Chapter 147
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Eastern Region (2)
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Although overshadowed by the Empress's fame, the eastern continent boasted several dungeons with formidable forces of their own.
And among them was the dungeon inhabited by the Asura Clan, known as "Asurada."
Elite warriors skilled in martial arts utilizing their multiple arms, and shamans capable of a form of multi-casting by forming numerous hand seals.
They had successfully carved out their own territory in the east, confident that no one there could challenge them—except for that one "Empress."
But...
"Huff! Huff!"
"Impressive... I see why you were so confident."
The dungeon's master, Asura, stared in disbelief at the woman muttering calmly before him.
She was strong.
In an instant, most of his main forces had been subdued. Even though many attacks had landed on her, not a single scratch marred her form.
But more than that...
'The Empress...!'
Her appearance evoked the Empress.
When a woman resembling her had subdued the scouts and boldly entered to ask questions, he had thought, "Another crazy bitch imitating the Empress?" Such impostors appeared periodically.
But... that power...
'A kin? The Empress's race was never properly identified... Or perhaps her blood relative? But why is she asking about the Empress?'
These complicated thoughts swirling in his mind prevented Asura from fighting at full strength, while Erzsebet pressed him relentlessly, determined to extract as much information as possible in the limited time.
In the end, the battered Asura fell to Erzsebet, and she drank the blood flowing from him.
"What a waste of time. I only wanted to ask a few questions... Tsk. Charging at me just because I look like her..."
'...Damn it. Who asked you to invade our territory uninvited...!'
Asura seethed at Erzsebet's mutterings, but the defeated have no voice.
He could only be grateful that this Empress lookalike had subdued rather than killed them.
"First... tell me about the Empress."
"...You're really not connected to her?"
"I never permitted you to ask questions."
"Urk..."
Asura was dying to know this mysterious woman's relation to the Empress but swallowed his pride and divulged what he knew.
Starting from trivial information any demon in the east would know, to a few facts only a dungeon master like him possessed.
"Hmm... A castle atop cliffs. And she resembles me?"
Erzsebet felt a faint headache as she listened to Asura list the Empress's traits, rubbing her temple.
'...M...Master...'
Along with the slight pain, a lively, cute girl's voice seemed to echo in her ear.
As Erzsebet urged him on despite the ache, Asura revealed more.
"...The Empress's abilities aren't widely known publicly... But someone in a dungeon master's position gets a glimpse of her power from afar, whether they like it or not."
Asura glanced at his fallen kin around them, brought down by this woman's "blood."
"...The Empress wields blood. Just like you did moments ago."
"...!!"
At those words, Erzsebet's heart pounded fiercely.
She had dismissed it as lies.
The extinction of the Blood Demon Tribe, the noblest of races? Demon rumors, surely. She believed kin must survive somewhere on the continent.
Even after awakening from long slumber with fragmented memories, affection for her kin lingered in her heart.
"What's the Empress's name? No—how does that power manifest? What does she wear...!"
Feeling some inexplicable emotion, Erzsebet pressed Asura relentlessly. As he gathered his thoughts to speak...
-Step.
Footsteps echoed.
"...Wh... What...!!!"
Asura, who had been looking humiliated yet not fully broken, turned toward the entrance and paled completely, his remaining will shattering.
Like a malfunctioning machine, he stuttered incomprehensibly.
Seeing this, Erzsebet turned toward the intruder disrupting the moment...
"...A clown?"
"Hee hee! I thought it was my enthusiastic regular patron... but there's a new lady here!"
Amid the fallen Asura clansmen stood a clown in utterly mismatched attire, clapping as he eyed Erzsebet.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! New audience members are always welcome!"
The clown in the pure white mask grinned and clapped, then snapped his fingers overhead.
Irritated by the interruption and sensing she shouldn't ignore this suspicious figure, Erzsebet instantly formed blood spikes and thrust them at the clown.
-Thud!!!
The swift blood thorns pierced the clown as he began to act, and she didn't stop—extending the blood sharply to shred his insides.
"Oh ho ho! No need to be so hasty! The show is just beginning!"
"?!?"
When Erzsebet blinked, the clown was suddenly beside her, while she had pierced one of the subdued Asura clansmen on the floor.
'Illusion...? No. This is real.'
As she swiftly retracted her blood and retreated, heightening her guard, the clown closely examined the blood thorn she had drawn, then chuckled.
"...My, my. Not just the aura and looks... speech, abilities—everything matches my regular customer perfectly."
Like a merchant discovering unexpected profit, the clown stomped excitedly, and the dungeon interior Asura had shaped warped arbitrarily, soon transforming into a massive stage.
A real environmental shift, not illusion.
As Erzsebet faltered at the change, the stuttering Asura approached her.
"I don't care who you are or what you're doing... As a fellow demon, here's my advice: Play along with that clown's 'show' right now. It's your only way to survive."
"Show?"
"Yeah. That clown bastard spares 'audience' members if they just watch till the end..."
The opposite of his earlier fighting spirit upon seeing her down all his subordinates.
Faced with Asura's expression—like confronting an unavoidable calamity—Erzsebet scoffed and summoned more blood.
"Admirable effort to entertain me... but I'm not one to be satisfied by mere amusements."
"You're insane... Don't you know who that clown is?!"
Shaking in terror as he watched her, Asura abandoned further advice and fled to the manifested "audience seats."
Pierre watched Erzsebet left alone on stage, facing the clown, and clapped exaggeratedly while pulling a deck of cards from his pocket.
"Ooh! Excellent! Joining the show personally! My regular always ignored the clown's performance..."
"Boring clown. All talk."
Ignoring his words but not underestimating him, Erzsebet split her blood into three prongs: one straight at him, the others flanking both sides.
-Snap!!
The clown didn't dodge or block the incoming blood blades—instead, he snapped his fingers.
The stage they stood on—a holy relic barrier called "Room"—activated, rearranging all elements atop it.
-Whoosh!!
"...!!"
Erzsebet, who hadn't averted her gaze to catch his trick, was suddenly slashed head-on by her own blood blades hurtling toward her.
"...I see. Position swap?"
Calmly reclaiming the blood that struck her and absorbing it, the minor wound healed instantly upon absorption.
"Oho! Identical! Just like her—so alike! What's your relation? Kin? Family? Or... a lover who transcended gender?"
"Shut up. Frivolous."
"Oh ho ho, that's what makes me a clown! But fine!"
With that, the clown swiftly drew a card from his deck.
Unusually shaped like a standard playing card, the front bore normal patterns, but the back depicted varied objects.
This one showed... a guillotine executing a criminal.
-Thud!!
"...!!!"
As Erzsebet swung to deflect the sharp card, the moment her hand met it, her head severed like a condemned prisoner's on the scaffold.
-Splash!!!
"...Urk. What just...?"
Reattaching her head in one motion, Erzsebet looked confused as the clown shuffled and drew another card.
"Wahaha! Surprise! Astonished by this clown's magic?"
As he threw another, she opted for evasion over defense to avoid contact.
Blood wings formed on her back, and she soared up, dodging the card—only for the clown to snap again.
"Tsk tsk. Don't ignore my hospitality."
"...!!"
Her position "rearranged."
Suddenly, a sharp card flew at her face; she twisted urgently to evade as positions swapped.
-Whoosh!!
The card grazed past harmlessly.
As relief washed over her, the card's image reflected in her eyes.
A bomb with lit fuse.
-Boom!!!
The card flashed, erupting in massive explosion.
Oddly, the blast spared the audience seats, engulfing Erzsebet in roaring flames.
"...Grr."
Regenerating her blasted body, fury consumed her.
She had planned to conserve power for meeting the "Empress," but this insolent clown...!
-Splash!!
Erzsebet awakened the blood she had ingested before arriving: rare unicorn blood, Lilith's periodically drained, and the dragon blood remnant from battling the Radiant Hero.
-Splash!!!
Dark crimson blood erupted explosively from her, dominating the stage.
Pierre clicked his tongue, leaping high to evade the flood, shouting.
"Oh dear, audience member? Please refrain from dirtying the stage."
"Who said I'm your audience?"
Erzsebet raised her hand, clenching a fist—unleaving escape, all encroaching blood instantly sharpened into thorns, shredding the entire stage.
-Shatter!!
"Gah...!!"
No swap this time—the clown was impaled, vomiting blood.
"Splendid."
"Glad you think so."
"?!"
As Erzsebet smirked at his mangled form, a response came from the shredded corpse.
Like shedding skin, the remains tore open, revealing an unscathed, sleek clown anew.
"Ta-da! Escape magic! Emerged unscathed from the blade-riddled box! Ah, no box this time. Oh ho ho!"
"...What."
Tongue-tied by this grotesquely unique foe unlike any before, the clown tapped his facial mask.
It shifted from grinning to angry.
"Dirtying the stage, though... Tsk. No basic etiquette for spectators!"
"Who invited me to this farce—you?"
"...Next trick!"
Ignoring her bluntly, he drew a handkerchief from his pocket, which elongated into a staff pointed at her.
His persistently playful tone suddenly chilled.
"So, audience member? Your relation to my regular... the Empress?"
"......"
"...Oh ho ho! Not answering? So stoic!"
Back to playful demeanor.
But eyes hidden behind the mask remained cold as the clown continued, intent on capturing this demon seemingly tied to the Empress.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"...Shut up."
Atop the castle's peak, in the bedroom holding memories of someone dear, the Empress rose from sleep where happy recollections replayed endlessly.
She slowly advanced toward the distant noise disturbing her rest.