Chapter 78

Chapter 78
## Chapter 78

Brokoslack Clan (5)

“…Truly remarkable, Clan Lord.”

Heinz observed the severed limb resting in Mulo’s grip before lifting his gaze to meet the leader’s eyes.

It appeared that every physical attribute—strength, velocity, awareness, and concealment—had been elevated past ordinary constraints by channeling the entire strength of the boundary directly into his own form.

He must have resorted to this strategy after realizing that his sanguine sorcery held little sway over Heinz.

‘This technique clearly demands a devastating toll from the user.’

Yet, given the enduring vitality inherent to a True Blood vampire, he would likely withstand the physical backlash for a considerable duration.

It was an incredibly thorny predicament.

‘Did I strike prematurely?… No, this was the most viable path. The ruler’s capabilities far outstripped my assessments.’

Regardless of how carefully he masked the situation, the irregularities among his kin would inevitably come to light.

He had enlisted Freesia’s aid specifically to delay that revelation as long as possible, though it was merely a fleeting fix.

‘I believed it would be far more effective to strike him unawares, catching him completely off guard before any alarms could be raised… ’

Because of that choice, he had successfully made it to Mulo’s inner sanctuary without facing any resistance.

The sole miscalculation lay in Mulo’s level of readiness, an element he could not have anticipated solely through Freesia’s briefing, which vastly exceeded his predictions.

“Pant— Pant— I shall conclude this with utmost speed.”

Whoosh—

The detached arm clutched by the wheezing Mulo was suddenly enveloped in crimson flames.

He discarded it onto the floor without a second thought.

Even before the ablaze limb could touch the ground,

Whoosh—

The sharp whistle of sliced air vibrated through the space.

Yet, because he had kept his gaze locked onto his opponent without shifting for a single heartbeat, he managed to react instantaneously the moment the leader vanished from view.

Employing “Acceleration”, he narrowly evaded five razor-like talons that tore through the air directly ahead of him.

Without a moment’s pause, he launched his left fist straight toward the vulnerability his heightened perceptions had detected, but…

Clang!

The strike failed to breach that ironhide flesh, yielding nothing but a shower of friction sparks.

‘Incredibly resilient. Is this the same wall those who faced Heinz ran into?’

Mulo’s right hand lashed out once more, cleaving through the atmosphere as if completely disregarding Heinz’s counteroffensive.

Though incantations were his primary discipline, Mulo remained a vampire with centuries of existence behind him.

Even if his martial prowess fell short of Freesia or Obor, his physical maneuvers were terrifyingly formidable.

Just as Heinz prepared to shift away once more, his limbs suddenly locked in place.

‘What? What is this?!’

Thorny, blood-red brambles erupted from the floorboards, wrapping tightly around his lower limbs.

Heinz’s raw power severed them in a split second, but that brief window allowed Mulo’s advance to hit its mark.

“Haa!”

He slammed his left palm against Mulo’s wrist, pooling every ounce of his available sanguine sorcery into the impact to redirect the incoming trajectory.

Before he could pull back his mangled left limb, Mulo’s sharpened left digits thrust directly toward his life core.

Trapped in a critical juncture where evasion was impossible due to his compromised balance…

Heinz contorted his torso to shield his vital center as best he could, desperately throwing forward his ‘right arm’ to intercept the lethal plunge.

Splat—!

His right limb was completely severed as the razor-like talons tore cleanly through it.

Once again, his right arm ended up clutched in Mulo’s left hand.

“Pant— Pant— Huh…? What mockery is this?”

Mulo, stumbling slightly from the exertion, stared down at the dismembered limb in his grasp with utter bewilderment, struggling for breath.

The scene was identical to moments before.

“Your… your limb?”

His features twisted into a horrific grimace as dark fluid leaked from his vision and nostrils, his gaze darting frantically between the arm in his fist and the one still incinerating on the floorboards.

Both were unmistakably right arms.

Yet that was not the end of the anomaly.

“Hmm? Ah— You are referring to this?”

Heinz casually raised his right arm toward the leader, casually flexing his digits.

He was displaying a pristine, unblemished limb that had fully reformed through the effects of “Super Regeneration”.

Mulo stood completely speechless, his gaze bouncing back and forth between Heinz’s discarded limb in his grip and the freshly materialized arm.

Naturally, True Bloods possessed the capacity to regrow lost appendages, but never with such instantaneous execution.

How could a severed piece of flesh sprout back so rapidly, akin to a shifting mass?

“What manner of lineage flows within you to grant such traits? A lesser sect of the Brokoslack? Utterly absurd…!”

Mulo bared his fangs, bringing the severed flesh close to his nose to draw in its scent.

He recognized the core foundation as belonging to the Brokoslack lineage, even if it had undergone deep modification.

It appeared the information Freesia shared earlier was not entirely fabricated.

“…Something is amiss.”

However, an intense feeling of discord emanated from the fluid.

The root framework was familiar, but that was where the similarities ended.

The rest was comprised of an ‘element’ he found entirely incomprehensible.

‘Can a subordinate branch’s essence be corrupted to this degree? Such a phenomenon doesn’t manifest even through the act of consuming a rival family’s kin… ’

The divergence was foundational.

It presented a cascade of paradoxes, a situation defying all logic.

Frustration washed over him.

Garing intensely at Heinz across from him, he tentatively tasted the fluid weeping from the detached limb.

It was standard practice for those of Pureblood rank or higher to decipher an adversary’s nature by ingesting a fraction of their essence.

For a True Blood like himself, it should have posed no danger.

…It ought to have been safe.

Instead, it proved catastrophic.

“Ugh—! Ugh… Ugh—!”

Thud—! Splat—!

Mulo disgorged a torrent of dark fluid, followed immediately by an absolute deluge.

“W-what sorcery is this…?”

The minute quantity of fluid he had ingested spread like wildfire through his internal pathways, warping his own essence.

Had it been a simple toxin, he could have managed… but the true peril lay in the staggering density of consciousness locked within that fluid.

[My grand purpose…]

[The Blood Alliance…]

[Absolute dominion…]

[………]

Overwhelmed by the mental weight, he was forced to purge every drop of fluid that had come into contact with Heinz’s essence.

‘Tens? Hundreds? How can his vessel contain such an agonizingly corrupt essence without collapsing?’

To a vampire, this was the ultimate venom.

He had never conceived that such an existence could walk the earth.

The sheer shock disrupted his internal focus, fracturing the artificially boosted state he had achieved by compressing the boundary’s power, even if only for a flash.

‘Curse it…!’

By the time his compromised awareness snapped back to reality, the opening had already been seized.

Stab—!

“Gah!”

“Have you remained isolated in your chambers for so long that your combat instincts have withered? Pausing to deliberate for such a duration in the heat of battle?”

Granted, this delay was measured by their extraordinary standards.

His focus had fractured for a mere three seconds.

Yet at their tier of execution, such a window provided ample time to trade blows dozens of times over.

It was more than enough time for Heinz to close the distance to the vulnerable Mulo and drive his hardened palm straight into the leader’s life core.

“Clan Lord—! Out of my path, Freesia!”

“You will be dealing with me for the time being.”

Freesia, having already incapacitated the remaining vampires, stepped forward to intercept the charging Obor.

Matching the swift velocity of an assassination expert was an impossible feat for her in the past, yet she achieved it now, empowered by the augmentation of the “Refined Blood Essence”.

“Ugh— You miserable wretch!”

Heinz dissolved his forward momentum instantly as Mulo, his life core shattered, lashed out blindly with his talons.

He could have pressed his advantage to strike a finishing blow while the leader’s internal power fluctuated, but there was little wisdom in engaging in close-quarters brawling now that the opponent had restabilized his stance.

As Heinz backed away, the cavity in Mulo’s torso rapidly mended itself via his extraordinary healing capacity.

Nevertheless, the strike had not been without consequence.

“Ugh— Cough! Pant— Pant—”

Vision, nostrils, mouth, hearing pathways.

Mulo’s state, coughing violently with dark fluid weeping from all seven facial pathways, made it abundantly clear that his endurance was fast approaching its limit.

—

Clank—

“Ugh! Y-you…!”

The pair of discarded right limbs dissolved into pooling fluid, reshaping into two thick, crimson restraints that bound Mulo securely from head to toe.

Benefiting from Heinz’s incredible durability, the arm that had been subjected to the blaze for so long had only sustained superficial scorching to its outermost layer.

‘Phew… The matter is concluded.’

Heinz released a soft breath, casting his gaze downward.

Mulo, having drained his reserves to the dregs and with his boundary invocation shattered, lay there panting heavily, utterly devoid of the strength required to break free.

Boom—!

Concurrently, the intense clash between Freesia and Obor occurring on the opposite side of the chamber reached its resolution.

The victor was undeniably Freesia.

The disparity in raw capabilities provided by the “Refined Blood Essence” proved overwhelming, and she held a distinct structural advantage as a direct combatant facing a stealth specialist.

Drag, drag—

Lifting the unconscious youth by the collar of his garment, she strode over.

“It appears your conflict has ended. I have just concluded matters on my end as well.”

Freesia offered Heinz a confident smile, her expression brimming with pride.

She appeared thoroughly gratified by the true scope of her power, having tested it directly in actual combat.

“Ah! Furthermore, I merely incapacitated the remaining kin rather than ending them. It posed little difficulty once the boundary’s suppression dissipated.”

She likely harbored a reluctance to slaughter those of her own lineage, and since their future endeavors would demand significant labor, maximizing their numbers was the logical path.

Heinz gave her a brief nod before turning his attention back to the bound Mulo.

He deliberated internally on the safety of exposing the leader to the “Refined Blood Essence” under these conditions.

Freesia was visibly beneath him in terms of both sorcerous capacity and raw presence…

Yet Mulo remained a formidable entity.

In truth, his reservoir of sanguine power surpassed her own.

“Very well, let us proceed with the attempt.”

Heinz, concluding his internal debate regarding the leader’s fate, yanked the restraints to pull the man upright.

He then leaned in close to the target’s neck.

“You… what do you intend…”

“I am claiming the mantle of the Clan Lord.”

Stab—

Elongated fangs pierced deep into Mulo’s throat.

—

A subterranean vault constructed of stone, buried deep within the earth.

A lone form rested within the absolute, airtight darkness where the air itself hung entirely motionless.

Twitch!

A minute movement rippled through the figure who had lain motionless as a corpse within the silent chamber.

His digits stirred faintly, and his locked lips twitched before parting by a fraction.

“…Ah…”

A gravelly, fractured sound scraped through the sealed stone chamber.

“Aah…”

The voice cleared itself through a few rough coughs, eventually regaining its natural resonance.

Subsequently, two pinpricks of crimson light flickered to life within the absolute void.

“What transpires?”

The entity whispered into the void.

He perceived a foreign shift in the world, yet the exact nature of the change eluded him.

His cognitive processes remained clouded, weighed down by an pervasive lethargy.

“Ah, the fatigue remains…”

He had rumbled back to consciousness far ahead of his intended awakening cycle, leaving him unable to fully break free from his state of deep stasis.

His eyelids, which had barely parted, grew heavy once more and slid shut.

“…I shall return to my rest for a while longer.”

The pair of crimson sparks that had cut through the void faded away, leaving the subterranean stone chamber to sink back into profound, unbroken stillness.

—

A multitude of days had elapsed since Harris commenced his journey along the ‘Forest Path’ alongside the Elven folk.

As they pressed onward, alternating between marching and refining their techniques, Rapori, maintaining the lead, looked back over his shoulder to offer the companions a encouraging look.

“Our destination is nearly within reach. Only a short distance remains.”

Yet, no visible alteration manifested in their immediate environment.

The ethereal, dreamlike woodland trail they had traversed for days on end stretched out continuously before them.

“Wow! Truly? Then the great World Tree will be visible shortly?”

Cecily, who had been diligently sharpening her skills through sparring sessions with Harris, inquired with gleaming eyes.

Hailing from the Ion Continent, she had never laid eyes upon it before, leaving her visibly thrilled by the prospect of encountering the legendary entity.

‘Furthermore, this signifies that Cecily will imminently ascend to the rank of a High Elf.’

Setting foot at the base of the World Tree represented the ultimate trial for any individual deemed worthy of the High Elf lineage.

“Indubitably. The World Tree will grant you a benevolent reception as well, Cecily.”

Rapori, fully cognizant of the gravity of the occasion, mirrored her enthusiasm with a warm smile.

Their arduous trek was finally drawing to a close, and they were on the verge of witnessing the culmination of their efforts.

Following that exchange, the travelers advanced along the woodland path for several additional hours, their anticipation palpable.

And at long last…

The supernatural path they trod began to shift, blending back into the features of a natural forest landscape…

“Wow~!”

Harris stared upward in absolute silence at the panoramic view, Cecily’s breathless gasp serving as the backdrop to his awe.

An arboreal entity of cosmic proportions, completely shattering any normal sense of scale, loomed directly in front of him.

“Approaching the World Tree directly via the Forest Path is discouraged unless circumstances demand urgency. This principle holds even greater weight for you, Cecily, as this journey serves as your rite of ascension.”

The trail leading toward the World Tree functioned as a sacred crossing.

The pilgrimage itself—drawing near that monumental titan with profound reverence and a tranquil spirit—constituted a critical phase of the transformation.

‘Its scale is so immense that I must tilt my head completely back just to view it, even though a vast distance still separates us… ’

An overwhelming sense of smallness and wonder washed over him.

It was evident that reaching the trunk itself would still require a fair amount of travel, yet that reality paled in comparison to the sheer reverence anchoring him to the spot.

In that defining moment, Harris finally set foot within the borders of the Elven Kingdom situated upon the Enamel Continent.