Leaving the Iron Tunnels, the Heroes Party had a new sense of reality. As fleeting as it was, that mont back there had reminded them exactly how dangerous this responsibility was.
Even more, their faith in their leader, Prince Aethelstan, had decreased rather than increased. No one said anything, but the silence was loud.
Aethelstan barely seed to care. He believed, being the strongest, that he was the most valuable Hero in the party. They would have to get over it if they wanted to remain part of his Party.
Nevertheless, he had his sights set on sothing. Or rather... soone.
Aethelstan slowed his pace, allowing the rest of the Main Party to drift ahead until he was walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Corisande.
He didn’t look at her imdiately. He adjusted his gauntlets, keeping his gaze fixed on the darkness ahead, adopting a posture of casual intimacy.
Corisande pretended like she didn’t even notice him.
"You surprised back there, Princess," Aethelstan said, his voice dropping to a smooth, cultured baritone that he usually reserved for court functions. "That nerfing Spell. It was exquisite. It must be an S-Grade Skill."
Corisande didn’t look up. She kept her eyes ahead, hands hidden in her robes. "I did what was necessary to survive, Prince. We were all going to die."
"Maybe," Aethelstan conceded with a small, dismissive chuckle. "But you saw the path to victory when the others saw only fear. That is the difference between us and them."
He turned his head slightly, flashing her a smile that was practiced to perfection—dazzling, confident, and utterly hollow.
"It is the crown, I think," he continued, gesturing vaguely between the two of them. "We are royalty, Corisande. We are bred to bear the weight of the crown, to see the bigger picture. The others... the commoners... they are excellent tools, certainly. But they lack the vision."
He moved a step closer, invading her personal space just enough to be suggestive without being aggressive.
"We should stick together, you and I. Leading this nagerie is a heavy burden. It would be... beneficial... to have a partner who understands the loneliness of the throne. Soone of equal standing."
Corisande stopped walking.
She looked up at him. Her face was calm, her expression serene, but her eyes were sharp, cutting through the golden aura of his charisma like a scalpel.
Her mother, the Queen of Eldermoor, had gifted her many things: an understanding of mana, a talent for braiding, and a necklace of moonlight.
But the most dangerous gift was the knowledge of people.
Soone like Aethelstan didn’t see people, he only saw tools. A person could either be sothing he could use for his own benefit, or they were not even people at all.
’Even now,’ she thought. ’He looks at like a new sword he just found in a treasure chest.’
She saw the calculation behind his blue eyes. An hour ago, when she was just a "healer," he had ignored her, thought her weak, and left her to fend for herself.
Now that she had revealed a powerful Area-of-Effect debuff—a power that could make him look stronger by weakening his enemies—suddenly, they were "partners."
Suddenly, they were "us."
"You’re a bit mistaken, Prince Aethelstan," Corisande said softly.
Aethelstan blinked, his smile faltering. "Mistaken?"
"My blood gives no vision," she replied with steadiness in her voice. "It only gives a duty. And now, my duty is to the party. To all of them. I’m much more than an instrunt, Prince."
Aethelstan flushed red. "No. I didn’t an it like that."
She bowed slightly—a perfect, courtly curtsy that put a wall of formality between them.
"Excuse ."
She walked away, leaving Aethelstan standing alone in the corridor.
He watched her go, his jaw tightening. His heart was beating fast, an unexpected thing. She had looked at him a certain way he had not expected.
’She’s really beautiful,’ he thought.
Then he shook his head and adjusted his cape. "She’s smart too. But she’ll fall in line eventually. They always do."
The party pressed on.
They cleared the next Encounter Zone: The Waxen Labyrinth with better efficiency than the last ti.
The narrow corridors were filled with Wax Spiders, creatures that spat boiling liquid that hardened on contact.
Corisande’s S-Grade Skill was in cooldown, and even if it wasn’t, her mana well presently wasn’t vast enough to fuel another activation.
So this ti, she focused on keeping the Support Party healthy and strong, while Corvell concentrated on overall buffs.
With Aethelstan’s renewed focus, Nessa’s undeniable shadow-combat skill and Liraeth’s fire magic lting the webs, they burned a path through in under twenty minutes.
The final Zone before the Boss was The Royal Antechamber. This one was more a test of endurance.
The main beasts were Elite Royal Guards (Lvl 42). They were massive, bipedal hybrids of beetles and man. There were also the Forsaken Bees from earlier.
Aethelstan tried to get Corisande to use her debuffing Skill again, but she reminded him of her limited mana well since she was presently only Lvl 11 after leveling up in the last Zone.
It was a crude reminder that these Awakeners were nowhere near his level.
Nevertheless, Aethelstan led the charge, calling the other Knights including Deron to join in the killing of the stronger Guards.
The Bees were handled by the second combat team which was Nessa, Ugmar, Liraeth, Dagna and the rest.
Finally, they stood before a set of colossal doors.
They were three tis the height of a man, crafted not from wood or stone, but from solidified, amber-colored royal jelly.
They were translucent, and possessed this pulsing, golden light from within. The sll was quite overpowering; sickly sweet aroma of honey, pheromones, and sothing that decayed a while ago.
"This is it," Corvell whispered from the center. "The Boss Chamber."
Aethelstan stepped forward, wielding the key. He didn’t ask if they were ready. He simply inserted it and pushed the doors open.
A wet sound like sothing gummy tearing filled the air. The team slowly stepped into the bright yellow room.
⸢Final Zone: The Throne of Liquid Gold⸥
There was no ceiling here. In fact, there were barely any walls. What replaced walls were hexagonal cells the size of houses, and for ceilings, it was just a golden haze hundreds of ters above.
Rivers of golden honey flowed down the walls, pooling in a massive lake in the center of the room.
Rising from the lake was a platform of hardened black resin.
And on that platform, they saw the Boss waiting.
⸢Boss Threat: The Hive Empress (Lvl 48)⸥
She was terrifyingly majestic.
Her lower body was that of a gargantuan insect queen—a swollen, white abdon beating like a heart as it laid eggs into the resin floor.
It was huge, easily the size of a carriage.
But her upper body almost resembled a human woman.
She had a torso of pale, chitinous armor that resembled a corset. She had four arms—two delicate, human-like hands that held a staff made of amber, and two massive, scythe-like claws that twitched with anticipation.
Her face was a porcelain mask of beauty, frozen in an eternal, serene smile, but her eyes were compound clusters of black diamonds, devoid of rcy.
Surrounding her, guarding the platform, were the beasts of the previous zones. Iron Carapace Ants. Forsaken Soldier Bees. Wax Spiders.
They stood in perfect stillness, a royal guard willing to die for their queen.
The Empress looked down at the twenty intruders. Her human-like mouth opened wider than any human mouth should.
"MY CHILDREN! YOU HARD THEM! YOU DIMINISHED MY NUMBERS! I WAS TO CREATE AN ENDLESS ARMY!"
She crawled closer. "THE POWER OF THE CROWD WAS MY WEAPON! YOU STOLE IT FROM ! YOU ALL WILL DIE FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS!"
"MORE BIOMASS... FOR THE NURSERY!!!"
Aethelstan drew his sword. The golden light of his Solar Knight Class flared, trying to compete with the ambient glow of the room.
"Prepare to die, you old hag!"
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