Chapter 23: RESCUING THE PRISONERS, BLAMING IT ON ANOTHER
RESCUING THE PRISONERS, BLAMING IT ON ANOTHER
"What do you mean the magical chest is empty?" Lord Nomzenes asked his Demonlord angrily.
"It took us a lot of effort to break the enchantments on the chest but there was nothing inside", the Demonlord replied to the lord.
"Damn, those sneaky church bastards sent a decoy to fool us", Lord Nomzenes told the Demonlord.
Suddenly, Lord Yenen rushed into the hall.
"What is your problem now?" Nomzenes asked him.
"That… that Oriese is here", Yenen told the lord.
"That sneaky bastard. How dare he comes here after giving us bad information about the treasures of the church?" Lord Nomenes asked.
"He must be asking for his share of the treasure that we promised to him", Lord Yenen told his master.
"He dares? Bring him in. I will skin him myself", Lord Nomzenes told Lord Yenen.
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"Lord Nomzenes", I greeted the Demonlord General.
"You, how dare you come here after you give us bad information about the Church's treasures. It is a decoy", Lord Yenen shouted to me angrily.
"Let me explain", I said to them.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Lord Nomzenes threatened me.
"Yes, my lord. Let me explain to you. In summary, I was hiding near the Church when you attacked them. After you left the Church, I stayed behind and I found the cardinal of the church sneaking away with an apostle", I told Lord Nomzenes.
"What?" Lord Yenen asked me.
"The apostle brought the cardinal to an alley before knocking him unconscious, taking a magical chest from the cardinal. I brought the cardinal here, you can ask him yourself", I told the Demonlord general.
"You brought the cardinal? Bring him in", the lord commanded.
Cardinal Koreen was brought into the hall, blindfolded and gagged. We removed his gag and the Demonlord questioned him.
"Where is the magical chest?" Nomzenes asked the blindfolded cardinal angrily.
"It is not with me. The apostle took it away from me. You can search me. Please don't kill me", Cardinal Koreen pleaded with the demons.
"Is this the truth? Where did the apostle go?" Lord Nomzenes asked.
"I know where he went. My men followed the apostle to the mines in the west mountains", I told Lord Nomzenes.
"There are some apostles stationed in the Mithrium mine", Lord Yenen told the Demonlord General.
"Yes, yes. He went that way. My men followed him there. He must be hiding there inside the mine while the other apostles went to fight in the frontline", I told the Demonlord Nomzenes.
"This coward apostle, I will skin him alive", Lord Nomzenes told us.
"We should go to the mine and capture the apostle and the Church's treasure", I told the Demonlord General.
"No, we will go. You stay here. Watch him carefully before we return", Lord Nomzenes asked Lord Yenen to keep a watch over me.
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Mother Asereth brought more than a thousand assassins from the Temple of Solomon for the rescue operation. These were elite assassins who could move like the wind and kill without a sound.
"We catch them by surprise, and we must not let any of the guards escape. Not a single one of them must leave here alive", Camliden instructed the assassins.
Assassins soon surrounded the perimeters of the prison mine and hid there in ambush.
Some of our assassins even hid among the prisoners. When we rescued the miners inside the Mithrium mine, some of our assassins pretended to be slaves and returned to the prison awaiting the day of rescue.
"wee woo wee woo"
"We are under attack", the guards in the prison camp shouted to each other as they faced the unexpected assault from assassins.
Before the guards could fortify their gates, suddenly many of them were struck from within the camp. The slaves who were thought to be restrained suddenly emerged from their prisons, with their weapons in hand, quickly slaughtering them.
These prisoners were the Temple assassins who hid among the prisoners earlier waiting for this moment to strike.
Soon, the gates of the camp were opened for the assassins outside to come in, saving them a lot of time in breaching the strong gates.
"We must return to Elis to report this", an Apostle told the guards as he flew into the air with a few other Apostles.
The Apostles didn't plan to defend the mine which wasn't a concern for them. Their job here in the mine was to report to the commanders of Elis if something went wrong in the mine.
But before they could fly high, they were greeted with a heavy wide beam of Ice, fire and Wrath that was cast from a fiery figure who had a full head of flaming hair.
"Ice Fire Wrath"
"Holy Shields of Apostles"
The Apostles quickly gathered together as they were trained to. Some Apostles quickly raised their conjured shields to protect themselves in a magic shield formation while others looked for opportunity to retaliate against Chash.
"Who is this deviant being?" the apostles asked among themselves.
"Arggghhhh"
Suddenly, thousands of magical glass shards exploded behind the apostles. While their magical shields were facing the magical beams of Chash, magical mirrors were summoned from behind, breaking into pieces before striking them.
"Mirrors of Envy"
Soon, a magical being rushed toward the wounded apostles, slashing them with a cursed blade. The cuts weren't deep, but they were cursed. The apostles' wounds couldn't heal after it tasted the cursed blade.
"Blade of Zavalla"
The apostles now abandoned their formations of shields and rushed to escape from this unwinnable fight. Suddenly, golden chains fell down from the skies to lock onto their wrists, ankles and necks.
"Golden Chains of Greed"
"Who are you people?" the apostles asked his assailants.
"We are from the army of the Demon Queen. Die to you bastard Eunuchs", someone screamed at them.
The apostles were quickly restrained by magical chains and were blindfolded. Their magic was also similarly suppressed by those chains. These were the chains that the apostles used to restrain the slaves in the mine, and they were now used against them.
However, one of the apostles escaped.
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"Brother Ephraim, we are at the Mithrium mine", an apostle told another.
"How dare these demons attack our mine?" Apostle Ephraim asked as he landed in the prisoner camp.
"Our brothers are here inside the prison", another apostle came to report to Ephraim as several wounded apostles were brought to them.
"What happened to you? We came here as soon as one of you reported to us about a demon assault," Ephraim asked them.
"Yes, we were attacked by powerful beings although we didn't see any real demons. They could be colluders", the wounded apostle replied to Ephraim.
"Where are all the prisoners?" Ephraim asked them.
"There is no time to look for the slaves", another apostle told Elphraim before adding, "the Demonlords are here".
From a distance, a group of Demonlords appeared heading to the Mithrium mine.
"Damn those cursed demons. Attack them", Apostle Ephraim commanded his brothers, the apostles.
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"Are you sure the apostles will not follow us into the Mithrium mine?" Camliden asked my Golem friends.
"The master had it all planned. Firstly, the apostles will not come into the Mithrium mine unnecessarily because they fear the Mithrium ants inside the mine. They only send sacrificial beings and slaves in here to feed them to the ants", Meera explained to him.
"Is there a second reason you are so sure we will be safe in here?" Mother Asereth asked Meera.
"The Apostles will be fighting with the Demonlords in the prison if everything goes as the master's plan. By the time their fight is over, whoever wins, we will be out of this mine already and long gone", Meera replied to her.
"When the apostles start questioning, the blame for rescuing the prisoners will fall on the demon army", Ratatouille added.
"Did your master plan all this?" Mother Asereth asked them.
"Yes", Meera replied to her.
"With a Dark Angel like this, he would no longer need an advisor", Mother Asereth who was once the former Dark Angel's advisor said to her.
Soon, the temple's assassins and prisoners reached the entrance to the abandoned mine which was annex to the Mithrium mine.
Waiting for them at the entrance were a dozen airships belonging to the Kaleon family.
"Did master Ivan prepare so many airships to ferry us away?" Camliden asked.
"Yes, we chartered these flights for you and the tickets are not cheap, at the current rate, but this is the quickest way getting out of Staari city. Luckily with the demon invasion and the chaos in the city, nobody will check our airships", Ratatouille told them.
"Can the airships fit all of us?" Mother Asereth asked.
"Priority should be given to the prisoners and wounded ones, those who are capable should find their way out of the city themselves. The assassins of the temple are after all moving like the wind. That is not a problem for them", Cassandra said to them.
"I must pilot one of those airships", Chash said to us.
"Forget it, your hair will burn the airship to the ground", Ratatouille replied to him.
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