Chapter 274 – Side Story 23 – Coronation (3)

Before Vlad’s strange words could even finish, the vampire father released his son’s neck and collapsed to the floor.

The vampire’s heart had stopped, and no corrupted mana could be felt from him anymore.

It was an astonishing situation—a son killing his father.

Though the son was half-human and the father was a monster, everyone was still shocked.

Both the monsters and Selena, who had regained her senses, stared at the fallen vampire with surprised eyes.

And in this shocking moment, there was one person who continued to move.

Naturally, it was the person who had created this situation: Vlad.

Standing right next to the magic circle, he immediately leaped into it.

Because the Demon God’s baptism was in progress, the magic circle was filled with corrupted mana and aura.

This caught the lich and other monsters off guard, and they couldn’t stop Vlad from jumping into the magic circle.

Similarly, they couldn’t prevent him from pushing the surprised Selena out of the magic circle.

Of course, even if they could have stopped him, the monsters wouldn’t have dared enter the magic circle recklessly.

After all, this magic circle was their god’s baptism to create a new Demon King.

“Ah!”

Suddenly pushed out, Selena looked at Vlad with a surprised face, but Vlad didn’t look at her after pushing her out of the magic circle.

Instead, he stood in the center of the magic circle where Selena had been floating.

There, he tried to accept the corrupted mana and aura that filled the magic circle.

“Is this how it’s done?”

Seeing this, the lich, who had been frozen, moved its jawbone.

[What a crazy half-breed. Is it because his race is dying out? I never thought someone would do something so stupid.]

The lich seemed dumbfounded and launched into a tirade against Vlad, who was standing in the center of the magic circle.

[Do you think someone like you can accept the god’s power? If even a half-breed like you could obtain the god’s power, I would have become a Demon King myself.]

Though this was obvious, Vlad paid no attention to the lich’s words.

The half-vampire showed no interest in the lich’s words, but the lich continued speaking.

[Now you will incur the god’s wrath and have your soul erased.]

In this brief moment, the lich uncharacteristically spewed out many words.

Though the lich was mocking Vlad now, its true feelings were that it wanted to leap into the magic circle and tear the half-vampire to shreds.

This was because what the half-vampire had just done had utterly shattered the monsters’ hopes and the lich’s desires.

The Demon King who had vanished 20 years ago—though he too had ultimately been destroyed by the hero(?), he had been the most excellent Demon King born since their god had fallen.

A Demon King who had nearly destroyed not just Ea, but also the land of the Divine Tree and Earth.

Moreover, he had cast the great magic to merge three dimensions.

And the human girl who had been pushed out of the magic circle was a candidate with the potential and rank to become an even greater Demon King than him.

But now, this easy opportunity to create such a Demon King had been thrown away.

Even the lich, without a brain or heart, had reason to be angry.

Of course, as the lich had just said, the one who had ruined everything would perish from the god’s wrath, but with the vampire who was supposed to control the girl’s mind dead, it would now be difficult to make the human girl into a Demon King.

They could force her to receive the Demon God’s baptism again, of course.

But without her consent, it would be difficult for her to receive the god’s mana and aura.

That’s why they had needed the vampire.

It wasn’t for nothing that the lich and other monsters had turned a blind eye to the vampire’s indulgences.

They had thought that once the human girl became a Demon King, the brainwashing would be undone, and they could deal with the vampire then.

But to think he would be killed by his son before things could even progress—it was absurd even to the lich, whose emotions had been suppressed.

Meanwhile, Selena, who had been pushed out of the magic circle, was also dumbfounded.

Though she had placed some hope in Vlad, who had helped her and Seowoo before, she never imagined he would help in this way.

To kill his father, even if he was a vampire, and to undo her brainwashing.

Moreover, he was now standing on the magic circle that created Demon Kings after pushing her away.

It almost seemed as if becoming a Demon King himself was more important to him than saving her.

However, Selena shared the lich’s thoughts.

Unlike Selena, whose parents were from the hero’s party and who was quite a skilled mage herself, Vlad was just an ordinary(?) boy who was half-monster.

In her opinion, too, there seemed to be no possibility of him being chosen by the Demon God.

But Selena had no way to help him or to escape from this place right now.

Though the brainwashing had been undone, the lich’s magic on her body remained intact.

Right now, she was just an ordinary girl who couldn’t use magic.

So she sat down right next to the magic circle and looked at the boy who had been her servant and whom she now knew was half-vampire.

As the monsters and the human each had their own thoughts, Vlad did his best to accept the aura and corrupted mana pouring down on him.

Even without the lich’s words, he knew well.

That he wasn’t worthy of becoming a Demon King.

That a half-monster who wasn’t even human was doing something absurd.

Nor did he have some special ability that only he knew about.

He had simply seized the opportunity when it came.

The chance to kill the vampire who had given him his half-monster blood.

And the chance to ruin the creation of a Demon King.

That’s why he had let the young knight escape, and why he had pushed the lord’s daughter out of the magic circle.

Of course, he did want to save the young knight and Selena, but what Vlad wanted most was for the monsters, including the vampire, to fail.

The vampire he had killed probably never knew until his death.

Who Vlad resented the most.

Though he hated the humans who had made him and his mother suffer, Vlad knew well that the cause of it all was the Demon King and the monsters.

So he had been waiting for an opportunity for a long time.

The time to take revenge on his vampire father who had made him a half-monster, and on the other monsters.

He didn’t mind if he died in the process of this revenge.

His life had been hell anyway since the vampire reappeared.

The vampire was now dead, but other monsters remained here.

Monsters who could kill him or capture and torture him for what would feel like eternity.

So Vlad thought that rather than being killed by the monsters, he would ruin their plans one more time… Though he wouldn’t be able to become a Demon King himself, he intended to make sure this ceremony, the Demon God’s baptism, couldn’t be held again for a long time.

“Urgh.”

Vlad did his best to accept the aura and corrupted mana.

But as everyone had expected, Vlad could only accept a small portion of the gathered aura and mana.

The mana and aura gathered in the magic circle seemed almost unchanged.

But the blood vessels on Vlad’s face were swollen to the point of bursting, and his face was contorted with pain.

‘Damn, is this my limit already? Really, can I do nothing?’

Having absorbed just a portion of the aura, Vlad felt as if his body was already full.

Like a bladder filled with air, feeling as if it would burst at the slightest touch.

But the gathered mana remained unchanged, and the Demon God remained silent.

When Selena had stood there, she had immediately risen into the air as she accepted the mana and aura, and the Demon God’s voice had been heard.

It seemed this had been a futile attempt after all.

‘But, well, I expected this.’

If he absorbed any more, it felt like his body would burst, and his mind would fly away from the pain, but Vlad didn’t stop.

Even if that happened, it didn’t matter.

At least he could spill the blood of a half-monster on the Demon God’s magic circle.

Rather than being captured by the monsters here, he wanted to achieve at least this small revenge.

And so, Vlad exceeded his limits.

As he did, his body began to swell.

Not just his blood vessels, but his entire body began to inflate.

It was a grotesque sight even to the monsters.

[Insane… Fall back.]

The lich was so horrified that it ordered the monsters to retreat.

Only Selena remained still, watching Vlad as he continued to transform.

Wooooong.

His body, which had been inflating, now looked like a balloon.

It was as if his skin was filled with air.

Now he barely looked human.

Selena, sitting next to the magic circle, flinched each time Vlad’s body continued to inflate, not knowing when it might burst.

But Vlad’s body, transformed like a balloon monster, still didn’t burst.

By now, the corrupted mana and aura in the magic circle had visibly decreased, yet Vlad had endured until then.

Of course, Vlad no longer looked like a person, or even a monster.

His clothes had long since burst off, leaving him naked, but that nakedness no longer felt human.

Moreover, his skin, now like a balloon, began to crack.

The skin, increasingly cracking and stretching.

It was like watching a balloon about to burst.

Seeing this, the monsters relaxed.

Having watched him endure until now, they seemed to have had some doubts, but those were now gone.

However, Selena had mixed feelings as she saw his cracked skin.

She was torn between hoping Vlad wouldn’t die and hoping a new Demon King wouldn’t emerge.

“…Still, don’t die.”

Even so, she didn’t want the boy who had saved her to die.

Just as Selena spoke, the Demon God’s message was heard in everyone’s mind.

[Now, accept my power and become my new servant. And make all gods and all worlds kneel before me.]

The very words Selena had heard.

[What?]

At the same time, the lich’s surprised message was heard from behind.

And Selena saw it.

That Vlad’s balloon-like body had been floating above the magic circle for some time.

Neither she nor the other monsters had noticed because of Vlad’s transformed body.

However, neither Selena, who was watching, nor the lich and other monsters thought Vlad could answer the Demon God’s words.

In his current state, Vlad seemed barely alive, let alone conscious.

But they were wrong.

From Vlad’s mouth, transformed like a balloon, came an answer along with the sound of air:

“…I… I accept. I will become the Demon God.”

Incredibly, despite his condition, Vlad was still alive and conscious.

And the Demon God’s answer was heard:

[I have heard your answer. New servant, now become my representative and the king of my children!]

With those words, black currents erupted from the entire magic circle.

Whoosh!

The currents completely enveloped Vlad’s balloon-like body and were so powerful they broke through the high ceiling.

No, the black currents, the aura, literally broke through the temple ceiling and surged high above the tower.

Like a fountain gushing forth, like a beam shooting upward, it soared into the sky.

The aura rose so high that Knight Egger and his party, who had just entered the demon realm, could see it rising.