"Sigh—!"
At the head seat, the second-in-command of the Empire and the Demon King's most steadfast follower, Grand Duke Rune, let out a heavy sigh.
With a trace of exhaustion in his scarlet eyes, he swept his gaze across the Vampires kneeling below and said, "Currently, the Mist has completely severed the routes for transcontinental trade. Lacking high-quality magic crystals from the Tabu Continent, the majority of the applied magic crystal technologies—which took massive amounts of manpower and resources to research—will have to be scrapped. If this continues, I fear major problems will arise."
Below, the kneeling Vampires exchanged glances. Someone took the lead and asked, "Lord Rune, do you have a countermeasure in mind? Just give the order, and we will risk our lives to see it done!"
Rune nodded. "Lord Demon King has already begun organizing research into magic crystal refinement techniques, but we cannot pin all our hopes on a single direction. Regarding the sea routes, I hope someone can find a new route that hasn't been cut off by the Mist yet, or one where the Mist is relatively thin. Do any of you... wish to take on this mission?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the Vampires all fell silent.
Even the Vampire who had taken the lead earlier lowered his head, carrying a hint of shame.
This mission was not only highly dangerous, but there was also an extremely high possibility of returning empty-handed. Moreover, opening up a new sea route would take years no matter what; it was a completely thankless task, so naturally, no one was willing to take it on.
Rune naturally knew this in his heart, but seeing the collective silence of the Vampires, he still felt somewhat disappointed.
Just as Rune was about to personally designate a candidate for the mission, a Vampire kneeling near the back stood up.
"Lord Rune, I am willing to go!"
A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Rune's eyes: "I recall you are from the Frost branch, your name is...?"
"My name is Mortis. Mortis Drakon, Lord Rune. If I return successfully, I hope to receive an opportunity for promotion!" The rather young Vampire stated his demand without any evasion.
"Good! Good! It is still the younger generation that possesses drive! I can see burning ambition and a thirst for power in your eyes. This is excellent; it's much better than all this lifelessness!" Rune laughed heartily. "I promise you, even if you do not succeed, I will personally promote you! Of course, if you succeed, I will prepare even more rewards for you!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the Vampires all cast sidelong glances.
To be personally granted blood by Grand Duke Rune meant that Mortis would enter the most core circle of the Vampires. For a young Vampire less than two hundred years old, this could absolutely be called ascending to the heavens in a single step.
For a moment, those Vampires who had initially been mocking Mortis in their hearts all revealed expressions of remorse.
After the internal council of the Vampires concluded, Rune kept Mortis behind alone: "I don't know how long you will be gone this time. I fear you probably won't make it back in time for the Empire's bicentennial celebration next year; it is somewhat of a pity."
Mortis had an expression of absolute sincerity: "For the Empire!"
"For the... Empire, heh." Emperor Mortis slowly opened his eyes, concluding the recollection from his brief nap.
Thinking about it now, if he hadn't taken the risk to accept that mission to explore the sea route in order to climb the ranks back then, it was highly likely he would have also died in that celebration that was ambushed by the Hero.
Fate was truly such a wondrous thing.
He drifted on the sea for three years, and ultimately, just as those Vampires had predicted, he returned empty-handed.
But by that time, the Vampires had withered away, and the remaining competitors were absolutely no match for Mortis. This was what gave him the opportunity to become Rune's trusted aide.
It gave him... the opportunity to seize the blood.
The only thing he couldn't let go of was, when he used [Envy] to completely seal all of Rune's skills and held him down during the blood-seizing ritual, what exactly was the meaning behind that fleeting flash of joy that appeared in the other's eyes after the confusion, sorrow, and anger?
Unfortunately, the past was like smoke; there was no longer any way to investigate it.
After successfully seizing the blood, with the assistance of his co-conspirator Vesalius, he fought a difficult civil war for several years before finally purging the werewolf faction and grasping the Empire thoroughly in his palm.
Three hundred years had passed, and he had never forgotten that ritual that helped him ascend to the Emperor's throne.
Vesalius had altered it beyond recognition, turning it into something capable of seizing the lives of his own blood descendants to use for himself.
But Mortis was different; he focused on the "seizure" itself!
After three hundred years of improvement, he could now use the modified ritual to seize certain traits from a target, no longer limited solely to the bloodline power of the Vampires.
However, the carrying capacity of a single soul was limited. Blind seizure would only lead to self-destruction.
And Mortis had long ago figured out what he needed—that title capable of suppressing even the name of Emperor: Demon King, Hero!
Originally, his target was humanity's Hero. To this end, he continuously harassed the borders, step by step pressuring the United Kingdom, forcing them to summon the Hero.
Unfortunately, humans weren't complete idiots who followed his plans perfectly; the real and fake Hero summons played a trick on the Empire.
And now, due to various reasons, things had developed to this point. Naturally, the target of seizure was forced to become the Demon King.
Today, the north of the Empire had fallen, Levi was in critical danger, Keith was harassing the coastlines again, the United Kingdom was restless, and the entire Empire was besieged on all sides, tottering in the midst of a storm.
But Mortis no longer cared about any of this.
Power that transcended the mundane, power capable of standing against the entire world single-handedly—that was what he pursued now.
As long as he succeeded, he could break through that barrier standing before all powerhouses, the one named "Limit," and ascend to the heavens in a single step.
When that time came, the human Hero who hadn't fully grown yet would be nothing to fear. Even if the Empire was reduced to a pile of ruins, he could still reign supreme over the continent!
Gathering his thoughts, Mortis stood up and walked out of the room.
Outside, the entrance to the Dragon Cliff Underground City had been completely transformed into a fortress, a massive fortress arrayed to hold over a hundred thousand elite defenders.
On the parade ground below the city walls, densely packed square formations formed by soldiers stood.
Infantry, archers, mages, cavalry, Trolls, and his own elite Blood Guards; flags flapped noisily in the evening wind.
Mortis stood on the platform at the highest point of the fortress, looking down at this valley filled with lights and flags beneath his feet.
Three hundred years.
He had spent a hundred years climbing to the Emperor's throne, and another three hundred years guarding it.
Now, he was going to turn it into his most solid stepping stone.
From within the entrance of the Dragon Cliff Underground City, following the occurrence of some sort of incident inside, dragon roars echoed out one after another. Each roar was clearer than the last, drawing closer and closer!
"ROAR—!"
A giant silvery-white dragon spread its wings and flew out from the deep pit, its draconic aura following closely behind!
It roared excitedly, carrying a hint of tyranny. Cold Dragon Breath gathered in its mouth, seemingly ready to be spewed out at any moment.
However, when it noticed the massive fortress below and those Empire elites who remained unpanicked even while affected by the draconic aura, it hesitated for a moment. Ultimately, it didn't spew out the Dragon Breath, but flew directly toward the horizon instead.
Immediately after, even more giant dragons flew out.
Watching this scene, Mortis revealed a faint smile: "Finally, it has begun..."
(End of Chapter)
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