Silver Realm
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CHAPTER 239- TITLES AND COSTS
🕑 Added 2025-03-24 18:00:17 +0000 UTCTwo days passed as Alaster escorted the children to Onigas. He could have personally arrived in an hour or two and flown there with Evelyn in just a few more. But it was beyond his Abilities to transport so many people in such a short amount of time.
The journey was quiet and tense.
While very few Monsters were willing to attack the carriage with someone as powerful as Alaster nearby, those that did were quickly cut down before they could even come close.
With nothing to do but sit and wait, the children were growing anxious, something that was only multiplied when Evelyn told her side of the story. Their home, the only home most of them had ever known, was under attack by Demons.
None of them had a particularly deep connection for the city, as they were all from the dregs of society and were only saved from execution or lifelong servitude in the mines by Evelyn. But none of them were foolish enough to not know the ramifications of such an attack.
The strange boy, David, was perhaps the most unaffected by the news, though Alaster wondered if the boy cared about anything other than the next meal, which Alaster provided through the Monsters dumb enough to get too close.
Alaster himself stayed removed from the children, by his own design. He had plenty to think about. And he was not as blind as the others.
As they traveled through the forests and hills, Alaster’s Undead guided and protected the carriage without much input from him. This allowed him ample time to watch the events of the continent from the eyes of his numerous Shadow Assassins throughout.
During the time he unleashed his Hordes in an attempt to level up as much as he could, he used his Death Knights as a beacon to unleash his Shadows. By the time the battle with the Demigods occurred, Alaster had at least a dozen Shadows in every Nation.
His wide network of Shadows allowed him a good view of the current events.
And the view was not great.
Two days later, and the Demon Forces had continued to flow out of the portal like a flood. He had long since stopped trying to count them. And just like he suspected, the Argalon Mages capable of disabling the System were plentiful. While patrols would not have any Argalon Mages, any battle between the Demons and Humanity would result in the Humans fighting without the aid of the System.
However, even now, the Capital city of Lissura, Zolis, still showed sign of defiance. Pockets of resistance were still fighting and hiding. They were slowly being wiped out, but they still fought, however fruitless it was.
Unfortunately, this was not because they were powerful. It was because the Demon Forces simply did not care. Nearly all but the most injured immediately left Zolis, marching out towards the other cities. Villages were burned to the ground, their residents slaughtered and tossed in one big pile to burn along the rest.
The four closest cities to Zolis had already fallen under siege, with the closest one to Zolis, Daleoc, already having their walls be breached in two different places. The cities were well fortified, but it had never even been conceived that the most of their soldiers would be rendered powerless.
The soldiers still retained the benefits of their stats, which allowed them to still fight, but without most of their abilities, their effectiveness was crippled. The ones hit the hardest were the Mages, as they couldn’t even defend themselves, let alone their cities without the System casting their spells for them.
Humanity would adapt, but it would take time, and they would still be weakened. The Argalon Mages would be the priority targets. Mages would learn to cast their spells from outside the effect of the Argalon Mages. People would learn to use Magic without the System, or they would not, and die.
But for some, it was much too late.
Lissura had fallen.
Its corpse would spasm for some time, granting the rest of Humanity much needed time and information, but it was dead.
King Galeros and his small army of Royal Guards and Golden Thousand had retreated as quickly as they could, taking with them anyone that could keep up, and abandoning anyone who couldn’t. They were deep in the wilderness, soon to reach Taria before the sun rose on the third day.
Any other time, Taria would have done whatever it took to keep the King and his Thousand out of their borders, and hopefully to kill them. But today, at the beginning of a war everyone knew would be costly, the Tarians welcomed them with open arms, eager to have such capable warriors.
Zalar, having been preparing for the invasion and having received much sooner notice of the invasion beginning, continued to fortify their entire nation. There was not a single mile that was not covered by a multitude of weapons and troops.
And with Catherine there, helping them where she could and informing them of the Demons’ ability to neutralize the System, the Zalarians were rushing to teach themselves how to use their Magic without the System.
Alaster found it quite ironic. The Demons had arrived with a way to disable the System, Humanity’s strongest weapon and tool, surprising them completely. Yet the faction of Humanity that was most prepared for the invasion primarily used Enchanted weaponry and Golems, which did not need the System to operate, only to create.
Despite the seeming surprise of the invasion, each of the Nations had their own defenses already in place. They had been created with the intention to use against the other Nations, but they worked just as well against Demons.
Alaster almost chuckled as he watched the Savage City States somehow whip the Monsters into a maddened frenzy and direct them over the icy mountains and into Lissurian Lands. Such an act would have been seen as taboo by the other Nations and would have prompted a war that would have likely caused the City States to be wiped out.
But with Lissura being taken over, Alaster suspected everyone else was cheering them on. The Monsters would have little effect against the walled cities still holding defiant, but they would have a wonderful effect against the siege camps of the Demons.
Humanity would not be conquered lying down. They would fight.
Alaster watched the continent fall into chaos, studying all the actions of all parties involved, but he did so as an excuse. An excuse to ignore the System Prompt. A prompt that he had intentionally avoided reading, because he knew what it said, and he did not want it.
‘You can’t run from it. Not now.’ Belgroth said for the dozenth time.
Alaster didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. He knew Belgroth was right.
‘If you are going to avoid it, then at least do something productive.’
‘Like what?’
‘What are you going to tell the City Lord of Onigas?’
‘The truth.’
‘You know he will refuse.’
‘I don’t, actually. The man is prideful, yes, but he is also practical. If a Demonic Envoy approaches Onigas and tells him that they are allowing him time to evacuate his people, or that they will even exempt the city from their conquest so long as the city does not participate in the war, I believe he will do it.
It just relies on if the Argalon War Masters will accept that.’
‘They won’t. Too long would they have debated over every little aspect of this invasion. Its too late for them to make changes.’
‘And what of Galmore?’
Alaster almost chuckled, but he couldn’t keep the smirk off his face, ‘Galmore? That city is like a caged Wyvern. Content to remain where it is, but the moment its given a reason, it breaks free to rampage.
Most of their military learned how to use their Magic without the System as a sort of self-imposed training for when they became Experts and above. They have more Experts than any other populace of similar size. All of their people are combat trained.
In all honesty, I think they will be arguing over who gets to use the Trains first to go to war, glad to have a reason to stop being passive.’
‘Perhaps. You of course realize just how crucial those underground tunnels are?’
‘Of course. That’s why I have two Death Knights and their Legions guarding it permanently. And every city that is connected has their own patrols guarding it. Plus the Magitek Cannons that run down the tunnels? I think the Demons would prefer to take the cities themselves before they attacked such a heavily guarded and narrow pass.’
‘Good. Now read that damn Prompt. It’s not going away and the sooner you read it, the sooner you can get over it and adjust.’
Alaster groaned. He knew his mentor was right, but that did not make it any easier.
After fighting an internal battle for several minutes, Alaster finally sighed and sat up in the saddle of Nightmare and mentally selected the System Prompt.
[New Title Gained: God Killer]
[Title: God Killer
You have slain a being of Divinity. In doing so, you have consumed a portion of their Divinity.
Effect: Spell Limitations no longer apply to you. So long as you still have Health and Mana, your body and mind will always remain in perfect health.]
[Level Up]
[Class: Lord of the Dead
Level: ERROR
EXP: N/A
Health: ERROR
Health Regeneration: ERROR
Mana: ERROR
Mana Regeneration: ERROR
Bloodline: Demonic Blood
Abilities: ERROR
Passives: ERROR
Bonuses: ERROR
Stats:
Strength: ERROR Wisdom*: ERROR
Dexterity: ERROR Intelligence*: ERROR
Constitution*: ERROR Free Points: ERROR]
Alaster could not help but chuckle, it had been a long time since he last checked his Status. It seemed, as he grew in power, he had broken it. The only things that were readable were his Bloodline, courtesy of eating part of Belgroth’s body, and his Class.
The title was not quite what he expected, and in truth, it did not do much for him since he was able to Weave. The only real benefit it gave him was an apparent immunity to poisons, diseases, and potentially even age.
He wasn’t so sure about that last part though.
Sighing to himself, thinking he had over exaggerated the Prompt, he noticed that it was not done yet.
[Class Change Available]
As Alaster read that last line, his vision went dark.
