Vampire (4)
The metallic clash of blades rang out sharply through the air. Clang! Kaang~! Gunfire rattled in bursts while arrows whistled past. Tududu! Boom!! Vampire Queen Trene continued to deflect the incoming swords that flew at her in close range, all while under constant harassment from bullets and homing projectiles. Right now, she felt extremely displeased.
A sharp whistle cut through the air as the projectiles reversed course.
“It’s still fascinating no matter how many times I see it. The arrows—no, the spears—come flying back on their own.”
“Hehe, they’re custom-made magitech weapons I ordered myself.”
The bullets and spears that kept soaring back into the air made sense; ranged weapons were naturally easier to target from above. But the real annoyance was something else.
“Jiyeon, recharge your mana first and then come back. You look exhausted.”
“Yes, yes! I’ll return as quickly as I can!”
Trene had risen into the air to shake off the close-range attackers and limit their assault, yet they simply created mana footholds and followed her without any trouble.
These lowly otherworldly creatures…
The way they kept sticking to her side and attacking was incredibly irritating. And among them, that guy. The one leading the charge at the very front—the strongest among them. He was the problem.
My body keeps stiffening for some reason. Is it some kind of magic?
The Alpha Male skill triggered rigidity, shrinking her presence and slightly lowering her stats. That persistent effect kept grating on Trene’s nerves.
And there was one more thing. For some reason, the way that man and the woman beside him looked at her felt strangely sticky. Of course, she was used to such gazes. She knew very well how beautiful and alluring her appearance was. To the otherworldly races who resembled the superior beings of her own world, she must have looked exceptionally attractive.
But this was different. It wasn’t just admiration for her beauty, nor a simple sexual interest. Even if it had been, she would have found it unpleasant. Their eyes were a step ahead—they burned with a base, vulgar desire to subdue her, pin her beneath them, and claim her as their own.
“How dare these lowly things!”
Trene burned with rage. The fact that these inferior otherworldly beings dared to attack her, tried to defeat her, and were actually succeeding in annoying her was bad enough. But most of all, it was the sheer audacity of their possessive lust—the desire to break and own her—that infuriated her.
Perfect timing. I can use it again.
She decided to cast one of her highest-tier spells—the same one she had used on the most obnoxious intruder when they first entered. The spell that had taken his head clean off.
Bleeding Touch.
It summoned a bloody hand in midair to seize the enemy, then exploded, tearing away everything it touched. The opponent would have no idea where it would appear from, and once caught, escape was nearly impossible unless they could overpower it with superior mana. That was why it was considered a top-tier spell—the most reliable way to kill a single target for certain.
Obviously, the target is…
Trene’s red eyes flashed as she stretched her hand toward the man who annoyed her the most—Park Jihun.
In that instant, Park Jihun instinctively sensed it. Something dangerous was coming.
She’s getting pissed off. About time for the instant-kill pattern and phase two…!
Feeling the instinctive crisis, Park Jihun immediately activated his subspace. At the exact same moment, Trene’s Bleeding Touch went off.
Swaaak—
A bloody hand formed around Park Jihun’s neck, reaching for his throat. But right before it could grab him—
Paht!
“...What?!”
Park Jihun’s body vanished into subspace. The hand, now without a target, flailed in the air for a moment before flying toward a nearby hunter from the Raijin raid party.
“W-what the hell?!”
The hunter swung his sword to block it, but the mana surrounding his blade was weaker than the bloody hand. The attack passed straight through the sword and seized the hunter’s throat.
“Guhk?!”
“......”
Trene’s expression twisted in disbelief as she watched.
How did he dodge it?
It should have been impossible to detect. When she first cast it, the man had definitely not been in that spot. That meant he couldn’t have predicted it at all. Had he simply relied on instinct? Or was it pure luck?
Whatever the case, he had avoided it. Trene decided to at least detonate the hand gripping the captured hunter and descended to the spot where Park Jihun had vanished.
Shweeeak—Kwaaaang!
More spears and bullets flew in from afar, but she summoned a wall of blood to block them. Crack! The weapons contained silver, so they managed to pierce halfway through the bloody wall, but they were still stopped.
Trene slowly turned her gaze toward the long-range dealers. Then she looked at Shin Jiyeon, who was nearby. At this point, anyone would do. She needed someone to vent her anger on.
“I will kill you all.”
With those words, she summoned a massive number of bloody spears into the air. There were nearly twice as many as before. She was truly enraged.
“Aish, fuck this! Take this! Excalibur!”
Paht!
But at that exact moment, the space where Park Jihun had disappeared tore open, revealing a pitch-black subspace. The man who had vanished reappeared, and the sword in his hand glowed with a brilliant white light—mana that had been forcibly converted to the light attribute.
“I plated this sword with silver just for this moment!”
Attribute conversion to light. It was originally a technique Park Jihun couldn’t use because he lacked affinity for the light element. But by using the trick of silver-plated weapons, he had forced the conversion.
“Wait, what—?!”
He had originally planned to stay hidden and launch a surprise attack when the opportunity arose. But thanks to Trene conveniently moving right in front of where he had disappeared, he could strike immediately.
It was an attack from a completely unexpected direction. Even Trene was caught off guard and couldn’t react in time.
Kwajik!
The sword pierced straight through her solar plexus.
“Khuk…?!”
Bright red blood gushed from her mouth. It dripped down her pure white skin. The intense power of light began purifying her body, dealing devastating damage. It even suppressed the powerful regenerative ability unique to vampires.
Am I… going to die like this…?
She had crossed over to this dimension and prepared so thoroughly to rule it. She had used the monsters under her command to open gates or induce their creation, running countless experiments. She had worked so hard.
She had learned that if she tried to open a dimensional gate from this side, it would register as a special gate and alert the other side. So she had chosen to guide a gate to open near her castle instead. After countless experiments using the monster hordes under her control, she had finally succeeded in opening a gate at her castle.
Of course, the castle was vast, and while they were searching for where the gate had appeared, otherworldly intruders had shown up. Cleaning up the mess had been a bit troublesome. Still, if she had just waited a little longer, the gate would have fully opened. She would have crossed over to that new world, faced new lands and new resources.
But now it was all over. She was going to die at the hands of a lowly otherworldly creature who had looked at her with those filthy, possessive eyes.
Whoosh—
“...?”
Trene had already resigned herself to death, but suddenly the power of light drained completely from Park Jihun’s sword.
Puhwaak~!
At the same time, the sword was yanked out of her chest. Blood poured out in heavy spurts. No matter how strong a vampire’s vitality was, an ordinary vampire would have died from such a wound. But she was the Vampire Queen, standing at the very peak of her kind. She would fall into temporary immobility, but she would not die.
And that temporary incapacitation could be quickly recovered from by drinking the blood of another race, thanks to vampire physiology.
“...Why?”
She asked in a voice drained of strength. Why had he spared her?
But she quickly found the answer herself. She remembered the look in Park Jihun’s eyes when he had stared at her earlier—that gaze filled with raw ownership. At the time, she had thought it was vulgar and filthy.
Yet now…
…why does it feel acceptable?
Was it because he was the man who had defeated her? For some reason, she felt like she should obey him.
Of course, the real reason was this:
Hidden effect of Alpha Male has activated.
A chance to subjugate is granted to any female who has been completely subdued.
Because the Alpha Male effect had triggered, she had entered a state of complete submission and obedience.
“Here. Drink.”
At that moment, Park Jihun cut his own arm and held it out to her.
“......”
Blood dripped steadily from the wound. If she drank it, her injuries and stamina would recover in an instant. But she hesitated.
To a vampire, ‘blood drinking’ was not merely about feeding. It also carried the meaning of reproduction and subordination. Especially when offering blood to a vampire one had subdued—it was a contract of subordination that would bind that being to oneself for eternity.
Even for Trene, the Vampire Queen who stood at the apex of her race, the rule applied the same way. The moment she drank the blood this man offered, she would become his eternal servant.
Of course, she didn’t think this otherworldly being understood the implications of vampire physiology. He was probably just trying to heal the female he had decided to conquer and possess.
......
After a brief moment of contemplation, she made her decision.
If I don’t submit, death is the only outcome. And for some reason, I feel like I cannot rebel against this man. He must possess the power of a true ruler.
Her grand dream of conquering this other world, claiming new lands and resources, and becoming the queen of a new realm had already crumbled. In that case… wouldn’t it be better to attach herself to a being capable of ruling both this dimension and the other? Even if she became second-in-command, it would still be an absolute position—just one person above her.
This man…
It was an absurd method, but he had still defeated her, the pinnacle of vampirekind, and possessed a special ability that somehow erased any will to resist. If anyone could become the ‘one’ who stood above her, it was him.
That was what Trene concluded.
Very well. This Trene shall become your servant.
With that thought, she drank the blood that flowed from Park Jihun’s arm.
Vampire Queen ‘Trene’ submits to you.
Vampire Queen ‘Trene’ has been added to your list of familiars.
You have completely subdued a female-type monster. The Female Hunter effect activates.
All stats increase by 3.
You have cleared the A-rank gate ‘Vampire Queen’s Castle.’
You cleared the gate by subduing the boss instead of killing it.
This is a great achievement! All stats permanently increase by 2.
All female vampires under Vampire Queen Trene’s command automatically submit.
You have completely subdued a female-type monster. The Female Hunter effect activates.
All stats increase by 2.
All female vampires under Vampire Queen Trene’s command automatically submit.
You have completely subdued a female-type monster. The Female Hunter effect activates.
All stats increase by 1.
Right after that, an enormous flood of notification windows poured into Park Jihun’s vision, just like when he had subdued the succubus.