Chapter 422 [Illustration]

We passed through warp gates and traveled via mass teleportation to a place close to the lich’s tomb. When we arrived, all we saw was a place covered in dense fog.

We didn’t enter recklessly, but assessed the situation first.

The Quantum Maze wasn’t a labyrinth that was impossible to break through. While most adventurers would have no choice but to wander about before turning back, it might be different for the Imperial Mage Corps.

There was no way to know if the Vampire Council and my other allies had arrived or were close by. We waited around without entering the labyrinth until the mages finished their analysis.

Sabioleen Tana gave Harriet and I advice on precautions.

“Once we enter the labyrinth, the two of you are going to be in the center of the formation,” she said. “Don’t do anything without my instruction, and if we enter a combat situation, avoid confrontation with the enemy as much as possible. Anyone here should be capable of protecting you.”

Both Harriet and I nodded, tense.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

It was natural for Harriet to be nervous, given the uncertainty of what lay inside.

I didn’t know if Rother Dwin was really in there. Hopefully, he was. We also needed to capture at least one key member of Cantus Magna.

“We’ll enter once the analysis of the labyrinth is complete.”

Even if the elite imperial forces were confident on their own, Tana seemed to want to be thoroughly prepared since we were accompanying them. Thus, we waited outside for a long time after our arrival while the mages analyzed the Quantum Maze.

Although nothing happened for a while, I felt on edge because of it.

It was already deep into the night, and the analysis wasn’t complete until the bright white full moon had risen.

Harriet and I quietly observed the situation as the moon hung in the sky. I wondered if this was what it felt like to be so anxious that you didn’t know what to do with yourself.

It was only when the full moon began to descend again that there was a reaction from the mages.

—Commander! We have a situation!

It was one of the mages analyzing the labyrinth, calling out to Tana.

—The fog is clearing!

“What?”

The analysis of the labyrinth wasn’t complete, but an anomaly had been detected in the area where the labyrinth was located.

Since we were overlooking the vast foggy area from one side of the mountain range, we could see the entire vast region, if not the whole labyrinth. It was true—the fog was gradually clearing.

I knew that the fog itself functioned as the Quantum Maze, but it was somehow dissipating.

This meant that the labyrinth was being deactivated.

Why? Did someone break through the labyrinth? Or did someone deactivate the Quantum Maze entirely? A while later, the answer was given.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Rumble, rumble, rumble. Rumble!

The ground shook violently.

“An... earthquake?”

In an instant, the fog that clouded the entire mountainous region dissipated. I held Harriet, whose face was beginning to turn pale.

Rumble!

“It’s an earthquake! Protect yourselves! There might be a landslide!”

In response to Tana’s urgent shout, everyone began to move. Trees crashed down around us, and the mages around us cast protective spells. Harriet and I, eyes wide open, saw something in the middle of the labyrinth.

We saw the ground rise unnaturally, and the earth swelled for a moment like a rubber balloon inflating.

Boom!

A powerful blue flash erupted from deep underground, exploding out through the earth. A magical explosion swept from below, engulfing the world.

Crash!

The strong barrier cast by the archmages around us protected us from the massive shockwave.

***

The ground collapsed. I couldn’t find a better way to describe it.

After the explosion, the ground around it sank entirely. The whole mountainous region collapsed, sinking down into the ground like a giant antlion pit.

Fortunately, everyone present was an archmage, and they could protect not only themselves but also Harriet and I from such an explosion.

The labyrinth had disappeared, and the ground it had been on had collapsed. This meant that those wandering the labyrinth had likely been blown to pieces by the explosion or buried in the debris and killed.

How many adventurers had been searching for treasure in that labyrinth when it happened? Hundreds? Thousands? I couldn’t know.

However, without an archmage to protect them, they would all have perished.

We had landed safely on the collapsed ground. All of the fog had disappeared, and we could see all the way to the center of the area.

It was too far for Harriet to make anything out, and to me, it appeared only as a dot. But there was a silhouette there, shrouded in ominous energy.

Bang! Boom! Crash!

It was clear that whatever it was, it was fighting something.

“Everyone, prepare for action! We’re entering the scene!” Sabioleen Tana shouted as she steadied herself. Whatever fight was going on there, Sabioleen Tana had to take control of the situation. Harriet was squinting, possibly using a Telescope spell.

“Oh...”

Harriet pointed to the scene, her lips trembling. She muttered blankly as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, even with her own eyes.

“Dad ...?”

“What?”

Harriet grabbed my arm and screamed as if in shock.

“D-Dad, Dad is there!”

‘The Duke of Saint-Ouen? Why on earth would the Duke be here? Could it be...?’

I felt a chill run through my entire body. I wasn’t the only one shocked by her words.

“What are you talking about? The Duke of Saint-Ouen is there?” Tana asked.

Harriet, her lips turning blue, was trembling violently.

“Yes! I don’t know why, but Dad is there!”

***

Sizzle...

The archlich, who had blown away the entire area around it with a massive magical explosion, stood tall, surveying the surroundings.

The original owner of the dungeon, a mere lich, had not been able to cast a barrier strong enough to withstand the explosion, and had been swept away.

The Duke of Saint-Ouen and the mage corps were unharmed.

Lucren, the archlich and leader of Cantus Magna, turned his gaze elsewhere before noting that Antirianus remained unharmed.

‘Who on earth is that woman?’

he thought.

She stood there, not moving a finger, her hair unruffled, calmly observing the situation despite the massive explosion.

She continued to look on with a neutral expression.

Who was she? An enemy or an ally?

Not knowing what kind of being she was, Lucren had no choice but to be most wary of this mysterious woman.

Under the moonlight, Lucren sensed something slightly different about Antirianus.

Vertically slit golden pupils. Fangs protruding between pale skin and lips.

The implication was clear.

“You’ve become a vampire, Antirianus.”

“There are many ways to endure time, Lucren. You became a lich, and I became a vampire.”

Archlich, and Vampire Lord—both were legendary beings.

However...

Lucren looked up at the sky. The situation was unfavorable.

It was night, and vampires were creatures of the night.

“You should have timed it better, Lucren.”

Antirianus, his golden eyes shining, raised both hands.

Crack!

The head of the house of Saturday, one of the seven great Vampire Lord families, Antirianus...

The ground rose, enveloping the Archlich.

“Now is the time to reach the truth of Akasha.”

“What...?”

Thud!

The earth that swallowed Lucren was compressed in an instant, turning into rock and crystallizing.

Antirianus smiled as he looked at Lucren, who had been trapped in a prison of crystal that had been fashioned in an instant.

“Ah. So, the house of Saturday...” Luna murmured quietly.

The Duke heard her, but couldn’t understand what it meant.

“Perhaps we didn’t come to the right place...”

Luna took a step forward, and vanished.

She had only taken one slow step, the same as before. However, the Duke saw the woman appear behind the old gentleman instantaneously.

He couldnt’ tell if it was magic, or a physical ability. With one small, slow step, the woman had caught up to the old gentleman.

“And who might you be?” The old gentleman said without turning around, a faint smile on his lips.

“I’ll ask you this,” Luna said quietly. “Where is the Archdemon?”

Antirianus wasn’t flustered by the sudden question.

“How did you come to know of such a tale?” Antirianus said.

“That’s not important.”

The woman took another step, and was no longer behind the old gentleman, but in front of him.

With the moonlight behind her, the woman asked Antirianus, “Where is the Archdemon?”

Antirianus smiled at the question. “Heh. I don’t know which one you mean, but...”

The old vampire’s eyes glinted with interest.

“Men are blind when it comes to their own causes, as they say...”

The old gentleman reached out to the woman.

“How could I carelessly let slip any of this to an outsider?”

Swish!

As Antirianus stretched his hand forward, Luna vanished like a mirage and reappeared a few steps back.

“Though you may be at ease, I am not in such a position,” he said.

Crack... Crackle...

Cracks were forming in the crystal prison behind Luna.

That wasn’t all.

Luna could see a group of mages and knights approaching from afar.

“Hmm.”

There was no time for leisurely conversation.

Crack!

The archlich, who had shattered the crystal prison with force, exhaled a breath full of hatred.

“Antirianus, your penchant for petty tricks has increased.”

A battle between an archlich and a Vampire Lord...

Meanwhile, a Swordmaster and a battalion of archmages were approaching the scene as well.

Luna closed her eyes for a moment.

She took a step, and vanished without a trace.

Antirianus, facing the enraged archlich, was no longer wearing a feigned smile, but a grotesquely twisted one.

“It’s strange, Lucren,” Antirianus said as he watched at the imperial elites charging in. “Why did you come alone to such an obvious place?”

Flash!

One by one, new figures appeared beside Antirianus—cloaked figures.

The support from the Black Order and the Vampire Council had arrived.

“Are you that confident?”

The imperial elite forces were still approaching. It was going to be a chaotic battle, and someone was bound to die.

The Vampire Council and the Black Order aimed to subdue the archlich and escape. Meanwhile, the goal of the imperial elite was annihilation.

The Black Order and the Vampire Council, Cantus Magna, and the imperial elite—a three-way battle was about to unfold.

Sabioleen Tana arrived at the standoff, at the forefront of the imperial contingent.

“The situation is quite peculiar,” she said.

She observed the cloaked group, the Archlich, and beyond them, the Duke of Saint-Ouen and the mage corps.

‘The Duke is uninvolved,’

she thought.

Though she didn’t know why he was there, Tana noticed the Duke of Saint-Ouen retreating with his forces.

A superhuman beyond even superhumans, a knight worthy of being called the strongest in the world... She looked haughtily down at the archlich.

“Well, I suppose I just need to kill all the suspicious ones.”

Sabioleen Tana raised Tempesta, the Storm Sword, and pointed its blade at the enemies facing her.

How the situation had come to be wasn’t important to her.

She had simply come to eradicate the enemies of the empire, and she would carry out that mission.

***

The imperial elite charged into the eye of the storm.

The scale of the battle had grown significantly. Many cloaked figures had appeared around Antinarius.

It was clear that members of the Black Order and the rest of the Vampire Lord’s forces had joined forces.

Lucinil and the other heads of the families were likely involved in the situation.

The target was Rother Dwin, but a clash with the empire’s elite had already begun.

The empire couldn’t discern who the enemy was.

I hoped as few people as possible would get hurt, but that seemed impossible. People were going to die.

Harriet and I remained in place, watching the scene unfold. We would not be able to intervene in this situation.

In the middle of that battle was Harriet’s father, the Duke of Saint-Ouen. Harriet, who was trembling in the face of a situation she couldn’t understand, was doing something.

And then, in the distance, the Duke of Saint-Ouen and his forces began moving towards us, avoiding the fight, traveling toward us using bursts of short-range teleportation.

Had they used some sort of telepathy-based magic?

Flash!

The Duke of Saint-Ouen and his forces quickly reached us, and the duke embraced Harriet roughly.

“Dad!”

Whoosh!

The duke wrapped his arms around Harriet.

“Harriet, how did you end up here...?!”

Then he looked at me and widened his eyes.

“You as well, Reinhart?”

I flinched at the Duke of Saint-Ouen’s words, suspecting he might be part of Cantus Magna.

Rumble! Crash!

The battlefield, where Antirianus was presumed to be, was filled with fierce magical torrents, lightning, and thunderous explosions.

Now that Sabioleen Tana’s unit had been added to the mix, a massive vortex of fighting was unfolding.

“Dad... Dad, why are you here? What are you doing here...?” Harriet asked, still trembling as she hugged the duke.

“I came to deal with some dangerous magic that had been discovered. But it seems there are more dangerous beings here than I anticipated,” the duke replied.

I couldn’t tell if the duke’s words were true or not, but it seemed his thoughts about the matter had changed upon discovering Harriet was here.

“We need to get out of here first. We’ll talk later.”

“O-okay...”

It seemed he intended to ensure Harriet’s safety before doing anything else. The Duke let go of his daughter and looked around.

“Your Highness, the mana flow around this place is unusual. A long-range teleportation barrier has been deployed across the area,” one of the duke’s subordinates reported.

The empire’s elite had come with the mission to capture Rother Dwin. Thus, the Imperial Mage Corps had analyzed the labyrinth and set up a teleportation barrier over this vast area.

It was not something that could be easily done, but the Imperial Mage Corps could make the impossible possible.

“If that’s the case, we’ll move out using short-range teleportation. Harriet, follow the corps. I’ll personally escort Reinhart since he can’t use teleportation,” the duke said.

The duke’s plan was to send Harriet off first and escort me himself.

“No, anything could happen right now. Please go with Harriet. I’ll follow,” I responded.

The duke seemed intent on protecting me, but in this situation, I preferred to be alone as I might need to contact Eleris and my forces during whatever was about to unfold.

If the empire succeeded in subduing Rother Dwin, there might be a need to extract him.

“Are you sure?” the duke asked.

“Yes. Please, go quickly.”

The duke went along with my suggestion, perhaps thinking it might be problematic to send Harriet separately.

“Reinhart... be careful...” Harriet said.

“Got it. Go ahead now.”

Harriet nodded, and she, the duke, and the duke’s mage corps began to move away rapidly through short-range teleportation.

I would follow them depending on the situation, but I had no intention of doing so yet.

It seemed certain that the one fighting over there was part of Cantus Magna. Since the duke had left the fight, it was likely he wasn’t allied with them.

Then why was the Duke with such people?

Was the one causing all that chaos over there really Rother Dwin?

What if the empire killed him instead of subduing him?

As I turned to head to higher ground to observe the battle, I noticed someone standing on the collapsed hillside.

“...”

A woman was looking down at me with a cold expression, silhouetted against the moonlight.

She was quietly watching me.

She didn’t look unfamiliar to me. If Ellen were to grow up, she would look like that woman.

Clink.

She took a step, and appeared before me as if she had leaped through space.

Clink...

“What the...!”

The small pendant necklace I wore, usually encased in a bronze case, was now in her hand.

Crack!

The bronze case shattered into pieces, revealing the red gem inside.

“The Flame of Tuesday...” she said as she looked at me.

The woman had immediately recognized it as the Flame of Fire, the heirloom of the house of Tuesday.

“Where did you get this?”

Her tone was gentle, but there was no kindness in it.

“Who... W-who are you?”

She fixed her gaze on me, then let the necklace fall from her hand, continuing to look at me silently.

“If it’s difficult for you to answer, then I must ask differently.”

I felt a suffocating pressure, even though nothing had happened to me.

“Where is the Archdemon?”

After saying that, she took a step back.

Crash!

A blue magical spear struck the spot where she had been standing.

Flash!

In an instant, someone appeared in front of me.

“Eleris!”

“Step back, Your Highness!”

Had Eleris been watching over me without getting involved in the fight?

It seemed she had intervened after realizing I was in danger.

The black-haired woman looked at Eleris.

“So you’ve come. The head of Tuesday among the Seven Nights and...”

“...”

“The ancient Archdemon.”

At those words, my mind seemed to freeze.

“And the boy who possesses the Flame of Tuesday, though not a vampire...” She looked at me. “The boy protected by a Archdemon...”

I didn’t understand what she was saying, but it seemed she had reached a conclusion, as if the fact that I possessed the Flame of Tuesday was evidence enough.

“Surely, you are the last Archdemon.”

Eleris and I didn’t know who this woman was, but she seemed to have identified us immediately.

“Who are you?” Eleris asked, glaring at the woman.

I still couldn’t comprehend what she had said to Eleris.

“Luna,” she said, taking a few steps back as she quietly observed Eleris. “Luna Artorius, head of Sunday and Monday.”

She calmly raised her right arm.

At that moment, something unbelievable happened.

“Though it is the law of the house not to interfere in the affairs of the mortal world...”

The full moon behind her began to grow suddenly, as if the laws of the natural world had been overturned.

The full moon, now ten or twenty times its usual size, filled the world with a chilling light.

I couldn’t understand a single thing about what was happening.

“I don’t want to lose a child twice.”

She reached out toward the enlarged moon. Something seemed to be in her hand, as if she were holding moonlight itself.

A crescent blade, appearing as if it was made of moonlight, was in her hand.

What was the ancient Archdemon, and what did it mean that she was the head of the Sunday and Monday?

I didn’t know any of that, but the outcome was clear.

Ellen’s mother intended to kill me.