novelraw Chapter 104 : Chapter 104
Chapter 104 : Chapter 104
Chapter 104. Loss (3)
Whoooosh~
Having transitioned to the vicinity of the Demon King's Castle, we were walking through a desolate highland where only the sound of the wind could be heard.
Leading the way was Noctavira.
Her steps were without hesitation, and her fingertips were feeling the air as if they were a compass.
I quietly followed behind her.
But beneath my silent steps, a corner of my heart felt heavy and numb.
'It feels empty.'
Perhaps it was natural.
After all, Anonymous was always by my side.
Even when Adel rejected me.
Even when Noemi left home for one reason or another.
Even when Iris was in the empire.
She, at least, was always beside me, teasing me and putting on airs, pretending to be all that elegant.
But now.
Her figure was nowhere to be found.
'I didn't know when she was by my side. But now that she's gone, why does this emptiness feel so large?'
I pressed my lips together firmly.
She genuinely liked me.
She didn't hide her feelings for me.
And yet, I couldn't give any answer to her confession.
Not knowing how to accept it, I just smiled awkwardly.
'If she becomes an undead. If the moment comes when I must cut her down with my own hands…….'
It was something I didn't even want to imagine.
My two fists clenched on their own.
Veins popped out, and the back of my hand slowly trembled.
'That's the one thing that can't happen. She's as precious to me as my daughters.'
I think I finally understand.
Just how much I treasured her.
Just then.
"Over there!"
Noctavira suddenly stopped and pointed ahead.
The place her red eyes were directed at was a sunken gorge in the shade of a rocky mountain.
"I can feel her magic from over there! But it's getting weaker and weaker. I have a bad feeling about this."
We hurriedly ran toward that place.
The closer we got, the more a cold energy seeped in from our toes.
Soon, a huge cave revealed itself before us.
The entrance was surrounded by rocks jutting out like sharp teeth, and from within the cave, a faint wisp of purple magic was rising like a mist.
'This is it. Anonymous is definitely inside here.'
I silently fumbled with my scabbard.
Her smile from my memory came to mind.
Slowly, but surely, I took a step forward.
'Wait, Anonymous. We'll save you.'
We stepped into the darkness without hesitation.
Believing that at the end of this path, where not a single small light existed, she would be there.
***
Crack.
The head of the last undead was severed by the tip of Adel's sword.
It was a being of only a skeleton, with no blood or flesh, but the fact that it was an enemy remained unchanged.
Adel caught her breath for a moment and lowered her sword.
"Good work."
A familiar, low-pitched voice.
It was Alvarez.
Despite wearing armor decorated with bones, his voice still retained the warmth of when he was a person.
Adel shook her head and said.
"You worked hard too."
Alvarez nodded his head without a word.
A comrade he once fought with in the knight order.
And now, a knight who had become an undead.
But strangely, his movements were more stable than before.
'How many years has it been since I started training with him?'
When he was still human.
The two of them crossed swords every morning and matched their breaths.
That habit hadn't changed even now.
A man who was dead but not dead.
But inside him was still the man named 'Alvarez'.
Adel sheathed her sword again and looked at the battlefield for a moment.
Burning debris and broken weapons.
It seemed all the remnants had been dealt with.
Was that why?
She slowly started to worry.
Adel cautiously approached Iris.
"Was it okay to send just Noemi and Father?"
Iris quietly nodded.
"Among us, those two are the strongest. Besides, they work well together. I'm sure it'll be fine."
Adel nodded, but her heart was still heavy.
It couldn't be helped.
The moment she thought of her, the western sky looked darker for no reason.
Anonymous.
Her original name was Anticus.
When she was the queen of dragons, Adel had feared her.
But at the same time, her very existence felt like a reassuring shield.
Thanks to her, not a single monster approached Rarc Village.
'Just the fact that she was there made me feel relieved.'
A kind of guardian deity, perhaps?
Then one day, she appeared in human form.
And then she smiled brightly and said, "From now on, call me Anonymous."
It was from then.
That she became Adel's swordsmanship master.
She corrected every little habit and taught her how to see the center of the sword.
Every time her fingertips brushed past, Adel became stronger than before.
'Father. I'm counting on you.'
Adel clenched her two fists tightly.
'You must bring my master back.'
Suddenly, a strong wind blew from the west.
The direction where she might be.
Adel wished and wished from the bottom of her heart.
'Noemi. And Father. Please come back safely.'
Separate from that, Adel felt a sense of powerlessness for not being able to join the two of them.
She kept repeating the same words to herself, that she had to become stronger.
'I will never be this helpless in the rear again.'
Adel's hand, gripping the sword, was filled with strength.
***
Meanwhile, Luminia, after Noctavira's disappearance, had fallen into extreme chaos.
"Where in the world has Her Highness gone!"
At the words of a high-ranking noble, all the other ministers were at a loss for words.
They remained silent for a moment, just looking at each other's faces.
But what burst out soon after was anger, fear, and despair.
"As long as Her Highness is not alive, Luminia cannot exist. We must surrender to the Lich King!"
"What are you saying! Are you telling us vampires, who can be called the pinnacle of the demon tribe, to kneel before a mere undead?"
"Then what do you suggest we do? This is impossible. The number of citizens leaving the castle is increasing by the day!"
The nobles' camp was instantly split in two.
One side argued for surrender, while the other shouted that they should hold out until the end and wait for the queen's return.
"There are only a few thousand living citizens left. At this rate, we'll all be annihilated!"
"So you're saying we should become dolls that can't even die? Luminia is by no means such a place!"
Luminia was a country created by Noctavira's ancestor.
In other words, the progenitor.
A country solely for vampires, made by those who were vampires from birth, not just some riff-raff.
After the death of her father, the former Demon King, she had cut off all external exchanges and protected Luminia.
If she hadn't, they might have been invaded by other races.
After all, they had to face harsh criticism that the status of the demon tribe had plummeted due to the former Demon King's unreasonable offensive.
That's why, with just the fact that she had disappeared, this country was losing its identity and shaking.
The outskirts of the city had long since burned down and disappeared.
The undead army no longer advanced, but that very silence was a wordless threat that tightened the hearts of the vampires.
'Why aren't they occupying this place?'
'Could it be that they're holding Her Highness Noctavira hostage to make us collapse on our own?'
Anxiety spread, and despair diffused.
The nobles couldn't get the chaotic public sentiment under control.
In some villages, people who took their own lives appeared.
A tragic event where vampires, who prided themselves on their eternal life, took their own lives, continued to occur.
On one side, people flocked to the ruined castle site, placing Noctavira's portrait and praying.
"Our Queen. Where have you gone, abandoning us like this. Sob."
"When the red moon rises again, the Queen will return! Let us all pray to the red moon!"
Luminia, on the verge of collapse.
The desperation of everyone was gathering under a single name.
Noctavira.
All the people of Luminia were eagerly waiting for her to return.
***
In the Room of the Dead, located deep within the underground cave.
Nox, sitting on a worn-out skull throne, slowly opened his closed eyes.
For a moment, he flinched and lifted his head at the incongruous energy that seeped through the air.
'This is?'
Someone had set foot in his headquarters.
There were three presences.
But all three were exceedingly strange.
"Is this the magic of just one person?"
A twitching eyebrow.
He could tell just by his senses.
An enormous amount of mana was surging like a giant wave, gathering near the cave entrance.
Instinctively taking out a crystal ball, Nox flicked his finger and imbued it with magic.
A blue light flashed, and the ball floated up, beginning to project the images captured by the 'One-eyed ones' placed throughout the cave.
The first thing that caught his eye was a small girl.
"Hm? That wench?"
Nox's eyes narrowed.
An impression of having seen her somewhere before.
Rummaging through his memories, he soon burst out into a hollow laugh.
"Ha? Isn't that the wench who was riding on Anticus' back during the invasion of Luminia?"
At that time, he was so focused on the magic he felt from Anticus' body that he didn't think much of the girl riding on her back.
But looking at it now, the identity of that powerful magic was,
"It was this little kid's. How can a mere human have such enormous magic……."
An unbelievable reality.
But the dense magic that was making his whole body tremble even now was not a lie.
The magic emanating from that small body was a level that had already transcended the category of a human.
'Even I can't emit that much magic. Is she an opponent I can handle?'
After a moment of silence, Nox slightly turned his head and looked at the two people next to her.
Neither of them was an ordinary person.
One was the former hero who had made the demon tribe tremble in fear, Frank.
And the other was the queen of vampires, Noctavira.
He showed a brief look of bewilderment.
"Why are those two here?"
What was most perplexing was the incongruous energy he felt from the two of them.
It wasn't strange that he couldn't feel any magic from Frank, since his power was sealed due to the former Demon King's curse, but Noctavira was no longer emitting the aura of a pure vampire.
It was half-faint, and mixed with unstable magic like a human's.
"This is truly a strange thing. Isn't that the crude magic one would only see from a dhampir?"
The Noctavira he knew was a progenitor who had inherited the bloodline of the Demon King.
How could such a being have been reduced to such a vague hybrid?
However, the corners of Nox's mouth slowly curled up.
"Ha, haha."
He sat on the throne, rested his chin on two fingers, and let out a smirk.
"What a fantastic opportunity this is."
His voice was filled with a beast-like desire.
"A hero, the queen of vampires, and even a monster with an unknown, enormous amount of magic. They will all be mine now."
Nox's hand gesture cut through the air and swung.
At the same time, the light of the crystal ball went out.
"Since they've taken the trouble to come all this way, it would be polite to give them a welcome greeting."
He slowly rose from his seat.
"Guards, go and meet them personally."
Wooooong.
A cold energy of death enveloped the room as if in response.
His subordinates. Death Knights and Liches. And all sorts of other undead began to move, letting out low groans.
"And escort them here with the utmost courtesy. They are very precious guests."
His voice, with the corners of his mouth twisted up, was full of sneering, a stark contrast to his polite words.
"Huhu, shouldn't we bestow upon them the glory of becoming my eternal slaves? Hurry up. Now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his subordinates began to move quickly.
Soon, only darkness remained in the space.
And in the abyss of that darkness, the laughter of death was blooming.