Dictator From Outer Space

The process of absorbing other souls was a strange and uncomfortable experience.

Leobold felt something that should not enter his body invading his inner space.

He felt nauseous, a side effect of having multiple souls in one body.

His vision blurred and his right chest ached.

Cain, who was residing in his left arm, spoke in admiration.

―Four souls in one body… What a marvelous sight… You are indeed the proxy of Rasa…

Even those who were soaked in various drugs and had magic circles engraved on them had trouble handling two souls.

It was close to the limit of living beings.

But Leobold absorbed not only his own soul, but also the soul of Cain, Grakies, and Kairos, and he was fine except for some minor side effects.

‘Shut up, Cain, do your job.’

―Of course… I will now lead them to the branches of Yggdrasil…

―Aaah!

―This can’t be! This can’t be…

The two souls screamed and struggled, but Leobold ignored them.

As the soul guide Cain used his power, a bright light burst from Leobold’s head and stretched somewhere.

It was where the branches of Yggdrasil were located.

If they had been absorbed by the main body, their ego would have faded and they would have become docile, but they were surprisingly intact because they were trapped in the branches.

―The soul guidance is complete, proxy of Rasa…

“Phew…”

Leobold opened his eyes, soaked in sweat.

He had more than a few questions to ask the two souls, but there was something more important to do now.

He gave an order to Arma.

“Fire a weak ether laser at me.”

「Are you sure? It might be better to just move you.」

“I fought a madman with a dragon’s soul and came out unscathed. I need to make some scars for my face. “

Those scars would not only be medals for him, but also make his enemies complacent that he was not perfect.

“Don’t make my ugly face uglier, just aim for my neck and shoulder.”

「Master’s face is not ugly.」

“You’re not saying it’s handsome either.”

After the pointless conversation ended, an ether laser beam fell from the sky.

Goliath Dingo shook under the laser bombardment and collapsed with white smoke.

‘Now I just need to rest…’

Arma would take care of the rest of the schedule.

Leobold closed his eyes, enduring the burning pain in his shoulder.

The biochip in his body detected skin damage and injected painkillers from the biotic organ connected to it.

Meanwhile, Granden was hiding, but he was ready to jump out at any time.

He had to save the lord’s life at least, right?

He was willing to sacrifice his own life if necessary to rescue the lord.

But the situation went strangely.

They seemed to be fighting hand-to-hand, but then lightning struck from the sky?

‘Is it magic? Did that murderer use magic?’

Leobold’s Goliath, which had gained the upper hand, stopped moving and slumped down after being hit by that magic.

Before Granden could rush out, Arma acted first.

“It seems that the lord has lost consciousness. Go and take him to the infirmary.”

“Yes!”

Her subordinates rushed over and pulled Leobold out of Goliath.

Granden ran after them late and saw Leobold’s wounds with furious knights.

“Oh no, he has burns!”

“His breathing is irregular!”

Arma calmly gave orders to the dummies.

“Lay the lord down on a stretcher and cover his wounds with a cloth soaked in potion. Taking him to the clinic is our top priority.”

The clinic was a public facility set up in various places in the territory, where healers who studied botany and pharmacy alternated their shifts.

Anyone in the territory could use it, which was one of the differences between Vandus County and other territories.

As Leobold was carried away on a stretcher, Granden grabbed Arma’s sleeve anxiously.

“What happened? Is the lord okay?”

“I don’t know the details either, but it seems that his life is not in danger.”

“Thank goodness…”

“We still have to deal with that Goliath somehow. The knight seems dead, but we have to get him out and protect him.”

“Why do we have to protect the murderer’s corpse?”

“Remember that the emperor was assassinated. There is a high chance that they will demand us to hand over Goliath and the knight’s corpse.”

“That’s…”

She had logic in her words.

Granden agreed and called his troops together.

“Sir Elwin, gather your troops immediately and prepare to launch the airship. Sir Catina, proceed with the patrol as planned.”

“Captain, do you mean to launch the airship…”

“It seems that something happened in Rozelon. Someone has to go and see. And don’t touch the intruder’s corpse.”

It was logical for him to go, who had a face with the royal family, since the lord’s survival was confirmed.

Granden looked west, where the royal road was.

He hoped nothing had happened, but it seemed unlikely.

Meanwhile, the hafnium warhead missile launched from Settler before the battle crossed the continent and locked on its target.

***

The missile launched from Settler had a warhead with a yield of 200 kilotons in TNT equivalent and a speed of 9 km per second.

This was one of the weakest and slowest missiles among the many missiles on Settler.

Nevertheless, it was enough to cross the Astera continent and find its target.

The coordinates entered in the missile were a secret laboratory on the outskirts of Medea, the capital of Elvrande.

There was no radar or air defense network, so the missile easily flew into the designated coordinates.

The final evasion maneuver began, but the research facility was silent.

Then, a missile exploded and caused a massive blast.

A huge crater appeared in the sky, followed by a shockwave that rivaled a tactical nuclear weapon. 

It destroyed several core buildings in an instant.

There was no radiation, but the research staff were as good as erased by the terrible force.

The research facility vanished, but it took some time for the upper echelons of Elvrande to find out.

That was because their surveillance network was only based on ether tracking systems.

They lived in a forest created by Yggdrasil, so most natural disasters were nullified. 

They thought they only had to monitor the ether.

It was not a bad judgment in normal times, and they had no major problems until now.

But the missile loaded with hafnium was fundamentally different from those disasters.

The news of the research facility’s disappearance reached the Grand Council three hours later.

“The 121st Research Facility has vanished! Most of the facilities are gone and we can’t find any of the staff!”

“…”

The councilors looked bored at the agent in front of them. 

It did not make sense logically.

“Calm down and explain clearly. What happened at the research facility?”

“As I said, the research facility is gone! If you allow me to use magic…”

“I allow it.”

The agent used an Imagine Record magic to show what he saw.

The councilors tilted their heads at the sight of a huge crater instead of a research facility.

“Where did the research facility go and why is there only a hole?”

“Is this from somewhere else?”

They did not notice the change and hated it, so their reaction to this sudden situation was very slow.

They had been living in the forest for over 200 years without any disasters or dangers, so they became slow to respond to everything.

“No! Someone attacked the research facility for sure!”

The hand that was leisurely sipping tea finally stiffened and his eyes widened.

“Attack? Who did it?”

“Don’t tell me Zaium launched a Meteor Strike?”

The agent panicked and immediately denied it.

“N-no! There was no ether detected at the scene.”

The ether became chaotic after the explosion, but it was quiet before that. 

The tracking system did not alert anything.

The councilors finally entered the meeting with seriousness.

Of course, it was not a proper meeting.

“What does the 121st Research Facility do?”

“We have more than one or two research facilities in our territory…”

They should have called their staff and searched for data, but they were annoyed.

“I don’t know which research facility it is, but it’s not an external act. It must have been a magic experiment.”

“Stupid fools, they should have been careful when dealing with dangerous magic.”

Of course, the experiment to fuse the black dragon’s soul with Kairos was so secret that few people knew about it.

The research facility itself was mainly researching black magic, so it was treated more secretly.

Only a handful of people knew about the existence of the 121st Research Facility, and none of them were awake in the morning.

As a result, it took a whole day for Elvrande’s administration to grasp the situation.

One of the three sages in the empire and the leader of Telis family, Kelodian, went crazy when he heard that the 121st Research Facility was annihilated.

“Why am I hearing this now…? What were those intelligence agents doing?”

As the agents explained what happened, he looked stunned.

“You just let it go after hearing that? You damned old men…”

No matter how secret or out of jurisdiction it was, they should have called their staff and looked for data when they heard that a research facility was blown up.

But even as a sage, he could not interfere with the Grand Council easily.

It could lead to a conflict between the great families.

He bit his tongue and immediately dispatched agents to the scene.

He received detailed information and most of the related people found out.

—A black magic research facility exploded? Without any ether traces?

—Don’t rule out Zaium’s possibility completely. Who else could attack that place?

—If he launched a Meteor Strike, he would have hit several places at once. It doesn’t make sense to attack only one research facility.

The two great empires of Astera had designated Meteor Strike magic on each other’s capitals and several major cities.

Once the magic was activated, it was hard to stop. 

It meant annihilation.

It was almost impossible to block Meteor Strike magic because of its nature.

Thanks to that, even angry people could not jump to conclusions.

They went to the scene personally and fell into shock.

The entire research facility was neatly gone.

Even the dragon’s bones were gone.

“That’s strange… Even if the soul escaped, the dragon bones shouldn’t break…”

“Maybe they’re buried under the soil? Let’s look for them.”

“But what do we do about this… The data is gone…”

“Did Kairos contact us? What is he doing now?”

An agent who was communicating with the communication device came to Kelodian and reported.

“There is news that Zaium’s emperor is dead. Several places in Easthart Kingdom are devastated.”

“That’s good news. What about that bastard from Bagran? He must be dead, right?”

The bastard from Bagran meant Leobold Vandus.

He had no interest in a minor noble from a human kingdom with a faint presence, but his recent actions made even the main leaders of Elvrande aware of him.

The landing on the floating continent and the leakage of living metal were not things to be overlooked.

Some people argued that he should be killed before he grew bigger, and Kelodian agreed.

But the agent said something unexpected.

“He was fatally wounded, but there are rumors that he is not dead in his territory.”

“…Is he lucky? Kairos must have been exhausted.”

In fact, Kairos was not normal even before entering the empire.

He trapped a huge soul named Grakius in an elf’s body, so he expected all kinds of side effects. It worsened a lot when he fought Zaium’s knights.

He must have been almost dying after going through Galisto and Bagran.

Kelodian decided to cover up the situation at this point.

He lost the research data and staff, but it was not a big deal. 

And more importantly, he achieved his goal of striking the human side.

According to the information coming in, not only the Easthart Alliance, but also more than 10 kingdoms’ leaders were killed.

Elvrande was in a festive mood, and he could not pour cold water on it.

“Let’s end it here. By the way, where did the dragon bones go? Check if someone stole them!”

The dragon bones were very important materials even if the soul escaped.

They were as hard and light as adamantium, so they were perfect for making Goliath’s armor plates. But they went missing.

The elves did not dig the ground themselves, but called humans and beastmen from their autonomous regions to order them to work.

Hundreds of people dug the ground without eating or sleeping properly, but they could not find the dragon bones.

“Ugh, someone must have stolen them.”

It was probably some councilors who smelled something fishy.

Kelodian bit his tongue and buried the incident.

The hundreds of people who were mobilized for the work had to go back barefoot without any compensation.

The incident of the 121st Research Facility’s disappearance was completely buried, but the chaos of the continent was just beginning.

***

“Ah… Aah…”

Eolin looked at the ruined palace with a blank stare.

She could not understand what had happened in the last few hours.

She heard a thud, followed by screams of servants and clanging of knights’ greaves.

After that, she was locked in her room, but when she came out, it was like this.

There were countless corpses of people, and pools of blood were everywhere on the floor.

She suddenly smelled blood and looked at her hands.

They were stained with dark red blood.

“No… This can’t be…”

Eolin frantically searched for someone on the floor.

“Father… Mother… Brother… Adela…”

She hoped they were alive, but all she saw with her tearful eyes were cold bodies.

She hugged the corpses of Bagran III and Prince Ruad and sobbed.

A sudden disaster took everything away from her.

Someone ran to her as she cried sorrowfully.

“Princess, princess! Oh no! You’re alive!”

She looked at him and recognized him as Conrad, the chief steward.

“Lord Conrad!”

“I’m glad you’re safe! Oh… this…”

His face hardened with horror as he confirmed the destruction of the royal family.

He began to tell her what had happened as he held her in his arms.

“It all started with an unidentified Goliath that suddenly appeared…”

“An unidentified Goliath! Is it Vandus’s doing?”

Conrad looked at her with a sharp eye.

He understood her hatred for Count Vandus, but she should have put it aside when the situation was like this.

“Princess, I also feel sorry as a servant of Bagran… But you can’t just sit here. You and Lady Adela are the only ones left in the royal family.”

“Adela, Adela is alive! Where is she?”

“She is being protected in a safe place in the steward’s office. What you need to do is get help from the grand lords.”

Her face twisted with anger at his words.

“Why do I have to rely on the grand lords? Isn’t it because they did nothing that this happened?”

“There are not many people left alive. Princess…”

The pitiful voice of the chief steward brought her back to reality.

Most of the royal knights were dead, and so were the soldiers.

The situation was like this, but none of the officials came out. 

That meant they also lost their lives.

The Bagran palace was completely collapsed.

There was not much she and a few nobles could do in this situation.

It was a big problem to clear up the ruins and recover the royal corpses.

There was no law that prevented foreign intervention in that process. If something went wrong, even the royal family could be in danger.

The most obvious example was Galisto.

Eolin’s head went white and then barely regained consciousness.

“What should I do… Who should I ally with?”

“I know you’re angry, but Count Vandus’s side… Lantissi is relatively close.”

“I can’t do that!”

She screamed sharply and Conrad closed his eyes briefly and opened them again.

“Then I’ll look for one of the grand lords in the west.”

“Please contact Duke Prozan if possible.”

“I’m sorry, but Zaium Empire is also in trouble right now. There is an unclear news that the emperor was assassinated.”

“The emperor…”

If that was the case, Duke Prozan’s help would be hard to hope for.

The only one left was Duke Leyson Townsend, but Eolin hated him.

He was old, but he always coveted Eolin and caused a lot of conflicts with the royal family.

It was ridiculous for a man in his fifties to marry a young princess for his second marriage.

But there was no one else.

The other lords were too far away even if they rode pegasus. Duke Prozan’s territory was even farther away.

Only Count Vandus’s territory was close, but Eolin would never join hands with him.

“I have no choice… Please contact Duke Townsend for now.”

He might not ignore Duke Prozan’s request.

Then a shadow crept over her head as she was depressed.

They looked up and Eolin’s face brightened up.

“Isn’t that Altema? It belongs to the royal family, right?”

“His Highness Prince Ruad transferred ownership to Count Vandus a while ago…”

What does that mean?

Princess Eolin felt a chill down her spine.

Could it be that Count Vandus came in person?