Chapter 203 - Bloodline ability

In the Serbek Kingdom, the general of the army was receiving an urgent message. The battalion that he sent to sneak into enemy lines hasn't given the signal.

When the commander heard the news he massaged his temples as nothing was going as planned. Even simply distracting the Warrior King Willmont was not succeeding as planned. Though they were able to properly distract the king and move him to the southern borders of his kingdom, the casualties for doing just that was more than they initially thought. 

Still, all of that would have been fine if the battalion that they sent to infiltrate Reschbeauch was able to reach the capital or even get a bit close to it. Since the signal wasn't sent that would mean they were either dead or in a situation where they can't send the signal. Either way that would mean the mission had failed. 

...

While the Serbek Kingdom was reformulating its plan of attack, the siege battle of New Grentong was entering its tenth day. Once again Valdel was being blocked by Niel's four personal guards. Everyone thought that the fight would be like the previous times were Valdel will be forced into a defensive battle. 

At this point, the four personal guards and Valdel had already understood each other's battle styles. So they assumed that nothing was going to be different in this battle, but unfortunately for them, they underestimated Valdel too much. Having the disposition of a hero Valdel was able to power up even with the smallest changes in his psyche. 

After he was able to fully accept his hypocrisy Valdel's movements no longer had even the tiniest bit of hesitation in them. Not only that but after his doubts disappeared he was now able to use the holy light of the hero consciously. With these new factors added in Niel's four personal guards were no longer able to keep up with Valdel. 

On the other hand, Lara had already dealt with her own pesky opponent. But even after she was done she didn't help Valdel as she understood that this was something that he wanted to do by himself. Instead, Lara proceeded to shoot at the mage squad that were breaking the eastern walls. 

...

Niel who was watching as the situation was becoming worse and worse, was about ready to use his ace in the hole. He took out a scroll that had a spell stored within it, this particular scroll was meant to be used at Ren. While he was still hesitating on using the scroll, he felt his brother Reynold's bloodl.u.s.t was rising. 

'I guess even he sees that this situation is getting pretty bad... Still, with how much pride this idiotic brother of mine has he would never retreat. Such a shameful defeat he would never allow it. So his next move would be-' 

While Niel was thinking about what to do next, Reynold could no longer hold it in and charged at Valdel. As Reynold was dashing towards Valdel his body was growing larger and larger. His muscles were now bulging as his veins look like there were about to pop. 

...

Valdel who was about done with Niel's personal guards saw the charging Reynold. Though he was surprised to see Reynold's body growing larger, Valdel was even more surprised to sense that Reynold who already had only a tiny bit of mana that was even lower than a child was now showing signs that he had practically no mana left. This was really surprising since this was the first time Valdel has seen a living being with completely no mana. 

While he was still stunned by this new information Reynold was already in front of him. Valdel saw Reynold was about to strike him with a halberd and was about to doge. Valdel was completely confident that he was going to dodge Reynold's strike quite easily, but the moment the attack arrived he was once again surprised. 

Reynold's attack speed suddenly increased and Valdel was forced to block instead. The moment Reynold's halberd touched Valdel's Zweihander he was blown away. The strength of Reynold's attack was something that wasn't possible even with strengthening spells. 

'So this is the royals bloodline ability to gain superhuman strength in exchange for mana.' Valdel who was blown away spat a decent amount of blood. As he was about to regain his balance Reynold was once again in front of him. Unable to react on time because he couldn't sense the flow of Reynold's mana Valdel was about to get hit. 

Valdel was trying to think of a way to stop the attack since if that hits him death would surely take him. Yet try as he might Valdel couldn't think of a way out, and as the halberd was closing in on him Valdel saw a silhouette appear before him. 

The person who stood before him easily caught Reynold's halberd that was powerful enough to blow Valdel away. The moment Valdel saw that he knew who had just arrived to save him. Mana so powerful that it could make those weaker want to vomit. Killing intent so overwhelming it could make even the hardiest of men shake in fear.  A vicious smile and eyes that looked at his enemy as if he was lion eyeing his prey. This man could be no other than his best friend Ren. 

"Hey, Val you won't mind if I take this one."

"Do what you want, I'm going to help out Lara instead." Valdel shrugged his shoulders as he retreated. Reynold who was exerting every ounce of his strength on pulling his halberd away from Ren's grip was getting mad. Ren and Valdel were acting like he was nothing but thin air. 

'Damn it! I will not be humiliated like this!' 

Ren who was holding onto Reynold's halberd felt the increase in strength which made his hand that was holding the halberd shake. He was surprised by the sudden increase in strength and also delighted. 

"How fun! Show it to me then, this so called bloodline ability." Ren didn't summon Silika or used the scythe as he wanted to experience the rumored powerful strength of the Reschbeauch bloodline. 

Reynold knew that he was no match for Ren in his current state, so he decided to risk it all and used the forbidden technique of his family. Not only was he burning his mana to increase his strength he was now also burning his life force to double that increase in strength. At this moment Reynold's body grew in size and he was standing taller than the walls of New Grenton. He now looked like one of those legendary giants that had died out a millennia ago. 

Seeing Reynold's transformation greatly excited Ren as his smile grew wider and wider. The soldiers of both sides momentarily stopped their battle to look in awe at Reynold. The now gigantic Reynold clasped his two hands together and lifted it up in the air and hammered it down towards Ren. 

Seeing the incoming attack Ren didn't move as his vicious-looking smile grew even fiercer. He then raised one hand upward. As Reynold's massive hands hammered down a burst of wind blew the surrounding soldiers away. The mages were forced to increase the output on their mana shields else they'll be blown away by the shockwaves as well. 

Reynold who should've easily squashed the small Ren suddenly felt something grab onto his hands. Underneath Reynold's clasped hands Ren was grabbing them with his two hands. His head was actually bleeding and a bit blood flowed out of his mouth. Lara who was watching the battle wanted to dash forward but she knew better than anyone else not to disturb Ren when he was smiling like that. 

Valdel and Hilda were equally surprised to see Ren bleeding, this was the first time any of them saw him bleed. 'So he was truly human after all.' Those were the thoughts of the others that recently got to know Ren. 

"THAT WAS AMAZING! Now, this is what I'm talking about! Show me more! Unleash all your power and show me everything you have to offer!" Ren shouted at Reynold in excitement.

It was a weird scene to watch, the man who was bleeding was demanding his enemy to attack harder. While the one who made the other bleed and was at an advantage was the one trembling with both fear and anger. Ren then released his grip on Reynold and looked at his opponent with the eyes of a predator who found a scrumptious meal.