Chapter 233
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 233
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 13: Blood Bringer (2)
“Where is Captain Hilder?”
“He definitely told us to come this way... By the way, was there such a large cave here?”
“I don’t know. We couldn’t have missed something this big.”
The pursuit squad from the Recon Clan had arrived at the entrance to Kairos’s lair.
It was because their captain, Hilder, had ordered them to assemble here.
However, Hilder himself—the one who had given the order—was nowhere to be seen.
“Did he go inside?”
“For some reason, I have a feeling that murderer might be hiding in there.”
“Squad leaders, let’s each lead our squads and head in.”
Since they were pursuing a horrific murderer, all of them were elite soldiers handpicked from the Recon Clan.
They were about to enter the cave while maintaining their formation.
That was when they discovered traces right at the entrance.
One of the squad leaders rushed over to inspect them. A heavily crushed lump of meat caught his eye.
A lump of meat that looked like it had been shoved into a compressor and squeezed out.
“This is...”
“What is it?”
The other squad leaders who followed examined the lump of meat, and familiar fragments were scattered all around it.
Roughly gathering the pieces formed the shape of an eagle with its wings spread wide.
It was the badge emblazoned with the Recon Clan’s crest—a nameplate indicating the knight’s affiliation.
Upon recognizing it, the squad leaders’ eyes went wide, and they recoiled in shock.
“N-No way...”
“It can’t be. We all know the captain’s strength! There’s no way he’d...”
“But...”
They knew better than anyone just how strong an Expert-level knight was.
At that moment.
The sound of someone approaching rapidly from behind reached them.
It was an extraordinary speed, judging solely by the sound.
One of the squad leaders shouted urgently.
“Everyone, battle ready!”
The soldiers drew their weapons and turned toward the source of the sound.
The squad leaders stepped forward in unison, waiting for whoever was producing the footsteps.
Soon, the bushes below rustled, and something crimson leaped high into the air.
Someone cried out in horror upon seeing it.
“It’s the murderer Kenji!!”
Kwang!
Kenji, with the moonlight at his back, landed right in their midst.
Dust billowed up around them as the ground failed to withstand his massive weight.
Then, with his upper body flung wide open, Kenji roared, his bloodshot red eyes gleaming wildly.
“Kraaaaaargh!”
The entire mountain seemed to shake, as if a ferocious beast had descended.
The squad leaders raised their swords and barked orders at the soldiers.
“Catch him!”
“This time, we can’t let him get away!”
They had no idea why he’d suddenly appeared before them, but they sensed this was their last chance.
If they failed now, they’d never catch him again.
He looked even bigger and more savage than before, but in this wide clearing, they held the overwhelming advantage.
Or so they thought.
Kwaaang!!
The ground shattered with a deafening roar, and dust erupted like an explosion.
Four or five soldiers were flung into the air.
Some had their bodies torn apart in ragged chunks.
The same thought flashed through everyone’s minds at the sight.
‘We have to run!’
The urge to capture him flipped to flight in an instant.
Without regard for rank or role, they turned tail the moment they beheld the gruesome carnage.
But.
“Krahahahaha!!”
Despite his enormous bulk, Kenji’s speed was blisteringly fast.
The Blood Bringer infesting his body had accelerated his blood flow, forcibly exploding his physical performance to superhuman levels.
In a flash, he tore through the soldiers’ ranks, his face twisted in a hideous grin.
Their bodies shredded into rags, scattering across the ground.
“Uwaaaak! Run! Everyone, run!!!”
“We can’t win! We’re all gonna get massacred!”
A scene of horrifying slaughter.
Blood upon blood pooled into puddles of mingled crimson around them.
Chunks of rent flesh clumped together atop it into grotesque meat lumps.
Kenji trampled them underfoot, cackling like a lunatic.
“Kee hee hee hee! Kr heh heh heh heh!!”
All the blood surged into his body, sucked straight into the Blood Bringer.
The Blood Bringer needed only its host’s blood to sustain itself, but it had no qualms claiming “spoils of war.”
The blood of its scattered foes was prime loot.
Forsaking a victor’s prerogative would be idiotic.
At that moment, two massive presences emerged from behind.
Kenji whipped around in startlement, only to see two familiar faces approaching while scanning the surroundings.
“I came wondering what the commotion was... and you’ve wrought quite the atrocity, old man.”
Jamie let out a low sigh as he surveyed the corpse fragments.
He’d known something had gone down, but not that it would be this gruesome.
Jin felt the same.
“Should’ve just left him to die back there?”
He clicked his tongue, regretting that they’d saved Kenji at all. If they’d let him perish on the spot, none of this carnage would’ve happened.
Carefully drawing his dao, Jin spoke to Jamie.
“I’ll reap his life.”
“Do it. I’ll check for survivors.”
“Leave it to me.”
Jamie vanished.
Kenji merely watched.
He had no choice.
“We’ll take back the life we spared—in this manner—to honor the departed souls.”
The monstrous killing intent pouring from Jin bore down on Kenji’s entire body.
It was something he’d never experienced before.
Not even from the one who’d ordered him to slaughter the bugs had he sensed such dread.
In truth, Kairos had never intended to kill him, so no killing intent had leaked out.
But that wasn’t the pressing issue now.
This man was undoubtedly one of the “non-bugs” the red-haired beauty had mentioned.
Leagues beyond the vermin he’d just ripped apart.
With that realization, both corners of Kenji’s mouth tore upward in long gashes.
Jin noted it and said,
“The sword’s devoured him completely.”
A demonic sword was a demonic sword, through and through.
He hadn’t spoken much with Kenji, so a few words couldn’t reveal his full character—but he hadn’t been the type to slaughter indiscriminately.
His scent proved as much.
But now? Different story.
The vile demonic sword viewed lives as mere objects to harvest.
Jin glanced at the moonlight.
Tonight, it felt somehow warped.
Did it sense the tragedy below?
“I’ll send you painlessly. That’s my mercy.”
Jin emerged from the shadow behind Kenji and carefully sheathed his dao.
Pfshk—
A thin red line traced across his neck.
Kenji slowly raised his left hand to his throat.
Warmth touched his fingertips, followed by slick wetness.
Red blood.
His own, fresh from the veins.
“Clean cut across the throat. You’ll die without even feeling the pain.”
His vision tilted sideways.
He hadn’t moved his head. Odd.
Why was it moving on its own?
Kenji grabbed it with his hand.
But his neck was already half-severed, blood surging in thick spurts from the stump.
“Grrk—”
Not even a proper scream escaped.
He couldn’t accept this freakish turn.
Me—several times stronger than before—dying so absurdly here?
Kenji. No.
The Blood Bringer refused.
Its left arm wrenched the head back into place by force.
Death should’ve come.
Beyond blood loss, Jin’s swordsmanship had severed it cleanly.
Brief consciousness might linger, but not this prolonged.
“...Why isn’t he dying?”
Jin stared incredulously at Kenji’s back as he stood there, head realigned, motionless.
Any creature should be dead.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
If one slash failed, more would suffice.
He couldn’t honor the promise, but it beat letting him live by a hundred—no, a thousandfold.
“Would’ve been easier if you’d just died. Now it’s gonna hurt—a lot.”
He readied Moon Shadow again.
Head unyielding? Destroy the heart.
One flash to impale it.
Jin’s form scattered with the moonlight.
He reappeared, face stricken with shock.
“No way...”
Kuo oooo!!
Blood qi enveloped Kenji’s body like armor. It solidified rigidly, shielding him entirely. Its toughness could even repel a Sword Master’s aura.
“I am...”
Kenji slowly lifted his head.
His face was obscured by the congealed blood qi, but the aura was unmistakable.
The soldiers’ blood—pooling like vast puddles—rose into the air in tendril-like streams.
Blood Bringer.
The bearer of blood.
All blood here was his arsenal.
The Blood Bringer bellowed in fury.
“The being that shall destroy the world!”
Jin’s skin prickled.
The Blood Bringer had now seized its master’s power.
“Wiped ‘em all out.”
Jamie shook his head after checking the final corpse.
Even this far off, slaughtered like this—that thing’s speed was no joke.
Big frame, yet agile; likely from forcibly ramping up blood velocity.
The strain on the body must be immense, but a demonic sword wouldn’t give a damn about its host.
“Still locked in a standoff?”
Jin and Kenji faced off, unmoving.
But the outcome would flip in a heartbeat.
Blood Bringer.
More formidable than expected, but against a Sword Master?
Its authority reigned near-invincible under the moon—snapping the foe’s neck in one shot.
Jin wouldn’t toy around; start to finish, not even a second.
“You look awfully relaxed.”
Jamie, scouting for more bodies, shifted his gaze to the voice beside him.
There stood a handsome man with red hair far deeper than the Simon family’s crimson.
‘Of course it’s the red one.’
Jamie knew his identity immediately.
Only one being here could slip past his senses.
A dragon.
No clue where he’d wandered off to, but showing up now was inevitable—no surprise.
Kairos spoke, sounding genuinely caught off guard by Jamie’s nonchalance.
“Not all that shocked, are you?”
“No reason to be.”
“Hoo. Awfully cocky.”
Then.
He sensed the stir of authority.
One life force plummeted.
As Jamie foresaw, the clash ended in a blink.
No need to check; Jin was the victor.
“Your comrade’s got some skill. Space authority? Pretty intricate for that... Hard to confirm without seeing it.”
“Just shed your hatchling skin?”
“Hm? Sizing up my age? What an intriguing pest.”
Jamie tuned out the bluster and gauged him.
Definitely no ancient dragon.
No ancient dignity; personality frivolously light.
Arrogant to boot.
Dragons oozed arrogance by nature, but ancients didn’t flaunt it.
This red dragon? Practically begging to show it off.
“Freshly matured, maybe.”
“A base human daring to judge this body’s stature? Hahaha! Utterly delightful!”
“Roughly got it. Just shy of three thousand.”
Jamie nailed the estimate; Kairos’s grin vanished, replaced by a venomous glare.
The killing intent zeroed on Jamie alone, but at 9th circle, he shrugged it off.
Unfazed, Jamie met Kairos’s words.
“Kneel.”
Thud!!
It felt like the world’s own decree.
Jamie grimaced under the crushing pressure from above.
Dragon Word.
One of a dragon’s twin weapons—the pinnacle of command magic.
Power to command the world’s very “will.”
Absolute manipulation magic granted solely to dragons.
“Futile resistance. You’ll kneel before me in the end, and your swordsman ally won’t fell that thing.”
True to his word, Kenji’s fading life force surged back, the air shifting palpably.
Jin’s authority pulsed again, but the atmosphere held firm—swirling now within Kenji’s domain.
Jamie’s eyes blazed at Kairos.
“Staring at this body like that? Those eyes’ll be torn out.”
Dragon Word triggered anew.
Blood tears welled from Jamie’s eyes.
Defying the world’s will was no simple task.
Jamie drew a deep breath.
Any lapse in focus, and the Word would ravage his body.
Put differently: this much wouldn’t break him.
“So that’s your limit.”
“What?”
“Around twenty-seven hundred years old.”
The pinpoint accuracy widened Kairos’s eyes ever so slightly.
True dragonhood began at fifteen centuries.
Spot on.
Jamie had toppled countless dragons, tasted their might extensively.
Dragon Words grew with age alone—no training possible.
Thus, enduring one gauged age best.
“Spot on?”
“Guessed right—then what? Meaningless.”
“Hardly.”
Straining, Jamie raised his left arm.
The bracelet on his wrist gleamed with arcane light.
“Jin’ll win. I vouch for him—a true powerhouse. So I just handle you.”
“...Insane?”
“Could call it that. Right, Perfect Cell!”
Dazzling radiance burst from the bracelet, enshrouding Jamie.
Diablo Volpir’s paramount treasures—one granting total immunity—Perfect Cell repelled the Dragon Word.
Kairos gaped at the surreal display.
“You—what is that?”
“To our battlefield.”
Red dragons didn’t parley.
Experience proved it time and again.
Jamie’s eyes flushed violet.
‘Good thing it’s a fledgling.’
A genuine ancient would’ve pulped him with the first Word.
“I die—or you do.”
“You’re serious?”
“Gremia Deployment!”
Their forms sucked into the void.
Regaining senses, they stood amid an endless expanse of pristine white.
“Where is this?”
Kairos scowled at Jamie, who answered earnestly this time.
“You meant to kill me anyway, right? I know red dragons inside out. Made a fitting arena. Satisfied?”
“Kuk. Utterly deranged. Fascinating. Thrilling, even. Challenging a dragon? Very well—die as you wish.”
Kairos’s red eyes narrowed to slits.
Jamie’s lips curved faintly amid the murderous pressure.
This thrill of mortal peril.
Ages since he’d felt it.
Ironically, it made him feel alive.