I, Wang Ha, the Three Red Unparalleled Assassin

Scáthach was focused on maintaining her magic spear, while the Mountain Elder and Demiurge were simply following along.

Even when he heard that the secret was to be fully revealed, a faint red light appeared in the old man's eyes, and a gray-black death aura slowly covered and wrapped around the pitch-black sword blade.

Holmes didn't mind his companions' lack of respect, but he began to reminisce about the days when he partnered with Watson, which were indeed a very pleasant time.

Seeing Leticia's inquisitive eyes and Dracula's anxious expression, Holmes finally began the final revelation.

"Before explaining the final mystery, I have a question to ask: are vampires really just vampires?"

Holmes's question came out of nowhere, leaving Leticia momentarily confused and unable to grasp its meaning.

If they're not vampires, then what are they?

However, Holmes didn't wait for anyone to ask or answer before launching into his own explanation, his expression unintentionally revealing a hint of world-weariness.

"Although in the original legends vampires were simply monsters, as time passed and the times developed, vampires were gradually given rationality and humanity in the stories that were passed down."

"In countless literary works, vampires also have emotions, joys, sorrows, and the pain of life and death. Although their concepts of good and evil are very different from those of humans, they have undoubtedly become intelligent beings."

Holmes's words are as enigmatic as ever. To put it simply, what he describes is the changing image of vampires in people's minds, but that alone is not enough to meet the original conditions of the legend.

After reaching the peak of tension, Dracula couldn't help but relax. Although he was indeed unwilling, every organizer of the Gift Game was mentally prepared to be defeated.

He stood there, motionless, staring at Holmes, waiting for his next brilliant remark.

Why has the image of vampires changed so much? I believe it's not just due to the creation of writers, but also influenced by social factors. The life of a vampire is actually a true reflection of marginalized groups.

"Human cruelty, human sin, isolated humans, discriminated against humans. It is precisely because of the inability to face these flaws and the banishment of them into the dark and terrifying inhuman realm that the legend of vampires was born."

"This is the final piece of the puzzle to reveal the original truth about vampires."

As soon as Holmes finished speaking, Dracula's applause rang out, accompanied by a strange expression that was hard to describe.

It was a mixture of regret and relief, sadness and joy, which seemed particularly contradictory.

"Although it was beyond my expectations, I still want to congratulate everyone on solving the puzzle of this game."

"As Mr. Holmes said, the vampire legend is a very complex thing, which is why the vampire race, which is like a collection of contradictions, was born."

"And I myself, Dracula, am the embodiment of all vampire legends, a vampire king who embodies the world's fears, fantasies, and negative impressions of vampires!"

As the demon king Dracula proclaimed his will, the medieval town began to tremble violently.

Cracks appeared in the ground, and the houses collapsed with a crash. Now that the puzzle was over, the game area was useless.

In response to the unusual activity, Mary and Scáthach instantly used magic to create a defensive barrier that enveloped and protected everyone. Surprisingly, Dracula's aura was growing stronger and stronger.

"According to the original legend of vampires, this body is also the Plague Demon Lord who possesses the spirit of the Black Death that has taken the lives of tens of millions of people."

"At the same time, this body is also a misanthropic demon king who carries the resentment and curses of all those forgotten and abandoned by society."

The town disappeared, but the people did not leave the separate space where the Gift Game was held, while the demon king Dracula hovered in mid-air, flapping his bat wings.

The blood-red moon hung high in the night sky, its light casting an indescribable malevolence upon the pale face of the demon king Dracula, whose sharp, high-pitched voice resounded through the heavens.

"Although I failed to achieve my original goal of targeting Princess Leticia, after solving the mystery, my spiritual power and strength can finally be restored to their peak state!"

"I would like to thank you all again for your help."

A blood-red magical storm swept across the entire space with overwhelming force, mixed with magical winds formed from the Black Death virus, as well as curses and resentment full of malice.

The defensive barrier erected by Merry and Scáthach was so strained that it started to crack and pop, and they were unable to retaliate against the unleashed power of the Demon King Dracula.

"A four-digit breakthrough, a three-in-one breakthrough-level demon king! If we can't defeat him here, there's no one in this Little Garden who can stop us."

Leticia gripped her lance and muttered to herself, her crimson eyes gleaming with fearlessness and determination.

Although she is only twelve years old and her strength has just reached four digits, as a Garden Knight, Leticia will not be afraid to run away because of the strength of her opponent.

Demiurge noticed her determination, and while reaching out to embrace Leticia, he gently shook his head at the girl.

Then, he looked up at the direction of the demon king Dracula, his face showing an expectant and fanatical expression, and murmured:

"Miss Leticia, please be patient. That person is about to make a move."

Chapter Seventy-Three: The Assassination in Progress

Dracula unleashed his fully unleashed power, his overwhelming might destroying everything within the Graceful Playground.

This pre-designed game of grace is undoubtedly a series of traps. Even if the second condition in the game, "restoring the original legend of vampires," is met, Dracula can still flip the table and use his extraordinary strength to forcefully achieve the final victory.

In the world of miniature gardens, if you want to survive and live a carefree life, both courage and wisdom are indispensable.

A brute who only possesses strength but lacks strategy is easily outmaneuvered and killed, and may even die without knowing why.

Those who are merely clever but lack real strength are equally helpless when faced with a powerful individual who simply overturns the table.

Scáthach, who was constantly drawing runes with her hands, looked up at the figure that was faintly visible within the blood storm, and a fierce fighting spirit boiled in her crimson eyes.

After careful comparison, Scáthach has made a rough judgment on her own strength in the sandbox.

If she could open the gates of the Land of Shadows and drag the opponent into her own territory, she would be able to unleash a four-digit, exceptional level of combat power.

However, in her normal state within the Little Garden, Scáthach's regular power would not reach the exceptional level; at most, it would only be a power level slightly above four digits.

Meryl Streep is in a similar situation to Scáthach; playing in Avalon, she has also managed to break into the four-figure elite class.

Moreover, Meryl also possesses the Star Sword.

Although she was unable to completely break the thirteen seals due to various limitations, her attack power output was already at the top four-digit level.

Although Merry and Scáthach are not among the strongest of the many Servants in Type-Moon, they have a huge advantage that other Servants cannot match.

That is, everyone else is dead, but the two of them are still alive and kicking.

The heroic spirits whose overall strength is already fully formed can only become stronger by constantly honing their combat skills, but the living still have unlimited potential to become stronger.

"The evil thoughts that this body carries all originate from humanity itself, and should therefore be returned to humanity itself."

The demon king Dracula raised his hands high as if to embrace the entire sky or the world. His bloodless, pale face was twisted and ferocious with excitement, driven mad by the prospect of fulfilling his long-held mission.

"Here I will plead and question for the abandoned, and I will, as they desire, destroy this hopeless and unequal world!!"

"Using the spirit of the Black Death to unleash a massive new plague? That could indeed lead to the end of the world."

Holmes, standing calmly within the defensive barrier, took a few puffs of his pipe and muttered to himself. Suddenly, a bright glint flashed in his eyes.

The great detective, capable of seeing through disguises to discern the hidden essence of things, slightly tilted his head, as if he had sensed something beforehand, and whispered:

"coming!"

The old man of the mountain stood steadily amidst the raging, tearing storm, seemingly oblivious to the scene, as boundless ghostly fire burned and spread across the land.

He looked up in the direction of Dracula and slowly raised the unremarkable, jet-black greatsword in his hand.

The next moment, a massive sword aura emitting a dark blue light pierced through the blood-black storm, soaring into the sky and connecting heaven and earth.

A fleeting sword light slashed through the air, cleaving the raging storm, which was filled with negative elements such as curses, resentment, and viruses, in two with unstoppable force, and the storm vanished into thin air.

The storm, now free from Dracula's control, quickly dissipated in the air. Before the commotion had completely subsided, the figure of the Old Man of the Mountain, sword raised high, appeared behind Dracula.

As if sensing something, Dracula turned his head to look back, only to be met with a heavy two-handed sword slashing down on him, its blade wreathed in billowing, dark blue flames.

"What...what time is this?!"

Since the evening bell had not yet been heard, the greatsword that the old man of the mountain had slashed down had changed from a blade to a flat blade, but Dracula did not gain any advantage from this.

"Give me a push from behind." (Grandpa's battle voice line in FGO)

Before Dracula could react, the blade of the Mountain Elder's Greatsword slammed into his face like a baseball, slamming him down from the sky.

The Mountain Elder's terrifying strength was transmitted to Dracula through the greatsword, making him completely unable to resist.

Its body, moving at a speed that could rub against the air and create sparks and hissing sounds, crashed into the earth like a meteor, stirring up a dull thud and billowing dust.

The ghostly fire flickered, and the Old Man of the Mountain followed closely behind.

A heavy shield appeared in his hand at some unknown time, and he slammed it down on the spot where Dracula had fallen to the ground.

"Bam—!"

Having lost the initiative, Dracula transformed into a swarm of bats and scattered to avoid the shield bash, but the Old Man of the Mountain did not hold back this time as he had the previous two times.

The greatsword, wielded with the blue-white light of hellfire, unleashed a torrent of sword energy that cleaved through a dozen bats in mid-air.

"Whoosh..."

Dracula, who had emerged from the confluence of bats, spat out a mouthful of blood. He had several deep wounds that exposed bone, but they healed completely within a few breaths at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Is it the legendary super-regenerative ability of vampires? Or is it the so-called legend of immortality?"

The old man of the mountain muttered something, his eyes flashing with a crimson light as he stared at Dracula. A burst of hellfire suddenly erupted beneath his feet, like a demonic hand reaching out from the underworld to grab and entangle Dracula.

"A four-figure breakthrough like mine? Tsk, why did such a troublesome guy suddenly appear?"

Dracula escaped the searing flames with a series of quick steps, his withered body darting about, moving at supersonic speeds left and right across the ground.

Just as the old man of the mountain was about to continue his assassination, a metal cabinet of the same height as him suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him, looming over him like a hungry beast leaping out of the night.

On top of the cabinet was a metal sculpture of a young girl's bust, the expression on the sculpture's face seemingly distorted and torn by pain and despair.

The two open cabinet doors, made of hinges, numerous nails, and a canopy, are tall enough to encircle a person.

This is the instrument of torture manifested by Dracula, who possesses numerous vampire legends, and is known as the 'Iron Maiden,' which has tortured countless innocent girls in the hands of the Bloody Countess.

After glancing at the sharp blades and nails rushing towards him from the Iron Maiden, the Old Man of the Mountain immediately understood what had happened to the human legion that had been massacred earlier.

The death caused by excessive bleeding after being pierced through the wrists, thighs, chest, and abdomen was indeed caused by the Iron Maiden.

The old man of the mountain raised his shield and pushed aside the Iron Maiden who was rushing towards him. With a swing of his greatsword, he cut her into countless fragments, without slowing down his pace in the slightest.

Dracula never intended to use this to stop the Old Man of the Mountain. With a wave of his hand, he unearthed countless densely packed piercing wooden stakes from the ground, hoping to buy more time by materializing the legend of the Piercing King.

"Rings encircle roses, pockets are full of herbs, ashes, ashes, we will all turn to dust."

The songs sung during the Black Death resounded from Dracula's mouth, and for a moment the domineering demon king wore a pious expression, almost like a prayer.

A black, ominous wind of death swirled around Dracula, heralding the arrival of the terrifying Grim Reaper who had wiped out two-thirds of Europe's population.

Disease has been one of the greatest problems plaguing humankind since ancient times, or rather, it is a problem that plagues all living things.

And plagues, like ghosts, are a nightmare that humanity cannot shake off.

Whether it's smallpox, the Black Death, or any other documented plague in human history, the destruction they caused was unprecedented, and the total number of people killed was in the hundreds of millions.

This is why Dracula, who possesses the Black Death spirit, can stand at the four-figure level. Even though his existence cannot harm the planet itself, it can destroy humanity.