Chapter 256: To the Capital (8)

“The construction is finished. When can we leave.”

At Snow Leopard’s question, the soldiers wore perplexed expressions. It had been a week since the construction ended, but they still hadn’t been able to hold a proper ceremony. The beastmen understood the saying that everything would be over once the ‘ceremony’ concluded, but they seemed unable to control their desire to leave this messy construction site as soon as possible.

There were beastmen who kicked the fence thump thump several times a day or engaged in skirmishes with the soldiers, requiring Snow Leopard and the soldiers to intervene. Snow Leopard, seemingly considering the beastmen’s public opinion, periodically asked the soldier questions.

“The ceremony is nowhere in sight. Today, even monsters attacked. Are we supposed to keep living here forever?”

“I wish you’d understand. If you guys just leave, we’ll die. It’s the Hero-nim’s wish for you to hold the concluding ceremony here.”

Snow Leopard looked at the soldier with an expression that suggested he had much to say, but he simply closed his mouth. He knew the soldiers weren’t stopping them out of malice, and also knew that if he ran away, they wouldn’t die in his place.

While working on this memorial tower, Snow Leopard had witnessed the Hero’s overwhelming abilities with his own eyes. To him, the Hero was an unstoppable natural disaster, power incarnate. To assume such a being wouldn’t pursue them and to run away would be an excessive gamble.

Snow Leopard always wanted the surest path to survival. The soldier said.

“After the construction is done, are you going to raid humans again?”

The soldier knew that Snow Leopard and the beastmen would be subdued the moment the ceremony began, and then thrown into the pit of fire as sacrifices. He also knew they would pull a lever below to activate the altar, concluding the ritual amidst the screams of the beastmen.

The soldier asking Snow Leopard this question now was merely an attempt to alleviate his guilt about the upcoming massacre. Seeing the young beastmen passing by, or the old ones struggling even to walk, it was natural to pity their fate.

Snow Leopard said.

“We will go into the snowy mountains and live very quietly. Far from raiding humans, we will live treating humans like masters.”

The soldier knew that was a lie. They were the kind of guys who would do anything to survive, so if the situation demanded survival again, they would betray them anytime. The soldier spoke again.

“Isn’t there anything better than that? Like, coexisting with humans.”

Snow Leopard blinked and looked up at the altar. He felt like the massive altar was looking down on him. He turned his head away, avoiding the pressure he felt without realizing it, and said to the soldier.

“I was a slave. Humans can’t be trusted. Humans always attack us when we’re weak and make us slaves. There were many such times, which is why we found our own way to live. The world doesn’t change. Humans started everything, and humans will start it again.”

The soldier thought of the people who had died in the North and said to Snow Leopard.

“Still, you shouldn’t have joined hands with demons.”

“Do you mean we should have died for humans? Us?”

Hatred cannot be erased. The soldier realized that Snow Leopard and he harbored similar hatreds, making true understanding impossible. He decided to erase the pity he felt for the young and old beastmen from his heart.

“We’ve been talking nonsense. Anyway, let’s just hope the ritual ends without a hitch.”

“Understood.”

The ritual would not end without a hitch. The soldier knew this, but kept his mouth shut. He just wished that someone would come today and kill the Hero Wolf, ending all this foolishness.

******

I can barely breathe. Wolf assessed his exhausted physical condition again. This wasn’t just a matter of low stamina. It was as if someone had stuck a straw into his body, draining his strength little by little, his total power diminishing. When he defeated the Demon King, he thought nothing could beat him, but now he was in a position where he had to pour all his energy into defeating mere large monsters. Wolf couldn’t understand his physical condition. Why was his strength decreasing? This power was granted by the Goddess; who was siphoning it away? He didn’t think the Goddess herself would take back her power. After all, Wolf had faithfully carried out the Goddess’s commands until now. He had even drawn up blueprints and personally overseen the construction of a memorial tower for his comrade as commanded, and upon hearing the order to sacrifice the beastmen, he had even secured a date to do so. Now, everything was nearing its end; all that remained was to hold the memorial rite for Fabian and throw the beastmen into the pit of fire. So why? Why was Wolf’s body continuously losing strength? Lost in doubt, Wolf picked up his sword again. He rose from the throne, now little more than ruins, and looked around. Someone. A very powerful being was rushing towards this place.

*****

“Huh?”

Taffy stopped running towards the palace and stared at the massive memorial tower peeking out beside it. The memorial tower, completed while he wasn’t paying attention, looked incredibly bizarre no matter how you looked at it. Its sharp, pointed appearance, which seemed more suited for nefarious purposes than remembrance, somehow reflected Wolf’s combative nature.

I asked Taffy.

“What’s wrong?”

“There was a drawing like that in the mansion’s laboratory.”

Taffy pointed a finger at the memorial tower. The laboratory she was referring to was the one belonging to a research group that experimented on ancient vampires. There was something in that lab with the exact same shape as this monstrous tower?

“It wasn’t theirs. It was on an older stone tablet. It was drawn there.”

“On an older stone tablet?”

“It said ‘Gate’ underneath.”

I looked at Milia. Milia shrugged and said.

“I don’t know? I’ve never seen a shape like that in the Demon Realm. Since Taffy is an ancient vampire… maybe it’s a style used even further back than we thought?”

It was a complex and suspicious issue. Where on earth did Wolf see this structure to build it? Who on earth designed this structure?

Petunia Titi took my hand and said.

“Evan. We need to kill Wolf quickly right now.”

Petunia Titi said that, her face flushing with a blush. She was still holding onto the idea of having romantic sex in this palace. Her reason, melted away by days of steamy sex and internal cumshots, could now think of nothing but sex with me and fighting. Just thinking about killing Wolf made her frown and mumble nonsense like ‘I love you, Wolf,’ but now she casually spouted that Wolf had to die for her to have sex with me.

I patted her butt and nodded. As she said, there was no time to ponder such issues right now. As time passed, Wolf would regain his strength, and the more Wolf recovered, the lower our chances of winning became.

We’ll charge in all at once before he recovers. We tore our gaze away from the memorial tower, which kept asserting its presence, and ran towards the palace.

*****

“Wha, what…!”

One soldier guarding the ramparts was hit in a vital spot and collapsed. Before the other soldier standing next to him could even grasp the situation, he too was hit by a fist and slammed into the wall. Hearing the sound of the impact against the wall, three soldiers running down the corridor were struck on the temples by suddenly flying pebbles and fell. I kept running forward until I found a servant hiding in the corner of the room and grabbed him by the collar. As soon as he was caught by me, he gave up any thought of resistance and shouted.

“P-please spare me! I’ll tell you anything!”

“Where is Wolf?”

“H-he’s! Ah, in the audience chamber! He said he wanted to be alone, so nobody should disturb him…!”

“Where’s the audience chamber?”

“O-out this corridor, straight ahead… ! Oho-gok…!”

I decided to reward him, having extracted the necessary information. I gifted him pleasure intense enough to temporarily knock him out, causing him to tremble, wet his pants, and foam at the mouth. Milia, Taffy, and Petunia all nodded, and we moved in the direction the servant had indicated. Turning the corner as he said, a magnificent door appeared before us. Petunia Titi’s eyes widened, and she shoved us aside.

“What?”

Like two soft balls colliding and bouncing off each other, the space between us widened. A white sword aura flew through the gap at the speed of a swallow, followed by a roar and an explosion.

“Shit!”

Milia deployed a shield, and Taffy disappeared into the shadows. Petunia Titi threw her weapon towards the ceiling, creating a hole, and then entered the ceiling. I held Milia tightly, having no choice but to endure the tremendous aftershock. Where the wind subsided, it looked as if a typhoon had passed. The grand doors adorning the audience chamber were long gone, and the corridor leading to it had transformed into a massive cylindrical tunnel, as if a cannon had exploded. A soldier, passing innocently in front of the corridor, had been blown to smithereens by Wolf’s sword strike, announcing his presence only as chunks of flesh.

Dust billowed out from the direction of the audience chamber. A man’s silhouette emerged, accompanied by footsteps.

“Have you come to hunt me.”

The man had a beard and a weary complexion, yet he still exuded a powerful aura. His aura was overwhelming, but I didn’t show it, rising from my spot and saying.

“Yes. For love and justice.”