Volume 3 Chapter 97 The Swamp Adventure II
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
This rush of pleasure drives Kian to battle.
The thrill of sin, overwhelming his senses.
”Hah, haah, hah…, ha. Haha…”
’Could it be, that kind of’
”Ha…”
Kian rises slowly, unable to hide the joy on his lips.
His magic power is waning.
He craves an easy prey──but perhaps sensing his ravenous state, the monsters around him seem to be keeping their distance.
Drooling, he scans his surroundings with a gleam in his eye, but there’s no movement apart from the withering bundle of vines.
”Huff, huff…, …, huff…”
Kian manages to satiate himself with the meager magic power regeneration of ‘Silver Ice,’ quickly calming his excited brain.
As a warrior monk, he excels at mental control through meditation.
In seconds, Kian smooths out his beastly nature, exhales thinly, and draws the Windsong Blade from where it was thrust into the ground.
”Hahaha…, I was almost at death’s door.”
’……’
”So? What’s so ‘Could it be, that kind of’?”
Kian inquires, sliding the Windsong Blade back into its sheath on his back.
Yet ‘glasses’ continues an unnatural silence, refusing to respond.
”‘Glasses’, are you listening?”
’I am. More importantly, quickly gather the remains of our client’s companions.’
”Hmph, there aren’t any remains left. Just dust. Oh, the head’s intact. Quite a shocking sight, though.”
Kian picks up the head of a cat Beastmen girl from the swampy mud.
The texture of her desiccated skin, pierced eyes, and torn lips is enough to unnerve any onlooker.
However, the rest of her is reduced to powder, scattering in the wind, making this the only viable piece to take back.
(Could this be the proof of subjugation?)
Kian gazes down at the withering vines, feeling a sense of resignation.
This seems hardly worth the reward.
Still, it wasn’t a completely fruitless endeavor.
It seems the chaos caused by Ramsey’s Bloodsucking Kind is linked to a creature covered in thorns, resembling the seeds of the Thorn Demon.
This could be a valuable lead.
Maybe it’s better to pass this thorny seed to Christy first──before Priscilla.
There’s something fishy about her.
Christy, on the other hand, is reliable and knowledgeable about magical relics.
She might provide some useful information.
”Still, an Energy Drain ability? And to neutralize and absorb even high-level magic like the Windsong Blade? What a terrifying foe. I’d better prepare some countermeasures in case I face someone like that again… Hm?”
Kian, who had been casually checking the bodies scattered around, suddenly stopped in his tracks, a nagging feeling about his words gnawing at him.
(Draining the magic power of the enemy you’ve injured… Nullifying and absorbing their magic attacks…)
Isn’t that something Kian, now well on his way to becoming a vampire, excels at?
He might not be able to stand up to the Windsong Blade, but against Priscilla’s Necromancy?
Kian could nullify and absorb it.
Stealing magic power from someone he’s injured──someone he’s had s*x with, invaded with part of himself──was a common occurrence in his transformation process.
Both are techniques spoken of in vampire legends.
That enemy from before used them.
”Wait. Could it be that the enemy from earlier was a vampire, like in the legends?”
’────’
”Hey, ‘glasses’.”
’……’
”Was that a vampire? It looked more like it was covered in thorns than like something from an ancient ruler.”
’────’
”Hey, are you ignoring me?”
’Glasses’ doesn’t answer.
Or rather, she’s usually silent when it comes to topics related to vampires.
She’ll clam up until Kian gives up and changes the subject.
And it’s the same this time.
’Glasses’ isn’t going to answer.
(But when it comes to this time, is it really okay to just give up and say, ‘She’s not going to answer about this topic anyway’?)
A sudden, massive outbreak of Bloodsucking Kind.
The abnormal situation of the dead rising from their graves.
Monsters of the Cain breed, parasitized by the seeds of the Thorn Demon────.
Above all, the thorny monster from earlier was an extremely dangerous foe.
Its magic attacks were ineffective, and worse, they might even strengthen the enemy; capable of ambushing from underground, and with a single strike, it could drain an average Adventurer to the point of being unable to move.
To be honest, it was good that Kian was the first to encounter it, but if it had been Serena alone, or even Ninini by herself, they probably wouldn’t have survived.
This isn’t a problem he can just brush off with a “meh, whatever.”
If there’s any information you’re holding back, it’d be better if you shared it now.
The lack of information from her could lead to a future where we’re cornered into a fatal situation.
Just like how the magic attack was absorbed earlier.
”I fought a vampire named Burgkain in the ‘Labyrinth of Roses’ in East End before.”
Kian resumes searching the bodies around him and finally begins to speak up.
”I didn’t know he was a vampire at the time, but Ms. Aliona saw Burgkain and said he was one. Not a Bloodsucking Kind… but a vampire. You were the one who told me not to use magic attacks on Burgkain, right?”
Bloodsucking Kind and vampires are different creatures.
Bloodsucking Kind have tachyonian cells within them, allowing them to generate their own magic power.
They suck blood for nutritional purposes.
The blood is digested and absorbed within their bodies.
On the other hand, vampires lack tachyonian cells and are unable to produce their own magic power.
Therefore, they create human farms and other means to steal life force from other beings.
They may suck blood when stealing life force, but they don’t intake blood as an essential nutrient.
”Interestingly, Burgkain didn’t drain my or Ms. Aliona’s magic──so how did he launch his attack? Does that mean Burgkain also has tachyonian cells?”
’…No. Burgkain didn’t take magic power. He stole it from the Leanan sídhe he was parasitizing.’
”Finally, you’re talking?”
’I know nothing. Don’t ask me anything.’
Kian rose from the corpse of the Wolfman warrior buried in the mud.
This place must have been the territory of that beast earlier.
The first dead body he found was the same, but aside from the thorn beast’s bite marks, there were no other evident wounds.
The creatures inside the territory tolerated monsters just passing through, but they didn’t forgive those coming to loot the blood on the corpses.
Kian saw fragments of what looked like the shattered remains of Shield Cain’s shell scattered around.
Yet, when Kian approached the first victim, no attack was directed at him.
So, does that mean they can tell apart those who approach for scavenging from those who aren’t?
The fact that they used a girl’s skin to lure Kian deep into the swamp shows just how intelligent they are──unthinkably so for a monster.
”‘Glasses’, I know you’re hiding things──about who you are, everything. That info about the thorn beast? It’s connected to your secrets, isn’t it?”
’That’s right. So don’t ask questions. It’s better for both of us.’
”No──it’s definitely not good for me.”
Kian peeled off ‘glasses’ from his face and placed them on his palm.
”‘Glasses’, we need to have an honest talk someday. We’re in this together now. Are you really planning to stay silent until I rot away?”
’That’s the plan, yeah.’
”Then I have no choice but to question that Azraelian merchant who sold you out. Something’s off about him. When we go back to East End──Rean, too──after this…
’Stop…!!’
And that was the first time ‘glasses’ truly screamed──an honestly shook cry that pierced the silence.
The person behind ‘glasses’ shouldn’t have had organs to breathe, yet, perhaps from anxiety, her breaths became distinctly ragged.
’…You are, this one’s Knight,’
Despite inwardly being startled, ‘glasses’ hesitated, then spoke as if a fish bubbling to the surface.
’I do not wish for you to die.’
”Die? You mean if I’m involved with that man, I’ll die? Then I’m already far too involved with him…”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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