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“Professor? Look behind you.”

Jeongjae, who had been blankly watching the approaching monster, was suddenly called out by Jenis. At her words, Jeongjae turned his head to check the hole behind him in the cellar.

Somehow, a dark defensive magic barrier had solidly sealed the hole, protecting the cellar from attacks. Jeongjae frowned and said.

“This isn’t good.”

“Just how much do they want to ignore us and shoot us that they’ve prepared such a defense…”

From the mouth of Dracula-Dragon, black currents began to crackle and emit light. There was no time to dodge. Jeongjae thrust out the two mana shields he had already created and shouted.

“Jenis, assist me!”

“Let’s try blocking with holy power!”

As the massive lightning breath descended upon them, the moment Jeongjae’s mana shield collided with Dracula’s strike, he realized just how much stronger Dracula was pushing.

This was a powerful offensive spell capable of annihilating an entire village. Even Jeongjae could deliver such a level of attack, but completely blocking it was an entirely different matter. Defensive magic wasn’t as highly developed as offensive magic. The only legendary protective barrier that could block most attacks in this world was the Iron Wall Blessing that Rose possessed.

“Just hold on a bit longer!”

Jenis drew holy power from her necklace and reinforced Jeongjae’s defensive magic with a cross shield. Though her barrier was much less robust than Jeongjae’s, thanks to the powerful magic of the unicorn, which was especially strong against dark magic, it significantly contributed to blocking Dracula’s breath.

With Jenis’s support, Jeongjae pushed forward against Dracula’s breath with all his might.

“It’s gotten stronger. What happened?”

Jeongjae wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead as he spoke. Jenis, gripping her overheated necklace tightly to cool it down, nodded.

“Perhaps it’s drunk more dragon’s blood. But… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”

“What kind of side effect is that? Is there some kind of weakness because of it?”

Jeongjae asked with a tiny glimmer of hope. Jenis shook her head with a somewhat enigmatic expression.

“I don’t think it’s a weakness that will help us. But… can Dracula even distinguish between being a vampire or a dragon at this point?”

“Yeah, if it looks like that, even I wouldn’t be able to tell if I were human or a monster.”

“It’s not just an appearance issue… No, never mind. Let’s scatter for now. There’s no real point in both of us holding this position. I’ll approach and engage, and Professor, you cover me from this spot!”

Jenis spread her wings wide and soared into the sky as she spoke. Jeongjae had no other options. There was no way they could last through the night like this. Now that the enemy had quickly figured out how to break the siege with hostages, they needed to continue the fight while dealing actual blows to the enemy.

Suspended in the air, Jenis crossed her Eramenia rapier and the Great Sage’s staff, closing her eyes tightly as she began to chant a spell. This opponent was not one that could be dealt with through ordinary sword strokes. Jenis’s physical strength was not to be underestimated, but it wasn’t as strong as Rose’s, nor was her swordsmanship as sharp as Margaret’s.

To pierce the enemy’s skin with a blade, adequate preparation was necessary.

“The blade is already sharp, but from now on, it will also be heavy. Strike hard!”

As a small magic circle entwined around Jenis’s rapier, she swung her sword wide toward Dracula’s neck, striking his skin with her sword strike.

Red blood from the monster sprayed into the sky where the blue sword energy hit. Jenis seemed afraid of consuming that blood, flapping her wings as she rose high into the air, while Dracula, already in pain from the blow dealt by Jeongjae, howled and whipped its head around toward Jenis.

Now it was Jeongjae’s turn to cover Jenis. Just before Dracula could launch another attack at her, Jeongjae pulled out a scroll from his pocket and shouted loudly toward Jenis.

“Jenis! Get out of there quickly!”

“Ah, what? Yes, got it!”

Seeing the scroll in Jeongjae’s hand, Jenis hurriedly flew away from Dracula towards him. Dracula’s gaze followed Jenis, looking for an opportunity to strike the exposed Jenis, whose mouth was filled with black lightning. Both of them noticed.

If even one of those attacks hit squarely, it could be life-threatening. The best defense was a good offense. To block the enemy’s attack, they needed to strike first.

At that moment, there was a scroll that was just right for the situation. Although it had been developed as a byproduct of ‘Manhattan,’ the actual battlefield application was so low that it had practically been discarded: the ‘Blind Bomb’ Remei.

As Jeongjae silently tossed the scroll into the air, the magic book disintegrated into powder and vanished. The scroll activated, and the magical circle that had been wandering aimlessly finally pinpointed Dracula’s location, taking form above his head.

“Professor, what spell is that…”

“It can’t be helped. I don’t have a cannon, so I have to use Remei!”

The reason for discarding this spell was its extremely low versatility and effectiveness. Originally, it should have been a spell that could unleash large-scale bombardments over a wide area through a magic circle generated in the sky, but due to a design flaw somewhere, it had instead turned into a bizarre magic that inserted a single, highly condensed magical bomb into a very narrow area.

Simply inserting a large-scale bombardment would have sufficed with a basic flame magic circle; because of that thought, it underwent various modifications and ended up as a half-baked spell. If it were a spell to deliver a blow to a strong enemy officer, there were many better methods available, and as long as they could get close enough to the enemy, they could conserve mana by attacking at close range.

It wasn’t weak magic. However, on a battlefield where strong allies could each play their own roles, there were far too many more efficient spells that could replace it.

But that was a story that only applied when Jeongjae fought within the Hero Party.

The current situation was one of the rare environments where ‘Remei’ could make an appearance. There was no one like Rose to take the hits for him, and the enemy was too strong to approach and engage directly. ‘Flame Convergence’ generally didn’t deal significant damage to dragons. Dragons naturally possess flame resistance, and certainly, there shouldn’t be one without such resistance.

Of course, whether that bizarre creature had also acquired fire resistance was still a mystery, but Jeongjae had no desire to test that and waste mana.

The decisive factor was the wound on Dracula’s neck caused by the blade strike. That wound inspired Jeongjae. From a distance, through the sky, the magic that could precisely embed a high-powered magical bomb into the enemy’s weakness was the most fitting spell for the current situation. Similar in power, ‘Star’s Flash’ was a bit chaotic in accuracy at this distance, and ‘Takin,’ which enhanced precision, lacked sufficient power.

“Dig into it, Remei!”

A red laser beam shot down from the magic circle floating in the sky and precisely struck Dracula’s wound. However, that laser alone meant nothing. It was a targeting device for follow-up attacks, a sort of coordinate magic.

Before Dracula could recognize the strange magic circle in the sky and the identity of the laser and react, the magical circle expelled a red circular mana sphere and disintegrated in mid-air. The sphere expelled from the magic circle directly plunged into Dracula’s wound, causing a massive explosion.

“Kuueeehh!”

Dracula let out an unearthly screech that no human could make and stumbled sideways. Jeongjae fell to the ground, exhausted from severe mana depletion, and Jenis rushed to support him while unable to take her eyes off the staggering monster.

This worked. The wound gaped as blood surged skyward, spilling enough blood to form a small puddle below. The dragon raised its hand to cover the wound as if trying to stop the blood from flowing, but the injury was so great that even its large hand couldn’t cover it completely.

“It seems he’s not speaking like a human anymore.”

Seeing Dracula disoriented and staggering, Jenis said. With Jeongjae supported by her, he took a deep breath and shrugged.

“Looking at that state, it’s not surprising he’s not speaking like a person.”

“No, if it were just a simple transformation magic, someone would start cursing in such a situation. But… he’s only making lizard sounds while suffering. As if he were a real dragon…”

Dragons are a race that can speak human language, but that is only possible because of their high intelligence. When suffering extreme pain or shock, they typically emit animalistic screams instead of cursing in human language. No matter how proficient they are in foreign languages, it’s similar to how, in extreme situations, one defaults to their mother tongue.

“What are you trying to say?”

“That blood… really smelled like the blood of a Dragon Lord. It was so rich in dragon scent that I thought it would be dangerous to drink it. It’s definitely not weaker than Etrias…”

Jeongjae realized the seriousness of Jenis’s words. Had Dracula really… succumbed to dragon power? So much so that even a vampire’s keen nose couldn’t discern the difference from a dragon?

“Honestly, genetically, it’s probably closer to a Kraken than to dragon kin. With that degree of state, he would have likely reached a point where he couldn’t reject the absolute command of the Dragon Lord… But why, despite being of equal rank to the Dragon Lord, is the vampire lord choosing to crawl beneath the dragon lord’s feet?”

“Because there’s… power behind it?”

“That may be true. But even a child knows that the relationship between the Dragon Lord and the Demon King is rather sinister. Could this be something that has nothing to do with the Demon King’s will? If a vampire lord were to be made into a being more dragon than a dragon by feeding him dragon blood, wouldn’t that ultimately end up giving massive strength to the Dragon Lord?”

At that moment, Dracula, who still seemed unable to control his pain, unleashed lightning and struck Jenis directly. This bolt was definitely weaker since he couldn’t focus his strength properly, but it was still not to be ignored.

Jenis quickly raised her staff and blade to shield herself, but it was insufficient.

Seeing Jenis being thrown back by the lightning, Jeongjae cried out.

“Jenis!”

“Ge… Gah… The wings I attached last time are starting to come apart again…”

The Great Sage’s condition was dire. Just one strike of electricity had torn her robe apart, creating rips all over, and holes appeared in her wings as well. Even the wings she had managed to reattach after being completely severed in the last fight were now half-falling off once more.

Jenis seemed to lose any strength to cast pain-relief magic for herself and couldn’t hide her pained expression, writhing on the ground.

“I was careless… Don’t worry about me, look forward! That guy, on his own, is attacking while STILL losing consciousness…”

“I’m keeping a close watch. But whether or not I care about you doesn’t change a thing.”

Although Jeongjae was also nearly depleted of his mana, he had recovered some strength through a brief rest. He cast pain relief magic on Jenis, who couldn’t do it for herself, laid her down in a comfortable position, and turned to look at Dracula.

Dracula was huffing like a monster in a B-movie that had just been hit by a powerful bombing, releasing smoke from his mouth. It certainly felt more like he had randomly unleashed a bolt of lightning due to being unable to withstand the pain rather than consciously targeting Jenis.

“That kind of attack alone has that much power…”

Suddenly, Jenis, breathing heavily while lying flat, bared her fangs and opened her eyes wide. Jeongjae approached her, noticing the trembling in her body.

“Blood, bring me blood. The blood of that Dracula. Just a little should be okay. For now, we must win this fight. The dragon’s blood will definitely give me a completely different kind of power from before.”

“But now that you say that, it feels a bit unsettling to hand over that blood to you immediately…”

“I feel unsettled too. But nothing could be more unsettling than both of us dying at the same time. Hurry. Before that guy regains consciousness, we have to find a way to recover our strength and deliver a decisive blow.”

Conflicted by Jenis’s request, Jeongjae hesitated. Just when the Grand Mage had been wavering, a thundering voice echoed from behind Dracula, capturing both of their attentions at once.

“That method is unnecessary, my daughter!”

Recognizing the owner of the voice, Jeongjae leaped to his feet and saw a man dressed in a black suit emerging from behind the monster’s tail.

An old man with white hair hidden in the night.

Arthur Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, stood firmly on the ground, looking up at his lifelong rival.

“If you must drink it, I will drink it!”

 

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