Chapter 251: Ataraxia, Empress of Pure Blood (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 251: Ataraxia, Empress of Pure Blood (1)
Is this what it feels like to have your entire body weighed down?
Rumble, rumble!
It was heavy.
So heavy that it was difficult to even dare lift one's head.
[Unique Ability 'Blood Lord' has been activated!]
The crimson wave spreading far and wide felt as if it were announcing both the beginning and the end at the same time.
A moment later, a blood barrier was completed to prevent the surrounding facilities from being destroyed by mana overload.
With this, they could run wild to their hearts' content without any risk of damaging the Empire.
"To think the Apostate's Bracelet... had an effect like that."
Amuram muttered in disbelief.
Having lived in the Tower for countless years, he prided himself on knowing more about the Tower than anyone else.
It was only natural.
The experience accumulated through time and status was information in its truest sense.
The depth of his knowledge was bound to be on an entirely different level compared to players who had barely been in the Tower for a year.
And yet...
He knows something even I don't?
Did that even make sense?
Losing the information war?
However, even if he tried to deny it, he could not ignore the Ataraxia family members who had appeared right before his eyes.
This was the damn reality.
"You... what on earth are you? Who are you to know such things?"
"Who knows? I wonder how I found out."
"Stop speaking in riddles and answer my question!"
"I understand your curiosity, but shouldn't you worry about the immediate threat first?"
Jinhyuk glanced behind him.
There stood the Queen, radiating a murderous aura.
The resentment she had accumulated over the years was surely beyond words.
Rumble!
Behind Alice's shoulders, crimson skewers began to manifest one by one.
The terrifying weapons, reminiscent of harpoons, looked ready to launch at the hounds of Decasus at any moment.
"Do you truly intend to fight me? No matter how strong you are, surely you cannot bridge this gap in power."
Although the Ataraxia family had joined, they had been imprisoned in the Corridor for so long that they were not yet fit to serve as a proper fighting force.
At best, only Bellus could match one of the Black Wings.
Furthermore, Alice, whose mana was restricted due to her contract with a player, could not fully unleash the power of her prime.
"Your tongue has grown long, Amuram. Have you already forgotten? Even when all five of you family heads pointed your blades at me, I did not yield."
Neither the disadvantage in numbers,
nor the existence of restrictions mattered.
To the head of the Ataraxia family, such things were not even worth making excuses for.
"In fact, if it weren't for a penalty of this level, would a mere dog like you have ever dared to bare your fangs at me?"
"Do not think that I am the same as I was back then. Time has passed, and I have grown stronger. I am no longer the man of the past."
"Stronger, you say... How amusing. To think those words could sound so cheap."
With that, the conversation ended.
Boom! Crash!
Starting with a wave of fresh blood...
"There is no need to fear those who have already tasted defeat once before! Slaughter every single one of these insects who dare oppose the Lord!"
"We will make the Decasus bastards taste the very hell we endured! Divide and conquer them thoroughly so they cannot interfere in Lady Alice's battle!"
Black shadows crossed paths in all directions.
* * *
The battle grew even more frantic.
If it had previously been a simple struggle over whether or not to obtain Balmung,
it had now escalated into an all-out war for the survival of their families.
Thud! Thud!
Clang!
Kaboom!
Severed limbs flew through the air amidst deafening explosions all around.
Since everyone present was an elite handpicked from their respective families, both the level of combat and its sheer intensity far transcended common sense.
Various spells and formulas made of blood filled the air, overlaid by desperate screams and roars.
Right then.
"Are you the human bastard who made things so troublesome?!"
A vampire appeared in front of Jinhyuk.
It was a surprise attack, aiming for the moment when Jinhyuk's wounds had not yet healed.
But.
The vampire, who was about to swing his claws, suddenly froze in place.
"G-Guh...?"
"Whose body do you dare try to touch? With those filthy arms... you dare try to harm my contractor?"
Alice's eyes sank coldly.
Her voice carried the deepest rage she had shown yet.
At that exact moment.
Crunch!
The vampire's arm was completely crushed.
"Aaargh!"
Crack! Snap!
Subsequently, his body was mangled beyond recognition.
"F-Freiriad was taken down in a single blow?"
"For a member of the Black Wings to die so pointlessly..."
The remaining vampires who had been about to charge hesitated and backed away.
To think she could do this just by thinking, without even chanting a spell.
She was on an entirely different level.
For ordinary vampires, even if hundreds or thousands of them attacked, it would be like throwing eggs at a boulder.
I'd better treat her well from now on.
Jinhyuk also swallowed hard.
Alice's lips parted slightly.
"...you."
"What?"
"...Thank you."
Alice repeated the words once more.
For liberating her clan.
For giving them the chance to reclaim their lost honor and pride.
She was truly grateful.
That was what Alice was conveying.
Seriously, even with her restrictions lifted, she was still terrible at expressing her feelings.
"Save the thanks for later. It's not over yet."
Although he knew Alice was incomparably strong even among the family heads, Amuram was no pushover either.
Leading a family was not a title one could obtain easily.
As if to prove that point,
Amuram's Blood Explosion swallowed Alice's surroundings.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of blood droplets exploded in an instant.
It was an explosion incomparably stronger than the Blood Explosions he had used earlier.
Because his opponent was Alice, Amuram had also gone all out from the very beginning.
But.
She was completely unscathed.
Emerging from the explosion, Alice held a slender spear about three meters long, spinning like a corkscrew.
"Is it my turn now?"
[Alice activates 'Blood Spear'!]
A spear infused with no less than seven rotations.
A flash of light with maximized piercing power cut through the air.
Thud! Thud!
Amuram's body bent into an 'L' shape.
Just as it seemed he was hit, Amuram's body dispersed into dozens of bats.
...Above!
Jinhyuk and Alice's gazes turned toward the air at the same time.
Amuram, who had soared high enough to almost touch the ceiling, had just finished forming a massive magic circle.
Astrexica.
An ancient magic that used air and blood as mediums.
Just as Alice was about to quickly escape using her Blink skill,
Snap!
six snakes tightly bound Alice's ankles.
It was a setup that perfectly calculated even her escape route.
"There is no escape."
Lightning saturated with blood fell upon Alice's head.
Crackle...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Multiple layers of shields tried to protect Alice, but they were far from enough.
The lightning scorched Alice's body dozens of times.
The calamity fire, intense enough to vaporize rock and marble, soon turned into embers, eating away at the air.
Amuram wore a triumphant smile.
He was certain that both his timing and power had been perfect.
But his joy was short-lived.
Alice walked out, brushing off the remaining embers on her body.
...She was completely unharmed.
She was barely even singed.
"What a ridiculously tough body. To think you didn't even lose consciousness after taking a hit that could instantly kill a giant monster from the upper floors."
"That is why it had no effect."
"What do you mean, 'that is why'?"
"The very premise of placing me on the same level as some giant monster from the upper floors is flawed."
Alice lightly waved her hand.
At that,
crimson thorny vines erupted from the ground.
These were no ordinary vines.
They were made of spirit wood, capable of binding even a deity.
Once caught, there would be no escape.
"A Ghost Tree? Surely you don't think I'll be caught by such sluggish vines?"
"We shall see about that."
Dozens of vines shot forward to seize Amuram.
Tap! Tap!
Amuram moved at high speed, stepping on the blood suspended in the air.
He moved so fast he was invisible to the naked eye.
Yet, he steadily adjusted his distance from Alice.
He wasn't dodging just to test the waters.
Nor was he trying to buy time.
Knowing that minor attacks could not inflict fatal wounds, he was gathering mana to end her life in a single blow.
Rumble!
Even if others couldn't, Jinhyuk could feel it.
All the mana particles in the vicinity were condensing around Alice and Amuram.
One step, two steps, and then three.
The moment their finely adjusted steps aligned with the distance between them—
"This time, I will end you!"
[Amuram activates his Unique Sacred Chant, Dimensional Compression: 'Crimson Blood Coffin'!]
Amuram's Unique Sacred Chant was unleashed.
A crimson coffin materialized around Alice's body.
Crimson Blood Coffin.
It was an ability that compressed the dimension itself, rather than just space, to crush the living being trapped inside.
Because it required precise coordinates and delicate mana control, it was extremely difficult to activate, but once triggered, its effect was practically guaranteed.
Rumble!
An unimaginable amount of mana compressed repeatedly, gradually shrinking in size.
Crimson sparks flew in all directions.
The coffin, which had been as large as a three-story building, quickly shrank to the size of a room, and a moment later, it was reduced to the size of a refrigerator.
In just a few more seconds, whatever was inside would undoubtedly be crushed into an unrecognizable lump of flesh and vanish.
"Bwahahaha! Isn't it overwhelming? This is my Unique Sacred Chant!"
Amuram burst into wild laughter.
Convinced that he had definitely killed her this time, he could not contain his overwhelming excitement.
"It is too late for regrets. Even if you beg for your life, it will change nothing. Even I cannot stop this ability now."
A coffin of death that permitted neither Blink nor Teleportation.
All one could do inside was struggle in vain before being crushed like a bug.
"Clinging to the delusions of the past and overlooking the present—that is why you die, you wench."
Just as the final compression was about to take place,
Alice's Unique Sacred Chant was unleashed from within the crimson-stained coffin.
"N-No way!"
Amuram's jaw dropped.
He could feel the shift in the air on his skin.
The sparks that had been wildly flying in all directions had vanished before he knew it.
Right then, the sound of something shattering echoed.
Crack!
Part of the Crimson Blood Coffin crumbled, revealing Alice.
[Alice activates her Unique Sacred Chant, 'Revelation of Genesis'!]
"You seem to have forgotten that you aren't the only one with a Unique Sacred Chant."
A pair of wings covered in black feathers.
Her bizarre appearance, looking like a mixture of a demon and an angel, sent shivers down the spine by its sheer presence.
Whoosh!
A massive ring of fire manifested behind Alice's back.
Ancient runes began to burn along its edge.
Alluring, decadent, yet beautiful and ominous all at once.
This was Alice's fully armed state.
And in the past, when this Unique Sacred Chant was unleashed upon the Tower...
...the five family heads and their clans had to lose half of their entire forces.