Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Primordial Serpent Awakens
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‘Barkas, you idiot. Still no word from him.’
The office at the pinnacle of the Magic Tower.
A ferocious blizzard battered the glass windows outside.
Tower Master Arman swirled his wine glass as he gazed down at the snowfields.
He had sent the man to stir up trouble at the Empire’s border, but all contact had been lost.
Irritating...
But that was all it was.
Just a minor annoyance.
There was no way he could have fallen to the Empire’s forces.
Barkas was the Daroa Empire’s greatest dark sorcerer.
And for this mission, Arman had even handed over the tower’s treasure—the Necklace of Immortality.
Even if his head’s chopped off, it’ll reattach. He can’t die even if he wants to.
He was probably just delayed gathering the spoils of victory.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
His disciple cautiously opened the door and entered.
“Tower Master, we have the latest intelligence from the Empire.”
“Read it.”
“Rumors say Emperor Darcor’s recent movements are highly unusual. Unlike his former days as a mere incompetent brute, he’s reportedly conducting ruthless purges with cold precision and rapidly expanding his military strength...”
“Hmph. Interesting.”
Arman snorted and cut him off.
He set down his wine glass, a sinister smile curling his lips.
“Do people change that easily? A tyrant is nothing but a mad tyrant.
No matter how he thrashes about, human nature doesn’t change.”
Arman harbored not a shred of doubt in his plan.
Even if the Empire’s tyrant had come to his senses and reformed, it was far too late.
The wheels of causality had turned too many times to reverse.
Even he believed it was impossible to stop now.
His gaze drifted to the faded ancient scroll hanging on the wall.
[When the primordial serpent opens its eyes, the world shall plunge back into the abyss.] The legendary calamity.
The serpent that devours the world.
Tomorrow at last...
An absolute existence beyond human power was about to awaken.
A being no mortal could even approach.
What could the Empire’s emperor possibly do before such overwhelming might?
Nothing but be crushed like an insect.
“Ensure the ritual preparations are flawless, without the slightest error.
Tomorrow, we welcome His arrival.”
“Yes, as you command.”
As the disciple withdrew,
Arman stared at his reflection in the window, a mad grin splitting his face.
Wait, you arrogant Empire scum. I’ll show you exactly what true hell looks like.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ At dawn, in the deepest, darkest depths beneath the Magic Tower.
The forbidden zone.
A space accessible only to Tower Master Arman,
condensed from his lifelong obsession.
He had devoted his entire life to this place.
The legend of the snowfields.
To awaken the ancient existence, Jormungandr.
There had been hundreds of trials and errors.
Beloved disciples twisted by the ancient curse, screaming as their limbs contorted and they died.
Thousands of commoners reduced to cold corpses as test subjects.
Yet Arman felt not a trace of guilt.
These were all inevitable stepping stones for the great undertaking.
Great causes always demand minor sacrifices.
“Finally...”
At last, Arman had found the way to twist causality itself.
All the blood and resentment he had piled up
had served as fertilizer solely for this day.
The time has come. The moment to welcome Him.
In the impenetrable darkness,
Arman’s eyes blazed with an intensity unlike ever before.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Arman leaned on his staff and staggered toward the altar.
His black-robed disciples followed like shadows in his wake.
The site was an altar erected in the center of an ice lake.
Tens of thousands of Daroa soldiers already encircled the lake,
standing in perfect, gapless formation.
Whoooosh.
A knife-like gale tore at their flesh,
but the soldiers’ fervor burned hotter than ever.
Wasn’t this the sacred day they would finally welcome the ancient existence from legend,
the god of myth?
Arman ascended to the altar’s highest point.
The ice beneath vibrated subtly.
The violent throes just before the seal broke.
The tremors spread from his soles throughout his body.
Yes... this is it. The reason I’ve lived.
Drenched in rapture,
Arman flung his arms wide toward the heavens with all his might.
Black mana erupted from his body, surging skyward like a spear.
“I offer all my life force and the blood of this land as sacrifice!”
His cry became a spell that shook the very air.
“Awaken, O primordial chaos! Your faithful servant calls you here!”
Rumble rumble rumble.
The earth screamed and began to warp.
Spiderweb cracks spread instantly across the lake’s bottom, frozen for centuries.
Crack. Craaack.
With a deafening roar, the thick ice sheet shattered and collapsed.
At last.
From the fissures poured a blue light, deeper and colder than the abyss itself.
“Ooo... Ooooo!”
“G-God!”
The Daroa soldiers’ eyes rolled back in terror and ecstasy.
Boom!
A pillar of water shot toward the sky.
Amid the cascading spray, the overwhelming form from legend revealed itself.
A colossal body vast enough to encircle the Empire’s walls.
Eyes blazing red as if to annihilate the world.
The ancient existence had finally appeared.
Jormungandr.
“Kuhahahaha! Behold! This is our god. I... I have awakened a god at last!”
Arman cackled like a man possessed.
The moment his lifelong task was complete.
Jormungandr roared toward the heavens.
“Kieeeek!”
Its cry alone rippled through space.
Storm clouds blanketed the clear sky in an instant,
and blizzards scattered in all directions as a tempest raged.
A majesty utterly deserving of the name calamity.
Arman trembled, unable to contain his excitement.
He swallowed dryly.
With such absolute power, he could force not just the Empire,
but the entire continent to its knees.
He would become the new master of the world.
“Now, toward the Empire...”
As he raised his hand to point south,
“...Huh?”
Arman’s brow furrowed.
Through the torn storm clouds.
In the sky darkened by Jormungandr’s roar,
incongruous black specks floated.
What’s that?
Five shadows plummeted rapidly,
hurtling straight for the altar.
“Wy, wyverns?”
Arman’s brow creased deeper.
As they drew near, the shapes of wyverns became clear.
Wyverns saddled with the Daroa Empire’s emblem.
Undoubtedly a wyvern scout unit.
But why were wyvern scouts here?
As Arman tilted his head in confusion,
a familiar burly figure strapped to the lead wyvern caught his eye.
“Ba, Barkas?”
It clicked at last.
A satisfied smile returned to Arman’s lips.
He had been inwardly irritated by the lack of news,
but Barkas had returned at the perfect historic moment.
The man had impeccable timing.
“What perfect timing. Eager to witness the descent of our great god, eh?”
Arman spread his arms to welcome them.
After all, they were the ideal audience—
the ones who would best understand and marvel at his monumental achievement.
But.
...Hold on.
Something was off.
The wyverns showed no sign of slowing.
On the contrary, they were folding their wings and accelerating.
They weren’t preparing to land.
They were diving straight for the altar like a suicide squad.
“Wh-what the hell? Sl-slow down, you mad bastard!”
Arman shouted in panic, but the wyverns didn’t falter.
Right then.
A shadow leaped from the back of the lead wyvern.
Unencumbered by anything.
Fweeeeeen.
A piercing sonic boom echoed across the lake.
A man plummeting from an insane height, his body absorbing the full acceleration.
Arman’s eyes shook violently.
This wasn’t Barkas.
Barkas wasn’t the type to pull such madness.
An unfamiliar foe in a fluttering black uniform.
“...Who?”
The man hurtled down like a bomb right before Arman’s nose.
KABOOM!
A tremendous shockwave rocked the earth, slamming into the altar.
“Urk!”
The floor of top-grade magic stones shattered mercilessly.
Arman tumbled backward in pathetic fashion from the impact.
What in the world... A person falling from the sky?
A thick dust cloud obscured his vision.
Within the haze, two red eyes gleamed.
Step. Step.
Instinctive dread made Arman scramble backward.
The smoke cleared, revealing a man.
He casually brushed the hem of his black uniform and raised his head.
Every motion radiated suffocating pressure.
The surrounding air grew oppressively heavy.
Arman gasped for breath and bellowed.
“Who the hell are you! How dare you intrude on this sacred ritual!”
An unwelcome intruder into his life’s great work.
A shout laced with fury and bewilderment.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The man cocked his head at an angle.
Then casually dug in his ear.
Whoa, my knees nearly gave out.
Darcor broke out in cold sweat inwardly.
His ears rang, his mind blanked.
His joints screamed in agony.
Even with his system-enhanced physique,
jumping bare from a wyvern was pure insanity.
He had leaped for a flashy entrance,
but it was far higher than expected.
A single misstep and it would have been game over.
But this was the moment to keep up appearances.
Ignoring his throbbing knees, Darcor schooled his expression to cool nonchalance.
Step. Step.
With each stride,
the hem of his black uniform’s coat billowed in the wind.
The dust settled, revealing his face.
“Who else.”
Darcor tilted his head and smirked.
His bloodshot red eyes emitted a chilling glow.
“Thought you’d die wanting to see me?”
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Tyrant's Intimidation Dark crimson mana surged from Darcor’s hand like roaring flames.