Ch.133Chapter 133 – Vampire (4)

To check the results of his training, Kwak Tae-woo was heading outside the castle with an excited heart. The martial technique demonstrated by Lord Frederick still lingered in his mind. He wanted to make it his own as quickly as possible.

‘I need to perfect it while the sensation is still faintly present in my fingertips. For tomorrow’s lesson too…’

The midnight hour, when the world was shrouded in darkness, was a time when demons roamed freely, but for Kwak Tae-woo, it meant more practice opponents. He calculated that if he went far beyond the east gate as usual, he could return around dawn. But today, something was different.

“…Fog?”

Kwak Tae-woo frowned. The streets were filled with a hazy night mist. Of course, it wasn’t a natural phenomenon, and Kwak Tae-woo had witnessed it before. He also knew the culprit behind it.

‘Duke August!’

Kwak Tae-woo’s face instantly contorted. The insolent man who had fled at the crucial moment when his mana circuit needed fixing. He had vowed to pulverize him if they ever met again.

The current phenomenon was identical to what he had encountered that day. The fishy smell of blood, fog that wouldn’t dissipate naturally. It was undoubtedly the fog created by Duke August’s blood magic.

Wasn’t he supposed to be imprisoned in the dungeon? Had he already managed to escape? Was he committing murder again under the pretext of eliminating political rivals? Kwak Tae-woo didn’t care either way.

“…Right. The training dummy doesn’t necessarily have to be a demon.”

He had plenty of reasons to punish the man. And Kwak Tae-woo happened to need someone to test his technique on. He summoned his sword, gripping it firmly, and plunged into the thick fog.

An ordinary person would have hesitated and lost their sense of direction in this fog, which was far denser than any seaside morning mist, but Kwak Tae-woo strode forward without hesitation. Though his vision was blurred, he knew exactly where to go. Toward the direction where the blood scent grew stronger. Along that line, he could detect a familiar presence.

‘Strange. I remember Duke August’s concealment skills were quite advanced. Why is his presence wavering so precariously now?’

As if he had no intention of hiding his criminal activities, Duke August was spreading the smell of blood everywhere with his unstably fluctuating presence. The blood scent was so intense it would make even those who had never experienced the most horrific battlefields grimace.

With each step Kwak Tae-woo took, the shadow beyond the fog became clearer. What he thought was one shadow turned out to be two overlapping figures. One was, as expected, Duke August, and the other was an unfamiliar person. Kwak Tae-woo was about to separate them when he stopped.

“You…?”

Despite the appearance of a third party, Duke August remained focused on his task. He didn’t seem to notice Kwak Tae-woo’s presence. He was just blindly reciting his master’s orders while concentrating on his work.

“Increase our kind, spill more innocent blood… until the messenger from hell finally announces the end of the kingdom…”

The duke, who was clearly not in his right mind, was sinking his fangs into the victim’s neck. It was like watching a beast cutting off its prey’s breath. Strangely, however, there were no signs of pain or fear on the victim’s face. Rather, the victim’s eyes were hazy with ecstasy. Like someone high on drugs.

As the duke’s grotesquely swollen blood vessels surged from bottom to top, blood flowed through his fangs into the victim. The already haggard duke’s complexion visibly deteriorated. In contrast, the recipient’s face was full of pleasure and vitality.

It was as if the duke’s life force was being transferred to the sacrifice. That was half right. Based on his memories from the first cycle, Kwak Tae-woo knew what this phenomenon was. He also knew what this kind of ma-in was called.

“Vampire…!”

***

The sewers of Paris were damp and dirty. The stench of filth invaded his nostrils and soaked his shoes, forcing Shin Jae-hyuk to constantly use purification spells to drive away the discomfort.

‘Dark, smelly, sticky… damn, it’s utterly unpleasant. Please, I hope Lee Yu-jin is safe.’

While parting the fog with the light of holy spells, Shin Jae-hyuk had to remain vigilant in case demons ambushed him from anywhere in this mist.

It was while walking with his nerves on edge. A whitish silhouette caught his eye.

‘A demon?’

Shin Jae-hyuk was about to recite a spell but hesitated. It could be a missing person. In urgent situations, hasty judgments should be avoided.

Shin Jae-hyuk calmly collected himself and carefully approached to identify the silhouette. It was a man dressed as an ordinary traveler. As Lee Yu-jin had testified, the male tourist was walking forward in a daze, and even slapping his cheek didn’t bring focus back to his eyes.

‘A straggler? Indeed, he’s in a hypnotized state. Fortunately, his life doesn’t seem to be in danger…’

The continuous inhalation of the fog through breathing must be maintaining the hypnosis. In this case, even a holy spell to break the brainwashing would only have a temporary effect. To completely break the hypnosis, he needed to eliminate the source of the fog.

Shin Jae-hyuk sat the man in a corner and carefully proceeded. More and more silhouettes began to appear beyond the fog. As often happens in horror movies, Shin Jae-hyuk carefully observed his surroundings, wary of a demon suddenly jumping out from among the crowd. However, he couldn’t find any trace of a demon anywhere.

‘Is it hiding, pretending to be human? Or have I simply not caught up to it yet?’

Shin Jae-hyuk pushed through the forest of humans roaming the sewers, keeping various possibilities in mind.

“No, no, not this one… Where is Lee Yu-jin?”

Shin Jae-hyuk continued his search methodically, leaning the hypnotized people against the wall to prevent them from moving further. Bats hanging upside down from the ceiling were watching the scene. He felt their gaze and briefly looked up, about to dismiss it as insignificant.

Shin Jae-hyuk paused.

‘…Bats? In a sewer, not a cave?’

As his suspicion crystallized, a holy lightning bolt shot toward the ceiling. It was almost a reflexive action.

Indeed, as his sudden doubt suggested, these were no ordinary bats. The swarm of bats flapped their wings noisily, dodging the lightning with incredible speed. A few were burned black, but most remained unharmed due to their sheer numbers.

The bats, chaotically circling the ceiling, gathered and merged into one. Flesh seemed to melt into flesh, blood vessels connected, and bones twisted to form a human skeleton.

“I thought it was that persistent lightning sorcerer chasing me, but an even more troublesome one has come. The hound of Eloah.”

It spoke in the language of Eden. Its pronunciation was imperfect due to the loss of a few bats that had composed its body. However, as the demonic energy subtly fluctuated, its pronunciation noticeably improved.

Shin Jae-hyuk frowned.

‘A vampire, so that’s the identity of Jack the Ripper who’s been hiding in France…’

Vampire is a term for ma-ins in the process of demonization. Beings who become ma-ins through contracts with demons gradually have their bodies become more like those of demons as they gather demonic energy and grow stronger. As a result, they avoid sunlight, develop a constitution that requires consuming others’ blood, and can form primitive contracts that allow them to create minions by injecting blood into victims.

A vampire is like a cocoon stage before a ma-in transforms from human to demon, but its power is by no means comparable to a cocoon. With powerful physical abilities akin to a demon, human intelligence, the regenerative abilities unique to high-ranking ma-ins, and various special abilities, they often prove troublesome even for heresy inquisitors.

‘This is going to be a headache.’

Shin Jae-hyuk glanced around. Normally, a vampire would be no match for him. No matter how high-ranking a ma-in it might be, surviving against Shin Jae-hyuk, who had reached a divine level, would be impossible. If the situation were normal.

‘The hostages… If I unleash my power recklessly, the underground passage will collapse.’

The humans scattered throughout the fog. People who had fallen under the vampire’s suggestion and become slaves made Shin Jae-hyuk hesitate. The vampire, well aware of why Shin Jae-hyuk was hesitating, laughed sinisterly.

“Wise decision. Don’t follow me any further and go back. If you continue to pursue me… I’ll send these humans to your god one by one. Like this.”

A nearby person committed suicide by breaking their own neck. Simultaneously, the vampire’s body split into dozens of bats. While Shin Jae-hyuk was startled by the sudden turn of events, the bats disappeared into the fog, melting into the crowd.

‘A suggestion powerful enough to override survival instinct…! Even among vampires, this one is quite close to becoming a demon. If I don’t deal with it here, it will surely become troublesome.’

Shin Jae-hyuk subtly stepped forward to chase after it among the crowd that had started running again. At that moment, one of the running people suddenly turned to face Shin Jae-hyuk and broke their own neck.

“Shit…!”

Shin Jae-hyuk hurriedly cast healing spells while cursing. Having successfully healed the victim, Shin Jae-hyuk gritted his teeth in frustration. Though startled by the immediate retaliation for disobeying the command, he couldn’t simply yield to the creature’s threats and do nothing.

‘Whether it’s planning to use these people as blood packs or trying to increase its minions, kidnapping such a large number of people suggests some kind of scheme. A wicked scheme that must be stopped…’

And above all, Lee Yu-jin was among that crowd. Having brought her to Paris himself, he was responsible for her safety.

Shin Jae-hyuk texted Zeus to inform him of the situation here, while trying to pinpoint the creature’s location using his spiritual sense. However, it was difficult to detect its presence through the dense crowd and the fog that disrupted his senses.

‘I have no choice but to advance directly. Without letting it notice me…’

He needed to move stealthily yet swiftly enough not to lose track of the creature. Fortunately, he knew how. The concealment technique learned from Sabah. Shin Jae-hyuk’s presence merged with the shadows, becoming one with the background. He carefully stepped forward.

‘Please…’

…No one committed self-harm.

‘It’s working. The creature hasn’t noticed.’

Having confirmed the effectiveness of his concealment, Shin Jae-hyuk advanced into the fog, blending in with the hypnotized crowd.

***

Kwak Tae-woo was able to subdue Duke August in an instant. In fact, there wasn’t even any resistance to speak of. All Kwak Tae-woo did was grab the duke, who was so out of it he could barely stand. Even while being arrested, the duke continued to mutter nonsense.

“Lord, please give the order… No? Right. I must wait for the right time…”

“This bastard… torture has driven him mad.”

Kwak Tae-woo clicked his tongue as he observed the clear marks of torture on the duke’s skin. Excessive pain had damaged the duke’s brain. He had intended to interrogate and punish the duke about why he fled at the moment the mana gun needed fixing, but in this state, it was impossible.

Kwak Tae-woo first administered emergency treatment to the victim by feeding him holy water. The grotesquely swollen blood vessels subsided, and his breathing stabilized. After roughly tossing aside the man who had nearly become a vampire’s minion, Kwak Tae-woo hoisted the mentally broken duke over his shoulder. The duke, having exhausted his strength in the process of creating a minion, showed no signs of resistance.

‘His condition is serious… At this rate, he’ll die before I can even interrogate him. Let’s take him to Marco first. There should be a medic at the outpost.’

When he headed to the guard post at the east gate, the guards recognized Kwak Tae-woo and let him into Marco’s room.

Marco’s room was adjacent to his office and could be accessed through a living room that doubled as a conference room. As Kwak Tae-woo arrived in the living room, someone emerged from Marco’s room.

“Eric?”

The person who appeared from Marco’s room was Eric, Marco’s adjutant. For a moment, a look of bewilderment flashed across Eric’s face before quickly disappearing. Eric closed the door and greeted the unexpected visitor with a composed voice.

“Oh? Kwak Tae-woo, what brings you here at this late hour?”

“What about you? Still working at this hour? You’re diligent.”

“I suppose so. But are you looking for Captain Marco? The captain just went to bed.”

Kwak Tae-woo frowned.

“Can’t I wake him? It’s urgent.”

“What’s so urgent? If it’s urgent, tell me instead. No, more importantly, who’s that person you’re carrying?”

“That’s exactly what I was going to talk about.”

Kwak Tae-woo threw the duke he had been carrying onto the table. Only then did Eric recognize the identity of the injured man Kwak Tae-woo had been carrying, and he flinched in surprise.

“The head of the family? These wounds are…”

“I told you before, didn’t I? He was imprisoned for committing murder using blood magic. But he escaped and was doing the same thing again.”

“This can’t be…”

Eric looked dumbfounded. Of course, Eric was also a member of the Romania family, and seeing the head of the Romania family in such a state must have been quite shocking.

“When I found him, he was already on the verge of death, so I brought him here urgently. Before interrogating him, I need to help him recover first. Since he’s a ma-in, holy spells won’t work, so let’s call a medic.”

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Kwak Tae-woo suddenly stopped. A chill ran down his spine. The hand that had been reaching for the doorknob slowly moved toward his waist. Kwak Tae-woo let out a faint sigh.

“Come to think of it, you didn’t know yet, did you?”

A lightning-fast drawn sword slashed through the space behind him.

“That I’ve become a Sword Master.”

“Kuh, keurk… How…?”

When Kwak Tae-woo turned around, there stood Eric with a blue sword energy deeply embedded in his throat. Though the voice of bewilderment was clearly Eric’s, his appearance was too hideous to believe it was the same Eric he had been friendly with for three months.

The upright young nobleman with whom he had been conversing normally just moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Instead, bulging blood vessels had turned black with demonic energy, and sharp fangs bared toward Kwak Tae-woo’s neck were as sharp as a beast’s. These were clear characteristics of a vampire. Clutching his wound where bloody foam was forming, Eric screamed.

“Keurk, how did you notice…! My presence concealment was perfect!”

“After becoming a Sword Master, my senses became remarkably sharp. Sharp enough to detect the ambush you were planning behind my back.”

Kwak Tae-woo took out several spears from subspace and pinned Eric to the wall like an insect specimen. Despite being a high-ranking ma-in, Eric was subdued while spewing a lethal amount of blood.

“So you were in league with Duke August. I should have suspected it from the fact that you’re from the same family… Speak. What’s your plan, vampire?”

“Kheuh, interrogation is useless. The plan has already begun…”

“…What do you mean?”

“Though he may have lost his mind, the authority of the family head is absolute… By now, comrades like me are already increasing our kind according to the head’s orders. And when all preparations are complete and the messenger from hell informs His Majesty of the time, His Majesty will end everything. At the same time, everything will begin. Kuh, kuhkuh.”

Eric’s eyes, spewing blood from his neck while desperately continuing to speak, glistened with loyalty toward the emperor. No, it was too blind and slimy to be called loyalty. It was closer to a fanatic’s devotion.

‘His Majesty? And this logic of blind obedience is almost like…’

Life gradually drained from Eric Romania’s body pinned to the wall. Even for a vampire, it was impossible to heal from such fatal wounds—a half-severed neck and a body pierced through with spears. As his blue eyes became cloudy, he muttered his final sentence.

“For His Imperial Majesty…”

The one he had once believed to be a friend quietly breathed his last and disappeared into hell. Kwak Tae-woo clicked his tongue and rushed into Marco’s room. However, on the bed where Marco should have been lying was only a corpse, drained of all blood, waiting for Kwak Tae-woo.

‘Failed to turn him into a vampire. No, did he choose death himself…?’

A tongue shortened by about one knuckle. Kwak Tae-woo looked at it with deeply sunken eyes and covered the body with a blanket. Even for Kwak Tae-woo, who had experienced all sorts of hardships in his first cycle, losing both of his only friends in Eden left him feeling dirty and complicated.

His hand gripping the sword tightened. A very ominous yet all too clear intuition seized Kwak Tae-woo. Something unsettling was happening. A vast conspiracy involving the emperor and the duke.

And now, with neither Marco nor Shin Jae-hyuk around, there was only one person Kwak Tae-woo could rely on.

“I need to find Chancellor Behemdorf.”