S-Rank Adventurer Betrayed by His Fiancée in the Hero’s Party Sets Off on a Journey to Heal His Broken Heart ~The Strongest Betrayed Adventurer Ends Up Forming a Harem Party~ - Chapter 65 & 66

Chapter 65: The Crimson Blood King [Raynare Side]

[Side: Dual-Wielding Progenitor]

“So—here I come!”
“Kh…!”

Above the frozen sea.

The dragon charged straight at me with explosive speed. I barely slipped past those crazed claws… but the heat still scorched my skin.

I swung a thread from my left arm toward his back as a counterattack—

But it was easily knocked away.

“Come on, why not just give up already? You’re completely wrecked at this point.”

“Tch, shut up.”

I clicked my tongue at how annoyingly friendly that fire dragon sounded.

Even after my right arm had been blown away, the fight hadn’t stopped—and now I looked like a total mess.

“…Honestly. My favorite clothes are ruined.”

My aloha shirt and skinny pants were burned and torn, full of holes all over.

The accidental exposure made it look way too provocative.

…If anything, I would’ve rather shown this to Abel.

“Nice look and all, but it’s not just your clothes. You’re the one falling apart too.”

Yeah, fair enough.

《Transformation》 had erased most of the visible wounds, but my right arm was still gone—and burns covered my entire body.

“You can’t beat me, you know? None of your attacks are doing anything. And that guy over there looks like he’s about to die too. Why not ditch that weak, lame guy and come have some fun with me instead?”

“Say one more word about Abel and I’ll kill you.”
“Told you—that’s not happening.”

Neither my wire slashes nor my greatsword strikes were working on the fire dragon.

Even when he flinched, he regenerated immediately.

…And on Abel’s side, that little girl had finally gotten serious, so he was struggling too.

“I really don’t want to hurt a pretty lady any more than I already have. If it’s you, I’ll make you my favorite… I’ll take real good care of you for a looong time, yeah?”

“Don’t spew nonsense you don’t even believe. You’re getting off on tormenting your prey.”

“…Huh? Hahaha, that’s not true at all~”

And yet his eyes gleamed like a beast’s.

If he ever got his hands on a woman, he’d probably get so worked up he’d tear into her while doing it—ripping her guts out in the process.

…Still, as much as it pissed me off, it was true that I couldn’t land a decisive blow like this.

—Damn it, this was as far as I could go.

“…Haa… guess I don’t have a choice.”

With a sigh, the strength drained from my arm—

And I let it drop.

“Oh? You finally in the mood? Don’t worry, don’t worry! I won’t break you right away. I’ll show you one hell of a good time first—something like paradise~”

Grinning, the fire dragon stepped closer and reached out his hand.

Like a predator about to devour its prey, his face twisted in delight.

…Disgusting.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s right. A girl should just be nice and obedient—”

“I wanted to try fighting like Abel, without relying on skills… but yeah, it’s not easy without the ones tied to your job.”

“…Huh?”

In this fight, I had been holding back my skills on purpose—trying to fight the same way Abel did.

But there were limits to that.

Showing the idiot lizard my missing right arm—

I activated it for the first time in this battle.

—The unique job skill of The Progenitor.

“No, no, what are you even saying—skills? You weren’t even us—”

“—《Crimson Blood King》.”

In that instant—

My right arm returned, fully restored.

“Your arm—it grew ba—”

“Clench your teeth.”

I swung my regenerated arm back.

I only wanted Abel to see it—but this bastard had been staring at me with those filthy eyes the whole time…

So yeah—

I really wanted to smash his face in.

“Die! You enemy of women—!”
“Hebu—!?”

The trash lizard took a direct punch to that smug pretty-boy face and went flying like a bug swatted out of the air.

Faster than when I smashed him with the hammer, he tore through even the thick ice and crashed straight into the frozen sea.

“Learn your place, you little brat.”

A dragon? Fire?

You really thought that was enough to beat me?

Me—the progenitor vampire who had lived for thousands of years?

Did you seriously think someone who had even fought on equal ground with that wild blue dragon, Crimshario, would lose to some brainless kid who hadn’t even lived a thousand years?

“Geh—cough! Gah… wh—what… why—”

“What, wondering if I suddenly powered up?”
“—!?”

I greeted the red lizard as he crawled out from beneath the ice.

Might as well grab him by the neck while I’m at it.

“Ghk… can’t—breathe…!”

“My skill, 《Crimson Blood King》… it’s a composite skill. It includes multiple effects—enhancement, regeneration, and more.”

《Crimson Blood King》—

A core skill of The Progenitor.

It boosted physical abilities—and could even regenerate lost limbs in an instant.

“Well, it’s not like the cost is just mana… all of my skills use blood too.”

A normal vampire drinks blood as a luxury.

But for me, it has another purpose.

I store blood—and the mana within it—using my skill, then use it as a catalyst to activate my abilities.

Normally, I’d have to manage how much I use—

But lately, I’d been feeding on blood packed with an absurd amount of mana.

“So… how strong is it? You can feel it yourself, right?”
“Let—go…! Ngh—!”

The trash struggled to break free from my grip—

But my hand didn’t budge.

I was lifting him up with strength that surpassed even a dragon’s.

“And it works on magic too.”

I tossed the flailing fire dragon aside.

“《Wire Blood》…!”
“Gah—GYAAAHHHH—!?!?”

The threads extending from both my hands—which he had easily brushed off before—now tore straight through his flesh without resistance.

How does it feel?

Not being able to do a thing?

That fear—

That helplessness—

That’s exactly what the women you toyed with felt.

“W-What the hell—what is this!? W-W-What are you!?”
“Hahahaha! Calling a lady ‘you’? Learn some manners, you brat!”

Crimson threads sliced through his tough scales, dug into his flesh and even interfered with his regeneration.

At the same time, they wrapped around his body, binding him in place.

He couldn’t fly.

He couldn’t escape.

And his face was now filled with panic and fear.

“GAAAH—!”

Desperate to escape, he opened his jaws wide and spat flames.

A breath attack—the same hellfire that had burned away my right arm.

But—

“So what…!?”
“Wha—why aren’t you burning!?”

A body strengthened by 《Crimson Blood King》 wouldn’t break from something like that.

Even as the flames hit, I kept regenerating as fast as I burned.

“Why don’t you take a look at your own body for once? You’re losing more and more of it by the second.”

“Guh… what is this… my strength… don’t tell me—you’re draining my blood!?”
“Hahahaha! Dragon blood really is rich in mana!”

Exactly.

My blood threads, which had cut into his flesh and drawn blood—were now siphoning that mana-rich blood through them.

Even in the middle of a fight—

Even from an enemy—

I drank it all the same.

After all, I was the progenitor of all vampires.

“By the way… you’ve got resistance to fire, right? But what about your wounds?”

And right now, he was in a human-like form, with reduced durability.

Sure, he could withstand heat—

But what about being burned from the inside?

“—《Ignition》.”

A simple fire-attribute spell.

I triggered it remotely using the blood embedded in his wounds and set him ablaze from within.

“HOT—hot—gahhhAAAAAA!!!”

A rare sight in this world—

A fire dragon being roasted.

His wounds burned, his regeneration failing as he writhed in agony and I swung him around like a toy before slamming him straight into the frozen sea.

“Doesn’t even get my blood pumping like Abel did… how boring.”

That night with Abel had been incredible—blood boiling, body alive.

Fighting someone this pathetic just made me remember it all again.

Nice memory, sure…

But honestly, I’d rather overwrite it with a different kind of fight with Abel.

“Dammit… you bitch—!!! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll burn you, crush you, tear you apart, and keep burning you until you’re nothing but ash, you worthless slut!!!”

“Still not done yet, huh.”

The fire dragon, burning with rage, melted the ice beneath his feet as he walked toward me.

Even after being completely crushed like that, he still hadn’t lost his will to fight…

Probably thinking something like, “If I go back to my true form, I can win.”

“Wouldn’t recommend going back to your original form.”

“Hah!? What the hell are you talking about!? If I were in my usual form, I’d kill you in an instant—”

“If you do, the threads will tear you apart.”

Threads were already wrapped around his body.

Dragons had massive bodies.

And the wires currently coiled around his smaller form were steel threads—strong enough that even a dragon couldn’t snap them.

I gave them a slight pull, reminding him how easily they sliced into his skin—how his blood spilled out.

“—…Ah.”

That sensation cooled his overheated mind instantly.

If he mindlessly expanded his body—what awaited him was death.

Seems like he finally realized it.

“H-Hey… l-lady… maybe… maybe it’d be better not to kill me…? I could… offer you something better than that…”

“Hah… hff…” From his mouth—struggling to breathe, voice breaking apart—came what was probably his first plea for his life.

“Oh? And what exactly are you offering?”

“Lady… you’re crazy strong… right? If you had me, you’d be even stronger, don’t you think? Like—way stronger than those… what was it… S-rank humans or whatever? If we teamed up, we’d be unstoppable…! Oh, right! That guy over there!”

Pathetic.

A clumsy attempt at begging for his life.

He had always been on the side that takes—so he had no idea how to beg.

…That’s why he brought Abel into it.

“If you’re that strong, there’s no way you’d fall for someone like that! Come with me—we could go wild together… hell, we could even rule over humans! I’m way better as a man too! Compared to some guy who’s about to get killed by that Carina, I’m—”

“True.”

I cut him off mid-sentence.

Those miserable, desperate words didn’t deserve to continue.

“True. When it comes to immortality—‘the power not to lose’—I’m easily among the top five in the world. And I leave more than half of the S-rank far behind in that regard.”

Beings who reach the extreme in one area often excel in others too.

Take Abel, for example.

With his enhancement magic, his defense was incredibly high—most attacks couldn’t even hurt him.

And even if they did, his recovery magic healed him instantly.

It was an incredible feat made possible by his massive mana pool and precise control.

But if he took a fatal blow, he’d still die.

In that sense—

Even if you cut off my head, pierce my body, or kill me outright—

I don’t die.

That alone placed my existence on an entirely different level.

“I’ve got power too. And my speed is on Elmie’s level. But there’s one thing I can’t match them in. That’s exactly why my fight with Abel ended in a draw—and what makes him worthy of being S-rank.”

“…Huh? A draw… with you? No way… that’s impossible… how, why—”

“Who knows? Telling someone who’s about to die is pointless. —What I’m getting at is this.”

I hooked a finger around the thread wrapped around his neck.

Listening to someone talk down the man I love…

As a woman, I’m not letting that slide.

“—Don’t underestimate me… or the man I’ve fallen for. Die, you piece of shit.”

What echoed out was the sound of blood spilling, and a severed head hitting the ground.

“…Phew.”

Letting out a breath, I looked toward the sky—where the weather had begun to shift—and muttered:

“This side’s done… what about you, Abel?”

・　・　・　・　・

The clear morning sky was long gone.

In its place, a raging blizzard swept across the sea.

『—Hmph. Persistent.』

At the center of that storm, the cause of it all—the dragon, Carina, looked down.

Below her—

“Haa… haah… kh—”

Covered in blood,

His left arm gone,

Even his eye damaged—

The wielder of the Four Swords had dropped his blade…

And lay collapsed on the frozen ice.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

[Author’s Note]

Hey, it’s Sora Akatsuki here.

Right in the middle of an intense battle, but I’ve got a small request for everyone.

If you thought “this is fun,” “this hits my tastes,” or “I want to read more,” please drop a like or a star (support, comments, reviews, anything helps).

It seriously boosts my motivation like crazy.

I know I still make a fair number of mistakes, but I’ll keep working hard to make this as enjoyable to read as possible.

I hope this story keeps hitting the right spots for all of you.

Chapter 66: The Azure Lifeline Carries Pride – Part 5

[Side: Betrayed Adventurer]

Blood poured from all over my body, and with one eye injured, my vision blurred.

In a state that perfectly fit the words barely alive, I lay sprawled across the frozen sea—

“Ahh… damn, that hurts… no mercy at all, seriously.”

Groaning in pain—

But still fully conscious, I forced myself back up.

Getting blasted away by flying ice… she smashed me into the ground like I was nothing.

『……Are you really human? You’re absurdly tough.』

“Shut up. I’ve been weak my whole life—I’m used to this kind of thing.”

Limbs torn off, eyes crushed, bones shattered—

I survived that kind of hell, over and over again.

That’s how I made it to S-rank.

I pressed together the severed ends of my left arm—the one sliced off by those sharp ice-feather blades.

“《Regento》… alright, it’s connected. Yeah—moves just fine.”
『Even dragons don’t reattach their arms like that. That’s disgusting.』

Rude.

I just reattached it with healing magic, that’s all.

I checked the arm I’d restored with recovery magic.

Back when I was weak, I kept fighting enemies stronger than me—and even after getting stronger, I kept pushing myself too far.

So yeah—fixing torn-off limbs?

I was completely used to it by now.

Didn’t even feel strange anymore.

“My 《Diamond Body》 is probably the toughest among humans, you know? And you cut through it like it was paper…”

No wonder I was covered in wounds.

It wasn’t just insane sharpness and power.

She was freezing my skin with extreme cold, making my defenses brittle…

And with the sheer amount of mana she had stored up, she kept outputting that level of power nonstop.

“Damn… you’re stronger than I thought…”

I had already healed all my injuries—

But recovery magic eats through stamina along with mana.

I couldn’t just stand there forever, bleeding and taking hits.

『I don’t have time to keep playing with you. I need to get to Grandma… and take her mana.』

“Grandma, huh… seriously—haa…”

I let out a deep sigh.

『Oh? Finally giving up? I’m getting bored, so I might just let you go.』

“No. I’m just… disappointed.”

『…Disappointed?』

Yeah.

Disappointed.

Because when you care about someone—

No matter what kind of feelings you have for them—

You want to understand them, right?

And yet—

“You say you care about Granny Crim… but you don’t actually know anything about her, do you?”

『Hah? …Of course I do. I’ve known Grandma since I was a child—』

“Do you know what her stew tastes like?”

『Stew…? What’s that?』

“That house on the cape—do you know what’s inside it? How she built it? What she put into it?”

『…Tch, what the hell are you even talking about!?』

“You keep calling her ‘Grandma-Grandma,’ but I’m asking—how much do you actually know about the Granny Crim of now?”

『—!?』

I knew.

How good Granny Crim’s stew tasted.

The chaos it took to build that house on the cape.

I had heard about it.

I had eaten it with her…

That’s why I knew.

『No… that’s just because Grandma started acting like a human…!』

“The person you love got interested in things you don’t understand… and it pissed you off, didn’t it?”

『—!?』

Yeah… I’d been there too.

That was when Millia started acting more like a girl.

She got into makeup, beauty stuff, cute clothes…

At first, it wasn’t fun anymore.

We didn’t connect like we used to.

“You’re frustrated because you can’t get into the same things. You feel left out because she doesn’t pay as much attention to you anymore. So you sulk like a kid… And then you just blame it all on Granny Crim.”

In the end, Carina was just like I used to be back then.

Everything she talked about was stuff I had no interest in—of course it felt boring.

A childish, immature feeling.

Yeah… I get it.

But still—

“If it’s something the person you care about loves, then at least try to understand it. You didn’t even make that effort—that’s why now, everything about her feels unfamiliar to you.”

I tried to understand.

Because it was something Millia loved.

I studied it in my own way, asked women I knew, tried to learn bit by bit.

Because of that, things never got awkward between me and Millia—

And now, I actually knew a decent amount.

I could sympathize with her… at least a little.

But she—

『What are you even saying!? We’re proud dragons! The peak of all living things! And among us, Grandma is the greatest! There’s no way I’d accept her being amused by lowly humans!』

“Then what—you only accept the version of her that matches your ideal? The one who wipes everything out without mercy? That’s the ‘Granny Crim’ you claim to admire?”

『T-That’s not…!』

“If that’s the case, then what you admired wasn’t Granny Crim. —You just wanted her overwhelming power!”

I threw those words at her—words she couldn’t accept.

Carina shook her head in anguish, repeating over and over—

『No… no…! N-No…! Grandma was always kind to me…! I admired her…! That’s not it, not it, NOT IT—!!!』

At that moment, Carina’s mana surged.

Mana gathered in her abdomen, cold energy compressing…

Was she about to fire her trump card—her breath!?

I poured mana into both Chronovale and Heedrise.

A breath from an ice dragon that could freeze even the sea—

Fine. I’ll cut it down—

『GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHH――――!!!』

“…Tch, damn it—”

The Crystalia Dragon’s breath wasn’t just ice—

It was a mass of pure freezing power that could lock everything in place.

A split second too late, as I swung both blades—

My vision was swallowed by silver-white light—

・　・　・　・　・

『Fuh… haa…』

The beautiful dragon breathed heavily.

The breath she unleashed in pure emotion had turned the frozen sea her grandmother created into an even deeper silver world.

And below her—

Abel stood, most of his body encased in ice, like a half-frozen statue.

『—More than half of him is frozen. He can’t move anymore… Humans really are inferior, dying from something like this—』

『Carina.』

At that voice, she realized—her beloved grandmother, Crim, had drawn close.

『Grandma…!』

『You’ve grown strong. I didn’t expect you to have stored up this much mana… haa… sorry for pushing you so hard.』

『…It’s fine now.』Crim muttered those last words quietly—though it wasn’t clear who they were meant for.

Carina, however, was too caught up in the moment—

Her heart racing at finally speaking with her grandmother again.

『Grandma, Grandma! I can finally show you this form! I’ve become strong! It looks like we don’t have much time left… but I’m glad I could show you this power at the end!』

『Yeah… that was impressive, Carina. Before I die, let me teach you something—as your grandmother. One last thing.』

『Ah…! So you’ve finally decided to give me your mana! Yes—of course, I’ll listen carefully to the words of my beloved Grandma…!』

Carina’s voice was so excited it almost sounded like her tail might start wagging—

But Crim spoke calmly.

『You see, someone like Abel—a human S-rank adventurer—can stand against the highest class of magical beasts… even those classified as S-rank. That includes us… dragons.』

『Yes. We are the strongest species, after all. …Though, I suppose I can accept that humans can stand against us now. That human did fairly well—but he still doesn’t measure up to a dragon—』

『S-rank magical beasts include me too, you know? An Elder Dragon. They’re beings who can stand against something close to a god… which means they carry fangs that can reach my life.』

『——…What?』

Those words—left Carina frozen in shock.

Impossible.

An Elder Dragon… the dragon closest to a god…

Her Grandmother—

Something that could reach her life?

That kind of thing—

—Clink.

“With two colors entwined, I sharpen my blade—”

The sound of swords scraping together—

And that single line—

That incantation… that resolve—

Pulled her consciousness back from the depths of her thoughts.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

[Author’s Note]
Magic Sword Arts are basically like special meter moves in a fighting game.
So then… what would count as the ultimate super move?