Chapter 62: Sebancia Duke (2)

༺ Sebancia Duke (2) ༻

The spear stormed forth in a straight line.

The sharp stab of the spear was that of Shura which had allowed its user to defeat several enemies until now.

- Kang!

"Kuhk...!"

But this time, it was Korin Lork who had to retreat after the attack. Despite clashing their weapons dozens of times, there was no change on who had the advantage.

Carrying his enormous cross-shaped sword, Sebancia Duke remained firm like a fortress and Korin Lork's arduous attempt at breaking through his defense was all in vain.

"..."

This was already his 10th attempt to close the distance but Sebancia Duke held off against it with ease.

Originally, a spear was supposed to have the upper hand over a sword in terms of reach. Even though it would usually be the sword that tries to close the distance, this time it was the other way around because of the 2-meter-long greatsword in Sebancia's hands.

'A sword that big should be slow but...'

They should either be slow or there should be gaps between the swings - even though that was the common belief for those enormous swords, Sebancia Duke had none of it.

Whenever Korin stabbed with the long spear, Sebancia Duke swung his greatsword in a heavy curve. It was obvious that the stab should be faster and in fact, it indeed was faster but...

'This is strange. Why is he always making it in time?'

His sword always found the spear and flung it away with sheer power.

"Are you puzzled, brat?"

When Korin stopped his feet and stayed on the spot, Sebancia opened his mouth.

"You are over-confident on the strategic element of your weapon. Do you think you will win even if you do close the distance? It won't work no matter how many times you try."

"Are you saying it's because of a difference of experience?"

"Hmph. That's not the main reason but that is also true."

"...Then what is the main reason?"

"You have no principle."

"..."

"The momentary physical enhancement by relying on the Aura Core is definitely interesting. It's the way of the shadow warriors. However, is your 'spearmanship' supposed to be used for subduing enemies through force?"

"...!!"

After hearing that, Korin halted his feet in enlightenment and canceled the Shura mode.

"Okay. Let's go again."

His body was warmed up already.

It was possible to enter the Domain as long as he wasn't in the Shura mode.

————————

In a suspended world; inside the Domain, Korin Lork's spear was the only one moving.

A step in this suspended world could exceed the physical limitations and differences to lead to a devastating attack.

Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon

The silver spear was in the middle of racing towards the heart of Sebancia Duke but—

"???"

It suddenly stopped moving. As if it was being sealed by something... it got locked up in the dimension and refused to move.

'What is going on? Did I fail to enter the Domain?'

In a fluster, Korin unconsciously turned to Sebancia Duke's face and noticed that he was staring into his eyes.

"...!!"

That gave him goosebumps. Seeing him carefully raise the cross-shaped sword, Korin belatedly realized that his enemy was also inside the Domain just like him.

The sword came crashing down, carrying within a dark aura. When that was pouncing at him... Korin saw his impending death.

"Uht...!"

As soon as the Domain cracked, Korin instinctively retreated back. His spear was no longer in his hands and was still stuck in place in the middle of the air as if it was sealed on the spot.

"...Did you place a trap beforehand?" Korin asked.

"Similar, but do you know why I could do that?"

"You have an intuition... that's at the level of foresight."

"There's more."

A jet-black aura emerged out of Sebancia Duke's body. That huge torrent of power was an appalling sight for its contenders - even a cracked dam would be a better thing to turn to in comparison.

"Aura... no, wait. It's something more..."

It was something of a higher caliber... Right; it was at the level of Erin Danua and Tates Valtazar, which Korin could not reach until the very end of the last iteration...

"Look. This is the heaven-defying power - the one I used in my youth to kill a dragon."

❰ Final Demonic Sword Strike - Dragon Killer❱

A dark flash was formed by dragging out all the aura accumulated inside the core. When he carried through with that overwhelming slash— the world immediately got divided into two.

****

"..."

I turned around. The imaginary world created by Sebancia had been clearly divided into two by that attack.

'What a monster.'

It seemed that one had to be at this level to reach the peak of a generation. This was the might of the strongest man from 800 years ago.

'The only ones that can do this are probably the Sword Emperor, Master during the peak of her power and... Tates Valtazar.'

"No matter how you struggle through building technique and reflex skills, you cannot retaliate in front of overwhelming power, brat. You need more fundamental strength to be able to fight against that. You don't even reach the bare minimum right now."

"...And that's why I'm trying hard like I am."

The only things I could rely on were my body and the spear techniques that I learned, but my body wasn't the best one out there. If it was possible for me to get physically strong enough to stand off against the great evil, I would have done it long ago.

In the first place, I was learning spearmanship and carving all sorts of Precepts into my body to make up for that deficit.

"I do like your idea of momentarily enhancing your body to reach that minimum threshold. However, how does it make sense for you to give up on your strongest move just to match yourself with the enemy's power level?"

The strongest move Sebancia was talking about was the Domain.

It indeed was a miraculous move that could flip the outcome of the battle on its toe regardless of the strength of the opponent. Over time, my understanding of the Domain and chances of entering it were increasingly going up but there was a downside.

Like what I experienced during the fight against Fermack, I couldn't enter the Domain during physically enhanced states like when I had the back-up support of Shura and the Precepts.

The abnormal strength filling my body in fact caused me to lose focus and made it impossible for me to enter the Domain, which required utmost concentration.

"It's like an equivalent exchange. If you get one, you have to give up on... huh?"

In the middle of my own speech, I noticed a paradox. Didn't Sebancia Duke...

Sebancia Duke was able to use a restricting spell that was great enough to block a spear inside the Domain, while also moving his own sword inside it. He was able to do two things that both required a great amount of concentration at the same time.

"Have a broader perspective of the world, kid. Don't whinge and think others won't be able to do something just because you can't do it."

"..."

In the end, he was saying that I needed both strength and technique, but I wouldn't be suffering like this if that was so easy.

"I'll give you mine."

"Huh?"

"I'm saying I will give you the Aura Core of mine, Sebancia Duke. That is the only thing I can give from my accursed body."

"Uhh. Why are you so helpful all of a sudden?"

"I thought you were an incredibly mediocre one but seeing your fight... Well, it seems that you have some prospects. And besides... I can see why my soul has made you come to this place."

He said while looking at my Precepts that were now visible due to the aftermath of the fight.

"You have the qualification to be a hero and I can see that. Korin Lork. You have not the usual greed of those who seek power, but conviction and pride."

"Hoh~. Do you feel like respecting me now?"

"You? As if."

"But you... said you respected me back in the library though?"

"My soul must have become emotional after being buried in books the whole time."

Sebancia Duke said while disagreeing with the words of his own soul. That's not a very respectful thing to do, old man!

"However, I will bless you and hope you have a better path waiting for you."

"Is that so."

Saying that, I immediately laid down on the ground because using both Shura and the Domain took a toll on my body. Seeing me nonchalantly lie on the ground, Sebancia looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"How carefree."

"I know you are not the type of person to kill people for no reason. So hurry up and just give me the thing. I'm busy trying to save the world."

"Seriously, what an annoying little brat."

He came up to me and raised his cross-shaped sword.

...Wait, what? But why?

"Hold up! Wait...!"

"Be quiet."

- Stab!

****

The cross-shaped sword pierced through Korin's heart and his blood immediately started flowing the other way.

"Y, you actually stabbed...!"

"Why would I not?"

Korin's heart that had been pulsing rapidly after the arduous battle started slowing down before eventually coming to a stop. What next entered his eyes was Sebancia taking out a small core from his own chest.

"Kuhk... Can't you, just... give it to me normally...!?"

"This will mark the end of my long life. Inherit me, o hero of this generation."

Sebancia's words echoed in his ears but Korin couldn't help but close his eyes.

"You have the right to inherit everything I once had."

His heart was no longer beating.

****

"Korin?"

Inside the Blood Realm opened by Sebancia Duke; when the barrier separating Korin and Marie disappeared and merged their dimensions back into one, the girl with water-colored hair called the boy with a trembling voice.

She saw Sebancia Duke wearing the heroic crimson armor stabbing his sword through Korin's chest.

"N, no... This can't be..."

Her bright and energetic voice started being soaked in melancholy. Her clear and dazzling golden eyes wavered while turning crimson red.

Slowly, while shivering from disbelief, the girl headed to the boy who was bleeding tremendously with his eyes closed.

"You're here," said Sebancia from the side but Marie's eyes weren't on him.

The blood flowing out of the wound that Sebancia opened by himself on his chest couldn't even garner a bit of her attention.

The mere sight of him was simply irritating.

- Crunch!

"?!!"

Marie grabbed Sebancia's arm that was being protected by the crimson armor. The gauntlet was crushed by her superhuman strength which was a surprising sight even for Sebancia.

- Kung!

With her tiny hand, she picked Sebancia up and threw him away like trash. Inside his own Blood Realm, Sebancia was thrown away along with an aftershock that trembled the entire dimension.

- Kwagagang!

His body crashed into the barriers of the Blood Realm. Who would ever believe that that had resulted from a simple show of sheer force?

"Hoh. A mage being this physically strong huh."

Sebancia Duke was fine with not a single extra wound on his body, but even that failed to enter her sight.

"Korin..."

With her eyes fixed on Korin's chest that was still bleeding heavily, Marie tried to move her shivering hands to push the blood back into his body. She knew how meaningless of an act it was and couldn't help but tear up.

She knew very well how animals tended to look upon death. With a pale countenance, their body would go cold with life leaving their eyes. She had seen it time after time.

Because she knew how animals looked when dying, she despaired at the sight of the boy going through that exact same process.

"Korin... Korin, Korin...!"

However, she bellowed without accepting the reality.

"I, I can heal you. I will bring you back to life..."

Marie remembered one of the mighty abilities of a vampire that she read in one of the old books - it was the curse of blood that could forever seal someone. It was the contract of a familiar that could let them survive forever until the death of their master.

"Stop. That is a curse. That is definitely not a way to save him."

"Shut up...!"

Her body fumed with mana in her distress as she glared daggers at Sebancia, who was most certainly the one who caused this.

"Mhmm...!"

That abundance of mana was easily able to suppress Sebancia Duke who no longer had his heart. It was way too much to retaliate against for a heartless vampire who had been sleeping the whole time without drinking any blood.

"I will bring him back to life. I can... Korin can't die here. He won't die."

Marie bit on her tongue to help the dying body of Korin regain a little bit of warmth. The blood from her ripped tongue filled her mouth which she transferred over by aligning her lips with his.

From mouth to mouth - the blood of a Vampire Elder which was at the level of an elixir traveled down Korin's throat without reserve.

Worried that he might choke on it, Marie lifted his head and straightened his throat while constantly supplying him with her blood.

"..."

Sebancia watched that happen with an awkward look on his face. At the same time, he couldn't hide his surprise.

'She's not feeling the urge to drink blood even when in front of such a large pool of blood, huh.'

A vampire's urge to drink blood was stimulated the most at the sight of fresh blood. The blood being pumped out of Korin's chest was enough to create a puddle beneath him, and yet Marie did not spare that puddle a single glance and was immersed in instead sharing her own blood with him.

Was that how important of an existence he was to her? Was he that important for this vampire girl?

"These young romanticists."

Sebancia murmured to himself but he didn't necessarily hate it. Even he was a soul who remained for 800 years just to hear news about his wife and his daughter.

Heroes were actually romanticists and were very sentimental.

"M, mhmm..."

"K, Korin?!"

With the forced injection of the blood of a Vampire Elder, his vitality took a massive leap and his pierced chest regenerated in an instant.

Even though the earnest wish of a vampire to regenerate the boy made her blood act like an elixir of life, even Marie wasn't expecting him to be healed so quickly.

On the other hand, Sebancia Duke made the guess that her blood must have acted in conjunction with the regeneration ability that his soul gave him.

"W, what's going on?"

"Ahh, thank you god. Thank you. Thank you...!"

Marie prayed to god with a pale look on her face. She had never thanked god this much ever in her entire life.

"Haa... Both of you, calm down." Sebancia said as Korin Lork grumbled in response.

"Ugh... Sebancia Duke. Couldn't you have given it to me in a more normal method?"

"That was the fastest method by far. I don't have much time on me."

"Well, that's true but..."

"Nnn??" Noticing that something was off while listening to their conversation, Marie tilted her head.

Sebancia answered her doubt.

"I opened his heart to transplant my core. A short stoppage of the heart is a cheap price to pay in return."

"A, ahht..."

Only then did Marie realize what Sebancia Duke had done to Korin.

A giveaway of life and an inheritance of power. All of that started from the heart, which was the source of all life. It was an advanced magic ritual which was only possible because both of them had incredible vitality and tenacity.

"T, thank goodness... Really. Thank goodness."

After heaving out a deep sigh of relief, Marie hugged Korin who was still lying down on the ground and wailed.

"Umm... Senior?"

Not knowing what was going on, Korin bewilderedly returned her a hug.

"I was worried...! Sniff. Korin, don't ever die on me...! You need my permission to die...!"

"How is that even possible?"

"Promise me! That you won't die without my permission!"

- Grit!!

The power behind her embrace made Korin realize just how serious this girl was. However, the only thing he could do in return was tap her on her shivering back.

****

Opening my eyes, I found Marie in a deep sleep. We were back in Sebancia Duke's office and Marie was sleeping with her arms wrapped around me.

"That... probably wasn't a dream."

A new system message cleared the doubt for me.

『You have acquired the Aura Core of Sebancia Duke.』 『Your Aura Rank will increase due to acquiring a Dual Core』 『You have now gained the Core Attribute: Demon Nature of Duke』 Aura - { Upper Medium (6,730) }

Mana - { Low (5,370) } [Specialty ] - { Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior, Pain Tolerance, Domain Comprehension, Dual Core } Strength:> 83

Agility:> 79

Vitality:> 86

Aura:> 76

Mana:> 76

"...A second core."

Not only did my Aura Rank go up but I also acquired another Aura Core. It even had a special attribute to it...

Maybe... I would be able to do something similar to what Sebancia Duke did with his sword?

"That'd be crazy..."

The grimoire paled greatly in comparison to everything I gained here.

But that raised a different question. Both in the game and the last iteration, why did Sebancia Duke refrain from giving this power over to the player?

What was the difference between me and the player?

『You have my respect』

Those were the last words left behind by Sebancia Duke. Did I have something with me that the player did not have, that made Sebancia change his mind?

"How much better would it have been if he just nicely gave this to me though? That... was a really close call there."

He could have just handed it over without me going through all that stuff. Making people work for nothing... Well, it was probably to test me though.

- Creak!

It was then. Someone came into the office after opening the door.

"Who..."

"Hikk?!"

As if she wasn't expecting anyone to be inside, the visitor was greatly surprised after seeing me. Looking at her maid clothes, it seemed that she was here to clean up the dust.

"M, my apologies! I was not expecting a guest to be...?!!!"

"Ah, sorry. We will be going out very... soon."

What was going on? The maid had a very unusual look in her eyes. With a shiver, she looked back and forth between me and Marie... wait, Marie?

- Hnn hnn.

"Ah..."

Right. This was definitely open for misunderstanding. Yes.

"Wait. This is not what you think it is. Seriously. I know what you're thinking, and whatever you are thinking is wrong."

"K, kiss mark..."

"A kiss mark? Where..."

I unconsciously touched my neck; at the place where Marie inserted her fangs to drink blood. Now that the flesh had grown back up, it was no longer like a wound but it still had red blood clots which probably made it look like flushed skin at a distance.

"Ahhh. That's wrong. You are seriously misunderstanding something. For real. I get what you are thinking but..."

"Apologies for my intrusion! Please have a great time!!"

"W, where are you going?! Hello? Just wait one second!"

............That would definitely create rumors right?

Again, the upper-class society and banquets were places where tongues danced like swords. In other words, rumors tended to spread across at an extremely rapid pace.

"YOUUUU BASSTARDDDD! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY DAUGHTTERRRRR!! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOUUUUUU!!"

It took about 20 days for the misunderstanding to be resolved.

****

Even though there was a small incident... the holiday in the south was overall quite decent.

"Korin... Are you okay?"

"Haha. Well, I do understand. It's normal for fathers with daughters to act like that."

"Hing... Sorry. It's my fault."

After the visit to Sebancia Duke's castle, I had to hide inside the mountain for 20 straight days. I hid in one of Marie's villas and spent time training there.

Avoiding the eyes of wyvern squads patrolling through the skies was definitely not easy, but who am I? I'm a former soldier of the Korean military forces, am I not?

This was probably what all that mountainside training and operations were for.

"But it's great that we resolved the issue towards the end. You came and gave me potatoes here and there as well, so it was quite good."

"Hing... I wanted to give you a better time though."

"I think it was already great."

The last week of holiday was quite literally amazing. Even though I didn't get to visit the famous places of the southern region, I still got to receive all sorts of services in Marie's house.

Especially that massager... he indeed had some superhuman skills. I swear, meridian massages were the best.

"Anyway, the 2nd semester is about to begin. And we'll have to prepare for the festival as well."

"Nn! The Purple Hawk Academy from the eastern continent is going to be coming very soon, after all!"

The festival was where the 4 great academies of the 4 continents each visited one another's academy for a friendly exchange. However, because guardians had an incredible status in this world, it was as popular as the Olympic games, except it was smaller and occurred every year.

It attracted a lot of tourists and was one of the reasons for active tourism.

"Oh right. By the way, the inn is going well with our investment right?"

"Of course it is. Trust me - I will bring it back to you threefold."

"I trust you! You'll be able to do a great job, Korin!"

On the way back to the Academy on a carriage, I thought about Hua Ran's episode which would begin with the 3rd Arc. This was the one that would decide whether we could take her in as an ally or not.

'Whatever the case, I want to make it a happy ending at least.'

It would be great so long as it didn't lead to the worst ending, where she transcends into a Yaksha. Things should go just fine as long as I stop the petty tricks of the spiritualist.

Aside from that, I also had to make some big money from the accommodation investment to get rid of any potential financial problems in the future. There was a mention in the game that there was an abnormally large number of tourists this year so the accommodation industry should return a lot of money.

The lodging fees would skyrocket when tourists are attracted to the festival and after going big, I'll sell the land and save all that money.

You might ask, 'Why don't you borrow from Marie?' but come on! I had my pride as a man as well!

"I am unstoppable! Long live the festival!"

"K, Korin?"

Huhahahaha...! A money dupe bug incoming!!

Unless the planet suddenly did some random shit, and unless a hole was to suddenly appear in the sky, there was nothing that could possibly stop my plan!

- Kwaaaaaaaaa...!!!!!

A storm.

All the paved roads were destroyed; trees of the forest were pulled out and were crushed apart by the unstoppable torrent. An EF5 tornado - the natural disaster we came across right in front of Merkarva City was like a testament of god's wrath.

"W, wut in the world?"

T, this didn't happen in the last iteration though?

"Wow... what a tornado... This might have a huge impact on the festival as well."

Marie tapped me on my shoulder with a pitying look on her face.

"It's okay Korin. It's normal for men to fail once or twice in their lives!"

- Should we write an IOU1"I owe you," is a document that acknowledges the existence of a debt, often viewed as an informal written agreement document though? I will prepare everything and give you a document so all you need to do is sign it! You don't even have to bother checking it!

She added with her eyes glistening as if this was her chance and honestly, it was quite scary.

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