"Mr. Jule, wake up. Hello, Mr. Jule, can you hear me?" Faith asked as she threw some water on Anon's face.
"Hmm...? Where am I?" Anon pretended to come back to his senses.
"Mr. Jule, are you alright?" Faith asked with a worried expression.
"Oh, Faith. I am alright, luv," Anon spoke as he gave Faith a smile.
"Is he alright?" Julia asked from behind.
"Yes, he has come back to his senses," Faith replied.
"I have to investigate him. Can you leave the room for some time?" Julia spoke with a serious expression.
"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that Mr. Jule released Freeman?" Faith asked with a confused and angry expression.
"It's my job to suspect, Mrs. Faith; you know that. We left him in the room for 5 minutes, and one of my soldiers was dead, even Freeman, who had two swords stabbed in both of his knees, was walking freely. Don't you think that's enough to suspect him?" Julia replied.
Clank
Clank
Faith and her soldiers immediately unsheathed their swords and pointed them towards Julia and her soldiers.
Clank
Clank
Julia was no easy-going girl; she and her soldiers also unsheathed their swords and pointed them directly towards Faith and her soldiers.
'Ha... I would love to see some fight, but this is not the time,' Anon thought as he smiled and stood up from his place.
"Stop it, you guys. You girls are too hot to fight each other. Let's just do what Miss Julia is saying, okay? Then we can all go our own ways, alright? I have a fight tomorrow," Anon spoke as he looked at Faith with a smile.
"But, Mr. Jule..." Faith tried to speak something, but Anon interrupted her.
"Just trust me, luv. I am the strongest in this room anyway... hehe," Anon spoke with a very cool expression.
"Okay, soldiers, move out," Faith ordered her soldiers as she sheathed her sword again.
"Yes, Ma'am," the soldiers spoke as they immediately left the room.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs. Faith," Julia spoke as she also sheathed her sword.
"Believe me... if I saw even a single scratch on his body, you will face severe consequences because he is not a normal guy right now; he is the Queen's Royal Candidate in the Academic Exchange Tournament, and we may have two sides in this kingdom, but there is only one Queen of the Elven Kingdom. So, think two hundred times before hurting him. Do you understand?" Faith spoke as she walked up to Julia with a very serious expression.
"I-I understand," Julia spoke with a tense expression.
After this, Faith also left the room, and Anon was left alone with Julia and her soldiers.
"Take a seat, Mr. Jule," Julia spoke as she pointed towards the wooden chair that Freeman was sitting on.
"As you say, luv," Anon smiled and sat down on the chair without any hesitation.
Julia looked at Ella and nodded.
Ella immediately went to the main door and closed it tightly with a sealing spell, after that she came back to Julia and summoned a small Gramophone-looking artifact in her hand.
"Ma'am, should I?" Ella asked Julia.
"Yes," Julia answered.
As soon as Ella got confirmation from Julia, she touched the Gramophone's needle slightly and placed it on the table that was in the middle of the room.
(Demonic Eyes)
[Name: The Music Of Silence]
[Type: Artifact]
[Rank: D]
[Origin: Unknown]
[Description: Effects an Area of 10 meters around you, creating a Voice-absorbing dome. Never lets a voice escape from its grasp and records them in order to listen to them again.]
'Hmm... interesting,' Anon thought as he looked at the artifact with a curious expression.
"So, Mr. Jule... Do you mind explaining to me what happened in the five minutes that we gave you with Mr. Freeman? How did he get free from the swords, and how did one of my soldiers die?" Julia asked with a very serious expression.
"Let's see, I would like to say that Mr. Freeman removed the swords from his knees and killed your soldier. He was about to kill me as well, but you stabbed him before he could've killed me," Anon replied with a smile.
Suddenly, all of them withdrew their swords and pointed them towards Anon.
"No one told me that you were the one who stabbed Freeman, right?" Anon immediately understood his mistake.
"You messed up with the first lie; now you better tell me everything that happened in this room, or you are as good as dead. You see, I can't kill you, but I can stab you until you die and heal you with a healing potion back to your original state and do it all over again until you tell me the truth. So, it's all up to you. Choose carefully, Mr. Jule, and don't even think of shouting or calling for help because this little guy here is blocking all of the voices inside this room. No one standing outside this room can hear you," Julia threatened Anon as she pointed towards the small gramophone on the table.
"Do you even know how sexy you look right now?" Anon spoke.
"What?" Julia asked with a confused expression.
"You look so sexy when you give out threats like that," Anon spoke as he smiled at Julia.
"Mr. Jule, I am not kidding. I will really do everything that I just stated, and you will not feel good about this," Julia threatened again.
"Do it," Anon replied.
"Don't challenge my hand, Mr. Jule. I don't fear the Queen one bit. I can kill you as well," Julia spoke.
"You can't do it, can you? You don't have the courage to do it," Anon spoke in a taunting manner.
"You bastard... if that's what you wish for, then that's what you will get," Julia spoke as she picked up her dagger and tried to stab Anon's knee with it.
Crack
Clang
The dagger broke into thousands of pieces as soon as it touched Anon's body.
"This... How can you?" Julia asked with a confused expression.
"Let me rephrase my sentence to you... 'I am the strongest in this Room, luv,'" Anon spoke with a smile.
Anon stood up from the chair and looked at Julia with a menacing smile.
"Mr. Jule, please sit down, or the soldiers standing behind me..." Before she could complete her sentence, Anon disappeared from his place and reappeared in just one second.
Thud
Thud
Thud
Thud
All the soldiers standing behind Julia immediately fainted, except Ella.
"So, what were you saying again?" Anon asked.
Julia immediately looked behind and saw that all of her soldiers were lying on the floor, and Ella had tightened her grip around the sword.
"All of them are alive, just unconscious. It depends on your future actions, what will happen to them next. If I am right, this artifact blocks sound as well, right?" Anon asked as he sat back down on the chair and pointed towards the Gramophone.
'What a demon, using my own weapons against me,' Julia thought as she looked at Anon with a shocked expression.
"Y-You... What exactly are you?" Ella asked as her legs started shaking from fear.
Anon looked at Ella but decided to ignore her.
"Well, Miss Julia, do you have any other questions for me?" He asked with the same menacing smile and purple shining eyes.
"N-No..." Julia answered as she looked at Anon with a helpless expression.
Anon stood up from the chair and summoned a cigar from his inventory. He lit up the cigar and released a mouthful of smoke into the air.
"As I thought, it was a pleasure talking to you. See you soon, luv." Anon said as he started walking towards the door.
"Wait." Julia spoke.
Anon halted his steps and looked back at her.
"Yes...?"
"Do I have to be aware of you?" Julia asked as sweat started dripping from her forehead.
"If you ever enter a dark room and you see these eyes, I would suggest you lock the door from outside and leave the location as soon as possible." Anon spoke as he started walking towards the door again.
Julia stood frozen on her spot after hearing this sentence.
Anon touched the door to open it, but he noticed that Ella's sealing spell was still active on the door.
'Now, how will you break that, Hero?' Ella wondered as she looked at Anon with curiosity.
Meanwhile, Anon touched the door slightly and gathered a handful of Auric Energy at the tip of his index finger.
Slowly, a white shining orb of Auric Energy started forming on his finger's tip.
Anon touched the door with it and...
Boooooom
The spell broke, and the door too.
Ella was stunned as she saw how easily he broke her best sealing spell.
As soon as the doors broke down, a cloud of dust rose up from the ground. Faith and her soldiers standing outside the door immediately became alert and pointed their swords at the person who came out of the room.
"Chill, guys. It's me, Jule." Anon spoke as the dust settled down, and his face was revealed to everyone.
"Mr. Jule, are you alright? Did they do something unpleasant to you?" Faith asked as she started looking around Anon's body for any blood or wounds.
"Ma'am, I don't think they did anything to him, but I do think that he did something to them," one of the Elf soldiers spoke as she looked at the view inside the room.
"What do you mean..." Faith said as she walked over to the room's entrance and noticed that all of the soldiers inside the room are lying unconscious on the floor except Julia and Ella.
"Wow... did Mr. Jule do this?"
"How much power does he have?"
"That's incredible."
The soldiers immediately started talking about Anon's power. They started praising him.
But Anon was busy looking at the end of the hall with a suspicious expression as he took puffs out of his cigar.
Suddenly Anon realized something, and his eyes opened up in surprise.
"Interesting... Get behind me." Anon shouted as he tossed the cigar aside and summoned the sickles of death.
"What happened, Mr. Jule?" One of the Elf soldiers asked.
"Seems like there are some visitors coming to say 'Hi' from the room down in the basement." Anon spoke as he used his skill.
[Death's Domain]
Suddenly the lights went off at the end of the hall and the disgusting smell of rotten meat started coming.
Faith immediately walked upto Anon and summoned her sword.
"What can I do to help ?" Faith asked with a serious expression.
Suddenly a pair of white glowing eyes appeared at the end of the hall, looking directly at Anon and a chill ran down Faith's spine.
"Well, I would suggest you to take cover at this point." Anon spoke with a smile.
"I sensed a very heavy bloodlust, what is going-" Julia and Ella stepped out the room and noticed that Anon and Faith is standing in front of the soldiers with their weapons pointing at the end of the hall.
"Is that, what i think it is ?" Julia spoke as she also summoned her sword and stood besides Anon.
Ella on the other side, stood behind them protecting the White elf soldiers.
"Freeman was the key to that array... when you killed him they must've been released from the array and they found us when when I blew up that gate." Anon spoke.
"Why isn't it moving?" Faith asked with a confused expression.
Sniff-Sniff
Suddenly Anon noticed that the same smell of rotten meat was coming from the opposite side of the hall as well.
He immediately turned around and noticed that 3 Zombies are standing at the other side as well.
"Fuck... We are surrounded." Ella shouted as she also turned around.
"They must be her friends. It means that one standing in the dark is his brother's daughter, who took the largest amount of that drug." Anon spoke.
"Mrs. Faith, what should we do?" Julia asked.
Anon immediately summoned 13 Mithril Swords and threw them behind him.
"Take one... these are the only weapons that can kill them. Try your luck." Anon spoke.
Everyone standing there immediately picked up the swords and pointed them towards the zombies.
'The bloodlust coming from them has increased several times, why?' Anon questioned himself as he focused on the zombie.
"You two go and protect your soldiers... I will take this one." Anon ordered Faith and Julia.
"No, This one is more dangerous than those three combined." Faith spoke.
"She is right; the bloodlust coming from her is far superior to the three in the back. You can't take this one alone." Julia spoke.
"I don't want to listen to this shit... just do what I tell you to do. Turn around and protect your soldiers." Anon shouted, and his voice resounded in the hall as if someone from a very high rank is commanding them.
"Y-Yes..." Julia and Faith spoke as both of them turned around towards the 3 incoming zombies.
"Let's do this, baby." Anon spoke as he smiled towards the zombie.
GHRAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
A thundering howl was released from her monstrous-like mouth.
[Your opponent has used the skill [Undead's Cry].]
As soon as Anon heard this sound, he remembered the feeling he had back in the human kingdom while fighting the mutated zombies.
"It's going to be one exchange... either she dies or I die. I have to prepare myself with the best reinforcements," Anon thought.
Anon immediately summoned the dark crown and activated all of his defensive spells.
[Wind Armor]
[Mana Domain]
[Hunter's Domain]
[Death's Domain]
[ShadowSoar Strengthening]
[Master?]
"Use it," Anon commanded.
[Yes, Sir.]
[Your Pet Link has used the skill [Quantum Reflection]]
Anon's body started giving off a feeling of suffocation to those standing near him.
"What the heck is wrong with him? Is he some kind of monster too?" Julia wondered.
"Mr. Jule is really that strong? I always thought he was just joking about it," Faith thought as she used her best abilities to hold her ground.
"Come at me with everything, baby," Anon shouted as he leaped towards the Zombie.
GHRAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
The zombie also came at Anon with an incredible speed, and they both made contact for just 0.0056 seconds.
Both of them exchanged only a single blow and switched places during that attack.
Anon landed on the darker side of the hall, while the zombie ended up behind Faith and Julia.
Crack
Suddenly, a cracking sound came from Anon's sickles.
Craaaaa
Both of the sickles broke into dust, and a serious wound appeared on Anon's abdomen from which blood flowed out like crazy, but thanks to the troll locket, it healed almost immediately.
Cough-Cough-Cough
Blood splattered from Anon's lips for a fleeting moment, but he swiftly regained his composure.
[Warning: 10% Mana Remaining]
[Your weapon, [Sickles Of Death], shattered... Skill [Death's Domain] deactivated.]
"These blades weren't meant for this," Anon murmured, his gaze fixed on the remnants of his sickles.
Meanwhile, the Zombie of the elf girl remained frozen behind Julia and Faith, her stance unwavering.
Chk
Chk
Chk
Suddenly, the air was filled with the gruesome sound of rending flesh and snapping bones. In an instant, the Zombie was dismembered, her limbs and head dropping to the cold floor.
When Anon and the Zombie clashed, he had aimed for her neck with his sickles, but she fiercely defended it with her sharp nails, targeting his abdomen simultaneously.
Anon willingly exposed his abdomen, a calculated gamble, knowing the troll locket would mend it. As the Zombie seized the chance, burying her nails into his flesh, Anon's swift retaliation severed her limbs and head, all in one fell swoop.
"Mr. Jule, we need... help," Faith shouted.
Anon immediately turned around and found out that all of them were still fighting the zombies, and they were having a very hard time.
3 out of 13 soldiers were gravely injured, and not even one zombie was injured; they were merely fighting them off.
"Link... I need mana," Anon commanded as he started moving towards Faith.
[Yes, Master...]
[Your pet Link has regenerated your mana back to 100%]
"You fucking pieces of shit..." Anon shouted as he picked up a mithril sword from the ground and rotated it on his fingertips like a professional sword master.
"Get back," Faith shouted as soon as she saw Anon coming from behind.
Everyone stopped fighting and ran towards the back immediately, seeking protection from Anon.
Chk
Chk
Chk
The other three zombies were like a piece of cake for Anon; he cut down their heads without even using any skills.
Thud
Their bodies fell to the ground all at once.
'This is absurd... How can Elf zombies be stronger than human zombies? Elves don't even have that much physical strength in them,' Anon wondered as he looked at the dead bodies of the zombies.
"Mr. Jule, are you alright?" Faith asked, tapping Anon's right shoulder.
"Hmm...? I am alright, luv," Anon answered as he looked at Faith.
"Here, drink this..." Julia was giving out healing potions to the injured soldiers as she wondered about Anon's powers.
'He killed them as if killing flies, and I didn't even notice when he killed that female zombie. He is one terrifying being to fight against. I better inform the chief about him,' Julia thought as she looked at Anon from a distance.
"Hey, what's happening with you?" Ella spoke from the other direction.
Everyone looked at her and noticed that the soldier she was feeding the healing potion to wasn't healing. Instead, the wound on his hand was continuously spreading and turning his skin bluish-purple.
"Get aside from him... he is infected," Anon warned as he immediately walked over to the soldier.
Anon immediately tore his shirt and observed that the virus had already spread up to his elbow.
"Get back," Anon ordered as he placed the sword right above the soldier's bicep.
"N-N-No... Please N-Noo... I beg you, please," the soldier immediately started begging Anon not to do it.
"Do you want to turn into a zombie?" Anon asked with a serious expression.
"N-Noo," the soldier answered.
"Good," Anon spoke as he cut the soldier's hand with the mithril sword.
Chk
"Ahhhhhhhh..." The soldier immediately shouted in pain, but the virus stopped spreading.
[Fireball]
Anon used fire to stop the bleeding on his bicep.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." He shouted even louder this time.
The other soldiers who looked at this process got terrified immediately.
"What are you getting scared for? This is what you have to do with yourselves when a zombie bites you. Just cut off the part from your body. That will be the only way to save yourself from turning into a zombie," Anon spoke.
"Umm... Mr. Jule, What if the zombie bites on the neck?" A soldier asked in a scared tone.
"Pray that never happens because you have to cut it as well or someone else will," Anon answered as he stood up.
"We should leave now," Faith spoke.
"Madam Faith, please stay the night at my mansion... I insist," Julia asked with a very sincere tone.
Faith looked at Anon.
"What? I don't have a problem," Anon spoke.
"Okay, we will stay," Faith spoke.
"Can we get the same room?" Anon asked as he looked at Julia and pointed towards Faith.
"Huh...?"
Four carriages stopped in front of Julia's Mansion, and Anon stepped out of the carriage with other soldiers.
Her mansion wasn't small; it covered a very large area and was constructed from expensive materials as well.
"Well, that's one big mansion you live in," Anon spoke as he looked at Julia.
"This mansion doesn't belong to me alone, Sir Jule. These guys are equal partners in this mansion; they worked very hard and invested their money into making it," Julia spoke as she pointed towards Ella and her other soldiers.
'Wow... She is now adding 'Sir' to my name. Back then she didn't even notice my presence in the room,' Anon wondered as he looked at Julia.
"So you guys made it all together, which means your families are also staying here too, right?" Faith asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Ella answered.
"Well, enough talking. Let's all head in and have something to eat," Julia spoke as she started walking towards the main gate of her mansion.
"So, you still don't want to stay in the same room? It will be fun," Anon asked Faith.
"Mr. Jule, that joke again? I told you, we are not that close, and first of all, you have a date pending that you need to complete," Faith spoke as she walked ahead with Julia.
Suddenly Ella closed her distance to Anon and asked with a smile, "Hello, Sir Jule. Would you like to spend a night in my room?"
"Na, I think I am too ordinary for a noble girl of your rank," Anon spoke in a taunting manner.
"Sir, Jule... that was a grave mistake of mine, and I deeply regret it. I will do everything in order to make it up to you," Ella spoke as she tried to grab Anon's hand.
Anon immediately increased his pace without saying anything.
"Good Evening, Miss Julia." The guards immediately greeted her and bowed down as they opened the gate for her to enter.
Julia and Faith walked in first; behind them walked Anon and Ella. After that, all the soldiers walked in.
"HoHoHo... you should've told me in advance, Julia, that you are bringing in guests today." An old dark elf lady, around the age of 3000 years or more, spoke. She was standing at the front door with two maids beside her, holding a cane in her right hand and wearing a pair of glasses.
"Madam Faith and Sir Anon, this lady over here is our mansion's head maid, but she is also our chief, Grinda," Julia introduced.
"Oh, hi, I am-" Before Faith could say anything, Grinda interrupted her.
"I know who you are, Faith of the Queen. The Chief Commander of the White Elves.
I am interested in that guy, over there," Grinda spoke as she pointed towards Anon.
"Hmm...? Me?" Anon asked with a confused expression.
"Yes, you, young man. You have something about your aura that's mysterious. Come here..." Grinda spoke as she called Anon.
Anon walked up to Grinda.
"Give me your hand, young man," Grinda asked.
"Chief, we should offer them some food first, right? You can always do it later," Julia spoke with a weird expression.
"Shut up, little girl. Can't you see I am doing something over here...?" Grinda spoke as she touched Anon's hand.
[Your opponent has used the skill [Soul Inspection] on you.]
Suddenly Grinda's soul got projected inside Anon's soul chamber.
The soul chamber was dark, with a fearsome calmness inside it.
"I have seen many soul chambers, but this one is very calm, and not in a good way; it's as if something is looking at me but I can't see it," Grinda spoke as she looked around but didn't see anything other than utter darkness.
Hisssss
Suddenly she heard a sound coming from behind her; Grinda turned around and saw something that shocked her to the bottom of her soul.
A huge black monstrous octopus with flashing purple eyes was looking at her.
Grinda looked like a small ant to the octopus.
Bwaaaaahhhh
The demonic octopus moved his tentacle towards Grinda with an incredible speed.
"Nooooooo..." Grinda shouted.
The octopus grabbed Grinda's neck and snapped it like a toy.
"Haaaaaah..." Grinda came back to her senses in the real world and fell down to the ground.
"Chief, are you alright?"
"Ma'am, please get a hold of yourself."
"Ma'am, are you alright?"
Julia and the two maids immediately grabbed Grinda as they helped her stand up.
"Not a very good habit to get inside someone's soul chamber without their permission, Madam," Anon spoke as he looked at her and smiled.
"Y-You, You created that illusion right? That was an illusion, right?" Grinda asked as she looked at Anon with a terrified expression.
"Well, no one knows," Anon spoke as he smiled like a villain.
"Chief, you should go and get some rest. I will take our guests to the dining table," Julia spoke as she looked at the two maids.
The maids immediately grabbed Grinda and took her inside.
"I am sorry from her side. She has this habit of looking into everyone's soul," Julia apologized as she bowed down in front of Anon.
"Well, sometimes a habit can get you killed. It was her first time... but if she tries it again, I can't guarantee, if her soul will ever return to her body," Anon spoke as he looked at Julia with a very serious expression.
"I-I..." Julia was trying to say something, but she was too scared to say anything. If she said something wrong the matter will only get worse.
"Haha.... Mr. Jule is just joking. Aren't you, Mr. Jule?" Faith spoke as she showed big eyes to Anon.
'Well, if that's what it takes to corrupt you,' Anon thought as a smile appeared on his face.
"Of course, I wouldn't do such a thing to such a cute old lady," Anon spoke jokingly.
"Ah, Thank you Sir, Jule. Please come inside, I will serve you our best dish." Julia spoke as she opened the main door of the mansion, and everyone entered inside.
"Brother...."
"Mother...."
"Sister..."
As soon as they entered the mansion, many dark elf kids rushed towards the dark elf soldiers and hugged them.
"Kids, Kids... not today. Don't you see we have guests with us here?" Ella spoke as she looked at the kids.
"Oh, no no no. Please don't mind us. They look very cute," Faith spoke as she smiled at the kids.
'I wonder when will she serve the dinner?' Anon thought as he looked around the mansion.