Who Stole The Empress

‘Should I say that heaven helped me or abandoned me?’

It was unfortunate that they encountered the Herpes earlier, as the fog pushed in earlier than expected.

But it did allow them to catch the criminals who took the children and tried to sell them before they could.

The knights that Tamon had taken with him had done very well.

The problem was that when Tamon found the ship, the Herpes had already destroyed it.

The ship was already split in half.

“Say it. Where are your children?”

Tamon immediately rescued one of the desperately floating men and pursued him.

[I, I, I do not understand the official language. I’m ………………!”]

The man spoke Nyrux language.

As expected, the ship was an illegal stowaway to sell the children to Nyrux.

Tamon frowned and asked again.

[Where are your children?]

The man’s eyes opened wide in surprise at the masterful Nyrux speech.

But he didn’t have time to admire it, because Tamon lifted the man up.

[The children!]

[Ah, in the shipping compartment…..but it’s alright sinking…]

With a blank face, the man pointed at the ship that was already sinking into the sea.

No matter how good the knights were, it was impossible to fight underwater.

Even just fighting the few Herpes on the sea surface was already overwhelming.

The water snakes were swimming, swirling their long tails.

Tamon commanded the knights, who were each using their own weapons against the Herpes in the water.

“Use the musk monkey powder! I’ll deal with the ones in the water!”

With a shout came from Jorge, but Tamon was already making his way into that deep sea. He didn’t know how much time he would have to hold his breath.

But what was certain was that it would be much easier to bear than he thought. In any case, he didn’t think he’d die from breathing difficulties.

‘………… Is this the power of this ability?’

No matter how bright the day was, it wasn’t any brighter in the ocean than it was outside.

Tamon saw that his body was glowing faintly and thought that this was definitely another effect of the awakened power.

But he didn’t have time to carefully observe the workings of the force.

Boom!

The tail of the Herpes tried to pierce through him like a spear.

Tamon turned his body lightly to the side to avoid it, and caught the thick monster’s tail with both hands.

Then the Herpes reversed itself and wrapped his body around its own long torso.

Tamon laughed savagely as Herpes lunged at him fiercely with its mouth wide open.

The body of the Herpes, which wrapped around him like a rope, trembled, and for a while the strength was released.

Herpes, which was approaching with its mouth wide open, was startled.

Tamon grabbed its opened jaws.

Then, with all his might, he spread it up and down.

– Crack!

In the blink of an eye, the open mouth split in two. 

The black blood from Herpes’ torn flesh sprayed out like a shimmer.

 Two of the Herpes that had been watching jumped at him at the same time. 

When two monsters rushed at once, it was chaotic. But that didn’t mean that Tamon couldn’t handle them.

But if three of them jumped on him at once, it would be dangerous.

Fortunately, thanks to the musk monkey powder spread by Jorge, the other half flocked to the sea. The musk monkey powder had an outstanding effect in attracting the monsters. 

Just sprinkle musk monkey powder and all the monsters, regardless of their species, would flock to it.

Their eyes turned half way like a flock of cats flocking to catnip.

The powder was effective when using the attractant strategy, but it was too dangerous to carry around on a regular basis. Tamon trapped the two swimming monsters in his arms and burst them open with force. The black blood became even thicker.

He could feel the power rushing through every part of his body.

It was abnormally powerful, even though it had been a long time since he fought in a battle. It wasn’t like this even when he finished his awakening…………

As time went on, he felt his heart grow hotter.

A mysterious power flowed from it, leaping like it was about to explode.

‘Is this the effects of engraving?’

He touched his chest and thought of Roselyn.

‘Do you feel this heat, this intense beating of your heart too?’

He was glad of the power that boiled over him, the proof that he was connected to her.

Another two Herpes that were a short distance away approached, smelling blood and baring their teeth.

Tamon glanced at the debris of the ship as it gradually descended.

It was already quite late in the day. It was enough time for a normal child to suffocate to death.

He had to get the child out of the ship before the rest of the monsters attacked him.

Then it happened.

Two small shadows came up from the broken pieces of the broken half ship.

They were two children, hand in hand, staring at him as he approached. A faint light was streaming from the children’s bodies, just as it was from Tamon’s body.

And so their breathing was not in the least bit impaired.

Tamon recognized him immediately. The boy was the one that Roselyn had been looking for, the Iron Child.

Tamon reached out his hand toward the children.

And at that very moment.

The biggest and fastest Herpes attacked him.

“…!”

It was in a different class than the one Tamon had dealt with.

The teeth were twice as big and the body was much longer.

The tips of the sharp teeth were blackened, but they must surely have contained deadly poison.

“Roarrrrrr!”

It grabbed Tamon’s body and tried to knock him down with all the strength it could muster.

Tamon gritted his teeth and tried his best to hold out. The monster did not waver.

It bared its teeth as hard as it could and quickly tried to swallow him.

He managed to untangle his body and get out of his teeth, but its tail flew at him right away.

It spiked like a long spear, and it aimed for Tamon’s neck.

He dodged, and held the tail with his both arms.

It was too strong.

It pushed him away and shook as he struggled.

Gritting his teeth, Tamon laughed devilishly and drove his claws into its torso.

“Arghhhhhhhh!”

It was in pain, and its movements became rougher.

It was wobbling and it reared its head again.

With its tail tied around his legs and arms, it managed to get its teeth into Tamon’s shoulder.

“Ahhhhhh!”

He thought he caught a glimpse of the monster’s smile.

Tamon’s left arm was bitten by the Herpes, and Tamon’s right hand was stuck in Herpes’ body.

In the quiet sea, the monster and Tamon stared at each other. Tamon gritted his teeth and aimed at the gap.

The Herpes poison was permeating his arm.

No matter how immortal his body was, he was not entirely free of the aftermath of the poison. It felt like he had been poked in the shoulder with an iron bar.

It was a pain as if pouring hot soup and pepper on top of the unhealed wound.

Tamon’s face twisted into a smile.

Finally, he thought …………… ‘Do you think you got me?’

Tamon’s hands dug further into the monster’s body. Then, with all his might, he grabbed its spine.

Shriek!

“…!”

The monster’s mouth opened in the agony of its spine being pulled out.

“Roarrrrrrrrr!”

A horrible scream filled with air bubbles echoed through the sea.

It was more like a resonance and vibration than a sound.

Tamon’s arm was ripped half off his shoulder by the struggling monster’s teeth.

One arm, ravaged by the black venom, was ripped almost to shreds, but Tamon didn’t stop straining his hand.

“Roaarr!”

Finally, the bone was completely pulled out of the monster’s flesh, and it stopped moving. Black blood swirled around Tamon.

Mixed in between was the red blood that spurted from Tamon’s shoulder.

Gathering short breaths, Tamon held out his hand to the children who were watching him blankly from a distance.

The children held Tamon’s hand and came up to the top of the sea.

***

“How is Master?

“His arms are tattered! Probably because of the first grade holy water from the temple that was poured into it, his arms weren’t poisoned, but he is constantly saying strange things without looking at his arms!”

Jorge complained violently to Satin who came running. Jorge’s appearance was a mess, how urgent he had been running.

He had water stains around his eyes from crying and fussing, and his head and body was covered in dust all over, as if he hadn’t washed it in a long time.

Jorge was famous for being neat and tidy within the Order. But now he looked so beggarly that his acquaintances could not recognize Jorge when they saw him.

It was only natural.

They spent four days on the fast boat, running days and nights, and when they got to the dock, they rode their horses to death, dragging Tamon along with them.

Even running fast, it took them three days to run and get here, so he was in a state of disrepair.

“Please help our general! I can’t watch my captain die in front of my eyes!”

Jorge, with thick muscles, was much larger than most knights.

Even though he was crying and begging, his threatening appearance remained unchanged.

Jorge grabbed Satin and wailed like a child.

“Calm down, Jorge. I’ll take a look at Master’s condition first.”

The other knights and the children who were saved from the water were running behind. It would probably take a couple of days to get here.

Jorge and Tamon rushed home first to take care of Tamon’s wounds.

Satin looked down at Jorge’s appearance and felt heavy.

He was relieved to see that he had not suffered any injuries…

Satin soothed a crying Jorge as they came to the central bathroom where Tamon had gone straight in.

“Master, it’s Satin. Can I come in for a moment?”

He didn’t hear an immediate reply.

A slow, slightly sleepy voice sounded one tempo later.

“Bring Asha.”