The Vampire Hunter's Test
The person standing opposite Lind introduced himself as Tov. “As you probably know, not just anyone can become a vampire hunter. There’s an entrance exam.” He said he would evaluate my qualifications as a hunter by having me complete a mission with him.
Does he think I’m deaf? I heard the two of them arguing just moments ago, yet he believes I wouldn’t see through his intentions? He really must take me for a fool. A worthless nobody who can’t even be called a martial artist. If I were my usual self, I would have carved some manners into him by putting a hole in his body. But since he still has a role to play for now, I’ll let it slide a little longer.
“Do you have any preferred weapon?”
“Can you give me a spear?”
Since I’ve already dragged Enri into this, I might as well give her a proper lesson. The moment I asked for a spear, Tov’s face lit up. Of course he would. A spear is the weapon that requires the least amount of iron, after all.
The spear Tov handed me was completely neglected. The tip was covered in rust, and the wooden shaft was rotting and splitting in several places. To hand over something like this as a weapon… I can already tell what kind of place this is. And they didn’t even provide armor or at least a helmet. They clearly see people as disposable. I quite like these guys.
“Anything else you want?”
“No. This is enough.”
Asking for more would only annoy me anyway. Though his overall attitude grated on my nerves, Tov proved to be a rather decent guide. The way he avoided unnecessary fights and sought the fastest routes was textbook for someone in his position.
That said, as a soldier he was nothing special. He was the kind of weakling who didn’t even inspire the desire to cut him down. About twenty minutes after we began climbing the mountain together—
“This is it. The area we’re supposed to scout. I’ll support you from behind, so take the lead.”
The place Tov led me to was a cave somewhere on the mountain. Even though he knew I had no idea what was inside, he handed me a torch and urged me to go first. When malice is this blatant, it’s almost laughable.
Don’t worry! I’ll guide you through the path!
“Do you have every path inside memorized?”
Of course! There’s no path in Sky’s End that I don’t know! Call me the human GPS!
“Alright, Navi. Which way now?”
Go inside, head straight for 50 meters, then turn left!
The moment I stepped into the cave entrance, the scent of blood reached my nose. It wasn’t the simple smell of blood. It was thicker, more unpleasant. I had smelled it before. Ah, yes. That’s the stench of blood that has pooled and begun to rot.
“Tov. Were there people who entered here before us?”
“Why are you asking that?”
His tone was sharp. If no one had gone ahead, he wouldn’t have reacted like that. So there were. People who entered before me. They were probably all dead by now. Killed by something. A vampire, perhaps. A being that lives on blood. The word reminded me of the Blood Cult.
My memories of the Blood Cult were far from pleasant. Ever since the moment I met my benefactor—whom I had personally buried—turned into a jiangshi, the Blood Cult had been my sworn enemy.
Crack!
Following the sound, I looked down. It seemed I had unconsciously gripped the spear too hard while thinking of the Blood Cult; the shaft had snapped in half.
“Hey. What are you going to do if you break the spear?”
“It’s fine. I can still fight with this.”
It wasn’t what I had planned, but since things had come to this, I would have to change what I taught Enri. Now that the spear was gone, what could I explain? How to sense presence? Or the vital points to watch during combat? Come to think of it, there were quite a few things I could teach. No problem at all.
“From now on, the vampire—”
“I said there’s no problem.”
Shut your mouth, child. I’m letting you off for various reasons right now, but don’t think my patience is infinite. Know that such delusions could determine your fate.
“...Right. Of course.”
When I pressed him with my aura, Tov quickly changed his words. He tried to act casual, but the way he unconsciously avoided my eyes made it obvious he was scared. Finally starting to understand his place, I see.
Don’t worry everyone. Hwaryong is actually super nice in real life.
“Nice? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?”
It’s true that I’ve become much gentler these days, but I can’t quite agree that I’m a good person. The karma I carry isn’t light. I wouldn’t find it strange if lightning struck me down at any moment.
I’m defending you here! Just stay quiet!
Though I had spoken from the heart, Enri scolded me instead and tried to list my good points. The words sounded embarrassingly cringeworthy even to me, so I temporarily muted Enri and gripped the broken spear.
“We’ll have to fight soon, so let’s end the chatter here.”
I deliberately ignored the suddenly speeding-up chat window and adjusted my grip on the broken spear before stepping forward.
“Two enemies are waiting on the left wall at the fork ahead. If you’re wondering how I know, it’s because I can sense their presence.”
Presence might sound abstract, but it’s actually very concrete. Footsteps. The rustle of clothing. The clink of metal. Someone’s breathing. The scent of killing intent. The stench of disgusting sweat. The smell of blood. We call all of these things perceived by the five senses presence.
As I walked toward the fork in the cave, I explained this to the viewers. However, the chat window was still only talking about how I had muted Enri earlier. The information I was giving right now was incredibly useful—how could they not listen?
Sigh. Fine. Go ahead and chatter however you want. I’ll do the same.
“Some people call sensing presence an instinctive sixth sense, but that’s wrong. Sensing presence is something that can be strengthened through training. The training method is simple. It’s about consciously recognizing each thing you unconsciously feel.”
In this current situation, what can be heard? Breathing, the sound of metal moving in accordance with that breathing, and the disgusting smell of blood coming from them. They’re trying to hide it as best they can, but without martial arts, there’s a limit.
“Once you become skilled at sensing presence, you can do things like this.”
I was already standing in a specific position beside the cave wall. I stepped into the fork and thrust the spear sideways. The broken spear pierced straight through one vampire’s abdomen. Leaving the screaming vampire writhing in pain, I looked at the other one. The creature had frozen in panic, eyes darting back and forth between me and its comrade.
Looks like it’s not very experienced in combat. Or maybe it simply didn’t expect to be attacked like this. Whichever it is, remember that hesitation never plays a good role in battle. I won’t kill them, so you’ll probably find a use for this lesson someday, won’t you?
The two vampires were weak but tenacious. Perhaps because of their regenerative ability, even though I had struck them hard enough to knock out an ordinary person, neither lost consciousness.
“Just… kill us…”
Thanks to that, putting both of them in a combat-incapable state took quite a bit of effort. How troublesome. Next time, I should try using demonic energy to subdue them. I can’t keep going through this hassle forever.
I pulled the spear out of one of the vampires.
“Guhhhk!”
This thing can’t be used anymore. After discarding the spear, I turned around to find Tov staring at me with trembling eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“N-no! Nothing!”
For some reason, he had become extremely polite. Interesting.
The chat window had stopped talking about what Enri said earlier and was now only discussing what I had done. I don’t know why they’re acting like this, but good is good. I suppose I can unmute Enri now.
Hwaryong. No matter how much you disliked what I said, isn’t this kind of protest a bit much?
“Protest? I simply did what I normally do.”
...You’re seriously evil.
Enri let out a dry laugh after saying that and resumed guiding me. I don’t understand why everyone is reacting so strangely. They attacked first, so they simply paid the appropriate price. What’s so pitiful or cruel about that? In any case, I left them alive, so it should be considered merciful. Indeed. No matter how dirty this world is, it’s still better than the afterlife.
As we went deeper into the cave, we encountered several more vampires. They were all similar to the first two. Those annoyingly tenacious creatures made perfect test subjects for experimenting with demonic energy. The more I used it, the more I realized how many possibilities this thing called demonic energy held. Later, I should try it on those mana characters in Apis as well. If I had more demonic energy than this body currently possesses, I could accomplish even more. It feels like I’ve found an interesting new toy after so long.
I didn’t know it would be like this either! Hwaryong is seriously nice in real life, I swear! She just turns weird the moment she enters the game!
The chat window and Enri were arguing about something or other, but I deliberately ignored them. Getting involved there would only lead to an unsightly outcome.
When we finally reached the end of the cave, a dome-shaped room appeared. The floor resembled a large circular disk, and the arched structures stacked on top of it along with braziers placed here and there made the room look like a temple. In the center was something that looked like a giant handle, and a marker appeared telling me to go there.
“Ooh! So this is the place the vampires were looking for!”
Ignoring Tov’s excited fussing, the moment I stepped into the center, purple flames rose along the pentagram drawn on the floor. Strangely, the flames weren’t hot at all, yet they flickered as if asserting their existence.
“What do I do now?”
It’s puzzle time! Want to try solving it?
“Just explain the basic method.”
It’s simple. If you move the braziers in the correct way, the flames will connect to them, right? Just move all the braziers and fill the room with flames.
Following Enri’s explanation, I moved one of the braziers. The flickering flame in the center followed along the brazier. So I just need to fill the entire room with fire like this. Hmm. I understand. But really—do I have to solve this puzzle? It would be much faster and easier to just blow the door away.