Chapter 624

Reversed colors.

Extreme Strength was already active.

Su-ho had already stepped into the bastard’s range, and Jack was already restraining him.

[ Diamond Cut activates. ]

[ Combined Sword Art activates. ]

[ True Severance activates. ]

Vacuum Style Ninth Form Semi-Ultimate Combined Sword Art.

The chosen technique was True Severance, the fusion of Soul Severing and Diamond Cut, a slash worthy of being called the ultimate cutting strike.

The sword thrust forward.

The blade radiated a different kind of brilliance from Extermination of Evil, and upon it was layered the power of Extreme Strength, one of the Seven Holy Arts called the strongest Holy Art of Pantheon.

[ Extreme Strength is applied. ]

[ True Severance’s power rises to the extreme. ]

Extreme Strength, the superior Holy Art of Enhancement, was named as such because it elevated the performance of a single sword strike to the absolute limit.

That was why the hilt felt unimaginably heavy in Su-ho’s hand, as though he were unsheathing a furious beast from its scabbard.

Around then, Edersen also sensed that something had changed.

“This—!”

His mouth opened.

At the same time, every cell within Edersen’s body—which had lived for centuries as though immortal—began screaming.

Dangerous.

Something was terribly wrong.

But by the time he realized it and tried to respond, it was already too late.

Harm of Evil dispersed, and the energies serving as defensive attendants instantly gathered around their master.

But something stood even closer than them.

Su-ho’s sword.

Jack smiled as well.

And thought,

You idiot.

Battles between masters are decided by the thickness of a single sheet of paper.

And if you lose, then the reason will probably be the opening created by your arrogance.

Edersen’s power exploded outward belatedly and blasted Jack away.

But it was already too late.

Su-ho’s sword swept cleanly across Edersen’s body.

KWAJAAAAAAAAA—!

Destruction began.

Everything touched by Su-ho’s blade was destroyed.

The thing being destroyed was Edersen.

More precisely, the cells of Edersen—the man who had lived for nearly immortal centuries and been called undying—began collapsing helplessly.

KWAAAAAAAH!!

His cells failed to regenerate.

His power gathered desperately, yet his recovery could not keep up with the destruction.

Su-ho’s sword advanced beautifully, as though crossing an entire continent.

And finally—

When Su-ho’s blade completely swept across Edersen’s body—

FWOOOOM!

A massive gust erupted in the exact direction of the swing.

The sword had risen from below to above, beginning at the waist, slicing through the opposite collarbone, and grazing the jaw above it.

As a result, Edersen’s head twisted slightly.

Su-ho withdrew the sword.

This time, he felt it.

A proper hit.

He could see Edersen’s energy desperately chasing after the path left by the blade.

Why!

Why exactly!

Why won’t it regenerate?!

It almost sounded like the screams of Edersen’s cells themselves.

Because of that, Su-ho did not retreat.

He immediately pulled back the sword he had extended and swung again.

SLASH!

He did not use Extreme Strength.

Nor anything else.

He simply swung his sword.

But he could feel it.

Unlike before, this strike had landed properly.

Grin—

The corners of his lips rose.

At that moment, Edersen’s frozen gaze slowly rolled toward Su-ho.

Su-ho did not avoid those eyes.

What?

What are you going to do about it?

With exactly that kind of expression, he glared back while forcing power into the opposite direction of his swing.

SLASH!

The sword swung again.

And then—

SKRRRRRRAAAAAK!!

A truly insane barrage of slashes.

There was no pattern.

No technique.

He focused only on one thing—

How to carve him into even smaller pieces.

He swung the sword again and again.

KAKANG! KANG!

Only belatedly regaining his senses, portions of Edersen’s energy desperately tried to crush and kill Su-ho.

But each time, the Protection Holy Art wrapped around him.

Edersen’s body repeatedly attempted to regenerate and repeatedly failed.

It was over.

The momentum had shifted entirely to this side.

Su-ho swung his sword like a madman, and with every strike, he wished for Edersen’s death a hundred times.

Then—

KWAAAAANG!!

Edersen’s body exploded.

Something within him sensed its master’s death approaching and chose a self-destructive explosion to forcibly break this demonic cycle.

Dense smoke spread everywhere.

And when the smoke cleared—

What appeared was golden light.

The golden light was a Holy Art.

The Protection Holy Art protecting Su-ho.

Within the Protection Holy Art that wrapped around Su-ho like the overlapping hands of a god, Su-ho crouched low.

More precisely, he had already pulled the Blood Sword back to his waist and was preparing one final devastating strike.

Crouched low, Su-ho’s eyes gleamed as he prepared to draw the blade once more.

And the moment the smoke vanished, Edersen’s gaze met Su-ho’s crouched figure.

“Thi—!”

He wanted to say “This—!”

But Su-ho’s sword was faster.

[ Extreme Strength activates. ]

[ Soul Severing activates. ]

[ Diamond Cut activates. ]

[ Combined Sword Art activates. ]

[ True Severance activates. ]

[ Extreme Strength is applied. ]

[ Diamond Cut’s power rises to the extreme. ]

Once again, the technique used was True Severance.

The brief moment created by Edersen’s explosion and Su-ho’s Protection Holy Art had been enough for Su-ho to prepare a second True Severance.

FLASH!

Su-ho’s sword erupted upward from below.

This time, it was not diagonal.

It was perfectly vertical.

Beginning beneath the groin, the rising blade tore through Edersen’s lower abdomen, stomach, neck, and face before ascending past the crown of his head.

PUWAAAAK!

Blood erupted.

It was a strange sight.

Everything Su-ho had seen throughout Noctarion until now had always felt like blood used as weapons or energy.

But strangely enough, what burst from Edersen’s body looked like ordinary human blood.

Pure blood.

Tssssss—

The smell of burning flesh suddenly spread everywhere.

The source was Edersen.

The moment his body split in half, the power condensed within him collapsed, and the overwhelming force that had resisted Eclipse until now crumbled apart, leaving him unable to endure Eclipse’s sunlight any longer.

Thud.

At the same time, Edersen’s divided body collapsed backward onto the floor.

Was he dead?

No.

No system notification appeared.

KRRRREEEEEK—

A grotesque sound rang out.

It was Edersen.

Despite being cut apart and utterly destroyed, Edersen still refused to die.

An immortal being that had lived for centuries.

A creature that would not die from sunlight, silver, garlic, or even a stake through the heart.

Even if recovery slowed, beings like them simply never died.

“Tough bastard.”

Dark crimson energy gathered once more around the split remains of his body.

Su-ho extended his hand.

Right.

No matter how many times I use Extermination of Evil or True Severance, in the end this is the only real way to finish your kind.

He activated the skill.

[ Bloody Hand activates. ]

SHUUUUAAAAH!

The condensed dark crimson energy was sucked from Edersen’s divided body directly into Su-ho’s grasp.

Apparently shocked, one of Edersen’s fallen arms slowly lifted upward.

As though trying to scream, No!

But Edersen, stripped of power and completely defenseless, had no way to stop Bloody Hand.

SHWOOOOOOOO!

Everything was absorbed at tremendous speed.

The divided body crumbled into dust, mixing together with the dark crimson energy as all of it was sucked into Su-ho’s hand.

And finally, not even a single grain of dust or trace of energy remained.

“......”

Silence filled the surroundings.

What?

Why is it so quiet?

Su-ho spread his senses through the area.

He felt nothing.

Something was strange.

If Bloody Hand had truly absorbed him, then a defeat notification should have appeared just like with Vanishing.

Suspicious, Su-ho checked the information within the Great Blood Prison.

Inside were the names of more than three hundred High Blood, including Roynan.

But one name—

The one name that absolutely should have been there—

Was missing.

‘Well now?’

He was certain he had absorbed and erased the bastard completely, so where exactly had he gone?

Su-ho called out,

“Roynan.”

At once, Roynan was summoned from the middle of his training session and hurriedly knelt on one knee.

“Yes, Master.”

“I absorbed Edersen using Bloody Hand. But there’s no trace of him anywhere inside the Great Blood Prison. Same with the other Immortal Crowns. Do you know what happened?”

“Did Edersen absorb the other Immortal Crowns by any chance?”

“How did you know that?”

“Because Edersen would absolutely do such a thing. In that case, I suspect Edersen has been forcibly summoned to Middle Town.”

“To Middle Town?”

“Yes. Though Edersen appears to be the master of the White Blood Palace and king of all High Blood, his true role is actually the strongest sword protecting the First Blood. The title given to that role is ‘Knight of God.’ Since he is a knight serving the god, his life is managed by priests within the Blood God Temple located in Middle Town.”

Knight of God.

What an absurdly grand title.

But because of that, Su-ho finally understood why Edersen had used his own children as fuel without hesitation.

And also why the priests possessed authority even greater than the Immortal Crowns.

‘So every High Blood was just a dog of the temple from the very beginning.’

Which meant he ultimately had to kill every priest, including Alucard.

Honestly, that worked out perfectly.

He had intended to kill them anyway.

“So First Town is basically empty now?”

“If Edersen has been summoned to Middle Town, then yes.”

“Then we just head straight to Middle Town. Anything I should watch out for there?”

“My apologies. I know little about that place myself... however, there is one thing I must warn you about. You must be careful of Alucard. He is the representative and messenger of the god, and they say his power surpasses imagination. Especially the quantity of blood he possesses—it is said to resemble an ocean.”

Blood like an ocean.

That really was absurd.

For vampires who used blood as power, that amount was practically infinite.

Because of that, Su-ho became even more curious.

Alucard.

The root cause behind everything.

Just what kind of bastard was he?

He would find out once he saw him himself.

As Su-ho exited the White Blood Palace, he spoke.

“Let’s go. To the final destination.”

Su-ho headed toward the First Line before Middle Town.

And the moment he stood before the entrance connected to Middle Town—

CREEEEAK—

Astonishingly, the gates of Middle Town opened wide for him as though welcoming him in.