Ch.5Equipment Items

The situation inside the station was just as dire as outside.

Collapsed stairs, shattered walls, dark red mold filling every corner, dented vending machines, and only traces of the ticket gates remaining.

Evidence of fierce battles from the past could be found everywhere.

“Hmm…”

I let out a groan as I continued walking.

Debris from the collapsed ceiling covered the twisted subway train, blocking the narrow tunnel.

After a moment of contemplation, I approached the twisted and dented subway car.

I examined the interior through the broken window.

The twisted and crushed state made the inside extremely cramped.

It would be difficult for an average adult male to pass through.

But somehow, I felt I could make it through.

“Ugh…!”

I reached out and pulled on the dented entrance of the subway car.

I was slightly worried since my character wasn’t built for strength, but a vampire’s body possessed strength far exceeding that of an ordinary human.

Crack-!

The subway door came off with a chilling sound.

I had torn off the solid metal plate as easily as ripping paper.

I carefully squeezed my body through the narrow entrance.

Tap-

The twisted and crushed interior made it impossible to walk normally.

It was as if gravity was acting sideways.

I stepped on rotted seats and walls as I moved to the next car.

The door separating the cars was also dented.

Just like before, I was able to tear it off easily by pulling with force.

Screech-!

I continued moving forward, tearing through solid metal plates and throwing them behind me.

I kept going until I reached the end of the debris covering the narrow passage.

While moving through the crushed subway car, I found a small glass bottle and bandages on the floor.

Pure white bandages that seemed completely out of place in this mold-infested area.

And a fancy-looking glass bottle containing bright red liquid.

Both were consumable items commonly found in Blood Carnival.

Things that should never appear in reality were now present right here.

In fact, thanks to absorbing Ravina’s memories, I recognized that this phenomenon was normal.

“…”

I shouldn’t dwell on trivial matters.

Now was the time to hurry and achieve my initial goal.

I shook my head and moved forward.

Screech! Clang-!

The final exit.

After reaching the last car of the subway and tearing off the door, a relatively intact tunnel greeted me.

“Are you following the tracks?”

“Wh-what!”

A sudden voice.

I jumped up in shock.

When I turned my head, Aurel was standing a short distance away from me.

I blinked and looked behind me.

The tunnel was blocked by debris from the collapsed ceiling, and the only way through was the subway car I had just passed through.

I moved my shadow and glared at Aurel.

“How did you get here?”

“Huh…? Well… transformation. I transformed into mist and came over.”

“Transformation…”

Aurel answered my question as if it were obvious.

Transformation skill.

It was a skill all vampires could learn, but most users avoided it because it was considered a waste of skill points.

And I, Charlotte, also didn’t invest in the transformation skill.

Of course, if I had known the world would change like this, I would have chosen the transformation skill.

In reality rather than a game, the transformation skill could be quite useful.

“You didn’t invest in the transformation skill, Charlotte?”

“It’s a waste of skill points…”

“A waste?”

Aurel tilted her head at my answer and blinked her sparkling eyes.

She genuinely seemed not to understand why the transformation skill would be a waste.

I was about to explain but closed my mouth.

At the same time, I averted my gaze from Aurel.

It seemed like she was trying to seduce me by acting cute, but that wasn’t going to work.

I bit my lip and walked forward.

After walking for quite some time, I glanced behind me.

Aurel, who I thought would cling to me asking to go together, was nowhere to be seen.

I narrowed my eyes and looked around, but couldn’t find her anywhere.

Was she really not following me?

Of course, I did tell her not to follow.

But now that she was gone, I felt slightly disappointed.

Walking along the railway tracks was very tedious.

There were no Fusion Bodies, nor did I encounter any other survivors.

Only large rats scurrying around with squeaking sounds.

How long had I been walking?

I had passed more than 20 stations.

Suddenly.

A subtle scent began to reach my nose.

A sweet smell of blood mixed with the distinctive animal odor.

By now, I knew what this odor meant.

It was the smell of a werewolf.

One that had just finished hunting.

In Blood Carnival, werewolves and vampires are hostile factions.

It’s natural for them to draw swords against each other when they meet in regular fields.

But here, it was different.

According to Ravina’s memories, werewolves and vampires had signed a peace treaty.

Unless one side acted hostile first, there would be no fighting like in the game.

Crunch! Crack!

The sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking was clearly audible.

Not wanting to disturb the werewolf’s mealtime, I carefully moved forward.

But something was strange.

As I got closer to the sound, the smell of werewolf blood grew stronger rather than human blood.

And I soon discovered what that meant.

Crunch-!

The first thing that came into view was a werewolf lying on the ground.

The fur and sharp claws on its arms and legs indicated that it had been using partial transformation skills until the moment of death.

The next thing I saw was a man swinging a sword at the fallen werewolf’s corpse.

He was wearing a black rider suit with a black coat over it.

The inside of his coat, barely visible, was lined with weapons like knives and guns, and there was an ammunition belt around the waist of his rider suit.

A human.

Not just any human, but one who fought werewolves and vampires in Blood Carnival.

Memories absorbed from Ravina suddenly surfaced.

Unlike vampires and werewolves who had signed a peace treaty, the users who played as humans in Blood Carnival had not joined that peace agreement.

Crunch!

Suddenly.

My eyes met with the man swinging the sword.

Blue flames burning in his black eyes.

A gaze filled with intense hostility.

The fact that I recognized him meant that he had also recognized me.

He stopped swinging his sword and put his left hand inside his coat.

A natural movement without a moment’s hesitation.

I didn’t know what that action meant.

Bang-!

A sudden loud noise.

The moment the man’s hand came out from inside his coat, there was a flash of light followed by a loud sound.

My thoughts connected slowly.

Gun, firing, hostility toward me.

The three words that naturally came to mind led to one conclusion.

The person in front of me was my enemy.

Thwack-!

The bullet flying quickly was blocked by a shadow that rose from the ground.

Just as he showed hostility toward me, I also felt hostility welling up toward him.

And my shadow responded to these emotions.

Any thought of trying to talk disappeared naturally.

Hiss-

With an eerie sound, the shadow began to change its form.

What emerged was the shape of a massive beast.

Unlike before, it now revealed its entire enormous body.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

The opponent didn’t stop attacking.

The continuous sound of gunfire.

The dark station interior brightened with each bullet fired.

Thud- Thud- Thud-!

The rapidly approaching bullets were all blocked by the shadow.

The moment the blocked bullets fell to the ground,

the human man put away the pistol in his hand and drew a new gun.

I frowned and gave an order to my shadow.

“Kill him.”

The words that flowed out lightly were an order to bring death to the opponent.

I felt not even a moment of hesitation, not even the slightest reluctance.

Thump-!

The black beast began charging forward with a heavy footstep.

At that moment, a new gunshot rang out from the opponent’s hand.

Bang-!

Just one shot.

The same gunshot sound as before.

But the situation created by that one bullet was different from before.

Boom-!

A different, heavier explosion sound.

The rapidly fired bullet had penetrated the head portion of the shadow.

But that one shot couldn’t completely stop the black beast.

The shadow, which had lost its form and staggered, quickly restored its original shape and lunged its mouth toward the human man.

Crunch-!

The widely opened mouth bit down on the place where the man had been standing.

I frowned at the sight.

The human man wasn’t dead.

He had quickly rolled to the side to avoid the attack, then drew his sword and began running along the wall.

Strange movements that didn’t seem human despite being human.

He was definitely a user from Blood Carnival.

I calmly faced the human man who was running toward me after evading the shadow.

He maintained his posture with his hand in his coat pocket.

The moment the distance closed, a wide sword strike.

A blue flash spread widely, covering my field of vision.

Crunch-!

A chilling sound was heard.

I blinked and stared at the man who had stopped in mid-air.

The attack aimed at me had stopped midway.

A trembling body with red blood bursting from within.

The eyes with blue flames flickering still shone vividly as if still alive.

He couldn’t move.

His entire body was pierced by shadows extending from all directions.

I took my hand out of my pocket and touched the sword that had stopped in front of me.

“Where… did you get this?”

“…”

I frowned as I examined the man’s armaments.

Multiple firearms that seemed difficult to obtain in Korea.

Above all, the sword in his hand was no ordinary item.

It was clearly the [Matte Katana], a shop-system weapon.

It matched the in-game design exactly, and despite being used to strike the werewolf’s solid body repeatedly, the blade remained undamaged.

In Blood Carnival, it was a cheap weapon easily purchased from shops, but not here.

Equipment items exist?

There were no clues about equipment items in Ravina’s memories.

But the human man didn’t answer my question.

He just glared at me with a twisted smile.

The brightly shining eyes gradually dimmed.

He was dead.

I took the Matte Katana and threw the remaining corpse to my shadow.