Chapter 361 – Shell

000

The figure of Alessios, who continued to radiate dark red magic pressure from his whole body, looked a little younger than when he had met before.

Yes, if Cleon and Illenu first met and dealt with him in that village, his appearance was at least in his mid-fifties.

The person in front of me now seemed to have rewinded time to the point where he looked like he was in his late 40s.

Of course, due to the nature of being a vampire, age on the outside doesn’t mean anything, but…

It would be the same as having passed a long time from his 20s, which can be said to be his prime his, but it was an undeniable fact that the spirit felt in him now was stronger than that of Alexios in his 50s.

“Do vampires age too? Basically, I know they are immortal.”

When Cleon asks Illenu about it, Illenu replies with a frown on his face her.

“Basically not… But, those beings who became vampires from humans lose their strength little by little because their souls can’t stand the passing of time… I heard that it’s difficult to maintain a young body because of that.”

“Indeed. …Then, to what extent did Alexios’ soul lose power at that time?”

Even in such a state, the power he possesses must be strong enough to push the two of them with all their might.

In any case, if you are wary of your youthful appearance and work together like before to blow your body—

“You look like you’re enjoying the conversation. Let this old man wear a little too.”

“Kuh!?”

Cleon and Illenu could not react to the speed of Alexios, who suddenly closed the distance, and reflexively swung their swords at him who appeared in front of them in an instant.

However, the swords of the two were blocked by huge wings appearing from behind him.

It had the same shape as the one Illenu had created, but the size seemed incomparably larger.

“Hmm… You mean you don’t want to talk to older people?”

Alesios spoke as if he was sad while supporting his two swords with his wings.

In response to his attitude his, Illenu pushed the sword with all his might his, to the extent that tendons appeared on his forehead his, as if heat had spread to his head his.

“Who, with a bastard like you…! Conversation…!”

There was a clicking sound, and I could tell that his wings were shaking, albeit slightly.

“Geuk… That’s right. Conversation only happens on an equal footing. The relationship between you and me is between the ruled and the ruled. The only words you can hear from me are commands. Illenu.”

However, such trembling alone did not reverse the relationship of power, and when Alesis smiled, something like a sharp spear rose from his shadow and aimed at Illenu and Cleon at the same time.

In the end, the confrontation was broken, and the two had to focus on blocking each other’s spearheads with their swords while stepping back.

“You all seem to have gotten stronger than then… But I too, while accumulating my strength within you- and gradually absorbing the power of the other vampires. I succeeded in regaining my strength.”

“…”

Alexios spoke to Illenu while clasping his hands tightly.

“It’s all thanks to you, Illenu. It’s because you sucked enough blood to kill that magic swordsman. I was able to survive.”

“…!”

Illenu widened his eyes at those words and created a huge magical pressure along with anger.

It’s not just heavy enough to make even Cleon right next to him hesitate. It pierces the skin it touches painfully like a hedgehog’s thorns.

“Even you couldn’t stop. The sweet act of drinking blood. Even knowing that it would take the life of someone dear to you. You couldn’t stop swallowing the lives of others for the sake of power.”

“Shut up!”

“Am I wrong? Then why didn’t you make him one of your own? He could have become an immortal body like you and spend eternal nights together. Alas. Of course, then you would have to become a complete vampire. If so , yes I should have been able to suppress my vampiric urges to some extent… That’s foolish.”

“Kuu, aaaaa!!”

When her painful voice resounded of her, whether it was her screams or shouts of her, the next moment she spread her wings from Illennu’s back her and lifted her up into the air.

She was even more beautiful in her original red color, but it was dyed an eerie crimson, her pupils slit vertically.

Her fangs her that grew sharper meant that she had maxed out the power of her blood her.

The silver rapier blade in her hand her was dyed red in response to her power her.

“Hmm…”

Alexios looked at it with interest, but swung his free sword hand.

Seeing his movements of her, Cleon seemed to sense something eerie, and she immediately stepped back from where he was standing.

Then, a dark red guillotine attacked the spot he was standing on.

“Because if I digging my eyes, you will surely dig into that gap. I’ll keep you in check.”

“What-“

As soon as Cleon finished his words, he felt a different presence on his back from her from the bloody scaffold he called.

If you immediately turn around and swing your sword – Kang! With a metallic sound, I could see the sword colliding with something.

What was there was a cylindrical torture device.

There are several thorns stuck in the inside where there is a space for a person to enter, and if you close the lid after trapping a human inside.

A steel coffin that pierces the whole body of the human inside and causes death.

“Your blood is a precious source of magic power.

“…A perverted bastard…!”

The magic power and attack of Alexios that I had never experienced before.

The ability to construct substances from blood, which all vampires have, was deeply connected to the magic they used.

Also, Alexios’ magic is specialized in summoning instruments of torture or execution made of blood and absorbing the blood of the victim.

It is magic that represents the magical power that comes from the negative emotions that arise along with terrible pain, and the vampire’s instinct itself to covet the blood shed in the process.

Meanwhile, Illenu created numerous blood-colored spears while floating in the air and jumped at Alesios.

Alexios surrounds Cleon with torture devices he summoned to keep Cleon in check, and himself raises his sword to deal with Illenu himself.

When the swords collided, the spear of the shadow of Alessios, whom I had seen before, did not let go of the gap and aimed at Illenu.

However, because Illenu made a blood-colored spear in preparation for his spear his, it was offset while colliding with Alesios’ attack.

“It’s great. It’s a much stronger trained power than the time in my memory.”

“Shut up!”

Enraged, Illenu’s magical power her pushed Alessios’ sword away as if responding to her emotions her.

Alexios felt himself being pushed back in the battle of power, but the corners of his mouth his twisted up and he refused to go down.

And, when the tip of the sword in Ilenu’s hand glows red-

“!”

As soon as Alexios saw it, he tried to get away from her.

The red magic power protruding from the tip of Illenu’s sword bent like a whip and wrapped itself around Alessios’ neck.

“Kuh…!”

“I’ll kill you again and again… So you don’t talk anymore!”

If Illenu’s mad rage erased the fear she had for him.

Without the slightest hesitation, Illenu pulled his sword her, tightened his neck her, and at the same time launched it into a magic circle spread in the air.

The holy sword, brought into the world by Alexios and handed down to Illenu, is a sword with the power to create magical whips that expand and contract freely.

The magic whip is made up of powerful divine magic, and it is possible to inflict particularly strong damage to undead and various immortal beings.

Of course, the magic she uses now is not divine magic, but vampire blood magic.

The moment Alexios’ body his touched the magic circle, the thorns protruding from the magic circle pierced his body his, and the tightened neck his soon-

Wood deok! It bends in an impossible direction while making a noise.

Blood gushed out of his mouth and whole body her, and even in that state, Illenu did not let go of his sword her and strangled him even more strongly, but-

Soon, the swords of the shadows protruding from the ground broke her whip her and the magic circle in the air, and Alessios’ body her fell to the ground with a fluttering sound.

“Is this not enough…!”

Illenu takes a deep breath and kicks his tongue her, trying to finish him off once again before Alessios wakes up as he falls to the ground.

This time, a number of knights on horses rose from the ground and charged towards Illenu.

“Kuh…!?”

Illenu was unable to respond to the sudden increase in mass and flew backwards while rolling on the ground.

Then, he looked at Alexios, who stood up once more, with painful eyes.

“…!”

There, Illenu could see that his appearance had once again become about 10 years younger.

“Hmm… It seems that every time you receive a fatal attack, your strength grows stronger… Is it an ability you acquired while overcoming countless deaths?”

This time, Alexios looks at the two as a young man in his twenties.

Its appearance his was very similar to that of Illenu.

Seriously, should I say Illenu with short hair?

The next moment, when Alexios snapped his fingers, the instruments of torture that had surrounded Cleon and pushed them down lost their shape and collapsed.

“Haha…”

It’s not injured, but it’s the left arm I sacrificed earlier when I blew away Alexios’ body.

And, because of the wound pierced by the broken scythe, Cleon’s eyes her were rapidly blurring.

“Cleon!”

Illenu must have grasped Cleon’s physical condition her as well, so he quickly rushed to his side her, blaming himself for leaving him alone in anger.

“…It’s okay. In the end, in this place… Mental strength decides everything…”

“Don’t say stupid things! Me and that guy might be like that, but you’re an outside soul. If you keep fighting in that state… You’ll really leave a scar on your soul that won’t heal …!”

Cleon knew what happens when a soul is wounded.

It was because she remembered the hardships of Beatrix from before, as she suffered a wound in her soul.

“…But I have to do it now.”

“…You…”

When Cleon said that, Illenu closed her eyes for a moment before opening them.

Her eyes her seemed to be a little calmer than before, and she had regained their original color, and her pupils her had also returned to their original state.

“But, that guy… The more he defeats him, the stronger he gets.”

“I’m not getting stronger.”

At Cleon’s words, Illenu says ‘what…?’ And she looks at Alexios with Cleon.

Alexios stood still, looking at Cleon and Illenu with a fishy smile.

Even if he stayed still, Cleon would die, and dealing with Illenu alone was not that difficult.

While thinking, she must be conceited.

Actually, although that analysis was not wrong.

However, Cleon speaks.

“It’s not that it’s getting stronger. The soul that has changed over time is returning to its original state whenever it takes damage.”

“…What-“

The color of Cleon’s eyes her turned gray.

It was hard to understand her because she had brightened a bit from her original black color of her.

The color of her eyes was Beatrix’s.

To be precise, it was from ‘Death Knight Beatrix’.

“If you look through the eyes of Beatrix… You can see through the eyes of the executioner of the Goddess of Death. How the soul changes. Alessios… Fears his own power weakening and growing old, so he became a vampire “A coward who decided to become a coward. No matter how much he wraps himself up in a monstrous soul, there is an indelible human weakness within him.”

Cleon stood up from his seat as he said that.

Obviously, the Alessios they faced was the perfected Alessios as a monster.

However, he was a human being who felt fear at his limits his as a human being.

So, he lacked a lot as a human being, and he was a brutal being like a monster.

At least when he was human, he had the feeling of fear like any other human.

Thinking that he had overcome those feelings by becoming a vampire, he wrapped the human part inside himself into a monster part in order to become a more perfect monster.

Killing his colleagues, stealing his research results, and dominating and breeding humans.

He became the monster that Cleon and Illenu feared during the fight.

But here in the world of spirits, Alessios is deeply wounded and every time he regenerates, the part of him as the monster he has created is breaking away.

If it’s natural, then it’s natural.

The perfect monster he built, called ‘Vampire Alexios’.

It was not achieved by one’s own strength, but was created based on someone’s strength, someone’s blood, and someone’s sacrifice.

There was not a single part that he had achieved alone.

Such a soul breaks easily.

And, it is to expose his own weak part of him.

The reason why Alexios feels like his power his is getting stronger is only because the core part of his soul his is slowly revealing itself.

It didn’t really get stronger.

“…Just a little more, and that’s it.”

At Cleon’s words, Illenu nodded and stood by his side her once more.

“…I won’t go alone this time.”

“Not really, it doesn’t matter. Just hit it.”

When Cleon answered Illenu’s reflection, Illenu shook his head.

“As a human being, I want to win with you.”

“…Okay.”

Cleon looked into Illenu’s eyes while saying that.

Those eyes, like when I saw them someday.

It was shining like a star in the dark night sky.