Sunny hauled Alucard back onto the stone giant's waistband with a strained grunt. The moment his boots touched solid ground, Alucard released a long, exhausted sigh.
"Thanks, Sunny."
Sunny smirked—though Alucard couldn't see it in the darkness.
"Don't you mean 'thanths, Thunny'?"
For a brief, dangerous second, Alucard genuinely considered jumping back into the sea.
Unfortunately, he was far too tired to swim back.
Instead, he climbed up beside him and snapped, "Oh, will you stop with that? I couldn't say your name! I literally had no tongue!"
Sunny waved a dismissive hand.
"Oh? And now you can talk just fine all of a sudden?"
Alucard rolled his eyes. "I healed myself. Obviously."
Sunny laughed and extended his hand dramatically.
"Hey. Grab Thunny's hand really quickly."
Alucard grabbed it with the full force of his lingering rage.
It wasn't enough to truly hurt Sunny… but it definitely wasn't gentle.
Sunny ignored the pain, trying very hard to look cool.
"Can you make a parachute out of blood?"
Alucard blinked. "Sure… but why would you need—"
"Just do it."
Suspicious and annoyed, Alucard shaped a wide canopy of hardened blood above them, wasting far more of his reserves than he liked.
The next second—
Sunny jumped.
Dragging Alucard with him.
"WHAT THE FUCK, SUNNY?! WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUCK?!"
For a split second, Alucard felt his soul leave his body as they plummeted.
Then they were violently propelled upward by the stone giant's shifting movement, rising into the air before the blood parachute caught them.
They floated gently downward… landing on the giant's massive elbow.
Alucard stared at Sunny in disbelief.
"What the hell was that?"
Sunny brushed imaginary dust off his shoulder and sighed.
"To answer your previous question, I needed that parachute to get us up here. And right now? You should start climbing. The Dark Sea is rising rapidly."
Alucard muttered darkly under his breath.
'Gods, he hated midgets.'
Still…
He had to admit, the dramatic entrance had style.
Revenge would come later.
For now, he climbed.
And somehow, despite the life-threatening situation, it turned into a race.
Who could reach the neck platform first?
Even Alucard questioned the stupidity of it.
But he didn't think too hard. Thinking would slow him down—and he intended to win.
Between his height and his superior climbing experience, he reached the stone platform first.
Victory.
He stepped onto the giant's neck—
And immediately collapsed.
Sleep claimed him without resistance.
After more than a week without proper rest, battling the chaos of the stone giant and the damned translucent eel had finally drained him dry.(Just wait until Sei gets a hold of you)
He didn't answer a single question from the cohort.
He didn't check their surroundings.
He didn't even ensure they were safe.
He simply closed his eyes and thought:
If something attacks me… I'll dish out divine punishment.
…Well.
Not divine.
Demonic.
Definitely demonic.
---
When he woke, the sky was dim and seemingly he had woken up in the afternoon.
He hadn't woken naturally.
He had been woken by screaming.
"What the hell is going on?" he groaned, pushing himself upright.
The answer was right in front of him.
A giant horde of flying locusts.
Not just numerous.
Massive.
One corpse slammed into his face mid-flight, splattering him with sticky blood.
That woke him up properly.
Alucard sprang to his feet and began firing piercing bloods into the swarm.
Normally, this kind of battlefield was paradise for him.
Unfortunately, his manipulation range wasn't large enough to retrieve every corpse. On average, he only recovered less than half the blood he expended.
It was inefficient.
Wasteful.
And irritating.
You know what would be useful right now? That sigil that automatically returns the blood of slain creatures.
Unfortunately, carving new sigil's mid-battle was not an option.
The situation worsened when countless nightmare creatures began swarming toward the stone giant, drawn by the overwhelming scent of blood he was releasing.
Hundreds.
They rushed toward him specifically.
He was practically a beacon.
Alucard made a quick decision and jumped from the neck to the giant's waist, landing heavily before unleashing a barrage of piercing blood toward the charging horde.
That was when he noticed something strange.
Each creature had a crimson flower growing from its body.
And those flowers—
They were attracted to blood.
Every drop of blood he fired redirected their attention. They chased the blood constructs rather than him.
That was useful.
Until it wasn't.
He was running dangerously low on blood reserves.
"Gluttony," he muttered, forcing more out.
For a split second—while Gluttony gathered additional reserves—the infected creatures charged.
And then—
They ran past him.
As if he didn't exist.
"What…?"
He didn't question his luck.
Instead, he formed a massive sphere of blood directly in front of him, suspending it midair with his Aspect.
The creatures leapt for it in unison—
And fell.
Crashing down from the giant's body, shattering against coral and earth below.
One by one, the crimson flowers were crushed.
When the last of them fell, Alucard reclaimed the remaining blood and climbed back up.
By the time he reached the neck platform, the locust swarm had been destroyed as well.
Finally.
Food.
He took a step forward—
And was immediately attacked.
Nephis's blade descended in blazing white flame.
Sunny struck from the side.
Alucard barely raised the Mantle of the Underworld in time. The armor absorbed the impact—but cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. It was already severely damaged from earlier.
"What the fuck?!" he snapped. "Why are you attacking me? I'm just trying to eat!"
Nephis narrowed her eyes. Her blade burned brighter.
"Why," she asked calmly, "do you have those flowers growing on you?"
Alucard froze.
He looked down.
From a crack in his chest plate, a small red flower had sprouted.
"…Gods damn it. It never ends, does it?"
He ripped the flower off.
Another one sprouted in its place.
"Listen, I know this looks bad, but I promise—it's not what it looks like. I'm not infected."
He paused.
"…I think."
Nephis stepped forward.
"Wait, Nephis, I'm fine—"
She placed her hand on his chest.
White flames erupted.
Pain exploded through his body. It felt as though his organs were being boiled alive. He spat blood and dropped to his knees, clutching his chest.
"What the fuck?!" he rasped. "Were you trying to kill me?!"
Nephis extended her hand to help him up.
"I'm sorry. I had to make sure. Nothing personal."
Alucard grabbed his head in frustration.
"I guess that's fair… but a warning would've been nice."
She gave him a level look.
"If I had warned you, you would not have agreed."
He grumbled darkly.
She was probably right.
After calming down—and making sure no more flowers were sprouting—he remembered something.
The Spell.
The translucent eel.
It had given him a Memory.
Alucard exhaled slowly.
"Alright… let's see what you left me."
Hopefully, it was something useful.