Chapter 58 : Blood Frenzy

Blood Frenzy

As expected by Serea, the archers immediately shifted their aim to Celia after losing Lola as a target.

Meanwhile, three warriors circled around from the flank, clearly aiming to force Serea and her group out from behind cover.

The division of labor was precise—truly worthy of the imperial regular army.

Upon seeing this, Serea glanced again at the barrier. At this moment, the barrier was dimming and would vanish before long. The commotion here would certainly draw the attention of the city guards. By then, Serea and her companions would be facing more than just these troops.

Pedory, however, seemed equally anxious as he watched the barrier fade—apparently, he didn't want the situation exposed, at least not until he managed to move that batch of magic mithril out.

Clang!

His sword suddenly swept out, knocking Celia aside, but the backlash from the force forced him to retreat as well.

And with the two separated, the archers seized the opportunity, drawing their arrows to full and aiming at Celia.

But Serea was paying little attention to the battlefield's immediate circumstances at this point, instead confirming internally:

"System, you said before that as long as I activate 'Blood Frenzy' and master the bloodline's abilities, I can easily deal with these soldiers, right?"

System: Affirmative, but the system does not recommend the host to use the 'Blood Frenzy' skill.

"Hey, hey, hey, you didn't say that before I came in! You only mentioned there'd be anemia and exhaustion!"

System: That is correct.

"Then that's fine! We need to finish this quickly—the longer we drag this out, the bigger the danger. Even though that assassin group's barrier shields us from the outside guards' notice, we don't know how much longer it'll hold. We have to eliminate these people now."

With that, Serea prepared to activate Blood Frenzy.

System: If the host insists on activating 'Blood Frenzy', please prepare a sufficient amount of dark power in advance.

"Is that a friendly warning?"

System: The system merely recommends the optimal choices to the host.

"All right, I'm not sure what the consequences will be, but this is the only way for now—let's do it!"

Without hesitation, Serea connected with the four altars in her mental space, converting part of their stored materials.

Consumed: Soul Crystal x16, Death Crystal x14, Fear Crystal x12, and even twenty Blood Crystals reserved for the Crimson Well were converted by Serea.

Remaining dark power: 628

As for Serea's remaining materials...

Blood Crystal: 56

Fear Crystal: 0

Death Crystal: 0

Soul Crystal: 0

Serea followed the system's suggestion, converting all materials except the currently useful Blood Crystals.

"Let's go!"

Blood Frenzy (Second Stage), activated!

Suddenly, Serea felt her heart skip a beat; a wave of pain and weakness swept through her body, and she barely managed to steady herself by bracing her legs together.

"Damn it, are the side effects this severe?"

Serea cursed inwardly.

"Fire!"

The command rang out, but Lola had already summoned vines just in time. The rampaging vines scattered the archers' formation, allowing Little Black to leap in and take down one archer.

At that moment, the three warriors had circled around, attempting to force Serea and her group out from behind the vine wall.

"Charge."

"Ugh—ahhh!"

But just as their charge began, all three suddenly screamed in agony.

Hearing the cries, the rest of the soldiers turned to look, only to see faint, blood-colored threads flickering around the three warriors—threads drawn from within their bodies.

System: Blood Frenzy skill activated.

System: Bloodline form engaged—skills mastered: Blood Sense (Second Stage), bloodthirst (Second Stage), Blood Control (Second Stage), Blood Fountain (Third Stage), summon: War Gargoyle (Fourth Stage).

System: Bloodline state steadily drains dark power, 20 per minute.

A series of system prompts echoed in her mind, but Serea ignored them. Instead, she focused on familiarizing herself with her current bloodline state and the enormous power she now wielded.

"My Queen, you..."

"It's the power of the ancestral bloodline!"

Vina stared at Serea, her transformed appearance leaving Vina visibly shocked. Meanwhile, Lola, equally stunned, felt a surge of indescribable excitement.

The bloodline had returned!

Serea endured the weakness in her body, her dark-gold eyes locking onto the three warriors. She spread her palm wide, releasing a powerful suction force.

Blood Control!

"Ahhh!"

Thin red threads extended from the three warriors' bodies—their blood, if examined closely.

Blood Fountain!

Clenching her fist, the floating lines of blood quickly swelled and intertwined to form a sinister magic array. The three warriors stood trapped in the center, unable to struggle free as an overwhelming force pinned them in place.

Splat!

Suddenly, a mass of blood gushed from within the array, engulfed the three, and dragged them down into its depths.

"Help...help me!"

With their last desperate plea, the three were pulled into the array and dissolved into a puddle of blood, which then congealed and flowed back to Serea's hand.

Bloodthirst!

The blood returned to Serea—energy born from the Blood Fountain and known as the Power of Blood. Serea harnessed this to heal her wounds with strength distilled from three corpses.

In just a few seconds, the wound on Serea's arm had fully healed.

"Huff...huff..."

But though her physical injuries mended, Serea still panted heavily, as though starved for oxygen.

"My body... it's melting..."

"She controls blood—she's a vampire!"

Seeing the gruesome deaths of the three warriors, this elite squad encountered fear for the first time.

Wisps of pale-purple vapor drifted to Serea, coalescing into a few Fear Crystals.

"A vampire...? Too bad you all guessed wrong."

Serea lifted her head.

Pedory also felt that something was amiss, an ominous premonition gripping his heart. Even Celia's brow furrowed slightly.

"It's their sorcery!"

After a brief moment of panic, the soldiers regained their composure, turning to look at the vine wall—obviously, whoever was responsible was behind it.

At this moment, for some reason, the vine wall began to collapse as if the magic had been manually dispelled.

Though it was unclear why the enemy would lift the spell, the archers recognized their opportunity.

They nocked their arrows while aiming behind the vanishing wall. As the vines withered and fell, the figures behind them were revealed.

But the instant they saw who stood there, the archers froze.

They had expected a hideous demon to wield such evil power—but when they saw her, they realized they were mistaken.

For at that moment, Serea's mask had fallen away.

Her dark-gold eyes and long, double ponytails of silver hair were unchanged, but black markings had crawled across her pale skin.

Yet those markings only enhanced her bewitching beauty.

Only a second passed before the archers came to their senses—no matter how beautiful the enemy was, she was still the enemy and had to be purged.

"Fi—"

But as the first word of 'fire' left their lips, a powerful aura descended upon them.

Serea called out toward the sky.

"Gargoyle!"

(To be continued...)

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=