Ch.464Episode 17 – The Blood-Drinking Tree

The members of the Holy Knight Order stood guard outside the elevator.

Francesca checked the path she had come through, holding a rune sword covered with cloth to prevent the blue light from leaking out. A passage leading to the surface where a faint breeze blew in. She gazed up at what was both the only entrance and exit for a while.

“…It’s seriously dark.”

I heard Camilla’s murmur after she peeked outside. Seeing the darkness like an abyss of unknown depth, she shivered as if getting goosebumps.

I was stroking the silver core embedded at the tip of the bullet with my finger when I glanced at Camilla, who was hugging herself with a shiver.

“Are you scared?”

“Of course I am. A vampire! Why on earth did they hide such an important incident?”

“There were certain circumstances.”

“Hmm… Well, I suppose that’s possible. But aren’t you scared, Frederick?”

“More worried than scared.”

“Isn’t worry basically the same as fear…?”

I shrugged once and added nonchalantly.

“Saying I’m scared would make me look too weak.”

Snickering followed. Two of them. Camilla and Francesca. My silly remark seemed to have eased their concerns.

-Thud…!

As the descending elevator made a dull noise, it began to slow down. I held onto the structure and waited. Until the impact stopped.

Only after the shaking ceased and the shock subsided did my trembling body find stability.

However, regardless of my body regaining composure, my mind was far from at ease.

“……”

A darkness of unfathomable depth greeted us.

Episode 17 – The Blood-Drinking Tree

It was a darkness like lacquer.

We couldn’t even recognize each other’s faces. Even when I held my open palm so close to my face that I could feel my breath on it, I couldn’t see the shape of my hand.

Having removed even my gloves, I waved my palm around and quietly began.

“At this point, night vision equipment would be useless too.”

Proven night vision goggles provide clear images even in dark forests with just minimal light sources, even without moonlight or starlight.

But when descending underground like now, night vision becomes useless. Even devices that amplify the slightest reflected light thousands of times still require light reflected off objects.

I thought there would at least be emergency lights on. But no matter how much I looked around, there were no lights to be found.

“Objects cannot be identified. Everyone check for emergency lights.”

At Ibrahim’s order, the Holy Knight Order members began looking around in the pitch-black darkness.

Camilla and Francesca were no different. We carefully observed our surroundings, searching for even the smallest light.

“There seems to be something that looks like an emergency light here… But it appears to be broken.”

“This one’s completely dead too. No response.”

Voices conversing in the corner came through clearly. It was the Holy Knight Order members talking.

The large room was shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to tell where anything was, but judging by how the sound carried despite their hushed conversation, the members speaking were definitely in a corner.

After searching the surroundings for over three minutes, we couldn’t find any light source. There were only what appeared to be broken lights and emergency lamps everywhere.

Ibrahim spoke.

“We’ll switch to regular lights.”

“Is that okay?”

Francesca, who had been listening quietly, asked him.

“If we turn on lights in this pitch-black darkness, won’t we just be advertising our presence?”

It was a rather reasonable question. But now we had no other choice.

“It’s better than fighting vampires blindfolded.”

If we stayed like this, dark adaptation or not, the chances of being caught and drained by vampires were high. Especially considering why the Holy Knight Order, who make unnatural beings tremble in fear, had to retreat in the middle of a fight.

In the end, we all decided to remove our night vision equipment and turn on our lights.

This was essentially giving up on stealth, and a declaration that we were ready to fight the vampire.

“Phew-“

As if releasing a held breath, Camilla sighed while turning on her flashlight.

“Now I feel like I can breathe.”

“Are you afraid of the dark, Hero?”

At Francesca’s question, Camilla shook her head.

“Not that. I just prefer loud over stealth, temperamentally speaking.”

“…?”

“Oh, come on.”

As Francesca tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what she meant, and as I was about to scold her for unnecessary talk—

The Holy Knight Order members who were driving away the darkness with their lights froze. So did Ibrahim, and we weren’t much different.

Numerous people were lying around the elevator entrance.

Like a cemetery.

*

I quickly scanned the surroundings with my light.

Water pooled on the floor. Scattered luggage, personal items, pencils, papers. Someone’s shoe rolling under a bench. Phones and crystal balls displaying meaningless alarms.

Strange scenes flashed before my eyes, but the sight of people lying everywhere was all too clear.

People were sprawled in the corridor. Roughly 30-40 in number.

“…Are they all dead?”

One of the Holy Knight Order members muttered to himself. His voice seemed to be asking for anyone to answer, but no one dared to speak up.

Except for one person.

“They’re alive though?”

Camilla answered.

“There’s no external injury.”

She had already walked over and was crouching in front of a fallen researcher.

She shined her light around, lifted clothes and hair to check for wounds, and even placed her finger under their nose or put her ear close to them.

“No visible wounds, and breathing is normal. I think these people aren’t dead, just unconscious?”

“Yes, they don’t seem to be dead. This one’s breathing too.”

I confirmed that a security guard was alive, supporting Camilla’s claim. The Holy Knight Order members quickly dispersed to check the status of the civilians fallen throughout the area.

This way, we found 27 living civilians in the corridor. None were dead. All were found breathing.

Ibrahim, who was checking a scholar’s pulse, showed an expression of disbelief.

“This is strange. So many people fainting all at once…”

“Is this situation very suspicious?”

“Usually, when civilians are trapped in a place where undead roam freely, eight out of ten die. Of the remaining two, one is likely to be disabled or mentally unsound, and most victims barely cling to life.”

I asked what happens to the last one. The commander of the Holy Knight Order began in a calm tone.

“They become one of them.”

He continued explaining the fate of civilians captured by the undead.

“People bitten by werewolves, those whose souls are stolen by evil spirits… Unlike naturally occurring undead like ghouls or banshees, victims of these creatures can transform into creatures like them.”

While listening attentively to his explanation while keeping watch, I read Ibrahim’s thoughts.

“You’re worried about people turning into vampires.”

“Yes.”

The commander of the Holy Knight Order put down the scholar’s pulsing wrist. As he slowly rose, the gun slung over his shoulder stopped just behind the scholar’s head.

Considering that Ibrahim hadn’t yet touched his gun, it was a remarkably precise position.

I kept a close eye on the fallen people while checking on Camilla and Francesca’s status.

“Let’s start with examinations.”

“We’re already doing that.”

The Holy Knight Order moved among the civilians who were sleeping like the dead, or rather, unconscious.

A member with a pistol placed a thermometer against the forehead of a neatly lying employee.

“36.1 degrees. Normal temperature. No signs of infection. No bleeding or wounds around the neck.”

Click, another member photographed the employee’s face. After checking the photo, he raised his wrist, and a silver cross dangled.

“No reaction to holy items. Seems fine.”

“The abrasions on the knees and hands appear to have been caused by falling.”

“Good. Let’s report via radio. Is communication with the surface working now?”

The communications officer who had been trying to radio the surface crossed his hands to form an X.

The medical officer sighed deeply. Grabbing the civilian’s leg, he said to his colleague:

“Hah… Let’s move them to the side for now.”

Two members lifted the employee and moved them. The civilians were divided into those who had been examined and those who hadn’t.

Fortunately, all 27 civilians were determined to be normal. The Holy Knight Order thoroughly checked their condition but found nothing unusual.

The same was true for other civilians examined afterward. During a search of the nearby area, people were found collapsed in groups of three or four in certain rooms. Members went directly to those locations after receiving Francesca’s report about new civilians, but again, no issues were found.

“But can these tests really determine whether someone is a vampire or not?”

I asked out of pure curiosity, but Ibrahim shook his head with a troubled expression.

“We can’t be certain either. Blood tests, like those for werewolves, would probably be most reliable… But honestly, whether blood tests can identify victims who have turned into vampires is unknown.”

“Well, they are monsters that went extinct hundreds of years ago.”

I looked around at the fallen civilians with an uneasy expression. The fearless Camilla was busy moving people who might or might not be human.

While others were distracted, I approached the fallen people and carefully shined my light on them. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, I might see something.

The result was predictable.

After moving the light around, I clicked my tongue and turned it off.

“Everyone, focus.”

Ibrahim gathered the attention of his members. The Holy Knight Order, who had been concentrating on their tasks, all looked at their commander.

“From now on, we hunt the vampire.”

*

We had several reasons for descending into the underground facility. The Holy Knight Order came to seal the vampire, while we came to rescue the isolated Veronica and survivors.

But thinking about it, our purposes were quite similar.

Despite differences in priority, we all agreed on rescuing survivors (especially Saint Veronica, who was the top priority) and killing the vampire.

So there was only one thing to do now.

“We’ll split into teams.”

Before setting out, Ibrahim divided us into two teams.

One was Team 1, led by him. The other was Team 2, commanded by the deputy leader.

“Team 1’s mission is to find and subdue the vampire. Meanwhile, Team 2 will go to the power facility to restart the magical and electrical systems.”

We couldn’t fight in total darkness, so the first priority was to restore light.

The deputy leader took his members toward the power facility. Since they had already memorized the facility’s structure, movement was swift.

“Let’s go hunt a vampire.”

The three of us followed Team 1 led by Ibrahim. It wasn’t because of confidence that vampires would be easy after having fought demons.

“Do you think you know where Saint Veronica is?”

“Yes. Saint Veronica probably went to the research wing.”

Ibrahim predicted Veronica’s location in his usual tone.

“Didn’t you say she went to confront the vampire?”

“If Saint Veronica had gone to kill it, she should have appeared on video at least once. But she wasn’t seen anywhere. This suggests she only moved through surveillance blind spots, which is practically impossible unless she was in areas where surveillance equipment was disabled.”

As we crossed the silent corridor, he lowered his voice and added more explanation. His tone was slightly different from his previous matter-of-fact manner.

“Do you remember when the video surveillance equipment broke during your last visit to the facility?”

“Ah, yes. I remember.”

“Although we haven’t fully restored the ancient text yet, there are new reports that vampires can use darkness to conceal themselves. Rather than hiding, it’s more like they blind the eyes that would see them.”

He was suggesting that the broken video surveillance equipment back then was likely the vampire’s doing.

I nodded as if finally understanding.

“Then it makes sense why Saint Veronica wasn’t on video. The equipment must have been broken.”

“Yes. And after escaping, when I checked…”

As we turned a corner, a massive iron door appeared.

A Holy Knight Order member who was walking ahead quickly punched in a code on the keypad. Despite its imposing appearance, the iron door moved silently.

“Right here, the surveillance equipment in the research wing was the first to be destroyed.”

When he pressed a button, light spread out. The light swept through every corner of the room before stopping at a certain point.

It was a cedar coffin.

Cold sweat dampened my eyebrows, and I swallowed dryly. As pieces of cloth were pulled down, blue rune characters illuminated the darkness, and sparks from fingertips flickered in the air.

“Both of you, be careful.”

“You too, Sir.”

“Don’t worry.”

With my gaze fixed on the coffin, I stepped into the darkness alongside the Holy Knight Order members.