Chapter 56: Favourable Battle

{Present, Estate of the Carmilla Royal Faction's Eastern Gate}

<Bind>

Bind was all-powerful, but there was a limit to how many individuals I could target at once. The number was massive, sure, but it wasn't infinite.

And considering how much demonic power it consumed when used on something that big, the absorption rate wasn't worth it.

With this war, I was learning the estimates pretty well, and that helped a lot with recovery.

[Withdrawing demonic power recovery potions from the Treasury]

Potions were always slower than my Absorb skill, but at this point, even a small boost helped.

"I hAd HeArD oF yOuR bLoOdLiNe," the dragon said, its black and rotten teeth grinning. "An ImPrEsSiVe PoWeR — To BiNd AnD tO cUt."

Heard.

That meant he hadn't faced any of my predecessors. Even when my father was considered a terror among dragons, this one must've been either older or from somewhere far away.

"MaNy Of My KiNd FeLl To ThAt CuTtInG aBiLiTy Of YoUrS, i HaD hEaRd."

So he wasn't that old.

"UnFoRtUnAtElY, i NeVeR hAd ThE lUcK tO fAcE oNe Of YoUr KiNd, aS mY bOdY fElL aGaInSt A dAmNeD gOd." He scoffed, then grinned. "BuT nOw, i HaVe AlL tHe LuCk!"

Saying that, the dragon opened its mouth and hurled out a flame so massive I thought it would swallow me whole.

<Blink>

Terrifyingly enough, my pendant was still on cooldown, so I couldn't risk taking a direct hit either.

Going after him instead of Shalba wasn't an option back then — Shalba was a bigger problem since he actively targeted me.

Now, however, Marius was stuck against my legions, which left me to deal with this damned lizard.

<Bind>

I had to test something.

"Ah, tHe SaMe TrIcK aGaIn?" the dragon asked, sounding almost curious.

<Sever>

I didn't sever him fully — just part of his leg. And that made me notice a slight shift in his expression.

"Tch," he clicked his long tongue. "ThAt HuRt…"

That was the test. Even though he quickly reattached his foot, he did feel pain. And that was a good enough answer for me.

<Temporal>

His eye sockets widened as he realized what I was trying.

"Oh?" The dragon seemed oddly amused. "So, YoU cAn Do ThAt."

I wasn't aiming to age him — too risky since he was an undead, regenerating dragon.

What I used Temporal on was the blood that had turned to gas. Not surprisingly, it turned back into liquid form, preventing my soldiers from suffering.

"WhAt MoRe HaVe YoU gOt?" He asked, curiously analyzing my face.

I had already used Bind, Disperse (though it hadn't worked), Absorb (not against him), Sever, and now Temporal. He'd clearly seen me use Blink too. Traverse wasn't useful, and Transit couldn't be used recklessly. He didn't have any defense for me to use Penetrate either.

I was taking a risk here, but—

"I can't be the only one showing tricks now, can I?"

I had to figure out what else he could do, especially since I had no direct counter against him.

The question made the dragon show another of his ugly grins.

"QuItE tHe CoUrAgE," he said. "ThEn LeT mE sHoW yOu WhY tHeY cAlLeD mE FaLuZuRe Of ThE rOt!"

Saying so, the dragon bit into his already rotting flesh, ripped out a massive chunk, and spat it toward me.

The blood stuck to it turned into gas, which I dodged, but the scary part was the flesh. As his wound molded and healed, the chunk of flesh he'd thrown hit the ground, rotted fast, and broke down into maggots. The sight nearly made me puke, but there was a bigger problem.

The maggots spread out across the ground and started crawling over any soldier they touched.

"W-What?" the soldiers stammered.

"G-get these off—" someone screamed, and then I saw what they could do. "Ahhhhh!"

They weren't simple maggots. They were parasitic monsters.

"M-my ARM!" a vampire shouted, panic in his voice. "It's eating my a-ar—"

Before he could finish, a maggot tore through his arm, burrowed into his skull, ripped his brain apart, and the fluids started seeping out. The body collapsed and, within seconds, not even bones remained.

"Jahaha!" the dragon laughed. "It'S bEeN a WhIlE sInCe I lEt ThOsE cHiLdReN oUt!"

Yeah. I had to get rid of this thing. Fast. Its existence alone was a health and life hazard.

But as I looked at his healed flesh again, something didn't add up. The system answered before I could finish the thought.

[Faluzure's flesh has the ability to turn into flesh-devouring maggots. However, it consumes huge amounts of energy to convert flesh into maggots and to recover his injuries.]

So that explained why his flesh hadn't turned into maggots earlier — he needed the energy to—

I froze, feeling stupid. In this world, there was no true immortality. Even the strongest regeneration—the undead—had limits.

I sprouted my wings and took to the sky. "You're a terrifying dragon, Faluzure. I admit that. But you also proved something—no dragon is truly immortal."

Even the Great Red died in the stories, for fuck's sake. This thing was a nasty worm compared to that Dragon God.

<Bind>

Oh, I was going to need the whole army's energy for this.

"What are you—"

<Bind>

I wasn't even letting him speak. I blamed myself for not realizing this bastard wasn't as hard as I thought. I'd been dumb. Ridiculous, even.

<Sever>

I sliced him into thousands of pieces, smaller than before.

Soon, adapting to the Sever, he began to regenerate.

And that was exactly why I kept using Sever — mostly because it was my strongest offense, and second because I wanted him to regenerate fast.

<Temporal>

Temporal stopped his blood from turning into killing gas.

Since Valerie had most likely revived this dragon, I could've risked using Temporal to try and send it back to a dead state. But what if Temporal didn't register that temporary dead state and restored him to his original form? I couldn't gamble my reserves on a maybe when there was a certainty in front of me.

""WhAt ArE yOu DoIn—"

<Bind>

Kill. Kill. Kill.

<Sever>

It got tiring, sure.

<Absorb>

And it was all in my favor.

Him coming back to life meant I had to keep killing him — and that required a lot of energy. The energy came from the enemies, which drained their own reserves and let my army overpower them.

It was all in my favor. The biggest issue that could arise was if the enemies died off before the dragon did. That would be a real problem, considering my current energy reserves.

System, how many demonic power recovery potions do I have?

[Demonic Power Recovery Potions: 133]

Might seem like a lot, but compared to how much I recovered from the enemies through Absorb, these wouldn't last long.

"DaMn YoU, DeViL—"

<Bind>

And just to remind everyone — potions are expensive. They're considered treasures.

<Sever>

The dragon's regeneration was getting ridiculously fast now.

<Temporal>

The enemy line below was starting to thin out as well.

<Absorb>

Also… I now had five abilities active on both sides. That meant I was close to Satan Class — and I could feel it.

With the awakening of Cognition, I was sitting right at the edge of the Ultimate Class. Barely a step and a half away from breaking into Satan Class.

<Cognition>

A burning pain spread across my face as my skin melted, and I crashed down hard. Then, just as suddenly, my senses returned.

It was another glimpse of the future — and I acted right on time.

The dragon regenerated head-first this time, not his entire body at once. The moment it had enough of a face, it spat chunks of flesh toward me, trying to eat away my face with its maggots.

Luckily, Cognition was enough for me to dodge it.

"BaStArD—"

<Bind>

As boring as it was…

<Sever>

…it was weirdly comforting.

<Temporal>

I was actually having fun killing it again and again.

<Absorb>

Bind, Sever, Temporal, Absorb.

Bind, Sever, Temporal, Absorb.

That was the rhythm — and it worked just as perfectly as I expected.

As the enemy forces below started to fall apart, I moved on to the potions. I should have been a little worried, but I wasn't.

Why?

Because I could see it now.

The dragon's body wasn't regenerating like before. The flesh looked lazily stitched together. The proportions were off. He seemed slower, weaker, more tired than ever.

"S-sToP—" it cried out in pain.

But I wasn't listening.

If it had been a hundred dragons instead of one regenerating one, I'd have racked up a massive kill count by now — and probably enormous rewards.

"You're paying for being a regenerating pain in the ass and wasting my time, rotten dragon!"

<Sever>

This time, probably around the sixty or seventieth round, it could barely stand.

[Faluzure's energy reserves have dropped below regeneration demands. He cannot regenerate from the next attack unless he recovers energy.]

Too bad.

"Thank you," I said with a grin. "For the rewards, Faluzure."

<Sever>

And just like that, the dragon's head rolled across the ground — immediately rotting into some sort of thick fluid.

Not maggots. Not poison gas. And definitely not regenerating.

"The dragon has been slain!" shouted one of my soldiers.

"General Faiser has defeated Shalba Beelzebub and the Dragon of the Rot!" yelled my commander, driving his spear through an enemy's chest.

"Push ahead!" shouted another.

"We can win!" came the next voice.

This time, the dragon was truly dead.

[Quest Completed!]

[Quest (Completed): The Dragon Slayer!

Objective (Cleared): Kill at least one dragon!]

[Rewards (Obtained): Vial of Samael's Curse, Vial of Divinity Eater]

[Vial of Samael's Curse: A substance that can be added to an item once to permanently integrate the Samael's Curse ability into it.]

[Vial of Divinity Eater: A substance that can be added to an item once to permanently integrate the Divinity Eater ability into it.]

What are these? I couldn't add them just yet — I needed to finish the cleanup first.

I hoped for a system explanation, and luckily, the system seemed to be in a good mood.

[Samael's Curse is an effect inflicted by anything possessing the blood of Samael. Samael was known for the anti-dragon abilities he possessed, and his blood is a potent poison for any and all dragons.]

Samael's one was exactly what I expected.

But the main thing was the Divinity Eater — that could mean a lot of things.

[Divinity Eater is an ability that allows you to weaken the divinity of any being possessing divine or holy powers by inflicting a wound on them. The bigger the wound, or the higher the number of wounds, the more divinity or holy power they lose. Additionally, wounds inflicted by Divinity Eater cannot be healed by divine or holy power. Only potions may help.]

So it didn't eat and transfer divinity to me. That was disappointing.

Still, what I had was more than enough. Satisfied with that, I dismissed my wings and turned toward a certain someone.

The enemy lines had almost collapsed, and his defense was weak.

"S-stay away!" he shouted. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't planning to.

"You're too big of a threat, Marius Tepes."

A true-blood son of King Tepes — and one working under Rizevim. This wasn't someone I could afford to keep alive.

"Get away from Lord—"

<Sever>

I didn't have any reason to pay attention to the pesky bloodsuckers anymore.

<Blink>

There was only one person left to take care of.

"Y-you!" he trembled. "I'm the son of King Tepes! The future king of the bloodline!"

He yelled, trying to step back.

"And that's exactly why I can't let you live."

"Yo—"

<Bind>

My hand clamped around his face before he could finish the word.

"This is good, Marius Tepes."

<Sever>

With a single skill, his head severed from body, and hung in my grasp.

In just a few hours, I had killed a damn dragon, a Beelzebub descendant, and the son of the Vampire King.

All in the same way.

The same bloody way.

*************************************************************************************************************

{A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters.

Also, quick question:

ASOIAF/GOT

Marvel

DC

Harry Potter

}