The Hero and the Vampire(2)

What kind of race are vampires?

The vampire clan was one of the legendary races that greatly helped in rescuing America during the Gate Rampage incident that occurred worldwide.

If Korea has goblins and China has jiangshi, then in America, vampires are called the legendary race.

And the genetic mana stone of this vampire clan was the only rival that competed for 1st and 2nd place in the world with the goblin clan’s mana stone.

Of course, the fact that the General Management Team’s genetic mana stone is that of the goblin clan is unknown to most people, so only a few know the perfect truth, but in any case, the vampire clan’s genetic mana stone boasted overwhelming power that was difficult to distinguish in superiority from the goblin clan’s genetic mana stone.

In other words, to put it simply, the vampire clan is one of the strongest races in the current world that can be counted on one hand along with the goblin clan.

“…This is the information about the vampire clan that I can explain to you at present.”

And after hearing such a story from Seo-hyun’s mouth, I couldn’t hide my rising interest and twitched the corners of my mouth.

“That sounds interesting? Saying that really makes me want to compare our strengths, doesn’t it?”

To think there’s a race strong enough for others to evaluate as being on par with the goblin clan.

Moreover, since the vampire clan was said to be the race I had been competing with continuously since Yeon-ah and the other kids, I couldn’t help but be interested.

So I was about to ask Seo-hyun if I could go down and fight that fellow myself, but before I could bring it up, Seo-hyun bowed her head to me and said:

“I’m sorry, but Lady Shin-yeon must not fight directly.”

“What? Why?”

“There are several reasons… First, as you can see now, the ground is full of monsters. If you use even a little mana, not only will all the monsters rush at you, Lady Shin-yeon, but additional monsters will gather from the surroundings.”

Seo-hyun pointed at the monsters densely gathered on the street below the vampire on the ground and said so.

Seo-hyun emphasized to me that if I were to fight, I would have to fight her using only pure physical force.

Then Seo-hyun moved her finger to the vampire woman and continued speaking with slightly angry eyes.

“Next, Evelyn, the exclusive hunter of the American Full Jurisdiction Team and S-class 3rd ranked hunter. As she is under the vampire clan and is so brazenly committing illegal acts on our Korean soil, her disposition must be decided according to my discretion as the team leader of the Punishment Team.”

“Then what is that disposition?”

“Immediate execution on the spot. Despite having previous warnings, she has committed another offense, so this time… there’s no choice but to kill her.”

A moment of hesitation flashed in Seo-hyun’s eyes as she spoke of killing.

However, a clear-eyed resolve shone brightly in her eyes afterward.

And at the sight of Seo-hyun holding her greatsword in her hand and declaring that she would kill the vampire on the ground, Evelyn, I had no choice but to sit back down.

After all, as Seo-hyun said, if I couldn’t use mana, I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy the fight with the vampire I was looking forward to, and what could I do about matters between defense cities?

I could insist on fighting if I wanted to, but rather than abandoning even my dignity as the Great Chief, I had a stronger desire to see Seo-hyun’s battle that I had been looking forward to since before departure.

So I sat back down.

And as I sat down, Seo-hyun raised her greatsword and spoke the third and final reason.

“Lastly…”

With a clank, Seo-hyun placed her greatsword on her shoulder and opened the bulkhead of the aircraft carrier.

“Since she attacked this aircraft carrier that the Ancestors are riding, it was inevitable that I should step forward.”

Immediately after, as soon as she finished speaking, Seo-hyun jumped out through the opened door.

The strong wind pulled her body down to the ground, and as Seo-hyun’s rapidly falling figure became a dot, the opened bulkhead closed again.

And honestly, I couldn’t help but be a little moved by Seo-hyun’s words, so Esi, Arashi, and I fixed our gazes on the screen showing the ground where Seo-hyun had jumped.

What we had to do was.

Only to watch her fight from here and hope for her victory.

---

Evelyn, the exclusive hunter of the Full Jurisdiction Team, S-class 3rd rank.

She was currently in quite a difficult situation.

“How did things end up like this…”

The order Evelyn received after illegally entering Korea was none other than to obtain mana stones from monsters.

As the Full Jurisdiction Team’s research recently became severely short on the required amount of mana stones, she, a trustworthy expert and exclusive hunter, was given the order to smuggle mana stones from another country.

And as already mentioned by the words ‘illegal entry’ and ‘smuggling’, this was naturally an illegal act.

Even though monsters endlessly emerge from Gates, arbitrarily killing monsters, which are resources of another country, and taking their mana stones was an action equivalent to provoking head-on the moment it was discovered.

“I had been doing well until now…”

But as befitting her status as the S-class 3rd ranked hunter, Evelyn had excellently sent Korean monster mana stones back to her home country, and thanks to that, she had been able to collect Korean mana stones without any problems so far.

…Yes, until now.

“Who would have known that such a thing would pass by…!”

However, now Evelyn could only express her resentment while looking at an aircraft carrier floating in the sky above her head.

The aircraft carrier that stopped after being hit by Evelyn’s flames that she had been shooting to attract monsters.

Only after the aircraft carrier’s stealth function was turned off when hit by the flames did Evelyn realize that an aircraft carrier was passing by there, and she sensed that she had gotten herself into big trouble.

Where did it all go wrong?

“I should have just gone back instead of gathering more…!”

She should have stopped when someone from the General Management Team of the Korean defense city came out, at that last moment.

Although she had narrowly avoided a crisis, it had been a situation where she was just about to be discovered.

But when the team leader of the Full Jurisdiction Team… when she contacted for an extension of work, Evelyn ultimately couldn’t refuse the order, and as she used magic to gather monsters more quickly, this situation arose.

However, regret comes too late no matter how quickly one does it.

Evelyn swallowed a curse as she saw a figure falling from the aircraft carrier that looked like a dot in the distance.

“…Damn it.”

Whoosh—–!!!

On the opposite side of Evelyn, who was flying through the air causing strong winds, a red-haired woman landed on the rooftop of a building.

At the sight of that all-too-familiar woman, Evelyn clenched her fist tightly.

“Team Leader Ahn Seo-hyun…”

“It’s been a while, Evelyn. I thought I wouldn’t see your face in Korea anymore after that last warning, but here we are.”

The automatic translation system of the paired device gently translated Ahn Seo-hyun’s words into Evelyn’s ears.

However, contrary to the gentle translation, Evelyn couldn’t hide the cold sweat flowing at the sharp content of the words.

‘Of all people…’

It was already unexpected that she had touched the aircraft carrier, but she couldn’t even imagine that the one coming out of that aircraft carrier would be Ahn Seo-hyun.

If it had been other team leaders from the Korean defense city, it might have been different, but to think that she of the Punishment Team would appear here.

In this current situation that could be called the worst of the worst, Evelyn narrowed her eyes.

She tried to search for an escape route, but a concealed mana barrier that had fallen from the aircraft carrier had long since blocked the surroundings.

‘If I only had time, I could break through…’

If she had enough time, breaking through the barrier and escaping wouldn’t be a problem, but Ahn Seo-hyun standing proudly in front of her was unlikely to allow that.

So it was literally a desperate situation.

But whether Evelyn was tense and sweating in the current situation or not, Seo-hyun, who was staring straight at Evelyn, glanced at the monsters on the street and said:

“We clearly gave your Full Jurisdiction Team a ‘final warning’ back then, and you, Evelyn, have now violated that warning.”

“…Hah! So…? Are you saying you’re going to kill me here?”

“That’s right. Under the name of the Punishment Team, I will execute you on the spot here.”

“Wai…?!”

A clear declaration to kill her.

At that declaration, the back of Evelyn’s neck stiffened.

In the worst case, she had been prepared to be captured by the Korean defense city, punished, and then cut off from being an exclusive hunter of the Full Jurisdiction Team.

But to think they would completely kill her here?

In a situation far worse than what she had anticipated, Evelyn shouted in bewilderment, but…

“W-wait! You’re saying you’ll kill me here? Are you ignoring our Full Jurisdiction Team’s Ancestor and Team Leader? The aftermath won’t be easy to deal with!”

“Well… at least this time, I’m not in a disadvantageous situation either.”

Despite Evelyn’s desperate cry, Seo-hyun only answered with a relaxed smile, without even the slightest hint of caution.

As Evelyn’s eyes trembled at that inexplicable composure, Seo-hyun pointed to the aircraft carrier in the sky.

And as Evelyn looked at the aircraft carrier following that finger, Seo-hyun let out a faint chuckle and said:

“Currently, there are exactly three people riding that aircraft carrier.”

“Th-three people…? What kind of crazy people would ride an aircraft carrier with just three…”

“Our Punishment Team’s Ancestor, the Judgment Team’s Ancestor, and the General Management Team’s Ancestor are on board.”

For a moment, an “Ah?” sound.

Evelyn’s voice flowed out without even a stutter, unable to understand.

Right after, Evelyn understood Seo-hyun’s words with a delayed reaction and hardened her expression, but reality doesn’t change just because of that.

Swoosh—

Seo-hyun’s greatsword was pointed at Evelyn with a chilling sound.

“And now that you know this fact, I hope you can die with at least a peaceful mind.”

Seo-hyun looked at Evelyn with unwavering eyes and uttered those words.

And in the next moment, the battle between the two, which had only been a standoff until now.

Finally began.