Chapter 267 - 263: Bankrupt
"It's done," She said. "All the guards are waiting outside," Devilia said as she barged inside.
"Yeah, I'm coming. Just wait. Let his Highness finish first," High Duke Eston let out as he waved his hand, gesturing Devilia to wait.
"It's nothing major. I was just talking about something to stop him from using his Gigantification. We can't actually stop him from using it, but we can make it so that even if he tries, it only brings him at a disadvantage," Ryder told High Duke Eston casually.
'What's the way? Anything we can do to decrease the amount of destruction is useful," High Duke Mila asked Ryder.
Ryder looked back at High Duke Mila as he started talking, "What I want you to do is very simple. You can modify the banner, and it's specification, so I want you to decrease its height. Instead of it being like a dome, I want it to be like something that has a plane roof and possibly only a few meters taller as our tallest house."
"If we do that, we can still manage to fly, even though we'll be flying a lot closer to the ground. This way, we can also stop the Black Skeleton King. If he starts increasing his size, his head will increase the barrier at the top, which, as you said, can hold him for a few minutes. We can use those few minutes to kill him," Ryder continued.
"That is something I can do," High Duke Mila replied as she nodded her head.
"Good. You do that while High Duke Eston will link with the guards. We can start when the two of you are ready," Ryder told High Duke Mila.
"I should get going then. I'll be right back."
High Duke Eston said as he stood up.
He didn't leave, though, as he glanced back at the Vampire King.
"Why don't you come with me too? Let me show you our army," he said to the Vampire King.
High Duke Eston was clever, and he had thought of everything before others could tell him. He knew what he needed to do.
He had realized that when he left, High Duke Mila would start modifying the barrier. Since her mind would be more focused on the barrier, it should mean that Ryder would be alone with the Vampire King and Rale.
If the Vampire King decided to attack Ryder at the time, High Duke Mila might not be able to react on time. High Duke Mila also nodded her head in appreciation as she realized what High Duke Eston was trying to do. He wanted to bring the Vampire King away from Ryder and keep him together.
The Vampire King also realized what was happening. He knew that Eston was suspicious of him.
"You guys don't need to play these sneaky games. If you're suspicious of me, just say it straight. I don't want to attack your Prince because he isn't dangerous for me. For me, he's just like your figure head. It's you guys that are more dangerous. It's obvious that if I actually attacked your Prince, I would need to be prepared for a war with the Demon Realm that I don't want to go through since it would be more harmful for the Undead Region," The Vampire King replied casually.
He stood up.
"Now, it would be a different matter if I find out that you guys schemed against my own people. I don't want a war, as long as you guys don't give me a reason too. Because, honestly speaking, amongst all your enemies, I can and will be your worst nightmare if you give me a reason to be," he continued as he started walking towards the exit.
"Aren't you coming with me to see the guards, High Duke Eston?" The Vampire King let out casually as he left the Great Hall without the least bit of worry on his face. High Duke Eston chased after him as he left as well. Duke Devilia left with them to show them the place.
After the others left, High Duke Mila also got ready to work.
She closed her eyes as she started controlling the thousands of kilometers wide barrier. The barrier started changing shape. From a semi-spherical barrier, it changed shape and became a more square shape as the roof of the barrier became entirely flat.
The roof of the barrier was on Ten meters in height, no matter where it was measured from.
High Duke Mila was so efficient and so fast that it took her only five minutes to complete the work. The barrier work was completed as it became the exact shape that Ryder wanted it to be in.
High Duke Mila opened her eyes after she was done with her work.
" I'm done. We can start at any time now," High Duke Mila told Ryder.
"Alright. Let them come back now. We'll begin then," Ryder said as he nodded his head.
He closed his eyes and started waiting.
'Janus, are you still resting?' Ryder asked in his thoughts, wondering if Janus was still in his slumber or if he was up. Janus didn't reply. Ryder felt like he was still sleeping.
"Wake up fast, bro. There's something I need to talk to you about," Ryder muttered softly.
Ryder opened his eyes and opened his status screen to see how it was there.
He couldn't help but smile as he looked at the status.
'The level that took me months to reach is now so easy to get. I think I really broke the game. I wouldn't have believed that it was possible if I wasn't looking at my level now. I can perfectly understand why the other players complain. Still, I need to do something about it. If it keeps going on like this, the others will only get more and more frustrated. It won't be fun anymore,' Ryder thought as he looked at his level, which was in the 70s.
He felt like he was already far ahead of his nearest competition. He was also concerned about the consequences. Such game breaking events could be really harmful for him and for Divinity.
' At Least no one can kill me now,' he thought as he smiled.
'I don't want to be petty, but it would've been so good if I was in the same timeline when I had died. Reviving in reality at that time would be too good. Now I am becoming rich but still, living the same three years again is boring, even though it's different,' Ryder thought as he started frowning.
Rale was looking at Ryder's every expression, curiously. He watched Ryder frown one second, then smile the next second and again frown. He wondered what Ryder was thinking about.
High Duke Mila, on the other hand, was looking at her fingers, thinking about something as well.
****
While Ryder was sitting on the throne inside Devilia's Palace, something else was going on outside in the real world. It was something that Ryder had already known about, and he had planned for it as well.
He had previously met up with a woman when he was out drinking who was the Owner of an Aviation Industry Company. Ryder had remembered that the company was going to go bankrupt soon because a buyer had backed out from a major deal after the deal was almost done. The company lost a lot of money in that, and it had sued the buyer, but Ryder knew that they were going to lose the case. Ryder wanted to buy it at that moment, and it was exactly that moment now.
A Young looking woman was sitting in a room, looking at a bunch of papers that were lying before her. Her hands were holding her head as she was going through a fierce headache.
"It's all over. We lost the case! Those bastards! They bought the judges! There's no way the decision would be like this otherwise. There's no other way. It's over. It's all over. We're bankrupt," The woman muttered as a tear fell from her eye.
"We have no chance but to sell the company shares at whatever we can to pay back the loan, or they'll take over the company and sell it themselves," she muttered as she shook her head.
While she was wondering if she could even get a buyer, she had no idea that the buyer was going to be no other than the person she had shared drinks with, thinking that he was just a casual worker.
****
In another portion of the city, something else was going according to Ryder's plan as well. The renovation and finishing of Ryder's building were completed as per the plans. The equipment that he had asked for was set up as well.
The company was officially ready, and he could bring the staff that only included one man at the moment. That one man was a big shot thought. Not in this timeline, but in the previous timeline, it was said that the man was a lead contender for the nobel prize for his work. At the moment, he was just a nobody, though.