Chapter 241
Chapter 241
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 241
Chapter Title: Vampire Rise (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Crackle—!
> Pop—!
A spark far more ferocious than anything before, at least double the intensity.
Heinz, who had been relentlessly pressing his opponent, retreated a step with a hardened expression at that ominous reaction.
'Well, it did seem too easy.'
Until just moments ago, the battle with Obaifo had been progressing far more smoothly than expected.
Both were of the same rank: Sacred Blood.
Even among them, if one had to distinguish high from low, Obaifo—with his centuries of age—held the edge, but Heinz's overwhelming specs rendered that gap utterly insignificant.
Even setting aside the effects of his numerous other skills, the elevation in his species rank through Hybrid Evolution created a disparity so vast that it was embarrassing to even classify them as the same race.
A chasm of more than double, even when compared to fellow pinnacles of vampirism like Sacred Blood.
'At this level, it'd be weirder if I lost.'
Leveraging that spec advantage, Heinz had thoroughly cornered Obaifo.
Telekinetic forces and blood qi clashed ceaselessly, while physical collisions repeated in tandem.
Had it continued that way, he would have subdued the bastard without issue in short order...
Crackle—! Boom—!
A spark erupted much closer this time, and as the two Sacred Bloods collided once more, a powerful shockwave swept through the surroundings.
Centered on Obaifo, his expanding telekinetic domain pushed back Heinz's, gradually forcing him into a defensive posture.
'Phase two, huh.'
It seemed the bastard had no intention of going down without a fight.
"Groooar— I, Obaifo, am the one destined to become king of all vampires in this world...! I don't know why the progenitor's 'Authority of Blood' fails against you..."
Even amid the repeated clashes, his power continued to surge uncontrollably.
The ancient vampire muttered lowly through a twisted face, his entire body writhing.
"No, wait... You don't mean..."
Mumbling to himself, he let out a sigh as if realizing something, then glared at Heinz before him with narrowed eyes.
"...I see. You're a traitor. I've heard the rumors... A sudden upstart who swallowed the Brocoslak Clan's dominion whole and ascended to the top in an instant."
Another exchange of blows unfolded.
In the midst, his aura had already swelled beyond five times its original strength.
His body, strained by the aftereffects, began crumbling bit by bit, yet the surge showed no signs of stopping—as if this were far from over.
"So that's it... You've somehow acquired a way to resist your bloodline... And now you're using that power to usurp even this throne?"
Obaifo muttered incomprehensible words, as if entranced by something.
But even Heinz, diligently defending his telekinetic domain, suddenly realized one thing from those words.
'Ah, so that's why I've felt this itchy sensation since earlier.'
Focused on the fight and the reaction too faint, he'd dismissed it as battle adrenaline.
Looking back now, that wriggling within him seemed tied to what the bastard called the 'Authority of Blood.'
"I get it now. This aura—it's all ten of them? Then the remaining bloodlines in full. Who knew other bloodlines could be exploited like this."
"Kuhuhu... Figured it out too late? Indeed, I am the successor to the progenitor's bloodline... Master of ten out of the twelve bloodlines—that is Obaifo!"
With his body radiating an ever-expanding, monstrous aura, Heinz's form was flung backward.
Forces that should never have been contained in one vessel were forcibly drawn forth, elevating Obaifo's rank even further.
"...How is that even possible? Forcing the use of other bloodlines—especially the pure blood left by Sacred Bloods—shouldn't end in mere mental corruption."
Heinz, barely steadying his rebounding body, frowned and spoke.
Of course, immune to mental corruption himself, he'd long since ordered his subordinates to search for them.
Yet despite the time passed, not a single one had turned up.
'Did this guy already recover them all?'
No wonder none of the remnants from other clans knew their whereabouts, even after absorbing them wholesale.
He'd been thorough—down to total extermination.
Crackle—! Slash!
And amid their exchange.
Even using Existence Denial to evade, Heinz took a solid hit.
His thigh, nearly severed, regenerated in the blink of an eye, but with the bastard's aura still climbing, this was no good sign.
"Ahh... Finally, things are going right...! How? Simple—because I am the king destined to reign above all vampires!"
Heinz's expression soured briefly at the self-praise, then returned to neutral.
Obaifo showed no intent to explain properly, but Heinz had his guesses.
'When I drained the Obaifo Clan vampires, I got Fusion. It was absorbed into Hybrid Evolution, so probably a lesser variant. Likely some secret art devised in tandem.'
Not on the level of interdimensional bloodline powers, but each bloodline had its specialties.
The Yuphershy Clan's exclusive 'Blood Gate' and the Brocoslak Clan's mental prowess that devoured a nation were examples.
Pop—! Boom!
This hit packed a punch.
His collarbone and entire shoulder were blasted away, only to reform in an instant.
He needed to act fast.
"Traitor... You, who defy the progenitor's will, are unworthy to serve me. I'll kill you here."
Grinning confidently in his clear superiority, Obaifo licked the blood from his hand.
Heinz had never wanted to serve anyway—the fool was getting ahead of himself.
More importantly, that just now...
"Guh! Cough—!"
Splurt— Splatter!
His face paling in an instant, he vomited a massive clot of blood.
Simultaneously, his aggressively expanding telekinetic domain wavered, then rapidly contracted.
'Ah, as expected. Vampire habit, huh? Well, it's the quickest way to gauge an opponent.'
He'd experienced it several times before—his blood, unfiltered by Pure Blood Refinement, was lethal poison to vampires... no, akin to radiation.
And he'd chugged it while straining to forcibly draw other powers.
"Puha— Ptui! W-what the hell...! What are you...! Brocoslak? Yuphershy? No, no... Power this detached from the progenitor...?"
Blood now streamed not just from his mouth but his nose.
"Ahh—so this is why... Why the bloodline authority failed! What impure blood...! Beyond traitor—this is heresy!"
"Harsh words. It's just a bit unique. My roots are still here."
As he said.
Heinz's vampiric foundation was Brocoslak lineage, reaching Sacred Blood via seized Yuphershy pure blood.
Naturally, it formed the largest portion of his makeup.
Roughly 40 percent?
Though most had mutated via various factors, leaving little of the original purity.
'About... 5 percent?'
Judging by his body's reaction toward the bastard, maybe even less.
'More importantly, the progenitor.'
The great origin encompassing the first bloodline that birthed all.
That was Obaifo's "progenitor"—the hypothetical bloodline foundational to the vampire species before it splintered into twelve.
Perfecting it into one would not only grant dominion over all vampires but surpass even the Immortal King—a fantastical tale.
'Ha!'
But to Heinz, it was laughable nonsense.
After all...
'It's only the origin of all bloodlines in Outerica. On a dimensional scale, it's just one branch among countless vampire offshoots.'
A race basing power on vampiric factors, growing by draining others' blood, with rigid hierarchies and expansion via infection.
Such vampires were treated as plagues or pathogens in many worlds, yet like humans, elves, or dragons, they appeared commonly across dimensions.
'No idea if divine beings share info between dimensions via some network.'
And due to their unique ecology, they exhibited extreme variations by dimension—adapting like true viruses mutating to environments.
"Self-proclaimed king, yet you can't even handle that much?"
"Grr, you...!"
Heinz looked down mockingly at the struggling vampire, sneering derisively with head held high.
If the progenitor was the archetype vampire, amalgamating all split branches' strengths into one.
And its master dubbed "king."
Then what of him, who had absorbed not just Outerica's but countless interdimensional vampire strains' merits?
He, Heinz the 2nd—already evolved beyond the progenitor toward utmost perfection?
The term fitting him was...
"Puha— Then I suppose 'Emperor' suits me best."
Nothing else.
A quip tossed like a joke.
Yet the truest descriptor of all.
"Bullshit...!"
To Obaifo, mere mockery.
After shuddering in rage for a time, steadying himself, he froze—
"Kuhuhu... Ahh, yes... Emperor, is it...?"
Then burst into sinister laughter.
"Hybrid, was it...? Seems quite a few of your minions have entered the city."
Heinz's initial elite escort numbered around a hundred, but including reinforcements via blood gate, several times that.
They were still harassing Obaifo Clan and Republic guards to buy time.
"Very well, behold the Emperor's authority!"
With those words.
Obaifo threw his head back, unleashing a bizarre roar echoing toward the sky.
[“Hybrid spawn! Come to me—! Come, slay your false king and hail the true one—!”]
A potent blood qi wave affecting only vampires swept Uletor City in an instant.
Absolute command impossible to defy for any within range.
'That mutant heretic's unavoidable, but his minions are different...! Kill your loyal subordinates with your own hands!'
His guts twisted again from the strain, but the payoff made it worthwhile.
Grinning meaningfully at Heinz post his triumphant cry—
Heinz met his gaze with utter apathy.
"......?"
Silence followed.
And as brief moments passed.
Not a single hybrid vampire approached.
Not one.
'Why...?'
Obaifo's face twisted grotesquely.
He could accept his control failing on Heinz after tasting his blood.
But his subordinates?
'Even those low-level grunts defy my command?'
Doubt crept in—could he truly unify all bloodlines as planned?
The foundation of his ambition and faith shook at the roots.
"What's wrong? Not going as planned?"
Heinz's taunt echoed in his ears, but he had no room to care.
'Impossible. It can't be...!'
How many millennia had he poured into this?
The journeys gathering legacies, researching them into usability.
Enduring personal experiments unflinchingly for thousands of years.
And now, this outcome?
The thought that millennia of effort crumbled meaningless ignited despair in his heart, spreading like toxin.
"Heh... Hehehe..."
Head bowed, Obaifo chuckled hollowly, body heaving.
Regardless of mood, surging inner power exalted him, shielding his unfocused body...
'Meaningless.'
Already collapsing from excessive power density, his body now visibly disintegrated under the toxin in Heinz's blood and repeated overexertion.
To survive, he needed to retract the power now for stability—but that left no chance of victory.
Gazing blankly at his crumbling form, Obaifo's hollow eyes turned back to Heinz.
'Monarch of Talia Kingdom, ruler of the Hybrid Vampire Clan Alliance, Heinz Hybrid the 2nd.'
Bloodline of unknown myriad strains mingled.
A heretic body defying and innovating the progenitor.
And a physique bearing near-ultimate perfection and supreme rank.
Unlike his own frame shattering in the power torrent, it was the ideal vessel for the progenitor.
'...Very well, I acknowledge it.'
Your body's rank far surpasses mine.
Forces too burdensome for my wretched form—you might wield them fully.
Then, perhaps true progenitor authority could manifest?
Yes.
So—
That body, give it to me!
Crackle—!
The fiercest spark yet flared wildly.
Ignoring his disintegrating body, Obaifo charged Heinz headlong.
With life itself expended in all-or-nothing fury, nothing could bar his path.
'Thanks to the revolutionary.'
That unknown power maxing his 'fusion ability,' binding disparate bloodlines into simultaneous expression.
Without it, such a method was unthinkable.
Even as memories faded in real-time terror, from the moment his 'ambition's' success turned uncertain, his vision held nothing.
Crunch—!
Finally, Obaifo's hand seized Heinz's forehead.
His body, riddled from consecutive strikes permitted in the process, crumbled rapidly—yet he ignored it, beaming radiantly.
"Kuhuhu! Emperor, let's wager..."
Some risk in the process, sure.
But this time, he was certain.
"The stakes: everything we possess..."
He, who had lived millennia in ceaseless training.
Even purged memories spanned over a millennium.
How could he lose to one who'd lived mere centuries with a special body?
"Winner takes the loser's all... Body, soul, everything!"
Thus.
Bolstered by the unknown power, Obaifo boldly invaded Heinz's mental realm.
[What... is this?]
Facing a situation far—very far—from expectations, he unwittingly blurted in dismay.