Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 251

Chapter 251

“Hey, calm down. There’s a life sign.”

“……!”

The fading consciousness returned thanks to Lapis, who nudged me. Hearing his whispered words, I quickly composed myself and examined the presence inside the room. Indeed, I could feel a distinct breathing pattern and heartbeat. The heartbeat was divided into two vibrations, one strong and one faint. I had been too panicked to notice it until just now.

I don’t know what happened, but it seems they’re both alive. If they’re still breathing, I can save them somehow. Feeling my clouded mind clear a little, I took a deep breath. Once I calmed down, I noticed the people around me. Most of them were employees and ordinary soldiers guarding the mansion. The pool of blood at the door was shocking, but thankfully, no one had entered yet. This was within manageable limits if the situation could be resolved.

“I’ll take care of this, so everyone, please go back.”

“Excuse me? But…….”

“It’s okay. Nothing serious will happen, so don’t worry about it.”

The hesitant people dispersed as if they couldn’t help it when I repeatedly told them to leave. The report would probably go up to Duke Cael, but Isana would handle it, so there shouldn’t be any major problems.

After confirming that everyone had left, I walked into the room with Lapis. To prevent anyone from peeking in again, I made sure to lock the door securely after entering. The bloodstain spreading in front of the door continued thickly inside. The steps moving slowly along the red path created in this way felt heavy as lead. It was a path I would normally reach in a few steps, but it felt so far away, perhaps because I was nervous.

Soon, after passing through a short hallway, the room finally appeared. I stopped there for a moment. It wasn’t intentional, but a conditioned reflex. Similarly, Lapis also stopped next to me. Unusually for him, a very dazed expression appeared on his face. My face probably looked similar to his.

An unexpected, bizarre sight was unfolding before our eyes. First of all, Deron, who I expected to be dying, was sitting there looking perfectly fine. That was okay, but the problem was what he was doing.

He was dropping his blood on the egg. With each clench and release of his fist, a large amount of red blood flowed down from his hand. The blood soaked the egg and overflowed in all directions. The abundant blood flowing around was probably from this.

“What the heck is this…….”

I looked around with a stunned feeling. The floor, ceiling, and even the walls were covered with magic circles. They were complex, multiple magic circles, overlapping each other both sideways and inside. They were all dark red, probably drawn with his blood, and had a strong, fishy smell. The egg was placed right in the middle of it.

“Hmm, it’s different from the format I know, but looking at the structure, most of them are magic circles that help with protection, maintenance, and the flow of energy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they’re auxiliary magics that strengthen or train the body. Hmm, the demons create formulas like this? Hmm. This is pretty good.”

Lapis’s eyes sparkled menacingly as he muttered. The form of the magic circle, different from the ones used in the middle realm [the human world], seemed to have ignited his latent academic passion. Leaving him engrossed in examining the magic circle, I turned my gaze back to Deron. Anyway, according to Lapis, this magic circle was likely drawn to protect the egg. Of course, the most accurate way to know would be to ask the person involved.

“Deron……. What are you doing right now?”

I spoke with a reluctant tone, but there was no answer. It seemed he was concentrating so much that he couldn’t hear me. Well, if he could come to his senses with this much stimulation, he would have reacted as soon as he heard the noise from outside. I quickly approached Deron, grabbed one of his ears, and shouted.

“Deron! What are you doing!”

Fortunately (?) his concentration, which seemed like he wouldn’t notice even if people were dying, was weak against direct contact. Now that he seemed to have come to his senses, Deron looked back with a horrified expression.

“Huh! E, El-nim? W, when did you get here?”

Seeing that he recognized me right away, his cognitive abilities seemed normal. Judging from the way he was looking around cautiously as if he had just committed a crime, there was even less chance that something was wrong with his head. I looked at him suspiciously and pointed to the surrounding scenery with a gesture. It was a clear demand for an explanation, and Deron seemed to understand it immediately. He became serious to the point of being solemn.

“Ah, well…… I apologize for making the room dirty. Once this is over, I will clean it all up neatly.”

In the end, the answer he gave was completely off the point. I didn’t know if my headache was due to the smell of blood or the frustrating answer from the demon man sitting in front of me. After contemplating where to start, I first grabbed Deron’s hand. It was to heal the wound that was still bleeding from whatever he had done. But before I could infuse healing magic, the target disappeared before my eyes. He quickly withdrew his hand.

“Ah, you mustn’t heal me! I still need more.”

“More needed……. Are you talking about blood?”

Since the only thing he was getting from this act was the flowing blood, I had no choice but to ask. Deron nodded with an embarrassed face at my slightly frowning expression.

“Why the blood…….”

Even if he had an eccentric personality, there must have been a reason for doing this. I was about to listen to the explanation calmly when a rattling sound echoed from below. As soon as I inadvertently lowered my gaze, I was immediately flustered. The egg, which had been lying quietly on the floor, was shaking as if trembling.

“Ah, this is bad.”

Deron clicked his tongue and quickly reached out to the egg, and the act that had been interrupted was resumed. He began to squeeze out blood and drop it on the egg. Then, as if waiting for it, the trembling vibrations quickly subsided. I watched the scene with tension, and only after confirming that the egg was completely calm did I carefully ask.

“Is it…… fetal movement?”

Originally, it was said that it was normal for the egg to move around this time. At first, I thought it was that kind of thing, but somehow the feeling was a little strange. The scene just now was closer to an epileptic fit than just moving. Whether that was just a simple misunderstanding or not, Deron shook his head with a troubled face.

“It’s a little different from that.”

“If it’s not fetal movement, then what is it?”

“For some reason, the energy has suddenly dropped significantly. As a result, the fetus’s condition seems unstable. I gave it my blood as an emergency measure, and it got a little better, but it’s not recovering easily. As you can see, even if I stop the supply for a moment, the condition deteriorates rapidly.”

“Really? Let me take a look.”

I carefully examined the egg without interfering with what Deron was doing. The moment I touched it, I immediately felt something was wrong. It always had a warm, almost hot temperature, but now it was excessively cold. The heart was beating properly, but there was almost no vitality felt. When I looked at Deron in embarrassment, he nodded with a stiff face.

“How long has it been like this?”

“It seems like it’s been several hours.”

“Have you been supplying blood all that time?”

“Yes.”

As the saying goes that the energy has dropped, the fetus in the egg felt more deprived than sick. It was clearly felt that it was panting from being insufficient even while absorbing the falling blood. In fact, most of it was just overflowing, so it didn’t seem to be absorbing as much as Deron was supplying. As a test, I infused healing power, but it only stabilized it a little and didn’t show much effect. It didn’t seem to be a problem of being hurt or getting sick.

“The energy is too weak. Isn’t it a weak egg in the first place?”

While I was anxiously examining the egg, Lapis approached and said a word. Whether this side was serious or not, he was engrossed in looking at the magic circle, and he was the only one with a satisfied face as if he had filled his interest to his heart’s content. And yet, the meddling he did by suddenly coming was such an insincere remark. Maybe he’s been professionally researching how to upset others on a regular basis.

“There’s no way. You said it was an egg directly chosen by the Demon God. An egg with such a great destiny that it will change the future of the Demon Realm.”

“Hmm, then is the problem the opposite?”

“The opposite?”

“The innate magic power is too strong, so the body can’t handle it. Like pouring an infinite amount of alcohol into a small leather bag, it’s about to burst.”

At that moment, Deron’s face rapidly hardened as if he had realized something. He examined the egg in a hurry and swallowed a short groan.

“I know the cause, El-nim. Normally, magic power is created after the body is fully developed, but it seems that the master [the egg] has become the opposite.”

“Can that happen?”

“It’s not common, but I’ve heard that it can happen if a strong egg is frequently stimulated from the outside. I was worried that the growth rate had been slowing down recently, so I frequently infused magic power, but it seems that was the problem. It’s all my fault.”

“Hmm, then what should we do?”

Seeing his face distorted with guilt, I quickly asked a question. It was already done, and since time was of the essence, it was better to save the time for lamenting and seek a solution. Deron seemed to have the same thought, and he immediately regained his composure.

“First, we need to grow the body enough to handle the magic power. It seems like we have no choice but to inject blood as much as needed, like now.”

“Is any blood okay? Even monster or animal blood?”

“No, if possible, the closer to the same race, the better, and even if not, it must contain at least a high concentration of magic power. To supply that until it stabilizes to some extent, one or two people won’t be enough. At least until we get over the crisis, if I give my blood…….”

“But you said you’ve been in this state for several hours already. Is it okay to bleed this much? Even if you’re a demon, your blood isn’t generated indefinitely, is it?”

In fact, he didn’t look very good right now. He was only holding out this much because he was a demon; if he were human, he would have already crossed the threshold of death. Looking at Deron, who couldn’t deny it and had a troubled expression, I immediately stared at Lapis. As soon as our eyes met, he frowned.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“If it’s dragon’s blood, doesn’t it contain magic power too?”

“Hmph, is it just magic power? You saw me change a race with my blood, didn’t you? My blood is a hundred times better than that guy’s weak blood.”

“Then you know why I’m looking at you.”

“……Tsk.”

Unexpectedly, Lapis didn’t attempt meaningless resistance(?). He just clicked his tongue briefly and picked up the egg as it was. Seeing him willingly come forward, Deron looked rather embarrassed.

“Are you helping me?”

“Well, if it was some insignificant guy, I wouldn’t care what happened. But he’s the future Demon King, right? There’s no harm in owing him a debt. Don’t expect too much. At best, I’m just putting out the immediate fire.”

“That’s enough. Thank you.”

Seeing Deron bowing his head with his eyes flickering, Lapis had a slightly complicated expression. He even seemed uncharacteristically embarrassed. As Deron looked at Lapis with a puzzled expression, he cleared his throat lightly and said.

“In the first place, your method is too inefficient. What’s the point of laying out so many magic circles? You’re not utilizing the function at all.”

“Is that so? I just unfolded the protection circle in the way I know.”

“You just kept stacking them. All this does is strengthen them.”

“Isn’t that the purpose of stacking?”

“You’re suffering because you only have that much application.”

“What…….”

“Watch carefully.”

After snapping as if warning, Lapis bit his finger and drew blood. As he gestured in that state, surprisingly, a red line began to be drawn in the air along the trajectory of his moving finger. It was as if there was an invisible board and he was drawing a picture on it.

What he was drawing was also a magic circle of a similar form to the ones around him. The moment the rapidly moving finger completed all the circles, light poured out from the line that had only been red. What happened next was even more amazing. Light began to emanate from the magic circles that Deron had created earlier, scattered all around. In an instant, the surroundings were filled with red light, and each drawn pattern wriggled as if it were alive. I’m not just saying that it looked like that. It really moved alive. It peeled off from its respective place, floated in the air, and even lined up in front of the magic circle that Lapis had created.

In that amazing scene, I couldn’t do anything but stand there with my mouth open. Lapis had always done unexpected things, but if I were to pick the most amazing moment in the future, I would definitely think of today. Deron also had a completely blank face.

“What the heck is this…….”

The gathered magic circles permeated into Lapis’s magic circle as if overlapping. As the number of additions increased, the background became darker and darker. From clear red to opaque red, and then to a darker reddish-brown. By the time everything had permeated, a color that was so red that it was almost black had been completed. Lapis laid the magic circle that had become one horizontally and placed the egg on top of it. It was a behavior that made sense, but it was even more absurd to see the magic circle, which was just a liquid, supporting the egg like a plate.

While Deron and I were watching with blank faces, this time he wrote something directly on the egg. Then, the magic circle supporting the floor fluttered like a cloth, stretched upwards, and slowly began to wrap the egg. It covered the surface as if crawling, and it was instantaneous until it completely covered the egg and formed a black mass. The time it maintained that state was also very short. It was because it permeated into the egg as if being sucked in as soon as I felt that everything had been swallowed.

When I came to my senses, the egg had returned to its original, intact appearance and was nestled quietly in Lapis’s arms. It felt like I had watched a brilliant magic show.