Chapter 100: The Mountain Lodge (3)
There are those who roam the dark forest without a trace of the road, as if it were their own home. They are creatures born with skin the color of leaves, but they live a life of violence.
Among them were the goblins, small creatures with great dexterity, strength, and tenacity that rivaled that of the orcs.
These little demons were now kneeling and bowing their heads in front of a single being. The being they were worshipping was an orc.
Compared to goblins, he was a giant, boasting the size and stature of an adult to a child.
The orc’s appearance was strange. He donned a feather-decorated hat and draped a bear-skin cape over his shoulders. In one hand, he held a strange staff made of bones and bones.
The staff resembled two interlocking leg bones, adorned with ribs at the top, and adorned with small skulls from the lower jaw bones hanging down.
Additionally, they painted letters and pictures on his exposed face and skin. Above his head, a blue flame floated and circled. The orc bowed his head and muttered something unintelligible.
The place where they were was a large cave. The cave, resembling an ant, had undergone extensive excavation ages ago.
Nature had smoothed the cave’s walls and floor with the strength of the goblins. The strangely dressed orc’s blue flame caused the walls and floor to shimmer with a bluish light.
“What the hell are you guys doing?”
“I don’t know. Let’s just be quiet for now.”
“We’re all going to die. We’re going to die. We’re going to die.”
“Don’t talk like that!”
In the corner were human mercenaries. They, like Brita and Cohen, had been hired to fight the goblins.
However, there were more monsters than they had heard about, and they were stronger than expected. So they retreated from the battlefield and ran away. Unfortunately, they were hit by the goblins’ paralyzing arrows and were brought into this cave.
There were a lot of people tied up with ropes. There seemed to be about fifty of them. Some were mercenaries in quilted armor, but many were not.
The people’s faces, which were barely visible in the blue light, were filled with fear and anxiety. The goblins paralyzed them and dragged them into the cave. They were then left alone.
The captured people were relieved that the goblins didn’t eat them right away, but that didn’t last long.
At that moment, the orc, who had been bowing his head, suddenly rose. There was a fierce light in the orc’s eyes.
“Karak-Tushi-Pio-“
Eventually, the orc pointed to the people tied in a row with a strange pronunciation. Then, a light flashed from the tip of the orc’s finger, and it began to create a terrible suction force.
“Ugh, ugh? Huh, aaah!”
“Euaaaah. . . . . .”
The suction force was not physical, but rather something that sucked in something non-material. The people felt their strength gradually draining from all over their bodies.
“Save me! Let me live! Someone help!”
“You son of a b*tch, let go!”
Pleading and cursing. The will to live burst out. The people struggled, but the ropes were strong. Furthermore, the stronger the will and desire to live, the more powerful the spell.
The flesh and muscles gradually withered away, revealing the bones. The eye sockets were sunken, and the eyeballs were wrinkled, losing their moisture.
The screams and pleas gradually lost their strength and eventually became a thin groan. The ropes that connected the people loosened and fell off.
Despite the removal of the restraints, the individuals were unable to rise. They were just corpses, all their vitality sucked away, lying on the cave’s cold floor.
The orc raised the power he had extracted from over fifty people to the cave’s ceiling. The whitish spirits and energies merged to form a gray mass.
Despite their unity, they lacked a central point, seemingly on the verge of disintegration. If left alone, they would scatter like threads and ride the world’s flow.
The orc didn’t let that happen. With his hand, he grabbed the blue flame floating above his head and sent it straight into the gray mass. The flame sucked in the gray spirits and the mass of life force.
While such strange things were happening, the goblins were shivering with their heads bowed to the floor of the cave, which their fathers, their fathers’ fathers, and their fathers’ fathers had worked on.
“Geli-Otos!”
At that moment, the orc swung his bone staff. Then, the blue flame and the gray mass that swirled around it came together.
A bright flash and thunder followed. The cave shook, and the stalactites, unable to withstand the shaking, fell to the floor and shattered.
Some goblins were unfortunate enough to have their bodies pierced by the stalactites and die, but none of the monsters left their places.
Eventually, the shaking and flashing stopped. Above the monsters’ heads, a bright blue flame was burning, emitting a cold light.
The orc looked at it and swung his staff once more, and from the flame, tendrils of flame erupted in all directions. The erupting flames permeated the eyes, noses, and mouths of all the goblins.
“Kerreurrr!”
“Ack! Kerek!”
The goblins’ bodies, into which the blue flames had permeated, grew larger. The pain of bones twisting and muscles growing forcibly overwhelmed the monsters.
Several of them, unable to bear the pain, coughed out blood and died. Then their corpses withered up and were absorbed into the other goblins.
“Kruk, Keuheuung. . . . . .”
“Kahuuung, Karrr.”
The new goblins were different from before. Their muscles covered their thin arms and legs, making them nearly 170 centimeters tall(5.5ft). The pointed ears became strangely round, and the bent bodies straightened up.
The goblins had become monsters that they had never been before, created by a wicked spell that drew on the power of the devil, human lives, and spirits.
The orc, who had been wielding the devil’s power, chuckled at the sight. The orc muttered.
“Geli-Otos.”
The goblins screamed. The monsters’ simultaneous screams echoed throughout the cave’s walls, ceiling, and floor.
Despite the noise, the orc pointed to the outside of the cave with a calm expression. Then, the enlarged goblins rushed out in unison.
The monsters’ footsteps crushed the bodies of the humans and their own kind, sucking all the vitality out and turning them to dust.
The monsters ran through the bushes, taking advantage of the forest’s darkness.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Russell was lying down, his head supported by a hand. He could see a dark brown ceiling. The ceiling sloped slightly, supported by sturdy rafters. They lined up the straw mats to fill the gaps, allowing rainwater to absorb and flow down the slope.
If he turned his gaze to the left, he could see the window and the sky. The moon was not visible, but the halo was. The blue halo dimly illuminated the corner of the night sky like fog, but the starlight could not penetrate it.
Russell understood that the moonlight was the sun’s reflection, and the starlight was actually the light of the past that had traveled a great distance.
However, in this world of magic and fantasy, moonlight, which should only reflect from the sun, occasionally stimulated the roar of monsters or empowered those who believed in it.
‘I used to wonder how that was possible, but now it all seems pointless.’
Unraveling the secrets of the universe and the existence of gods, monsters, devils, and magic is not something that helps one live. It would be better to cultivate the strength to wield a sword or an axe one more time.
As always, sleep did not come easily. His body was stirring with untapped power. The fiery power seemed to be asking when he would be able to fight a bloody and deadly battle.
He continued with other thoughts.
‘Julia.’ Julia Hippolia de Hyperion. The second princess of the Empire.
He remembered when he first met her. When he was killing the dragonkin, Karugon, who had been consumed by his own spell in the city of Calisden, She summoned lightning from the sky with the relic, and Russell used the lightning to defeat Karugon, who was becoming a black monster.
After that, he received her assistance until he encountered her ancestor Ludwig, and Ismenios, in the dungeon beneath Calisden.
Russell took the insignia out of his coat. The insignia, which had the symbol of the empire engraved into it, guaranteed his status anywhere within the empire’s domain.
The civil war in the Empire. ‘I thought I’d go someday. What kind of people, and what kind of monsters, will be there?’
“Can’t you sleep?”
The question was sudden, but Russell had already sensed its presence. When he turned his head, Calia was standing next to the bed. Despite the fact that the door did not open or the corridor creak, her appearance in the room was like a ghost at first glance.
The moonlight and starlight from the window beyond illuminated only her chest. The rest was dark.
However, Russell had eyes that could distinguish objects well with just that handful of light, so he could see Calia’s face well.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.”
Calia snorted and sat down on the bed with a gentle movement. As she lowered her position, the light finally reached her face.
The bluish moonlight illuminated her skin like white porcelain, making her look like a different species.
“Aella is sleeping well. Even if someone picks her up, she won’t know. It’s no wonder she’s tired.”
Calia’s cool hand caressed Russell’s chest.
“What are you doing?”
“I just thought it was so firm, unlike my chest. You can touch it too.”
She didn’t just say it; she took Russell’s hand and placed it on her chest. He felt a slight warmth, a soft touch, and a pounding heartbeat in his palm.
“Isn’t it strange? A vampire with a beating heart. No, it’s hard to call her a vampire at this point. It wouldn’t be too much to say that it’s a new species.”
“Don’t vampires have beating hearts?”
“They do. But they beat very, very slowly. They become hard and stiff if they don’t eat fresh blood.”
But now, Calia had gone a long time without eating blood. Ever since she had bitten his finger and sucked his blood at the village ten days ago, she hadn’t asked to take his blood once.
“Also, vampires can’t have families. After consuming blood for a considerable amount of time and gaining strength, vampires can, at best, create servants that they can use as limbs once they transform into true blood. But I’m a little different now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I would like to confirm that right now.”
As she spoke, Calia drew closer. She was close enough that their noses touched. There was a warmth in the two eyes that looked at Russell.
Russell looked at the white, smooth skin without a single pore, the red lips, the upturned nose, and the red eyes.
He could see his face reflected in her clear, beautiful eyes. Calia’s eyes were gently trembling.
About twenty minutes had passed. It was Calia who parted her lips first. As an ancient vampire who possessed a sturdy body thanks to Russell’s blood and magic, her breath would not catch in her throat.
Calia felt her body shaking finely at a sensation she had never felt before in her life.
“T, This.”
“Don’t tell me, it’s your first time.”
Calia did not answer Russell’s question. She just narrowed her eyes and glared at him.
But soon, she buried her nose in Russell’s neck. The fragrant scent tickled her nostrils and spread deep into her lungs. It was fascinating. It was unbearable.
“Can I bite?”
“When have you ever asked permission?”
“I think I’ve always asked permission.”
Did she? Come to think of it, Calia had always asked him first. Can I drink you?
Russell and Calia are not in a master-servant relationship. It was also different from Jirach’s experience.
Russell’s blood and magic were just the key to a fabrication process that gave Calia’s spirit and flesh, which she encountered in the darkness of the abyss, a new birth.
Nevertheless, Calia always asked permission.
“Because I respect you.”
“Did you read my mind?”
“It’s all over your face, so I don’t have to read it.”
“So that’s why you made Aella so tired.”
“I couldn’t help it because she would never leave your side.”
Their lips met again. They didn’t just touch; their warm tongues met. The fight for dominance was fierce, but it was clear who had the advantage.
In the end, Calia’s defeated face melted with pleasure. Her body, which had tilted completely, leaned against Russell.
“Wait.”
Russell suddenly parted his lips and raised his upper body. Calia looked up at him with a bewildered expression, still holding him in her arms.
“Why?”
Russell’s eyes remained focused on the window outside. Far away, the trees were rustling. Numerous footsteps echoed, torn apart the bushes indiscriminately.
Soon, Calia’s face also hardened.
“There are intruders. I can feel the energy of a devil.”
“Geliotos?”
“It’s a derivative energy, but yes.”
Calia sighed and stood up. Her eyes, which had suddenly opened, were filled with murderous intent.
“They will pay.”
Leave a Reply