RD 2 Ch 21 (Patreon)

Fuck me. I cursed to myself as I saw a cyclops hunter up ahead, hearing the swarm closing in behind me.

I used Charge to speed up further and slam into the monster before ducking around it as the swarm of murder birds didn’t just go for me but tore the cyclops apart in moments.

The boss swarm was level nineteen, and the cyclops, even at level sixteen, was shredded in a moment.

I was already around the cyclops, moving my legs as quickly as they would go. I pumped my legs to get out ahead of the birds who flew far too quickly.

They swooped low, raining razor-sharp feathers over me, shredding my back and arms, a few finding my legs.

I ignored the pain and pushed forward. It was either a minute or an eternity later that they pulled back, having chased me far enough. They would stay in their general territory. As they turned and left, I threw myself against a tree, using it to hold my body as I rested.

“Fuck.” My legs started pulling themselves together.

[Black Dragon Bloodline is in critical condition]

[Black Dragon Bloodline has been restored]

It seems that Zane had a few tricks in his spatial ring, but Galen was clearly out for blood.

With the shift in the instance’s level, Galen probably would be stronger this time around compared to my past timeline. He could clear the cyclops far easier than Zane and would be less restricted by the increase in levels.

That might put him a step above Zane and flip the whole situation in the clan.

Damn it.

I pushed myself off the ground, only to come face to face with a level eighteen cyclops warrior.

[Cyclops Warrior S

Level: 18

Status: Angry

Strength: 700

Agility: 650

Vitality: 750

Intelligence: 15

Spirit: 120

Skills:

Titan Blooded S

Crush S

Eye Beam S

Enrage S

Shield Proficiency S

Sword Proficiency S]

This thing was nearly my match now.

I couldn’t help but smile as I dodged its first swing and grabbed its shield to pull it to the side, my muscles straining as I tested my strength against the cyclops’ muscle.

A sword of blood appeared in my hand as I used Gore.

The cyclops sprayed its own blood high into the air as my blade cut deep into its chest.

“Sorry, no time to play. Sanguine Locking.” The monster’s spirit was nothing, and it seized up. “Would have made everything much easier if I’d used this before, but you understand discretion, right?” I tipped it over and sawed its head off until it disappeared back into the floor of the instance.

This ability was an ace up my sleeve and not to be seen by anyone until it was needed.

The rest of the participants would be easy prey for me if I ever needed it, which I just might.

[Black Dragon Bloodline is in critical condition]

[Black Dragon Bloodline has been restored]

The near-death incidents were getting closer together.

I took the talisman half from the one I’d given Zane and activated it, immediately feeling myself pulled in another direction.

My body had healed up from the birds, and I hurried to follow the direction of the talisman.

The others couldn’t be that far away. Though the instance was huge, the sanctuaries that we’d all split up to cover were less than an eighth of the overall space.

When I was out of here, I was going to get some sort of mobility ability.

Simone would probably help me if I told her there was one that would turn me into a bat.

Well, she’d help me regardless, but she’d try harder if it turned me into a bat, just to further her amusement at me being a vampire.

The sounds of fighting erupted ahead of me, and I broke out of the trees into a clearing that had been cut down by fighting.

Galen flew through the air to swing at Zane who threw himself to the side to avoid blocking that attack. Galen was attacking the soul instead of the body and Zane knew better than to take it head on.

“Cut this out!” I boomed through the clearing.

Neither of them paid me any attention, which pissed me off. They both wound up to go another round.

I shot forward before they could collide.

Powers of Blood and Bloodline Manipulation both activated as I tried to suppress the bloodlines of both. Meanwhile, I caught their blades. Bloodline Manipulation was only S rank versus their SSS rank bloodlines, and I was only partially successful.

Grabbing Galen’s scythe was like hitting a brick wall against my hand and, more importantly, my soul.

Meanwhile, Zane’s SSS-ranked sword bit deep into my palm, but with his bloodline half-suppressed, he didn’t have the strength behind it as my hand clamped down on the blade.

The surprise on both of their faces was comical.

“Both of you, cut this shit out.” Holding tighter, I spun. Both lost their grips on their weapons, letting go as they fell to the side. With the weapons only in my hands, I quickly moved both weapons into my spatial ring. “I will beat you both to a pulp if you continue.”

Without those weapons, I could probably take them both on without suppressing their bloodlines.

“Coming in like a fucking hero?” Galen spat. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t set this up.”

I turned to face Galen and tilted my head. “Excuse me?”

“Your girl came and told us where Zane was.” Galen smirked. “Hear that, Zane? He betrayed you.”

“Nyx was with him, though.” Zane frowned.

I was even more confused than ever. “There is no ‘my girl’ in this instance. I have two fiancées who are currently outside the instance.”

“What about your blood whore, Katie?” Galen’s smug smile was starting to look a little dopey. There wasn’t much between those ears… was there?

“The one he had to ward his bedroll from?” Zane added more confusion to Galen’s smile.

“Huh?” Galen’s eyes bugged out.

“Where is Katie?” I growled.

“She’s with Beats…” Galen spun to find her.

I saw the shock of red hair as she stepped triumphantly from the bushes. “Bran! You’re here! Now you can kill them both and feast on their blood!”

My first reaction was to kill her, but I shook that off, worried I’d get in trouble with the clan. While none of them were a problem the last thing I needed was the leaders of the branches after me. Instead, I went with a quick option to disable her and show off.

Because the way this was going, there was no way I was getting out of here without a lot of explaining necessary.

“You delusional brat.” I lifted my hand, and her head jerked up. Blood came out of her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears in streams before curling through the air to my palm and condensing into a drop. “By the order of our ancestor, I remove your bloodline.” Coming out of here without a bloodline would be essentially kick you from the Heros Clan.

Galen’s eyes were wide with terror, as were Zane’s.

“Zane, one of the others in our group didn’t get a bloodline, right? Bring them forward. Now what the ancestor said makes complete sense. Katie doesn’t deserve to be a Heros.” Well, now was as good a time as any to start putting on a performance. This would help me sell some of my future plans.

“I’m the one without a bloodline.” A guy ran out in a rush.

“Receive this one.” I pushed the bead towards him, and a torrent of blood dove into his chest. He screamed, falling to the ground as his body adapted to the new burst of stats. “Now”—I shifted my focus back to Galen and Zane—“cut the shit and work together.” The silent threat of what I could do to them was left unsaid.

Galen spun and kicked me with an ability that hit my soul, or at least, he attempted to hit my soul.

His foot stopped dead against me, his bloodline still suppressed as I stepped in and punched him as hard as I could. He shot back, landing against a tree with a crack as it caved in where he landed.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” I sighed and stalked towards him.

One of his people jumped in my way. “Don’t touch him.”

“Oh, I’m going to touch him. I promise not to kill him, though. He’s still part of the trouble here.” Her bloodline was only S, and I suppressed it completely for a moment, walking around her. She staggered when I turned it back up and she was hit by the shift in stats.

“Bran. What are you?” Zane asked.

It was time to lie through my teeth. “The ancestor spoke to me during the bloodline ritual.” I started wracking my brain for something believable. “Because of my Vampire Lord class, I have some ability to manipulate blood. It told me that it was growing weaker after all the years of living in this space. Our ancestor said it was going to go into a hibernation. As proof, it gave me power to unlock and control the Heros Clan bloodlines.”

“Impossible.” Galen winced from where I’d sent him flying.

“Want me to prove it to you?” I gestured at him, and he paled.

“No! Stop. I believe you.” Galen scrambled, getting to his feet while holding his side.

“That’s incredible, Bran.” Zane smiled. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“Seemed dangerous to flaunt it right at the start. Besides, I didn’t quite know what to do with these abilities.” I grasped for something that would make sense to them.

One of my goals was to be able to help the clan continue their bloodline. And I also wanted to make myself untouchable in the clan. It was a very rare chance that I’d drop a skillbook for this ability. The clan wouldn’t risk killing me unless they had some sort of rare skill to steal mine.

In my past life, there had been no one like that in the Heros Clan, but I never ruled anything out.

“For now, I’m quite weak. Even revealing this much feels risky. What if one of your branches wanted to use me?” I shook my head. “Hopefully, Circe protects me.”

Galen grimaced. “The clan wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Something like attacking Zane, right?” I gave him a pair of dead eyes. “Both of you. If one of you dies, I’m killing the other. So, work together and protect each other for the rest of this instance.”

“What do we do with her?” Zane had an ugly face as he looked at Katie.

“Blame it all on her and put her on trial when we leave. This is your one chance from me, Galen. Don’t disappoint me.” I did my best to put the fear of losing his bloodline into him.

To the Heros Clan, Galen exiting the instance with an SSS rank bloodline was probably his biggest dream. At least, it would be if he followed the rest of the rash Hercules line. They all were a little stupid with bad tempers. Yet they certainly had the strength to get their way.

“Fine.” Galen chugged a potion. “Give me my scythe back.”

I tossed the weapon casually into the air out of my spatial ring. “Point it at me again and it’ll disappear for good.”

He took it where it stabbed into the ground not far from him. “I think we all just learned who’s really in charge here.” He shot a glare at Zane with one last dig. “However, I’m not teaming up.”

“Where’s the rest of your group?” Zane asked.

Galen couldn’t meet his eyes. “We’re split between two sanctuaries.”

“Why?” I knew there was more. Pulling out Zane’s sword, I handed it to him pommel first.

“One of the mini bosses split us, and I can’t defeat it to reconnect our groups.” Galen’s jaw tensed. “That lion is tough. Probably too tough for you, too.” He didn’t like to lose.

Zane gasped. “That will be one of the harder ones. It’s the Nemean Lion. It’s impervious to all attacks. Even your soul attacks?” The last was directed at Galen who snorted and crossed his arms.

I frowned. It had to have some weakness. Yet, none of these players had decent inspect skill to get all the information.

“It’s getting late.” Zane checked his watch. “I say for now we gather everyone back up and shelter in the closest sanctuary. Bran, where’s Nyx?”

“Safe. She stayed behind to farm the mini boss. It’s a swarm type,” I told them.

Galen shuddered. “You met the birds?”

“Yeah. Killed a lot of them, but since it’s a swarm, they respawn for every fight. So, we have a huge mound of drops, and Nyx stayed back to farm using the sanctuary as shelter.” I smiled. Having Nyx there also meant anyone with bad intentions would likely only go to get slaughtered by those birds or if Nyx petrified them outside the sanctuary.

“Then maybe we should rest and then tackle the mini boss tomorrow?” Zane offered.

Tomorrow, my bloodline should finish. No matter how impervious this monster was to attacks, with enough stats, anything could be crushed.

That sack of blood better have given me something worthwhile. At least SS Rank, which would make up for how much stronger the boss might get.

“Sounds good.” Nyx would be fine for a night, and I could go check in on her after this was done.

Zane stepped up close. “I don’t suppose you have a few talismans to help protect me?” His gaze went to Galen.

The reaper was looking like a sore loser who would absolutely cause trouble.

“Yeah. I’ll give you a few in case one gets used up. It would be a shame if I had to break Galen for ignoring my warning.” I let my gaze harden to also let Zane know that I would do the same to him.

There would be a ceasefire until we got out.

“Galen, you’re going to explain where this boss is now,” I called to the other side of this conflict.