ALL NOVEL Chapter 16: The Mad King.
Chapter 16: The Mad King.
"I already answered your question; release me." The chubby man answered exhaustedly.
"Do you eat anything strange when you are young?" In front of Levi is a serial rapist with brown hair and red-colored eyes. Most of the victims are little girls.
"How many times have you asked that question? The answer is no."
"That’s weird; the other test subject turns into a zombie, not a Dhampir."
"What dhampir? I am human; let me go."
"Normal humans don’t drink blood."
"I can’t help myself; it's all because of you!" The man is bound by a long chain in his hand. Take the large cups of blood on the floor and drink them. Normal food can no longer satisfy his hunger. He tries to kill Levi to escape, but fails.
Instead, his arms and ribcage get broken by Levi. The weird thing is that his injuries will return to normal in a few hours.
Levi is thinking of a solution. If he manages to complete both missions, he can break through both in magic and body to reach adept rank faster.
Without any resources like magical herbs or mana potions, it will take several years or decades to advance to the adept rank.
In the novel, someone can live in seclusion to become stronger. But Levi found out that it’s getting harder to advance only by absorbing mana normally. There are other resources, like mana stones. However, it considers strategic resources that are tightly controlled and requires magic formation to help absorb the energy. In the end, everything depends on resources, chance, and talent.
Fortunately, he can travel to other worlds and get rewards in mana energy.
There have been many geniuses throughout history who reached the adept ranks faster than their peers. But most of them were stuck in adept rank or were killed before they could show their full potential.
After thinking, the conclusion he reaches is. The test subject's body needs to be strong enough to endure the transformation. That means it will be hard for the king to survive the experiment.
"Okay, that’s all the question I have." Levi turned around and began to leave.
"Wait, you promised to release me if I answered your question."
"Okay, but I need to do one more test."
"I am ready." The chubby man has experienced pain since being captured. One more test makes no difference.
Levi raised his hand, and a small magic circle appeared and expanded.
"Wait!" The cubby man can feel something is not right.
"Too late." A stream of fire comes out of the magic circle and engulfs the man.
"Ahhhhhh!" The clubby man tries to evade the fire. Nonetheless, the chain on his hand is still attached to the wall. The dhampir's regeneration ability slowly repairs the damage, but it only makes him experience the pain of being burned alive longer. When the fire is gone, what is left is a charred corpse.
"I can only use fire breath two or three times. For the next test subject, I should try to stab their heart and behead them." Levi looks at the charred corpse and leaves the room.
The other captives inside the prison cell keep quiet in fear. They are all similar to the chubby man who has committed many serious crimes. For people who have committed minor offenses, Levi has released them. There are a few fools who try to save their comrades by telling the authorities. But with his connection with the king's courtier and police, they ended up in the palace's underground chamber prison.
Outside the room, the rough-looking man is standing straight with his face sweating.
"Where is the other?"
"They are gathering information."
"Take care of the captive; I am leaving."
"Yes, boss!" Only when Levi is gone can the rough-looking man sigh in relief. He doesn’t dare run away. Because one of his former comrades, after being captured, became an undead.
-
The king is lying on the bed and is getting weaker each day. Beside the bed is the king's courtier, telling him about the progress of the experiment.
The king is listening while closing his eyes. After the middle-aged man finishes talking, the king opens his eyes.
"Find low-rank soldiers and pretend to send them on a secret mission." After giving a few more instructions, "You should know what to do next."
"Yes, your majesty."
After the courtier leaves, there is only the king in the room. The door of the room opens, and a blonde-haired man enters the room.
"Father, how are you?"
"What do you want?"
"Father, I only come because I am concerned about your health."
King Donovan looks at his son's face, or, to be precise, the crown prince's.
"Father takes a rest; I shall take my leave."
In the corridor, the middle-aged courtier is waiting.
"How?" The crown prince approaches the courtier.
"According to the doctor, he has a few more years to live."
"Proceed with the plan."
-
There is news in the military camp. The recruits are being sent on a secret mission. This has caused dissatisfaction among the senior soldiers. Because of that, there are a lot of complaints. But they are all being reprimanded by their leader.
After being chosen, the new soldiers are invited to the restaurant for the banquet. That caused the senior soldier to look at them with envy.
Today, Jaxon is one of the lucky soldiers that have been chosen.
On the table, there are various types of food.
"Everyone eat up, and good luck with your mission!"
"Cheers!"
"Jaxon, come on, drink." A bald man appears intoxicated and puts his arm on Jaxon's shoulder.
"I don’t like the taste of wine."
"It tastes really good."
After a while, Jaxon notices something: people who usually consume a lot of alcohol begin to fall asleep. And the servants carry them somewhere.
"Something is wrong." Jaxon looks around and finds more people falling asleep.
Jaxon quickly goes to where the general army gathers. But he can’t see them, including the servants.
When he thought to leave the restaurant to find help. A group of men wearing executioner masks comes out. The skinny man in front gives a hand gesture signal, and they all begin to move.
"Wait, who are you?" Jaxon suddenly feels like his body is getting weak. "Why? I don’t drink anything." Then he remembers the food that he ate and loses consciousness.
-
Jaxon opens his eyes, but his mind is still fuzzy. "My head." Looking around, he is inside a prison cell with his limbs in chains. "Anyone outside!"
"Keep quiet." said the middle-aged man with messy hair in another prison cell.
"Where is this place?"
"Hell."
"What?"
"You are unlucky to get sent here."
"Who are you, and where is this place?" Jaxon can see several similar prison cells, but they are empty.
"I am an innocent civilian, and this place is where they do inhuman experiments." The middle-aged man lied; he is one of the most wanted criminals in the capital city.
"Is this place a demon cult?"
"No, it’s the palace."
"What nonsense are you talking about."
"Just wait and see."
"Do you see other people?"
"They must have been sent to other groups."
Jaxon waits patiently inside the prison cell. He will be lying if he says he is not scared. But there is nothing he can do. After a while, two men wearing executioner masks bring a man bonded by chain to another prison cell. The bonded man tries to bite the executioner's mask, but there is a metal rod preventing him from closing his mouth to bite.
"Another failed test subject, why we are keeping it alive?"
"Sir Levi needs to test if the Dhampir can control zombies."
"Don’t you think it will be dangerous if the zombie escapes?"
"We have no choice."
"I heard from other groups that when they thought the ritual had failed, the corpse attacked and killed one of the researchers."
"Hey you, why do you put me in prison?" Jaxon shouted.
"Since you are going to die, I tell you. You are going to go through a ritual to change you into a dhampir."
"What dhampir?"
"Oh, it was half human and half vampire. If the ritual fails, you’re going to turn into a zombie like him." The executioner's mask pointed at the struggling man bound by a chain.
"Are you crazy? Why are you doing this?"
"We don’t want to; this is an order from the king."
"Has the king gone mad?"
"Yes." After saying that, the two executioner mask men opened the middle-aged man's prison cell.
"No, let me go!" The middle-aged man tries to struggle, but it is futile because he is weak after being imprisoned here and lacks food. The two men, already used to this situation, drag him outside the prison cell.
Jaxon can only watch helplessly as what is going on unfolds. "No, I need to find a way to escape and tell the outside world what is going on."