CH 136

“W-What the heck? Why are there embers floating out of the corpses?” Siegfried muttered to himself in confusion while tilting his head.

“What’s wrong, owner punk?” Hamchi asked.

“Can’t you see those?” Siegfried asked while pointing at the embers floating above the corpses.

“Are you talking about the corpses?”

“No, not that. That thing floating on top of the corpses.”

“Kyu?” Hamchi tilted his head in confusion and rubbed his eyes a few times, and then he said, “Hey, owner punk.”

“Do you see it now?”

“I think you have been playing with your hands a bit too much these days and that’s why you’re seeing things now…”

“What are you talking about??”

“I think you haven’t been sleeping and have been mastur—”

“No,” Siegfried cut him off. He glared at the hamster and asked once more, “You really can’t see them? There are embers floating out of the corpses!”

“Don’t forget to wash your hands before going to bed.”

“…”

“What the hell are you even talking about? What embers?”

It seemed that Hamchi really couldn’t see the embers Siegfried was seeing.

‘What’s going on? Am I really seeing things?’ Siegfried started doubting his own eyes.

However, he could still see the embers no matter how many times he opened and closed his eyes, and there was one ember for each NPC lying dead on the ground.

“Hiyaaaaaah!” 

A knight suddenly popped out of nowhere and tried to strike Siegfried down.

Pak! Kwang!

Siegfried nonchalantly waved his hammer and sent the knight flying while staring at the embers.

At last…

[Knight’s Soul]

[The soul of a knight from the Renoma Kingdom.]

The mystery behind the floating embers was finally resolved when a message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

‘Huh? It’s a soul? Why would I suddenly start seeing souls all of a sudden…?’ 

Siegfried wondered when another message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: Use the ‘Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’ to absorb the soul!]

‘Ah! It’s because of the magic sword!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly the moment he realized that he was seeing the souls thanks to one of the options of the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger.

[Soul Harvest: Traps a soul within the magic sword and empowers the magic sword’s ability using the soul as the furnace. The magic sword’s Attack Power and Magic Power increases the more souls are trapped within it.]

[Soul Extract: Upon activation, resource consumption rate is massively increased to extract the souls trapped within the magic sword, explosively amplifying the user’s abilities while the ability is active.]

Siegfried could see the souls of the dead NPCs thanks to the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger, and he could ‘harvest’ their souls.

“How do I do this? I should probably hold the magic sword first—Heok!” Siegfried gasped in surprise.

Chwak! Chwak! Chwak! Chwak! 

The magic sword started sucking his HP, Mana, and Stamina like a hungry beast the moment he held the sword’s hilt.

“Hey! Owner punk! What’s going on?!” Hamchi screamed. He noticed something amiss. “Let go of that thing, owner punk! That’s going to suck you dry! Kyu!” 

“Wait!” Siegfried shouted. He suppressed his own survival instinct, which was screaming at him to let go of the magic sword and aimed the magic sword at the NPCs lying on the ground. Afterward, he activated Soul Harvest.

Shwaaa!

The souls floating on top of the corpses gathered and spun like a vortex before the magic sword sucked them at once.

[Alert: You have absorbed ‘Knight’s Soul’!]

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’s Attack Power has increased by 0.2!]

[Alert: You have absorbed ‘Knight’s Soul’!]

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’s Attack Power has increased by 0.2!]

[Alert: You have absorbed ‘Knight’s Soul’!]

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’s Attack Power has increased by 0.2!]

That was not the end of it…

[Alert: You have absorbed ‘Official’s Soul’!]

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’s Magic Power has increased by 0.2!]

[Alert: You have absorbed ‘Official’s Soul’!]

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’s Magic Power has increased by 0.2!]

[Alert: You have absorbed ‘Official’s Soul’!]

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’s Magic Power has increased by 0.2!]

The souls of the Renoma Kingdom officials increased the magic sword’s Magic Power.

[Alert: The strength of ‘Soul Extract’ has increased by 1%!]

On top of that, the main skill of the magic sword, Soul Extract, also got stronger.

However, it seemed that Siegfried wasn’t thoroughly lucky.

[Alert: The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger has grown stronger! Avenger will become greedier the stronger it becomes, and it will start sucking more resources from its user!]

It was a double-edged sword.

The Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger was the very definition of a double-edged sword that could kill Siegfried first by sucking him dry before he could even kill his enemy.

‘The Immortal King could use it because he was a lich…’ 

Siegfried finally discovered how the Immortal King was able to use this sword without a hitch.

‘I should take my time and think of a way to use this magic sword…’ 

With that, Siegfried decided to stash away the magic sword for now.

Siegfried sheathed the sword and hurriedly stashed it into his Inventory before it could suck him dry.

“Owner punk! Are you alright? You don’t look so good!” Hamchi ran over, seemingly ‘worried’.

“It’s nothing; let’s go.”

“Alright.”

Siegfried ripped the teleport scroll.

***

Three hours later, Siegfried finally returned to Proatine after wreaking havoc at Renoma Kingdom. The commander of the forces stationed at the Dimensional Rift that appeared on the border, General Hydern (★★★★), received a baffling message from a man claiming to be the king of Proatine.

“Ha! So you are telling me to move my forces from the Dimensional Rift and attack the rear of the monster wave?”

They went through hoops to lure the monster wave over to the Proatine Kingdom, so why would they accept such a ridiculous request? They were basically playing ‘hot potato’ at this point, but the Proatine King was asking them to come and get the hot potato for themselves.

— Ah…

Siegfried grumbled, seemingly annoyed.

— I think I already told you three times. Are you deaf or something?

“Hoho! It seems that you have gone crazy from the current predicament you are facing. I mean, I’m sure that head between your shoulders isn’t there for decorative purposes, right? In that case, what do you think? Am I stupid or crazy?”

”Why should I grant your request? I’m the proud general of the Renoma Kingdom, and I will only act for the benefit of my kingdom.”

— Alright, and I’m telling you that it will also benefit your kingdom.

Siegfried grumbled while shaking his head in frustration.

“Tsk tsk… I’m going to hang up now if you’re going to continue spouting such rubbish.”

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

General Hydern was about to hang up when all of a sudden…

— Hey! You bastard!

The king of the Renoma Kingdom, King Fitzgerald, suddenly appeared on the screen and started cussing at General Hydern. It looked like King Fitzgerald had been severely beaten or even tortured because his face was swollen and bruised.

— Just do as he says! You fucking bastard!

“…!”

— Do you want to be stripped of your rank?! Ha?! Just stop whining and do as he says!

“Y-Your Majesty…?” General Hydern muttered with question marks popping up above his head as he asked, “Your Majesty, why are you over there? And why do you look so—”

— Can’t you tell?! I’m being held hostage right now!

“…!”

— I’m saying this as the king and supreme commander of the Renoma forces. You are to attack the monster wave from the rear with MY ARMY. GET MOVING NOW IMMEDIATELY!

King Fitzgerald screamed until his face turned red and blood vessels started popping up his neck.

— RIGHT NOW! What? Do you want to see me lose my head? Ha?!

“N-No, Your Majesty!”

— DO IT RIGHT NOW! Right—Kuheok!

Somebody suddenly slapped King Fitzgerald’s face.

— Ah… You’re too damn noisy. Shut up, will you? What, are we in your house or something?

— I-I apologize for my insolence…

— Just go and sit in the corner if you’re done.

— Yes…

King Fitzgerald went to the corner and sat down.

Then, the culprit who slapped the face of the Renoma Kingdom monarch appeared and asked General Hydern.

— You saw that, right?

“…”

— Your kingdom will benefit if you do as I say. Do you understand?

“D-Did you abduct his Majesty?”

— Can’t you tell after seeing all that…?

Siegfried pointed at King Fitzgerald, who was crying on the floor.

— This will be the last time I’m going to say this. I’m holding your king hostage, so you better mobilize your troops and attack the rear of the monster wave if you want to save your king. Otherwise…

Siegfried flashed an evil smile.

— I will turn that thing between your king’s shoulders into a decorative piece and hang it above my castle gates.

“I will immediately… mobilize my troops and attack the monster wave,” General Hydern replied reluctantly.

There was nothing the general could do at this point. After all, the enemy had abducted his king.

***

Once Siegfried was done speaking to General Hydern, Michele was quick to praise Siegfried as he said, “Excellent work, Your Majesty. We have reduced our burden by quite a lot with this, and this is all thanks to Your Majesty’s crafty plan.”

“I don’t think it’s enough. The monsters number one hundred thousand, but we only have twenty thousand troops and twenty thousand from the Renoma Kingdom. We’re not even half the monster wave’s numbers,” Siegfried grumbled, seemingly agitated.

“That is true…”

“How long will it take before our defensive lines are compromised?”

Siegfried looked at the map and grimaced. The Proatine Forces were currently turtling up in strategic locations and blocking the advance of the monster wave.

“Commander Oscar and Sir Seung-Gu are doing their best to delay the monsters’ advances, but their efforts seemed to be insufficient. I estimate that it is going to take around twenty-four hours before our defensive lines crumble.”

“Even if the Renoma Forces are with us?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

In the end, the risk Siegfried had to take by abducting King Fitzgerald only eased their burdens. It didn’t completely resolve the problem.

“Anyway, I’ll leave the rest to you,” Siegfried said and started walking away.

“No way…! Are you going to close the Dimensional Rift, Your Majesty?” Michele asked in surprise.

“What do you think is going to happen if another monster wave comes out? Where do you think they’ll go?”

“They will be going after the rear of the Renoma Forces, Your Majesty.”

The second monster wave would obviously go after the rear of the Renoma Forces after emerging from the Dimensional Rift.

The reason the Renoma Kingdom stationed their forces at the Dimensional Rift was none other than to lure them over to the Proatine Kingdom the moment they appeared.

The Proatine Kingdom was definitely going to be on the road to extinction if another monster wave successfully marched through their territory.

Monster Wave > Renoma Forces > Monster Wave > Proatine Forces…

This was the order of events, and the Renoma Forces would be the monster wave’s first prey. Then, the two monster waves were going to merge together and form a gigantic monster wave that would destroy Proatine’s forts and bring ruin to Proatine.

In short, the most important thing to do right now was to close the Dimensional Rift itself. It was essentially treating the illness at its roots rather than simply relieving the symptoms.

“Your Majesty! You should not go there alone! It is impossible for you to close it all alone—” Michele vehemently protested.

Siegfried interrupted him. “I know.”

Siegfried knew very well that he couldn’t possibly close a Dimensional Rift. After all, Dimensional Rifts were equivalent to high-ranked dungeons.

Dimensional Rifts were dungeons that even Adventurers of Total Expert rank at the Arena could barely clear with a party. Therefore, it was obviously extremely difficult to solo-clear a Dimensional Rift.

“What do you think about forming a squad of Adventurers? There are quite a few Adventurers crossing our lands these days…”

“What if the Adventurers fail?”

“That’s…”

“Round up the Adventurers and deploy them to the forts. We need every man we can get, so make sure you don’t skimp on using our funds and gather as many Adventurers as you can.”

“…!”

“I will try my best to close the Dimensional Rift and group up with you later,” Siegfried said. Then, he hurriedly made his way toward the border.