He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 142

Became the Greatest Crazy Emperor in History – Episode 142

Became the Greatest Crazy Emperor in History 142

“Kyaaaa! Save me!”

“Come here!”

“Y-you guys, how can you do this to your own kind— Argh!”

“You Wood Elves think you’re the same as us High Elves!”

The capital, Elvengrad, where the Spirit King had returned, was a scene of hell.

A massacre unfolding against ‘potential rebels.’

Those who tried to resist were all killed without exception.

“Drag them away!”

“P-please! Not the children!”

“Quiet! It’s an order! No exceptions for children!”

The Spirit King’s massacre spared neither men nor women, young nor old. Or rather, to be precise, he made sure to capture the young children and the elderly.

Because what he needed was a source of mana to replenish the World Tree’s affinity with spirits, not corpses.

“Execute them.”

“N-no! Uwaaaaaaaagh!”

Crackle, crackle, crackle-

The World Tree’s rootlets dug into the victims’ bodies and sucked away their life force.

Those who had their life force drained became petrified trees while still alive, and the World Tree, which had devoured countless lives, was in full bloom, even more so than before it had gone into hibernation.

It might not just be your imagination that its leaves appeared red.

“I-I can’t die like this!”

“Take their weapons! We must resist!”

Of course, the Elves weren’t just going to die quietly.

As soon as they realized that the king had abandoned them—no, that he was trying to kill them—they quickly revolted.

It was just that the Spirit King’s force was stronger, so they were being easily suppressed.

Amidst the bloody slaughter, the Imperial Army was approaching beyond the walls of Elvengrad.

“Are you coming, Emperor? Finally.”

Everyone was screaming, but for the Spirit King at the pinnacle of the massacre, only one fact mattered.

The Emperor is coming.

Defeating him was the only goal left for the Spirit King.

* * *

“We must stop this madness immediately!”

Nakan, who had grasped the situation first when they approached the Elves’ capital, Elvengrad, shouted with a pale face.

Sure enough, a massacre was taking place there.

The entire Elvengrad, a city large in scale, was engulfed in flames.

“It burns well. Strangely, the World Tree in the middle isn’t burning.”

“Is this the time to be saying such leisurely things?”

Nakan got angry at my quietly muttered words, but I smirked at him.

For Nakan, this would definitely be a desperate situation.

Of course, it wasn’t just because his own kind were dying.

Originally, except for the Dark Elves, the Wood Elves had a weak sense of kinship, so there was no way he would be like that.

Perhaps he was horrified that the ‘people’ who would become his assets in the future were dying.

Well, maybe he was just purely sick of the Spirit King’s massacre.

“Leisurely? It’s surprisingly important. This massacre is happening because of that World Tree.”

The reason the Spirit King is carrying out such a massacre is to supply the World Tree with a source of mana for the final battle.

So, to stop this massacre, we need to burn the World Tree. Coincidentally, that was the original plan anyway.

“But look, the entire capital is engulfed in flames, but the World Tree is fine?”

“T-then…”

“It must have already devoured a considerable number of people. The power of the World Tree’s spirit has become that much stronger.”

“Good heavens…”

Nakan covered his forehead as if all his strength had drained away.

He seemed to genuinely want to stop this massacre.

“There’s no need to despair too much. We’re going to move anyway.”

“Your Majesty, entering there now may not be wise. We don’t know what might happen.”

The Captain of the Guard immediately offered rational advice to me, who was resolving to act.

I agreed that it was a valid opinion.

“But that’s why we need to go even more. We don’t know what else the Spirit King might do.”

Considering the disastrous spirit magic that the Spirit King had tried to unleash on the Empire’s territory during the last expedition, he might do even worse this time.

Unlike the World Tree’s tomb he created back then, that one is the Mother World Tree.

To prevent such a thing, the Spirit King must die. Furthermore, the World Tree must also be burned.

“The problem is the method. It doesn’t seem like an external attack will work.”

It didn’t seem like the flames of purification could burn that giant World Tree’s bark.

“We can burn it from the inside.”

“Is it possible to enter inside?”

I asked Stella at her words. Stella nodded and said,

“According to the literature, yes. The interior of the Mother World Tree contains a seed that connects the World Trees and the Spirit Realm.”

“If we destroy that seed, we can burn it.”

Of course, the interior would be heavily guarded, to say the least.

“Before that, suppressing the capital is the priority.”

Igrid also offered an opinion, and I nodded.

“That’s right, and at the same time… rescue as many Elves as we can.”

Swish-

“Then let’s hurry and go.”

A march, my Imperial Army.

* * *

“Don’t let your guard down on all sides!”

“Ambush in the building to the right!”

“Crossbowmen!”

Shushushuk! Thwack!

The Battle of Elvengrad had begun—but in reality, it was closer to a mopping-up operation than a typical urban warfare.

“Over there! The militia and the enemy are fighting over there!”

“Kill the High Elves, the Wood Elves are our allies.”

“How do we distinguish between the two?”

“The ones with the paler faces are the High Elves!”

The soldiers and knights moved in squads, mopping up the High Elf regular forces.

The number of High Elf troops was not very large. Except for the fact that each individual, even a conscripted soldier, possessed martial prowess equivalent to a knight, they were overwhelmingly outnumbered.

But the threatening ones were different.

Crackle, crackle, crackle, poof!

“B-be careful! Argh!”

“They’re tree giants! Don’t get close!”

As the power of the spirit magic emitted by the World Tree grew stronger, spirits were rampaging everywhere.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

-Gueeeeeeeck!

“Your Majesty!”

“Do not let ordinary soldiers engage the spirits under any circumstances. Only knights are to follow.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Holding Silver Rose imbued with the flames of purification, I advanced towards the giant tree giants.

Slash, whoosh! Crack, crack, crack!

-Geooooooooh!

The aura blade coated with the flames of purification cut and burned them.

There were more than just one or two tree giants, but as I took the lead and gained momentum, the knights who followed supported me from behind.

-Weeeeeeeeeeng!

“A swarm of killer wasps!”

“Watch out for the poisonous gas too!”

But while the tree giants were holding out, even more heinous spirit magic came crashing down.

Swarms of wasps that burrowed through the gaps in armor and poured out venomous stings, and even poisonous gas that suffocated and killed people in an instant.

Those things, which were close to biochemical attacks, killed more Elven civilians in the city than Imperial soldiers, but that didn’t seem to be a big problem for the Spirit King anymore.

“Flames of purification, protect the soldiers of the holy war from the enemies of the Empire.”

Whoosh-

Fortunately, Stella’s prayer of purification created a shield of flames, burning away the swarm of wasps and the poisonous gas.

“Well done, Stella. Igrid and the Captain of the Guard, hurry and seize the city. Everyone else, push forward as we are! For the Empire!”

“For His Majesty the Emperor!”

“Long live the Empire!”

Except for the murderous spirit magic flying around, the enemy’s resistance was not very organized.

Someone was probably commanding, but they were reaching their limits due to the numerical inferiority of their forces.

No, judging from the situation, it didn’t feel like they were trying to stop us from approaching the World Tree with all their might.

“Are you waiting for me, Spirit King?”

Perhaps he is waiting for me. With me having consumed a moderate amount of strength.

“Nothing has changed since last time.”

The Spirit King abandoned his people and used a scheme for his own sake again this time.

Seeing that he doesn’t abandon such stubbornness even after being severely punished by me because of it, there is no room for redemption.

No, perhaps he is refusing to repent because of me. He doesn’t want to admit that he was wrong.

It was truly a trivial stubbornness.

“Your Majesty, we see the enemy commander over there!”

While continuing to break through towards the World Tree, I saw someone who was encouraging the High Elf soldiers and using spirit magic as if struggling.

Judging from the somewhat flamboyant attire of the elderly High Elf, he was undoubtedly a high-ranking commander.

“Good, I’m going over there, follow me!”

[Imperial Soul Stage 1 Unlocked]

[Wings of Light Deployed]

After letting the Legion and the knights charge on their own, I first spread my wings and flew at high speed.

“Stop him! Shoot him down!”

Shushushuk! Shushuk!

The Elves hurriedly tried to intercept me by shooting arrows, but I could avoid them simply by flying in a large semicircle without even needing to deflect them.

Weeeeeeeng!

In the meantime, I gathered explosive sword energy and used centrifugal force to send it flying towards the High Elf soldiers.

Kaboom!

The guys who were holding bows and aiming at me were shattered into pieces by the sonic boom-inducing explosion.

“Mother World Tree, protect the children of the spirits.”

Crackle, crackle, crackle-

But as if they couldn’t be easily defeated, the spirit mages chanted spells, and thick tree trunks sprouted from the ground.

It was their intention to completely surround and protect their forces.

“A pathetic resistance.”

[Shadow Dance Deployed]

Shashashak! Slash! Swish!

The shadow blades, along with Silver Rose, mercilessly cut down everything that blocked their path as if a sword dance was raging.

“Kuaaaagh!”

“I, I don’t want to die…!”

The thick tree trunks that seemed like they would protect them strongly were cut down easily, and the High Elves who were hiding behind them were also torn to pieces.

Everyone was crawling on the ground with one of their limbs cut off. Similarly, the Elf commander I was aiming for also had his leg cut off.

“Hey, can I ask you something? How do I get inside that World Tree?”

“Cough… Do you think I would tell you such a thing…?”

The High Elf commander refused to answer the interrogation as if he was trying to maintain his last bit of integrity.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t answer. I have plenty of time. On the contrary, you guys are the ones who don’t have time.”

“…”

The more time passes, the more Elves are sacrificed to this madness.

But as I told him, I wasn’t going to be impatient at all, even though I was trying to stop this situation.

Because it’s not my people who are dying.

“Think carefully about what you’re doing. Do you really think it’s right for the same race to kill each other and for the enemy to save the same race?”

“Kuh…”

The High Elf commander coughed up blood at my rebuke but couldn’t give a proper answer.

He must also feel that this situation is terrible.

“I’m going to kill the Spirit King and stop this situation. You just need to tell me where the entrance to that place is.”

“Heh, hehehe… You’re quite good at telling me to betray my lord.”

“I wonder, isn’t it possible that that lord betrayed you first?”

Judging from the hellish scene around here.

“Ha, hahaha… That’s true too.”

The High Elf commander said those words and pointed to one side with his hand.

“If you go that way, there’s a palace. Find the biggest door there.”

“How kind of you. Any last wishes?”

At that question, the High Elf commander spat out blood again and left his last words.