Chapter 246 – The Man’s Identity

It would not be easy to revive if you were being shredded up while having your magic energy sucked out of you.
Whether it was making a clone or repairing your cut up body, you needed to use magic energy.

“UGAAAIIIIIIII!”
One after another, the clones turned into piles of ashes. The one I had been using Drain Touch on also turned into ash.
The only one that remained was the one who I had been fighting before I cast Drain Touch.

“Are you the main body?”
I slashed at the screaming man’s torso with the Devil King Sword.

“I won’t forgive you. I won’t ever forget this, you bastard!”
“I don’t want your forgiveness. Just disappear.”

But just as I tried to deal the final blow, which was to pierce the man’s neck with the Devil King Sword,
—Kiiiiiiiiiiinnn.
There was a great ringing in my ears. At the same time, a terrible pain shot through my entire body.
Eric, Goran, and Kathe’s expressions also twisted in pain all at once.

“To think that I’d be forced to use the protection of our god against lowly humans…”
Muttered the man, who was covered in blood and merely skin and bones on top of being split in half.
Gradually, the man began to heal. Even the torso that I had cut was being reconnected to his lower half.

“Yes, he would have prepared such a thing…”
I had cast Magic Detection many times. However, this boss was a High Lord, and they were skilled with concealment magic.
So it was no surprise that there was something hidden.

“…Still, I was so cautious. Where did you hide the core?”
Even if you were good at concealment, there were limits.

“Oh? So you know about this?”
The man grinned. As far as appearances went, he looked mostly healed.
That being said, this was after he had used up a lot of magic energy. And so he should be weaker than he seemed.

“I don’t really want people to know about this protection. And so you must die.”
“But weren’t you going to kill all of us anyway?”
“Haha. That is true.”

The man now had all the confidence of someone who had already won.
That was when Goran pushed through the pain and attacked him.

“ARRGHHAAA!”
“What!”

The man’s face contorted with shock. The blade scratched his arm and then started to burn.
He currently has the Protection of the Evil God. And, of course, Goran’s movements were quite slow.
However, the man had assumed that Goran could not move at all, and so he was taken by surprise and could not dodge the attack.
Goran had erased his presence entirely, and was also moving in a way that was calculated so he wouldn’t attract any attention.
That was why the man was shocked.
The fact that he had his magic energy sucked out, weakening him, was also another reason that he couldn’t dodge the attack.

“Don’t underestimate me!”
Eric raised his holy blade into the air and closed the gap between them with big steps.

“Shut up and die!”
As Eric dashed forward, the man fired off a small magic bullet towards him.

“Gah.”
Eric twisted his body in order to dodge it. However, it was not enough, and the magic bullet slammed into his shoulder.
And like that, his knees hit the ground.
At the same time, he threw something towards me with a subtle movement.

The exaggerated movement with the holy sword and his own body was all just a ruse.
His real purpose involved the thing he had thrown to me.

It glowed just as I caught it. It seemed to be some kind of magic tool.
But there was no time for me to be casting Magic Exploration on it. And so I just charged it with magic.
The magic tool began to glow even stronger, and all at once, the horrible pain stopped.
It was a magic tool that relieved the pain caused by the Protection of the Evil God.
So Eric had prepared for such an event.

“If you had something like this, you could have told me!”
All at once, I swung the Devil King Sword through the air. The man’s head went flying.
At the same time, I used Magic Detection. I needed to find the core for the Protection of the Evil God. It was in the ashes of his clone.
So that means it was hidden inside of the body.
And so I fired off a magic bullet into it as hard as I could.

–Crack!

There was a sound like shattering glass, and the core was destroyed.
At the same time, the Protection of the Evil God faded.

“I’m glad that it worked. It was still a prototype.”
Eric said with a relieved smile.

“So he was hiding it inside of his body. It’s no wonder Ruck and I didn’t notice it.”
“These clones are even more dangerous than they look.”

Said Kathe and Goran, their shoulders heaving as they caught their breath.
Now that the core had been destroyed, they were all freed from the pain.

It must have been hidden in the main body, and then moved to the clones when he made them.
What a troublesome and dangerous thing he had thought of.

I pointed the Devil King Sword at what was now just a head, and then cast Magic Detection and Magic Exploration.
I wanted to make sure that Shia, Serulis and Grulf were safe.

“Goran, Serulis and the others are fine. But they’re still fighting against a Lord.”
“I see. That’s good to hear.”
“We can take it from her. You can go ahead and leave this to us.”

While he was acting calm, Goran must have been very worried about Seriulis, who was his daughter.
I was also worried about them.

“Are you sure?”
“It would put me at ease.”
“Goran. You should go.”
Said I and Eric. And so Goran started to dash away. As he did, he shouted back at us.

“I’ll leave the rest to you then!”
“Aye, leave it to me.”

I’d have nothing to worry about if Goran took care of Serulis and the others.
And so we could focus on this mysterious man.

I pointed the Devil King Sword at the man and questioned him.

“Now, who are you? Surely you aren’t just some High Lord?”
“…Hehe. Of course, not. I am the ‘true ancestor.’ Do not mistake me for some High Lord.”

Surprisingly, he easily revealed his identity to us. I didn’t expect it, but it also made sense.
Up until now, all the high-ranking vampires that I had called ‘lessers’ had become furious without exception.
For vampires, their rank was directly connected to their sense of pride.
And so they could not stand to have someone mistake their rank.
That was why he answered me without lying.

I would have to make use of this information in my future dealings with vampires. That’s what I thought.