Ashen Dragon-Chapter 143 - 71 Ascension Ritual (8)

However, Duke Brad’s intervention had no effect, and the raging flames mercilessly engulfed the vampire variant on the stone pillar.

The Duke’s eldest daughter, the symbol of arrogance, Alexia, perished.

She was the oldest, noblest, and most powerful of the vampire variants, the perfect embodiment of arrogance. Duke Brad had countless times fantasized about absorbing her, imagining how intoxicating that power would be.

But, alas, she was gone now.

"Let it end, all of this."

The air was twisted by the scorching flames, white smoke filled the surroundings.

Cassius, still unsatiated, closed his mouth and glanced at the almost deranged vampire descending from the sky.

"No, Alexia, my only treasure..."

"Die——"

Duke Brad’s roar grew sharper and sharper, eventually turning into a piercing wail. His body suddenly expanded to nearly five meters, his pupils turned a deep black-red, his skin changed rapidly from pale to a near-gray hue, his fingers transformed into sharp claws, and a giant bat wing unfolded behind him—an undying monster, the incomplete form of an ascending vampire.

In this moment, Duke Brad lost all previous nobility, naked like a beast, his bare chest showing an eerie black tattoo.

The vampire turned into a blurred shadow wandering the sky, countless shadowy tentacles emerging from his body, and a mist of dark green necrosis spreading around him.

[Wither Spell]

The necromantic energy would drain all water and vitality from living beings, turning them into blood food.

Cassius used Act Before the Enemy, his pupils flashing with purple magical aurora, observing and predicting that monster’s ghostly flight path.

"I see you."

Just as the shadow enveloped in mist approached.

[Spell Nullification Barrier]

A barrier of fine, fragmented light surrounded Cassius, calming the agitated Magic Web and dispersing the Wither Spell, revealing the vampire’s hideous form without the mist’s cover.

The Red Dragon reached out its giant claw, grabbing the airborne, unprepared vampire, dragging him to the ground before slamming him down like swatting a pesky fly.

The vampire tried to resist, attempting to break free from the shackles, but under the Red Dragon’s overwhelming strength, all struggles were futile.

Instantly, rocks shattered, and the vampire was crushed deep into the ground, nearly flattened into a meat patty.

"No——"

The vampire let out a heartbreaking howl, trying to turn into a blood mist and escape, but the Spell Nullification Barrier made the surrounding Magic Web as solid as rock, completely nullifying any spell abilities.

Despite being pinned under the Red Dragon’s claw, with his entire body crushed and bones broken, piercing through skin, this vampire with the "Gluttony" sin kept regenerating at an astonishing speed visible to the naked eye.

The surrounding blood surged towards him.

As long as the tens of thousands of lives he had accumulated over two centuries were not exhausted, he could resurrect again and again; no one could kill him.

Fresh flesh and bones constantly regrew, restoring the vampire’s disfigured, shapeless body, only to be crushed again and again in a repeating cycle.

Even when his body was mangled like a rag, the vampire still laughed wildly; "You can’t kill me, worm! I am immortal!

"We can play this game forever."

"Until you die!"

Cassius looked down at him.

"A pathetic wretch clinging to life..."

A cruel, violent smile, unnoticed by himself, formed at the corner of Cassius’s mouth, akin to the rage of any Red Dragon.

"Then I’ll make you understand what ’eternal death’s reality’ truly is."

Cassius’s forelimb exerted force suddenly, muscles bulging, veins popping, even emitting white smoke.

This was the purest physical strength, the essence of the Red Dragon.

"Boom!"

With a dull thud, the stone platform’s ground collapsed violently.

"Useless..."

The vampire’s words were cut off as he was crushed into a meat patty once more, blood and gray matter splattered as bones shattered, forming a blood-stained pit on the ground. The vampire lost consciousness; even for him, such injuries would take a few seconds to recover from.

It was at this moment that Cassius dispelled the Spell Nullification Barrier.

His chest once again took on a lava-like texture, and his throat glowed with a dazzling white light.

[Extremely Effective Flame Breath]

A pillar of fire engulfed the vampire’s hideous body.

Yet Cassius did not stop.

The scorching, terrifying white flames continued to burn, gradually melting the ground. The rocks in the pit turned into sluggish, fiery red magma, like freshly smelted molten steel, sizzling as they enveloped the vampire’s body.

During this time, the vampire regained a moment of awareness, realizing the Spell Nullification Barrier was lifted.

Trying to turn into blood mist within the magma only intensified his burning, extending the time for his next regeneration.

Realizing this, the high-temperature magma seared his skin immediately, melting his flesh shortly after.

But in the process, new flesh grew, then was charred once more...

"Such resilient immortality."

Even Cassius had to admire the vampire’s dreadful regeneration after absorbing the "Gluttony" sin. The simultaneous destruction by the magma and regeneration produced layers of charred shells outside his body.

The vampire writhing struggled in the magma pit.

"Pain..."

"So...much pain..."

A suppressed voice came from the bottom of the magma.

"I...curse you..."

"I will...offer everything...to kill you."

Cassius felt a strong mana fluctuation from the bottom of the magma, his heart instantly alarmed.

"Does he still have a trump card?"

The Red Dragon quickly clawed at the vampire from the magma, effortlessly pulling him out.

The vampire’s condition was particularly miserable, his face burned beyond recognition, covered in charred marks, magma slowly dripping from his body, but the mysterious tattoo on his chest glowed intensely, as if to devour all light.

Brad Rackman stared directly at the Red Dragon, a twisted smile forming on his horribly burned face.

"I’m about to die."

"But you...will die too."

"You all will die."

The vampire’s eyes suddenly widened, mouth agape, his eyes, mouth, nostrils, and every crack in his body emitting a dark glow.

His body exploded into a dense black fog of evil.

This time, he did not condense again.

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Instead, he slowly ascended, surging towards a certain direction.

[You have killed (Bloody Duke Brad Rackman), gaining 13000 xp]

This vampire, who had hibernated in the North, controlling the Rackman Duchy for two hundred years, finally perished. Cassius gained enormous experience, but there was no joy of victory in his heart, only unease.

"Such a fluctuation...

"Damn it, what did he do?"

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The Red Dragon’s golden pupils flickered in the darkness as he stared intently at the black fog, flapping his wings to chase after it.