episode_0178

When hope is lost within, people tend to look outward.

The hope within the Albatea Counts’ castle, the wise mandarin, has fallen.

He was defeated by the vampire army and captured, and is being held captive as if he is being controlled by something.

Some people become desperate and frustrated.

After realizing that they can’t do anything with their own strength, they suffer and despair, as if strangling themselves.

Some people try to run away.

They are unwilling to use any means necessary to escape the crisis right before their eyes, and sometimes even show selfishness in order to save their own lives.

It may be a bit odd to call it selfishness, but you could also call it a survival instinct.

[I’m getting out of here!!]

A young man runs towards the castle gate.

A young man with nothing but his body starts running like crazy, and soon people start to look in the direction he is running.

[Hey, hey!]

[There…!]

The external surname of the Count of Albatea.

A place where guards usually stand, but now instead of guards, another red curtain has been spread out.

It doesn’t say anything separately.

There’s no need to mock.

[It’s dangerous! If you touch it, something might happen!]

The middle-aged man tries to stop the young man, but the young man shouts, pointing to the place where the sky-I appeared with my image magic.

[I told you that if you leave, nothing will happen! I, I can’t stay here!]

A young man approaches the curtain of blood.

Following the young man’s courage, others also stand in front of the curtain one by one, but no one can go out without permission.

Because you don’t have the courage?

Because there is no information.

Just as adventurers in a dungeon are always nervous when checking the trap rooms, those gathered in front of the castle gate are also very frightened and stand in front of the gate covered in blood.

So they both hesitated for a moment.

[Ugh, euaaaah!!]

Still, someone musters up the courage to throw himself into it.

Usually in movies and such, the person who first musters up the courage dies as if his body is torn apart in a cage and he screams, ‘Kyaaak’.

[uh?]

Sararak.

As if passing through a hologram, the young man was thrown out.

“Secretary. Connect a video connection to the outside. I can see outside the gate.”

“Yes, I will set it up right away.”

As soon as my instructions were given, Lilith turned the screen right away.

The newly appeared screen was a bit far away so I couldn’t see it clearly, but I could clearly see the young man who had been thrown outside the red curtained castle, groping around in confusion.

I wonder if there is something wrong with my body?

Could it be that some kind of spot has formed and the poison is spreading throughout my body?

If you look around, it seems like you’ve really just left Baekjakseong.

[Yeah, I survived!!]

Despite his confusion, the young man soon felt relieved and happy that he had survived.

“The real despair starts now.”

[Everyone, be safe! Outside…huh?]

The only visible curtain of blood outside is bright red.

It is not translucent, as if looking through a red liquid inside, or the entire Countess is red, as if looking through a red cellophane.

Only red.

“It would be a waste of time to put up a curtain.”

A blood red curtain that completely blocks the view from the outside to the inside.

[What, what is this! Ah, no! Inside, inside!!]

The young man desperately pounded his fist on the curtain, but the barrier that stretched out ‘outside’ the curtain was not shaken by the young man’s fist.

“It’s called a triple barrier. Haha.”

Mandarin’s magic barrier – Blood Curtain – and then Mandarin’s magic barrier again.

The mandarin showed his wise side.

It wasn’t like he was going to spread a barrier over the entire Baekjak Territory, but with the Mandarin’s power, he could easily spread two layers of barrier around the Baekjak Castle.

“I am grateful to the humans. The decisive factor that made the wise mandarin help me like this was ultimately their impatience.”

“If anyone had tried to help the wise mandarin, she would have been too weak-hearted to fully help.”

“I guess so?”

The reason Mandarin decided to help the Vampire Legion was because of humans, or rather, the ‘shitheads’.

“S-class adventurers, the so-called ‘warriors’, took it for granted that they could raid dungeons.”

What if at least one person had cheered for Mandarin?

What if someone had consoled him that the Mandarin’s dildo masturbation and quasi-rape scenes were not a matter of personal taste, but a real curse he got from the dungeon?

Perhaps there was something like that, where they singled that person out, but unfortunately, there was no such person in the Albatea Counts.

Even if there were, it would probably only be one Countess Vampire wearing a mask.

Thump, thump, thump.

[Oh, no! My wallet is inside!!]

A young man knocks on the wall.

He keeps trying to break the barrier by punching and kicking, but even with that amount of strength, he can’t break the barrier that the Mandarin has put up with all his might.

“Once you go out, you can’t come back in.”

The Blood Curtain is a barrier that allows one to leave once, but prevents one from re-entering once they have left.

Physically, and also through the curtain of blood that stretches across Mandarin’s barrier.

The young man doesn’t seem to realize it, but there is a red mark the size of a thumbnail on the back of his neck.

The stigma of an outcast.

It is a mark that means you can never enter the territory of our vampire army.

It is a magical mark that is automatically engraved on the nape of the neck the moment you pass through the blood curtain on your own.

“Secretary. Show me the inside again.”

“It’s just the perfect timing.”

The release turned the screen.

Before we knew it, there were a lot of people gathered in front of the gate, and they were whispering to each other in confusion.

[I’m not coming back! Is it okay for me to go out?]

[Hey, you’re not dead, are you?]

Just as the inside cannot be seen from the outside, it is naturally invisible from the inside either.

It’s a natural step.

“Release. Humans, you know, if they’re given even a little bit of information that’s advantageous to them, they’ll immediately use their wits. ”

This applies to me as well, but humans tend to think and act in a way that benefits them.

“There’s information that those who went outside are safe but can’t come back. Then, what are they going to do?”

“I think most people will follow suit.”

“Yeah. The problem is that it just doesn’t go out.”

I pointed to the numerous houses on the screen.

“Stealing other people’s property, destroying real estate, or something like that.”

“……No way.”

“It’s true.”

The time is 24 hours.

Before going out, there is enough time to raid the property of those who have already escaped and get out beyond the curtain.

“If you give me that information.”

“Literally, this is something that humans have to judge and act on their own.”

“Yeah.”

To go out or not to go out.

Those who threw themselves one by one over the curtain, including the young people, will be bewildered at having gone out naked and will wish for the barrier to open again.

Those who want to leave but are afraid to do so, or who have difficulty leaving the castle for some reason, will want to find another way.

“What would be the best thing for humans?”

“The blood curtain is lifted, and they hope that someone will save them.”

“Yeah. But most of them are as weak as me, or even weaker than me. So what do they want?”

“As you said, I hope a hero will appear from outside and remove the curtain…”

“Or, what are you going to do with those who remain inside?”

I turned the screen of the magic image towards the Adventurer’s Guild.

“In the end, whatever they decide will be the consensus.”

Adventurer’s Guild.

“I see some familiar faces.”

The A-class adventurers who remained in Count Albatea gathered in the conference room on the top floor of the guild building.

“I don’t know what the conclusion will be, but there will probably be only one conclusion.”

Using common sense about boundaries.

“Already prepared, but.”

* * *

“The caster must find the core of the barrier.”

The leader of the Adventurer’s Guild Albatea Branch opened his mouth quietly.

“I don’t know how they created the barrier here, but since it’s a barrier, there must be someone or a magic circle that serves as the core of the barrier inside this city.”

The guild leader placed one magic stone on the table, then turned a large cup upside down and placed it on top of the magic stone.

The shape of a magic stone trapped in a cup.

“I need to find it.”

The guild leader grabbed the magic stone and crushed it in his hand.

“Hank. How much time is left?”

“There are about 23 hours left now.”

The expressions of the adventurers gathered in the conference room hardened at Hank’s words, the receptionist agent.

“Is there a possibility that saviors will come from outside?”

“I think it’s low. Even if you come, can you break that barrier? You’ll have to come with an S-class.”

“S-class….”

“Hey, Guild Master. Shouldn’t we start controlling the people? They keep going out now.”

“……What happened to the count now?”

Although the guild leader is the head of an organization, he is not responsible for managing the entire territory.

“That, that. The permanent representative is also in a panic right now….”

“Fuck.”

Count Albatea is not here now.

This is not a matter for which responsibility can be placed.

Count Albatea, as a sword master, is fighting against the Demon King’s army that has invaded the kingdom’s territory.

“A surprise attack from the rear…. I guess I have no choice but to hold out until Count Albatea returns.”

“Ha, but…!!”

Among those gathered in the guild, one woman pointed at herself and another woman with a frightened look on her face.

“If I become a virgin vampire like that guy said, what are you going to do!”

All the adult women gathered in the guild gulped.

You become a vampire instead of a human?

“That’s all a lie.”

“How can you say that’s a lie! That’s what Mine, who subdued the wise man and created this huge barrier in the Count’s castle, said!”

Who can take responsibility for that?

“I, I’m getting out of here!”

“Even if I leave, can you help me out before 24 hours?”

The guild leader pointed to the floor.

“We can’t just hand this place over to the demons. So, we have to find the core. Don’t worry. There is a statue of the goddess here, and the divine power spreads around the statue. ”

The guild leader hit the table and got up.

“There must be a core somewhere that maintains this barrier! We absolutely must find it!!”

* * *

“By the way, Assistant Teacher.”

“Why?”

“Where is the core of the barrier, Chief Akamond, now?”

“In the belly of the goddess.”

“……?”

“It’s dark under the lamp, and it’s the safest place. Should I be more explicit?”

If the goddess were a drinker.

“There is a doll hidden in the goddess statue’s womb.”

Even if a vampire becomes weak in the human realm due to the mark of the Demon King’s army, it will only weaken them and not kill them.

“The nucleus that maintains the blood curtain.”