Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Valentino Oxitus
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The vampire's name was Valentino Oxitus.
One of the twelve lords baptized by Zanadin.
After the king's death, he had struggled long and hard for the sake of his clan, whose survival hung by a thread.
Of course, the problem was that this struggle involved corrupting the souls of the innocent.
Be that as it may, he had done his utmost.
For the revival of his clan and the day of their glory.
The blood flowing through his veins whispered to him, as it always had.
Even though the king was dead, his legacy must continue—this fanatical belief drove him onward.
If the inherited True Blood one day met with the king's qualities, they could become the true masters of the night once more.
But his enemies were formidable.
The great seven families.
Among them, Solard—the sun worshippers—posed the greatest threat.
They had doggedly sought to eradicate the blood clan, the root cause being that the king had claimed the family head's woman as his blood sustenance.
Not content with avenging himself on the king, the man had even sacrificed his own life to incinerate the blood clan.
The very manifestation of the sun.
He had to flee.
There was no chance of victory.
That was Valentino's conclusion.
For now, there was no path forward, so he would bide his time for the next millennium.
By then, the seven families might be no more.
Even if they weren't, they might have forgotten them—forgotten him.
The thoughts of the other lords mattered little.
Already, six had been burned to ash by the family head.
They would scheme for themselves in time.
And so, Valentino sealed himself away in his stone sarcophagus.
And he thought:
You lot will vanish into the dustbin of history.
I will transcend the ages!
And now...
Valentino's eyes widened to the point of tearing.
He had merely found guns—an unfamiliar weapon—intriguing, and even the beings who wielded amplified brainwaves rather than magic had piqued his curiosity.
But this was different.
He had clearly bestowed baptism upon him, hadn't he?
Yet there stood the young Zahard, to whom he had granted the glory of becoming his first familiar, perfectly unharmed.
Disrespectfully picking his nose, no less.
"Buuuurp—"
A sudden belch out of nowhere.
"True Blood!"
His composure shattered, his face twisted into a demonic grimace.
"What did you do to the True Blood?!"
The power that bound the blood clan together.
Valentino could never forget the moment the king had deeply carved the stigmata into his own neck.
The power bestowed with a personal kiss.
An unforgettable full-moon night.
The vampire's eyes blazed fiercely.
"Say it again. What did you do to the True Blood?"
To which Jin replied:
"I swallowed it, didn't I say?"
Then came another long, drawn-out belch—buuuurp—as he flashed an awkward smile at Natasha, who stared at him in a daze.
"Sorry."
"...You okay?"
"Nah. I'm stuffed."
Jin said this while patting his belly.
It was an odd sense of fullness.
What was it like?
It felt as if he'd eaten with his entire body, not just his mouth.
A satisfaction beyond compare to merely stuffing his stomach.
His cells themselves gleamed with luster as he gave a thumbs-up.
Whew, the prophet of this house sure knows his stuff. Thanks for the meal.
His mood lifted, Jin grinned from ear to ear.
He had no idea what True Blood was, but his belly was definitely full.
Am I still human, though?
With that, Jin stretched the inside of his cheek with his finger and asked Natasha:
"Do my fangs look pointy?"
He meant to ask if his canines looked sharp, but his mumbled pronunciation must have garbled it.
No immediate answer came.
"......"
Only belatedly did Jin realize that Natasha's blank gaze had drifted downward.
What's on the floor?
He tilted his head and naturally let his eyes follow hers—then jolted in surprise.
A suspicious outline trailed down his thigh, staring right back at him.
"Oh crap."
Instinctively, he clasped his hands over his groin.
Of course, there was something else he should be covering, but hands couldn't hide it all anyway.
Why's this happening again?
Just like with the elixir last time, Jin blinked rapidly amid the over-saturation.
No matter how thick-skinned he was, this situation was utterly mortifying.
"Huh? Eh? What?"
Even Maximo, collapsed in the distance, kept rubbing his eyes.
If the swarthy man's face reflected sheer bafflement, the vampire's expression bordered on fury.
"You... Zahard. What is this monstrosity...!"
As if the True Blood he'd personally bestowed had been squandered on something so vulgar.
Faced with this transcendent masculinity, killing intent gleamed in the vampire's eyes.
It wasn't envy, absolutely not.
That wretched cur had defiled the True Blood.
Unforgivable. He wouldn't stand for it.
"You!!"
The vampire slammed the floor, his body instantly merging into a blood-red mist.
This thick, crimson haze was an advanced ability granted to the blood clan.
It allowed teleportation to anywhere within range,
reconstruction of damaged flesh,
and even inducing hallucinations in those trapped inside.
A sort of domain expansion, one might say.
Though he hadn't recovered his former power and thus couldn't use hallucinations or spells, this was more than enough to deal with ignorant humans.
Even that stubborn old mage had eventually fallen.
Within the disorienting ability, the vampire stalked his opponent's opening.
There was that loathsome face, legs crossed, endlessly scratching the back of his head.
Swallowed the True Blood?
What blood clan could endure such an insult?
The price would be paid in blood.
That was when the enraged vampire lord began to materialize behind Jin's back.
"...Is this the feeling?"
A soft mutter.
The next instant.
Transparent flames began to flicker faintly from Jin's body, the resulting haze shoving the blood mist aside with a sizzle—like meat hitting a hot griddle.
"Grahk!"
Valentino, mid-materialization, screamed and recoiled.
His reaction was violently intense.
He desperately scattered into bats,
reforming into human shape a good distance away.
Glancing at his scorched right forearm, he let out a strangled wail.
"What are you!!"
The response was equally vehement.
"Jin! Jin! Jin! Jin!"
Jin bellowed, veins bulging.
He'd lost count of how many times he'd been asked that.
His ears were practically calloused now.
"Jin Evernight! Memorize it if you don't know!"
As he roared, Natasha cautiously spoke up.
"Yesterday it was Jin Zahard..."
"Ah."
Only then did he recall peddling Zahard's surname.
"That's... uh. Complicated circumstances now..."
The vampire bellowed over Jin's coughing evasion.
"How do you wield that flame...! What's your connection to Solard?! Answer me!"
The cavern rumbled with his thunderous shout.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The vampire's face was more hideously contorted than ever.
It was only natural.
Why had he buried himself in that sarcophagus?
All because of those flames.
The sacred blaze of Solard.
And that transparent fire had surely been the one that killed the king...
"......"
A thick stench of natural enemy pierced his nostrils, and the vampire's lips twitched.
"What in the world is happening up there on the surface?"
Less a question than a soliloquy.
But no matter what the vampire muttered in his confusion, Jin paid it no mind.
He merely turned his palm upward, gazing quietly at the softly burning flames atop it.
The first fire he'd ignited by his own will.
The haze was modeled after Kelgit's.
He hadn't expected such a crude imitation to be this effective.
"Pretty."
A mystical, rippling silhouette.
He wanted to stare forever at the warmth blossoming in his hand, but the mana drain to sustain it was no joke.
Thus, his gaze naturally shifted to the vampire.
Thud.
He began striding forward.
Not smashing the ground, but with strides so vast he was soon towering right in the creature's face.
"I said no matter what, I'd kill you, right?"
"...What?"
As if reciting a prior heart-to-heart, Jin slammed his fist into the vampire's baffled mug.
Crack! The head snapped back.
But it didn't fall.
No—it couldn't.
Because of the arm clutching its collar.
With colossal force, Jin yanked it forward and headbutted the oncoming skull.
Blood erupted like a fountain; teeth shattered in a crash.
Simultaneously, the vampire's body broke down into bats, then dispersed into blood mist.
But Jin didn't stop.
Before, he might have tensed up, unsure of the direction—but now was different.
His field of vision had widened; he was a frog who'd escaped the well.
He could sense the thoughts coalescing.
Pivoting on his right foot, he spun and unleashed a midair roundhouse.
Bam! A sharp impact cracked the vampire's neck as it finished materializing—the timing impeccable.
Scarce had Jin righted himself when the follow-up came: a straight punch aimed to burst the heart.
The vampire detonated his lower body for propulsion, soaring high.
Jin's fist whipped empty air as elevated blood rained down like a squall.
But the heat enveloping Jin's body evaporated it instantly.
The vampire's face went rigid as he realized his explosive ploy had failed.
As his plummeting form began scattering into bats once more—
Jin arrived first, punting the head.
The body rocketed up, only to halt abruptly as iron fingers seized the neck.
Then came the fist storm.
The ragdoll head flailed like a rice cooker's lid gone berserk amid the frenzy.
Huerk. Blood spewed as the vampire's eyes ignited crimson.
The distant heat drove the blood mist to coalesce in its hand into a sword.
An upward slash followed.
Jin's chest split open with a rip.
The vampire grinned bloodily.
But that was it.
He'd staggered for a split second—then straightened his torso.
The next moment, the flames blanketing him surged into his left hand.
Sensing something amiss, the vampire desperately swung down again.
But the flame-wreathed fist seized its face a hair faster than the crimson blade met Jin's crown.
"GRAAAAAAAH!!"
As the agonized arm wrenched sideways, the aimless blade bit into Jin's shoulder.
Blood gushed from the deep gash, but Jin only tightened his grip.
The contourless, roaring transparent flames incinerated the face of the once-lord, as if proclaiming the purge of all evil.
That was when.
From below the monster's shrieking, severed waist dangled something limp.
It hit the floor with a wet splat alongside viscous afterbirth: an old man with a grotesquely twisted face.
This was Valentino's true form, before rebirth as blood kin.
As it staggered upright—
"Where you going!"
"Ugh! You disgusting freak!"
Natasha and Maximo charged without a word, squeezing their triggers.
Rat-tat-tat, bang!!
Shotgun pellets shredded and rifle rounds pierced; blood fountained from Valentino's body.
Yet with freakish vitality, it bulldozed through the barrage, swatting them aside in turn.
Staggering into the shadows—
Bang—!!
An ear-shattering crack, and the vampire's skull exploded from a rear headshot, crumpling in place.
Huff, huff.
Turning amid metallic gasps revealed his natural enemy, aiming a massive barrel.
Beyond the old flesh crumbling to ash.
Czzzzt. A long lightning spear crackled skyward.
And the hand clenching it fiercely.
The vampire's eyes quivered.
What was that thing?
A being wielding rotation and pure flame at will?
Unbelievable. Without mana’s blessing, at least.
Wait—mana’s blessing?
His eyes bulged.
"You—you're the one! The king's vessel!"
As if beholding the fulfillment of an ancient vow, the vampire propped up its torso, palms raised upward in submission.
"Take my True Blood. Become our king! I beg you!"
But his desperate plea rang hollow,
met only by a dismissive snort.
"Am I crazy?"
With that, Jin hurled the lightning spear.
BOOM!!
The cavern quaked with a deafening roar as the projectile tore through the air, devouring the vampire.
No scream.
Or rather, it was drowned out.
The greater explosion swallowed all else.
As the towering dust cloud slowly settled...
Jin turned away.
No need to check the corpse.
The massive experience flooding his core already had his eyelids twitching.
Calming his breath, he looked up to see Natasha and Maximo sprawled on the ground.
As he trudged over to help them up, Jin's eyes slyly narrowed.
Even amid their ragged panting in collapse, both man and woman kept stealing glances at his lower half.
"What're you staring at?!"
Jin barked, prompting Maximo to chuckle gruffly.
"What the hell were you even thinking about mid-fight? Geez."