LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 37
– 1 –
“Haah… Haah…”
The dungeon, usually filled with all kinds of monsters and decorations, was now empty. The vampire walking inside her own dungeon lacked the usual nobility in her step.
Swish… Swish…
She tried to walk upright, but the soles of her feet scuffed against the ground, making an undignified sound.
It was only natural. She had summoned a massive amount of magical power several times, exceeding her limits. Just moments ago, she had also exerted herself to summon a clone to buy time against humans.
Even the body of a Dungeon Lord, known for its fast recovery and strength, would suffer significantly from repeatedly using such abilities.
It was strange if she didn’t feel exhausted.
“Ow… Ow…”
However, what hurt more than that exhaustion was the arrow lodged in her back.
Although Lin Xue herself had failed to chase the vampire, the arrow she shot had successfully hit her. This arrow injected a special magical poison into the victim’s body, weakening their strength.
The alchemical poison, costing a fortune of 1 gold per arrow, was perfectly injected into the vampire’s body, equating to the price of the same weight in gold.
If Lin Xue had known someone else would reap the benefits of her investment, she would surely have been furious.
“Ah…”
At the far end of her sight, after walking for a while, she saw the half-destroyed garden.
It had originally been red, but now it was completely stained a dark crimson, her precious flesh-colored garden.
“My, my garden…”
All the various “bonsais” she had nurtured since childhood, guided by her “mother,” lay scattered about, having lost their attachments.
The faces of the shattered “bonsais” reflected not the glorious smiles she had painted in her mind but entirely different expressions.
If humans had seen them, they would have said there were faces of either peace or suffering.
“You…! Did you do this?!”
Standing there, she pulled her hair to cast a shadow as she gritted her teeth and turned to Serika, her face twisted in rage.
Before her stood a figure, a woman with long black hair down to her thighs, quietly smiling.
“How pitiful and sorrowful.”
The two women looked almost like peers, but while Serika wore a striking combination of gold and red, the woman across wore dark shades of black and purple.
Yet, the black-haired woman’s voice felt soothingly low and tender, unlike Serika’s high-pitched tone.
“Merely wasting time, hardened and unable to live or die.”
However, Serika felt an inexplicable attraction to the way this woman appeared.
It was something about the aura surrounding her.
“If you had just strengthened your power, that would have been enough, but here you are, twisting your heart and hanging onto the memories.”
Nobility.
That word, instantly recognizable, came to Serika’s mind.
That being held something different, something that couldn’t be forced into elegance with flashy adornments like herself.
“And so, I provided you peace.”
The moment she recognized her, something precarious in Serika’s mind slipped out of place.
For example, perhaps “reason.”
“What do you know!! You weakling…! Those were grown according to what ‘mother’ taught me! With the strength she gave me…!”
Serika, shaking off her feelings, extended her hands wide and screamed in rage. The necromancer watched her, arms crossed and resting her chin on one hand, calmly speaking.
“Mother, huh? So you call the core that. How pitiful that you haven’t outgrown being a baby. Even with that kind of power.”
“Yes… Mother. I have to bring mother back. Mother…”
The Dungeon Lord, in a sense, was an intelligent baby. Loneliness was poison to a baby.
A figure of attachment was needed. Whether it was the first summoning target or the dungeon core.
And Serika’s figure of attachment was the dungeon core.
Feeling the source of knowledge and technique came from the core, she clearly thought of it as the one who “gave birth” to her.
This was surprisingly common among Dungeon Lords. Libertus had seen related stories many times in “Mill Don 1”.
“Hmm.”
“Mother… Mother, mother… Mother is gone… I need to make her…”
With a sigh, the black-haired woman watched the vampire with great pity.
But the vampire, trapped in specific keywords, didn’t even listen to her and continued muttering “mother,” pulling her hair and bowing her head.
“By gathering humans, I can create a new mother… I need fertilizer… I need bonsais to make and nurture mother and the fertilizer…”
Saying all sorts of mad things that only non-humans could say.
Surely, the Dungeon Lord was a powerful creature made by accumulating magic, but her durability wasn’t unlimited.
This was a phenomenon of waning intelligence due to continuous magical overload reaching her limits.
“Child, your mother isn’t some object.”
“Don’t call me child -!!!”
Crash!!
Just after pouring a significant amount, there was still plenty of magic left in Serika’s body. Responding to her emotions, it erupted naturally.
It was one of the manifestations of using her powerful magic as a blade or guillotine, shattering the air.
“…”
But Libertus still didn’t move from her spot. As if she understood that this couldn’t harm her.
She merely stood there, with a gentle smile.
Suddenly, Serika felt a chill from that gentle smile. Even in this distorted state of intelligence, she realized that the smile didn’t carry its literal meaning.
A moment later, when the woman standing calmly moved her arms, Serika tensed her entire body, but the next moment, her action wasn’t one of attack.
Chirp.
A shard of space shattered by magic grazed her cheek, and the Dungeon Lord tasted the blood on her fingertips, contrasting with her pale skin as she stuck her unusually red tongue out.
Immediately, she narrowed her eyes and said,
“It’s not much different from the taste of human blood.”
“…”
Meanwhile, Serika felt herself stiffen in place due to something spreading through the air.
The reason was the scent.
A rich, blood-like scent that would surely mesmerize any bloodsucker.
“You…”
“Hmm?”
“I’ve never smelled anything like this among those I’ve killed.”
“Is that so?”
“Who are you? This smell is definitely not normal. I can tell.”
“You don’t know.”
“Who are you!!”
While Serika spoke gravely, Libertus remained utterly calm.
As if she sensed no value in this conversation.
That attitude incited furious anger in Serika, who believed the Dungeon Lord before her had attacked her “garden.”
Feeling immensely weakened from the continuous overload, and if she hadn’t been additionally weakened by human poisons, she would have lunged at her right away.
What kept her calm was merely “instinct.”
The instinct that now felt like she was thrusting her head into the mouth of a beast.
“Speak!!!”
Bang!!
Serika stomped her feet in anger.
The cavern floor flipped over, causing debris to scatter, but this time, Libertus too brought her staff down to block the attack.
“Is this all there is? The power of an Elder Vampire?”
The ground erupted in a fan shape around her. Libertus, watching it intently, whispered.
It seemed less like mockery and more like pity.
“If I hadn’t weakened, someone like you would be nothing…!”
“If you had weakened, you should have been more cautious, right? When you lost the dungeon core, you should have hidden even more. There would have been a better opportunity. Isn’t this happening because you revealed your presence through your emotions and drew human attention?”
– 2 –
After suffering overload multiple times and summoning a clone that held half her powers, the Dungeon Lord quickly crumbled against Serika, who was accompanied by a summon with skills effective against the Dungeon Lord.
“Disassemble. Disassemble… Di-assemble…!”
“Sleep well. I’ll see you later.”
“You…!!”
Bang!!
The critical factor was allowing the first attack.
Shoe had grown stronger by absorbing the pure magic-infused blood of the Dungeon Lord, and Serika couldn’t recover the blood she had lost.
“Ugh—”
“Roaring is premature.”
“Ugh.”
As I bound the unconscious Serika’s neck with a magic restraint, Shoe raised her hands to cover her mouth.
At the sight of her cute demeanor, I couldn’t help but smile again, which I had just recently lost.
“Good girl.”
“Yes. Good…”
The fearsome look from earlier had vanished, her face returning to a lethargic state as she squatted down like a wolf.
However, red embers still leapt from her head.
This was the influence of her werebeast-exclusive trait, “Frenzy: Blood.”
“Frenzy: Blood
■ Frenzy
■ A beast craving blood
■ Symbol of life
■ Claws of a monster
A combined trait of the four listed above.”
Unlike my “Nobility,” “Frenzy: Blood” appeared to be a legendary trait with many aspects.
In fact, there were quite a few combined traits in “Mill Don 1” as well.
No.
Most of the main characters used by players typically possessed at least one of these combined traits, so it should be noted that not only many but most did.
Rather, my “Nobility” would be considered rarer.
Such combined traits are usually formed by linking traits related to combat, support, or survivability, with the primary focus of this trait’s combat centered on “Frenzy.”
“Frenzy – The longer the battle continues, strength and magic increase by up to 50%. The more it activates, the redder the head turns, and at maximum, it leads to loss of reason.”
The secret to why Shoe was able to successfully subdue Serika after several exchanges lay here.
If “Frenzy” was maximally activated, Shoe could gain over 50 in endurance and more than 40 in magical power. This level of ability would be almost impossible for a High-level Dungeon Lord to withstand.
[Ahhh…]
[Ha ha… Ha ha ha…]
With this trait fully activated, the materials had been Serika’s garden.
The “bonsais” there were all colored flesh-like monsters formed from living people.
It was truly a grotesque sight.
The version of a “bonsai” from which limbs sprouted out from ears and eyes, blooming and smiling like a flower was the most conservative form.
[Haah…]
[It’s best not to look. Lady.]
[It’s fine.]
In any case, since all the sculptures in the garden were biologically alive, I used the opportunity to give peace to those who had been suffering there for a long time while charging this trait.
I had been worried that Shoe might show reluctance in executing the incapacitated “bonsai,” assuming she was originally human…
Fortunately, that worry was unfounded.
[I’ve seen such people before… It’s better to kill them. Their intellect is long gone, and they are merely suffering. Even if freed, they couldn’t live a normal life.]
It seemed she had experienced this a few times, as there was no hesitation in her actions. Rather, she even needed to tempo her killing actions to maintain “Frenzy.”
Moreover, I was relieved that my suspicion about Serika having means to detect the destruction of her “garden” was correct.
Among vampires, there was a tendency to possess traits that utilized living organisms, so I thought it likely.
Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered if she didn’t.
There were plenty of corpses around, and in an urgent situation, I could have raised them to use them.
“■ The beast craving blood – The faster blood is absorbed during battle, the quicker HP and magic are restored, or the speed of the combat power increase of ‘Frenzy’ is accelerated.”
However, in that case, I wouldn’t have gotten as high an efficiency as now. It seemed more like a power made for real battles or kills.
And in such cases…
“…”
“Hey, hey. What is this? Hmm?”
“A first-time adventurer? Quite skilled to come in ahead of us and hunt down a Dungeon Lord.”
The adventurers now facing us would likely face troubles of their own.
Thinking again, I was grateful that I had used this dungeon as a final trap. There were unexpected gains, and such a favorable situation had arisen.
“Why don’t you say something?”
“If you can talk well, I might consider sharing the reward. Young lady. Alexis might have no idea.”
“What’s this? Are you going to hold it over me again?”
About ten adventurers.
The three standing in the lead were familiar faces.
Jinkyung, Alexis, Lin Xue.
When we arrived at the camp, they were the elite adventurers introduced by Sir Elias, each with notable points to watch out for.
Though their expressions differed, and their bodies and magic appeared quite worn out, they seemed to share a confidence in their abilities, at least devoid of ‘tension.’
Perhaps that’s why.
“This might be unfortunate for you all.”
“What’s that?”
“I came to save this child.”
After seeing their faces contort simultaneously next, it strangely brought me some satisfaction.
Whoosh -!
“Damn…!”
No more conversations were needed.