Chapter 43

### Blood Art (5)

Starting from my hands, an alien sensation surged up.

It was a peculiar feeling, different from the exhilaration I felt when absorbing mysteries.

The energy from the absorbed blood essence seemed to flow through my veins, sweeping through my entire body.

"......"

Soon, the blood essence no longer emitted even the faintest light.

I gazed at the blood essence for a moment, then checked my body.

I already knew what abilities Gascalid's Blood Art possessed, but the specific powers were intuitively imprinted in my mind, just like when I absorbed mysteries.

"Hey, the light from the blood essence...!"

From beneath the rock, the vampires' voices of shock could be heard.

I wanted to use the Blood Art right away, but I couldn't with so many eyes watching.

I stood up and slowly descended the rock.

The tribal chief, who had been staring blankly at the lightless blood essence, turned her gaze to me.

I said to her,

"It's done."

"......"

She just looked bewildered.

It was understandable, given that a problem the tribe had suffered from for so long had been solved so easily. It really was just a matter of a brief touch.

"Did you... extinguish the spirits of our ancestors in the blood essence?"

"Yes. This stone won't cause any more trouble."

I had eliminated the spirits and absorbed the Blood Art, leaving no energy in the blood essence. It was now just an ordinary rock.

The elder vampires looked at each other and let out sighs of relief.

The warrior chief, in particular, couldn't hide his gratitude.

"Sister, we no longer need to perform the ritual. Your life won't be wasted anymore!"

Seeing this, I recalled the Elrod Forest episode from the game.

When the blood essence was sealed, the tribal chief died, and since then, the tribe had always chosen a direct descendant of Gascalid as their chief.

The chiefs had been using their life force to suppress the energy of the blood essence through rituals.

Over time, this became a natural responsibility of the chief and a custom of the tribe.

The warrior chief, also a descendant of Gascalid, was an exceptional warrior, and no one wanted his life to be wasted in the ritual. The chief felt the same way.

Thus, the warrior chief always felt a great sense of guilt and remorse for his sister, who had essentially taken his place as the chief.

Understanding this background, I could see why he was so overjoyed now.

Well, anyway, that's it.

I was eager to go outside and try out the Blood Art, and my body was tingling with anticipation.

***

After a long while, the vampires finally accepted that the problem with the blood essence was truly resolved.

Outside the cave, I received their formal thanks.

"Thank you so much. I sincerely apologize for doubting the promise made to our ancestors. Thanks to you, our tribe has finally found true peace."

The tribal chief, the warrior chief, and the elders bowed deeply.

Their attitude had completely changed from the hostility and suspicion they had shown just a moment ago, but I didn't blame them.

After all, I had barged in uninvited, and it was a natural response. I hadn't handled the blood essence purely out of goodwill either.

"Truly, I am sorry, benefactor."

The warrior chief also apologized to me again, looking embarrassed.

Yeah, yeah, you should feel sorry.

I wanted to give him a light tap on the head, but I held back.

Instead, to test my new ability, I said,

"Try using your Blood Art."

"......What?"

Surprised by my sudden request, the warrior chief raised his head and blinked.

I repeated,

"I want you to use your Blood Art. Like the attack you used on me earlier."

"Why... why are you asking me to do that...?"

"Hurry up."

Despite my abrupt command, the warrior chief, puzzled, extended his hand into the air.

His expression turned to one of confusion, and he let out a bewildered sound.

"......Huh?"

It seemed he couldn't use his Blood Art at all. The surrounding vampires looked at him strangely.

'That's it.'

After a rough check, I retracted the ability I had been using.

The warrior chief was then able to use his Blood Art normally again. Blood coagulated in his hand.

"What... what is this?"

"Why are you doing this, warrior chief?"

"Elder, for a moment, my Blood Art... no, never mind."

He stared at his hand, utterly confused.

The unique ability of Gascalid's Blood Art.

It allowed me to steal and use the Blood Art of other vampires.

This ability didn't require contact, so as long as the target was within a certain range, I could use it.

Vampires exposed to Gascalid's Blood Art would be unable to use their own Blood Art, as seen just now.

In short, it was a cheat-like ability when facing other vampires. Of course, if the opponent was stronger or equal to me, the Blood Art might not work at all, or it would take time to fully steal the ability.

'Now that I won't be encountering vampires much, this ability isn't very useful.'

I didn't really care about this unique ability.

What I needed was the common passive ability of Blood Art, which allowed me to freely manipulate blood.

With nothing else to do, I was about to leave the forest with Ashel.

The vampires stopped me.

"We can't let our benefactor leave like this. If there's anything you want, please let us know. We'll do our best within our means..."

"Enough. Just take good care of the vampires I brought here."

I had already gotten what I wanted, and there was nothing else I needed from this tribe.

The vampires looked at me with even more reverence.

They didn't know that I had absorbed the ancestors' abilities from the blood essence.

Before leaving the forest, one of the elders spoke to me.

He seemed to be the oldest among them.

"May I ask you one thing about the outside world, benefactor?"

"......?"

"Is the Tyrant still one of the six rulers of Caldric...?"

......The Tyrant?

I nodded in response to his question.

The elders all looked uneasy.

I understood their reaction.

Because, if there was one being who had single-handedly dragged the reputation of vampires to the bottom of the barrel, it was the Tyrant.

They were probably curious if he was still causing trouble outside.

"Please take care. We will never forget the kindness you have shown to our tribe."

In the end, I left the vampires' territory.

After we had traveled a fair distance, I told Ashel,

"Wait here for a moment."

"Yes."

Ashel answered with a puzzled look.

Leaving her there, I moved into the dense undergrowth.

Once I was sure she couldn't sense me, I stopped and looked around. This should be far enough.

I extended my hand and properly used the Blood Art.

Swoosh.

Blood seeped through my skin and floated up from my palm.

I stared at it in amazement, moving it around and forming it into a ball.

The blood moved through the air as I willed it.

'This is the feeling.'

It was like telekinesis, but limited to blood.

It felt like I had grown wings and was flapping them for the first time.

I focused my power and shot the blood at a tree in front of me, shaping it into a sharp point.

Thud!

The blood hit the tree and chipped off a bit of the bark.

The destructive power was limited, so I had a slightly puzzled expression.

'......Well, it's pretty fast, at least.'

It was much faster than an arrow, but the power was lacking.

Earlier, when the vampires used their Blood Art to attack me, it had destroyed a part of the forest with incredible force.

But I couldn't do that.

Because I was human, not a vampire.

According to the game's racial settings, vampires had a different density and regenerative ability for blood compared to other races.

So, a human body of similar size could extract and use such an unbelievable amount of blood as a weapon.

Thus, even with the Blood Art, I couldn't achieve the abnormal power that vampires could.

It was like having a machine gun with BB pellets.

The unique ability of Gascalid's Blood Art, which I had used to seal the warrior chief's Blood Art, seemed to work at its full power, but the blood manipulation had its limits.

'There's also a lot of discomfort.'

Since it was a racial trait of vampires, it didn't fit my human body, and I felt a significant amount of discomfort when manipulating blood.

If this discomfort decreased, I might be able to increase the speed even more.

'Will it improve with continued use?'

Actually, the power wasn't a major concern for me.

Since I could kill with just a touch of blood, how powerful it was didn't matter much. I was just a bit disappointed.

'And with rapid regeneration, using Blood Art won't be a burden.'

This time, I tried shooting the blood in three directions.

Controlling it in multiple directions was much harder, but it would improve with practice.

In any case, obtaining an ability that could maximize the efficiency of instant kills was very encouraging.

Defensive immobile barriers, offensive instant kills using Blood Art, and heightened senses.

With this combination of abilities, most things wouldn't be a threat to me.

'Still, there are weaknesses.'

If the target was too fast to hit with blood or could create a defensive barrier around their entire body, using instant kills would still be difficult.

But the strength of my instant kills was that no one knew about this ability.

Even if I encountered such an enemy, I could still deal with them by luring them into a false sense of security.

I stood with my arms crossed, lost in thought, then turned my head to one side.

A massive presence was approaching.

Squeal!

It was a giant boar, the size of a house.

It was the most common monster I had encountered while wandering this forest.

Upon spotting me, it snorted and charged.

I lifted a drop of blood on my finger and shot it at the boar.

As soon as the blood touched it, the boar's strength left its body, and it slid and tumbled noisily on the ground.

I stared at the boar, which lay motionless on the ground, then turned and waved away the rising dust.

"Let's go."

I had tested the Blood Art sufficiently and needed to return to Ashel.