# His cheeks were dripping with sweat.
...Sweat...?
Someone like Ivan doesn't sweat from heat. Even during intense exercise, there's no reason for him to be pouring sweat like rain.
Only then did Elizabeta notice Ivan's face. His cheeks were normally pleasantly pale, but now they seemed even more ashen.
Her voice grew serious.
"Lift your head."
When Ivan raised his head, his illness became more apparent. She could see his pale face, cold sweat, bloodshot eyes, and slightly trembling jaw.
Elizabeta tried to say something but closed her mouth and hesitated. Having never seen him like this before, she could only examine his body with trembling eyes, unable to move rashly.
At that moment, Dmitri spoke beside her in a low voice.
"You took the 'Final Argument,' senior."
"Mm."
Ivan nodded without looking at him. Elizabeta, suddenly coming to her senses, hurriedly turned to Dmitri.
"What is that?!"
"It's a cocktail made by mixing the extreme poison DX611 with its antidote, Your Majesty."
"Why—why on earth would you—?!"
Elizabeta asked, turning as pale as if she herself had swallowed deadly poison. Dmitri bowed his head quietly as he answered.
"It's a last resort used by field agents when facing magicians or demons who use mind control during operations. It's not recommended... and isn't used much in modern times."
"Why...? Why! Why would you consume such a thing?!"
"Neural enhancement, mental awakening, pain-induced defense against mental spells... those would be the reasons, Your Majesty."
"What are the side effects?!"
"Judging by the purple tinge on his fingertips, he didn't miss the timing or make a mistake with the dosage."
Dmitri sighed as he looked at Ivan's face.
His limbs would necrotize and the drug, far exceeding hepatotoxicity levels, would destroy his internal organs, but he had stopped the poison's progression by administering the antidote at the right moment.
He probably blocked all senses except pain, as pain was necessary to keep the mind alert. Perhaps he left his hearing slightly intact. He was likely continuing the conversation through lip reading.
Foolish man.
Dmitri spoke in a low voice, feeling bitterness on his tongue.
"You'll die that way, senior. Please... take better care of yourself."
Ivan didn't bother to answer. It wasn't easy to find words as he watched Elizabeta's gaze shift from shock and fear to anger and pain, and finally to sorrow.
Elizabeta, who had stood up abruptly, lost her balance and collapsed.
"Your Majesty!!"
The ceremonial guard rushed forward to support her. But Ivan moved faster, embracing and supporting her body.
He could feel her small, trembling body in his arms. The familiar scent, familiar weight, and body heat.
From below, tear-filled eyes looked straight up at him.
His face was perfectly reflected in her blue eyes. The face of a tired, exhausted man.
"Vanka, let's go back."
"..."
Her voice was close to pleading.
"Let's go back. Together. There's no need to go this far. I... I have achieved everything I wanted. So... please."
"Your Majesty."
"Answer me, answer me! I won't listen to anything else...!!"
Elizabeta clutched Ivan's chest, buried her face against it, and sobbed.
His chest became damp with her tears.
"Your Majesty. If not now, there won't be another chance."
"Why!! Are you the only one in this world who knows how to fight? That's arrogance! Must you alone save every country in this world? If that's the case, destruction would be better! If the world is that incompetent, then rather...!!"
"There are many who could replace me, but I am the only one who can be in this place right now."
"I have countless men!! What is there to fear?!"
Wrong.
Ivan gently held Elizabeta's shoulders as she shouted, deciding to use his last resort.
Anyway, delaying any longer was concerning. Judging by Lamerix's intentions, war could break out at any moment from beyond the border in demon territory.
With enough time, it would be entirely possible to prepare troops, bombard, and certainly vaporize the creature. After all, it was now like a rat trapped in a box.
But time. Nothing was more precious than that right now. And he had no intention of dying in this battle.
All immediate pain and injuries could be resolved. Thanks to Beolgrin's help, his body transcended human standards when facing a "god."
In other words, if he could land a proper blow on Lamerix, he could recover all the injuries he had sustained at once. Because he would be able to seize divine power.
So right now, there was no one more suitable than him to face the Seven Dragon General.
"Elize."
The low, raspy voice tickled her ear. Elizabeta trembled slightly in his arms.
"Van... ka."
"Have I ever betrayed you?"
"Shut... shut up."
"If you've trusted me until now, trust me now too. I'll do what needs to be done and definitely return."
"Shut up. I said shut up."
Elizabeta whined in a small voice. After sobbing against his chest for a long time, she finally raised her head with a tear-stained face.
"Even if... even if you don't return alive. Still... I have no intention of starting another family—"
She concluded with a tear-soaked face.
"Still, the Krasilov royal family won't end now. Whether you... return alive or not."
"...What?"
She didn't answer Ivan's question and quickly turned around. After wiping her face with her hands, deep breathing followed.
There shouldn't be any royal bloodline left in Krasilov.
Among the children born to Ivan the Great, all except Kirill had died in battle...
Alexandr was definitely dead... and besides Elizabeta, there were no more royal family members... at least not within seven degrees of kinship.
Hmm.
Ivan stared blankly at Elizabeta. She was now looking somewhere with a cleanly composed face.
After glancing briefly at the shocked Isabelle, Elizabeta smiled for a moment and then quickly turned her head.
With her back to Ivan, she asked the dwarves standing at attention.
"Is the work finished?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. All batteries have been positioned."
"I won't give any other signal. You may use all the gunpowder. Turn the holy ground into ruins."
Elizabeta's voice was as usual. Not the voice of the woman who had whined in Ivan's arms, but that of a sovereign who had returned to her role.
"They say God has abandoned us, Vanka."
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
"Then we too shall erase the last evidence that we worshipped God."
Still with her back turned, Elizabeta concluded solemnly.
"Enter as soon as the bombardment ends. I'll make sure nothing stands in your way."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"...I cancel, cancel the order I just gave you. So, come back alive."
Elizabeta walked away briskly without waiting for an answer. Dmitri, following behind her, glanced at Ivan with a grin and silently clapped his hands.
In a voice barely audible even to transcendent hearing, he seemed to say, "I don't have the confidence to raise it alone."
After staring for a long time at Elizabeta and her retinue who had quickly moved away, Ivan turned his head.
"What? What is it?"
Isabelle was standing there with her chin tilted defiantly, glaring at him.
"...Hmm?"
"Oh forget it, this is annoying. Fine. What's the point of saying 'well done,' 'excellent,' 'you've grown well' only when you need something? Really. I'm so dumbfounded and wronged that I can't even cry anymore. Seriously."
After grumbling for a while, Isabelle let out a deep sigh.
"Let's go. Let's go to our deaths! With the virgin hero! I'm just dying of envy. Right?"
She kept chattering as she walked away.
Lamerix's veil distorted colors even in broad daylight, dyeing Obidis as if light were dispersed through a spectroscope.
It was madness too overwhelming for mortals to face. The frenzy brought by color. The kind that burns optic nerves just by looking from afar.
Blasphemers crawled over the church spires and arched domes that once symbolized only holiness. Spider-like demons moved with clattering steps.
They were constantly dyeing this city with their colors. Spitting threads to weave veils, imitating their homeland.
The nest was taking shape. Like the forests of that distant land. A great homeland that no one in this world would dare approach was arriving here.
It was as if human souls were caught in each knot whenever warp and weft crossed. The spirits of countless believers, pilgrims, and priests who had resided in Obidis hung and sobbed.
In overwhelming pleasure. In all kinds of delights humans could feel. Calling out to their god, praying, pleading, sobbing.
It was a portrait of saints made of colors and lines. A sacred painting completed by distorting sunlight to embroider the sky.
So the most sacred cathedral in this world, Obidis, was still a spire serving God. Only the direction of faith had "somewhat" changed.
-Yes, you were born to worship.
Lamerix laughed even as he was being treated for wounds inflicted by his children's spider webs.
-But we were originally made to rule.
Receiving praise from priests praying in ecstasy, under the stained glass woven with life and vitality.
Lamerix happily rose—
-Kuguugugugu....
Detected the explosion beyond the mountain range and became flustered.
-D...warves...? Why are they here...? Have they returned to subjugate humans? Why now of all times!
He was seized with doubt as he looked at the ancient dwarven artifacts.
-Piiiiing....
Looking at the black trajectories covering the sky beyond the spider web, outside the nest, he burst into hollow laughter.
Black straight lines were drawn across all visible sky.
A massive veil created by mortal will covered the sky, temporarily creating the appearance of night.
As a moment passed and Lamerix's black eyes moved busily,
-Kwagwagwagwa—
-Kwaaaaang—!!!
The stained glass was torn apart, and the midday sun finally illuminated the bare face of Obidis.
EP37. Stained Glass.