Chapter 243: 129. Ronia of the Northern Region (Part One)

Translated by: A Passing Wanderer

Edited by: RED

**

The Land of Dead Spirits was a place of constant dense fog and vicious snowstorms lashing out seemingly endlessly.

Toward the end of this land was a frozen ocean and a barren plain covered in nothing but thick layers of snow.

And on top of the densely-piled snow were staggering zombies wandering around aimlessly. Their numbers seemed to be well past tens of thousands – no, maybe hundreds of thousands, if the ones scattered in the vicinity were all taken into account.

A group of Vampires kitted out in robes were currently treading on this land where the undead, usually found scattered throughout the continent, were naturally drawn to.

Not only were these Vampires strongly resistant to cold, the demonic energy emitted by the Land of the Dead Spirits actually made them feel a sense of belonging to this place.

They were led by a Lycanthrope who had been charged with a mission.

This being had been acknowledged by the Vampire King himself and was no longer seen as a mere pet by the Vampires, but as an actual member of the Vampire hierarchy.

Its hulking body was at least three metres tall. Its fangs were sharp, and his claws were deadly.

Its name was Helk, and its rank was ‘count’.

The creature raised its head and stared at the imposing ‘ice castle’ standing tall amidst the snowy terrain.

“…So, that’s the former fortress of the Necromancer King?”

The grand fortress-like structure apparently constructed by the Necromancer King, Amon, all those years ago…

It was partially destroyed as if to serve as a stark reminder of the intense battle fought against the Theocratic Empire in this very location.

Right now, it was also Count Timong’s base that doubled as a lab where all sorts of heinous experiments were being carried out even at this very moment.

Count Helk and the group of Vampires stepped inside the Necromancer King’s fortress.

When they strode past the open fortress gates, a dullahan that seemed to be a puppet of the Vampires appeared to block their path. It carried its head in one hand, while a lit lantern was in the other.

The eyeballs in that severed head shifted around. The undead was considerably large, but when compared to Helk, it came across as relatively shabby.

Helk spoke up first. “I’ve come to meet Count Timong.”

-This… way…

The dullahan replied with a cracked voice and turned around to lead the way.

Count Helk and the Vampires followed after the undead and walked inside the fortress, but they still didn’t forget to survey their new surroundings.

“It seems that the rumours of him going insane must be true.”

Blood-stained rune letters were inscribed in various places in the fortress.

Helk had heard that Timong often abducted Priests in order to use them as research material in his warp gate experiments, but to think that he still persisted with such a vile hobby even now.

Unfortunately, even that would come to an end soon.

The Vampire King no longer wished to delay the war. He wanted to gather all the Progenitor Vampires and wage a full-on war against the Theocratic Empire.

And Count Timong’s presence was an absolute necessity during this war. After all, the ‘maturing jars’ he had invented could force the undead stuck inside to evolve to something even stronger.

Those things would become absolutely essential in increasing the number of Vampires.

Count Helk continued to walk forward inside the partially destroyed fortress while thinking that to itself, only for it to tilt its head in confusion.

There was a large and empty plaza inside the fortress, but it had a huge hole in the middle. And all sorts of undead creatures were busy digging the earth out to widen the pit even further.

Why were they excavating the ground like that?

‘It’s impossible to figure out what’s in the head of an insane Alchemist.’

It was right at that moment that a massive hand suddenly extended out from the hole. It proceeded to slam down on the undead nearby.

The undead getting crushed into bloody meat paste looked like small, insignificant insects compared to the hand’s sheer size. The hand then scooped the crushed undead up before disappearing under the ground once more.

Helk, who witnessed that spectacle, froze up in its spot.

‘What the hell did I just witness?!’

“Did his majesty the Vampire King send you?”

Helk turned its head at that voice.

The Progenitor Vampire with a bent back like a hunchback that was at least three metres tall, and boasted stitched-up scars and bizarre-looking tumorous growths all over its skin, was standing not too far from the lycan.

It was Count Timong. He was kitted out in leather gloves, an apron, and a pair of goggles.

“A mere pet is a Count now…? I can only express how impressed I am at his majesty the Vampire King’s boundless generosity.”

Helk shot a displeased glare at Count Timong. But it soon withdrew the glare and pointed at the huge hole in the ground. “What is that?”

Count Timong stared at the pit dug out by the undead and snickered insidiously. “It’s a jar, of course.”

“A… jar?”

An undead was thrown inside such a huge pit so that it could be matured? It seemed that a monstrous existence required by the upcoming war was being ‘tamed’ inside there.

Helk felt a bout of intense curiosity to find out what the unknown creature looked like, but it somehow managed to suppress its urges and addressed Count Timong, instead. “His majesty has sent a message. He has commanded all of us to gather to prepare for the war. As such, Count Timong, you must…”

“I won’t be going.”

Helk’s brows rose up.

The order was issued by not just anyone, but the one and only Vampire King. The mere notion of ignoring the order from his majesty was utterly inconceivable.

Timong continued on, “I was given a separate mission. And that is to craft an item, a tool, that can utterly crush the Imperial Family. His majesty the Vampire King has directly ordered me.”

“That mission has been rescin…”

“If you wish to order me around, bring along a Progenitor with a marquis rank or a higher peerage with you. I’m in no mood to entertain the barking of a pet creature.”

Helk’s eye muscles twitched in anger.

This foolish Alchemist had been saying some things that touched the lycan’s reverse scale for a little while now.

Helk began loosening up its muscles. “I’ve been tasked with gathering all the Progenitors by none other than his majesty. However, if anyone dares to disobey…”

The lycan’s figure began ballooning up. Its muscles grew larger and veins bulged on its hide.

The sharp claws lengthened and curved inward like meat hooks.

Count Helk’s physique had ballooned past four metres in height, and now, it was tall enough to glare at Timong from above. “…I shall drag that fool away.”

“Hmm…”

Count Timong looked up at Helk before studying various parts of the lycan’s body.

The corners of his lips curled upwards. “The meat of a wild beast, is it…? Yes, it indeed is a nice offering.”

“What did you say?”

Helk momentarily froze up at that.

However, Count Timong simply snapped its fingers as his response. “Jötunn.”

Thud… Thud…!

A huge shadow was suddenly cast over Count Helk.

The lycan found this situation somewhat hard to understand and raised its head to look up. And that’s when it discovered several giants with massive physiques at least eight metres tall walking out of the fortress.

The ground cracked apart from the footsteps of these creatures, caused by their heavy weights. Their rotting skin, visible between their tough muscles, was seemingly frozen solid.

“Wha… what the hell?!”

Helk stared at the zombified Jötnar and unwittingly stumbled back in shock.

“Hey, you.”

Helk lowered its gaze at that voice.

Count Timong, the owner of said voice, was now pointing at the hole in the ground. “How about volunteering to become the next offering?”

**

Ding-! Ding-! Ding-!

Loud alarm bells were going off in the distance.

Charlotte, who was slumbering quietly away until then, hurriedly raised her upper torso up on the bed. She quickly shook her head full of bed hair.

Knocks came from the door and maidservants rushed inside her room.

“The undead have begun their raid, my lady.”

The maids informed her of the current situation.

Charlotte addressed them, “I’ll be setting off. Assist me.”

The maids busily moved about at her command. They helped her with putting on the set of white armour.

After the Paladin’s armour was placed on her, she attached the divine sword on her hips and quickly left the residence. She rode on a horse and urgently headed towards the city’s outer walls.

“They have come. Do not let your guard down!”

Harman was already present, issuing commands from above the outer wall.

The normal enlistd soldiers operated the large siege weapons, while the convicts rushed up to the outer walls while wielding bows, spears, swords, and maces.

They glared sharply at the ground some distance away, which was currently shrouded in a veil of darkness.

-Ku-eeeeeehk!

Along with the encroaching icy chill, the undead horde was approaching the northern fiefdom of Ronia.

Their monstrous howls sent shivers down the spines of all who listened, and their collective footsteps were loud and raucous enough to rock the ground below.

All anyone could see right now were countless glowing crimson eyes inside the darkness.

“Fire!”

Harman roared out his command. The arrows were soaked in oil and lit up before being let loose. The burning arrows rained down on the ground outside the walls, striking the zombies and lighting them up in bright flames.

Despite all their staggering, they didn’t stop advancing until their whole bodies were too damaged to move by the flames.

The types of undead showing up were varied, but still mostly limited to skeletons, zombies, and ghouls. All of them were low-tier undead.

However, various monsters and demi-humans had been zombified along with the usual human zombies, which imparted a strange sense of uniqueness to the incoming horde.

For instance…

“Bloody hell, it’s an Ogre!”

(TL: “Jötnar” is a plural of “Jötunn”.)

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