Chapter 4524: Coveted Bloodline (Part 2)
Chapter 4524: Coveted Bloodline (Part 2)
Moreover, they believed that if Lith really had a cure, they could find one as well.
"Verhen hates his brother and must have destroyed the baby’s Vurdalak life force to avoid competition. Wouldn’t we have done the same?" Arghul had said, and everyone had agreed with him. "The power of the Dead King is no different from magic.
"We must only learn how to harness it, and everything will be fine. We’ll call Verhen only if everything else fails." The Bloomriver clan’s arrogance and lust for power led to the Titania’s tragic ending.
The fourth woman, Baryl, belonged to a human bloodline. The dreadful news scared one of its youngest members, who revealed her location and called for help. The problem was that neither the Galnorn Household nor Baryl wanted Lith’s help.
"Cilgan is insane. There’s no one carrying the Dead King’s blood here!" Pelnat, the clan head, said behind the cover of the magical formations.
"How do you explain this, then?" Lith showed a video of Baryl’s torment and the flames hovering above her head and womb. "How do you explain this piece of cloth carrying the stench of a Upyr?"
"This is my home, and I don’t have to explain anything to you!" Pelnat snarled. "Ask Cilgan since he has all the answers."
"Let me talk with the woman in the video, Baryl Galnorn." Lith replied. "I won’t leave until I’m sure she’s alright."
"As you wish, but I expect your apologies before you rid us of your presence." Pelnat took out her communication amulet and said something the arrays covered.
"It’s useless." Cilgan whispered from Lith’s side. "I tried to convince Baryl many times, but she’s not willing to relinquish her newfound powers."
"It might be her, but it might be just Meln talking." Lith replied. "He won’t be able to hold himself back if he sees me. It should snap Baryl out of her delusion of control and push her to ask my help."
"Here I am, Verhen." Baryl appeared on the parapet, her face a mask of focus and determination.
Her skin was taut and covered in sweat from the effort of suppressing her Upyr side and hiding Light Soul’s flame. Lith used every means at his disposal to check on her life force, but from that distance, the magical formation clouded his mystical senses.
"I’m fine, and I don’t need your help." Baryl lied through her teeth. "I’m here of my own will, and no one is holding me prisoner."
"Don’t be foolish, child!" Baba Yaga said. "Just say the word, and I’ll rescue you. Don’t believe their lies. The Galnorn Household’s arrays are nothing to me. I can protect you and your child, and your so-called family can’t do anything to stop me."
"I appreciate your offer, Red Mother, but I don’t need to be rescued." Baryl said, and the Crone realized the woman truly believed it. "As for you, Verhen, you have my pity. Going so far as to chase groundless rumors to keep the power of your bloodline for yourself.
"It makes one wonder if the Vurdalak bloodline is as terrible as you say or if you’re just scared of its potential." Her arrogant smirk as she turned around and left told Lith everything he needed to know about Baryl Galnorn.
"She really believes that nonsense." Lith spat those words like curses. "She’s so full of herself that she thinks herself better than anyone else. That woman is the closest thing to a female Orpal I’ve ever seen."
"Her willpower would be admirable if it weren’t just willfulness." Baba Yaga replied. "She managed to suppress both her Upyr side and Orpal’s fragment, but it only emboldened her unbridled arrogance. There is no reasoning with her. She won’t ask for our help until it’s too late."
"I’m waiting on those apologies!" Pelnat’s smirk revealed where Baryl got her attitude from.
"I’m sorry." Lith gave the Galnorns a deep bow. "I’m really sorry it has to be this way."
He took a few steps back, and the Crone stepped forward.
"Normally, I’d say watch and learn, child, but there’s nothing to be proud of in what I’m about to do. Besides, I’m quite certain you’d do it anyway." Baba Yaga tapped into Bloodhaven and extended her right hand, conjuring a spell like Lith had never seen before.
The ground beneath her feet trembled and cracked, and the spring breeze first turned into a strong wind and then into a tornado that descended from the sky onto the Galnorn Household.
Rivers of magma gushed from the depths of Mogar while every shadow turned into a pool of poison and every sunbeam into a sword of light.
’By my Mom!’ Solus had a hard time believing the reading of the Eyes. ’Malyshka isn’t controlling the power of the elements contained in the world energy. She’s controlling the elements that comprise Mogar itself!
’All the primordial forces are submitting to her will like well-trained dogs!’
’That’s-’ Lith was about to express his incredulity when the earth itself rose and crushed the earth-sealing arrays. ’Amazing!’
Baba Yaga’s White Core spell, Calamity End, tore the Galnorn Household’s magical defenses apart like paper and reached the grey stone fortress in seconds. The spell conjured localized natural disasters that no magic Lith knew could resist.
It was akin to fighting the planet itself, and no human, beast, or plant folk could ever be up to the challenge. The fortress collapsed like a house of cards when the Crone raised her hand, and the power of the elements crushed what was left in a vise when she closed her fist.
"Cilgan." Her voice snapped the young man out of his terrified daze, making him flinch. "You’re all that’s left of your bloodline, so I made sure not to destroy the treasure vault. You are going to need it to rebuild your Household, but first you need to move it to safety.
"Be quick, because once Lith and I leave, I expect lots of scavengers to rush here and try to rob you blind. Only the strong can own riches. If you hold more than you can protect, you’re just begging to be robbed."
As she spoke, Lith used his enhanced sense of smell to spot the scent of Upyr blood amid the piles of debris and locate what was left of Baryl’s corpse.
’I’m sorry, kid. I really am. Neither of your parents deserved you.’ A burst of Dread Flames erased every trace of the corpses, leaving nothing behind that might have been studied and used to replicate the monstrosity that the Vurdalak was.
Before returning home, Lith visited Althika in the Desert to report to her the fate of her fellow members of Orpal’s harem. She had played a vital role in the search, helping Lith to identify the four women from their holograms and ensuring he wasn’t being used as a tool in the rivalry among Awakened bloodlines.
"Am I really the only one who made it alive?" She asked in shock, using her breathing technique to check on her baby in fear.
"Yes." Lith nodded, his head low. "It wasn’t much, but I did all I could. I was too late to save the Dryads and the Titania, and the human woman didn’t trust me enough to believe me."
"Who, Baryl?" The Titania’s lips curled up in disgust.