Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Run Away Already
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‘What the hell is that?’
Feeling the gaze of death looking down on him, the man named Jayden staggered backward.
Even though he knew it was utterly pathetic—completely unlike his usual demeanor—he couldn’t stop his feet from moving.
Step by step. His body kept retreating.
It couldn’t be helped. It was instinct.
The survival instinct that all living creatures possess, desperately trying to distance itself from death as much as possible.
That instinct moved his feet, regardless of Jayden’s own will.
‘Why is something like that here?’
Of all the timings? They’d finally captured Sophia, the long-cherished dream of the vampires—why now?
Jayden looked up at the reaper with anxious eyes but quickly snapped out of it.
He glanced around, but no one was moving.
He’d brought over fifty lesser vampires as subordinates. Half had been killed by Sophia, and the other half were still alive, but...
They couldn’t move. The only one capable of moving was himself, the higher species.
And Sophia, lying on the ground, staring up at the sky.
Crunch—
With the sound of his teeth grinding to the breaking point, Jayden shouted. Even if it killed him, he had to take Sophia with him.
“Move!! We’re escaping with Lady Sophia!!”
Sorry to the subordinates, but this was a natural disaster. Nothing could be done.
Who could’ve predicted something like that would pop out of nowhere? At Jayden’s voice, the subordinates snapped to attention and began to move, but it wasn’t just them stirring.
‘Huh?’
Gone. He looked up where the reaper had been, but it was empty.
Where to?
As if answering that thought, electricity surged through his entire body—the sensation known as goosebumps.
Blood sprayed.
Red foreign matter trickled down his pale white face. His trembling eyes followed the spray to where one of his subordinate’s faces had vanished.
And then their eyes met.
A chilling gaze. The gaze of something that had just taken a life, utterly devoid of emotion.
As if in place of the reaper that had vanished once more, the subordinate’s head thudded to the ground.
No spark of life. Normally, even a severed head would still be alive for a vampire, but just being sliced by that existence had halted all vital functions.
The eyes, mouth, nose on the head—none of it moved.
‘Impossible.’
Goosebumps rose once more. And Jayden realized.
That goosebumps were the body’s warning. A sign that death was approaching.
But he realized it too late.
Blood gushed again. Not one, but three.
Three subordinates clustered together lost their heads and staggered.
‘In a single strike.’
With one swing, the vampires’ heads spun through the air. Their bodies lost direction and reeled, the heads losing all life.
“Don’t clump together!! Scatter!! If you see a comrade fall, run at full speed!!”
Even as he shouted, two more went down. Jayden said it while dashing toward Sophia.
Sophia’s existence was the cherished dream of all vampires. He absolutely couldn’t give her up.
He ran. An unsightly sprint that didn’t match the dignity he usually maintained.
The distance was short. Just a few steps.
One step.
The smell of blood. Fresh blood just spilled. The blood of his kin. They’d died in a single step’s distance.
Two steps.
Not just one. Two, three. No, more. Too many to distinguish by scent.
Three steps.
‘Just one more ahead.’
Sorry to the subordinates, but nothing could be done. He didn’t know why it wasn’t targeting him. But this was the perfect chance.
He ran through the thickening stench of blood.
The final step.
Silver hair so beautiful came into view. Pale white limbs. He reached out for that body—but
It didn’t reach.
Was “couldn’t” the right word? In the bewildering situation, Jayden twisted his upper body to barely dodge a strike.
The reaper stood as if guarding Sophia. It felt slightly off, but that wasn’t important right now.
‘It killed all those guys?’
Not a drop of blood stained the pristine white scythe it held. Yet countless subordinates had fallen to that scythe.
A bloodied sword appeared in Jayden’s hand. He gripped it solemnly, facing off against the reaper.
He fought with resolve to die. It was all he had left.
Sophia was vital enough for even the progenitor to risk his life.
He charged with sword raised. Sword met scythe. Jayden braced for his head to fly, but unexpectedly, he gained the upper hand in the clash of strength.
Feeling puzzled, he retreated momentarily, and the response he got was absurd.
“Shit. You’ve seen all my tricks now.”
The reaper removed the robe from its head. Black hair whipped in the wind.
“After all that, you should be scared and run away by now. You messing with me?”
Damn it.
I’m screwed.
I’d only come to hunt some vampires to make it easier for the Anti-Demon Squad to charge in.
But lo and behold? Sophia was being chased. And to top it off, the pursuers were led by the progenitor himself.
I’d killed all the lesser vampire minions that looked like subordinates, but as expected of the progenitor—he dodged my beheading and wasn’t running away.
“This is insane.”
“L-Lee Seong-hoon?!”
Huh? Oh. Right, I forgot. I turned at the voice from behind me.
There stood Sophia, covered in dirt, looking up at me.
Her body full of wounds, her face like she was about to cry, eyes trembling.
Was it that scary? Well, considering Sophia’s backstory, it made sense—
Hold on.
“I wouldn’t have taken it off if you hadn’t shown up. How’d you know?”
“I can tell from your voice!!”
Doesn’t make sense. Is my voice that distinctive? I don’t think so.
Whatever, as long as she knew. I’d ask later why she was here and being chased. For now, I readjusted my grip on the scythe.
Still, good thing. If she’d been taken like this, it would’ve locked in her dark ending. I’d stopped it.
“A... a human? You’re human...?”
The progenitor in front of me glared furiously. Seemed like he was pissed that I’d tricked him.
Magic circles popped up around him like crazy. So many I couldn’t count them with one hand just from what I could see.
“When I was pretending to be the Reaper, you couldn’t do shit. Pathetic!!”
The moment he realized I was human, he pulled that. There was a limit to pettiness.
I prepared to lunge before he could finish chanting. Gathered power in my legs for the leap—then a voice came from behind.
“Why... why did you come to save me?”
What kind of question was that? If I hadn’t, she’d go dark and kill me first.
“Does saving my maid need a reason?”
Couldn’t say that, so I bullshitted. Oh, and there was one more reason.
“Plus, Sophia, I can’t have tasty lunches without you.”
I love that hearty home cooking. It’s been a while, and I miss it.
With those words, I leaped. Maybe because I’d received Raphael’s blessing, I was pretty fast.
Following the navigation’s words, I slashed at the mana revealed by Mana Eye.
The man’s eyes widened in shock as the magic circles vanished one by one. I flashed a cheeky grin and wrapped myself in the robe.
Slipped into the darkness, emerged behind him.
Tried for a beheading.
But...
“Eyes in the back of your head too?”
“It’s called senses.”
Suddenly cocky, huh? I blocked his instantly reacting sword with the shaft and retreated.
[Death Reaper Purified] had turned him into a meek pup when he was terrified, but now he was annoying.
Before his next attack, I dove back into the robe.
“What to do? Just running forever has its limits.”
I’d taken one sword strike and knew. No way I could win.
What was I supposed to do if it didn’t work? Sophia going dark was scarier. Only Benia could stop that—no one else.
I wanted to run, but obviously vetoed. If I fled with just Sophia, this progenitor would report up top.
Then even scarier things would come.
“I have to kill him no matter what.”
What to do? What to do?
I racked my brain as hard as I could. No answer came.
This was where my limits showed. Strong against the weak, weak against the strong.
I’m endlessly strong against the weak, but endlessly weak against the strong.
“Guess I have no choice but to use it.”
I’d made this for when a demon descended to the mortal realm, but no helping it.
If a demon showed up, should I leave it to angel punch? Raphael beat demons with one fist, from what I saw.
“Better put out the immediate fire first, right?”
Alright. Here goes.
I took a deep breath and stepped out. Immediately met those red eyes.
Vampire senses are scary.
As he readjusted his grip on his sword, I opened my [Inventory].
I pulled out one. No, several.
I scattered them. Ten Post-its flew through the air, finding their positions.
The runes scattered to form a circle. The progenitor looked around with trembling eyes.
“Can you read runes?”
At my question, his eyes shook even more. Like an earthquake.
Those eyes were definitely reading the Post-its’ script.
“Th-this...”
“Can’t read them? I’ll tell you.”
The runes glowed. He was reading, but too slowly, so I decided to help. Otherwise, it’d take forever.
“Space Creation.”
I folded one finger. To avoid confusion.
“Variable Blockade. Space Distortion.”
Two. Three.
“Ability Amplification. Mana Blockade.”
Four. Five.
“Authority Binding. Oh, what else was there.”
Six. And I forgot. My bad.
“Anyway, to sum it up—one.”
Mana within the runes swirled. The connected mana shifted the view. From the dark streets to a single cave.
A cave dripping with black ooze.
“Welcome to the Dragon’s Lair.”
“I’m bored.”
Right? Levatein responded to Raphael, who sat on the bench swinging her legs.
Bonus: climbing onto Raphael’s lap and mimicking her expression.
Pouting her lips, squinting her eyes, saying stuff like [No fun~].
The reason they were like this was simple. Night fell, and they’d been kicked out of the cafe they’d been in.
Lee Seong-hoon had suddenly said, “I’m going vampire hunting,” and vanished. Telling her, “It’s dangerous, so stay with Levatein.”
So Raphael had to sit on this do-nothing bench with Levatein until he returned.
How harsh was this treatment?
“Levatein, your dad is a really bad person.”
“Yes.”
He’d left her in a place with nothing. If not a bad person, what was he?
Raphael blankly watched Levatein giggle—who knew what was so funny—playing with her own hands, then unwittingly turned her head.
The direction she turned revealed nothing.
But she felt it.
Not the measly demonic energy of some demonkin. A distinctly unpleasant sensation. An aura so vile just feeling it made her want to puke.
“Demon.”
Raphael scooped up Levatein from her lap and shot to her feet. Then dashed toward where her gaze was fixed.
“Where?”
At the question, Raphael grinned. It was finally her time to shine.
“The stage for the Angel Punch.”
Raphael nodded at the response.