Ch.1252This is Formless Poison

– Splat!

A small, wet, squelching sound like a dropped watermelon being crushed.

In the midst of the battlefield, where shouts, screams, explosions, and roars all mingled together in a chaotic storm, it was a noise so faint it could barely be heard…

“Impossible, this is…!”

“The blood bond… has been severed…? Completely…?!”

Yet to those struggling there, it was a shock as massive and intense as if the world itself had collapsed.

It was the death notice of their absolute master who had dominated even their souls, the immortal vampire goddess who was believed to be eternal.

The Empress of Blood, Erzsebet, was dead. So thoroughly that there was no possibility of regeneration or resurrection, not even a trace of her soul remained.

“Good heavens…! Could it be that Her Majesty…!”

All the blood kin who had been mentally connected to her through the blood link realized this fact and were shocked.

Even those who wanted to deny this reality were forced to accept it when they heard the roaring shout that reverberated across the entire battlefield.

“Behold-! The god of these mosquitoes is dead. Our victory is at hand―!”

A monster roaring while clutching blackened, crumbling flesh amid the ashes left behind by their lord who had vanished like dust.

“Only stragglers remain. Sweep away everything you see and withdraw!”

The god of slaughter, whose bestial savagery was veiled by starlight divinity, flashed ghost-like blue eyes as he announced their final moments.

“It’s all over. With Her Majesty’s death, there’s no meaning in fighting anymore…”

The death of the master they had served with absolute loyalty, willingly or not. And a monstrous enemy who still seemed to have strength remaining.

With despair filling the void left by their lost pillar of support, morale that had burned unbroken even in the face of imminent castle fall collapsed in an instant.

“I-I’m getting out of here! Staying would just mean dying like a dog!”

“What?! You coward, would you show such disgrace to Her Majesty?!”

“She’s already dead! What do you expect us to do?! Commit ritual suicide?!”

The vampires, who moments before had been fighting desperately and gloriously, suddenly fractured and turned their fangs on each other rather than the enemy.

This would have been impossible while Erzsebet was alive.

All vampires of the current era were minions born through her blood.

Through that blood connection, Erzsebet could exert absolute control over her vampire subordinates.

But Erzsebet had been defeated and vanished, and the blood dominance that had captured the minds of her minions was rapidly fading away.

And so, those who chose survival over irrational loyalty began to increase one by one.

Since the speed at which this control disappeared varied between individuals, there was naturally a difference of opinion between those who had completely shaken it off and those who hadn’t yet.

“Fools! Try to run and you’ll only die with your backs cut open!”

“Stop spouting nonsense! That remains to be seen!”

The result was the current situation: an emotional clash between those trying to flee and those trying to stop them.

“You have the luxury to fight amongst yourselves? It seems we’ve been too merciful.”

Of course, what meaning was there in squabbling among allies when the enemy was right before them? It would only lead to a faster annihilation.

In the end, the loyal vampires who wanted to fight to the end could only gnash their teeth at the “traitors” trying to escape, unable to stop them from leaving.

—-

Although the fleeing vampires inwardly believed their chances of survival weren’t very high, surprisingly, many of them managed to escape the castle safely.

“Withdraw quickly! Regroup at the rear as planned!”

Of course, this wasn’t because they fled well, but because the moment Erzsebet fell, the allied forces’ objective changed from annihilating the enemy to withdrawal.

The battle at the castle had dragged on longer than expected due to the prolonged fight between Haschal and Erzsebet, when according to the original plan they should have already left.

Fortunately for the allied forces, for some reason Garmerlic’s reinforcements were delayed, allowing them to achieve their core objective, but they couldn’t afford to dawdle believing that luck would continue.

Therefore, the allied forces eliminated only the vampires who resisted to the end and unhesitatingly retreated over the castle walls they had worked so hard to cross, allowing the fleeing vampires to at least save their lives.

Having lost their god, their stronghold, their troops and comrades, with only their bodies remaining, they weren’t really alive in this harsh Naraka, but still.

Anyway, the allied forces, after killing Erzsebet and completely crushing the vampire army, quickly withdrew from the battlefield just as swiftly as they had attacked.

Thus, Nirvator Castle, which the Empress of Blood had rebuilt dreaming of her resurgence, collapsed along with her ambitions, reduced to a heap of stone ruins filled with dismembered corpses and smoldering ashes.

It was the end of a battle that, though too brief to be called a war for a species’ survival, was more fierce and desperate than any battlefield in the world.

“…Ha. This feels like a serious case of indigestion.”

Though for someone, it wasn’t the end but merely an intermediate process.

======[ Haschal ]======

Isn’t there a saying that eating random things off the ground will make you sick?

I think that was common advice elders gave to snotty-nosed kids in the neighborhood, and it seems that truth applies in this other world as well.

Yes, the elders’ words are always right. This time was no exception.

“Ugh…!”

On the return journey after completing our objective, while riding in a rickshaw due to my injuries, I let out a faint groan at the sensation traveling up my right arm.

“Are you alright? As I thought, your injuries still…”

The Naga priestess who had taken over Lena’s healing duties while she remained at the main camp startled and carefully examined my wounds.

“…No need for concern. Just a moment of dizziness, the wounds are healing well.”

I shook my head with a light smile, as if such wounds were nothing to worry about. Not finding it very convincing, the Naga priestess continued to give me concerned looks rather than acceptance.

Well, I understood. The injuries I sustained were severe enough that even with half a year of recovery without a healing priest’s miracle, complete healing couldn’t be guaranteed.

Even with my divine power combined with Naga arcane magic extremely accelerating cell regeneration, it wasn’t easily cured.

Especially my left eye that had been blown away—it hadn’t even regained its form yet.

As a result, one eye socket was completely empty, but divine light still leaked from it, giving me a truly ghost-like appearance even to my own perception.

Anyway, various parts of my body were still throbbing or burning as if on fire because of these injuries.

But that wasn’t why I suddenly groaned. That level of pain was something I’d experienced many times before, so I could endure it reasonably well.

Yes, if it were just pain, I could have endured it. But this sensation, this strange feeling creeping up my right arm…

[An unpleasant sensation indeed. It’s as if only the arm is dying while the rest of you lives.]

‘I know. Maybe I should have just burned that left arm.’

This alone was so unpleasant that even I would involuntarily groan if I let my guard down. It even created the urge to just cut off my arm.

I had no choice at the time, but if I had known I would suffer from this sensation, I would have hesitated at least ten times before tearing out and crushing Bellona’s left arm with my hand.

This unpleasant sensation was undoubtedly because Bellona’s left arm, which lost its form and collapsed after being torn off, returned to a mass of divine power and was absorbed by me.

If it were ordinary divine power, it would have dissolved into my divine power and been perfectly digested… but as expected of a primordial god’s divinity, the divine power of death wouldn’t easily become my strength.

Rather, the opposite. It was subtly trying to paint over my power with its own color, causing a repulsion between the two divine powers centered on my arm, which was absolutely miserable.

It was like getting food poisoning from eating something I shouldn’t have.

In reality, this was close to poison. Since it had neither color, smell, nor even a material form, it was truly an intangible poison.

‘Will it get better with time…?’

[How would I know? You’re the one with divine power, not me.]

‘I wasn’t asking you.’

Would this uncomfortable and unpleasant divine power eventually be fully digested and become my power if I gave it time? Or would I have to continue this unpleasant coexistence going forward?

This was a quite serious problem for me.

Right now it was just causing an unbearable discomfort, but there was no guarantee that this condition wouldn’t worsen from here.

In the worst case, I might really have to cut off and dispose of my right arm, along with the divine power of death dwelling within it.

The problem was that if I got rid of the arm that way, while the arm itself could be recreated through healing miracles, it was unclear whether the rune inscriptions could also be restored.

I should ask Ophelia if the inscriptions can be extracted separately.

Soul magic and rune magic systems are as different as biology and quantum physics, but they’re both magic after all, so it should work out somehow.

Of course, that’s a last resort, so for now, rather than thinking about replacing my arm, I should consider how to subdue and digest this divine power.

…Maybe I should just stab it with Durandal?