Ch.58Chapter 58: Vampire (14).

# Brasov Revisited

When I came here last time, I followed Lilith’s guidance and went straight to the royal palace, so I didn’t have a chance to look around.

Indeed, Brasov was impressive in scale, befitting a city where all vampires lived together.

I entered through the same entrance as before, but strangely, no one came to greet us.

“Hmm, something seems to have happened…”

This is strange.

If something had happened, there should be signs, but Brasov is eerily quiet now.

It was quiet before, but now it’s perfect silence—not a single vampire in sight.

Lilith, realizing the gravity of the situation, mutters:

“This is strange…! No matter what, there shouldn’t be no one around like this…”

“Let’s investigate the area first. Let’s find people.”

Even when we check the nearest residential area, there’s not a single vampire to be found.

“How can this be…?”

Even though vampires are weakened and hiding in their homes, last time I could clearly sense people’s presence.

Plus, there were quite a few vampires walking around.

Lilith’s body trembles as she takes in the sight of Brasov, now transformed into a ghost town.

“Th-this can’t be happening. How could so many people disappear in an instant…?”

The tactless Yuria, clasping her hands behind her head, blurts out:

“Maybe they’re all dead?”

*Glare*

Receiving everyone’s stares, Yuria makes an embarrassed expression.

“Ah, I mean, it’s just a figure of speech. But isn’t it weird that there’s no trace of anyone?”

Lati seems to be using magic to search the surroundings.

“This is too strange. There being no trace like this is almost like…”

Valt nods at Lati’s words.

“The same thing that happened to that village.”

Lilith, clenching her fist, suggests to the group:

“Further searching is meaningless. We should go straight to the royal palace…”

At that moment.

*BOOM!!*

An enormous explosion sound disrupts the surroundings.

“It’s coming from the palace!!”

*Whoosh*

Lilith, who has completely recovered her strength and magic power with the Salamander’s blood crystal, dashes toward the royal palace.

‘Hoo, her movements are incomparable to before.’

Valt’s group quickly follows Lilith toward the palace.

***

“Urgh!! *Cough!*”

A vampire kneeling on one knee, blood trickling from his mouth.

It’s King Bladir.

In front of him stands a clean-faced man.

Proc, the man who had been acting with Rocsa. He’s holding a massive greatsword, looking down at the kneeling King Bladir.

“Hand over the Blood Tears of Strigoi.”

King Bladir’s expression, which had been contorted with pain, changes to a smile as he sneers:

“Kekek, do you think I would give that to you? Damn humans. You can’t even use that divine object! Why do you covet it?!”

*BOOM!!*

“Gahack!! *Cough! Cough!*”

Dust clouds rise behind King Bladir, and a vampire is buried under a collapsed wall.

“Lord Culea!!”

The one-eyed, bespectacled vampire Culea had been fighting alongside King Bladir until the end.

Though he’s also a 7th-tier powerhouse, his strength has fallen to merely 6th-tier due to lack of blood consumption.

Proc’s subordinates are dealing with him, and ten masked 6th-tier powerhouses are more than enough to overwhelm Culea.

King Bladir quickly approaches Culea and pulls him out from under the rubble.

“*Cough!!* Y-Your Majesty! Please escape…”

“Don’t say such things! Where would I go if I left this place?”

Though not fatally wounded, Culea stands on his own feet.

“Urgh… They use strange abilities… All the residents have disappeared. Your Majesty, if you fall too, there’s no future for vampires. Please take the Blood Tears of Strigoi and flee.”

“I cannot do that!!”

“*Cough*, with the Blood Tears… vampires can rise again. Don’t you know…?”

It’s an extreme choice.

Using the power of the Blood Tears of Strigoi would certainly increase their numbers.

But King Bladir doesn’t want that.

From a human perspective, it would be like a curse.

If vampires trying to come into the light were to increase their numbers in such a way again, they would deserve to be exterminated by humans.

And Brasov is no longer a safe zone.

They can’t wander aimlessly and do such things.

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of doing that. Even if I die, I plan to be buried here with the divine object. So you should at least escape…! Ugh!!”

*BOOM!!*

Proc, who attacked between King Bladir and Culea, mutters with an expressionless face:

“Hmm… Do you truly intend to drive your entire race to extinction because of your own greed?”

“Silence!! I have no reason to listen to such words from the likes of you.”

*Thud*

Proc stabs his greatsword into the ground before him, a barely noticeable smile forming at the corner of his lips.

“Is that divine object worth more than the lives of your kin?”

King Bladir screams with veins bulging in his neck. He already knows all his people have disappeared. He’s enraged that the culprit dares to mention the lives of his people.

“After you killed them all!! What are you saying?! Seeing my kin who have already returned to blood, I will never give you the divine object…!”

Cutting off King Bladir’s outcry, Proc now wears a clearly visible smile.

“They’re alive.”

“What?!”

“Your people, all your kin, they’re all alive. Oh, and those humans you’re friendly with? They’re all alive too.”

King Bladir doesn’t understand. The humans alone number in the hundreds, and adding all his people, the number exceeds ten thousand.

They’re all alive? That’s nonsense.

“Don’t make me laugh! Do you think I would believe…!”

*Woong*

A crystal ball Proc takes out glows, showing a scene.

“Th-this is…”

“Yes, these are your people.”

In the crystal ball, vampires are all seen kneeling.

And humans too.

Over ten thousand people are being restrained, guarded by masked individuals.

“You damned bastards!! Blood-soaked scum!! How dare you! How dare you!!”

Though he appears to be raging, King Bladir’s mind is racing.

‘It’s fortunate they’re alive. But how could they handle so many…’

This implies one thing.

An artifact.

Or what’s called a divine object.

Even Valt has been involved with one before, but artifacts have incomparable performance to ordinary magical tools.

Doesn’t the vampire race’s Blood Tears of Strigoi maintain this impossible barrier?

No matter how much he searches the surroundings, there’s nowhere that could accommodate so many people.

They must have hidden people using the power of an artifact.

“If you just hand over the Blood Tears of Strigoi, I’ll return everyone safely.”

An obvious lie.

There’s a reason Proc chose this cumbersome method over several months.

The issue is the location where the Blood Tears of Strigoi are stored.

The bloodline of the true ancestor. Only a powerhouse exceeding the 8th circle can open the door to that place.

“Bullshit, do you think I would believe that?”

Of course, he could really let them go.

But King Bladir knows well.

It’s much easier to kill everyone than to leave potential problems.

“…I see, I chose too moderate a method.”

As Proc says this and breaks a stone with strange letters written on it.

*Slash!!*

The head of a vampire seen in the crystal ball flies off.

“What are you doing?!”

To King Bladir’s outcry, Proc merely tilts his head.

“I’ll give you time to think. One citizen every minute. That’s the weight of your deliberation, King Bladir. Think carefully.”

“Urgh!!”

On the second floor of the audience hall.

Valt’s group was watching the scene.

Valt, Lilith, and Lati, the three of them.

The rest are guarding below in case of any unexpected situations.

Lati’s Hide Mana Force magic and Lilith’s Hide Life Force magic synergized to keep Valt’s group hidden even from those powerful individuals.

Of course, the distance and the fact that Proc and Bladir were focused on each other also helped prevent them from discovering the group.

“This is serious. We need to figure out what to do about the hostages first.”

Responding to Valt’s whispered words, Lati also answers in a very low voice:

“Now I understand. That’s Franz’s Mirror.”

“Do you know what that is?”

“Yes, it’s an artifact. It creates a left-right reversed version of the place reflected in the mirror. I only know that you can enter through the mirror. Quite creative use for a crime, isn’t it?”

A moment of silence follows.

Eventually, Lilith speaks first:

“Do you think he has it?”

“Probably not. The place shown in the crystal ball isn’t here, is it? Lilith, do you recognize where that mirror is reflecting?”

After carefully examining the crystal ball, Lilith nods.

“I think I know! No, I do know! The Grand Plaza! The Grand Plaza is the only space where so many people could gather like that!”

The Grand Plaza is in the opposite direction from the royal palace.

Valt realizes there’s no time to waste.

Because those bastards just killed another vampire.

“It’s time for a decision.”