The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 365

“Ugh.”

Azadin sniffed.

Blood was flowing.

A metallic, fishy smell filled his mouth and nose.

“Are you alright?”

Niselda, who was moving through the dwarves’ secret passage, stopped and asked Azadin.

Born between a vampire and a human, she had her fangs and claws removed, her body supported by consecrated silver and ceramite [a ceramic-metal composite], and a saint’s image engraved on her to suppress her vampiric urges. However, she could still smell the faint scent of blood coming from Azadin.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been bleeding a lot lately…”

“Is this really that much?”

“Then I’ll say it’s frequent, Count. Do you perhaps have some illness? Considering your position, I understand why you might want to hide it, but please tell me. Sister Chadra, the head of the monastery, has divine power and wisdom and will surely be of help.”

Azadin’s military faction was united solely by Azadin’s charisma, and if he were to die, it would scatter.

That wouldn’t be a disaster for Azadin alone.

“It’s not an illness. As you all know, I happened to obtain the Divine King’s Scripture and read it. Even though the physical book has been returned to the throne, the knowledge continues to gather the surrounding magic and grow within me.”

Unlike the spellbooks of market shamans or the miscellaneous magicians who grind dried frog legs to heal the sick, truly powerful grimoires are contagious like a disease just by being read and understood.

The Divine King’s Scripture was the most powerful grimoire, so the moment one came into contact with its essence, it would ignite like wildfire.

That’s why when Azadin obtained a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture, he used the white magic contained within it, rather than reading and understanding it, to transfer it into himself.

However, Araelle directly read and accepted the copy of the Divine King’s Scripture….

And the flames of the Divine King’s Scripture spread to Azadin, who had merged with her.

‘Lord Planck taught me how to alleviate it, but….’

Azadin had not been alleviating the grimoire recently.

To stand against the Northern Emperor Cohen Lionheart, it was necessary to fully acquire the Divine King’s Scripture.

“It’s fine. I just need to control it.”

“Is that so? Then that’s a relief.”

Niselda said with a smile.

“You’re going to deal with Griselda, right? She keeps running away, but I hope we can finally eliminate her this time.”

“Since we have the Eye of Ashajite, Griselda will come at us whether she likes it or not.”

“To think we’d corner Griselda like this. Before I met you, Count, I thought I’d have to hide under the protection of the head of the monastery for the rest of my life, fearing her.”

“But why were you called one of the Five Warlords of Chadra Plateau? That’s an excessive reputation for someone who was hiding.”

“It’s probably because I fought against Chashan’s gang. Oh, and I also killed a few of the minotaur’s griffons, which led to a fight. And then I killed some thugs who were targeting the women who had taken refuge in the monastery. That’s how I got this useless, shameful reputation. It’s a thug’s name.”

“Hmm.”

Then Bernard spoke.

“Count, Griselda is nearby.”

Bernard could locate Griselda’s position using blood magic.

Since Niselda was Griselda’s own daughter, he could use her blood to find Griselda nearby.

“It seems… the throne is close. Beyond here must be the royal section. Look at this.”

On the stone wall, which was covered in moss but had recently been cleared, was the insignia of the Kerim dwarves’ royal family: a crossed hammer and axe.

“Does that mean it’s the royal gate?”

“Originally, it was a gate that could only be opened with the red magic of the dwarven royalty, but it’s so old that the magic has worn off. It seems many people have passed through here recently.”

Bernard said, touching it.

“I roughly know the way, so let’s find Griselda first. Shouldn’t we put an end to this long, bitter relationship?”

Azadin decided to eliminate Griselda before the dwarven king.

*********

Griselda was, in effect, the queen of Banreung.

Dwarven nobles were vying to win Griselda’s favor, and even King Manawidan himself was wrapped around Griselda’s finger.

Griselda had enjoyed everything in Banreung in Manawidan’s name, using his authority, so she had no justification to refuse Manawidan’s orders.

“Mother, must we endure this humiliation?”

The female vampires, who always indulged in pleasure and luxury and only spoke in seductive voices, asked in indignation.

“Those dwarves don’t appreciate the favors we’ve provided at all.”

“They were so eager to indulge, and now they treat us like this….”

“That’s strange.”

Griselda also sympathized with their anger, but on the other hand, she felt a sense of strangeness.

“Ever since Manawidan collapsed and woke up, the dwarves’ attitude has suddenly changed. Perhaps the magic of the wish changed Manawidan’s essence?”

“Then… we don’t need to follow the orders of the dwarven royal guard captain, do we?”

“If we’re not going to control the Banreung Kingdom from the shadows, there’s no reason to be with these disgusting dwarves.”

“Let’s retrieve the Eye of Ashajite and perform the magic of the wish. This time, you should fulfill your deepest desire, Mother.”

“I want to as well. Hmm?”

-Rumble!

The entire fortress began to shake again with a loud roar.

The attacks of the Rescue Knights were getting closer. Judging by the direction of the explosions and vibrations, they must have already descended to the same floor as the throne room.

And from the front, dwarven royal guards with messengers were approaching.

Two messengers and one royal guard, but he was wearing a griffin helmet.

Surprisingly, it was Royal Guard Captain Iak who came with the messengers to meet her.

Royal Guard Captain Iak shouted.

“What are you doing here? I know the king has placed you under my command! Why aren’t you coming?”

On this floor, the throne floor, dwarven voice pipes were installed everywhere, allowing the king’s orders to be transmitted through the pipes.

Iak, who had probably learned through that that Griselda had been assigned under him, was waiting for Griselda to fight against the Rescue Knights who were breaking through the defense line.

But when she didn’t come, he seemed to have come himself to check.

“What should we do, Mother?”

“Kill them.”

Griselda ordered her subordinates.

Griselda’s daughters, as if they had been waiting for that order, charged with side swords, rapiers, and sickles.

Like night demons… women in black nun’s habits and veils dashed through the dwarven structures.

That sight was astonishing even for Iak, who was also a vampire.

“Kuh!? Have you gone mad?! Griselda?!”

Royal Guard Captain Iak swung his axe-spear to fend off the approaching enemies. Two of Griselda’s daughters were hit by the axe-spear and were thrown back with terrible wounds, but other daughters of Griselda rushed in, stabbing their swords into the royal guard captain’s armor and thrusting a sickle into his mouth.

The hook of the sickle pierced the dwarf’s mouth like a fishhook and lifted him up.

“Ahahaha!”

“Kikikiki!”

The seductive laughter and cackling of the female vampires echoed through the hall.

“Kuaaak!”

Royal Guard Captain Iak’s subordinates were grabbed by other vampires and had their blood sucked.

Griselda’s daughters also grabbed Iak, tore off his armor from all sides, and bit him.

A feast of bloodthirsty demons had begun.

“Kyak! Ungrateful wretches! Even if you are beasts, do you dare to oppose the master of the Mountain’s Heart?!”

“I never liked your attitude of always looking down on us! Even though you’ve become a vampire yourself!”

“If we’ve been invaded this far, it seems the dwarves’ kingdom is finished. What’s with the bravado? Ah, if only you had brought more subordinates, you might have lived a little longer, you fool, Iak.”

Griselda sneered as she watched the royal guard captain being torn apart and having his blood sucked from his entire body.

But then.

-Whoosh!

This time, a vibration echoed from behind.

“Ah!?”

A pale white magic, the power of the throne distorted by the Nether, was felt.

What had King Manawidan done?

It was when Griselda was flustered.

“I didn’t expect you to fight each other….”

A golden arrow flew towards Griselda.

The arrow curved from around the corner of the passage and covered Griselda.

“You!”

Griselda used blood magic to spread her cloak. From the cloak, a blood-colored spiral solidified and spread out like the crystals of a snowflake that was just beginning to freeze, forming a net.

However, the golden arrow burned through the blood-colored nets and flew as a flame.

Azadin had melted his ceramite longsword, Aurelia Dawn, into heavenly flames and fired it in the form of an arrow.

This ceramite holy sword, which had an absolute effect on vampires, easily pierced through the blood-colored nets and aimed for Griselda.

In desperation, Griselda grabbed Royal Guard Captain Iak and used him to block the golden arrow.

Unfortunately, one of Griselda’s daughters, who was clinging to Iak and sucking his blood, was dragged along, and the arrow pierced both of them at the same time.

-Thud!

Flames rose, burning Iak and Griselda’s daughter.

“Kyaaaaak!”

The arrow melted and began to burn inside her torso.

Iak had already been cannibalized by the vampires and had little blood left, so he turned to ash in an instant, but Griselda’s daughter, who had consumed enough blood, writhed in pain without being completely incinerated.

She tried to pull out the arrow that was stuck in her body, but there was no way to pull out something that was like molten lead.

Cutting off most of the flesh of her torso like Griselda was a feat that only Griselda could do. Other vampires would not be able to fully regenerate and would die if they suffered that much physical damage.

“Kuek?!”

Realizing that she could not escape the pain, she brought her index and middle fingers to her chin, suddenly extended her nails, and pierced her own jaw in one swift motion.

Her nails pierced through her brain and protruded above her head. She had destroyed her own brain to escape the pain.

“Just in case, relieve her of her pain!”

At Griselda’s command, a slave vampire following her raised an axe-spear and chopped off the head of Griselda’s daughter, who had already stabbed herself in the head.

“Ah, Aurelia Dawn!”

“Indeed, it’s terrifying!”

The vampires were enraged by the terrifying effect of Aurelia Dawn, their natural enemy.