Chapter 506: Sanguis Ad Sanguinem...
There was a hint of surprise in his voice, as if he had not expected her to be so efficient.
"Surely not, Benjamin," Heka shrugged his compliment with a smile, her voice warm and affectionate. "humans are easy to hurt, and likewise easy to fix."
Her words were simple and matter-of-fact, but there were some depth of wisdom behind them.
"Huh? But Amazons are easy to fix as well," Benjamin tilted his head, his brow furrowing with confusion.
"Not all Amazons, Benjamin. Take it from me: you’re not normal." Heka giggled.
In another few minutes, Eric and the group arrived. Their feet hitting against the grass as they closed the distance, their faces flushed with exertion and concern.
"Benjamin, are you okay?!" Eric bellowed, casting a glance at the poor... violently treated wyvern at the side.
His voice was strained, his crystal green eyes wide with shock as he took in the scene before him. The beast’s upper jaw was torn clean off, its body lying in a pool of dark blood.
"You sure you shouldn’t be asking the monster that?" Benjamin chuckled, as he realized Eric’s gaze looked like he was feeling pity for the beast.
The Adventurers recognized the woman who was saved by Benjamin and Heka as a receptionist called Lena at the adventurers guild, but also an adventurer herself.
They gathered around her, offering words of comfort and reassurance, their hands patting her shoulders and backs. She was still trembling a bit, her face pale and tear-streaked, but she was alive, and that was what mattered.
She told them that she was addressing a matter near the gate, before the dragons seemed to start falling out from nowhere.
Her voice was shaky, barely above a whisper, and she kept glancing at the dead wyvern as if she expected it to rise again at any moment.
The group comforted her when she began to weep on reason of her incompetence, but Benjamin added:
"No, even if you had fought and died, it’d be for naught. Their numbers are unreal, and it’s human instincts to run from danger. More importantly, Eric," he turned to face the elf seriously, his expression shifting from playful to grim. "About 58 people have been killed already. This seems to be an Adventurer City naturally packed with adventurers. So the dragons are very engaged and haven’t eaten any civilians so far."
His voice was flat and a little cold, as if he were reciting facts from a report rather than describing a tragedy unfolding in real time.
Eric clenched his fists and looked up to Benjamin with pleading eyes, his body trembling with barely suppressed emotion.
His crystal green eyes were wet with unshed tears, and his voice cracked as he spoke.
"Please, Benjamin," he began softly, "I love this city as if it were my own. There are families in there as well... If you had the power to save them, I pray you would. I will pay any amount!"
His words were desperate, a plea from the heart, and they struck a chord deep within Benjamin. He had been planning to help anyway, had been preparing to intervene, but the promise of payment was an unexpected bonus.
As if he didn’t have enough money to feed a family for a few years, and probably because he was usually broke as an earthling, his ears had twitched at the sound of "payment."
His eyes lit up, and a slow smile spread across his face.
"Heka, I want to try that." He rolled his sleeves and moved to the dead wyvern.
His movements were purposeful, determined, and there was a gleam in his eyes that spoke of overwhelming clarity and certainty.
He opened his palm and a pointy dagger made of pure gold, of which he immediately used to tear a wound unto his palm.
The blade was beautiful, gleaming in the afternoon light, and it cut through his skin with surgical precision and no resistance. Blood welled up from the wound, crimson and rich, and Benjamin watched it flow with a detached look.
"Oohhh! You mean THAT?" Heka nodded, immediately tearing open the blood vessels of the beast for Benjamin, creating easy access to the wyvern’s circulatory system, as her hands moved with experience. "With your nigh-inexhaustible magic power, I think it’d be a success."
Her voice was filled with excitement and the thrill of discovery. She had seen this technique before, had studied it in ancient texts and learned of its potential. But she had only seen it performed a few times.
Benjamin took a look again at the city fighting so hard to survive, then he shoved his bloodied hand into the dead beast and began mumbling something softly.
His voice was low and nearly inaudible, and the words he spoke were old, ancient, a language that was no longer spoken in that day and age.
"Sanguis ad sanguinem... mors ad mortem... Quod uni datum est... omnibus auferatur."
Translation:
The words hung in the air, heavy with power, and for a moment, nothing happened. The silence stretched, broken only by the distant sounds of battle and the ragged breathing of the adventurers gathered around him.
"Ah, some wyverns are coming here! Could it be they realize Benjamin is doing something?!" Sophia yelled, pointing at the horde of dragons slithering from the gates of the city.
Her voice was high with alarm, and her hand flew to her staff, ready to cast a spell at a moment’s notice.
They all took formations around Benjamin, to protect him while he did whatever he was doing.
Eric drew his blade, Katana crouched low, Maria raised her fists, and Aria hefted her massive axe. They were ready to fight and die if necessary, to give Benjamin the time he needed to complete his ritual.
But all that wasn’t needed.
The wyverns all stopped moving abruptly, trembled for a second and all fell down... dead.
The sound of their bodies hitting the ground was a dull thud, a rhythmic percussion that seemed to echo across the field. One by one, they collapsed, their lives extinguished by a power they could not comprehend, neither resist.
Following that, the chaotic city’s noise soon reduced greatly, and real silence was born.
The screams and shouts faded away, replaced by a stillness that was more terrifying than the chaos had been. The adventurers looked around, their eyes wide with disbelief, struggling to process what had just happened.
"Haha! It worked like a damn charm since these guys are super weak!" Benjamin laughed, shaking his wrist to get the dark red blood out.
His voice was bright and cheerful, as if he had just completed a particularly satisfying chore. He flexed his hand, watching as the wound on his palm began to close, healing itself with unnatural speed.
The adventurers stared at him, their faces a mixture of awe and terror. They had just witnessed something impossible, something that defied all their understanding of magic and power.
Benjamin had killed an entire horde of wyverns with a single spell, had ended a battle that had been raging for minutes with nothing more than a few words and a bit of his own blood.