Ch.88EP 3 Manticore

What I had hoped for was to combine the powers of the two races, vampires and werewolves, to eliminate the manticore.

What I wanted came true. But only partially.

The werewolves and vampires joined forces. To eliminate a single target.

But that target wasn’t the manticore—it was me.

“Aaaaargh!”

A vampire male charged at me with a terrified expression.

I dodged his attack while extending my hand, shoving his head into the shadow.

Like a deer sinking into a swamp, the man was slowly dragged in.

From below, a pale white girl’s hand emerged to grab his body, preventing him from moving.

Werewolves and vampires charged at me endlessly.

I shook off all their attacks as I advanced toward Prix and Firin.

The wavering gazes of the two clan leaders contained the emotion of fear.

I had known it for a while. That Prix recognized me not as an equal, but as a fearsome being.

It probably started back then. When I destroyed a vampire clan that refused my orders.

After I absorbed those clan members as my subordinates.

Prix is a vampire who has observed my power from the closest position.

He knew exactly how those absorbed into my subordinate ranks changed.

Why would Prix make such a choice knowing that?

It seems the emotion of fear clouded his judgment.

It’s unfortunate. But it’s okay. He’ll never feel such emotions again.

There will be only one emotion Prix will feel toward me.

Absolute affection.

“Stop her from coming!”

Prix screamed, throwing away the baby bottle in his hand and ordering an attack against me.

Seeing this, I extended my hand.

The black shadow writhed and stretched out.

“Hyaaah!”

Hwang-gu began to move in earnest.

With her red fur flying and blue lightning wrapped around her, she cleared away everything blocking my path.

With each lightning-charged punch, vampires and werewolves collapsed, charred black.

The shadow devoured the fallen, turning them into new subordinates.

The longer the fight continued, more children died, but their numbers were replenished even faster.

Even with arms and legs blown off, the advance didn’t stop.

The pale white arm that instantly regenerated reached for Firin again.

Seeing this, Firin panicked and began to flee.

The clan leader’s escape had a profound impact on the clan members below.

Firin’s clan members started to run away.

With hundreds of them creating a gap at once, the vampires’ defense line collapsed instantly.

Flap-!

A leap using the wings on my back.

Werewolves rushed toward me as I jumped high into the sky, but all their attacks were repelled by Hwang-gu.

I like Prix and Firin. If other vampires had rebelled against me, I would have torn them limb from limb without even making them my subordinates.

But those two are different.

Having spent quite a long time with me, I intended to make them my children.

Not in their current form, but as pale white girls resembling me.

Firin would be the first to change.

Thud-!

“Keeek!”

Firin was crushed under my gliding attack.

I firmly pinned down the convulsing Firin beneath my feet.

Firin is a character with weak strength stats. Naturally, she couldn’t resist my attack.

“You’ll become cuter.”

“S-stop it…!”

Firin was sucked into the shadow below.

Now only Prix remained.

I looked around to find Prix’s location.

But he wasn’t visible. Seems like he wanted to play hide and seek with me.

“Aurel!”

“Yes!”

At my call, Aurel sent out her little sparrows.

Three sparrows fluttered into the air.

The sparrows were exceptionally capable. More so than ordinary vampires.

-Chirp chirp!

One of the sparrows that flew into the sky began to chirp excitedly.

It seemed to be saying that Prix was where it was looking.

“Lady Charlotte! Over there!”

With all the vampires fleeing, there was no way the remaining werewolves could stop me.

I jumped into the air once more and glided toward where Aurel had indicated.

Indeed, Prix was frantically fleeing with his black cape fluttering.

As I flew toward him, I briefly pondered.

Yuri really liked Prix…

The deliberation wasn’t long. Things had already gone this far.

I would just have to give Yuri two more of my children.

Crash!

A fierce wing beat followed by a downward strike.

Prix received my attack and slid along the road below.

“Grrrgh!”

His resistance was fiercer than Firin’s.

I tore off the cape Prix was wearing and struck his head.

Thud!

After a few punches, Prix quieted down.

He immediately sank beneath the shadow.

After devouring Prix, I returned to my original position to find Aurel and Hwang-gu waiting for me.

Seeing no one else around, it seemed everyone had fled.

I lightly embraced the two girls and said:

“Is everyone unharmed?”

“Yes!”

“Y-yes…!”

Unlike Aurel who answered energetically, Hwang-gu hesitated before responding.

She seemed troubled about slaughtering her own kind.

I stroked Hwang-gu’s head and brought out three large eggs made of shadow.

Eggs containing Mulbitbaram, Firin, and Prix.

When these three hatched from the eggs, all situations would be resolved.

That’s what I believed.

“What will they look like when they’re born?”

“They’ll be cute like me.”

“I can’t wait!”

Aurel happily smiled while pacing around the eggs.

She seemed excited about the newly born children.

I felt similarly to Aurel.

After some time had passed,

The eggs cracked and white girls emerged.

“Hueek…”

“Hieek…”

“Heek…”

The transformation was perfect. All three retained their original names but had become my children.

“T-this can’t be…”

Prix was the first to regain consciousness.

She sat down and examined her appearance.

But Prix would be less shocked by the change. After all, she changed from a girl to a girl.

The same goes for Firin. Mulbitbaram was the most surprised.

She stood up abruptly, then collapsed sideways.

Unable to properly maintain her center of gravity.

I quickly picked up the fallen Mulbitbaram and sat her down.

Mulbitbaram frowned and said:

“Charlotte… you will regret this choice…”

“Charlotte? It’s Lady Charlotte.”

“Lady Charlotte…”

While I was taking care of Mulbitbaram, I noticed two girls watching me cautiously.

It was Prix and Firin.

Both seemed to know they had done something wrong to me.

I put my hands on my hips and gave each girl a knock on the head.

Thwack-! Thwack-!

“Hueek…!”

“Hieek!”

Firin bowed her head deeply, but Prix glared at me and stood up abruptly.

I gave her another knock on the head.

Thwack!

“Sob…”

Only then did Prix sit down with her head bowed.

After rubbing her head for a while, Prix said:

“W-what are you planning to do now? Are you going to turn all vampires and werewolves into this?”

Her voice was sarcastic.

I gave Prix another knock on the head.

Thwack-!

“Hieek…”

Prix went completely limp this time.

The pale white girl began to cry.

I shook my head. Although my own kind had attacked me, it was probably due to Prix and Firin’s orders.

Moreover, fear is easily contagious. They probably fled without waiting for me because they were a little scared.

I knew that vampires were best handled by making them subordinates. The same applied to werewolves.

But that wasn’t efficient. My subordinates’ skill builds were fixed to shadow.

They would become defense-focused characters like me, Charlotte.

To defeat the manticore that had appeared, and further, the fourth episode boss Typhon, diverse builds were needed.

“Is it all over?”

Just then, a familiar voice was heard.

It was Yuri.

She approached with a light smile, not afraid of me like the other vampires or werewolves.

I was worried she might have run away, but I’m glad she didn’t.

“Hwang-gu.”

“Yes!”

At my command, Hwang-gu transformed into a wolf.

I seated Aurel, Firin, Prix, Yuri, and Mulbitbaram in a row on Hwang-gu’s broad back.

Hwang-gu’s back was so wide that there was still room left even with all the children on it.

I sat in front of Aurel and shouted:

“Let’s go find the werewolves!”

We couldn’t eliminate the manticore right now.

The vampires and werewolves who had fled needed to be called back.

Clop- clop- clop-!

Hwang-gu ran very fast.

Finding werewolves who had fled and hidden wasn’t difficult for Hwang-gu.

I held up the transformed Mulbitbaram to show the werewolves.

Lifting her by putting my hands under her armpits, Mulbitbaram’s short legs dangled.

She looked so cute.

I shouted to the werewolves.

That this girl was their leader. That she was Mulbitbaram.

The werewolves didn’t believe it. But they couldn’t disbelieve either.

The small girl definitely smelled like Mulbitbaram.

The werewolves showed various reactions.

Some charged at us, denying the truth, while others accepted the changed appearance and began to follow Mulbitbaram again.

It took a full day to find all the werewolves who had fled.

Now it was time to find the vampires.

Where would the fleeing vampires head? Obviously to Seoul.

They had nowhere else to go. With human forces completely destroyed, no vampire could survive in the wild.

“Let’s head to Seoul!”

Riding on Hwang-gu, I led the werewolves toward Seoul.

After exactly one day of becoming my children, Mulbitbaram, Firin, and Prix began to regress into infantile behavior.

I gave crayons to the three girls.

As expected, all the vampires who had fled were gathered in Seoul.

I held up the two small girls for them to see.

“Look! These are Prix and Firin!”

“I am Firin!”

“I am Prix!”

Prix and Firin hadn’t lost their memories yet.

The two girls ordered their clan members to return.

But only a few listened to those orders.

Prix and Firin began to whimper as they watched their clan members not returning.

“S-sob…”

“Come baaack…”

Their appearance was unbearably cute.

I hugged Prix and Firin with all my might.

“Hueek…”

“Can’t breathe…”