Chapter 529: Bloody Requiem (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 529: Bloody Requiem (4)
Clunk.
Creeak…!
I opened the door as quietly as possible and stepped out of the prison cell.
A long corridor appeared before us.
Seeing the torches stuck in the walls at regular intervals, Shin Yu-jeong muttered.
“This aesthetic is insane.”
“……”
I wasn’t sure if commenting on the “aesthetic” to a vampire was the right move, but she wasn’t entirely wrong.
After all, we lived in a world where a few lightbulbs could make an entire hallway as bright as day.
With torches, someone would have to replace them several times a day. What a pain.
“Makes you appreciate the advancements of science all over again…”
“Tell me about it.”
After easing our heightened tension with some light banter, we finally set off.
The pros and cons of a castle that retained its medieval feel quickly became apparent.
Clack!
Clack!
“…Our footsteps are echoing way too much.”
“Yeah.”
Every time our feet touched the stone floor, the sound reverberated loudly through the corridor.
Vampires’ physical abilities far surpassed those of humans.
That meant their hearing, one of the five senses, was also exceptional.
「Silence.」
Silence was a spell that completely blocked all noise within a certain area.
I used it to create a field that fit snugly around our bodies, cutting off all sound. To test it, I lightly stomped my feet a couple of times.
I could feel the heavy impact as my feet hit the ground, but not a single sound reached my ears.
“Alright. Let’s move out again.”
Our search resumed.
For two hours, we scoured the castle without any trouble or close calls.
Only then did we realize the problem.
“…This castle is too damn big.”
“At this rate, a whole day won’t be enough.”
The castle wasn’t just big; it was enormous.
We had been searching for over two hours and had only just finished exploring the basement floor where the prison was located.
And we only managed that because there were few vampires coming and going down here. Who knew how much more time it would take once we went to the upper floors.
Shin Yu-jeong stretched and let out her frustration.
“Ugh…! If two hours is this exhausting, how are we supposed to last a whole day?”
Searching was tiring in many ways.
You had to walk without making a sound, constantly watch for enemy movements, and meticulously search every single room for what you were looking for…
On top of all that was the psychological pressure of knowing that your life could be over the moment you were discovered.
Already fed up with it all, she whined.
“How about we try a different method?”
“A different method?”
“Yeah. Can’t we just kidnap a vampire and ask them?”
“Uh, hmm.”
It wasn’t a strategy I hadn’t considered.
In fact, I was starting to think it might be the better option.
Of course, it came with a few risks, but…
“Alright, let’s do that.”
What in the world doesn’t have risks?
“We can’t be too aggressive about it… Let’s set a trap somewhere suitable.”
We could only try our best to minimize those risks.
Using the information we’d gathered while exploring the basement, I looked for a good spot.
“This place looks good.”
“Okay.”
The spot we chose was a corridor where the torches were about to burn out.
I set up several spells there.
「Silence.」
I erected a thick soundproof wall so no noise could escape.
「Magic Trap: Paralyze.」
I set a trap that would activate the moment it was stepped on, paralyzing the target.
「Mirror Image.」
Finally, I projected an illusion of the corridor wall over us, concealing our presence.
“All set.”
Now, all we had to do was wait for an innocent vampire to fall into our trap.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Time passed with agonizing slowness.
The torch, which had looked like it would go out any second, burned for much longer than expected.
Perhaps it was just our anticipation.
You know that feeling?
When you think the end is near, but time suddenly slows to a crawl.
That’s exactly what it felt like now.
We were bored, but we couldn’t look at our phones or even move freely.
Just as the boredom creeping up from my feet reached the top of my head…
Clack, clack!
“They’re here…!”
The distinctive sound of the pointed shoes vampires often wore echoed throughout the corridor.
The sound grew closer.
A flickering flame approached through the pitch-black darkness.
Behind it, a pale face was revealed.
“Dammit… How much longer do I have to do this stupid torch-changing chore?”
The vampire, who clearly wasn’t high-ranking, scowled as he vented his complaints.
“But it won’t be long now. Once the True Ancestor awakens, I’ll have plenty of minions under me.”
Judging by his grumbling, he must have been a vampire born just before the True Ancestor went to sleep.
There’s a common rumor that you become a vampire if you’re bitten by one, but that’s only half-true.
There are two reasons they suck human blood.
The first is simply to feed.
The second is to drain a human’s blood and then fill the wound with their own, turning the human into a servitor.
A human who receives a vampire’s blood undergoes a transformation after a certain incubation period.
Their canines grow longer, they develop a craving for blood, and they come to despise sunlight.
So, doesn’t that make them a vampire?
Unfortunately, no.
While the infusion of vampire blood into a human body causes changes, the root species—human—is not erased.
To be precise, you could say they become a mix, roughly a 7:3 ratio of human to vampire.
Such transformed humans find themselves in the unfortunate position of being treated as neither human nor vampire.
If they stay in the human world, they can’t control their thirst for blood and end up captured and killed, or thrown in prison.
And if they seek out vampires, they aren’t recognized as kin and are forced to serve as mere servants.
However, there is one exception to this rule.
The True Ancestor, known as the king of vampires.
His blood can eradicate the human species itself and herald the birth of a new species called vampire.
It’s possible for one simple reason.
He’s just that strong.
The blood flowing through the veins of the one called the True Ancestor is powerful enough to change a living being’s very species.
“Shit… I heard the humans’ dwelling doesn’t need torches. We should adopt some of that stuff.”
The vampire continued to grumble as he approached, replacing torches along the way.
He had just given me a crucial piece of information.
The humans’ dwelling.
That meant there was a separate living area for humans somewhere in this castle.
“…The Seven Deadly Sins?”
I thought they were just using a part of the castle without permission, but had they actually joined forces with the vampires?
This was surprising.
To think that the vampires, so engrossed in their high-and-mighty noble charade, would team up with humans.
For that to be possible, there could only be one reason.
Either their goals aligned perfectly, or at the very least, their paths were similar…
What could it be?
A goal that two different species could agree on.
I was lost in thought for a moment.
“Phew… Is this the last one?”
The vampire had finally reached the last torch. The moment his foot landed on the trap I’d set…
Zzzt!
“Gah…?!”
A current of mana shot up from the floor, coursing through his body and seizing him completely.
Thud!
The low-ranking vampire froze solid and fell stiffly, like a rotten log.
“W-What, wh-what’s suddenly happening…”
Although I had already blocked off the surrounding noise, I quickly dispelled the illusion just in case. I appeared before him, placed a finger to his lips, and whispered.
“Shhh.”
“Hup…!”
Frozen by an unseen terror, the vampire sucked his own lips into his mouth.
Good.
The mood isn’t bad.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions now.”
“W-What questions…!”
“Hey, I told you to be quiet. Only speak when I tell you to answer. Or else, snap! You get it?”
“I-I-I understand.”
First question.
“Where is the equipment of the humans you captured a while ago being stored?”
“It’s… it’s piled up in the 2nd-floor warehouse.”
“Are there guards?”
“N-No.”
“What about patrols?”
“…I believe they patrol at set times.”
“And what times are those?”
“I don’t know. Only the 2nd-floor security personnel know.”
Hmm.
He doesn’t seem to be lying.
Can’t be helped.
I’ll leave it at that for now.
Second question.
“Where are the priests who were captured with them being held?”
“I-I don’t know that either.”
Well, well.
Look at this bastard.
“If I catch you lying, your hand… no, your head is going to fly.”
As I held a sharply honed blade of wind to his neck, his face grew even paler, and he frantically shook his head.
“I-I really don’t know! The Holy Bloods took the priests, saying they would manage them personally, so a low-rank like me…!”
“Holy Bloods?”
“Y-Yes.”
Holy Bloods.
A direct translation would be something like ‘sacred blood.’
“Explain what the Holy Bloods are.”
“…It is the name for the ten who have inherited the noble True Ancestor’s blood most purely.”
So, there are ten individuals who are exceptionally strong even among vampires.
“Are the Holy Bloods very powerful?”
“They are. They’re on a completely different level from the likes of us.”
“……”
A typical vampire ranked somewhere between B and A-rank.
If the Holy Bloods were, as this guy said, incomparable to ordinary vampires… I’d have to assume there were at least ten individuals with skills equivalent to S-rank.
This just got complicated.
Hiding my complex thoughts, I looked down at the vampire trembling on the floor and asked.
“Where are the Holy Bloods’ quarters?”
“From the 5th to the 15th floor. Each of the Holy Bloods uses an entire floor as their personal residence.”
They really don’t do things by halves.
And this castle is far more massive than I thought.
It didn’t look this big from the outside… I wonder what kind of secret it’s hiding.
“Alright. I think that’s about all the information I need.”
There were still many gaps, but I felt I’d gotten everything I could from a low-ranking vampire.
First, I’ll go up to the 2nd floor and retrieve our confiscated equipment… hmm.
After that, I’ll need to discuss our next move with everyone else.
Just as I was getting ready to move, the vampire on the floor cried out.
“I-I answered your questions faithfully. So let me go now.”
“……?”
What is this?
This ridiculous demand.
“Hey… there’s something I’m curious about.”
“W-What is it?”
“Did I ever say I’d let you live?”
“……!”
I was genuinely asking.
Because I was pretty sure I’d never said I would spare him.
The vampire’s face twisted violently as he belatedly searched his memory and realized his mistake.
Fwoosh!
I summoned a large fireball and aimed it at him.
“Well… if you had been a truly good vampire, I might have let you live.”
I meant it.
But he didn’t meet the criteria for ‘good.’
“But you reek of blood, man.”
Human blood, at that.
It was probably the blood of the soldiers patrolling the barrier, or of humans who passed by the area.
If not that… then it was the blood of humans offered up by the Seven Deadly Sins, their allies.
So.
“I’ll make you good.”
BOOM—!
“F-Fire…! M-My whole body is on fire…! Aaaargh!”
The vampire was slowly incinerated by the crimson flames clinging to his entire body.
When the fire finally died down, I looked at the black ashes that remained and smiled with satisfaction.
“Hmm, you look a little nicer now.”
The only good vampire is a dead vampire, after all.