, making them untouchable. Their power is rumored to be more than the military might of all the 5 nations combined. They are quite the fearsome opponent. n.o.body has any knowledge as to who they are or how they operate. They say that there are agents of Dragon Order hiding themselves among the commoners in each part of the world, awaiting orders. Whenever a request reaches them with appropriate payment, it is completed within days or even hours, without any trace that could lead to the culprit. They have many factions in the Dragon Order - magicians, a.s.sa.s.sins, infiltrators, etc. Each faction capable of conquering a nation on their own. They were the only organization which ensued fear in Vernyx's heart.

Bernard replies in a stern voice.

"Yes Your Majesty, but what about their companions?"

Vernyx's eyebrows twitched, he was actually really concerned about the Dragon Order officially coming to the kingdom with Empire HADES' Prince, Prime Minister and other influential n.o.bles.

"Let them partic.i.p.ate in the festival as well, the Athena festival has no restrictions on partic.i.p.ants. n.o.bles, commoners and demihumans, all come on the same stage and display their strengths. In fact, I plan to enter this year's festival, along with my sister."

Bernard was shocked after hearing the Crown Prince's opinion.

"Forgive me for my insolence, but Your Highness, you plan to enter the festival as well?"

Vernyx's expression turned into a delighted one, he said with a calm tone, fit for his attractive face.

"Definitely! And I hope that you would enter it as well."

Bernard sensed the forcefulness in Vernyx's voice, and reluctantly accepted.