Standing in the crater made by the explosion, was Antares. Currently he was standing and looking at the beautiful gold bracelet on his left arm, though it would have not been his choice to wear it.... But since it was a 3-star artifact and it was something hard to acquire even in the ant tribe only a few had weapons reaching this level and to be bestowed a 3-star item was an honor in the ant tribe and it solidified one's position in the tribe.
He decided to leave it and ignore his sense of fashion for once.
On his wrist the bracelet gave him the look of an extravagant man, keep in mind that even in the dark the bracelet could still glow faintly.
On the ground, in the ashes that were once Antares's clothes, something could be seen shining faintly.
"I'm glad you withstood that." Antares said as he picked the ring he had kept for Zarah and honestly, he had already forgotten about it and was sure that it had been destroyed in the explosion.
He wore the ring on his left hand near his special ring which had also withstood the might of Helios.
"System." He said firmly
[Yes, host]
"Analyze, this artifact and tell me what it can do...… tell me everything about it." Antares said as he sat cross legged on the ground.
[Surely host, Analysis in progress.]
[0,10,20,33,57...….100.]
[Ding! analysis complete, here is all the information I could gather about Helios' grip, would you like me to show it to you, host?]
"Maybe later, I need to recover first before I start worrying about whatever the hell this thing maybe or what it can do." Antares said as he got up to stretch his body which was still aching here and there. If it wasn't for his Antman exoskeleton, he would've been blown to bits by now, he was lucky that the only thing he came out with was a sore body and a slightly reddened skin which made him look like someone who had stayed in a sauna for too long.
As he was stretching his body in the crater made by the explosion, he could hear the voices of his trusted guards who were screaming his name at the entrance of fourth floor, they were banging the gigantic metallic doors that showed no sign of moving.
Antares could hear and feel the worry and despair in their voices, he was able to do this because in the Ant king's tower, Antares had a lot more power in the tower and even without using his telepathic abilities he could know whatever that is going on in the tower which by now could be considered as an extension of himself.
"Damn I almost forgot about those two, guess I should go and meet them." Antares used his teleportation ability and appeared behind his two loyal guards.
"Harder, we have to go and aid his majesty." Levi roared at his brother as he launched another punched at the door.
BOOM
The strength of the punch sent vibrations in air that even Antares who was standing in the back felt a small chill run down his spine. As a regular human from earth whose soul had been sent to another world, he had never seen such physical prowess and he was very impressed.
"I KNOW THAT." Eli roared back at his brother, his voice filled rage as he felt that his brother was saying that he was not taking his job as the king guard seriously.
Just as he launched a punch at the never budging door, Antares rushed in a flash and caught his punch easily.
"I think that's enough boxing for today, don't you think." He said to his guards who were surprised at the sight of him and they directly went on one knee.
"Your Majesty, I'm glad that you have returned unharmed." Levi said with a voice full of relief then he continued with a more apologetic tone full of shame and pain." We are sorry we couldn't be of any use when you needed us."
"We apologize for this failure and we beg for you forgiveness your Majesty." Eli said apologetically.
Eli had a grim expression on his face reflecting his failure in protecting his king, which was the same feeling Levi was having.
Antares chuckled slightly "Well it all worked out and I came back alive so it's a win."
As he spoke, he noticed that the knuckles of his two were wounded and bleeding profusely, this was a real testament of their devotion to their king, they had punched the heavy metallic doors until they had even harmed themselves but they did not stop until Antares was back.
"System, can blessed space be used to heal these two?" Antares asked the system in his mind.
[Yes] the system answered in Antares's head
"Alright then, let's first heal you two up." Antares extended his hand and a light green aura came out of it like smoke and wrapped Levi and Eli which healed their wounds and recovered their fatigue.
"Alright that should do the trick." Antares said as he withdrew his hand and continued to look at the two guards kneeling in front of him.
Seeing that were no change in the expression of Levi and Eli, Antares decided to cheer them up a little with a motivational speech which he always listened to when he was losing hope and he knew that to lift the mood of his guards a regular one wouldn't cut it.
" You two are my personal guards, my first line of defense, my protectors... I would leave my life in your hands anytime so consider today as a lesson and learn from it, don't dwell on the past but use it as the fuel that will motivate you, now stand and escort and protect me like the royal guards you are." Antares gave a short yet inspiring speech which went right through his guards and gave them the motivation they needed.
With new found determination and strength that was burning in their eyes, Levi and Eli rose up and stood up proudly in front of their king.
"Good, now let head back to the treasury and take whatever that is useful then we can go home." Antares said as he proceeded to follow the hallway that led the treasury while his two guards followed behind with their new resolve of not disappointing their king again.
In reality they were more excited about Antares calling them royal guards, before they were only mere orphans who were taken in and trained to solemnly protect Antares and they were give no specific tittle, it was a big achievement for the both of them and they had no intention of messing up.
After walking for a while, the trio reached the treasury and Antares told Levi and Eli to take everything they could take with them then the two rushed to collect whatever they could obviously the twins rushed to the weapons they had found and this did not surprise Antares because most of the weapons in the ant tribe were primitive mainly made out wood, stones or bones of beasts and only a few clans could provide weapons made out of metals like iron, these weapons were crudely made but still a luxury to the owners.
Antares head to go and pick the box containing the high-grade magic crystal, he gently opened and saw the beautiful crystal carefully placed inside.
He made an evil grin that gave chills to Levi and Eli." Whatever he is thinking of doing he is up to no good." They thought then continued to collect the weapons on the floor.
Antares closed the box and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"I have to make this work no matter what." He clenched his fist and he remembered his past life, the pain, the trauma but that was all being him now and he was set on using his second chance to the fullest and that started with making his kingdom the greatest on the continent and he was set on achieving that goal.
As Antares was thinking on how to achieve his goal, Levi approached him and kneeled.
"My lord, we have collected as many items as possible but it seems that we won't be able to take everything in one go." Levi said
"Then we will come back later for the rest, you done a good work." Antares replied as he also went to pick a few things that he thought might come in handy in the future then he went where they had collected the items they had got.
"Your words honor me your Majesty." Levi replied as he walked with Antares.
Antares walked to where Eli was standing with everything they had collected. As he walked Antares realized that he was half naked, only part of his trouser remained and made it look like he was wearing a mini short and after realizing it, he felt very embarrassed.
Now since he had not moved with a change of cloth and his clothes were turned to ashes in the explosion, he decided to take one of the covers covering the table that he was walking by and tied around his waist.
Upon reaching the place where the twins had collected the items collected in the treasury, Antares could not believe his eyes for a second as he saw Eli carrying a pile of weapons and other things on his back. It looked like he was carrying a small mountain. Then Levi proceeded and carried the other pile near Eli and he effortlessly put on his back.
This left Antares speechless.
Then Antares remembered that every Antman had boost in the strength and it grew stronger as the got older and on top of it all Levi and Eli were cultivating their knight force and on top of it all they were first stage aura users.
So, this was way too easy of a task for them and Antares did not need to worry about them.
"We are ready to leave your Majesty." Levi said as he adjusted the position of the weapons on his back.
"Alright, you know the drill, come and grab my shoulders so we can leave." Antares said he was nonchalantly scratching his six pack.
The two guards without hesitation came and grabbed Antares's shoulders, each grabbed one then they teleported to the entrance of the first floor.
WOOSHHH
In a blink of an eye, Antares and his guards appeared at the entrance of the third floor.
"Then I'll leave the rest to you guys if you need more people to go and get the rest of the items use trustworthy guards and give me a detailed report on whatever you find." Antares said as he left and heading for the exit of the tower.
Outside, he was greeted by a sight he may have wanted to dodge.
"Ahhhhhhh" he sighed heavily "Looks like there is no resting today for me today." He said as he laughed awkwardly.