Chapter 462: Double Deceit

Gareth, in the same respectful tone, spoke, "It is an honor, Sir Zoromir...."The emotionless High-Lich seemed to study him intently but did not speak, remaining silent for a long time.

So, it was Cuadros who spoke to peer into the intentions of this mysterious party, "So, why don’t you tell me the truth. What exactly are you and your master Osiris after? Why do you want to join our side?"

Gareth opened his mouth to speak, but an intimidating pressure descended upon him like an immovable mountain. However, an artifact on his hand shimmered brightly, and so the pressure did not affect him at all. He continued, "It seems our gesture of goodwill to rescue your tortured kin wasn’t enough?? King Cuadros?"

Ravenspire’s King did not speak but kept his gaze locked onto Golgoth. He was surprised that this follower of Osiris was wearing the rare and valuable type of artifact that could ignore the pressure of a 5th-phase existence.

If the Strategist of the third ghost legion was surprised by this, he did not show it at all; he only stood like a dead skeletal statue covered in a mage hood. Only the dancing flames in his eyes indicated that being was anything but a statue. It was unclear what this being was thinking, keeping so deathly silent that it was almost eerie.

King Cuadros spoke again in annoyance, "You did not answer my question, Golgoth?"

Gareth chuckled in the persona of Golgoth, "The oathbreaker stones naturally."

Then he showed another ring-like artifact on his hand, but a terrifying silence fell over the area, and the very air grew chilly. A sliver of killing intent from the silent high lich targeted the very soul of Gareth, and he was injured instantly. But he remained unmoving.

Zoromir opened his mouth for the first time; his voice was a bone-grinding screech. "How do you know of that, mixed breed?"

Gareth sneered, "If you know what this thing is in my hand. You should know that even with your fastest attacks, I could still escape, even if I am injured in the process. This will only provoke my master into revealing the existence of the Oathbreaker stones to the three Human Kings."

"Then you can forget about them agreeing with your conditions of war. It would be a direct clash of death between the 6th-phase existences. And no one will win if that scenario occurs. I’m sure you want to avoid that at all costs."

"The oathbreaker stones are just that valuable after all," iterated Gareth coldly.

Zoromir growled, and the air screamed, echoing his rage, "You did not answer the fucking question, mixed breed."

Gareth said, "It’s quite simple, actually. You have made countermeasures to ensure no other individuals from the other races would know about the oathbreaker stones’ existence. Including the three great kingdoms of humanity. But what of someone who carries a part of the ghost bloodline itself?"

The eyes of King Cuadros widened in shock, though he was sidelined for most of the workings on how the ghost race was keeping the existence of the oathbreaker stones secret from every other party that may come for it, like hungry wolves. He still knew of some things as the head of minor kingdoms.

And it was indeed a loophole from what he knew. But Gareth continued as he dropped another bombshell on them, "Sir Zoromir must have heard of the Vex family massacre within Suncrest that happened not too long ago?"

The Lich nodded, and he realized something before Gareth could even say anything. He asked, "It was the work of Osiris? He is a Demon Horned Undead??"

Gareth nodded without much fanfare.

The gaze of the High-Lich immediately changed. He turned towards the King of Ravenspire, "Cuadros, I need to discuss something with him alone..."

King Cuadros nodded reluctantly. He spoke one last thing to Gareth before he left, "I’m unsure of your true agenda here, follower of Osiris. But as a father, I am thankful that my son came back safely. So, please convey my gratitude towards your Lord."

After King Cuadros left, the High-Lich erected a powerful barrier for hundreds of meters around the two of them to isolate the space.

His bone-grinding voice became even more horrifying as the mighty undead asked with a scathing intensity, "It was you lot who created the mess on the academy attack? Isn’t that right? The oathbreaker stones on the dark ship. Your master took them?"

Gareth met the overwhelming rage of the High-Lich with unsettling calmness, "Obviously...."

Zoromir roared in fury, speaking incomprehensible profanities in the ghost tongue which Gareth could not understand, nor did he care to.

For the first time in hundreds of years, Zoromir felt that every hand of his was tied at this moment. He could not kill Golgoth, and even if he did manage to kill him, his master Osiris’s threat remained real.

The oathbreaker’s existence could not be revealed to the three human kings. He was already having a headache over the attitude shown by the Suncrest King; Leonidas seemed to care little about his race’s safety. Many of their plans were thrown overboard just from that information alone.

What Golgoth said about being able to get the Oathbreaker stones’ information just because Osiris had the ghost races’ bloodline was total bullshit. It was simply a tactic to fool King Cuadros.

Zoromir could not help but sneer in his heart. If Cuadros knew that this Osiris was the sole reason their academy attack had failed, what reaction would this foolish king have?

The lich shook his head and erased that thought. He asked threateningly, "What proof is there that you have not already leaked this information, and what does your master want? I want to speak to him directly instead of talking to a pawn...."

Gareth denied, "My master is not a 5th phase being, so he naturally won’t take that risk. And you may not believe this, but it was a complete coincidence that we were near that academy island. When that attack had occurred."

"As for what we want, we naturally want a small share of the Oathbreaker stones. About how to prove our words, hmm. It can be done through a demon contract, and there is no other option, is there?" stated Gareth.

The High-Lich clenched his bone fists; demon contracts were inviolable, just like the contracts made through Prime Nexus, but there was a deep reason why they avoided this. Yet, with the oathbreaker stones’ existence, it seems there was no other choice.

Zoromir asked further, "Why exactly does your master want the Oathbreaker stones? Who is he truly? Without speaking the truth of your intentions, we cannot proceed into any official agreements."

Gareth nodded as he explained, "My master Osiris is actually a rogue hunter of the Arclight branch from the Elven empire, after 60 long years of servitude. He managed to find a way to break most of the contracts that directly bind him.

"However, he is still being hunted. To be completely free, more oathbreaker stones are necessary. Apart from himself, there are more of us that he wants to free. That’s all there is to it," he surmised.

Zoromir looked at him in suspicion, not believing a word spoken by this person. For one, he was already extremely doubtful about why he was so terrifyingly calm when he was but a mere 4th phase being facing someone as powerful as him. Even amongst the 5th-phase existences, few could be his opponent.

But thinking about it logically, there was indeed some small plausibility to these claims. Still, it could be verified through the demon contracts if he decided to make this deal with this mysterious party.

Even if this information did turn out to be true, he couldn’t really do anything much to Osiris because they had to lose much more than the other party. The only saving grace he could think of was that, from the information he heard about the Vex family massacre. The one responsible was indeed not a 5th-phase existence and had to run from Mason Vex.

So, in the grand scheme of things, Osiris would not be as troublesome a thing as long as his mouth was kept shut. Trading a small amount of Oathbreaker stones was also not something unacceptable. But his instincts as one of the sharpest minds in the entire Ghost Island told him that this matter could not be so simple.

Well, they did not expect to be able to get all the Oathbreaker stones without any hiccups in the first place. Some troubles were bound to emerge one way or another for such a priceless resource. Heck, they even found out about the stones through sheer dumb luck.

The entire plan was made in haste. And the first trouble had appeared. They just had to deal with it, even if it was just a cover for some deeper scheme from a hidden force.

Zoromir snarled, "Fine, I will talk over this with Lord Zeledin. Then we can proceed further depending on what he says."

Gareth smiled as he gave a respectful bow, while activating the escape artifact as he vanished, "I will be waiting...."

Gareth appeared somewhere inside Suncrest. This rare artifact was so powerful and efficient in its use that it left no detectable trail for space travel to track the escape, and it was impossibly fast as well.

Yet, right after that, he lost consciousness.

At the same time, inside Damien’s runic chamber. Axel’s eyes snapped open as he clutched his head in pain. He could not help but grimace loudly in horrifying pain and displeasure, "Goddamn it. This bloodline possession thing is just too dangerous."