Even with the king of slaughter, Maigrema is in a grim situation. Though the mages in Maigrema knows that it will be a suicide mission they'd still prefer to fight to protect their pride as a citizen of the magic kingdom.
I'm not saying that it's bad to be a patriot, its just that their recklessness will only bring to their own death sooner or later.
I arrived at the western continent and quickly made a warping gate that connects to the reserved warping gate at the eastern continent, the one between the soaring mountain range and bull forest.
I created the warping gate inside a sea cave, far from any village or town. I had Max scout the area to make sure that no one does come around here.
After reading the 'law of war' in this world, I thought up a plan. A sort of loophole.
In summary, for my case, a third party will have to support whoever it is they are siding with, so it is prohibited for a third party to directly interfere. If they were going to send their own men then their job would only be to take care of the soldiers.
The kinds of war that is included on said clause would be civil war and any war that involves three or less than three kingdom. Wars such as world war or the holy war back then are not included on said clause.
The war that is currently happening, which didn't exist previously, is between Maigrema and the dragon kingdom alone. The western beast federation and the giant kingdom are only 'helping' the dragon kingdom by disrupting the flow and order in Maigrema which isn't considered as directly interfering.
Who even came up with this kind of clause?
Though this only works for those who have a nationality. So for me who doesn't belong in this world, my spirits, as well as for Max who isn't part of the empire for personal reasons can directly interfere however we want.
The 'law of war' is being protected by the God of Law which is why no one dares to break it, this includes all races that has a kingdom. Races such as sirens aren't included.
"What will we do?"
"Abduct all the high-rank officers in the western beast federation starting at the Black wolf clan. That will be done by the three of you. I'll visit the monkey king myself"
Max, Udo and Inosi head out to do what their master ordered them.
With the rope that I enchanted with runes that have been cursed by Dean, any beast man that has a [Strength] lower than [120] shouldn't be able to break it.
Before going towards the castle where the monkey king lives, I sent a message to the two elven kingdom that the demon lord Paimon will launch another wave two weeks from now.
After four days, I've reach the point where the castle was five kilometers away from me.
I had Ella to scout the area.
As expected no one was in the castle. The monkey king's castle is located at the very center of the four kingdoms that is led by the four royal families. The monkey should be preparing for war with Maigrema, that would force him to go north.
-Master, there is a barrier put in place that will automatically activate once it detects a certain amount of mana.
-That's alright.
"Porphirios, once the barrier activate. destroy it"
"Understood"
Porphirios explained what he can do, and said that his power is mainly related to absorption and property manipulation.
He can absorb anything that is created by mana and he can alter the property of his spells. For a magic swordsman, that kind of power is a bit broken.
-I've arrived at the castle, master.
-Let's begin.
An original spell that I've learn from the slaughter king himself.
"Grand magic: Extinction"
The barrier activated and covered the entirety of the castle upon detecting the mana distortion from the surrounding area. Porphirios begun to remove the barrier by absorbing it.
Once the the barrier vanish, Michael fired the spell.
Kaboom!
A wide range explosive spell was fired. Before it was fired, both Ella and Porphirios went back to the spirit world so that they won't be caught up in the explosion.
No one is allowed in the monkey king's castle unless they have sent a message beforehand, plus he can make his clones to do the work which is why I fired an explosion type spell. But to think that everything would be turn into ashes is overkill. What's more it took more mana than what I expected, I wonder how powerful it would be if Troy would be the one to use it.
Based on Ella's report earlier there are no kind of vaults or safe that might contain something useful. She did took all the gold coins inside though.
After destroying the castle of the monkey king, I went to white tiger clan's territory which is further south. The three that I sent went north since the beast men and the giants are preparing for the war over there.
The place where they get their food such as rice and vegetables are in the white tiger clan's territory since the land is rich.
After a day of trip, I'm fifty kilometers away from the white tiger clan's palace. I had Ella to give me the exact coordinates through telepathy in real time.
-How is it?
-There are currently no one inside the palace. However there are a lot who are training in the back so I advise for master to fire it just a little bit higher.
-Okay.
I called out to Orlere and created a bigger hellfire spear and fired it to the white tiger clan's palace.
Kaboom!
More than half of the palace were engulfed in hellfire.
"What was that?!"
"There's an attack!"
Some were panicking while some remain calm.
Those who immediately responded tried to splash water unto the fire. The water did not have any effect to the fire, instead the fire grew bigger.
"This isn't a normal fire. Bring the artifacts!"
-How are things over there?
-The fools are wasting their time doing the same thing over and over even though they already knew it's not working.
Ah, right, Ella's speech would always be like this whenever it is someone who is on my bad side. I was really taken aback when she curse the novel king.
-Our work here is done so we can now go somewhere else.
I head out further west to the golden lion clan's territory after accomplishing a part of my mission. The golden lion clan's territory are filled with mountains which is abundant of different kinds of minerals and gems. Beast men who have better physical capabilities than humans had it easier to mine the valuable stones inside the mine.
After a day, I reach the same distance to the palace of the golden lion clan. Although the interval was a day, the white tiger clan have already informed the other clans about what happened and fortified their security.
But with this, the ones in the front lines should be in a disarray.
The reason why so many soldiers are being dispatch is because of Troy's innate skill [Echo]. Whenever he cast a spell, the spell will automatically be casted again by itself, with the same amount of power, no matter what kind of spell it is for free. For someone who have that kind of skill who also happens to specialize in explosion type spell gained the title 'Slaughter king' for his ability to kill tens of thousands with a single spell.
A skill that defies the law of cause and effect.
Assuming that they are not stupid, they most likely went with "Divide and conquer" route. By spreading small groups they'd be able to disrupt the flow in Maigrema.
Since I am now part of this 'war' I can't kill anyone since that would breach the stupid 'law of war'.
Instead of blowing up the palace, I fired a barrage of hellfire spears onto the mountain where they get the most minerals. I also destroyed their warehouse for personal reasons.
Time to move to the-
Michael quickly duck, successfully dodging an attack from the back.
"So you are the one who dare to disturb my subjects"
The novel king and...?
"He is the dragon king"
I turned around and saw Roman.
"You said that you weren't going to involve yourself on matters that include the western continent?" (Dragon king).
"That's right. But doing my work here isn't included in the promise that I've made" (Roman)
Right, giants and titans are supposed to be worshiping dragons. Based on Max, despite being a giant Roman himself hates the existence of dragons.
"If you are going to protect him from 'me' to obey your 'job', I suppose you won't stop the novel king"
"Indeed. My job is to balance things out. Eliminating you before the match begin is enough for me"
Where did he even came from?
I guess I was too absorb in my work, huh.
"You can handle him by yourself, right?"
"Of course"
Roman snap his fingers. Both the dragon king and the luck king vanish without a trace.
"Why are you helping the magic kingdom, spirit king?"
The way he said that... it's as if he don't know who I am? But why? Kavon should be able to somehow return or maintained the memories of his comrades.
"Because I want to. What about you? Why are you helping the dragon kingdom? Does it have anything to do with you being a [Side character]?"
Anger.
His face change from a blank expression to someone who is about to pop a vein in his head.
Furious.
He look down and inhaled. He once again look at me, composed and solemn.
"How do you know that?"
"Did you not pledge loyalty to Kavon? How come someone like you don't know that I am affiliated with him?"
A voice rang out of nowhere.
"Your little trick is pointless. As if I am affiliated with someone like you"
It was a voice similar to Kaesul's, but more older and a bit raspy.
Kavon?
Books appeared and have started to revolve around the novel king as soon as the voice disappeared.
"Even if you spout nonsense, my faith will never waver"
By any chance, does the skill [Side character's vow to the protagonist] allows them to talk telepathically? Or can he hear and see whatever the novel king does?
"Abyssal world: Null"
"Boundless world: Singularity"
[
Ugh. So he received a blessing even though he is not an apostle? And here I though I can beat him easily.
[You are within the domain special skill
[All stats have decreased by ten percent]
[Caster's stats have increased by twenty percent for every person inside the domain]
[You are only able to cast spells that the caster doesn't know while you are inside the domain]
What is up with all of these notifications?
A book opened right in front of the novel king which is facing towards me.
"Remake: Dragon force"
Translucent dragons started to come out from the book which then charged at me.
Porphirios came out on his own, quickly devouring the dragons that were charging towards me.
"Allow me to take him on, master. This is a good chance for me to show you what I am truly capable of" He said as he look at the novel king.
It would be good for me to see what he can do but Kavon will also find out what Porphirios is capable of.
"Go ahead. Don't worry about losing, he is a king after all"
"I thank you for your advice, however I took this chance to show you what I can do because" He raised his sword pointing at the novel king's throat. "That person's weakness is my ability"
What does he mean by that?
Either way, I'll take this chance to recover my energy.
I went back a little bit giving the two some space.
...
The two look at each other without saying anything.
"...Why would you serve someone who isn't even worthy for you?"
"Who I serve is my business. Go mind yours, four eyes"
So that's what Ella meant by hanging out with him. She taught him how to provoke someone, huh.
Dozens of books flipped open.
"Just so you know I do not like cliches. You better entertain me with an original move"
Porphirios went into his battle stance, putting the sword on top of his shoulder.
The novel king got noticeably irritated at Porphirios' lax stance.
At first glance it would look like as if he is underestimating the novel king but... I honestly don't feel any openings at all.
"Remake: Lionheart"
A man wearing an armor that has the crest of Aigreos cam out from a book.
He looks like Nell Lionheart from the book I've red when I was in Aigreos. He's supposed to be dead though.
The novel king called out for more names and more people came out. I was familiar to their faces because I saw portraits of them in the hall of the main church in Aigreos. Not only that
Famous people who have already died by fighting back in the holy war.
All of them has the ability of light magic and possess the holy attribute which is the weakness for an evil spirit.
The several men were submissive to the novel king.
Now I understand how he was able to beat Max.
With his command, the famous men fired their attacks towards Porphirios. As if to figure out what Porphirios can do, all of them did a range attack.
He held out his hand. Once the attacks were somewhere ten meters from him, all the attacks were absorbed.
"H, how?! You're an evil spirit! You shouldn't be able to negate light magic imbued with the holy attribute"
Oh, I see. He absorbed it after changing the property of the attack. Now that I am seeing it firsthand, isn't it really broken?
Wait, then what is his weakness? Things that are not made of mana perhaps?
As I contemplate what Porphirios' weakness is, he easily dodge the attack from the novel king and the reanimated(?) famous people back in the holy war.
In terms of sword skills and technique Zoe is better than Pori. However, in terms of application, I'd say Pori would be far superior than Zoe. Well he is older.
(Note: Pori = Porphirios)
A call came in from the trio I sent.
-Master.
-What is it Inosi.
-Sir Maximos said, "Master, the high rank official that we caught from the black wolf clan use aura, the one you taught me. They were also using the same weird vibration technique as you did" He told me to relay it to you as soon as possible.
They use aura and use the same martial arts?
-Thanks for the info. Pay no mind and just continue your work.
-Understood.
In my clan, the most recent one who was sent to another world was my grandfather who is currently over 170. The holy war here ended a hundred years ago.
Was he sent here?
A lot of questions rose into mind one by one. The longer that I think about it the more I got confused.
I cast it all aside and focus to what is happening in front of me.
Honestly speaking, I didn't thought that Pori would have an overwhelming advantage against the novel king.
Though he is calling well known people back in the holy war, I don't think that they are that weak.
Maybe it is because they are simply a copy of the original? Or is it because of some other reason that the novel king can't draw out their full power?
The novel king tried all kinds of attacks. Summoning, short range, explosive spells and etc. But he haven't hit Pori even once.
"Is that all you got?"
"....."
He said with an aloof expression,
"If so, from now on I will be fighting seriously. I want to show my worth"
The sword that Porphirios was holding glowed like a starry night. The mana around him was being absorbed and was being concentrated to the sword.
"Ethereal sword dance: Fall"
Thousands of swords appeared in the sky, the same as the one Porphirios is holding. The swords formed like a blooming flower if seen from below.
It is simply beautiful. Captivating and mesmerizing.
A string like thread connected all the swords creating a dark veil.
Pointing downwards, to the novel king, the swords fell at blinding speed. All swords pierce through his body.
"Eh?" Said by the novel king.
He was confused and so was I. The swords pass through him as if nothing happened.
Pori came back and knelt down in front of me saying, "I have emerged victorious, master"
I look down to Pori and look back to the novel king who also had the same expression as me.
"Hey, what did you-"
The novel king fell.
Is it me or do I not sense any mana from the novel king anymore?
Pori explained what he did. Along with the swords that he created just now which had anti-magic with them, he changed the property of it to [Poison] and [Curse]. Meaning that the anti-magic attribute that was imbued to the swords have been passed down to the novel king.
The anti-magic attribute is now inside the novel king as a type of poison and curse.
The thing about this is anti-magic can only be negated by the demonic attribute. If someone were to 'heal' the novel king with holy attribute nothing will happen. And if the person use arcane attribute, the curse/poison that he put in him will only get stronger.
Therefore the demonic attribute is needed. But for that to happen, someone will have to accurately remove the curse/poison that Pori put unto the novel king. If not, then the novel king will or might turn into a demon through demonification which only happens when an individual have too much demonic attribute in them.
How the hell did he though up of such thing?
It's simply flawless.
"That was amazing...No, it would be an understatement to use the word 'amazing' or 'perfect'. I am simply speechless to what you did just now"
To be able to beat the novel king with ease. I can't do the same thing if I don't summon a spirit.
He smiled.
"I am honored by your words"
Pori then explained to me how he won. The novel king's ability is [Remake] and [Narration] which allows him to recreate something that have already happened before, however his understanding of the event or the person he summoned is needed to acquire the needed power.
[Narration] is still a bit of a mystery. But it is very convenient that he figured out some of the novel king's ability.
Pori disappeared.
I went closer to the novel king who is currently unconscious. As I go, black mist burst forth underneath the novel king which then covered his entire body.
The black mist disappeared and so did the novel king.
It must have been the gambler king since the dragon king can't interfere right now.
I then went towards the territory of the black wold clan to where the three are to figure out as to why the black wolf clan high rank officials can use aura and the same martial art technique.