The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

Watching the human progenitor turn into literal golden lightning that had the power to strike them into a half-dead state reminded them just what kind of powerful monster Damian was.

Also, Damian, no one would have guessed he possessed lightning-based abilities, especially Countess Akira Kaminari.

The very reason she was strong enough to be a Countess was because of her bloodline ability, the [Vampiric Lightning].

But in front of the lightning ability Damian had just shown, her power was nothing.

Her [Vampiric Lightning] grants her the ability to create and manipulate lightning from her body.

She can use it for attacks by creating tendrils of lightning or coat herself in it to increase her speed.

It also increases her brain's processing speed drastically, she can view everything in slow motion, as if the world is frozen in time.

That's how, compared to others, she was able to see Damian in his [Lightning Avatar] form more clearly.

And she saw it very clearly, his lightning was far more powerful than hers.

Unlike her, he became lightning itself, an existence of nature.

She merely used lightning. But Damian, he was the lightning.

Damian ignored the shocked expressions on their faces and looked at what lay in front of them.

Right now, Damian and the five vampire countesses were in a forest surrounded by black and blood-red trees.

Damian could sense thousands of native animals of all shapes and sizes, strong ones too, some even requiring a strong noble vampire to deal with.

Yet they didn't enter the area where Damian and the countesses stood, probably because they could sense that beings far more powerful were present.

It also suggested that the animals of this world had high levels of intelligence.

There was another plausible reason as well, why they were avoiding coming any closer than they already had.

It could be because of the place ahead.

Damian looked down from the top of a jagged rocky structure, gazing about three hundred feet below where another land, or rather, territory began.

Damian narrowed his eyes. He could feel it, even from up here.

This territory was completely different.

In fact, it seemed like it wasn't even part of the natural environment of this world.

And deep within that territory, Damian could feel something, something highly dangerous, terrifying.

Whatever it was, it had transformed the area around it into what it was now.

"This land used to be where an entire city once stood. But after the fall of the vampire progenitor hundreds of thousands of years ago, this place has turned into unlivable land, even for us vampires," Lillian Brenlith explained.

Then, together with Damian, she jumped from the cliff.

They landed on this unnatural land.

As soon as Damian landed, he felt it.

This land, unlike the natural environment of Nightingale, had no wind at all.

The temperature was high, and the trees that grew here were glowing red, as if made out of blood.

Suddenly, something moved among the dense blood-red trees and pounced on the countesses with incredible speed.

The countesses were ready to deal with it themselves, but before they could react, the beast froze mid-air, struggling to break free.

The countesses looked at Damian, he had raised his hand.

"He even has telekinetic abilities?" the countesses wondered in shock.

Damian gestured with his fingers, and the creature caught in his [Demonic Grasp] moved closer to him.

He observed it closely, sensing [Blood Essence] from it.

It looked like a fox, but with three long, razor-like tails. Its entire body was blood-red, as though bleached in blood.

Its fur was as black as night, even its teeth and the blood-red saliva drooling from its mouth.

It was insanely feral. Even trapped in his telekinetic grasp, it was still trying to bite off Damian's flesh.

It seemed to lack any intelligence and lived purely on the instinct to kill and devour.

What intrigued Damian was that he had seen a similar animal while traveling to this place, and that one hadn't lacked intelligence.

Which meant something here had affected this one, turned it into a blood-red monster.

And for some reason, this creature possessed a large pool of [Blood Essence].

A violet glow appeared on Damian's palm, forming into a vortex of violet energy that sucked the monster into it before disappearing into his hand.

[Your Infinity Essence Increased: +1]

"…Hmm. That's it?" Damian sighed inwardly.

[Infinity Essence] was an energy formed by merging more than a dozen types of energy into one.

During this merging process, something peculiar had happened, causing all the energies within Damian to become perfectly synchronized.

Now, if Damian increased the reserve of any energy he possessed, the others would increase too.

For example, if he devoured someone and increased his [Lightning Essence], all his other elemental and special energies would also rise.

But there was a downside.

To increase reserves now, he needed a lot more energy, 23 times more, to be precise, because Damian currently possessed 23 types of energy.

Once the reserves of each individual energy increased, the reserve of [Infinity Essence] would also grow accordingly.

The countesses didn't know what kind of ability the Human King had just used, but they could feel it, it was insanely dangerous.

They had no intention of probing further.

"What exactly is in the center of this land? I assume it's whatever caused this place and the animals in it to become like this?" Damian asked the countesses.

"It'll be easier to explain when you see it," Countess Amaya Kuroyami replied.

"It's part of the reason we wanted you here... Vampires without the 'right' cannot enter the depths of this land. The land itself has a mind of its own. If it senses someone without the right, it will dissolve them completely."

"Dissolve them? What's that supposed to mean?" Damian asked, confused.

"You'll understand once you see it," Countess Tiana Valthryne said.

"So what now, we force our way through?" Damian asked.

"Well… to enter the land, you either need to be the Vampire Progenitor or one of the five Countesses of the Vampire World. But you're neither, so you have to earn the right."

"And how do I do that?" Damian asked.

"You have to defeat one of the Countesses in battle, right here in this land," Countess Lillian Brenlith said, a nervous expression on her face.

"Great! Who am I going to fight?" As soon as Damian heard he had to fight one of the five Countesses, he was excited.

As someone who loved to fight, and was insanely powerful, it was hard for him to find a decent sparring partner.

And the five Countesses, being as strong as mid to high-level gods of the lower plane, should at least be capable of giving him a good fight.

But the Countesses didn't share Damian's enthusiasm.

They weren't overestimating themselves like he was.

They knew they couldn't win.

Fighting him would simply be a waste of energy.

"We don't need to fight… we'll just voice our defeat. That should be enough," Lillian Brenlith said, shaking her head.

The uneasy expressions on the Countesses' faces made it clear, they didn't want to fight.

They hated to admit it, but they were scared of Damian.

Not just for themselves, but for their entire race. Because if Damian wanted to, he could erase their entire species without much effort.

Sure, the Countesses might give some resistance, but if Damian went all out and entered his [Weapon of Infinity] form, not to mention the legions of demons he commanded as a ruler of Hell, it would be over quickly.

"That's disappointing… I was looking forward to fighting you guys," Damian sighed.

Then, a smile formed on his face as an idea struck him.

"I want to add another condition to our little arrangement. After everything is done, and I get to do whatever I want, I also want to spar with you guys."

"…Just sparring is alright, I guess, is fine... Human King" Lillian Brenlith nodded.

"Good. What now?" Damian asked.

The countess looked at the ring of forest deep within the land he was standing on, and a few minutes after walking, they entered this ring of forest.

This land is much different from the rest of the Nightingale.

First, the temperature is very high, but not enough to burn anything, and the wind currents were very low.

The entire land reeked of blood.

The whole of Nightingale has the aroma of blood in the atmosphere, but it is sweet, flavorful, and inviting.

But in this land, it reeked, it was nauseating.

Even the vampire countesses, who live by consuming blood, felt more than undesirable.

The deeper they went into this new ring of forest, the stronger these changes became.

Damian was coming across more and more animals, some small, shaped like insects, and some shaped like mutated beasts of all kinds.

All of them were more feral than the monsters Damian had devoured before, and all of them were covered in some sort of blood-like substance.

They also possessed large portions of blood essence, and Damian devoured all of them, increasing his [Infinity Essence] steadily.

Soon, he would break through to the next cultivation realm, forming his fourth Infinity Ring in his dantian.