Chapter 292: Half a Day
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 292: Half a Day
Across a vast, parched land where only traces of vegetation remained, the wide sky was stained blood-red, exhaling a scorching heat onto the earth below.
“My Lord.”
A massive palace stood atop the highest peak of a jagged stone mountain. Within this fortress of red banners and black metal, a wide, silent throne sat on the highest floor.
A woman sat there, her long white hair cascading down, her eyes the deep crimson of freshly spilled blood.
She was the most powerful being among the haughty vampires. Her firmly set lips did not part, but an attendant, noticing the fleeting shift in her gaze, spoke up.
“Preparations for the march are complete.”
The woman known as the Vampire Lord, Iris Albresto, rose from her throne in the heart of the vampire empire—the largest and most vast territory in the Demon Realm. She whispered softly.
“Understood.”
The reason her army of nearly ten million was moving in a single direction under the grand banner of a 'march' was simple.
“The Emperor of Sinew has reached the border.”
An outsider who had raised a rebellion against the King of Monsters—the one called the Lord of Lords and the only being to ever hand Iris Albresto a defeat.
To stop this single individual known as the Emperor of Sinew, the glorious empire of the vampires, built upon the vast plains, began its advance. Its formidable military, which had protected these lands for thousands of years, moved out.
Every step carried a dignity that made heaven and earth tremble. The vampire castle, which had sat loftily atop the mountain range, took flight. The entire massive fortress soared into the sky, beginning its slow, imposing advance.
Rumble...!!
The iron stakes driven deep into the stone mountain were wrenched free, casting a shadow as vast as a thundercloud over the imperial territory.
The vampire host packed the scorched and festering earth. It was a force of arms so great it seemed impossible for any unknown adversary to overcome.
The only reason the Demon King stood above the Vampire Lord was that his individual prowess was greater; it did not mean he could face the entire vampire race alone.
Thus, when a small silhouette finally appeared in the distance at the edge of the empire’s territory...
“Stop.”
Iris Albresto sat leaning against the edge of the balcony railing on the highest floor of the floating castle. Her whispering voice was amplified until it was loud enough to blanket the earth.
“I have no interest in you, nor any feelings toward you. If you value your life, I suggest you vanish.”
This was merely an order from the Demon King she served. Compared to the Demon King, who had lived for eons, Iris Albresto was still relatively young in the Demon Realm.
She did not know how ancient or primordial a being the enemy might be. However, age alone could not serve as the foundation for the power required to defeat her.
Perhaps it was simply an ill-fated connection with the Demon King. Currently, he reigned as the ruler of the Demon Realm, and she was his subordinate.
Following her orders, she would simply block the path of this uninteresting man whose name she couldn't even remember.
“....”
But no answer came. In trade, prudence yields jewels and gold, but in mercy, hesitation yields only reversals and punishment.
Iris Albresto, Lord of the Great Empire, was not a being kind enough to offer patience on top of the merciful command she had already given.
“Advance.”
Calamity-class spells capable of annihilating the surface world surged toward the lone figure. Warriors who had reached the pinnacle of strength marched forward through the total assault that twisted space and crumbled time.
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!
A storm of magic that would erase even the traces of life swept through the area. Iris Albresto let out a low sigh and closed her eyes.
She simply leaned against the balcony railing of the moving castle, watching the world warp and buckle.
It had mostly been like this until now. War was a composition of screams and battle cries heard through a window. It was something that ended the moment she opened her lips to give an order.
The spot where the total assault of the vampire mages had fallen glowed with brilliant light. Iris Albresto opened her eyes and stared blankly at the place where he had been.
“....”
He.
The one called the Emperor of Sinew was not yet dead.
In fact, saying he 'wasn't dead' didn't quite fit the situation.
As if nothing had happened at all, he remained standing alone upon the earth that seethed with flames.
Iris Albresto felt nothing. If he were the type of person to die from an attack of this level, she would have been disappointed in the Demon King for ordering her to stop him personally.
Elite vampire knights, who had honed their combat power over hundreds of years, flapped their massive wings as they closed in on him.
What should follow were a few screams, a report of victory, and a return to her tedious daily life.
Or so it should have been.
“Ugh, aah...?!”
The groans of the front-line knights rang out clearly. Their gallant charge came to an abrupt halt.
What followed... was the sight of the vampire knights beginning to twist into indescribable forms, and the panicked voices of the court mages reacting to the sudden turn of events.
“What on earth is that...?”
The bones and skin of the elite knights at the vanguard twisted in reverse, bursting into clumps of gore.
One hundred thousand elite knights, all at once.
Splatter...!!
As the hundred thousand elite knights who had been gallantly flying toward the Emperor of Sinew exploded into heaps of meat in mid-air, chaos descended upon the vampire soldiers on the ground.
“W-what happened?!”
“The elite knights, in an instant...?!”
Thud, thud-thud...
Squelch!!
The entrails and flesh of the elite knights rained down upon the heads of the front-line infantry.
Exactly three seconds after that flesh touched the infantrymen's bodies...
“A-argh... AAAAAAGH!!!!”
Pop!!
The bodies of the infantrymen similarly twisted inside out, bursting into scraps of meat. Those who stood packed together on the vast plain watched as the soldier in front of them exploded.
Then, hit by those fragments of entrails, their own bodies began to twist in the same way.
“What in the world is this...!”
As the massive army of ten million was being scattered into scraps of meat in an instant, the High Court Mage hurriedly issued an order.
“What are you doing?! Identify the nature of the magic and construct defensive barriers immediately!!!!”
Those on the front lines had already realized the trigger for the magic. Whether it was magic or something else, they knew that the moment they were hit by a fragment of the exploding flesh, they would suffer the same fate.
The loss would be too great if they tried to protect the low-value infantry at the front. The mages and commanders in the rear hurriedly split the army in half and erected powerful barriers.
“L-let us in!!!!”
“No!!!!!! I-I have to live!!!!!!”
The infantry who failed to make it inside the barriers began to disintegrate instantly as they fled from the rapidly approaching sound of explosions.
“Haa, haa...!”
The infantrymen who narrowly survived at the edge of the barrier exhaled ragged breaths, watching through the red light of the shield as their former comrades turned into heaps of meat.
Splat..!
The piles of meat seemed only to expand as they exploded; they didn't appear to have the power to pierce a barrier set by high-level magic.
“D-did we survive...?”
Just as relief and terror washed over them simultaneously...
Gurgle..!
The red flesh covering the vast earth began to wriggle, one piece after another.
Brains, hearts, bone fragments, and fat twitched and began to pair up, eventually forming shapes that mimicked the appearance of vampires.
—He... help... me....
Familiar voices emerged from grotesque mouths that split open in every direction.
“Gerta!! Gerta!?!”
“What are you doing, you crazy bastard?! Does that look like a comrade to you?!”
The piles of meat, equivalent to about two million people scattered across the land, began to stand up as a new army, each piece finding its match.
The muscle, bone, entrails, and skin did not all belong to the same person. They were simply new life forms created by the organs that happened to be closest to each other.
—Why... did you abandon me...!!!
Multiple brains had been haphazardly stitched together to form new personalities; they were not the vampire infantry comrades who had lived before.
It took only ten minutes.
That was all the time it took for two million of the proud, elite soldiers of the vampire empire to turn into the enemy.
Bam! Boom!!
Fists slammed randomly against the barrier. Arms and fists stitched together by force twisted under the impact, but the meat-monsters did not stop.
When an arm fell off from punching the barrier, they kicked it; when a leg fell off, they swung their heads to ram it.
If their tangled tissues completely fell apart from such exertion, they simply merged with the meat-pile soldier next to them to birth yet another warrior.
Crrack, crackle..!
“T-the barrier is failing!!”
The weight of the meat-piles crawling over the dome-shaped barrier was immense. It was the weight of two million people.
As a weight of approximately 200,000 tons began to crush the barrier, it wasn't long before the shield reached its limit and shattered.
“R-run!!!!!!”
It was only half a day later that the Great Empire of the Vampires, which had boasted such a mighty army, was smothered by a tide of moving flesh.