Chapter 154: Escaping Through The Treasury!

Dark Lord's POV:

After digging our way to the entrance of my treasury, we opened the door expecting to see a mountain range of gold and gemstones, but instead.

"Unhand me you!"

Inside the empty treasure room was Nox, along with a mix of clowns, golems and those beasts I had witnessed in that town where she poisoned me.

"So, make peace with whatever you have, and I'll be seeing you in hell! Bye-bye!"

"WHAT?! WAIT NO!"

"How *cough* did you get down here so *cough* fast? Were you not still on Walpurgis? *Cough*"

"Well, I already explained it to your vampire buddy who should be dying right about-!"

*BOOOOOM*

Just then, there was an earthquake that shook the whole room accompanied by a loud explosion.

"Well, he's dead now at least! Probably!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I just detonated the magic island with him trapped inside it! I mean, without a holy or demonic weapon, how else am I supposed to kill a true vampire! They're a bitch and a half to slay with normal methods!"

"YOU'VE TAKEN THIS TO FAR THIS TIME!"

"Oh, no playboy! I didn't take this anywhere! This is all on you!"

"WHAT?!"

"All I wanted was some cool artifacts and some sweet, sweet magic stones! Then you had to go back on our deal and walk all over me like the douche you are! I even warned you I would destroy the palace if you didn't pay up, but you still went and raided my base anyways! Then when I tried to talk this out, you brought along your gang of thugs so you could force me into putting up with your shit, because you're just that kind of asshole! This is all a result of me having had enough of your crap!"

"*cough* what are you?! NO! THAT'S *cough**cough*!"

She just grabbed the key to the inner treasury out of my spatial ring. She already emptied the outer one. If she empties the inner treasury, I will lose the elixir too. I need that to cure this poison, so I can use my qi without killing myself in the process

In truth, it's not that I can't use my qi, it's just that whatever this poison is, it is blocking my qi canals. The qi canals in a cultivator's body are reinforced pathways within the body that allows us to move the qi around our body without harming ourselves in the process. However, it is not like we can't move our qi outside these canals, it is just that doing so would be like unleashing a qi attack directly on our internal organs. For someone with my kind of qi, doing such a thing would be akin to suicide, as it would mangle my internals in seconds.

However, because of the blockage in my qi canals, pools of qi are forming within my body and sooner or later if I don't unclog them, my qi will burst through my canals and destroy my body anyway. With this in mind, I made a decision.

*click**click*

As the locks on the vault unlocked and the doors were about to open, I made my move.

*BOOM*

I could feel my insides being torn apart as I forcefully pushed out my qi to propel me and Wong into the treasure room before it fully opened. There is a special security measure put in place for this room specifically. If the doors or locks are ever damaged, all its contents will be transported to the palace on the 2nd martial continent through a powerful spatial enchantment. I just blew up my organs to send me and Wong flying through the small gap in the doors, before sending another qi attack at the door from the inside, triggering the spatial transfer moments before I lost consciousness.

…

When I finally awoke, my body had completely recovered. My organs had been healed despite the fact they were turned into minced meat from my qi bursting out of my qi canals. Under normal circumstances, this would have been impossible to recover from, even for a nascent soul like me. Fortunately, within the inner treasury, there was a mythical-grade consumable healing item, 'The elixir of life'. With it, any injury, illness, or poison can be cured as long as the person in question is still alive when they take it. Once used, even if you were lucky enough to receive another elixir, it would have no effect if taken again, as its effects can only be applied to someone one time. That is why even though I possess two of such medicines, I have never used them until now. I had been saving it as a last resort should my life ever be in peril.

I had gambled my life on Wong applying the cure all medicine on me before my body completely perished from the internal damage it sustained, and it seemed to have paid off as I am still capable of breathing.

I was currently alone inside my bedroom on the 2nd continent. It's interior was much like the one from the other continent. I was just about to get out of bed when suddenly, that jester spriggan teleported into my quarters.

"Finally, you woke up! HEY! DARKY WOKE UP!" The Jester spirit screamed out the door upon confirming my return to consciousness.

Soon after, I could hear footsteps rushing towards my quarters. The two men who came barging into my bedroom was none other than Wong, my tailor and Alex, my court mage.

"What's our status on the 1st continent?" I inquired, dreading the answer.

"…"

"Uh! You have been through a lot, so let's talk about that later!" My court mage replied, trying to avoid the subject.

"What are our losses?"

"…"

"How long will it take for us to recover?"

Seeing I wasn't going to let it go, they finally relented.

"*sigh* Why did you have to go and piss her off so much?"

"Watch your mouth! Don't forget, it was your master who was responsible for this mess! There are many who still wishes to see you punished by association, me included!"

"Explain!"

"Basically, my big sis kicked us off the 1st martial continent!" My brother-in-law chimed in.

"What do you mean?"

"He means we no longer have control over a single city, town or village in the 1st continent! She completely uprooted us from the entire 1st martial continent!"

"WHAT!? THEN WHAT ABOUT OUR SOLDIERS?! SHOULDN'T THEY BE-?!"

"THEY'RE DEAD! Everyone who didn't flee back here after the fall of the capital, is either dead or missing!"

"Then Fuji, he really is!"

As I recalled what Nox had said about my friend. Amongst all my subordinates, Fuji is probably the one I am closest to. He was a loyal subordinate, and the closest thing I ever had to a friend even back when I was cursed. He had fought alongside me for years and he was now gone. I could feel an indescribable sense of loss at the thought.

"Oh, hey Fuji! How's it hanging!" The jester said, snapping me out of my sorrow.

"…!"

"My lord! I would like to say your taste in women is absolutely atrocious!" The man who I was just grieving over spoke as he entered the room in perfect health.

"You are alive? I thought you perished!"

"I very nearly did! Fortunately, I listened to the ravings of our empire's court mage when he insisted, we all carry a spatial artifact along for the journey to the 1st continent! It was what allowed me to escape certain death!"

"You are welcome!"

"Though I wish you would have been there to talk her down before she demolished the capital!"

"Ugh! I have had enough traumatic experiences as it is, thank you very much! Besides, there is no stopping her once she's on the warpath! Fortunately, she seems to have calmed down or she would have stormed the 2nd continent by now!"

"Haha!" Fuji chuckled nervously.

"That wasn't a joke!"

"Why did you not warn us sooner about that lunatic? If you had she wouldn't have caught us off guard like this!" Wong asked, giving my court mage a glare.

"I actively did, multiple times even!"

"Well, to be fair, your words did not do her capacity for destruction justice!"

"Well, if I said she could topple a continent in a year or two, would you have believed me?"

"…"

An awkward silence filled the room as none of us could refute his words, as most of us didn't believe what little he did say about her before her attack on the capital.

"So, have we gotten any news about the 1st continent? What did my little empress call her new territory?"

"Darky? You're still not thinking of getting down to clown with my big sis, are you? She already chopped of your ass, cooked it and served it to you on a silver platter!"

"Hmph! As crude as he may have put it, I agree! We suffered a total and utter defeat of drastic proportions! I strongly suggest your majesty give up on the idea of capturing that savage!" Wong spoke.

"Hmph! What are you all talking about! It is now more important than ever that I make that little minx mine! After all, she now owns a fourth of the world! That alone would make her worthy of being my consort!"

"Boss, please! If you go piss her off anymore, she might destroy the rest of the empire next!"

At my court mages words made nearly every person in the room grow nervous at the thought, and they soon pleaded for me to do as he said.

"Hehe! I'm not foolish enough to go storming my beloveds castle right away, so calm yourselves! Now, tell this great lord what silly title that little minx has chosen for herself now that she is the empress of a continent!"

She had already scolded me so harshly for being too forceful in my methods. It seems like my Noxy doesn't like being forced, so I will have to take a gentler approach next time.

"She isn't the empress!"

"What?"