Volume 5, Chapter 53 – Explosion! The Crimson Eye!

However, just as Augustin lowered his head, the tide of battle took an unexpected turn.

Looking down from the city wall, a squad of soldiers in jet-black armor suddenly charged out from among the rebel army, which had already surrendered its weapons. The undead legion was torn through as easily as thin paper in front of them. With just a few charges, the white encirclement formed by the undead was scattered. Even with their immortal characteristic, under the crushing force of these black-armored soldiers, the undead’s recovery speed could not keep up with the speed of their destruction.

Not only that, but what was even more terrifying was the golden light that flashed in the pitch-black night sky. Any undead enveloped in the golden light had their regeneration speed slowed to a near-standstill. The Blood Clan rebels who were also caught within it had their bodies emit an unpleasant sizzling sound, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt flesh.

Quickly realizing what was happening, Edith frowned.

“Holy magic?”

Augustin’s expression became complicated. Due to his previous transformation, his voice was very weak, and his body, kneeling in the direction of the rebel army, swayed continuously, as if he could fall at any moment.

“…Those are the Empire’s men.”

“So you really were colluding with the Norta Empire. Have them surrender their weapons. Even if their combat strength is higher than the undead’s, it’s impossible for them to just escape. A mere twenty thousand soldiers, I guarantee the Pescia family’s army behind them will not let them leave safely.”

“It’s impossible…” Augustin shook his head weakly. “They were sent to monitor me. As soon as they confirm I have no more value, they will act on their own.”

“Tch.”

Clicking her tongue, Edith turned to Andrea. “Don’t let these dogs of the Empire just run away. They have a heavy cavalry formation. Keeping them here can be used as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with the Empire.”

“Mm.”

“Prepare to fire!”

“They’re charging toward us!”

“How dare mere humans set foot in the holy land of the Blood Clan! Teach them a good lesson!”

As the Imperial soldiers broke through the encirclement and launched an assault on the city gate, the Blood Clan soldiers on the wall took their positions. Amidst the sound of bowstrings being drawn, they prepared for a new round of confrontation.

They’re still thinking of a desperate counterattack at this point?

Yisi raised an eyebrow. Although these twenty thousand Imperial soldiers could not retreat completely unscathed, breaking out in batches was not a problem. For all of them to now be charging the Blood Clan’s Royal Capital, unless every Imperial officer had a grand wish to die for their country, they must have a trump card up their sleeves.

Andrea stepped forward with a determined look on her face.

“I will not let them approach the Royal Capital.”

“Wait, they’ve stopped.”

Reaching out to stop Andrea, who was preparing to use the Alvier Tower, Yisi gestured with her chin toward the Imperial soldiers. The soldiers, led by the heavy cavalry, had stopped just outside the range of bows and magic. The troops parted neatly to the sides. Then, a man dressed as an officer rode his horse to the front of the army. Although it was night, with the excellent night vision of a vampire, Yisi’s group could clearly see that the officer was holding a stack of paper in his hand.

“Hoh, seeing that they can’t retreat unscathed, so they’re planning to sue for peace?”

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Edith pouted with disdain. If the decision were in her hands, she would not hesitate to give the order to shoot to kill. However, the one who truly made the decisions was Andrea. Overstepping her bounds was not something a subject should do.

At the same time, Boris, who had just disengaged from the battle, rushed to Andrea’s side. He first glanced at the kneeling Augustin, stunned for a moment, then turned to Andrea and knelt on one knee.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“You’re here to report to me, Boris? Stand up. What do the Empire’s men have to say?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Boris stood up and answered in a slightly hesitant tone, “Their envoy wishes to see you.”

“See me? For what purpose?”

“Please allow me to have someone bring him up.”

“Go.”

Not long after, a man with his head held high was brought before Andrea under the watch of Boris and his soldiers.

“Kneel!”

Without any courtesy, Boris kicked the envoy’s knee, forcing him to the ground. Although there was an agreement in this world to treat envoys with courtesy, under the current circumstances, it was more accurate to say that this man was a representative sent by a defeated general to sue for peace than an envoy. There was no need for much ceremony.

“Let go of me! You filthy Blood Clan! The consequences of angering me—”

Before the envoy could finish, Boris kicked him in the back, forcibly shutting him up. “This is the King of the Blood Clan, Her Majesty Andrea Fred Alvier. Any further disrespect, and you will be executed on the spot.”

“Hmph.”

Not frightened by Boris’s words, the man struggled to raise his head and look at Andrea.

“Let us leave the Blood Clan, or we will take Alvier City down with us.”

“Boris, wait!”

Seeing that Boris was about to swing his sword to cut off the envoy’s head, Andrea quickly stopped him. On the other side, not only was Edith not angry, but she even had a mocking expression on her face, as if she were watching a joke.

“Take us down with you? Interesting. With a mere twenty thousand soldiers, you want to take down the undead legion, the Pescia family’s army, and the Alvier Tower all at the same time? Are you from the Norta Empire, a race of natural-born comedians?”

“We have the Crimson Eye! As long as we detonate the Crimson Eye, we can release a magic that surpasses even forbidden spells. Even if you are protected by the Alvier Tower, you cannot possibly remain unscathed.”

The Crimson Eye?

Yisi, who was standing half a step behind Andrea, tilted her head. After coming to this world, she had specifically investigated powerful existences and items. One thing she was sure of was that there was definitely nothing called the Crimson Eye among them.

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Of course, there were many things she didn’t know, and the information she had found couldn’t possibly be exhaustive. But for some reason, her intuition told her that she might have seen this thing called the Crimson Eye before. Without any reason or evidence, she just had a strange sense of familiarity, as if a thin piece of paper in her mind was separating the two, and she couldn’t remember for a moment.

While Yisi was racking her brains, Andrea said with a blank expression, “Do you think I will believe you?”

“You may not believe me, but you cannot disbelieve your own eyes. Use your Alexia Tower to see! As long as you use magic detection, you can search for things with powerful magic nearby. The army of the Norta Empire holds a supreme treasure capable of slaying gods!”

With an excited expression, the man pointed at the Norta Empire’s army. As if in response to his words, a red sphere in an exquisite wooden box appeared at the very front of the army. Since it was late at night, and with the red light emanating from the sphere itself, even though Yisi’s group was standing on the thirty-meter-high city wall, they could still clearly see the existence of the red sphere.

Andrea’s face turned grim.

Just as the man had said, she could use the Alvier Tower to detect magical reactions. And the feedback from that red sphere was a violent magic power that far exceeded her imagination. Although the total amount of magic power in the sphere was not comparable to the Alvier Tower, its level of activity—or rather, instability—was the most terrifying existence Andrea had ever seen since birth.

If that thing were to explode near the city wall, the entire city would be blown away. Not even the Alvier Tower could completely withstand it.

Noticing the change in Andrea’s expression, the man’s eyebrows shot up in delight. “How about it?! This is a legacy inherited from the gods, obtained by the Empire at great cost! Even with the full strength of our Norta Empire, we only obtained this one. It is a forbidden object capable of slaying gods. Any magic chanter who sees it must prostrate themselves in worship! It is the ultimate product of magic!”

Furthermore, the man twisted his shoulders, breaking free from the grip of the two soldiers, and stood tall and proud in front of Andrea.

“Let me reiterate: if you don’t want to see the symbol of your royal family, the city of Alvier, turned to ashes, then let us leave the Blood Clan immediately. Oh, and you’re the only one left with the Alvier bloodline, right? If you die, the entire Blood Clan will be thrown into complete chaos. I don’t think I need to tell you what choice to make next.”

Tch.

Edith secretly clenched her fists.

Although she didn’t know how powerful the thing called the Crimson Eye was, from Andrea’s reaction, the man was not lying. This unpleasant feeling of having her life held in someone else’s hands made Edith feel extremely resentful.

Subconsciously, she cast her gaze toward Yisi standing beside her. If it were Yisi, she might have a solution. But to her confusion, Yisi had already disappeared from her original position.

…

So shameful, so utterly shameful.

While secretly changing her clothes, Yisi cursed in her heart.

She should have realized it sooner. The thing called the Crimson Eye was actually the Eye of Dusk.

Back when the Margaret tavern lacked a tool for boiling water, she had taken out the Eye of Dusk. As a result, because Shinku and the others hadn’t been paying attention, one had been stolen by a Fallen from the Empire. At the time, she had thought that since she had plenty more, it didn’t matter if one was lost. She never thought it would now become a weapon of war in the Empire’s hands.

Her feelings were so complicated she didn’t know what to say.

“Since I’m the one who caused this, I have to be the one to fix it…”

The Empire might think it was their property, but in reality, only by returning to her hands would it be returning to its rightful owner.

Donning a black cloak and a silver mask, Yisi used teleportation magic to flash above the Imperial soldiers’ phalanx.

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The Eye of Dusk was less than a hundred meters away.

“What is that?”

“Why did someone suddenly appear above the Imperial soldiers’ heads?”

“They must be trying to snatch that ominous-looking magic crystal!”

At the same time the Blood Clan on the wall spotted Yisi, the Imperial soldiers also noticed her and quickly fell into a commotion. Especially the soldiers responsible for protecting the Eye of Dusk. They had received orders to immediately crush the Eye with magic if anyone approached. Upon discovering that Yisi possessed the magic of flight, a symbol of a powerful individual, they unhesitatingly used the magic to destroy the Eye.

In slow motion, a cone formed of condensed magic power stabbed toward the Eye of Dusk.

Too slow.

A distance of a hundred yards was just an instant.

However.

Yisi suddenly felt her body lag for a moment. Although it was less than a second, it became a fatal mistake.

Subconsciously, Yisi looked at the dissipating magic formation beside her. If she remembered correctly, these were the symbols of a [Spatial Jump]. Yisi glanced at the culprit—Sandra, at the rear of the Imperial soldiers. Sandra must have wanted to use [Spatial Jump] to disrupt her plan and send her far away from the Eye of Dusk. But in the end, the forced teleportation had failed, which was why she had experienced a momentary lag. It wasn’t that her body couldn’t move just now, but that the space around her had frozen for an instant.

“Damn it.”

Ignoring Sandra, Yisi accelerated toward the Eye of Dusk, which was about to be shattered. Although conventional methods could not destroy the Eye, the highly condensed magic cone was undoubtedly its nemesis. With just a slight contact, the Eye would shatter.

However.

0.1 second.

To be precise, if she had just less than 0.1 second more, her [Spatial Lock] could have locked down the Imperial soldiers. But it was too late. The highly condensed magic cone finally struck the Eye of Dusk.

Ting—

A crisp sound, like a triangle being struck.

There’s no time.

A dazzling red light burst forth from the crack. Yisi gritted her teeth. Not only did she not slow down, but she accelerated and rushed in front of the Eye of Dusk, knocking away the Imperial soldier who was holding the box. Then she pulled the Eye into her arms.

Considering that the Eye of Dusk was about to explode, Yisi did not put it in her storage, but adopted a foolish yet safe plan.

[Third Form Awakening].

[Advanced Teleportation].

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[Sacred Bulwark].

In the next second, the entire sky was dyed orange-red.

A dazzling white light that seemed to burn through the eyes flashed across the sky. After people had adjusted and slowly opened their eyes, in the far distance, a mushroom cloud was quietly expanding in the air. The surrounding air grew hotter and hotter. After a few seconds, a tremendous sound that seemed to squeeze the marrow from the brain pierced their eardrums.

—BOOM!!!

The Eye of Dusk exploded in the high sky, dozens of kilometers away from Alvier City.

Icy raindrops fell from the pitch-black night sky. The Blood Clan soldiers, the Imperial soldiers, the undead legion, the Pescia family’s army, and even Andrea, Camilla, and Count Pescia in different locations, all uncontrollably raised their heads and looked up at this exceptionally grand and awe-inspiring sacred fire. Everyone couldn’t help but wonder where this explosion had come from, and what would have happened if they had been in it.

“What… is that…” His throat was so dry it felt as if it were stuck together. A hoarse voice came from his mouth. The man who had been so proud of the Crimson Eye stared blankly into the distance. After witnessing its power with his own eyes, even though he had been through countless wars, he couldn’t help but feel fear.

And this was the thought in the hearts of all the soldiers present. If magic could reach this level of power, what was the point of all their training? In the face of overwhelming force, any and all strategies would only lead to a crushing defeat.

This was a realm that only gods could touch.

They had touched a divine taboo.

As for the fact that this explosion, full of magical turbulence, had made the nearby land rich in magic, to the point that most of the people who grew up on this land later possessed extremely high magical talent, and that adventurers had even established a small town nearby because of the powerful monsters, Yisi had no time to think about it now. She had more important things to do.

Her silver mask and black cloak had been burned away by the firestorm. Yisi, with a head of soft, long silver hair, cat ears on her head, and dressed in an outfit that was both exceptionally revealing and yet possessed a full sense of sacredness, clicked her tongue, a sound of gritting teeth.

“San—do—ra—”

If it weren’t for Sandra causing trouble for her at the critical moment, she wouldn’t have had to go to such lengths. Easily locking onto the fleeing Sandra, Yisi, in her Third Form, instantly caught up to her.

Without giving Sandra a chance to use illusions or teleportation magic, Yisi grabbed the nape of her neck like a kitten and bit down on it—a pureblood’s saliva had a hallucinogenic effect. Although she didn’t know if it would work on a fallen angel, you never knew until you tried.

Unexpectedly, Sandra did not lose consciousness, but Yisi found that all of her stats had turned to a “sealed” state.

“Wh-What are you going to do!?”

With a panicked look, Sandra pushed against Yisi with both hands, her eyes squeezed shut in fear, desperately turning her head away.

Noticing the half-regrown tooth in Sandra’s mouth, an idea suddenly popped into Yisi’s head.

“Don’t be nervous. I’m just helping you fix that chipped tooth.”

With an ill-intentioned smile, Yisi added,

“I’ll be as gentle as I can, just like that explosion you just let me taste.”