Chapter 486 First Hurdle, Destroyed
Nial, fused with Kaeldur and Tyrant, was a great team.
While Nial was mostly focused on swift movements and the death of as many opponents as possible, Tyrant was there to pull everyone's attention onto him.
Even the other Nightshadow Elves didn't inflict enough fear and desperation in the hearts of the guards to make them glance over at the Tyrant every few seconds.
Their glances were discreet and there was nothing they could do about it. Their confidence and willpower had already been broken, and it was only a matter of time before they would end up just like their brethren.
That was, at least, the thought that flashed through the minds of all guards when they saw the fearsome brute strength of the Tyrant.
Even the mercenaries at the Keltia rank had a hard time coping up with his strength. They could clearly tell that Tyrant's Mana Core was only at the Deux rank but something was extremely weird. The mercenaries could tell that something was off but it was not as if they could do anything against it.
Their hands were tied when it came to acquiring knowledge about the truth of the situation that unfolded right in front of them…or so it felt. The guards, whether slaves or mercenaries, could clearly tell that their life was on the line.
Right now, was not a brawl to defend against the invaders of the hidden laboratory, but it was a fight for survival…and the slaves had already lost, no matter what was about to happen.
Their masters had ordered them to fight, and die if necessary. They were supposed to give their utmost to fight against the invaders if some were to appear. It might be a fact that the Shelturion didn't expect someone to actually appear, and that the guards had been stationed all over the hidden laboratory as an added layer of security, but they instructed their slaves to die if necessary, nonetheless.
As long as it was possible for the slaves to stall the invaders for a few additional seconds, their masters would happily use them as cannon fodder.
Unfortunately, a few seconds were much longer than the guards had left to live. The Nightshadow Elves were frustrated about the non-existent attention they received. All focus was pulled toward the weirdly metamorphosed Nial and the demon he had summoned.
None of the Nightshadow Elves could fully grasp what they were witnessing, but their pride was hurt. A human, no matter how impressive he was, stole their thunder.
Nial was merely at the Late Prometheus rank as well, and here he was, stealing the thunder of more than ten Nightshadow Elves that were at a higher rank, killing dozens of opponents that were also at a higher rank than him…and he made it look like a cakewalk!
Nightingale observed Nial for a while but the things he was seeing didn't really make any sense. It was as if Nial was an anomaly among anomalies in the human race. However, even that wouldn't explain the things he was witnessing.
'Even if a human was born with the power of the Late God of Darkness, it's not as if the God's subordinates would follow Nial just like that…right? Is there more behind it…or are the Darkness God's Creations after Nial's dark energy and the Essence of Darkness?'
The Royal Nightshadow Elf had too many questions in his mind, and it was not as if he could go over to Nial and question him about every single detail that seemed suspicious.
If Nightingale were to do that, he would probably be subjected to Nial's ridicule and possibly even beaten into a pulp. Maybe not by Nial himself, but there was still that brute he could control.
The thought of getting humiliated once again caused Nightingale to shudder. He released his Shadow energy, and coated his arms and his longsword with it before he enhanced his strength with traces of his Essence of Darkness.
He was not the heir with the highest potential in the royal family, and neither was he a Nightshadow Elf with exceptionally strong, or in possession of a high quantity of Essence of Darkness. Nonetheless, he knew what he was doing and did not hesitate to utilize the little bit of Darkness Essence he possessed.
After turning into a black gust, he emerged around a few Guards, whom he killed in the blink of an eye. Revealing his strength as a Keltia Original, Nightingale eliminated close to ten opponents in the following seconds.
Two skilful mercenaries died due to his blade as well, yet, he was far from feeling satisfied. There was no reason for him to be proud of his achievement because neither the guards nor the slightly more skilled mercenaries were actually powerful opponents.
It was unlikely for true prodigies to become mere mercenaries. For most prodigies, it was a disgrace to become a mercenary, not only because the pay was just peanuts for most missions, but because the clients that paid would be entitled and demanding.
The pride of true prodigies wouldn't allow anyone to treat them badly.
That was why even the Guards with a Mana Core at the Keltia rank were not able to stall their small group for too long.
Nial was not sure how much time passed before the last mercenary collapsed on the ground while nobody in their group had been killed, let alone injured!
Some Nightshadow Elves were a little exhausted because they hadn't been able to fight using their usual combat style, while they were pulled ahead by the blazing fire that had begun to burn in their heart when they saw Nial fighting.
Tyrant disappeared in the darkness that covered the ground and Nial retracted the dark energy after a few seconds. He kept Kaeldur fused with him. The Ancient Devilization was not a taxing technique to use, if one could even label it as such, to begin with.
Nial didn't have to use mana or anything to fuse with Kaeldur. He just had to voice out his will to Kaeldur and the Devil would merge with him.
Nial was curious why it was possible for him to merge with Kaeldur especially since he had never seen Damian doing something like that while fighting either.
'Well, Damian was a lot stronger than I am. He probably didn't need to fuse with his creations. He created them when he was already a God, after all…'
Nial just shrugged his shoulders and he removed the darkness around his head temporarily. Kaeldur's grimace was also retracted. His ugly face was quite intimidating. Thus, Nial was being quite nice right now, giving everyone a favor by retracting the Devil's face.
"We're supposed to wait for the reinforcement of the guards…so what are we doing now?" Nightingale asked.
He hadn't really paid attention to the plan the Royal Princess had come up with but that was not exactly necessary either way. It was enough for him to use his strength to obliterate the opponents, who were daring enough to obstruct his path.
"We can destroy the traps in the hallways and attack the Guards rather than waiting for them. It would be a waste of time to wait for them here. They might not come to us and go straight to the other Elven groups if they noticed their infiltration.
Who knows? Maybe that would happen if we weren't loud enough" Nial responded.
He had listened to the plan of the Royal Princess but it was a little bit weird that no reinforcements had come to give the other guards a helping hand.
Either way, rather than wasting their time and staying around the same spot, it would be much better to spread out and obliterate everyone and everything.
That way, they could even make sure that there was no opportunity for the Shelturion Alchemists to escape.
The other Nightshadow Elves were also motivated to attack the Shelturion and show off their strength. Their pride had been hurt quite a bit when witnessing Nial's fight and it was time for them to regain their honor and prove that they were, in no way, inferior to Nial.
In the worst case, they could at least say that they were able to 'see' what happened…not like Nial…
However, that would be petty and it would harm their pride and honor more than acknowledging that Nial was just stronger than them despite being blind.
But even the Royal Nightshadow Elf was trying to find ways to show it to everyone that there was, at least, one thing he was better at than NIal.
But damn…that was not easy…