Cain tensed as he watched Amane Rin crawl.
Rin had taken near-fatal wounds, but he’d been in similarly dire straits when he challenged the ifrit. Animals were all the more ferocious when wounded, or so the saying went. Cain didn’t let his guard down for a moment. He readied another charged barrage of spells—only for Rin’s next action to catch him completely off guard.
“What are you…?”
Rin wrenched the silver-haired girl’s abandoned sword free from the ground. As he did, the protective ice barrier behind him shattered into nothing. Rin didn’t pause to enjoy the spectacle; he sprinted away at once, his silver sword in his right hand, the ice sword in his left.
“You’d abandon your allies to launch a suicide attack…?” Cain pondered.
For the first time since they’d met, he couldn’t sense what Rin was thinking. Cain could no longer rely on instinct. The rest of the adventurers were still too pathetic to waste time on. Rin’s inexplicable actions were more intriguing than a crowd Cain could kill at any moment, so he focused on Rin alone.
That is, until Amane Rin vanished.
There went his teleportation skill again. Cain fell into a defensive stance, ready for wherever Rin might reappear, but the move was pointless. Rin bypassed Cain altogether and headed for the ifrit, which was the last thing Cain had expected. By the time he realized Rin’s target, it was too late to act. Rin cleaved the ifrit’s forehead with the ice sword, destroying the magic stone and extinguishing the fire that cloaked the ifrit. In the aftermath, he stood motionless on top of the corpse.
Despite losing his mana source, Cain didn’t flinch. He fixed Rin with a glare.
“I was wondering what your plan was…and then you went for the ifrit,” Cain sighed. “You know, cutting off my mana source isn’t going to stop me. Or did you decide to return to the surface alone, even at the cost of the ice barrier protecting your friends?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Rin said. “Removing this sword is my vow to protect them instead. Besides, I have the power I need to defeat you.”
“…You what?”
Unease prickled at Cain like pins on the back of his neck. Rin’s posture shifted into something entirely new, as though his spirit itself was transformed. Without meaning to, Cain stepped back.
Am I retreating? No, of course not. The change is some trick of the light…some flight of fancy. Our difference in strength is clear. Attitude can’t overcome that!
Cain wrapped himself in a cloak of red mana then propelled it upward, focusing it into a concentrated point in the air above. Rin would soon see how misguided his ambitious little ploy was.
“You can’t talk this away. All of you are as good as dead,” Cain said. “Perish at my feet! Bloody Lightning!”
Fresh blood with the branching shape of lightning crackled through the air. Rin’s teleportation skill might allow him to evade such attacks, but it was impossible for him to protect the others at the same time. He didn’t have that kind of power.
This is it!
A wide grin split Cain’s face as his spell crashed down.
✦ ✦ ✦
Rin knew the blood lightning magic was a death sentence, but he clung to the memory of a certain silver-haired girl’s heroic stance, nevertheless. He admired her, yearned to become like her, to be someone with enough power to protect everything and everyone. He hoped such a burning desire to grasp strength would lead him there someday, but for now, he was a novice. He couldn’t protect everything. He didn’t have the power.
Yet, he tried all the same.
I might not be up to protecting everything, but I want to protect everyone close to me.
He would do what it took to conquer despair.
Dungeon Teleportation, LV 30.
Next were the words that changed the world.
“Piece Ruler.”
The hundreds of spells descending on him vanished without a sound. In a flash, they reappeared to surround Cain.
“Is this some sick joke?!” Cain cried. His eyes practically bulged out of his skull.
In a matter of seconds, Cain lost his status as the hunter and became the prey. He summoned a Blood Wall to defend himself, but there were too many spells for it to counter the extent of them. Many of them lanced into his skin. As blood fell around him, dust welled up and blocked him from Rin’s view.
When it dispersed, Cain emerged bathed in blood from his own magic. His eyes glinted with fury as he glowered at Rin.
“You little schemer! You didn’t kill the ifrit to run away!” he accused. “You killed it for the experience! You’ve leveled up some skill with the power to control magic!”
Rin pointed the ice sword toward him without a word, as if he felt no obligation to answer. In that room, in that moment, another ruler was born. This new ruler declared his will to Cain with a quiet yet decisive decree.
“It’s time, Vampire King. With everything I have, I will destroy you.”
A fathomless whirlpool spun in Rin’s blue eyes, waiting to drag Cain to the bottom of the abyss.
Dungeon Teleportation LV 30
Sub-skill: Piece Ruler
By paying MP equal to the mana of the target object, the user may teleport anything in sight. This ability cannot be used on people, monsters, or equipped items.
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown time: 10 hours