The Master of Blood Fang
Kra-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka―!
A blinding flash burst out, and dozens of bolts of lightning shot outward. They scattered as if to scatter in every direction at once, yet the lightning had only a single target.
Mana Shield
Wreathed in the protective barrier, Luden charged straight ahead. At the sight of him paying the lightning no mind whatsoever, it was Seria—the one who had cast the spell—who was caught off guard.
“That’s impossible!”
“Tch. Here he comes.”
Luden punched through the magic and closed in on the pair, sword swinging. His target, naturally, was Seria.
'Take out the annoying mage first.'
But Ched, having caught on to his intent, stepped in front of Seria.
KANG!
Ched’s blade was far faster and sharper than before. He hadn’t been lying about getting serious, it seemed. But it was still a monotonous swordplay, nothing Luden couldn’t handle.
The problem, however—
“Talons of the Firmament.”
Chi-chi-chi-chi-chik!
With Seria’s incantation, five bolts of lightning traced their paths like the claws of a beast.
‘She’s casting spells even with her own ally in the way?’
Did she simply not care if he got caught up in it? Luden moved to fall back, but Ched refused to let him go.
“Not happening.”
“Tch.”
Mana Release
KA-BOOOOM!
Mana spread outward like a shockwave. Ched, his blade locked against Luden’s, was sent flying, and the descending lightning slammed into an invisible wall and fizzled out.
“Ched!”
“Nngh.”
Ched, half-buried in the snow, climbed to his feet. For all his scowl, he looked remarkably intact.
‘Tough bastard, too. Who the hell are these people?’
Men like that couldn’t possibly be ordinary bandits or mercenaries. Even as Luden wondered at their identities, the two of them were eyeing him warily in turn.
“Seria, that guy’s using some kind of weird trick.”
“I can see that.”
“What the hell is he?”
And so, with both sides now eyeing each other warily, the fight lapsed into a brief lull.
It was at that exact moment that the anomaly struck.
KWAAAA-BOOM!!
An explosion thundered out of nowhere. Luden’s and the pair’s gazes snapped toward the cave.
“Sarah?”
There stood Sarah, who had gone into the cave only moments ago. The timing couldn’t have been better—with Sarah’s strength, she could easily take on one of the two.
Luden moved quickly to brief her on the situation, only for his expression to harden into stone. He had belatedly noticed that Sarah was gripping something in her hand.
“A sword? No, wait—it couldn’t be.”
An ominous premonition bloomed. If his hunch was right, then the sword Sarah was holding right now was—
“Blood Fang?”
It was the sword of the Sword Demon.
It was a shabby-looking sword. Its edge was chipped and rust had crept over it, as though it hadn’t seen a moment of care in years—the kind of thing you’d hand a blacksmith and be told to throw straight into the forge.
Yet even in such a sorry state, Luden recognized at a glance that this was the demonic sword he’d been searching for.
“Blood Fang.”
No doubt about it. Looks aside, the thick aura of blood rolling off it matched Blood Fang’s known characteristics exactly.
So it really did exist. He had been searching for it, sure, but this was his first time seeing the real thing, and even Luden found the situation simply bewildering.
Above all—
‘Why does Sarah have Blood Fang?’
Don’t tell him she’d brought it back hoping for praise?
Meanwhile, the other two’s expressions shifted at the sight of Blood Fang in Sarah’s hand.
“Ched. That sword.”
“Looks like that’s the thing we’re supposed to recover.”
Ched and Seria exchanged a glance.
And then—
TAT!
Ched shot forward. It was such a burst of speed that even Luden’s reaction lagged by an instant. In the blink of an eye he was upon Sarah, his sword shooting out like a bolt of light.
KAANG!
“Ngh. Wh-what the—?!”
The next instant, Ched was flung back by a violent impact, and he stared in disbelief. Just before his attack landed, Sarah had batted his sword aside.
Ched gazed blankly at his own trembling arm.
“GRAAAAH!”
Sarah moved.
Gripping the rusted Blood Fang, she swung it wildly.
“Ngh...!”
Ched clenched his teeth. There wasn’t a trace of composure left on his face as he frantically deflected her blade.
Sarah was simply flailing in a chaotic mess, but the monstrous strength carried in each blow sent Ched helplessly skidding backward, powerless to do anything about it.
“Good god. Is this the power of a demonic sword?”
Ched attributed it to Blood Fang. Because the alternative—that he was being overpowered by nothing more than a young girl—was unthinkable to him.
As it happened, his guess was about half right.
Luden, who had been watching her the entire time, let out an involuntary groan.
“Ah. Her eyes have gone.”
He’d noticed Sarah’s state.
“The sword’s got her.”
The true reason Blood Fang was called a demonic sword was that it dominated its wielder’s mind and drove them to crave blood. The Sarah standing there now was, to any observer, out of her mind. Her blood-red eyes held nothing but ferocious killing intent.
‘I never saw this coming.’
SHUNK!
“GRAAAAAAGH...!”
“Ched!”
At that moment, Sarah’s Blood Fang ran Ched through.
Seria desperately called out to him and moved to cast, but Sarah was faster. With one massive swing of Blood Fang, she cleaved Ched’s body in two.
SPLURT!
Blood sprayed across the snowfield. Ched’s pointlessly severed body went limp and crumpled, its life snuffed out.
And Luden saw it.
He saw Blood Fang, soaked through with Ched’s blood, begin to change. Sharpness began to gleam along the chipped blade once more, and the rust gradually faded away.
At that grotesque sight, something he’d heard in his past life surfaced in Luden’s mind.
—Blood Fang’s true nature is a vampiric sword that grows by feeding on blood.
“You bastard!”
“Die!”
Enraged by her partner’s death, Seria hurled her magic. It happened before Luden could so much as try to stop her.
A single bolt of lightning crashed down toward Sarah.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAM...!
A fierce explosion erupted, whipping snow and gale into a frenzy.
“Hah... Hah.”
That single spell had burned through a fair amount of her mana, and Seria looked thoroughly spent. But she had seen the spell strike home, so she was certain Sarah was dead.
And that was Seria’s mistake.
SWISH!
“Huh?”
In an instant, Seria’s world flipped upside down. Before she could even begin to grasp what had happened, her thoughts cut out—and her head dropped into the snow.
Shadow Step
Having cut down the two of them, Sarah did not move from where she stood.
Was she satisfied?
‘As if.’
Luden knew better. The Blood Fang he’d heard about in rumors would never end with just this much.
And sure enough—
“Grrrrr.”
Sarah bared her teeth and turned her gaze on Luden.
Her eyes still burned red.
“This is insane.”
BOOM!
Sarah lunged.
Blood Fang—its rust now gone entirely, its edge flashing with killing sharpness—came surging at him.
Shadow Step
Using the skill, Luden slipped past Blood Fang. Right now, Sarah was far stronger than usual—likely an effect of the sword. Even Ched had been beaten back by her strength, so clashing blades head-on would be nothing short of reckless.
‘Is there no way?’
He thought as he dodged Sarah’s ferocious onslaught. How could he bring her back?
The simplest answer, as ever, was to separate her from the cause: Blood Fang itself. But for that, he would first have to subdue Sarah.
Was that even possible? Subduing Sarah—Sarah, of all people, with her eyes rolled back—gently, carefully moderating his strength so as not to hurt her?
‘Yeah. Not a chance.’
Realizing how absurd it sounded even to himself, Luden let out a sigh.
“No way around it, then. It’s gonna hurt a little—just bear with it.”
Flash Thunder Strike
KWAAAAA-BOOM!
His lightning-wreathed blade and Blood Fang collided head-on.
It was Sarah who was driven back. The hand clutching Blood Fang was knocked wide open, leaving her upper body completely exposed.
Luden dove into that opening without a moment’s hesitation.
Stun Smash
His driving fist slammed into Sarah.
For a few moments, her body would be unable to move.
‘Now.’
Luden reached out to tear Blood Fang from her grip.
But in that instant, Sarah’s arm—the arm that should have been locked rigid—moved.
“?!”
Blood Fang came slashing down.
Luden threw himself backward, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
“She’s really gone, then.”
He hadn’t imagined even a skill would fail to stop her. How did this make any sense?
At this rate, there was effectively no way to separate her from Blood Fang. Even now, the sword—having drunk the blood of two people—was growing stronger by the second. Left alone, Sarah would surrender her body to Blood Fang entirely and become a sword demon.
Which left only one option: bring Sarah down.
‘No. There is one more way.’
The odds were vanishingly slim, but a second path did exist.
For Sarah herself to overcome Blood Fang’s domination and be acknowledged as its master.
...Honestly, it was madness. Anyone who heard it would call it madness. Escaping a demonic sword’s domination was already a hopeless prospect—and to top it off, being acknowledged as its master? No matter how iron-willed a person might be, it wasn’t something to attempt lightly.
But.
‘It’s the only thing I’ve got.’
Luden pulled the Growth Elixirs he’d stockpiled as quest rewards out of his inventory pocket.
Intermediate Intelligence Growth Elixir
“Come on, work.”
The Growth Elixirs didn’t simply raise stats. As a secondary effect, they also carried the ability to restore one’s condition. Drink a Vitality or Strength elixir while worn down, and your exhausted body recovered; drink one while your mana was spent, and your mana replenished. The recovery was subtle enough that he’d never bothered thinking about it before.
‘The Intelligence elixir clears the head. If anything can snap her out of Blood Fang’s domination for even a moment, it’s this.’
It was a gamble, plain and simple. Luden couldn’t promise it would work. But what choice did he have?
Leap
Luden drove his foot into the ground.
Straight toward Sarah.
Dominated by Blood Fang, she showed no trace of alarm as she thrust Blood Fang at the onrushing Luden.
That instant—
Shadow Step
His body, hurtling forward at full speed, wrenched sideways just before Blood Fang could touch him.
“Ngh!”
Fighting his own momentum wrenched his ankle. But Luden gritted his teeth and hurled himself at Sarah.
THUD!
The two of them crashed down onto the snow. Luden pinned the wrist of the hand clutching Blood Fang and drove his weight down, pinning her so she couldn’t so much as twitch.
The position ended up looking like he was pouncing on her, but this was no time to worry about appearances.
“Grrrrr...”
Sarah squirmed.
Her strength was so monstrous that simply holding her drained his stamina at a frightening rate.
Luden quickly shoved the elixir into Sarah’s mouth and clamped a hand over it so she couldn’t spit it out.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
“Hold—still. Just—hold still. Please...!”
CRUNCH!
“AGH!”
Sarah bit down on Luden’s hand.
Teeth that could chew through monster meat bored into his flesh like they meant to rip it away.
But Luden never let go, and the blood welling from his hand ran straight into Sarah’s mouth.
Gulp.
Along with the blood, the elixir in her mouth slid down her throat.
Party member Sarah’s Intelligence increases slightly.
Party member Sarah’s Intelligence increases slightly.
Party member Sarah’s Intelligence increases slightly.
...
.....
“Mmph. Mmph?”
Sarah’s red eyes gradually returned to their original color. Wearing a bewildered expression, she blinked again and again, as if she couldn’t make sense of the situation.
She seemed to have come back to herself.
But it was too early to breathe easy.
Even with her mind restored, dominion over her body still belonged to Blood Fang. Proof of it: the hand gripping the sword was clenched so tight the veins stood out, showing no intention whatsoever of letting go.
Left as she was, she would lose herself again. So Luden spoke fast.
“Sarah Jainwards. Remember your name!”
“??”
“Don’t forget who you are, who you’re with, and where you are. You’re a proud daughter of the Black Wolf Tribe. Since when does a hunter lose to some sword?”
With every word he spoke, Sarah’s eyes burned brighter and stronger.
Lose to a mere sword?
His words set her pride ablaze.
Sarah closed her eyes and began to resist Blood Fang’s domination.
Her thrashing grew wilder.
Luden held on with stubborn, unrelenting persistence.
How much time had passed?
The resistance he could feel gradually weakened, and Sarah’s face—contorted in agony—slowly smoothed into calm.
And then—
When Sarah opened her eyes again, her face was the one Luden had always known.