Chapter 77: 73 – Reflection

I stopped as I was about to take the teleportation platform to the castle. "Hey, Navi. I'll catch up later. I want to try one last thing."

She looked at me quizzically, but shrugged. "Whatever. Still up for leaving tomorrow morning?"

"Yup, I'll see you then," I said as Navi flew over to the platform and teleported away.

I turned towards the door leading to the Abyssal Dungeon.

For a while, I've been questioning myself. The closer this plan comes to completion, the more useless I feel compared to Navi, and the more I question my own place here.

I'm not really sure I was even needed here on Erald. If Chaos and Order just made a couple fairies and gave them the same task, it would've been completed years before now. 

Navi could've made these bombs by herself. It would've just taken a while longer. She's also the one that's going to drop the main bomb on the Emperor, and her daughters will drop the other two. I don't even have to be there if I didn't want to.

Others are running the city for me. After her lessons, Dolores has been working with Elden on learning about what it takes to manage a territory. Once he says she has learned all she needs, she'll probably know more about the ins and outs of governance than me.

Ailine takes great care of Anastasia and gathering dungeon resources. Steph manages the castle and personnel. Fairies handle security outside of the walls and cull monster populations. Sara manages everything with the MSF. James takes care of security inside of the walls. 

Everyone is so capable, that there really isn't much for me to do as a queen on a daily basis besides going over reports. Even though it's a bit ridiculous, I've come to question my usefulness and my place in this world. Am I just an overseer, watching what all is happening? 

That's why I'm making a decision I know is illogical. Watching Navi kill a dragon in a single hit really showed me just how strong a fairy is. I know that I'll never be able to do the same thing. Only Ailine with her bow might be able to do a similar thing by piercing its eye, but I doubt it could be as consistent as Navi. 

I want to test my strength. I want to feel like I can do something similar. It doesn't make sense, and that drives me a bit crazy, but I want to do this. I want to try to kill a dragon by myself. I want to do it for me, and not anyone else. I don't want fanfare or congratulations. I just want to know that I can do it. That if push comes to shove, I'm able to kill the strongest monster Erald has to offer.

I pushed open the dungeon door and stepped onto the fiftieth floor. 

I equipped my armor, shield, and drew Seren. I'm stupid and stubborn. I want to do this with my own power with the things I have earned. No exploding cores or weapons. Just me, my magic, and my equipment the gods gave to me.

After a steadying breath, I pushed open the boss door and stepped through. I looked at the dragon in front of me as the door closed behind. 

Time to test my worth.

I started to run towards the dragon, activating the strength enhancing enchantments on my armor. No scream or battle cry. I just focused on the dragon as it rose to its feet.

When I was within its range, it snapped its jaws at me. I shot a rock bullet at its face with earth magic. At the same time, I juked to the side, avoiding its bite, and pushed off of an air magic platform towards the head. Cocking my arm back, I thrust my sword into the side of its neck before it could rear back again.

Pushing Seren with all of my might, I just barely pierced through the scales. It wasn't by much, but it was enough. From the tip of Seren, a thin jet of water shot out, piercing deeper into the dragon.

My sword slid out as it jerked its head back. It wasn't a lot of damage, but it was a start. 

I ran forward as the dragon swiped its arm at me. Using my shield at an angle while ducking down, I managed to deflect the blow enough to not send me flying. At the same time, I coiled dark magic around the shoulder of the arm that tried to hit me, and tugged downwards.

It wasn't enough to bring the dragon down, but it did make it stumble as it tried to get its footing. I was below it now, and jumped as I made a foothold in the air, giving me purchase as I stabbed into its stomach and shot another jet of water into it.

It roared, both from being stabbed again and from being pissed at the annoying vampire fucking with it. It reared back on its hind legs as it tried to bat at me with its front claws. I disengaged as I did my best to dodge the strikes from both sides.

As it was trying to hit me, it unfurled its wings and began to flap them. Still dodging, I was unable to stop it from lifting off. I stood still on the ground for a moment as it gained height in the Superdome-sized cavern. 

It seemed to smirk at me as I watched it take a deep breath. Fucking cocky ass dragon. As it exhaled a torrent of flames right on top of me, I had focused enough and activated the teleportation magic I was concentrating on.

As the flames covered my form, I teleported a few dozen meters above the dragon. I unequipped my shield as I gripped Seren with two hands as I fell. 

With my sword raised above my head, I swung down with all of my might at the base of its left wing. With the added momentum from my fall, the sword went through the thinner scales at the joint and cut into the thick bone. 

I caught myself on the arm of the wing as it roared in anger. Ignoring the motion of it flapping, I held myself on its wing by wrapping my left arm over it as much as possible. With my right arm, I held Seren. I began to hack at the gash I already made, chipping away at the bone and flesh at its wing joint like a lumberjack. 

After half a dozen chops, I heard a loud crack. Like a tree snapping from stress after chopping into it, the bone of the wing broke as it tried to support the large body of the dragon by flapping. 

It roared once more as it began falling. Its wing was useless and held on primarily with the muscle on the bottom of it. Shortly before it smashed into the ground, I let go of the wing and used multiple air platforms to slow my fall. 

As it crashed, I jumped onto its back and ran to its neck. At the base of its neck, I stabbed Seren down with both hands, piercing the scale and approaching its spine. I channeled another water jet, cutting into the bone.

Using dark magic, I wrapped coils around my ankles and around its neck, holding me against the dragon as it thrashed in an attempt to throw me off. I yanked Seren out and stabbed it a second time. Then a third, and a fourth. 

The dragon was furiously trying to throw me off and the pain from its limply hanging wing kept it from trying to roll over. On the fifth stab, I felt the dragon's movements suddenly still. It then collapsed on the ground while still snarling and growling at me. 

I had severed its spine and paralyzed it. Yet with the strength and vitality of a dragon, the bastard still refused to die.

I took a breath as I slid off of the dragon and walked to the front of it while being careful to avoid its still working mouth. I took a moment to look into the eyes of the nearly helpless dragon.

The same yellow eyes with a sea of red speckles, making the eye look orange. A dark, vertically slit pupil. It really was beautiful to look at. 

Using air platforms, I made my way above the dragon's head. Releasing the magic, I fell towards the top of its head and stabbed Seren through its beautiful eye. The mithril sword slid deeply into the dragon's brain, and with a water jet for good measure, it went silent and died. 

Without ceremony, I unequipped my helmet as I walked to the spot on its neck where I first stabbed it. I put my mouth up to the bleeding hole, and began drinking the rich blood of the world's strongest monster.

I stepped away once I had my fill. In the corner of my vision, I saw something I haven't seen in a long time.

Level up

Before I was able to look at my stats, the dragon dissolved, leaving behind a dragon's tooth dagger and what looked suspiciously like a letter.

Deciding to look at my stats before dealing with whatever was written, I open my status and assign my new points.

=====

Name: Dalia Midnight

Race: Vampire (Progenitor)

Level: 79

EXP: 14,043,271/15,000,000

HP: 900/900

MP: 3,002,336/5,272,611

Stats

STR: 42

STM: 34

AGI: 36

DEX: 32

INT: 40

WIS: 40

CHR: 34

Stat points: 0

Skills above level 30

Heightened Senses 48, Sense Presence 40, Mana Control 57, Fire Magic 45, Water Magic 41, Earth Magic 55, Air Magic 46, Dark Magic 50, Time-Space Magic 41, Arcane Magic 39, Increased Reflexes 47, Stealth 43, Assassination 31, Hide Presence 43, Swords 49, Shields 37, Increased Power 32, Increased Endurance 31

Unique Skills

Nightstalker (Vampire), EXP Absorption (Vampire), Language Mastery

Titles

Last of their Kind

Blessed by the God of Order

Blessed by the Goddess of Chaos

Queen of the Vampires

Dungeon Master (Tutorial Dungeon, Abyssal Dungeon, Elven Dungeon, Mine Dungeon)

Dragon Slayer

=====

Now that that was done, I moved my attention back to the letter on the ground. I didn't fight the dragon in order to receive anything. I did it solely for me. Storing the exquisite dagger, I picked up the letter that had 'Dalia' written with a heart on the dot of the 'i' and in English.

I opened it, knowing only one person it could be from. 

You are reading story Rise of the Vampire Queen at novel35.com

Dalia! This will be short and sweet. 

First, congratulations on the solo kill! Way to go!

Second, please don't look down on yourself. Order and I chose you to take on this task. You're doing a great job, and we're both so proud of you.

We can't say anything else, but complete your task and have good rulers in place for the elves and humans, and we can talk more. 

There are reasons for what we did and why we can't say anything. So, chin up, kiddo! Keep doing what you think is best. It doesn't matter to us one bit if Navi and her cute babies are the ones to drop your bombs. This is your plan. You are as much responsible for the results, good and bad, as anyone else. 

Without you, things wouldn't be where they are right now. Know that Order and I are always watching and rooting for you.

See you soon!

Well… That was pretty anticlimactic. Did a goddess just try to cheer me up with a letter? Was I in bad enough shape for a divine intervention?

That… That's so fucking insane that it's funny! What the fuck is up with that? I got a letter that literally said 'chin up!' 

It took a couple minutes of my nearly hysterical laughter before it subsided. My ribs hurt from how much I laughed at this crazy situation. 

Oh man. Between the successful dragon kill and the unexpected letter, I'm actually not feeling too bad right now. What the fuck was I so worried about? I've always just done whatever I want to in the situations I find myself in. This shouldn't be any different. 

So what if Navi and the others are going to be the ones to pull the trigger. I think I momentarily had a lapse of judgement. Yes, this was a task that was given to me, but by no means was I ever told to do it all by myself. 

Did I forget I never had the desire to be a hero? Maybe somewhere deep down there was the child-like desire to feel important. To be the protagonist and be special. My fucking brain momentarily forgot that everyone is the main character in their own stories. Nothing we do is in a vacuum and all of our decisions impact those around us.

Stupid fucking brain and emotions, making me feel like a whiney little bitch. Well, what's done is done. But still. Why the fuck do my thoughts and emotions fluctuate so much sometimes? Stupid brain.

Feeling a bit lighter, I went through the doors to get outside of the dungeon entrance.

I took the teleportation platform back to the lab.

When I stepped off of the platform in the lab, I noticed Navi was fluttering around by the door.

"Welcome back, Vamps," she said with her arms crossed. "Level 79? You feeling better now?"

Feeling like I just got caught doing something I shouldn't have, I awkwardly smiled. "Yeah, I'm feeling better now."

"Good!" Her mood seemed to flip back to her normal, overly happy self. "Now get out of here! It's still afternoon and we've got hell to raise in a few days!"

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Navi. See you tomorrow," I said and went to my room to collect my thoughts.

My plan to destroy the Empire has morphed over the years. Originally, I had imagined me and a few others going city to city and exposing the wrongdoings of the church after killing the Emperor in a similar way to what we're currently planning. However, for a couple reasons, my plan has changed after thinking of the actions and reactions in more detail with the increased information from the MSF. 

The first reason, was learning just how prevalent unjust slavery and outright oppression is in the Empire. I had been told by Sara previously, but hearing story after story in reports, I honestly got a bit emotional in my decision making and want to end this quickly.

The second reason was that when thinking about it in more detail, I think my first plan was almost too ambitious for me. It would take me months or years to investigate each city or town to find who I feel like I should kill and what their crimes are. Traveling the Empire myself would take a massive amount of time, even with Talon. 

By the time I cleaned out one part and moved to another, the first would likely be in a situation similar to what it was before I got there. I would inevitably create a vacuum in my wake that would get filled by, most likely, unsavory characters. Even if I put someone I supported in charge that I liked in each city, it would take time to get to know them, put them in power, and make sure their ability to govern was secure. They would also have a high chance of being assassinated.

I still think that overall it was a decent plan, but I would need more than one of me to pull it off. The original plan was similar to playing poker, and over many games, learning which cards were likely next to be pulled. Doable, but time consuming. My current plan is more like throwing the deck in the air and building it from the ground up.

By essentially destroying the worst of the worst in a single moment all across the Empire, a vacuum of power will be created. However, the worst people will be gone for the most part. People will be scared and seek pillars in their communities to help lead and organize them. They will look for people who have strength and have earned their respect through their deeds. They will look for people like my undercover soldiers. 

Without giving any normal residents time to gain their own influence, in the areas that were hotbeds of corruption, my soldiers will focus heavily on reconstruction and assisting the injured and needy. Gathering food and clean water, protecting the people, they will put themselves in a position for the people to want them to lead them.

I'm not naive enough to think this will be the same in every location. Some already have decent nobles and others will have their own people they want to lead. My groups which were originally ten groups of five, have split even more in the last few months since they got their bags of cores. They are spread in units of one to three people each, depending on the location. This will give us even more influence in a broader area. 

If there is a person in a given location the soldier believes would make a good leader, they can assist them. Overall, we will function like a secret Super PAC that will influence the Empire and their restructuring without anyone knowing.

It also completely limits my visible involvement. Honestly, I don't really need to be in the Empire for the first strike since the fairies are dropping the bombs and the MSF are activating the cores in all of the other areas. I've created a way to destroy the Empire from the comfort of my own castle. 

However, I feel like I need to be there. I need to see with my own eyes the destruction my choices are causing. I feel like I owe it to the nameless people that will get caught up in this attack to at least be present for it.

The original plan would have me traveling everywhere, and when refugees inevitably made their way to Midnight, I wouldn't have been there, which could be seen as suspicious. With this revised plan, I'll be there for the strike and immediately return home before anyone could possibly make the trip.

It's likely not going to ruin the reputation of Sol and the church as much as the first plan, but that may have always been the case when I think about it. Some religions on Earth have committed many terrible acts over the centuries. Yet, they continue to exist. Once a religion is thoroughly in place, it becomes incredibly difficult to snuff out.

Thinking back to my death when I met Chaos and Order, I think they even mentioned they didn't care if someone worshipped them or not. It was the actions and decisions of the Empire, using the church as a unifying force, that put the world out of balance. 

To completely erase Sol, I would likely have to destroy every record of the fake god and kill everyone that still believed. It would be a genocide. On Earth, has committing genocide ever fully erased what it intended to, or been accomplished without severe and unforseen repercussions? 

If the human church will survive in some form, maybe this could be a reformation period for it. We could influence their core tenets and stop the spread of their bigotry. If anyone with power tries to continue the old ways, then those could be the ones to disappear.

Whoever I make the new ruler can make the Church of Balance the official religion. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone will magically become good people and love one another. People in general are judgemental and self-centered. 

What I can do, is make sure the new leader puts in anti discrimination laws. I'm all for anyone praying to or believing in whatever the fuck they want, as long as they don't fuck with other people. 

Overall, the complete removal of Sol will likely take generations. My own goals will already be accomplished well before then when I make someone the human ruler. 

Thinking through this once more, flipping the chess board from the start like this is probably my best option. I have enough power and potential influence to mold the remains of the Empire into what I want.

As I was thinking over all of this, time passed and Ailine came up to the room for bed. She found me lying on the bed, absentmindedly staring at the ceiling while lost in thought. 

"What are you thinking about so intently?" she asked, breaking me out of my reflection. 

I smiled seeing her. "Nothing. Just going over my plan once more and thinking through what's going to happen."

She sat on the bed next to me. "Are you finished with your weapon? You said last night that you were close."

"Yeah," I said while sitting up and embracing her from behind, resting my chin on her shoulder. "We finished a little bit ago. I'm probably going to leave with Navi, Tsuki, Carmen, and Talon tomorrow. With Talon, it'll be a four day flight."

Ailine reached up and put a hand on my head as I gently nibbled on her pointed ear. "Hmm… I'm going to miss you. But I'm ready for this to be behind us."

I chuckled to myself as I kissed her neck. "I'll miss you too. But this will only be the beginning. Unfortunately, there will still be a lot of work to do after this."

Our conversation on the topic ended as we enjoyed our evening in bed together one last time before I was to leave.

The next morning, I woke up to leave, but was surprised when Ailine wasn't in bed. Sometimes she does get up early, so I didn't think too much about it. However, when I went to Anastasia's room, she was also gone.

I figured I could saddle Talon and find Anastasia afterwards, so I went down to Talon's room and found the door open to the garden. When I went out to the fairy garden, I found nearly everyone of importance in Midnight.

Navi was there with her four kids flying around and chatting with Talon. Ailine was with Anastasia and Mitena. Perrin was with her bodyguard and maid and talking with Degare. Sara and Steph were talking with James, Elden, Realyn, and Dolores.

These were all of the people that knew we would be leaving. Our involvement with this is intended to be kept from the population. There would likely be suspicion, but it would be unconfirmed. Perrin, as the dwarven representative, was also informed to make sure we kept on good terms with the dwarves. We told Zahra, but she's busy building up our second city, Revival. 

"Did I miss the invite?" I asked while walking out.

"Mommy Lia!" Anastasia said while rushing over.

I caught her in a hug as she dove at me. "Hi, Anastasia. I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Mommy Lia!" After the hug, she wiggled out of my arms. "Look! I made this for you." 

From her pouch, she pulled out a necklace. The entire thing looked to be made out of steel, and from the lack of any seam on the chain, I suspect she made it piece by piece with magic. The pendant hanging from the chain was a circle with a vertical line. I recognized it as the symbol of the Church of Balance. 

"Thank you, Anastasia," I said as I unclasped the chain and began putting it on.

"Umhmm! Perrin said that wearing the symbol can bring good luck!" Anastasia happily explained.

I glanced over to the teenaged dwarf who was smiling back. "Then thank you as well, Princess Perrin."

Perrin nodded. "Certainly. It's only a superstition, though."

"Still. I appreciate you telling Anastasia." I looked back at my happy daughter and ruffled her hair. "I'll be sure to wear it and I'm sure it'll bring me luck."

Anastasia giggled as she ran back over to Mitena.

Elden and his wife Realyn were next to come up to me. "We wish you safe travels on your journey, Your Majesty," Elden said with a bow as Realyn curtsied. 

I nodded to them. "Thank you, Marquis Whitewater. I'll be sure to return safely."

They stepped back and Sara and Steph walked up. ""Good luck, Your Majesty,"" they said in unison. 

I smiled. "Thank you, you two. Sara, be ready in a few days to have the MSF move forward with the next part."

"Understood," she said with a salute. Always the professional, this one. 

I glanced at James who just saluted as well. I saluted back. I guess both Sara and James are like that.

Ailine was standing with Talon as I walked over to them.

I reached out and pulled her into a final hug and kiss. With our foreheads together, I whispered, "I'll miss you. Take good care of our girl."

"Always," she whispered back. "Be safe, and come home soon."

One more kiss and she stepped away. As I mounted an already saddled Talon, Navi, Tsuki, and Carmen flew over and landed on Talon in front of me. 

"You finally ready, Vamps?" Navi asked with a smirk.

"You know it. Now, let's get out of here," I said.

(Yay! Talon fly! Talon fly!) the hippogryph said as she began to take off.

Four days, I thought to myself. Just four more days and a huge step will be completed.

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