69
My Villains Chapter 69
19. Escape (2)
All classes in the Dark World become incomparably stronger when they reach level 15.
The reason is simple. It's because they acquire rank 2 skills.
I also gained rank 2 skills upon reaching level 15, and became dramatically stronger.
First, the most noticeable thing about leveling up was the fact that ‘free points’ were added again.
When I went from level 11 to 12, 1 point was automatically added to the ‘Flowing Blood’ skill. Just like then, this time 1 point was allocated to ‘Boiling Blood’, the enhanced version of ‘Flowing Blood’.
The original plan was to use the saved skill bonus to invest in three rank 2 skills at once, but thanks to ‘Hot Blood’ being allocated for free, I invested the remaining points in ‘Blood Thirst’, a rank 1 skill.
In other words, the new skills I acquired were three in total: ‘Hot Blood’, ‘Plunder’, and ‘Blood Mist’.
‘Hot Blood’ is a rank 2 passive skill in the bloodline series.
It allows control not only of my blood but also the blood of others nearby, and slightly increases attack speed and movement speed.
While its inherent effect is good, it's also a skill that must be learned to activate ‘Boiling Blood’ and 'Burning Blood', so I learned it right away.
‘Plunder’ is a rank 2 special skill in the blood combat series.
Its effect enhances the rank 1 skill ‘Blood Blade’, simply put, it's a ‘vampiric’ technique.
It's a skill that gave blood knights the nickname ‘Blood Leeches’ due to its overpowered ability to recover health proportional to the damage and bleeding inflicted on opponents. Of course, it's a must-have skill.
‘Blood Mist’ is a rank 2 active skill in the blood manipulation series.
It's a technique that attacks enemies by bursting blood under one's control, but due to its high magic coefficient, its performance wasn't much at the current point.
However, it's also a prerequisite skill for ‘Red Thorns’, the best long-range control skill for blood knights, so I just learned it anyway.
As I check my character sheet, I suddenly think of Trickster.
He was a legendary overpowered character who used three ultimate skills: ‘Herald of Lightning’, ‘Frozen Earth’, and ‘Dragon's Breath’. I wonder if he also became such an overpowered character by receiving ‘free points’ like me?
"...Hmm."
Anyway, there's something that contributed more to my power increase than learning these skills and strengthening my stats.
It's ‘Hrunting’.
Hrunting, which I stole from Luke's skeleton soldier, is a unique one-handed sword and one of the exclusive weapons for blood knights.
Well, it's far from being graduation-level equipment, but it's too much for a character in the midst of a campaign.
How did I get this again...? Ah, right, a few months ago, I killed a challenger who was acting cocky and turned him into a skeleton soldier. I think he was a blood knight wearing mirror armor and wielding Hrunting....
But I can't remember the options at all. No, did I not look at them properly back then either?
Unique equipment has a total of 6 options. Depending on the equipment, there are 1 or 2 fixed options, and the rest are all random options.
Of course, I clearly remember the fixed options for Hrunting. They were ‘Grows stronger by drinking blood’ and ‘20% chance of bleeding on hit’.
To elaborate on the vague tooltip ‘Grows stronger by drinking blood’, it meant ‘Attack power increases by 0.1% each time you kill a new type of enemy’. And bleeding is always a sweet option for blood knights.
Both seem like quite good options, but compared to something like a magic sword... No, let's not be ungrateful.
As for the random options... I guess I'll find out as I use it? Judging by the surge of strength when I grip the sword, it seems to have a strength bonus... I'm not sure about the rest.
Thanks to gaining these various skills and a unique weapon, Blood Blade had completely changed from before.
First of all, the color was different. The blood enveloping Hrunting's pulsating blade wasn't the ominous bright red from before, but a captivating, lustrous red.
The shape had changed too. Before, it merely coated the blade, but now the blood pulsates slightly, as if alive and breathing. If you watch it closely, it's as if a beast is flicking its tongue.
Watching me stab the blade into a shellbug's body and suck out its bodily fluids, Ellen furrowed her brow in disgust.
"...Do you really have to do that? Isn't it gross to you?"
"We don't know what might happen in a place like this. We need to be fully prepared."
To be honest, it is a bit unpleasant.
I'm not a vampire, and there's no way I'd enjoy sucking the blood of other animals. When I was Kim Seung-soo, I didn't even like blood sausage that much.
But what can I do? This is what I have to do to maintain peak condition.
After sucking up the last of the shellbug's bodily fluids, my whole body is soaked with vitality.
It's like... The feeling after thoroughly sweating in a sauna, then eating a bowl of spicy ramen with rice, and taking a nap in a sleep room. It feels incredibly refreshing.
"Phew-"
As I let out a satisfied sigh in front of the shriveled up bugs, Ellen, who was sitting leaning against the wall, said with a disgusted expression.
"Just in case, don't ever do that in front of other people."
"Huh? Do what?"
"Sucking blood. Especially if you do that to a person, you'll be chased by inquisitors."
I frowned and said, "Hey, what am I, a leech or a mosquito? I don't do that."
"Well, that's a relief, but..."
Ellen shook her head and continued.
"...I thought the phrase 'blood manipulators steal blood' was just a metaphor or a rumor. I never thought I'd see it in reality."
"...Rumor?"
Wait, does that mean...?
"Oh, then other blood manipulators don't do this?"
"Why are you asking me? You're the blood manipulator."
"No, I just... Was curious about what people know."
She made a face that said 'What's with this guy?' and answered.
"If all blood manipulators drank blood like you, they'd be treated as a type of vampire, not blood manipulators. Isn't that obvious?"
...Suddenly, I'm reminded of the necromancer Luke.
Before revealing his identity, he only used spells from the annihilation or abyss series. All the while, he lied without blinking an eye that he never dealt with necromancy.
On top of that, he packaged himself with a gentle and kind attitude, making it impossible to imagine that he was someone who violated taboos.
Could it be that blood manipulators are in a similar situation to necromancers?
The social landscape of the Middle World was similar to that of Europe in the mid-medieval period.
It's a time when the power of the church is growing day by day, and myths, legends, and superstitions other than what's written in the Bible are being rejected.
Not only necromancers, but even immensely powerful Mages are being pushed back by the church's authority. The extremely few blood manipulators must be even more cautious.
Of course, even without the church, killing people and drinking their blood would naturally be rejected by common sense. It's not much different from being a cannibal, right?
Well, anyway, it's better to be careful.
Ellen shrugged her shoulders and asked while looking at me lost in thought.
"So? When you say you're 'curious about what people know', does that mean drinking blood is normal among your kind?"
"No, that's not it... Well, I'm a bit of an oddball. My constitution is on the healthier side, so I absorb various things well, something like that."
Ellen, who had been looking at me suspiciously, hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"What if."
"Huh?
"What if, suddenly, you feel like drinking blood."
"Hey, I told you it's not like that. Am I a vampire?"
I waved my hands as if wronged, but she still had a determined expression.
"Even so, if it happens. Drink my blood instead."
"What? What are you saying?"
"You said you gave me a lot of blood. So,"
Somehow, a chuckle escapes me.
"Hey, stop saying weird things and just get on my back."
"...Ugh."
Ellen pouted but stretched her arms to wrap them around my neck.
Ellen and I encountered all sorts of monsters as we roamed the cave. We mostly met giant bugs, and besides that, alligators, black slimes, drowned corpses - all of them were either dangerous, annoying, or creepy.
However, thanks to my new skills and Hrunting, I was in a significantly strengthened state, and Ellen had also leveled up recently, so there wasn't much of a threat.
It was just a bit tough because we had to hurry to avoid the underground lord's pursuit.
After about two days like this, we discovered our first magic trap.
When the 'Altar' event is triggered, the cave's terrain changes dramatically, and magic traps were one of those changes.
True to their name, the magic traps in the depths contained all sorts of lethal magic.
Teleporting you next to monsters, summoning monsters right in front of you was common, and sometimes they would just inflict damage or cause berserk states.
"Phew, finally."
When I let out a sigh of relief in front of such a magic trap, Ellen voiced her confusion.
"You sound happy?"
"Of course. The presence of traps means... We're getting close to our destination."
To be precise... To enter the artifact room, which was our destination, we had to find the magic passage hidden among the magic traps.
In other words, it meant we had to step on each magic trap, activating them, and hope to teleport to the artifact room.
"So the real struggle begins now..."
"What struggle?"
"Just wait a moment."
I put Ellen down and slowly moved towards the magic trap.
Woong woong.
A trap like a holographic glass window was blocking the way ahead.
The magic trap was a kind of magic circle, filled with all sorts of complex symbols and characters.
Right now, it was just shimmering with light, but if a person touched it, it would activate immediately and unleash lethal magic.
"Hmm..."
I looked to see if there was anything different from the game, but nothing particularly stood out. It seems we have to rely on luck, just like in the game.
At that moment, Ellen, sitting behind me, muttered softly.
"Earth, noon, stand?"
"Huh? What did you say?"
When I turned around, she shrugged and answered.
"That's what it says."
"...You can read this?"
"It's 'Runic'. It's a bit different from what's used in modern times, but not to the point where I can't read it."
This is completely unexpected. If so, could it be?
"Then, do you know how to disarm it?"
"Well, I'd like to take a closer look."
I immediately picked Ellen up and moved to where she pointed. Then Ellen started examining the magic trap with sparkling eyes.
"The magic flow and activation process seem similar... Why would they include such a formula?"
To avoid being a hindrance, I quietly watched Ellen except when she pointed out directions. After tilting her head for a while, Ellen looked up at me and asked a question.
"Phoenix, what shape does that look like to you?"
"What, which one?"
"There, the one drawn in the center."
The magic trap was forming a glowing circle, which was divided into three main parts.
First, the characters and symbols on the outermost part. They were so small and densely packed that at a glance, they looked like patterns on a carpet or wallpaper.
Next, large strings of characters engraved about the size of a human torso. These strings, which looked like words or phrases, were positioned one line each at the top, bottom left, and bottom right.
Ellen said these character strings meant ‘Earth’, ‘Noon’, and ‘Stand’ in order.
Lastly, there was a symbol in the center. This was what Ellen was pointing at with her finger.
I examined the symbol for a moment and then said uncertainly, "Uh, is it a maple leaf?"
"Doesn't it look more like a flame?"
"A flame? Um... It does seem like that. Then is that wavy thing above it representing heat?"
"Hmm."
Ellen fell into thought again, but we didn't have much time.
Guooooo!
A roar loud enough to make the cave tremble - it was clearly the underground lord's roar. We had hurried, but somehow it had already caught up to us.
"Ellen,"
"Yes, step back for a moment."
As I stepped back, Ellen, still in my arms, quietly began to chant a spell. Then she shot a spell straight at the magic circle.
"In-fridge, dando imbre!"
"Wha-"
Whoosh!
Before I could say anything to stop her, blue-white cold energy was already erupting from her hand. It was the ‘Cold Spray’ spell, a cold-type rank 1 skill.
The magic circle hit by Ellen's spell immediately began to glow brightly and then started emitting heat that felt like it could sear flesh.
Tssssss.
As the blue-white cold wind collided with the flickering heat, steam spread with a loud noise. As the magic trap lost its power and disappeared, I stroked my startled chest and asked Ellen,
"How did you do that? Did you figure out the magic circle?"
Ellen, lowering her hand, shrugged and answered, "I wasn't sure, but I gave it a try. Luckily, it was a fire-type spell."
"...What? What if it had been a different type of magic?"
"Then there would have been nothing we could do."
I swallowed a bitter laugh and said, "Hey, how can you say such an irresponsible thing? What. if-"
"We don't have time for nagging. Let's move quickly."
Nagging? This kid...
Although I grumbled inwardly, I hurriedly threw myself down into the cave.