Ch-165
—
As for any other method—there was only one left in the end.
‘…Breeding.’
Of course, it had to be breeding.
The Bloodspawn lay their eggs inside whatever prey they devour.
So did that mean I needed to hunt demons and have them lay eggs in those bodies?
The problem was, doing so risked exposing my whereabouts to Issera.
It was then.
—O King. Permit us to create a Queen!
—Grant us even more blood for the Queen!
—With the corpse of Lord Solbaren, let us birth a stronger lineage!!
From within the shadows, the Bloodspawn began whispering excitedly.
*
*
“Hmph. What utter disgrace is this!”
Marquis Weiser was furious.
In the end, the commotion caused the wedding to be canceled.
But he simply couldn’t understand it.
“A Hydragon appears on our territory out of nowhere! Isn’t that strange no matter how you think about it? And Hudson—where has he gone now…!”
“Father.”
“Serengeti. Tell me. Where has Hudson disappeared to?”
No matter how he thought about it, nothing about the situation was normal.
When Marquis Weiser asked outright, Serengeti shook her head.
Both Randolph and Hudson had suddenly vanished.
“…He said he had business at the exchange for a moment.”
“The exchange? More important than the wedding? He should at least greet his relatives!”
They had gathered every relative they could find for this grand wedding.
There had been an unfortunate disturbance, sure—but the ceremony could simply be postponed a few days.
In the meantime, shouldn’t the groom, Hudson, at least get acquainted with the family members?
“He is handling an important matter with Lord Randolph.”
“…Lord Randolph? Even so… on this important day…!”
“Please do not be angered. I will take responsibility.”
When Serengeti spoke solemnly, Marquis Weiser exhaled deeply.
“…How long must we postpone the ceremony? We cannot keep all these busy people waiting endlessly.”
“The ceremony… can be held later.”
“Don’t you want to hold it as soon as possible?”
“Yes.”
Serengeti slowly nodded.
Seeing that, Marquis Weiser could only look puzzled.
Hadn’t she been the one most eager to hold the ceremony as soon as possible?
Serengeti, who had prepared everything at lightning speed, now changed her attitude out of the blue.
And all because of a single Hydragon’s appearance.
‘…That Hydragon belongs to Lord Randolph.’
Because Serengeti already knew.
She knew that strangely-shaped Hydragon was Randolph’s pet.
And if Randolph had interfered and disrupted the ceremony so suddenly, he must have had a reason.
And that reason was probably…
—I’m a sinner.
Suddenly, Hudson’s words—spoken to her in private—began replaying over and over in Serengeti’s mind.
*
*
Union, the Mage of the Golden Ratio.
Opening a warp, he arrived on a nameless small island.
“Inventory, Moving Castle.”
Boom!
In an instant, a castle rose upon the island.
He entered the castle, sat upon the throne, and let out a deep sigh.
“…I’m exhausted.”
Was it the aftereffect of crossing dimensions?
He felt he needed some rest.
But at that very moment—
Ziiiiing!
“…A warp?”
Someone was opening a warp directly in front of him.
Who would dare?
And how did they know where he was?
Frowning, he opened his inventory.
He intended to turn them into a beehive the moment they appeared.
“G—ghk…!”
But upon seeing who emerged, Union was struck with horror.
And for good reason.
“…A—A ‘True One’?!!”
—Kyahahahaha!
For a moment, he thought he must be seeing wrong.
Union’s eyes widened.
‘Why is a True One on Earth?’
He hadn’t been this shocked in ages.
But the coordinates were unmistakably Earth.
There should be no reason for a True One—any True One—to exist outside Pangaenia.
‘And I’ve never seen this True One before.’
Both the fact that this place was Earth, and that the being arriving via warp was a True One—these were certain.
Yet he still couldn’t comprehend it.
Union, the Mage of the Golden Ratio.
He had been one of the imperial court mages involved in founding the newborn Arhon Empire.
He was very aware that the “True One eggs” the First Emperor had brought from the Celestial Realm were deeply tied to the rise of the Cult of the Reaper.
Naturally, he also knew the appearance and abilities of every True One.
And of the Elevenes, who handled them.
—Kyahahahahaha!
…But then.
‘The Twelfth True One?’
Impossible.
The First Emperor had brought **only eleven** True One eggs.
Afterwards, the Emperor fell into a deep sleep, all eleven hatched, and together with the Elevenes became the deep-rooted pillars of the Reaper Cult.
That was everything Union knew.
But now, a twelfth existed?
‘An egg the Emperor failed to bring from the Celestial Realm.’
…it could exist.
If the eggs the Emperor carried weren’t all of them.
No—Union judged it more likely that the Emperor **couldn’t** bring them all.
After being exiled from the Celestial Realm, he couldn’t have carried everything out.
Then a phrase the Emperor often muttered came to mind.
—How regrettable. I was so close to completing truth. I failed to bring the last piece.
Union had never known what that “last piece” meant.
But what if that piece was the final True One’s egg?
‘…If I become the master of the last True One…’
Union shivered.
No mage had researched the True Ones more deeply than he.
The benefits a True One granted its contractor were countless.
One was “agelessness.” If that alone was so grand, imagine the rest.
Indeed, the owners of the True Ones—the Elevenes—lived forever in unaging bodies from the moment their True Ones hatched.
‘Agelessness and summoning Reapers are only side effects. Compared to the True One’s true value, they’re nothing.’
To summon a Reaper and harvest a target’s life and soul—
That was merely one of a True One’s abilities.
Its true value lay elsewhere.
**Trait Evolution.**
A True One possessed the power to evolve the contractor’s traits.
The higher a True One’s level and growth, the wider the range of trait evolution—and the more unbounded it became.
This transcendence surpassed even consuming stars.
Thus, the Elevenes, masters of the True Ones, held power beyond humanity.
Though each True One evolved different types of traits.
Among those who understood this and focused on developing it, only a handful could compare—Union knew their names well.
—Kyahahahaha!
“…A very hearty True One indeed.”
A deep smile spread across Union’s lips.
That laugh.
A True One’s characteristic sound revealed much about its power.
And this one was laughing boldly—outward, not inward.
A True One whose sound projected outward was close to an “all-rounder.”
And none of the Elevenes possessed such a boldly laughing True One.
‘It read a warp, rode it, then crossed dimensions. And it’s an all-rounder.’
He wanted it.
Desperately.
Had it contracted with someone?
If so, why appear before him alone?
If it had a contractor, it would’ve arrived *with* them.
No contractor would ever send a True One alone.
Besides, a contractor couldn’t stray far from their True One—they were the ones who had to summon it.
A True One couldn’t summon itself or wander the world at will.
‘Could it be… a stray that lost its master?’
Ah.
Then it made sense.
This True One had lost its contractor.
If it had been summoned and the contractor died, a True One would wander the world for a time.
During that wandering, it must have sensed Union’s presence and followed.
Perhaps it was drawn to his power.
“You mean to treat me as your new contractor?”
—Kyaha?
“…Very well. Let us walk together.”
Union smiled deeply.
When all traces of its previous contractor disappeared, he could form a new contract.
Until then, he needed to build as much affinity as possible.
‘How fortunate.’
To think the final True One would fall into his hands.
And on Earth of all places.
A fortune beyond fortune—blessings rolling straight into his lap.
*
*
—O King. Permit us to create a Queen!
—Grant us even more blood for the Queen!
—With Lord Solbaren’s corpse, let us strengthen our lineage!
From the shadows, the Bloodspawn began to clamour.
Since the moment I began considering increasing their numbers.
‘A Queen from Lord Solbaren’s corpse?’
Now that I thought about it—right after raiding Lord Solbaren, his corpse had disappeared into my shadow.
The Bloodspawn had taken care of it themselves.
‘A Queen of the Bloodspawn…’
I recalled the Desert Queen.
The ruler of the desert city. She had been a queen created by the Blood King.
She had attempted to infect that land to summon him.
But even she hadn’t laid eggs, as far as I knew.
“…Proceed.”
I had nothing to lose.
The moment I gave permission, the Bloodspawn in my shadow began moving busily.
—The King has granted permission!
—Let us create the Queen!
—O King! More blood!
Shrrraaaaa—
And then it happened.
“…Hm.”
All strength drained from my body.
My skin paled, then turned yellowish, as severe anemia washed over me.
Staggering, I barely managed to steady myself.
‘They really are taking only just enough to keep me alive.’
The Bloodspawn were draining my blood without restraint.
Leaving me with just barely enough to avoid death.
“—Blood is insufficient!”
“—We require more blood, O King!”
“—To make Solbaren’s corpse into a Queen, we need more power!”
······What?
More blood?
Meaning they needed an amount of blood befitting the rank of Lord Solbaren.
But even an elixir couldn’t restore blood.
Slowly shaking my head, I took out the Wish Orb.
《‘The Weathered Wish Orb of the Dragon God’ emits light.》
《‘Natural Regeneration’ increases by 5,000% for 30 minutes.》
《‘Wish Orb’ will finish recharging in 30 days.》
One of the items I had purchased from the Golden Scale Shop.
This was the reason the Wish Orb was considered a mandatory item for rankers:
Versatility.
You could only use it once a month, but in the moment you needed something, it could supply it.
*‘Which is why you can only own one Wish Orb.’*
The maximum number of Wish Orbs a person could possess was one.
Once used, the cooldown was a massive 30 days—but that didn’t mean there was no way to recharge it faster.
In any case, thanks to the Wish Orb, I forcibly pushed my natural regeneration to its peak.
“—Oooh, the blood flows anew!”
“—Let us create the Queen!”
“—The first Queen!”
“—The great Queen!”
···And so, for a full 30 minutes, I became a living blood bank.
In the end, unable to endure it any longer, I collapsed flat onto the bed.
If anything, it was fortunate that a full-scale invasion hadn’t begun yet.
How much time passed after that?
《The first Queen of the Bloodspawn has been born!》
《By the Bloodspawn’s collective yearning, the hatching time of the first Queen has been greatly accelerated.》
《The Queen possesses the traits: ‘Betrayer’, ‘Lord’, ‘Invincible’, ‘Frenzy’, and ‘Brood’.》
《A Queen with the trait ‘Betrayer’ will stop at nothing.》
《A Queen with the trait ‘Lord’ can command up to 100,000 in her swarm.》
《A Queen with the trait ‘Invincible’ survives until her swarm is annihilated.》
《A Queen with the trait ‘Frenzy’ goes berserk when her swarm is annihilated.》
《A Queen with the trait ‘Brood’ lays up to 1,000 eggs per day.》
《Please name the first Queen.》
*
