Chapter 501
Kukukuku!
Wings of different colors.
The Apocalypse, interwoven in black and white, heralded its prelude.
“…….”
This time, it was Excension’s turn to freeze.
Now that even the Crown of Pureblood had been drawn, there was nothing left to hesitate about.
After all, even the Rankers that humans trusted so deeply had been defeated within minutes.
But now, things were different.
Following Alice’s Unique Holy Spear…
Even that damned human Contractor was using the same Unique Holy Spear.
‘What the hell is going on.’
The Apocalypse of Revelation should have been an ability solely for Alice.
It was hard to believe that a mere player could wield it.
Alice was just as shocked.
“Contractor…”
Who would have thought Jinhyuk could use her Unique Holy Spear?
Alice gazed at Jinhyuk with eyes filled with complicated emotions.
It wasn’t fear or jealousy.
Rather, the fact that she could share one of her most precious things with the most precious person made it feel even more endearing.
“Now the real fight begins. We need to focus.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. As long as I’m with my Contractor, I feel like I can do anything.”
Alice poured out such embarrassing words with ease.
Alice’s figure immediately disappeared.
Buuuuung!
Accelerating with one wing, Alice shot straight toward Excension.
“Fool! I’ve already experienced that ability to the point of exhaustion.”
Excension lowered the tip of his greatsword to the ground.
Kakakakak!
The ground cracked, and sparks burst in every direction.
The blade, dragged along the ground, turned crimson.
[Excension activates Lv?? ‘Accelerated Combustion’!]
Pop!
A flash of sword light.
The aura blade shot forward with instant acceleration, moving too fast for the senses to perceive.
The position of the eyes. The direction of the wrist. The stepping point of the foot.
He predicted the trajectory based on the grueling experience of their endless fights.
Alice raised her rapier diagonally.
Kakakang!
Flames scattered wildly.
…Fast.
Alice smoothly rotated her blade and pointed it toward the sky.
[Alice activates Lv?? ‘Blood Eclipse’!]
A shadow fell over the crimson-stained ring.
A total solar eclipse.
The sun, shrouded in blood, began condensing into a single point.
Its small size should not be underestimated.
Mana compressed to the extreme was far more threatening than a massive mass.
Excension, knowing this, did not stand idly by as the skill completed.
Wiiiiiiing!
Black blood poured from the ‘Crown of Pureblood.’
[‘Coordinate Fixation’ ‘Space Compression’ ‘Mana Amplification’]
Skills triggered in rapid succession.
The finale was the black flame that incinerated everything designated.
Boom!
The area where Alice stood exploded.
“No matter how powerful the attack, it’s meaningless if it’s not completed.”
Excension sneered, watching the thick smoke.
But then.
Within the smoke, he still felt the intense concentration of mana.
“Did you forget? Alice isn’t fighting alone.”
Jinhyuk, with his black wings fully spread, blocked Excension’s attack.
Having absorbed most of the impact, Alice could now focus solely on completing her Eclipse.
[Eclipse – ‘Night that Swallows the Day’ activates!]
First, the vision disappeared.
As everything visible turned into darkness—
From above…
…to below.
A red line descended.
“……!?”
Excension hastily shielded himself with his greatsword.
At the same time.
Kwakakakakakakakak!
A sword strike that seemed to split the entire continent crossed the centipede tunnels.
⁕ ⁕ ⁕
“Damn it….”
The senior administrator, who was watching everything with growing anxiety.
Hastings nervously bit his nails.
No matter how much effort they put into preparation, Kang Jinhyuk always surpassed their expectations by a wide margin.
As if he had foreseen everything.
And prepared even beyond that.
‘To think that even the Crown of Pureblood can’t easily secure the upper hand.’
The fact that this was happening even without the opponent donning the Crown of Tyranny was no good sign.
Hastings’ gaze settled on Excension.
Thanks to the crown, the damage from Alice’s attack just now wasn’t too severe.
However.
‘This won’t do.’
If the fight continued like this, the odds of winning were at best fifty-fifty.
He had no intention of betting everything on such a slim chance.
In that case…
“Lady Tamia.”
Hastings called the Red Dragon.
“Yes?”
“It seems you’ll have to join the battle.”
“In that fight? Me?”
“Yes. If we want to ensure victory, it seems necessary.”
“Well, that’s true, but if I intervene now, that guy will completely lose it, you know? He’s fighting with his pride on the line.”
Tamia shrugged her shoulders.
The stronger the species, the more things they could never concede.
As a proud dragon, Tamia understood that better than anyone.
If she clumsily intervened, Excension’s wrath would surely be directed at her too.
“Hmm. If that’s really the case, then there’s no helping it… Oh, and this is just a side note, but I heard the Dragon Lord plans to pass the position to the Green Tribe. They’re citing the Red Tribe’s lack of harmony and balance as the reason.”
“You…!”
Tamia growled, baring her teeth.
He had struck a sensitive nerve, so naturally, she bristled.
“Don’t forget the contract we made.”
Hastings drew a clear line without hesitation.
“I don’t care about pride or dignity. And I absolutely cannot tolerate letting things fall apart over such trivial matters.”
What mattered was winning this fight and wiping out the Veteran Corporation.
The purpose and the means could be dealt with later.
“And you don’t have to worry too much. The Excension I know would rather die than lose.”
“Damn it, fine. You’d better be right.”
Tamia, reluctantly, prepared to move.
Wuuuuung!
Mana was infused into a spear made of bone.
[The Ancient Spear ‘Brynhilda’ awakens!]
A spear made from the bone of the ancient dragon ‘Brynhilda.’
Though countless eons had passed since its death, the grandeur imbued in the ancient dragon’s bone had not lost its majesty.
The target was Jinhyuk.
If Jinhyuk, the central pillar of the contract with Alice, fell, Alice would naturally be incapacitated as well.
⁕ ⁕ ⁕
Kwang! Kwakwakwakwak!
The surrounding area was turned into a wasteland by the storm-like barrage of sword strikes.
‘Seriously, this guy is insanely tough.’
Jinhyuk clicked his tongue as he looked at Excension.
The absurd regeneration boosted by the Crown of Pureblood.
While the attack power itself was troublesome, the truly annoying part was his ability to instantly heal any wounds.
“Stop running around like a rat and fight me head-on!”
Excension spread his palm.
Kwaaajik!
The congealed blood massed into a massive square.
In less than a second, it split into hundreds of shards flying in every direction.
Dodging all of them individually was impossible.
Blocking them all was out of the question too.
[Alice activates Lv?? ‘Blood Shield’!]
An endless crimson shield unfurled before Alice.
Pupupupupuk!
As blood clashed against blood, countless shockwaves rippled across the shield.
“……!!”
A tremor ran through Alice’s pupils.
She realized her shield was gradually being corrupted.
“Is it… being absorbed?”
“Kuhahaha! That’s right! This is the power of the crown!”
Excension burst into laughter.
As he said, when it came to a battle of blood against blood, Alice could never surpass Excension.
As long as that crown existed.
‘But that’s exactly why I’m here.’
Swoosh.
Chak!
Jinhyuk, gripping two daggers in reverse, prepared to move again.
Against a long weapon, closing the distance was key.
To settle this, he would have to take some risks.
Thus…
Jinhyuk opened a subspace.
[You have equipped the ‘Crown of Tyranny’!]
Only those who wore a crown could counter another crown.
He had to finish this before Excension fully adapted to the Crown of Pureblood.
Tap.
Straight ahead.
Excension tried to gather blood droplets again to block Jinhyuk.
But by the time the blood droplets shot forward, Jinhyuk was already behind Excension.
“What… such speed!”
Excension, too slow to react, hastily turned his head.
He had underestimated the power Jinhyuk now possessed, enhanced by the Apocalypse of Revelation’s black wings and the Crown of Tyranny.
And he would pay dearly for that mistake.
But just then.
Buuuuung!
A terrifying sound of something ripping through the air struck his eardrums.
Something was coming.
Jinhyuk instinctively unleashed ‘Glacial Sculpting’ toward the source of the sound.
A wall of ice several meters thick—enough to easily block a thrown weapon…
…Crunch!
The ice wall shattered like fragile glass.
The bone spear was far from an ordinary thrown weapon.
Was that the spear made from the bone of the ancient dragon Tamia brought?
The perfect timing to catch Excension off-guard had, ironically, turned into an opportunity for someone else.
But at that very moment.
Another anomaly occurred.
[Divinity ‘Howling Thunder’ descends!]
Kururung… Kwakwakwang!
Amidst the lightning, a muscular man wielding a massive hammer appeared.
When Thor extended Mjölnir forward, the incoming spear stopped as if frozen in midair.
“Since the senior administrator intervened this deeply, I guess it’s only fair for me to get involved too.”
The Lord of Thunder.
The most tyrannical god from Norse mythology had taken Jinhyuk’s side.
“Thank you for the help.”
“Kuhaha! I’m glad I could be of assistance. Leave that dragon to me. If necessary… I’ll even deal with the senior administrator. Though I can’t hold him off for too long.”
Thor glanced up at the sky.
There, Hastings was glaring down, his face twisted in shock and rage.
“Lord Thor… After you completely burned down Yggdrasil, did you burn your brain too? If Olympus finds out you’re here, the warriors will swarm you like hornets, you know?”
Hastings hurled a veiled threat at Thor.
A subtle warning that if he didn’t flee now, he’d be turned into a pincushion.
“Yeah, probably. But.”
This time, Thor posed a question to Hastings.
“Do I look like someone who would flinch at those small fries?”
Such cheap threats would not work on him.
⁕ ⁕ ⁕
With Tamia now tied down by Thor, Excension was completely left on his own.
Excension muttered with a voice filled with irritation.
“Nothing ever goes as planned with these bastards. Fine. There’s no reason for me to play along with this anymore. It’s a pity I can’t tear them apart solely with my own hands, but this way is more efficient.”
There was no reason to stubbornly walk the hard path.
Pride could be satisfied as long as he killed the two before him.
Excension pulled out a sigil representing the House of Ataraxia.
An authority reserved only for direct heads of the family.
[‘Bloodline Summoning’ activates!]
Wuuuuung!
A massive gate appeared behind Excension.
Step. Step.
The sound of hundreds of vampires marching followed.
“Ooooooh! Look at that. The idiot True Ancestor walks into his own grave!”
“Just give the order, Lord!”
“We’ll bring you Alice’s head!”
The haughty blood kin bared their claws.
Their eyes, brimming with greed, clearly showed their intention to earn Excension’s favor by scoring achievements.
“Now, what are you going to do? You struggled against just me—how will you handle this many?”
Excension shouted proudly, looking over the ranks lined up on both sides.
However, Alice did not respond to his provocation.
Instead, she quietly pulled out an old, worn sigil from her bosom.
She had waited only for this moment.
Ever since she had been trapped in the corridor… continuously.
[‘Bloodline Summoning’ activates!]
Another gate opened.
Belus, along with Alice’s direct bloodline members—and vampires who later joined from the Decasus family, including Ophelia, appeared.
“You summoned us, my Lord.”
Belus bowed his head before Alice.
