Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 1974 Prepared to Die

Everything had happened so fast.

One moment, Adam was talking to Genevieve about the mysteries of enchantment magic, and the next, a flash of light, and the world turned upside down.

When he came to, he gazed at the twilight sky with a dazed look in his eyes.

What?

Adam felt like his skin was being prickled with a thousand needles. That explosive spell had come out of nowhere. He had sensed its arrival, of course. But he had too little time to react.

Thankfully, Valerian had managed to escape to his spirit sea before the spell had arrived. And just in the nick of time, he had managed to push Genevieve away from the face of danger.

"What is wrong with you?!"

A wrathful voice echoed in the surroundings, pulling Adam out of his severe disorientation.

"You could have hurt her! Are you out of your damned mind?!"

The same voice spoke again, and it was full of unbridled fury.

And then came the response. It was a familiar voice, but Adam's unsteady mind took a few moments to register it.

"She's not harmed, is she?"

That voice… Adam frowned.

Where have I—

"Oh, looks like he's moving. That poison should have knocked him out cold. Hmph! I was right in being so wary!"

The sound of footsteps approached Adam, and he gritted his teeth and tried to rise to his feet. But his mind wouldn't listen. He blinked several times, yet everything in his vision appeared in twos and threes.

"Damn… it," he growled.

Right at that moment, the sound of footsteps had arrived beside him. A solid kick to his ribs made Adam grimace, and he saw the sky again.

Then a pale face with crimson eyes appeared in his vision. The vampire smiled as he looked down upon Adam.

"You didn't expect this, did you?" Dorian flashed a cruel grin.

He raised his boot and then…

Bam!

Blood gushed out of Adam's nostrils. He had tried to raise his hands for defense, but everything moved so slowly.

He said poison? he thought in alarm.

What kind of poison is this? Did he infuse it in the explosion earlier?

I must—

His thoughts were interrupted by Dorian.

"Hmm?" The vampire frowned. "Your face didn't cave in? You're one sturdy bastard!"

With that, he raised his foot again, and then—

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Adam's nose finally shattered and his face caved in.

Dorian let out a hearty laugh. He crouched down beside Adam and spoke with venom in his crimson eyes:

"It's called the Nerve-Severing Toxin. This poison doesn't simply weaken the body; it numbs the nervous system itself, severing the connection between thought and movement. Your body will simply refuse to obey you. The fact that you're even conscious is astonishing—"

His monologue was unceremoniously interrupted by the other vampire—the one chosen to lead this mission.

The vampire grabbed Dorian by the collar and yanked him to his feet. He hissed furiously, "How dare you?! You could have killed the girl! Do you have any idea the importance His Majesty has placed on this human? To think you'd use poison so wantonly! Are you fucking—"

Dorian interrupted him in a cold voice, "You have no idea what would have happened if you had let this man cast even a single spell. I've fought him before, so I know how dangerous he is. You should be thanking me instead."

"Thanking you?!" the other vampire roared. "I should fucking kill you for your transgression!"

"The poison isn't life-threatening," Dorian argued. "All it does is make the body unresponsive to the mind. Besides, the effects will wear off soon…"

While the vampires quarreled among themselves, Adam desperately tried to regain control of his body.

From the bits and pieces of information he had gleaned from Dorian, he learned that the poison affected the nervous system, and that the effects would wear off soon. That alone gave him a lot of room to work with.

Pushing aside the shock of seeing Dorian again and the trepidation of not knowing what the vampire king had planned for Genevieve, Adam first willed the Lotus to clear his mind.

Next, he expended mana to deal with the poison in his body.

His body was capable of dealing with virtually any foreign or harmful substance on its own. To expedite the process, all he had to do was accelerate the regenerative properties of his blood and actively purge the poison from his system.

The fact that the poison had managed to affect him to such an extent spoke volumes about its potency. After all, ordinary poisons could barely affect him at all.

The vampires must have sensed the sudden mana fluctuations, as the moment Adam tried to flush the poison from his system, both of them turned toward him.

"You see what I was talking about?" Dorian muttered coldly. "He can still mold mana in his current state."

He turned back to the other vampire and said solemnly, "Go tie that woman. She's knocked out cold from the poison."

He hesitated briefly before continuing, "I'll deal with any repercussions when we return to the court."

The other vampire looked at him deeply. "Vengeance has blinded you, Dorian."

With that said, he walked toward the unconscious Genevieve. In the distance, three wolves growled menacingly at him. But a simple glare forced the beasts to flee with their tails tucked between their legs.

Dorian glanced at the vampire's back with a sneer.

Vengeance has blinded me? Fool! I'm prepared to die as long as I have avenged my brother!

He walked toward Adam, his claws swirling with dark mana. Initially, he had planned to take his time torturing the human. He hadn't expected him to deal with the poison so quickly.

"Oh, well." Dorian's lips curled into a vicious smile. "As long as you're dead, it doesn't matter how you die."

Just to be sure, he cast a spell on Adam. The shadows around his body stirred before twisting into umbral chains that tightly pinned him to the ground.

Only then did Dorian loom over Adam. He raised his hands high, his nails elongating ominously. His face twisted into an expression of savage delight as he brought his hands crashing down.

"Die!"

Adam's eyes trembled in horror.

He wasn't afraid to die.

No.

In his mind, he roared:

VAL, NO!!!

For the first time, his little brother did not listen to him…

A flash of grey light tore through the clearing.