I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse - Chapter 75

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 75: Snake of Domination

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Gerard Martein.

The Tiger Marquis, a warrior.

No Hero had died in nearly ten years, yet the unprecedented Monster Wave had suddenly claimed the life of the Martein Marquis.

An age of upheaval had begun.

The Martein Marquis, who had made the Empire fear him with a single Sun Spear, met an end worthy of his name.

He killed the leader of the Monster Wave, and they destroyed each other in the process.

That monster had led the Monster Wave with its cries.

Once the leader died, the Monster Wave lost its cohesion.

The more concentrated a current of water becomes, the faster and stronger it flows.

Having lost its focal point, the Monster Wave spread out like a river steadily widening its banks.

The fighting continued for days.

In the aftermath, Martein Territory was laid to waste.

Countless people were bitten to death by monsters, while the creatures that had devoured one another in the ancient forest learned the taste of human flesh.

Fields and homes burned.

Even so, the Marquis's struggle had meaning.

The warriors of House Martein defended the territory's most important cities, including the lord's castle.

The Monster Wave did not stop. It continued flowing onward.

The monsters eventually crossed the border and reached the Empire itself.

Now, it was the Empire's responsibility to kill the countless monsters.

The survivors of Martein Territory began dealing with the aftermath.

That included investigating the Eindol Plains, where the first clash with the monsters had occurred.

They needed to recover the corpse of the Twin-Head Chimera that had taken the Marquis's life, along with the bodies of the soldiers.

When the soldiers reached their destination, they found a carriage in the middle of the plains.

A carriage wrapped in tree roots.

After killing the stray dog-like monsters prowling nearby, they hacked away the roots covering the carriage with axes.

There were people inside.

Once the soldiers learned who they were, they immediately brought them to the lord's castle.

Marchioness Mary Martein received them.

“I'm Oliver, a hunter from Greylim.”

Oliver introduced himself while kneeling on one knee.

Just as Zain, standing beside him, was about to introduce himself as well...

“This is Sir Zarein, a knight of Greylim.”

“...Zarein.”

Instead of introducing him as Zain of the Iron Lion Knights, Oliver introduced him that way.

Zain immediately understood that it was Oliver's consideration.

“I'm Lania Greylim.”

Lania introduced herself, tense from head to toe.

She looked so haggard that it was hard to believe she was a noble lady.

Her face and clothes were dirty from not washing, and her cheeks had grown hollow from lack of sleep.

“May I ask what brought you to that place...?”

It was not the Marchioness who asked, but the butler of the lord's castle.

The sharp-looking Marchioness stood silently, her expression impossible to read.

Although monsters had swept through Martein, the lord's castle remained splendid.

Far more splendid than Greylim's.

Lania's body trembled.

“We were fleeing here, to Martein... Then that huge Chimera snake abducted us...”

Stammering, Lania explained everything that had happened.

She remained completely silent about the white snake, just as she had promised Oliver and Zain.

“How could this...?”

“You have suffered greatly.”

The retainers of Martein murmured among themselves.

Lania's head spun.

Her maternal grandfather was dead. That mighty Hero.

She had come to Martein in the first place to ask him for help.

Yet while she was gone, Greylim had fallen and Martein Territory had been devastated as well.

What would become of Lania now?

Her grandmother, whom she had met for the first time today, looked terrifying.

She might be thrown out.

If that happened, she would have to return to the burned ruins of Greylim.

Perhaps Gunter was still there.

Then the Marchioness spoke.

“Lania.”

The Marchioness slowly descended the stairs.

Her clothes were not extravagant, given the state of affairs, but the lightness of each step carried a noble grace.

She was very tall as well.

For some reason, Lania wanted to run.

Her shabby appearance seemed completely out of place here.

Then, all at once, the Marchioness pulled Lania into a fierce embrace.

“Thank goodness you're alive. Sob...”

She crumpled to her knees before Lania.

Lania stood there in a daze, held in the Marchioness's arms.

“Grandmother...”

“You, you...”

The Marchioness revealed something astonishing.

“You are the Marquis's only surviving direct descendant.”

“Ah.”

Oliver and Zain froze in surprise.

The Marquis had children.

He should have had a son to inherit the marquisate, and grandchildren as well.

“They're all dead.”

Martein's spirit was to always stand at the vanguard.

In the end, that spirit had killed House Martein.

Which meant...

“You are now the Marquis's heir.”

The grandmother she had met for the first time was holding her and weeping.

Lania could not immediately understand what was happening.

Still, she had a strange feeling.

It felt as though she would no longer live as Lania Greylim, but as Lania Martein.

* * *

The Gray Mountains.

One of the continent's Five Great Demonic Realms.

Still, it would be a mistake to think of the Gray Mountains as nothing more than a cluster of several mountains.

Its area was smaller than the Great Forest or the Desert, but its length was immense.

There was a reason the Gray Mountains were called the backbone of the continent.

The Orilate Great Range, which ran through the kingdom and continued across the continent, formed the mountain range's spine.

And a spine naturally had ribs.

Smaller mountain ranges extended from the towering Orilate Great Range like ribs.

People lived between those mountain ranges, and cities stood there as well.

Monsters occasionally poured down from the mountains, but their abundant resources inevitably drew humans and dwarves there.

Kalea City, famous as a mining city, was among them.

At the entrance to the road leading to Kalea City was a trade outpost.

Goods and merchant caravans gathered there.

Today, wagon merchants heading toward Kalea City were there as well.

The wholesaler at the trade outpost quoted a price to a wagon merchant.

“There's a fifty-silver deposit for every oak cask. You'll get it back when you return it.”

“Do you think I don't know that? It used to be thirty silver. Why did it suddenly go up to fifty?”

“What can I do? Bandits have robbed us several times, and we've lost a lot of oak casks.”

The wholesaler picked at his ear with an indifferent look.

“You can't just spring that on me.”

“Take it or leave it. It's not like there aren't plenty of wagon merchants who want to buy ale.”

Ale was a popular product in Kalea City, where it sold out as soon as it arrived.

Just as the wholesaler said, plenty of wagon merchants wanted to buy it.

The merchant sighed awkwardly.

“Good grief.”

Wagon merchants wandered about conducting business with a single cargo wagon.

Aside from owning a horse and a wagon, they were no different from peddlers.

The merchant who had just been told about the price increase did not look particularly wealthy.

He had a gentle face, a rough chin from not shaving properly, and tired, sunken eyes.

No matter how one looked at him, he did not seem cut out to become a great merchant.

“Roil. Decide already. If you buy ale now, I'll throw in an extra box of jerky.”

When the wholesaler spoke as if he were doing him a favor, the merchant called Roil had no choice but to nod.

“Yeah, good choice. Pay over there. I'll have the boys load your wagon.”

“Thank you. Thank you.”

“And make sure you travel with the other wagons. You know there have been a lot of bandits lately, right? You should be extra careful since you travel with your son.”

“I will...”

Roil trudged away.

Behind him, the wholesaler who had just smiled and expressed concern hardened his expression.

“What a pathetic bastard. He's going to buy it anyway, but he always tries to haggle the price down.”

After taking ale to Kalea City and selling it, Roil would have to return later to collect the oak casks he had left there.

If he entrusted that to someone else, he would lose a huge amount in fees. If the casks were lost, the losses would be severe.

The wholesalers knew that, which was why they could act so tough with wagon merchants.

A porter at the trade outpost snickered as they joined in.

“Isn't Roil a widower who even brings his son along on his business trips? I heard he needs a lot of money. He wants to send his son to the Academy.”

“The Academy? That country bumpkin?”

“Right? Haha.”

“Stop slacking off and load this onto that guy's wagon.”

The wholesaler kicked a wooden box at his feet.

It was jerky nearing its expiration date.

The very goods he had offered Roil as though he were doing him a favor.

The porter let out a grunt and picked up the box.

“Oh, this feels heavier than usual today. Did you put in a little extra?”

“Quit talking nonsense. Stop whining and go.”

The porter smiled sheepishly and carried the box of jerky away.

Contrary to the wholesaler's assumption, they had not been talking nonsense.

Their senses were sharp enough to deserve praise.

The box of jerky being loaded onto Roil's wagon weighed exactly one snake more than it should have.

* * *

*「Stealth Lv. 9 becomes Stealth Lv. 10.」

Assassin Crystal Crown Python.

Infiltration of a cargo wagon, successful.

I chewed on the jerky beside me.

It was salty and tough, and it made my mouth water.

After eating raw monsters for so long, tasting seasoning again nearly drove me crazy.

‘This is what traveling is. This is happiness.’

The journey had not been pleasant from the start.

Getting away from the human army had been genuinely dangerous.

I managed to escape by slipping into a passing cart.

Then I fully got away by clinging beneath a carriage transporting a sick person.

After that, I luckily came across a merchant caravan heading north.

While the mercenary on watch was urinating in the bushes, I squeezed myself into the load carried by a donkey.

That was how I arrived at this trade outpost.

Once again, I infiltrated a merchant's wagon heading to my destination.

Oak casks filled with beer had been neatly stacked in the cargo compartment.

“We've loaded everything. The jerky is in the back too.”

“Thank you.”

Perhaps because of the weight, there was plenty of room left in the cargo compartment.

That meant I had ample space to live in from now on.

It was practically a dream home.

‘Da-ra-da-ra-da-’

Humming a familiar tune, I inspected my accommodations.

There was enough space to stretch out fully and roll around.

Along with the jerky, there was food for the merchant and household supplies piled in one corner.

For a temporary stay, it was no less than a five-star hotel.

I'll just leave the cost of the jerky and lodging behind when I leave!

“Everyone's here, so shall we get going?”

“Let's go.”

After the brief commotion ended, the wagons departed.

I took out a map from Subspace.

Dark red dots had been marked all over it.

They showed the locations of Pelerian's Dungeons.

The red paint was actually...

Sniff, sniff.

Mm, the faint scent of cherries was still there.

The dots were really made with cherry juice I had stolen last time.

Then I found the city called Kalea on the map.

That was this wagon's destination.

A red dot had been marked within the city's boundaries as well.

-This shouldn't be possible...

Pelerian sighed.

‘Why? Isn't this the right place?’

-That's the problem. There was no city like this when I built the Dungeon!

He grumbled.

I was a little worried too.

‘What if the Dungeon has already been looted?’

-It would not have been looted easily... I made that Dungeon with the help of dwarves.

When the Heaven-Defier mage built a Dungeon here, Mount Kalea had supposedly been dwarven territory.

-The dwarves cannot have disappeared, so it makes no sense for humans to have built a city there in the first place.

But what could we do when that was reality?

‘It'll be disappointing if we get there and there's nothing left.’

-Don't worry... That will not be the case.

Pelerian's voice did not sound very confident.

Let's hope the Dungeon was intact!

Naturally, this Hero Slayer, Urooros, needed an excellent sword.

That Holy Knight who had killed Kibaemi, the one I killed, turned out to be someone very famous.

He was one of the kingdom's greatest nobles, the commander of a Holy Knight Order, and a master of the Transcendent Realm.

The Tiger Marquis, Gerard Martein.

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【Hero Slayer】

You have killed an outstanding individual in the mortal realm known as a Hero.

The rank of your Magical Essence rises. Your dignity rises.

Karma accumulates.

When facing Heroes, you grow tougher and Mana surges.

──────────────

I had achieved an “accomplishment.”

The part about karma accumulating bothered me a little, but wasn't living all about accumulating karma in the first place?

Gerard Martein had many descriptions attached to his name, but the one that struck me most was “Gunter's rival.”

That could only mean one thing.

‘I've grown stronger.’

Because I had killed his rival.

‘I'm equal to Gunter, or even stronger.’

I could take pride in that.

-Nonsense! Hurry up and train your magic.

‘Yes.’

Pelerian clicked his tongue as if he were fed up with me.

I might have been enjoying this hotel staycation, but I had not spent all my time playing around.

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【Crystal Crown Python Lv. 12】

【Epithet】 Urooros, Heart-Eating Snake

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I had reached Level 12.

I evolved last time at Level 30, so I had a feeling my next evolution would require Level 40 or 50.

I definitely seemed to evolve more often than other monsters.

This time, I really hoped I would become a serpent.

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【Skills】

▸ Crown

[Seizure Lv. 4]: Giantification Lv. 0, [Overcoming Lv. 2], [Domination Lv. 2]

▸ Magic

[Elementary Elemental]: Fire Lv. 6, Earth Lv. 6, Water Lv. 4, Wind Lv. 4

[Transparent Hand Lv. 11], [Weight-Reduction Magic Lv. 3]

▸ Techniques

...

──────────────

I had focused mainly on training magic.

My Elemental Magic levels had risen across the board, Transparent Hand had broken through the Level 10 barrier, and Weight-Reduction Magic had reached Level 3.

Weight-Reduction Magic was far more useful than I had expected.

*「You use Magic: Weight-Reduction Lv. 3.」

An oak cask was smaller than a barrel, but it still looked like it held more than a hundred liters.

That meant it weighed over a hundred kilograms when full.

With Weight-Reduction Magic, though, I could move it around while straining a little.

I pushed the oak casks together to build a wall.

It hid me from view inside the cargo compartment.

It was an effort to quietly devote myself to magic training.

‘I should set up a guard too.’

This was the time to use my new means.

‘This one will do.’

As was common in old cargo wagons, a cricket crawled around inside the cargo compartment.