Chapter 334: 175. The Beginning of the Destruction -1 (Part Two)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
Although I had called it a plan, in reality it was more like a list of all those destinations around the world that I wanted to visit as a tourist, while travelling in comfort as a valued member of the Imperial Family.
“…I guess I’ll have to defer it to another time, then.”
I carefully folded the document and stored it away in my item window.
Now that that was done, I got up from the throne.
“Let me accompany you, Your Majesty.” Charlotte, who had her silver hair neatly coiled in a pony style behind her head befitting a mature and dignified woman, addressed me from the side.
But I waved my hand lightly, then pressed forward a list of orders that she needed to perform for me in the future.
“This is…?” she tilted her head in confusion.
I smiled and replied to her, “For the next year or so, please take care of things for me. I’ve already spoken to Luan and Hilda, so things won’t get too hectic around here.”
Charlotte stared at me with a stunned face.
Leaving her behind, I headed to my destination by myself. That place happened to be the labyrinth located in the deepest part of the Imperial Palace’s basement floors.
Hans was on standby there already, with the Bloody Golem standing next to him. He bowed his head deeply in my direction and spoke, “Your Majesty. Preparations have been completed.”
“Alright, then. Let’s go.”
We headed to the deepest part of the labyrinth itself. The place we eventually arrived at was an enclosed space where countless Runes had been engraved seemingly on every visible surface.
A single vampire was imprisoned in here. A vampire in a jester get-up, with lengthy and spindly limbs.
Marquis Kirum.
The moment he saw my face, he was frightened out of his wits and hurriedly scrambled back. He crouched in the corner of the enclosed space and shielded his head.
“Your Majesty, are you really planning to go through with this?” Hans cautiously asked me.
I replied while taking off my clothes. “I won’t die at least, so don’t you worry. Well, in the future where my fate has been set in stone by the gods, that is.”
Of course, merely having knowledge of the future events could potentially alter one’s destiny in some ways. But then again, the gods wouldn’t have been so sloppy with their planning that this little action of mine would have a devastating butterfly effect later on.
I chucked my clothes on the floor. Hans quietly stepped back and closed the door to this enclosed space, sealing it tightly.
Behind me was the Bloody Golem that had devoured vampires and lycans to become a completed being. The crazed clown, Kirum the vampire, was the only one left before my eyes.
“W-w-what are you going to do?! Are you here to torment this lowly vampire once more?!” Kirum began screaming at me. Even then, he didn’t forget to cover his face in ‘despair’. “Oh, ohhh! How scary, aigoo, so scary~! A Holy Emperor who loves to bully the weak! By the way, why did you undress all of a sudden? Could it be? Do you have such a horrible hobby?!”
What a snarky, sarcastic manner of speech that was. It was Kirum’s unique way of yapping away, too.
But it was nothing more than him putting up a brave front in order to suppress his own fear. Also, it was his way of showing some form of resistance. He was even using his Spirit Speech to ‘seduce’ me right now, too.
I cracked my neck and addressed the vampire, “I’m not going to beat around the bush. Hit me with your Curse, Kirum.”
Kirum’s expression hardened in an instant. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s exactly as it sounds. Use your demonic energy and try to wreck my body.”
“Just what are you even… Wait, what are you scheming to do this time?! I have already told you everything I know. Just stop it and kill me already! I, I can’t…!”
Kirum suddenly began blabbering away after fear took him over completely.
“Start your desperate struggles, vampire.”
Snap.
One sentence from me, and Kirum’s mind snapped, plunging him into a pit of fear. He suddenly pounced in my direction.
I felt his demonic energy. It emitted a seriously nauseating stench.
However, it was still too weak. This guy wasn’t a combat-type vampire and as such, he was rather weak for a vampire of his tier.
Something on this level wasn’t enough to wreck my body at all.
“…Get rid of him.”
The Bloody Golem finally made its move. It raised its hand up; the fangs and bone shards of lycans gathered together, transforming its hand into a hook.
It slammed down on Kirum.
Crunch-!
The vampire’s blood splattered everywhere.
“Kuwaaaahk!”
Kirum continued to thrash about even as the hook impaled him. The Bloody Golem brought the struggling vampire towards its abdomen.
The golem’s stomach area split open wide, revealing dozens upon dozens of fangs containing demonic energy that were spinning away like a saw-toothed wheel.
Kirum was sucked inside the Golem, which was filled to the brim with various curses and toxins.
“W-wait…!” Kirum continued to thrash around as his feet gradually got ground to bits. “Uwaaaahk?!”
His lower half was disappearing; his abdomen was split apart, and his chest was ripped apart next.
“You… You demon…!”
Soon, even Kirum’s head and his extended hand were all devoured, gone from my view for good.
The Bloody Golem’s power grew even stronger after absorbing the demonic energy of a Marquis-class vampire.
The creature turned around to face me.
And I issued a simple order to the golem. “Devour me.”
In that instant, the Bloody Golem’s torso split open and swallowed me up.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
A massive earthquake suddenly rocked the frozen mountain range.
Avaldi sensed something was wrong. He had a pretty good guess on what had caused all that shaking, so he quickly stepped outside the hut, leaving the dwarves behind.
It had already been almost five years since Belrog and his companions came to visit him.
Avaldi rapidly climbed the peak of the frozen mountain range, still decorated by countless snow-capped mountains and glaciers. When he got there, he finally got to see a certain spectacle.
“…Vlandmir.”
A figure, his whole body tightly wrapped in bandages, was on his knees. He put the spear of blood down on the ground, then bowed his head deeply.
In front of him were several large shadows. The smallest seemed to be around eight metres tall, while the largest one was over thirty.
They belonged to the Jötnar.
The gigantic existences had finally broken free of their Seals!
-Now, kneel, and swear your loyalty to me!- one of the Jötnar demanded.
The Vampire King could be seen clenching his teeth before kissing the toe of that gigantic creature.
‘What are you doing, Vlandmir?!’ Avaldi, staring at this unfolding sight from the top of the mountain, shifted his gaze over to his spear. ‘Why aren’t you even thinking of fighting back?’
Why wasn’t he using that powerful weapon? That was the greatest armament Avaldi had created, yet…
“I shall acknowledge our defeat. We cannot win against your group.”
The Vampire King once proudly declared that he’d make the giants submit to him. But now, he had discarded his pride and self-respect to kowtow before another creature.
‘No, Vlandmir! You haven’t been defeated yet. Use that spear! Do you not possess the greatest weapon of all? Have I not gifted you with a weapon that required one thousand years of forging and refining with the blood of humans?!’
A vampire was not defeated until it was killed and extinguished from this world. As long as it was alive, and as long as it wished to continue fighting back, then Avaldi would gladly continue to craft another weapon.
A weapon that was far stronger, far greater than any other in history.
Avaldi grit his teeth.
‘I beg of you, my king. Do not disappoint me. Pick up that spear. Use that spear to defeat both the giants and the Imperial Family…!’
“I beg of you, oh the Jötnar. Go and destroy the Imperial Family.”
Avaldi’s brows shot up at what the Vampire King said just then. For a short moment there, the vampire blacksmith was left stupefied by what he had heard, but then, his teeth began clattering from sheer rage.
The Vampire King had become blinded by his desire for vengeance. The more he lost himself, the further he got away from Avaldi’s lifelong wish.
-We are neither the destroyer nor the agents of your vengeance.-
The Jötnar snickered away.
-We are saviours. Saviours who will return everything to the embrace of Mother Nature. Everything will revert back to the embrace of the beginning-!-
The Jötnar raised their heads high, opened their arms wide, and began roaring out at the top of their lungs. The snowstorm worsened in an instant, while flames mixed with particles of sand spread out into their surroundings.
The Vampire King kept his head bowed, but there was a faint little smile etched on his face.
For the sake of his revenge, he decided to let go of the spear.
“Oh you foolish king…” Avaldi muttered as his trembling hand began pressing down on his forehead and temples. He was still in his human facade, and the pressure from his fingers caused his wrinkled skin to tear open, drawing blood. “You dare…”
The blood trickled down past his eye, his cheek, then eventually reached his chin to drip to the ground.
Avaldi exploded in rage. “…to betray me?!”
-Let’s go. Prepare to move out!-
The Jötnar began smashing their fists into the mountain range surrounding them. Boulders and blocks of ice tumbled down.
-Crush everything that dares to block our path!-
The ground split apart.
The giants began marching forward while destroying the frozen mountain range.
The ranks of the Jötnar split into two and headed to their new destinations while breaking through the mountain range. One group, heading to east, while the other, to south.
-Let us march forward!-
The Kingdom of Frants was to the east, while…
-Let us revert everything back to their beginning.-
The Kingdoms of Aihrance and Lome could be found south of here.
-We are the saviours, and we shall also become the gods that rule over the beginning of everything!-
The Jötnar. The bringers of the destruction of the world.
And so, the march of the destruction had begun in earnest.
< 175. The Beginning of the Destruction -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
