Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 119

Argoric was annoyed. He had never imagined that the regressor would show up at that moment, and he was certain that the man was trying to convince the demon not to fight against them by using knowledge from his previous lives.

“Lower-ranked demon Mondus. Don’t be fooled by his words. How can a mere human have knowledge of the affairs of the demons?” Argoric called out.

“Don’t call me lower-ranked,” Mondus said, sounding irritated.

Kang Yoon-Soo continued, “The demons are currently fighting against each other to become the demon king. I’ll tell you the way to become the demon king, so why don’t you become my ally?”

“What a funny proposal.” Mondus scoffed, but his eyes were still filled with interest as he asked, “Tell me, what should I do to become the demon king?”

“Lower-ranked demon Mondus, I told you not to be fooled by his words,” Argoric repeated.

Unfortunately, the demons were a race that could not be mind-controlled, which was why Argoric directed his power toward Kang Yoon-Soo instead.

Pachik!

It was then that Mondus suddenly intervened and blocked Argoric’s attack with his arm.

Argoric raised a brow and asked, “What do you think you’re doing right now?”

“I told you not to call me lower-ranked,” Mondus growled as he summoned his lightning.

Argoric grimaced and said, “My father was the one who signed a contract with you. I’m not the one you contracted with, so I don’t have to hesitate to kill you.”

“The same goes for me, you arrogant vampire,” Mondus scoffed.

Argoric and Mondus glared at each other, and Kang Yoon-Soo delivered the final push as he said, “Mondus, you have to kill Argoric to become the demon king.”

“…And why is that?” Mondus asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo brazenly explained, “You’ve failed to read the flow of current affairs in the demon world. A demon who has a contract with a creature from the continent can’t fight for the throne.”

“You know quite a lot for a mere human,” Mondus said.

Kang Yoon-Soo continued lying with his glib tongue. “I also had a contract with a demon in the past, and I learned a lot about Pandemonium from that demon.”

Wars raged everyday in Pandemonium; it was all because the demons wanted to establish a hierarchy among themselves and decide who would be the demon king. However, that war would end as a futile struggle between them.

‘It’s because of the Demon Lord,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

Even Kang Yoon-Soo was not certain of what had happened in Pandemonium, as it was not something that had happened on the continent. However, one thing he was certain of was that the Demon Lord had appeared and beat all of the demons to secure his throne as the ruler of Pandemonium. The Demon Lord had been prophesied to come earlier in this life, but the war for the throne of Pandemonium was still raging over there.

“You can check if you want to. No one among those aiming for the throne has a contract with anyone on the continent,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Shut up,” Mondus replied, but his actions said otherwise as he directed his lightning spear toward Argoric.

The Vampire Lord was baffled by the turn of events. He said, “What a foolish demon. You’ve lost all reason because of your greed for power. A lower-ranked demon is nothing but a lower-ranked demon, I guess. How foolish can you be, to break a contract just because of some words from a mere human?”

“The way you kept calling me lower-ranked got on my nerves a long time ago,” Mondus growled.

It took only a few seconds before Argoric and Mondus began clashing against each other, and a storm of blood and thunder raged across the sky.

‘It?was pretty?easy to drive a wedge between them,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought before descending from the spire.

The lower-ranked demon, Mondus, would distract Argoric for a while; however, he would not be able to hold on for long against the Vampire Lord.

‘The Vampire Lord is strong.’

There was a reason why Argoric had been bored with life. It was not just because he could not leave Sanguineum; rather, it was partly because he was so strong that it was difficult for him to find a worthy opponent. Additionally, his pure blood made him grow stronger the longer he lived.

‘I have to be careful of his mind control ability.’

The Vampire Lord had powerful abilities such as Ranged Blood Drain, Blood Storm, and other kinds of high-ranked magic spells, but the most difficult ability to deal with among his skills was his ability to brainwash people.

‘Argoric is in an empowered state after absorbing the blood of the lower-ranked vampires.’

Vampires became stronger the more blood they had, and Argoric had just sucked one thousand vampires dry of their blood. He was currently in his most powerful state. On top of that, the vampires had overcome the restraints put on them by the disease through the mana infused into them.

‘However,?that doesn’t mean?we have no chance of winning.’

Kang Yoon-Soo would never have taken on such a great risk if they had no chance of winning in the first place. He had to take the risk and come up with a way to win against an enemy he could not beat, since this was going to be his final life. On top of that, he had a hidden card up his sleeve that he had not had in his previous lives.

‘I’ll definitely win.’?Kang Yoon-Soo steeled his resolve, using his sword to break all the windows in the spire.

Renil, who was waiting on the opposite spire from Kang Yoon-Soo, shouted, “It’s the signal!”

The spire doors opened, and a new force joined the battle between the vampires and the werewolves.

“Let’s obtain freedom with our own hands!”

“We’re no longer slaves!”

Those who had previously been enslaved by the vampires, coming from a wide variety of races, charged at the vampires with anger burning in their eyes. Centaurs charged at the vampires with silver spears raised, and elves waved their staves and flung magic toward the vampires.

“These insolent fools!”

“They have silver weapons…!”

The vampires were helplessly done in by the silver weapons/

Kang Yoon-Soo watched the scene through a broken mirror in the spire. He thought, ‘The?dwarves’ contributions are huge.’

The silver weapons were actually silver-coated, to be precise. The dwarves had not had enough time to forge weapons out of the silver they extracted from the mines; as such, they had decided to melt down the silver ore and coat the weapons they had looted from the vampires. They had done an excellent job of coating the weapons even without a proper furnace; instead, they had used Shaneth and Sally’s flames as a makeshift furnace. They had even successfully managed to refine the moonstone ore using the same method.

An old dwarf had grabbed Kang Yoon-Soo’s hands then, pleading, “Please liberate us and give us our freedom.”

The Vampire Hunters sniped at the vampires from above, firing from the spire windows. It was no exaggeration to say that their sniping skills were lethal and accurate, as every silver bolt they fired was guaranteed to land a headshot on a vampire.

“Pyrokinesis!”

“Wrath of the Flames!”

Shaneth and Sally’s flames swept across the city square, and a wave of flame engulfed any vampires in its way like a hungry beast. The vampires, who were weak against fire, could not do anything aside from rolling on the ground in agony after being burned.

“What a beautiful girl.”

“Why did you come to this battlefield?”

The vampires snickered as they surrounded Rick. However, those were the last words they ever said.

Pukeeeeeok!

Rick’s silver saw sliced all of the vampires in half, and the beautiful little girl let out a sinister laugh as she kept swinging the silver saw covered in blood. “Hihihihihi… Hihihihi…!”

“Please stop that… Please don’t go crazy…” Henrick grumbled while controlling his mana threads.

Mini-Lich swung his staff and said, “Arise, my corpses!”

The many corpses littered across the battlefield started to get up one by one and joined the battle. The longer the fight drew on, the more the undead on the battlefield increased in number.

“These worms dare to fight back!” a Noble of the Night exclaimed as he flew down to the ground and slammed the ground with his fist. The shockwave, with a top-ranked vampire’s power behind it, blew away a lot of the slave soldiers as if they were fallen leaves on the ground.

Kang Yoon-Soo jumped out of the window, landing right behind the Noble of the Night and wrapping his leg around the vampire’s neck.

“Euk!?What the hell are you?!” the Noble of the Night yelled as he flailed around.

“Abyssal Sword,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered as he precisely stabbed the vampire’s neck.

Even a single Noble of the Night would normally be too strong an opponent for him, but the Nobles had previously used up most of their mana by infusing it into the other vampires and channeling it into the demon summoning.

‘They’re?still as strong as ever, but their life force has substantially?weakened,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he stabbed the vampire’s neck again.

Right as the Noble of the Night was about to swing his claws to get rid of the human that was on top of him, someone shouted from behind, “Ice Storm!”

A ferocious storm of ice swept across the vampire and froze half of its body. The one who had cast the spell was none other than Acle, who was wearing the Frozen Crown.

“Tsk! Don’t die!” Acle exclaimed as he supported Kang Yoon-Soo with his ice spells.

“Life Drain,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered. A purple glow emanated from the tip of his sword as he started to drain the vampire’s life force, still continuing to stab the noble in the neck.

The Noble of the Night struggled to maintain his balance; he was in agony as he tripped, falling flat and hitting his face against the spire. He yelped, “Euk!”

“Abyssal Sword,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered.

Kwachik!

[You have killed the Noble of the Night, Quillihal.]

[The slaves’ morale has increased.]

[Your level has risen.]

Kang Yoon-Soo ran toward the square and cut down five vampires before reaching Iris, saying, “Help me.”

Iris turned around while shaking the blood off her fist and asked, “With what?”

“Throw me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, pointing at a Noble of the Night who was raining down magic while flying high in the sky.

Iris looked worried and asked, “What if I miss?”

“You won’t,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.

“I see,” Iris muttered. She hugged Kang Yoon-Soo from behind and threw him with her monstrous strength. Her throw sent Kang Yoon-Soo flying precisely through the air toward his target, the Noble of the Night floating in midair.

“W-What the?!” the vampire exclaimed.

“Abyssal Sword,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered as he stabbed the vampire with all his strength. He successfully stabbed the vampire right between the eyes, then muttered again, “Life Drain.”

Kang Yoon-Soo successfully drained the life force out of the vampire’s body, then once again immediately swung his sword down with all his strength. He continuously hacked away at the Noble’s neck, eventually beheading the vampire completely.

“Euk!”?The vampire let out a final groan before he died.

[You have killed the Noble of the Night, Reham.]

[The slaves have grown more tenacious.]

[Your level has risen.]

The slaves’ morale increased every time Kang Yoon-Soo killed a Noble of the Night; now, they had their hatred and momentum to draw on no matter how great the vampires’ strength and magic were. The slaves’ thirst for freedom and their intense hatred for the vampires turned every single one into a berserker who would not easily fall regardless of the amount of damage they received.

Kang Yoon-Soo continued to hunt down the Nobles of the Night one by one, and the fierce battle raged on. Suddenly…

“Euk!”?Mondus groaned as Argoric stabbed him in the neck, and the lightning surrounding the lower-ranked demon disappeared.

“You foolish demon. I’m embarrassed by the fact that my father signed a contract with a loser like you,” Argoric muttered, before twisting his hand and killing the lower-ranked demon.

[The lower-ranked demon, Mondus, has been killed.]

Argoric did not stop there; he stared down at the dead demon’s remains and smiled before remarking, “Why don’t you help me now that you’re dead?”

The Vampire Lord then bit the dead demon’s neck and sucked its blood.

[You have drunk a demon’s blood.]

[This is the blood of a powerful being!]

[You have absorbed 3% of the demon’s blood.]

[You have absorbed 9% of the demon’s blood.]

[You have absorbed 14% of the demon’s blood.]

Argoric patiently sucked Mondus’ blood until the demon’s corpse dried up and withered.

[You have sucked 100% of Mondus, the lower-ranked demon’s, blood.]

[You will obtain the following buffs for one hour.]

[Your body naturally regenerates mana.]

[Your body overflows with strength.]

[Your mind control ability has evolved.]

[The targets you can control have been increased.]

[You are now able to control an unlimited number of targets.]

[You have gained massive resistance against black magic.]

[However, you have gained massive vulnerability to divine power.]

It was the blood of a demon! Just drinking it made Argoric’s body overflow with strength, and the powers it gave him were amazing. He laughed out loud as he exclaimed, “The time has come to end this war!”

He flew toward the center of the city’s square, scanning the battlefield with his gaze. A bright red ray shot out from his red eyes and swept across the battlefield.

The city square fell silent. The vampires looked dazed, while all of the slaves put down their weapons. The armies, which had been engaged in an intense battle just moments before, all stared dazedly at thin air. In fact, even the werewolves that had the moonstones around their necks, as well as the undead, were under the Vampire Lord’s control as well—except for one person.

“Looks like it’s my victory, regressor,” Argoric said as he stared down at Kang Yoon-Soo. Even so, the Vampire Lord still could not overcome the hurdle of twenty millennia after his ability evolved.

[The target’s mind contains more than 20,004 years’ worth of memories.]

[You have failed to brainwash the target even with your absolute powers.]

“I give you credit for pushing me this far,” Argoric said as he looked around the battlefield. Hundreds and even thousands of vampires had died, and Sanguineum was a total mess. It was difficult to believe that the entire vampire city had been devastated just because of one human.

“I never imagined that you would convince the demon to switch sides and buy time through him, but I suppose victory smiles on me in the end, and you weren’t a match for me,” Argoric said with a smile on his face. He then continued, “But it was fun, I’ll give you that. After all, you’re the first creature to have ever surprised me like this.”

The Vampire Lord expected the regressor to be devastated, but instead, the regressor confidently responded, “You’ll die by having your heart pierced.”

The smile on Argoric’s face disappeared as he asked, “Do you still believe that will happen?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The Vampire Lord gathered mana in his hand, preparing to cast a spell that was more powerful than anything that had ever been used on this battlefield before. He then threw it toward the regressor. However, Kang Yoon-Soo narrowly jumped out of the way and avoided the Vampire Lord’s attack.

Booooom!

The spot he had been standing in just moments before was devastated. Unfortunately, the spot on the battlefield Kang Yoon-Soo had jumped to was where Shaneth and Sally had just lit a huge flame previously.

Argoric could not help but snicker at the regressor’s foolishness, remarking mockingly, “How foolish. Did you decide to commit suicide?”

Kang Yoon-Soo staggered to his feet from within the fire. His pants were burned and his hair was in a mess, but he did not exit the blazing fire.

‘I have to trick Argoric. I have to make him drop his guard,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He bit his lips as his lower body started to burn.

Argoric mocked him, sounding disappointed, “Such a shame… To think that someone who regressed so many times would end up choosing to kill himself. As I thought, there’s nobody in this world who can become a worthy opponent for me.”

Kang Yoon-Soo took out a bundle of hair from his clothes. Argoric failed to see the movement, as his vision was obstructed by the blazing fire. The bundle of hair shone brightly like a ray of hope in the darkness, as Kang Yoon-Soo burned the Angel’s Hair and muttered, “I’ll win this fight.”