Ch.72The Second Change

Despite defeating the second episode boss, there wasn’t any immediately noticeable change.

But dropped items were a given.

I approached the mass of pure white light that had fallen to the ground.

The other vampires were also showing great interest in the items.

I looked around as I picked up the items.

[Gorgon’s Grimoire]

Level Requirement: 20

Magic Attack Power +35

Intelligence +10

Mental Power skill damage increased by 10%

Lightning attribute skill damage increased by 20%

[Lightning Gloves]

Level Requirement: 20

Defense +25

All Stats +10

Lightning Resistance increased by 80%

Fire Resistance increased by 20%

When equipped, allows use of [Lightning Charge] skill.

[Lightning Charge]

The caster absorbs lightning into their body, temporarily enhancing physical abilities.

Duration: 20 seconds

Damage increased by 20%

Movement speed increased by 60%

[Lightning-Infused Horn]

The horn of Gorgon, a bull that controlled storm clouds.

It’s strongly imbued with the lightning he once commanded.

If an ordinary person tried to consume it, they would be burned to death.

There were exactly three dropped items.

In front of everyone, I handed the large book to Firin.

“M-me? I can have it…?”

“Yes.”

I nodded in response to Firin’s question.

This item would be useless in my possession anyway.

She had made a significant contribution to this raid, so it was right to give her this item.

Firin carefully received the large book I handed over.

She smiled softly as she hugged the large book to her chest.

Like Gorgon’s horn, blue lightning crackled and rose from the cover of the grimoire.

I naturally equipped the Lightning Gloves myself.

The vampires watching licked their lips in disappointment.

But none of them raised any objections.

I gave Gorgon’s horn, which was emitting flashes of lightning, to Hwang-gu.

She had been growing stronger by consuming boss corpses and byproducts.

Now I could be certain. She too was a special user chosen by the god.

This item was clearly prepared specifically for Hwang-gu.

“Here.”

“Gasp…”

Hwang-gu hastily accepted the large horn I handed her.

Though it had been severed from Gorgon’s head, it had shrunk considerably when it became an item, allowing Hwang-gu to stuff it into her large penguin backpack.

“Hmm…”

I looked at Aurel and smiled slightly.

I wanted to give her something too, but there was nothing left.

I thought it would be good to prepare a separate gift for her later.

After distributing the items, I checked the casualties among the vampires.

A total of 70 vampires were confirmed dead.

100 were missing and nowhere to be seen.

Most of these missing vampires had likely turned to ash in the momentary sunlight.

My side had suffered significant losses as well.

My marshmallow army, which had numbered over 180, was greatly reduced to 130.

60 of my children had lost their lives. It was practically a global loss.

Fortunately, the children I had specifically named were all fine.

After confirming their numbers, I sent them back into the shadows.

Next was checking the human corpses.

Only about 5 were captured alive, which wasn’t many.

This was likely because the vampires, excited by the smell of human blood, chose slaughter over capture.

The number of human corpses visually confirmed exceeded 200.

There would also be those trampled to death by Gorgon or crushed under buildings without leaving a trace.

This meant the human casualties were greater than those of the vampires.

We had inflicted definite damage on the human side, and we had also taken down Gorgon.

It was a perfect victory.

The vampires took time to recover.

Even with their overwhelming regenerative abilities, wounds from silver bullets or sunlight couldn’t be healed easily.

Even Firin had lost her right hand, so rest was the natural choice.

“Smooch—”

I called for Smooch from inside a collapsed building.

She popped out of the shadows with a whoosh.

She glared at me with a deeply contorted face.

“Your expression.”

“Ah…”

It seemed her mental conditioning wasn’t completely finished yet.

Smooch hurriedly fixed her expression at my words and looked around nervously.

The moment had finally come to resolve my curiosity.

I began asking her all the questions I’d been wondering about.

About using the cash shop, the items that could be purchased there,

And even how to obtain the special currency called cash.

I bombarded her with various questions.

Smooch clutched her head and stammered as she began to answer.

She didn’t know the exact moment she became able to use the cash shop, just that she realized at some point that she could use it.

“Is the cash shop only visible to you?”

“Y-yes…”

“Can you see it now?”

At my question, Smooch concentrated with a deeply furrowed brow.

But something seemed wrong, as her expression suddenly crumpled.

“No, I can’t…!”

“You can’t?”

Smooch nodded at my question.

Judging by her pale face and tearful expression, she didn’t seem to be lying.

Actually, as my subordinate, she couldn’t lie to me anyway.

“My, my god’s power…!”

Smooch stretched both hands toward the sky.

Like a child who had lost something precious, she began to rage at the heavens.

I watched her with my arms crossed.

What could be the problem?

Just then, Aurel, who had been watching from the side, approached and spoke.

“Charlotte.”

“Yes?”

“Could it be that her power disappeared because she became a subordinate?”

“Because she became a subordinate…?”

I crossed my arms at Aurel’s words.

There was certainly that possibility.

A special user chosen by the god is limited to one per race.

For vampires, it’s me.

For werewolves, it’s Hwang-gu.

For humans, it’s Thief.

If such a special user is turned into a vampire, it makes sense that their special power would disappear.

No, it’s certain. The god is wary of special powers concentrating in one faction.

“Give me back my power!”

Smooch, seemingly having realized something from Aurel’s words, began charging toward me.

I firmly pressed down on her head with one hand.

“Hiyaaak!”

Thinking about it, all three powers were similar.

Charlotte, who uses subordination to turn others into her kind and bring them under her control.

Hwang-gu, who eats the flesh of special targets to make their power her own.

Smooch, who could use race change tickets and various cash items to persuade targets to join her side.

“So does that mean Smooch’s ability has been transferred to someone else?”

“I think that’s probably the case.”

“My, my power…! Give me back my race change ticket!”

After hearing Aurel’s explanation, Smooch began to rage even more.

I looked down at her with sympathetic eyes.

Although she was once an arrogant human, now she’s my child.

Of course, I could never allow Smooch to become human again.

It was uncertain whether her power would return even if she became human again, and if she did become human, she might return to her original repulsive appearance.

“Eek…?”

I thought as I stuffed Smooch back into the shadows.

So conquering all factions through subordination isn’t the answer?

Hwang-gu, who travels with me, hasn’t lost her ability.

It seems that alliance rather than domination doesn’t matter.

My expression soured.

There was something I realized while facing Gorgon, the second episode boss.

If the three special users chosen by the god don’t come together, we won’t be able to defeat the new episode bosses that appear in the future.

I could handle Fenrir, the first boss, on my own.

But Gorgon was different.

Despite being just one episode apart, the power difference was several times greater.

Even though I had farmed decent items, without the effect of the doping potion Smooch had used, I wouldn’t have been able to hold out.

A headache was coming on. To clear episode bosses, we needed the power of humans, specifically special humans, but the relationship between humans and vampires had crossed an irreversible river.

Of course, the situation with werewolves wouldn’t be much different.

Would humans be willing to help us?

No, absolutely not.

The god wants this.

A world that functions just like the real Blood Carnival game.

What a madman. If he wanted to see the game’s scenario play out, he could have just played Blood Carnival himself.

“Haah…”

I sat down in the corner of the building with a deep sigh.

Hwang-gu and Aurel cautiously approached, watching my mood.

The two girls naturally sat down on my left and right.

If this is the case, there’s only one solution.

Exterminate all humans in the world to prevent the power from being transferred further.

Leaving only a single human alive.

The last survivor should be as young as possible.

Raising them from a state of knowing nothing, educating them to use their power for me.

No.

What am I thinking?

I clutched my forehead and let out a deep sigh.

Human extinction? If that happened, vampires and werewolves would also go extinct without a food source.

“Charlotte!”

“What…”

“The sun is rising!”

At Aurel’s words, I looked outside the building.

As she said, the sun was rising.

The darkness that had covered the world was receding. The long night was ending, and the true morning was dawning.

It seemed we would have to stay here for about 6 more hours.

***

The girl was walking around diligently with a bag larger than her body.

Whenever she found an item on the ground while walking, she would pick it up with a bright smile.

Despite the large bag that didn’t match her small frame, the girl could carry it without difficulty.

This was possible because the girl wasn’t an ordinary human.

Just then, a voice calling the girl’s name was heard.

It was the leader of the clan she belonged to.

“Yuri!”

“Ah, yes!”

The girl who was called, Yuri, ran forward with a frown.

Yuri didn’t like the clan leader’s thick, masculine voice.

At that moment, Yuri suddenly looked up at the sky.

“Morning…”

The sun was rising in the sky.

The brilliant sunlight was clearing away the surrounding darkness.

The world illuminated brightly.

In Yuri’s mind, vampires and werewolves were darkness.

Yuri thought as she watched.

This brightly lit world was the ideal state she desired.

As Yuri stood with her mouth open, staring at the sun, she noticed something strange floating in front of her.

“Ca-cash…? Berserk Potion… Gender Change Ticket…?”

With trembling hands, Yuri selected one of the items floating in the air.

A small card fell onto her hand with a plop.

The item Yuri had chosen was a Gender Change Ticket.

“Yuri!”

An irritating voice.

Yuri frowned and threw the small card at her clan leader.

The card flew with a whoosh and stuck to the face of the man with thick features.

Flash—

“Oh…”