Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Vampiric World #5
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[■■■.■■■ has detected your death.]
[■■■.■■■ is approaching you.]
I sense the message window.
Something is wrong.
There's no way dead me could perceive this.
...
I haven't died.
This has happened before. At Cheongak Mary Hospital, when I broke the rules and fled outside. In that grotesquely altered world, I went mad and killed myself. But I couldn't die, and I ended up offering my skin eternally.
An undying state.
An extreme surge of terror rises.
Right now, ■■■.■■■ is approaching me... Grahnak, the Vampire Angel, the transcendent monster my first-loop self has become!
I wanted to scream, but I didn't even know what state I was in.
—Hwaaak.
And there was a red light.
Only then did I become aware. Me, existing in a blood-red space. Was I floating in the sky? Instinctively looking down, I saw an enormous horde of vampires writhing in frenzy.
What are they doing? It almost looks like they're dancing. And every single one of them has a grotesque form... What the hell are they wearing? Prisoner uniforms? And they all seem to have some kind of conical thing embedded in their heads...
I realized this was the vampires' hell.
And perhaps this would become my fate. Overwhelmed by fear, I couldn't look down anymore.
Lifting my head, there was Grahnak.
That thing.
Is that really me?
The me from the first loop who reached the Non-Human ending...!
It was such an inhuman body. No need to mention the horrific blood-membrane wings made of flesh. The body itself looked somewhat human, but it was several times larger than mine. Even the developed muscles deviated from human structure.
The face.
Above all, the face.
Above the neck, there was only crimson. No facial features visible, just flowing blood.
The grotesquely shaped Vampire Angel approaches me.
Extreme terror and crisis surge. I don't know what will happen if that thing gets close. In frenzied fear, I screamed.
"U, uaak! Uwaaaaaah!"
Was it reacting to my scream?
—Creeeeak!
The Vampire Angel's maw opens enormously wide. The torn and ripped mouth expands like a deep-sea bobbit worm, sprouting blood teeth. Inside that massive throat, only infinite darkness and surging blood existed.
This bastard.
It's going to eat me.
No.
It's trying to steal my body and my very existence!
If I'm swallowed like this, I'll lose everything to the first-loop Grahnak!
—Gooooh.
That abyss-like maw approaches to devour me. My body won't move properly. My fear-stiffened mind refuses thought, trying to shut down cognition.
But I can't let it!
I can't stop here!
No matter what, I have to thrash about and regress!
Because if I regress, I'll have another chance!
Above all, if I'm replaced by that entity here, I won't be able to face Senior Spandal!
"Kraaap...!"
Eyes wide open, squeezing every ounce of strength from my body, I shouted at the top of my lungs.
"Grahnak!!!!"
The Vampire Angel's true name.
Grahnak.
—Kugugung!
At the same moment, the Vampire Angel's movement halted as if frozen. Then the whole world shook. Following that, cracks formed in the Vampire Angel's flesh, and fragments began to chip away bit by bit.
I could feel the vampires below screeching horrific screams as the fragments hit them.
...It worked.
Nothing is more vital to a being like this than its true name. Uncovering its true name was the very point of this loop.
But what now?
Shouting its true name stopped its movement and weakened it—that was great. I landed a solid hit. But what do I do next!
—Paat!
Right then, something around my neck floated up.
It was the Black Stone Fragment I'd received from Dr. Kim Seonghan's wife!
"The Black Stone?!"
Sal-hyung recognized me as an absolute ally just from its presence. This Black Stone is Islam's supreme sacred relic with that much authority.
Could this save me!
—Chwaaaaak!
Brilliant light bursts from the Black Stone.
The holy light emanating from it envelops the Vampire Angel. Like sacred light purging evil, Grahnak's body begins to collapse even faster.
"■■■■■■■■■■■■"
An unknowable horrific roar.
The Islamic sacred relic, the Black Stone, is inflicting massive damage on Grahnak.
I can feel its agony.
Yet it forcibly moves, trying to approach me. Its grotesquely opened maw widens further, spewing intense red energy from its entire body to repel the light and kill me. As if it just needs to devour me.
But in this moment.
I realized this Vampire Angel is not an absolute terror. It's weakened by its exposed true name and crumbling under the Black Stone, the crystallization of my bonds. It's not an invincible immortal vampire. It's something that can die—something I can drive away.
The failed me from the past!
A pathetic being degenerated into a vampire!
"Grahnak!!!"
I pointed accusingly at it and berated it harshly.
"Vampires like you can never harm me! If you're the Vampire Angel, then I'm the vampire hunter who hunts you!"
This isn't reality—it's a space. Perhaps that's why. At some point, my form had changed into that of a vampire hunter. Thanks to the Black Stone's power? I feel Dr. Kim Seonghan and Sal-hyung pushing my back.
Ah, yes.
Past or present.
The most powerful way to slay a vampire.
Is garlic, after all.
"To!"
With a mighty kiai, I drew forth and unleashed the source of garlic dormant within me.
—Chwaaaaak!
Empowered by the Black Stone, the garlic force shoots toward Grahnak.
Like a demon hit by holy water, Grahnak's body melts away.
"■■■■■■■■■■■■"
Another horrific roar echoes.
I realized I had won in this space.
And that I could regress now.
.
.
.
[You committed suicide with a pistol.]
[Death Count: 15 -> 16]
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Opening my eyes, what I saw was.
A drab cityscape.
Gunfire rang out as well.
—Tadadadang!
Amid the eerie atmosphere and the heat of battle, I had regressed there.
Back to the very city where the vampire uproar had erupted!
"Hey, rookie! What's wrong! Snap out of it!"
Right beside Quras!
The unlucky senior whose head Grahnak had burst... I missed that weird light-green bowl cut!
"Senior Quras!"
I didn't think about anything else.
My goal is the Vampire Angel Grahnak, the monster born from my first-loop self—that bastard. I have to eliminate him and stop all the tragedies.
"Huh? Why?"
"It's this way! I sense something!"
"Got it!"
I immediately led Quras and ran.
The regression point.
The exact moment when Grahnak's descent was imminent. He appeared and crushed retreating Jinseop, then immediately burst Quras's head.
Running, I checked my chest.
Black Stone necklace...!
It's shattered!
That means the events from then carried over!
Of course, Grahnak must be weakened too!
Rifling through my memories, I pinpointed his descent location. I ran there, and when I felt we'd arrived, I shouted to Quras.
"Something's coming! I sense something powerful!"
"Where!"
"For now, that sky...! Blast it with flames!"
"Alright, that's my specialty! Behold my scorching pyromancy!"
—Paat!
Quras, to put it nicely, conducted like directing music; to put it bluntly, flailed his arms and head like a total clown, unleashing massive flames.
As the sky engulfed in fire, screams from Fake Management Bureau agents echoed from afar. Jinseop must be somewhere over there.
"Quras! Charge left while spraying flames left!"
"Huh!"
"Keep going all the way, all the way!"
Quras charges left, shifting the flames. They sweep over the heads of the Fake Management Bureau agents hiding ahead.
—Paat!
At that moment, the Fake Management Bureau agents bolt energetically in retreat. Desperate to evade the flames.
I immediately spotted Jinseop.
Where is he?
Not that guy, ah!
There!
That bastard Jinseop is bouncing away over there!
Keep bouncing just like that!
If my prediction holds, Grahnak should appear now.
—Thump!
An intense pulse.
Grahnak is descending!
"Uwaaaaaah!"
I charged with a mighty shout. Firing silver rounds into the sky, drowning out my voice.
"Grahnaaaaaak!!!"
I called its true name.
At the same moment.
—Tszzt!
The crimson blood-flame form, descending at high speed, explodes midair. The encircling blood flames scatter entirely.
—Kwaang!
It crashes into the ground like plummeting.
A far more pathetic sight than when it crushed Jinseop last time!
"You!"
Its naked body is visible.
As expected, it was severely weakened.
Exactly in the state its body was crumbling right before regression!
—Tadadadang!
Advancing while unloading silver rounds into it. Watching them embed in its flesh, the moment the ammo depleted.
—Chwak!
I tossed the gun and shed my garlic combat vest, spilling the garlic and crosses I'd stashed inside. Kicking them expertly toward Grahnak, oh God.
"One left, you bastard!"
I still have one shot left!
Closing in.
—Hwaak!
Staring at Grahnak's face as it lifted its head toward me.
Gathering my soul into an intense shout.
One left.
"To!"
I unleashed garlic like my true faith.
—Chwaaaaak!
Garlic erupts.
Grahnak doused in it.
Horrific smoke billows from it as its flesh rapidly melts.
Thus, Grahnak collapsed in an instant.
"■■■■■■■"
Leaving only unknowable final words.
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[You have defeated ■■■.■■■.]
[You have acquired 10,000 points as a reward.]
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[You have confirmed a new achievement.]
[Achievement: Won a Fight Against Yourself]
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