Aurora
Walking through the now empty battlefield as Kaga, I siphoned all the lingering death energy back to my main body. As the apostle of Death, I had to send him all the death energy that I could to increase my ranking with the… deity or creature. I wasn’t actually sure where he stood among all of them.
The night was cold even though we were still in the middle of summer. I didn’t mind it. My main body or my Homunculus didn’t care for temperature. I was confident that I would handle arctic level temperatures if I was forced to. Glancing up at the sky revealed far more stars than you could see back on Earth even if they were all completely different from the stars that I knew.
I didn’t bother looking for loot while I walked through the field. Maxwell had already taken everything of value before he withdrew his forces. He had even planned to clean the battlefield and burn the dead, but I managed to convince him to leave the bodies for the monsters in the area. Since most of the NPCs, not to mention, Maxwell’s players were tired after the intense fighting, the proposal was quickly accepted.
“My queen.” I turned from the sky to Count Drac. He along with just about every other Greater and Paragon had gained quite a few levels over the last month. Slaughtering thousands of goblins tended to do that. I paused in my trek across the field.
“What is it?”
“We have located another dungeon.”
“Really?” I purred excitedly. “Where?”
“Roughly ninety-seven kilometers to the northeast.”
I grinned even more deeply. Another step closer to the Demonic Seal. Another step closer to reviving Losa. I thanked Count Drac, then looked back to the sky. The stars seemed just a bit brighter now.
The pain of his loss might have faded, even the anger at Maxwell for causing the event in the first place, but if I stopped, I feared that I would have no goal in this new life that I found myself in. There was still the matter of who dealt the final blow. I had narrowed down my suspects, but I was loath to deal with them. Each of the vampires I had summoned since I found myself stuck here had served me well. Or at least, I believed they had.
“What do you intend to do now, my queen?” Count Drac asked me while I was lost in my thoughts.
I couldn’t help chuckling for a moment. “Seeing as we now belong to Death, I feel like a starting a war might be in our interests.”
“Then we are to finally deal with the infuriating dark elf that vexes you?”
“Vexes me?” I repeated it with some annoyance. “You make it sound like I’m smitten with the man.” I shook my head. “No. We will not strike at Maxwell. I have been considering my path forward as of late. There is a saying in the world that I originally came from. There cannot be light without darkness. If Maxwell wishes to be the light, then I shall be the darkness.”
“You mean to aid him?”
“Oh Go—Death no. If he fails to establish himself in this world, then so be it. He can just go to being a regular player. No, I will not aid him, but I will take advantage of him.”
“I see. I am pleased to hear this. I do not care much for those of the living,” Count Drac remarked with a grimace.
“Nor do I. For now, I plan to make Scarlet Night into a grand nation. One that will inspire fear into the hearts of all that hear of us. For that, we need a grand war. A war that is talked about across the continent. Eblos isn’t exactly what I would call a great choice, but it is a nation that I feel few would miss if it were to say… disappear.”
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
The bloodlust leaking from Count Drac grew denser at each word. “That sounds like an excellent plan, my queen.”
“But first, we must grow stronger. I must have more dungeon cores to call my own. There appears to be one every hundred kilometers. Find them all! That is my order to you, my count.”
Count Drac knelt and bowed his head. “As you wish, my queen.” He vanished with a burst of shadow.
I watched him go before I turned back to the battlefield. I had reached the edge during my talk with Count Drac. It seemed like I was settling into my role as the dark queen of the night. Now that I had a moment, I pulled up all the screens that I had moved to the side after the battle. While I wasn’t the direct target of the goblin forces, I had helped put them down. I expected to get a few rewards.
Achievement: Guerilla Warfare – Contribute to the victory of a nation through cunning. Main Tactic used was Espionage. Espionage rank has been unlocked. You are able to specifically train Spy units. Spies come with unique abilities to hide their identity. You have unlocked the Skill: Spycraft.
You gave a great tribute to the Absolute Being – Death. You’re rank has increased. Build an altar to unlock benefits.
I opened my Status to see how my rank with Death was.
--
Name: Aurora Nightingale
Level: 31
Race: Vampire
Class: Dungeon Master – Night Queen
Sub: Dungeon Core
Total Mana: 5,000/5,750
Abilities:
Blood Sucking
Blood Magic
Death Magic
Elemental Magic – Fire, Earth, Dark
Advanced Magic – Death, Dark
Aberrant Sorcery
Basic Sneak
Advanced Sneak
Spycraft Lv.1
-Status Manipulation
- Forgery
- False Identify
Weapon Skills:
-Magic Firearms (Pistol, Rifle) Lv.2
Dungeon Menu
--
[Dungeon Core: Vampire – Night Queen. Owner: Aurora Nightingale]
Dungeon Level: 6
Total Mana: 751/8000
[Dungeon Core: Golem – Nature’s Grotto. Owner: Aurora Nightingale]
Dungeon Level: 8
Total Mana: 1,500/8,000
--
Nation Menu
-
Scarlet Night
Level One Nation
Population: 16,548
City Menu
--
Twisted Weds
Level One City
Population: 12,480
Combatants: 1,500
Economic Strength: A+
Combat Strength: C-
Cultural Strength: SS+
Magical Strength: F+
Current Administrative Wealth: 3,410,514 (Assets & Gold)
Religion: Cult of Death
Rank: E
Death Energy Required to next Rank:10,900
Boons: Death Magic effectiveness increased by 20%
Debuff: Life Magic effectiveness decreases by 50%
F Rank Bonus: Death Sight – Able to see the physical weakness in living creatures.
E Rank Bonus: Death’s Word – Once per day able to instantly kill any creature up to five levels higher than yourself.
-
I grinned as I saw that my Rank had indeed gone up. Looking at my status, I was pleased with how far I had come in the last month. My level had exploded up. I even had three spells just waiting for me to choose them. It was a pity that after level ten you only got a new spell from the system every five levels. If I wanted more spells before that I would have to seek out the knowledge.
I knew of a few ways to do that. One such way was right next door to my dungeon. Maxwell’s Mage tower. He could donate gold to the tower and buy spell books. If he got enough coins, he would be level ten and have a hundred spells in his arsenal. Whether or not he had enough mana to cast those spells would be a different story.
It was too bad magic wasn’t practiced by the Arachne. Twisted Webs didn’t possess a mage tower. Which was too bad since my city in the Abyss had plenty of coins to work with. I froze in mid-step. I was the leader of that city, I could easily just build it myself. At level one, the tower shouldn’t be too expensive.
With some excitement, I quickly used Dimensional Travel- Shadow and returned to Alflona. I was just in time as the sun was starting to come up. Humming as I made my way through the town, I spotted Maxwell. I was in a good mood, so I stopped to greet the man.
“A good morning to you, our great and powerful leader.”
“Why are you so chipper?” maxwell asked with the energy of a salaryman that hadn’t had his coffee yet.
“A night owl. I just enjoy the night. I would like to report no sightings of goblin stragglers. No doubt, our blood thirsty queen to the east took care of them.”
“That’s some good news. A rabble of deserters is just as dangerous as an organized army.” He sighed as he sat down at one of the tables in the mess area. “Thank you, Kaga. Anything else I should know before I start the day?”
“Just that you have some wicked bedhead, good night!” I said laughing at the man as I walked away.