The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path Chapter 22: Against The Unending Crimson Vessel (Patreon)

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“Magnificent” were his words.

Paul and Chris were staggered by that ridiculous word; this thing had only been seeing them as nothing but entertainment, and a cheap one at that.

Its plans were as clear as water: to consume all matter, burning it with its flames, and therefore further expanding its own influence.

The Unending Crimson was an Outer One, which Paul could assume meant it was a god-like entity that lived outside of every Realm, within a space he had read about in a magazine.

It was a place called the “Outer Void” where all Realms resided, resting within bubbles hanging down as fruits from the Great Cosmic Tree.

Or so he assumed, he had seen an illustration of the world of Fantasy Story Online in that one online magazine, and it showed this artwork with every realm in such a way.

He still remembers that, at the bottom of the artwork, right beneath the roots of the Great Cosmic Tree, there were strange, bizarre creatures.

A mass of red crystals and flames expanding everywhere; endless green-colored, slimy tentacles and eyes; countless black eyes.

Whatever that was, he thought it might have been just some sort of decoration to make it seem more interesting.

But he quickly realized that the Unending Crimson, which also went by the name “The Crystal Flame”, was perhaps one of such bizarre entities beneath the Great Cosmic Tree’s roots.

If that were the case, the Outer Ones were beings they couldn’t defeat, but at the same time, Paul assumed that they could have restrictions as well!

Beings so powerful couldn’t descend into the mortal realm so easily; the same thing was true for all Gods, Evil Gods, and the Moon Goddesses.

They possessed their own Divine Realms, as the magazine’s introduction to the lore stated, but the Gods closely watched over mortals and would grant blessings or curses as they pleased.

The very reason such a powerful being as the Outer One was using a Dungeon as a conduit to invade a Realm might also be related to the fact that Dungeons are pocket dimensions.

Perhaps breaching directly into a Realm’s dimension is forbidden, but through a smaller, unprotected dimension such as a Dungeon, it might be possible!

“I suppose I should fight now, right? You’ve shown me how incredible your skills and abilities are. Especially that equipment, just how did you get your hands on such amazing weapons and armor?” wondered the Unending Crimson.

The Obsidian Skeleton Lord that they had taken over was completely covered in dark purple and red crystals, forming the shape of heavy armor.

Crimson flames erupted, covering the monstrous crystalline skeleton’s entire body. Then, it summoned two enormous swords made of red crystals and fire.

“Don’t you feel ashamed that a crippled dhampir and an incubus have destroyed your little army, Unending Crimson?” Paul wondered. “You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“For a being such as me, there is no such thing as defeat. I can always try again, another time. While you mortals wither and die, I am eternally trapped within the Outer Void. Yet my craving for life... It’s unending, just like my crimson flames. Fire must consume it all, little flames. If you never truly understand my philosophy, then there is very little for us to even talk about. Let us get over this. Your lives and your delicious souls will feed my flames for many years to come,” the skeleton started walking towards them. “I am grateful.”

"Yeah, right, keep babbling!” Chris pointed his bow at him, firing a Holy Ice Arrow by imbuing Holy Light into his Ice Arrow!

FLASH!

The arrow flashed through the wind, resembling a blur of gold and azure light and quickly reaching the skeleton’s crystalline, blazing armor.

BOOOM!

An explosion of holy frost covered the vessel of the Outer One, yet the ice immediately erupted into mist, evaporating due to the tremendously high temperature of the skeleton.

FRSSH!

“How adorable!” the Unending Crimson laughed. “Now’s my turn.”

RUMBLE!

With a single step, the Outer One’s vessel reached Chris within a split second, both of his swords aiming towards his neck and his stomach at the same time. Not only was he aiming to kill him instantly, but also to divide his entire body into three pieces.

SLAAASH!

An eruption of flames emerged as the blades impacted Chris' body. The flames engulfed him and everything within ten meters into an endless inferno.

“Shit! CHRIS!”

Vlad rushed into the flames themselves, checking if he currently had roughly 20k Arcana left; he had been using it intensively ever since they entered the Dungeon.

As he braved the flames and reached the vessel, his eyes widened as he saw Chris kneeling on the floor, his body intact. There was a phantasmal veil covering him, which slowly started to transform.

“Ugh, my wings…!”

Chris quickly started running away, his wings beginning to burn. He might have been able to survive that lethal attack, but anything afterward would hurt him anyway.

“Interesting, a one-time use veil of invulnerability?”

“ROOOAAR!”

The Phantasmal Veil quickly took on a new shape after saving Chris from death, becoming a ferocious Phantom Wolf containing the infernal flames that its defensive effect had nullified.

“Right, he had that!” 

Paul quickly remembered Chris' equipment set ability, {Phantasmal Black Wolf’s Veil}! Not only did it protect him from one lethal attack every day, but once it was over, it would summon a phantom wolf for an hour, containing the power of the impact it nullified.

“Such strange tricks... But isn’t that also fun?”

The Unending Crimson laughed as the phantasmal wolf rushed towards him. After Redy died by becoming a mighty arrow for Chris to shoot and destroy the last skeletons, the incubus felt relieved that he had yet another familiar to rely on.

And one much stronger and more reliable than the previous two!

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

The blazing phantasmal wolf immediately attacked the Unending Crimson’s vessel with a barrage of explosive, blazing claws that managed to push the behemoth a few meters away.

“Hmph!”

However, the vessel immediately pushed forward, both swords slashing against the blazing, phantasmal familiar and cutting through its entire body.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

“GRRRHH…!”

“Oh?”

Despite the injuries, the phantasmal familiar quickly turned into a phantom and recovered its body back to normal, surprising the vessel.

“ROOARR!”

The beast continued its onslaught of attacks, distracting the vessel, as every time it was slashed into pieces, it regenerated back to normal.

This small amount of time was precious for Chris and Paul.

The two immediately took their preferred positions; Chris flew high above once his wings regenerated within these given seconds, while Paul immediately charged against the vessel!

[Player: Vlad Von Sange VII]: [Chris, keep firing ice arrows! While you do that, occasionally hit it with the trident!]

Chris noticed a chat message sent to him because Paul knew that their foe was smart, they couldn’t afford to speak their strategies out loud.

And naturally, the crafty incubus nodded, immediately understanding what he meant.

Chris quickly analyzed his current Arcana reserves, which are less than six thousand.

Enough for a few dozen arrows, or only a handful of big ones.

His trident, however, cost almost no Arcana to move around and unleash a Lightning Strike, he just had to find the perfect opportunity.

And his special Heavenly Core didn’t use Arcana to produce its Holy Light; it had its own reserves of Heavenly Energy, and he still had plenty of it even while being at Tier 1.

But above all, the equipment was carrying him—the magic bow, the trident, and his equipment, all of it made or reinforced by Paul.

Chris had to admit it; Paul was amazing.

At least in this game!

“Hm?”

The Vessel of the Unending Crimson quickly noticed the incubus charging his bow at him, Arcana gathering into one, two, and then three ice arrows.

“Arrows again? They will not do a thing to me,” he spoke, suddenly swinging both of his blades at lightning speed, cutting through the phantasmal wolf into pieces.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

His own flames covered the phantasmal wolf, who had been torn to shreds and was about to quickly return to its original form again.

The Unending Crimson quickly realized that the phantom’s seemingly “endless revival” was tied to Chris’ equipment.

It would simply endlessly revive within 1 hour, then disappear, and cannot be summoned after a whole day.

Yet… As long as he could restrain it.

“{Blazing Crystallization}!”

“Awoo?!”

The wolf's phantasmal body was suddenly covered by a red crystal, crystalizing its own flames before it could move further, and then falling into red-colored jewels over the floor.

The small jewels kept trying to recover, but they were completely sealed within their crystalline form, shaking around in annoyance.

“The flames can not only burn, but they can also restrain,” said the skeleton lord, greeting Vlad, who was right beside him.

Vlad’s Blood Power and Soul Aether combined together, emerging from his body as a crimson and golden aura. A barrage of punches reached the Unending Crimson, imbued and strengthened by the armor’s Spells.

“{Sharpen Senses}! {Lightweight}! {Blazing Aura}! {Winds of Speed}!”

Four buffing Spells, all engraved into the set of armor. 

Sharpen Senses enhanced his reaction speed.

The Lightweight Spell made his body lighter and more easily capable of moving quicker.

Blazing Aura created an aura of fire that increased his physical strength.

And Winds of Speed encompassed his body with winds, enhancing his speed with windy gusts.

All four of these buffs combined encompassed Vlad with an aura of blazing winds.

With his fists moving rapidly, following the techniques of the [Soul-Eating Fist Techniques], his fists impacted the vessel with explosive strikes.

“{Soul-Eating Fist Technique}: {Soul Star Fist}!”

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

“Ungh?!”

The vessel was quickly pushed several meters; all five of the punches that reached him created cracks through his body and, at the same time, took a chunk of... his soul!

“What sort of technique is that?!”

The Unending Crimson, through his almost eternal life, had never fought a mortal capable of taking pieces out of his own soul!

Even if it was minuscule in comparison to his greatness, it was without a doubt a technique that could evolve into something that one day...

“Hah! Not bad for a mortal; perhaps your flame is not as small as I imagined!”

The skeleton quickly rushed forward, his aura resembling an endless wave of pure flames, reaching Vlad, and pushing him back.

“Ugh…!”

“But can you truly go against me toe-to-toe, you foolish dhampir?!”

With a burst of furious laughter, his two giant blades swung down, vertically and horizontally, unleashing a barrage of several blazing cuts, covering Vlad’s entire body.

His armor constantly reverberated with loud metallic sounds, its Durability going down by the hundreds with each blow!

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“Your armor is surprisingly tough, but you simply cannot go against my swordsmanship with your mere fists!”

“Yeah, I know.” Vlad smiled. “{Ice Shard}!”

Summoning his wand out of his inventory, Vlad unleashed dozens of Ice Shards at the same time, including the Wand that had twelve thousand more Arcana, which he had yet to use at all!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The frost quickly started covering the vessel’s body, but it was useless; his flames burned through the tough magic ice, melting it and then evaporating it all into a cloud of magic vapor.

FRRSH!

But that was good too.

“{Geomancy}: {Mist’s Illusion}”

FLUOSH!

Abusing his great amount of Arcana left, Vlad immediately conjured Geomancy again, this time using all the mist that the vessel created and transforming them into several clones of himself.

Because the Mist’s composition was made of magic and Arcana, it felt much more believable, each one having its own aura of Arcana.

Meaning that the Unending Crimson was unable to tell which one was the real one!

“Your use of such a pitifully pathetic spell is surprising! Perhaps your kind is truly worth burning into ashes now, haha!”

The reckless vessel charged forward, attacking the clones made of mist as they came, all while Vlad conjured Stone Walls, surging from below his foe and destabilizing his foothold.

RUMBLE!

“Again with these! Ugh?!”

At that moment, three clones of mist appeared from above, attacking him. He quickly waved his blazing swords, destroying them, only to feel the impact of a dozen punches hitting his back!

“{Soul-Eating Fist Technique}: {Soul Star Fist}!”

Vlad’s armored gloves flared with the flame of his very soul; each punch was like a small star, exploding into countless sparkles and fire.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! 

“Again, with that?!”

The vessel quickly spun around, twisting his body and greeting Vlad with both of his blades. Even as he had to dislocate his body, he was an undead vessel, so it didn’t matter anyway!

SLAAASH!

A slashing wave of crimson flames impacted Vlad, sending him flying away.

“At the end of the day, you’re nothing but a little flame, yes... One worth assimilating—that’s it! I will enjoy devouring your soul and-”

“Where are you looking at?”

“Wha…?!”

Suddenly, another Vlad, a copy of him, appeared behind the vessel, unleashing the same barrage of punches as the previous one, targeting all the cracks already made, and nothing else.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! 

Crack, crack…!

The cracks continued spreading and becoming deeper, and the Unending Crimson realized he was not fighting a mere mortal but one riddled with tricks!

“Just how many trump cards do you have below your sleeve, mortal?!”

His body erupted with flames as his swords swung down, about to split the Vlad in front of him apart, only for three ice arrows to strike the cracks in his back!

Frost quickly started to spread deep within his vessel!

“You…?!”

The skeleton looked at the ceiling, noticing the Incubus he had forgotten about!

“PAUL!”

Chris gave the command as Paul and his clone, created out of his armor’s ability, [Blood Phantom Clone], rushed towards the vessel.

Their fists converged into a storm of attacks, striking the arrows deeper into the armor made of red crystals, frost spreading deeper and deeper.

“Y-You really… Hahah…! You’re truly amusing, little flames~!”

While laughing manically, the Unending Crimson’s body was covered with countless cracks, icicles growing out of them as Vlad combined his Geomancy with his fist attacks, expanding the ice further deep!

Crack, crack…!

CRACK!

“This is it!”

Vlad and his clone’s fists struck down the skeleton one last time, constantly bearing the damage of the vessel’s blazing aura.

Until finally.

Crack, crack…!

“Hah, well played…”

CRASH!

His entire body exploded into pieces—bones, crystals, everything.

The presence of the Unending Crimson then completely disappeared, and the glowing red crystals in the throne room lost their color.

And the high temperature of the entire dungeon slowly lowered.

“We… we did it?” Vlad wondered.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully defeated the possessed Dungeon Boss and stopped the Raid of the {Unending Crimson} from happening on Elderbridge!]

“WE DID IT!”

Chris rushed down towards Vlad, hugging him tightly as the two jumped, celebrating.

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