Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Serpent Temple 1
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They now faced the truth squarely: Azadin was an enemy they could no longer ignore, a true powerhouse.
“I thought we’d lost that when we became beasts.”
“Looks like we still had a shred of pride left.”
They began to drink the blood from the bath.
“Don’t call us cowards.”
“We’ll throw everything we’ve got at you, Herald Azadin!”
Their wounds healed, and their mouths began to protrude.
*Shlick*
*Shlick shlick!*
Flicking their tongues like venomous serpents, the former Heralds glided smoothly across the surface of the water. Before long, their two legs had fused into a single tail, which propelled them effortlessly over the water like water moccasins slithering along the surface.
“Get ready!”
“Yeah, that’s more like it! Come at me with all you’ve got!”
Azadin spread his left hand over the water’s surface, then clenched it into a fist and thrust it toward the serpents.
—“Blossom, Bird, Wind, Moon—Lightning Striking the Serene Waters, Kazas Method!”
Pillars of water erupted as shockwaves raced across the surface toward the approaching former Heralds.
The Kazas Method’s Wall Thunder was a piercing thrust that subdued foes by running them through. Azadin had adapted it to the water, transforming the whipping motion into a propagating shockwave.
Amid the visibly rippling shockwaves, the imperfect Blossom Bird Wind Moon mana within Azadin’s body turned into dark energy that crashed over the former Heralds.
“Ek!”
“Ki-ek?!”
As the former Heralds thrashed about with unearthly shrieks, a sword suddenly pierced Harad’s chest. Azadin had hidden among the water pillars and charged, impaling the former Herald straight through from back to front in a single strike.
*Crack, grind.*
The blade slid upward. Raising the sword embedded in his back, Azadin severed the spine and ribcage. Like filleting a fish along its backbone, he split Harad apart with his sword. Harad grabbed at the blade in shock to block it, but his fingers were lopped off in chunks.
“Wha—what tremendous… power!”
Harad, a Herald himself, possessed strength beyond ordinary humans, but Azadin’s was greater still.
“Damn it!”
Kevna circled Azadin, seeking an opening to aid Harad. But Azadin spun Harad impaled on his sword like a shield, continuously raising the blade to cleave him apart alive.
Finally, the sword tip emerged from the shoulder, slicing through the lungs…
“Urk!”
Even his blood-fueled regeneration couldn’t hold out. Harad collapsed, blood pouring from his mouth.
“You monster bastard. What the hell is this?”
“Blossom Bird Wind Moon, Kazas Method.”
“This… this is?”
“No last words for your kin? I’ll pass them along.”
Azadin stomped down on the fallen former Herald Harad in the bloodied water and turned to the other one still intact—Kevna.
“…Ha. What words could I possibly have in this state? Damn it. What happened to the clan’s biggest fool?”
Kevna said this, but his eyes brimmed with admiration.
Because Azadin was strong?
That was part of it, but not all. Fallen to demonhood as they were, Azadin’s talk of honor and pride among Heralds had deeply impressed him.
The thirst for blood, the horrific pulse of vile mana still shook his heart even now—but despite it all, Azadin had awakened their pride as Heralds.
*‘We never had any such pride when we were actually Heralds.’*
Kevna glared at Azadin.
*‘Boys grow into men before you know it. This one’s impressive. The elder Kazas’s skill? Or… is it that those born under the curse of service become the finest Heralds?’*
Azadin posed a question then.
“The Count’s backer? Nagashura?”
Nagashura. It was the empire of the nagas that had ruled humanity before the Eight Kings’ divine kin, the Eight Kings’ God-Clan, arrived on these lands.
Seeing the former Heralds transform into naga-like forms made it clear the Count was enthralled by nagas of Nagashura, but Azadin asked to confirm.
“Find out for yourself.”
With that, Kevna chanted a spell.
—Chain Shot!
Transparent magic bullets floated up around Kevna. With them, he charged in his fallen naga form, spewing venom from his mouth.
But Azadin slashed the water’s surface with his sword, kicking up a spray. The spray blocked both the venom from his fangs and the Chain Shot magic bullets.
“No!”
Azadin advanced, swinging his sword.
*Crack!*
Kevna drew his own blade to clash with Azadin. But Azadin’s sword sheared through Kevna’s with terrifying force, then carved crosses through his heart and brain matter.
“Grk… Heh, splendid.”
Kevna collapsed into the bloodied water. His wounds regenerated from the blood he’d drunk, but more blood poured from the injuries than regeneration could handle.
In the end, Kevna gasped his last, his regeneration prolonging his agony rather than granting quick death.
“If you’d fought using your Herald abilities instead of beastly ones, you might’ve been trickier.”
“As Heralds, not beasts? Heh heh. True, I didn’t think of that.”
“Really nothing to leave behind?”
“The Count… plans to build an undead army. He’s already stockpiled a good number below… The New King Array replica will be offered as tribute to the naga queen Debislinn without any decoding work.”
“Already offered?”
“Not yet… He has five sheets… Kgh! Azadin, you’re a fine Herald, but our clan isn’t worth such loyalty. There’s darkness within the clan.”
“What kind?”
“We only know… it involves Second Herald Hatir. Beware the Second Herald.”
“Got it.”
Azadin raised his sword over the bodies of the former Heralds, poised to drive it into their heads.
“Thanks, Azadin.”
Azadin granted the grateful former Heralds release from their pain. Their naga-transformed corpses were reverting to human form.
“Damn. Well, where’s the Count headed… Huh?”
The blood level in the bath was dropping. The blood was draining into a hole at the bottom.
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Beneath the drained blood bath stretched a deep underground passage. Judging by the depth, it was likely the same as the passage beneath the Nort Baroness’s estate well, where Mezzeri’s Apostles had infiltrated. It seemed to be beyond the iron gate that had blocked Azadin’s entry.
*‘They probably know I’m here already…’*
Azadin silently crept into the hole at the bath’s bottom where the blood had flowed.
A vast hall lay underground. In the wide space loomed a heretical idol exuding an indescribably profane aura, surrounded by at least a hundred embalmed undead—mummy soldiers, undead centurions to command them, two nagas to control those, and Count Kazel waiting.
Azadin groaned at the sight. Far more than expected. And they were all well-armed, ready to march at any moment.
The embalmed corpses, the mummies, lay with gleaming savage blades beside them; the centurions had armor and shields at hand.
An immortal army that needed neither food nor drink stood ready to march on a drought-stricken world.
Moreover, powerless refugees crowded outside the village—their flesh perfect fodder to bulk up these ranks.
*‘So that’s why they quietly took in the refugees despite the influx. To slaughter them and turn them into undead soldiers… Embalming to make mummies? Risky.’*
Embalmed and spell-enhanced mummies were far more powerful undead monsters than common zombies. If an army of undead that required no sustenance invaded while all of Kolasar thirsted, it would be a massive threat.
War cannot be waged without water. A city besieged by undead would swiftly run dry of supplies and perish of thirst.
The Eight Kingdoms’ core cities were protected by the King’s Radiance, however—could the undead truly function beneath it?
*‘Guess I’ll have to check.’*
The enemy outnumbered him, Azadin was alone, and he had few arrows left. His carefully selected fine sword held up for now, but he felt its condition deteriorating.
*‘Well, I did cleave through their blades. Even if it was striking their weak points with my strength, it’s natural for the edge to dull.’*
Weapons failing, foes legion—but Azadin descended further to scout.
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“I wanted to prepare more thoroughly, but the world doesn’t bend to our will.”
Like a lord before a send-off ceremony, Count Kazel addressed the undead army before him. Still fallen and inert, but once risen, their might would be formidable.
The Count looked up—at the ceiling, precisely the passage linking to the blood bath above.
“The other two Heralds must’ve been no pushovers either, yet you took them down. You’re really the 108th Herald?”
Azadin lurked in the shadows as he moved, but they’d detected his approach. No point in stealth now that he was made.
“Yes, the 108th Herald.”
Azadin landed atop the idol. The naga women flicked their tongues, deeming it blasphemy for him to tread upon their sacred image—but Azadin, already branded a blasphemer by humans, had no reason to shrink from scorn by non-human nagas now.
“Guess the other Heralds had eyes only for knots. You, the 108th? Those two upstairs were decent, but trash compared to you.”
“Rank doesn’t prove strength. Higher is better, but lower doesn’t mean… And they were stronger as Heralds.”
Azadin glared at the Count. His mask hid his eyes, but the Count felt the piercing stare.
“Hm… Upset that I insulted your Herald kin? You’re growing on me more. No thoughts of switching masters? I won’t make you a naga. I need human servants too. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
“The New King Array replica?”
“Ah, that’d be troublesome.”
“Then negotiations are off.”
“Off? Then you die. With this host, we’ll carve you up, then head out and butcher those refugees gathered outside. While our technicians salvage the worthy corpses for mummification, we’ll press on, raze everything in our path, and claim dominion over Kolasar.”
The Count laughed as he spoke.
“You really think you can conquer the world with some undead army? Undead can’t withstand the King’s Radiance.”
Azadin raised the point.