Southwest Suburbs of Tivian, on a desolate field.
Under the dark sky, Priest of Fangs, who had been flying at high speed, was suddenly struck by an unexpected attack. For some reason, his perfectly intact head suddenly shattered. An invisible force pierced through his skull, turning his brain into mush. His entire body let out a scream as he plummeted to the ground in agony.
The blood-winged devil crashed into the field, slamming hard onto the barren winter soil. As dirt scattered everywhere, Priest of Fangs created a crater upon impact.
Priest of Fangs had been flying at a height of over seventy meters. If he had fallen onto solid rock, he would have been reduced to a bloody splatter. Even on soft soil, such a fall would have shattered every bone in his body. For a normal person—or even an ordinary Beyonder—such a fall would have been fatal.
But Priest of Fangs was different. He was a derivative created by a Crimson-rank Beyonder using their own lifeblood, possessing some of the characteristics of a Red Completion-rank Beyonder. Even with his head pierced and after such a brutal fall, he was still active.
In the muddy crater, Priest of Fangs, whose body was twisted from the fall, slowly began to move. As a faint layer of blood mist enveloped him, he began to rise from the pit.
Within the blood mist that surrounded him, all his injuries began to heal rapidly. Not only were the numerous abrasions and internal injuries from the fall healing, but even the fatal gunshot wound to his head was quickly recovering.
"What... just happened? This sudden injury... Where did it come from?"
With a grave expression, Priest of Fangs clutched his now fully healed temple, muttering in disbelief. His face showed a look of shock he had never displayed before.
Shadow-path Beyonders possess extraordinary agility and reflexes, allowing them to sense and respond to sudden attacks with ease. Even the most concealed ambushes often give them a slight hint at the last moment, enabling them to react at the last second.This was evident when Vania ambushed Claudius and Berlit, the two Vampires. Despite Vania’s near-perfect concealment, enhanced by Dorothy, the two Vampires managed to dodge at the last moment, avoiding fatal injuries.
Although Priest of Fangs here was only a derivative and not as powerful as his true Red Completion-rank self, he was still stronger than the White Ash-rank Vampires. His reflexes were even sharper. Yet, despite such heightened reflexes, Priest of Fangs had not sensed where the attack that injured him had come from.
There were no bullets, no arrows, no wind blades—no visible projectiles flying toward him. The air showed no disturbance, and the only sound was the faint gunfire in the distance. Priest of Fangs couldn’t understand how his head had been pierced without any visible projectile!
This inexplicable injury filled Priest of Fangs with dread. The sudden, unexplained damage made him suspect he had been cursed!
The sudden injury made Priest of Fangs extremely cautious. He began to look around, searching for the enemy who had ambushed him, but no matter how hard he looked, he found nothing.
Just as Priest of Fangs was on high alert, another anomaly occurred. Again, without any warning, his left chest suddenly caved in, forming a bloody hole in an instant. His ribs shattered, and his heart burst, causing crimson blood to gush out.
"Ahhh!!"
After having his head pierced, Priest of Fangs’s heart was now inexplicably punctured. He bent over, clutching his chest, and spat out a mouthful of blood, his face contorted in pain.
"Again... what is this... that thread..."
With blood in his mouth, Priest of Fangs muttered in a trembling voice. Even with his heart pierced, he still didn’t collapse. During his heightened alertness, he noticed something unusual.
It was the thread—the spiritual thread connecting him to the flesh puppet he had absorbed. Just before he was injured, the spiritual thread linking him to the puppeteer had shown a strange spiritual disturbance!
“The mastermind... can use some method to inflict damage on me through this spiritual thread!”
Finally, the Priest of Fangs realized the source of the anomaly. He immediately tried to sever the spiritual thread connecting him to the puppeteer, but no matter how hard he tried, the thread wouldn’t break!
Priest of Fangs suddenly realized that his earlier act of corroding the thread had caused it to stick to him, preventing the puppeteer from severing it.
But in reality, the decision to sever the thread always lay with the puppeteer. Even if he stopped corroding the thread and allowed it to return to a state where it could be severed, the puppeteer could choose not to sever it, leaving him helpless.
Previously, Dorothy had wanted to sever the thread, but the Priest of Fangs had actively prevented it. Now, the Priest of Fangs wanted to sever the thread, but Dorothy had decided that the choice was no longer his.
“That guy... clearly has a countermeasure against thread corrosion but pretended to flee, luring me to this isolated place before suddenly attacking... Is this a trap he set up?!”
“But if he thinks this level of attack is enough to defeat me, he’s sorely mistaken…”
Facing this situation, Priest of Fangs thought furiously. Then, his body was once again enveloped in a layer of blood mist, and his fatal heart injury began to heal rapidly.
…
Three kilometers away, on a muddy roadside, Dorothy stood gazing into the distance. Beside her was Edrick, whose gunshot wound to the heart had just healed.
Staring at the dark sky, Dorothy, who was sensing the situation from afar, frowned and spoke.
"Surviving a headshot... and now a heart shot... This guy has become impervious to vital injuries. This is going to be troublesome."
Rubbing her chin, Dorothy muttered to herself.
Due to the consecutive injuries, Priest of Fangs’s ability to suppress Dorothy’s spiritual threads had weakened. This allowed Dorothy to regain more control over the threads. Although she still couldn’t control Priest of Fangs directly, she could now receive his sensory input.
Using her new simulated ability of Threadweaver Shaman, Dorothy had transferred two fatal injuries to the Priest of Fangs. However, he still hadn’t died. Despite the injuries, he quickly recovered, leading Dorothy to speculate about the source of his powerful immortality.
“Fatal injuries can’t kill him... Is it because he’s just a derivative? Like my corpse marionettes, as long as the main body isn’t harmed, the derivative can heal from any injury.”
“From the current situation, his derivative isn’t human but a mass of blood mist. He can transform into blood mist, and any injury, including fatal ones, can be healed by turning the wounded part into blood mist. His human form is just for convenience in movement and fast flight.”
Dorothy pondered deeply. Just then, she sensed another anomaly from the Priest of Fangs in the distance.
"That guy... is preparing to launch an attack..."
…
In the distance, on the field where Priest of Fangs was, he had fully healed his heart injury. With a stern gaze, he looked in the direction of his distant enemy.
The Priest of Fangs raised his hand, and a large amount of blood mist began to rise from his body. The mist dispersed briefly before quickly condensing back, forming a crimson spear in his hand.
Gripping the crimson spear, Priest of Fangs assumed a throwing stance. After a brief moment of charging, he hurled the spear with incredible force. The speed was so fast that it was almost impossible to react.
With the power of a second-stage Chalice enhancement and third-stage Shadow enhancement, the crimson spear shot into the sky. The Shadow spirituality made the spear incredibly light, and combined with the Chalice spirituality, it flew through the night sky at an unbelievable speed, heading straight for Dorothy, three kilometers away.
“Feel... the erosion of crimson…”
Priest of Fangs thought as he watched the spear disappear into the distance.
Priest of Fangs knew that, with the spiritual thread connecting them, it would be difficult for him to get close to his target. The sudden, inexplicable injuries would cripple his body and bring him down.
In this situation, he chose to attack from a distance without getting closer!
Priest of Fangs used his ability to summon blood mist and condense it into a spear, which he then hurled. With the power of a second-stage Chalice enhancement and third-stage Shadow enhancement, the spear could easily travel three kilometers.
Upon impact, the spear would revert to blood mist and explode, spreading through the air and engulfing a radius of three hundred meters in an instant. Any living being within this area would be infiltrated by the blood mist and eroded. Since the blood mist could penetrate through the skin, even holding one’s breath wouldn’t provide protection.
The blood mist spear had a kill radius of three hundred meters, and its flight speed was so fast that it would hit the area near the mastermind in no time. Priest of Fangs knew that, even if the mastermind sensed the attack and started running now, they wouldn’t be able to escape the blood mist’s reach.
Priest of Fangs planned to use this long-range attack to defeat his enemy. Any living being infected by his blood mist would be left with no means of resistance.
…
On the other side, thanks to Priest of Fangs’s sensory input, Dorothy frowned as soon as he hurled the spear. She quickly analyzed the situation in her mind.
“What is that guy trying to do? Throw a spear at me from three kilometers away? Does he really think he can hit me with that kind of precision?”
“Throwing a spear over three kilometers... Even the slightest error would make it miss. He’s not that stupid, so the spear must have some special property—either homing or a large area of effect. Homing seems unlikely, as mystically locking onto a target usually requires a medium or some mark on the target. Given how he condensed the spear from blood mist... it’s probably the latter.”
“After realizing that approaching me would be too dangerous, he’s resorting to long-range attacks? A reasonable choice…”
In an instant, Dorothy deduced the nature of Priest of Fangs’s spear. She then began to prepare her countermeasures.
First, Dorothy accessed Priest of Fangs’s perspective to observe the spear’s flight path. Thanks to the vampire’s enhanced night vision, Dorothy could clearly see the spear’s trajectory and quickly calculated its speed.
Next, Dorothy recalled the aerial images captured by her bird marionettes when they flew over this area on their way to Barrett’s mansion. She mapped out the area, marked the positions of the Priest of Fangs and herself, and plotted the spear’s flight path. Through calculations, she determined the exact direction and time the spear would arrive.
Using the unparalleled information processing ability of a White Ash-rank Revelation Beyonder, Dorothy instantly determined the spear’s trajectory and arrival time.
Then, she turned her head toward the direction the spear was coming from, staring into the dark night sky, and raised her hand.
At her fingertips, a spark of electricity began to dance.
With a sharp whistling sound, the crimson spear crossed three kilometers, hurtling through the night sky toward Dorothy. At the same time, a bright arc of electricity shot from Dorothy’s hand, crackling through the air and striking the incoming spear. The blood mist that formed the spear was instantly vaporized by the intense heat of the electricity. In a flash of light, the spear was reduced to black smoke and nothingness.
Using her powerful information processing ability, Dorothy had accurately defended against the incoming attack with a precise lightning strike from her Thunder Summoner simulated ability.
Now, it was time for a counterattack.
“The damage transfer ability of a Threadweaver Shaman... The more severe and widespread the damage, the more spirituality it consumes. The remaining Chalice spirituality after my advancement isn’t enough to transfer large-scale, severe damage. In that case... I’ll have to use this move…”
Dorothy thought to herself. She then consumed a large amount of Revelation spirituality, forcibly restraining the Priest of Fangs through the spiritual thread. She then controlled Edrick to shoot himself in the neck, severing his spine, and transferred this injury to the Priest of Fangs.
Next, Dorothy turned her gaze to the distant sky, to the thick winter clouds under the dark night.
…
“What... what’s going on? Why didn’t the blood spear explode? My spear was destroyed?”
On the field, the Priest of Fangs frowned as he stared into the distance. He didn’t feel the explosion of the blood spear but instead sensed its destruction.
Just as the Priest of Fangs was wondering how his spear had been destroyed, he suddenly felt a restraining force acting on his body. As he prepared to break free, his neck suddenly burst open, and his spine was shattered.
Under an invisible attack, Priest of Fangs’s spine was severed, and his body collapsed to the ground. With his spine broken and the restraining force acting on him, Priest of Fangs was temporarily immobilized, unable to even transform into blood mist.
"What..."
At the same time, above Priest of Fangs, the thick, dark winter clouds began to churn. Flickers of lightning and rumbles of thunder emerged from within.
A powerful pressure was brewing within the clouds.
Meanwhile, Dorothy, gazing at the rumbling dark clouds, recalled the information she had gained after her advancement and murmured.
"The roaring thunder is the voice of the gods, and the lightning that splits the sky is the writing of the gods. Thus, this lightning... is the element governed by the Revelation deity."
Boom!!
As soon as Dorothy finished speaking, a brilliant bolt of lightning split the night sky, striking down from the dark clouds onto the vast field. The lightning, connecting heaven and earth, resembled the most ancient divine wrath.