Chapter 322: Another Legend To Your Roster
Lancet took the empty chair beside Renan. King Romsgard stood at the head of the chamber beneath the Academy crest, hands resting on the armrest.
Lancet noticed the woman behind the King.
She stood slightly to Romsgard’s right, close enough to protect him without crowding the table. She had long blonde hair which had been pulled into a high ponytail that fell between her shoulder blades.
On her body was a tight black fighting leather gear covering her torso and legs with pale strips of silk at the waist and upper arms. The outfit followed the lean shape of her body closely enough that Lancet had no trouble noticing the strength in her biceps, and the abs on her stomach which the gear generously revealed.
Silver gauntlets covered both of her forearms.
Her name was Exela, if Lancet remembered correctly. He didn’t know it was time for her to join the plot. But with the pacing now different because of his presence in this world, it was not much of a surprise.
Exela had always been a fan favorite. The cold, beautiful and dangerous bodyguard. The type readers wanted to get choked by or some stupid gooner shit like that.
King Ronald Galt of Falcon Standing had given her to Romsgard as a military gift between allies, which remained one of the stranger political arrangements Lancet remembered from the novel.
Her Class was Tiger Fist.
It was an extremely rare Specialist Class built around sudden movement and devastating close-range strikes. Lancet had no intention of finding out what one of those gauntlets felt like against his ribs.
Exela’s eyes suddenly shifted and she caught him looking. Lancet turned toward the table at once and adjusted his collar as though that had been his concern all along.
Romsgard smiled. "So." He moved around his chair and rested both hands on the table. "I hear you have already added another Legend to your roster, Lancet."
Every eye moved toward him.
Lancet sat straighter. This meeting felt too important for him to be placed at its center already. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"The Phoenix Reincarnate."
Lancet gave a careful smile. "I formed the Ladder to her some time ago, when I was still learning what my Class could do. Her resurrection only completed recently, so I had to bring the bond under control."
It was close enough to the truth to survive the room.
Romsgard nodded. "Good. Very good."
Danistasia looked at Lancet. The same cold stare remained on her face since she learned alongside the Administrators’ Council that Solaris was bound to him.
Romsgard continued. "Hopefully, you have her fully under control. We are preparing for war with Demons from another world. We cannot afford any infighting at the same time."
Lancet folded his hands on the table. "She understands that."
"If convincing her to abandon Carrion Spire is impossible, then convince her to suspend those plans."
"I’ll try my best, Your Majesty."
"That is good."
Romsgard chuckled and looked around the room. "If the Phoenix Reincarnate joins your growing army of Legends, then I think this war is becoming ours to win."
Lancet smiled with him, though the phrase army of Legends made the others study him again.
Danistasia’s gaze shifted from Lancet to the King. She didn’t like that the two of them had suddenly become extremely close since the last time she was with them.
Ordenance had a proud look on his face. Danistasia cleared her throat. "Can we move on to the matter at hand?"
Romsgard turned toward her. "Of course, Danistasia." Then he looked over his shoulder. "Exela. Do the honors."
The blonde woman nodded once.
She stepped away from her place behind the King and walked around the table. Her heels clicked against the dark floor with a measured rhythm. The fitted leather moved with her lean, toned body while the pale silk at her waist shifted around her hips.
Lancet kept his eyes on her face this time. She was pretty. The author was right about that.
Exela stopped at the center of the chamber and raised one gauntleted hand, activating a gold-blue holographic screen above her palm.
She dragged two fingers across it and pushed the image into the air. The projection left her hand, stopped above the center of the table and remained suspended there. Exela spread both arms.
The screen expanded.
Mountain ridges filled the chamber. Then old quarry roads, cliff houses, broken terraces and the blackened remains of a citadel at the highest point.
Danistasia narrowed her cold eyes. "That looks like Deathrock."
"It is," Romsgard said.
Ordenance leaned closer, crossing his hands. Exela turned toward the projection.
"One week ago, Lancet Leogardt entered the restricted half-citadel of Deathrock alongside Astensia Valengard, Thor Stormchild, Spectra Hexerra, Princess Kestrel Highcastle and Espel Fyrebloom."
Danistasia looked at Espel the moment her name was spoken. Ordenance followed. So did Vernon, Valeria, Renan and Nereus.
Lancet kept his face still. Fuck.
Espel remained seated with her hands resting loosely in her lap. She showed no panic, no discomfort and no surprise. Anyone watching her would have thought she had expected the announcement.
Exela continued. "Deathrock was officially classified as a suspended infestation under the Outer-Political Truce Agreement. The original population had been remigrated, the lower perimeter was held by Brigades and no reclamation operation was active."
The image shifted, showing a red line across the settlement. It divided the lower terraces from the northern rot-zone.
"That assessment was false."
Expressions in the room changed.
Exela moved one hand, and several marks appeared across the ruined town. "The Demon presence was not merely surviving behind the truce line. It was expanding. Gloom had been fed into the mountain through the old roads, gutters, mines and foundations. The infestation had spread farther than human scans reported."
The projection climbed toward the old citadel. A dark mass appeared beneath it.
"A Void-rank Demon Head had rooted itself into the citadel ruins and turned the structure into an anchor. The corruption moving through Deathrock originated there."
Another marker appeared below it.
"A Descending-rank Demon Commander controlled the lower operation."
Exela swiped again. Three bodies appeared on the screen. "Demon Scouts were also operating inside the zone. Their presence mattered more than their rank. Demon Scouts are wartime reconnaissance units. They study routes, defenses, troop movement and weak points. Under the terms of the truce, they should not have been inside human territory at all."
The screen changed again. A map of the old settlement appeared with hidden lines running beneath it.
"It seemed that Deathrock was being prepared as a route."
Danistasia’s eyes narrowed. "A route to where?" she asked.
Exela enlarged the southern section of the map. "Toward the human capital."
The room went still.
"Had the anchor been completed, Gehenna would have possessed a concealed point of entry behind our defensive lines. The attack would not have come through the borders where Kingdom forces were watching. It would have opened inside territory believed to be contained."
Valeria slowly looked toward Lancet as Exela moved to the next image. In that image were twisted red figures gathered inside a thick fog of Gloom.
"A newly discovered army of evil called Purgatory Demons had also been released inside Deathrock."
Ordenance’s interest hardened. Danistasia looked toward Romsgard.
Exela continued. "We have learnt that Purgatory is a prison for Demons. It contains creatures too violent and uncontrollable even for the Demon Lords to use safely. Their deployment confirmed that Gehenna considered the Deathrock operation important enough to risk its own secret forces."
The image changed to the recorded face of the Demon Head. "The Demon Head, Braavas, later confirmed that the truce had been false from the beginning."
A line of text appeared beside it.
"It admitted that Gehenna used the agreement to gain time, hide its preparations and maintain Deathrock as a possible route toward the capital. It also confirmed that Baal authorized the use of the Purgatory force."
Next, former Council Member Verdrak appeared above the table.
"The investigation also exposed an agent of Gehenna inside the Kingdom Council."
Several students reacted at once.
"Council Member Verdrak Ulcam was caught using a concealed crystal-river portal to communicate with Beelzebub. He was a spy for the Demons, a member of the Secret Cult of Gehenna."
Lancet saw Renan look at him again.
Exela lowered her hand. The projection remained suspended above the table: Deathrock on one side, Purgatory Demons on the other, and Verdrak’s face between them.
"Lancet Leogardt and the Legends who entered Deathrock uncovered an active Gehenna route behind humanity’s defenses, confirmed that the truce was false, exposed the secret forces of the Second World which would have an element of surprise against us in future battles. Even more, they helped identify a spy within the Kingdom Council."
Her voice stayed level. Lancet wasn’t sure if she was praising him or reading a textbook. "Their actions prevented an invasion from opening inside human territory before the world knew it was under attack. The Human Kingdom owes them a great deal."
When she was done. Everyone was too shocked to speak. Out of everything they had expected, this was not in the list.
Vernon was stuck between shock and jealousy. Nereus was impressed. Valeria was surprised and grateful. Espel was basically there. And Renan couldn’t stop staring at Lancet. He looked so visually stunned it was out of character for him.
Danistasia looked at Ordenance. "We never heard of any of this. Not even the administrators told us."
"The administrators didn’t know either." Romsgard rested one hand on the table as he spoke. "The matter was kept under wraps until everything was controlled. We also needed President Bane’s response prepared before the information spread beyond the Council."
Ordenance turned to Lancet. "Unbelievable. You uncovered a concealed operation inside a restricted half-citadel, exposed a route aimed at the capital and helped reveal a traitor inside the Kingdom Council."
His voice carried enough pride to make Lancet uneasy, forcing him to smile weakly. Ordenance looked toward Danistasia. "I believe ’gifted’ is no longer sufficient."
Danistasia did not answer. She stared at Lancet in silence.
For once, the cold expression had failed to hide the shock underneath it. Then her eyes moved to Espel.
Back to Lancet.
"How did he manage to do all of this? He was here during the Competition. Then he vanished for five days and returned claiming he had been training."
Danistasia fixed Lancet with her stare. "Did you leave the Academy premises?" Her voice dropped. "Illegally?!"
Lancet’s heart sank.