Flesh for Bone
In that case, he had to get out of this position right now. He needed to vault down the stairs, find somewhere more open, and regroup. Now that he knew Argon's tactics were built around close and mid-range combat, he would have to settle this with guns.
But Se-gun had never once turned his back on a vampire and run.
A sharp whistle of air.
The cold came flying again. This time it was too fast to dodge. The previous two throws had been deliberately slow—changeups, if you wanted to put it in baseball terms—meant only to steal Se-gun's timing.
Se-gun clenched his teeth and raised Noctis, but the instant the cold struck the blade it bloomed outward and slammed into his eyes. Against something solid the sword would have been enough; cold, however, propagated through any medium—air, water, whatever was at hand. Without a massive quantity of power or the barrier of heavy clothing, stopping it or even dodging it was simply impossible.
"Ah—!"
That was the result. Se-gun felt the world go black and took a single step back. The cold had hit his eyes head-on and blinded him in an instant. Worse than having water thrown in his face. He could not open his eyes; even if he forced them open, there was nothing to see. And in that exact moment Argon charged with the long blade raised.
Yet whether he could see or not, Se-gun gripped Noctis in both hands and lifted the sword with absolute certainty. The concrete walls hemmed the space in tight. That left him nowhere to dodge—but it also simplified the enemy's attack. The instant the enemy realized Se-gun was badly hurt and closed in for the kill, Se-gun would sink his teeth into the bastard's throat instead.
A metallic scrape.
Hilt and blade rasped together. In the same breath Argon's edge came screaming toward him.
A hiss of steel.
Sword and long blade locked in midair. Se-gun stood the blade upright, knocked aside the longsword that had been diving for his neck, and in the same motion whipped Noctis downward like a bolt of lightning. Because the corridor was so narrow, the concrete walls braced him when the blades rebound; Argon's power could not shove him back. Suddenly a heavy weight dragged at the tip of the sword, and the smell of blood stabbed his nose.
"Kh—!"
Argon recoiled in shock. The prey he had thought finished, even blinded, had swung and sheared clean through Argon's collarbone. Only then did he understand it had been a trap. Give flesh to take bone, as the old saying went.
Argon looked at the vampire hunter before him with something like admiration. In four centuries the only being who had ever threatened him this much had been the heretic Phantom. To reach this level with a human body… Argon almost felt resentful.
"Damn it. Keep this up and one of us is going to have to die before it's over."
Argon stepped back and immediately reclaimed his blood. The blood that had fallen to the floor rose like weightless droplets and soaked back into the wound. Regeneration began at once.
"Mm."
Se-gun confirmed that his vision was slowly returning and walked out onto the rooftop. There had been a dangerous stretch, but the successful counterattack had tilted the advantage back to him. Still, just as Se-gun had not yet unsealed his heart, Argon had not yet shown his true strength either.
"…I think that's enough for today. To overturn the Tetra Anax system I need as many wildcards like you as I can get. From your point of view, wouldn't an unstable aftermath after the overthrow be better than a rock-solid regime? Once the vampires have finished slaughtering each other, they'll be a whole lot easier to deal with, won't they?"
At those words Se-gun stopped walking. As long as they were enemies he preferred to keep idle talk to a minimum, but this time he could not hold his tongue.
"You're one ridiculous climber."
Using even a vampire hunter to topple Tetra Anax? And saying it so shamelessly.
Yet the offer was undeniably attractive. Tetra Anax's grip was a fortress, and the forces opposing them were pitifully weak. If Se-gun went around killing anti-Tetra Anax vampires, it would actually set back the total extermination of the species.
"Ambition? Topple Tetra Anax and rule everything…? I've thought about it, sure, but even that would get boring enough to make me sick. The reason I stand against Tetra Anax is… well, if I have to put it into words, it's because the mountain is there. When a powerful old order exists, the fun of tearing it down is pretty damn satisfying. Isn't it great? The blazing flame of revolution. Long live the revolution!"
Argon muttered the last part, then sensed Se-gun's movement and stretched out a hand. Sure enough Se-gun, having kept him talking, was already leveling the Beast at him for a clean shot.
"…Persistent, aren't you. Do you really have to go that far?"
"Sorry, but this is my rule. There is no such thing as compromise with a vampire. Your proposal isn't uninteresting, but a principle is a principle."
"Even so, you intend to stand against Tetra Anax alone? You're the one with the absurd ambition here."
Argon raised the long blade again and fixed Se-gun with a stare. Se-gun only gave a short, dry laugh. Argon's words were perfectly rational. But if Se-gun had ever cared about rationality he would never have walked this inhuman road in the first place. Even after his entire family was slaughtered he could have looked away and lived as an ordinary man. Se-gun pulled the trigger.
At the same instant Argon reached for him.
Seo Rin pulled out his phone to report what had just happened. He had never owned one during his penniless part-time days; Han Se-gun had provided it.
Hyung collects discarded phones every day and turns them into remote bomb detonators or surveillance cameras… I wonder if this one's got something weird attached too?
The thought made him uneasy, but he could not exactly refuse to use it. To shake off the discomfort he scrubbed the phone against his pant leg as if polishing an apple (which accomplished nothing) and dialed Se-gun. The only sound that came back was the recorded message saying the phone was off and the call would be transferred to voicemail.
"W-what?"
Seo Rin stared at the handset in shock. He could not reach Se-gun. That had never happened. Perhaps Se-gun had turned the phone off on purpose—his way of saying Seo Rin had to handle this situation under his own power.
But the situation was already far too bad. The ominous aura radiating from the vampire called Argon proved he was high-ranking. Even Maria, when she was bloodthirsty, looked like a child next to that presence. Probably Jinma-class.
No matter how much Se-gun had sent Seo Rin out for training, the moment he learned something like Argon was attached to him he would pull Seo Rin out.
No—calm down. Se-gun would never simply abandon him. Han Se-gun was the kind of man who used Seo Rin as bait to fish for vampires. Even if the phone was off, he had to be watching from somewhere.
In short, this was a test. Like those courage trials kids always did on school trips. Only the fact that his life was actually on the line made the thrills incomparable.
"I have to do it myself."
Seo Rin bit his lip and started walking. Moments of crisis were exactly when you tested yourself and raised your own value. Teasing Se-gun had been fun, but he could not keep clinging to him forever.
Se-gun protected him only because he needed him. No amount of fawning or joking would change that.
"But… at the very least I should ease hyung's worries a little."
He muttered the words and kept walking. Without knowing the enemy's location, the only option was to search on foot. Primitive, but reliable.
Then the air suddenly turned sweet. He lifted his head. Rain was still pouring from the sky, yet the atmosphere itself had changed. He understood that he had finally stepped fully into the enemy's territory.
"This is…"
Night had not even fallen, and already the domain was expanding?
Seo Rin carefully drew the collapsible baton from his jacket. He desperately wanted to pull the gun instead, but he was afraid a passerby might notice and grow suspicious. Then again, a baton was hardly better; anyone who saw it would assume he was about to mug someone.
But the dense fragrance numbed his mind. Other people's eyes no longer mattered. The moment he rounded the next corner, the enemy would be right there.
Right in the middle of the city… The alleys of traditional houses were lined with famous Korean restaurants. Because of the rain there were few customers, yet he could still hear footsteps, voices, breathing.
They had been killing people in a place like this?
Seo Rin could not suppress the revulsion. Inside the houses people grilled meat and shared drinks; in the alley right beside them a vampire was devouring humans. His vision darkened; black anxiety and hatred welled up from his chest like a spring.
This was probably the reaction Se-gun had wanted. That did not mean Seo Rin intended to fight the way Se-gun wished. He was fighting now only because Se-gun wanted him to—like buying a carnation for Parents' Day and pinning it to someone's chest. Something like that.
But this smell… sour and yet overwhelmingly sweet. His mouth watered even as instinct recoiled in disgust.
"Here?"
Seo Rin rounded the corner. Nothing waited there. Only an empty house with a blue gate. He exhaled in relief and lowered the baton.
"…Thank god."
He had been terrified that a vampire really might be waiting. He would have fought if Se-gun wanted him to, but the idea of actually killing something was still unimaginable. Yet if he did nothing he would have to watch Se-gun grow more haggard. He hated that. What a tangled mess of feelings.
"Krrrraaahhh…"
Something growled directly above his head. Startled, Seo Rin reflexively raised the baton—but in that same instant his skull rang like a struck bell. The enemy's blow had ridden over the baton and smashed into his head.
"Kh—!"
Without proper sword training, completely blocking an attack with a blade or stick is extremely difficult. Seo Rin had received training from Se-gun, but he had never taken it seriously enough for the techniques to settle into his body.
He staggered back and lifted his face to find the enemy. Blood from his forehead ran into his eyes and blinded him.
"Guh—!"
He swung the baton wildly, trying to catch the attacker, but the enemy danced around him as if laughing, always just out of reach.
A heavy impact.
Something slammed into his torso. Pain as if his guts had been torn free lifted him off his feet.
He skidded down the rain-slick slope. Seo Rin immediately wiped his eyes with the standing water and stood. Visibility was still poor, but better than before. Water was preferable to sticky blood gumming his eyelids shut.
"Damn it!"
He checked the baton in his hand. It was completely bent. A self-defense stick like this was useless for hunting. A hunter's tools were not for protecting oneself; they existed to kill the other side. Without hesitation Seo Rin drew the gun and flicked off the safety.
"Krrrraaahhh!"
The opponent was a short-haired white man. He stood atop a building and spat something out. Seo Rin did not need a closer look; it was a human finger.
"Ha… hahahahahaha…"
Terrifying. How could Se-gun look at something like that and still fight? Seo Rin backed away from the terror rising in his chest.
Coldly considered, this creature was a low-grade vampire that could not even reach Maria's feet. When Maria was angry, Seo Rin had always been confident he could soothe her. No matter how furious she became, he had trusted her.
This was different. The thing had twisted into a grotesque shape that made him doubt it had ever been human. Veins bulged across its forehead; its eyes were so ruptured with burst capillaries that almost no white remained.
"You've come. You… Yes. He was right."
The man muttered words Seo Rin could not understand—some foreign tongue. Even so, the joy in the voice was unmistakable. Was this a trap?
"Please—let me taste your blood! Child of Lilith!"
The safety was already off. Seo Rin chambered a round and aimed. The enemy showed no fear of the muzzle pointed at him. He opened his mouth, flicked his tongue, and stared at Seo Rin as if at a meal.
"The blood of the origin. Not Tetra Anax's, yet you carry the source. Could it be—are you a descendant of our mother Lilith? The moon that sows madness is your mother's wickedness."
The madness-soaked vampire babbled more unintelligible nonsense and charged again. The attack was fast and lethal, yet crude. Seo Rin rolled clear.
A high, grinding screech tore through his ears and skull. Startled, Seo Rin touched his ear and found blood flowing from inside. The sound alone had ruptured his eardrum?
"Kkkkkh! Why? Why do you stop, child of Lilith!"
Still spouting the language Seo Rin could not grasp, the white man leapt at him again. He flipped through the air, tongue lolling, bloodshot eyes locked on Seo Rin, and swung. Seo Rin retreated and avoided the strikes, but every time his head felt as if it would split open.
A whistling kick.
While Seo Rin reeled under the sonic assault the man drove a foot into him. It was not a proper martial-arts kick—just a clumsy, thrashing swing—yet Seo Rin, unable even to control his own body because of the sound, could not dodge.
"Gah—!"
He skidded sideways down the slope, tumbled several times down the stairs, and landed hard at the bottom. A mini-truck coming down the road slammed on its brakes in shock at the figure that had suddenly appeared. Rain made the tires slide; the truck slid straight into him.
"Kh—!"
Seo Rin thrust out a hand and caught the bumper. His body slid backward with a wet scrape, but the truck stopped safely.
"Oh my god!"
The middle-aged woman driving stared at him with wide eyes. Stopping a moving truck with one arm? Even if it had been braking, how was that possible?
"Are you all right?"
She reached for the door handle to get out. At that moment the vampire dropped from the stairs above. Seo Rin clenched his teeth and seized the truck with both hands.