Chapter 399
Chapter 399
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 399
Chapter Title: Unknown Threat (5)
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"Mm..."
The tightly shut eyelids of Diana trembled faintly.
"Sis! Are you coming to?"
As her scattered mind gradually returned, she heard her little brother's urgent voice nearby.
It seemed he'd been right by her side, nursing her and waiting anxiously for her to wake.
"...Yeah, I'm okay."
Diana murmured in a hoarse voice as she slowly propped herself up.
Her head felt a bit dizzy, but that was it—no other pain anywhere.
Then again, with no combat ability to speak of, she'd been helplessly subdued without putting up much resistance, so it was only natural.
'So it wasn't a dream after all.'
She cautiously scanned her surroundings, and the familiar sight of their home came into view.
The nest they'd called home ever since settling in this new land.
Of course, right after such a major incident, the atmosphere wasn't as peaceful as usual.
"Diana! You're awake!"
"Thank goodness. Rafi woke up ages ago, but you just wouldn't open your eyes—we were so worried..."
Her uncle and aunt rushed over, hugging her tight and soothing her.
By sheer luck, her aunt had been out at the market and her uncle late from work when it all went down, so they'd avoided getting caught in the chaos.
But they couldn't just rejoice at their good fortune when their kids and niece had nearly met with disaster.
Only now that Diana had woken did they finally let out sighs of relief.
Fortunately, like young Rafi and Aaron, she'd been protected by a spell, leaving no real aftereffects.
In fact, having been out cold from the start of the incident, she had no real memories—just a bit of shock.
"...That's a relief. Rafi's still young, so that's probably for the best..."
Diana nodded dazedly as she listened, but her words trailed off.
As her thinking sharpened back to normal, a sudden memory flashed through her mind.
"That's right! G-Grandma! What about Grandma Mirofa?!"
Startled, she bolted upright in bed.
Her sudden movement made her sway, but Aaron steadied her—though she had no attention to spare for that now.
The image of the old woman from next door filled her head: hugging Rafi tight, vomiting blood, and collapsing as she desperately bought them time to escape.
'No!'
Diana had only just learned that the grandma had such powerful abilities.
Without that desperate effort, she probably wouldn't be here, safe and seeing her family's faces.
"Don't worry too much, sis. Grandma's fine too."
"Yeah, we just came from checking on her. She's staying in the guest room since she lives alone—we're taking care of her."
"That's right. And get this—the saint from the Church of the Main God himself checked on her! Can you imagine? Seeing a saint with my own eyes in my lifetime..."
Relieved by her family's words, Diana slumped back onto the bed.
A sigh of relief escaped her at the thought that the worst had been averted.
"The saint...?"
"Yeah! You've never seen him, right? I saw him tear open the sky and descend! Whoa... I'll never forget it. No wonder he's the saint."
Aaron gestured wildly, describing the majestic scene he'd witnessed.
A soft smile formed on Diana's lips as she watched him.
But unlike what her brother said, the image of Saint Heinrich was firmly etched in her memory too.
'I was out of it then, so I wondered if it was real. But no, it wasn't a hallucination.'
The figure in her brother's description matched the one in her memory perfectly.
Right after being subdued by the attackers, as her consciousness faded, her extraordinary willpower barely holding on—the saint from the Church of the Main God had suddenly appeared.
'But...'
Her expression grew subtly strange as she listened.
Even if fragments of memory remained, her state had been too chaotic for everything to be crystal clear.
All she could recall now were the most striking details.
And the sharpest among them...
Of course, it was tied to her most trusted sense.
Not warmth, but a cool aura—mingled with an unmistakable bloody scent that carried a familiar fragrance.
It was subtly different from what she smelled on Hubert every day, a nostalgic aroma she hadn't encountered in ages.
'Uncle Heinz...'
Reuniting with him as a vampire was a first since moving to Tarac.
But having spent every day with Hubert, she easily detected traces of the "uncle" she knew within it.
Especially since she'd assumed from the start they were the same person.
'But...'
One thing, though.
Something even she couldn't quite comprehend.
It was this—
'He's definitely the saint.'
The familiar scent hadn't come from just that one person.
While a warm, cozy fragrance dominated—contrasting Heinz—there had definitely been that familiar smell mixed in too.
She'd been too frantic then to think deeply, but looking back, it was definitely odd.
No one would think vampire and saint made a good pair.
"...No way?"
A gasp slipped from her lips unbidden as she pondered.
Her eyes widened, and she snapped her head up.
"Sis?"
Lost in her own world, she didn't even hear her brother's voice.
She just frowned deeply, mulling over the sudden hypothesis.
'If that's the case...'
Diana clenched her slender fists tight.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Saint, thank you!"
"Did you see it? That thing that covered the entire sky..."
"Come on, who here in Tarac missed it?"
"Oh! Is that them? The ones we've only heard rumors about..."
"No Mercenary King Harry? Shame. I really wanted to meet Tarac's hero."
The terrorist attack targeting the Hubert Merchant Company's executives had ended without major casualties.
The culprits had boldly planned to kidnap the second-in-command by wiping out the entire neighborhood—but the hero party visiting Tarac had quickly spotted the anomaly and responded in time.
'Better to leave it at that.'
Talking about gods sealed in the abyss or apostle fragments wouldn't ring bells for most.
Especially with the Main God's records erasure—scarce knowledge on earth, let alone basic info.
'Spreading info on it seems restricted too.'
Gods grow stronger with more recognition and worship.
Fallen gods and apostles would have tried that too.
Yet nothing changed, meaning the world's laws forbade even mentioning its existence.
'It only uses a few apostles due to those limits. As an otherworlder, I'm exempt.'
Its apostles were oddly heterogeneous.
Undoubtedly born and raised in Outerica, yet drawn to that side somehow.
They each had their reasons, of course.
Like, for example...
The one here now: Temiran McClaire.
"Guh... kgh!"
A stifled groan leaked from the dark chamber.
The choked, halting sounds starkly showed his immense pain—even screams cut short.
"Even fallen, a god is a god, huh? Quite the resistance."
Temiran lay rigid on the lab table, limbs bound by blood chains.
Heinz stood before him like a surgeon, hand plunged into the boy's chest, murmuring low.
'Not a pretty sight, but no choice.'
A kid looking vivisected, adult gripping his heart—pure horror, indefensible as crime.
But this wasn't torture for interrogation.
Treatment fit better.
'Pain's expected in major surgery. Better than dying, right?'
Everything here was for Temiran's sake.
Still an unwilling apostle of the abyss-trapped god, his options were death or excision.
Extracting divine power etched into body and soul? No easy feat.
"Almost done—just hold on a bit longer. Don't feel too hard done by. I'm sharing your pain."
"Guhh!"
Temiran glared bloodshot eyes, as if calling bullshit.
But Heinz spoke true.
He just filtered excess via Mind Hub, staying calm.
...Though "almost done" was a white lie.
'Base is Obifor bloodline for sure... but heavily mutated. Abyss influence too. Pure Obifor descendant would've been easier. Pity.'
Likely a side effect of becoming an apostle.
Not all bad news, though.
'Still incomplete. Twenty years since selection, and this level...'
As noted, a god erased from records struggled to make apostles.
Slow buildup till now, but urgency exposed limits.
'Sending out incomplete ones? It must be desperate.'
Without this, its remaining plans would crumble soon.
Not unwise—full apostle needed another decade, longer than Heinz's Outerica stay.
So much in so little time—who knew after ten more years?
Its panic made sense.
"Cough! Almost... done...! How long...!"
"Ah."
A dying rasp from below.
Blood backlash from forced blood sync had soaked him head to toe.
Heinz looked fine, forcibly controlling his body—internally matching.
'No point dragging this.'
Prep complete.
Time to execute.
"Brace yourself. This'll hurt more."
"Wha?! You mean right now even more guhghraaack...!"
Temiran croaked frog-like before Heinz, hyper-focused, tuned him out.
Sacred Blood vampire and Lord of Blood, maxing blood control.
Injected Purified Blood Crystal laced with Hybrid Evolution into the heart for dominance.
'Ultimately, apostle power vs. vampire dominance—which wins.'
Full apostle like a revolutionary? Near impossible.
Luckily, not yet.
His blasphemous slips earlier? Inner turmoil showing.
Crunch—crunch—!
The small body thrashed, forcibly evolving.
Bones and flesh mashed, remolded like clay into something new.
Stronger, tougher, sturdier... maturer.
"Guh! Kgh! Stop! Stoooop—!"
Mid-teens now, Temiran's scream sprayed scarlet blood—but Heinz didn't flinch.
Casually gathered it, forming blood magic circle via Mystery of Blood for ritual aid.
'Found it.'
Time passed.
Insight caught an alien presence.
Through vampire origin blood: unknown divinity writhing in Temiran's soul.
Abyss god was once human deity—ironically, pure humans couldn't handle apostle power fully.
Body durability issue, plus instant corruption upon spiritual link—mindless titan-beast.
'Right, it introduced vampire and werewolf factors to Outerica first?'
Intentional or not, irrelevant now.
Whatever its goal, meaningless before Heinz awakening blood divinity.
Existence Denial via synced blood loosened divine ties.
Then Origin Return from Sacred Blood activated.
Vampire pinnacle: pure singularity nearing completion.
Spread through heart-blood-body, clashing with foreign apostle power hindering true 'vampire' existence.
"Gaaaaah—!"
Late-teens now, Temiran screamed heart-rendingly.
Heinz gladly assisted.
Squelch—!
By yanking the heart out whole.
"Kgh!"
"Whew. A handful."
He eyed the pulsing heart in his palm.
No worry for passed-out Temiran.
Subsumed under Heinz 2nd, inheriting full Sacred Blood—he'd regen a heart easy.
Twisted faith now hyper-allergic to its source? Nice bonus.
'Now then...'
Thump—thump—
Crimson heart wriggling, stuffed with apostle divinity and mutated vampire factors.
Somehow, felt like eye contact with someone far away.
"Nice to see you like this."
Heinz smirked dryly.
Too dangerous to take lightly.
Mishandle, puppet like Temiran.
'Bon appétit.'
But mere human talk—for Heinz 2nd building his own divinity, just nutritious supplement.
Splatter!
Heart burst in hand.
But blood didn't spray.
Sucked back into fist by some pull.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Acquired new vampire factor. Under the influence of special skill Hybrid Evolution, the individual's divinity grows further. Acquired skill Subordinate Domination. Heinz's lips curved in satisfaction.
Some distant rage-roar? Probably imagination.
Only him and unconscious Temiran here.