Chapter 200: Demonic Aura
Logan swung the greatsword with ease, the massive blade whistling through the air. The swordsman responded with a wide slash of his own.
Clang!
Both Logan and the swordsman were forced back by the impact.
But Logan charged again like a madman.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Steel collided with steel as showers of sparks scattered in every direction.
The swordsman was undeniably stronger than Logan. Yet he could feel it. Something inside his opponent was pushing him beyond his limits.
That eerie crimson aura...
It sent a chill down his spine.
Meanwhile, one of the men who had returned with Logan had already ridden back to inform the village chief and bring back everyone as fast as possible. The remaining eight desperately fought to protect the villagers.
However, Ariana’s condition was rapidly deteriorating.
Her face had turned deathly pale.
Logan was doing everything he could to reach her, but his opponent was even stronger than Damian.
Not only was the swordsman more powerful... His swordsmanship was on an entirely different level.
The village had descended into complete chaos.
A jackal chased after a woman carrying a two-year-old child in her arms.
In her panic, she tripped over a stone and fell heavily to the ground.
The jackal immediately caught up.
It sank its fangs into the baby’s tiny arm, trying to rip the child away from its mother.
"Nooooo! Stop!"
A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the village as the woman desperately clung to her child.
But it was useless.
The jackal tore the baby from her arms...
Then began devouring the child alive.
Elsewhere, an elderly man had fallen from his wheelchair. He desperately tried to climb back onto it. Before he could...
A jackal pounced onto him, sinking its fangs deep into his shoulder and tearing away chunks of flesh.
Everywhere the eye could see...
There was nothing but slaughter.
One of the eight men managed to kill a jackal. But the moment he did...
Five more pounced on him at once.
The others were faring no better.
One villager after another fell.
Suddenly...
The orc drove its foot into Ariana’s body.
Boom!
She was sent flying through the air before crashing onto the ground. The orc slowly began walking toward her.
Ariana gritted her teeth and forced herself back up.
She dragged her battered body backward.
She wasn’t afraid of dying. What she feared...
Was the life growing inside her.
Her unborn child.
Most likely... The baby was already dead.
But she refused to believe it. She refused to even imagine that her child had died before ever seeing the light of day.
Tears streamed down her face.
Logan panicked. He desperately tried to force the swordsman back with another strike.
But his opponent remained relentless.
He had only one goal.
To stop Logan from reaching Ariana.
Then...
Logan saw it.
Leon saw it as well.
The same memory that had once flashed before Leon’s eyes.
The very event his heart had desperately prayed would never happen.
The orc closed the remaining distance in a few long strides. It slowly raised its massive cleaver.
"Nooooooooo! Logaaaaaan!"
Ariana’s desperate scream echoed through the village. Logan gritted his teeth so hard that blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. He tried to rush toward her once more...
But failed again.
Then...
Before his despair-filled eyes...
The merciless orc brought the cleaver down.
Schlk!
Logan heard the sickening sound. He watched as the light faded from Ariana’s eyes. Her body split cleanly in half before the two halves collapsed onto the ground in opposite directions.
Logan stopped fighting. At that moment... Everything had lost its meaning for him.
The swordsman, however, showed no mercy.
His blade flashed.
A long crimson gash opened across Logan’s body as he was hurled backward through the air.
Thud!
Logan’s body crashed into a stone wall, leaving behind a deep crater.
"Hahahahaha! So much for being an angel." The green orc burst into laughter before turning toward the fleeing villagers and resuming the massacre.
The swordsman, however, had no interest in slaughtering ordinary humans. He sheathed his sword and turned around, preparing to leave.
But then...
Thump!
A heartbeat echoed through the battlefield. It was so loud that everyone heard it.
Thump!
Thump!
Logan slowly climbed out of the crater. Something inside him was changing. His eyes turned blood-red. The crimson aura surrounding his body grew denser and denser.
At the same time...
Inside the volcano...
Leon’s real body began trembling violently.
One notification after another appeared on the translucent panel before him.
[Host’s second bloodline is attempting to awaken forcibly.]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Host’s current body cannot withstand the awakening of an Unranked grade bloodline.]
[Host must stop the awakening immediately.]
Unfortunately... He couldn’t see any of them. At that moment, his mind was consumed by nothing but rage. He wanted nothing more than to grab the orc with his own hands...
Rip it apart.
Gouge out its eyes.
Hack it into countless pieces.
If he possessed enough power... He would revive the monster a thousand times... Only to kill it in a thousand different ways.
Suddenly...
Leon felt it.
Logan’s aura. It had become demonic. It was the same kind of aura Leon had once sensed from that terrifying being inside the Delvan Tower.
But this aura...
Though equally demonic... Was thousands of times more powerful. More ferocious. Yet strangely... It carried no malice.
A pair of crimson wings slowly unfolded from Logan’s back. At the same time, the greatsword in his hand became engulfed in blazing crimson flames.
Meanwhile, before Leon’s real body... More notifications continued to appear.
[The bloodline is suppressing itself to a lower grade.]
[The bloodline has descended to a lower Unranked grade.]
[The bloodline is suppressing itself to a lower grade.]
[The bloodline is suppressing itself to a lower grade.]
[The bloodline is suppressing itself to a lower grade.]
[The bloodline has become Mythic grade.]
[The bloodline is suppressing itself to a lower grade.]
[The bloodline has become Celestial grade.]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Host’s body still cannot withstand the Celestial-grade Demon Monarch’s Bloodline.]
Back on the battlefield inside Leon’s mind...
The swordsman from earlier charged toward Logan once more, his blade slicing through the air.
Logan calmly raised his greatsword.
Then swung.
A crimson sword arc shot forward. The attack tore straight through the swordsman.
The man froze in place.
The upper half of his body slowly slid from his waist.
At the same time...
Half of his sword snapped apart with a sharp metallic clang.