Chapter 655 (Patreon)

“... it's already been hours.” Ajax couldn’t recognise the voice that woke him up even through the privacy barrier around him but whoever it was they were clearly in a loud argument since with his high Perception Stat he was able to make out the words clearly. The barrier wasn’t all that good at muffling sound coming in from the outside so that was understandable. “We have questions.” 

“There is no reason for your urgency.” Aurexion snorted his tail tensing slightly where it coiled around Ajax providing him with privacy to rest. “Everything went perfectly according to the plan I put forward, in fact we more than did our job since we took out three champions and left the other two heavily injured.” 

Ajax stood up, he was glad to see that his body was feeling much better, taking a quick look at the time on his System screen he noticed that he had only gotten four to five hours of sleep but that was more than enough for his body to mostly recover. This meant that there was no weakness period following [Absolute Body Enhancement] so long as he didn’t push himself so far next time he wouldn’t need to be worried about it at all.

Just because there was no weakness period however didn’t mean that Ajax felt secure on his feet, during the ten second window he had used [Absolute Body Enhancement] he had twice severely damaged his left leg by moving at a higher speed than his body could whistand, launching wasn’t that much of an issue since the ground took a lot of that burden but even now he could feel some tremors pass through his left leg as he rose. 

Sensing his bond was now awake Aurexion raised his head from where he had lowered it closer to the people he was talking to as to be more intimidating up close and looked at Ajax before moving his tail out of the way so Ajax could join the conversation. 

“Ajax you have a lot of questions to a-...” Regis was quickly silenced as Aranor grabbed on to him, the old elf might have had lower physical stats than the squad leader but a brief release of Mana added some weight to his presence. 

“Lord Hearthbound, have you recovered?” Aranor asked, his glare pointedly reminding Regis that he could not treat Ajax like any other young soldier but that he was in fact both a champion and Duke.

“I could actually use an extended rest.” Ajax pointedly sided with his bond and he could see the rest of the people there to talk to him, swallowing their fear as they all instinctively backed up one step. Regis might have been overwhelmed by emotions and curiosity in the moment yet each of the rest of them remembered clearly how Ajax took apart enemy champions in seconds. “I believe I may have pushed my body too far and due to my self healing during the battle I am not in a position where healing magic could help me.” 

Everyone there knew Ajax was exaggerating, his body wasn’t presenting any of the normal queues for overhealing it was obviously a different kind of strain that he was suffering from. Despite the obvious nobody called him out for it. 

“How did you-” Regis tried once more to gain control of the conversation and ask some questions so that he might have some answers he could use in a negotiation that was soon come but he was cut off again. 

“Have you secured my second prisoner while I recovered?” Ajax asked as he looked in the direction of the makeshift champion prison they had set up. “Aurexion assured me he would be watching over him as well as me to make sure there were no issues with his capture.” 

Unlike their previous prisoner this was no longer just a squad member and heir to a duchy, this was full fledged champion, like Red Fang Ajax was sure that this hybrid fighter wasn’t one of the newer weaker champions either so he would be much more valuable and as such he wasn’t willing to give him up to the Republic. 

“You’re looking to claim both prisoners?” Aranor asked, there was no hint of accusation in his tone, only a brief tint of pleasant surprise. 

“I’ve had my bond reach out to my prince, seeing as having my previous prisoner secured by the Republic was causing such issues, having a more valuable one especially after my previous exploits would cause even more.” Ajax explained yet Regis and his entire squad started to panic as they realized what Ajax was going to do. “As such I will have them turned over to Gryndor’s forces for containment. Has he reached out regarding that?”

“Not yet but he said we should expect updates regarding that by the end of tomorrow.” Aurexion relayed the result of his conversation with the prince. “He mentioned heading over here in person for the handoff.” 

Everyone knew this wasn’t about a handoff but rather the prince wanting to get some answers regarding whatever Ajax had managed to pull off but it was clear no inquiries on that topic would be welcomed as this was clearly Gryndor business.

“Ajax, you’re awake!” Arianwyn’s voice cut across as she came running from behind the group. She had been here previously but unlike the others she had turned around the moment Aurexion said Ajax needed rest and resolved to come back later, she only returned so soon because she noticed Aurexion had changed his position no longer sitting coiled. “How are you feeling?” 

“Still a little drained and stretched.” Ajax answered with a smile as his friend approached, the only person there Aurexion didn’t attempt to keep at a distance. “Nothing I can’t recover from.” 

“Ajax, what was that?” Arianwyn asked the question that was on everybody's mind. “Did it have anything to do with your bond?” Realising just how impolite it was to ask such a question Arianwyn quickly moved to backtrack. “You don’t have to answer, for-” 

“That was a Pseudo-Mythic Skill.” Ajax answered, surprising everyone there. “And that’s as much as I’ll say about what it was that I used. That along with the fact that I obviously still need to practice more before I am comfortable with using it.” 

“Pseudo-Mythic…” Aranor murmured as he looked towards Ajax. “I had thought that to be a Mythic Skill, I don’t even… I don’t know what a Pseudo-Mythic Skill is and I’ve been trying to gain a Mythic Skill for centuries.” 

“I’m sure you and I can come to an agreement about how much that information is worth.” Aurexion answered with a greedy look that made Arianwyn wince as she thought about Sylvanthal’s coffers that her father had worked so hard to restock.

“You back on yer feet laddie.” The voice of the dwarven champion could be heard as he was approaching, in his hand was Ajax’s axe looking a lot cleaner than he would have expected considering how he had been using it when he had last seen it yet there was also some obvious damage. “And I thought the ancient elf was our powerhouse or maybe the dragon but you clearly showed me. I had my smiths take a look and do their best on your axe but some of the damage couldn’t be repaired on short notice.” 

As a physically focused champion the dwarf relied on enchanted gear the same as Ajax’s axe so he had brought a few smiths and enchanters with him to help maintain that gear without relying on another countries' people who could look into it for secrets.

“How did the battle turn out?” Ajax asked, reminded about the event now that he saw his axe and he remembered that it had been sent flying towards the enemy army. 

“It was our clear victory.” Aranor told him. “We forced them to move back their position on top of them losing three champions, injuring three more and their support squad will have to drop back for some long term healing. Unfortunately one of our own squads will as well.” The reason for the word unfortunately however was twice as meaningful since Aranor was upset that Regis’s squad was the one uninjured that would remain.

“That’s good.” Ajax nodded. “That means you won’t be left at a disadvantage when I go.” 

“When you go?” Regis asked.

“Once my prisoners are picked up I plan to head into the nearby dungeon and take advantage of the security it provides as well as the plentiful Mana and time dilation to train.” Ajax said, taking a page out of Aurexion’s book and acting with more impunity as befitting his role as a champion. “I was assured a delve would be made available to me after I aided in capturing Red Fang, now is the perfect moment for that.”

Arianwyn perked up at the explanation, it was obvious she wanted to join him for the delve the only issue with that was the optics of the situation. The young champion from Gryndor entering a dungeon with Sylvanthal’s princess could cause a lot of political unrest, especially with the war already going on.  She now needed to find a plausible excuse to tag along that would be palatable to the nobility. 

Seeing there was no way he would be able to make any further progress for his cause here Regis quickly left to get in touch with the Duke. Now that he knew the prisoners would be passed off to Gryndor there was a short time where a trade could be brokered but seeing the result of the previous battle he would need to move quickly or the young heir might not be alive later following this devastating battle for the beastkin. 

“How come my body couldn’t endure the boost?” Ajax asked Aurexion once everyone had cleared out and he put the privacy barrier back in place. 

“The difference between your Endurance and Intellect.” Aurexion answered. “Since you were pushing for as much power as you could to unlock the Skill you went full power, it's a good thing your style skill kept you from tearing yourself all the way apart. You’ll have a lot of work to do inside the dungeon to get a better handle on this Skill.” 

Ajax nodded along with what Aurexion said as well as the part he left unsaid, once he had a better handle on his Pseudo-Mythic Skill and he integrated his Telekinesis and other Skills with his newfound power he doubted there was anyone who could stand up to him in a one one fight.