I Didn't know it would be this much

“Death Scythe?”

A weapon with a pretty cool-sounding name came out.

Mid-grade Blood raised my level by 1, and High-grade Blood raised it by 3.

But upon consuming the Top-grade Blood, instead of leveling up, I acquired an item.

I immediately opened my Inventory to check the information of the newly acquired item.

[Divine Artifact: Death Scythe (EX)]

The divine artifact of the Monarch of blood takes the form of something that reaps life.

- Life Harvest (Active): Swinging it with the user’s intent consumes blood power, and its power increases in proportion to the blood power consumed. When an enemy is defeated, it automatically absorbs the target’s blood.

- 24-hour Cooldown

'Whoa, it’s eX-rank!'

An eX-rank item, exactly the same as my Class Rank.

Basically, its power increased based on the blood power consumed, and it had the ability to obtain blood if I killed an enemy with it.

But why is the Cooldown 24 Hours long?

Even the S-rank Item [Book of the Dead] only has a 10-minute Cooldown.

Does that mean its power is just that immense?

I carefully took it out of my Inventory.

What I held in my hands was a pitch-black scythe, much larger than my own height.

Befitting the name Death Scythe, the blade was incredibly long and sharp, like a Grim Reaper’s scythe.

A weapon that looked incredibly cool and strong.

But.

There was one problem.

'H-heavy…!'

It was too heavy.

It wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t lift it at all, but it was so heavy I could barely support it while groaning.

A weight far too harsh for this wretched, trashy body with Strength 3.

Holding something like this and swinging it around to fight myself seemed absolutely impossible.

'Wouldn’t it be better to just hand it to Katarina or si-yeon and tell them to use it?'

It’s meaningless if I can’t use it, no matter if it’s my weapon.

Just then, the subordinates defeated their respective opponents and finished their training.

I approached the Retainers, dragging the heavy blade along the floor.

Heave, ho…

Ugh, my arms hurt!

“Everyone, come here.”

I decided to just call them over.

The Three Retainers gathered by my side with curious eyes.

“Liege Lord, did you call for us?”

“I am here, Master.”

“Huh? What’s that, Master? A new weapon?”

“Indeed.”

I gave a light nod to Riri’s question, then held the scythe out toward Katarina.

“Katarina, try lifting this.”

“Yes, Liege Lord.”

I handed the Death Scythe to Katarina.

Naturally, I thought someone of Katarina’s caliber, the absolute peak of martial prowess, would be able to lift a scythe like this with ease.

It was something even I could lift.

Wouldn’t Katarina handle it like a feather?

But the very moment the scythe left my hands completely,

“Ugh?!”

Katarina immediately dropped to one knee and collapsed to the floor.

THUD-!

The Giant Scythe slipped from her hands and fell to the Training Ground floor with a loud crash.

'Huh?'

“A-apologies! Liege Lord. I will pick it up immediately!”

With a face full of obvious panic, Katarina gripped the handle of the fallen scythe and applied Force.

But the scythe didn’t budge an inch, as if it had taken root in the floor.

“Keuk…!”

The Death Scythe remained motionless even though Katarina was pouring her full strength into it.

“Liege Lord. I am deeply sorry.”

Eventually, after a moment, Katarina bit her lip and spoke.

“This Servant’s skills are so shallow that even lifting the Liege Lord’s armament is too much for me.”

“…”

What in the World was going on?

I blinked my eyes.

I subsequently had si-yeon and Riri try it as well, but the results were the same.

“Ugh…!”

“Nngh, it’s so heavy!”

Si-yeon staggered and dropped it the moment she received the scythe, and Riri groaned and tugged at the fallen scythe, but it didn’t move a single millimeter.

It was a truly strange occurrence.

Even though it was heavy, I was fully capable of lifting it.

'It obviously isn’t because they lack strength.'

There was probably some Special Condition attached to it.

Like an exclusive weapon that only the Lord of Blood themself could wield.

Whatever it was, the plan to hand it over to the Retainers seemed impossible.

“It is fine. It is an item that originally only this True Ancestor can wield, so do not be too disheartened.”

“As expected, is that how it is…?”

Upon my consolation, Katarina finally let out a sigh of relief and looked at me with eyes full of awe.

Si-yeon and Riri also nodded their heads.

“For now, you all have worked hard training. Let us have some snacks for a moment and then resume.”

I closed the Training Ground and brought the Retainers out to the living room.

For the kids who had worked hard, I decided to feed them plenty of fresh congealed blood, as well as desserts like sweet macarons and cakes.

Both my Retainers and I instinctively avoided food containing garlic, perhaps due to our Vampire racial traits.

Because of that, when eating regular food aside from blood, we naturally sought out sweet things.

Since desserts usually don’t contain garlic,

Above all, ever since I became this body, the most delicious things next to blood were sweet desserts.

I had been eating so many sweets lately that I was slightly worried I might catch diabetes.

Hmm, can a Vampire even get diabetes?

Anyway, everyone pounced on the snacks.

“So good!”

“Riri. What kind of disgraceful behavior is this in front of the Liege Lord? Eat slowly.”

Riri, who was munching away with crumbs all over her mouth, and Katarina, whose own hands had subtly sped up even as she scolded Riri.

And si-yeon, who was quietly eating with her cheeks puffed out.

Perhaps because they were eating right after training, seeing them all eat so deliciously was quite a pleasant sight.

The break time ended.

“Liege Lord. Would it be all right to resume training?”

Katarina was the first to stand up with eyes full of resolve.

“Master, I would also like to resume. I still feel I am lacking.”

Si-yeon chimed in as well.

“Me too, me too! Riri wants to do more too!”

Even Riri shouted, raising her hand high.

“Oh. As expected of my kids.”

They’re very enthusiastic.

It was worth spending the huge sum of 3,000,000 gold to build the Training Ground for them.

I readily nodded and opened the portal again.

As soon as we entered the Training Ground, I summoned our respective training opponents just like before.

For Riri, a Low-grade Monster Group.

For si-yeon, two Dark Oculus.

For Katarina, the S-rank Vampire Lachesis.

The loud noises of battle began to echo from all directions once again.

And as for me.

'…I’m the only one with nothing to do again.'

Inside this white space, the Wi-Fi didn’t even connect, so I couldn’t even look at my phone.

While standing blankly and watching the Retainers fight, I suddenly had a thought.

'Everyone is working so hard. Shouldn’t I do something too?'

The Death Scythe.

If it were a weapon that only I could use anyway, it seemed like a good idea to try using it at least once.

I probably wouldn’t have to step into battle myself in most situations, but.

At the very least, I could treat it like practicing self-defense to protect my own body.

Having made up my mind, I brought up the Control Window and summoned a target in front of me.

I had seen a single goblin in the C-rank Gate.

Vwoom - .

A green-skinned goblin revealed its hideous appearance right before my eyes.

“Grrrk!”

'Eek…!'

Seeing it up close, holding a crude knife in its hand, I found it much scarier than I thought.

It’s a real relief that I awakened with the Summoner Class; if it had been a class that required close combat, I might not have been able to do Hunter work out of fear.

It was scary, but… it was still fine.

As long as I didn’t give the attack order first, it was just a scarecrow standing still.

I took a deep breath, struggling to calm my pounding heart.

I recalled the usage instructions for the Death Scythe.

“It said to swing it with intent.”

Intent, huh.

Roughly something like killing the enemy, reaping their lives.

Should I just think about something like that?

'I’m going to kill you!'

I glared fiercely at the goblin in front of me and imagined killing it.

However, for an ordinary modern person to harbor murderous intent was surprisingly not an easy task.

'It’s not working well…'

In that case, what if I thought of something incredibly infuriating?

Something immediately came to mind.

“That Ranged Dealer who trolled in my promotion match last time…!”

That guy who intentionally fed into Enemy Lines and mocked me relentlessly in the chat.

I swore at him and ended up being the only one to get a 1-week Chat Suspension.

I remembered barely holding myself back then from telling the Association President to use Tracking on that guy’s IP and having Katarina and si-yeon go over and teach him a lesson.

The moment I recalled that unfair memory, my head grew hot and anger began to boil up from the pit of my stomach.

Ah - .

Is this [Murderous intent]?

Good. Now’s the time.

With the maximum strength I can muster…!

“[Life Harvest]!!”

I shouted the Skill name in my mind and swung the scythe with all my might.

My intention was to coolly swing it like in an anime and slice off the goblin’s neck.

But reality was different from my thoughts.

Rather than my swinging the scythe, it was more like the scythe swung me.

Whoosh - !

'Whoa?!'

Unable to overcome the weight of the scythe, my body spun around in a full circle like a top along with the weapon.

Far from reaching the goblin, I had just completely whiffed in place, on my own.

“This is so embarrassing…!”

It was a legendary slapstick moment.

The kids probably didn’t see it because they were training, right?

Ugh. I really hope they didn’t see it.

Just as my face was burning with shame.

The condition of the goblin standing in front of me became strange.

'Huh?'

Shaaaa - !

Something like pure white smoke began to be sucked straight out of the goblin’s eyes, nose, and mouth.

Soon, its body shriveled up like a mummy drained of all its moisture in an instant.

With a crumbling sound, it turned into a handful of ash and scattered into the air.

The white smoke that had been drawn out flowed right into my body.

“I-is this Life Harvest…?!”

Since it was an opponent manifested as an Illusion, I didn’t absorb real blood, but I could definitely understand roughly what the mechanism was.

To think, it was a weapon that sucked out life Force just by swinging it nearby without even making direct contact.

I had swung it ungracefully, but the result was substantial.

[Blood power: 0/190]

It was worth using all my blood power.

'Oh. If it’s at this level.'

With this, even a scrub like me could become a sufficiently threatening existence, couldn’t I?

To the point where it could instantly kill a goblin even when swung by someone with a measly Strength 3, it wasn’t an eX-rank item for nothing.

I nodded my head in immense satisfaction.

But at that moment.

I felt a strange sense of incongruity.

'Hm?'

It was because the loud noises of battle that had been echoing from all directions had become dead silent.

What is it? Did the Retainers finish their training too?

I looked around with a puzzled mind.

And then.

'…?!'

My eyes widened and I froze in place.

Riri was facing the Low-grade Monster Group.

Si-yeon was dodging and attacking the two Dark Oculus.

The Illusion of the S-rank Vampire Lachesis, who had been clashing evenly with Katarina, was also there.

Crumble…

All of those enemies.

They were crumbling into dust, exactly like the goblin from just a moment ago.