Chapter 14 – Fly Me To The Moon

Read on​ K​atReadingCaf​e

“How about tying up your hair? It looks like it might get in the way of your movements.”  

The priest muttered in the deep silence of the early morning factory.  

I looked at the heavy, silky white hair that reached my calves and replied.  

“…Well, so far, aside from being a bit heavy, it hasn’t been uncomfortable. And honestly, I don’t know how to tie it up. Plus, if I did, the back of my neck would feel too exposed, and I’d just feel uneasy.”  

“Whether it’s arrogance, pride, or just numbness, being too relaxed isn’t good. Though I suppose this advice is meaningless to you.”  

Not long after entering Area A, I turned to look at the priest.  

His heavy face, impossible to read, showed a hint of light curiosity. The way his eyebrows tilted gave it away.  

“What do you even think of me? I’m not as great as you make me out to be. You keep praising me, but I’m really not that impressive.”  

“If you’re hiding your true nature, I’d call you a great actor. But if this is really who you are, then I can’t understand you at all.”  

“Who’s hiding their true nature? Not everyone lives in constant tension, and not everyone lives by spilling blood. Let’s just take it easy, okay? Easy.”  

The priest stared into my eyes, making me uncomfortable, and then spoke.  

“…I still can’t understand how such words come from a Vampire Lord. Don’t you find slaughter distasteful?”  

“Of course I do. Who enjoys getting their hands dirty with blood? I was an ordinary person, a normal human just a few weeks ago. How could I enjoy something like that?”  

“That’s a contradiction. Do you even know what the term ‘Vampire Lord’ means?”  

If you’re asking if I know, well, I’ve only pieced together its meaning from context.  

Isn’t it just a fancy term for an incredibly strong vampire?  

Hearing my thoughts, the priest shook his head and replied.  

“It’s true that Vampire Lords are usually strong. But fundamentally, the term refers to beings who are vampires from birth, ‘innately.’”  

“Then I’m not a Vampire Lord.”  

“Then you’d be called an irregular. Non-Vampire Lords are all subordinates who became vampires ‘acquiredly’ by receiving blood from a Vampire Lord. Are you a subordinate? Did you receive blood from a Vampire Lord? Are you a human who became a vampire later?”  

I shrugged slightly. The day I was trapped in this small body, what happened there wasn’t something I could easily explain.  

It wasn’t the usual way to become a vampire, and even I found it bizarre.  

“I’ve never been bitten by a vampire, and I’ve never been involved with anything like that. It was all very sudden.”  

“I see. Then your relaxed attitude isn’t so strange after all. If you weren’t originally part of this underworld, it’s understandable that you’d be drawn to peace.”  

Though his tone sounded sarcastic, there seemed to be a hint of envy in his words.  

His expression suggested that even this fanatic might secretly be a peace-loving ordinary person.  

If only his fanatical behavior could be corrected, maybe he could blend into society normally.  

Anyway, as we chatted and filled the silent air, we suddenly stopped upon noticing a strange mark.  

“…Is this a claw mark?”  

As I said, on the concrete pillar of the unfinished factory, a large claw mark was etched.  

Just its size was terrifying. It gave a clear idea of how big the “wolf” must be.  

“It seems so.”  

“Surprisingly, it seems quite refined.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“Well, wolves, canines, or beasts usually mark their territory with urine, right? This, clearly, is a territorial mark.”  

The priest stiffened his face and sniffed the claw mark.  

Then, seeing him furrow his brow, it seemed there was something he didn’t like.  

“It’s definitely a territorial mark. And it was left by the alpha of the pack.”  

“The leader, right? I guess even werewolves don’t resort to urinating on walls.”  

“They’re beasts, but not to that extent. That’s why they’re called werewolves, not wolf monsters.”  

This area seemed to be the territory of the wolf-humans.  

Ahead, there were large, skeletal structures with plenty of hiding spots, but none of them caught the moonlight, making them look like black stains on the night sky.  

The priest showed no outward reaction, but I swallowed hard.  

After all, this was my first time directly facing a situation like this.  

If things went south, I’d have to be prepared to spill blood. Since I came here to earn money, I couldn’t run away.  

Honestly, that would be pathetic.  

The beings in front of me weren’t a crowd to negotiate with—they were enemies. I had to think of them that way.  

They were just beasts, wolves.  

Then, the priest, who had been watching me with silent steps, stopped behind me.  

When I turned to look at him, he spoke in his usual deep, meaningful voice.  

“Come to think of it, I forgot to mention something.”  

“Huh?”  

“You don’t know, do you? There’s an old saying. Werewolves and vampires are natural enemies.”  

“There’s a saying like that?”  

“It often appears in movies too. You can’t dismiss it as pure fiction. At the very least, there’s an innate physiological aversion between werewolves and vampires. I’ve had two chances to confirm the truth of this rumor. This will be the third.”  

“What, wha—”  

At that moment, my senses caught the explosive movement of air. And a foul smell.  

The stench of a wild beast.  

“Ugh.”  

My body was lifted upward, then suddenly dropped back down.  

Something had snapped.  

‘Something?’  

The sound came later, and when I turned my head from the priest to look ahead, a massive gray-furred wolf stood there.  

A wolf wearing a proper uniform, no less.  

Its shadow loomed over me, its body at least three times my size.  

What I saw were the wolf’s glowing red eyes.  

And its raised front paw.  

“Ah, ahh!”  

I realized my arm had been torn off when blood spurted out the next moment.  

From my shoulder to my back, it was a mangled mess.  

“Ahh, ahh!! Priest, uncle!! Uncle!! The wolf, ahh!!”  

I screamed at the near-fatal wound for an ordinary creature.  

Though my flesh quickly regenerated, the pain didn’t go away.  

It was panic. Trauma from the pain. I couldn’t get used to it.  

I quickly threw myself out of the wolf’s shadow, but the wolf’s size was far beyond what I had imagined.  

Between its gaping jaws, drool dripped heavily.  

This is just a beast. What’s so ‘human’ about it?  

“Ugh, ahh.”  

So, to describe it a bit disgustingly, there was a lot of blood. The unexpected ambush had me panicking.  

Instead of dodging, I kept getting caught and torn apart.  

My stomach was ripped open, and, well, ugh.  

“Ugh, ugh….”  

Amid the squelching sounds, I heard the wolf yelping.  

Definitely more beast than human.  

Turning my head toward the faint sound, I saw the priest, who had just crushed the skull of one werewolf.  

Ah, I thought maintaining constant tension would be exhausting.  

But being brutally torn apart is a hundred, no, a thousand times worse. At least for now.  

“Ugh—cough.”  

I grabbed the hand of the wolf-human tearing into my freshly regenerated stomach.  

‘Human? Where do you see anything human about this?’  

It’s just a monster.  

With my free hand, I flailed around and grabbed something.  

I didn’t know what it was, but I swung it. Swinging usually solves the situation.  

It was hard, cold, and covered in powder.  

“Ahhh!!”  

A strange sound echoed.  

The wolf-human on top of me, weighing nearly 200 kg, made a sound like ribs breaking, but that wasn’t it.  

The moment I clenched my hand, that tremendous sound came.  

What is this?  

When my right hand came into view, I saw it.  

It was too big to be called a weapon. Enormous, thick, heavy, and crude.  

It was just a concrete pillar.  

“Yelp!!”  

The wolf-human, despite being a wolf, let out a sound like a frog being crushed under a wheel and rolled away like a bowling ball for dozens, maybe hundreds, of meters.  

I stared blankly at the monstrous weapon I had torn out.  

“…Wow, what is this?”  

A massive pillar, two or three times my height.  

Without realizing it, I had ripped out an entire concrete pillar.  

“Not bad.”  

It wasn’t made to be a weapon, but so what?  

Since ancient times, mass alone has been a terrifying weapon.  

For example, the priest over there.  

With just a Bible, he crushed the sturdy skull of a vicious wolf-human down to the cervical spine.  

When I met the priest’s gaze, I awkwardly looked away.  

The wolf-human that had rolled away like a billiard ball was now so mangled it was unrecognizable.  

Describing it would be… unpleasant.  

I stared at the gaping hole in my stomach, feeling nauseous, and broke into a cold sweat.  

‘I-I won’t die, right?’  

I’m a vampire, after all.  

This is all just a ridiculous joke.  

I glanced at the desolate factory frame and spoke to the priest.  

Remembering what he had said before my arm was torn off—that vampires and wolf-humans are natural enemies.  

“You should’ve told me that earlier. These bastards must’ve known we were coming.”  

“It didn’t seem to be much of a threat to you. I’m almost scared.”  

I looked at the pillar in my hand that the priest was staring at.  

It was too crude to be called a weapon, but it felt good.  

‘Big and heavy, just right….’  

I forced a faint smile, hiding my cold sweat.  

Thud.  

“……!”  

Then, a voice from ahead made me tense up.  

“…Uh, everyone. What’s going on…?”  

A small silhouette swaying in the shadows.  

From the slight growling, it was a werewolf.  

“Uh, how about we put down the scary stuff and talk first?”  

And under the moonlight emerged a werewolf, embarrassingly small compared to the one that had just torn me apart.  

With an innocent face that made getting angry feel like too much.