Chapter 71: 69

༺ A Horrid Puppet Show Starring the Progenitor – 6 ༻ 

  God damn. What a relief to have Azzy. I could do something about a human, but a beast like that? Spare me.

  I’m an ordinary guy. I couldn’t even win a 1 on 1 against an ordinary horse. If I were put up against that huge, undying, filthy strong sanguine steed… I’d just become a puddle of blood, probably. The Regressor might have a way, but not me. I had no choice but to call on Azzy.

  Watching the mythical battle play out in front of me, I muttered to myself.

  “Mm. She’s at a disadvantage.”

  Biting is a dog’s primary method of attack. It aims to latch onto the throat and deliver a decisive blow by shaking and snapping the spinal bones in a single strike. But Azzy was facing the sanguine steed Ralion, a beast transformed into an immortal creature through the vampire’s power. It was an undying monster that could infinitely regenerate lost flesh, even a ripped throat.

  “Thanks to the pseudo-sun, she could win by tearing Ralion apart tens of thousands of times and obliterating his existence, but I doubt Finlay will keep still in the meantime.”

  Azzy would need quite some time to completely eliminate Ralion. The course of victory now rested in my hands.

  “Well, anyway. Azzy has paved the way for us. Are you starting to feel better?”

  In her rampage, Azzy had carved through a path of death and bloodshed. At the end of it, a foolish vampire stood as a puppet, having lost her senses. She was even more of a doll than the puppet I controlled. Tsk-tsk. I couldn’t hide the pity in my voice.

  “Ready to go smack that demented old lady in the head?”

  “…You’re so mean.”

  One of the Regressor’s eyes was crimson as if soaked in blood.

  “I’m ready. I can at least move now. But…”

  Her arms trembled pitifully. The tremor grew worse when she pointed at the vampire with Chun-aeng, so much so that I nearly got a cut standing beside her. Just as I was wondering if this was a new kind of assassination method, she went talking.

  “It’s impossible to point my sword at Tyrkanzyaka. Her Primordial Essence has hidden in every corner of my body. I can attack however I want against other familiars, but when I try to target the master of the Essence, it goes wild and interferes.”

  “Wait a minute. That means?”

  The Regressor turned to me with a desolate face.

  “I don’t want to say this… but please. You’re the only one. I’ll clear the way, so you… you save Tyrkanzyaka.”

  “Me?”

  I looked in the vampire’s direction in a fluster. She wanted me to get past all the dark knights remaining up there, defeat the mastermind Finlay, and wake the vampire?

  Come on. If that were possible, I wouldn’t have been jailed.

  “It’s too heavy a burden for me.”

  “Don’t be… so dramatic. I know all about you hiding your strength.”

  How am I supposed to hide strength I didn’t have in the first place? This isn’t like a debt collector ripping off money. Or what, does power just come out of nowhere if you tell it to?

  While I was left speechless in disbelief, she continued speaking with labored breaths.

  “I know you have ulterior motives. I know you’re concealing your true power! But right now, we need to save Tyrkanzyaka even if it means using that power!”

  The look in her eyes was too sincere and transparent, to the point where I found it hard to believe that she was in the midst of a crisis. How could she place such unwavering trust in another person when confronted with imminent death? 

  Momentarily transfixed by her words, I read her mind.

  ｢｣’If he doesn’t save her. If he takes this opportunity to get rid of Finlay and try to get his hands on Tyrkanzyaka! It should be safe to consider him an enemy from the next cycle onward!’

  I shuddered. My whole future was taken hostage. 

  No, thinking about it, she wasn’t exactly in a crisis. If I acted suspiciously in this life cycle, then I’d be chased down and killed right from the next life. That I had to stop.

  Whew… it seemed I had no choice but to try. For present-me and future-me too. It’s so hard to get freebies in life…

  I shot a glance in the vampire and Finlay’s direction. The small sun cast a red glow, illuminating the ground, and there were gaps among the dark knights thanks to the havoc Azzy had wreaked. The darkness was being slowed before the light, and Finlay was coughing up blood.

  Huh? Hang on. Will this work?

  “Well, if it goes well, I think I might just pull it off.”

  “…Heh. I thought you’d say that.”

  The Regressor grinned even as she bled from her mouth. My shoulders were feeling heavy with responsibility. I didn’t have the ability to end things as awesomely as she expected, but well…

  “You can use magic, yes? Could you cast a spell on me?”

  “But my support magic isn’t particularly impressive. I doubt it’ll help much for those who are already strong.”

  But it does help. 1000 plus 10 is a 1% increase, but 10 plus 10 is a double power-up.

  “…Still, I guess there’s no harm doing it. Wait a second.”

  The Regressor nodded and took out Chun-aeng. The Eight Elements of wind, cloud, rain, dew, ice, snow, thunder, and lightning. It was a magic that channeled the power of the sky and the wind through Chun-aeng, the blade of compressed space. The Regressor took out her only and most powerful support spell of the Eight Elements.

  “Skyblade Art, Gentle Breeze.”

  The space enveloping the sword unraveled entirely, unfurling like scattered threads that delicately wrapped around my body. 

  After squeezing out her mana, the Regressor explained in a strained voice.

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  “All your actions from now on will be accompanied by the blessing of the wind. It will blow wherever you go. Not even a speck of dust can hinder your path. The blessing surrounding you will safeguard your balance against any gust. For now, the wind is on your side. Ride this current.”

  “Great. Now I just need to take out my weapon.”

  While I opened up the bundle on my back, the Regressor gripped Chun-aeng and stepped forward.

  “I’ll buy time. Get ready.”

  The Regressor twisted Chun-aeng slightly. Her sword was a blade without thickness, capable of cleaving through anything, but it proved ineffective against the vampire’s familiar, a creature crafted from darkness and blood. No matter the wounds she inflicted, it could simply reconstruct itself.

  That’s why the Regressor gave up sharpness. Instead, she held onto the broad side of Chun-aeng, revealing its wide surface. Though it lacked thickness, it had width to catch the wind in its spacious blade. Sacrificing its all-cleaving sharpness, she embraced the fierce wind upon it instead. 

  The Regressor murmured the name of her next Art.

  “Skyblade Art, Blade Shapeshift.”

  The wind surged into Chun-aeng as if it had caused a rift in reality, infusing its slender blade with a commanding aura that could fill the abyss. The growl of the wind, akin to the low rumble of a great beast, resonated through the expansive sky like thunder.

  Embraced by the winds, Chun-aeng assumed the form of a colossal fan, causing a resounding vibration. The Regressor lifted the power enveloping her weapon, and…

  “Wave Breaker, Dance of Chaos!”

  She unleashed a sweeping horizontal arc. The next moment, I felt all my hair stand on end. Though invisible to the eye, its presence was palpable—a torrential force that felt more like a whip than wind, a tempest of immensely compressed power. 

  The storm swept through the ranks of the dark knights, scattering them. Even the dense black energies gathered on the ground dispersed like grains of sand in the shape of an arc. Their front line was obliterated in an instant. 

  The Regressor chewed her lips, clutching her chest as she shouted to me.

  “I’ve cleared the way! Go now…!”

  Then she looked my way and staggered in shock.

  “Wait! What are you holding?!”

  “What do you think? I also need a weapon, you know.”

  “How is that a weapon?!”

  Isn’t it obvious? I had stumbled across the weapon while searching for something, anything, to take along. A sword that was most effective at exorcising… No, eradicating the blood of vampires.

  “Behold, the undying’s right arm! The Immortal Righty!”

  “Why do you have that?!”

  “Why?!”

  At that moment, a dark knight, who had been lying flat on the ground to resist the wind, lunged at me. He became a convenient and opportune sandbag. I wielded the undying’s right arm against my approaching adversary, thrusting its wriggling severed section forward. The dark knight attempted to counter with a swing of his sharp sword, but…

  “Immortal Striiike!!”

  The moment the blade of darkness touched the arm, it fell apart like wet sand. The flesh of an earthener was a curse to the blood of vampires. With the undying’s right arm, I contaminated the vampiric power itself and thrust it into the dark knight’s chest without losing momentum.

  In an instant, the dark knight’s entire body turned rigid and began to crumble. His body didn’t regenerate, for blood mixed with impurities was beyond vampiric control.

  Swiftly dispatching the dark knight, I spun the arm and exclaimed for the world to hear.

  “Because this is the ultimate weapon against vampires!”

  For a moment, the Regressor stared on in a daze. Then she started shrieking.

  “It’s an arm, not a weapon! The undying’s right arm!”

  “The body is the sword—That’s what it means to be One With The Blade. How can I perceive it as a separate part of me?”

  “It’s not even your arm!!”

  I lifted the right arm and showed the Regressor how tightly its hand was grasping mine.

  “The pommel was specially made, so it never falls out of my grasp! And since it’ll never slip off, isn’t it safe to call it an extension of my arm?”

  “The undying’s hand is just holding onto you!”

  Boop, boop, boop. I didn’t need to put strength into slashing or weight into stabbing. The way of the sword? Sword mastery? Sword Ki? They’re nothing but techniques sought by the weak. All it took was a gentle boop with the undying’s flesh to neutralize the vampire’s power and reduce its familiars to mere blood.

  And such an impressive display left even the Regressor reconsidering seriously.

  “…It’s not bad, maybe.”

  “Heheh. I thought you’d understand. We’re both cold pragmatists, you and I.”

  “It’s okay to swing it like that, right?”

  “Of course.”

  I spun the right arm halfway around before adding a casual remark.

  “Just that… it’s a pity there’s a limit to its durability.”