Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Blood Moon
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-M, Master... dying again...
A voice echoes in my tunnel-visioned sight.
When I come to, Yuria's hugging me tight as she escapes the mansion on the back of a demon that's now her familiar?
Feeling the wind and her arms around me...
'Ah, so this is the sky.'
Riding on the back of the demon familiar, Yuria meets my eyes with a cold intensity.
"Master."
Her eyebrows furrow ever so slightly.
And for good reason—there are two dragons down there, not just one.
-Crack-crack-craaaack!!!
Below her, someone clashes with one of the dragons turned to ice.
Rachel, fighting with everything she has, including her clones.
The dragon's breath weakness is probably ice, and factoring in her clones, she should at least hold out somehow.
Yuria, grasping that much, gazes down with cold, sunken eyes.
A complicated look.
If we judge odds purely by mana, Yuria has a 20% chance, the dragon 80%.
Factoring in combat sense and potential, maybe she could push it to 30%.
If she hadn't absorbed all my blood earlier, it wouldn't even be 10%.
She hadn't fully charged her mana to near-max, roughly predicting the dragon's attacks—otherwise, even pulling this off wouldn't have been possible.
"...Listen carefully. You have to fight exactly the way you hate most. But it's the only way."
With my one working brain cell, I had no choice but to rely on strategy.
After hearing the full plan, Yuria's face was scrunched up.
"...Are you serious?"
"Yeah, dead serious, no lies. The more you trust me, the exponentially higher our win rate. It's a kind of... bond. Bond."
She reacted slightly to the word "bond."
"...Bond. I know it's the most important thing in the master-servant relationship with you, Master. Yes, and for the lover we promised to marry later, bond matters too. I'll trust you, Master."
Her eyes full of conviction stare into mine.
For some reason, it scares me.
...
I stand alone before the dragon.
The shadows occasionally draping over my body bring an instinctive chill of overwhelming pressure.
-Grrrrrooooaaar...
The incoming breath attack.
Taking that head-on would melt my entire body before I could even scream.
I flick out a magic tool from my hand and crush it.
Instantly, vitality surges through me, boosting my speed.
Magic tools follow equivalent exchange.
For example, this one's made from an E-rank monster.
It slightly boosts agility.
With minor magic formula tweaks, I can amp its output—for one explosive burst that shatters the formula, rendering it unusable forever.
That's the law of this world.
But no one here knows how to use them properly.
That's my trick: I stuffed my pockets with trash-tier magic tools that only give minor speed boosts, drawing the dragon's attention.
-Krunch.
But it doesn't let me dodge perfectly.
Splintered wood debris digs deep into my thigh.
"Kuh...!"
I forcibly stem the blood flowing from my thigh.
I'm barely hanging on thanks to the mana Yuria gave me earlier, letting me recover just enough. Without it, my mobility would've collapsed, and I'd be dead by now.
By the way.
For dragons, breath is like breathing. Just exhaling. No cost per use.
'...As expected, but fuck, we're screwed.'
Even thinking that, watching Yuria attack from above makes my skin crawl.
She's deliberately using her familiars to block the dragon's moves a few times—otherwise...
In just 3 minutes and 38 seconds, I've nearly died three times.
'I told her to trust me. Can't look weak now.'
Ting! The flash I lobbed upward shines brightly.
A technique they've never seen in this world.
Massive mana wave, drawing the eyes.
The dragon, busy blocking blood arrows from behind, whips its head around in panic.
Powerful spells or explosions always have a "mana buildup."
Applies to Yuria's blood magic, my magic tools, even basic fireballs.
This tool I'm throwing? Extremely powerful-looking.
But,
It's just for diverting sight.
A dud that mimics a huge mana wave without actual power.
-Kaboom!!
A red spear plummets from the sky, piercing the dragon's chest.
Normally fatal, but the hole seals up clean.
That's why dragons vs. demons are bullshit.
Dragons' tough hides slow regeneration.
Demons? It goes haywire.
Tsk. Yuria clicks her tongue, thinking the same.
And even with the perfect opening, the dragon's fine.
"GRRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!"
Its roar shakes the earth, fury ignited.
With that roar, it blasts breath skyward; Yuria grazes it and gets flung back, spraying blood.
Arm and leg severed—but they reattach. Still proves she's a vampire.
Not for nothing did she have a 20% win rate even head-on.
Anyway... nearly 4 minutes in, it's ignoring me for her now?
Even modern flashbangs get old after a few.
Just big mana waves!
And I've only used them to distract, so yeah, makes sense.
But you know what?
Thinking I only threw weak, non-exploding trash for waves?
-Click.
I flip the lever; a magic tool rises from my pocket.
Made from a B-rank monster—force its core to overload for one-time max output...!
-!!
-KABOOM!!!!!!
A massive explosion erupts right in the dragon's face.
Another flash, but this time a real chain mana detonation.
Caught off-guard, the dragon's wings falter mid-lunge toward Yuria; it crashes to the mansion grounds.
Yuria, fully recovered from prior hits, summons two more spears—each 10 meters long—impaling its belly.
On the ground, wolves tear at its hide.
It thrashes, quickly regaining posture.
But the situation's dire.
In 4 minutes, hits like this? Only 5.
First flash, two more after, now this—total five.
Yuria predicts: to infect it as a familiar per my plan, need about 20 spears embedded.
Whether it'd survive to serve, who knows.
One of many plans.
[Level 5 Absolute Zero]
- Forbidden magic. Power +120% for direct descendants.
- User's affinity is exceptional: power doubles twice.
- Caster pushes body to limit: one extra power boost.
- Total power now 170%+ above base.
The counterattacking dragon soars up, scattering spines at Yuria.
She barriers them, but
Exploiting her divided sight, the dragon closes in and slams her with brute force.
Even after tanking that as final boss, she's being pushed back.
Yuria crashes beside me from the insane force.
Her state is obviously bad.
Red blood trails from her lips, arm and right leg twisted grotesquely.
Her charred maid outfit reveals glimpses of pale skin beneath.
The opposite of her usual perfect, pristine, seductive, overwhelming aura. Unimaginable for the next final boss taking damage like this.
But her blazing red eyes fix on the enemy.
Seems my wounds from it bother her more than her own.
"...Do you even know whose body you're attacking, you beast?"
Bathed in blood once, her wounds heal like magic.
...Yuria's a monster in tenacity too.
'There is a realistic strategy, though.'
Even for a monster like her, assuming 20 spears head-on is too out-of-spec. Beyond common sense.
This domain she created.
Only inside can she infect familiars.
Big reason her odds are 20%.
If that breath destroys the sky's pulsing eyes?
Familiars revert to shadows; at best, summon a few wolves.
Normally, her knight-captain-level familiars would help big-time, but against a sky-flying, tough-hided beast, current ones are useless.
'So I drew its eyes.'
To me.
From that hit earlier, one more ice bomb and it'll focus me,
Too annoying to land hits precisely; I keep creating openings, drawing attention.
Take out the pest first.
Dragons are surprisingly smart.
If my ploy's exposed, game over.
It's rampaging in rage now, but regains senses? Situation flips.
Not that it's favorable now anyway.
Still, kill it before then.
"...Yuria, status?"
"Not yet. Not ready."
Hearing my inner thoughts, she forces her eyes to my wounds.
Probably can't bear looking at me.
Then peeks glances—classic Yuria. I chuckle.
The ballroom inside...
I shoved the 500-ish humans inside Yuria's shadows.
To keep them out of the fight, and sleeping lets storage for hours.
So ballroom's now a cage.
Lure bait?
Me.
Most annoying, irritating prey.
Yeah. Like that League of... whatever back then.
Box taunting fear upfront, clone messing around, other foe.
Obviously kill the annoying one first.
Lure into trap.
That's my aim.
Exchange looks with Yuria, plan finalized.
-Kaboom!!!
Sight diversion.
Dragon realizes too late, turns—same spear guts its belly.
-Krunch.
Fake-looking, but real this time.
Hellish multiple choice, scraping its guts—my strategy and taunt.
Now 14 spears piercing it.
At this rate, could hit 20 and dominate.
"GRRRRROOOOAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Face flushed, berserk dragon dives at me.
Prepping a tool, I smash an agility one like a chip and flee.
Stealth too.
It senses mana, tracks me.
But predicted.
Just need momentary confusion.
-KABOOM!!!!
"Where are you looking? Your enemy is me."
Yuria hurls a spear; pierces its back.
Grinding teeth, it ignores, charges me anyway.
Adapted to the fight now.
Sees no end this way.
Decides to end me for sure.
Yes.
Ian waited for it to fixate solely on him.
Dragon enters mansion.
As it rears for breath,
Behind, Yuria summons five spears.
But dragon's eyes flicker.
Snaps head around,
Casts a one-shot kill spell on Yuria.
Dragon blood magic.
Red dragon blood surges.
I cry out in shock seeing it.
Dragons are smart.
Yes. This dread. Intense.
With human-like cunning,
It fooled me again.
Not suddenly targeting Yuria now.
Knew it'd end like this from start, prepared.
Lured in like bait,
Never forgot main threat Yuria, pretended till end, then turned.
Extends one claw at me, blocks variable.
Aura Blade-sharpened claw impales me? Dead.
Unlike Yuria, can't regen—saw and understood.
Claw guts my abdomen; blood pours from mouth.
No dodging organs. Huge hole.
Blood gushes like falling.
Forces mana squeeze now? Hard.
"...Fuck, is that a demon? Feels like a devil."
Hollow laugh escapes.
Light 1st-floor hit flings me into 3rd-floor wall, then crash below.
All defense tools shattered from overdrive.
Shifted trajectory from heart to gut? That's it.
Insane strike.
Dragon eyes my survival warily, but death inevitable.
No halting strike on Yuria.
Sneer like it saw all my cards.
Yuria watches from afar.
Wants to rush over.
Words don't reach.
Her face shows heartbreaking sorrow, pure affection.
"You've nearly died so many times yourself..."
First fractures, limbs severed, heavy internals—she endured wounds that'd break most minds.
Yet.
Still worries for me.
Why.
What am I to you, so devoted?
You hurt more.
But—
"-Forgot something?"
"..."
"We're back where we first met."
And here...
Awakened Rachel stands tall, dignified.
"...My son."
"Touch him?"
Craaaack-crack!!!
Angrier than anything.
Because Rachel waited, venting her rage.