Chapter 183: 183

Chapter 183

The description of the Holy Chalice of Blood changed after it was filled with the Dragon of Destruction’s blood.

[Holy Chalice of Blood]

A chalice filled with the blood of a dragon. It is an item required to awaken a dragon from its slumber. The effect of the chalice will change depending on which dragon’s blood it is filled with.

+It can awaken the Dragon of Destruction from its slumber.

+You may start the class change quest to become a Dragonslayer if you drink all of the blood in the chalice.

The blood they had obtained after killing Sevle filled the chalice to the brim, and some excess even began to spill over the rim. Kang Yoon-Soo put the extra blood into another container and told Shaneth, “Drink it.”

“You mean this blood…?” Shaneth asked in surprise. Kang Yoon-Soo simply nodded in response.

Shaneth hesitated for a moment before drinking the Dragon of Destruction’s blood. Her heart started to beat wildly and her face turned red.

[You have drunk the blood of the strongest dragon on the continent.]

[The power fragment within you has absorbed a portion of the blood’s strength.]

[Your attack power will increase when you are in contact with fire.]

[Your reflexes will become faster when you are in danger.]

[Your libido has greatly increased.]

Shaneth stared at Kang Yoon-Soo after reading the final message.

“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“Nothing…” Shaneth muttered.

The temperature had increased by quite a lot after they killed the ruler of the north, and the remaining Frenzied Ones that managed to somehow survive were left in extreme agony before dying from the heat.

[You have massacred all of the Frenzied Ones!]

[All of the snow and chill of the northern area has disappeared.]

[The lava from the south has pushed fiercely northward.]

[The northern area’s climate has become hot.]

[The northern region has now turned into a field of lava.]

[You have expanded the area that the titans can access despite being an outsider.]

[The titans may colonize the north by exploring it and planting various fire crops.]

[You have recovered the trust you previously lost with the titans.]

[The titans are no longer wary of you.]

[Your relationship with the titans has improved dramatically.]

Kang Yoon-Soo quickly collected the loot before Sevle’s corpse was ruined by the heat. Sevle was an animal-type monster and thus did not drop any equipment, but he was still able to get useful materials from it, such as its strong bones, tough leather, and never-melting claws.

Iris lamented dejectedly, “It is a shame that Sevle’s heart was torn to pieces…”

The monster’s heart was left in tatters because Kang Yoon-Soo had stubbornly stabbed it over and over again. Unfortunately, Iris could not obtain any of a monster’s abilities without eating its heart.

Henrick leisurely spun his sculpting knife in one hand, saying, “You can still taste it if you eat the bits and pieces.”

“I prefer to take a bite out of a still-beating heart, freshly extracted from a body,” Iris replied.

“Hmmm… I can’t say I can understand you…” Henrick muttered.

“Hmph! I can’t understand why Henrick and Kang Yoon-Soo like to drink alcohol either,” Iris shot back with a scoff.

It was then that a blood-soaked Swemer suddenly walked up and called out, “Hey, Henrick! Can you come and butcher this pig for us?”

“Why don’t you guys do it? You guys are good at hunting anyway, right?” Henrick replied.

“Come on, are hunting and butchering the same thing? Those idiots can’t use their hands to save their life,” Swemer said.

Henrick had already built quite a bit of camaraderie with the men through his glib tongue and humor.

Swemer grinned and said, “We saw a lot of pigs in this area, and we just finished hunting. Let’s have a barbecue party tonight!”

“It’s a shame that we don’t have some booze with us…” Henrick muttered.

“That sounds excellent,” Iris said with a smile, suddenly forgetting her sadness.

Sally looked at Quishow, who was trapped inside the glass bottle, curiously. She asked, “Hey, fairy! Fairy! What’s your name?”

“Quishow is a cute little fairy,” Quishow replied dejectedly while sitting in the bottle.

“Sally is a fire spirit. Let’s get along from now on!” Sally said.

“We’re in completely different positions. Quishow is a slave. Quishow can never become friends with Sally unless Quishow gets out of this glass bottle,” Quishow said.

“Really? Then what should I do?” Sally asked with a worried look.

Quishow buried its face in its arms to hide a grin, snickering as it said, “Quishow really feels sorry for Sally. You’re suffering because that crazy human is dragging you around. You’re really, really pitiful!”

Sally looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment. She cried, “No! Papa isn’t crazy!”

“No, he is crazy! That’s why that crazy human trapped kind Quishow in this bottle!” Quishow replied, pretending to cry with its face in its hands. It then said, “Quishow is really fortunate to meet such a nice girl as Sally. Sally can help Quishow get out of this bottle, right? Hurry and help Quishow regain freedom!”

Sally looked conflicted for a moment, but finally replied, “I can’t! Papa will scold me if I let Quishow go!”

“Hmph! I knew it. Sally doesn’t want to be friends with Quishow. You just pretended to be nice because Quishow looked pitiful inside the glass bottle, didn’t you?” Quishow said, pretending to cry once again. After a moment, it snuck a glance to see Sally’s reaction.

“Quishow won’t run away?” Sally asked.

“Sniff…! Sniff…! Of course!” Quishow replied.

“Then I’ll free you from the bottle, just for a while,” Sally said before carefully opening the bottle.

Quishow fluttered its wings, which had grown back a little, and flew out of the bottle. It exclaimed, “Hurray! Hurray! I’m free now!”

Sally jumped backward in surprise when Quishow darted out of the bottle. She ran after it while shouting, “Quishow! You promised not to run!”

Quishow scoffed and replied, “What a gullible spirit! Did you really believe what I said? Quishow will run away now and become a free…!”

“Stay inside,” Kang Yoon-Soo said abruptly, shoving the corrupted fairy into another glass bottle. He ignored the corrupted fairy’s scream of agony and shoved the bottle into his pocket.

“P-Papa…” Sally murmured as she backed up a few steps with teary eyes, seemingly scared of being scolded.

Kang Yoon-Soo said softly, “I’m not going to scold you.”

“Really…?” Sally asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo nodded in response. Then, he reached out and patted Sally’s head, saying, “I won’t, so don’t die.”

“Papa…?” Sally murmured.

Kang Yoon-Soo turned around and walked toward the Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword, which lay shattered on the ground. Then, he gathered the fragments and gave them to Sharp.

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“Y-You’re giving something so precious to someone like me…? Huu… Huu… Thank you…!” Sharp cried.

[Sharp has absorbed the Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword (Unique) fragments.]

[His slashing power has increased.]

[His stabbing power has increased.]

[His cutting power against hard materials has increased.]

The Spirit of Swords sucked in the sword fragments and thus increased his own power. Kang Yoon-Soo could have let him absorb the unique sword before it was shattered into pieces, but the spirit’s personality and abilities would have changed, so it was not yet the time for him to do that.

‘Sharp is the most difficult spirit to control when his personality changes,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

Sharp stole a glance at Light before carefully asking, “Uhm… I’m not sure if I have the right to ask something like this, but… Is there a way for me to let go of Light’s hand?”

“You don’t like being with me?” Light asked. Although she was smiling, her voice was cold.

Sharp flinched for a moment before shaking his head as hard as he could. He replied, “N-No…! That’s not it…! Light is a precious friend… but I won’t be useful in a fight like this… I want to be of some help to the others as well…”

Sharp had the highest level of Kang Yoon-Soo’s spirits, but he had not participated in any of the battles yet. A Spirit of Swords was supposed to run across the battlefield with his high agility to cut enemies down, but that was not possible as long as he was stuck holding Light’s hand.

Kang Yoon-Soo explained, “You’ll be able to let go if one of you dies or becomes critically wounded.”

“I-Is that the only way… Is there no other way…?” Sharp asked nervously.

“Does Sharp want to get away from me even at that cost?” Light asked, her tone as icy as before.

“N-No…! Light…! I really like you… I’m just a bit scared when we fight against monsters… That’s all…” Sharp quickly replied.

“Kyahaha! Then let’s go there and make friends with those pigs!” Light laughed loudly before dragging Sharp along with her.

Acle grimaced and remarked, “You know that new skill I got, Sub-Zero Self-Destruction? You told me I would die if I use it, but I really want to try using it. I’m really curious about how strong it is.”

“Acle, based on my research, people who say things like that have a higher chance of dying later on,” Mini-Lich said.

“Hmph! Your research is always wrong, so I don’t believe you,” Acle said with a scoff. However, after hearing what the tiny lich said, he no longer mentioned anything about his new skill that day.

The underground was still lit up even though it was night, due to the brightly shining stones embedded on its ceiling. The party had just finished hunting and roasting the pigs they caught whole, ravenously tearing through the meat.

“It’s been a while since I last ate to my heart’s content,” Hawk said while biting a mouthful off a pig’s leg.

The men sang merrily and chatted while feasting without restraint. Sadly, they were not able to drink due to the Blacksmith of Fire taking all the alcohol hostage, but the merry atmosphere made up for the lack of alcohol.

It was then that Kang Yoon-Soo brought over a basket full of red berries that he had foraged from somewhere.

“What is this?” Harpoon asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice, before carefully biting into a berry. Slowly, his expression started to brighten and he exclaimed in surprise, “Booze! These berries taste like booze!”

“It’s a berry that only grows near lava,” Kang Yoon-Soo said while munching on a mouthful of the alcoholic berries.

Henrick laughed in disbelief and asked, “You found a berry to substitute for booze?”

“You can’t not have alcohol at a feast,” Kang Yoon-Soo said nonchalantly.

The men marveled and clapped at his words of wisdom.

“That’s Kang Yoon-Soo, as expected!”

“He’s truly the savior who gave us our freedom!”

“Praise his name! Kang Yoon-Soo!”

The men devoured the berries and slowly started to get drunk. Even Kang Yoon-Soo’s summons took a few out of curiosity.

Sally ate a few berries, then suddenly said with a hiccup, “Hic! Bad doggy! Lie down for Sally! Become Sally’s bed!”

“Rami… raaro…!” White, who had become tipsy as well, muttered before plopping down to the ground. Sally snickered and jumped into White’s soft fur.

The rousing atmosphere continued on until the party members eventually fell asleep one by one. Kang Yoon-Soo made sure that everyone had already fallen asleep before getting up and heading some distance away from the slumbering party members. He sat down and looked up at the underground scenery for quite a while; eventually, someone came and sat beside him.

“What are you doing?” Shaneth asked.

“Thinking,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“I’ll think with you then,” Shaneth said.

Kang Yoon-Soo and Shaneth sat quietly for quite a while.

Shaneth broke the silence first, asking, “Are you still scared that we might die?”

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at her. His emotions had long since dried up, but she was the only one who could somehow manage to stir them up from time to time. He maintained his silence and did not reply, simply continuing to stare at her face.

Shaneth smiled and added, “I can tell because I like you, the same way you like us.”

“The Dragon of Destruction is unlike any foe we’ve faced so far,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

After the snow had melted, the newly heated north did not have a single hint of wind. However, it was as if Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly felt a chilling breeze from somewhere that grazed his skin and gave him goosebumps. He added, “Someone will end up dying.”

There was no way for them to kill the Dragon of Destruction easily, the way they had conquered stronger foes in the past. That was because the Dragon of Destruction was a far more powerful monster than the ones they had faced so far. It would be nigh impossible for them to defeat the dragon without a single one of them dying.

“But we still have to fight, right?” Shaneth asked in response.

“…Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered.

Shaneth hugged her knees and said, “In the end, you’re still human. You’re strong and tenacious, but you have to have a soft side as well. Don’t hide your true feelings even from me. I am your lover, after all, right?”

Kang Yoon-Soo’s dried-up emotions came rushing back against his will whenever he talked to Shaneth. He felt the indifference he had toward everything crumble whenever he heard the way she spoke to him, and there were moments when simply looking at her made him feel a surge of emotions that he could not control.

That was how he felt at that very moment.

“I hope you can tell me about your past now. I’m curious as to the reason why your emotions dried up, making you indifferent to everything,” Shaneth said.

Kang Yoon-Soo did not want to do as Shaneth asked. He did not want to expose his precious comrades to the dark future that lay ahead, and he did not want them to find out about the countless failures he had faced despite regressing over and over again.

He wanted to be the only one to suffer that—alone.

In previous lives, Kang Yoon-Soo had felt nostalgic whenever he told them about his past and his regressions, and that feeling always made him miss all of the memories he had made with them in the past.

After the countless regressions he had faced until his thousandth life, it would be unbearable if all of those memories were to come rushing in at once. He was certain that recalling the memories of the woman he had loved across so many lifetimes would definitely bring him to his knees and weaken him.

That was the reason why he could not afford to tell her the truth.

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“I’ll try to be understanding and wait…” Shaneth murmured in response. Kang Yoon-Soo’s eyes trembled for a moment.

Shaneth smiled and added, “Tell me when the time is right and you’re ready. I trust that you will.”

“Sure…” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered, and Shaneth nodded in acknowledgment.

“Thank you…” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Those were the only words that he could say at the moment. He did not want to make Shaneth share his burden.

After all, the day they would enter the Dragon of Destruction’s lair was drawing closer.

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