CH 216

Pukeok!

Grimwood’s head was bashed—no, it exploded.

Blood? Flesh? Brain matter?

None of those could be seen anywhere as the +15 Gaia’s Fist disintegrated his head between his shoulders without leaving any traces of it.

‘Huh? W-Why is this so powerful…? I thought I had to smack him at least four or five times…?’ Siegfried was flabbergasted, and he felt a shiver down his spine upon recognizing the weapon’s power.

He knew a +15 weapon was quite powerful, but he didn’t expect that it would disintegrate the Lycanthrope Lord’s head in a single blow.

Of course, the Lycanthrope Lord had already sustained a lot of damage from his fight against the Vampire Lord, Magnus, and his Defense was shredded by Blaze Field on top of that, but Siegfried was still shocked by the damage he dealt.

However, Lycanthrope Lord Grimwood couldn’t die. He was the same kind of cursed soul bound to this world, just like the Vampire Lord.

They were cursed to be bound to the continent for the rest of their lives, and it was impossible for them to die, no matter how badly their bodies were destroyed. They would live as long as they had spiritual energy.

In short, they were afflicted with the curse of immortality.

Therefore, Siegfried’s attack just now was pointless.

Why?

Swoosh!

Grimwood’s spiritual energy reconstructed his disintegrated head.

Magnus looked at Siegfried and asked in disbelief, “Can I ask what’s going on?”

It wasn’t strange that he was baffled. He couldn’t have expected that Siegfried would suddenly smash the head of the top-tier mercenary he had hired for an absurd sum of money.

Magnus tried to think of a reason why Siegfried would smash the head of the only other being capable of standing up against him, the Vampire Lord, but he could not come up with any plausible explanation.

“Because I don’t owe him any loyalty? I don’t have qualms with bashing the heads of monsters that devour humans to satiate their own hunger,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

He smashed Grimwood’s head because the Lycanthrope Lord was infamous for being a cannibal. Well, more like a man-eater since humans were a different race than him.

Mercenary King? Yeah, he had that fancy title, but Grimwood was infamous for devouring people alive whenever he was in a bad mood or whenever somebody got on his bad side.

He was able to continue working as a mercenary thanks to his title as a top-tier mercenary on top of being immortal, but he wasn’t a good being at all.

“How foolish can you be? You betrayed your strongest ally and turned him into your enemy during a battle,” Magnus scoffed at him.

“Me? When did I? What enemy?” Siegfried feigned ignorance.

“Do you honestly think that pup is going to cooperate with you after he comes back to life? He will probably try to rip you to shreds as soon as he reincarnates.”

“I don’t think so…?”

“Just wait and see. I’m certain that pup is going to go berserk on you judging by his personality… huh?”

“Do you still think so?” Siegfried asked as he took out something from his Inventory.

“…!”

Magnus’ eyes shot wide open, and his pale face turned beyond pallid.

“T-That’s…!”

“Do you want to see if he can recover with his soul sealed?” Siegfried asked before unsealing the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger.

***

Three days ago, Siegfried asked Daode Tianzun.

“Elder-nim, may I ask one favor from you?”

“What is it?”

“Can you make it so that I can use this sword for just ten seconds?”

“It seems that you’re scared of being devoured by that magic sword.”

Daode Tianzun knew very well why Siegfried was making such a request.

“Yes, that is exactly the reason.”

“Hmm~ It is truly a terrifying object, and that sword was simply too destructive when it was still at the hands of a Demon Lord but… That sword is a completely different weapon in your hands. You’re probably not going to be able to unleash even two percent of that sword’s true power. Of course, that two percent alone is more than what you can handle right now.”

“That is why I am asking you, Elder-nim. Can you allow me to use this weapon for ten seconds? I have to seal that mosquito bastard’s soul at least if I cannot kill him, right?”

“I guess you’re right… Don’t worry, I cannot unseal it for you, but I can make it possible for you to seal the Vampire Lord’s soul at the very least.”

Daode Tianzun took the magic sword and engraved a bunch of ancient runic symbols on it. Siegfried could not swing the sword around to his heart’s content, but he could use it for a few seconds to seal the Vampire Lord’s soul.

***

[Alert: You have unsealed the ‘Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger’!]

[Alert: The magic sword’s evil energy is trying to devour you!]

[Alert: Daode Tianzun’s protection spells are protecting you from the evil energy!]

[Alert: Daode Tianzu’s protection spells will disappear in 14 seconds!]

A string of messages popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

He had fifteen seconds in total. It was a short period of time, but it was more than enough time for him to seal two souls.

Whoosh!

Siegfried swung the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger, and the Lycanthrope Lord’s soul—which was only visible to Siegfried—was absorbed into the magic sword.

[Alert: Lycanthrope Lord Grimwood’s soul has been absorbed by the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger!]

Thud…!

The headless body of the Lycanthrope Lord helplessly fell to the ground.

It was an obvious outcome as the soul that was supposed to reanimate the head was suddenly absorbed by the magic sword.

The Lycanthrope could no longer stand without his soul.

It was truly a lackluster ending for the creature once called the Lycanthrope Lord and Mercenary King.

“T-That magic sword… It's the Avenger! How did an insignificant and lowly livestock like you get your hands on that?! HOW?!” Magnus cried out in horror. He completely abandoned his majesty as the Vampire Lord and retreated in fear.

The Vampire Lord wasn’t afraid of something simple like death.

Death? He honestly didn’t mind dying. He was cursed to live for eternity, and his mundane immortal life so far had been an endless cycle of boredom. Death was probably not a bad gift for someone like the Vampire Lord.

After all, he could finally get a taste of eternal rest.

However, Siegfried wasn’t going to give him death.

It was something scarier than death…

The Vampire Lord was going to be trapped in the magic sword to suffer alongside the other forsaken souls for hundreds or even thousands of years.

There was probably nothing more frightening to the Vampire Lord than the makeshift purgatory within the magic sword. His soul would be trapped in the magic sword and be tormented along with its countless other victims instead of going to the afterlife.

The idea was more than enough reason to frighten the Vampire Lord out of his wits.

“H-Hold on…!”

“What now?”

“Don’t come near me! I already warned you!”

“But I want to…”

“Please! I beg you!” Magnus screamed.

He abruptly turned into a bloody mist and tried to fly away from Siegfried.

“…!”

However, the Mirroring Field didn’t allow the Vampire Lord to escape. He was arrogant enough and had underestimated his opponent, so he was now paying the price.

Siegfried poured everything he had into this hunt.

He had meticulously planned every single part of his plan. He had drawn the layout of the Mirroring Field, gathered a subjugation army, and even paid a huge sum to hire the Vampire Lord’s arch nemesis—the Lycanthrope Lord.

In fact, he even went as far as to use Scourge of God which was a skill that he had been saving for the longest time just to destroy the Bloody Castle and increase his chances of victory.

The Vampire Lord had been overconfident, so he didn’t bother making any preparations because he was too busy dreaming of what his offerings were going to taste like.

However, his most fatal mistake was probably his arrogance to not even attempt to escape from the Mirroring Field despite knowing that he would be under a heavy penalty within it.

The conclusion of the battle between the prepared and the arrogant was an obvious conclusion, right?

“P-Please! Spare me!”

In the end, the Vampire Lord was forced to kowtow and surrender at the feet of the human that he once referred to as livestock.

“I’m going to beg you on my knees, so please…!”

“Hey, what are you doing? I’m not going to hurt you, so come here,” Siegfried said with a warm and gentle smile.

“D-Don’t come near me!” Magnus cried out.

“I like you a lot, you know that, right?”

“Lies!”

“No, I really like you. Who said anything about killing you? I just want to give you some time off. You know, like a vacation? I know an awesome place for you to get your much-needed rest.”

Needless to say, the awesome place Siegfried was referring to was none other than the purgatory within the magic sword.

Step, step, step!

Siegfried walked toward the Vampire Lord without an ounce of hesitation.

“I said don’t come near me!” Magnus cried out and swiped at Siegfried with his sharp nails.

Whoosh!

Siegfried avoided the attack.

‘You should try getting your head smashed in as well,’ he thought as he tightly gripped the +15 Gaia’s Fist and swung it into the Vampire Lord’s head.

Pukeok! 

Boom!

Magnus’ head was disintegrated, suffering the same fate as Grimwood’s head.

[Alert: Daode Tianzu’s protection spells will disappear in 3 seconds!]

Siegfried swung the magic sword at Magnus’ soul.

Whoosh!

[Alert: Vampire Lord Magnus’ soul has been absorbed by the Magic Sword of Vengeance: Avenger!]

Thud…!

Magnus’ headless body helplessly fell to the ground before crumbling into dust that scattered into the wind.

The mighty Vampire Lord suffered a lackluster ending similar to the Lycanthrope Lord.

***

[Alert: You have reached Level 211!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 212!]

Siegfried leveled up two times after defeating the two named monsters—the Vampire Lord and the Lycanthrope Lord.

He also gained new titles.

[Alert: You have gained the title Vampire Lord Slayer!]

[Alert: You have gained the title Lycanthrope Lord Slayer!]

That was not the end of it…

[Alert: You have achieved the Triple Crown!]

[Alert: Your Dragon Slayer title has merged with your new titles!]

[Alert: You have obtained the title ‘Great Hunter’!]

[Great Hunter]

[A title awarded to those who have achieved the Triple Crown of killing three certain powerful creatures.]

[Type: Title]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Effect: Great Honor (Passive Skill)]

The Great Hunter title gave Siegfried the passive skill—Great Honor.

[Great Honor]

[Effects: +500 First Impression, +500 Affinity with NPCs, +500 Presence, +500 Charisma]

From now on, NPCs would look upon Siegfried favorably under the effects of the Great Hunter.

[Herbert’s Blueprint]

[A blueprint of the most powerful weapon of mass destruction. A Grand Master blacksmith will easily understand it, and they will be able to complete Herbert’s final masterpiece as long as they have the following ingredients.]

[Type: Recipe (Universal Weapon)]

[Materials:]

[Rod of God × 1 ✓] 

[Omnipotent Mechanical Gear × 1 ✓]

[Horn of Chromatic Dragon × 1]

[Soul of the Vampire Lord × 1 ✓]

[Eye of the Storm × 1]

[Universal Grade Mana Stone × 1]

[Heart of the Demon King × 1]

[Current Progress: 42.85%]

Siegfried had gathered three out of the seven materials he needed to complete the Universal Tier weapon.

‘Nah, I won’t be able to gather all of it, anyway. The Universal Grade Mana Stone is nigh impossible to get, and how the hell am I supposed to get the Horn of the Chromatic Dragon? And what the hell is up with the Heart of the Demon Lord?’ 

Siegfried grumbled in disbelief.

The remaining materials were practically impossible to get, and the difficulty level was so great that Siegfried reckoned that not even a Grand Master could fulfill it. After all, even a Grand Master couldn’t defeat the Chromatic Dragon or the Demon King.

“All right, good job, everyone. Let’s go back,” Siegfried said, ordering the troops.

***

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While they were on their way back to Preussen, the capital of the Proatine Kingdom…

“Huh?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion after seeing the long line outside the capital. “Why is everyone outside?”

Siegfried’s question was soon answered.

“Long live the Proatine Kingdom!”

“Hurrah!”

“Long live the Great King Siegfried!”

“Hurrah!”

The citizens that lined up outside to greet Siegfried started to call him the ‘Great King’.

[Alert: You have obtained the title, Great King!]

[Alert: Force of the Lord has been activated!]

A burst of light abruptly enveloped Siegfried.