Read Novel Full Chapter 427: Little Sacrifices
Chapter 427: Little Sacrifices
Dominic did not seem to care at all if his attack might attract the monster roaming the wilderness , his posture relaxed, his eyes bright, and his carefree laughter returned in a slower rhythm, as if he was enjoying the way everyone’s breathing had changed.
"Hahahaha," Dominic laughed, then looked directly at Gabriel with bloodshot excitement that did not match his calm tone. "Broken Heaven, stop standing there like a statue. You came to conquer a camp, right? Then come and take it properly. Or is your entire faction just good at hiding and killing people who cannot fight back."
His words were meant to stab morale more than flesh, because anyone watching could hear what he was trying to do. He was trying to drag Gabriel into anger. He was trying to force a mistake. And he was trying to make the soldiers think their leader would either charge foolishly or retreat and look weak.
He paused for a short breath and added, "Since you like ending rulers in one night, then do not run from my night either."
As Dominic spoke, the first blood projectile finally dropped, not like a slow fall, but like something released from a sling, and it came down with such speed that only the better fighters had time to react.
BOOOM!
The projectile struck the ground near a cluster of eastern camp soldiers who were still trying to regroup, and the impact did not create a normal explosion. Instead, it burst outward into a splash of boiling blood that carried burning red aura, spraying across bodies, armour, weapons, and stone.
The men hit first screamed and tried to wipe it off, but their hands only spread it further across their skin, and within seconds their flesh began to darken and shrink as the burning aura consumed moisture and life together.
Some collapsed immediately. Others stumbled two steps before falling. And the ones standing behind them froze, because the blood did not stop at the first body. It splashed onto the next and kept burning as if it had no limit to how many it wanted.
The second projectile followed, then the third, and within a few breaths it became a pattern. Not a single strike, but a rain that was not constant yet, more like deliberate drops that punished every pocket of people still too close together.
Broken Dawn members reacted faster than the eastern camp survivors, not because they were braver by nature, but because Scarlet gave a short command to the fighters to spread out while pulling the weaker ones behind cover.
Anna moved with them, dragging one wounded fighter by the shoulder without complaining, her jaw tight but her eyes still fixed on Gabriel, because she trusted him to handle everything.
Sophie’s face had gone pale seeing the rain of blood projectiles, and she lifted her staff with shaking hands, forcing vines to burst out from the ground and forming thin barriers around the nearest groups. Nothing grand, just enough to stop splashes from hitting bare skin.
The vine barrier held for a moment, then a blood projectile struck close enough that the splash hit it directly, making Sophie grunt as her mana drained far faster than she expected.
Cassie, Sophie’s best friend and personal maiden, who was also providing support buffs to other fighters, helped stabilise her by placing a hand near her back. Not giving mana, but giving balance, because Sophie looked like she might fall if she leaned too far.
Gabriel did not move backward, even though the blood rain had begun, and even though several drops had already landed close enough that small splashes touched his boots.
He simply adjusted his stance and kept his greatsword ready, because he understood the problem better than most. The rain was not random weather. It was Dominic’s control, meaning if Gabriel retreated blindly, he would only force his people into tighter spaces and make them easier targets.
He glanced sideways once, just one glance, making sure Scarlet’s group was moving properly, then returned his attention to Dominic. Because to be frank, as long as Dominic stood untouched, the blood ring would keep feeding and the battlefield would keep shrinking.
Another scream rose from the eastern camp side, this time not from someone hit by bloodfire, but from someone realising what Dominic’s ring was doing behind the scenes.
Several soldiers who had been only lightly wounded, men who thought they were safe because they were not in the impact zone, suddenly grabbed their chests and dropped to their knees as blood seeped out of their mouths and noses. Their skin lost colour almost instantly.
The blood did not pool where they fell. It lifted as a stream and shot upward toward the ring, making it obvious what was happening. Dominic was pulling fuel not only from the ground, but from living bodies still capable of fear.
The sight broke something inside the eastern camp and Broken Dawn survivors, because it confirmed the worst truth. Dominic was not simply attacking the enemy. He was harvesting the field.
"No... no no no, Lord Dominic, I am on your side!" one soldier screamed while crawling backward, but his voice faded into choking as his eyes rolled and his limbs stopped responding.
His blood rose anyway, and the ring above pulsed brighter for a moment, as if satisfied.
Some soldiers threw down their weapons and tried to run toward the inner camp, but the blood rain punished straight lines. Several drops fell in their path, forcing them to detour into rubble where they tripped, and the ones who fell did not always get up.
IceQueen watched from the edge of the building with the remaining officials, and her expression turned ugly, because she finally understood why Dominic had been able to climb so high. It was not only strength. It was the willingness to pay any price, as long as the bill was written in other people’s lives.
She clenched her teeth and glanced at the officers near her, and she saw the same fear and betrayal written on their faces, but nobody dared to shout at Dominic, because anyone who drew his attention could become the next "little sacrifice."
She hated that feeling, because it reminded her how powerless she had been when she first entered this world. It reminded her a lot of Broken Heaven, how he had made her helpless and weak every time they encountered each other.
Thinking about Broken Heaven, an intrusive thought suddenly surfaced.
’Maybe, just maybe... he could finally get rid of this pest.’