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Chapter 344: 344

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

Agares felt a deathly chill run down his spine and couldn’t help but facepalm himself . Even though a sword was stabbing his shoulder and blood poured out from it, he didn’t feel any pain from it whatsoever .

His focus was entirely devoted to analysing the fact that he had attacked an Imperial Family member .

“What’s going on, sir?”

When Agares did not immediately kill the bleeding human, other Progenitors grew curious as to why and walked up to the vampire duke . Their eyes also grew wider after recognising Marcus .

“This human… Wait, could he be…?”

Duke Agares nodded away while dripping buckets of cold sweat . “Indeed . It’s Marcus Ariana, Holy Emperor Allen Olfolse’s older brother . ”

That one name caused the complexions of all the Progenitors to pale instantly . They even stumbled back instinctively in fear .

Agares couldn’t help but recall the vampire war that had taken place in the Theocratic Empire’s capital .

There was no doubting the fact that the vampires were marching towards a certain victory . Along with a colleague, Agares had been relentlessly pressuring the former Crown Imperial Prince White, while the outer gate of Laurensis had been breached, allowing the vampires to enter the city limits .

Victory . It was practically right in front of the vampires . Here was the historic event where the vampires finally got to flip the script of the thousands of years of humiliation they had suffered from .

Agares didn’t doubt for one second that a new era for the vampires was finally dawning on them .

Unfortunately for him, though, it didn’t take all that long for him and his kins to realise that it was nothing but a delusion .

It took only one person . Allen Olfolse had completely shattered their dream .

The culprit who had summoned an archangel capable of unleashing a truly nonsensical amount of divinity, and freely slaughtered the vampires .

The demon king who had sneered mockingly away as he massacred thousands of vampires and undead…

What Agares had done today was sneak-attacking the older brother of such an existence .

One of the vampires swallowed nervously before asking Agares, “W-what are we going to do, sir?”

The vampire duke replied quietly, “…We can’t pretend that this didn’t happen . ”

They had already attacked a member of the Imperial Family . As the Vampire King utterly hated the guts of these Imperials, the vampires couldn’t just let this human go . But what would happen if he was to be killed right here?

‘…The Holy Emperor will chase us down in pure rage and madness, that’s for sure!’

These hapless vampires would be captured and mercilessly tortured alive, making them bitterly regret what they had done today .

Still, wouldn’t it be better to kill this Imperial Prince right now? This could be a good opportunity to land a blow to those Imperial bastards in this ongoing war, even if the blow itself would be minor…

“Rather than get my blood sucked out by you bastards…!” Marcus roared out, then pulled his sword out from Agares’s shoulder . He tried to slit his own throat with the weapon, jolting the vampire duke out of his thoughts .

Agares quickly reached out and grabbed the blade, stopping it mid-way . His other hand grabbed Marcus’s head and slammed it hard into the ground .

Crunch-!

“…Oops . ”

Blood splattered as if Marcus’s head had been burst wide open . His whole body went limp afterwards . The power was more than enough to crack open a regular person’s skull .

Was he even alive?

Thankfully, Marcus seemed to be still breathing . Being a member of the Imperial bloodline sure helped out in this case, making Marcus much more resilient than regular humans .

Agares lifted up Marcus, now bathed in so much blood .

“I… I’ll kill you… All of… you… will… be hunted down by the Holy Emperor…”

What a chill-inducing curse that was .

The madness-filled eyes of Marcus chased after the vampires, but the undead avoided locking eyes with him, even including Agares .

Duke Agares was rather timid and cowardly, even among the ranks of the Progenitor vampires, so he just couldn’t muster up enough courage to murder the older brother of the Holy Emperor . “Bloody hell… Fine . We will bring him with us . Since he’s a sibling of the Imperial Family, he might prove to be useful as a hostage or something . ”

“In that case, where should we head to, sir?”

“We shall return to where the Frost Giant is . ”

It happened around at that moment .

Lycans belatedly joining the vampires were breathlessly rushing up to where Agares was . Their expressions showed how frightened they were .

“We must run!!!”

Agares looked behind himself and looked at the lycans, only to notice that some things were chasing the undead down .

“The army of the Imperials…!”

Silver arrows whistled in and pierced cleanly through the unguarded backs of the lycans . But that wasn’t all; chains connected to the ends of the arrows were pulled taut and the struggling undead were dragged back .

“It, it’s them! The army of the Imperial Family, the Heavenly Army, has arrived! They even hunted the Frost Giant down…!”

Lycans screamed at the top of their lungs .

Agares’s face was drained of all colour at that report . He could now see the Paladins clad in their Rune Armour by the hill over yonder .

The burning eyes of those holy knights gleamed murderously under their helms . They began chatting away as the particles of divinity spat out from the gaps of their helms .

“Isn’t that…?”

“Yes, it’s Lord Marcus . ”

“A blood relation to His Majesty the Holy Emperor?”

“Capture them all! Do not let a single one escape!”

The Paladins began marching forward one step at a time . Golden runes glowed brightly on their armour and unchecked divinity flooded their surroundings .

This intense pressure they gave off…!

Every single one of those Paladins possessed strength exceeding Progenitor Vampires!

‘W-what is this? Those armour…?!’

The Paladins were kitted out in a set of armour that brought to mind the images of the ancient combat golems .

Agares instinctively muttered, “…Run away from here!” The vampires around him flinched in surprise, and he shouted out even louder in a shrill, scream-like voice . “I said, run away from here, everyone!”

“Hunt the vampires doooown–!” the Paladins roared out and began rushing in .

The vampires, deeply frightened now, hurriedly scattered away .

“The bastards don’t have horses! That means we hold the advantage in speed! Do not hesitate and simply run away!”

“But, where to?!”

Agares and another vampire escaping alongside him continued to address each other urgently .

“We head to Lome in the south!”

Another group of Jötnar were heading there . That was the group that the Vampire King was travelling with, as well . Actually, he was planning to head to Aihrance, but in order to get there, he needed to cross the Kingdom of Lome first .

“We shall join up with the rest of the Jötnar there!”

Agares continued to run, still carrying Marcus .

**

Belrog was getting restless .

He and his colleagues had set up some tents near Avaldi’s hut and remained on standby for the past several days .

He silently looked up at the sky . It was late at night, and a moon hung coldly up in the sky .

By now, the Duchy of Ariana should’ve been reduced to a devastated wasteland .

‘We can’t afford to wait any longer . ’

Belrog was left with no choice . He walked up to the hut and pulled its door open . He headed to the staircase leading to the basement .

‘Even though Avaldi told us not to interfere…’

From a certain moment on, he could no longer hear the familiar hammering noise . Considering the Master Blacksmith’s age, it was possible that his aged body could have developed some kind of an issue or two .

While thinking that, Belrog lit a torch and entered the basement workshop only to be greeted by a nasty surprise . “V-vampire?!”

There was a creature on its knees with its back turned towards Belrog . This being had rippling muscles covered in crimson skin .

Belrog stared at the vampire that had shed its human facade, then hurriedly scanned the rest of the forge, before calling out loudly . “Master! Master Blacksmith!”

That old man was nowhere to be found .

Could it be that this damn vampire had devoured the Master Blacksmith?!

Belrog hurriedly picked up a hammer lying on the ground nearby . “You abominable vampire bastard!”

He remained vigilant and cautiously approached the vampire, but then…

…The creature suddenly spoke . “It’s finally complete…”

Belrog froze up .

That was a rather familiar voice .

Could it be…?

The dwarf swallowed back in nervousness, and while tilting his head, cautiously called out, “Master… Blacksmith?”

“Belrog, I’ve done it . ”

Belrog jumped up in surprise and hurriedly went to the front of the vampire . That’s when he finally got to see Grand Duke Avaldi’s face .

Although his outer appearance had changed so much, there was still no mistaking who he was .

Streams of blood flowed down from his eyes, yet a bright grin was etched on his face .

“Now, behold, Belrog . ” Master Blacksmith Avaldi lifted up the weapon held in both of his hands . “I have finally succeeded! Count Timong has failed to fulfil his lifelong wish, but I… I have achieved it . ”

Belrog stared at the item being held in Avaldi’s hands . What this Grand Duke-class vampire bore was a golden spear about two metres in length .

The metal making up the warhammer had been compressed to an extreme degree before being fashioned into a spear blade . Amon’s Staff was then transformed into the spear shaft bearing the blade secured on top, while the various runes found in the grimoire had been engraved all over the completed spear .

Not stopping there, Avaldi’s horns were then combined with the weapon, while the demonic energy that he had accumulated for nearly two thousand years was used to keep the flames of hell burning, ensuring that the refining process would succeed in the end, albeit just barely .

Divine power swirled all around this spear, but there were streaks of demonic energy gushing out from it, as well .

Chaos where two opposing forces were existing in balance; this was that kind of a weapon .

‘…What on earth is this?! How can such an item even exist!’

Belrog’s skin was overcome with indescribable goosebumps . That… that looked like a suspiciously ominous weapon . As if it was even capable of killing a god!

A weapon like that belonged in the domain of the gods, a realm that not even Belrog’s ancestors could breach, even if all of them had to work together .

“This is the pinnacle of all weapons . ” Avaldi’s body suddenly caught on fire . Bluish flames erupted all over his body, a sure sign of death coming to take him away . “Even though you are nothing more than livestock, you still proved to be an invaluable help . ”

Belrog stared at Avaldi as the vampire’s body gradually dissipated from this world .

“My lifelong wish, the desire I held for the past one thousand and many hundreds of years… It’s been finally realised . ” Avaldi smiled truly brightly away . “For that, I thank you, Belrog . ”

And just like that, Avaldi’s body crumbled in an instant .

CLAAANG-!

He became a pile of ashes, and the spear clattered down on top of the pile .

1

“…”

Belrog watched this scene silently, then carefully brushed the ash off the spear . He had no idea what just transpired in this place, but even then, he remained wordless for a long, long while .

Eventually, though, he reached down, wrapped his hand around the spear shaft, and tried to lift it up .

Heavy!

Even someone like him, who boasted tough and well-trained muscles worthy of a top blacksmith, couldn’t properly lift this spear . That’s how heavy it was .

He needed both of his hands just to raise it high enough . Now that it was up in the air, he was able to pay closer attention to the ancient runic alphabets engraved on the spear itself .

It was the Master Blacksmith’s name .

This was it .

This was the spear that His Majesty the Holy Emperor was talking about .

Its name was…

“…Avaldi’s Spear . ”

This was the moment the greatest armament in the history of mankind was born .

Fin .