Chapter 172: Dynamics of a Couple
A smart person, even though drunk is still a smart person, however, the reverse is also true, a drunk person, even though smart, is still a drunk person, thus Thales, seeing that his iguana which he calls a lizard left his body as well as the notification saying that his artificial unique skill is not strong enough to counter such defiance, his head went into overdrive.
A second, all it took was a second for him to realize that Philo did not lose his ability to freely manipulate any flesh and bone in his body, he probably changed his vocal cords so that he can howl a provocative message that only the iguana can hear, thus leaving Thales confused.
Whether that is accurate or not, however, is none of the con man's concern.
One second, and normally, it was enough for one to formulate a plan, yet for Philo who just had to follow instructions from his wife, it was more than enough to command one of his wolves to turn into a long tentacle, it burrowed itself and then shoot out of the ground besides Thales.
_Shit!_
Thales cursed, and even though the tentacle was not that fast in his perspective, his mind that is in survival mode made his whole body jump, his "pets" remained glued to the ground as he summoned several animals to let themselves be entangled on his steed.
_I should have chased after that damn rabbit!_
Thales cursed, his intoxication taking over, once again summoning a smaller wolf, yet more muscular than the ones assimilated by Philo, however, he seemed to forget the reason why he had an iron-scaled iguana latched all over his body just a little while earlier and why did he panic when it chased after his opponent, and indeed he has forgotten the reason and the resonating sonic boom of an aerodynamic arrow piercing the sound barrier became the reminder to the negligent con man, he turned around and tried to jump out of his wolf, to say that he was slow would be underestimating his abilities, he was fast, alright, so fast in fact that the bone arrow intending to pierce the middle of the artificial hero prospect crystal settled in destroying its upper part.
_Godamnit... I was so close..._
As the artificial hero prospect crystal in the heart of Thales started to glow, the cacophony of the war abruptly went to a screeching halt, and in his eyes played his life, his life before and after his mother was killed, killed by Sisa when she has finally snapped her last strings of sanity.
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Thales, without a surname, alongside his mother was once nothing but a normal middle-class family, he doesn't have a father because he was born in an accident and the man decided to run away from his responsibility, because of which, in the morning Thales' mother tends to a pet shop, however, at the time of his conception, the normal people are struggling to survive and the nobles view pets with disdain, saying they are for commoners, thus at night, her mother, whom Thales knew is a registered psychologist masquerade as a marriage con artist, every night, he witnessed his mother who hides him in a box to inherit her conning skills skillfully fork out large sums of money to support them and their pet shop cover, also mysteriously, after the men (and women) that were conned by his mother was dried up of their money, they will disappear, never seeking revenge or legal actions.
Thales, the observant that he is, knew the reason is that his mom has a friend from the assassination and reconnaissance department of Tydings, Sisa, every day, Sisa who has a very creepy smile talks with his mother as if she did not know that Thales' mother is a con artist, and like it was said, she even helps Thales' mother found targets and eliminate them when they become poor, of course for a commission, also Sisa is the one that will be inheriting the assets of the ones Thales' mother conned to take the blame for her friend.
"Mother, are you conning her too?"
Such was the question of Thales, yet his mother always had the same answer.
"No, it's just that... she looks like... she's mourning..."
Thales may be a trained con artist, but he is not a psychologist who can observe emotions properly, thus he reluctantly accepted such an explanation, anyway, it seems like his mother benefits from the friendship, as much as Sisa who is being treated her psychological problem that is on the verge of exploding for some reason, and it's not like Sisa is a fool, those properties she has inherited were received through a different name, invested through another different name and were being rented by nobles in again, a different name.
It was a strange, but still harmonious friendship, and Thales didn't mind, that is until the catastrophe that was erased in the history of Tydings happened, a chunk of the capital was scooped out by the great spatial powers of Sisa and dragged into the 4th dimension, a place without oxygen, causing a cacophony of desperate gasping of air and desperate shouts of those people that were pierced by the swords of Sisa who is shouting about them giving back her children resounded.
_Your children?_
_What in the world do we know about your children?_
_Why do we have to die for your children?_
_Get us out! Get us out!_
Such are the thoughts of Thales as he collapsed slowly glaring at Sisa, he felt helpless, despair creeping up his very soul as he surveyed the chaotic scene and there, he saw his mother tossing a white bat that latched at his nose, causing him to have the ability to breath again, it was the [Albino Bat], a bat that can photosynthesize and stores a lot of oxygen in its lungs, her mother ordered it to make Thales survive!
At that moment, Thales knew that his mother intended to die, he tried to get the bat out of his mouth, but the bat resolutely latched on his skin, making his efforts futile.
"So that's why you look sad... I'm sorry I can't fix you in the end... I... Lo-urgk..."
Thales just helplessly looked at his mother who muttered something he could not hear, though he knew one thing.
The friend of his mother made her children miss everyone's problem, killing his mother and all of the people in the district Sisa had scooped, anger permeated from Thales and it didn't subside until they were rescued.
In the end, he was the only survivor of such catastrophe and as if to use Thales' drive for revenge, he was made to train into the military and soon, he became an official, someone strong, however, Sisa who have become a general were still too powerful, it was said that she never failed an assassination mission, of course, she can just plunge her opponents to a place without oxygen, at that time, Thales is not aware that Sisa cannot maintain the rip of the 4th dimension without entering it herself, thus the "playground" of hers, Thales sought more strength, that is the reason why he was easily serenaded to become an experimental subject of the King of Stardust, because of that he was able to get the general position, get an artificial unique skill and become a general, after which, he decided to exact his revenge, he used Linares, the one that can get in and out of the intoxicated state given by the crystal and ensued anger towards the strongest general, at night then, Thales whispered a simple "Your children are gone, where are they I wonder?" and then Sisa's crazy relapse restarted, and the rest is history.
Thales almost felt happy that Sisa was gone, but because the wretched woman had just been captured and not dead, he sought to use his own hands for revenge, it was as if his intoxication had fully been taken over and his plan become straightforward, too straightforward in fact that now, he is in the verge of exploding from inside out.
_No... I have to... I have to kill her..._
I have to... I have to kill her before I die!
Such were the whispers in the now crazed heart of Thales, he glared in the direction of his opponent, and disregarding the arrow stuck on his chest, slapped his wolf and dashed towards Philo, however, because of his madness, he could not make the wolf maneuver into dodging anything, thus he was immediately shot, pinned down in place by the second bone arrow that this time targeted his lower limbs.
Thales looked at his feet, gritting his teeth in indignation and helplessness, he could not help but stare at his chest, no last words formed in his mouth until his whole body exploded, causing yet again another huge fireball, that incinerated undeads, humans and elves alike, it was a terrible death, and the only consolation is that the enemy suffered damage too.
With Thales' death, only 1 living general is breathing in the side of the living.
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Philo sighed upon seeing such a huge fireball go off in front of the fighting undeads.
_My fight must be the dumbest one yet._
Philo is somehow disappointed in himself, first, he has to be calmed down by his wife who is being treated due to him almost stealing all of the carbons in her body, he also has to be instructed on how to plot against the enemy, then again, Lyra never felt shame in requiring his assistance to fulfill her mission, so he gladly accepted help, the plan was simple and took advantage to the intoxicated state of Thales, thus he ran to confuse the enemy, after which, he used his control over his assimilated creature to make the iguana in the body of Thales go away, finally, the assimilated creature was used to attack the enemy with arrow after the wolf became tentacles that distracted the overly confused Thales who will, of course, use his habit of thinking before taking action.
It was a very simple approach, befitting a subordinate of someone who doesn't want to overcomplicate things.
"I have to make myself better."
Philo thought as he, alongside his wolves jumped out in the middle of the living army, just like the other three generals, they once again started to lay waste to the ranks of their adversary.
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The death of another general sent waves of dark emotions and thoughts to the humans and elves, the creeping dread that they have suppressed started to bloom once again.
There is only one general left!
They cannot help but lament and curse their King, who just moment earlier was the cause of their morale plummeting due to his death for his horrendous decision of helping the elves and acquiring new powers in the process.
"How greedy!"
"A King who lusts for power and doesn't think about his people is no king at all!"
Such were the words that were brewing in the minds of the soldiers who, at one point fully supported the acquisition of calamity-level powers of Tydings IV.
Their lines start to buckle, and this time, there is no general that can mitigate the situation, how can they listen to someone who is being played around by his opponent and is not just dying because Bakunawa doesn't wish him to perish yet? Trusting and banking on his victory will be a stupid move.
Seeing the helplessness of the situation, the human captains, or at least the ones who have an agreement started to move in the center, using the momentum of their enemy, they gathered, formed a defensive line, and while pretending to fight with all their vigor, slowly retreat and run back to their Kingdom, they don't care if such an action is shameless, it's not like this is their war, to begin with, they just readily agreed because it's the elves, the race that can contend with dodomekis in term of intelligence, in the first elven-undead war, if not for the sudden civil war that raged on inside their territory, these putrid living corpse would not even exist right now.
They would have never anticipated that the second war between elves and undeads would be a completely different story.
But, the elves surely did, that's why they knew what the humans, the race they have to put up with because of their weakness in frontline troops would think, because of which they have attached a countermeasure, just when the captains of the respective unit was about to gather at the center, all of the human knights in armors that are augmented by elves suddenly halted in their advance, they felt a creeping cold chain in their hearts, alongside it is a bone shuddering existential dread that course through their soul.
It doesn't take a system notification to inform them of the cause of such an eerie feeling, for in their armors, a seemingly pre-recorded voice resounded.
It was the voice of the world's smartest man, the False Prophet, the King of Stardust, Aerendil.
"You will fight and die for my cost, or you will be wiped out from existence."
All human soldiers froze as if they had been caught in a blizzard, for now, they finally realized the true colors of the man whom their king had trusted the most.