LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 29
“Haha!! Die!!”
Bang!
A blood-red arrow flying from the darkness is deflected by a sword.
Serelin felt a subtle rage towards the enemy who continued to shoot arrows without revealing themselves.
Is there anything more annoying than an unidentified enemy who just keeps attacking from a distance?
The only silver lining was that she could block those attacks without difficulty.
However, even so, her movements were severely restricted, which delayed her joining Aswel.
“You’re so sticky! If you’ve come to our house, then just die!”
An arrow comes flying with a mocking sound.
Serelin easily swats it away, responding to the provocation.
“Then try to kill me quickly. You’re sure asking for a lot just throwing arrows from afar.”
“Are you trying to provoke me now? Hahaha! This is just like a hero party! To be so relaxed in a situation like this!”
As the enemy said, the battlefield surrounding Serelin was more advantageous for them.
An endless wide plaza and a hazy gray fog. And the constantly changing positions of the enemies.
It was practically the worst scenario for a knight dealing with ranged opponents.
But that only applied if she were an ordinary knight.
“If the environment is against me… I could easily deal with this much.”
Clang!
Bang…
“Ugh…?!”
At that moment, the sword glowed blue, slicing through the gray fog and striking the wall of the fortress directly.
Then, a woman with black hair leaped out, vomiting blood from the shock, and the gray fog that surrounded Serelin dissipated.
‘The gray fog suddenly disappeared… So it was a spell cast by that demon.’
That wasn’t bad.
Without the hassle of having to clear more gray fog, she could just focus on taking down that demon.
As Serelin moved closer to finish off the demon, she suddenly realized the woman had vanished.
Bang!!
“How dare!!”
“Ugh…!”
The woman appeared directly beneath Serelin.
The hand that shot up from the ground collided with Serelin’s sword.
‘What kind of power…’
She wielded a sword, and the opponent was just a hand.
Yet the force and strength were enough to make the sword tremble; she had never encountered a demon like this before.
“How dare… you leave a mark on my face, the fifth bloodline?!”
There was a small scratch on the angry woman’s face.
‘I need to change my thinking.’
Aswel would have easily blocked and attacked without a second thought.
But that was impossible for her.
She couldn’t treat this demon as she did the previous ones she faced.
She had to acknowledge that it was a stronger opponent and fight accordingly.
“You won’t die nicely. I’ll cut you apart and hang your limbs to drain your blood endlessly!”
“Sorry, but that’s not my taste, so I can’t do that for you.”
With a light laugh, Serelin infused her sword with strength.
The power, known as sword energy, varies in color and light depending on the user’s spirit and nature; for Serelin, it was a blue ice color.
‘If it’s just one person…’
“Yordie, what are you doing here?”
At that moment, another demon appeared next to the woman.
“Gabor, don’t start anything.”
“Start something? Do you think this is starting something? I see you, specialized in ranged attacks, trying to fight that knight up close, and I’m curious whether that’s a good idea.”
“……”
Serelin instinctively raised her sword and became alert at the appearance of the male demon.
‘Stronger than the demon called Yordie.’
“The first bloodline is focusing on expanding the fortress. But because humanity’s walls have not been absorbed for some reason, the second bloodline is focusing here as well. Not to mention the third bloodline is busy fighting, and you are just here… what on earth…”
The demon named Gabor seemed to show no interest in Serelin, scolding Yordie instead.
Seizing the opportunity, Serelin directed her sword energy at the two demons.
Boom…
At the same time, she activated the shoes given to her by the young mage and began to flee to the other side.
‘I can’t win against them.’
A few knights valued chivalry and despised ambushes and retreats.
At first, Serelin thought the same, but as she began to train Aswel as a hero, she naturally tossed those thoughts away.
Survival was necessary to ensure a future, and one must win to live.
Moreover, the opponents were magical creatures and demons with no intellect or code of chivalry.
Claiming chivalry against such beings was akin to shackling oneself.
‘First, I will meet with Aswel…’
“Look, I have to do all the dirty work!”
“!!”
Serelin hurriedly checked what had grabbed her foot.
It was blood.
‘No way!’
The blood arrow fired by Yordie was used by the demon Gabor to restrain her.
“This is why you can’t become the fourth bloodline like me.”
“……Just you wait. I’ll make you regret it.”
“I hope you do. For now, just think about killing that woman. Don’t let your guard down.”
Serelin broke the blood bind with her sword, turning her body to prepare for a fight against the two demons.
In response, the two demons summoned their respective weapons made of blood — a bow and a sword.
Just then, the moment Yordie fired an arrow.
“Serelin, duck!”
An elf’s voice echoed, and Serelin immediately lowered her head.
Clank!!
The two arrows collided in mid-air, creating a powerful explosion that propelled Serelin backward.
“Serelin! Are you hurt?”
“Rapirie, Ariya. How did you…?”
They had said that Rapirie, Ariya, and she couldn’t sense each other, so how did they find her?
“I met Aswel and asked him to look for you!”
“Aswel…? Then where is Aswel right now…?”
The black-haired hero was nowhere to be seen.
So, where could he be?
*
“Haha! This is the first time I’ve seen a human last this long.”
Slash!
Each time Alred’s nails cut through the air, massive blood projectiles flew.
These weren’t ordinary slashes like any human swordsman would make.
The slashes defined by blood were also enchanted with several auxiliary magics.
In particular, he was testing how to break the barrier on my robe, attacking in different patterns with every strike.
‘He’s definitely a demon.’
A regular mage would never attack like this.
However, I wasn’t just standing there in admiration either.
Bang!!
“It won’t work.”
“Looks that way.”
After a few attempts with the air blasts, I confirmed that Alred had a blood-made barrier around him as well.
‘So it’s not magic, but actually blood acting as a shield.’
Liquid blood hardened and performed the barrier function every time it blocked my attacks.
It was almost like a shield, rather than a protection spell.
‘What if I mixed a spell into this?’
Bang…
“Failure.”
“……To experiment with attacks in this situation, you’re quite bold.”
Alred and I both retreated at the same time.
As long as we both had shields that were seemingly impenetrable, this battle could last forever.
But.
‘There’s no such thing as an absolutely unbreakable shield.’
Whether through magic or not, every defense has a weakness.
And Alred, with his glowing red eyes, seemed to be contemplating the same.
“I thought you were just a human girl, but your knowledge and thinking about magic are impressive. I’d love to keep you under my command.”
“Thanks for the compliment, but I don’t have any for you.”
“Ha.”
That ended our conversation.
The next moment, Alred’s movement stopped.
“How arrogant.”
By then, a staff was in his hand.
It looked like a simple black staff you would expect a gentleman from modern England to use.
But it was no ordinary staff.
“I command.”
His lips formed a magical incantation.
The staff and incantation indicated that he was about to unleash something entirely different from the magic he had previously cast nonchalantly.
And then the name of the magic came out of his mouth.
“BloodRain.”
A unique spell.
A powerful magic only available to those mages who had reached a certain level, usable solely by themselves.
Swoosh…
Soon, a rain made of blood began to fall from the ceiling.
*
Bang…
It wasn’t the sound of the fortress moving.
It wasn’t the sound of a giant object collapsing.
It was the sound of blood rain hitting against the barrier of my robe.
In other words, each drop of rain was similar to the slashes that had just been unleashed.
‘This is dangerous.’
There had been no mention of a demon named Alred in the original story.
The fourth bloodline had barely appeared, and as soon as the first bloodline emerged, information on him had become scarce.
And that unique magic he activated, BloodRain, perfectly pierced the weakness of my barrier.
Unlike the first bloodline, which seemed easily manageable, Alred was my counter.
Splat. Splat…
The barrier hanging on my robe was relatively vulnerable to continuous damage compared to single attacks.
And this was not just an attack; it was the third bloodline’s assault, so it was inevitable that some parts of the barrier began to crack.
Space of Space. Decomposition. Reconstruction. Reinforcement.
Once this barrier breaks, it’s sure to turn unfavorable for me.
That’s why I focused on retrieving magical materials from the Space of Space to restore the barrier.
‘It’s not a magic that lasts forever.’
Powerful spells tend to have shorter durations compared to other magics.
This is true even for a powerful demon.
I opened the Space of Space full of magical equipment to prepare a counterattack.
“Let’s see how long you can rely on that flimsy barrier.”
Alred wore a haughty grin. Upon closer inspection, his body was growing larger.
‘It had enhancement effects too.’
Recovering and strengthening while damaging the enemy; that’s an interesting magic.
But if he thinks I hadn’t prepared for this, he’s underestimating me.
Since embodying this novel, I had prepared various measures against demons just in case.
This includes the vampires, including Alred.
‘I haven’t tested the efficacy until now, but this opportunity is perfect.’
“Master key, synchronize with all demonic artifacts in the Space of Space.”
Two rings began to spin violently, and many magical artifacts within the Space of Space began to glow blue.
“Is it that you rely on tools because your magical skills are lacking? The longer we fight, the less interesting it becomes.”
“Then, try to take a hit from this.”
“What did you say?”
“One of these should land a valid hit on you.”
As I lightly slammed the master key to the ground, various magical artifacts began pouring out of the Space of Space.
From those that resembled weapons to those that were closer to office tools.
About fifty different magical artifacts synchronized with the master key, simultaneously unleashing magic toward Alred.
“Hah.”
Even Alred, no matter how arrogant, seemed to think he couldn’t dodge this, and quickly encircled himself in blood, moving rapidly.
Soon after Alred’s magic dissipated, I found myself in a moment where I no longer needed to focus on my barrier.
Even at that point, Alred was darting between walls and ceilings, deflecting and evading magic.
‘Now, it’s time for the next move…’
“I expected this. Hah hah.”
The moment I turned around, Alred shot up from below.
Vampires were supposed to move only through blood puddles.
‘…The bricks of the fortress.’
Come to think of it, the fortress walls were made of corpses and blood.
Could it be that he could move if it was all blood, not just blood puddles?
I made a mistake.
The barrier was already weakened, and it seemed impossible to withstand his attack.
It was too late to deploy additional defensive magic.
In an instant, a face floated in my mind.
Bang!!
Something intercepted the attack.
“……Why are you here? I thought the lower ones were blocking you.”
An armor made of specially treated metal.
A sword radiating pure light.
An awkwardly styled black-haired figure.
But a face filled with strong determination.
He was a hero I had only envisioned in my mind.
“Rui, are you alright?”
The hero was right in front of me.