Toward the 100th Floor (7)
There was no time to hesitate over whether this would work or not.
"Everything I've pictured in my head so far is done."
When the necromancer Gonik explained Spirit Blood Reinforcement, he'd mentioned—not just feeding on blood—that you could directly utilize parts of the corpse. I'd never practiced it, but my instincts guided me.
The crumbling Geomrang and the Griffin whose heart had burst. I stood right in the middle of the two corpses.
Blood Drain
I extracted blood from the Griffin's corpse. With a massive glob of blood hovering in the air, I spun my two circles in my dantian and infused my mana.
Then I injected the blood back into the Griffin's body, circulating it.
Pulled it out again. Now it was a transparent reddish-brown. Spirit blood complete.
It was gruesome. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened my mouth wide.
Gulp, gulp, gulp—!
An enormous volume slammed into my esophagus and windpipe.
"Urgh...!"
It was liquid going in, but it felt like my lungs were burning up.
But it wasn't enough. If it wasn't this painful, I wouldn't make it in time.
I accelerated the two circles even more.
Vreeee—!
"Urrrrghhh!!!!"
I circulated the spirit blood faster through my body to synchronize the mana, then—
"Urghhheeeek—!"
I vomited all the engraved spirit blood onto the Griffin's corpse.
That had taken barely fifteen seconds. Sizzle—!
The spilled spirit blood enveloped the Griffin's body. Now was the moment.
Before the Griffin's body could coagulate.
Blood Command
I clenched my hands tight and twisted. The wings attached to the Griffin's back. I severed the blood and muscle at the base.
Crack—!
A pair of wings, controlled by mana, floated up. I dragged them straight over and slammed them down onto Geomrang's collapsing spine and wound.
Squelch!
"Connect!"
I snapped my fingers, accelerating the blood flow like mad. Then the spirit blood already in Geomrang's body tangled with the newly transplanted Griffin's wing spirit blood, fusing into one.
Crunch, crunch—!
Severed muscle bundles wove together, veins pioneered new paths stretching to the wing membranes.
I could feel each and every path.
"It's working... just hold on a bit longer."
Sweat dripped from my forehead.
Even as I did this, I thought maybe it was more rational to just necromance the Griffin instead.
There was no reason to take this risk with an untested technique to revive Geomrang.
But that's exactly how I realized it.
The very fact that I'd even considered trying this proved my heart was already leaning toward Geomrang.
I owed Geomrang. It bothered me that only I'd escaped the attack with Black Shift.
And if I hadn't controlled it back then, Geomrang might have dodged the attack.
So...
This was atonement.
Shhh— Geomrang's body, now fitted with Griffin wings, regained its form as fur began sprouting.
"It's working...!"
As I scanned toward the head to check its status, the sword dangling from its jaw caught my eye.
That reminded me of the disarmed Blood Knight.
"...I gave you wings, so this should be fine, right?"
I yanked the greatsword embedded in Geomrang's jawbone.
"There you go..."
Clang!
Snap!
Then I approached the Blood Knight standing behind me.
"Hand?"
I shoved the greatsword's hilt into the Blood Knight's right gauntlet.
Then I deployed Blood Command to temporarily melt the blood in the knight's gauntlet and palm, welding the greatsword's hilt to the red armor like a fusion.
And.
Vreeee—!
I accelerated the circle, circulating the sword's spirit blood through the Blood Knight's body.
The spirit blood coursing through the Blood Knight escaped as blood mist from the neck area, coating the blade like a wrap. Shhh—
It was astonishing.
"No... it feels like this was your dedicated weapon from the start?"
The Blood Knight gripping the greatsword exuded a far heavier presence. It was like its true power, unachievable with the iron sword, was finally unleashed.
I turned back to Geomrang. The fusion was complete. The sword in its mouth was gone, replaced by a wolf with Griffin wings on its back.
"New look calls for a new name."
No matter how I thought about it, a swordless Geomrang didn't make sense. Sky Fang. Wing Wolf. Names like that flashed through my mind, but they didn't roll off the tongue.
Watching it wag its tail, approach, and lick my cheek, something rounder and cuter seemed to fit. With wings, something wind-related.
"Barang."
I called it that, and it barked woof woof, folding and unfolding its wings.
Necromantic body 'Geomrang' has evolved and been renamed to 'Barang'.
<...Master...!>
Its voice sounded more mature than before.
"Grown up a bit?"
I fed all the Griffin spirit blood to Barang, hopped onto its back, and gripped the reins.
97th floor. 98th floor.
It was an unprecedentedly comfortable elevator ride.
All I had to do was fly through the cavern's vast open space. Whoosh—!
"Whoa!"
Thanks to Barang's speed, even ranged monster attacks whiffed past me. Boom—!
The Blood Knight's destructive power had risen dramatically with its new weapon.
Screee—!
The 98th floor monster fell with one swing from the Blood Knight.
And then the 99th.
The 99th floor had a tanky monster that looked seriously dangerous up close.
No ranged attack options, it seemed.
I loaded the Blood Knight onto Barang's back too, hovered, and stacked Death Marks every twelve seconds.
The Lava Golem could do nothing but stand there below.
99th Floor Lava Golem - Cleared!
"Finally level 100."
I checked my stat points. I'd considered dumping them all into INT to reduce Death Mark's cooldown further, but it wasn't necessary. The efficiency wasn't great.
More importantly, my ultimate ace, Death Verdict - Slash, required physical stats to swing the scythe.
"Even distribution it is."
I split the remaining points equally into STR, AGI, SEN, and INT.
"And pause for now."
I landed Barang in the middle of the 99th floor cavern and dismounted.
"Gonna gear up here before we go."
Fatigue limit was estimated at 25 floors per day, but now was the time for full preparation. The 100th floor. The symbolic floor where the unit changes. The floor that had stopped every invader in history. Who knew what guardian awaited.
I set up a tent and chair, preparing a late meal.
Slurp.
Sipping hot ramen broth, I opened the gallery.
To report in, I started writing a post.
Feeling a bit hyped, I went with an over-the-top title for the first time.
The post went up, and comments exploded in.
The reactions I'd expected.
"Huh?"
"Nothing left to teach...?"
Looked like I'd grasped the full concept of the Spirit Blood Tea Ritual.
Now I just needed to raise my circles to make more necromantic bodies and level up Blood Puppet Manipulation proficiency for finer control.
"Controlling multiple at once directly from my head would be seriously tough..."
Practicing that would come after the 100th. I only had two right now anyway.
Most were encouraging me.
But a few voices opposed.
I'd considered that too.
If I learned this fast, I could take more time for stability.
But better not to.
I already had solid single-target combat tech. Weak to mobs though.
And as experienced, invaders likely came in numbers.
Even if monsters respawned from 61st, assuming invaders couldn't recover fatigue was risky. No reason to delay 100th.
I'd known from the start.
If the 100th floor monsters were strong enough to require Slash, the Void Side's revive null would prevent using them as breakwater.
That's my baseline assumption.
Disappointment comes from expectations.
But if the gatekeeper dies to Death Mark instead of Slash... That monster could become my breakwater.
Then I'd reach true safety.
Mentally prepared for either case.
Just wanted to check ASAP.
I packed the tent and gear into inventory, gripped my scythe anew.
"Let's go."
Blood Knight and Barang stood by my side.
Creak, creak— We climbed the stairs descending from the ceiling and finally stood before the 100th floor door.
"Drink a bit first."
I pulled a fatigue potion from inventory and downed about a third.
Planned fatigue clears every 20 floors, but for this floor, full prep.
Mounted Barang in advance.
Plan: Enter, Death Mark, fly up.
Prep done.
And finally.
I pushed open the 100th floor door.