Chapter 276

Haema Sanguis took a deep breath through his nose, which was only two holes, under the sky split between day and night.

“Huuu! Haaa! How sweet. I can see the radiant future that will be spread before me,” he remarked.

“Fascinating... So, this is the Mirror World... Then, are those before us the lords of the other races? Are they like the Curiositas you had mentioned, my descendant?” Mulleus asked.

Haema glanced at Pseraslav, Bafor, Ranko, Gargantua, and Seong-Hwi and smirked. “Like Curiositas? Absolutely not. They are nothing but prey for us to feast on.”

“However, they will be an annoyance if they attack simultaneously. It would be better to call for reinforcements and take them down one by one,” Mulleus warned the cocky Haema of their opponents’ formidable caliber.

“You are quite cautious for the Primordial Vampire,” Haema chuckled at Mulleus’s warning and nodded. “Well, no matter. I agree that we should be careful until we become the one true being.”

Since his plan had been unwittingly pushed up, there was nothing bad about staying vigilant. Not only did Haema still need to absorb the beast blood and illusory blood, but Lord Mulleus’s body, which had been in slumber for too long, needed to absorb even more blood.

“First things first,” Haema remarked as he outstretched his bony arm toward Lunatic and activated a skill.

[Activating Unique Skill: Blood Call-up.]

Haema’s star, Blood Moon, pulsed, casting its blood-red light throughout Lunatic.

“Ahhhhh!”

“My Lord!”

“Our lord is calling us!”

The heads of the panicked vampires rapidly turned westward, their red eyes filled with blind madness. The vampires quickly sprinted toward the west after receiving Haema’s summons.

“Let’s go!’

“Let’s fight!”

“Destroy the invaders!”

Ranko, Bafor, and Gargantua noticed the commotion from Lunatic’s direction and shouted one after the other.

“Fuck! That son of a bitch is calling meat shields!”

“And to replenish blood at the same time.”

“Vampires can come back to life as long as they are supplied with blood. They’re like cockroaches. We mustn’t let the blood bags reach him, no matter what!”

“There is nothing to worry about. The defense line will keep them at bay. More importantly, Master Pseraslav!” Seong-Hwi shouted.

Pseraslav clenched his fists and took a deep breath in, his chest ballooning. The air around them rapidly heated up, creating a red-gold heat haze and an enormous wave of mana.

[Activating Unique Skill: Flame Howling.]

“Awooo!” Pseraslav howled.

Unlike the last time, when he spread it radially, he focused it toward Haema. It was akin to a red dragon’s breath attack, serving as a greeting.

“Your attack lacks class,” Haema said, biting his right index finger as he stared at the red-gold flames filling his vision.

He shook his hand, and four drops of blood floated in midair. He immediately activated a skill.

[Activating Unique Skill: Blood Govern.]

Each drop of blood turned into a blood soldier. They were on another level compared to the mass-produced blood soldiers made with inferior blood.

“Those are...” Seong-Hwi trailed off, instantly recognizing the blood soldiers.

One was someone he had killed, and he had seen the other three on the portraits Etxeberria had given him.

“Demens, Grawamen, Semita, Berto. Stop them,” Haema said.

The four pureblood soldiers gathered their hands and stretched them outward, creating a blood barrier. Once the Flame Howling made contact with the blood barrier, it scattered throughout the Vampyr Forest, burning the entire forest with red-gold flames.

“As flashy as always,” Bafor mumbled.

“Fucking wolf! Burning the forest will halve my stealth ability!” Ranko shouted.

“Grahahaha! We don’t need your stealth ability! I will be the one to kill him, after all!” Pseraslav shouted as he leaped into the air.

He was well aware that his attack wouldn’t burn a hair on Haema’s body. As he had expected, Haema had not been scorched even a little.

“Tsk. As I had thought, the mad blood is the faintest. Who in the world took the blood?” Haema remarked, clicking his tongue as he stared at the pureblood soldier of Demens, who was smoking black.

He had absorbed four of the purebloods, and the mad blood of the Rabies bloodline was undoubtedly the faintest of them.

“In any case, the numbers match. Stop the remaining four!” Haema shouted.

The pureblood soldiers of Demens, Grawamen, Semita, and Berto charged at Seong-Hwi, Gargantua, Ranko, and Bafor, respectively.

“Graaaaahhh! Where do you think you’re paying attention to?! Let’s fight!” Pseraslav roared as he swung his fists repeatedly in midair.

Dozens of fireballs the size of boulders fell toward the ground.

“Big words after trying to ambush me as a group. I can see that a lowly, putrid beast like you has no shame,” Haema said.

He outstretched his hand and created a blood whip that struck the fireballs, making massive fireworks. The grand battle had commenced.

***

“Here they come!”

“How foolish. He may be the Ninth Fiend, but does he plan to face all of us at once?”

“Fuck! I knew this would happen! It’s an all-out brawl!”

“Let us each face one of them.”

Four stars rose toward the sky simultaneously. The konpeito-shaped silver star was Desire. The bowl-shaped giant white star was Bowl. The jet-black star that resembled a black hole was Night Raid. Lastly, the brass-colored star with a flat top surface and a pointed horn at the end was Anvil.

[Operating Wings of Evolution.]

[Sixteen Wings.]

Seong-Hwi sprouted his sixteen wings and flew toward the pureblood soldier of Demens.

“It looks like I’ll get to kill you twice!”

Graaaaahhh!

The pureblood soldier of Demens roared as it exuded purple vapor, seemingly recognizing its mortal enemy. Adrenaline surged throughout Seong-Hwi’s entire body from the exhilaration of battle, and the voices of his various destiny figures intermixed.

“Yahoo! Kill the fuck out of him!”

“You have already defeated him before. It should be a piece of cake.”

“Charge, Sancho Panza!”

Among them, Seong-Hwi chose the destiny of the man who had become a sword.

[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]

[Chok Chun-Gyong the Unfortunate Martial God]

[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]

[Sword of Koksan.]

[Activating Exclusive Skill: Chok’s National Sword Technique.]

A pair of blue will-o’-the-wisps flashed from Seong-Hwi’s eyes.

“Chaaa!” Seong-Hwi shouted.

His image shook like a willow tree as he fluidly linked one movement after another.

Golden Pheasant Stands Alone. Left and Right Hip Slash. Thrust to the Rear. Flood Dragon Geyser. White Ape Leaves the Cave. Right Chisel Strike. Brave Thrust!

High-level sword techniques were linked in the blink of an eye. Seong-Hwi’s swordsmanship was now on par with that of Chun-Gyong at his prime.

“Magnificent!” the martial god of Goryeo shouted, impressed by Seong-Hwi’s mastery over his sword technique.

The pureblood soldier of Demens was sliced into dozens of pieces, but blood vessels sprouted from each piece and were about to reattach themselves. However, it didn’t work.

Kreeehh?

“You don’t learn, do you? No, I suppose I shouldn’t put that on you, since you’re not Demens,” Seong-Hwi said with a smile, manifesting the power of Rust of Ruin, a skill that corroded anything with iron in it.

GRAAAAAHHH!

The pureblood soldier of Demens attempted to escape, unable to negate the Rust of Ruin spreading throughout its body. Its chest opened, and a thick drop of blood flew out. A new pureblood soldier began to form around that drop of blood, but Seong-Hwi wasn’t stupid enough to watch it happen.

“So, that’s your main body,” he mumbled.

[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]

[Penetrating Spear, one of the symbols of No.7 The Chariot]

[Activating Skill: Rust of Ruin.]

Seong-Hwi threw the Penetrating Spear, enveloped in the aura of Rust of Ruin, which pierced the drop of blood.

Gurghhh...

The pureblood soldier of Demens groaned as it corroded and turned to dust.

“He’s stalling,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he stared at the dust that was the pureblood Soldier of Demens.

Although it had been a powerful soldier covered in causality, Haema would have never thought they would be enough to defeat Recorders in the world ranking. Seong-Hwi was certain Haema was trying to buy time.

But for what? he wondered as he quickly turned toward the battle between Pseraslav and Haema.

“GRAAAHH!” the bloody Pseraslav roared as he was smashed into the ground.

“This isn’t even laughable. You cannot rewrite the history I have written with that measly dim causality!” Haema shouted.

His appearance was slowly changing. His dry body was being continuously supplied with blood, and his muscles were growing. His hunched back was straightening, and white hair was growing from his bald head. Most of all, purple blood boiled from his bulging blood vessels, exuding purple vapor.

[Activating Star Power: True Mad Blood Body.]

“That’s Demens’s star power!” Seong-Hwi shouted, instantly recognizing the skill Haema used.

He can use someone else’s skills... not just skills, but their star power? If that’s the case—

“Ahahaha! Amazing! This body is amazing!” Haema shouted, interrupting Seong-Hwi’s thoughts as he activated the star powers of the other purebloods.

[Activating Star Power: Exploding Bloodbath.]

[Activating Star Power: Occult Blood Mist.]

[Activating Star Power: Dark Blood Cave.]

Orange drops of blood floated in the air, about to explode at any second. A thick mist of blood that concealed all presences and mana circulation filled the surroundings. Caves resembling black portals formed around them.

“He’s... a monster,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he stared at Blood Moon, the star that was brighter than the five others combined.

The Ninth Fiend, the Progenitor, Haema Sanguis, might not have been the strongest, but was the most infamous in Seong-Hwi’s past life. His current self far surpassed the likes of the Ninth Fiend. He was closer to himself in Seong-Hwi’s third year in the Mirror World, when he commenced a war against the other races. Seong-Hwi smiled like a madman in the face of such a terrifying foe.

[Unleashing the stats stored within the Absolute Crown.]

The golden Absolute Crown appeared over his head, commencing the overclocking as his stats rose one after another. The Spear of Longinus appeared in his hand, and the Holy Blood of Degradation poured out of the spear’s head.

“This is too one-sided. In that case, let’s balance things out a little!” Seong-Hwi shouted.

The problem was timing. Seong-Hwi melted into the surroundings.

***

“Avant-garde! Block!”

“Raaahh!”

“Stoppers! Prepare for impact!”

The vanguard tanks, made up of dwarves, elves, and humans, each raised their shields and activated their defensive skills to block the vampires trying to head to Vampyr Forest.

“They’ve been knocked back!”

“Mid-garde! Forward!”

“Crack attackers! Activate your burst skills!”

“Haaahh!”

The nukers, who were confident in their burst ability, charged without regard for their lives and destroyed the vampires’ formation.

“We’ve broken through!”

“Melee attackers, forward! Ranged attackers, cover them!”

“Kill them all!”

A dwarf cleaved a charging vampire’s head in half with a halberd, and a human gambetta attacker beside him, whose main stat was Dexterity, stabbed another vampire’s chest with a dagger. Since one wielded a heavy weapon and the other wielded a light weapon, they made up for each other’s flaws.

The vampires controlled by Blood Call-up charged at the army with their lives on the line.

“Die—!!!”

“Despicable dwarves! Pathetic humans!”

Arrows suddenly flew from behind the army, striking them in their eyes.

“Watch out!”

“Gahaha! Thanks, raumdeuter elf!”

“Let’s go, Noda!”

“Oi, human! I’m three hundred years older than you!”

“Then let’s go, Old Noda!”

“What’d you just say to me?”

The forces of Underground, composed of humans, dwarves, and elves, defeated the waves of vampires together like a well-oiled machine.

“The Paulo Formation... This is good,” said Irura, the leader of Viridis, a society of elves that had gained independence from Sefirot.

His golden eyes shone as he looked around. The vampires naturally outnumbered them severalfold since they were near Lunatic, their capital city. On the other hand, Underground was an allied army of three races, but they had brought only their elite forces to maintain fast mobility.

“We only established some rules to manage the chaotic battle, but... I did not expect it to be this efficient.”

Irura had initially not trusted the effectiveness of the humans’ Paulo Formation. The formation did not stop at basic positions like tanks, melee attackers, ranged attackers, and healers. They further subdivided the roles of each position, adding names to each of them. There were so many that one could barely remember all of them, appearing to be counterproductive in combat.

However, systematically providing and receiving assistance through the minimum amount of rules allowed them to move like one organism.

“We can stop them!” Irura shouted as he clenched his fists.

Just then, something massive appeared on the battlefield with a loud explosion and rumbling.

“Kurgh!”

“What the hell was that?!”

The ground shook, and the battlefield was covered in a dust cloud. Once the dust somewhat cleared, it revealed a giant bronze goblin statue with a thousand arms, a hundred legs, ten eyes, five mouths, and three noses.

“Kererererek! I shall record my name in this interesting history!” shouted a robust goblin with a brown bushy beard, crookedly wearing a crown and sitting on a golden throne on the bronze statue’s head. “I am Abyete, the king of Humilitas! Kererek! Go!”

The bronze statue’s five mouths opened wide, and an army of goblins poured out of them like ants.

“Kererek! Kill them!”

“For Lord Abyete!”

“Kerek! Kerek! We have Necrophilia on our side!”

Humilitas, the goblin kingdom, had joined the battle. Abyete, who had been waiting for the perfect opportunity, had taken action.

***

Wave-like Turmoil and Cloud-like Chaos (파용운란)[1]

1. This is an idiom for a state of complete chaos/upheaval. ☜