The Vampire Queen - How I Became The Worlds Last Boss: Chapter 22

Caroline

Unforgivable… unforgivable… That stupid commoner is unforgivable! Why should I have to go to the forsaken land just for that useless girl? Who cares if they suspect her to be this end-of-the-world crisis? Why should I have to go get her?

They also want me to bow my head to that condescending bitch! I still remember vividly what happened a few weeks ago, when she almost killed me with her disgusting feet. Her strength at that time did throw me off a bit, but it wasn’t really anything I should feel threatened by.

All I see around my carriage are soldiers from Voltaire and Caldworth. My second brother and Viscount are leading the charge, with even the royal army bringing up the rear. Is this much force really necessary? For as long as I can remember, Celestia always did whatever I wanted. I just have to once again show her who the boss is, and I’m also her older sister. She’s even a half-blooded Voltaire and still tries to defy our family.

Our first brother even died because of her; she will pay a heavy price for that. But, personally, I could care less. Maybe my second brother will also die, and I will become the new heir. The question is, do I even want to become the heir of this family anymore? To think we would be downgraded to a baron. All of this misfortune is all her fault.

That Viscount Caldworth has some nerve. He would force me to kneel before Celestia or kill me himself. We used to be a marquis household, and now this lowly viscount dares to speak that way to me. I can only hope all my annoyances die during this unjust trip.

Also, why should we even have to carry the entire burden of dealing with Celestia if she is truly a big threat? There are three other kingdoms, and they all border the forsaken land, and any of them can make a move. She’s literally in the middle of the world and could be attacked on all sides. Why not just let someone else deal with it so I don’t have to waste my time out here?

What am I even going to do with myself on this week-long journey? It’s so boring. Words I would soon come to regret.

Five days till confrontation...

Waking up after the first night on the road was the worst! I had to stay inside my carriage, which was very uncomfortable. How dare these lowly knights look down on a noble and not accommodate them in the right way? They should set me up with a huge tent and a comfortable bed for a good night's sleep. That’s the least someone of my level should receive.

My hair feels so nasty, and getting it cleaned thoroughly out here is probably a pipe’s dream. The commotion outside isn’t helping. Since a little while ago, all I can hear is loud yelling, and it’s getting on my nerves. What the hell are they even doing out there?

I might as well go see what in the world is going on and who will take the blame for my beauty sleep being interrupted. Opening the carriage door, I see a certain location in the distance where everyone's attention is gathered.

“Umm, my lady, do you need something?” One of my trusted maids asks.

“What in the world is going on? Why did these cretins wake me up with this racket?” My eye’s glaring through the maid to show I'm serious.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Caroline, but there was an attack last night. We lost around twenty men, and the way they died was something no one has ever seen before.” The maid keeps her head down before me. That’s the way people should act and give me my proper honor as a noble. My nose rises as I feel a lot better about the start of my day.

“Good, good.” I really don’t care if any of these useless people die. It’s their job to protect me in the first place. My only concern is getting that lowly cunt of a sister to once again look up at me, for my words are law. As if I would ever bow down to that ungracious half-wit of a sister.

I might as well go over and see what all the fuss is about. My eyes once again turn to my maid. There’s no doubt she understands what she must do. I pointed below the steps, where there were a few inches of mud.

“Lay down, now!” There’s no way I would ever lower myself to step into the mud. After a few seconds of holding eye contact, she finally gives in and lays down. That’s how I train my maids; they have to always be obedient.

Stepping down onto the maid's back, I hear her make a weird sound. But, honestly, she should be so lucky to actually have me use her in this way. After getting to solid ground, I look back at the maid, who is now getting up slowly while being completely covered in mud.

“Good job; you did your duty well.” It’s always good to give my dutiful maids their just rewards for a job well done. But this kind of act should be expected. I’m such a good master; how could anyone ever hate me?

Making my way over to the crowded area, I saw a whole tent completely blanketed in ice. Who in the world would do this? I see multiple shattered ice statues, but there are also a few that just remain solid. The temperature seems to have dropped by a good twenty to thirty degrees in this location.

“What in the world is going on here?” I shout to get everyone’s attention.

“Sister, you shouldn’t be here; it’s not safe.” My second brother, Xyle, tries to command me to leave. In what other place would I be safer than in a camp with all these soldiers? These guys were probably just careless.

“I’ll be the one to decide that. Remember, Xyle? I’m one of the strongest magic casters in Slasorth Academy. Who could seriously be a threat to me?” I scoff at my idiot brother.

“You don’t understand, Caroline; this was most likely the work of a dragon.” The look on my brother’s face was stained with fear.

“Pff, ha-ha, what are you talking about? Isn’t something like that just a legend? No one has ever seen one.” Everyone around me is an idiot, I swear.

“Please, just get back to your carriage; it isn’t safe here. I promised our mother I would look after you. Don’t make me have to force you.” He stares at me with a solemn face. How dare he try to tell me what I must do? Who gave him that right?

“Pathetic… You realize you’re trying to send away the most powerful mage you have out here. Who could rival my magic prowess?” I say as I raise my hands up as I turn to look into the sky. There was a dot high up getting bigger as I watched on. What could it be?

A throaty roar comes from whatever that creature is as it plummets to the ground from high up above. My body starts to shake uncontrollably at the extremely uncomfortable air this beast is giving off. It smashes into the ground right outside our camp and gives us all a once-over. Is this truly a dragon? From what I learned about history and the pictures I’ve seen, that’s the only conclusion I can come to.

‘Do you have any idea whose domain you’re currently trespassing on humans?’ The massive creature opens its mouth as harsh winds begin blowing and a bright blue light starts to encompass its mouth. With another mighty roar, a beam of cold death washes over our camp.

My knees give out as I crumble to the ground and get as small as possible to not get attacked by this dragon. I watch on through one of my opened fingers, covering my eyes, as everyone starts to scramble. There were easily over forty to fifty people completely turned into ice statues.

With a snort, the huge beast flies off into the distance. What the hell? Was the only thought going through my mind. How could the king send us to a place with such a huge threat? We have to run now!

That was the thought before another message came into my mind. I’m sure everyone else could also hear it.

‘Don’t even think of running away; continue on to your destination, and let’s see how many of you can make it there alive. For I am the Mighty Dragon Astarot, and you’re all my prey.’ The massive dragon fires off another blast that destroys many supply carriages. Is this creature actually smart enough to go for our food supply?

With that, the dragon disappeared for the rest of the day. We never even moved from our location because everyone was too frightened. What should we even do in this situation? If we go back to Trothia, the dragon will stop our group and kill us. If we move further into the forsaken land, we will move more into its territory.

Three days till the confrontation...

After much deliberation, we decided to head back to the Trothia Kingdom, but were met with about twenty dragons of all sizes on the horizon. With no other choice, we kept traveling to our destination in the hope of there being some way out of this. Over the past twenty-four hours, my life has been miserable!

With our food supply cut, we have to find some kind of replacement out here. But there seems to be very little wildlife. At least they know I should get the best of what we have left, so I’ve eaten the bigger rations. But it’s still nowhere near enough!

That all changed when every single hunting party was killed off by dragons, preventing us from eating anything. Could Celestia actually be controlling that dragon to make our lives miserable? I remember from the legends about the demon king who had five terrors. One of them is an ice dragon—how dare that bitch! She's most likely behind its actions.

During the day, the dragons would watch from afar, with the occasional ‘You’re all going to die’ being chanted into our heads. Especially the big one that’s called Astarot; he’s the most annoying of them all! He just won’t shut up!

At night, there would be small attacks that happened at random locations all over the camp. No one was even able to go to sleep at some point, afraid they would be next. Multiple soldiers tried to run away in the dark of night, but that always ended up in them dying loudly to a dragon. I’m sure they wanted us to hear them scream.

My clothes are currently in tatters from the nightly happenings. The personal carriage I was given for this journey was destroyed, giving me only the clothes I’ve got on my back. I’ve also lost both of my shoes in this hectic atmosphere and have to walk around barefoot. To think someone on my level would be brought down so low. For my delicate feet to get dirtied by such filth, and apart from that, my clothes look horrible.

Why the hell are we even out here? This is the question I keep asking myself. If, by some miracle, I get out of this situation alive, I’m going to complain to this idiotic king. There doesn't seem to be any purpose for him to send us out here with these conditions. It's just a suicidal request, and at the end of it all, I'm sure Celestia will be looking down on me.

Twenty-four hours till confrontation...

“Caroline, get up.” Words enter my ears, but at the same time, I don’t care to listen to them. My morale has hit rock bottom, as every sound I hear will possibly be my last. Over half of our army has already been killed off, and it’s only a matter of time before it’s my turn. Feeling a hand grab my arm, I look up to see who it could be. “You shouldn’t be on the ground like this, Caroline; think of what the others will say.” Xyle was looking at me with a pitying face.

“Why the hell should I even care at this point? What can my noble title do to help me in the face of death? You realize we’re all going to die.” I scream as most of the camp turns in my direction. We’ve got no hope, and all we can do is wait till it’s our turn. “The king should be the one to die out here, not me! My life was only starting, and now it was all for nothing.”

“Caroline, shut up!” Xyle slaps me across the face. My hands reflexively grab my cheek, which feels hot to the touch. A pain that shoots all over my body radiates from the impact. I look up at him, feeling wronged.

“You bastard, how dare you actually hit me! What do you even care if I’m not still acting like a noble, anyway? No one will live!” With the constant harassment and abusive words of this stupid dragon, along with hearing the deaths of soldiers on an hourly basis, how am I supposed to keep a sane mind in this situation?

That’s when the most unreasonable person marches over in a rush to my location. This bastard, Viscount Caldworth, is always threatening my life and demanding I do what he says.

“Lady Caroline, you’re our only hope of surviving this ordeal. You understand that, right?” The viscount says it in a commanding tone.

“You’re still trying to tell me to bow down to her; how would that even save us? You think she looks favorably on me if she treats us in this way? Even if I got down on my knees and pleaded, she would probably laugh in my face.” I look defiantly at the Viscount.

“That may be true, but it’s our only hope. Stop acting like a useless idiot and come up with what you’re actually going to say to your sister when we find her.” This condescending guy is always looking down on me. I hope he dies a horrible death.

I jump up to my feet and get close to the Viscount's face. “What about you? Your daughter is also the cause of all this fuss. She actually sided with the death of humanity, and you can still hold your head high.” With those words, I once again get slapped in the face, and my body goes limp as I roll across the muddy ground. These fucking bastards must die!

My hands start to light up with fire. It's my best affinity, which I've got the most expertise in. Just before I was about to launch a spell at the Viscount, I heard a soldier yelling.

“We’re here!” For the past twenty-four hours of our travels, we had to walk because all of our carriages and horses were either killed or eaten by these dragons. “We’ve got an incoming." The same man yelled.

I stopped casting my magic and ran to where the soldier was currently standing and saw a massive, crystal-clear lake. My only hope is to plead with Celestia and get her to kill off this human trash. I’m sick of dealing with them, and on the plus side, if she is truly all powerful, couldn’t I just use her to my advantage in the future?

Bowing my head to use her at a later date might be worth it. Looking at the horizon, I see multiple dots coming to our location. Led by the most massive beast I’ve ever seen or heard of in all my life. The dragons we’ve seen in the past five days or so pale in comparison to this behemoth. Yes, I must use her to my advantage! If she’s truly in control of that huge dragon, it must be mine!