Game of Divine Thrones

Chapter 219: Alice the Queen of Thorns 1

After defeating the Demon King Alliance, Woohyuk immediately headed towards the area he expected Alice, the Queen of Thorns, to be.

He hastily moved because he was worried about what Aleister was planning to do, especially after buying some time by sending Woohyuk on a journey to fight the Demon Kings.

He left the original plan of attacking the empty nest to Dreadlore’s owner, the Death Knight Huperion.

However, worried about leaving the plan to a single Death Knight, Ibn Rusud quickly asked,

“Is it really possible to attack a country’s capital with only undead troops? Even if the Queen of Thorns isn’t present, Queen, won’t it take a long time to break through the closed castle gates.”

“There are many kinds of undead. So, there’s no law that one has to give up just because the castle gates are closed,” Woohyuk replied. Brynhildr added on,

“That’s right, Ibn Rusud. There are flying undead that can fly above the castle walls. Also, the highly intelligent undead already know how to use battering rams to break the gates.”

Ibn Rusud’s question was quickly rebutted by Woohyuk and Brynhildr.

Helena, thinking that she had a chance to put someone else down, shook her index finger and teased him,

“Oh, Sage. You are really stupid. Even Roan could come up with a conceivable answer. Next time, you should keep your dumb questions to yourself.”

“… Is the Witch of Annihilation so smart that you get ridiculed every time?”

“When did I ever say I was smart? Also, what can I do when they keep making fun of me? If you pity me, buy a bunch of chocolate balls for me.”

The two siblings quarreled whenever they had a chance.

Maria looked at them with a bored expression before mentioning,

“For some reason, I think you two are also fighting in my foresight dreams.”

“Did you get any new revelation, Maria? Since Aleister is planning something, I feel like there should be some news,” Woohyuk asked while nervously considering what Aleister had in store for them.

However, she couldn’t help him with any news, so Maria shook her head weakly and said,

“I didn’t see anything last night. However, if I have a foresight dream, I’ll make sure to tell you first.”

“Master, Maria is the most feminine in this group. I think she’s better than that vampire bitch to…”

Bam!

Hong Yuri, who was next to Roan, silently slammed her fist down on Roan’s head.

She hated Roan calling her a bitch every chance he had.

“Roan’s speech seems to have not been fixed. I think we need to do something extraordinary,” Woohyuk stated.

“… W-Why are you looking at me? You’re starting to make me angry,” Helena half screamed out as she avoided Woohyuk’s gaze.

However, after considering her options, she took out her crocodile shears and looked at Roan.

“Hey! Roan doesn’t want to be castrated!”

“Then don’t mess around, little boy. Are you going to scold your elder sister?” Helena said in an aggressive tone.

“For your information, if this cuts your balls off, you won’t be able to stand up for a few days. I know because I’ve seen it happen myself,” Hong Yuri added on.

Helena and Hong Yuri looked at Roan with cold eyes.

Women become scary animals when they get angry.

Sieg sighed as Roan shuddered visibly while covering his mouth tightly with both hands.

“Lord, do I need to keep babysitting that guy? His existence was definitely necessary when we stopped the first catastrophe, but now I honestly question whether we really need him.”

“… Well, it’s not like I have much faith in his combat abilities but losing even one member will drastically reduce our combat power.”

Besides, Roan was a homunculus that Aleister was looking for.

It was difficult to throw him out just because of the way he spoke.

“Well. Even in the story of the Three Kingdoms, there were countless minor figures. Although, their importance in the novel was not very high,” Hong Yuri added on.

“It’s surprising that you read the Three Kingdoms, Hong Yuri. Don’t women ordinarily hate those kinds of novels?” Woohyuk asked in surprise.

“Well, I didn’t read the novel all the way through. I just read a few lines and chapters here and there.”

As she was speaking about her past, Hong Yuri started recalling her life before being summoned to this world.

When she was in college, working part-time, she often wondered what kind of guy she would date.

She suddenly felt an urge to go back to that time, but the feeling soon passed. It was best that she forgets her past life and get acclimated with her current one.

She was no longer a popular female college student but a Blood Queen.

While Hong Yuri was immersed in reflection…

“Hey, Lord. What are the Three Kingdoms?” Sieg asked Woohyuk out of curiosity.

“…”

Woohyuk had an unusually embarrassed expression on his face.

He didn’t know how to explain the Three Kingdoms story to someone from another world.

After seeing Woohyuk’s reaction, Brynhildr presented her own speculation,

“Since it’s the title of a novel, isn’t it like a historical document? Our story also comes out in historical documents, Sieg.”

“… Oh, so that’s what it is. Like a legendary, mythological story.”

“Three Kingdoms… I’ll have to ask Boetius later on if that title exists in the Ark of Knowledge.”

Woohyuk felt that the atmosphere was a little off. He coughed once into a closed fist and tried to change the topic,

“By the way, is the Queen of Thorn’s whereabouts still unknown? We’ve moved eastward for a few days, so it should be around here.”

“Maybe we’ve already crossed the border? Since there’s an extreme plague spreading among the Elven race, it’s possible that we crossed the border unexpectedly.”

They had to stay alert since Aleister was next to Alice the Queen of Thorns.

While moving on horseback, Woohyuk attempted a thought conversation with Aris.

[Aris, can you hear me?]

[Yeah! Asura, are your conquest activities going well?]

Aris welcomed Woohyuk with a lively voice as always.

[No problems yet. Anyway, you’ll be receiving a mechanized cavalry weapon soon, so please study it carefully.]

[A mechanized calvary weapon? That’s a pretty interesting concept. As soon as I’m done with my current research, I’ll start analyzing it!]

The research that Aris was currently working on a cure for the infectious diseases affecting the dragon race and from the Qliphoth’s Fruit.

She had been making good progress, but it seemed that she faced a dead-end near the tail end of her research.

Woohyuk encouraged her and immediately ended the conversation.

He would soon reach the border.

“I can’t even see a single ant. What happened here?”

“If a battle took place, even a trace of battle would remain…”

“It feels as if everyone passed out and was dragged away.”

Each party member tilted their heads. They couldn’t understand the situation.

Unable to make any headway, Woohyuk summoned Petos, a high-level demon.

“It’s been a while, Asura. What did you call me for?”

“There were a lot of elves here, but they suddenly disappeared somewhere. I want you to investigate your tracking ability.”

Petos had a specialized ability to pursue souls.

He sniffed and flew back and forth over the pure white snowy field. He soon came to a conclusion.

“Hmm… they weren’t dragged out by anyone. They just left on their own two feet.”

“You’re saying that they just walked away?”

“Yeah. But there seemed to have been another existence with the elves. However, I don’t recognize who it is or what it is.”

At that moment, Aleister popped up in Woohyuk’s mind.

He pondered for a moment and then spoke,

“Then it turns out that the plague in the Lydia Kingdom was also caused by Aleister.”

“That’s right. At the time of the outbreak, I was among the villagers there,” Hong Yuri said in agreement.

Then Maria, who had been silent for a while, muttered in a small voice,

“… Group hypnosis.”

“Group hypnosis? Can Aleister do that?” Sieg asked in confusion.

“Of course. Don’t look down on him. Since the establishment of the Witch Cult, he’s been picking up all kinds of esoteric abilities,” Helena replied.

Even Ibn Rusud nodded in agreement.

“Certainly, he can do that sort of nonsense without batting an eye. Maybe this is also related to the King’s Book.”

“Wait, he wouldn’t offer the elves as a sacrifice, right? Like the summoning technique written in the King’s Book…”

Brynhildr looked worried.

Then Petos smiled and stuck his chin out towards a direction.

“They moved over there. If they’re performing the summoning ritual, you’d probably find them over there.”

“… That’s the direction of the capital of the Principality of Croix.”

At the moment, Woohyuk felt that his worst fears were becoming a reality.

Elf Queen Ophelia.

Aleister gave up the Enoa Kingdom to come here and sacrifice her.

The other party members also expressed surprise as they all reached the same conclusion.

“Absolutely, the blood of the elf queen is of higher value as a sacrifice. One may be able to summon something stronger than usual.”

“The Principality of Croatia doesn’t have many dragon tribes, and the proportion of Elven people is overwhelmingly high. If the epidemic spreads rampantly, it wouldn’t be too difficult for Aleister to capture the Elf Queen.”

It seemed that Aleister’s master plan had been belatedly revealed.

He earned time to carry out his plans by throwing one of his toys, the Demon King Alliance, at Woohyuk.

Woohyuk clenched his fist at the thought that he was being toyed with again.

“I will surely get rid of him this time. No more conspiracies of evil.”

“… Please calm down. Don’t you remember what I said last time? If you fall into Aleister’s provocation and can’t control your demonic powers, in the end, it’ll be you that loses,” Helena said as she looked awkwardly at him.

Ibn Rusud was also cognizant and wary of Woohyuk’s potential explosion, so he stated,

“If you lose your temper, we may be forced to use the Holy Grail. You know what the world will be like if we had to do that, right?”

When the power of a Demon is combined with the Holy Grail, the system is rebooted.

This iteration would end, and everything would go back to the beginning.

For Etheria Rodinus, who wanted to change the future in a desirable direction, such a result was not desirable.

When the brother and sister siblings reminded him of the worst ending, Woohyuk calmed down.

“… I’ll be mindful. I also don’t want to repeat my previous failures.”

“You must have seen memories of a previous life in Cruella’s imaginary world. If you want to protect her, make sure everything is properly finished this time around.”

Helena spoke to Woohyuk in an unusually serious manner.

Instead of answering, Woohyuk swung a whip at his horse.

Slap!

“Nay-He-He!”

His horse sprinted through the vast snowy field.

Woohyuk’s party followed closely behind.

Woohyuk lowered his posture atop the galloping horse and fell into thought.

‘I will be the one who decides the future of this world.’

The fate of having to challenge a transcendent, the Creator, through repeated reincarnations…

If he couldn’t break the Moebius link this time around, he may never have another chance.

To overcome the limits and reach a new throne.

Correcting an absurd system.

The target, which used to be ambiguous, was now clearly revealed like the landscape in front of him.

‘If destiny tests me, I will overcome that as well.’

Woohyuk’s determination took firmer hold as he imagined Leifina, who was studying how to cook without knowing what was going on, in the Rhine Kingdom.

The being that Woohyuk had to defeat was waiting for him just around the corner.