Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Strictly speaking, there is one—your progenitor, the God of Greed of this world,” the entity in the black mist said, its voice slow and deliberate. But the clouds overhead rapidly transformed into a giant maw, descending to devour the entire Count’s territory. ”Although it’s been so many years, the souls of these subjects are barely enough for a snack. Still, it’s better than nothing.”

Ron and the others watched helplessly as the great maw in the clouds destroyed everything around them. Countless Undead were involuntarily sucked into the sky, vanishing behind the clouds. Perhaps it was because they were not subjects of this territory that Ron and his group remained miraculously unharmed.

With the entire territory swept clean, a faint belch seemed to echo from high above. A massive ball of black-purple energy, condensed until it was almost tangible, was dropped from the sky, floating down to merge into the Array the Count had constructed.

Beneath the Array they recognized, layer upon layer of previously hidden Arrays, long obscured by time and dust, began to reactivate. These Magic Arrays had been set up hundreds of years ago, and Ron and his companions had been completely unable to detect them!

”No wonder he didn’t care about our help at all,” Yelena murmured. ”He’d already completed the most important part long ago!”

”Go digest it yourself, Count Capon.” The being in the black mist vanished in an instant, leaving only an echo behind. ”You’ll probably need several hundred years to fully digest this power, but don’t worry. I will wait until then—we will all wait until then.”

”We have plenty of time!” the Vampire laughed in response, reaching out to grab Silvia. ”Come! Miss Silvia! Absorb this energy! Don’t waste a single drop!”

”Are you insane?!” Silvia’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. She stood inside the Array as it spun at terrifying speed, fueled by the immense energy. ’From where she stood, no one knew better than her what this power was!’ ”I’ll explode!”

”You won’t,” the Vampire said, stepping forward impatiently and grabbing her hair. ”You’re just a conduit connecting the Vampire and the Richthofen bloodline. This energy will pass through you to be absorbed by me, without leaving a single drop for you—I’ll try my best not to suck you dry in the process, but I can’t make any promises!”

”Now, absorb this energy!”

Count Richthofen could not bear it for another second. He had paid too high a price for this moment and had encountered far too many complications. His wife and daughter, both witches, cursed him before they died, making that entity mistakenly believe the experiment here had already failed. To prove he still had value, he was forced to transform himself and all his subjects, just to cling to life. And this, in turn, made performing the ritual today, hundreds of years later, fraught with difficulty.

Now an Undead Creature, he could no longer handle the power he could have borne as a living person. Therefore, he had to find a medium, one other than the bodies and souls of his wife and daughter—a Half-Vampire.

Silvia was that perfect vessel. The Count had deceived the Mage with half-truths. He did indeed need to change Silvia’s bloodline, but it was by no means to step down and pass on his title. It was for him to truly achieve immortality.

Now, all his plans had come to fruition. He was just one kick away from obtaining absolute power. And when to take that kick was, of course, not for the goal to decide.

Silvia, at the center of it all, was powerless to resist the workings of the surrounding Array. Unparalleled energy converged within her body, nearly bursting her apart. However, with this buffer inside her, all the energy was re-refined, becoming something that an Undead Creature could safely absorb.

However, just as Count Richthofen saw that the time was right and prepared to seize the fruits of his success, an unforeseen problem lay before him: he had taken his kick at the goal...

But the goal was somehow locked from the inside?!

”What are you doing? If you don’t want to die, pass the power to me!” the Count roared, humiliated and enraged. ”Are you trying to be a hero? Huh?! What good will that do you!”

’Power is flooding Silvia’s body, yet I can’t draw a single shred of it?!’

’She’s a Vampire Descendant and has Richthofen blood. As an extra precaution, I even gave her the ’honor’ of killing my wife and daughter to connect her with the witch bloodline of Hecate. She’s like a second Mary now. How could she possibly defy my will!’

”I... I don’t want this either...” Silvia gasped, the Count’s hand gripping her throat so tightly she could barely breathe. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t escape the Vampire’s iron-like grasp, nor could she find any way to transfer the terrifying power to the Count.

Being choked to death or bursting from the inside out—these seemed to be Silvia’s only two fates. But the violently shaking Composite Magic Array, its energy pathway now blocked, began to hint at a third, or even a fourth, possibility.

”The Array! The Array is going to explode!” Ron mustered his strength, limping as he rushed toward the Array, only to be blocked by the barrier outside. ”Count! Open the Array! Or all of this will be for nothing!”

”In your dreams!” The Count had now completely lost his veneer of aristocratic composure, his neurotic roar reflecting his inner anxiety and fear. ”You did all this, didn’t you?! You ruined my plan! When I get out of here, you’re all going to die!”

”What did you do to Silvia?!”

”We didn’t do it. She did it herself,” Yelena said, slowly pushing herself up from the ground. She staggered step by step to the edge of the Array’s barrier. The Shadow Spirit revealed her neck, paler than any member of the Blood Race, and on it were two shocking puncture wounds from fangs. ”Silvia, ’is my noble blood to your liking’?”

”You drank her blood?!” The Count froze as if hit by a Thunder Strike. ”It was when you cast the Dark Magic!”

”Damn it! I never authorized you to drink blood! You weren’t supposed to ingest any other blood these past few days! My Charm and suggestion should have made it impossible for you to do something like this!”

”Heh...” A cold laugh escaped Silvia’s lips, even as she felt her neck about to be crushed. ”Lord Count... compared to my benefactors and friends, our connection is... just a little bit weaker.”

”Victoria’s Flame Strike Magic was enough to snap me out of it.”

”Still, I never expected your ritual to be this fragile... All it took was a mouthful of blood, and...”

”You drank the blood of another Richthofen!” the Vampire shrieked, his eyes bulging with fury. ”Do you know nothing about Arcane Magic?! The more powerful the Magic, the more precise it must be! Why didn’t you just drink that Ron dry instead?! At least that wouldn’t have had such a massive impact!”

”Damn it! You idiots! If you want to live, do as I say! If we can expel the portion she absorbed, maybe there’s still a—”

”That’s too much trouble,” Yelena said, dipping her fingers into the wound on her neck. She collected some blood and dripped it onto the Array’s barrier. ”Since all the power has already gathered inside Silvia, and you were planning to pass your title to her anyway, why not just go with the flow?”

”What are you doing? No! Get out!” The Count watched in horror as Yelena easily passed through into the Array—she, too, had Richthofen blood flowing through her veins. Although their kinship was distant, it was still enough for her to penetrate the barrier made of Blood Magic!

The Count let go of Silvia and dashed forward. His massive fist, glowing with Arcane Magic, smashed into the Shadow Spirit. Yet, the Shadow Spirit seemed completely numb to all external force. Not even the shattering of her bones and organs could wipe the faint, mocking smile from her face.

”Ron, do you have any treasures related to Undead Creatures?” Yelena twisted her head around at an unnatural angle, extending a hand out through the barrier as she looked at him. Ron swore he had only ever seen that cynical, devil-may-care look in her eyes on the face of one other being. ”Give it to me. For Silvia.”

”Otherwise, you’ll all die here. Believe me?”

’Related to Undead Creatures?’ Ron froze. Something in Yelena’s eyes stopped him from questioning her. ’But the only piece of equipment that dropped from the Death Knight was taken to Purgatory by Farama, wasn’t it? Where would I get another...’

’Wait... I actually do have something!’

A single bead of blood, pitch-black like obsidian, appeared in Ron’s hand. It was the blood essence of a Demon Lord, refined by Gracia.

”This is it!” Yelena snatched the blood essence. With an agility that completely defied her physical condition, she dodged nearly ten of the Vampire’s attacks in a row. Then, with a flick of her index finger, the bead of blood essence transformed into a streak of black light and shot toward the dying Vampire Descendant. ”Silvia, open your mouth!”