Chapter 99

99 Mission Impossible

When Treevor finally finished explaining his story, it was already dark. Sevenus and Emília lost count of the number of times they fell back in shock while listening to their story. The only one who remained composed was Athos. His mind completely shut down after half an hour of explanation, listening to only the most important parts and focusing on a spot on the wall behind Treevor for everything else.

“Hey, can you hear me?” Treevor asked after he finished his story and Athos continued to look at him silently.

No, I stopped listening after a while. I’ll ask Emilia to summarize for me later. You should learn to tell stories, man. Nobody will pay attention to you like that.” Athos spoke critically, ignoring Treevor’s indignant face.

“My lord...” Sevenus was exasperated by Athos’s cockiness, but decided it would be better for him not to say anything.

“All I understand is that there is a world tree and you are his son, right? So this arm of yours is like a branch of the world tree?” Athos ordered Treevor’s skeleton to come before him and examined it with interest.

“Hey, I’m not a toy, you shit!” Treevor screamed, making the thick chains tighten around his avatar.

“No need to be alarmed. I just watched you more closely. I’ll do some more experiments on your body later, but I’m more interested in you now.” Athos dispatched Treevor’s body and leaned back on the sofa.

“What do you mean?” Treevor asked suspiciously.

“You are bound to me and it is impossible for you to escape. I can control your body and mana, your abilities included. I don’t know how you are doing to resist, but it is likely that in time, your mind will be completely destroyed but I don’t have the luxury of sitting around waiting until then. I want you to cooperate with me and work for me.” Athos said.

.....

“I think you’ve really lost your mind if you think I’m going to help a mass murderer like you.” Treevor grimaced in disgust at the thought of working for someone like Athos.

“Try to be a little more realistic here, okay? I’ve made it sound like you have a choice, but you’re stuck with me for eternity. Your only choices are to slowly drown in darkness, or sink in at once.”

“Besides, you won’t work for me for free. I plan on traveling to the demihuman empire soon and will likely come into conflict with this undead realm you’ve encountered, as well as the sea of ??trees in the future. distant. I believe you have some interest in them.” Athos spoke, but his aim was quite different.

‘This undead in the desert can be a hindrance or an ally for me. I need to find a way to get in touch with him once I’m settled in the desert.’ That’s what Athos thought.

“That’s one more reason for me to turn you down. Your army is nothing but ants alongside the legion that attacked me, and Kastil is even more powerful than they are. If you try to fight any of them, you’ll be destroyed with no chance of fighting back,” Treevor scoffed at him.

“That’s why I need you. I need you to guide me through the demihuman empire, avoiding the most powerful monsters and large demihuman settlements, as we hunt down the weakest and slowly build strength. Also, I’m sure you’re also curious about what happened to your family after Kastil’s attack.”

“There’s nothing to find out. They’re dead. The entire clan has been killed.” Treevor spoke sadly, remembering his childhood and all the people he lost.

“Are you an idiot by any chance? If I had half of Kastil’s power and a tenth of his ego, I would never let someone who hurt my pride get away easily. I would torture them to the point of almost killing them, just to heal them over and over again the process. Even if my pride is restored, I would still hold them captive and torture them whenever I felt stressed.” Athos spoke like it was no big deal, sending shivers down Treevor’s nonexistent spine.

He remembered his grandfather’s words about the roots of convicts and how Kastil treated all prisoners like toys. Treevor had already considered the possibility that his family had been captured, but there was nothing he could do.

“Even if you’re right, it’s still useless. Kastil is a God within the sea of ??trees, it’s impossible to kill him.”

“Now I’m sure you’re an idiot. Your grandfather already proved he’s not the invincible God he claims to be, the moment he rescued you and your mother right from under his nose. Kastil is only invincible within the confines of the yggdrasil sprout, so all we have to do is separate them, just like your grandfather did. Something similar to what I did to kill you.” Athos smiled sarcastically.

“That would have been a great plan if he hadn’t created a host to fight away from the sprout.” Treevor reminded him of the fight at the oasis, thinking that Athos had ignored this part of the story.

“We can formulate a better plan later. Anyway, that would be a plan for at least 200 years in the future, when we are well established in the desert. The most important thing now is to find a way to escape the country and reach the semi-human empire.” Athos said as if Treevor had already agreed to work for him, causing the latter to stand up angrily.

“Hi, I still haven’t agreed to this shit! I’m not going to work for a bony motherfucker like you!” Treevor angrily, but Athos just sighed.

“Stop complaining at once. Just accept that you’re dead and move on. It’s ridiculous to keep arguing in vain like this.” Athos got up from the sofa and headed towards the door, followed by Emilia and Sevenus who remained silent until now, digesting all the information they heard.

“I’ll leave your body in here. You need time to think.” Athos spoke before leaving.

Left behind, Treevor sat back on the couch and started to think about what to do. The chains that bound his limbs felt even heavier now.

**********

“Should I leave someone to watch him?” Emilia asked as soon as they left the house.

“There’s no need. Treevor cannot move away from his body, nor can he use mana. He poses no danger to anyone at this point.” Athos spoke resolutely.

“Aren’t you worried about what decision he might make?” Sevenus asked unconvinced.

“Once the anger cools down, he’ll realize he has no choice but to cooperate. We’re in the same boat together now. Treevor will probably try to impose conditions and put on a strong facade, but he’ll still decide to work for me.” Athos spoke confidently.

“Instead, send someone to investigate that hole we fought Treevor in. He said he had a teleport crystal with him, so I want them to retrieve it.” Athos ordered as he looked at Sevenus.

“Understood Sir.” Sevenus nodded and gathered some skeletons before departing.

“Master, the preparations...are ready...all useful resources...are already in the carriages...as well as the corpses...are piled on...wagons. Cows and horses...skeletal are pulling them.” Caio approached him and reported, followed by a skeleton mage.

“The number of...skeletons destroyed was...approximately 2700 and we lost...2 battalion leaders...the number of skeletons...remaining is 7100...including cattle.” The skeleton mage reported.

There were more left than I imagined. Arm them and get ready to go. As soon as Sevenus returns and Treevor makes a decision, we’ll head for the border.” Athos ordered, causing most of the undead to scatter to follow his orders.

“Sir, I was once...a mercenary...who worked at the...closest...fortress...to us. I believe...my knowledge...may be useful.” Halt, the city’s former gang leader said, trying to earn some points for himself.

“I had forgotten that you were a mercenary. Give me all the details of how the fortress works.” Athos ordered.

“The closest fortress to the city is the Platinum Fist Fortress. When I was active as a mercenary, the commander was called Astrus Mifar, an army general. He was a warrior, but he had some knowledge of magic and was famous for having a pegasus as a familiar.

The number of soldiers is approximately 10,000 and at least half of them are mana users. Mercenaries often migrate between fortresses, but at this time of year there should be at least 1000 of them stationed there.

In addition, there are siege weapons like catapults and ballistae, as well as 50 court mages stationed at each keep. The wall is also enchanted and can form a barrier around the entire fortress. Lastly, there is a minefield around the walls where alchemical items were buried.” When Halt finished speaking, Athos’ expression was blank.

“...How am I supposed to attack a place like that?” He asked aloud, but no one could answer.

“Sir, I suggest we ignore the fortress and just head out into the desert. If we pass out of range of the catapults, the soldiers won’t dare leave the city to attack us.” Emilia spoke after a while, realizing that it would be impossible to break into the fortress.

Before Athos could nod in agreement, the bells on the walls began to ring. Athos had ordered some skeletons to keep watch around the walls in case they detected anything approaching.

‘What happened?’ Athos asked through the mind link, but the guard skeletons just told him to look up. Athos did as instructed and looked up to the sky, immediately breaking into a smile.

In the sky above the clouds, a shape that vaguely resembled a red dragon flew. Now that Athos remembered, it was around this time that he got Falco, wasn’t it?

“Emilia, gather all the mana users and mages. We’ll hunt them down as soon as they land.”

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