Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Rag Ghost (4)
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The first time the man blocked my path as I walked down the alley.
The first thought that popped into my head was, *I’m in trouble.*
Whether the man I thought was a drug addict was actually a vampire.
Or that a horde of ghouls, a rare sight even in this underworld, had descended upon me.
None of that really mattered.
What mattered was how on earth he had found me, when I usually leap across rooftops, leaving no trace behind.
‘As far as I know, there are hardly any working CCTVs around here… Magic? Or some other method I haven’t considered?’
If my psychic powers had been discovered, it would be the worst-case scenario.
Nighthaven was a veritable pandemonium, teeming with all sorts of powerful beings and monsters.
A little kid running around using psychic powers here?
I wouldn’t be able to escape the welcoming party from countless veterans, all showing up to ask, “How did you do that?”
So, with a desperate hope that I was wrong, I rolled my eyes beneath the fabric and quickly scanned my surroundings.
Then, I noticed something next to the man, who was huffing and puffing as if furious.
It was the grotesque figure of a dog with its muscles and organs exposed.
‘That’s definitely… a Corpse Hound, like the ones from the original story. A bloodhound that can track the scent of blood it has memorized from dozens of kilometers away. Hmm, which means.’
It must have been that ugly ring I took from the vampire.
Greg had said it was made from some kind of internal organ.
What if that ring had a unique blood scent imprinted on it, and that scent rubbed off on me when I slept on a rooftop last night, unable to find a place to stay?
‘It makes sense. Of course, it’s not like I didn’t wash because I didn’t want to…!’
That was a relief, at least.
The thought of someone secretly watching my every move was terrifying just to imagine.
But if he had simply pinpointed my location using a blood scent?
There was a high chance my psychic powers hadn’t been discovered.
Sheesh, I got worked up over nothing.
I lowered my guard a notch and looked at the vampire before me with a more relaxed mind.
Now that I looked at him, the man was a complete mess.
All I did yesterday was give him a stinging psychokinetic flick on the forehead.
But now, his face was swollen all over, a gruesome sight with even a tooth missing.
Did he take a dangerous tumble down some stairs?
He looked like he belonged in a hospital bed, not a back alley like this.
“Damn it! Because of you! Because of you, I lost the ring! I lost my father’s trust! I lost my men! It’s all, all your fault! My life is over because of you!”
The man screamed, clawing at his throat as if he had swallowed molten iron.
He was so agitated that blood was trickling from his eyes.
Well, I didn’t know the details.
But it seemed that after I beat him up and took all his belongings, he got a serious scolding from someone he called his father.
I guess that ring was pretty important.
It looked ugly, but maybe it held some special meaning for them.
But hearing his story didn’t move me in the slightest.
He should have lived a better life.
Those who draw a gun must be prepared to be shot.
By the same logic, a bad person had no right to complain when they were harmed by someone even worse.
Who told him to be a bad guy?
‘That aside. I was on my way to get food, what is this.’
I was on my way to get a steak sandwich, of all things.
And he had to bring a horde of ghouls, ruining my appetite.
There was nothing to like about this person.
So, with a little more personal feeling.
I used my psychokinesis to grab the air right in front of the screaming vampire’s forehead.
‘This has become a pain. I should clean this up quickly and be on my way. If I go now, they’ll add cheese on top of the meat as a freebie.’
Hold on a moment. I wonder if he knows the secret of the flick.
If you try tapping your palm with your fingers without using your arm.
You’ll find that no matter how hard you hit, it doesn’t hurt at all.
A flick hurts because you use your thumb to apply force in the opposite direction, concentrating the power.
So, what if I were to use psychokinesis to grab two separate points in the air, pull them taut against each other to maintain equilibrium, and then release one side?
It would create something that simple psychokinesis alone couldn’t achieve. The one and only psychokinetic flick!
*Thwack!*
“Gwaaargh!”
A sound like a chicken getting its neck wrung escaped the vampire’s mouth.
The compressed impact, focused on an area the size of a coin, struck a spot that was already bruised like a lightning bolt.
Still, I know vampires are much tougher than ordinary people.
This probably wasn’t life-threatening.
…Probably?
“Grrrk?”
“Whine?”
The ghouls and the Corpse Hound tilted their heads at the sight of the man collapsing, foaming at the mouth.
Both were mindless corpse monsters that moved on instinct.
They seemed quite confused now that the one controlling them had suddenly collapsed.
If the man didn't get up, they would instinctively wander off in search of blood and flesh.
They weren't that strong, just numerous, so they would probably be subdued eventually.
But it was certain that many victims would be created in the process.
‘That would be a problem. I’ve actually grown quite fond of this place over the past month.’
I double-checked that no one was passing by, then unhesitatingly threw off the cloth covering my entire body.
How many days had it been since I’d last seen direct sunlight?
Even though the light filtering into this deep alley was faint, my eyes stung for a moment.
“Krrk!”
“Keeek!”
The heads of the ghouls and the hound all turned toward me.
As far as I knew, what corpse monsters loved most were living people, especially women and children.
To them, my current form—a young girl with supple skin that required no maintenance—must have looked like a mouth-watering delicacy.
The ghouls that had been slowly trying to slip out of the alley turned back, drooling as if they had forgotten their previous intention.
A foolish choice.
If they had just run in the opposite direction without a second thought, they might have had one last taste of a living person before dying.
‘If my opponents are already dead… I don’t have to hold back, do I?’
I took a deep breath.
Then, I unleashed my psychokinesis at full power, seizing control of the space in this back alley itself.
This was the maximum output of my psychokinesis… far stronger and more precise than when I had first used it a month ago, right after being reincarnated.
“Kwek?”
The ghouls tilted their heads, seemingly questioning why their bodies had suddenly stopped moving.
Some of them wriggled, trying to get to me.
But now that they were in my grasp, there was no escape.
*Crack, craaack.*
Starting with the ghouls closest to me, very slowly.
Their heads began to turn clockwise.
Of course, a human body isn't a toy like a Lego.
One by one, the heads of the ghouls, being based on corpses, detached from their necks.
*Thud, thud. Thud-thud-thud.*
Ghoul heads rained down.
“Ki, kieeek!”
*Crunch!*
When the very last ghoul and hound had become headless beings.
I recalled the psychokinesis I had spread throughout the alley.
The ghouls’ weakness was the separation of head and body.
You might ask, *What kind of weakness is that? Isn’t that obvious?*
But considering ghouls were persistent creatures that kept moving even with holes in their bodies and heads.
The weakness of simply needing to detach the head was more helpful than one might think.
It was much easier to just tear their heads from their bodies than to think, *Screw it, I’ll just rip them to shreds until they die!*
‘Phew, still… this takes a lot out of me. I should be more careful about when and where I use my maximum output.’
Did psychokinesis consume mental energy? My head was throbbing quite a bit.
It felt like I was exhausted after solving ten difficult math problems in a row.
It seemed that if I kept using it without rest, a decline in power would be inevitable.
‘Alright, then… shall I go? A passing cleaner will take care of the mess.’
I took a long look around the back alley, now filled with headless corpses.
The one silver lining was that since ghouls were half-dried corpses that didn’t bleed.
The alley didn't end up looking too gruesome.
If those had been real people, this place would have been drenched in blood.
In that sense, I could say it was a good thing they were ghouls. Though the unique stench of corpses still lingered.
I used my psychokinesis to retrieve the cloth I had thrown far away and wrapped it around myself again.
A familiar stuffiness and a slightly musty smell enveloped me.
‘I was right to hide my appearance and identity. I knew something like this would happen eventually.’
I praised my past self once more.
I stepped over the fallen ghouls and approached the exit.
Suddenly, the figure of the collapsed vampire came into view.
‘Hmm, I’d rather not be attacked again.’
If I had a learning ability, I shouldn't let the same thing happen twice.
I skillfully tore the man's clothes with my psychokinesis.
I twisted the fabric into double and triple layers, tightly binding his arms and legs.
Then, I picked up a suitable ghoul head rolling on the ground and made it bite the man's shoulder.
I then casually tossed the man out of the back alley.
Anyone in the underworld would easily recognize a ghoul.
So they would quickly realize he was a vampire, seeing as he was unharmed by a ghoul's bite.
‘Vampires usually have many enemies since they increase their numbers by injecting blood. Someone will probably take care of him now.’
This should be enough.
I was satisfied with how neatly I had wrapped things up.
The ghouls were all dead. There were no witnesses.
And I even punished the guy who came to bother me.
With this, the case was completely solved!
With such a perfect conclusion, I wouldn't have to worry about a second or third wave coming.
‘Now, let’s go get that sandwich. I’m hungry after suddenly using so much psychokinesis.’
I leaped lightly back up to the rooftops.
Then, I hopped from building to building, heading toward the sandwich shop.
A cheese steak sandwich was waiting for me.
***
The underworld of Nighthaven is vast.
This is because Nighthaven itself boasts an unprecedentedly massive scale.
Trying to greedily bite off more than one can chew often leads to trouble.
Thus, the various organizations that ruled the underworld had no choice but to divide the outer districts among themselves.
The western outskirts were a remnant of the past, from a time when Nighthaven was aggressively expanding.
A time when they had mindlessly erected buildings and structures.
The buildings were uncomfortably close to each other, and the haphazardly constructed towers made it difficult for even the roads to remain intact.
Thus, another name for the western outer district of Nighthaven was the Western Labyrinth.
It was truly a place like a prison made of concrete.
“So, what happened? I heard a vampire and ghouls showed up. I was so surprised, I kicked my way out of a meeting and came straight here.”
“Miss Wang Qian. About that…”
In this Western Labyrinth, the Black Beast Society, a metahuman organization from China, had firmly established its territory.
A key figure of that society, a beautiful woman with rabbit ears, and a man who appeared to be a lizard metahuman, hurriedly entered an alley.
“What is… this…”
“When we arrived, it was already like this.”
What met Wang Qian’s eyes was a scene of ghoul corpses strewn all over the alley.
Looking at the walls and floor, there were no signs of a fight. The sight of the cleanly decapitated ghoul corpses made reality feel distant.
“W-w-wait a minute. I’m not following. So… someone just dumped ghoul corpses here? It doesn’t look like anything happened.”
“No. There was a witness who saw a group of living ghouls moving toward this area.”
“Then was there a group we don’t know about? Fixers? Mercenaries? No, this alley is physically too small for a lot of people…”
Wang Qian touched the walls and floor, frowning deeply.
It was narrow. This alley was so narrow that it would have been a tight squeeze for the ghouls to even enter.
Three people at most. No, considering the number of ghouls, even two would have been pushing it.
As if to cut through her jumbled thoughts, the lizard metahuman spoke.
“In my opinion, it was the work of a single individual. In the first place, if many people were coming and going, they would have been noticed.”
“No way! So you’re saying one person just stood here and ripped off all the ghouls’ heads before they could even resist? What are they, the Mercenary King?!”
The legendary Mercenary King, who was said to cut down foes wrapped in lightning so fast they only realized they’d been slain moments later.
This was an unreal scene that couldn’t have been created by anyone less than a warrior of that caliber.
Wang Qian shrieked, her ears shooting straight up.
But the lizard metahuman, not even batting an eye at his superior's outburst, simply looked at her and said in a calm, unwavering voice.
“Miss. There’s an interesting saying in this world. When you have excluded all the impossibilities, what remains, no matter how absurd, is the truth.”
“Hah, no, but still, this is…”
*This is too much…*
Wang Qian instinctively clutched her head.
Ghouls might look shabby on the outside.
But the fact that they felt no pain and wouldn’t go down unless beheaded made them tricky monsters that an ordinary member couldn't guarantee victory against alone.
So the sudden appearance of dozens of ghouls was already giving her a headache.
But now there was some crazy monster running around that far surpassed them?
This went beyond a headache; it was a problem so troublesome it made her want to burst into tears.
As if understanding her feelings.
The lizard metahuman gave a bitter smile and offered words of comfort.
“Still, we found a bound vampire next to these ghoul corpses. We can find out the details once he wakes up and we question him.”
“Aha, so they captured a vampire too! Thanks! You’ve just made that monster even more terrifying!”
“Haha…”
Of course, it wasn’t comforting at all.
Wang Qian’s voice was filled with despair, tears welling in her eyes.
If you were to classify ghouls, they would be at the level of elite members, while even the weakest vampire was a powerhouse on par with an organization executive.
But this person didn't kill it, they subdued and bound it?
Just how strong were they! Why did they have to show up here of all places!
Wang Qian’s long ears twitched, expressing her agony.
“I heard something interesting. They say something strange has been roaming the Labyrinth lately.”
“Ugh… Strange?”
“Yes… something about a ghost, I believe.”
The lizard metahuman spoke as if it were a very intriguing fact.
This was the moment when the existence of a ghost was first and firmly imprinted upon the Western Labyrinth, and by extension, all of Nighthaven.