novelraw Chapter 115 : Chapter 115
Chapter 115 : Chapter 115
Chapter 115. Venae Sigillum (4)
The moment Mortubius' hollow eyes turned to Noctavira, I gave her the signal.
It was now her turn to act.
“Now, Noctavira! Show him your power!”
Simultaneously with my shout, an intense beam of light shot from Noctavira's hand.
It was not pure magic power, but a strange and unstable energy, as if life and death, light and darkness were mixed.
It was far from the overwhelming destructive power of Anonymous or Noemi, but that light was like a deadly poison to the ghost, Mortubius.
‘As expected, the game's setting was not wrong. It’s less than a tenth of Noemi’s magic power, but at this moment, it’s the only attack that works on him.’
The beam of light struck Mortubius' translucent body.
“Kuaargh!”
A painful scream erupted for the first time.
His form distorted severely and swayed unstably.
Noctavira did not stop.
She stretched out her two hands and fired a continuous wave of unstable energy, like a storm.
Every time the beam of light touched him, Mortubius' body became fainter, and his screams echoed throughout the cave.
Her attacks were not flashy, but they were persistent and accurate.
As if to release a long-held grudge, she fiercely poured out her attacks.
How much time had passed?
Finally, Mortubius could no longer endure and raised his two hands to declare his surrender.
His voice had lost its former dignity and was filled with pain and pleading.
“Stop! Stop it! I have lost!”
He gasped for breath with a pained face.
But Noctavira seemed to have no intention of stopping.
Her eyes were still blazing, and a powerful energy was gathering in her two hands again.
I hurriedly stopped her.
“That’s enough! Stop, Noctavira!”
Despite my shout, she did not intend to stop her attack.
I quickly approached her, grabbed her wrist, and shook my head.
Only then did Noctavira flinch and seem to come to her senses, her face filled with bewilderment as she realized what she was about to do.
“W-what was I just……”
Her eyes wavered in confusion.
I could roughly understand her feelings.
She was probably unable to hide her surprise at properly wielding magic for the first time since turning human.
Also, having unilaterally pushed back the ghost of the progenitor, who looked strong at a glance, she must have been intoxicated by the pleasure and lost her reason.
But if he were to perish here, there would be no point in coming to this place.
Venae Sigillum was an item essential to realizing my ideals.
I let go of Noctavira's hand and approached Mortubius.
His form was much fainter than before.
“Now, give me what you promised.”
He reached out his hand into the air with a bitter face.
A faint light gathered at his fingertips, and soon, a small bracelet emitting a soft glow appeared.
“It is my complete defeat. Take it.”
As he held out the bracelet, his form began to fade even more.
His form slowly disappeared like the morning mist.
He used his last strength to leave these words.
“Please, use this for the peace of all races……”
With those words, the ghost of Mortubius completely vanished.
I looked down at the Venae Sigillum left in my hand.
A cold, yet peaceful energy could be felt from the faintly glowing bracelet.
‘How ironic. To think that the King of Vampires dreamed of peace for all races.’
But I had to prove that his dream was not in vain.
‘I promise. I will surely inherit your will and build a new paradise in Lumen Fortis.’
I made a vow to myself and carefully placed Venae Sigillum in my pocket.
With the hope that he had peacefully passed on.
***
The back of Anonymous, transformed into a dragon, was as comfortable as a carpet flying above the clouds.
But Noctavira's mind was still shrouded in a fog of turmoil.
She blankly recalled what she had experienced deep within the ruined castle a little while ago.
‘What was that power?’
Her magic power itself was certainly not strong.
She had lost most of her power as a Progenitor when she turned human.
Even in her past self, she wouldn't have been able to stand up to the ghost of the first king.
But her strange attack had overwhelmed the ghost of Mortubius, against whom no physical force or magic had been effective.
‘He suffered as if he had met a natural enemy.’
Was something she didn't know hidden within her body?
Or did the change called ‘humanization’ grant her an unexpected power?
She didn't know.
What was more confusing was the existence of Frank.
The long-held wish of the progenitor.
The existence of Venae Sigillum.
Even her own characteristic of being able to fight ghosts.
He knew all of this.
Like an actor reading a written script, he led her without hesitation and produced results.
‘I must not go against his words.’
She was scared.
But at the same time, a strong sense of respect welled up.
That unfathomable wisdom and power.
He felt like a being on a much higher plane, incomparable to someone like her.
‘Where on earth are his eyes looking? What kind of world is he trying to create?’
While she was lost in such thoughts, the group had arrived above the familiar Luminia castle.
But the scene unfolding below the castle walls was still tragic.
The fighting had stopped, but the vampires were still wary of each other, looking up at the dragon in the sky with anxious eyes.
Hope, doubt, and fear were mixed in their gazes.
“The dragon has appeared again!”
“Could it be that Her Majesty the Queen has returned?”
“Tsk. You’re here again? What is it this time.”
The sound of murmuring could be heard faintly.
Just then, Frank gave a low instruction to Noemi.
“Noemi, imbue Venae Sigillum with as much magic power as you can. So that it can reach all of them.”
Noemi nodded as if she understood and put the bracelet Frank handed her on her wrist.
As she injected her magic power, Venae Sigillum began to emit a dazzling platinum-colored light.
Fwoooosh-!
The light instantly amplified, becoming a halo as bright as the sun, and exploded outwards,spreading widely over the entire castle, no, the entire territory of Luminia.
The moment the beam of light touched them, a strange phenomenon began to occur among the vampires below.
“Huh? Strange. I suddenly don't feel the craving for blood.”
“M-me too. What is this?”
“Strange. I feel like my body has become lighter.”
Above the confused vampires, Frank ordered Anonymous to land.
As the giant dragon landed in the square in front of the castle walls, the vampires looked at them with eyes mixed with awe and fear.
Frank dismounted from the dragon's back, stood proudly before them, and shouted in a dignified voice.
“From now on, you are no longer vampires who crave human blood!”
The vampires stirred.
Frank held up the Venae Sigillum in his hand high.
“With this Venae Sigillum created by your progenitor, Mortubius, that blind impulse to suck blood has disappeared! Now, you have been given a choice!”
His voice echoed throughout the square.
“Will you follow us to the utopia your progenitor so desired, Lumen Fortis, where all races live together in harmony! Or will you remain here and be absorbed by the Lich King’s undead army and become eternal slaves! Choose!”
Despite this, some vampires could not hide their anxiety.
“But if we leave this place, won't there be the undead army led by the Lich King……”
Frank shook his head firmly.
“No. He and his forces are no longer near the Demon Territory. The troops that invaded Luminia were just a decoy; their main force has already headed elsewhere. I have confirmed this multiple times.”
At his confident words, the vampires’ faces brightened.
Hope and determination gradually began to fill their eyes.
Finally, an elderly vampire noble stepped forward and knelt.
“We will follow you!”
Starting with his shout, most of the vampires in the square pledged their loyalty to Frank. Frank smiled with satisfaction and said.
“Good. A wise choice. Follow me! I will lead you to a new era!”
Finally, the great migration of the entire vampire race began.
Noctavira watched Frank's back as he proudly led the people at the forefront.
She suddenly realized.
It was not the queen of dragons, Anonymous, who had saved them.
‘The true savior was not Anonymous, but Frank.’
Her red eyes were now filled with respect, awe, and absolute loyalty towards Frank.
No, not just her, but all of those who were once her people were emitting the same gaze.
***
Meanwhile, at the training ground of Lumen Fortis.
Adel gasped for breath and readjusted her grip on the twin swords, Anceps.
Sweat trickled down her chin, but her gaze did not waver in the slightest.
Alvarez, standing opposite her, also kept his guard up with his sword pointed.
‘I must become stronger.’
The recent series of events, especially the kidnapping of Master Anonymous, had given Adel a great shock and stimulus.
The regret that if she had been just a little stronger, if she could have been a help to her father, washed over her painfully.
So she had been devoting herself to one-on-one training with Alvarez almost every day recently.
Clang! Kaklang!
The sound of swords clashing once again echoed through the training ground.
Alvarez looked at the sweat-drenched Adel with a worried gaze and said a word.
“It would be best to stop here. You might really collapse at this rate.”
“I’m fine! Don’t worry about me and continue!”
Adel shouted, breathing heavily.
It was still not enough.
This was not enough.
She gripped Anceps even tighter and charged at Alvarez once again.
The two of them clashed swords without rest.
It was then.
A familiar voice suddenly echoed in her head.
Adel paused for a moment.
‘Ceps?’
It was the voice of Ceps, the male ego of the two egos residing in Anceps.
“What did you say?”
Ceps' voice seeped into Adel's heart like sweet poison.
He said that if she entrusted the control of her body to him, she could reach the ultimate state a swordsman could achieve, the unity of sword and mind.
The power Adel so longed for.
“Is that really possible?”
At that moment, An's urgent voice cut in.
Ceps ignored An’s plea and whispered to Adel.
Adel wavered for a moment.
The strength in her hand gripping the sword tensed and relaxed repeatedly.
‘It’s a very tempting offer.’
But at the same time, she felt a sense of foreboding.
Was it really okay to entrust herself to these swords?
As she hesitated, wondering what to do, she heard a familiar voice.
“What are you doing here?”
It was Iris.
She was looking at Adel with her arms crossed and her characteristic cynical expression.
Adel let out a sigh of relief without realizing it and approached Iris.
And she confessed about the dangerous offer Anceps had just made.
Her worries, her desire to become stronger, and the anxiety she felt.
Iris listened to Adel’s story without a word.
Her usual sharp sarcasm was nowhere to be found.
After hearing everything, she looked deeply into Adel’s eyes for a moment.
A strange expression that was hard to read flashed across her face.
Iris slowly opened her mouth.
“So. What do you want to do?”
As her question scattered, all flow held its breath, waiting for Adel’s decision.
Only the damp summer wind passed by their backs, leaving a quiet trace.