Chapter 627

RUMBLEEEEEEE!

Mana drained away, and his body surged upward.

Only to roughly Alucard’s size.

There was no need to grow any larger.

The larger he became, the stronger he would be, but the duration would shorten by that much as well.

Besides, after hearing that Alucard had an enormous amount of stored blood, he had no intention of forcing a short battle.

Seeing the enlarged Su-ho, Alucard laughed.

“You have an amusing power.”

“Yeah. I hope you enjoy it to the very end too.”

When Su-ho spread his hand, black energy began gathering in his grasp.

It was shadow.

Because it was difficult to create a Blood Sword that matched Su-ho’s enlarged body, he had been using shadows to make a sword since before.

Soon, with Jack’s help, the “Guiyeong Sword,” formed from countless gathered shadows, was born.

“Kaaaak!”

Alucard opened his jaws toward Su-ho and charged in.

Su-ho immediately swung his sword.

SLASH!

The Guiyeong Sword was a famous blade no less than the Blood Sword.

No, when considering only stats or options, there were even times when it was superior to the Blood Sword.

That was why the Guiyeong Sword succeeded in chopping off Alucard’s neck in one stroke, like an executioner’s blade.

Su-ho did not stop there and swung the sword once more, cutting through Alucard’s body as well.

However.

[ Alucard uses the High Priest’s authority. ]

A brief system notification.

At the same time, the bastard’s body shone pure white, and the body that had been cut twice regenerated in an instant, just like Edersen’s.

And.

[ Alucard uses the High Priest’s authority. ]

CRUNCH!

Alucard, regenerated in an instant, did not miss the opening and immediately bit Su-ho’s side.

A tremendous bite force.

The pain digging into his side was bad enough, but what was even more horrible was the feeling that something spread through his entire body the moment his side was bitten.

[ You have been poisoned. ]

The cause was deadly poison.

Well, of course the snake Alucard brought out wouldn’t be just an ordinary snake.

Su-ho immediately swung his sword, cut off the bastard’s neck, then lifted the body and threw it far away.

However, the head biting his side remained as it was.

Su-ho raised his sword and dragged it downward as though skewering the bastard’s head, making it fall off.

Then he quickly used Purification.

[ Purification activates. ]

Sanctity seized his entire body and cleanly neutralized the deadly poison that had spread through him.

The snake head that had been flung far away had already turned to powder and disappeared into the ground.

Of course, it had not truly disappeared, but had been absorbed back into Alucard.

‘What a pain. Seriously.’

Su-ho raised his sword again.

It seemed he needed another countermeasure.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘But how did I get bitten?’

What about Protection Holy Art?

With the Quai System applied, it should definitely have blocked it automatically, shouldn’t it?

At that moment, he recalled the brief system notification that had appeared and vanished before the bastard bit his side.

The notification saying Alucard had used the High Priest’s authority.

Once he realized the cause, his brow naturally narrowed.

‘So if he has authority, everything is okay?’

It was ridiculous.

Why don’t I have authority like that?

He’s the High Priest, but I’m the Pope, aren’t I?

Why do Quai and Sachsen suddenly feel so shabby?

In any case, he understood that he had to watch out for that damn authority.

Su-ho immediately widened the distance.

But Alucard did not give Su-ho any time to spare.

“Kaaaaaa!”

Alucard charged in with his jaws wide open.

At the same time, pure white tentacles rose from the ground and attacked Su-ho.

[ Protection Holy Art activates. ]

KAKANG!

Fortunately, this time Protection Holy Art activated and blocked Alucard and the tentacles.

As expected, it seemed that the reason his side had been bitten earlier was thanks to that authority.

When Protection Holy Art bought him time, Su-ho immediately focused his mind.

[ Extreme Strength activates. ]

[ Soul Severing activates. ]

[ Extreme Strength is applied. ]

[ Soul Severing’s power rises to the extreme. ]

He wanted to use True Severance, but there was no time.

Because Protection Holy Art looked like it would shatter at any moment.

So he used only Soul Severing.

There was one reason.

It was not to attack the bastard.

It was to see the rune rings visible through Soul Severing.

When Soul Severing activated, the world inverted to gray, and he saw the numerous rune rings making up Alucard.

‘What the hell is this?’

Su-ho’s eyes widened.

Rune rings like bundles of nerves.

It could be said they were by far the most numerous rune rings he had ever seen.

No, Alucard’s snake itself looked as though it was made of rune rings... like a lump of code made of data consisting of zeros and ones.

‘Then is that snake just something like a summon or a skill?’

Was that why there was no end no matter how many times he cut it?

At that moment, Protection Holy Art, unable to endure Alucard’s bite force, shattered.

“Damn!”

The state of Soul Severing was also released.

Because he had not been able to swing the sword.

Alucard thrust his jaws toward Su-ho again.

The tentacles came as a bonus.

Su-ho threw the Guiyeong Sword into the air and chanted a skill.

[ Shadow Movement activates. ]

SHUSHUK!

Su-ho’s body was transferred to where the Guiyeong Sword had flown.

He had tried not to use it if possible.

Because the larger his body had become, the greater the amount of energy consumed.

But rather than being bitten by Alucard again and poisoned, Shadow Movement was better.

Because the energy cost of Purification was greater than the energy needed for movement.

Watching Su-ho run away, Alucard laughed.

“Hahaha! You truly have many tricks!”

Su-ho ignored him.

Instead, he focused his mind once again.

This time, longer than before. Deeper.

[ Extreme Strength activates. ]

[ Soul Severing activates. ]

[ Diamond Cut activates. ]

[ Combined Sword Art activates. ]

[ True Severance activates. ]

[ Extreme Strength is applied. ]

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

Alucard’s arrogance had bought him a bit more time.

Su-ho used that to concentrate, and this time used True Severance with Extreme Strength added.

Because Soul Severing, evolved into True Severance, showed far more than ordinary Soul Severing.

Once again, the colors of the world inverted, and bundles of rune rings like nerves appeared in his vision.

There were far more of them than before, deeper and denser.

However, where Su-ho’s gaze was directed was not Alucard.

It was around Alucard.

‘I almost failed to see it with Edersen too.’

Then, Alucard, wouldn’t you have a similar trick?

This was a guess.

If it was right, he would be grateful; if not, it would be a shame.

As he thought that and carefully examined the surroundings, that was when it happened.

‘Found it!’

Su-ho’s eyes widened.

He had found it.

The external crossing point connected to Alucard.

It was the ground.

The contaminated, dead-looking blackish ground into which Alucard had half his body submerged.

There was not just one or two lines either.

Like the people of Lilliput tying down Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels, countless thin, long lines were connected to Alucard.

Su-ho immediately released True Severance.

Then, stepping on empty air, he activated Leap.

His air time lengthened.

Seeing that, Alucard sneered once more.

He asked whether Su-ho was flying in the sky because he was afraid to come down.

Su-ho did not listen.

Instead, for the time bought by Leap, he focused his mind again.

[ Extreme Strength activates. ]

[ Soul Severing activates. ]

[ Sky Severing activates. ]

[ Combined Sword Art activates. ]

[ True Severing Slash activates. ]

[ Extreme Strength is applied. ]

[ True Severing Slash’s power rises to the extreme. ]

What he used was Soul Severing and Sky Severing.

The name was True Severing Slash.

If True Severance, mixed with Diamond Cut, cut what was before his eyes more powerfully, then True Severing Slash, mixed with Sky Severing, powerfully cut what was far away.

Fortunately, even with True Severing Slash applied, the thin lines around Alucard were faintly visible.

That was enough.

If he could not see them, it would be one thing, but as long as they were visible at all, it was fine.

Su-ho crouched his body.

Then he began falling vertically.

He waited for the right moment.

Calmly, very calmly.

And just before both feet touched the ground, Su-ho drew his sword with all his strength.

SHWAAAAK!

True Severing Slash shot out.

Because he had twisted his waist as he swung, acceleration was added, and the released True Severing Slash flew at high speed.

There was one target.

The rune rings bound around Alucard.

However, Alucard would not know that.

Because Su-ho had not deliberately aimed only for those and cut.

SLASH!

Done.

True Severing Slash swept through Alucard and all the lines around him.

It sounded as though taut ropes were being cut one after another—dadadada—and Alucard’s neck flew through the air.

THUD!

Around then, Su-ho, who had been falling, also landed on the ground with both feet.

As soon as he landed, Su-ho immediately kicked off the ground and headed toward Alucard.

At that moment, Alucard’s body sank downward.

He had hidden in a tunnel underground like a mole.

‘As expected, there was something under the ground!’

He had found a clue to breaking through the method.

If the lines had not been cut, the bastard would have faced him head-on again and tried to bite him.

So instead of going underground to chase the bastard, he chose another method.

He spun the Guiyeong Sword above him, then brought it down.

[ Earthquake Tsunami activates. ]

Earthquake Tsunami, which he had learned from Poseidon.

The purpose was not to cause a flood, but to churn up the entire foundation of Middle Town.

With the embedded Guiyeong Sword as the starting point, Su-ho’s mana seeped beneath Middle Town, and soon an insane roar began ringing out.

RUMBLERUMBLERUMBLE!!

The ground overturned.

At the same time, Alucard, who had gone below, became visible.

The bastard’s head had already regenerated.

But perhaps because not everything had been restored perfectly yet, there was a slight hint of surprise at Su-ho’s pursuit.

FLASH!

But that was when the ground kept overturning due to Earthquake Tsunami.

The blackish soil was dug up as though a grave were being exhumed, and as that process repeated several times, something completely unexpected was revealed beneath the ground.

Something red.

More precisely, a faintly glowing red mineral.

It seemed to be resonating with Alucard.

RUMBLEEEEEEE!

Earthquake Tsunami continued tearing through the ground.

Then the red vein of ore that had appeared for an instant was revealed on a fairly large scale.

And Su-ho was able to realize it.

That was not a simple red mineral vein.

That thing, existing like a foundation, was none other than Red Maria, which had been supporting the back of Middle Town.

Alucard had been resonating with Red Maria.