Chapter 131: Giant Colony (1) |
TL/Editor: Rungir
Schedule: none
Illustrations: none
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One of the greatest festivals of the Agnes Empire, the Founding Festival.
During the festival, the capital's lights never went out, even at night.
In fact, as the night deepened, the festival's lights became more brilliant, and the fervor intensified.
That's why the Founding Festival was also known as the Night Festival.
Well past midnight, when dawn was just a hint on the horizon.
Amid the crowd still eating and drinking tirelessly, a woman swiftly made her way through.
Her sun-embroidered white cleric robe marked her as a priestess of the light god, but her true identity was far from holy.
Serkia, the Half-Beast General.
She was one of the Omaylings, commanders of the monsters infiltrated within the empire.
"Where the hell is this leading to?"
Impatience marred Serkia's features.
Currently, she had sneaked out of the cathedral undetected.
Deceiving the other priests was simple, but the real issue was the eyes of the First Prince attached to Serkia herself.
Though she had managed to leave undetected for now, any further delay would surely raise suspicions.
"I really have to deal with this annoying bastard."
She was risking it all because of Diral.
A personal disdain, yet after what happened to Hanosral, Diral's power and abilities were deemed essential for their cause.
Hence, as soon as Diral's location was identified, Serkia took action herself.
'Controlling that bastard would require an Omayling's presence.'
It was doubtful even an Omayling could make him comply, but it was better than doing nothing.
'But why does he keep moving?'
A sudden question popped into Serkia's mind.
She had been heading towards the identified location when she sensed Diral's unique demonic energy, discernible only to fellow demons, and changed her course.
However, the problem was this demonic energy kept moving.
As if being chased, in a desperate rush.
Diral's energy led from the city center to the outskirts, extending the pursuit.
Eventually,
'Has it finally stopped?'
Noticing that Diral's energy ceased moving, Serkia accelerated, darting towards the city's outskirts.
She reached a small clearing on the outskirts in no time, due to the festival, devoid of any human presence.
"It should be right here..."
Muttering to herself, Serkia looked around the empty clearing.
Diral's magic energy, which had been leading Serkia, stopped here.
This meant he was somewhere nearby.
However, Serkia couldn't see anything.
Then,
"Hm?"
Something caught Serkia's eye as she scanned the area.
In the center of the clearing,
The space was oddly rippling.
"Could it be...?"
Just as Serkia realized what was happening and was about to move towards the center,
Crack!
The air she was looking at split open without any warning.
Through the crack, a world filled with blood was visible.
Immediately after,
"Arrrrgh!"
Someone let out a blood-curdling scream as they burst forth.
"…!"
Shock filled Serkia's eyes.
The person who emerged was none other than Diral, whom she had been searching for.
But Diral's condition was horrifying.
Three of his limbs were missing, and more than half of his body had been devoured by something.
He was so badly damaged that if not for his distinctive magic, Serkia would never have recognized him.
"Sa-save me, please…!"
Diral, upon spotting Serkia, desperately reached out to her, screaming.
The one eye he had left was filled with despair and terror.
Serkia involuntarily stepped back at the sight of his gruesome condition.
Crunch!
From the crack, thousands of blood vessels burst out, wrapping around Diral,
"No, no…!"
And dragged him back into the crack.
The space closed as if nothing had happened, resembling a great sin being dragged into hell.
What on earth had happened?
"……."
Serkia stood there, stunned, when,
Crack!
The air split open once again.
But this time, it wasn't Diral who emerged.
A woman with black hair and red eyes, exuding an eerie vibe.
"It's delicious, as much as he was resistant."
It was Liushina.
Unlike Diral, she looked perfectly fine, her face tinged with satisfaction from a feast she hadn't had in a long time.
'That woman is…!'
Serkia's eyes wavered as she recognized Liushina as one of Zion's subordinates.
Along with that, a thought crossed her mind.
'I heard there was a way to expose our identity to Zion Agnes, but to think it would uncover even Diral's…'
Then,
"Hm?"
Liushina, noticing Serkia, began to slowly approach her.
Could she have recognized Serkia's true identity?
The tension rose.
"Don't be too shocked by what you've just seen."
Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
Serkia seemed to be reassured by the witch's calm voice flowing out.
"You look like a priestess of light. Then you must have sensed it, right? That the creature we just saw was a demon."
Before Serkia could answer, Liushina continued.
"I was merely performing an exorcism. Your order has them, right? What's it called, exorcists? Anyway, I didn't do anything bad, so you can relax."
With those words, Liushina patted Serkia's shoulder a couple of times before disappearing without a trace.
Left alone in the clearing, Serkia.
Whoosh!
She quickly started moving towards the imperial palace after watching the spot where the witch had vanished.
'I must inform Utekan immediately.'
Urgency filled Serkia's eyes.
Diral's death was shocking, but the fact that his identity had been exposed to Zion Agnes was a far greater threat, incomparable in scale.
'The whole demonic pact might even crumble.'
That's why she needed to consult with Utekan as soon as possible and come up with a plan.
But perhaps because she was too focused on this matter, Serkia failed to notice.
The faint trace of blood lingering on her shoulder where Liushina had touched.
---
Late afternoon.
Zion was in the library of the Shining Castle, gazing thoughtfully at the blue earring laid out in front of him.
'The Earring of the Frost Queen.'
One of the powers of the Frost Queen, obtained as a reward for annihilating the central branch of Ouroboros two days ago.
In fact, Zion had gained a lot from this incident.
He had dealt a significant blow to Ouroboros, disrupting their future plans, and had perfectly eliminated Diral.
'Especially getting rid of Diral was a huge gain.'
In the Chronicles of Frosimar, Diral survives till the end, persistently tormenting the hero's party with unimaginably tricky methods.
Perhaps an enemy even more troublesome to deal with than an Omayling.
'I had no way to find him until now.'
It was sheer luck to have stumbled upon him and cut off his lifeline, leaving Zion feeling significantly relieved.
Was this what it felt like to receive an unexpected gift?
Therefore, Zion had even let go of the fact that Liushina had acted on her own. She was practically the MVP of this incident, after all.
'Maybe it's not a bad idea to wipe out the Ouroboros organization entirely this time...'
With the Eternal Shadow and the Moon's Eye, it was entirely possible to penetrate even the organization's headquarters.
However, Zion soon shook his head.
He needed to leave the experience for the hero's party to grow and had more pressing matters to attend to.
"Is this the piece of the Frost Queen's power you acquired recently?"
Thierry's voice reached Zion's ears as he concluded his thoughts, standing beside him.
"Yeah."
Zion slightly nodded in response,
-Chirp!
An unsummoned frost spirit showed itself.
The frost spirit joyfully danced next to the earring placed on the desk.
-Chirpity-chirp! Chirpity-chirp!
Soon, the spirit also started humming in a chirping sound.
It seemed excited, probably knowing its power would soon become more perfect.
"Is that the frost spirit?"
Lucas, who was in the study with Thierry for a report, lit up as he saw the frolicking frost spirit.
"Just as I heard... It's really cute!"
Lucas looked like he was struggling not to pet it, a common reaction among those seeing the frost spirit for the first time.
"What's so cute about a bird that won't listen?"
Liushina muttered with a displeased face, watching from a distance.
Her relationship with the frost spirit hadn't been good since their quarrel on the mountain path to meet a monster.
Of course, it was Liushina's fault for continually calling the spirit 'chirpy.'
"Have you named it, Master?"
"Not yet."
Zion shook his head at Liushina's following question.
He couldn't think of a suitable name, and he felt the spirit would reject any random name.
So, it was still undecided.
"Let's just call it Chirpy. It's easy and convenient to call."
-Chirp!
At Liushina's suggestion, the spirit stopped dancing and chirped as if having a fit.
As Zion watched them argue again, he took out other pieces of the Frost Queen's power and placed them on the desk.
It was time to enhance the frost spirit's growth.
'I hope it becomes somewhat useful with this.'
So far, the frost spirit hadn't been very useful to Zion.
For a unique spirit, its power was too weak.
Even though it was born from the merging of two legendary artifacts, its power and ability were so lacking that they couldn't be used in actual combat without amplification by the Dragon Lance.
'Of course, stopping the 'Frozen Night' was a gain in itself.'
Still, Zion hoped that what he had obtained would prove to be of some utility.
-Chirp!
Whether the frost spirit knew of Zion's wishes or not, it stopped arguing with Liushina and settled among the pieces of power laid out on the desk.
Then, whoosh!
Without Zion doing anything, all the pieces of power began to emit a bright blue light simultaneously.
Along with it, the pieces vibrated madly, resonating with each other.
Even amid this chaos, a bright blue light spread out, eventually filling the entire study.
"Wow!"
The admiration of someone filled the room as the resonance of the power pieces reached its climax.
Whoosh!
In an instant, all the light covering the study vanished.
And with it, the vibrations of the pieces came to a complete stop.
In the ensuing silence, the frost spirit, having absorbed the power of the third piece, revealed itself with a haughty expression.
"Uh… What's changed?"
Thierry murmured with a puzzled look at the frost spirit.
His confusion was understandable since the spirit's appearance had hardly changed from before.
"Well, its beak and feathers seem a bit longer, but…"
Lucas, standing next to him, also tilted his head in ambiguity and spoke.
-Chirp! Chirpity-chirp!
The spirit began chirping as if to argue why they couldn't see the changes.
It seemed its ability to communicate hadn't been unlocked yet.
However, Zion, watching the frost spirit, had a sense of satisfaction in his eyes.
'Not bad.'
Others might not notice, but Zion, the spirit's master, could feel it.
The resonance had significantly increased the frost spirit's power and abilities, incomparable to before.
This could be considered a meaningful growth.
It seemed Zion could start using the frost spirit's abilities more actively from now on.
Then,
"Your Highness Zion!"
The study door opened, and Fredo entered with an urgent expression.
Zion looked at him, wondering what was happening.
The old knight's words followed.
"Prince Utekan has called a royal family meeting!"
---