Chapter 41: Blood Attribute
[Claws of the Shadow Wolf: Third Claw: Lonely Wolf]
A dagger reached the left head with a predictable horizontal cut. Sensing this, the Zombie King tilted his body to the right. But the dagger calmly changed the direction, closely following his movements.
Kyriaki had only seen Levana use first and second claws of her Dagger art, so she wasn't surprised when the dagger aura that resembled a wolf approached them.
Yes, a wolf.
A sky-blue wolf with a huge scar on his left eye bit down Zombie King's left neck and vanished with a fatal injury including deep claw marks.
Just like the name suggested, a lonely wolf is something that is very cautious and adaptable to any change in his prey, because he's the only one hunting, because a failed hunt meant no food. A lonely wolf without a pack welcomes any change calmly and acts accordingly.
During Levana's brave decision to use her aura without holding back, Kyriaki Swiftly kicked the ground and performed a graceful backflip. The next second mana of a spell brushed passed where she stood a moment ago.
That was the name that came out as a mutter from Euclid.
Water Blade didn't have much damage to the Zombie King. It only left a scratch, actually. But the Lightning Ball came after seemed to be useful, as it hit the exact spot the water blade was hit, a huge current shock was passed to the Zombie King.
"Hah!" The Zombie King gritted his teeth, looking at his burned skin.
That made the children realize once again that he was faking his emotions at first. Kyriaki could remember how he acted weak and as if he could feel pain vividly the first time they attacked him.
It was her fault for not immediately recognizing his acting. How could a zombie feel pain, especially when that zombie is the King of all zombies. He obviously didn't feel much pain, it seemed. No, in fact he felt no pain at all.
Kyriaki unleashed her Whip-sword function and launched a series of attacks from all sides in a decent distance, successfully cutting down one of his hands from his wrist in the process.
It undoubtedly made the Zombie King infuriated, but Kyriaki was not someone who cared about such details.
"!!"
A counterattack followed.
Hundreds of needles made of blood flew towards her like bullets at the Zombie King's commanding voice.
Blood manipulation.
It was something that only demons could use. An attribute said to be bestowed by the Goddess of Death, Zal'kitana, when she created demons. The will of the world has no authority over that element, making it inaccessible for everyone else, including the world will themselves.
According to records, as well as her gifted memories, Kyriaki knew Demons could use existing elements like Darkness, Mind, Fire, Magma and Metal. Blood element was an additional attribute that was so rare that only the bloodlines of vampires, direct descendants of Demon Kings and several individuals above the Overload rank could use it.
Kyriaki dodged a few needles while taking a mental note of this information and deflected the rest using her delicate basic sword arts. Yet her hands slightly trembled after facing the attack head on.
After all, the Twin Headed Zombie King was one sub rank above her. Her physical stats might be superior, but she couldn't dismiss her core rank entirely.
A battle depends on a mixture of everything. Including understanding and control of mental power, physical strength, intelligence, mana power, the personality of the challengers and so on.
Three balls of blood headed towards each of them at lightning speed.
"Don't dodge it!" Kyriaki shouted as she counterattacked it with her most stable basic sword defense. It wasn't the time for Sign Language anyway. She saw Levana spinning as she used the third claw of her sword art, together with her Spirit's one of the spells.
Euclid obediently unleashed a second circle water spell
The golden hatchling performed a few impressive acrobatic moves and landed gracefully beside Euclid. Euclid flung forward in an instant as if he understood what to do even before she uttered the words. Kyriaki faintly smiled and pointed her adorably short index finger at The Twin Headed Zombie King. Her eyes had a dangerous beastly glint as she muttered;
Three mana missiles flew towards Einn's two heads and the wrist that was supporting his weapon. It wasn't able to do much damage, but the distraction it created was enough.
"Now!!!"
[Thunder Blade: First Strike: Lightning arch]
[Claws of the Shadow Wolf: Fourth Claw: Invisible Wolf]
[Colors Of The Spring: Fifth Color: Fluttering Flower Petals]
Kyriaki and Levana who had long range attacks only had to take their stance. Euclid with his mid range attack, got closer to the opponent using
A lightning arc beheaded the left head with pzzt and crackle sounds. An invisible sword aura strike sunk into the Zombie King's abdomen. And fluttering multicolors mixed red flower petals like sword aura slashed the right head with momentum.
Thud! Thud!! Thud!!! Bam!!!
All three attacks were so perfectly calculated that there wasn't even a second difference among the three. Kyriaki wobbled as she realized all of her sword aura was drained. It was surprising she could go this far considering her mere D rank core.
As the lifeless body of the former giant fell on the ground like a rag, she once again realized how blessed she was to be born as a dragon.
Her heart was working like a machine to supply mana to her core even now, so turning it to aura wasn't hard for her who had passive skills
"Cough. Cough." Levana's situation was a bit different from Kyriaki. Although beloved, Elves weren't made of mana. Hence, the backlash was harsh for her.
Vomiting blood was expected. She collapsed on the ground, laying there like a lifeless doll.
"Huff..Huff." Euclid clenched his teeth, controlling each of his muscles and breathing to the best of his abilities. He was drenched in sweat. His hands trembled uncontrollably.
Unable to withstand it any longer, Euclid sat on the ground. Canceling his summoned swords.
Kyriaki watched them in silence.
If it was a normal human, they wouldn't even be able to use the first two colors of her sword art continuously for this many days. Even if they were of the same rank as her, they would have died undeniably. Even for higher races except for Dragons, this much would have cost blood and extreme patience, Levana proved it.
No one spoke for a while.
The silence was long, but comforting.
Given the situation, the afterglow of the battle still seemed to linger in their hearts.
In the end, Levana, who couldn't bear the silence, stood up abruptly.
"W-whoah! We won!!!" She exclaimed, covering her mouth and jumping up and down despite looking so pale and weak.
Perhaps due to her weakened state, or because she was naturally clumsy, this time she tripped on her feet and fell on the ground face on.
"Pfft…calm down, Levana. You mustn't hurt yourself out of excitement." Euclid laughed slightly as he kindly said. He changed his position to lotus position as if it was only natural.
"Sigh…" Kyriaki sighed softly and imitated Euclid. It was the best thing to do until her aura replenished.
A while past. Until Levana panicked out of nowhere, everything looked very peaceful.
"This-this is too much! K-Kyriaki… I think I'm seeing hallucinations!"
"Hmmm?" Kyriaki tilted her head at Levana's cry.
"I-i leveled up!"
They didn't have to collect cores since all the enemies inside the boss room had their core broken when they were beheaded, leading them to absorb core energy while fighting.
It seemed Levana paid no attention to this fact until now. Kyriaki smiled faintly.
"Isn't that good?"
"But I jumped up too many ranks! My common sense tells me it's impossible!"
"Don't tell lies, Levana. From what I observed, you have no common sense."
"... that's emotional damage right there." Levana pouted and glanced at thin air with dilated pupils as if she was intensely staring at something.
'She must be checking her status window'
"Mind telling us what rank you are right now?" Euclid insisted softly.
"...E." Levana widened her already round eyes as if she herself could believe what she uttered.
"Good job." Euclid clapped cheerfully despite his tired and reluctant eyes. Only Kyriaki noticed those subtle emotions. Ignoring what she saw, Kyriaki nodded with a faint smile.
"Same rank as Eucee. Well done."
At their praises, Levana visibly flushed red and fiddled with the hem of her top.
"Ah!" Kyriaki muttered as her vision captured the manifestation of something mystical. "It's the gate to the joint dungeon."
They stared at it for a while as if all of them were in a daze. It couldn't be helped that they were exhausted from the battle.
"We'll rest for today and set out tomorrow. Who knows what creature might pounce on us the moment we enter through the gate."
"Yes!"
"Replenish your Mana and aura, minimize your movements until your stamina gets back."
"Understood!"
"And Sir Ethan Joshua Benowitz, you'll receive punishment for abandoning your teammates during battle, disobeying your team leader and displaying unnecessary emotions unsuitable for battles." At her stern voice, everyone's gaze turned to the person who was thoroughly hidden among the lifeless Deadborns, trembling pathetically.
"Th-that…" Ethan revealed himself.
Bathed in blood, with a pale face and eye bags under his eyes, he looked like a zombie himself. As he tried to talk, his tongue twisted as if he was horrified.
"Everything was recorded." Kyriaki then pointed her finger to the round drones silently gazing down at them from above.
"Blood hell!" Levana admired the sight.
"Wow… you are really scary, Ria. When did you put something like that there?" Euclid cheerfully grinned.
'I did it the moment we entered this room. I need evidence to crush the dream of a spoiled young master.'
"When I say everything, I mean it." Kyriaki ignored Euclid's question and coldly dismissed her own thoughts, looking down at the trembling coward.
Realizing her hidden intentions, Ethan, who was trembling like an Aspen tree, gritted his teeth. He looked like an Italian that saw someone eating pizza with pineapple.
"Bu-but it's also te-team leader's responsibility to encourage you-your teammates! I-i'm not wrong!"
"That's correct. I should have given you a chance to be included in my plan, that is what a true leader is."
"R-right?"
"So let's get punished together."
"Wh-what?!"
"You and me. Since we are both in the wrong, let's get punished together." Kyriaki calmly declared, prompting Euclid to burst into laughter and Levana to exclaim in admiration.
"Crazy bxxxx" Ethan, unable to contain his anger, embracement and fear cursed.
"Hey, how dare you!" Levana hissed, Kyriaki looked away without saying anything as if she didn't even want to interact with him anymore.
Her eyes landed on the transparent screen that looked too holy.
[Sub-authority:
[Collecting the The Twin Headed Zombie King's attribute;
[Warning]
[Undigestable Elemental attribute detected]
[Undigestable Elemental Mana detected]
[Locking the Element of Blood]
[Please look for "Element merging process" for more information]
Kyriaki's eyes widened.
An element only demons could have had been offered to her as if it was nothing, as if it was a trophy of war. She wasn't sure if it was possible. But then again, she had done so many things that one might find impossible.
After all, the being backing her was the most powerful in all omniverse. The authority they had given her was just as powerful as the original owner of that skill. Thus, her shock didn't last much longer.
'Not bad. I thought I wouldn't be rewarded, but here I am. Though, it got locked the moment I gained it, like in some kind of frustrating video game.'
Her only regret was that.
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I'm releasing two more chapters with this one. Check it out dear readers.
—Omniverse_Observer—