NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 106
Chapter 106
“Feeling good, Dragon Slayer King?”
“Of course.”
He had finally returned to his original state.
Though it was just the beginning and there was much more to develop, it was a rather pleasant feeling.
Incidentally, even though Curse could now create a miniature-sized body, he said the energy consumption was too great and went back inside Aden.
In the end, it was almost like gaining a useless skill.
“So, can you catch that noisy one, the Winter Queen, now?”
“No way.”
Aden had just reached the level of a Master.
His opponent was an ancient, disaster-level entity.
Powerful enough to turn a significant portion of the Frozen Land into a dungeon.
In his past life, even a thousand elite knights in a special task force had failed to subdue her, which led to a monster wave.
It was impossible for Aden alone.
But that meant…
“It doesn’t mean it’s impossible if I’m not alone.”
Aden smiled meaningfully.
* * *
When Aden intended to enter the Winter Queen’s territory, everyone…
“Are you saying you’ll… defeat the Winter Queen, Lord Aden?”
“Handsome prince, did you hit your head?”
“I’ll treat you! Lower your head, Brother Aden!”
… treated him like a patient.
They were extremely worried and tried to dissuade him.
That was because the place was different from dungeons where goblins or ghoul rabbits roamed.
To everyone, it looked like he was just a suicide hopeful.
“It’s okay. I have a plan.”
But Aden waved off their concerns with a relaxed expression.
They couldn’t understand Aden, but they knew he wasn’t one to lie or boast.
Because of this, they tried to convince themselves he must have a plan.
“Defeat the Winter Queen…!”
“Oh! He truly is the savior sent by the Lord of the Sacred Fire!”
“Aah, Apostle of the Sacred Fire!”
The priests of the Sacred Fire Order, who were unaware of the situation, cheered at Aden’s demeanor and praised him.
Finally, on the second day after the Winter Queen’s appearance…
“You have entered the legendary dungeon, ‘Winter Queen’s Territory’.”
Aden set foot in the Frozen Land.
* * *
The Winter Queen’s Territory.
The first legendary dungeon, occupying about 30% of the Frozen Land in the northern wilderness.
The boundary of the Winter Queen’s Territory was marked by a massive fog, and inside was the domain of the Banshee Queen, the Winter Queen.
As he stepped into the fog, visibility was entirely obscured.
“The first expedition in my previous life failed because of this fog.”
A thousand elite knights from the Grand Duchy were sent in the first expedition.
Despite being sure of success, they completely failed due to the environment inside.
The world within the fog was filled with illusions and hallucinations.
The task force was scattered by the hallucinations and picked off one by one by monsters.
“This fog creates visual hallucinations, which my system can’t solve.”
But now, Aden wouldn’t be lost.
“Activating ‘Hwaan’.”
Aden’s eyes turned golden and began to shine.
Eyes that pierced through all lies and revealed the truth.
Swish.
The fog obscuring his vision began to clear before Aden’s eyes.
And the hidden truth was revealed.
“Wow, there are so many.”
A twisted smile appeared on Aden’s lips.
“Uwooo!”
“Ki-ka-ka-kak!”
“Kel-kel-kel-kel!”
Undead, corrupted ice monsters, and spirits hidden in the fog came into view.
Aden was on a geographically high hill, allowing him to see everything at a glance.
And he saw it.
“Ahhhhh-.”
A giant ice castle where the Winter Queen’s screams echoed.
Around the ice castle, spirits flew with eerie laughter in the sky, and frozen soldiers and ice monsters roamed the ground.
It was a complete hell on earth.
“They’re numerous, Dragon Slayer King.”
“They must all be people and monsters from the Grand Duchy who died.”
The Frozen Land was cold.
The knights and soldiers who fought to protect their territory were buried in the snow without proper burial.
In a place where it snowed five out of seven days, even retrieving bodies was a luxury.
After being frozen in the snow for decades or centuries, they had become the Winter Queen’s minions.
“What do you think, can you handle them?”
Aden asked with a calm expression as he turned to the side.
Next to him was a beautiful woman with snow-white hair in a black robe, gazing at the frozen land of the dead with an unreadable expression.
The leader of the moderate Warlock faction in Florence.
The Silver Witch, Niketa.
“Uuuh.”
“Ahhhhh!”
“Kel-kel-kel!”
Even as Aden and Niketa looked down at the dead, strange screams and cries echoed from everywhere.
To a normal person, these sounds filled with deep resentment would cause them to faint, bleeding from their orifices.
But to her, a Warlock who had reached the level of a Master, they were merely sorrowful cries.
“Spirits, wraiths, undead.”
She spoke calmly.
“They may differ in form, but they share one thing in common. They’re trapped in the memories of their lives, unable to find peace.”
Aden noticed the emotions in her eyes.
Sadness and pity.
“They don’t realize they’re dead, and even if they do, they can’t accept it. They wander the afterlife, consumed by the grudges they couldn’t let go of in life, envying and hating the living until their last trace of self is gone. Forever, endlessly…”
“…”
“…That’s why Warlocks exist.”
She continued.
“Priests’ blessings annihilate the dead. They are priests for the living and priests of the gods.”
They didn’t try to understand the dead, what they were resentful about, or why they were angry.
They were priests and clerics for the living, bestowing blessings and comforting the living.
“When the Kingdom of Florence was still standing, Warlocks were the priests and clerics of the dead.”
They weren’t necromancers controlling the dead as mere tools, nor was it black magic.
They were priests who gathered and guided the wandering dead, helping them release their grudges.
“I am the last bloodline of the Florence royal family. If those who walk in darkness are priests for the dead, then I am the high priestess of the dead.”
A resolution shone in her beautiful blue eyes.
“I am merely fulfilling my duty as a Florentine.”
She raised her hand.
Wooom.
Black dark energy flowed out from her body, her black robe fluttering.
She revealed her true self without holding back.
Sshhh.
Her white hair turned black, absorbing the dark energy.
Her hair, like beautiful silk, turned pitch black.
“This is how she looks when she fights with all her might.”
Aden had seen this appearance when they fought in his previous life.
He knew she was genuinely stepping forward.
“Grrr…”
“Kaaa…”
“Kel-kel…”
Skeleton soldiers, Death Knights, Living Armors, Ghouls, Wraiths, spirits, corrupted ice monsters…
The army of the dead sensed Niketa’s overwhelming presence and looked up at the cliff where Aden and Niketa stood.
“You who have devoured the earth.”
Her words flowed like a spell.
-Bones reduced to dust, those who have lost their souls, those who wander without knowing themselves, those who have lost the warmth of skin, those who wander, having lost the eyes to seek the fire!
Her will, imbued in her words, spread far and wide.
All the armies of the Frozen Land, the undead steeped in hatred, heard that voice.
They listened.
-Listen, all of you! Here is your fire, Florence has come!
The dark mana emanating from her grew even more intense.
She looked like a black flame.
That was it.
‘The fire of the Dark Sky…’
There was no more fitting expression for her appearance.
Her voice grew increasingly agitated, filling the vast expanse of the Winter Queen’s domain, stretching beyond the horizon.
-Uh…uh…
-Grr…
They were the living.
Those they hated, those who lived, breathed, and felt warmth.
They were the ones to be killed, their breaths to be cut off, to be made into beings as cold as themselves.
-There is someone here to hear your wails. Someone who listens to your screams.
But they couldn’t do it.
Every word from the woman who shared their aura of darkness constricted the frozen hearts of the undead.
-Those frozen in cold! Those who eternally hate and yearn for life!
That being appeared as a fire just for them.
A fire for all things ominous.
They all recalled one long-forgotten emotion.
-I am your fire, the fire of Florence!
Beautiful.
Their decayed souls, mixed with hatred and resentment, trembled before that beauty, before the absolute power.
‘This is…’
At what happened a moment later, Aden’s eyes widened.
-Grrrr…
Click, clack.
-Grrr…
The skeleton soldiers bowed their heads.
The Death Knights drew their rusted swords and saluted.
The ice beasts buried their heads in the snow in submission.
The spirits flying in the sky descended to the ground and knelt.
The number of bowing undead increased from dozens to hundreds, then to thousands.
“Hah.”
Aden couldn’t help but laugh.
‘I thought it would be okay since I already knew her power, but…’
He felt goosebumps all over.
The reason the empire destroyed the Florence Kingdom long ago.
Aden somehow understood the feeling.
It must have been the fear of the ‘Absolute Subjugation of the Undead’ power of the Florence royal family.
In the past, he didn’t know why her lineage possessed such power.
But now he had a guess.
‘The Florence royal family are descendants of the Underlord.’
Probably a lower-tier version of his Talos domination power passed down.
In reality, Florence’s power wasn’t that great.
About a thousand lower-tier regular members, and only about two to three hundred of her actual warlock subordinates.
Yet, they could fight against the entire world thanks to the impregnable fortress, the Sky Island Shamhaim, and her authority.
All undead of a lower rank than her were inevitably influenced and forced to submit to Niketa.
This was the result.
The Frozen Land army of the Winter Queen, all deeply bowed in worship to the queen of warlocks.
-Entrust your hatred to me.
To them, the queen spoke slowly, like soothing a child.
-Now, let go of your regrets and depart. Now, rest in peace.
With those words, the army of the dead slowly turned to dust and began to collapse one by one.
Swish…
A skeleton soldier who had been a man wanting to earn merit to feed his sick mother and siblings crumbled to dust.
Swish…
A living armor that had lost comrades and family to monsters and was blinded by revenge vanished.
Swish…
A Death Knight’s armor, worn out from fighting monsters with a heart scarred by countless losses, fell apart.
With every layer of snow, death accumulated, the numerous deaths of the Winter Queen’s army.
The Winter Queen’s army rapidly disintegrated in real-time.
‘The souls are departing.’
Aden could see it through his spiritual eyes.
A festival of souls ascending, releasing their worldly attachments, achieving peace.
They flew up, up, and up again.
White souls, wandering the world, joyfully rose to the sky endlessly.
And the impure thoughts and dark mana they left behind flowed into Niketa.
The negative energy they left would now be slowly absorbed and become part of her strength.
“Phew…”
After a while, she closed her eyes, absorbed the energy, and opened them.
Her hair remained as pitch-black as ever, as if it had absorbed all their filth.
“…Noble Lord of the Under.”
She looked back at Aden with a small, yet proud smile.
“This is the will of your descendant, Florence. Ancestor.”
She was incomparably beautiful, a figure of elegance one could always wish to see.
But Aden wondered if it was his imagination that her expression seemed like that of a child waiting for a parent’s praise.
“Well done.”
Aden smiled and calmly complimented her.
-Dragon Slayer King.
Curse spoke to Aden quietly.
-If you reveal the truth, you won’t even find your bones.
‘…Indeed.’
In his previous life, Aden was able to deal with her due to the sacrifice of many, the dozens of magical traps laid in advance, and meticulous planning. It was a stroke of incredible luck.
As someone who had just recently reached Master level, Aden would never be able to defeat her in the current situation.
He genuinely hoped that Niketa’s misunderstanding would remain even in her grave.
At that moment,
-AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
A scream filled with rage echoed from the Ice Castle of the Banshee Queen, the Winter Queen.