Barrett: "..."
Then Barrett stepped to the left, and Franco followed suit with a step left. Barrett stepped right, and Franco immediately mirrored him to the right.
"As a man, don't be such a coward," Barrett said helplessly.
"As a man, there are still so many babes I haven't won over—how could I die here?" Franco gripped his wand, speaking with total conviction. "Besides, aren't warriors supposed to protect mages?"
Battle erupted! In the circular hall, fifty or sixty bloodthirsty fiends charged at blinding speed, their powerful muscled legs launching them like cannonballs straight at EeDechi and her two companions.
More than a dozen bloodthirsty fiends opened their mouths and spat out barrages of bone spikes. The pale white spikes flew faster than arrows, reaching EeDechi in a flash.
EeDechi let out a cold snort, her giant sword slashing like the wind. She pushed off hard with her feet, her body exploding forward, smashing through the oncoming horde of bloodthirsty fiends. Her giant sword whipped into a tornado of strikes, reaping them like a scythe through grass, slaughtering the bloodthirsty fiends until they broke.
The once ferocious horde of bloodthirsty fiends crumbled in an instant. After losing dozens of their strongest fighters in a blink, the remaining stragglers—barely clinging to life—scattered in panic. But Barrett and Franco blocked the doors, cutting them down one by one.
A thick, bloody stench filled the air. EeDechi stepped over the bloodthirsty fiend corpses littering the ground and walked to the transparent pillar in the center of the hall.
The transparent pillar was a glass vessel holding half a jar of blood-red liquid. The transparent cylindrical glass vessel wasn't fragile; its surface was etched with countless incantations that had been permanently infused with strengthening magic. Otherwise, those dozens of bloodthirsty fiends from earlier would have broken it open long ago.
The blood-red liquid in the pillar shimmered with an alluring glow, as if it were still fresh and alive. It wasn't a gory crimson; overall, it was clear and pure, surprisingly giving off a vibrant, lively vibe.
Stacks of parchment covered the surrounding bookshelves. After studying them for a moment, Barrett realized they were something like experiment logs. He quickly finished reading them and discovered that the blood-red liquid in the transparent pillar was the blood of one of the ancient three Dragon Lords—the Dragon Progenitor!
Barrett read the text on a bronze plaque on the wall:
"Bathe your entire body in the blood of the Dragon Progenitor, or drink it down, to greatly boost your physical stats, multiplying your mental power, constitution, strength, agility, armor, magic resistance, endurance, hit point recovery, mana recovery, and so on and so forth.
"Remember, do not overdo it. Fifth-rank warriors should take one ounce per month, three times a day—morning, noon, and evening—after meals, not on an empty stomach. Fourth-rank warriors two ounces per month, third-rank three ounces, and so on..."
Barrett couldn't help but rub his hands together eagerly. This was the blood of the ancient Dragon Lord Dragon Progenitor, with such potent life force that it could be preserved for hundreds of years without spoiling.
According to the records on the parchment, the Eight Greed Kings had distributed the Dragon Progenitor's blood to their armies, letting them bathe in it and drink it to forge an ironclad elite force.
The Dragon Progenitor's blood had such powerful effects that Barrett really wanted to give it a try—he'd only ever bathed in the blood of a white dragon before.
Bathing in dragon blood to boost your strength wasn't some wild fantasy. Countless dragon slayers, after taking down an evil dragon, would chop off its head and hold it overhead, letting the blood drench their entire body.
In the heroic epic Song of the Black Dragon, sung by bards everywhere, Siegfried slays an ancient colossal dragon and bathes in its blood, becoming an immortal man with the toughest body around.
But because a leaf fell on his back during the bath, it left a fatal weak spot right under his shoulder blade. A male assassin, disguised as a young maiden, got close to Siegfried, and while they were banging, the assassin killed him.
"What a load of crap!" Barrett remembered how, in a tavern, some drunk had angrily grilled the bard: How could Siegfried possibly not spot the assassin?
The bard calmly explained that it was because Siegfried's kink was out of the ordinary—he was into backdoor action, not the front entrance...
Another drunk fired off, pissed: Siegfried was the mightiest dragon slayer—how could he die so pathetically from a sneak attack?
The bard explained again, cool as ever: It was because Siegfried had hit that post-nut clarity, all relaxed and drained, while the assassin gritted through a solid half-hour of ass-pounding pain, jacked up on adrenaline, with his hatred for Siegfried at full blast...
What am I even thinking about? Barrett pressed a hand to his forehead, banishing that butt-hurt tale from his mind.
"Open this glass jar—let's take a bath in the Dragon Progenitor's blood!" EeDechi clenched her fist. She knew the dragon blood wouldn't do much for her, but it should be a huge boost for Barrett and Franco.
Franco waved the tip of his wand over the glass wall for a while, finally dispelling the binding incantations. On the pillar's glass surface, a section of glass began to melt and twist, forming a transparent faucet.
Barrett pulled out three large buckets, filled them with the Dragon Progenitor's blood, then hooked up a hose to the faucet. He and Franco stripped naked and took a dragon blood bath right there on the spot.
After the blood bath, Barrett felt incredibly energized, his muscles brimming with power, as if endless energy surged through his whole body. His skin was tough as iron, and his senses—perception, sight, hearing, smell—had sharpened dramatically.
He knew his strength had jumped up a notch.
Franco, buck naked and dripping with dragon blood, bounced around excitedly, yelling, "I used to handle ten chicks a night—now I can do twenty, hahahahaha!"
EeDechi lunged forward and kicked him square in his bare ass. Franco slammed into the wall, leaving a human-shaped dent, but he bounced back like nothing happened. Looked like his toughness had gotten a serious upgrade.
EeDechi tried washing her hair with the dragon blood, but it had zero effect, so she gave up. The Dragon Progenitor's power might not even match hers, so bathing in the blood was useless for her.
Barrett grabbed some water skins and filled them with several big loads of the Dragon Progenitor's blood, stashing them in his spatial ring. He planned to sip it now and then on the road. Even if he didn't finish it, he could sell it on the black market—plenty of warriors would flock to buy dragon blood like that.
The trio looted the place some more, turning up a few valuable trinkets and a bag of ancient gold coins. Then they pushed deeper into the underground ruins, finding the exit at the far end.
They emerged onto the surface at nightfall and found a sheltered spot near the ruins. The three set up camp right there, ready to bunk down for the night.