Opening the Demon Eyes
The enormous wings made of shadow granted me a brief moment of suspension in the air.
I couldn’t fly freely through the sky, but the ruined city below had plenty of places to use as footholds.
Thak—!
I stepped onto a collapsed building and launched myself again.
The moment my dwindling speed gathered momentum and I shot upward, I finally spotted the target I’d been after.
A woman staring up at the sky with a startled expression.
[TheLastStrikeOf82-Year-OldKingNoSik]
She looked nothing like her nickname suggested.
All she carried was a long, extended rifle.
I couldn’t sense any other users nearby.
She must have set herself up out here alone for sniping.
That was her mistake.
For a brief instant I hung motionless in midair, then I swung my katana and plunged downward.
Flap—!
The wings spread behind me beat hard, driving my speed even higher.
"Ngh...!"
A pained groan slipped out from between her tightly clenched teeth.
The muzzle of the long rifle came up toward me.
A red reticle formed precisely between my brows.
At this point, it was almost like precognition.
I shifted my wings and changed direction.
Fwoosh—!
Bang—!
With that powerful beat of my wings, the shot rang out.
By the tiniest margin, a white flash skimmed past my cheek.
Weapon, skill, gear—everything she was using, I’d already judged.
She couldn’t beat me.
Even if she had traps waiting below, the future wouldn’t change.
So I kept pressing in.
Whoooosh—!
As my falling speed accelerated, panic spread across her face and she began turning her body away.
But it was already too late.
If she’d turned the instant she saw me, she might still have had a chance of living. Instead, my katana was already stretching toward her.
"Eek...!"
From above to below.
The long blade pierced through her head, and the moment it did, her body could not withstand the impact and collapsed into the ground.
Crunch—!
Twisted, broken bones burst through skin as red blood spilled out.
Was this the instinct of a vampire?
Watching that, I licked my lips.
[TheLastStrikeOf82-Year-OldKingNoSik]
↓
[Human Corpse]
The other side’s information changed.
What had been a nickname was now simply Human Corpse, the description stripped down to its bare minimum.
The system that ruled this world had delivered its judgment.
The user skewered on my katana was no longer a living being.
I pulled the sword free from the corpse.
The blood on the blade was naturally absorbed through the shadow.
As much as I wanted to drain every last drop of blood from this body right here and now, there were still three human users left.
And if I thought of Hwanggu and Aurell, I didn’t have the luxury of dawdling.
I spread my wings and leapt up once more.
Flap—!
***
"Hwanggu. Stay close and be careful..."
"Mm-hm!"
Aurell kept her steps small and cautious as she thought of Charlotte.
If the opponent had been an ordinary human, Aurell would have gone out to fight too.
She wanted to help Charlotte—she really did—but her level was only 12.
If she’d tried to make a show of helping in this situation, she would have lost her head to a single sniper round.
Aurell and Hwanggu moved with extreme caution.
They even flattened themselves to the ground, afraid their movement might be spotted.
And so they covered quite a distance.
Aurell looked back and let out a breath of relief.
They had reached a place far from where the explosion had gone off.
At this distance, they should be reasonably safe.
That was what Aurell thought as she exhaled, and then—
Bang—!
Along with the sharp crack of a gunshot, a spray of red blood burst up before Aurell’s eyes.
The first thing Aurell registered was pain.
A searing pain had begun in her arm.
"Aurell!"
Accustomed as she was to her vampire body, this was a kind of pain she hadn’t experienced often, and it robbed her of her senses.
She couldn’t understand why Hwanggu was staring at her like that either.
Concern, confusion, agitation, fury—Aurell stared blankly at the emotions she could feel through Hwanggu’s gaze.
Chiiiii...
Only then did thin white smoke begin to rise belatedly.
Aurell finally understood what had happened to her arm.
Below the right elbow—where her arm should have been—there was nothing left.
"Hk..."
She drew in a stunned, broken breath.
Aurell found her severed arm lying on the ground.
What had once been white was now stained red with blood, and the cut surface had been burned black as it gave off pale smoke.
This hadn’t been an ordinary attack.
It had been a silver bullet.
Overwhelmed by a sickening wave of vertigo, Aurell sank to the ground.
"Grrrrr..."
The instant Aurell became unable to move, Hwanggu dropped flat as well.
He had lost his memory, but the instincts carved into his body had not forgotten.
His companion had been attacked.
Though they had only spent a short time together, and though he didn’t know what their relationship had been before he lost his memory, Hwanggu instinctively recognized Aurell and Charlotte as companions from the same pack.
And Charlotte had even asked him for help.
Hwanggu hadn’t forgotten that request.
"Grrrrr..."
A low growl rumbled from deep in his throat.
Hwanggu began using a werewolf skill on instinct.
Partial beastification activated.
The pale moonlight hanging in the sky began to lend Hwanggu its power.
Hair lengthened and spread over his back.
His arms and legs thickened slightly, brown fur blooming over them.
It was like watching the process of a human becoming a wolf.
His fingernails and toenails also changed, growing far beyond anything human.
"Arooo!"
That wasn’t the end of Hwanggu’s transformation.
The fur that had begun covering his body stretched all the way down behind his hips, pulling out into a long, fluffy tail.
Half human, half wolf.
Hwanggu knew instinctively that this was the form in which he could move fastest.
As his body changed, so did his sense of smell, growing sharper.
Hwanggu lifted his head and sniffed.
Sniff sniff—
The information carried by the scent was astonishing.
He could tell the enemy’s position, body size, strength, and even the emotion they were feeling.
There was only one person targeting them here.
Following his instincts, Hwanggu kicked off the ground and sprang into motion.
"Hwanggu...!"
Aurell called after him, but he didn’t stop.
He moved only to eliminate the danger threatening his pack.
Once he had begun running on all fours, Hwanggu vanished into the darkness at a speed that could not be compared to before.
Tap-tat-tat—
Tap-tat-tat—
Tap-tat-tat—
Unsettling footsteps rang out from all directions.
The human who had attacked Aurell and Hwanggu, Mariett, steadied her breathing.
She already knew her target was a werewolf.
That was precisely why she had followed them here, wasn’t it?
Mariett was confident in close combat.
Her build was that of a melee dealer who had grown a one-handed sword and pistol skill.
She had hunted several werewolves before, so her confidence was high.
But—
Tap-tat-tat—!
"Hk!"
Swallowing hard, Mariett aimed her pistol into the darkness.
The relentless footsteps made her head spin.
The werewolf moved so fast she couldn’t get a proper bead on it.
Tap-tat-tat—!
Then came the footsteps again.
Mariett jerked and fired toward the sound.
Bang—!
A silver bullet shot out with a burst of white light.
The muzzle flash briefly illuminated the world.
Revealed in that moment was the figure of a little wolf girl.
She left behind only a blur, melting softly back into the darkness.
Thump—
Thump—!
Thump—!
Her heartbeat quickened.
Mariett realized, all at once, that she was feeling fear.
After scanning her surroundings for a long while, she started firing wildly at empty air.
Fear drove her into a panic.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With each bullet she spent, the footsteps of the werewolf girl grew closer.
Tap-tat-tat—
Tap-tat—
"Hk..."
How long had it been?
Mariett realized the cold sweat on her back had soaked her shirt through.
Tick—!
Tick—!
And the silver rounds she had loaded had begun running dry as well.
She had to reload. Quickly.
Rattled, she tried to reach into her pocket—
"Grrrrr..."
A low growl rolled out of the darkness.
Mariett turned her trembling gaze over her shoulder.
When had it gotten so close?
She hadn’t sensed the approach, not the sound of movement or even its presence.
The only reason she realized it had come near was the growl slipping from the werewolf girl’s mouth.
Would it forgive her if she said it had been a mistake? No. If it were her, she wouldn’t have.
Mariett swung her sword in a panic.
A military long sword purchased from a shop.
It was a cheap item, but at this point it was the best thing she could get her hands on.
And it was Mariett’s last desperate struggle.
Swiiish—!
The blade came slicing through the air.
Then something that gleamed like the pale moon hanging in the sky swept down in response.
Shk—!
A faint crescent-shaped arc lingered in the dark.
Suddenly, Mariett felt all the strength drain from her body.
Her eyes drifted to the military longsword she had been holding.
The blade she thought was solid had been neatly severed.
That was the last thing Mariett remembered.
Thud.
Hwanggu looked down at his own claws.
He didn’t know what he had just done, but he could tell that, in an instant, he had used a burst of overwhelming strength to cut the enemy down.
The faintly shining claws looked just like moonlight.
"Hah!"
Then Hwanggu remembered Aurell, whom he had forgotten in the heat of the moment.
He’d left his friend behind with an arm torn off.
Shaking his head hard, Hwanggu sprinted toward the place where Aurell was waiting.
Tap—! Tap—! Tap—!
"Aurell!"
"Hwanggu!"
Hwanggu checked Aurell’s condition and let out a sigh of relief.
The arm that had been severed had been neatly reattached to its original place.
Though a strip of pure white bandage was wrapped around the middle of it.
---