Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: Sea of Blood
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Mom's a bitch too, bitch!
"Sea of Blood."
"...!"
"Appear right here."
Just a single phrase.
With that alone, crimson blood fountains began erupting from the barren ground like a volcano bursting open.
"To think she can even create blood, beyond just manipulating it."
"I've heard there are ninjas in Japan who use water arts in places without water. No reason I couldn't pull off something similar."
No, even so.
Simply spouting water versus creating blood—one of the human body's primary components.
These two abilities weren't remotely on the same level.
Vampire Hunters fight using blood.
But if she could infinitely create blood on top of that, what else could you call it but the 'strongest'?
"I'll drown you in it."
With a gesture from Clan Head Lee Yul, the blood that had spread out like an ocean began surging after Deokja sis in crashing waves.
"Tch!"
Every time, she punched through the blood rushing at her like tidal waves, putting up a decent fight.
I had leaped onto the roof of a nearby tiled house to avoid sinking into that ominous sea of blood myself, watching the scene unfold from there.
Right at that moment.
"...Ah, hot."
"S-Sis!"
Deokja sis, who had been flitting across the blood-soaked field like a whirlwind sword dance, suddenly froze as a strange discomfort caught her off guard.
I spotted the arm she raised next.
Her right arm looked badly burned, and I yelled out in shock before I could stop myself.
"Come to think of it, my feet have felt kinda hot under me for a while now..."
"Hot? You're standing in a sea of blood heated to over 1,000 degrees, and you're still putting on that bravado?"
"One... one thousand degrees?!"
1,000 degrees—that was straight-up magma territory.
A temperature where any normal person would melt the instant they touched it.
"But I'm not feeling hot at all right now?"
Something was wrong.
If it was really that hot, the boiling blood should've turned to steam by now, wafting up to where I was on the roof and making me notice.
And that's when it hit me.
"Yongchan-kun. Stay put."
"...!"
"I'm making sure the 'blood steam' doesn't drift your way."
Even as she flooded the entire horizon of the estate with blood, she'd been watching out for me.
I'd told her not to worry about me and just fight all out, but by the time I snapped to, I was already trapped in a cage of blood vapor.
"No way... you can control even that?"
"That's right. This was a technique my late mother favored."
"Man... what a terrifying family. Well, guess that's how they survived for 1,000 years."
Blood isn't some solid that shatters when struck.
It's a shapeless liquid—viscous enough to morph into all sorts of forms with ease.
Clan Head Lee Yul lifted one hand skyward, and in an instant, a blood pillar erupted between them, stretching into the clouds.
It sharpened like a guillotine blade poised to fall.
"Drop."
At her command, it plummeted with accelerating speed.
"Like I can't dodge even this...?!"
"Seize her."
The ground beneath Deokja sis's feet was the sea of blood.
The moment she tried to move, coagulated blood latched onto her soles like ticks, locking her in place.
"Deokja sis!"
"Ah, shit."
Boom!
The towering blood pillar cleaved a distant mountain peak beyond the Supreme Lee Clan's estate clean in half.
At the same time, it sent Deokja sis plummeting from her spot straight into the blood sea's depths.
Ruuuuumble...
"...!"
A strike that literally bisected a mountain.
No modern weapon short of a nuke could pull that off.
'S-rank Hunters are no different from walking nukes.'
After World War II ended, some soldier left behind those words.
Back when I was a high schooler cramming hunter studies, I'd brushed off other anecdotes, but that 'walking nuke' line felt too laced with hunter high to take seriously—it was cringy.
I take it back now. I was the one disrespecting that soldier.
Clan Head Lee Yul.
She was a walking nuke.
If I had to guess, North Korea's nuclear program in this world probably had something to do with her too.
And so.
"Yongchan-kun."
"...Y-Yes, yes!"
"Come down."
"Y-Yes..."
The Supreme Lee Clan's grand gates—our original destination—had vanished entirely.
It was less than 100 meters away, in plain sight. Maybe if I bolted there, I could escape?
I entertained the thought for a split second.
But.
'Yongchan-kun!'
The eldest princess, who had fled to another rooftop the moment the fight between Clan Head Lee Yul and Deokja sis kicked off—just like me.
Lee Gok, who'd just dropped to the ground like I did, locked eyes with me from behind Lee Yul and shook her head furiously.
No no no no!
She looked like she'd read my mind ages ago and was desperately signaling for me not to try it.
'Just do what she says!'
"......"
'Don't get cocky and make Seolgi sis worry!'
"...?"
What was that last bit with her lips?
She'd been mouthing warnings nonstop to clue me in secretly, but I must've misread the end—couldn't make it out.
Anyway, bottom line: stay put or get half-killed.
'Yeah, like I could shake an S-rank hunter in 100 meters.'
Ten meters?
No.
Even one meter, and she'd nab me and stabby-stabby.
Well, someone like Clan Head Lee Yul probably wouldn't do that to me anyway.
"Come here, Yongchan-kun."
Whether she'd normalized the temperature just under my feet or something, I walked unscathed across the blood-drenched sea and stopped in front of Clan Head Lee Yul.
...Gulp.
Just in case, I clutched Seolgi tight against me.
This felt like the safest bet until this idiot woke up.
And maybe because of that.
With even Deokja sis submerged in the blood sea now, the realization that enemies surrounded us made my face twist involuntarily.
No matter who—Clan Head Lee Yul.
Glare.
An enemy I had to stay wary of right now...
"...Sniff."
"?!"
...or so I thought?
"Sometimes I really burden myself."
"C-Clan Head Lee Yul?"
"I've gone all sentimental too..."
Sniff, sniff...
"I thought of you as my own son, supported you endlessly so you'd grow strong... but now that you're the enemy, I can't help but... *sob*!"
"E-Eh? Don't cry, Clan Head."
A woman's tears always tug at a man's heartstrings.
This dire life-or-death standoff where I'd been glaring daggers just seconds ago left me utterly dumbfounded now.
And the reason was, obviously, her.
Our orphanage's biggest sponsor—the one who'd boosted Seoul National University admission rates for parentless kids beyond even elite science high schools. A benefactor of benefactors.
I felt like I'd made Clan Head Lee Yul—who embodied cold, hard cash supremacy—cry.
"Sob... I'm sorry, truly sorry, Yongchan-kun."
"N-No, Clan Head! If anything, I'm the one who should apologize for barging in like this."
Was this even the right way to apologize?
...But as an orphanage kid, I'd breezed through school studying hunters without the social side-eye that came with being a guy. And that was because Clan Head Lee Yul had quietly bankrolled it all behind the scenes.
Anyway, the big donor was crying.
I couldn't just snap at her like some ungrateful punk.
"Clan Head, please understand. You don't want Seolgi getting hurt either, right?"
"...You're right. But from my position, I can't just let you—who ruined Seolgi's succession blood battle—walk away scot-free."
Wait, hold up.
Something about our chat felt different from when she'd been facing Deokja sis. Clan Head Lee Yul in front of me now gave off an unexpectedly friendly vibe.
Proof? I was patting her back and consoling her, and she seemed to be nodding along.
This... maybe, just maybe, I could talk my way to a peaceful resolution?
Above all, I needed to dig out Deokja sis, who was buried somewhere below under that blood pillar.
So, playing along.
"Ahem, um, Clan Head Lee Yul."
"Sob... Yes?"
"Well... if we keep this up, things are gonna get ugly for everyone. You wouldn't want that either, right?"
"Of course not! My own flesh-and-blood daughter and the son I hold dear in my heart, both in peril! As a mother, my chest feels like it's ripping apart right now!"
Perfect.
She's hooked.
Now just reel her in nice and slow.
"S-So, what should we do?"
She'd tugged at my sympathy with her tears, so I fired back with the same play.
And sure enough, it seemed she hadn't planned to harm us from the start.
"I do have a good idea for that."
"Ooh..."
"The reason I can't take your side is because you're an outsider to us, isn't it?"
"Exactly!"
Here it comes, here it comes...
Something's coming!
When 'I'll protect you' slipped from Clan Head Lee Yul's lips, it felt like I'd grabbed a lifeline of hope.
And then.
"Which is why I have one clever solution that'll make everyone happy."
"Yes!"
The spot where that lifeline led me safely to land.
"Yongchan-kun."
"Yes, Clan Head!"
"Won't you become part of my family?"
"...Pardon?"
...Chomp.
Was smack in the middle of a dinner table for a pack of ravenous guests—miles from anything resembling safety.