<The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 94>
With the use of “Revelation,” Celutis secured ‘Salvation’ faster than anyone else.
They then began to research how this ‘Salvation’ could be reinforced.
Through an accidental discovery, they found that the lost ‘Salvation’ which had previously disappeared due to an accident had consumed a part of a living superhuman’s body, and was witnessed using the consumed superhuman’s ‘Swordsmanship.’
From this, Celutis discovered that feeding ‘Salvation’ on not just any corpse, but on living organisms, was the most reliable method of growth. They learned that when ‘Salvation’ consumed a living being, not only did its physical body grow, but it could also absorb the knowledge, techniques, and experiences—essentially the abilities—of the consumed target.
It was then only a natural progression for Celutis to turn their attention towards humans.
Knowledge, techniques, experience… there could be no more perfect feeding material.
Amidst this, one of Celutis’s priests, Seo Chang-hyun, presented a question.
“What would happen if we fed it on bloodline users?”
Would it be possible to strip them of their bloodline powers?
The priest was someone who had always been interested in the changes in the human body and mind brought about by anatomy and medication.
And coincidentally, he found a suitable experimental subject.
Chandler Murray.
A representative bloodline user from the U.S., Chandler Murray of the Chandler family possessed the ultimate ice-attribute manifestation ability known as ‘Ice Shift.’
Seo Chang-hyun promptly kidnapped Chandler Murray and began the experiment.
“Let me go! You!! You!! Do you know who I am?”
“I do. Chandler Murray, the disgrace of the Chandler family and utterly useless trash to this world.”
“Yo… you step back. Fu… Fuc… Uh! Uh!!”
“One whose existence is nothing but waste. What a pitiable life you’ve led. But, how fortunate. Aren’t you glad you now have time to atone before you depart? Repent of your sins in His arms. Let’s start with your hands.”
“Agguuuuuuugh!!”
Through this experiment, they uncovered a crucial result.
They learned that feeding the ‘Salvation’ on a bloodline user’s body would allow it to inherit the bloodline.
However, consuming just a part of the body did not fully inherit the bloodline abilities, and the risk was too high to simply consume the entire, hard-to-obtain test subject.
The priest pondered deeply.
How could they fully transfer this ‘Ice Shift’ to ‘Salvation’?
In the midst of his thoughts, he learned of an experiment conducted a few years ago by the Evolutionary Group, the infamous “Homunculus F” — a notorious kidnapping incident that had rocked the nation.
“Forced inheritance of a bloodline… the forcibly inherited power was preserved up to 80%, but the unstable body soon collapsed…”
Here, an idea struck Seo Chang-hyun.
“What if… we feed it before the human collapses?”
Does it matter that the human collapses if it’s only going to get eaten anyway?
Even if the body collapses, it still holds the bloodline power, doesn’t it? If we cram the power into the human container until it breaks, and let ‘Salvation’ consume it before the collapse—wouldn’t that make it possible to fully inherit the bloodline?
The devilish idea of seeing humans merely as vessels to contain such powers might be something a God, if one exists, would never allow.
Regrettably, this devilish plan bore fruit.
Misty ice clouds spread across the area, plummeting the atmospheric temperature dramatically.
The space rapidly cooled down. Each breath I exhaled was coated with frost, and the muscles that had been heated moments before shrank in response to the chilling cold.
“How is this guy wielding it better than the lump I saw before?”
‘Ice Shift.’
The ice-manipulating bloodline inheritance of the Manifestation category.
The previous lump I saw used this ability like a simple freezing magic spell, but the Archangels above me are clearly showing why this bloodline inherits the classification as ‘Manifestation.’
“Oof.”
I dodge, rolling to avoid the falling icicles.
I need to evade, quick.
Springing up immediately, I quickly backstep.
As my foot touches the ground, I perform an acrobatic backflip and charge forward.
But I had to halt just a few steps in.
Kung! Kung-!
Toward me: an ice wall erected.
Looking up, I see two Archangels blocking both sides.
I grit my teeth, swinging my demon blade.
Instantly, it’s engulfed in flames.
‘Flare.’
A basic, high-versatility elemental fire magic contained within the demon blade and launched against the ice wall.
CagaGang!!
The ice wall explodes.
As expected, they anticipated this, and behind the broken ice wall, another one rises.
Pushing my shoulder through, I crash into and shatter the ice wall once more.
They build one, I break it. Build, break. Build, break, build, break.
Knowing that close combat is futile, they thoroughly confine and suppress me.
“Let’s see just how far you can go.”
The hexagram magic array emerges all over my body.
Strength, Haste, Animus, Regentic… various buffs encase my body as Flare flames rise along my arm and burn atop my body.
I tear through the air with my hand.
Space opens and a horde of skeletons erupts, their eyes glowing as they fly through the air.
But as expected, they soon freeze in the ice mist and crash to the ground, shattering.
As earlier.
This mist of ice specifically targets summoned creatures, in particular my skeletons.
So I had refrained from summoning.
“Offerings. Use them for my right and left hand.”
The moment I consumed the offerings that Baphomet and Asura had prepared, the mana gauge skyrocketed dramatically.
The Flare surrounding me erupted explosively, spewing flames.
Flare (Revised)
Infection Flare
The flames expand their domain, spreading fire through contact. It adheres to the ground, the grass, and crucially, to my skeletons.
It’s not the flickering soul fire but actual flames that cling and consume the skeletons.
As the flames hold back the ice mist, my skeletons rise into the sky like revenge for being erased so meaninglessly earlier.
It’s as if… like setting fireworks ablaze.
One after another, my skeletal army ascends skyward, cloaked in flames.
As if trying to stop them, ice walls appear in the air.
One skeleton was blocked.
Three were blocked.
Five were blocked.
Ten were blocked. But twenty, thirty…
Once it passed into the hundreds…
The ice walls holding the skeletons back could no longer contain them, like the lid of a boiling pot that pops open.
KieeEEEeeeek-!
The skeletons ascend amidst the shrill wails of burning flames.
Flames-laden skeletons launch chains towards the Archangels and form webs of fire in the sky.
I move towards an archangel who was constructing a wall against me.
“Did you really think you could take your eyes off me?”
“……!!”
I swung the demon blade.
Sword Technique of Geomho-ryu’s Flashing Sword
Moonlight Slice
A pure white flash cuts through the darkness. The ice barrier blocks its path.
As blue sparks fly, karddeog, the ice is scraped off, but ultimately the ice barrier wins.
The white flash fails to pierce through the wall and dissipates.
Survival instincts indeed seem to be at play. As life swings back and forth, he’s getting even stronger.
I slam my feet on the ground as I charge, stopping abruptly as the Hexagram magic array arises.
The muscles in my lower body swell explosively, and my body spins.
At that moment, the flames spreading across my body converge into the demon blade.
Sword Technique of Geomho-ryu’s Earth-Cleaving Blade
The demon blade slices through the air in a swift rotation.
Wind flows along the blade’s trajectory.
Though the action produced a grandiose display, the result seems anti-climactic.
But there’s no need to be disappointed. ‘Earth-Cleaving Blade’ is a target-specific technique. Accurately aimed, it flies towards its target, shattering the enemy.
True to its name, cleaving earth.
The sturdy ice wall cracks and breaks apart.
The fissures on the ground hold the bl**d of an Archangel. bl**d oozes from where his shoulder meets his chest, a fatal slash.
“One down.”
I snap my fingers and the darkness in the fissure expands like a living mouth, swallowing the Archangel.
Next target, the one above me.
The brutish wings that flutter and slaughter my poor skeletons.
The magic array appears below my feet.
Mana surges, and fragments of the ground rise, defying gravity.
They soar out.
Like bullets penetrating the firing pin and soaring forth.
In a straight line, the shortest distance, towards the Archangel.
Blocking ice arms appear. Dozens of ice arms spontaneously generate in the air to block me.
They were walls earlier, and now they’re arms.
Smiling, I stretch out my hand.
Apocalypse
Apokalypsis
Through Apocalypse, Ice Shift was decomposed in real-time.
Flustered looks flash through the Archangel’s eyes amid the swirling ice shards.
“Two down.”
Fooosh—!
The demon blade pierces the heart.
The gushing bl**d of an Archangel flows down the blade’s edge and gets absorbed shortly after.
Wooomg—
The satisfied sound of someone enjoying a meal.
The archangels were the finest food for my demon blade’s appetite: powerful foes and fresh bl**d.
But it is not yet over. The battle isn’t finished, not yet time to fully indulge in the feeding.
Their disappearance into the darkness enrages my demon blade at being deprived of more food. It whines, ‘Ziiing-Ziiing,’ its body shivering as it pleads.
How adorable, and I pat it gently before resting it on my shoulder.
“Just a little longer.”
There’s still plenty for you.
Paaang-!
Another Archangel hurtles towards me.
Up until now, whatever forces had been passively resisting suddenly rose to full combat readiness.
The Celutis, centered around Hamgyeongnam-do, launched frequent air raids using Archangels in an attempt to establish a resistance line.
At this moment, William was the most flustered.
“Oh my goodness…”
William gazed heavenward with a dazed expression.
Before his eyes floated soft snowflakes. A sight that at first glance might seem beautiful, but these snowflakes were manifested through ‘Ice Shift.’
At touch, movement slows, and when accumulated, a powerful ‘freezing’ effect ensues—a controller’s nightmare.
“Why Ice Shift?”
Everywhere I look, Ice Shift.
Does this even make sense?
Ice Shift! It is an inheritable bloodline that ranks within the top three for ice-attribute abilities.
And yet, all these flying Archangels—using Chandler’s expression—are recklessly wielding Ice Shift.
If members of the Chandler family saw this scene, they might very well spit bl**d and collapse, knowing that their bloodline powers are being used by monsters, not humans.
But William’s present mind has little space left for such concerns.
“What should I do?”
How do I explain this?
Ice Shift is the bloodline of the Chandler family, and only those who bear the Chandler name can wield this power.
The Chandler family is a renowned lineage representing the United States.
Yet the Archangels now floating in the sky are wielding Ice Shift. Their icy blades are slicing through investigative teams, and their icy rain is freezing entire positions.
As the head of the U.S. exchange delegation, how do I explain this?
How do I claim that these Archangels have nothing to do with the Chandler family and that this incident has nothing to do with the United States?
Crack. Crack.
Sounds can be heard.
These sounds originate from within William’s mind.
The glorious career built through years of effort is shattering.
Someone has to uncover the truth behind this incident.
Someone has to take responsibility.
And with high probability, William himself will be held accountable.
“No. Absolutely not.”
William clenched his teeth.
Wand in hand, he summoned the artificial spirit ‘Chris.’ A waist-high Red Dragon appeared in midair and perched on his shoulder.
“No letting go. Absolutely cannot let go.”
This prestige, this popularity, these privileges…
He cannot give them up.
Absolutely cannot let go of them.
Reacting to his master’s obsession, Chris let out a wail.
Gooouuuu… KRAAAHAAA!!
The space momentarily rippled like the surface of a lake, and William’s Spirit Legion appeared.
“k*ll them all!!”
