The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion-Chapter 162: The Trial Of The Blood King - 1

Going deeper into the blood-infested land and forest, after about a dozen kilometers into this blood-red forest, he came into empty land with no trees or any sort of life except for blood, or what seemed like blood, covering the entire area.

At the center of this was what seemed like a housing for a tomb.

"What the hell? Is that blood or something else?" Damian asked as he sensed something vicious in this land of blood.

"Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the vampire progenitor passed away, and his body was entombed in this place along with his weapon in the hopes of leaving his body and his memories behind. But something weird started to happen in the following few years," Countess Lillian Brenlith began to explain.

This happened even before the great System started to take control over everything and every form of living being in the universe.

At that time, there were more noble vampires than plebeian vampires, and the population of noble vampires was in the billions.

Everything was going normally, then something happened.

No one knew exactly what transpired or where it occurred, but every being with high-level or superlevel senses in the universe somehow knew something big had happened.

That event was infamously known as the Beginning of the End.

It was the moment when the providence and karma of the entire universe suddenly disappeared without any reason.

Immediately, it began to affect every single being.

It started with every noble species of every single race rapidly losing their ability to procreate, as the rate of procreation hit a wall.

For some reason, whatever event took place on that fateful day known as the Beginning of the End, something else terrifying happened.

Beings with power to rival that of god-kings, known as progenitors, started to die or disappear one after another.

In the next two thousand years, every single progenitor in existence died off along with the providence they had over each of their races.

When this happened, one by one, the noble species of every race entered the path of extinction.

As a result, the providence of the universe began to die off slowly.

Even to this day, the providence hasn't finished dying, and if it keeps going, it could mean the end of the universe.

Just like the other progenitors, the vampire progenitor also died and was entombed here in this land, in this house of tomb, along with his weapon.

Being a noble vampire, the vampire progenitor's body should have started to rot and wither within a few minutes of death.

But it didn't.

Instead, even after losing its soul, the body stayed fresh as if it were still alive, and it continued to stay like that for the next two hundred years.

It somehow became sentient and started to absorb energy and vitality from the atmosphere and the world itself.

"How is that possible? How can a dead body become sentient and devour energy like that?" Damian asked, confused.

At the same time, he could feel it in the land, some sort of life, ancient and terrifyingly powerful.

"The ancient texts recorded that the vampire progenitor's blood is like the elixir of life. It could even make the most useless vampire into a genius. It's been said that the blood of the progenitor contains so much vitality that it could bring someone at death's door back to the peak of their life," Countess Amaya Kuroyami said.

"The progenitor of vampires also has another name," Countess Tiana Valthryne continued. "The Progenitor of All Bloods."

"Even without a soul in his vessel, his blood continued to course through his veins for hundreds of years. It absorbed energy from the atmosphere, from the very land he was entombed in, and eventually developed a consciousness of its own," Countess Kathryne Dracula added.

"This thing... it's not a vampire nor a monster. It's just the blood of the progenitor, without any kind of form or intelligence except for the single purpose to devour all things and everything that has life or energy it can reach," Countess Akira Kaminari continued.

"By doing so, it began to grow stronger and stronger until there was no more body of the progenitor remaining. There was only the blood of the Night King."

The more it grew, the stronger it became, until it became so powerful that even intelligent beings, plants, animals, and even vampires were consumed by it entirely.

And with each consumption, it grew even more.

"Thousands of years ago, the same barren wasteland we crossed through to get here used to be a great city where millions of vampires lived. But the blood of the Night King kept devouring everything and started to expand its reach."

"It reached the cities, and not just that, it grew so absurdly strong that even the territories surrounding its range were affected. This forced our ancestors to relocate to the other side of Nightingale, where the current five great cities are located," Countess Amaya Kuroyami said with a sigh.

"Why didn't your ancestors do anything about it? Why didn't they deal with it right then?" Damian asked.

He couldn't help but think that if the blood of the Night King kept growing stronger over time, they should have dealt with it when it was weaker all those years ago.

There had to be a reason they didn't.

"It's the blood of the progenitor of our vampire species. Even though it became something else entirely, it's still his blood. As vampires, we simply cannot go against its will. It doesn't have the ability to control us, but at the same time, we don't have the will or spirit to go against it either," Countess Akira Kaminari explained.

"But still, that didn't stop the ancient arrogant vampires from trying everything they had. About one-third of the noble vampires that ever lived went up against it, but they all ended up being devoured, consumed and disintegrated into nothing more than blood," Countess Amaya Kuroyami said before pointing her finger at the blood-covered land surrounding the tomb of the vampire progenitor.

"The land of blood you see was created not just from the blood of the Night King. It's the blood of the millions of noble vampires it consumed over the years," Countess Lillian Brenlith explained.

"After all these years, this entire area has become the territory of the Blood of the Night King. No one, not even noble vampires, can enter this place."

"Then how come we are here? Is it because of that rite or something you talked about?" Damian asked.

"Yes. The five vampire countess clans, the Valthryne clan, Kaminari clan, Brenlith clan, Kuroyami clan, and the Dracula clan, are the direct descendants of the vampire progenitor. We still have some of his influence left in our blood. The Blood of the Night King can sense it, and it lets us come near," Countess Tiana Valthryne replied.

"Why did it let me come here?" Damian asked.

"Is it because I gained the right to enter after you accepted your defeat earlier?"

"No. Gaining the right to come here is just a custom our ancestors created and we still follow to this day. The reason why it let you come here is probably because you also have the Brenlith clan's blood in you, which you somehow gained after becoming a noble vampire," Lillian Brenlith said, rubbing her chin.

"No, that's not it." Damian shook his head confidently.

"I only possess the essence that gives me access to the bloodline ability of the Brenlith clan. To put it simply, I'm the purest noble vampire there is. I'm a vampire purely because of noble vampire essence. I don't have the influence or the essence of your progenitor in me."

The countesses were shocked when they heard this. They didn't doubt him one bit.

"...If what the human king is saying is true, then we don't know why it's letting you come this far," Countess Kathryne Dracula said with a nervous expression.

"Maybe it's because you are the human progenitor. Maybe it can sense who you are. Maybe it knows that you don't possess the influence of our vampire progenitor, and it cannot exert its will on you like it does to us," Countess Tiana Valthryne muttered.

"Well, it's all very interesting and fun to learn. Now that I've learned what this is and what it means, tell me, what is the Trial of the Blood King?" Damian asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"The ancient text written on the wall of the vampire king's castle claims that the tomb of the vampire king is where the future of the vampire race lies. But no vampire is capable of going against the will of the Blood of the Night King, and not to mention, anyone who even comes near it would be devoured. Not even we, the countesses, can enter its territory," Countess Lillian Brenlith said with a dark expression.

"Question one: why do you keep calling it the Blood of the Night King?" Damian asked.

"The progenitors were beings of the night. Their blood is known as the Blood of the Night King. That's why, even though the vampire progenitor's blood gained sentience, we still call it the Blood of the Night King," Countess Akira Kaminari replied.

"Second question, you mentioned that the progenitor of vampires was entombed with his weapon. But I don't see any weapon. Where is it?"

"We don't know when or how it happened, but it disappeared, as if it was never there, about a month ago..." Countess Kathryne Dracula replied.

"It was a very powerful spear, tempered by the blood and death of hundreds of thousands of beings killed by the great progenitor of vampires himself. That spear once pierced the hearts of gods."

"Other than the vampire king, no one was ever able to make it submit, as the spear had a will of its own. Even touching the spear would give you nightmares for years."

"It was known as Recna, the Spear of Torment," Lillian Brenlith said, sighing.

"You mean this?" Damian said as the pendant around his neck glowed red for a few seconds before transforming into a pitch-black spear with blood-red accents, as if it had been rained down upon by blood, before landing in Damian's hand.

It released an aura no lesser than the presence exuded by the Blood of the Night King.

The countesses watched with shocked and dark expressions.

"How... how did you...? Why do you have this...?"

"Well, the System gave it to me as a reward," Damian grinned.

After a few seconds of letting the Countess comprehend that the human progenitor was the new master of the Spear of Torment, the spear transformed back into its pendant form around his neck.

"You still haven't answered what my role in any of this is," Damian said, narrowing his eyes slightly as he released a speck of his aura, getting the Countesses to focus on the matter at hand.

"Well, as we said earlier, no vampire has the ability to enter the tomb at the center where the future of the vampire race lies, or so it's believed. So until a vampire capable of reaching the tomb appears, the vampires cannot obtain their future," Lillian Brenlith continued.

"Like you said, you are a vampire of your own essence... We don't know if it's possible, but we, no, I, believe that you can somehow walk through the land poisoned with the blood of the Night King, reach the tomb, and obtain the future of the vampires," Lillian Brenlith said with a confident expression.