The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 358
Veladrina, while calmly explaining the situation, found herself deep in thought.
She was contemplating the battle between the two monarch-class beings before her.
—“A battle between two monarchs...”
Seong had fought against monarch-level entities before.
The Dark Lord was one such case. But even then, he had never faced such a disadvantageous fight—hence, Veladrina’s contemplation.
This confrontation between Seong and the Dream Mask was, in essence, a clash of dreams versus blood.
At first glance, it seemed like Seong was at a disadvantage.
Dreams were abstract, closer to the realm of ideas, while blood—though potent—was bound by a tangible structure and limitations.
—“His Majesty is in a rather unfavorable situation.”
But as with all powers, one immutable truth always remained:
It depends on the user. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
How much of that power can one wield?
How skillfully can one utilize it?
The limits of any power rose skyward depending on its master.
That was exactly what Seong was doing now.
The dream that the puppet wielded was undeniably powerful—especially strengthened by the presence of thirteen masks.
When Seong attacked with blood, the puppet converted it into a dream and nullified the damage. Worse, it even redirected some of that damage back to Seong.
Crack—!
A portion of Seong’s shoulder shattered as if bitten—but he showed no concern and continued manipulating his blood.
Blood surged to the injury, squirmed, and rapidly restored the flesh.
Among the many meanings within blood—life was one of them.
Then Seong thought to himself:
“This won’t be easy.”
The ability was a difficult one to fight against.
It made sense—Blood had been the mask of the third floor, so the fourth floor naturally featured Dream.
An abstract power without form, facing one rooted in defined structure.
Of course, Seong had access to other monarch-level powers.
Abstract fears like Dream, shadowy illusions, necromantic energy—and the Inferno Lord, whose structure was rigid but raw destructive force unmatched.
But this time, Seong had come specifically to test Blood Lord.
So he chose to limit himself to blood alone.
“I can’t lose to a puppet like that.”
If he did, he’d be disqualified as a monarch.
Resolving himself, Seong focused even more on understanding blood—not just what he already knew, but its untapped potential.
At that moment, the puppet charged him.
Seong tried to dodge, but it suddenly turned into a swirling pink mist and split into five parts—each becoming a separate puppet and pressing in on him.
Seong responded by scattering his blood, condensing it, and creating his own blood clones.
They collided with the dream clones.
BOOOOM—!!!
A violent shockwave burst forth, sending cracks through the stage floor. Stone dust filled the air.
Still, neither side gave an inch.
Seong snapped his fingers.
Snap—!
The blood clones suddenly swelled, then—
BOOM!
They exploded outward, dousing the area in blood.
Chiieeee—!!!
The blood that touched the floor melted it like snow in water, and a green, toxic mist rose up—Blood Poison, followed by a powerful detonation.
Yet the stage and the dream puppet—both were restored the moment the puppet snapped its fingers.
Snap—!
Seong grinned.
“So it resets everything into a dream...”
Meanwhile, the viewers were beginning to worry as they realized Seong seemed to be on the back foot.
“Wait, is the Demon King actually losing?”
“Yeah... kinda looks like it.”
“But he hasn’t used his full strength, right?”
“He’s only using the blood power right now, yeah?”
“Why? He could just use a different one and win, no?”
Their confusion and concern were shared by the expedition team.
“This doesn’t look easy...”
“The Demon King seems... kind of overwhelmed.”
“It’s evenly matched, but that ability is annoying as hell.”
As they murmured among themselves, Veladrina’s brow twitched.
Then she spoke coldly.
—“Ignorant fools. If His Majesty were to use his full power, that puppet would already be dust.”
“B-But still...”
—“Right now, His Majesty is merely testing a single power against it. Stop your baseless worries and simply observe.”
Silenced by her words, the expedition team fell quiet.
A few viewers, awed by her presence, responded in chat:
“Daaamn. That was so badass.”
“I kinda hope the Demon King loses just so she’ll scold us again... 😭”
“She’s hot AND loyal? I can’t take this...”
“Honestly she’s right.”
“Is this a test of his own limits?”
“Maybe he’s trialing a new ability?”
“Didn’t he already use blood powers before?”
Despite their envy, most chose to follow Veladrina’s advice and watch.
At that moment, the puppet seemed to realize the type matchup favored it—and its movements became more aggressive.
It lunged directly at Seong, then summoned a giant monster made of dreams to attack him.
But Seong didn’t back down.
During the battle, he came to a realization.
“Blood isn’t just blood.”
It didn’t stop at the literal.
The meaning behind blood—the symbolism carried by the Blood Lord.
As he reflected on this, a crimson gleam lit up Seong’s eyes.
Suddenly—
A massive dream-beast’s foot came crashing down to crush him.
Blood erupted upward, pierced through the beast’s leg, and drained it of every drop of its blood—dissolving it entirely.
Vampirism.
One of the skills Seong had obtained long ago, even before becoming the Blood Lord.
Now fully awakened, Seong understood—
“Emperor of Vampires.”
Blood Lord didn’t simply mean “Lord of Blood.” It meant the Vampire Emperor.
With that clarity, he realized he could drain not just blood—but anything else that fed into that essence.
Even the puppet was stunned as Seong absorbed dream energy from the monster.
It was supposed to reclaim that dream energy—it belonged to the puppet.
But the energy didn’t return.
Instead, Seong smiled and said,
“I can turn what I absorb into my own.”
Kind enough to explain, even.
The puppet trembled, then tried to conjure a new dream to attack him.
But Seong responded by combining blood and dream—summoning a giant bat with razor-sharp fangs that tore the dream to shreds.
CRACK—!!!
Squelch squelch squelch—!!!
The massive bat twisted and morphed like a nightmare, then took the shape of a vampire.
The puppet tried to recover, pulling the dream energy back into itself and reinforcing its own power.
Then it punched the incoming vampire with all its might—only for the vampire to transform into mist.
The blow passed harmlessly through.
At that moment, the vampire transformed the mist into countless blood spikes and pierced the puppet.
The puppet tried to nullify the damage by turning it into a dream—
But Seong grinned.
“Bad matchup for you.”
With that, the spikes began to drain everything from the puppet like straws.
The puppet shriveled, lost all power, and crumbled to pieces.
All that remained was a perfectly intact Dream Mask, lying on the floor.
Seong smiled ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) as he looked down at it.
The expedition team and viewers exploded in awe.
“Th-That was insane!!!”
“A v-vampire?!”
“He manipulates blood, sure, but he absorbed dreams?!”
“That’s busted.”
“No way that’s balanced...”
“Wait—vampires can suck up stuff besides blood??”
Amid the chaos, Veladrina scoffed and scolded them:
—“Vampires do not simply consume blood. They absorb one’s essence. And essence, in the end, is energy. His Majesty absorbed all of it.”
Her explanation made sense—
But also raised more questions.
“Wait, that’s what ‘absorbing essence’ really means???”
“Yeah but that’s just a skill, isn’t it??”
“I heard monarch-class skills could do stuff like this... so that was a monarch skill...”
“Holy crap... wait, is the Demon King on the blood mage path now? I thought he was a necromancer??”
“Wait... right?!”
Speculation filled the chat, but Veladrina offered no further clarification.
No one dared ask—the aura she exuded made it clear: silence was wise.
Just then, the floor of the stage opened, revealing a staircase leading down.
And—
[Checking current contribution rate.]
[Only player “Seong” has registered any contribution.]
[Only player “Seong’s” team may proceed.]
[Other teams cannot advance further.]
[Special rewards will be granted to the other teams who reached the fourth basement.]
A system message appeared out of nowhere.
Only those with registered contribution could enter the final depths.
The rest of the expedition looked disappointed—but couldn’t argue.
After all, based on the Dream Mask’s power... if they had stepped in, they would’ve been obliterated.
They let go of their regrets. Baren turned to Seong and said,
“Thanks to you, we made it this far. Thank you.”
“Not at all. I’m the one who’s sorry we couldn’t go together.”
“Phew... I wish I could’ve gone further and studied more, but if the ruins disappear after you descend... then it can’t be helped.”
After all, Seong had practically carried the entire expedition here on his own.
There were no hard feelings.
They shook hands, and the others waved goodbye.
“Thank you!”
“You saved us out there!!!”
“If you ever need the expedition team again, we’ll repay you!”
“Let’s explore ruins again next time!!!”
As they exchanged farewells, Seong headed downward while Baren and the rest exited.
The viewers, though disappointed, understood this was the end for now.
“Damn, that was fun.”
“Wonder what the Demon King’ll get now?”
“He’s definitely gonna level up from this lol”
“Like... what isn’t he capable of at this point??”
“Hurry up and hit 300 already and take that rank LOL”
With that, they watched the broadcast end and speculated on what Seong would obtain.
And as Seong descended—he came face-to-face with a throne, surrounded by countless masks.
