I became a legion lich

230 Family war

‘That old man already knew how I would react and prepared watchmen for me in advance. It’s the only explanation for why they got here so quickly. Probably the old man came with these two from the beginning and left them waiting in some room of the mansion.’ Lukas thought.

“Do what you want, just don’t get in my way, or I’ll kill you.” He actually responded, releasing his aura through his voice to test the two of them.

“As you wish, sir.” They both smiled coldly at him and bowed slightly in acknowledgment, not at all shaken by his aura.

‘They weren’t affected by my aura, which means they’re at least the same level as me, or maybe higher. It will be difficult to take them down, but not impossible. I’ll need to prepare properly and not act rashly.’ Lukas thought.

Killing them with the weapons Lukas kept in his arsenal would be easy, but Thersec would probably be warned if they died and the old man would consider it an act of treason, so killing his apprentices wasn’t an option.

Knocking them out alive was much more difficult, but it would lessen the punishment that would come later when Thersec returned. But the important thing is that by then he would have had his revenge and was willing to accept any punishment.

‘I need some weapon that can overcome the defenses of the cloak and the probable armor that is underneath, but that doesn’t kill them. I think I have just the thing in my lab, but I need to get them there.’ Lukas thought, remembering the weapons and equipment he kept inside the lab itself.

‘The water elder is probably still at the manor finishing up the housework, so I’ll have to wait a few hours to start my plan.’ With nothing to do, Lukas began to drink in grief.

“I don’t care what orders you’ve been given, but I’ve just learned of my daughter’s death and I’m not in the mood to entertain visitors. If you’re going to keep watch, stay outside the door. It’s not like there’s one. way to escape in this closed room.” Lukas ordered in a tired, pained voice, drinking the wine straight from the bottle without pouring it into a glass.

.....

Although the idea of revenge lit a flame of hatred in his heart, it did nothing to quell the sea of remorse in which his mind was. The drink clouded his thoughts and gave him temporary relief, only for his naturally enhanced body to recover and the pain returned again.

He seriously thought about buying a poison that lowered a target’s resistance just so he could get drunk, but he resisted the temptation. He could mourn his daughter’s death later, after she was resting in peace instead of being an undead slave. Until then, the temporary relief of booze is all he can afford.

“We’ll be right outside the door, so let us know if you need anything.” The twins looked at each other for a moment and answered, leaving the room and locking the door behind them.
Lukas spent the next few hours drowning in drinks and memories, only stopping when Water Elder left. He himself had created the mansion’s teleportation portal and runesmithing so that it would notify him whenever it was active.

It was a secret Thersec didn’t know and Lukas saw no reason to share it with him.

‘Let’s start.’ Lukas thought, wiping the tears and snot down his face, at the same time using light magic to clear the drink from his system and restore the red eyes from crying.

He got up and left the room, finding the two guards standing outside.

“Are you going somewhere Master Lukas?” The twin on the right asked just out of courtesy, both following close behind him like shadows.

“There’s no point in continuing to drink and moan. Instead, I’m going to do something more productive, like take my anger out on my work. It’s good to clear my head.” Lukas replied, his voice hoarse from crying.

“It’s a good decision, sir. Allow us to escort you.” The twin on the left nodded in understanding.

“I’m going to use secret runesmith techniques known only to the Ripha, so you’re not allowed to follow me inside the lab.” Lukas tried to argue to be left alone, but the guards obviously wouldn’t let him.

“That won’t be necessary, Master Lukas. The water elder had warned us that you would likely take your grievances out at the forge and that we were allowed to follow you no matter what you did. We swore on our lives that we will take your secrets with us to the grave. ” The twin on the left placed his hand on his chest and declared, quickly followed by the one on the right.

‘The old man even prepared for this, huh? Let’s see if he was able to foresee the weapons that I have stored then.’ Lukas was frustrated with how well Thersec predicted his actions.

“If that’s the case, there’s nothing you can do. But be absolutely silent and just observe from a distance. Any kind of interference, no matter how small, can spoil what would be a masterpiece.” Lukas actually spoke and both mages nodded.

They walked in silence down the long hallway to the stairs, and down the stairs to the first floor. His personal laboratory was in the underground of the mansion and the only way to access it was on the first floor.

After descending the stairs to the first floor, Lukas bit his fingertip and let a drop of his blood drip onto the floor, making the floor in front of his feet glow and open up, revealing that the stairs continued.

“Nice trick. I couldn’t detect the secret passage until your blood activated.” One of the twins whistled in admiration.

“That goes without saying. The enchantments only respond to my family’s blood and remain hidden until then.” Lukas answered as he walked down the stairs.

His laboratory was hundreds of meters underground, so that even if an experiment goes wrong, the explosion will not affect the mansion above. The stairs spiraled down and had magic lights on the wall to light the way, but the narrow hallways still felt bad for the twin watchmen.

‘It’s definitely a trap.’ The twins realized Lukas’ obvious trap and prepared to report the moment Lukas tried to do something.

Thersec knew that Lukas would seek revenge and watchmen were sent out with orders to prioritize alerting Thersec the moment Lukas tried anything

The water elder wanted to catch his son attacking his apprentices in order to have concrete evidence to limit him. Elder himself was waiting for the emergency call from the lookouts on one of the neighboring islands, just waiting for the right opportunity.

Lukas was gaining a lot of influence in the order in recent years and despite that increasing the prestige of the Ripha family, it was reaching the point of undermining Thersec’s absolute authority, something inconceivable for the elder.

Thersec intended to use this opportunity to punish him and reaffirm his position. Lukas may be the current head of House Mifar, but that was just the noble title bestowed by the kingdom of Belaster and Thersec was still the leader behind it all and would not accept relinquishing control until his deathbed.

Both guards held magic items that would alert the elder under their cloak and were just waiting for the moment to activate them. They knew Lukas was luring them into a trap and they were on high alert, just waiting for Lukas to try something.

To her surprise, Lukas continued to walk in silence until the stairs ended in a magical steel door. The door didn’t have a handle or anything distinctive, it just looked like a huge plate of magical steel.

Lukas once again spilled a drop of blood on the door to open it and entered. The guards arrived soon after, and despite all the training they’d received to remain stoic, they couldn’t help but widen their eyes in surprise.

Lukas’ laboratory was the size of a mansion and the floor, walls and ceiling were made of magical steel. Hundreds of kilograms of different magic metals and magic materials were placed on the right side of the lab, while the finished weapons were on the left side.

There were arches of incomplete portals at the back of the room and a few more pieces of equipment that the guards didn’t recognize their functions, but they knew they were powerful due to the magical aura they radiated.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” Lukas asked after entering the lab and not hearing the footsteps behind him.

“No, we’re right here. We’re just here to watch and make sure you don’t run away.” One of the twins answered and they both took a step away from the door.

The twins were aware that the laboratories of powerful mages were magically isolated to prevent outside interference and this could interfere with the alarm. Their alarm had a teleportation crystal in case the normal signal didn’t work, and enchantments that forced normal teleportation wouldn’t block the signal, but the twins preferred to avoid the risk.

“You really aren’t going to make this easy, are you?” Lukas muttered to himself and walked to the left side of the room where the finished equipment was kept and began to rummage through the different chests to find a specific item.