[Scarlet Blood Devil]

As if on fire, an intense aura rose from Van’s body. At the same time, sharp shards from the wound began to jumble together and cover him, looking like congealed blood, crystals of red ruby, or petals of jewelry.

With a crackling sound, the shard climbed up his wounded arm, covering more than two-thirds of his body and emitting a grim aura. Sharp fangs were drawn on his face, lopsided horns topped his head, and murderous slanted eyes were sculpted.

He pledged his own blood as collateral until a certain amount of blood was obtained. In exchange, a new technique that allowed him to use his peak power without warming up. It was a technique not found in the game, only mastered by Shin Yeohwan’s Van Herdos.

As such, Cadel could only watch in disbelief at Van’s back as the Sea Dragon stood before him.

Impressed? Delighted? Maybe love?

In all his memories, he had never seen Van Herdos look like this, or use this technique. This new skill that Van had taught himself was, for Cadel, a pleasure like no other.

His aura split the Sea Dragon’s body like inverted lightning, sharp and fierce. Red cracks spread across the ice in the wake of the greatsword’s trajectory, and the more power he exerted, the more fierce and sinister the aura that enveloped him became. It swelled dangerously as if it could swallow him whole at any moment. But.

“That’s quite a technique from Sir Van. Rough, unrefined, but…….”

With the aura amplified to the limit, Van’s greatsword slammed into the Sea Dragon’s stomach. All the aura that had surrounded him dispersed, and a huge shockwave swept through the atmosphere. The aura mingled in the air, densely colored everywhere. Reflexively releasing his power, Garuel spread his wings of demonic energy to shield his comrades.

“The power alone is amazing.”

A luminescent, dazzling aura emanated from the crack in the ice. The twigs of the crack stretched out along the rapidly brightening aura, and in an instant, it enveloped the entire ice. Then, with a short gasp, Van drew his greatsword.

“Alas, my toy…….”

The ice shattered, and a large amount of blood poured out. Sharp ice shards, cascading blood, and the Sea Dragon’s flesh mingled in the mix, all of which engulfed Van without warning. But he didn’t dodge and buried himself in the rubble. Partly to replenish the blood he had lost.

‘It requires more blood than I thought. The time I can use my body as collateral is roughly ten minutes. If I take a larger collateral, my strength and time will increase, but the risk…… is too great. It’s not like I’m fighting to the death.’

He was too busy evaluating his new technique. He’d just roughly parried a meaty smack to the face when he heard a voice in the distance.

“Van!”

Turning his head, he saw Cadel rushing toward him through what was now a thin stream of blood. Van’s lips curled up into a smile as he met him. Cadel didn’t stop running, but leaped up and pulled Van into a hug. As he supported Cadel’s hips with familiarity, a pair of legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

“What’s going on, Commander? You’re so fired up.”

Van asked in a soft voice, pleased to hear the laughter in his ear. As soon as he saw Cadel, his relentless pursuit of new technique disappeared in an instant. His head was so full of thoughts about Cadel that he could only wonder where his laughter came from.

Cadel hugged Van tightly around the neck and exclaimed with glee.

“That was the coolest technique I’ve ever seen!”

“……Really?”

“Yeah! That goblin mask thing, is really cool, it’s the best. What kind of technique is it?”

“Um……. It’s a technique to reduce the time it takes to warm up in battle. It’s not much.”

Van didn’t bother to mention to Cadel the dangers of his new technique. It was up to him to research and bear the risks, hoping that his skill would benefit Cadel’s tactics. The penalties of the skill could be mentioned when necessary. For now, he didn’t want to drown out Cadel’s great joy with worry.

“It’s not much? You took down that big creature in one hit.”

Lifting his face from burying it in the nape of Van’s neck to face him, Cadel kissed the bridge of his nose, and Van blinked dazedly in response, his lips curling into a smile.

“Yeo, Yeohwan. You can’t do this all of a sudden…….”

The mix of his name and honorifics was always odd to hear, but Cadel didn’t seem to mind and kissed Van a few more times. Cheeks and cheekbones, nostrils, and corners of the mouth. After several warm kisses, as if he truly loved him, Cadel pressed their lips together one last time.

Van took in all the touching, slowly coming to terms with it. Van looked embarrassed to the point of madness, but his arms around Cadel grew stronger.

It was none other than Lydon who interrupted the two men in their act of affection.

“What are you doing, darling? Why are you praising Van? Why are you only fond of Van? I’m the one who froze that creature. It was thanks to me that Van could show off his strength comfortably and mindlessly. So why?”

Lydon had finished mourning his toy when he noticed Cadel and Van. When he stuck his hands under Cadel’s armpits to pull him off, Van grabbed Cadel’s thighs and refused to let go. With his upper and lower body threatening to be separated by the jolts, Cadel had no time to savor his joy before he had to cry out in pain.

“Think about your strength and act! You’re tearing me apart!”

* * *

Lumen and Yozen didn’t regain consciousness for another 30 minutes after everything was over.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that before, no gaps anywhere, impenetrable even with the dark energy.”

As soon as Yozen was stabilized, he sat by Cadel’s side and told him about his unusual experience. Having never faced a worthy opponent in his life, Cadel had expected the helplessness Yozen felt against the Sea Dragon to be poisonous, but to his surprise, it turned out to be quite useful.

“Weren’t you scared? If I’d been any slower, you might have suffocated.”

“With water everywhere, it was hard to feel, but I figured you’d come to the rescue anyway. I did what I could, and all I had to do was wait for you.”

“Of course you do. You’ve grown up, Yozen. You know how to depend on your commander.”

Cadel smoothed Yozen’s silky hair as he gave him a pat on the back. Lumen, approaching from a distance, called out to Yozen from an equally distant distance.

“You’ve laid a certain groundwork, so finish it up. I’ll go and supplement the missing materials.”

“Okay.”

As Yozen turned and stood up, Lumen turned and started to leave as well, but Cadel, who had risen with Yozen, stopped him.

“What’s wrong?”

Lumen hadn’t spoken a word to Cadel since waking up, not even to his comrades. He kept his mouth shut as much as possible and went about his work in silence. It was like he was keeping himself strangely distant.

Normally, the man would have been inquisitive, asking if Cadel was hurt, who the enemy was, and how he defeated it. When he asked, Lumen casually jerked his arm away from Cadel’s grasp.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

It was a poor excuse for a man who wouldn’t even look him in the eye. Narrowing his eyes, Cadel actually stepped in front of Lumen, blocking his path, and Lumen, who had been struggling to get past him, stopped with a sigh.

“I told you there’s no problem. Leader, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“I don’t think so.”

“It is.”

“Are you feeling embarrassed about being held captive without being able to do anything?”

“…….”

“Is that right?”

Unable to bring himself to lie, Lumen chose silence, and after a moment of staring into Lumen’s deep eyes, Cadel chuckled.

“You’re doing something out of character. Sometimes you’re going to get beaten in a fight, and you’re supposed to have allies to help you when that happens.”

“……I didn’t want to end up floundering in the water.”

For some reason, Lumen always seemed to want to look cool and dashing, when in reality he was far from helpless on the battlefield. However, revealing to the commander that he was being trapped and outclassed by enemy technique could have taken a toll on him mentally. Especially for a man as proud as Lumen.

Cadel looked at Lumen, who looked as if he’d been wounded and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I think you’ve got it backward. I’m your leader, and usually, leaders protect their subordinates, right? I don’t really want to be the one you need to protect.”

“…….”

“So let me be your leader once in a while.”

Lumen rubbed his shoulders as if to loosen tight muscles, and his tense body relaxed a little. He turned to face Cadel, who smiled fondly, then let out a chuckle.

“Are you telling me not to get too conceited?”

“You’re a little overconfident. I’m just saying, don’t get yourself killed for nothing.”

“……Right.”

No matter how determined he was, no matter how bad he felt. Cadel’s few words were all it took to break him down. In front of Cadel, everything he felt was nothing. All personal feelings were put aside, and he focused solely on him. Lumen often wondered how he had gotten to this point.

Lumen brushed his fingertips lightly across Cadel’s cheek, then spoke nonchalantly, as if oblivious to the flinch.

“You still have no plans to search for the Stone of Peace? I thought it was a peaceful uninhabited island with no life, but then a creature like that showed up, I think it’s worth searching for it.”

“Well…… it’s getting awkward to sit on our hands.”

It never occurred to the Scarlet Scales Knight Order that they would find the third Stone of Peace, but now that the unexpected event had happened, their vacation on the island was over.

They managed to defeat the Sea Dragon before the island sank, but the delay caused much of the island to be submerged in saltwater. Even though they’d moved their camp to the back of the island, the slightest wave would bring the water up to their noses. It was a very unnerving environment, but the group relaxed and took it easy. The only one who seemed to be nervous was Cadel himself.

So at night, when everyone was asleep, Cadel went outside the campsite and started a small fire.

“Let’s see…….”

The flame illuminated the words on the thick parchment. In the flickering light, Cadel began to read the words carefully.

[One island, the only breath of a drowned world. Two greed, a soul in a transparent orb. He who sinks with the courage to save shall see a legacy of hope].