Flames of Vengeance (Part 2)

"You understand what you're saying in front of me right now... don't you, Marius!"

"Eeeek! B-but... it's the truth, my Lord! Alexandru... Alexandru is...!"

It was news no vampire present could easily believe, yet Marius, trembling violently, could only repeat the same report over and over.

Alexandru was dead. Killed by that man — the one every vampire had been watching. And not even in a fair fight. His companions had cowardly rushed into the duel, ganging up on him until he fell. A thoroughly despicable end!

"N-no matter how you look at it... Alexandru, taken down by a bunch of blood bags...!"

"Alexandru was wounded by blood bags... you say!?"

"Does that mean... the blood bags are that strong!? Not just that one man alone?"

The unrest spread like wildfire. To the Vampire Lord's misfortune, some of them began whispering among themselves about finding a way out — a few even looked ready to bolt. One vampire was already on the verge of quietly slipping away from the gathering.

Of course, even with the hollow ache of losing Alexandru flooding through him, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Vampire Lord was never going to let such blasphemy slide.

Grab!

"Ghk...! M-my Lord...!?"

The vampire who had been edging backward was seized by the throat and hauled into the air. His feet kicked uselessly at empty space as he choked and writhed.

"Alexandru's death is indeed a tragedy. However..."

"Ghk... hhk... m-my Lord... p-please...!"

Crunch...!

Without the slightest hesitation, the Vampire Lord executed the traitor. He did not spare him so much as a glance afterward.

"But even if Alexandru was the most battle-ready among us... a single Alexandru does not represent the full strength of our kind. We still possess our greatest power. Namely, us — every one of us standing here!"

It was borderline sophistry, yet the Lord's charisma succeeded in steadying the panicked hearts of the gathered vampires. Eyes bloodshot, he raised his voice in a grand declaration.

"Those blood bags who killed Alexandru and now swagger about in triumph — let us teach them a lesson! This very moment, we march to exterminate those inferior creatures! The hour of battle is upon us!"

"W-waaaaaah!"

"Long live the Lord!"

Several vampires, thoroughly stirred by the speech, raised their voices in fervor. Others still wore uneasy faces, but none dared object.

"And... Marius!"

"Y-yes! Yes, my Lord!"

"Bring the blood-bag slaves... and the laborer slaves. Every last one that can still walk! I have a use for them!"

"U-understood...!"

The moment the ordered vampire scrambled from his presence, the Vampire Lord's face hardened. He ground his teeth and muttered under his breath.

"So you crushed Alexandru with sheer numbers, did you? Fine... I'll return that very tactic right back at you. You inferior blood bags...!"

"Hah... hah...!"

I was gasping for air. I had every reason to be.

"Is everyone all right?"

"I-I'm fine!"

"F-for now, at least...! The wounded are...!"

"Three people over here! They're unconscious! They collapsed the moment we cut those Blood Threads earlier—"

"Wait!"

Kim Seyeon sprinted toward the three people sprawled in the street. I dropped to one knee, leaning on an iron sword in place of my silver longsword, and dragged in ragged breaths.

Before my eyes, nothing remained of the vampire but crumbling ash.

Fuck... that was way too close. No, seriously... are these bastards immortal or what? When we killed that first vampire so easily I had a bad feeling about it... looking back, taking him out in one go was the lucky part.

We had been freeing people from the vampires and cutting down the orcs, goblins, and zombie hordes that kept charging us as we pushed forward when—

That thing suddenly appeared.

Right in front of me.

"Ghk!?"

"You who slew my kin— hmm?"

Goddamn it. I swung on pure reflex the instant he materialized, but it was only an iron sword — the damage was nothing special. I'd been saving the silver longsword exclusively for vampires.

I yanked the silver longsword from my bag and slashed, but by then the bastard had already put a considerable distance between us.

"I had intended to introduce myself... yet you blood bags are far too impatient and discourteous. Very well. If that is what you desire... I shall not bother learning your names either!"

Like hell I'm standing on ceremony now! I launched straight into combat against the vampire who had crashed into our midst.

But this vampire — the one tagged with the name "(Alexandru)," whether that was a nickname or something else — was, unfortunately, in an entirely different league from the one who had died so pathetically earlier.

Every time I tried to cut him, he scattered into dozens ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of bats. And no matter how I wounded him—

"It is useless."

"What? This bastard... his HP is regenerating?"

"U-uaaaagh!"

"M-my blood... it feels like it's being drained... uuugh...!"

"Hey, what's wrong!?"

His HP was recovering right before my eyes.

On top of that, the survivors we'd just rescued behind us suddenly screamed and collapsed as their strength left them.

It wasn't until I'd taken a couple of hits from the cloak he was swinging — whether it was actually a cloak or bat wings, I still couldn't tell — that I finally figured it out.

Those red threads I saw earlier...!

I had no idea what they were, but every instinct screamed that they were connected to how this bastard was recovering his HP. So I shouted to Han Sora, who was providing support from the rear.

"Sora! The people who collapsed— ghk!"

"Y-yes?"

Of course, before I could finish, Alex-whatever swung his cloak again and I had to scramble to block it.

Fortunately, Teacher Kim Seyeon caught my meaning and pulled Han Sora over toward the fallen survivors.

"W-what am I supposed to look at... wait, what's this?"

"Do you see something, Sora?"

"Y-yes. Right here... can't you see these thin red threads connecting them?"

"I wear glasses, so I can't make them out clearly. Jeong Hoon! What should we do about these!?"

"Cut them!"

I shouted the order while still swinging my blade. The Alex-whatever in front of me didn't look panicked so much as... sly. A sinister smile spread across his face.

"It is useless."

"What?"

"I shall commend your powers of observation. Those threads are Blood Threads — affixed so that we may work the blood bags as laborers while keeping them alive, then drain their life energy once they lose their value. Go on, try cutting them. The moment you do, you will regret it bitterly. Those Blood Threads do not merely steal blood — they also serve as the very lifelines of those blood bags—"

"Sora, cut them!"

I cut him off and just yelled. I heard Han Sora cry out, "Eiit!"

"Hm? My life-force regeneration... so you actually cut them!"

"We're not falling for a bluff like that."

What the hell does this bastard take me for?

You think I've only fought monsters once or twice? How many of them never shut their mouths the whole time? Exactly one. You.

And what does that mean? It means there's a damn good chance you're lying through your teeth.

In other words, this asshole is bluffing! The ones who talk the biggest always have the least to back it up! Sure, that cloak of his stung a bit, but still!

"Die."

"It is useless!"

I swung the silver longsword again, and once more he split into a swarm of bats and scattered.

Annoying as hell... but did he really think I wouldn't see that coming?

"Now! Sora!"

"Y-yes!"

"Flame Barrage, coming in!"

From behind, Han Sora loosed arrows tipped with silver arrowheads, and Yun Mina joined in, sending five reinforced streams of flame streaking through the air.

And that wasn't all. We had new firepower now — not just explosive potions, archers, and mages.

Bang! Baaang!

Firearms recovered from the rescued people roared to life. Men among our residents who knew how to handle guns laid down covering fire from range.

And these weren't ordinary bullets. Using the existing rounds as a base, our Blacksmith-class fighters had improvised silver ammunition on the spot. In other words, each shot was guaranteed to be lethal against vampires.

"Kraaaagh! Y-you bastards... attacking as a group! Cowards!"

Silver weapons really are the best! Perfect for vampire extermination.

And what? Cowards? Give me a fucking break. Did you seriously expect me to fight you one-on-one like some honorable duelist? You're the idiot who flew in alone right in front of all of us! How arrogant do you have to be to charge in without a single subordinate? Absolute clownery.

"Farewell."

Slash! Slash!

"Th-this can't be...! My Lord... I am... sor...ry...!"

Leaving behind a dying breath thick with loyalty, the vampire crumbled steadily into ash. And I...

"Hah... hah...!"

...dropped to one knee, using my sword like a cane, and gasped for breath.

I'd been so locked into the fight that every last drop of stamina felt drained out of me. This bastard's movements had been so endlessly unpredictable it was genuinely exhausting. Thank god for the blessing still active on me — and for Kim Seyeon topping it up — keeping my Agility high enough. Without that, I would have spent the whole fight chasing him around without landing a single hit.

But still... why am I this wiped out?

Those cloak attacks did chip away at my HP, but not by that much. So why does my whole body feel this drained? Even when I was sweeping through the monsters earlier I stuck purely to tanking — no charges, no rushes, nothing... Is it because I barely slept last night?

"Jeong Hoon, are you all right?"

Kim Seyeon came to my side, clearly worried. Seeing me struggle — when I almost never showed fatigue — must have set off every alarm she had.

"Hoo... I am fine. The others — especially those who had the threads attached?"

"They all lost consciousness, but... they're alive. Contrary to that thing's warning, there's nothing wrong with their physical condition. One of the residents with emergency medical knowledge says they'll be fine if they just rest. We've already loaded all four of them onto the truck for now. More importantly... are you really all right?"

Even as she spoke, Kim Seyeon was restoring my HP. My health began climbing back in real time.

And yet... I still felt terrible. It was like my endurance had been completely gutted. More precisely, it felt exactly like stopping dead after sprinting at full speed for thirty straight minutes.

What the hell is this?

"Um... Jeong Hoon? Sir? There's something I haven't told you yet."

One of the rescued survivors raised a hand and approached us.

Apparently, some vampires possessed the ability to passively drain ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a human's stamina simply by standing near them... and the vampire I'd just fought was one of that type.

"Ah, well... vampires like that... they're, um..."

"Higher-ranking vampires, you mean? And there are a considerable number of them among their kind?"

"Yes, exactly! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Near the Vampire... Lord? King? Whatever that monstrous one is called — there are these really unsettling types hanging around him. Like, seriously unsettling. People like us, just being near them, our faces go pale and all our strength drains away until we're shaking and just collapsing one after another..."

That is genuinely terrible news. If that's true... then fighting those higher vampires means accepting that your stamina will be siphoned away just by being near them. Or sticking exclusively to long-range attacks.

But even that last bastard was a higher level than the vampire before him. Han Sora and Yun Mina managed to hammer Alex-whatever from range, sure... but only because someone (me) was holding aggro up front. If a pack of those higher vampires charged us all at once...

"Jeong Hoon..."

"If what he says is true... we may have to count ourselves lucky just to drive them out of Seoul Station."

The plan was going to need revision. If we had a warrior-tank around my level — or at least Lv.40 and up by Brave Saga Online standards — it might be different. As things stood, it was going to be rough.

Screw this up and we might end up just like that Han Daegeon bastard who charged in blindly and got wiped—

"O-oppaaa! Up ahead, up ahead...!"

Han Sora's scream of pure horror cut through everything at that exact moment.

I turned toward the source of the voice — no, the scream — and found her pointing somewhere with an expression of naked terror.

I followed the line of her finger. In the darkness, I couldn't quite make out—

Kuuuung...!

In an instant, goosebumps erupted across my entire body. No — even the air itself seemed to take on a razor-sharp edge.

Is this... killing intent? Or some other magic only vampires can use?

Just who — what kind of being — could pour out an atmosphere like this?

"Ah... over there!"

Headlights approached from behind, illuminating the area ahead more clearly. Someone must have edged one of the vehicles forward.

Thanks to that, I could finally see the figures advancing toward us.

Pale faces. Luxurious attire that evoked medieval Europe. And above all else — pointed ears and fangs protruding past their lips.

"Ah... aah..."

"Oh my god..."

"Th-they're all coming out...!"

Vampires. Every last one of them had turned out. And astonishingly, they were approaching us on foot.

At the head of the column, leading them, was a chieftain so powerful it made my jaw drop.

That thing... is a monster among monsters. Of all the times... of all the fucking times for him to show up. Shit...!

"...Teacher Kim Seyeon."

"Ah... aah... th-that's..."

Goddamn it. If you freeze up in terror here, what the hell am I supposed to do! I grabbed her by the shoulders and all but shouted into her ear.

"Seyeon! Snap out of it!"

"Ah! Y-yes...!"

The sharp command jolted Kim Seyeon back to her senses. She raised her hands and began casting a holy spell. I planted myself in front of her and bellowed at the top of my lungs.

"Everyone, gather over here! Immediately! Now!"

At my barked order, those who still had their wits about them scrambled to cluster close to me and Kim Seyeon. A handful of them grabbed the ones still sitting or standing in a daze and dragged them over to our side.

Seeun, Sora, Mina, Jung Yun... good. All the important people were accounted for.

"Sacred Ground! A-activating now!"

Just before the vampires closed the remaining distance to a critical point, Kim Seyeon's Sacred Ground activated.

Fwaaaaaah!

The ground transformed across a radius of roughly fifty meters. It was as if a living meadow were blooming into existence, the effect of Sacred Ground overlaying everything. So this was what people meant when they said skills evolved and changed as your level rose. And the duration...

"How long can you hold it?"

"Each cast lasts... thirty minutes. Thirty minutes."

Good. That bought us some precious time. The fact that it eats a full 100 MP is a drawback, but still!

In that window, while we regroup... I have to figure it out.

The optimal means of wiping that goddamn Vampire Lord and his entire clan off the face of the earth.