The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 117 – The Evil Snake (3)

The Templars inside the camp popped out immediately upon hearing the loud boom that rang out. They quickly looked toward the fortress of Beldeve to figure out the situation, but found no change. Only then did they notice a bright flame that was burning behind them—the flame was coming from Captain Velkre’s camp.

Meanwhile, Juan was thrown off by the soaring flames and staggered to his feet. It was unknown as to what Velkre had done, but a huge explosion containing a lot of power had occurred.

‘Flames bursting out like this just by putting on a cape, huh…’

Juan managed to protect his body using Umbra before the explosion, but the shock from the explosion was still quite severe.

‘This isn’t a force that an ordinary human can deal with.’

Then, something slowly limped and walked out of the flames burning high in the sky. The soaring flames quickly died down and stuck behind this ‘something’s’ back as they continued burning.

Juan clicked his tongue as he assumed the identity of his opponent.

“It must be one of the magical equipment made by the dragons…” Juan muttered.

“That’s right, apostate,” Velkre said in a strange voice.

Only now did Juan realize that the flag on the flagpole had been a fake to trick him, and that the real flag was disguised as a cape. Dragon scales began to cover Velkre’s entire body, including the armor on his back, while the wounds on his chest and back also healed themselves.

“We call this armor ‘the Evil Snake.’ It’s a piece of equipment made by the evil beasts who once antagonized His Majesty, but it is also the most appropriate weapon to punish an apostate such as yourself,” Velkre said.

Not only did the armor cover the surface of his body, but it was clear that ‘the Evil Snake’ was deforming Velkre’s skeletal and body structure. Velkre’s face was distorted due to the pain and anger, as if the whole process of transformation was very uncomfortable for him.

‘Fuck.’

Velkre uttered a curse inside. He had no choice but to transform into the Evil Snake in order to survive, and he could feel other emotions beginning to erode his head.

Judging that nothing good would come out of waiting until Velkre’s transformation was complete, Juan quickly charged toward Velkre.

At that moment, Velkre swung his empty flagpole and struck Juan’s short sword at once.

Juan narrowed his eyes upon realizing that not only was the flag extraordinary, but even the flagpole was not an ordinary weapon—the scales that were deforming Velkre’s body were slowly covering the flagpole as well, creating a spear. It was a thick, white spear that resembled the bone of a dragon.

Grrrrrr.

A guttural sound came out of Velkre’s mouth—one that should not come out of a human. At the same time, his vertically pointed pupils flashed green. The transformation was almost complete. Velkre’s appearance was still somewhat humanoid, but he had grown taller and had developed reversible jointed legs and had grown bizarrely long fingernails.

‘That’s not just a simple transformation.’

Juan could feel the power of a dragon itself from Velkre. He had a feeling that the current Velkre would be able to do anything that a dragon was capable of. Juan wondered how such a weapon was still allowed to exist in the empire—if he had been aware of such a weapon, he would have either sealed it or destroyed it for good.

Bang!

Juan lifted his short sword as soon as Velkre disappeared from his sight. When the bone spear collided with his short sword, Juan intentionally jumped and bounced off to minimize the shock.

Juan frowned. While it was true that Juan had failed to read Velkre’s movements due to Velkre’s transformed body structure, it was clear that Velkre used Blink.

“You fucking lizard…!”

Juan glared at Velkre who was running wildly toward Juan even before he fell to the ground.

Velkre continued to pressure Juan without giving him a break. Being a lightweight, Juan didn’t have many ways to block Velkre’s attacks which were heavy and powerful.

Just like his fight against Ethan Etil, fighting against the captain of a knight order was difficult for Juan. Due to this reason, Juan had wanted to quickly finish Velkre off by assassinating him—but here he was, fighting Velkre one on one.

To make matters worse, Velkre was draped with magic equipment made by the dragons. Magic equipment made by the dragons who were extremely familiar with magic was certainly some of the best quality equipment out there.

‘Of course, there is a corresponding price for this power.’

Using the magic equipment made by dragons is closer to a curse than a blessing—it was like asking a devil to grant your wish. Although it would be possible to get the power you want, no one could guess what would be the price you would have to pay in return. There was even a possibility that a curse was placed on the equipment to kill the person who used the equipment. Due to this, usage of such equipment was avoided, despite the great power they could provide. Juan had already figured that much out.

Juan jumped into the air once more. While he was slowly falling to the ground, he saw Velkre jumping up in the air to change the direction of his spear in order to prevent him from dodging the attack again.

“Keuk!”

Juan hastily changed the direction of his falling body and used Blink.

Slash!

Juan rolled on the snow-covered ground and quickly picked himself up. Blood drops formed on his scratched skin, but Velkre continued to rush at Juan and picked up his spear from the ground, immediately charging him one more time.

Juan squinted his eyes.

‘He’s rushing.’

It was certain that Velkre was at an advantage, and Juan had to acknowledge that Velkre was quite skilled. None of the weapons Juan had at the moment could damage Velkre, and such a difference in power couldn’t be filled up with good swordsmanship skills or experience.

Juan was able to fight Nigrato since he had the emperor’s flames, which were lethal to beings like Nigrato, but Velkre was wearing armor made from the leather of a dragon—a being that had the same type of energy as Juan. Flame energy. Velkre’s strength far exceeded that of Juan, and he was just as fast as Juan. Juan might stand a chance at victory if he was given enough time to concentrate on casting a magic spell, but magic equipment also had strong magic resistance.

Juan tried to think, but Velkre didn’t give him time to think.

‘Why is he rushing while completely forgoing defense? Or… is there a time limit to how long one can use the equipment?’

Juan wondered if the time limit was the curse involved with the Evil Snake; there was no way such a strong force could be used without paying a corresponding price for it.

‘Having a time limit sounds like a reasonable restriction.’

Once he figured that out, Juan’s attack method was decided. He prevented his body from being flung up into the air due to Velkre’s attacks, while dodging Velkre as much as possible. Juan was fully capable of dodging Velkre’s attacks if he focused on avoiding Velkre, and Juan would use Blink whenever Velkre used Blink as well.

Juan wondered why Velkre, the captain of a knight order, was only making such simple attacks, but soon noticed the reason—it was impossible for Velkre to use the same types of attack patterns he used before his transformation.

‘He’s not used to the skeletal and structural changes from the transformation.’

This meant that the magic equipment was for one-time use. It was clear that Velkre would either die or be close to being dead once the equipment was taken off of him.

Meanwhile, Velkre smiled upon seeing that Juan had begun to only dodge his attacks.

Juan felt more and more strange as time went by. Juan had used Blink at least ten times in order to dodge Velkre’s attacks and was beginning to feel that his body was running out of energy. However, Velkre was still looked like he was full of energy as he kept pushing Juan.

‘Not only is he still full of energy, but he no longer seems like he is rushing.’

Juan thought that he might be mistaken.

‘Maybe the time limit is not the restriction… perhaps the equipment was simply created without a type of curse.’

Most magic equipment made by the dragons were created with a curse placed upon them, but there were rare cases where the dragons created some of them without a curse. However, not a single piece of equipment made for humans was without a curse.

‘I might have to consider a retreat.’

Juan wanted to kill Velkre and see his end, yet there was no way of doing so at the moment.

In the meantime, Velkre once again charged toward Juan, but disappeared from Juan’s sight as soon as he realized that Juan wasn’t concentrating anymore.

Juan quickly used Blink and moved in the opposite direction; he thought Velkre had also used Blink to disappear.

However, there was no shock or noise like the ones that Juan had expected.

Feeling perplexed, Juan’s face soon distorted. Juan felt a strong sense of deja vu—it was an unusual feeling—a feeling of someone watching him. It was the same feeling which he felt when he was at the wasteland with Swallan. Juan inadvertently recalled a Templar named Nora, who was capable of suddenly appearing and disappearing.

At that moment, Juan turned his body in haste and held out Talter’s short sword.

Crack!

However, Juan’s attempt at defending himself was pointless when he wasn’t in a good posture. Talter’s short sword broke in half and scattered along with an unpleasant noise that rang loudly in Juan’s ears. Juan clicked his tongue. Although he knew that Talter’s short sword was growing weaker with each passing day, he hadn’t expected it to break so soon.

Juan managed to barely dodge Velkre’s bone spear, but Velkre grabbed Juan by the neck and pinned him down on the ground. Juan was completely stuck and unable to move under Velkre’s huge hand.

“You’ve been making too many mistakes,” Velkre whispered. “If you had noticed that I’ve been using Blink just like Marco did in the wasteland, you should have thought of the possibility of me being able to hide myself just like Nora. You’re too easy to fool.”

Juan only smiled at Velkre’s words and didn’t answer, which Velkre found irritating.

Juan groaned and opened his mouth. “Where did you even get that armor from? It’s the kind of equipment that I would have destroyed if I knew of its existence.”

“Dragon Lord,” Velkre answered Juan.

Juan frowned; he recalled that he had killed the Dragon Lord with his own hands. However, Juan had no idea that the Dragon Lord owned such a piece of equipment.

“The Order of Lindwurm confiscated it from the Dragon Lord’s lair. It was kept in the knight order’s coffers, and the Church’s holy relic department confiscated it after the knights from the Order of Lindwurm were labeled as apostates.”

“...I see. The Order of Lindwurm…”

Juan nodded his head at the convincing explanation. Velkre opened his mouth and continued to speak even though Juan didn’t ask any further questions.

“Dragon Lord had anxiously watched as His Majesty slaughtered gods to establish the empire. She thought that the tip of His Majesty’s sword would one day be pointed toward the dragons, since they were the servants of the gods. The Dragon Lord had tried to remain neutral, but thought that it was humiliating that so many dragons gave in to humankind and ingratiated themselves. Both sides ended up suffering from damage, and eventually the war began.”

Juan listened to Velkre’s words in silence. Hearing a Templar speaking to defend the evil beast of the empire sounded strange, but reasonable at the same time.

“There was no reason for His Majesty to annihilate the dragons. But there was no way His Majesty could have left the dragons alone when they had such overwhelming power when compared to humans. After all, His Majesty had been killing all the gods regardless of them being good or bad. Upon seeing many of his kind being sacrificed, the Dragon Lord created equipment to protect his race,” Velkre continued to speak with his hand placed over his armor. “This armor is one of the pieces of equipment that was created when the dragons lost the war and became endangered. Most of the equipment made by dragons was destroyed, but this one was kept safe. The Dragon Lord hoped for this armor to continue to exist, and placed a curse on it that would engulf any human who wore it to rebel against the empire—he placed a curse to make sure that the humans would constantly suffer from a never-ending civil war.”

‘An equipment that offers great power while also encouraging humans to antagonize each other.’

Juan had to acknowledge that the Dragon Lord saw right through the human psychology despite being from a different race. The equipment that was made by dragons provided the user with great power was dangerous, but too attractive to refuse. It was only natural for people—even the Church to pursue a piece of equipment that offered such great power.

“Is it a curse that makes you babble bullshit?” Juan derided.

“No,” Velkre answered briefly. “To be exact, it’s a curse that makes one loathe the emperor and plants a seed of thought needed to aim for the destruction of the empire. The Dragon Lord also placed a curse to make the user deliver her final message to you once any human wearing this armor finally got a chance to kill you. Emperor.”

Velkre’s expression froze the moment his mouth opened against his will. He looked as if he had no idea about what he was saying.

“I can’t let you stay alive when my kind went extinct because of you. You are neither a savior nor a guardian. You are nothing but a seed that will sprout and bring about utter destruction, who was brought by Dane Dormund. So die. I will be waiting for you, while burning in hell.”

The Dragon Lord’s curse finally reached Juan’s ears after decades. After spitting out the curse, Velkre immediately put strength into his hands, wanting to pierce Juan’s stomach with the bone spear.

Then Velkre realized that his spear hadn’t moved at all. Velkre frowned and turned his gaze toward the spear held in his hands to find something dark winding around the spear, as well as Juan who was wearing ink black gloves that covered both his arms.

Velkre looked at the sight with eyes filled with disbelief. With his arms wrapped in Umbra, Juan broke the tip of Velkre’s spear.

Crack!

In an instant, Velkre’s arm that was still holding Juan’s neck broke along with a gruesome sound.

“Thanks for your explanation about the equipment’s curse and its advantages. My short sword was going to break at any moment anyway, but it broke at perfect timing. Thanks to that, I was able to fool you easily,” Juan said with a smile.

Only then did Velkre realize that Juan had deliberately pretended to be driven into a corner to get explanations about his equipment.

“Fortunately, it seems like there won’t be any trouble even if I kill you. But…”

Juan whispered the rest of his words in Velkre’s ear.

“You didn’t actually think that you could beat me by wearing the skin of a bastard that I’ve already killed once, did you?”