Chapter 98
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: The Price of Choice (2)
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'I've done something utterly insane.'
Raum had been close friends with Emperor Kallian since childhood—practically like sworn brothers.
He was one of the few people Kallian truly trusted, and he had devoted himself to the day when Kallian would reclaim the emperor's rightful authority.
That's why he had volunteered for this mission without hesitation.
But the moment he stepped alone into the ants' territory to secretly convey the emperor's will to Seira, his resolve began to waver violently.
"Ugh..."
Unlike other forests brimming with natural freshness, the ants' domain carried a poisonous mist, and the atmosphere alone felt utterly alien.
Scattered haphazardly everywhere were clothes, weapons, and tools that seemed once used by humans.
The entrails, bone fragments, and body parts spilled from prey the ants had dragged off but failed to fully retrieve hung or lay abandoned here and there.
Normally, scavenger animals would clean such messes, but the large beasts had already been massacred by the ants, and the smaller creatures had perished against the ants' venomous aura.
The soil was dying from the poison seeping from the nutrient fluid, and even the plants couldn't endure it, withering away.
The ants' nest was a place they had deliberately begun to infest in just this way.
"Pl-please! I'm the emperor's envoy. Killing an envoy is absolutely..."
In the midst of it all, worker ants and sentinel ants noticed his approach and surrounded him in an instant.
For him, pleading desperately with these ants—uncertain if they even understood speech—was his only option as he revealed his identity and purpose.
"The emperor's authority means nothing to them. To them, every human is just another organic mass."
"Ah..."
Whether his prayer reached them or not, Seira appeared, using wind magic to blow away the poisonous mist, then removed her mask to reveal her face.
Raum was speechless at the sight of her.
The beautiful young woman's face didn't match at all with the black exoskeleton covering her body or the ants around her.
For the infamous witch, her blue eyes weren't vicious or evil—they seemed deep, somehow tinged with sorrow.
"A secret meeting? Without even telling me what you want to say?"
"Th-that's..."
Raum couldn't dare utter nonsense about Seira properly observing imperial protocol.
A worker ant snatched the imperial edict from his hand with its mandibles and brought it to Seira. She stood tall, took it in one hand, and read it—her brow furrowed.
"I don't know the details either. B-but His Majesty seemed convinced that your words were true."
[Asmora wants to obtain more information from him]
As Raum hesitated, Asmora immediately sought to torture him for information without delay.
Just like with the human warriors captured under the elves.
But recalling Malro's fate—killed after his mind shattered from the aftereffects of the ant spines writhing in his body—Seira shook her head.
"If he doesn't return alive, we won't meet the emperor. Instead, let's set a condition."
Having barely restrained Asmora, Seira made a counteroffer to the tense Raum.
She would talk if Emperor Kallian came to the meeting place himself.
"That witch thinks I won't dare!"
Raum, barely surviving, returned pale-faced and reported everything he'd seen and heard to Kallian.
The boy emperor, who had left the palace with great resolve, bristled at Seira's proposal and boldly declared he could do it.
"Your Majesty, wouldn't it be wise to reconsider? Those monsters and the witch—they're off somehow. Not like the rumors of savage, merciless demons."
"All decisions were made the moment I left the palace."
Raum tried to dissuade Kallian, but he bit his lip, steeling his determination.
The location Seira specified was near the ants' conquered nest—but a small abandoned town where the poison hadn't spread yet, with refugees' furnishings and goods left behind.
It wasn't far from the frontline city where Kallian was staying.
He could slip out secretly at midnight on horseback and return.
"We can sneak out, right?"
"Compared to the palace, security here is laughably lax. It won't be hard."
"The prime minister's hatred is working in my favor this time."
The imperial guards, greatly weakened by Shuber, were long since a mess.
Kallian and Raum chuckled wryly, then with help from Albert and other comrades, disguised themselves. On the appointed evening, they slipped out of their lodgings and mounted their horses successfully.
'A monster in body, but with a human face, speaking human words, thinking like a human. Could the rumors be true?'
Riding in shabby clothes with a hood concealing his face, Kallian suddenly recalled a rumor Raum had passed on from outside gossip.
A tale from refugees who fled to the empire on the day the Holy Kingdom fell.
About a female mage's tragedy and ugly fall—hard to verify, and at the time, he'd dismissed it as nonsense.
"That's the place!"
Thanks to the chaos and darkness, the two arrived at the abandoned town—the meeting spot—without being spotted.
No signs of life. The people had fled, and the ants hadn't searched it yet.
'Fortunately, the other deities don't know about this meeting.'
As the two entered the town tensely, Jin-hyuk—watching through ants hidden underground—checked the community and sighed in relief.
No other subordinates nearby, and the pair belonged only to the empire, not treated as Astragon's subordinates.
Thus, this secret meeting stayed hidden from all.
"You've come, Your Imperial Majesty of the Empire."
"You must be the..."
Seira was already waiting. Kallian's eyes widened upon spotting her alone in the abandoned town's square.
What Raum had described was just a fraction.
She was more than half no longer human, her aura under the dim night sky extraordinary.
"Before we talk, one thing to confirm. Do you truly spare the innocent who don't follow evil wills?"
Before Seira could speak, Kallian bravely opened his mouth first.
'This atmosphere... no way?'
Even Jin-hyuk, watching, could sense the blatant vibe.
Seira's eyes sparkled.
"Emperor, how much do you know about the world's secrets?"
Seira revealed the truth to Kallian: the existence of deities, their community, competition, power, purpose, and more.
Kallian had already suspected as much from mages including Shuber.
The knowledge that had skyrocketed the empire's magitech civilization came from elsewhere—and they followed that will, not him as emperor.
"Now that they've set their sights on this land, endless war will engulf the world."
"Can't you lot walk away from war either?"
"True. Exterminating and devouring those tainted by evil deities is the duty and mission given to the Belzahads."
Seira didn't deny the ants' violence and slaughter.
It was incomprehensible by human standards from the start.
"That bare minimum mercy from them is your only way to save more of the empire's people."
Seira calmly laid out reality.
She knew how strong the ants, led by Asmora, were growing.
Because she didn't think they'd lose, she advised Kallian to grovel and beg for his life.
"Kuh..."
It was inevitably arrogant and rude.
Who could say such things to the ruler of the mighty Lucadia Empire and live?
But Seira before Kallian now wasn't some diplomatic envoy.
She was a predator warning of the horrific slaughter to come.
"...Alone, I can't stop the evil deities' subordinates growing within the empire."
Kallian steadied his breath, his face resolute as he spoke.
He now knew for sure the identities of the suspicious prime minister Shuber and his followers.
Those not following the emperor but external entities were traitors. Purging them was the emperor's duty.
"But I can help you attack them."
"The newly relocated Arcaina Zero. That massive research lab where the evil deity's subordinates have concentrated all tech and manpower."
Seira responded instantly to Kallian's words, as if she'd anticipated it.
"If Your Majesty provides the exact coordinates and defense details, you can save tens of millions of innocent imperial subjects."
The place she'd infiltrated, detonated, and escaped from before.
She'd destroyed much data, but not all—and now it was even larger and more fortified, powering the empire's magitech.
The ants planned to obliterate that vital spot for deity Astragon and his subordinates.
"Still hesitating? Look around. Wherever Belzahad goes, it becomes uninhabitable dead land. Do you want to see more of the empire's living space destroyed?"
"Don't rush me. We haven't covered the most important part!"
As Kallian wavered, Seira pointed to the ruins around them.
He bristled, his voice trembling.
"How can I trust you? You... no, those countless abyssal monsters will just destroy everything and kill everyone without a second thought. You're right—human logic doesn't apply. Promises or oaths mean nothing to you."
"Aha."
Their verbal exchange was perfect, reasons ample.
But Kallian had long realized words alone achieved nothing.
"...You're right. Without peering into each other's 'hearts,' danger always looms. In other words, we have no basis to trust your words either."
Seira smiled bitterly and slowly approached them.
At the same time, a large parasitic worm wriggling in her clenched fist slithered into view.
"N-no!"
"Forgive the rudeness. The pain is brief, Your Majesty."
Horrified, Kallian and Raum recoiled to flee—but ants in dormant stealth mode burst from the ground, surrounding them.
"...!"
Forcibly restrained and mouth pried open, Kallian's body integrated with the ant spine thrust inside.
Seira wasn't wrong.
This ant spine, implanted per Seira's input, had its role and power adjusted by Asmora.
Without talent like Seira's, most humans' egos would collapse upon hive-mind contact.
The parasite in Kallian merely incorporated him into the hive while doubling as a bomb to explode if he acted out.
"To think you'd... stoop to this..."
"Curse and hate me all you want. In exchange for that body, the people you want to save will live."
As he retched and glared through tears, Seira turned away.