Chapter 2318: Arad's Hibernation XXX

The AGENT was a massive stone statue made of bronze, erected in the middle of the room and surrounded by black trees and bronze spears planted into the ground. The moment Ginger and Akasha walked into the room, the statue came to life as its eyes glowed red. Its head didn’t move, but the pupils did, looking down with a faint glow.

“Scarlet, Former Princess of Blood.” The AGENT spoke, a deep voice gargling from inside its chest. “What brought you here?”

Ginger walked forward. “It’s good that you remember me. Can we get to the main room directly? I need to retrieve the mask; there is this dragon we need to take down.”

The AGENT was silent for a whole minute before it spoke again, and this time, it sounded even deeper. “Your request had been rejected. I’ve gone over it thirty-five times, and there is one failure point.”

He then became silent for a few seconds. “With Vlad’s defeat and death, his authority has been revoked, and so was yours.”

Ginger scratched the back of her head. “Then I’ll have to go through all of the trial room and open the inner gate manually from the inside… That will take a long time and is a lot of work. Is there any way to breach the system?”

“Give me a minute or two…” The AGENT remained silent for almost five minutes this time, and then he then replied. “Breaching the system is impossible on my side. I have the authority to open it, but not for anyone, as those parameters haven’t been set yet by the new owner.”

Ginger gasped, and so did Akasha behind her. “Huh? There is a new owner for this place? Since when?” Ginger looked at the AGENT, and Akasha shrugged. “Just what kind of fool would invade a place owned by a Blood Lord?”

The AGENT’s eyes moved slowly and looked down at them. “The new Owner is Arad Orion, the Current Blood Lord. To avoid losing his authority when swapping bodies, Vlad set the system to ping the current Blood Lord as its master, so Arad Orion has become the owner of this structure the moment he became a Blood Lord.”

“To get direct access, you must earn his approval first.” The AGENT then went silent for a second and then added. “He has never accessed this temple, so he didn’t set any exclusions, so everyone is treated the same.”

Ginger growled. “But… Arad Orion is currently hibernating; he cannot let us in.”

Not being able to skip here would only force them to go through all of the remaining rooms one by one, which can take a long time if they are unlucky. “Is there any way over it?”

The AGENT finally showed a bit of emotion, chuckling. “Even if Arad Orion didn’t come here and set rules, his power still fuels this place. His will is the temple’s will.”

The entire room shook, and soon, a smaller statue that was three meters tall and took Arad’s shape emerged from the ground. “For Arad Orion, it’s a trial by combat.”

Blood started emerging from the ground, seeping into the statue’s feet, and Akasha slowly backed away. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! That’s Arad’s blood…”

The AGENT spoke. “Through Blood, Darkness and Void, crawling nightmares, and raging chaos. By the right of duty, I call for blood, pure blood marred by nothing.”

“Stop! Are you trying to summon him here? I’ve told you he is hibernating.” Ginger shouted, but the AGENT ignored her. He had already pinged Arad and got a reply back. Arad might be hibernating, but his Blood Magic is still accessible. Given a suitable vessel, his consciousness and power can be drawn.

It was similar to how Arad took over the paladin and Capsella’s blood earlier. The AGENT had been watching and learning, and he had already deciphered how to make that happen again.

“No way! There’s no way!” One of the paladins barely pulled her sword and was shaking as she stared at the statue coming to life, growing black vampire wings, and slowly turning around, its bronze skin reflecting light.

“Defeat him, and I’ll grant you direct access to the inner room. Lose, and you’ll have to go through everything.” The AGENT laughed, and Akasha immediately fired a massive blood spear at it, trying to destroy it before the summoning was complete.

She knew better than anyone that they weren’t going to beat Arad; there was just no way. Even if this was a weakened, insignificant fragment of his consciousness and power, there was no way they’d overpower him.

The spear shattered the AGENT to pieces, but its voice rumbled once more. “You cannot destroy me. I’m integrated into the entire temple. If you aren’t going to leave a crater in the middle of the jungle, then I won’t disappear.”

Arad’s Bronze Blood Avatar had fully manifested, and when his eyes moved, everyone took a stance, ready to fight. Just from sensing his blood magic, they knew he wasn’t going to talk, but will be swinging at them at any second.

The first one to move was that paladin who Arad possessed at the start. She had fought him before, and fully understand that being on the defensive was no different then asking to be beaten down.

“I’ll take you on!” She rushed forward, pulled her sword, and jumped up, swinging at Arad’s neck. She was only 1.8 meter tall, and Arad’s Avatar was 3 meters tall, almost twice as tall as her.

She could swear that the statue smiled for a fraction of a second before lifting its arm and punching the flat of her sword, deflecting her attack aside. She could feel the impact in her bones. If Arad’s punch was any harder, it would’ve shattered her sword into pieces.

Having fought Arad before, she knew that what was coming next was most likely a kick, delivered right into her open torso, so she braced her chest and abs as hard as she could.

She was right, as the Avatar’s bronze foot flew right up toward her torso and kicked her directly in the guts, cracking armor, causing her to puke blood and shit out her intestines and organs as they were forced out from the sheer pressure alone.

Last time, getting hit with this had knocked her on the spot, and she would’ve died if Arad hadn’t healed her, but today, she was ready for it. This level of damage is unrecoverable for humans, but for a vampire… it was barely manageable.

She turned into blood mist and flew right through Arad’s arm, reforming behind his back with her entire body intact. She didn’t heal yet; just put her organs and intestines back inside her torso, but her blood magic healing should kick in a second or two.

That was a long time in such a fight, so she had to fight and attack with her body still fatally injured. The pain was immense; she couldn’t breathe as all of her organs were torn, but her muscles moved, and her arms swung the sword right at the back of Arad’s massive neck.

This was uncharted territory for her. How would Arad react? She had endured a kick from him and is still fighting…

Arad’s head violently turned back and glared at her with a grin, and it was at that moment that she realized it. That look on his face, that smile, and this impending sense of doom.

She had turned a switch on. Immediately, something heavy hit her sword, and she was blasted back at blinding speed, hitting the room’s wall like a cannonball. That wasn’t a kick; it wasn’t a punch, and it was regular magic. He had hit her with something else, a physical projectile.

She has to warn everyone else who is charging at him now, but sadly, she can’t as her organs, including her lungs, were still destroyed.

AGENT: Summons Arad.

Akasha: “We are cooked.”