Chapter 165

Chapter 165
## Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: The Birth of the First Queen

If that wasn’t an option, then the final path left to take was…

‘……Procreation.’

Just as he suspected, reproduction was the only viable route.

The demon bloodkin were known to deposit their eggs within the remains of the prey they consumed.

So, did this imply he was required to track down demons and use them as hosts for the eggs?

The difficulty lay in the fact that such an action might reveal his current position to Isera.

It happened right then.

-Your Majesty! We beg for your consent to birth a queen!

-Provide us with further essence for our queen!

-Utilizing the remains of Lord Solbaren, we shall craft a more powerful bloodkin!!

The whispers of the demon bloodkin began to echo from the darkness of the shadows.

“Hah. I cannot believe such a humiliating display!”

Marquis Wyzer was consumed by fury.

Ultimately, the wedding ceremony had been scrapped because of the chaos.

He simply couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“A Hydragon appearing out of thin air within our borders! No matter how I view it, the situation is incredibly fishy. And where on earth is Hudson…!”

“Father.”

“Serengeti. Speak to me. Where has Hudson vanished to?”

No matter how much he turned it over in his mind, the circumstances were far from ordinary.

When Marquis Wyzer questioned her directly, Serengeti simply shook her head in response.

Both Randolph and Hudson had disappeared without a trace.

“……He mentioned having some affairs to settle at the merchant guild briefly.”

“The merchant guild? That takes precedence over his own wedding? He should have at least stayed to acknowledge the guests!”

They had gathered every possible family member for this massive celebration.

While a regrettable event had occurred, the nuptials could have been delayed by just a few days.

In the interim, shouldn’t the groom, Hudson, have made an effort to bond with the relatives?

“He is currently delivering a report on a vital matter alongside Lord Randolph.”

“……With Lord Randolph? Even if that’s true, on a day of such significance…!”

“I ask that you contain your anger. I will manage things in his stead.”

As Serengeti spoke with a heavy seriousness, Marquis Wyzer let out a long, weary breath.

“……How much longer must we push back the event? We cannot expect busy individuals to remain here indefinitely.”

“The ceremony…… we can hold it at a later time.”

“You no longer wish to proceed as quickly as possible?”

“I do not.”

Serengeti gave a slow, deliberate nod.

Observing her, Marquis Wyzer felt a growing sense of confusion.

Wasn’t this the very event she had been desperate to hold without a moment’s delay?

Serengeti, who had organized every detail with lightning speed, had suddenly shifted her stance.

And all because a single Hydragon had shown up.

‘……That Hydragon is under the command of Lord Randolph.’

……Serengeti was aware.

She recognized that the strangely formed Hydragon was actually Randolph’s subordinate creature.

There had to be a specific motivation for Randolph to intervene and halt the wedding so abruptly.

And the explanation was likely……

-I am a lawbreaker.

Suddenly, the confession Hudson made when he visited her began to play on a loop in Serengeti’s mind.

The Golden Rule Mage Union.

By triggering a warp, he arrived on an obscure, tiny island.

“Inventory, mobile fortress.”

Rumble!

In a flash, a massive structure rose up on the island.

He walked into the fortress, took his place upon the throne, and exhaled a heavy sigh.

“……That was draining.”

He wondered if the fatigue stemmed from transporting a woman across dimensions.

For the moment, he required a period of recovery.

But in that very instant.

Ziiiiing!

“……A warp?”

Someone had initiated a warp directly in front of his eyes.

Who would have the audacity?

And by what means did they track his coordinates?

Scowling, he accessed his inventory.

He was fully prepared to riddle whoever emerged with projectiles the second they manifested.

“Gah…!”

However, when he realized who had arrived, Union could only gasp in sheer amazement.

It was a natural reaction.

“……Y-You, an ‘Orthod’?!”

-Kyahahahaha!

The Birth of the First Queen

For a split second, he questioned his own vision.

Union’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

‘Why would an Orthod be present on Earth?’

This level of shock was something he rarely experienced.

Yet, there was no doubt the coordinates pointed to Earth.

An Orthod shouldn’t exist on Earth; they belonged to Pangeniar.

‘And it’s one I’ve never encountered.’

He was certain of the location, and the entity that had warped to his side was undeniably an Orthod.

Still, he couldn’t make sense of it.

Union, the sorcerer of the Golden Rule.

He had served as the royal mage who assisted in the foundation of the rising Archon Empire.

He was intimately familiar with the fact that the ‘Orthod eggs’ the founding emperor brought from the Heavenly Realm were intertwined with the creation of the Reaper Church.

Naturally, he possessed knowledge of the traits and visages of every single Orthod.

He also knew of the ‘Elevens’ who acted as their commanders.

-Kyahahahaha!

……And yet.

‘A twelfth Orthod?’

It seemed impossible.

The founding emperor had retrieved exactly eleven Orthod eggs.

Following that, the emperor entered a long sleep, all the Orthods emerged from their shells, and alongside the Elevens, they served as the fundamental pillars of the Reaper Church.

That was the extent of the history he knew.

Despite that, a twelfth Orthod was standing right there.

‘An egg that the emperor failed to retrieve from the Heavenly Realm.’

……It was a possibility.

If the eggs the emperor took didn’t represent the entire collection.

No, according to Union’s internal logic, the emperor hadn’t managed to take them all.

A ruler cast out from the Heavenly Realm wouldn’t have been able to seize everything.

Suddenly, a phrase the emperor used to recite like a sacred oath came back to him.

-It is a pity. I held the completion of truth in my hands, yet I was unable to bring the final piece.

Union had never known what that piece was.

But if it turned out to be the final Orthod egg?

‘……If I can claim mastery over the last Orthod.’

Union began to shake.

No other sorcerer had studied the nature of the Orthod as extensively as he had.

The perks an Orthod provided to its master were infinite.

One of those was ‘undying life’—it was hard to even fathom how powerful the other benefits were.

In reality, the masters of the Orthods, the ‘Elevens,’ had obtained bodies that did not age and lived forever once their partners hatched.

‘Eternal life and the summoning of Reapers are just minor perks. They pale in comparison to the true worth of an Orthod.’

Calling upon Reapers to claim the lives and spirits of enemies.

That was merely a fraction of what an Orthod could do.

The real value of an Orthod was found elsewhere.

Specifically.

‘Evolution of traits.’

Orthods held the power to transform and upgrade the traits of their master.

As the Orthod gained strength and matured, the variety of traits it could evolve grew, and the boundaries of that power became completely limitless.

This power to break through limits even exceeded the act of consuming a ‘Star’ and reaching transcendence.

Because of this, the leaders of the Reaper Church, the ‘Elevens,’ possessed abilities beyond human comprehension.

However, every Orthod evolved a unique set of traits.

Union was aware that only a few of the Elevens had grasped this and focused on their growth.

-Kyahahaha!

“……You are quite the spirited Orthod.”

A wide, sinister grin formed on Union’s face.

That specific laugh.

Orthods were known to repeat their distinct vocalizations, and the nature of that sound largely dictated their potential.

The entity before him was producing a bold, outward sound.

Orthods that projected their noise externally rather than internally were typically ‘all-round’ types.

And among the Elevens, none possessed one with such a vigorous laugh.

‘It sensed the warp, followed the path, and arrived here. And it’s a generalist.’

The temptation was overwhelming.

He couldn’t resist it.

Had it already formed a bond?

If so, why would it show up here alone?

If it were contracted, it would have arrived with its master.

No rational master would let an Orthod wander off by itself.

Furthermore, a master and an Orthod couldn’t be separated by great distances.

The master had to be the one to physically summon the Orthod.

Orthods were unable to simply manifest at will to change the world.

‘Could it be a stray that has lost its master?’

Ah.

It clicked.

This Orthod was no longer bound to a master.

If a master perished while the creature was summoned, the Orthod would drift through the world for a period of time.

In that state, it must have sensed Union’s magical residue and followed it.

It was likely drawn to the magnitude of Union’s power.

“Are you willing to take me as your new master?”

-Kyahaha?

“……Excellent. We shall unite.”

Union’s smile grew deeper.

Once the lingering echoes of the previous master faded completely, he would be able to establish a fresh contract.

Until that time, he had to build the strongest possible bond.

‘What a stroke of luck.’

He never imagined the final Orthod would fall right into his lap.

And of all places, on Earth—a location he hadn’t even considered.

It felt like a blessing from the heavens themselves.

-Your Majesty! We beg for your consent to birth a queen!

-Provide us with further essence for our queen!

-Utilizing the remains of Lord Solbaren, we shall craft a more powerful bloodkin!!

From the depths of his shadow, the demon bloodkin continued their frantic pleas.

This had started the moment he considered expanding the ranks of the demon bloodkin.

‘A queen born from Lord Solbaren’s remains?’

Now that he thought about it, immediately after the strike on Lord Solbaren, the body had vanished into his shadow.

The demon bloodkin had claimed it for themselves.

‘A queen of the demon bloodkin.’

He thought back to the Desert Queen.

The sovereign of the sands. She was a royal created by the Ma-blood King.

The entity that attempted to spread corruption there to bring forth the Ma-blood King.

But it seemed even that Desert Queen hadn’t been capable of producing eggs.

“……Proceed.”

He had nothing to lose by trying.

With his consent, the demon bloodkin within the shadows began their work.

-The Sovereign has given his word!

-Let us construct the queen!

-Your Majesty! We require more essence!

Splatter.

In that moment.

“……Hm.”

The energy began to drain rapidly from his body.

His complexion turned ghostly white, then a sickly yellow, followed by a wave of intense lightheadedness.

He stumbled, but managed to keep himself upright.

‘They are taking exactly as much as they can without ending me.’

The demon bloodkin were drinking his blood with an insatiable hunger.

They left just enough behind to keep him clinging to life.

-The essence is insufficient!

-We must have more, Your Majesty!

-To fashion a queen from Solbaren’s body, we require greater strength!

……What?

Even more?

It appeared they needed a volume of blood that matched the high rank of Lord Solbaren.

However, even magical tonics couldn’t instantly replace lost blood.

He shook his head slowly and produced the Wish Pearl.

《‘The Worn Wish Pearl of the Dragon God’ begins to glow.》

《‘Natural Regeneration’ is boosted by 5,000% for the next 30 minutes.》

《‘Wish Pearl’ will require 30 days to recharge.》

This was one of the treasures he had acquired from the Golden Rule shop.

This was exactly why the Wish Pearl was considered a mandatory item for high-level players.

Its utility was unmatched.

It could only be activated once a month, but it provided exactly what was required in a moment of crisis.

‘That is why you are limited to a single Wish Pearl.’

The rules dictated that a person could only hold one Wish Pearl at a time.

It carried a massive 30-day wait time after activation, though there were methods to speed up the recovery.

Regardless, thanks to the Pearl, his healing factor was pushed to the absolute limit.

-Ooh, the essence flows once more!

-Let us birth the queen!

-The inaugural queen!

-A magnificent queen!

…And so, for the next half hour, he functioned as a human blood reservoir.

Unable to maintain his strength any longer, he eventually collapsed onto the bed.

He took small comfort in the fact that the primary invasion hadn’t commenced yet.

How much time slipped away after that?

《The first queen of the demon bloodkin has been brought into existence!》

《In accordance with the desires of the demon bloodkin, the queen’s incubation period has been drastically shortened.》

《The queen has inherited the traits ‘Heretic,’ ‘Lord,’ ‘Invincible,’ ‘Berserk,’ and ‘Prolific.’》

《The queen’s offspring with the ‘Heretic’ trait will ignore all rules and restrictions.》

《The queen with the ‘Lord’ trait is capable of commanding a legion of 100,000.》

《The queen with the ‘Invincible’ trait cannot be killed as long as her legion survives.》

《The queen with the ‘Berserk’ trait will enter a state of madness if her legion is wiped out.》

《The queen with the ‘Prolific’ trait is able to produce 1,000 eggs daily.》

《Please provide a name for the first queen.》

Isera, who had successfully crossed over to Earth, stared down at the world below from the heavens.

“Isera. Are you waiting for the ‘Rift Guardians’ of Earth?”

Who would have the gall to speak so informally to Isera, the supreme leader of the invasion force who had traversed the warp?