CHAPTER 23: RING OF ASTRAIOS

The battlefield was chaotic.

Amidst the chaos stood Alalric. His sword pointed into the ground as he stood there in the pouring rain like a giant pillar.

Hordes of dragons streaked past some guards and began heading for the mansion. Before they could reach the mansion a man fell from the sky.

He landed with a loud thunderous crash. The impact broke a crater down into the ground by several feet.

The small group of dragons perished with one wyrm getting through. It bolted faster, not looking back at the man who just arrived.

When suddenly a large red wyvern burned the wyrm alive. It landed on its corpse and a small smile could be seen on its face.

"Good job girl." It was Cassius patting his wyvern kindly.

"Alaric, who gets the big monster core from the dragon?" Cassius asked as he summoned a giant war axe.

"Whoever can kill the most dragons gets it of course." Alalric said with a grin.

"Hold that line, soldier!" Adrian shouted as he pushed his men into formation. A wyrm jumped in the air and went straight for Adrian’s neck.

No one tried to move. Everyone kept their place. Adrian grabbed a large greatsword and swung his sword as hard as he could.

Thud!

The beast’s head rolled on the floor.

Bleh!

Adrain spotted out the blood that flew into his mouth. "I hate dragon’s blood."

Thunder began roaring in the clouds.

--

Inside the mansion, away from the carnage, Jack and his family were headed downstairs.

Once they arrived, Jack was pacing back and forth. Unable to shake the loud roars coming from outside the mansion.

"Sit." Lady Genevieve commanded to her son.

Jack listened and sat down immediately. In the few years he knew his mother, she never once raised her voice or ordered Jack to do anything.

So he knew this was a serious matter. She sat down in front of him and put a box in front of him.

It was a small black chest that could fit into your palm. But there was no opening for the chest.

’What is this?’

"This is the ring of your ancestor. It’s passed down between the heirs until someone can use it appropriately.

His name was Astraios Kaiser. He was a powerful warrior who had a quadruple affinity. He is one of few people to ever hold so much power. Touch the chest Jack."

Jack touched the box and a system notification appeared in front of him.

[Artifact detected.]

[Do you wish to open the chest?]

[YES] or [NO]

Yes!

Jack was excited at the thought of an artifact being handed to him because of the family he was born into.

The chest clicked open and a thick black ring lay inside. Letters on the inside glowed faintly.

"So it does open for you."

’What do you mean it does open for me?’

"Thus chest hasn’t opened in over 200 years. No one has been able to open it before."

Jack was shocked. He couldn’t tell if it was thanks to his system, if it was because of who he was, or if it was thanks to Draven. But he didn’t care.

Jack was too excited right now.

"Our ancestor wore this ring when he fought in bloody wars. He killed countless dragons and other mythical beasts. He’s one of the reasons the human kingdoms sit where they do today."

’He sounds like a legend.’

Lady Genevieve chuckled. "Yes, I suppose he does sound like a fairy tale."

[Artifact detected.]

[Ring of Astraios.]

[Transcendent class locked.]

Transcendent class??!! What is that!

[It is the pinnacle of power. If you can grow strong enough to unlock this class, you can sit high on the food chain.]

[Transcendent classes are very rare and require items to unlock, along with certain stats and skills.]

[+25 to all stats.]

[Passive: Regenerates 2% of mana every 10 seconds.]

[+150% Magic Damage.]

This is seriously broken. Who was this guy???

Jack put the ring on and it clenched down onto his pointer finger.

"This will make you stronger Jack." Lady Genevieve continued. "But that doesn’t mean you should be foolish and yearn for battle. "

’Mother, they’re here for me. It’s best that I go, so no one unnecessary gets hurt.’ Jack’s jaw tightened as he spoke those words.

"You truly care for the people of Sorne."

Jack smiled.

Her eyes narrowed, but she knew this stubbornness. It was the same look Alaric had when it was time for battle.

She signed and clasped his shoulders. "Then at least don’t die until you die for something worth your life."

--

Back on the field, the soldiers were knee deep in mud. The rain made the ground slick. Every step taken was a struggle in this rain.

By now drakes had emerged from the tree lines to back up the wyrms.

Screech! Roar!

Another silver ballista bolts soared through the air and impaled 2 drakes together to the ground. Its scales hissed with steam from the silver burning their flesh.

Cassius and his wyvern became a blur as they soared through the sky. The wyvern sent drakes flying into other dragons. While Cassius swung his greatsword with great effort killing multiple dragons at once.

Alaric finally decided to live as some soldiers were beginning to be overrun. He took a small breath in as he released his sword from the ground in a quick flash.

Black tendrils of mana erupted from his sword killing 15 dragons at once.

"Show off." Cassius grunted.

Crackle! Snap! Pop!

Suddenly large bolts of lightning crashed into the ground randomly.

Alaric smiled. He knew the sudden influx of energy going sporadic could only have been one thing.

"He’s opened the box. This is a great day!" Alaric’s voice boomed across the battlefield like a gunshot.

--

Jack had left the mansion and saw the carnage from a distance.

Jack walked towards the carnage. The sound of dragons and men screaming filled his ear.

The smell of blood was strong.

[Dragons incoming.]

Jack ignored this notification and headed north to get a better view from the hill.

--

Cassius landed next to Alaric amidst the chaos.

"The men wont be able to keep this up forever Alalric!"

Alaric’s eyes narrowed to the distant thunder above. "We won’t have to wait forever. The gods are on our side!" He smirked grimly.

--

Underneath the mansion, Lady Genevieve made her way down lower to the cells.

Torches here burned low, their light flickering off the rusted bars.

The air was stale from the damp stone and sweat in the air.

She unlocked a cell and threw keys in front of a tall broad shoulder man with an eye patch. He had a scar over his one good eye.

"Im releasing all of you for a hunt." Lady Genevieve started to say to the prisoners. "One condition, you bring me back cores from the dragons attacking. Every core brought to me reduces your sentence."

Lady Genevieve paused. "If you try to run, I’ll kill you myself."

The prisoners gulped after hearing this. Alaric was a strong warrior and feared. But these prisoners were more afraid of Lady Genevieve than Lord Kaiser.

"And you," she pointed toward the man with the eyepatch. "You have one job, make sure my son Jack lives through this ordeal."

"Sounds like fun." The man smiled faintly.