Chapter 204: An Ill-fated Connection (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 204: An Ill-fated Connection (10)
The moment Cloud finished his incantation, a white radiance erupted from the holy sword. The light swept over the vampires charging at him, the fallen humans, the square, and eventually, the entire city.
“Guh… Gyaaaaaaahk!!!”
The light, so endlessly warm to humans, was incomparably cruel to the vampires. They were engulfed in an agony as if their entire bodies were being burned away.
—It might have been different in the past, but not anymore. We have grown stronger. We may be a far cry from the Blood King, but we are more than strong enough to slaughter these human bastards. So why do you tell us not to act?!
As his consciousness faded, a memory from a time long past surfaced in Kelidon’s mind.
It was when the Blood King had thwarted their plan to topple the human nations and enslave their people. He had dared to raise his voice to him.
It was a disrespect that should never be shown to the Progenitor, but at the time, Kelidon’s hatred for humans had festered to its absolute limit. He could not look favorably upon the Blood King for standing in the way of his revenge.
And yet, as if he understood his heart, the Blood King did not fault him for his insolence.
—Do not underestimate the humans. While their individual strength may be feeble, the power of the collective they form is not. And above all, do they not have the Hero? Stay away from the Hero. They wield miracles.
—What’s so great about the Hero?! Isn't he just some arrogant human who received a bit of power from the goddess?! We have prepared for a long time. A miracle? We just have to kill him before he can pull off some damn thing like that!
Looking at the screaming Kelidon, the Blood King had spoken with a regretful expression.
—Do you know why a miracle is called a miracle?
The light subsided, and his vision returned.
Kelidon was lying in the wreckage of a collapsed roadside shop.
As he struggled to lift his head, his eyes fell upon a drastically reduced number of vampires.
The vampires that had filled the square were gone; only a few high-ranking ones, including the Lords, remained.
Even those who were left were not unscathed.
Those who were merely kneeling and coughing up blood were the lucky ones. Many had parts or even most of their bodies charred black, while others were on the verge of death.
As he stared blankly at them, Kelidon realized his skin was stinging from the sunlight.
He looked up at the sky and understood why.
The blackened sun was gone.
The sun shone as brightly as ever, and the sky was a clear blue.
Lowering his gaze in despair, he saw Cloud standing there with a dignified air, his sword planted in the ground.
For a fleeting moment, Kelidon saw the Blood King’s image overlap with Cloud’s.
—It is called a miracle because it is an absurd power that overturns perfect plans and unfavorable situations entirely.
Kelidon let out a hollow laugh.
“So this is the miracle he spoke of.”
This was an organization he had carefully nurtured for hundreds of years.
The conflict between the Heroes and the chaos born from the sudden appearance of the portals.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He had Gis steal a measure from the Alitia Kingdom to create the black sun, and they had struck swiftly, giving their enemies no time to prepare.
It was a perfect plan.
Everything was perfect, and the plan was on the verge of success.
And it had been overturned.
By a single human called the Hero.
If this wasn't a miracle, what was?
“How absurd. Truly, utterly absurd.”
How could he not call it absurd, when the tower he had painstakingly built his entire life was so easily toppled for the simple reason that this man was chosen by a goddess?
The Blood King must have known it would end this way.
That must have been why he had warned him.
“What a truly goddamned world.”
Kelidon chuckled, grabbing a piece of shattered wood to pull himself up. His broken body screamed and his bones ached, but he paid it no mind.
He gathered every last ounce of strength he had and formed a massive greatsword of blood.
But even after creating it, he lacked the strength to lift it. He dragged the greatsword across the ground as he walked toward Cloud.
With each step that brought him closer to Cloud, something boiled within Kelidon’s chest.
There was no need to dress it in elegant words.
This was rage.
This was jealousy.
Now only about five steps away from Cloud, Kelidon’s face twisted into an ugly grimace as he swung the greatsword.
Clang—!
The blood greatsword was split in half by the holy sword.
The holy sword swung once more.
Watching its brilliant arc, Kelidon gave a fleeting smile.
“Goddammit…”
Slice.
Kelidon’s head flew into the air.
Silence fell over the square. The vampires spitting blood, the ones groaning from severe burns—all of them, regardless of their injuries, stared at Kelidon’s flying head.
Thud. Thump…
Kelidon’s head rolled across the ground before crumbling into ash. As the ashes scattered in the wind, the injured vampires who had been writhing on the ground screamed as if a raw nerve had been struck and charged at Cloud.
Judging by how they ignored their injuries and endured the pain to attack him with such fury, Kelidon’s death must have been an incredibly enraging event for them.
Or perhaps they had given up all hope, realizing there was no escape.
Either way, it had nothing to do with Cloud. He calmly cut down the vampires rushing toward him, one by one.
While the other vampires were being killed, another Lord, Delta, who had tried to flee, was hunted down and killed. The only vampires left were Hailey and her vassals.
Her vassals had been saved because Hailey, who had been concealing her power, had deployed a powerful barrier the moment Cloud’s holy sword had unleashed its light.
Cloud looked up at the vampires still floating in the sky and spoke.
“Are you going to come down? Or should I come up?”
“…”
Hailey silently descended and landed on the ground. Following her lead, the other vampires also landed. Cloud smirked as he watched them.
Well, look at them…
Perhaps because they hadn't been eager to fight from the start, Hailey and her faction had suffered little damage.
They were in good enough shape to start a second round at any moment.
And they would, if Hailey wished it.
After all, the gazes the other vampires fixed on Cloud were anything but friendly.
“Ophelia. Treat the wounded… Ah, you’re already on it.”
Cloud, who was about to order Ophelia to treat the injured, felt a bit awkward when he saw she was already tending to them with Katarina.
I guess I don’t need to help.
The divine magic he had used was intended not only to attack the vampires but also to heal the wounded.
Otherwise, there would have been no need to cover the entire city, beyond the square, with holy power.
In any case, anyone who had been touched by the light would not die from their wounds worsening.
Putting his worries aside, Cloud turned his attention to Hailey.
A pale beauty with silver hair that reached her waist.
With her long limbs and curvaceous figure, she met his gaze at eye level.
Instead of moving first, Cloud waited to see what she would do.
What choice would the last remaining vampire Lord make in this situation?
Would she resist? Or surrender?
Cloud’s curiosity was soon satisfied.
Hailey knelt and bowed her head.
“Please spare my life.”
*
When the executives of the Snake Venom Society first proposed turning the human world upside down, Hailey had been in favor of it.
Like them, she too was a noble of the night.
The fact that she had no fond memories of humans also played a part.
But at some point, she began to feel uneasy about the Society’s plan.
The turning point could be traced back to the Saryeonjaengtu held in the Alitia Kingdom a few years ago.
That day, the aura Cloud had unleashed in the final match was overwhelming. For a brief moment, it was powerful enough to be mistaken for the Blood King’s. It was unlikely that a mere human possessed a soul on par with the Blood King’s, but it was still a nagging concern.
So she had her subordinates watch him and try to uncover his identity, but every agent she sent failed.
The first one, Krapa, was sent back thoroughly provoked. Those sent after him never returned at all.
By then, Hailey had begun to feel a sense of crisis.
It reached a point where she felt she had to kill Cloud before he grew any stronger, just to erase her anxiety.
But that was impossible.
No matter how much he was scorned as an incompetent hero at the time, a Hero was still a Hero.
If a Hero died, every human nation, including the Empire, would mobilize.
Especially the Platinum Knights.
If the Empire’s greatest military force came charging in broad daylight, wielding silver swords blessed by priests, no one but the Blood King could stop them.
The Lords might survive, but the organizations they had built would crumble.
Then what about persuasion instead of assassination?
That, too, was impossible.
Gis, the Hero sponsored by the Snake Venom Society, was Cloud’s mortal enemy.
Therefore, Cloud would see the Snake Venom Society, which sponsored Gis, as an enemy as well.
What about sponsoring him anonymously to indebt him to her?
She had tried, but after being left all alone, he refused all forms of support.
There was no viable method.
Feeling she had no choice but to at least issue a warning, she told the other Lords about the danger a man named Cloud posed.
The Lords scoffed and let her words go in one ear and out the other.
She ordered her adopted son, Gis, not to provoke Cloud. Gis, as expected, disobeyed her order and taunted him.
It was around then that Hailey began to feel suffocated.
It felt like being forced onto a sinking ship, pushed from behind by the crew.
Naturally, Hailey did not want to die.
She had lived for a long time, but that was no reason to give up on survival.
Left with no choice, she began to seek a path to survival on her own and put her plans into action.
First, she withdrew from the fierce power struggles within the Snake Venom Society. Power was good to have, but it wasn't more important than her life. She attended the "plan" meetings sporadically and cut her support for it in half.
She also distanced herself from her adopted son, Gis.
He tried to meet her by any means necessary, but Hailey refused every attempt.
Of course, she couldn't completely sever ties with the Society. There was always a chance they might win.
Thus, she became an ambiguous figure with one foot on each side.
A position where she wouldn't lose much, whether they won or lost.
And looking at the results, her choice was half-right.
The fact that Cloud wasn't immediately slitting her throat was proof of that.
However, just because she was alive for now didn't mean all her problems were solved.
“Why should I spare you?”
She was still on a tightrope.
One misstep, and she would fall to her death.
Maintaining her composure, Hailey opened her mouth.
“I must state beforehand that what I am about to say is not a threat.”
“What are you trying to say… Go on.”
“During the attack, I took all the women who were in the Imperial Palace under my protection.”
Cloud frowned.
“That sounds a lot like a threat.”
“It is not.”