Chapter 4326: The Invincible King (Part 2)

"Moreover, no ruler managed to unify Jiera like Teneb. A long period of wars and unrest followed the death of the Invincible King, with every freed region blaming its neighbors for the loss of their resources.

"Peace never lasted long, and the attempt to merge the countries that had formed the rebel alliance lasted even less." Tista said.

"Okay, but what does this tell us about this place?" Tista asked.

"Old fake magic runes. The kind you need to carve and cover with mana crystal powder." Quylla replied. "Back then, magic was primitive, and tiers four and five were exclusive to Awakened.

"Yet Solus said she saw an army of constructs, which means the Invincible King knew Forgemastery, Warden magic, and maybe even Alchemy. Nothing of this is recorded in my history books.

"I can’t help but wonder why, if the Invincible King was such a powerful Awakened, he didn’t use these same safeguards to protect his capital."

"I can answer that." Menadion replied. "Those kinds of old runes were impossible to hide and easy to disable. One scratch and the whole array crumbled. Here, the Invincible King could hide them behind rocks, paint, and moss, but in a palace?

"Unless Teneb did the cleaning himself, the house staff was bound to find the runes. As for the golems, they are dumb. If he gave the command ’attack anyone who isn’t me,’ the Invincible King would have no one to serve him in the blink of an eye.

"Leaving the golems in the open required not only a very complex order that traitors could have exploited, but would have also allowed his enemies to study and replicate his creations.

"As you pointed out, Quylla, Teneb was a powerful Awakened. Maybe he even reached the violet core. He probably assumed that no human could harm him and used his skill to protect his treasures after hiding them away. I bet this place is one of his secret stashes."

"One?" Lith echoed. "Do you think there’s more?"

"The only basket worth putting all your eggs into is an omni pocket." Menadion nodded. "Otherwise, leaving all your treasures in one place is no different than begging to be robbed."

***

A few kilometers ahead, deep into the hidden keeps of the Invincible King’s Arsenal number 7.

"I can’t believe that piece of shit of Zarkar Teneb was one of the Black Throne’s disciples." Uragar, the Book of Knowledge, said. "Invincible King, my dusty pages. He never lost a battle because the Black Throne guided and supported him from the shadows!"

"And why do you care?" Salanoth, the Ring of Space, leaned against the wall while waiting for the cursed book to crack the umpteenth magical lock that barred their way.

"Because I’m one of his victims." Uragar snarled. "Teneb and the Throne defeated me. Humiliated me! They stole everything I had accumulated in the treasuries of the kingdom I had built and ransacked my magical library.

"It took me centuries to overcome the shame of being bested by a mere bright-violet core meat sack. I wasted years looking for the perfect host to enact my revenge, and it was all for nothing! I didn’t lose to Teneb. I lost to the Black Throne."

"I can’t believe you whine so much about something that happened over 6,000 years ago." Jorl snorted. "Consider this an opportunity to get back at Teneb and shut up."

"I would agree with you if this weren’t the 27th place the Black Throne pointed us at, and only fucking five of them were left untouched." Uragar replied. "Also, even if we recover what was stolen from me, I’ll have to share it with parasites like you."

"Strong words for someone who didn’t even know this place existed." Akhton the Bastet scoffed. "Without Jorl, you’d get nothing at all."

"Also, how would you carry our alleged prize out of here?" Salanoth waved her hands at the massive double doors. "Your omni pocket is already full, and so are all the dimensional amulets of our beloved comrades. You need me."

"We need you." Jorl corrected her. "You are the only dimensional mage among us. I’m counting on you to Warp everything to the Black Throne in case we hit the motherlode and even your omni pocket isn’t enough."

"Please, I’m the Ring of Space." She gave the Storm Griffon a mocking bow. "I was born for... well, a completely different reason, but this much is nothing to me."

"And I’m the Book of Knowledge." Uragar interjected. "Without me, you would never know how to disable such ancient magical formations without triggering the self-collapse mechanism of this place.

"Remember that this stuff is old, but far from weak. I need to focus, or I’ll make a mistake and trigger one of the many dummy nodes of the arrays. Teneb knew how resourceful the Black Throne is and put every ounce of his considerable skill into building this place.

"Use mind links if you want to yap. I need silence for my work."

***

"I’m now certain of this." Solus said after they got close enough to Armory 7 for the Eyes of Menadion to spot the underground fortress in the distance. "There’s no need to be on guard. Everything out here was just a delay tactic.

"Something meant to stall the invaders while Teneb rushed here with his constructs. None of this was meant to survive him. We can Warp ahead."

"How can you be so sure?" Quylla asked.

"Think about it, Quylla. The Odi’s civilization is much older than this, and they had golems capable of opening Warp Steps. Even if Teneb wasn’t that good, he could have carved the runes for permanent Gates, yet he didn’t.

"It would have allowed him to send his maintenance golems all across the maze to repair traps and recharge the arrays. Instead, he left everything outside the fortress to rot and used common blades for the spike pits.

"This means that he never relied on the traps, and their only purpose was to scare the invaders and waste their time."

"Couldn’t he just be afraid of wasting his resources and opening the way to the enemy invasion?" Lith’s paranoia ran at full gear. "As you said, golems are dumb. You scratch a rune, wait for the maintenance golem, and knock it out.

"Rinse and repeat until no maintenance golems are left or you jump through the Warp Gate and get past the fortress defenses."

"Golems are indeed dumb, but why not surround the Gate with combat golems?" Solus replied. "They would cover for the maintenance golems and shoot down the enemy from a safe distance once the alarm is triggered.

"As for your second objection, would you jump past an unknown Gate and inside an enemy stronghold with no idea what’s waiting for you beyond?"

"No, that would be stupid." Lith shook his head.

"My point exactly." Solus said. "It’s a move as stupid as wasting so many crystals for arrays that would be used once at best. Unless Teneb repaired them himself when he was alive, and assumed they would become useless after his death."

"Solus is right." Menadion said. "I’ve met people like Teneb while travelling around Mogar with Lochra, and I know his type. The Invincible King had a powerful enemy he hated and built this place to keep his treasures safe from them."

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