Records of the Weakest Emperor

Chapter 195: Herscher

Calvin spread out his Predator Senses and he instantly knew just how many monsters were trailing him from behind. There were 203 monsters chasing after him and most of them were Corpse Eaters.

The Specters only accounted for less than a quarter of the monsters chasing after him, but it was understandable since more often than not, Specters were bound to the location where they died.

Speaking of being location-bound. If Freya was indeed the owner of that crying voice, then she should not be able to leave the village center.

But if that was the case, then what was up with the deformed man story about the tainted water?

The riverside was a few hundred meters away from the village center. If she was indeed location-bound Specter, then she should not be able to leave the village center. Hence, she shouldn't be able to influence the water of the village and taint it.

Could it be that...

Calvin's pupils constricted.

The Sinister Heart? Shit, those bastards... So, they really are planning on creating an army of the undead! That is why they purposely tainted the water source of the village and made the villagers drink that tainted water! It's to bind those villagers to them after death! Calvin's eyebrows scrunched. How unscrupulous! I will never let them go!

He had already decided back then, that he would definitely cleanse this village from the top to its roots.

The discovery that he had made only further reinforced his opinion as Calvin seemed to have momentarily forgotten his exhaustion.

But then another crazy theory came to his mind.

If Freya who had become the deformed man's wife had turned into such a vicious monster of resentment. I wonder what had happened to his previous wives? I don't believe that the deformed man just killed them outright. I don't think that he's that kind. Calvin thought hard and long before he repeatedly blinked his eyes and exclaimed.

Yes, that's right...

The deformed man couldn't possibly be that kind.

In other words, he must've transformed his previous wives into monsters like what he had done to Freya.

But in that case, where were those women? How come I haven't encountered them, yet?

There was only a single explanation that Calvin could find to his question.

It was either the deformed man really did kill them outright.

Or...

He was their trump card.

"That's it!" Calvin found it more believable that the deformed man would keep his previous wives as trump cards instead of bestowing upon them the mercy of death.

However, if they were indeed transformed by the deformed man as monsters.

Where were they located?

Could it be that they are in the ancestral house behind the village center's wooden platform where that basement full of monsters was located?

No...

Calvin shook his head.

Most monsters were territorial creatures after all. If a Specter discovered that a Corpse Eater was living under the same roof as her, then she would definitely fight that Corpse Eater to the bitter end.

The women also couldn't stay close to the Sinister Heart, since the Sinister Heart had a fatal attraction to Specters. In fact, that was the reason why the deformed man didn't seem to be worried that the fusion between the Sinister Heart and the evil being inside Freya would fail.

He was confident that it would succeed since no Specter created from resentment could possibly endure such an attractive treat.

But of course, once the sinister being fused with the Sinister Heart.

She would forever be a slave under the deformed man.

But did that even matter when the resentment within the woman seemed to be resentment against all life? Calvin could only imagine just what kind of injustice did the evil being from within Freya had experienced when she was still alive.

Calvin shook his head and brought his head back to the current problem.

Where are the deformed man's previous wives?

They must be in here somewhere...

Calvin's mind ran on overclock as he thought about places that the deformed man would find suitable to hide his trump cards. It must be a familiar place to him and that he must also know that place like the back of his hand. Speaking of a place that suited these factors. There was indeed a single location that aligned with these requirements and that was...

The deformed man's house!

Calvin was quick to react as he took a right turn to the next junction.

There it is!

His eyes gleamed when he discovered a house that looked more extravagant than the other houses. This was understandable since the person who had lived in this house was an honorable guest of the Village of Tulog. Indeed, this was that young man's house. Precisely, this was the deformed man's residence.

"Aspect Transformation..."

"Polearm."

"Expand!"

Calvin summoned his golden quill and it transformed into a polearm.

He was quick to slap several pieces of paper onto the surface of the polearm as he hurled it towards the house.

A streak of golden light tore through the air as it crashed against the house. The power it contained shredded everything in its path until it landed on an ordinary-looking stone bed. The polearm reinforced with Calvin's runecrafted pieces of paper was unable to pierce through the stone bed.

Evidently, there was something special with this stone bed.

"Help..."

Calvin was only a few meters from the stone bed when a voice sounded in his ears.

His expression immediately changed as he took a step backward.

When he turned around, the monsters that had been chasing him had all stopped fifty meters away from the house.

"What? Why did they stop?" Calvin couldn't help but mumble. He was planning on using the force of this monster horde to demolish this house and find where the deformed man had kept his wives. But now that the monsters were unwilling to follow him into the deformed man's residence, Calvin's plan had evidently failed.

The monsters were still staring at him with thick venom in their eyes, but they were undoubtedly afraid of getting close to this house.

Fortunately, Calvin was a man who always had a back-up plan.

'So the reason why this house still looks so pristine than the other houses around here is that the monsters are afraid to taint this place?'

He went into the house with the golden quill transformed into a pair of brass knuckles on his right fist.

"Calvin..."

This time, the woman started to cry.

She was sobbing while whispering Calvin's name into the air.

"Shit..." Calvin immediately understood what was going on. The deformed man had lied to them when he said that Freya was the owner of the crying voice! Calvin couldn't possibly make a mistake since the sensation that he was feeling right now was akin to a moth being attracted to a flame upon hearing the woman call his name!

Calvin walked upstairs and he discovered an inner room that was lavishly designed. All sorts of valuable gems decorated the place and the utensils on the table were minted in gold. Speaking of utensils, there were candles lined up on the table and there were also two pairs of tableware as if a dinner date was about to happen tonight.

"Calvin..."

As Calvin walked into the room, the crying voice became even stronger. Her voice seemed to be capable of drilling into his heart through his ears and tugging around his heartstrings.

"Why is she crying? Does she want to escape? If that's the case, given how powerful she is... can't she escape right at this moment?" Calvin found it difficult to believe that the woman had no idea about the ceremony that was about to begin. If she took advantage of that ongoing ceremony, she should be able to escape this village.

A Specter that had the ability to influence the minds of people couldn't possibly be weak.

The veil of locusts, wasps, and mosquitos might be able to injure her, but she wouldn't die just because of a veil.

Just as Calvin was thinking about just what exactly the woman's intentions were, the candles on the table were lit on their own. An eerie red light enveloped the entire room.

Cast in the light, a woman in a bright white wedding dress materialized in the air before Calvin in the midst of smoke and haze. She was wearing a gem-studded necklace around her neck, but her face looked rather scary.

Calvin took a step backward and his brass knuckles radiated a faint golden light.

He didn't want to fight, but if the Specter wanted to throw hands, then Calvin was prepared to meet her in battle.

The candles on the table not only radiated an eerie red light but also carried with them a stench similar to rotting corpses. Calvin's attention turned to one of the candles and his pupils constricted when he discovered that the wick of the candle was made out of human hair! What's more, the body of the candle itself was a severed finger!

Calvin took another step back, the woman opened her decayed lips and a voice echoed in Calvin's mind. The scene around him turned hazy as if everything that had happened and what was happening were now irrelevant when compared to the woman in front of him.

Yes, there she was...

Her figure still looked as beautiful as ever.

But the moment she turned around, it would be the last time that they would meet.

They would never meet again, until the end.

Yet...

Why was she here?

Calvin stared at the woman in front of him and her face had changed.

The contours of her body and complexion formed a general outline of what she looked like, but she was slowly turning into that familiar, ethereal beauty that Calvin had abandoned for the sake of humanity. The wonderful image was sewn together by blood threads that were slowly closing into Calvin.

"Herscher.."

Calvin whispered into the air.

The dead woman revealed a smile of confidence and excitement as the blood threads closed in, aiming to sever Calvin's head from his neck.

But...

"How dare you..." An angry guttural growl came from Calvin's throat.

"How dare you impersonate her!" His eyes went bloodshot as a burst of divine light covered his body.

Clad in the golden robes of an Emperor, Calvin's presence looked incredibly imposing.

His eyes that had been filled with melancholy earlier had vanished, replaced by cold indifference.