Crimson Bond (2)

Blood is one of the most essential elements for sustaining life.

That’s why Ian had once, in preparation for potential massive blood loss, projected his own blood in advance.

─《Authority of Projection》─

◆Item

[Ian Greysel’s Blood Lv.52]

─────────

A blood grade of a staggering ’52’.

Considering that ordinary human blood usually rates only around ’10~15′, Ian’s blood was quite an exceptional figure.

‘The reason is probably because…’

The biggest reason was likely the Heavenly Blood Pill he had taken, made from the blood of the Heavenly Sword Lord.

After that, his physical constitution had been elevated by several levels, so his blood naturally became extraordinary as well.

On top of that, factors like his high-born lineage, the reduced impurities of having reached the Master-rank, and the overflowing vitality of his youth—all contributed, amplifying the level of his blood significantly.

‘Thanks to that, I can give Scarlet excellent blood. That’s a relief.’

High-grade blood was no different from a fine potion for vampires, and at the same time, a tonic that replenished their life force.

It would be a tremendous help in healing Scarlet’s injuries.

Of course, manifesting that much blood required a great deal of magic power.

‘But this much, I can easily handle.’

Even with the aura he had left, he could create enough blood to match six adult men.

‘If that proves insufficient, I can always use the demonic energy stored in Vladiark.’

Vladiark held over twice as much demonic energy as Ian’s own aura.

In other words, at his disposal right now was enough blood for no less than eighteen adult men.

‘With this much blood supply…’

No matter how starved Scarlet might be, this should be enough to satiate her to some extent.

At the very least, it should be enough to fill all the gaping holes in her body.

‘However…’

Whether this would be enough to completely heal her internal injuries was another matter.

Some long-term blood transfusion might be required for that.

‘For now, let’s do what I can.’

If long-term supply is needed, he could arrange for it then.

He would see to it that Scarlet had a place to stay, and could meet her frequently for further assistance.

But for now, the priority was to close her urgent wounds.

‘No reason to hesitate.’

—Swooooosh!

While holding Scarlet in his arms, Ian immediately manifested his blood.

—Splaassh!

Ian’s blood rained over her back, seeping straight into her wounds.

“Uh…!?”

Feeling the warmth of the blood, Scarlet’s eyes regained their intensity.

“… Bl, blood? Gr, ggh!? Ah… aaah!!”

Pure pleasure rushed into Scarlet through the wounds.

For a vampire, drinking blood after a prolonged thirst was the very peak of rapture.

“Ah, aaah…! Ah!”

Her withering body rejoiced as it was bathed in the rain of life.

A waterfall of pleasure swept through her nerves, sweetly licking every edge.

Scarlet’s mouth opened on its own, her tongue quivering.

“Ah, ah…!”

But the taste was cruelly tantalizing.

This body had been starved for so long.

The blood was unbearably sweet, but that only made her hunger more maddening.

She wanted more.

The sweetness only fanned her vampiric instincts to new heights.

More—endlessly more—she wanted to drink until her whole being was filled.

—Crack!

In the end, Scarlet could not resist the temptation and sank her fangs right into Ian’s neck.

“Urgh!”

A chillingly sharp pain.

Ian’s eyes hardened.

He found himself in a perilously dangerous situation, bitten on the neck by a powerful vampire.

Yet Ian clenched his teeth, remaining calm.

In truth, he’d expected this might happen.

‘As I thought… she bit me!’

He’d brought this on himself.

He’d provoked the bloodlust of a vampire left desperately thirsty and exposed his bare neck without defense.

For a vampire tormented by severe thirst, resisting the lure of such fragrant blood was impossible.

Just as a human cannot fight off sleep by sheer will.

After abstaining for so long, with tantalizing drops of blood falling on her parched body, and a fresh boy’s slender neck so close—

Even a vampire with monk-like patience would not be able to withstand it.

It was like setting a lavish feast in front of someone starving and letting its aroma fill the air.

Following an irresistible temptation, Scarlet instinctively bit into Ian’s throat to take more blood.

This was no longer within the domain of reason.

Scarlet was now likely half-conscious, eyes nearly rolling back in delirium.

“Grr, grrgh!”

—Swoooooosh!!

The wild, greedy sucking of blood thundered in Ian’s eardrums.

‘Let my guard down and I’ll die!’

—Crunch!

Ian quickly swung his left hand back and grasped the hilt of Vladiark.

‘I have to use it now…! Demonic energy!’

From the rate at which his blood was being drained, Ian knew his aura alone wouldn’t be enough.

He had to immediately draw in Vladiark’s demonic energy and project it into blood within his body.

—Swoooooosh!

Ian sucked in Vladiark’s demonic energy with his left hand.

“Grgh!”

The instant the energy entered his hand, his skin flamed as if he’d grabbed a burning coal.

Blood vessels bulged grotesquely.

—Ssssss!

But that was not a major problem.

His left arm ached fiercely, but that could be dealt with later.

Ian immediately converted all the demonic energy entering his body into blood.

And just because he used demonic energy to project blood didn’t mean it came out tainted.

The Authority of Projection was literally a power to perfectly replicate any object regardless of the kind of magic power used.

With this authority, he could project the purest holy power of a saint, or even the most accursed abyssal magic.

—Clatter!

Then—

Scarlet’s embrace grew even tighter.

Her fingers dug into Ian’s back as she clung to him.

“Grr, grrgh!”

—Swooooooosh!

Now, even through Scarlet’s fingertips, Ian’s blood began to be drawn out.

‘Are you trying to kill the very person saving you…?!’

Ian gritted his teeth and focused.

An incredible rush of blood drained out, while the Authority of Projection regenerated it in the next instant.

If his projection lagged even for a second, he’d be shriveled dry. If it overshot, his vessels would burst.

He maintained that hair-thin balance with superhuman focus, persevering for what felt like an eternity—

—Thud…

At some point, Ian could feel strength fade from Scarlet’s body.

—Tap!

Ian caught her by the waist before she completely collapsed.

“Huu, huuu…”

Scarlet had lost consciousness in his arms.

Ian let out a deep sigh of relief.

“It’s over.”

It was quite a reckless treatment.

But there had been no choice.

No matter how powerful a vampire’s vitality, they were not truly immortal.

She’d had no blood vitality left to heal her life-threatening chest wounds, and left alone, her body would not naturally recover—it would simply vanish. So treating her immediately this way had been the best chance.

‘Ugh, ugh… Still, I need to sit down for a bit.’

Fatigue hit him all at once.

He’d poured out too much magic power at once, and his mind was exhausted.

—Rustle.

Ian lightly stepped off Vladiark and gently laid Scarlet down.

“zzZ…”

Having gorged herself on blood, Scarlet was now sleeping as if she were dead.

This too was vampire instinct.

After feasting on blood, a vampire must sleep deeply to convert it into blood vitality.

Though a healthy vampire wouldn’t pass out this completely.

Scarlet had been starved to a critical degree, with her blood vitality depleted to the extreme. So her body entered a forced, restorative sleep the moment it absorbed enough blood.

It was like a person who had stayed up for a week straight finally collapsing onto a bed.

‘Haa… Anyway, the worst is over for now.’

Scarlet’s lethal wounds had all vanished, and the pallor in her complexion was now much improved.

After this sleep, even her internal injuries would likely be much better.

Of course, starvation of such long duration wouldn’t be cured with a single infusion. He’d probably need to repeat blood supply a few more times. But it shouldn’t escalate to a dangerous level again.

The rampage just now was solely due to her extreme hunger.

Now, she’d eaten enough to at least maintain her reason.

‘Now then…’

After a short rest, Ian stood up again.

He decided to look around the room Scarlet had been held in.

Why had the demonic humans imprisoned her here?

What had they been doing to her?

He intended to find out.

‘…’

Ian picked up the large spikes strewn across the floor.

‘These are…’

They were the very spikes that had been driven into Scarlet’s body just moments before.

The nails which had pinned her to the cross.

‘… Magic power sealing devices.’

Their true purpose was to block the flow of magic power completely.

To make things worse, they were made of silver, which greatly weakened a vampire’s body.

She’d had dozens of these driven into her—all at once.

Even a Grandmaster-rank Scarlet couldn’t possibly exert her strength under such constraints.

Her powerful blood-magic and superhuman body had been entirely sealed.

‘Hmm…?’

On closer inspection, some were of a different kind.

‘This is…’

Ian inspected the larger spikes more carefully.

‘A magic power absorption device.’

Ah.

Only then did Ian realize exactly what had been happening to Scarlet here.

‘Her magic power was being siphoned away.’

So that they could summon the great demons and grand dukes of the Demon World into this world.

They had used Scarlet as a living magic power generator, squeezing out her power bit by bit just like milking a cow.

‘Those bastards.’

They’d probably fed her just enough blood to keep her alive.

That way, they could extract even more blood-magic.

Sometimes, they’d feed her small bits of powerful blood, too.

She needed the vitality to keep producing blood-magic at higher yields.

Having witnessed the actions of the demonic humans countless times in his previous life, Ian could tell instantly.

They had treated Scarlet like a mere tool.

If she was given just enough blood, she’d automatically generate blood-magic for them.

‘Then this…’

Ian walked into the darkest corner of the room.

There, an oversized contraption resembling a crouched hippo squatted.

‘This must be the device that stored Scarlet’s magic power.’

At its center, set like a jewel, was a sphere clearly meant as a storage unit.

‘I can feel strong magic power from this.’

The Grandmaster’s aura Ian had sensed before entering had been emanating from here.

‘I can’t leave this behind for the demons.’

—Clink!

Ian raised Vladiark high over his head.

Ready to smash the magic sphere—

‘Wait!’

Ian halted Vladiark right before striking.

‘Before breaking it…’

He would break it, but first—

‘What if… I projected all these?’

Not just the storage device, but all of it.

From the sphere, to the spikes… the restraint devices and the magic absorption gear.

Even the cross that served as the magic transmission device.

‘If I round up some demonic humans and demons and chain them up here…’

Could he turn live demonic humans and demons into a demonic energy factory?

‘I’m basically building a farm for Vladiark.’

Force-feed captured enemies with cheap potions, forcing them to generate demonic energy.

Turn them into machines for automatic magic production.

Store and extract their magic regularly, funneling it into Vladiark—that would provide an enormous supply of magic power.

Much more than simply killing the demonic humans and demons outright.

It would become an automatic demonic energy plant.

A revolutionary leap, like humanity’s shift from hunting to agriculture and livestock.

‘It’s a pretty good idea.’

Besides, Ian could transform the stored demonic energy into any other type with ease.

Thanks to the Authority of Projection.

He could refine demonic energy into pure mana, or convert it to aura, holy power, or even blood-magic.

‘With the right structure and system, I could obtain an astronomical amount of magic power.’

And if he invested that massive magic into developing the magic tower’s weapons and artifacts…

‘At the very least, we’d never end up on the losing side of the war with the demons just for lack of magic power.’

A blaze of determination lit up Ian’s eyes.

‘I’ll project all of this.’

Ian began projecting every magic extraction device scattered around the room.

It was the beginning of a new vision for Ian.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

I give up… It is a harem…

【ദ്ദി( ⩌_⩌)】

P.S.

Ian’s plan to make demonic energy factory is diabolical….

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep