145 – Son of the Dragon – 5

[(True) Blood Sword of the Lord of Thorns (Unique+)]

[Durability — 5,000/5,000]

[Attack Power (U) — 99+]

[Option 1 — Increases Magic Power and Blood Power by 7]

[Option 2 — Causes the blood stained on the sword to sprout thorns, and its power is amplified by a special blood magic.]

[Option 3 — Depending on the amount of blood charged, a single thrust can deliver dozens of stabs simultaneously.]

[Equip Restriction — Possession of the ‘Kin of the Lord of Thorns’ title]

[A sword designed exclusively for thrusting, given by the wicked and great vampire to his kin. This is a token and a key for the kin, so only one is awarded to any kin. The true blood of the vampire and special blood permanently combined, miraculously revealing the hidden power of the sword. If another miracle occurs, a legendary treasure that even the original owner who bestowed the sword would covet might be completed.]

[(True) Blood Sword of the Lord of Thorns (Unique+)]

[Durability — 5,000/5,000]

[Attack Power (U) — 99+]

[Option 1 — Increases Magic Power and Blood Power by 7]

[Option 2 — Causes the blood stained on the sword to sprout thorns, and its power is amplified by a special blood magic.]

[Option 3 — Depending on the amount of blood charged, a single thrust can deliver dozens of stabs simultaneously.]

[Equip Restriction — Possession of the ‘Kin of the Lord of Thorns’ title]

[A sword designed exclusively for thrusting, given by the wicked and great vampire to his kin. This is a token and a key for the kin, so only one is awarded to any kin. The true blood of the vampire and special blood permanently combined, miraculously revealing the hidden power of the sword. If another miracle occurs, a legendary treasure that even the original owner who bestowed the sword would covet might be completed.]

The estoc thrown by Gi-jun was an item obtained by clearing the dungeon where the vampire who spearheaded the overflow that hit Turis in the past had resided.

Originally, it was not that great of an item, only bearing the symbolism of being of the Lord of Thorns’ kin, but the vampire had smeared his true blood on it to boost its performance, and its power had been further amplified as it absorbed all the blood structures in the dungeon.

And now, it was surprisingly resonating with the blood power of the Lord of Thorns—sucking in a massive amount of blood contained within the eagle.

“How did you…!”

“Where do you think you’re going!”

The Lord of Thorns, who had been relaxed until then, quickly reached out in shock to retrieve the blood sword, but before he could, Scintilla, who had clad her entire body in flames, blocked him.

“I will support you, sister!”

“Kugh?!”

Perhaps sensing that this was the moment to decide the battle, Ji-hye, who had only been securing her safety and observing the situation until now, also concentrated her mana to keep the Lord of Thorns in check.

The reason that was possible was surprisingly thanks to the fact that Gin’s silver moon mana was mixed into her magic.

It was unknown how she had borrowed Gin’s mana, but when the power of the silver moon mixed with Ji-hye’s vast mana, it became a force that even the Lord of Thorns could not easily look down on.

“To think you would use such cheap tricks—!”

Chains of mana coated with the silver moon flew from all directions, aiming at the Lord of Thorns.

A miraculous mystery that could not be found anywhere else even if one searched all of Leta, the silver moon’s mana was a power that even the Lord of Thorns, who was challenging the epic realm alone, could not disregard.

If even a tiny amount of it directly penetrated his body, he would suffer injuries that even he could not ignore, so the Lord of Thorns had to block it by fully concentrating the blood mana that filled the space.

“Are you ignoring me?”

“Kugh, you wench—!”

Because of that, the Lord of Thorns could not properly keep Scintilla in check, and as he was hit by her flames, he growled, feeling the true blood flowing in his body dry up, if only little by little.

“Even the Hero did not dare to handle me, yet you think you can block me head-on!”

“You probably just bewitched him with blood magic, didn’t you? We won’t fall for the same trick again!”

Confronting an existence like the Lord of Thorns was impossible simply by possessing combat power equal to his.

Simply by existing in that place, he constantly polluted the opponent’s mind, and his powerful blood magic amplified all of the opponent’s negative emotions, ultimately causing even the Hero, who represented justice, to run wild.

Unfortunately for him, Scintilla had already suffered from blood magic in the past and made a painful mistake.

Ironically, that had raised Scintilla’s resistance to blood magic to the extreme—and now that she had shaken off various unnecessary worries and reached the legendary realm, she possessed a resistance higher than even the Hero’s when it came to blood magic alone.

“If you’ve endured that much, you’ve lasted long enough!”

She clasped her hands together to form a massive gauntlet of fire, then slammed it down on the Lord of Thorns and shouted!

“It’s about time you disappeared along with your civilization—!”

“How dare an ignorant insect discuss time before me!”

However, the Lord of Thorns indeed displayed the dignity of a ruler who had led a civilization for hundreds of years.

He concentrated the blood power filling the room into a sphere to exert a suction force around it, swallowing and destroying all the chains of the silver moon that Ji-hye and Gin had created together.

Then, as if he still had strength to spare, he drew a massive conical lance made of blood from the air and clashed with Scintilla!

“Kugh?!”

The Lord of Thorns’ lance, with strength still remaining after shattering the gauntlet Scintilla had created, swept over her just like that.

Fortunately, Scintilla, who had transformed her entire body into flames the moment she was hit, managed to avoid a fatal wound, but she could not move because the lance of blood clung to her entire body, melted, and held her fast.

Instead of attacking her further, the Lord of Thorns turned toward the eagle statue floating in the air, but…

“How…”

By then, the blood sword had already fully absorbed a portion of the vast blood that made up the eagle.

Had it finally crossed the threshold? Just as Biche had said in the past that ‘items with a plus have the potential to grow to the next rank,’ the blood sword floated into the air right there and began to undergo a transformation into the Legendary rank.

An even greater problem was that Gi-jun’s real intention was not just about sucking blood with the estoc.

—Gyahahahahaha!

While the estoc, which was only supposed to absorb blood, wildly rampaged and drew everyone’s attention, the evil spirit that had seeped into the eagle statue via the estoc let out a laugh truly fitting of an evil spirit and absorbed the souls dwelling in the eagle.

The magic formula that was to be completed by offering the holy relic required the power of souls drawn from various types of blood—and with all of them now being absorbed by the evil spirit, the formula had to be considered completely ruined.

All of this had occurred barely dozens of seconds after Gi-jun had thrown the estoc.

“Well now.”

Having barely shaken off Scintilla, the Lord of Thorns already intuitively felt that the situation had flowed in a direction beyond his control.

This was not a magic that should have been broken so easily.

The blood sword grown to the Unique+ rank, the evil spirit that manipulated the power of souls, and the capable individuals possessing both the strong mental power and strength to stand against the Lord of Thorns one-on-one without being swayed by blood magic—had even one of these been missing, they would not have dared to achieve this.

“Kuhat…?!”

“Patum.”

“Ju—Jun. I made an absurd mistake.”

Around that time, Patum also finally regained his senses.

Realizing that if he had touched the holy relic before Gi-jun, he would have surely had his dragon factor stolen by it just as Lectus had, and ended up voluntarily completing the Lord of Thorns’ magic, Patum felt a chill run down his spine.

“How could I be defeated so helplessly, I, the Hero of Light…!”

His unique territory had already disappeared.

Perhaps as the unique territory, which amplified not only his physical abilities but also his mental defense, ended its duration and vanished, the accumulated damage rushed in, causing his mental barrier to collapse in an instant.

Watching the power-lost eagle slowly fold its wings and fall, the Lord of Thorns sneered at the Hero, looking so dejected that it even hinted at a sense of relief.

“You pitiful toy of the gods, did you not know that you were reaching your limit? No, you must have known. That is why you were looking for a successor.”

“Limit? Me? That is not so. The place where the Hero falls is not here!”

“Coincidentally, I must tell you something similar to what I said earlier. You are not the one who decides that.”

Regaining his composure, the Lord of Thorns sarcastically taunted Patum, who was pointing his greatsword at him, and assessed the battle situation.

The formula that had been cast around the holy relic was more than half ruined, so it could no longer be completed even if he drew external power.

Surprisingly, most of the blood power that had encroached upon the space had been obliterated by the silver moon’s mana, which was created by the strength of two pieces of dregs who did not even measure up to the soles of his feet.

Of course, the enemy’s unique territory had also vanished, and he had rendered one legendary-rank enemy unable to move for the time being—but the exchange ratio was not good at all.

Above all, while the enemy had strength to spare, he did not.

To think that they would completely overturn the battle situation with a single item—the Lord of Thorns gnashed his teeth as he watched Gi-jun cast light healing on himself and his companions.

The fact that Patum had quickly regained his senses was also entirely due to that light, which had an outstanding efficacy in healing not only the body but also the mind—

…Light healing?

“Is everyone alright?”

“We’re fine—but honestly, if Lucy had been on our side from the start, I don’t think it would have been this tough, Oppa.”

—Ahem, while I was gone, everyone realized how precious this Lady Lucy is, right?

“It is a relief that Min-i was safe thanks to that.”

As one who had reached the height of blood magic, the Lord of Thorns naturally possessed spirit eyes as he was well-versed in magic using blood and souls as mediums.

Therefore, he naturally knew that Gi-jun was handling flames by borrowing the power of a fire spirit, and that was not all that surprising.

—Anyway, we just need to finish him off now, right? Whew, it was really long. Let’s finish it quickly and go back to party, party!

“You are…”

—Hm? What, do you know me?

However, seeing the spiritual existence that was now staying by his side and emitting a dazzling light of her own—her—even he could not help but be astounded.

“Puhat, puhahahahat!”

In the end, the Lord of Thorns burst into loud laughter.

A powerful blood power coursed through his entire body, spreading an intense wave of blood all around and stiffening the party’s bodies.

It was simply shudder-inducing that he still had power left even after spilling so much blood against this many people.

“Is that so, is that so—! Have you finally begun to move!”

The Lord of Thorns caused the blood power of his entire body to run wild along with his laughter.

“Then I too must display everything available to me!”

—What is wrong with him, contractor?

When Lucy, who could not keep up with the tension of the Lord of Thorns preparing for the final battle, asked in a sulky tone, Gi-jun, who was swapping his shield while keeping guard against the Lord of Thorns, narrowed his eyes and replied.

“He’s been like that since earlier. He keeps talking about things only he knows, without even properly explaining them to us.”

—I will find out for you, my lovely one.

—Aack!

Lucy gasped in shock at the whisper of the evil spirit, which had crept behind Gi-jun’s back at some point.

Having feasted to its heart’s content on the souls that filled the holy relic, the evil spirit’s status had risen to the point where it was almost difficult to distinguish from a spirit, and in the eyes of Gi-jun, who possessed spirit eyes, it took on a form so distinct that it was hard to tell apart from Lucy.

It had reached the level where a spirit transcended its limits and interfered with the material world.

As proof of that, it was cherishing the estoc, which had finished its evolution just like itself, in its arms.

—If only you would plunge this into the enemy’s heart…

—Aaah?!

“Yeah, keep holding onto it. I’ll make the opportunity.”

Just as Lucy, realizing that the evil spirit was about to step up into an extraordinary existence, was about to raise her voice to ask what on earth he had done while she was gone…

“Do you think you can pierce me with the thorns I created—!”

Unexpectedly, the Lord of Thorns charged at them first.

Gi-jun, clutching his shield reflexively, quickly detected the direction of the guy’s charge and kicked off the ground, blocking his front—

—Crack— Boom!

The moment the blood claws elongated by the Lord of Thorns scraped the front.

Gi-jun’s shield, which faced it head-on, emitted a dazzling light and sent the Lord of Thorns bouncing back.

This was because the shield Gi-jun had swapped to, the Silver Moon of Contradiction, had an option that reflected a portion of the shock back to the enemy upon a successful defense.

Furthermore, the Silver Moon of Contradiction, enhanced by light mana and Lucy’s spirit power, amplified and spewed that light to the limit.

“Ha, you sure have all kinds of tricks.”

The Lord of Thorns frowned and leaped backward, retreating from the silver light that shared the same origin as the magic cast by Gi-jun’s party members working together, which was highly unpleasant to vampires.

“But well, yes. It is fine.”

Having retreated all the way to where the throne originally stood, the Lord of Thorns picked up the eagle statue-shaped holy relic that had lost most of its power and fallen to the floor, baring his teeth.

It was a movement so natural that it even made one wonder if he had pretended to charge from the beginning just to retrieve it.

“Now, I only need this.”

At first, the target the Lord of Thorns aimed to attack was Patum.

Yet now he said he only needed this—what did that mean?

Feeling an inexplicable chill from that attitude, Gi-jun and Patum locked eyes, and the moment they charged toward the guy without saying a word,

“Sending my praise to the new possibility sprouted by a weak human, I too shall show a choice that has never existed before. I will offer myself as a sacrifice!”

Before anyone could dare to stop him,

In his grasp, the eagle statue turned into a handful of liquid blood and was absorbed into his entire body.

Right after, Patum and Gi-jun reached him and attacked him from both sides—only to be bounced off by countless thorns that suddenly burst out from the Lord of Thorns’ body.

No, rather than a human, he was already closer to the form of a mace densely covered in thorns.

Silence enveloped the area.

Because all the blood power under the Lord of Thorns’ control had vanished, not only the space they were in but the entire castle of the Lord of Thorns transformed into a merely physical space.

—Thump

But that was by no means a good omen for them, but rather—

—This is dangerous.

Spitting it out briefly, Lucy fashioned dozens of light spears in the air and threw them, even without Gi-jun’s command.

However, unlike when he had tried to invoke magic by drawing in external power, the Lord of Thorns was now completing the magic from within by sacrificing himself.

—Thump

The difference was very distinct; having already turned into a single, swelling, horrific lump of blood, it rejected all ‘external forces’—whether it was the silver moon, the light, the Hero’s breath, or of course, the vampire’s blood power.

—This is dangerous…

The evil spirit, which had been contemplating whether to plunge the estoc into that lump of blood right away, also realized that it could be swept away and vanish at that moment, so it let out a low groan and hovered above Gi-jun’s head.

—But no matter what happens, I will protect you at least, so please be at ease…

—Don’t talk nonsense. It’s not a matter of protecting anyone; that thing must be caught here. Have you even thought about what will happen if that goes outside?

Lucy dismissed the evil spirit’s words and let out a dry laugh.

—No matter how all means were blocked, to think he would sacrifice his own soul and body to summon an evil dragon…

To repeat, the Lord of Thorns was an absolute powerhouse challenging the epic realm, and naturally, the quality of the soul and mana he possessed was top-tier.

He had probably sought other means until now because he could not bear to sacrifice his own soul—but if he made up his mind and offered himself as a sacrifice, no one could stop it.

—Thump

In other words, from the moment Gi-jun’s party successfully pushed the Lord of Thorns, this was a semi-predetermined situation.

—Just how hard did you push him, contractor?

“I can guarantee you, your existence drove the wedge.”

—Along with that shield, too. Since you were going to save it, why didn’t you save it until you delivered the final blow?

“Everyone, stop. …It’s coming.”

—Thump

—Boom!

The lump of blood swelled greatly in an instant.

Unable to withstand the weight, the top-floor corridor that had lost the protection of the Lord of Thorns’ mana collapsed, and starting with that, the entire castle began to crumble!

“Lafi—!”

—Kyaaaaak!

But the moment Patum called his wyvern’s name, the wyvern, which was surprisingly staying in the kingdom, crossed space and caught him.

Quickly securing Lectus and sitting him behind him, Patum glared at the giant lump of blood floating in the air and shouted.

“Retreat, Jun! If I had been in my right mind, that thing would not have appeared—I will take responsibility and defeat it!”

“What nonsense!”

Patum was spouting nonsense about responsibility, but Gi-jun shared the same thoughts as Lucy.

Lucy had called it an evil dragon.

Whatever was trying to emerge from within, if they did not stop it here, a much greater disaster would occur.

But right now, finding a foothold was the priority above all else!

—Contractor, you call your griffin quickly too!

“How is he supposed to get all the way here—Ah, Fortis!”

—Piyoooooooo!

He really came.

Seeing the griffin suddenly reveal itself by spreading its two wings wide from thin air, Gi-jun widened his eyes, unable to believe what he had just done.

—He is a phantasmal species and a half-spirit, so of course that level is basic!

—Piiiiit!

Fortis cried out as if it were only natural in response to Lucy’s words, but there was no time to admire that right now.

Quickly adjusting his posture and boarding Fortis, Gi-jun looked back to save his party members, but all of them except Gin were already floating by their own power.

Confirming that even Gin was somehow holding out without falling with Ji-hye’s help, Gi-jun looked down at the Lord of Thorns’ castle, which was collapsing with its waist severed, and naturally raised his gaze upward—

And looked at the figure of the birthing evil dragon.

[The Lord of Thorns has sacrificed himself to summon an evil dragon!]

Along with it, the system message that watched the scene mocked him by stretching out the single word ‘impossible’ very long.

[The enemy’s rank is [Epic]. The only thing you can do to defeat an irresistible enemy is to cry out the name of the god who cherishes you, entrust yourself to a miracle, and charge.]

[The enemy’s rank is [Epic]. The only thing you can do to defeat an irresistible enemy is to cry out the name of the god who cherishes you, entrust yourself to a miracle, and charge.]

* * *

Black thunder struck down.

Hundreds, thousands of black tentacles that descended from the sky as if dancing caught the body of the newly born evil dragon before it could even resist, tearing its limbs apart.

—Kuaaaaaaaak!

As Patum and Gi-jun, who were about to charge toward the evil dragon, flinched and came to a stop at the scream that shook heaven and earth,

The being that descended from the sky spread her bat wings wide and chuckled.

“Descent of the Demon King.”