Chapter 63: Chapter 60: Holy Damnation

“Vlad, stay with us!” Chloe told Vlad while holding him in her arms.

After telling everyone that the fight wasn’t over, she and the rest of the group got ready for battle, only to witness their best friend and strongest player get taken out instantly by the Boss Goblin they thought they had defeated.

As Chloe cradled Vlad, she fearfully glanced at the grievous slash mark on his stomach. If it weren’t for the fact that he was lying on his back, his guts would’ve spilled out on the spot. To make matters worse, Vlad’s stomach sizzled like bacon on a pan. And Chloe knew why.

It was because of the Goblin boss’s weapon. Before it got back up and took down Vlad in one strike, all of them saw the stream of messages involving the Angel Faction’s interference. Not only that, but they even blessed the Boss as well, making it even more powerful than before.

With Vlad out of the picture for the moment, that left only Chloe, Arthur, and Lucy, and they were all currently by Vlad’s side, worried sick about him.

“W-what do we do?!” Arthur stammered; his voice filled with panic.

“I-I don’t know…” Chloe said, not even looking at him and keeping her eyes on their vampire friend.

“M-maybe I can heal him…!” Lucy offered, as she raised hands to cast a healing spell on Vlad but was immediately stopped by Chloe.

“No!” She shouted, her hand blurring over to grab Lucy’s. “You can’t use your magic on him, since he’s an undead!”

Although Chloe wasn’t overly familiar with vampires or undead in general, she was at least aware of some of their weaknesses. One of them being holy magic. If Lucy cast heal on Vlad, his body would only get worse, especially since he was already inflicted with holy magic by the blessed goblin.

“T-then what do we-?!”

Before Arthur could finish, all three players heard the distant roar of the Goblin Boss. While they were distracted by their friend’s condition, they completely forgot about the boss and allowed it to recover enough to let it stand back up on its feet.

Now standing, the players had an even bigger problem. Arthur noticed the situation first and quickly stood up to face the goblin boss.

“Arthur, keep the Goblin Boss busy!” Chloe declared. “We need to hold it off at least until Vlad recovers!”

“And how long will that take exactly?!”

“I don’t know! Just do it!” Chloe asserted. “Use the Gralls if you have to. Just keep it away from Vlad!”

“D-dammit!”

With no other choice, Arthur sprinted toward the Goblin Boss. Getting close, he stopped in front of it and waved his sword at it.

“Hey, asshole! Come and get me!”

While shouting this, the Knight activated Sword Aura and slashed it at the Boss. Even when the aura blade collided with the monster, his attack practically shattered on contact, barely even damaging it.

At first, Arthur was confused until he noticed the golden sheen radiating off the Boss. It was emitting a holy energy like Lucy’s healing spell and Light Bolt. That was when he remembered about the panels.

This Boss was blessed by the Angel faction, which meant it was a lot stronger than before and more durable. Realizing his predicament, the knight muttered a curse to himself while still attempting to gain the monster’s attention.

“Come on, you bastard!” He roared in defiance. “I’m right here!”

That seemed to have done the trick because the Goblin Boss lowered its head as its golden eyes locked on to Arthur. It snarled at the Knight Player and then started moving toward him.

“Yeah, that’s right, you golden prick! Come on!”

With the Boss’s attention on him, Arthur started running away, encouraging the goblin to chase after it, and away from Vlad and the others.

With the Goblin Boss preoccupied, Chloe and Lucy focused on Vlad, trying to figure out what to do. Chloe cradled the vampire’s head on her lap and softly rubbed it.

Vlad grimaced in pain, his entire body was shaking and growing weaker by the minute. Lucy held onto his hand, not knowing what else she could do for him.

“What do we do now?” Lucy asked.

Chloe hesitated for a moment, completely clueless on how to help Vlad. That was until she remembered a key characteristic regarding Vlad’s current race. To the point where she got angry at herself before getting to work.

The brawler started taking off her leather jacket, confusing Lucy in the process.

“W-what are you…”

“Since Vlad’s a vampire, that means he can likely recover by drinking blood, right? So that’s what I’m going to do!”

Tossing her jacket to the side, she looked around and found a nearby dagger on the ground. Picking it up, she placed her arm and dagger over Vlad’s face. She placed the sharp edge of the blade on her skin, prepared to cut it and bleed so the vampire could drink it.

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However, Lucy abruptly stopped her.

“W-wait, maybe I should do it!” She suggested.

“I already got the blade in my hand, Lucy,” Chloe sternly declared. “I’m doing it. Besides, much like your magic, you’re blood might negatively affect Vlad as well. So it has to be me since Arthur was busy with the Boss.”

“B-but I think I-!”

“Lucy! We don’t have time to argue!” Chloe shouted, turning to glare at the Cleric. “Right now, all that matters is for Vlad to recover, alright?”

Before Lucy could voice a response, the pair suddenly heard the roar of the Goblin Boss along with Arthur screaming in the distance. Both of them looked over at the fight and watched as the Boss continued to chase after Arthur, swinging its axe at him with malicious intent.

He wasn’t going to be able to keep this up for long.

“Guys, a little help please!” He shouted, dodging another attack while scurrying away.

“Lucy, go help him,” Chloe ordered.

Lucy whipped around with a start, her eyes wide with shock and fear. “But…!”

“You’re no good with helping Vlad! You can at least help Arthur and keep that monster busy while I help Vlad recover a bit. Do it!”

Chloe and Lucy stared at one another; their eyes aggressively locked on. Lucy wanted to talk back and say she could help but knew that Chloe was right. She was of no help to Vlad at the moment. And for some reason, that disturbed her greatly.

She didn’t want to leave his side. She didn’t even want to feel useless to him. But more importantly, she despised how Chloe was giving him her blood.

Why wasn’t it her? Why couldn’t she give Vlad blood instead of this…?!

Lucy shook her head aggressively, realizing her train of thought. Why was she feeling jealous over Chloe giving Vlad blood? More than anything, why she did feel the urge to hurt Chloe for that?

It wasn’t just an urge but also a voice. A very tempting and alluring voice calling to her. Pressing her to do its bidding.

You should give Vlad your blood, not her.

You should be by Vlad’s side, not her.

She isn’t loyal to Vlad, you are.

She isn’t worthy of Vlad…you are.

“N-ngh…!” Lucy clutched her head in pain, trying to ignore the voice.

Something was wrong. Even though Lucy didn’t want to listen to the voice in her head, there was this powerful force compelling her to. A force that clawed at her psyche, urging her to heed its desires.

“L-Lucy…?” Chloe called out to her friend, concerned about her behavior.

When Lucy looked up hearing Chloe’s voice, the brawler’s eyes widened with shock. Instead of the Cleric’s eyes being ocean blue, they were now blood red, much like Vlad’s eyes ever since he became a vampire.

Staring at her friend, the voice returned with a vengeance, flooding her senses with bloodlust.

Who was she to take what was rightfully yours?

Who was she to think that she deserved Vlad’s assistance?

It should be you. Not her!

Kill her! Drain her of her blood! Leave her as nothing more than a bloodless husk!

“N-no…! S-stop it!” Lucy screamed, reeling her head in pain while desperately trying to silence the voice.

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a panel displaying something, but her mind was too far gone to read it properly.

[Corruption has taken full effect!]

[Beginning Metamorphosis!]

Her compulsion to kill became even stronger. She hunched over in pain, feeling her mind being consumed by her hunger for blood. Her incisors ached as they lengthened into sharp points like fangs. Her nails, which used to be trimmed, extended into claws and dug into Lucy’s head.

[Player’s Biological Race will now change from [Human] to [Vampire].]

[Warning! Player’s Biological Lineage conflicts with Metamorphosis!]

[Warning! Player’s Class conflicts with Metamorphosis!]

[Adjusting Metamorphosis process to compensate for the conflict!]

[Adjustments complete! Player’s Biological Lineage has been sealed until certain Conditions have been met!]

[Adjustments complete! Player’s [Cleric] class has been changed into [Blood Cleric]!]

“Lucy, what’s wrong?!” Chloe shouted.

“S-stop…talking…!” She groaned, her voice sounding more feral and rabid.

“W-what are you…”

“J-just…shut up!” The cleric roared, losing all radiance and grace that she used to possess.

She wasn’t shouting at her friend, but the voice in her head. It was growing stronger by the minute. But Lucy wasn’t going to let the voice have its way.

“I-I won’t…listen to you…!”

Lucy stood up, still clutching her head in pain. She hissed and snarled, stumbling away from Chloe, out of fear that she would lose control of her senses and attack her.

And just when the Voice nearly took control…a familiar roar caught her attention. Lucy whirled around and saw the Goblin Boss still chasing after Arthur. Her eyes trained on the goliath, and immediately found a new target to direct her bloodlust.

Her crimson eyes glowered at the Boss, and in that moment, she allowed her hunger and rage to reach its boiling point.

Lucy released a primal roar. One that shook the very building itself. The Boss stopped chasing Vlad and turned to face the Cleric, immediately deeming her as a new threat. But Lucy didn’t care and continued to snarl at the beast.

“You hurt my master…” She growled, revealing her fangs. “And now you’ll pay!”

Crimson and divine energy erupted from her body, flowing into the air. They clashed against one another, as if not wanting to intermingle with each other. Lucy could feel her opposing energies strain her body, and with a feral roar, she willed the forces to merge.

They swirled around together like some unholy blender, blood red, and holy yellow becoming one. Then they began to merge into something else and soon molded into a devastating bolt of both Light and Darkness.

Red and yellow lightning trickled across the bolt before striking the ground near Lucy. Everyone was in awe of this, including the Goblin Boss as they stared at the newly formed magic.

Then, Lucy raised her hand and directed it at the monster.

“Die!”

She then hurled the bolt of crimson and gold toward the Boss, her desire to slaughter the monster until there was nothing left imprinted in the magic bolt. The beast couldn’t even react in time to dodge or block and fearfully watched the unholy rod tear through its body.

Blood and golden light sprayed out the wound from the attack, leaving a gruesome hole in its shoulder. Only a few strands of meat were still attached, keeping the Goblin Boss’s arm from completely tearing off.

The Boss stumbled in pain, clutching its wound while falling to its knees.

With the monster in such a defenseless position, Lucy could no longer control her instincts and in that moment, she charged at the beast with lightning speed. Closing the distance in seconds, the feral cleric lunged at the boss and latched onto its body.

Rearing her head back, she opened her mouth to reveal her sharp fangs. Then, to the surprise of both Chloe and Arthur, she plunged her teeth into the Boss.

Piercing its skin, blood began to fill her mouth, engulfing her tastebuds with a sweet taste. She continued to gulp down the blood for a little while before pulling away.

She smiled, her grin no longer than that of a graceful saint, but that of a seductive and bloodthirsty vampiress. All the while, Chloe and Arthur watched in horror as they witnessed their friend turn into a monster.