chapter 34
34 – Into the Empire – 2
“Then let’s go.”
“Goodbye, otherworlder, I don’t think I’ll remember it.”
“Ellie is fine too.”
“…Yes…Come back soon…”
“Yes.”
Two days have passed, and I came to say goodbye to the Beast King’s family with the Imperial delegation. The Beast King was still smirking, and Ellie was slightly blushing as if she had just cried. Two days passed and she still couldn’t seem to get her mind together.
“Then, Your Majesty, let’s go now.”
“Yes, is that really enough?”
“This amount of gold is enough.”
“Heh heh… Well, that’s all right. The princess should take care of herself too.”
The Beast King looked suspiciously at Irina, who received much less than expected. After hearing it roughly, it seems that the amount of gold that Irina demanded from the Beast King yesterday afternoon was unexpectedly small.
“How could the envoys of the empire, the guardians of the continent, be greedy for riches?”
“Ah…Is that so? Let’s go then.”
The king of beasts sensed the absurdity of Irina, who spread her pretentious words while laying on her iron plate, and ordered her gatekeeper to open the gate to her palace.
“The gatekeeper, open the door!”
Kik-!
At the same time as the Beast King’s order, the large castle gate began to open slowly. Irina climbed into the luxurious carriage she had come from the Empire and she beckoned to me.
“Come up too.”
“What? Are you riding with me?”
“Anyway, there are no nobles in the delegation other than me. Thanks to that, there is only one wagon.”
“Ooh…”
While listening to Irina’s explanation, I awkwardly climbed into her carriage. It’s so soft by the way, what is this?
“Wow, that’s so fluffy.”
“Whoa… The Empire always handles only the best quality. The material of this sofa is also of the highest quality.”
It’s just an explanation, why are you so annoyed by Irina talking? Does she feel like a kid who had a lot of money at home when she was in middle school?
“That…What kind of expression is that…?”
“No…Nothing.”
Irina looked at me with her body trembling as if she had read my mind. She’s here and she just has to get over it. If she gets angry and says, “Your way of speaking is f*cking annoying!”
The problem was that Irina was aware that she herself had peculiar tastes. Thanks to that, it seemed like I was just waiting to punish myself.
Of course, it could be my mistake, but if I move on without getting angry, it seems unlikely when I see her turning her head away while kicking her tongue saying “Sheesh”.
“It took about 2-3 days to reach the empire.”
“Then what are you doing in the meantime?”
“He doesn’t do anything. So I was very bored during the 3 days I came to Suin-guk. But now that I have a friend, it’ll be fine.”
“Ah…Really?”
Irina showed a bright smile and kept talking to me. At first, she accepted the conversation a few times, but more and more, most of the conversations were intended to upset me, so she closed her eyes in the middle and blocked the conversation.
She traveled to the empire by carriage for over half a day, and the imperial delegation and I got off the carriage and prepared for camp. And even though she was a princess, she took it for granted that she prepared for her homelessness.
Thanks to that, I got to see Irina again a bit.
“? Why is that, dear?”
“No…I’m a princess, but I thought it was okay to be homeless.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve done it quite a few times.”
Of course, Irina is not preparing for camping. Most of them were solved by the knights and servants.
But now that I see it, Irina’s camping tent is very fancy and tidy. This seemed better than most commoners’ houses.
‘f*ck, it’s not uncomfortable sleeping in that tent! Just looking at it, it’s huge and there’s even a mattress on the floor!’
The reason I got to see Irina again was sleeping alone in a f*cking comfortable tent.
“So where do I sleep? Isn’t that your only tent? Am I a normal tent?”
“No, you will sleep in my tent. FYI, there are no other tents.”
…….What?
“…..Just Joke?”
“I’m serious. Didn’t I say that? You and I would be on equal footing.”
No, one of the conditions that Irina put forward was that she should be treated equally, but there is no need for such equal treatment! He is a person who aims for gender equality, but this is gender equality and what is it?
“I’ll just sleep in the wagon.”
“Isn’t it hard to lie down in a narrow carriage? Wouldn’t it be better to just sleep in my tent?”
Irina looked at me with a mischievous smile. It is 100% part of this year.
“Come on. Come in.”
Irina stepped into her private tent and gestured to me. I was dumbfounded at the sight of her openly flirting, but I also had an idea.
“Just sleep on the floor.”
“…What?”
I am a person who has already mastered homelessness in the abyssal labyrinth. Compared to then, it is much better now. It was a hard stone floor in the labyrinth, but there was grass here, so it was a bit soft.
“No…! Sleeping on the dirt floor… What nonsense…!”
“I don’t know about the precious princess, but if it’s a bondei, she’s as good as a bed, right?”
Irina was greatly embarrassed by me lying on the floor and asking for sleep.
Heng! A guy who grew up precious shouldn’t be like this. If you live in the labyrinth of the abyss for just one day, you’ll realize that this grassy floor is a 5-star hotel, tsk tsk…
“Sir…Even so, I won’t tolerate sleeping on the bare floor! Just be nice and sleep in my tent. It’s spacious anyway, so you won’t have to touch it.”
“Go away b*tch!”
“Aww! Coming to my tent soon!”
While I was arguing between Irina and her, a knight who had gone to look around her approached Irina, exhaling her breath rapidly.
“…What happened all of a sudden?”
“f*ck it. It’s crazy how you put on a solemn expression in an instant.”
“Shhhhhmhhhhh,,what happened to make her breathe so heavily?””
The knight came back with her heavy breath and hurriedly told Irina something about her.
“Heo-eok…Heo-eok… Hey… There’s a black monster near the camp..! The seed who went to check the surroundings with me was quickly eaten by that monster!!”
“What?”
Irina asked her knight in a cold voice, hardening her face in an instant.
“What is the seed level?”
“I was 28.”
“What species of monster?”
“I don’t know! It’s the first monster I’ve ever seen in my life… The important thing is that it looks very high-level!”
“Okay. Quickly assemble the knights.”
After that, Irina strode towards her carriage. She then took out her own sword and amplifying sword that she had stored in her wagon and handed her amplifying sword to me.
“What?”
“Be prepared. That knight was a knight with a high level, so the monsters aren’t usually strong. Shouldn’t you level up more than anything else?”
Irina drew her sword from her scabbard as she smiled mischievously. Irina’s sword was a bit thicker than a rapier, but much thinner than a normal longsword, and it seemed to be a magic item because she felt mana.
“All! Prepare for battle!”
With Irina’s cry, her knights began to be vigilant in all directions. It was because I didn’t know where the black monster would appear.
A very uncomfortable silence continued, and after roughly three minutes, a black figure began to appear in the bushes.
“Find a monster at 12 o’clock! The size is about 3M and the color is black! You can’t tell what kind of monster it is, so beware of everything!”
Irina commanded her knights quite skillfully and was wary of black monsters.
Anyway, the energy you feel from that black monster is no joke. It was not normal mana, void mana, or abyss mana, but mana with extremely impure traits was felt from the black monster.
“That… What the heck is that…? The mana is different…”
Irina also looked at the black monster with a puzzled expression as if she realized that.
Aren’t emotions the best at times like this? I immediately used my emotions on the black monster.
[LV 81 Fragments of Chaos]
Stamina: ?/?
Mana: ?/?
Status: None
“A Fragment of Chaos?”
I’ve seen the Fragment of the Void and the Fragment of the Abyss, but I’ve never seen a Fragment of Chaos in my life. Unlike the other fragments that were in the form of giants before that, the Chaos Fragment was a monster with a slime-like consistency.
-Kiehehehehe…!!!
“Keugh!!”
At that moment, fragments of chaos began to scream. The problem was that the grotesque sound itself was mixed with unknown mana, so just listening to the sound started to reduce one’s stamina.
“Keuk! All knights, prepare to retreat! Keep the knights who can use magic in check and buy time to retreat!”
Irina decided to retreat quickly, perhaps recognizing that the fragments of chaos were monsters beyond her imagination.
Still, Irina was quick to make decisions and clear command of the battle, whether or not the nickname Iron-Blooded Princess was false.
The problem is that the fragments of chaos were stronger than expected.
-Keeeik!!!
“f*ck?!”
“What?!”
In an instant, black tentacles that appeared from the bodies of fragments of chaos flew at high speed and pierced the hearts and brains of the two knights. They were average level 40 knights, but they were helpless against level 81 monsters.
“Damn it! Retreat quickly! Wizards just run away!”
Irina realized that she was unable to use lower level magic against the fragments of chaos, so she ordered a full retreat and then started running to the other side of the fragments herself.
– KIeee!!!!!
“What?!”
At that time, the tentacle that the black monster shot out of her tentacle grabbed Irina by the ankle. Thanks to her, Irina, who had tumbled comically to the ground as she ran, looked back at the fragments of her chaos, her eyes quivering in horror.
“Ah…aaa…!”
-Keeeik..!!
Her Chaos Fragment began to tug on Irina with her tentacles, making a mocking cry. Naturally, Irina, a level 46, couldn’t overcome the power of a level 81 monster.
But I wasn’t the one to leave it alone.
“Void Mana Release.”
Fire-!
The moment Irina was dragged away, I strengthened her body with her void mana and her emission, then put her amplification sword into her suzaku flame.
Then, due to the amplification sword effect, the flame of Suzaku, which was twice as powerful, was spewed toward the tentacle of chaos fragments holding Irina.
Then, the tentacles of the fragments of chaos began to burn with the flames of Suzaku.
-Kee Iik!!!
“Oops!”
Suddenly!
I cut off the tentacles of the fragments of chaos that were suffering from the flames of Suzaku with the sword of amplification.
Irina, whose tentacle had been cut off and freed from her restraints, stared at my face with a dazed expression.
“Uh…How…?”
“Meeting a level 81 monster for the first time? Are you out of your mind? Want to search?”
I yelled at the bruised Irina and raised her sword of amplification to guard against the fragments of chaos.
Her Chaotic Fragments must have been furious with me for burning her own tentacles. This time, she took out more than 10 tentacles at once and aimed them at me.
“Oh sh*t…How do you stop all that?”
It is impossible to block all of those tentacles. I only parry the attacks that lead to fatal wounds, and I just accept the rest. There was no other way.
“The Void Wall.”
-Kee Iik!!!!!!!
‘…Is responding to void mana?’
For some reason, the fragments of chaos reacted violently whenever I used void mana. Should I say that he seems to be very contemptuous of void mana?
“Keugh!”
Clang-!
At that moment, the tentacles of the fragments of chaos flew towards me at high speed. The wall of emptiness was shattered like a glass wall by the tentacles, as if it were natural, and I only parried the attacks aimed at the heart and head using the amplification sword.
However, as expected, the tentacle attack aimed at the leg or arm could not be blocked, and I collapsed into my seat, bleeding.
“Oh..Brother…!”
“Sibaal…Don’t take advantage of the gap and call me brother…”
It hurts, but it makes me angry…!
“[Purity].”
I used [Purity] To restore my body to its original state. When I first acquired [Innocence], I was worried about how to use this ability, but [Innocence] Was more fraudulent than I could have imagined.
If you use it when you are seriously injured like now, you can restore it to the state before you got hurt, and you can also use it to get rid of status abnormalities like the Beast King.
In fact, it was more usable at the moment than the now-unused [Evil Eater].
‘Whoa…Yes…Let’s see if you die or I die.’
-Kee Iik!!!
I chanted a wind element intermediate magic typhoon. Of course, it was filled with Suzaku’s flame and void mana. The typhoon itself had no power, so it had to be damaged only with Suzaku’s flame and void mana.
“Huh?!”
But while I was chanting the typhoon, the tentacles of the fragments of chaos pierced my thighs again.
But I can’t help it! Right [Purity]!
-Kee Iik!!!
“Tell me why zombies are scary, slime kid.”
Of course, every time I used [Purity], My mana went down tremendously, but first of all, my goal was to retreat Irina, the knights, and the servants, so I decided to spend as much time as possible.
“Spring out quickly.”
“Ha..But…! Aren’t you dangerous..!”
“Don’t worry, jump out quickly? Don’t worry, I live well on my own.”
“That…But…”
“Shut up and go.”
I used the typhoon on the fragments of chaos, leaving Irina at a loss for what to do. Then, the fragments of chaos suffered from Suzaku’s flame and void mana, and began to make more noises containing unknown mana.
-Kie eek!!!!
“Uhhhhh…!”
“Go quickly. If you hear that sound, you will lose all your stamina and die?”
“…Then…Surely survive…”
“Worry about who to worry about, b*tch.”
After that, Irina started running in the opposite direction, holding her lips tight. She, of course, looked back at me from time to time, but she didn’t slow down.
“Okay…Let’s get it right now.”
-Kee Iik!!!
She had to hold him for at least 3 minutes to make sure Irina had time to get away from her. She wanted to know what kind of dog school this was, but what to do. No matter how much it is, you can’t just leave a person who is on the verge of death and run away.
“Void waves!”
I used Void Wave towards the Chaos Fragment, which was suffering from Suzaku’s Flame and Typhoon coated with Void Mana. The power of the void spear itself was higher, but there was no way that the level 81 fragments of chaos would hit the void spear silently, so we chose the wide range of the void wave.
-Kie Eek!!
“Are you running out of stamina?”
Of course, the level 81 Chaos Fragment didn’t seem to do much damage even though it was properly hit by the waves of emptiness. Rather, as a result of stimulating the fragments of chaos more, the speed of the tentacles began to increase faster than before.
“[Purity].”
-Key profit?!
“There are still many lives left.”
There was still a bit of time left for Irina to completely escape. So I’ve prepared a new void magic to slow down time.
The magic I prepared was [Void Magic LV 6] And one of the newly acquired void magics, Rain of Void.
I don’t know the effect. Because I’ve never used it. However, it must be a powerful magic as it takes the longest casting time among void magics.
“Kuhup?!”
The chanting time of Void Rain was 10 seconds. Of course, during that time, I was exposed to the tentacle attack of the Chaos Shard, and its tentacles began to pierce my entire body.
However, I continued to use [Purity] To recover and gain as much time as possible.
“…Void Rain…!”
– Key profit!!!!
In the end, 10 seconds passed and the rain of void was completed, and I used the rain of void towards the fragments of chaos.
At that moment, raindrops filled with purple mana began to pour down from the sky. The raindrops were filled with void mana, so if you didn’t have void resistance, it seemed like you would take a lot of damage just by touching them.
Of course, that also applied to the fragments of chaos, and for the first time the fragments of chaos screamed as they were wounded down.
-Kee Iik!!!!!
‘…Is it not enough…’
However, even though he was properly hit by a level 81 monster, the rain of emptiness, he was in pain, but it didn’t seem like a fatal wound.
‘By the way, I’m almost out of mana, what should I do? If you fly through the sky using [Psychokinesis], 100% Of the tentacles will come flying…’
A quandary, it was a four-character idiom that was perfect for the current situation.
‘f*ck… I have to try it…!’
-Kee Iik!!!
At that moment, the tentacles of the fragments of chaos flew towards my head, and I quietly closed my eyes.
I don’t have enough mana and stamina right now, so it’s unreasonable to deal with the fragments of chaos. That’s why I decided to use the resurrection ability of [Suzaku’s Fire]. It was a bit of a waste to use the disposable resurrection right now, but I couldn’t help it. How can I live in this situation right now?
“…Um?”
However, the pain of having my head pierced that I had imagined did not come.
“My lord, no matter how much extra life I have, as the would-be king, if I give up my head so easily, what will I become as a servant?”
“…….Veronica?”
“Whoa… I’m a little late. Let’s deal with that guy first and then talk.”
– Key profit!!
-Crush it.
Kwajik-!
Veronica, who suddenly appeared in front of me and blocked the tentacle attack, instantly killed the fragments of chaos with just one shot containing mana. I was trying to buy time against him somehow, but I couldn’t help but be a little dazed when I saw the fragments of chaos that died at Veronica’s words.
“You’ve worked hard, my king. Let me rest.”
“No wait…”
-Go to sleep.
At that moment, I heard Veronica’s mana-filled voice again, and I fell into a deep sleep with my vision completely blacked out.