Chapter 144: All-Out War (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 144: All-Out War (2)
Whoosh!
The dagger drew a sharp arc.
"Urgh!"
Naturally, Bertion reacted by swinging his rapier.
Blade clashed against blade.
Clang!
As if proving they were evenly matched, a sharp metallic screech echoed.
But.
[You have acquired 0.3 mana due to the effect of 'Soul Vampirism'.]
'Soul Vampirism' drained the target's mana even without landing a clean hit.
The saying "you should have dodged instead of blocking" didn't exist for nothing.
Furthermore, as expected of a higher-tier skill, it had another additional effect.
[You have permanently acquired 0.01 vitality due to the effect of 'Soul Vampirism'.]
Unlike temporarily absorbing and using an opponent's mana, 'Soul Vampirism' allowed him to exploit a unique energy called 'vitality.'
It was a stat that synergized with all other stats and, on its own, breathed vigor into the entire body.
'Though it's a tier lower than Gap or Adaptive Stats, it has the advantage of being permanently increasable every time I fight.'
In other words, it was an infinitely growing stat.
Most of all, the most attractive part was that vitality could be acquired without leveling up.
Frankly speaking, if he fought Alice or Cheon Yu-seong all day and sucked up their vitality, he could raise his stats astronomically.
Although 'Soul Vampirism' was incredibly picky and only drained the vitality of those it recognized as strong, there was no denying it was an incredibly efficient skill.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Clang!
How long did the storm of clashing blades continue?
After several exchanges, Bertion also realized something was wrong.
It wasn't just his mana being drained; he felt the very life force being sucked out of his body.
Consequently, the more they fought, the faster his balance crumbled.
"You bastard... you're more of a vampire than an actual vampire!"
"Wow. I guess coming from the Decasus family means you actually have some wits."
Jinhyuk smirked.
Ah, this wasn't mockery; it was actually a bit of a compliment.
Usually, the standard procedure was to slowly wither away and die.
He could at least give him some bonus points for realizing it early on.
'Not that it changes the outcome, though.'
Tap!
Jinhyuk used 'Sword Demon Emperor Stepss' to boost his speed by another gear.
Clash! Clash! Clash! Clash!
His dagger moved so fast it was hard to track with the naked eye.
"Ugh..."
Bertion focused all his senses on blocking the attacks.
However, he was too busy defending.
He couldn't even dare to attempt a counterattack.
The way Jinhyuk moved freely in all directions, digging into his weaknesses, was nothing short of cruel.
Rather than ending his life in a single blow, Jinhyuk targeted the areas that would hurt and annoy his opponent the most, extracting as much vitality as possible.
[Mana 0.3...]
[Vitality 0.1...]
[Mana...]
[Vitality...]
While Bertion lost mana the more they fought, a bizarre phenomenon occurred where Jinhyuk's mana recovered the more he fought.
Ultimately,
"Tsk!"
Clicking her tongue, Ophelia joined the fray.
A straight trajectory.
Whoosh!
With the sound of slicing wind, her rapier lunged toward Jinhyuk's neck.
But Jinhyuk dodged the surprise attack from his blind spot with effortless ease.
The tip of the blade grazed past his hair.
"Two against one, huh? That sounds fun too."
There was no reason to refuse when they were offering their vitality on a silver platter.
Dragging it out too long would be troublesome, but Alice should easily be able to hold her own for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Until then, he planned to milk them for all they were worth.
Jinhyuk accelerated even further.
Now, the movements of the two vampires began to slow down noticeably.
It was because they had lost too much vitality in such a short span of time.
They couldn't afford to drag this out any longer.
Bertion and Ophelia felt this reality more acutely than anyone else.
"Bertion!"
"I know!"
[Ophelia activates Lv15 'Heart Eater'!]
[Bertion activates Lv16 'Blood Spear'!]
Front and back. A positioning designed to maximize their two-on-one advantage.
On top of that, they unleashed the strongest skills in their arsenals.
Hummmmm!
A dark red energy manifested through their rapiers.
'Bertion's skill focuses on destructive power, while Ophelia's is specialized in targeting vital points despite its narrow range.'
In truth, having clashed with the Six Families multiple times in the past, he had already mapped out the strengths and weaknesses of almost all their skills.
Still, seeing it in reality rather than in a game made him feel a bit nostalgic.
How should he put it?
It felt like watching a children's talent show in person after only seeing it on ViewTube.
They were giving it their all in their own way, but from his perspective, it was almost laughable.
Damn, he really should feel at least a little tense...
But after watching Alice and Michael fight, everything else had become utterly boring.
"Phew."
Jinhyuk took a short, steady breath.
Victory was a given.
Since he planned to edit and upload this footage separately, he wanted a high level of cinematic perfection.
'With opponents of their caliber in this terrain and positioning, I should probably...'
Just as Jinhyuk was busy sketching out the scene in his mind—
Rumble!
A violent energy suddenly surged.
Immediately following it was a voice dripping with rage.
"How dare you daydream in front of us!"
"Arrogant bastard! I'll tear you to shreds!"
The two vampires unleashed their mana, which they had compressed to the absolute limit.
Their dark-red-stained blades rushed forward simultaneously.
Their speed was incomparable to before.
On top of that, like snakes spotting prey, the trajectories of their attacks were bizarre and unpredictable.
It was truly worthy of being called a decisive strike.
However.
Did they know?
That their very perfection had actually become their poison.
'It would've been slightly trickier if they had aimed for my arms or legs, but why are they so stubbornly targeting only my vitals?'
Jinhyuk infused different types of mana into the blades in each of his hands.
The amounts were calculated perfectly, without a single millimeter of error.
And.
Matching the trajectory of the incoming swords.
'...Now!'
Twisting his body slightly, Jinhyuk swung his swords like lightning.
Screeech!
As the rapiers thrusting from the front and back collided with Jinhyuk's blades, their trajectories shifted ever so slightly.
The blade aiming for his heart from behind slipped past his armpit.
The blade aiming for his neck from the front grazed his collar and extended backward.
Thuck! Squilch!
The gruesome sound of flesh being pierced echoed out.
* * *
"Cough..."
"Ah..."
The brief groans that escaped them weren't just due to pain.
It was shock at the impossible event that had just unfolded.
Doubt over what kind of monster they were actually facing.
And above all, an inevitable sense of awe toward an overwhelmingly superior enemy.
It was likely a mix of all those emotions.
Gush!
Bertion, with a gaping hole in his heart, collapsed onto one knee.
No matter how exceptional a vampire's regenerative abilities were, they could not survive having their heart destroyed by a blade imbued with 'Blessing of the Stars'—their natural counter.
He could do nothing more than gasp raggedly a few times.
Unable to let go of his attachment to life, Bertion finally collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Ring!
[You have hunted a vampire of the Decasus family, a being residing in the upper floors of the Tower.]
[You have achieved an astonishing feat.]
[This achievement can be registered in the 'Hall of Fame' for the duration of tomorrow.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Multiple status windows popped up simultaneously.
Although his mana had been greatly enhanced by the 'Soul-Infused Essence', defeating an upper-floor entity was an achievement of an entirely different scale.
Thus, the value of this video footage was immense, far transcending common sense.
'I can easily rake in 1 million coins with this, so I should do some proper editing before uploading it to the Hall of Fame.'
Previously, registration in the Hall of Fame was automatic, but from now on, it became a choice rather than a compulsion.
Indeed, the status window message had been replaced with the phrasing "can be registered."
'I'll keep receiving the benefits of being in the Hall of Fame. This is happening faster than expected, though.'
With Rick subscribing and lowering the exchange fee by up to 80%, his future was truly a smooth highway.
Well, he could deal with the coins and level-ups later.
More importantly...
Jinhyuk looked down.
There lay Ophelia, gasping for breath from her severe wounds.
"Sigh."
He had made a mistake.
Bertion had died instantly, but the strike on Ophelia had missed her vitals by two centimeters.
A small blemish had been left on his perfect scenario.
"Y-you monster... pant, pant... Not only did you completely read our attacks... but you used them to make us destroy each other...?"
"Don't flatter me like I did something amazing. I'm already depressed because I messed up."
Failing to finish it cleanly.
This was a disqualification as a veteran.
No matter how ridiculous the stunt, pulling it off successfully was the virtue of a true fossil, wasn't it?
'Actually, looking at it another way, this might turn out for the better.'
Since things had turned out this way, he could ask a few things he was curious about. He had originally planned to ask Michael, but this woman surely knew a thing or two as well.
Jinhyuk squatted in front of Ophelia.
Wearing an innocent smile, he gathered mana in one hand.
[Lv8 'Fire Element' activates!]
Whoosh!
A fierce flame erupted from his palm.
Just as expected.
The sealed Fire Element activated as if it had never been locked away in the first place.
Since he had met all the copying conditions, the seal on the skill must have vanished.
Now, there was nothing holding him back.
"Are you going to... t-torture me with that?"
Ophelia's pupils trembled slightly.
No matter how long-lived her race was, it seemed pain was never welcome.
"That depends on how you behave. I'm going to ask you a few questions. If you answer obediently, you'll keep your life. Of course, if you keep your mouth shut, I'll personally show you what veteran-style torture feels like. Ah! Honestly, I'd prefer if you chose the latter. It's no fun if things are too easy."
"...What do you want to know?"
"The place your Six Families are targeting. Where is it?"
"T-that...!"
Ophelia took a sharp breath.
Perhaps because he had hit her right where it hurt most, she couldn't even meet his gaze.
"So, you're keeping your mouth shut after all?"
Then there was no helping it.
He hadn't expected her to talk easily anyway.
It had been a while since he last performed this torture, so his memory was a bit fuzzy, but if she insisted, he had no choice but to let her experience it firsthand.
Whoosh!
The flames flared up even more violently.
Yet, even as she watched the approaching flames, Ophelia squeezed her eyes shut and kept her lips tightly sealed.
"How principled. I actually quite like that about you."
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled up even higher.
At the same time—
Rumble!
The flames violently engulfed the target.
Ophelia clenched her teeth, bracing herself for the excruciating pain.
However.
"...Huh?"
No pain came.
Something was wrong. The moment she thought that—
Ophelia's body swayed violently.
Before she could even open her eyes and find her balance, a freezing chill enveloped her entire body, shaking her mind.
Splash!
The ground gave way, and she plunged straight into freezing water.
"Aaaaargh!"
Ophelia screamed at the top of her lungs.
Instinctively, she reached her hand out, but unfortunately, the person standing above her was Jinhyuk.
"Oh. Look what we have here."
Jinhyuk picked up a branch from a conifer tree.
And poked it down on Ophelia's head.
Gurgle! Gulp!
"Cough! Gasp!"
Ophelia, who was desperately trying to surface, was forced to swallow a mouthful of freezing water once again.
"Now, let me ask again. Which floor are you guys targeting? Uh-uh. Don't waste your energy. You can't get up anyway."
How dare she think she could breathe oxygen.
Not a chance.
Yeah, absolutely out of the question.
"Aaaah! Splutter! Cough, cough! S-stop! Stop it, you devil!"
"Sorry, I can't hear you very well. Could you speak a bit louder and clearer?"
Poke, poke.
Man, the crown of her head is quite a tempting target.
Aiming the branch right at the center of her crown was strangely addictive.
"I can do this all day if you want."
For the record...
this was not a joke.
At that—
"W-wait! Just wait a second, wait..."
Ophelia finally opened her mouth.
"Hooh."
And the target of the vampires that escaped her lips was quite intriguing.
Enough to require a complete redrawing of the board.