Chapter 62 : Chapter 62

Chapter 62 - The Blood Magic Assimilator

“Kio. Your name is Kio.”

The witch gave a name to the wooden doll she had made as her test subject.

You could call it a term of endearment, or you could call it a manufacturing number, and there'd be nothing to say.

The witch gently stroked the wooden doll, which still had no vitality or warmth.

“I'll make sure you're born someday. I'll give you life.”

The witch smiled.

It was a smile where the corners of her lips were twisted into a grotesque shape.

But unlike that, her beautiful features made the wooden doll resemble her.

However, the one who would provide the final ingredient for this wooden doll.

That person's face would also be incorporated into this doll.

The birth of a kinsman bound by sorcery, though not a single drop of blood was shared.

That moment came as if by fate.

“Witch of the Forest. I need the Druid's Horn you possess. I must make a trade.”

It was an ordinary day, the date and season unknown.

A sturdy man came to request a trade.

Yet, only his body was sturdy.

The spirit within was rotted and decayed with pain and anger, and would be unusable.

“A Druid's Horn. What evil thing do you wish to kill that you seek such a precious item?”

“A Noble of Blood. If you don't give it, I will simply take it.”

“Hee hee....”

Smiling faintly, she stroked Kio, whom she held in her arms.

The wooden doll, wrapped in a swaddling cloth, had its coldness and hardness somewhat concealed, making it feel cozy.

Of course, the man did not feel cozy.

SWAAAAAAAH─

The sunlight and shadows, unable to reach the ground due to the dense trees, became his power.

As soon as she saw that, she realized.

“A trade with you. I wish to accept it.”

“State what you want.”

“Your hair.... If you give me the hair of a Magic Assimilator, I can hand over something like the horn right away.”

“......”

Giving hair to a witch.

It seemed incredibly ominous, but the man was not one to be picky.

With the dagger he had, he instantly cut off his hair and tied it with a string.

“Is this enough.”

“Perfect.”

The witch raised her index finger.

DUDEUDEUK─

The hard ground suddenly became soft like a swamp.

It spat out the desired item before him.

The man picked up the horn.

His eyes were so full of desire and revenge that he seemed completely unaware of who he had given what to.

The Witch of the Forest.

A rumor that she lived in any forest in the east.

A rumor that if you had a wish and it was desperate, she would grant one.

One who guides the innocent to the outside of the forest when they get lost.

One who guides the sinful to the inside of a cauldron when they get lost.

The wooden doll was made only with the ingredients collected in such a way.

“Kio. Your father has come and gone.”

The witch's body trembled.

“With this, I too can create life like nature, like nature itself. A Magic Assimilator's will surely work.”

The magic of a Magic Assimilator is special.

The nature of their magic, which seeks to follow that of others, would serve as a lubricant.

“Even the most uniquely individual ingredients will all harmonize with this one thing.”

She prepared a sorcery that was also a curse.

The wooden totems lined up around her were a superstition.

But the years endured and the desire that fueled it for the sake of superstition were genuine.

“Your father came and went. He probably has no idea he became a father, but a father is a father, isn't he?”

She plopped the wooden doll and the bundle of hair into the cauldron.

PUSHEEEEEE─

A strange smell rose from the cauldron.

It smelled somewhat like medicinal herbs, the cold winter, and even a person's scent could be felt.

The white hair gradually seeped into the doll along with the solution filling the cauldron.

“Kio.... Good. That's how you're born.... You're doing well.”

The witch licked her lips in front of the cauldron, waiting for the birth.

The cauldron was the womb for the doll, and the solution was the amniotic fluid.

She hadn't heard the father's name, but it wasn't necessary.

SEUREUREUK─

She put her hand into the cauldron.

The sticky mucus had become thin.

The thing inside had splendidly absorbed the nutrients.

“Just a bunch of old tree dogs.... A witch can never give birth, you say?”

Who dared to say such a thing?

Kio. The child I gave birth to is right here.

“I don't need any help from your damned trees. I obtained what is mine by myself.”

***

...For a moment, I was lost in old memories.

A life not born from a real womb.

His first memory began at some point in that cauldron.

The horrific sensation of strands of hair parting one by one and digging into his skin.

Instead of the hardship of a fetus leaving the womb, a much sharper pain decorated the beginning of his memory.

The owner of the hair he had completely absorbed along with the solution.

The torture-like childhood that followed.

The person he thought he would make pay for all the pain if they ever met was right in front of him.

Fighting right in front of him.

“Release the barrier. If you don't release it and widen the space, my magic will relentlessly chase you.”

“...You old has-been.”

“For someone who can't even graze a single hair of this has-been, you talk big.”

“Don't worry, I'll kill you soon.”

The illusionist's Ink Arrows were shot once more.

Like a peacock spreading its magnificent tail feathers.

The Ink Arrows spread out in a fan shape, seeming to fill this entire space.

It was a speed unbelievable to have been created in the blink of an eye.

And it was right not to believe it.

“Playing tricks until the very end.”

A limited space. Limited shadows.

A Magic Assimilator who had finished seizing control of a space was akin to an absolute being within that space.

“You are no different from being inside my body. You are mixing truth and lies inside my body. Though I am already in the process of digesting it.”

He clapped his hands loudly in front of him.

CLAAP─

It created a reverberation.

The ground, which had been pitch-black with shadow, rippled as if a wave had formed on a lake.

A dark field of vision.

The darkness that obscured his vision had already licked those attacks.

It discerned whether a taste was felt or not.

By picking out only those with a taste among them.

KWADDEUDDEUK─!!

“Catching someone like you is no big deal.”

A rough spearhead made by wrapping darkness around a twig that had stretched upwards.

It mercilessly pierced the illusionist's body and once again embedded its tip in the ground.

He had killed her.

There was no way to survive after being hit by this.

But the hunter's instinct had not yet died down.

“What's left...”

The words couldn't be finished.

The body, pierced crosswise by the sharp tip of the tree wrapped in darkness.

The appearance of that body began to change.

From the illusionist's robe to a young man's simple attire.

From a gold mask to a young man's innocent face.

His son's face was bleeding.

His eyes, unable to even close, looked this way, soaked in deep betrayal.

“It wasn't... an illusion...?”

This place was literally a stomach.

There was no way he could mistake what had entered his stomach.

He took a step back.

It felt as if his body was pushed back on its own.

His body slumped awkwardly as if pushed by something unseen.

His hand reflexively reached behind him for support.

TEOK─

A tree that had grown in the plaza was touched unexpectedly.

And at the same time.

PACHACHANG─!!

The sound of something breaking and shattering into fragments echoed inside his brain.

It was the sound of a prison made by the mind breaking.

“This is....”

In front of Halsin stood three people.

The plaza and the grown tree.

The wooden spear plunged into the illusionist.

Everything was still there, but the three people had now become four and gathered in one place.

The illusionist's grasp that was about to seize and smash his skull.

The young wood-man's wooden stem that blocked it.

And as if one was not enough, the Magic Sword of the one who flew in like a ray of light to lend his strength.

“Are you awake? Judging by your face, it doesn't seem like you had a pleasant dream.”

“......”

His eyes had become wet without him even realizing it.

Kio looked at the moisture with a complicated expression.

And what was becoming even more complicated was the Gold Mask's mind.

‘Damn it...! I combined my clones into one to increase the concentration of my power, but...!’

The hand that was about to pierce the father and son at once was blocked by the flat of some Magic Sword.

The blade that tore apart the illusion barrier cut right in and broke the hypnosis cast on the hunter.

It seemed more correct to say it was absorbed rather than broken.

But that wasn't the important thing.

‘...This Fifth Son...! I've been continuously firing Ink Arrows since earlier, but there's not a single bit of damage...!’

It was a chilling level of curse resistance.

A level as if he had no damage from curses at all.

‘It seems that illusions without physical damage still work, though.’

The Gold Mask could tell.

‘Was this curse resistance the secret to conquering Eclipse....’

The Silver Mask's words momentarily flashed through her mind.

─Gold Mask, do not underestimate the Fifth Son. Until we know how he obtained Eclipse, rash judgments are forbidden.

But she had just made one.

The order didn't matter, so she tried to catch the one she saw first.

But things suddenly escalated, and even the Youngest Son was now present.

The situation was not good.

KUUUUNG─!!

She kicked off the ground and created distance.

It was a movement that made her thoughts obvious.

“Are you trying to run away.”

At the Youngest Son's words, the Gold Mask smiled.

Since it was a mask with a smiling expression already, there was no need to guess.

“Catch me if you can.”

TUDUDUDUDUDUDUK─!!

Clones poured out as if firing a machine gun.

They split off from the main body and scattered in all directions.

Among the clones scattering in more directions than the water spouting from the fountain, only one was real.

Halsin instinctively put his hand on his waist.

His gun was not there.

There was no suitable method.

Except for the Youngest Son here.

“We must hold each other's hands.”

“...What?”

“Form a circle and hold each other's hands. Are you going to let her get away like this?”

“No.”

Kio held my hand without hesitation.

“I heard from Ms. Josephine. The 500 gold coins were from you, Youngest Son, right?”

“Yes.”

“I don't know what it is, but I have no choice but to trust you.”

All that was left was the vampire hunter.

As a Magic Assimilator who had lived a long time, he knew how dangerous it was to connect his magic with others.

“Do you even know what you're doing? Connecting with not one, but two Magic Assimilators could be dangerous for you as well as us. If you make a mistake─”

“If I make a mistake. If I had made mistakes until now, I would have been on the verge of death dozens of times. But look. I'm alive like this.”

“......”

“I've already saved you once. I will save you next time, and I can save you the time after that. That is, if you stay within my fence.”

“Vicious....”

Halsin's hand moved slowly.

In a world where he had no reason to live, something he wanted to protect had appeared.

To do that, the person he wanted to protect had to live longer than anyone else.

“I cannot miss a second chance.”

GRAB─

The three of them clasped hands.

The magic of two Magic Assimilators.

Magic with extreme fluidity came into contact with another's magic.

In this case, a difference in volume would arise, and the one whose magic would be affected was the one with less.

[The special condition for the Hidden Quest 「Magic Assimilator Father and Son」 has been met.]

[Special Condition: Connection of Three People's Magic]

[Acquiring the hidden reward concealed within the Hidden Quest first.]

[Acquired the additional Trait 「Magic Assimilation: Blood」.]

Nearly a hundred clones scattered in all directions of the Dusk Citadel.

Among them, only one had real blood.

“Let's see.”

SEUREUK─

I wiped the blood the enemy had dropped with the tip of my index finger.

It was like a dog finding an item with the target's scent on it for tracking.

Just as Halsin flowed magic through the medium of shadow to exert his power.

Just as Kio flowed magic through the medium of a seed to make it sprout.

The Youngest Son had become able to use not only his own blood but also the blood of others.

“Something like this should be possible.”

Raising the index finger stained with a drop of blood, I made a gun shape with my hand.

The single red drop tried to fly somewhere continuously.

To the place with more blood.

It was drawn to where the main body was.

UTTUK─

The fingertip that had been drifting in the air stopped in one place.

It was exactly this direction, and the aim was complete.

All that was left was to fire.

“Go and do your job.”

A single drop of blood shot through the air.

About ten seconds passed.

──!!

Someone, pierced by their own blood, let out a scream filled with pain.

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