I'll Come Find You Soon
This was a technique I learned long ago while facing the Blood Cult Leader. Even if the target had borrowed another’s body, the mind linked to it remained unchanged. Torment the spirit, and the attack would land no matter where the flesh was hidden.
Harkia staggered backward, tripped over his own feet, and toppled hard. He stared up at me with pure terror in his eyes. Good. Our heights finally matched.
“Hey, kid.”
“You… just who are you?”
The Vampire Lord was so gripped by fear that he hadn’t even realized he could sever the connection. This must have been his first time. He had always stood above others; finding himself in the shoes of the weak clearly left him rattled. Even the way panic clouded his thoughts was exactly like the Blood Cult Leader. How amusing.
“Wait for me. I’ll come find you soon. Until then, prepare with everything you have. I will personally shatter every defense you manage to raise.”
I lifted my foot and kicked the vampire’s head. The borrowed body went limp as strength fled from it. The link had been cut.
Ara. What did you just do?
“Dealt with an annoying pest.”
No! I mean—why was Harkia so terrified?! He never makes that face except when he’s about to die!
So that was what she meant. I had wondered what the fuss was about.
“Killing intent.”
I had concentrated my murderous aura solely on Harkia, knowing ordinary people could never withstand it. From the viewers’ perspective, the scene must have looked bizarre—Harkia suddenly cowering the moment I stepped closer.
Killing intent? That’s actually a real thing?
“Of course. Plenty of people have felt my killing intent before.”
So when Dekai and Yi Sun said they felt killing intent from you… that was literal?! Not just a figure of speech?!
It seemed they had only taken it as an expression of extreme fear. Those two must have been quite frustrated that no one believed them.
I decided it was time to clear up the doubt myself.
“Killing intent is something that can actually be used. Once you reach the realm where you can infuse your will with inner energy, it becomes a practical tool. If you keep training inside Apis, you should all be able to use it someday.”
With the realm my avatar had reached inside Apis, it was certainly possible with enough practice. Mastering it for real combat, however, would take a long time.
…But this isn’t Apis, and you don’t even have qi, Ara.
“This seat is the exception among exceptions, after all. Do not measure me by ordinary standards. They rarely apply.”
“I’ll explain it properly later. Right now we have work to do, don’t we?”
I turned around and met Bella’s gaze. Pure fear swam in her eyes. She had known I was strong, but she clearly hadn’t expected anything on this level. I felt no particular emotion. It wasn’t as if this was the first time I had seen such eyes. Until yesterday, people who had smiled and welcomed me would suddenly fall to their knees the next day, weeping and begging for their lives. Those consumed by terror never believed me even when I said I had no intention of harming them.
Bella might be the same, yet the fact that she hadn’t run and was still looking at me suggested she might be different.
“Bella. Are you just going to keep staring from over there?”
“I… I wasn’t—”
“Don’t worry. My words that I have no intention of harming you still stand.”
Only then did she hesitantly emerge from behind the tree. She didn’t cling to me like before, instead keeping a careful distance. It was a distance I knew well.
“There is one thing I wish to ask you.”
“…I know. You must have a lot of questions.”
Not really. I have almost no interest in your circumstances.
“What I want to know is simple. Do you know where the one called Harkia lives?”
“I do. But I won’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“You’re too strong. If you end up becoming a vampire, no one will be able to stop Harkia.”
Bella explained that Harkia planned to erase the sun—the vampires’ greatest enemy—from the world. He had already found the method through a deal with a god, and the moment the sacrifice for the spell was prepared, the word “daytime” would vanish from this world. That was why she could not tell me where he was.
“Do you think I would lose?”
“Harkia is powerful. He is the master of the largest vampire clan on the continent. At the same time, he is a supreme archmage who has existed for a thousand years and one of the greatest warriors alive. Do you really believe you can defeat someone like that?”
“In my experience, the more someone boasts about the titles others have given them, the weaker they tend to be.”
Strength is not decided by what others call you. It is decided by what you have built inside yourself. And from what I could see, what lurked inside that vampire was nothing particularly impressive.
“I can tell you carry more than I thought.”
Whether it was the fate of the world or the destiny of an entire race weighing on her heart, I did not know. But I could tell the burden was far from light.
“So what do you want me to do?”
Whether the world fell or not was none of my concern. Even if the sun vanished and eternal night descended, it had nothing to do with me. Even if humanity became livestock for vampires, it would not affect me in the slightest.
“I simply want to make the bastard who ruined my mood pay the price.”
The price for making me recall that damned Blood Cult Leader’s face would not be light. He had made me actually consider taking his head even though the wretch wasn’t worth killing.
“So speak. Where is he?”
Know that I am showing you consideration right now. And know that this consideration will not last forever. This seat knows many ways to open a person’s mouth. Do not make me demonstrate them through your body.
“…There is a castle in the northwest.”
As if unable to withstand the pressure, Bella finally spoke. The castle where Harkia resided stood on a snow-covered mountain, surrounded by a massive barrier that prevented intruders. Even if one passed the barrier, countless vampires filled the castle. A lone human who entered would die long before reaching Harkia.
Quest complete. We can head to the castle where Harkia is now.
“Good enough.”
If Enri said so, it must be certain.
“I told you because I’m choosing to believe in your confidence.”
“Understood. I’ll come thank you for the directions later.”
“…Do as you like.”
After Bella left, I opened the map. Just like when I had visited Dawn’s Fortress before, a new marker had appeared. Touching it would take me to Harkia’s castle.
There were originally a few more quests you needed to complete to enter the castle, though.
“Still?”
Since it’s you, Ara, I think you can just smash through everything. Probably.
Ichigo’s suitably noncommittal answer was exactly what I wanted to hear. I touched the marker on the map. The surroundings darkened.
Someone from the Murim Alliance once said that the Blood Cult’s jiangshi were monsters whose very existence insulted humanity. Before I became involved with the Blood Cult, I had dismissed those words as nonsense from the Orthodox faction.
Jiangshi were created through blood arts that followed logical principles; how could one deny their existence? That had been my thinking.
But now I agreed with the Murim Alliance. Jiangshi were things that should not exist. And the Blood Cult Leader who created them was the first one who needed to be eradicated from the murim.
I clicked my tongue while examining the jiangshi sprawled across the floor. The sound echoed through the cave. Another failure. The Blood Cult Leader was not in this branch either. Only cultists enthralled by him and jiangshi made from martial artists’ corpses remained.
Irritation surged. Even though I put my pipe in my mouth, there was no scent of tobacco. All I could smell was the stench of decayed blood coming from the jiangshi. I would need a bath after leaving this place. The odor must have soaked into me.
I walked over and smashed the jiangshi’s face. The voice did not stop. It simply flowed from another corpse.
I destroyed that one too, but the voice continued without pause.
I shattered yet another, but the voice refused to cease.
The giggling scraped against my nerves. I released my qi and pressed down on the entire cave so that nothing could maintain its original shape. Even then, silence did not come. The voice rang out from somewhere once more.
The cave shook. A massive presence appeared at the entrance I had come through. It was an aura I knew all too well.
“You bastard.”
I did not reply to the Blood Cult Leader’s innocent question. Anything I said would only please him. I put away my pipe and withdrew the qi I had spread. The opponent I would face from now on was not someone to be taken lightly. How could the realm of the benefactor who had helped me complete the Heavenly Demon Divine Art be trivial?
The moment the presence drew near, I took a polite stance and waited. Soon, footsteps echoed through the cave.
“Little Heavenly Demon Baek Hwaryeong. This one greets his benefactor.”
When I raised my head, I saw the face I had sworn to bury in my memories. Even though it belonged to a jiangshi, that eccentric expression remained unchanged. That rotten old bastard.
“It is unfortunate that our reunion after so long takes this form, but as one who has received your grace, I shall fulfill my duty.”
He dropped his polite stance and raised his entire body’s energy.
I opened my eyes to the sight of a snow-covered mountain. Damn it. To think that scene would surface again. This was all because of that Harkia or whatever his name was. If that wretch hadn’t made me recall the Blood Cult Leader, I wouldn’t have been troubled by old memories.
Ara?
“I’m listening.”
The opaque wall in front of you is the barrier. Once you cross it, the castle will appear immediately.
“Can I destroy it?”
Yes!
Harkia. This is clearly your sin, so you must endure my venting as well.
I stamped my foot toward the barrier.