Records of the Weakest Emperor

Ricardo and Heisenberg stood frozen at where they were.

Of course, they knew what a Queen of Plague meant. Despite Ricardo's low clearance, as a member of one of the three Judiciaries. He still had enough access to the Bestiary dedicated for monsters that were at Emissary-Rank and above.

Ricardo had made sure to remember each and every monster that was written in that particular Bestiary, so he knew what exactly a Queen of Plague was...

"This is bad..." Ricardo's mind was screaming for him to escape as every cell in his body urged his body to move.

But his body's survival effort was to no avail.

The primal fear that overcame his mind and body upon witnessing the Queen of Plague's appearance was just too strong for him to recover from.

Heisenberg was also in the same situation as him. Although he had managed to take out a crystal ball that constantly emanated pulses of divine light that tried its best to soothe his heart, it was futile since the Queen of Plague was just too strong for any of them to handle.

Calvin turned around and immediately hurled two pieces of crumpled paper towards Heisenberg and Ricardo.

"Gawas, release!"

When his words fell, the pieces of paper shone in a blinding light as the power it had contained transformed into a force that pushed Ricardo and Heisenberg far from the petrifying influence of the Queen of Plague.

As they flew through the air, the fear that gripped the hearts of both men disappeared. Ricardo looked around absentmindedly and he couldn't help but scream upon noticing that he was already in the air.

"What the fuck?!"

"Calm down!" Calvin warned Ricardo before he looked at Heisenberg, "Book of Light, the Domain of the Brave."

"O-Okay..."

Heisenberg was floored when he realized that Calvin looked as if he wasn't even affected by the Queen of Plague's influence.

Was the difference between the two of them really this huge?

He was older than Calvin, yet he felt as if he was the one who was younger with how pathetic he was—freezing up in front of an absolute monster.

Fortunately, with Heisenberg's age and experience, he knew not to think about nonsense things in a life and death situation. He quickly closed his eyes and chanted the necessary prayers for the Domain of the Brave.

The Domain of the Brave wasn't like the Domain that he had used against the Sigbin. That domain encompassed everything in a circle around him, but this Domain of the Brave only affected those that he considered as allies.

In a way, this Domain of the Brave could be considered as a buff and its effects were to reduce the influence of fear in the hearts of men and dispel curses.

Heisenberg didn't even need to open the gospel of the Goddess that he had always kept in his person, for he had already memorized the prayer necessary for the Domain of the Brave.

Barely audible words came out of his mouth as he seemed to be speaking in tongues.

Calvin nodded his head as he dragged Heisenberg away, leaping onto rooftops after rooftops.

Ricardo sure was young, and his agility proved that to Calvin. Although he wasn't having any trouble keeping up with Calvin's pace, Ricardo had noticed that the village seemed to be waking up from slumber.

The villagers who had walked out of their huts had this crazed look on their faces as they swept their gazes around, seemingly looking for something. Ricardo turned to look at the direction of the deformed man and the Queen of Plague. The deformed man had this look of complacency on his face and he didn't seem to be in a hurry.

The Queen of Plague—on the other hand—had raised her bony hands into the air as the foul Nether Qi surrounding her body surged.

The locusts, flies, and all sorts of pests around her body flew into the skies and parted the clouds. Ricardo's Predator Senses enabled him to see what was beyond the clouds amidst the darkness and his expression paled when he saw no less than a thousand swarm of locusts!

"C-C-Calvin!" Ricardo called out.

Calvin abruptly stopped in his tracks, "What?"

"Look!" Ricardo pointed towards the skies.

Calvin followed his line of sight and his pupils constricted for he immediately understood what the Queen of Plague was planning on doing.

"A veil!"

"A veil?!" Ricardo turned to look at Calvin in horror. How could he not know what a veil meant? Although he was doubtful that a monster could deploy a veil, the look on Calvin's face didn't seem as if he was joking.

"Shit, we've got to move! Once she's done calling for the descent of those locusts swarm, then we're all going to be trapped here!" Calvin exclaimed as he carried Heisenberg on his back and turned to look at Ricardo, "I'm going to speed up."

"You're kidding me, right?" Ricardo asked. He still couldn't believe Calvin's words.

"When have I ever lied to you? If you aren't going to believe me, then stay here!" Calvin was irritated. He had completed the quest and removed the curse of sleeplessness from the village, yet little did he knew that the existence of that curse itself was the stopper that prevented the Queen of Plague from taking over Freya's consciousness.

Now that Freya's spirit had moved on, the Queen of Plague had taken over.

And the result was this mess.

To be honest, Calvin knew that something was about to go wrong. But he hadn't expected that it would be the Queen of Plague.

After all, the Queen of Plague was a monster that was incredibly risky to nurture.

It required continuous sacrifice in an extended amount of time and if one made a single mistake—no matter how minor the mistake was, the Queen of Plague would die before it could even mature.

There were three stages to the Queen of Plagues lifespan—larva, pupa, and adult.

The larva stage was the most sensitive out of all stages for it required immense resources to raise the Queen of Plague from larva to pupa.

However, once the Queen of Plague became a pupa.

She would be as powerful as an Emissary-rank monster and capable of controlling a thousand swarm of locusts, and pests, as well as the plague of pox.

Fortunately, she still wasn't an adult yet.

But the bad news was that the deformed man must be planning on using the Sinister Heart to amplify the Queen of Plague's growth, so she could become an adult tonight.

Once she became an adult, who knows what the deformed man would do to her? After all, despite being such a strong monster, the Queen of Plague was still obedient to those that had formed a bond with her by feeding her with her sustenance while she was still a larva.

It would most definitely follow the deformed man's orders and wreak havoc throughout the land, killing millions of civilians through famine and plague.

Calvin and Ricardo made a mad dash towards the village's southern entrance. Heisenberg was still chanting the Domain of the Brave as pulses of divine light emanated from his body, giving warmth to both Calvin and Ricardo and easing their worried hearts.

"There it is! I can see the exit now!" Ricardo looked excited as he made a mad dash towards the southern entrance. When suddenly, a series of weird-sounding footsteps rang out from the next junction up ahead of them. Calvin's ears perked and his expression changed.

He summoned his Aspect and hurled it at Ricardo, a golden light covered the golden quill as it transformed into a hook which dragged Ricardo back to where he was standing.

"What is this?!" Everything happened so fast that Ricardo was still in a daze.

He was startled upon seeing that he had returned to Calvin's side.

"You were about to die!" Calvin glanced at Ricardo. The golden quill that had transformed into a hook had returned to its original form and it was now sitting in Calvin's palm. He turned his gaze towards the fork about twenty meters ahead and what came from the fork were four figures carrying a wooden plank above their heads.

The clothes wrapped around the bodies of the figures indicated that they were the villagers. They looked like normal villagers, except for the fact that their eyes were burning with greed as if they weren't carrying an object above their heads but food that they were about to consume.

"W-What is that?" Ricardo gasped.

"It's the Undertaker's Procession." The Undertaker's Procession was similar to the New People's Revelation cult back in the asylum, but the only difference was that the monsters carrying the plank in the Undertaker's Procession were far stronger than the cultists.

What's more, the creature above the wooden plank surrounded by fog was a peak High-tier monster that could only be handled by the Mortician.

If you add the four monsters carrying the wooden plank, it would indeed be suicide if they met the Undertaker's Procession in battle.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

Ricardo hated being in the dark, he wanted more than anything to know about what exactly was going on with this village. Veins bulged on his face as he summoned his Aspect and swiftly fired an arrow at the Undertaker's Procession out of anger.

"Get the fuck out of there you bastards, or I'm going to fucking murder you all!" Ricardo seemed to have gone crazy as Calvin turned to look at him in astonishment.

Ricardo's complexion was very strange right now as black veins started to spread from his neck towards his brain. As the veins inched closer to the crown of his head, Ricardo's aura itself seemed to be transforming into something sinister.

"Heisenberg!"

But this time, Calvin had predicted that Ricardo would be affected by the innate curses of the Queen of Plague.

One of the curses that she constantly emanated was the so-called Curse of the Berserkers.

Once affected, one would lose all sense of reasoning and turn into an amalgamation of anger and destruction.

Fortunately, there was a counter to the innate curses of the Queen of Plague.

It was the Book of Light, Domain of the Brave.

"Clear the hearts of men, for their faith is steadfast..."

"Let them shun all impurities in thy honorable name."

"Oh, Goddess of Compassion and All-Encompassing Light."

"Hear us!"

Heisenberg's eyes snapped open as he let out a guttural growl, "The Domain of the Brave and Courageous..."

"Expand!"

The crystal orb in his bosom flashed with the divine all-encompassing light.

Ricardo's crazed look slowly disappeared as the bloodshot color in his eyes disappeared. As the warm and comforting light of the Goddess covered her body, he repeatedly blinked his eyes and stared at Calvin and Heisenberg.

"W-W-What have I done?!" It seemed that Ricardo could still remember that he had attacked the Undertaker's Procession with an arrow.

The arrow that he had sent was infused with his Mana, so it was impossible for Calvin to stop it while it was in mid-air. Furthermore, how could he possibly stop such a fast arrow in flight? Calvin might be able to do the impossible sometimes, but there was a limit to his plot armor!

"Get ready to get the fuck out of here!" Calvin gnashed his teeth.

Heisenberg hopped off his back and ran towards the eastern part of the village.

Ricardo was also quick to react and ran after him.

The arrow struck the wooden plank and the force it carried shattered the plank into smithereens.

All four villagers abruptly stopped in their tracks.

They slowly raised their heads. The smiles on their lips remained frozen as they looked at the destroyed wooden plank. The fog that had surrounded the creature above the fog had vanished. In an instant, anger surfaced on the pale faces of the four!

Shrill screams filled the junction as the four Undertakers chased after Calvin.

The creature above the wooden plank seemed to have been freed and cleansed as they formed the vague images of lingering spirits that looked similar to some of the passengers of the ill-fated passenger wagon. They expressed their gratitude to Calvin with a bow before they disappeared into innumerable light crystals.

Unfortunately, Calvin was not able to witness their sincerity for he had already escaped as fast as he could towards a nearby dark alleyway.

Entering the dark alleyway, Calvin seemed to have forced himself to a dead-end as the four villagers glanced at each other with crazed ecstatic looks on their faces.

But as soon as they surrounded Calvin inside the dark alleyway, the emerging sinister being from Calvin's shadow made them realize that it wasn't Calvin that was trapped with them.

They were the ones trapped with Calvin.

"Enjoy the feast!"

Calvin signaled as the Mortician leaped onto the four villagers and started a one-sided massacre.