Chapter 47
—I like your blood!
“That only works while I’m still alive, doesn’t it? Once I bleed out and die, there won’t be anyone left to summon you again. After all, you're a forgotten existence.”
—N-No…!
“Well, that’s enough to confirm that it is possible, at least.”
Trying to wield the Blood spirit using only my blood would kill me before long. The euphoria I felt when his power surged through me was greater than any elixir I’d ever taken.
It scared me how easily I could become addicted to it.
—No, that method has its limits. To amplify your power like before, I need to stir the living energy within your own blood. But with another’s blood, I can use a different set of abilities.
The Blood spirit tried desperately to make himself useful.
He was determined to form a contract with me no matter what.
“So you’re saying you have a lot of tricks up your sleeve?”
—An endless amount!
“If you can learn to shut up when I want you to, I’ll make a contract.”
—T-That’s impossible! Speech is life itself!
“Yeah? That’s a shame. Everything else about you was fine, but this one thing makes it hard to move forward.”
—Urgh! F-Fine! I’ll speak quietly!
“Why don’t you go chat with Iredem instead? He seems to think highly of you.”
—…Fine.
With that, the contract was made.
Even with the contract in place, a spirit still needed to be summoned by a summoner in order to manifest in the human world.
The warped surroundings began to settle… or rather, began to warp again. A wave of intense dizziness hit me, and when I opened my eyes, the world was spinning wildly.
I strained to look at the ground with my shifting eyes.
Blood. My blood was everywhere.
“You insane bastard…!”
The power the Blood spirit had shown me in that vision hadn’t come for free.
He had used my blood as an energy source. And since it was before the contract was formed, it had been wildly inefficient. Any longer and I might’ve been reduced to a sacrificial offering.
I quickly staunched the bleeding from my still-dripping fingers. I circulated aura through the surrounding veins to heal the wound. Thanks to the power I had absorbed from the marked orc, the moment my aura gathered, the wound closed in an instant.
[Tl/N: The instant heal ability he got after killing that orc]
—So? What’s my name? Huh? What is it? C’mon, tell me! Having trouble deciding? I can help! I’ve got a few ideas!
As I circulated my aura, the dizziness finally began to subside. I focused all my energy not on the dantian, but on my heart.
It was a technique I’d learned from watching mages.
As my heart thudded back into rhythm, warmth returned to my limbs.
Yet even after my near-death experience, the Blood spirit kept pestering me with questions about his name.
—So what is it? Huh? Tell me! Still deciding? I can help! How about something cool?
“You’re a Blood spirit, so… Bloodie.”
—…What?
“Bloodie.”
—The Primordial death was named Iredem, and this is what I get?
Even with my aura healing and restorative abilities, my condition hadn’t fully recovered. Blood really was life.
I summoned all my spirits to gather in one place.
“Let me introduce you. That skull is the death spirit Iredem. The dark orb over there is Dimes, Spirit of Darkness. That one is the fire spirit Inferno. And this guy here is the Blood spirit… Bloodie.”
Even Inferno, who usually puffed up his upper body like a toad, was crouched silently in the presence of others.
Though spirit rankings weren’t official, they instinctively recognized those above them.
—BLOODIEEEEEE! F-Fine! I’ll name myself! Bloodylionis! Or maybe Baroniklapheretursianis! Brunomaliosrnodayne!
“Shut it, Bloodie. Go chat with Iredem like you promised.”
—Ugh…!
A spirit’s contract was absolute. The moment I gave the command, Bloodie clamped his mouth shut.
He trudged over to Iredem and began to chatter endlessly beside him.
It came out as a constant, buzzing noise.
“I can still hear you. Lower your volume.”
Bloodie pasted himself to Iredem’s side and began to whisper instead. Iredem simply nodded in silence.
“Alright, time to head back. There are quite a few people out there eagerly waiting for my return.”
—……
Dimes rippled. It slithered toward the bookshelf and writhed there. I nodded, and then Iredem spoke.
—The Primordial Darkness, no Dimes, says he has something to tell you.
Dimes passed through the shelf to the other side.
There was something beyond it.
I reached forward to pull the bookshelf aside.
Crash! Thud!
The rotten old bookshelf crumbled on touching, sending up a thick cloud of dust.
‘I’ve got four spirits, and not a single one of them can help clear out some damn dust.’
Fire and dust were incompatible. Darkness, death, and blood had little effect on the dust.
‘If I modify the aura cultivation method a bit…’
I extended my hand and drew my aura.
A sweltering gust burst from my palm, pushing the dust aside. I couldn’t generate a strong wind, but it was enough to clear the area.
Dimes lingered near the wall.
“Inferno, light it up.”
Without complaint, Inferno blazed like a campfire with its elemental flame.
Even so, the moment the fire touched the dark orb, it vanished.
“There’s something inside, isn’t it?”
Dimes didn’t answer. He simply acted. His darkness seeped into the wall.
Like smoke slipping through cracks, Dimes manipulated the shadows to reveal a gap between the stones.
“Another Ains-type design, huh?”
The necromancer who’d turned into a ghoul had created this dungeon.
From the entrance to the secret passage, he’d hidden every doorway using the signature Ains-type design.
Click. Rumble!
My guess was correct. I found a button and pushed it, sliding the wall aside.
Thump!
A familiar energy radiated from the space within. A brilliant crimson glow pulsed softly.
There was a scent to it, reminiscent of blood, yet with a sweeter fragrance.
‘No way…’
A vivid, powerful memory of Louis de Breio surfaced.
Like most memories from that time, it was bleak and suffocating.
Step.
I took a slow step forward.
Carefully and cautiously, but my mind insisted on what lay ahead.
‘Dragon’s Breath!’
Dragon’s Breath.
The elixir the Duke of Breio had force-fed his child, claiming it would give him a chance. For those gifted in aura and mana, it was the ultimate potion. But for the untalented, it was a deadly poison that killed them within three years.
In my previous life, it had been a poisonous curse that shortened my lifespan.
Ten years of struggling to escape that fate flashed before my eyes like a lantern in the dark.
“Why? Why are you here?”
Dragon’s Breath appeared as a glowing crimson sphere.
Though it was liquid, some mages classified it as a mindless lifeform.
Unless sealed with a special spell, Dragon’s Breath couldn’t be stored. It appeared and disappeared at will, sometimes absorbing the living energy of freshly deceased beings to grow.
I had gleaned past the necromancer’s memories, but none mentioned Dragon’s Breath. Perhaps he’d died while studying how to harness it.
“I heard that most people never see you even once in their lives, yet here we are, a second time. Last time, I was forced to take you. But now, I’ll devour you of my own will. This time, I’ll make you mine completely.”
There was no reason to hesitate.
Once, Dragon’s Breath had been a poison for me, but now, it was an elixir that could amplify my aura to its limits.
The instant my hand touched the crimson sphere, it reacted. A portion of Dragon’s Breath seeped into my skin.
‘Oh…!’
Before, it had merely caused some pain without much effect. But now, I could clearly feel the overwhelming energy it transferred.
Gulp!
I placed the sphere into my mouth and swallowed it whole. At once, I dropped to the ground and began cultivating my aura.
‘Th-This is Dragon’s Breath…!’
The elixir said to be unattainable even with money was now working inside me.
RUMBLE!
It felt just like the moment after killing a marked monster. Without that prior experience, I might’ve panicked and lost control.
RUMBLE!
The difference this time was that the Dragon’s Breath emitted an endless stream of magical energy.
When I wasn’t cultivating my aura, it lingered in my body and flowed slowly. But once I began aura cultivation, some of the magical energy started to dissipate, rising like a heat haze, about to vanish.
‘No! I can’t let even a single wisp escape!’
I focused as much as possible, trying to absorb every last bit of energy. Even the Breio Aura Cultivation method paled compared to the Louis Aura Cultivation method I had developed.
It meant I could absorb more energy than the Breio family’s heirloom method.
‘I’ll make all of it mine! This ends the cursed bond between us. You belong to me now. You’re part of my life. You will no longer be able to harm me.’
* * *
I rode Syang towards Hebron.
Even with four spirits at my command, none of them could carry me. If only I had even a low-tier wind spirit, the journey across the wasteland would’ve been far easier.
‘Did the Sardia people live their whole lives not knowing there was a dungeon beyond the hideout?’
The Sardia bloodline had seemed thrilled just to find the hideout in the wasteland. They hadn’t uncovered the ghoul, the necromancer, or the hidden Dragon’s Breath lying in the depths beyond.
If they had discovered it, they wouldn’t have survived with the power they possessed.
After riding for some time, the distant walls of Hebron came into view.
Flags bearing the crest of Hebron flew along the walls. As I drew closer, I noticed a much larger flag fluttering in the wind.
A pure white flag, adorned with a golden lion roaring while wearing a crown.
‘The messenger of King Xenon has arrived.’
“It’s the Baron! The Baron has returned!”
A soldier who spotted me shouted, and I quickly gestured for him to be silent.
“Dimes, take care of the skull, will you?”
In that instant, Durahan's skull vanished. Dimes had stored it in his realm of darkness.
Dimes’ shadowy domain could only contain lifeless things. It was the perfect place to conceal Durahan’s skull, undeniable evidence of an undead.
After dismissing all the spirits, I passed through Hebron’s gates.
My clothes were in tatters, so Mariam, one of the maids, came rushing over with fresh clothes in hand.
A group of people emerged from the lord’s manor. The fact that they hadn’t waited inside meant the situation was urgent.
“Baron Louis de Hebron greets the Light of Xenon.”
The one who had come to Hebron was Gaius de Xenon, the fourth son of King Xenon. Twenty-two years old this year, Gaius had a reputation for being simple-minded. He was far removed from the line of succession, and because of that, he had been appointed as a Special Inspector, a title that let him wield restricted power freely to handle the Kingdom of Xenon’s secret affairs.
“Where are the wild dogs of the wasteland, the last remnants of Sardia?”
I unfastened the backpack on Syang’s back and spread the evidence on the ground.
The decomposing flesh still bore the brand of the curse.
It wasn’t a symbol that could be forged at will.
“There were more of them, but when I approached, they took poison and committed suicide. Since the poison spreads through the air, I flayed the skin off an untainted corpse and brought it back.”
“…Behead the bloodline of Delgain and all who served him!”
Gaius gave the command.
It was a foolish decision. We needed those connected to Delgain alive to extract information, executing them only cut off potential leads.
‘Thanks to that, the fact that Serpens was tied to Spiel can be buried. I’d been ready to trade my achievement for the guildmaster’s life, but this works out nicely.’
