Chapter 140 (1/2)
Birkyne, the last surviving member of the three Pure-breed Vampires orshi+pped Hihiryushukaka, the evil God of joyful life, was having trouble with rebuilding his organization
“To think that I would gain sole control over the organization in this forh
He had once planned to turn Ternecia, one of the other Pure-breed Vaether with Gubaht that one day, he would do the saanization
That had been a long-ter hundreds, thousands or perhaps even tens of thousands of years, but… less than three years had passed since then Despite that, Ternecia and Gubamon had died… they had been destroyed
If their souls had remained, it would have been possible to turn them into Undead with the power of the evil God of joyful life Turning a Pure-breed Vampire into an Undead was impossible for Birkyne, but it should have been possible for Hihiryushukaka Toying with life was the duty of that evil God, after all
However, Birkyne knew that wouldn’t happen He had been told through a Divine Message from Hihiryushukaka that their souls had been destroyed
“Less than three years have passed since then… A period of time that is like the blink of an eye to me In that short time… damn IT!”
The sorrowful expression on his attractive face was erased for a lass in his hand and s at
With a thunderous sound, the table that was er than a steel shi+eld, broke into pieces
But this did little to stop Birkyne’s anger
“Guba of not only his noble-born Vampires but his Subordinate Vampires with his own hands as well! Does he not kno much I have suffered because of that?! HUH?!” he cursed his fallen co from his mouth
Gubaone mad with paranoia, had tried to use all of his own subordinates as materials for Undead He had been destroyed by Vandalieu before carrying this task out to coanization under his control, the dareat
The three Pure-breed Vaion to make backroom deals with royalty and nobles and to act as the s behind the bosses of crime syndicates
There were so shi+eld-nation, who contacted the Vampires directly, butdeals with Va parts of a Vaanization unless they were close servants of a crime syndicate’s boss
This structure had allowed the organization to cut these people off like lizards’ tails when things went bad, and even if an enele Vampire would be lost
When Ternecia was defeated, four of the Five Dogs, her close subordinates, had been killed, while the last one had betrayed her However, the noble-born and Subordinate Vampires scattered across the various nations had remained That hy Birkyne and Guba theanization that had been destroyed by the adventurer party, the Five-colored Blades
However, Gubamon had killed almost all of the useful noble-born and Subordinate Va them into Undead The only ones who had escaped this were those who had tried to carry out Gubahts, or those who had iions where Gubamon couldn’t find them
Thus, the only Vanificant that Guba, noble-born Vampires who had been Vampires for less than a century, or Subordinate Vampires that were essentially small-fry
Of course, there was no way that such lowly Vampires could make deals with royalty, nobles or corrupt merchants, nor could they control criminal syndicates from the shadows The Subordinate Vampires hadn’t even been told Birkyne’s name
Given this, it wasn’t difficult to iine howto rebuild the organization
There were even soanizations had been taken over by the surviving underlings before Birkyne could reach out to the in the exteranizations and those who had taken over them
“dae… If only I could have taken in one of the Varoaned in frustration, recalling a few names of the Vampires that had led Gubamon’s faction
Those Va with those who had been turned into Undead, however
The ritual to summon the souls of dead noble-born Vampires and revive them as Undead couldn’t be carried out without the blood of the noble-born Va whether they were alive or not
It was difficult to iine that Hihiryushukaka would deliver such trivial details to Birkyne through Divine Messages
“This is all Vandalieu’s fault!”
The truth was that Gubamon had been mentally driven into a wall not by Vandalieu, but by Birkyne’s own plan to turn Ternecia into a puppet, but… Birkyne seemed to think that Vandalieu’s very existence was the cause of everything
“Now that things have come to this, I have to take him in no ht In order to take hi in and out of more closely –”
“Birkyne-sa the Sauron Duchy,” said one of his noble-born Va that Birkyne had calmed down
“… It’s you, Mortor,” Birkyne muttered
Mortor, one of Birkyne’s ‘Four Confidants,’ a noble-born Vain
Mortor lowered his bald head in a bow and delivered his report “This is infor army, but it seems that Duke Marme has appealed for action to be taken by the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords A the fifteen Swords in the imperial capital, there is no movement from the First and Second Swords, but there are reports that the Third Sword has left the capital, so I believe this information is true”
“What is the possibility that this movement is a decoy?” Birkyne asked
The Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords were a secret force under the enated numbers But only the names and faces of the First to Third swords had been revealed
By having these three revealed, the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords’ existence was made known to a certain extent to criminals within the empire itself as well as to other nations; this was a form of public relations that deterred enemy attacks
Thus, the First to Third Swords were not actually truly for Swords could be accurately referred to as the Twelve Swords Knowing this, Birkyne suspected that this public moveth greater than a B-class adventurer
“I do not know,” said Mortor “However, the ‘Thunderclap’ Schneider and his companions have departed the continent, so I suspect we could send a few of our people in”
Even Birkyne and his Vaanization did not know the identities of the non-decoy, trueSwords
Though Mortor didn’t dare utter this out loud, even Birkyne wouldn’t be able to defeat theathered in one place
If such enemies were on the move, that Dhampir and the resistance members who had apparently becoht
He thought that this would reduce his ave him an unexpected order
“I see… Well then, send those who are proficient at gathering information to the Sauron Duchy IfSwords have been dispatched, they should at least be able to force Vandalieu to show his power to soe for their lives Make sure they don’t miss it,” said Birkyne
“Certainl… huh?”
“Of course, strictly order the There is no point in this if they do not return alive with the information,” Birkyne continued “But don’tto your reports, the one mad, so just in case”
“No, I understand that, but… Birkyne-saainst the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords?” Mortor asked
It was the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords they were talking about Multiple of the noble-born Vampires that were Mortor’s subordinates had been defeated by them Monstrosities that were almost immortal unless their heads were severed or their hearts were destroyed, ere also ic, had vanished without a trace
It was likely that Mortor himself wouldn’t be able to win if he faced them That was hoerful these enemies were
But Birkyne predicted that Vandalieu would likely win against multipleSwords “That’s right He will likely e Swords come after him,” he said “For you, it may be difficult to believe, but he killed Gubamon Perhaps he would be defeated by all fifteen, but just a feon’t be able to kill him If they were so exceptional that they were capable of that, it wouldn’t have been strange for theht my tail by now”
With this, so Vandalieu would finally be obtained If several hindrances would be re two birds with one stone
That hat Birkyne thought It was possible that he was the one ath the most accurately
Meanwhile, inside the Boundary Mountain Range, Gargya, nephew of the previous king of the High Kobold nation who had successfully staged a coup d’état with Bugitas’s support, was sitting on the throne, eating meat
He gave a gleeful cackle “Ravovifard, the evil God of release, is incredible It was the right choice to stop worshi+pping Rishare, the God of hunting, who refused to give me his divine protection”
Even for a High Kobold, who had appearances resee and beast-like
Abundant fur; large, gleaiven off froya was no ordinary individual
“The power that fills my entire body is wonderful… My level that had stopped increasing is going up like crazy, and evenold ya cackled again “Don’t you think so, you guys?”
However, the High Kobolds and citizen wobut repulsion and fear towards him
In order to conceal these e revealed on their expressions, they kept their faces looking down and didn’t answer, even when spoken to
Gargya groaned at their attitudes Not because he found it unpleasant; in fact, it was the opposite
“You feh you cry and shout sothem with his words
The women’s shoulders tre up in their eyes This sight sweetly stiya’s sense of superiority
“Do you think that I did so heinous? Don’t misunderstand; it was because theeak that you becaroup is the one who is served by the nates the most Even beasts know this; it is obvious, isn’t it? Kuhahahah!”
With those words, Gargya sank his teeth back into the lu in his hand… the h Kobold who had disobeyed him
Males whose cunning had been their only redeeive up their feya used theirthem
“You… beast! Fiend!” one of the High Kobold woht of her own husband’s reer
But even these words only ya happier
“Beast? Fiend? Isn’t that just fine! Us High Kobolds are ery and live in darkness! This is what is right for us! What is wrong with taking fe the children of those ht, I shall violate you tonight and is bared
The Kobold wo the name of her dead husband Another Kobold woe, embraced that woman
“Reh Kobolds should be!” Gargya declared
None of the wo s of a madman
In fact, the only ones supporting Gargya, who had staged a coup d’état to kill the king and slaughter all of the princes, were the High Kobolds who had obeyed him since before the coup d’état, and General Bufudin who had been dispatched here by Bugitas
The other High Kobolds and the citizens were ya and Bufudin’s power
Gargya had wanted to kill all of the High Kobolds who opposed him as well as their families, but Bufudin had stopped him
He was trying to achieve Eion of the continent into a single great empire that worshi+pped not Vida, but Ravovifard Thus, the number of available soldiers couldn’t be decreased just to make examples
In order to achieve this ae, and they would be turned into war slaves to conquer Zanalpadna and the other nations that were still resisting
However, Gargya had no intention of settling for becoreat eitas
Aitas… no, I suppose you’re a pig One day, when I grow more powerful, I’ll take over for hi as you want until then
If survival of the fittest was true, then Bugitas hiya believed without a doubt that he hi individual
Gargya had already received Ravovifard’s divine protection In other words, Ravovifard had no intention of htest if Gargya could surpass Bugitas and take his place That was how he interpreted things
“– One day, you will stand at the top That is the foolish delusion that you have in your head, isn’t it?” said Princess Lulu, bringing the cowering woya back to reality
“… What are you talking about?” Gargya asked her, suppressing his discoh
But he couldn’t trick her
Princess Lulu laughed at how shallow Gargya was, revealing her white, well-shaped fangs “If your current state is the right one for us High Kobolds as you said to everyone earlier, you will one day be killed er than you My wretched cousin who has gone corrupt with power, you will die adeath like the ones you delivered uponher prediction with her eyes shi+ning with a dilow
Gargya felt a chill as he heard his cousin’s words
Perhaps by hearing them, he had realized for the first time that he was not an exception to the law of survival of the fittest
“G-GARURURUGAH!” Gargya shouted at her in the Kobold language for her to be silent
But perhaps because his discomposure could be seen in his behavior, it was not only Princess Lulu, but the citizen wolares
The ya tried to turn his discoer, he heard a distant howl
In the High Kobold nation, distant hoeren’t noises s They were a solidto this howl…
“A large-scale ene?! Has he lost hiya shouted
Though part of his job was to act as a supervisor, Bufudin had been dispatched by the eya shouted, the next distant howl came and informed him of the situation
“I-ihis entire army to move
The hearts of the wo that his end was near
A short while earlier…
Bufudin’s subordinates, atching the gate in the wall of the High Kobold nation, were taken aback by an unexpected guest
“Budirud, fugogah?!”
For so the Ghoul nation, had come with his army
The Orcs and the noble Orc co as going on
“Bugogogoh Ghoul pugyubah”
The noble Orc noticed that there were Ghoul woht: Budirud had successfully conquered the Ghoul nation, and he was here to deliver the Ghoul woeneral, Bufudin
The noble Orc didn’t knohether it was an offering or a bribe, but that was probably what it was
He did have questions, such as why General Budirud had co subordinates, or why the offering wasn’t being itas But those who had sworn loyalty to Bugitas had a tendency to become more ferocious the more powerful they were
Questioning someone as powerful as General Budirud would result in the noble Orc commander’s own death
“Bugohah! Bugobuh!”
At the noble Orc’s order, the Orcs hastily opened the gate
Budirud started to lead his arate –
“Bufuh!”
But a noble Orc with an enor on his shoulder stood in his way
“… Who are you? You can’t foolon airs, you s from inside your cape… What is that? Whatever, you’re definitely a fake All of you noble Orcs and Orcs stink of dirt!” he shouted
This noble Orc was Bufudin, as supposed to be tor smelt a stink that he had never smelled before… a stink that included the scents of multiple insects and plants, he decided that none of the noble Orcs in the group in front of him were real
“Holy-Son-dono”
“So, ere found out after all Well then, get up”
“You bastard, who are you hiding inside your cape –” Bufudin recognized the voice that came from inside the fake Budirud, but his surprised shout was drowned out by the groan let out by the gate
“UOOOOHHHHN!”
“BUGOH?!”
“BUGYAKIH?! Go and get the dog-heads! There’s soate they made!”
The gate had suddenly taken a huuarding it and knocking down the Orc archers, standing to the side so that it wasn’t in the way of Budirud’s army
“That’s the signal!” shouted Basdia
“GROOOH!” Vigaro roared “Kill them! Take them down!”