章 56: Regal Ascension

"Lucas, are you alright?"

Lucy inquired as she rushed directly to his side.

Gently raising his body from the ground, Lucas placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder for support as he stood up.

"I didn't expect you to grasp it so quickly."

He said in a feeble voice.

In response, Lucy gave him a proud look.

"You told me to use it in emergencies. I just didn't anticipate needing it so soon. Thankfully, I understood what you meant. You overestimated my comprehension skills."

"But you did manage to hit him, right?"

Lucas asked, his hand pressing against the reopened wound, feeling the warmth of the blood.

"System, allocate 4 points to vitality."

---

[Allocating 4 Stat Points to Vitality!]

---

"Lucy, help me search the area where that monster was standing. There might be something important there."

Lucy nodded and began to search, while Lucas sat against a bridge support, his body aching all over.

Luckily, the battle took place close to this bridge. He doubted any other humans would venture here. Even though they had eliminated some zombies, most of them still roamed the area.

Dragging the monster's lifeless body to a spot beneath the bridge, Lucas examined it closely. Despite the blood covering his body, walking wasn't an issue. The main concern was the scent of his blood attracting mutated fish, which could emerge at any moment.

The creature, resembling a new species of monster, appeared eerily human. Its deathly pale complexion might have led one to mistake it for an upgraded ghoul. But the elongated, sharp teeth hinted at its true nature.

"It seems this thing feeds on humans."

Removing the crown from the creature's head, Lucas found it oddly fused with its flesh, stubbornly remaining intact even as the monster fell from the impact of a bullet to its head.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, the monster's hand shot out, grasping Lucas's wrist and opening its eye, startling him as he attempted to remove the crown.

"Ah!"

Lucas let out a sharp cry, instinctively conjuring fireballs that he launched at the monster's head, a reaction born purely from shock.

"Bam!"

"That was a jump scare," Lucas muttered, pulling back with the crown as the top of the monster's head spewed forth green blood.

'What is this thing? A shot to the head doesn't even kill it completely.'

With the creature now deceased, Lucas shrugged off his concern and shifted his focus to the notification square in front of him.

---

[Level 2 Vampire Killed, Awarding 1000 Exp!]

[Received 100 Coins!]

---

"Whoa."

Lucas blinked weakly, gazing at the pale corpse lying beside him beneath the bridge. If not for the fact that it was a lifeless body, the scene might have appeared strangely romantic.

'A vampire...'

'They aren't even afraid of zombies...'

'I need to share this with Lucy.'

While the existence of dragons and phoenixes had already shocked him, he had no doubt that supernatural humanoids from fanfiction and mythology could also be real, at least in the present circumstances.

Gently cradling the crown in his hand, Lucas sensed a surge of power. As he grasped it, the pain from his reopened wounds and the torn flesh on his arm seemed to fade away.

'Incredible!'

---

[Initiating Transfer of Ownership!]

[Current owner: Lucas Tharla!]

---

"What is this, exactly?"

---

Achievement Cleared:

[Platinum] Retrieve One of the Artifacts Before Phase 2 Started. (Crown)

Rewards:

King Class Scroll [Heroic]

Growth Potion [Epic]

---

"I..."

"Huh?"

Those were the only words that escaped his lips as two objects materialized before him.

Taking out an appraisal magnifier from his inventory pouch, Lucas held it over the two items.

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Name: King Class Scroll

Rank: Heroic

Description: Command the authority of a king.

---

Name: Growth Potion

Rank: Epic

Description: Grants the consumer an additional 10 vitality stat points.

---

While one description was rather cryptic, Lucas managed to grasp their essence.

"Wow, an additional 10 points. I should give this to Lucy."

With his seemingly inexhaustible luck since the beginning of the apocalypse, he couldn't pass up an opportunity to share a boon with Lucy.

Stowing the items in his pouch, Lucas turned his attention to the crown, the so-called artifact tied to the achievement. Placing the magnifier over the crown, a string of words materialized.

---

Name: King's Crown (Artifact)

Rank: Heroic

Description: One of the artifacts from a fallen empire.

---

An empire comprised multiple kingdoms; the fact that he had acquired such a precious artifact was beyond his wildest imagination. Yet, he remained clueless about where this vampire might have acquired it.

An empire might consist of multiple kingdoms, but each kingdom could only have a single king.

'Could this have come from a museum? Where does this belong?'

Looking at the crown again, aside from the customary gold hue that stereotypical crowns possessed, this one appeared to be barely a year old. It seemed so pristine that if someone tried to sell it to Lucas, claiming it was from a fallen kingdom, he'd instantly consider it a scam.

However, a key detail sets this crown apart from what one would typically expect. Contrary to his country's ancient crown, the characteristics of this one looked completely distinct. Putting aside these thoughts, Lucas nonchalantly tossed the crown into his pouch, only for the pain to surge back immediately.

His blood continued to flow even while holding the crown, suggesting that despite its mysterious origin, it served no immediate purpose. Retrieving his dagger, he began to remove the clothing from the vampire's body. The material appeared to be high-quality leather, as evidenced by how it resisted his strength.

In fairness, zombie skin lay somewhere between soft and tough, so piercing through it wasn't overly difficult. "Ah… a male," he remarked, though it held little significance. Using his dagger, Lucas sliced open the vampire's abdomen and extracted a plastic bag from his pouch. Carefully, he placed the creature's heart into the bag and, in the process, also collected its sharp teeth.

As he neared the end of this grisly task, Lucas sensed a presence approaching. Turning his head, he found Lucy walking toward him with a smile, clutching an azure orb roughly the size of a baby's head. Her grin waned abruptly, replaced by a look of horror.

"I understand you were injured and facing danger, but I didn't think you'd resort to cannibalism," Lucy chastised, her face a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"No, Lucy, you misunderstand—" Lucas began, but Lucy continued before he could finish.

"Even if it's a monster, it still has a human appearance. I can't believe this, Lucas," she uttered, her expression reflecting a sense of betrayal and disappointment as she stood there.

Lucas sighed in resignation, displaying the teeth he had just removed. "I'm not joking. I'm not planning on consuming this creature. These are its teeth—notice how sharp and robust they are. I'm thinking of fashioning them into a weapon, a sort of small dagger."

Lucy appeared stunned at the idea of using the monster's teeth as makeshift weaponry.

"Are you serious? And what about its organ falling out?" Lucy pointed at the dislodged organ on the ground, then at the plastic bag containing a crimson object, tracing the trail of blood from the body.

"Do I need to explain?" Lucas retorted, sounding somewhat reluctant.

"Yes," Lucy insisted firmly. After all, who knew if some sort of cannibalistic contagion lurked within him after battling that monster?

"I only collected its heart. Since it claims to be a vampire, I thought its heart might hold value as a supernatural creature's organ," Lucas explained casually.

"You think so?" Lucy raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yeah... but let's not dwell on it. I kept it just in case. Anyway, Lucy, take this," Lucas said, tossing her the growth potion he had acquired from the reward.

"I received it as part of the achievement reward. You might need it more than I do. It grants a bonus of 10 vitality stats," he added.

Accepting the potion from his hand, Lucy raised an eyebrow, then promptly tossed it back to him. "I don't need it. You should keep it. I think someone who's bleeding all over the place could use it more."

Lucy held up the azure orb for him to see. It resembled the sea in its blueness and was perfectly spherical. Despite its appearance, Lucy held it as if it weighed nothing.

"Instead, I'll take this. It was guarded by several mutated fish when I found it floating on the water's surface."

"Are you sure? It grants 10 additional stats, you know?" Lucas inquired.

In response, Lucy flashed a grin and retorted, "Yeah, I think I got the better end of the deal. We followed that zombie for a reward, and they were probably searching for this orb, so it must be quite precious. It was initially hard to spot since it blended in with the water so well. Thankfully, my pet helped."

"That green thing?" Lucas asked.

"Lucas! That's rude. His name is Ruu."