Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 039
Chapter Title: The Essence of Immortality
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Of course, Kyle couldn't emerge unscathed from the barrage of high-purity mana and the massive shockwave that devoured the entire area around them.
No, he'd targeted himself from the start.
'Gotta die and snag those skill points.'
No matter how pissed he was, some things had to get done.
The detention block's interior was reduced to rubble in an instant.
But thanks to some barrier or whatever, the windows and walls held firm.
Only the stuff inside was trashed.
'...If it weren't for that barrier, the whole building would've collapsed.'
He figured he'd have to ask Marie Fleetwood to tone it down next time they met.
Kyle, recovering swiftly, rose to his feet and eyed the vampire resurrecting almost simultaneously.
'It's the dead of night when vampires are at their strongest.'
Even accounting for that, this one felt different from the last vampire he'd faced.
The sheer pressure it exuded was on another level.
"Hrrmm..."
The viscount, his jaw freshly regenerated, glared at him with bulging eyes.
"You... how the hell are you still alive?"
Kyle picked at his ear as he replied.
"Beats me."
"Don't tell me you've got super regeneration or something?"
The viscount let out an amused chuckle.
"Heh, so that's it. To think something this freakish was lurking here."
A blood-red blade materialized in Kyle's hand.
"!?"
Claaaang-!!
The clash rang out like steel on steel.
The viscount's eyes widened at the scarlet blood sword locked against his greatsword.
"You... that's...!"
And it didn't end there.
Without hesitation, Kyle invested points into it.
The enhanced Vampire-Slaying Sword Dance had this additional effect:
[The more blood consumed, the faster the blades fly and the more that can be unleashed.]
Pwaaaang-!!
Kyle leaped back from the erupting black-and-white flames and immediately activated Vampire-Slaying Sword Dance.
Just like on that helicopter, the blood sword split into multiple blades and shot forward.
But Kyle didn't stop there.
Baal's Minor Curse
[Sacrifice life force for strength/agility/toughness boost]
Baal's Minor Curse
[Sacrifice life force for strength/agility/toughness boost]
Baal's Minor Curse
[Sacrifice life force for strength/agility/toughness boost]
Baal's Minor Curse
[Sacrifice life force for strength/agility/toughness boost]
Blood drained endlessly from him as dozens of sword qi surged toward the great blood clansman.
"?!"
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!!
The viscount tried to dodge by hurling himself aside, but the room was too cramped.
Venator's Blood Sword Style truly shone in tight spaces.
Puuk-!
"Kuh?!"
One blade pierced his thigh.
His leg grew impossibly heavy in an instant. As the viscount realized the blood sword's blood had seeped into him, Kyle spoke.
"Can't scamper away anymore, huh?"
"...!"
The blood sword morphed into a massive greatsword, cleaving the viscount from head to groin.
Slaaash-! Shwaaaack!
The vampire was bisected crown to crotch.
An ultrasonic shriek erupted from it.
"Kiiiiiiiiiaaaak!"
Black-and-white hellfire exploded around him. In a flash, it incinerated everything nearby, shredding Kyle's body too—but that was all.
Kyle resurrected swiftly and summoned another blood sword.
"You bastard...!"
The viscount rose again, breathing raggedly as he glared.
"So you're a Venator successor...!"
He bellowed in disbelief.
"Those vampire hunters—we killed every last one or turned them into our kin! How...!"
Only then did Kyle realize why dying to a vampire unlocked vampire-slaying skills.
'Well, aren't they clever.'
They'd co-opted any who wielded fatal techniques against their bloodline by turning them.
'Smart way to handle it.'
Now that he'd used blood swordsmanship, he couldn't let this vampire live.
'Better to avoid loose ends.'
Kyle approached, speaking.
"What was that you said earlier?"
Drip, drip—the blood trickled from the sharp blade to the floor.
"Something like 'just keep killing me till I stay dead'?"
"!!"
"Guess I can throw that right back at you now."
"You filthy human...!"
Black-and-white sword qi exploded from the viscount's greatsword, slicing through space.
Kwaaaang-!
"Don't get cocky just 'cause you picked up some blood sword tricks...!"
The enraged viscount roared.
"I am of the great blood clan!"
"So?"
"Wha...!"
Half his body gone, Kyle closed in. His body regenerated in a flash.
"Your lives aren't infinite either, right?"
"?!"
The swung greatsword and flung blood sword pierced each other's hearts simultaneously.
"!!"
Hellfire erupted from the greatsword as dozens of blades burst from the blood sword—nearly at the same instant.
Kwaaaaang-!
The two men, resurrected instantly, swung at each other again.
No dodging—just beasts trading lives, chipping away relentlessly.
Thrust, slash, explode, thrust, slash again.
His left arm sheared off with a schink!, but Kyle ignored it.
His left arm restored in a blink, he grabbed the vampire's collar and slammed him into the wall.
The viscount, stiffened by the blood sword's debuff, trembled at the mouth.
"Don't... get cocky... human. I have over hundreds of lives. In the end, you'll be the one who falls!"
Hundreds of lives?
Kyle laughed.
"That just means I gotta kill you a few hundred times."
"?!"
The blood sword pierced him again, making him cough blood. The viscount grimaced.
"What... you think you'll come out unscathed? While you're at it, I'll kill you hundreds, thousands of times...!"
In that moment.
Something dawned on the viscount from Kyle's expression—his eyes quivered.
"No way... you."
The truth hit him instinctively. In disbelief, he gasped.
"Your lives... they're infinite...?"
Kyle answered.
"Bingo."
"?!"
Infinite.
That was the essence of immortality.
"So don't worry."
The night was long.
"I'll make sure to kill you for good."
"...!"
As arrogance in those blood-red eyes turned to terror.
The long, grueling bloodbath began.
"So, the reason you came all the way here..."
In the deputy commander's office of Detention Block 2.
Joseph let out a small sigh at the unexpected late-night visitor.
"To meet the person involved in this incident."
The pomaded man who placed a photo on the desk was none other than Aaron Costner, team leader of the Central Investigation Bureau's Special Entity Incident Division.
Joseph picked up the photo.
It showed a charred black corpse—with sharp fangs and bat-like wings still attached.
"This is...?"
"Remember the incident in Sector 5 last time?"
The massive lightning spear that rent the sky.
"The vampire's corpse that took a direct hit from that spear."
"...Is there a problem with it?"
"No, nothing like that. I just want a detailed account of what happened that day."
Joseph narrowed his eyes.
"Sorry, but without proper cause, I can't authorize meetings with unit inmates."
"Don't misunderstand. We just want to know how the person in question killed the vampire."
"...Didn't the lightning spear finish it?"
"That was the final blow."
Aaron continued.
"But vampires don't die from just one hit. Even the lowliest spawn needs three or four deaths depending on how much blood it's sucked. And this one in the photo..."
He tapped the photo.
"...isn't some lowly spawn."
"Hmm..."
"Team Leader, vampires could derail the project you're working on."
Most great blood clansmen were quietly holed up in Sector 21's underbelly for now—but who knew about the future.
The Shield of Dawn, the vampire-hunting order, had faded after the last Venator successors died or turned a century ago.
Dun City's mighty military kept them in check since.
But with border tensions tying up the troops, no one could predict how the great blood clan would react to the 8th Special District's development plans.
"Cooperate with us, and we'll assist fully with any vampire issues."
But while he said that, Aaron's visit wasn't just for the case.
'That damn Venator.'
His grandfather—the family patriarch and former bureau chief—had demanded an investigation into this mess.
The Costner family had long backed the Shield of Dawn.
His grandpa still believed the old friend Venator left a final successor for them.
'He definitely did. And when the time comes, that successor will return, judge the traitors, and rebuild the Shield!'
'Grandpa's at it again. Just eat your food.'
And the vampire killed in Sector 5 happened to be a turned successor. No wonder Grandpa flipped.
Aaron swallowed a sigh inwardly.
'As if any Venator successor's left at this point.'
That's when it happened.
"Team Leader...!!"
Bang! The door flew open, twisting Joseph's face.
"What? No knock...!"
"You need to come now...!"
"What?"
Seeing the pale face of the unflappable Lieutenant Roden, Joseph stood.
"What's going on?"
"Detention Block 3...!"
"Block 3?"
Sensing trouble, he rushed to the corridor.
But across the connecting bridge, the building stood intact.
"...So what's the problem...?"
Soon, though, Joseph frowned.
"Why are floors 4 and 5 dark?"
"That's not all!"
Lieutenant Roden yanked at the sealed glass door on the skybridge.
"The door won't budge. The lock's not responding!"
"What the...?"
"Sealing barrier."
"?!"
He whirled at the voice. Aaron stood there, grim-faced.
"Sealing barrier?"
Aaron gripped the handle, tugged, and nodded firmly.
"Yes. Damn it, why here of all places...!"
He turned urgently to Joseph.
"Team Leader, sound the alarm now. Evacuate everyone. Code Red."
"What!?"
"Vampires."
"What?!"
He shouted.
"This sealing barrier is a ritual used by vampires—the great blood clan!"
Joseph's jaw dropped.
"G-Great blood clan?"
"A barrier this strong..."
It would warp time inside massively.
"At least viscount-level...! No one in there can handle it. Anyone on the other side right now?!"
Lieutenant Roden answered Aaron's question.
"I-I know Inspector Lyn Yenitz and 43471 are."
"What?!"
Those two again?!
To the stunned Joseph, Aaron snapped.
"No time, Team Leader. Evacuate everyone now!"
"Wh-What about the two inside?!"
Aaron swallowed hard.
"Abandon them. Can't save 'em."
"!!"
"Not the worst outcome. Whatever the vampire's doing in there— if we don't evac while it's busy, we're all dead...!"
"...Team Leader."
Then Lieutenant Roden pointed ahead.
"Floor 4's lights... they're back on."
"!!"
Aaron's eyes bulged involuntarily.
"Damn it...!"
Sealing barriers lifted only two ways:
The caster finished their business—or got erased.
And this was likely the former.
Pale, Aaron turned to them.
"We gotta run now! It's coming...!"
As he yelled.
"Kiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaak!!"
A chilling shriek echoed through the entire detention block.
The shocked occupants all stared at Block 3.
"?!"
Hundreds of wraiths burst through the windows, soaring into the sky as one.
"Wh-What's that...?"
People couldn't hide their panic at the eerie sight—not just the guards on duty, but those in other blocks too.
The crimson wraiths clustered high above, compressing into a mass.
Kwaaaaaang-!!
They detonated, streaking skyward like shooting stars.
The night sky blazed like daylight, radiant light shards raining down.
"Wh-What is it?"
"What's happening?!"
Aaron muttered unconsciously at the impossible scene.
"Marker..."
"...Mar, what?"
Joseph prompted. Aaron swallowed.
It was something he'd only known from childhood data.
"That's the great blood clan's..."
He gulped.
"...marker of death."
"!!"
Aaron's eyes trembled helplessly.
Meanwhile.
A red meteor shot from the wasteland, arcing across the 8th Special District's sky. City dwellers gaped in shock.
"Wh-What the hell is that...?"