Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The Fall of Prossange House (3)
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Tssstssstss...
Purple mist swirled thickly.
Viscount Serubret, patriarch of Prossange House, lifted his head.
"Wh-where is this?"
He had no idea how much time had passed.
This was a prison formed within his unconscious mind.
No ceiling, no walls, no floor—just an infinite darkness where Serubret screamed.
"Worshado! Where are you! Phinn! My son! Oh, where are all my valiant rangers! Come protect me! I am the patriarch of Prossange House!"
But Serubret's voice echoed emptily into the void.
Then.
"Hohoho—"
A seductive laugh echoed from beyond the darkness.
Serubret's eyes widened.
Shedioldis.
Her enormous face, vast as the sun, floated above him.
She gazed down at Serubret with eyes brimming with amusement.
Serubret shouted.
"Where is this place!?"
"It's your heart. More precisely, the jar where your desires are stored."
Dark substances from the surroundings gathered around Serubret.
Sticky and damp, they reeked like rotting flesh.
Shedioldis spoke.
"Those things are all your desires. Big and small ones that have festered unfulfilled until now. Like that slice of cake you didn't eat yesterday... or your dream of making Prossange House the greatest family... you know, stuff like that."
"Wh-why are you showing me these!?"
"I'm not showing them to you. You came down here to see them yourself. Into the depths of your own unconscious."
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Serubret stomped to flee from Shedioldis.
But he was just a bug crawling in circles within a circular enclosure, unable to shake off her gaze from above.
Serubret bellowed.
"I treated you with utmost hospitality! Even when others told me to cast you out, I believed in you and protected you to the end! And this is how you repay me!?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm grateful for your trust—that's sincere. That's why I'm granting your wish, isn't it? Consider it a favor."
"Shut up! How is this a wish fulfilled!"
"You want to kill Federback. And go further, to destroy Meursault House. Isn't that right?"
"Th-that's..."
Serubret's cursing faltered.
Soon, pitch-black slimes converged before his eyes.
Tiny dark masses crawled up his instep.
Shedioldis smiled slyly.
"That's the desire for the wine you left unfinished last time. It was a favorite vintage, right? You smashed them all during that rampage in the barracks."
"..."
Serubret stared at the fingernail-sized desire on his instep.
Then.
Splosh—
A massive wave surged beside Serubret.
A house-sized dark mass morphed into Phinn's face and looked down at him.
Shedioldis clapped.
"Wow—the grief of losing your eldest son has turned into desire. The wish to get your son back. Our viscount must have doted on him quite a bit."
"..."
Serubret blankly raised his head.
To think something so ugly and enormous was his own desire.
Gurgle...
Numerous other dark slime masses took shapes and gazed down at Serubret.
Among them were forms of his deceased rangers and Worshado.
Shedioldis explained each one's origin one by one.
"That's the desire to make Prossange House the greatest in the North. That's the desire to found a kingdom and become king. Oh, there's a fresh one over there. Quite a big one too. What is it? Ah! Guilt over Worshado must have turned into desire! The wish to apologize to Worshado. Wow—our patriarch has more conscience than he looks! I must seem utterly hateful since I killed Worshado and ate his heart. So even kneeling before me earlier was all lies? Hohoho—humans really can't be trusted."
At that very moment.
Ku—ooooooo...
All the dark substances before Serubret scattered in every direction.
And in their place rose a mountain of darkness beyond imagination.
It resembled Meurso Mountain, symbol of Meursault House.
An monstrously vast dark mass too huge to take in at a glance.
Shedioldis cackled wildly before this enormous desire.
"And this is Federback of Meursault House! The desire to kill him!"
"...!"
Serubret felt overwhelmed by the sheer size of the desire before him.
Before he knew it, Shedioldis had softly wrapped around his shoulders.
A pitch-black tongue forked at the tip flicked from her mouth.
"How about it? Now do you understand your own heart?"
"Yes... I... that bastard..."
"Right. You were ready to give everything to kill him. To forget even that? I'm disappointed."
"No. I haven't forgotten. I haven't forgotten!"
Serubret's eyes turned deep crimson.
"He killed my son... destroyed my house... and took my old friends... That bastard... that damned brat!"
"Yes! That's right! You've finally realized it! Who you should truly hate!"
Shedioldis narrowed her eyes.
Then she spread Serubret's arms wide.
"Then accept it now. Your desires."
"I... I will kill Federback... I will exterminate the Meursaults..."
"Yes. That's the fate of Prossange. The reason a man named Serubret was born into this world."
"I will! Kill them all!"
Serubret roared with his mouth agape.
At that instant, all the surrounding dark substances converged in one spot.
Grrrrumble!
They formed a massive torrent and were sucked into one place.
Toward Serubret's wide-open mouth.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
Serubret swallowed the enormous influx of dark substances into his belly.
And behind him, Shedioldis beamed cheerfully.
Soon, she clasped her hands politely and intoned.
"I pledge this man's flesh as collateral. Please grant shadows in equal measure."
At the same time.
Crack!
Cracks began to spiderweb through the world of his unconscious.
The Meursault cavalry led by Soleil surrounded the Star Tower.
All gathered here were elite knights, yet none dared enter the tower rashly.
Ku—ooooooo...
Because of the ominous deep purple mist billowing from the Star Tower.
Federback asked Queenbits.
"What do you think?"
"What do you mean, what? It's utterly vile. Honestly, just standing here makes me want to puke."
Queenbits dry-heaved as she eyed the deep purple mist churning beyond the stone walls encircling the Star Tower.
Federback asked again.
"You've played around with corpses from disaster sites where nightmares devour. That mist was pretty ominous too, wasn't it?"
"Play? That was just a crude imitation. This is the real deal. It's not the air of this world. Probably pulled from some other realm. Judging by the stench, maybe the 'World Beyond the Bone Threshold,' or the 'World Inside the Organ Pouch,' or perhaps the 'World Beneath the Blood Pool'..."
"There are that many such worlds?"
"At least 72 that I know of. Each has its own master. Like sinking octopus jars to the seafloor—each one fills with octopuses."
"You know quite a bit. Got countermeasures ready?"
"You know how many messenger birds you sent? Of course I do. Just make sure your preparations are in order first."
"No need to worry about that."
Federback nodded once, ending the conversation with Queenbits.
Right then.
"...We can't wait forever."
Soleil finally made his decision.
"We advance. I'll take the vanguard—follow me."
"Patriarch. The front is too dangerous. Send us ahead."
"Would a man of the North hide behind others?"
"Before a man of the North, you are our patriarch."
"Wrong. Before patriarch, I am a man of the North."
The veteran knights, led by Sir Dvorbak, shook their heads helplessly at Soleil's grinning retort.
Soon, Soleil drew his long greatsword and dismounted.
Without giving anyone a chance to stop him, he vaulted over the stone wall into the inner grounds.
"All hands, escort the patriarch!"
Loyal veteran knights flanked Soleil.
They dashed forward, leaping the several-meter-high wall in a single bound.
Swish—
Landing in the Star Tower's rear courtyard.
"Hm."
Soleil furrowed his brow.
Numerous corpses littered the courtyard.
Bodies burned head to toe, riddled with arrows, limbs severed, foaming at the mouth in madness.
They shared one trait.
A gaping hole punched through each left chest.
"...Hearts ripped out."
Soleil closely examined the pierced corpses.
All were Prossange soldiers and rangers.
Whiiish...
The deep purple mist, unmoved by wind, shrouded the bodies thickly.
Then.
...Thud!
A heavy vibration echoed from within the Star Tower.
...Thud! ...Thud!
Like the footfalls of something massive.
Approaching the courtyard.
...Thud! ...Thud! ...Thud!
Soon.
[Grooooooooar!]
A figure in black armor burst from the Star Tower.
A man wielding silver daggers stained black in both hands.
Soleil recognized him at once.
"Viscount Serubret of Prossange House. But... what happened to you?"
[Kraaaaaagh!]
But Serubret could only howl monstrously, unable to reply.
His hair had turned stark white, skin shriveled dark blue, neck and arms gaunt beneath black plate armor.
"A Death Knight."
Federback, now at Soleil's side, stated flatly.
Shing—
The Dragon Fang Sword Adara was drawn.
Federback blocked the path of the Death Knight Serubret.
"Looks like he sold even his last shred of pride. I'll end the grudge with Prossange myself."
"No."
But Soleil reached out, gripping Federback's shoulder.
A smirk twisted beneath his mustache.
"How could a father burden his son with such filth?"
Soleil waved back the other knights as well.
Soon, the tip of his long blade pointed straight at Serubret.
"And as a patriarch leading troops into battle, you can't expect to win without drawing your sword."
Federback gazed at his father's back blocking his view.
"You've worked hard until now—rest a bit. Father will handle this one."
The back of his father before him looked far larger than the last time he'd seen it before his regression.