"How can negative energy even do sothing catastrophic like this?" Li asked.
"It is not normal negative energy as it is abnormal to the point that it can affect a whole populace. To make matters even stranger, the level of negative energy is almost to the point where a curse can manifest but not enough to qualify as one." Hexy stated.
"It makes sense now that you say that." Creepysoo stated.
"I am sorry, but I find it hard to believe that negative energy could do sothing like this. If it did then how co the other people are not affected." Li stated.
"There are many factors such as how stressed were they. The mind is different compared to the body after all. Our minds can be working overti while the body itself is tired. Are all of the people in the kingdom only showing signs of lethargy and nothing else?" Hexy stated as she looked at the minister.
"Yes. We often feel this burnout syndro when we work ourselves to the bone. Unlike dwarves that always drink to relieve their fatigue, the gnos work to cure our own fatigue!" The minister proudly declared.
"Yeah. There is sothing wrong with that kind of thinking. Even the undead are told to rest and we do not even understand the concept of rest because we have unlimited stamina. We may have unlimited stamina, but we do not have unlimited minds. You, gnos, are of the living so your problem is the opposite of ours." Creepysoo stated.
"You know, he makes sense." Li agreed as she has seen that even the healthy ministers becoming workaholics.
"Tell , you said that you held a festival. Did the royal family work during this festival ti as well?" Hexy asked.
"Yes. The royal family sacrifices for the rest of the people and they worked tirelessly during that ti." The minister replied.
"In essence, the royal family is the most tired of all of you. Still, this would not explain why there is a swirling vortex of negative energy here in this kingdom. The heart of it is even on the castle here at this mont. Did any of you accept artifacts when people from other kingdoms brought gifts? Also, is any of these gifts from the eastern continent?" Hexy asked.
"During the festival, we had lots of nobles from all overt the world coming to us. They presented the king and queen with gifts that have different and exotic allures. We gnos value art and beauty after all since creation is also a form of art." The minister stated.
"In that case, lead us to the vault where all of them are stored. Destroying sothing that can bring a whole kingdom to lethargy is not sothing that should be kept." Hexy stated which shocked Creepysoo as she dislikes cursed relics to be destroyed as she knows that it can be repurposed but the fact that she said to destroy it ant that the item they need to find is incredibly dangerous.
"Can you even detect it?" Li asked.
"I will try my best but there is also another problem." Hexy added.
"What problem?" The minister asked.
"If they placed that artifact here that causes lethargy then they might be getting ready to storm the castle. They might want sothing here in the castle, but we do not know when they are going to attack. Are all the castle soldiers awake?" Creepysoo asked.
"Oh no! Apart from the royal family, the soldiers that are stationed in the castle are also without proper rest or sleep. I shall call upon the guards to check on the others. Guards!" The minister yelled but the guards behind the door were not answering him.
"What are they doing! Guards!" The minister shouted but there was still no answer.
"The negative energy is getting thicker, but it is still not crossing the line of it transforming into a curse." Hexy replied.
"Where are the guards?" Li asked as she opened the door but found that the two guards outside the chambers were now sound asleep as well as the maids stationed there.
"This is bad. They might be starting to infiltrate the castle. I shall stay with the king and queen here to protect them. Sobody needs to deal with anyone that approaches the castle with hostility. Alert any guards that can be alerted as soone planned all of this." Hexy stated as she slamd her hands on the floor to create a barrier made of miasma that repelled any intruders that might harm the royal family.
"I will go and collect the prince and princesses to bring them to this room. Protecting them in one area is more efficient due to the manpower that we have now." Li stated.
"I guess I will be the ones that will repel any intruders. Tell , minister… is there any top-secret project that all of you are doing right now that any secret organization might covet?" Creepysoo asked but the minister did not want to answer.
"If you do not want to answer then I guess I will just stay here and do not even bother defending this castle. Let them take it for themselves then. We are not sure if there are any intruders but then again, they could have already entered as we know it." Creepysoo added which finally made the minister talk.
"We have a project called the Artificial Sun. We are creating a powerful magical power source that is equivalent to a real sun that can give off radiant energy. Not the cheap knockoffs that are created by magic spells but a combination of science and magic!" The minister stated.
"I see and where is this artificial sun located?" Creepysoo asked.
"At the very sealed laboratory where only the royal family has access to. Only they can go in and out as they control the access as those inside cannot get out without the permission of the royal family." The minister stated.
"A glorified science and magic prison. I guess that will do then as our assailants would target the royal family for their access. That will make my job better then." Creepysoo stated.
"How exactly is that making your job easier?" The minister asked but Creepysoo suddenly took out a chained book that has thick death energy.
"I can set up the defenses just outside this place and a castle is very nice since lots of roaming spirits are here." Creepysoo stated as he activated a magic circle that called upon any lingering ghosts or attachnts to him.
Creepysoo summoned specters as the castle was cleaner from dark spirits which was incredibly rare as royalty usually had lots of betrayals and bloodshed. The grudges and resentnt that he could gather were not a lot which is why he had to opt using taphysical undead that do barely enough damage. Still, this was what they needed as the castle does not have any eyes and ears at this current state as almost all personnel are asleep.
"How co you are not affected by the negative energy as much, minister?" Creepysoo asked the terrified minister as the latter saw the forr summon lots of horrifying creatures.
"I was away on a business trip before the festival. I only arrived back when the festival was on the last two days." The minister answered truthfully while feeling shy.
"I see. You were on a vacation. Good for you as things would have gotten a lot more dangerous if no one was awake now. They are already here after all." Creepysoo stated as one of the specters already tagged another foreign entity.
"Co say that again?" The minister stated with a terrified face.
==
"The plan is simple as everything has already been placed. The only thing we need to do is sneak inside the quarters of the royal family and take them to the entrance. Once opened, take the artificial sun and kill all the people that are no longer needed." The leader of the hooded people stated.
"Affirmative." The other hooded people stated as they entered the castle without any obstructions as the soldiers were all knocked out.
The hooded people entered the castle in a quick fashion. All of them surveyed the areas that they are going in and any moving people were dealt with quickly. So tossed knives that pierced the chests of maids and any weakened soldier which killed them swiftly.
"All potential threats and witnesses have been silenced." One of the hooded people replied as he is about to enter the room of one of the princesses.
"Still, how co there are not screams when they were hit? All I heard was silence when I launched the weapons at them." The hooded person thought but soon forgot it as he entered the room.
The hooded person entered the room of the princess and raised his dagger to kill her, but his heart suddenly stopped beating. Without even uttering a sound, the hooded assailant dropped to the ground. He died without even knowing how he died as a beautiful lady rose from the bed.
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