Chapter 155: All Kinds of Colors

Sizzle, crackle…

The blue sky was covered in countless cracks, followed by the sharp sound of shattering glass.

As black fragments drifted through the air, the scene shifted back to the interior of the castle.

“Hey, hey, hey! What’s going on? Someone actually managed to destroy Master Andre’s Nest?!”

Nasagi looked toward Andre, his eyes silently asking for their next move.

“Are these two from some plague-stricken disaster area?”

Dige muttered, not daring to act recklessly.

To be able to destroy the Nest from the outside was no ordinary feat.

For over fifty years, this was only the second time someone had broken through his Nest.

Andre’s expression remained calm, though a new wrinkle formed on his brow.

‘Why are they completely unharmed?’

A single drop of cold sweat rolled down his heavily lined forehead.

His Skill, [Thunderous Echo Electric Dragon], was powerful enough to easily pierce through a mountain or blast a massive fourth-floor monster like an Orc Ogre into ash.

But forget about being destroyed — they didn’t even have a scratch.

Andre felt like his fifty years of Dungeon exploration experience were being put to the test.

After a bizarre turn, the person in the yellow suit equipped with a Small Leather Shield had taken the lightning head-on.

The clothing didn’t even have a loose thread.

‘Did they use some Sacred Tool I don’t know about?’

‘But I’ve tested this before; there shouldn’t be any defensive items on the market capable of blocking that Skill.’

Andre recognized their outfits — hazmat suits.

The pair likely wanted to hide their identities, but was it really necessary to wear something so ugly?

Or perhaps there was a secret hidden within the fabric…

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became, so Andre simply stopped.

“May I ask who you two are?”

Andre inquired calmly, showing no sign of panic.

“Hmph. When asking for someone’s name, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

The yellow-clad figure standing next to the Vampire had a utility belt strapped to their waist.

They drew the Greatsword hanging at their side.

The voice was raspy, sounding like a man yet also like a woman, and like a woman yet also like a man.

One thing was certain: they were enemies.

“…”

Andre observed the two newcomers in the bright yellow hazmat suits.

The androgynous one stood beside the Vampire.

The other one, equipped with a small round shield and punch gauntlets, was currently gripping the frame of a high window, looking left and right for a way down before jumping to land beside the Vampire.

With two strange characters suddenly appearing by her side, the small Vampire looked bewildered.

The androgynous figure leaned over to look the Vampire in the eye and whispered something.

The Vampire’s expression shifted into deep thought.

Soon, the Vampire glared at Andre with a gaze cold enough to freeze blood.

“You disrespectful trash… What you did to Tiana…”

The gold-eyed Vampire’s teeth ground together audibly.

“Don’t think you’ll die easily. I will use your blood as a funeral offering for Tiana.”

She seemed to have completely forgotten that she had almost been turned to ash moments ago.

She pointed a small index finger at Andre, summoning two new Skeletal Armored Blood Spirits by her side.

?

Andre wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he saw the yellow-clad person with the Small Leather Shield put a hand to their mouth.

It looked as if… they were stifling a laugh?

It was three-on-three… no, three-on-five.

The enemies’ combat power was unknown, and his chances of victory had dropped to 30%.

Although he could release the Nest again, it had been forcibly destroyed and was currently in a recovery phase; it couldn’t be deployed immediately.

Andre searched his internal reserves for the Magic he had stolen from that Vampire.

‘No, these aren’t very useful.’

He hadn’t managed to steal the two crucial Spells: the one that controlled Blood Spirits and the one that eroded a monster’s mind.

Andre raised his Staff and took a slight step back.

He had decided on his next move.

“Retreat!”

Andre pointed his Staff downward, and a massive cloud of grayish-black smoke instantly erupted from the void, obscuring everyone’s vision.

He swept his left arm to the right, using a Spell he had stolen from the Vampire.

The ground opened up into a river of bright red blood, and countless hunched monsters with rotting flesh and exposed white bones crawled out.

Heh.

Inafa let out a short laugh.

She stomped on the floor, and 30% of the rotting monsters instantly dissipated into red mist.

Because her Magic was more concentrated, the massive bodies of the Skeletal Armored Blood Spirits became agile, easily crushing the surrounding summoned monsters.

This was enough.

Andre understood why the Vampire didn’t normally use this move.

These monsters were slow, and each one’s strength was only around Level 10.

They couldn’t cause any real damage to Dige, Nasagi, or himself.

However, having over fifty monsters appearing in this hall was enough to hinder the yellow-clad pair and the Vampire.

It was enough to buy time.

“Nasagi.”

“Understood! Yahoo! Let’s do this!”

Nasagi leaped toward the 20-meter-high ceiling.

Above his head was a [Buff] icon Andre had cast on him.

Using gravity to accelerate his descent, he gripped his massive axe and swung it toward the Vampire.

Clang!

The metallic sound of weapons clashing echoed from behind.

Andre had sent Nasagi to cover the rear just in case.

The opponents could destroy his Nest, so their strength couldn’t be underestimated.

He couldn’t leave his back exposed while escaping.

Hmm?

Just before the smoke obscured his vision entirely, Andre saw the androgynous person in yellow crouch down.

A prickling sensation hit his neck, and his years of intuition screamed a warning.

However, his body was already fleeing.

Despite his age, the advantages provided by his Level allowed Andre to run like the wind, covering 50 meters in a single second.

As he ran, Andre reflected briefly and felt a pang of regret.

He had indeed underestimated her.

This Vampire looked barely older than his own granddaughter.

Originally, he hadn’t intended to use the power of the Nest, opting instead to take her down quickly with Silver Weapons.

If a normal Vampire were pierced by a Silver Weapon coated in holy water, their body wouldn’t just fail to recover — they would be paralyzed by smoke-emitting, excruciating pain.

But this little Vampire had been able to counterattack immediately.

Since things had exceeded his expectations, Andre had been forced to use his backup plan.

He even had to use the Dragon skin to enrage her, forcing her to reveal a weakness so he could finish her with his strongest damage Skill.

He should have been able to take her.

Her recovery speed surpassed that of ordinary Vampires, she had multiple Spells, and her mobility was extremely high.

And now… she had help.

‘What luck. She must be blessed with immense fortune.’

He would have to find another opportunity to complete his Pastoral Service.

Andre had already reached the door.

Hope was right in front of him.

” — ! Stop! Dige!”

From the door to the ceiling, a pale green twilight shimmered in a dome-like circle.

“Whoa! …So hard!”

Dige delivered a flurry of blows with his two Greatswords.

Sparks flew, but he couldn’t leave even a single crack on the twilight barrier.

Instead, the recoil left his hands numb.

“…Fight, Dige. Our Lord has not yet deemed us worthy. We have not yet obtained our tickets to the Golden Land.”

A Barrier.

Andre knew at a glance that this was a very high-level Barrier.

Even though he could break it, dispelling it would take more than 30 minutes.

‘Those two in yellow… no wonder they just stood there.’

‘They never intended to let us escape from the start.’

Just as Andre turned toward the yellow-clad pair and the Vampire, preparing to give his all in a final struggle —

he felt the ground beneath him give way.

He had stepped on something.

The floor tile sank, and a Magic Circle with complex patterns emerged.

“Master Andre!”

“There is no need to panic.”

He had four layers of protection on his body.

Even though he knew he had stepped into a Trap, it wouldn’t cause him any harm.

Snap, crackle.

The sound of flowing electromagnetic current filled the air.

“…!? I see. We… have been lured into a trap.”

Andre’s eyes widened.

“What’s wrong, Master Andre? Ugh!”

Lacking the strength to support them, the two Greatswords in Dige’s hands fell to his sides.

Andre didn’t hear Dige’s question.

He saw that the [Buff] icon above Dige’s head had vanished.

The effect of the [Shared Grace] Skill had disappeared.

As long as he, the Priest, was alive, his companions would receive a stat bonus based on the highest Level in the party.

In other words, with the Skill active, Dige and Nasagi were both Level 33 like him.

But this Trap wasn’t meant to attack him.

It was meant to sever.

It severed the Magic link between him and his two subordinates.

Andre tried to recast the [Buff] on them, but he couldn’t establish a connection no matter what he did.

‘Did that yellow-clad person crouch to activate the Trap?’

‘Or was it already set?’

Andre suspected the latter.

The most disastrous result of the severed [Buff] was —

Andre looked to his right.

The smoke cleared, and the river of blood and monsters on the ground had vanished.

The two three-meter-tall Skeletal Armored Blood Spirits were wiping bone fragments and rotten meat off their wheel-like weapons with the backs of their hands.

Within his wide field of vision, in the center of the hall, Andre saw it clearly.

Without the [Buff], Nasagi was being forced back repeatedly, his face showing signs of agitation.

In the clash of weapons, he was gradually losing ground.

Nasagi himself was Level 18.

How could he be suppressed so easily?

No.

Considering these two had blocked his highest-damage attack and remained unscathed, it could only mean…

‘Are their Levels equal to mine?’

Andre’s palms began to sweat at the possibility.

He wasn’t afraid of death; he was afraid of dying for nothing.

At that moment, the fierce battle ahead reached a swift conclusion.

The yellow-clad figure with the Small Leather Shield had been fighting Nasagi using only their arm guards.

Suddenly, three flashes of light emerged from the guards — sharp, pointed arm spikes.

The opponent leaped toward Nasagi.

” — !”

Because he couldn’t swing his heavy axe freely, Nasagi barely managed to block the spikes.

However, he couldn’t block what came next.

Holding the axe handle in place with the right arm spikes, the person in yellow delivered a heavy kick to Nasagi.

” — !!”

The plastic boot sank deep into Nasagi’s stomach.

His eyes bulged, and his body folded nearly 90 degrees as he spat out a thick, bile-like fluid mixed with blood.

The yellow-clad figure dodged the fluid and closed in again, instantly ducking low.

The second attack was an upper-cut delivered from the bottom-left to the top-right.

A single line was drawn, starting from Nasagi’s crotch and ending at the tip of his helmet.

The handle of the massive axe was sliced cleanly in two.

“Agh — !”

Nasagi let out one last strange cry as his body was also sliced cleanly down the middle.

The two halves of his body hit the ground with two distinct thuds.

Red, yellow, green, and black viscera spilled across the floor.

“Child, may Lord Izabilis bless your dreams.”

Although he didn’t approve of Nasagi’s ways, Andre placed a hand over his heart and offered a pious blessing for Nasagi’s journey.

“You’re next~ you old geezer.”

The figure in the punch gauntlets spoke in a cheerful, young girl’s voice as she flicked the blood off her arm spikes.

If his granddaughter were still in this world, she would probably be around the same age as this young girl.