Chapter 141: Ascension Rite (8)
Yet Duke Brad’s阻挡 was utterly futile. The roaring Fire consumed the Stone Pillar—and with it, the Vampire Offspring known as Alykshia, the Symbol of Pride. She was the eldest, most noble, most powerful, and most perfect embodiment of Pride among all the Vampire Offspring. Duke Brad had dreamed countless times of absorbing her, of savoring the intoxicating Strength such a fusion would grant. But now, she was gone.
“End it. All of this.”
The air warped from the searing heat of Fire, shrouded in swirling white smoke. Kai Xiusu closed his mouth with a satisfied sigh, glancing upward at the figure descending from the sky—a vampire, already near the brink of losing sanity.
“No, Alykshia… my only treasure.”
“Die—!”
Duke Brad’s roar grew sharper, piercing, before erupting into a shrill, agonized scream. His body swelled violently, expanding to nearly five meters in height. His pupils turned a deep, blood-red black, his pale skin darkening rapidly toward gray. His fingers elongated into jagged claws, and a massive pair of bat-like wings unfurled from his back—the mark of an incomplete Ascended Vampire transformed into a monstrous Undead.
No longer the noble duke, he stood now like a beast in utter nakedness, his exposed chest bearing a grotesque, pulsing black tattoo. The vampire dissolved into a shadowy wraith, drifting through the sky, tendrils of dark, ghostly limbs writhing from his form, while a sickly green, necrotic fog seeped from his body.
[Wither Spell]
The Undead Energy drained all life and moisture from the living, turning them into sustenance for a Blood Feast.
Kai Xiusu unleashed his First Strike, his eyes flashing with violet arcane radiance as he tracked the monster’s ghostly flight path.
“I see you.”
Just as the fog-wrapped shadow lunged—
[Spell Nullification Barrier]
A shimmering, fragmented barrier flared around Kai Xiusu, calming the chaotic weave of magic and dispelling the Wither Spell. The fog vanished, exposing the vampire’s true, hideous form.
The Red Dragon struck with a thunderous claw, seizing the unsuspecting creature mid-air and dragging it violently down to the ground. Then, with the casual force of crushing a fly, it slammed the vampire into the earth.
The creature thrashed, attempting to break free—but under the Red Dragon’s overwhelming strength, every effort was futile, weak and pathetic.
Rock shattered. The vampire was driven deep into the ground, buried several feet beneath the surface, its body crushed into a pulp.
“No—!”
A blood-curdling wail tore from the creature’s throat as it tried to dissolve into Blood Mist, scattering into the wind. But the Spell Nullification Barrier had turned the surrounding magic weave into an unbreakable wall—no spell could be cast.
Even crushed beneath the Red Dragon’s claw, its body mangled, bones snapped, flesh torn and exposed, the vampire with the Original Sin of Gluttony began to regenerate at an astonishing speed.
Boiling blood surged toward it from the surrounding earth.
As long as the thousands of lives he had consumed over two centuries remained, he could keep resurrecting. No one could kill him.
Fresh flesh and bone sprouted anew, rebuilding the ruined form—only to be crushed again, then regrown, over and over.
Even as his body was torn to shreds, the vampire laughed wildly.
“Crawler… you can’t kill me! I am Immortality! I can endure this forever—until you die!”
Kai Xiusu stared down at him, unmoved.
“A pitiful creature clinging to life… just like a beast.”
A cruel, merciless smile curled at the edge of Kai Xiusu’s lips—one so savage, so utterly devoid of mercy, that even he himself didn’t fully realize its depth. It mirrored the wrath of any Red Dragon unleashed.
“Then I’ll show you what true eternity feels like… what it means to face a death that never comes.”
With a sudden, violent surge, Kai Xiusu’s forelimb exploded with power. Muscles bulged, veins stood out like ropes beneath his skin, and white smoke curled from his flesh.
This was pure, unrefined physical strength—the true mark of a Red Dragon.
Boom!
The Stone Platform groaned as the ground sank beneath the force.
“No use!”
The vampire’s words were cut short as he was crushed again—into a bloody pulp. Blood sprayed, brains burst, bones shattered. A crimson crater formed in the earth.
At this point, even the vampire had lost consciousness. Such wounds required even him seconds to recover.
And then—Kai Xiusu lifted the Spell Nullification Barrier.
His chest pulsed once more with the searing heat of molten lava. A blinding white light flared deep within his throat.
[Extreme Flame Breath]
A column of white-hot fire engulfed the vampire’s mangled form.
But Kai Xiusu did not stop.
The inferno burned on, relentless, scorching the ground, melting the rock beneath into a slow, flowing river of crimson lava—like molten steel fresh from the forge. The vampire was sealed within the pit, trapped in a seething cauldron of fire.
For a brief moment, the creature regained awareness. It felt the barrier’s removal.
But trying to become Blood Mist in the magma was useless. The Evil essence could not escape. It only burned more deeply, prolonging its agony, delaying its next resurrection.
And then—its skin blackened, scorched. Flesh melted away.
Yet, even as it burned, new flesh grew. Then burned again.
“Hmph. Impressive… this undead resilience.”
Even Kai Xiusu had to admit—this vampire’s ability to regenerate, fueled by the Original Sin of Gluttony, was terrifying. The lava’s destruction and his regeneration proceeded in perfect, horrifying synchrony. Charred husks piled around his body like shells.
The vampire writhed in the lava pit, screaming silently.
“Pain…”
“Hurts… so much…”
A faint, guttural whisper rose from the molten depths.
“I curse you… I’d give everything… just to kill you.”
Kai Xiusu felt a sudden, powerful ripple of mana emanating from beneath the magma. His eyes narrowed.
What’s this? Does he still have a trump card?
The Red Dragon swiftly extended its claw, plunging into the pit and yanking the vampire out with effortless strength.
The creature was a horror—its face a charred ruin, limbs twisted, blackened flesh peeling. Magma dripped slowly from its body. Yet, the mysterious tattoo on its chest blazed with an intense, devouring light—drinking in all the surrounding glow.
Brad Lakanman stared straight at the Red Dragon, his burned face twisted into a grotesque, triumphant grin.
“I’m dying…”
“But so are you.”
“You’ll all die.”
With a sudden, violent surge, his eyes snapped wide open. His mouth gaped. Light poured from his eyes, mouth, nostrils, every orifice—his entire body glowing with malevolent energy.
Then—
He exploded.
Not into fragments, but into a thick, swirling mass of malevolent black mist.
This time, it did not reform.
Instead, it rose slowly, drifting toward a distant point in the darkness.
[You have slain 【Bloody Duke - Brad Lakanman】. Gained 13,000 Experience Points.]
The vampire lord who had hidden in the Northern Regions for two centuries, ruling the Duchy of Lakanman with iron grip—was finally extinguished. Kai Xiusu gained a massive reward in experience, yet no joy stirred in his heart. Instead, unease gnawed at him.
“This kind of energy surge…
Damn it—what did he do?”
The Red Dragon’s golden eyes glimmered in the dark, fixed on the retreating black mist. Without hesitation, it spread its wings and gave chase.
(End of Chapter)
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