Chapter 138 : Parasite Queen ‘Euphemia’ (1)
Chapter 138: Parasite Queen ‘Euphemia’ (1)
[Void Magic ‘Valley of Madness’ is activated!]
Black clouds covered the sky.
And lightning flashed between them.
“H-how can magic like this even exist.”
Armadan trembled as he looked up at the sky.
The magic circles appearing without end were so numerous that it was impossible to even begin counting them.
He had intended to seize victory through overwhelming numbers.
Yet he couldn’t picture it at all.
The sight of himself returning alive from this place.
What followed was one-sided violence.
Rumble!
Boooom!
The cascading lightning redrew the terrain.
“Keeee!”
“Keeee!”
The bodies of the densely packed Parasites were torn to pieces by the lightning.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and severed limbs rolled across the ground.
Even the Queen’s faithful minions, who knew nothing of fear, screamed for their lives at this moment.
However.
There was nowhere to run.
This entire area was already under the dominion of ‘Valley of Madness’.
“Are mages really this incredible?”
Seo Changhee muttered as he watched the Parasites being swept away.
“There’s no way. Even if every mage in the Imperial Palace gathered together, something like this… would be impossible.”
Evangeline also wore a dazed expression.
Since neither of them knew Yohan had received help from the Collector, the scene felt even more surreal.
How much time had passed?
By the time the lightning subsided. Nothing remained standing.
Except one.
Armadan, whom Yohan had deliberately left alive.
Of course, with his pincer legs blown away, it was difficult to call him completely intact.
Seeing that he had yet to lose consciousness despite suffering such grievous injuries…. It seemed the title of Class-1 Combat Species hadn’t been given to him for nothing.
Step.
Yohan moved forward.
He crossed between the charred corpses and stood before Armadan.
“Cough! Keugh….”
“Oh dear, you look like you’re in a lot of pain. Hold still. I’ll put some antibiotic ointment on it or something. If you die, things will become troublesome for me in several ways too.”
Yohan joked as he took out some medicine.
Then he poured the liquid in the bottle directly over the bastard’s face.
“Keeeeee!!!”
Armadan twisted violently from the horrific agony.
How does it taste?
Antibiotic ointment, my ass. It’s cauterizing solution, you bastard.
Still, the purpose was treatment either way, so it wasn’t entirely a lie.
“If you don’t want to suffer anything worse, you’d better crawl out of that body willingly.”
“Don’t… bluff. You can’t afford to lose the Emperor like this either, can you?”
“Hmm. You’re going to keep resisting?”
“I’m the one with the advantage. How much longer do you think the Emperor’s fragile mind can withstand torture?”
Well, that was true too.
But here’s the thing.
Torture wasn’t the only card he had.
Yohan took a black fruit from his Subspace.
A fruit created by Elizabeth I.
A magical fruit that forcibly made its target join the Hall of Worthies.
“Looks like poison or some kind of truth serum, but it’s useless. That kind of thing doesn’t work on this body… Mmph!”
“You sure talk a lot.”
Whether it worked or not was something they could find out by watching.
For now, just swallow it.
Whoooom!
The moment Armadan swallowed the fruit, something scorching spread throughout his body.
“Kik! Didn’t I tell you? It would be completely usele—keugh! Kek! Keeek?”
His expression abruptly twisted.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that something was wrong.
“Looks like it’s starting to take effect.”
The corners of Yohan’s mouth rose.
The fruit’s highest priority was domination of the target.
Naturally, the first step was expelling anything that had already taken possession of it.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
The blood vessels swelled as though they were about to burst.
Blood-red veins bulged across both eyes.
“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!”
Bloody foam gushed from his mouth.
Unable to endure any longer, Armadan finally crawled out of the Emperor’s body.
Now.
Yohan fired a Blood Arrow.
Stab!
It accurately pierced a vital point while Armadan was defenseless.
Armadan’s body trembled before finally going still.
He had finally finished this bastard off.
[The Parasite Queen suffers severe damage from the death of her subordinate!]
“Keeeeeeeeee!”
A scream filled with agony echoed from far away.
It was the aftermath of losing countless troops as well as one of the mere three Class-1 Combat Species.
Now then. Which part would be restricted?
If possible, it would be nice if one of her troublesome Sacred Relics or Traits was restricted.
Just as he was thinking that.
Ding!
[Trait ‘Thousand-Year Soul’ has been sealed.]
[The Parasite Queen will be unable to use this Trait for the next 24 hours.]
Oh!
A ridiculously overpowered Trait that randomly added one of the Traits possessed by previous Queens.
That had been sealed.
With unfair situations always piling up one after another, he hadn’t expected much.
Yet this time, a proper reward had actually appeared.
It seemed even this damned Forbidden Book had a path of flowers somewhere.
＊＊＊
The battle came to an end.
The survivors spent a busy period tending to the wounded and cleaning up the battlefield.
“How is His Majesty’s condition?”
Kaisel asked cautiously.
“Well…. It seems his body suffered such tremendous strain that he has yet to regain consciousness. All of his external injuries have been treated, so his life isn’t in danger, but I believe we’ll have to monitor him for now.”
A high-ranking priest belonging to the Order of the Sun answered.
“Are you saying there’s a possibility that he may never awaken?”
“As I said. That is a realm known only to God.”
The priest made the sign of the cross in the air.
As if to say this was the limit of what he could do.
Then he turned and left the tent.
“Still, it’s fortunate. We managed to save him before it was too late.”
Evangeline breathed a sigh of relief.
“It is far too early to relax. If word spreads that His Majesty is unconscious, the nobles will begin making their moves in earnest.”
Recently, the movements of several high-ranking nobles had been extremely suspicious.
The secret movement of private armies, the flow of illicit funds. And even clandestine meetings with third-party nations.
It was truly the calm before the storm.
And if this fact became known as well?
It would be like pouring oil onto a burning house.
“To prevent the worst from happening, we need powerful allies. Heroes whom no one can afford to ignore.”
A peculiar light flashed in Kaisel’s eyes.
The swordsman called Seo Changhee was undoubtedly a fighter who had exceeded expectations.
However, Yohan possessed potential on an entirely different level from him.
An Archmage capable of sweeping away thousands of enemies alone.
Moreover, even in close combat, which could be considered a mage’s most fatal weakness, he showed no flaws whatsoever.
A flawless all-rounder.
If he had already reached such a level at such a young age….
Just how powerful could he become after gaining more experience and growing further?
Merely imagining it made the warrior’s heart pound like a massive war drum.
“I’ll find a way to recruit him.”
Evangeline answered after considering Kaisel’s words.
Her emerald-like eyes turned toward Yohan.
The collapsing Imperial authority and the fate of the Empire driven to the edge of a cliff.
If it meant saving them….
She was prepared to make any sacrifice.
Because that was the duty she bore as a member of the Imperial Family.
＊＊＊
A short while later.
After leaving the Imperial Army, Yohan headed deeper into the Colony with Seo Changhee.
If possible, he had wanted the help of the Knights and the Magic Corps, but their priority was escorting the Emperor to the safety of the rear.
Well, with the Emperor in that state, it couldn’t be helped.
Fortunately, he had obtained a bead stained with a single drop of Evangeline’s blood from her, so it wasn’t as though he had gained nothing.
“By the way. Is this really possible with just the two of us?”
Seo Changhee whispered while keeping his body tightly hunched.
A plain swarming with a legion-sized force of more than ten thousand.
It was far beyond a scale that two people could break through.
Even moving while concealing themselves as they were doing now had obvious limits.
“Breaking through without a plan would be difficult. But, I’ve thought of something.”
Yohan took a small glass bottle filled with liquid from inside his clothes.
It was pheromone extracted from Armadan’s corpse.
Spritz! Spritz! Spritz!
After evenly spraying it over his neck and wrists, a pungent scent arose.
And on top of that.
Splat! Slap!
He appropriately attached the pincer legs of Parasites they had hunted on the way here to his body.
He also wore a shell fashioned into a helmet.
Since he had made disguises like this several times before, the resulting cosplay looked fairly convincing.
Of course, higher species might become suspicious if they saw them, but they should be fine for a while.
Most of the ones here were lower species.
They placed far greater importance on pheromones than appearance.
“Are you serious? This is actually going to work?”
“Now, now. What a suspicious child you are. Trust me.”
At Seo Changhee’s words, Yohan thumped his chest.
After improving their disguises a little more, the two slowly infiltrated the Parasites.
“Keeee.”
“Kee?”
The Parasites tilted their heads.
Then a few approached and began sniffing them.
“…….”
Cold sweat trickled down Seo Changhee’s forehead.
Hmm. Should I have added a few more things like horns or wings?
They’re more suspicious than I expected.
There was only one thing to do at times like this.
“Keeee! How dare you bring that filthy face so close to me!”
Yohan abruptly slapped one of the approaching Parasites across the face.
The key point was the roar.
To properly make their distinctive ‘Keeee’ sound, one had to mix in plenty of nasal resonance.
Phlegm dragged up from the depths of his soul also contributed greatly to producing an excellent shriek.
Booom! Thud!
What followed was a brutal punishment for the insolent bastard.
“Kyaaak! Who is your superior! Who is it that allowed you to show such disrespect toward me and the one I serve!”
He mercilessly stomped on it.
A strict law of strength applied within collective species.
In other words, simply beating them senseless worked best.
Yohan’s merciless beating ended only after he had completely demolished one of them.
“Kiii….”
“Keeee.”
The others immediately bowed their heads.
The distinctive voice of an intelligent higher species, a filthy personality, and overwhelming combat power on top of that.
It was more than enough to convince them.
This was what it meant to punish one as a warning to a hundred.
Thanks to that, things became much easier afterward.
“Kee! Stand aside! Class-1 Support Species Seocharkhik is carrying out Mother’s great command!”
Yohan waved his hand and opened a path.
The Parasites hurriedly retreated to either side.
“What are you doing? You should scream a little too. The kids will love it.”
“I’ll… just follow you.”
Look at this guy?
So.
“You’re saying I should do all the exhausting clowning while you sit back and reap the benefits?”
“No, that’s not what I meant….”
He simply couldn’t bring himself to do something like that.
His pride as the protagonist would be shattered.
“Shut up and copy me. Did you forget? You agreed to become a slave for one day. Or what? You’re Spirituality himself, yet you’re going to break your word after giving it once?”
It wouldn’t be very good if word spread that he was a liar, would it?
Yohan could always have the Three Sea Otters spread the story throughout the entire world.
“Please….”
“Do it.”
“I-I’m begging you.”
“Do it.”
In the end.
“Keeeeee!”
Seo Changhee roared until his throat nearly burst.
Wow.
That voice was excellent.
It sounded so authentic that it was hard to believe this was his first time doing it.
“Keeee! The Class-1 Support Species is carrying out a task for our victory!”
“For Mother!”
Even the Class-2 Species nearby got excited along with them.
Amid everyone’s joy, there was only one person.
A single hot tear streamed down Seo Changhee’s face.
＊＊＊