144 – Son of the Dragon – 4

Just by looking at Gi-jun, whose race rank was Rare, racking up records that could not even be compared to other Rare ranks, it was clear that individual gaps within the same rank were quite large.

For example, in the case of Biche, the first Legendary-rank existence that Gi-jun met, she possessed a presence more overwhelming than any existence Gi-jun had seen and experienced since crossing over to Leta.

Neither the Divine Beast Hati, the Hero Fatum, nor even the vampire Mircea, who had reached the realm of legend, could ever surpass Biche.

However, for the first time now, Gi-jun was facing an existence that might rival Biche.

An existence that had reached the end of the realm of legend, such that it would not be strange for an epic to be written about him at any moment!

“I have been waiting for you.”

A heavy voice filled the hall.

Raising his shield to take a stance, he examined the bastard’s appearance.

Instead of the gentlemanly attire worn by other vampires to put on airs, the Lord of Thorns wore armor that covered his entire body without a single gap.

For the strongest bastard in this castle to not even let down his guard and be properly equipped with armor, wasn’t that already unfair in itself?

Fortunately, he was not wearing a helmet, leaving his face completely exposed, and though he had expected it to some extent, the man was frighteningly beautiful.

In one hand, he held a red metal ornament in the shape of a pentagram—no, an inverted pentagram symbolizing the devil—which, judging by the absurdly dense blood power dwelling within, appeared to be a magical weapon like a staff or an orb.

He accurately located Gi-jun, fixed his gaze on him, and continued speaking.

“From far longer ago than you think, I have been waiting for someone like you to appear!”

Someone like me?

Could there be something Gi-jun did not know about having absorbed and annihilated the vampires?

Or did the bastard perhaps know the vampire hunter, Krat van Helsing?

In an instant, all sorts of thoughts flashed through Gi-jun’s mind, but he did not seem to care much about the mask Gi-jun was wearing.

“Splendid, it is a succession of impossible sights. The countless distortions that have been occurring lately were happening with you at the center. Can you not feel it? That your existence has begun to twist this world that was at a standstill!”

Looking around not just at Gi-jun but also at his party members, the Lord of Thorns even clapped.

Although he did not know what the bastard was trying to say, if he roughly paraphrased it, it seemed as if he were praising them, as if saying that weak bastards like them should have dropped dead long ago, so the very fact that they had reached here was a miracle.

Although his attitude of evaluating Gi-jun and the party in an infinitely arrogant tone was absurd, his lofty status and the pressure suppressing the entire spacious hall forced them to naturally accept it.

“I wonder what that blood will taste like, and whether it can truly open up new possibilities for me… I am looking forward to it.”

“Jun, we will launch a joint attack all at once.”

Glaring at the infinitely cocky Lord of Thorns, Fatum whispered to Gi-jun.

Although he looked quite exhausted as if he had already fought a fierce battle, the fighting spirit in his eyes remained unchanged.

“Do you see the eagle carved on the throne? The bastard intends to offer that holy relic as a magic sacrifice. We must destroy it before it’s too late.”

—It is the core of the magic circle that summons the dragon… Hehe, if you do not hurry, that hero will die. Rest assured, I will protect only you.

The evil spirit added a gentle explanation, her true intentions of not caring what happened to anyone other than Gi-jun transparent.

Fatum probably knew that the magic was dangerous, but he did not seem to realize that it was trying to use him as a sacrifice.

Gi-jun glanced at Lectus, who stepped forward beside Fatum and himself while silently raising his longsword, and asked him.

“…What about the other members of the suicide squad?”

“All dead. That eagle devoured them all.”

“Haha, rest assured. It won’t be long before it’s complete!”

The moment the Lord of Thorns, speaking as if it were a joke, raised his metal ornament and struck the air, a wave of blood rose.

The magic circle in the shape of an inverted pentagram floating in the air spun in place, spewing blood endlessly as if determined to drown everyone in the room!

“You poor hero, let me first strip away that laughable unique territory of yours!”

“You will die here! Without fail!”

As if resisting the overflowing wave that carried a terrible curse, Fatum spewed out a golden flame dragged from his throat.

Beneath the area where the wave and the flame collided head-on and evaporated in large quantities to form a thick red mist, Gi-jun and the others also gathered their momentum and rushed toward the bastard!

—You have encountered the final target of the Grand Quest. Entering a battle against the Lord of Thorns, the monarch who rules the eternal night of Valahia. The opponent is an absolute powerhouse challenging the realm of epic. You can never match him one-on-one!

—The effects of the titles [Conqueror of the Behind Dungeon (L)], [Limit Transcender (L)], [The Last Hero (L)], and [Vampire Hunter (U)] are active.

—You have encountered the final target of the Grand Quest. Entering a battle against the Lord of Thorns, the monarch who rules the eternal night of Valahia. The opponent is an absolute powerhouse challenging the realm of epic. You can never match him one-on-one!

—The effects of the titles [Conqueror of the Behind Dungeon (L)], [Limit Transcender (L)], [The Last Hero (L)], and [Vampire Hunter (U)] are active.

Lectus, who had drawn out his dragon factor to the limit with Fatum’s help, screamed as he took the lead and dashed forward.

Clad in Ur’s flame and the anti-blood power he had raised to the utmost, Gi-jun charged with his shield thrust forward, while Tilla turned herself into a stream of fire and shot in a straight line toward the Lord of Thorns.

The silver mana emitted by Gin protected him despite the overwhelming gap between him and the Lord of Thorns, while Lora—without even thinking of dodging, glared at the pool of blood rushing toward her and began to read the flow of the Lord of Thorns’s blood power.

“Hahahahaha! This is beyond my expectations!”

The ability of the Lord of Thorns, who began to move directly, was truly shudder-inducing.

Dozens of thorns shot out from the end of the trajectory as he casually swung the metal ornament to intercept the party, and because each one contained immense power, the shield vibrated heavily from the impact despite being blocked perfectly.

Glancing at the party, only Fatum and Tilla were closing the distance to the throne by striking them down head-on; Gin did not even dare to approach the bastard and was protecting Ji-hye by her side, while Lora—her figure was already nowhere to be seen.

“But you cannot bring about any change with just that much! Show me! Show me new possibilities!”

The eagle atop the throne spread its wings wide, completing its preparations to take flight.

At the same time, the Lord of Thorns raised his ornament and pressed it down into the air.

Intense pressure spread across the area, and thorns of blood surged simultaneously from the floor, ceiling, and walls on both sides.

Fatum growled as he dispersed dragon mana to shatter the thorns that surged as if to fill the entire space.

“I am already sick of seeing that!”

“Then you will soon be unable to see it, sacrificial lamb!”

Several thorns crossed to block the greatsword Fatum swung.

Tilla’s whip, flying through the gap, shattered the thorns and advanced toward the eagle sculpture, but the Lord of Thorns’s quickly outstretched gauntlet snatched the tip of the whip before that.

“An epic is completed only after devouring countless legends. The last descendant of a pitiful race, offer your life to me as well!”

“Burn to death!”

The whip swelled in size in an instant and exploded.

The moment the Lord of Thorns created a shield of blood in front to block it, Lectus, who had been clinging to the ceiling despite his entire body being pierced by thorns, dropped down with his eyes flashing.

His longsword, flowing with a mysterious blue light, fell aiming precisely for the eagle—

With a wide rip—the eagle opened its mouth, bit off Lectus’s sword and arm together, and swallowed them.

“Aaargh?!”

“You too possess a fairly useful factor. Father will be pleased!”

“Factor? Don’t tell me—”

Fatum widened his eyes as he realized it too late.

“But using the strongest hero would still be best, wouldn’t it?”

“Kugh…!”

The throne situated behind the ominously laughing Lord of Thorns exploded grandly.

The shards of the throne, scattered in all directions, turned into an immense number of thorn stakes and flew aiming at Fatum—but instead of Fatum, whose reaction was delayed due to his agitation, Gi-jun stood in his way and swung his two shields to deflect them all.

—*Crash! Crack-crack-crack!*

Gi-jun reacted as nimbly as if he had eyes on his back, destroying the stakes that flew in from all 360 degrees.

Curves of flame continued uninterrupted in the air, eventually forming a barrier like a sphere.

“Whew… what a pain, seriously.”

If it were an ordinary attack, he would have just taken it with his body, charged, and smashed the bastard’s face with a fang, but if he missed even a single thorn stake created by the Lord of Thorns, it could pierce through both armor and Adamant, boring a hole in his body.

To think that even though he had learned a skill that could protect his entire body, he could not even block the attacks the enemy launched as naturally as breathing unless he concentrated its power only on his shields; there was a limit to how broken the balance was.

—*Crack*

“Ha, I couldn’t even block it perfectly.”

As he blocked the final thorn, an ominous cracking sound echoed from one of his shields, and checking it, he saw a deep crack running through the center.

If he continued to fight with it like this, it would break completely beyond repair—but since he had planned to discard it after this fight anyway, it was fine.

More than that, Fatum was the problem now.

“Fatum, get a grip! Lectus isn’t dead yet!”

“Of course I am fine. It is just… it seems the bastard is attempting the impossible.”

Gi-jun could not understand Fatum’s agitation.

His gaze was fixed on the eagle with wide-spread wings, and through it, he seemed to be trying to read something that Gi-jun had not yet realized.

The Lord of Thorns burst into laughter at that sight.

“Oh, dear. Are you saying that you who have come all this way do not know my alias? I am Drăculea, the Son of the Dragon!”

He knew that, though.

Bram Stoker’s novel *Dracula* was written using Vlad the Lord of Thorns, who actually existed as the ruler of the Principality of Wallachia, as a model.

And Vlad the Lord of Thorns was the son of Vlad II, and since Vlad II had obtained the alias of the Dragon, his son, the Lord of Thorns, naturally obtained the alias of the Son of the Dragon as well.

Ironically, as it became the title of a vampire novel, Dracula became widely known as a synonym for a vampire rather than a dragon—but its true meaning was strictly ‘Son of the Dragon’.

“Son of the Dragon? What nonsense! How can a mere vampire falsely claim the name of the dragon…!”

Fatum, a genuine native of Leta, did not know the identity of the Lord of Thorns that Gi-jun, an Earthling, had deduced through literature and history.

Yet, the Lord of Thorns himself spoke of it as if it were only natural—

“You really know nothing. Yes, in the end, you are fakes. How could you possibly recognize the identity of the Origin?”

—Somehow, he looked as if he were lamenting.

His alias was merely ‘Dragon’ and Vlad II in history was not actually a dragon, and the Lord of Thorns being a vampire in the first place was also nothing more than a setting in a novel, but…

Although he had a burning urge to argue that the Lord of Thorns himself was the one full of falsehoods, so why was he talking about the Origin—

Since he had long recognized that fictions, including Earth’s myths and legends, were materialized in Leta, he decided not to call him out on it now.

Still, he could not help but dislike the Lord of Thorns putting on such grand airs.

“Do you enjoy talking about things only you know? Why don’t you just transform into a dragon while you’re at it?”

“Haha, even if I wanted to tell you, you wouldn’t understand. You are a splendid variable, but—you have yet to prove sufficient value to me!”

Speaking as if teasing Gi-jun, the Lord of Thorns created an immense amount of thorn stakes in the air once again, then shot them without a moment’s rest to attack the party.

If that had been all, it might have been fine, but the problem was that the wave of blood the bastard had created earlier and the thorns surging from the floor and ceiling also appeared continuously to target the party.

To maintain three area-of-effect skills simultaneously while directly attacking and defending, just how vast was his blood power!

“A fake? I am a fake?”

Fatum muttered quietly.

Gi-jun could also feel his aura growing wild.

However, momentum alone could not solve everything.

Before long, Fatum’s unique territory was losing its power.

“Fatum, back off. The dragon factor is actually strengthening that magic.”

“I… cannot…!”

“Step back. I will finish this.”

Despite that, Fatum stepped forward.

The golden aura squeezed out to the limit concentrated on his greatsword, cutting through and burning the blood-red mana that blocked his advance.

“Wait, Fatum!”

“I must finish that myself!”

Gi-jun tried to follow behind him in panic, but Fatum did not allow even Gi-jun to approach.

While wondering why Fatum, who had requested a joint attack from Gi-jun even at the cost of enduring humiliation against the Lord of Thorns, had suddenly become so blindly obsessed, Gi-jun soon realized.

Damn blood magic!

To think it would even encroach upon a firm hero’s mind!

—Take out that weapon.

The evil spirit whispered to Gi-jun at that moment.

—The Estoc, it can resonate with that holy relic. I will help you!

At that very moment, as if prearranged with the evil spirit, both wings of the eagle exploded.

Part of the blood stream that burst out formed a human figure in the air, and it was none other than Lora, who had been unseen.

Surprisingly, she had approached by riding the flow of the Lord of Thorns’s blood power and attacked the holy relic directly!

“Attack now!”

“Hyaaaaah!”

Tilla, who had been waiting for the right moment, clenched her fist tightly and struck the earth.

Her flame completely covered the area that had been coated in blood, and dozens of flame whips sprang up from all over the space, binding the eagle’s body!

“I said, I will end this!”

Watching Fatum charge with his greatsword raised, refusing to be outdone by the sight of Gi-jun’s party members performing actively,

Gi-jun threw the Estoc he took out from his inventory.

The Estoc, flashing like a bolt of lightning due to the Flash Throw skill, tore through the air and rushed forward, piercing the eagle’s head before Fatum could.

The anti-blood power packed within it melted the barrier made of high-intensity blood power.

Like a syringe injecting poison, the evil spirit that had been inside the Estoc seeped into the holy relic.