Chapter 48
Chapter 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Invitation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Opportunity comes but once.
A chance not to be missed.
"The entire army, advance!"
The new lord governor, Elena Sobkov.
Her cry shook the spines of the subjugation forces.
"Waaaaah!"
The soldiers' cheers erupted.
Cries burning with rage and thirst for vengeance.
Their morale knew no bounds.
'Now's the time.'
The monsters of the great jungle had suffered tremendous losses.
The shaman king Kaldaram, and even the double-headed ogre Grol Dash.
Having lost those two massive focal points, they must be plunged into chaos.
'If we miss this chance, it won't come again.'
Elena's judgment was spot on.
The great jungle was not what it used to be.
'It's definitely weakened.'
Without their focal points, the monsters were little more than beasts.
No organized movements, no systematic resistance.
And their numbers had been drastically reduced.
Compared to before, it was like an empty house.
"They're begging for mercy."
It wasn't just the monsters.
The barbaric tribes rooted throughout the great jungle.
They dropped to their knees at the sight of the subjugation army.
"They claim they've never harmed a civilized person even once."
Just like Kanna's translation.
They were flat on the ground.
A sign they knew which way the winds were blowing.
"Tell them we'll believe it if they aid our subjugation."
In the end, the subjugation forces even secured the cooperation of the barbaric tribes.
They swept through the great jungle like a storm, spilling blood everywhere.
Not human red blood, but the monsters' green blood.
"Press on."
How much deeper did they push?
"Lord Governor."
The subjugation had been proceeding successfully for quite some time now.
Just as it was getting hard to spot even a single monster.
Scout leader Kanna, who had gone out on reconnaissance, came back with a report.
"Speak, scout leader."
"There's an unusual structure not far from here."
"Unusual how, exactly?"
"Judging by its location and shape..."
Kanna paused to choose her words.
She continued slowly.
"...it looked like a small temple."
Temple.
That word put the subjugation forces on edge.
It might be the heart of this entire disaster.
Shring!
Elena readied for battle.
The other knights and soldiers did the same.
"We'll approach with caution."
Just in case of variables.
Something like a stronger enemy lying in wait.
A temple made of dozens of bones bursting from the ground.
The moment they entered its entrance.
"...!"
Everyone's expressions hardened.
"Great Black Sun..."
At the deepest part of the temple.
Before a bloodstained red altar.
A gaunt savage lay prostrated there.
His body covered in blood-red tattoos, head bowed low.
"That's the one who was with that shaman king back then."
A survivor of the suicide squad.
Adnen Mount gnashed his teeth.
It was Naktoom, disciple of the shaman king Kaldaram.
"Just as you permitted for my master, grant me too—grant me your power. The strength to drive out these wicked civilized folk...!"
Even with the subjugation forces right in front of him, Naktoom didn't spare them a glance.
He just desperately prayed to the crystal orb on the altar.
"Please respond! Why do you remain silent?!"
Unfocused eyes.
A face twisted in madness.
The sight was more than pathetic—it was wretched.
"..."
Naktoom begged for power to the very end.
Elena stood before the young shaman.
Her gaze filled with hatred and contempt.
"Do you know..."
She slowly opened her mouth.
"...how much blood was spilled because of you?"
Her father, Mikhail Sobkov.
And the sacrifices of countless others.
All of it flashed before her like a montage.
"It's over now."
With those words.
Slash!
Naktoom's head flew into the air.
His fervent prayer went unanswered to the end.
Thud!
The grotesque head hit the floor.
The end of a long, bitter enmity.
"...With this, all confirmed focal points have been eliminated."
The shaman king Kaldaram.
The true king of the great jungle, Grol Dash.
And Kaldaram's disciple, Naktoom.
All the focal points they'd identified so far were gone.
Nearly every threat had been neutralized.
"I'll inform the soldiers."
She stepped out of the temple.
"Everyone, listen up."
She addressed the subjugation forces.
"I won't drag this out."
The troops were already weary from the large-scale subjugation.
She had no desire for a long-winded speech.
In times like these, short, punchy, and certain.
A method she'd learned from her father.
"We have won."
As she raised her sword high in declaration.
"Waaaaah!"
The great army's cheers erupted once more.
"Let's go home."
Thus, the subjugation forces decided to return.
Carrying the glory of victory and deep wounds.
"..."
Yet one person alone.
Damian continued surveying the temple interior.
'Something's there.'
A very faint energy.
An ominous, evil mana pulse.
Coming from Naktoom's corpse and the altar.
'I need to check it out.'
Damian closed his eyes and focused his senses.
A power seized from Grol Dash.
The eye that pierces the essence of black magic.
That power expanded Damian's vision.
'...I see it.'
Near Naktoom's heart.
Black smoke rising from there.
Remnants of black magic dissipating very slowly.
Damian followed that faint trail.
'This is?'
The altar Naktoom had clung to so desperately.
The only item atop it.
'The crystal orb.'
Already half-shattered.
No power emanated from it.
But precisely because of that.
'It's familiar.'
A memory he couldn't forget.
'The dryad forest.'
The tragedy encountered on the way to the capital.
The forest corrupted by curses and the fallen dryads.
And at its center, the dark red crystal orb.
'It's just like that one.'
A conduit depleted of power and broken.
This crystal orb was the same.
'Did they perform a ritual through the crystal orb?'
The situations were eerily similar.
This couldn't be mere coincidence.
'Black Sun.'
The name Naktoom had cried out to the end.
It had to be the mastermind behind all this.
Right then.
Shhhk!
Something burst from the shattered crystal orb.
"...!"
It looked like a living blood-red worm.
A being he couldn't have detected without the Eye of Essence.
'I won't miss it.'
Damian instinctively drew his sword.
And pierced the worm precisely.
Astonishingly, predation occurred.
And not just that.
Fragments of unfamiliar memories flashed through Damian's mind.
A room without a speck of light.
Figures seated around a round table.
And their conversation too.
'What... is this?'
As Damian tilted his head.
The red eyes from the memory stared at him.
Whoosh!
That was it.
All the memories cut off abruptly.
As if he'd been forcibly expelled.
'...What did I just see?'
He didn't know yet.
But one thing was certain.
'Something bigger is at play.'
The subjugation of the eastern great jungle was a success.
Sobkov Territory would enjoy peace for the time being.
But that was merely calm before the storm.
'Black Sun.'
Damian's instincts.
And his senses as a predator whispered.
A calamity that would shake the kingdom. No, perhaps the world.
Its prelude had only just begun.
'And I'm...'
Already at its center.
Whether he wanted it or not.
He returned.
Amid cheers of victory.
The long, grueling great jungle subjugation war.
Its end was a clear victory.
"Waaaaah!"
"The subjugation force is back!"
"The monster wave is over!"
The entire territory was in an uproar.
The end of a nightmare that had lasted centuries.
The cheers showed no sign of stopping.
But.
'It's not over.'
The war was ended, but not everything.
If anything, this might be the real beginning.
"Now is not the time to let our guard down."
The new lord governor, Elena Sobkov.
Her voice echoed through the meeting room.
Unlike those drunk on victory.
Her eyes faced reality squarely.
"The great jungle is far vaster and deeper than we think."
Her gaze turned toward the distant, lush jungle.
They'd eliminated the major strongholds and focal points this time, but that was it.
Countless elements still remained scattered throughout the vast jungle.
"We need ongoing investigations and small-scale subjugations. To keep the remnants from regaining strength."
In short, continuous management and control were necessary.
"And coordination with the surrendered barbaric tribes remains an issue."
The barbaric tribes that cooperated in this subjugation.
Promises of their tribes' survival and safety guarantees.
Establishing a new order was no easy task.
"Above all."
Strength entered Elena's voice.
"We have new land."
The vast territory secured through subjugation.
They needed to find the optimal use for it.
For instance, potential resource deposits.
Or possibilities for farmland or territorial development.
It was a matter tied to Sobkov Territory's future.
"Resource surveys, development plans—the tasks pile up like mountains."
A relentless wave of follow-up measures.
The seat where she agonized over and decided them all.
The weight of the title "lord governor" was truly heavy.
'Father...'
A face suddenly came to mind.
Just as she felt the absence of the previous lord governor.
"Lord Governor!"
A soldier entered the meeting room.
Meaning an urgent report.
"What is it?"
"A royal messenger has arrived!"
Before starting the subjugation.
Elena had informed the royal court.
That she would move first, before receiving additional support.
This was likely the reply to that.
"Bring them in."
A moment later.
"Greetings to the lord governor."
The messenger paid respects and handed over a letter.
The royal seal was clear.
"You've had a long journey."
Elena accepted the letter.
And carefully broke the seal.
Shrak!
Her hand unfolding the letter.
As she read down the page.
"...!"
Elena's expression gradually hardened.
The contents were unexpected.
"Lord Governor, what is it?"
Adnen asked cautiously.
"...The northern snowy mountains."
Elena forced her mouth open.
"A monster break has occurred there."
Damian took the letter.
The letter began with polite greetings.
But what followed was anything but.
Damian's expression hardened as well upon reading the next line.
Monster break.
A disaster where defenses are breached and monsters flood inland.
There was no need to ask forgiveness, really.
They had to put out the more pressing fire first, of course.
'Veil Territory, and the north.'
The moment he heard that name.
Something flashed through his mind.
'Just like that memory.'
Deep in the great jungle.
The memory from Naktoom's temple.
The conversation of those seated around the round table.
'This... isn't coincidence.'
A chill ran down Damian's spine.
The sensation that everything was connecting.
'A planned disaster.'
The changes in the eastern great jungle.
The crisis in the northern snowy mountains.
'Then.'
Damian's gaze turned north.
'My next hunting ground is set.'
He'd already felt it was about time to move on.
To a new hunting ground, and better prey.
'The north.'
And right on cue, word from the prince.
The north where Damian had once served as a conscript.
The Black Sun's shadow loomed there.
'No reason to refuse this invitation.'
Damian's eyes gleamed fiercely.
His predator instincts, dormant for so long.
They were stirring once more.