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Chapter 30 – Part 2

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Translator: Pink Tea

Editor: Ryunakama

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To think that she isn’t only good with general magic but also can use spirit summoning this well. Now I realize that I was still underestimating her.

The twin-headed large snake was large enough to swallow three or four adult humans whole and was brimming with spirit and magic power dense enough to make it appear as if it physically materialized in our realm.

Blowing a breath of blizzard at Bran, it obeyed the will of its summoner, Nell, and twisting its body in the air, lunged at Bran.

Just some inches before hitting Bran, the breath of blizzard hit the protective barrier around him, and went around his body, without touching him.

As for the twin-headed snake, that flew faster than an arrow, Bran looked at it with an ice-cold stare, and with a wry smile on his face slashed with Grief Maria.

The snake, with its wide-open maw riddled with icicle fangs, had no chance to avoid the golden blade, and offering no resistance, was cut in two, immediately disappearing, swallowed by the rift in space created by the slash of Grief Maria.

Even if a giant were to use a greatsword, it might’ve been able to cut through the ice scales, but cutting that giant snake in two is too much. Yet for an exceptional skill of Bran and a strange sword Grief Maria it was possible.

With the twin-headed snake so easily defeated, Nell had a look of complete disbelief, which is to be expected after she used her full power to summon it.

Seeing that face, Bran’s expression turned to a clearly mocking smile, which nonetheless remained dignified.

「Grief Maria is a little sharp. You should be careful not to lose your head. Drinking blood from a headless body lacks grace.」

And immediately after making that warning, Bran once again raised the sword.

From the center of the body to the shoulder, from the shoulder to the elbow, from the elbow to the wrist, from the wrist to the sword, every body part worked together, without even a single hint of hesitation in the movement. The beauty rose from the sense of inevitability of those movements like they were dictated by the rules of nature themselves.

The tip of the golden sword pointed to the sky, and then akin to a raging waterfall tore through the night silence, coming at me.

The slash was aimed at my right arm and right leg. My dragon eyes surely saw that, coming at me at four, no, five times the speed of sound.

「Dran-san!」

「Dran!」

The screams of Nell and Selina, who probably already saw me cut in two, reached my ears after I blocked the slash by swinging my sword in exactly the same trajectory.

Unlike the swordsmanship of Bran, which was beyond what could be reached through relentless honing of outstanding talent, my technique was a combination of the skills of a backwater swordsman that practiced for some 13 years and brute force from the dragon soul.

There was nothing elegant about it, but I’m quite confident that I won’t fall behind some vampiric prince in regards to the murderous intent and the spirit put into the attack.

The sound similar to mercilessly torn metal, or rather, some indescribable shrill sound shook the surroundings. Before the cut created in space could close, it was cut through once again, giving birth to this piercing sound. In a way, it was a shriek of the space itself.

After making the same cutting movement as Bran, from overhead to the ground, I point my sword to the left half of Bran’s body.

It was a simple declaration, that I will pierce through the heart.

「That is a surprise, Dran. Neither did you defend yourself from my attack, nor did you evade it, but you chose to negate it by using exactly the same attack. The sword in your hands is not special, and yet you pulled that off. Perhaps I should lament my lack of talent.」

Ignoring his praises, I reply in a low voice.

「You can praise me all you want, but don’t think that will earn you my mercy. After exposing your ashes to sunlight, I will scatter them over the sea.」

Nell looked at me in shock. It was her first time hearing my cold voice, that gave off murderous intent, directed at the enemy.

「Thank you for informing me.」

My declaration didn’t seem to concern him, as he donned a cool, refreshing smile. Slightly turning the left side of his body to me, he blocked me from seeing his golden sword in the right hand. A basic, yet effective step to prevent the opponent from reading the trajectory of the sword by concealing the initial movement.

「Strike, Celestial Javelin.」

With those words of mine, the light far surpassing the moonlight, illuminated the night with its radiance, creating our dark shadows on the ground, and Bran’s, far more faint one.

The spell that I previously used during the battle in Ente forest. It summons countless spears made of magic power, showering enemies from above.

The power was greatly reduced since I omitted the chant and instead activated it with the spell name and the wave of my left hand alone, but blindingly shining spears infused with my dragon magic power had enough power to tear through Bran’s defenses like through paper.

An attack through brute force, possible due to my inexhaustible magic power and its fundamentally different quality.

As expected, Bran decided to rely on his superhuman-like, no, literally superhuman reflexes, to counter Celestial Javelins pouring on him from above.

Looks like the space cutting sword doesn’t cut the space all the time, as Bran right now used his strength that exceeded even that of other vampires to crush incoming celestial javelins to pieces.

By the time the number of crushed spears went over 20, surrounded by their particles like snow, Bran grabbed his mantle by the edge and turned it over his head.

「This is a bit of a hassle. I’ll leave this to my guards.」

I was beginning to wonder what those guards he is talking about were, but the answer revealed itself soon enough.

From the velvety cloth of the mantle that now was fully covering Bran, slowly rose half-transparent arms.

Not, one, not two, not five…… The number kept growing until finally, it reached fifty. Not all of them were human in shape, a great variety of other arms were also present, some covered in black bristle, some in bluish-black scales, and even green arms with joints bending the other way were present.

「Those are my guards. All of them are strong and beautiful women whose blood I drank. After turning them into my slaves, I skinned them alive, and sewing the skin together sealed their souls in there, creating this mantle. My servants dwelling in this mantle can show themselves at my will. Like this.」

As if inspired by Bran’s proudful words, forty arms that already fully manifested, met the downpour of celestial spears, each hand with its own weapon.

Bran’s guards repelled or crushed the spears made of dense magic power, which traveled faster than sound, leaving the vampire prince completely unharmed by the end of it.

Maybe they realized that no more spears were coming, or obeying Bran’s will, but the guarding arms disappeared turning transparent, just like when they emerged.

「The number of women that tasted my fangs is over a thousand, or maybe two? I long since stopped counting, so I don’t even know myself anymore, but fighting me is close to facing thousands of vampires.」

Over a hundred arms that appeared around Bran all were holding various weapons. Longbows, short bows, javelins, daggers, throwing nets, chakrams, and many other weapons, all were on the verge of being shot or thrown with that superhuman vampire strength and precision.

Then, I should blow them away with an area of effect magic, I thought, when from the direction of Fraupa Village came the voice of another intruder, resounding through the fog.

A lovely voice resembling the ringing of a golden chime, yet the only impression its sound gave was cruelty and heartless apathy.

While different from Bran’s, it still was a voice that could be only coming from a nonhuman mind.

「You seem to be having fun. Let me join you.」

At about the same time as the voice reached our ears, a giant beast arm, that gave off a faint grey light, appeared above Bran surrounded by a hundred weapon holding arms, threatening to crush them the next moment.

The arms blocked the giant hand coming at them from overhead, spreading in the surroundings the shockwave from the collision of the hundred arms and the giant arm.

Glancing to the base of that giant arm, I saw a familiar petite figure standing in front of the closed gates to Fraupa village.

The hair and the eyes the color of the starless night sky and inhumanly white skin. Lovely features that attracted notice.

Although petite to the point of being cute, the overwhelming pressure that was oozing from her prevented an ordinary person from even looking straight at her.

Nell, somewhat bitter, spoke the name of the new intruder.

「Lenia.」

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