Chapter 353: 185. Naglfar -1 (Part Two)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
The Vampire Duke turned his head and stared at that doorway.
A vampire, its body riddled with injuries, cried out urgently, “Someone infiltrated the fortress, sir! Not sure how he knew, but that bastard went straight for the cell with Marcus Ariana inside, and...!”
Agares’s eyes widened.
Could it be?
The Vampire Duke glared back at Hans sharply.
“I heard that His Majesty told you this in his communique to you.” Hans rose cautiously from the couch and stepped back. “If His Highness Lord Marcus was found to be injured in any shape or form, then...” He did his best to force his nervous frown to shift into a grin. “...he’d rip all of your heads off personally.”
Could it be that these humans were simply distractions?!
“You bastard-!”
Agares kicked the floor and shot forward, his arm reaching out towards the human. But at the same time, the scruff of Hans’s neck was grabbed by someone and he was yanked back out of the vampire’s reach.
Alice’s left hand was pulling Hans back, while her right was curled up into a fist. Powerful divinity gushed out from her gauntlets as she sucked in a deep breath.
She directly punched Agares’s extended hand.
KA-BOOM–!
A loud explosion went off in the VIP chamber. The doorway and the windows blew apart and the vampires were flung back.
As the choking dust cloud filled up the corridor, Alice dashed out from the room carrying Hans under her arm. She urgently dashed away from there.
Agares swung his crocodile tail to sweep away the dust cloud, then stared at his hand. The wrinkled arm of the old man was literally melting down.
That divinity-laden punch was quite fierce, indeed!
Agares roared out, “You dare to make a mockery out of me?!”
Other vampires around him quickly piped up, “We shall give chase, sir!”
However, Agares began alternating his glare between the corridor Alice was running away in and the other corridor leading to the underground prison.
Who should he go after in this case? The bloodline of the Imperial Family, or those two livestock?
There wasn’t much time to agonise over this dilemma, either.
“We shall head to the prison-!” Agares spun around and headed towards the prison area. Since the Imperials went to this much trouble to plan this whole thing out, that hostage must’ve held a tremendous amount of value. Marcus could not be allowed to slip through the vampires’ fingers, in that case!
Hans, still clinging to Alice for his dear life, pulled out the communication crystal ball. “Your Majesty, it’s now-! Those bastards have... Eh? Where are you now, sire?”
[Nice work, Hans. We’ve...]
**
historical
At the same time, in the underground sewer tunnels...
The Aztal Rune was radiating its brilliant golden light all around Allen, who was still wearing his bird-beak mask.
[We’ve managed to make our escape just now.]
He was urgently running through a sewage tunnel, with Marcus, Adolf, Gril, and Yuria in tow.
The rescue operation was a success. And when he’d send out his signal...
All the remaining survivors in the city would start moving, according to Rover’s instructions. But for the sake of their safe evacuation, a massive amount of chaos was an absolute necessity.
Allen extracted Avaldi’s Spear, now radiating a beautiful golden light. “Looks like it’s your turn to step up, oh former head of the Church of Caiolium.”
That’s right, that dude who, in his desire to become the next Pope, had started a rebellion all those years ago. The one who had also used the Aztal Rune...
“Mikael.”
Allen plunged the Avaldi’s Spear into the flowing holy water below.
**
“Dammit all to hell–!” Agares cursed in sheer rage. He held his head while staring at the empty prison cell. “Go after them! Chase them down, noooow!”
He roared out his command, but his fellow vampires could only reply in faltering voices, “B-but, sir. They fled through the underground sewer system, which is currently filled with holy water, and that’s...”
“You dare to use that as your excuse?!” Agares’s arm shot out and grabbed the head of the vampire who had dared to reply. “Just how the hell did you position our combat forces that we’ve ended up in this mess?! Why didn’t you buy more time until I got here?!”
“S-sir, it was the Holy Emperor. The Holy Emperor, sir!”
Agares froze in shock.
“The one who infiltrated the fortress was... the Holy Emperor...”
All strength abandoned Agares’s hand grip on the vampire’s head. His irises were trembling as he rubbed his face. All manner of nightmarish thoughts flitted in and out of his head nonstop.
The Holy Emperor had snuck into the city and spread around some kind of a plague to stop the undead from killing the hostages. He had also somehow figured out where Marcus Ariana was being held and rescued his older brother, too!
With that, there was nothing holding the Holy Emperor back.
It should soon start. Soon, the empire’s attack would...!
“Get ready for battle immediately! Their invasion will begin at any...?!”
BOOM-!
The ground below their feet rumbled ominously. The vibration was powerful enough to rock the whole fortress.
Agares used all four of his crocodile legs as well as his tail to secure himself to the floor. “...What was that?!”
An earthquake?
An unexplainable worry quickly took over his thoughts. A stench so detestable that it sent shivers down his spine suddenly began stinging his nostrils. That smell belonged to holy water.
“...We need to figure out the current situation outside!”
Agares hastily turned around to leave the prison. The other vampires followed him as well.
The Vampire Duke headed to the highest floor of the fortress. He flung the door open and discovered it was merely a storage room. He threw the window open to look outside.
The vampires following him discovered the spectacle taking place beyond the windows and clamped their mouths shut in shock.
“T-t-the waves of holy water...?”
The sewers were exploding like geysers from all corners of the city of Chaves. The holy water jetted out from the sewer access holes found on the streets and began utterly flooding the interior of the city.
Zombies were washed away by the waves of holy water and instantly vaporised, while the vampires were set alight in bluish flames. Almost in the blink of an eye, nearly twenty thousand undead combatants were wiped out of existence.
Agares looked lower and noticed that the waves of the holy water were crashing into the fortress before being repelled. Thankfully, the waves weren’t strong enough to break down the solid walls of the fortress.
Agares’s eyes shook even harder than they had earlier. With this, they no longer had an escape path!
“...Get ready to wage a castle defence!” Agares ordered.
“S-sir, are you planning to fight?”
Of course they had to fight. That was the only choice they had left at this point in time!
Agares shifted his gaze over to the outer wall of the city some distance away. The gates leading outside were wide open, and the survivors were hurriedly escaping through them.
Trying to capture them and control them was an impossibility now. That meant that the vampires really had no choice but to dig in and defend this fortress.
“We shall fight until the end!” Agares roared out. “Yes, fight until the end of your lives! The Vampire King’s glory will be with us all! And if we die alongside those Imperial bastards, then it will become the honour and glory for our Vampire King!”
The Vampire Duke didn’t stop there, and even roused up his demonic energy when roaring out his next command.
“All of you, prepare for battle!” His Spirit Speech echoed throughout the fortress of Chaves. “Do not forget your pride, and fight for the honour of our Vampire King–!”
He roared out loudly so that the fighting spirits of the vampires would be stoked. His voice did indeed rouse the vampires up and get them ready.
To them, the Vampire King was an absolute being. Now that His Majesty’s name had been brought up, there was no need for them to hesitate or falter.
Vampires and lycans all roared out in unison. They thrust their weapons high up, opened their maws wide and cried out together.
“For the glory of our Vampire Ki-?!”
BOOM-!!!
The ground rumbled once more.
The vampires all forgot about roaring out at that moment and urgently grabbed onto the nearby railings to secure themselves. Their gazes shifted over to the ground outside the fortress, currently submerged in holy water.
BOOM-!
The holy water’s surface rippled grandly.
One of the vampires dazedly looked over to the outer gates, and noticed that they were slowly closing up.
When the interior of the city was completely isolated from the outside, even more holy water began filling up the enclosed space.
Ka-booooom-!
The well-manicured ground suddenly rose up and exploded spectacularly. Bricks and nearby buildings flew up before crashing back down as piles of debris. The gigantic water spout rose up several hundred metres into the air.
And the ‘thing’ that could be spied among the cascading waterfall, was...
“A... ship?!”
It was a battleship!
The brows of all the vampires shot up high in astonishment.
As the waves of holy water spread out, a battleship over one hundred metres long rose up from beneath the surface of the water before settling down. It crushed the ground and destroyed what remained of the surrounding buildings.
Agares couldn’t help but swallow nervously at this spectacle.
-Now, offer your exaltations!-
A Spirit Speech imbued with divinity resounded out from the deck of the warship.
-Here is a miracle of the gods!-
This white ship was actually constructed solely out of bones. Hundreds of lengthy oars stretched out from its hull and plunged into the water’s surface. It rode on the waves of holy water to surge forward.
-Know his greatness, and shiver in fear from his omnipotence!-
Boom!... Boom!... Boom!...
Dozens of cannons were lined up on either side of the vessel.
-Kka-aaaahk!-
Countless mummies showed up on deck, howling and screeching raucously, their hands wielding various muskets and scimitars.
-I, the founder of a brand-new religious order...!-
The sails of the battleship unfurled grandly, and the tattered cloth making up the huge sails flapped in the air, announcing its maiden voyage.
A certain eye-catching figure could be seen standing amidst all the mummies on the bone deck. It was a grim reaper covered in pure white robes and hood, and wielding a frightening scythe.
-...Mikael shall command thee!-
This creature’s robes flapped in the winds as the glowing eyeballs within its skull flared up brightly. Its scythe was now pointing at the fortress where the terrified Agares was currently hiding.
-Kneel before His Holy Majesty, and sing hymns of exaltation to him!-
The battleship of the dead, the Naglfar.
The ship of the dead began its assault against the fortress.
< 185. Naglfar -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
(TL: Naglfar is pronounced “Nah-gl-far” in case you’re unsure. It’s also the mythical ship originating from the Norse mythology that shows up during Ragnarok.)