After Antares had muttered his choice.
The door started to vibrate aggressively and Levi and Eli were in combat stances the moment the door had started it.
Antares signaled them to stay put and wait for his command and they obeyed but still their hands were on their weapons ready if anything happened.
After sometime, the door stopped shaking violently and several clicks could be heard from it as if multiple padlocks were being opened at once. Then the door opened revealing a passage where they would pass to enter the treasury.
"Alright boys here we go." Antares said as he entered and Levi and Eli followed behind with their hands tightly holding their weapons in case of anything.
As they walked in the short hallway, Antares stopped in his tracks as there was something that had caught his eye, it was a painting and on it, Antares could see a man with short red spiky hair and crimson red eyes that looked like a bloody inferno. He wearing a battle armor like that of knight in the medieval era with a red cape on his back with the emblem of the ant tribe. The man on the painting was tall, handsome and had some physical similarities to Antares.
But what caught the attention of Antares the most was the scenery of the painting, the man in the painting could be seen standing on a pile of corpses of ugly green creatures varying in sizes, there was no doubt that these were the infamous goblins, some were headless while others were dismembered, it was really a gruesome sight.
But what was the most eye catching on the painting was the scythe the man was holding in his right hand and the decapitated head that he was holding with his left hand was that of the goblin king, Antares had guessed so because of the golden teeth it had.
"This must've been made during the first goblin invasion at the storm mountain range." Eli the one who usually didn't speak, said as he was looking at the ancient painting.
"Yeah, I can recognize that mountain from anywhere." Levi said in response. "This must definitely be from the great war era."
Both guards kept looking at the painting while Antares was squinting his eyes to read the words at the bottom of the painting's frame.
"Larcade Antis, Commander of the Antmen soldiers and hero of the Goblin invasion, He alone killed ten thousand goblins warriors, five hundred hobgoblins and the goblin king who was a peak stage blessed knight."
Antares looked the painting of his ancestor and realized something.
He was weak, actually he was the weakest if it weren't for the Ant God's blessing who knows what would have happened to him. " I need to get stronger." He thought.
"Let's go, we still need to inspect this place." Antares called his guards as he already was on his way to enter the room ahead.
Antares reached the entrance of the room and he was overlooking the room, at the moment Antares was standing on a platform that allowed him to overlook the room and there were stairs on his left and right to allow him to get down in the room.
he looked at it he was a bit surprised because it was a lot smaller than the previous floors but he over looked that because he and come on a treasure hunting adventure and this room had a lot of closed chests, boxes, weapon crates and bookshelves on the walls.
"Alright, let's get down." Antares did not even take the stairs, he just decided to jump down.
Boom
Antares landed on the stone floor successfully and directly went to search if there was anything valuable that he could use. "Hurry up and come down you two, you don't except me to search all these on my own right?" as soon as they heard Antares called his two guards hurried to his side in a flash.
[ Would the host like to grant his guards Levi and Eli the authorization to inspect the Treasury?]
[YES/NO]
"Yes, I need all the help I can get right now." Antares said as he opened a wooden box on a table that he was in front of.
The box opened with a creaking sound and Antares saw what it contained.
It was a crystal shinning with a deep blue light.
[ding.... A high-grade mana crystal has been divorced.]
"Hehehehe, I guess the goddess of luck is with me today, system explain more about this crystal." Antares while smiling like a lunatic, it was one of the rare moments he left this side of his personality appear.
[first you should know that mana crystal is an ore naturally infused with mana that flows in the ground and air, any quality of this rare mineral is very valuable and can make someone become rich overnight, this a mineral mages are absolutely crazy about because it greatly helps in their cultivation and breakthroughs, high grade mana crystals not easy to find because they are extremely rare and other than being used in cultivation, they can be used in anything that involves mana like in magic tools, barrier formation ,potion synthesis, spell creation, magic circle formation, magic scroll creation, alchemy, magic research you name it.]
Looking that the information, Antares' eyes almost came out of his head, such a valuable mineral was here all along, if his father had gotten the chance to be chosen by Antarion maybe he would be alive, he thought with a face full of regrets, as his soul had fused with this body all the memories and feelings of the previous Antares were like his now.
But now was not the time to feel nostalgic, it was time for him to be the king his father would be proud of.
SCENE CHANGE
A group Antmen that did not exceed thirty could be seen chatting and walking to the ant king's palace.
The palace was built a bit further from the place where the Ant tribe settlement was located.
The Antmen were carrying baskets of freshly harvested celcanes on their backs and they were bringing the king' share of the harvest, it was customary in the ant tribe that the king received a share of the first harvest.
"I wonder if he really is awake." An Antman with a robust figure said
"My granddaughter working in the palace as a maid said that he back on his feet and he is doing well." An Antwoman said
"I'll believe it when I see with my own eyes." Said another.
The conversation was obviously about Antares who had recently woken up from his coma caused by the mana pollution, the conversation continued for sometime until the man leading them in the front got tired of their talks.
"I think you have said enough" the man leading them in the front said as he stopped in his tracks and he didn't speak for a few seconds to let his words sink in "we do not ask questions, our only mission is to serve lord Antares the best we can and that is regardless of his health" everyone up to the last person remained silent as he spoke "Now I don't want to hear another word from you guys or you will face it rough." He said with a cold tone that sent chills in the spines of everyone, some could even be sweating from head to toe. "Now let's go."
After a few minutes of walking in silence, they reached the entrance of the ant king's palace and Zarah with a group of maids was waiting for them at the entrance.
"Welcome back lord Ian, His majesty lord Antares was expecting your return." Zarah said as she bowed lightly and the group of maids behind her did the same.
Hearing this Ian realized that it was indeed true that Antares had woken up and could not help but cry because when Antares had woken up he was away supervising the celcane harvest and he had been hearing rumors of Antares waking up but he did not want to believe things he had not seen with his own eyes, but in reality he did not want to get his hopes up because he did not want to be disappointed.
Since the Antares birth he had looked after him like his own son but when his father died and Antares went into a coma, he felt helpless and he did not know what to do, so he buried himself under the affairs of the tribe and he was supervising everything, from food distribution to ant soldier maintenance, he look after everything.
But...at this moment the stress, sorrow and grief he was holding onto all these years, left him removing a big weight off his shoulders.
He threw the basket of celcane he was carry on his back and walked to Zarah, "Where is he"
Zarah looked at him with a look that said "Well, about that...."
SCENE CHANGE
Inside the Ant King's tower on the fourth floor, Antares, Levi and Eli were standing in front of a rectangular glass case that contained a golden gauntlet with intricate writings on its wrist and a red circular that gave off mystic vibes was on it, well the gauntlet looks really beautiful a real piece of art, the only problem was that it was on fire.
Yes, literally on fire. And the fire spread all over the glass case but it didn't melt.
[Ding.....You have discovered a 3-star artifact, Helios' grip.]
Though Antares was really happy he found a 3-star artifact, he now was just thinking of how he could remove it from the case without being turned into charcoal.
"This might be a problem." Antares said as his two guard were giving him the "You think." Look.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Normal Antmen look like regular humans until the bring out their insectoid forms out.)