Human Liberation Front
A brief, blood-fed state of awakening.
Blood Carnival had never given vampires an ability like this, but I’d already decided that was what this condition amounted to.
Since I was ready, it was time to go out and fight.
My Magical Eyes activated naturally, and a black katana surged up out of the shadows.
I reached out and closed my hand around the hilt.
“Hwanggu.”
“Y-yes!”
“Take care of Aurell for me.”
“Understood!”
There were twenty humans in the group that had raided this place.
By any normal standard, fighting twenty human players was absurd.
That was, of course, if I’d been alone.
But I wasn’t alone now.
I caught the scent of the werewolves fighting outside.
Tat-tat-tat—!
The moment I kicked off the ground, my body shot forward in a blur.
The wings spread behind me beat once, adding even more speed.
Paang!
A massive boom echoed behind me, like a sonic blast.
The instant I burst out of the military tent, I sprang into the air.
Paaaat—!
My speed didn’t slow. If anything, it only increased.
My body arcing diagonally upward gained another burst of acceleration with the help of the wings unfurled behind me.
Peeong—!
The foul, unmistakable stench of human blood hit me.
I extended my katana toward that sweet temptation.
Kwa-dudududuk—!
The blade pierced the outer wall of a half-collapsed high-rise.
For a moment the wall seemed to hold, then cracks spiderwebbed through it before it shattered apart.
Paang—!
Through the raining debris of the broken building, I spotted a male player aiming a long rifle from outside.
His gaze snapped to me.
Alarm surfaced in his eyes.
He realized my attack too late and tried to shift his stance to run, but it was already over.
Paat—!
I kept charging without slowing.
The katana’s edge pierced straight through his heart and carried on toward the wall behind him.
Because I still hadn’t bled off my momentum, the rush didn’t stop there.
Kwaang!
Only when the katana, having skewered his heart, drove halfway into the wall opposite did it finally come to a halt.
“Kkh... kkh...”
A faint groan leaked from the man’s mouth.
I lifted my head and looked down at him, and he stared back at me in open disbelief.
“Hi~”
The greeting slipped out in a voice far too cheerful.
I couldn’t rein in my excitement.
Who would have thought a single glass of blood could leave me this worked up?
What would happen if I drained this man dry?
The blood the werewolves had given me had been delicious.
Just thinking of that sweet scent made my body tremble on its own.
But could I really say that blood was the best there was?
It had been exposed to the air. In the time it took to cool, it must have gone through countless subtle changes.
Then, all at once, I noticed the veins in the human player’s neck.
A normal person couldn’t have seen them, but to my vampire eyes they stood out clearly.
I ran my tongue over the sharp fangs hidden inside my mouth.
If I sank these teeth in and sucked the blood racing through those veins...
Taang—!
At that moment, a deafening gunshot rang out.
The red mark was on my chest.
I lightly shifted my foot and moved aside.
Ppuuk—!
The human man pinned to the wall through my katana exploded outward.
A sniper shot from a long distance.
The attack had been aimed at me, but since I’d dodged, the male player standing in front of him took the hit instead.
Tok—
Tududuk—
I wiped the blood from my cheek.
The massive bullet had blown it apart, so there was blood on me, yes, but also tiny bits of flesh.
Just when I’d been about to taste fresh blood, to have that moment interrupted made my head burn hot.
I turned and identified the enemy’s position.
In the direction the shot had come from, at the far end of the line of fire.
Inside a small building on the ground level, information about one player floated into view.
The instant I checked that information, I launched myself straight out of the building.
I would fly without hesitation toward the direction the shot had come from and pierce his heart with this katana.
The moment I thought that—
Shiiiik—!
With a strange sound, something flew at me and wrapped around my ankle.
The pain that hit me was ferocious.
With a hiss like frying metal, my balance went out from under me.
“Ghk...!”
My wings, spread wide moments ago, could no longer keep me aloft, and my body began to fall.
As I dropped, I caught sight of a man standing on a mid-level floor of the building.
[Bernstein]
Level: 20
Race: Human
HP 100%
Mana 90%
Emotional State: Excited, Angry, Calm, Interested, Disgusted
A human male player named Bernstein.
In his hand was a thin thread that glittered in the moonlight.
Following the line of that thread with my eyes, I saw it was wrapped around my ankle.
[Special Wire]
A wire infused with silver.
So that was it.
The pain in my ankle had felt familiar, and now I knew why: the silver was scorching my skin.
I frowned and beat my wings.
Flap—!
My body spun at once.
As my lost balance came back under me, I smashed through a half-broken window and tried to force my way into the building.
Crash—!
Even as I entered, I could feel the wire tugging at my ankle.
Bernstein, still holding the wire, was continuing to pull on it.
I scowled and swung my katana.
Swish—!
The taut wire snapped.
But fragments of it still remained embedded around my ankle.
I used the tip of my katana to hack at the wound.
Crack—!
I had no choice if I wanted to cut out wire that had dug deep into my skin.
Black blood spilled down in a rush, and from within, a thin strand of wire finally gave way and broke free.
I rubbed at my ankle and glared up at the upper floors of the building.
I’d tried to go after the sniper first, and instead there’d been someone like that lurking there.
Now that he’d identified me, he wasn’t going to let me go easily.
The priority had changed.
At that moment, the scent of blood from the upper floor started moving.
Following that movement with my eyes, I saw it shifting toward the center of the corridor.
At the center was the staircase connecting the floors.
In other words, Bernstein was coming down from the building to deal with me himself.
That worked out even better.
Instead of making the trip to him, he was coming to me.
I pulled a potion out of the shadows and poured it over my ankle.
The foam left on my skin washed away, and fresh flesh began to grow back.
Once I confirmed my ankle was back to normal, I sprinted for the stairs.
By the time I reached the middle landing, a black shadow came diving down from above.
He attacked boldly, without hesitation.
It was Bernstein.
Dressed in a black rider suit, he swung a military longsword at me.
Shuaaak—!
My activated Magical Eyes predicted where the attack would land.
I took a single step back and swung my katana.
Clang—!
Blade met blade, and sparks burst into the air.
The corridor flashed bright for a moment.
As the distance between us widened, Bernstein drew a small wire suspended from his belt.
He spun it fast, then sent it flying at me.
But for some reason, my Magical Eyes gave me no warning about where the wire was coming from.
It hardly mattered.
A long, whipping strand of wire was easy enough to avoid.
Shiiik—!
The moment I tilted my body and slipped past it, Bernstein’s next attack came.
A stabbing strike aimed high and low.
Without hesitation, I moved my wings and knocked both aside.
Pak!
After that, Bernstein kept up a series of cautious attacks.
He looked nothing like he had in that first bold rush.
It didn’t take long for me to realize the wire that had seemed so troublesome was no longer much of a threat.
The moment I understood that, I flared my wings wide and lunged forward.
A straight-line charge, powered by my wings.
The tip of my katana was aimed at Bernstein’s heart.
My body shot forward in a direct line, the black katana extending with it.
Just as the point was about to reach Bernstein’s chest—
Bernstein’s eyes flashed, and he yanked the wire hard.
Shiiiik—!
The sound was completely different from before.
At once, my dormant Magical Eyes warned me of the danger rushing toward me.
Arms and legs, yes—but that wasn’t all.
Thighs and wrists, chest and waist.
And my neck too.
Every part of my body lit up red, with not a single gap left uncovered.
No way.
My rapidly shifting gaze took in the surroundings.
In that instant, the loosely hanging wires all around me snapped taut.
My body, still charging forward, had no time to stop before it slammed into the silver-laced wires.
Chiiiiiik—!
“Kkgh...!”
Like a butterfly caught in a spiderweb, my arms and legs were wrapped in wire, and white smoke rose from my entire body.
My skin where it touched the wire blackened and burned, and black blood began to drip.
Tok— tuduk—
The black blood that fell to the floor gave off wisps of white smoke.
I clenched my teeth hard against the searing pain.
“Hoo...”
Bernstein, the one who’d left me in this state, let out a small breath from a short distance away.
A faint smile touched his otherwise calm face.
I tried moving my arms just in case.
Even through the pain of flesh scorching like fire, I could move them, but if I forced too much strength into them, the connected parts might be cut apart.
“Do you want to live?”
Bernstein’s sudden question.
Who on earth wanted to die? But I didn’t bother answering.
I could see the twitching, irritated smile on his face.
“Hm...”
Apparently displeased with my silence, Bernstein tugged on the wire.
The lines around my body tightened violently.
As the wire binding me began to dig in, the pain only grew worse.
Chiiik—!
I bit down hard and swallowed my groan.
If I exerted even a little force, the wire connected to my neck would cut in and take my head off.
Bernstein didn’t seem to be in any hurry to kill me.
And then, just as I felt the smile at the corner of his mouth shift into something else, I smiled too.
“Eat.”
“Eat?”
Bernstein echoed the word, but I didn’t answer.
I hadn’t been speaking to Bernstein.
To my faithful servant.
It was an order to the shadows.
I was Charlotte, a vampire whose control over shadow had grown to an extreme degree.
Which meant this wasn’t the way vampires were supposed to fight.
Swoosh—!
The instant my command fell, the shadows across the entire corridor began to writhe.
Like wings expanding, the black beast formed from my shadow had grown larger than before.
Riiip—!
A vast beast’s mouth suddenly opened across the corridor.
Bernstein blinked, as though he still couldn’t understand what was happening to him.
Crack—!
The moment the beast closed its jaws, Bernstein’s body vanished.
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