Blood Field
Whoosh!
"You finish setting everything up?"
Do-ha looked over as Canteas appeared via teleport.
The deal with the Association President concluded, they had come straight out to the East Sea with Canteas in tow.
"Yeah. Sokcho, Yangyang, Gangneung, Samcheok — I planted them all."
He had created a skeleton, disguised it with illusion magic, and finished by casting Blood Flower on top of it.
Blood Flower, which gave off the fragrant scent of blood.
Seeing that magic in use, Do-ha knew exactly what they were hunting.
"You're going after vampires, right?"
"That's right."
Do-ha nodded at Canteas's words.
Reading the reports that had come into the Association, he had known at once what kind of enemy they were dealing with.
The missing people had all vanished at night, and the last common detail before contact was lost was that they had pale white skin.
Put those pieces together, and it could only be vampires.
"Looks like a Gate that spawns vampires has opened, doesn't it?"
"Seems that way."
Until now, Earth had never had a Gate that produced vampires.
That was why, even with this much information, the Association still could not get a handle on the situation.
In the world of Belhart, vampire clans were common enough that people would have recognized the signs immediately from this little alone.
"These things show up and start expanding their power right away."
They were as clever as humans, so they had been taking people to swell their own ranks.
Anyone bitten by a vampire fell under their control, will or no will.
Most of the missing were almost certainly already under vampire thrall.
"Most of them should still be alive, then."
"All twenty-three missing won't still be breathing."
Do-ha glanced at his phone.
Before they had come here, a text had arrived from the Association President.
The last person to go missing — a Hunter named Jeong So-han — had been found as a corpse.
The body had been dried out like a mummy, and the abdomen had been torn open.
"We've already got one casualty. There may be more."
"That's weird. Vampires are ridiculously possessive of their stuff."
Vampires had an almost pathological attachment to their possessions.
And, absurdly enough, they considered the humans they controlled to be their property as well.
Because of that, the more obsessive vampires would even heal the humans they thrall, house them somewhere decent, and feed them properly so they would not get hurt.
Some even gave them time off after drawing blood so they could recover, and — true to a race with a cleanliness obsession — kept them meticulously clean.
"That reminds me. Back in the Luphan territory, people used to go on about how the vampires actually treated them better, welfare-wise."
"And then the lord there got so pissed he shipped every last one of those idiots off to the vampire dens."
The memory surfaced, and Do-ha shook his head.
No matter how well a vampire treated you, it was still life as a monster's slave.
You kept getting your blood drained, you could never leave, and you lived under constant restraint.
And people had the gall to call that good welfare.
"Once we deal with the ones that came out of the Gate, we should tell the Association. They need to prepare."
This time they had been caught flat-footed because vampires were new, but if they prepared properly going forward, they could stop the problem before it grew.
"What was the regional officer doing when the Gate appeared?"
"Who knows. One of two things."
Either management had been so lax they never even noticed the Gate had formed, or someone had walked out of the Gate looking human and they had let their guard down.
"But if you ask me, they never knew the Gate was there in the first place."
The Hunter Association had a headquarters with branches underneath it — Seoul Headquarters, Incheon Branch, Gyeonggi Branch, Gangwon Branch, and so on.
The people who ran those branches all held the title of Branch Director.
"The evaluation of Park Dae-soo, Branch Director of the Gangwon Branch, is not good."
He frequented entertainment establishments every day, showed up to work drunk, and was even accused of embezzling public funds.
The problem was that none of it had hard evidence, so he still sat in the director's chair.
"How do you know that?"
"Han Jeong-soo told me."
Any exposés that went up online were deleted so fast that no record remained.
"And the Association President just leaves him alone?"
"Looks like they're blocking it so it never even reaches the President's ears."
Every organization had its lines of patronage. Park Dae-soo almost certainly had subordinates planted even at headquarters.
Just then—
Zzzt.
A small spark leapt from Canteas.
"Do-ha, I just lost the connection to one of the skeletons. Probably got smashed."
"So they moved."
Do-ha checked the time and rose from his seat.
Past two in the morning, and only now they were stirring.
"Where?"
"Sokcho."
"Let's go."
Whoosh!
Do-ha and Canteas vanished at once via teleport.
Crunch.
"What the hell is this?"
A hooded figure frowned at the bone dust scattering on the wind.
Vampire Carit scowled.
It had clearly been a human giving off that fragrant blood scent — and the moment he bit into the nape of the neck, it had crumbled into powder.
"Didn't feel human. What was it, then?"
"A trap made by a deranged bag of bones, I suppose?"
"?!"
Whip!
Carit, still muttering, spun around in shock.
He had sensed nothing. When had they gotten this close?
"Who are you calling a deranged bag of bones?! That's too much."
"I never said it was you."
"You think I'm an idiot?!"
"…Who are you people."
Carit eyed the two figures chattering in front of him.
Standing there making small talk with him right in front of them was irritating — and yet, strangely, he could not bring himself to lunge.
Even though they were not looking his way, a chill ran down his spine.
"Hey, mosquito."
"What…? Mo… mosquito?!"
At Do-ha's words, a vein bulged on Carit's forehead.
To a vampire, "mosquito" was the single most insulting slur there was.
"Where are the rest of you hiding? Lead the way."
"…Hahahaha. This is truly absurd."
In the end, Carit burst out laughing.
What kind of ridiculous situation was this?
They knew he was a vampire, and they were insulting him as a mosquito and provoking him?
They were even asking for the location?
"So you're just a mad human."
"Oh, that's accurate!"
Canteas clapped at Carit's words.
How did he have such a sharp eye?!
"This one really is a lunatic, yes."
"Yeah, that's right."
Thwack.
"Ghk."
Canteas took a hit from Do-ha for his trouble.
In that instant—
Whoooosh!
Carit shot forward at tremendous speed, hand reaching for Do-ha's temple.
Daring to show an opening right in front of him.
This farcical little comedy is going to get you killed.
Boom!
Grab.
"What are you doing?"
"?!"
He had moved so fast the air itself should have ruptured — and his arm was caught.
Even though Do-ha had not been looking his way.
"These mosquito bastards really know how to fight dirty, I'll give them that."
Crunch!
"Aaaagh!"
Do-ha tore the arm clean off, and Carit screamed.
Vampires possessed ultra-high-speed regeneration, so their sense of pain was normally very dull.
Even so, the agony just now felt like his entire body was on fire.
"You son of a—"
Shhhhk!
Carit ground his teeth and restored his arm.
"This is not power I should be wasting on the likes of you…"
"Tsk."
Whip.
Do-ha, who had yanked the arm free, also wore a crumpled expression.
He had hoped, for a moment — but as expected, it was a weak specimen.
"You're not True Blood, are you."
"What are you. How do you—"
At the words "True Blood," Carit's eyes changed.
Vampires were divided into True Blood and Turbid Blood.
True Bloods were all noble-class entities, possessed of tremendous power.
Turbid Bloods, by contrast, were ordinary vampires — most of them little more than blood-gatherers who offered tribute to the nobles.
"Figures. True Bloods wouldn't be wandering around outside."
Sitting solemnly in their own nests, guarding their seats of power — that was the True Blood way.
"Hey, slave. Where's your master?"
Grind.
At Do-ha's question, Carit clenched his teeth so hard the sound rang out clearly.
"How dare you… call me a slave… I have no master."
Bloodshot eyes fixed on them as Carit denied it.
"Come on. Turbid Bloods are all slaves to the True Bloods. You have to scrape together blood little by little and hand it up to them, don't you? You're no different from the humans you control."
"So it's subcontracting on top of subcontracting."
"Exactly."
"You bastards!"
At the exchange between Do-ha and Canteas, Carit finally exploded.
Shhhhk!
"Finally showing your true colors."
Bat wings sprouted from Carit's back, and Do-ha smiled.
Vampires could only draw on their true power once their wings were out.
"Die!"
Blood Spear
Crrrrack!
Carit soared into the air and thrust out a hand. From beneath Do-ha's feet, a spike-like pillar of blood surged upward.
"What is this crude attack."
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — Second Step: Mu-je-gak
Thoom!
Do-ha stamped lightly, and the pillar shattered.
"Your magic's weak, too."
Vampires fundamentally used something called Blood Magic.
Unlike human magic, Blood Magic was unique to vampires — even dragons could not wield it.
"Then again, magic used by a slave was never going to be strong."
"I'll rip that mouth of yours apart!"
Shhhhk.
Crimson liquid began to spray around Carit's body.
Blood Fog
As the blood mist thickened and spread, a bloody smile curved Carit's lips.
Inside this, no one would be able to find him.
"Tsk tsk. Typical Turbid Blood."
As Carit's presence blurred, Do-ha wore a look of pity.
Normally, in a situation like this, one would use Blood Field — not Blood Fog.
But Carit was not noble-class, and he did not know how to use Blood Field.
"I feel bad for you, so I won't toy with you. I'll end this quickly."
Dispel
"Hahaha, you idiot. You think a human spell like Dispel will work on us?!"
As Do-ha's magic unfurled, Carit — hidden in the fog — burst out laughing.
To dispel vampire magic, you had to be able to use vampire magic yourself.
"I'll kill you very, very slowly."
In that moment—
Crrrack!
Boom.
The blood fog Carit had created vanished in an instant.
"Wh… why did it…?"
"Been a while since I used it. Took a second."
Unlike the stunned Carit, Do-ha let out a short laugh.
Blood Magic?
A magic even dragons could not use — but that rule did not apply to him.
"Hey, half-breed. Watch carefully. This is real Blood Magic."
Shhhhhhk.
As Do-ha drew up his power, crimson energy surged around him.
Blood Magic — Domain Expansion
Shhhhk!
"…"
Blood erupted toward the sky, dyeing everything crimson, and Carit's mouth fell open.
There was only one being who could unfurl a Blood Field of this scale.
"Lord…"
The crushing pressure that should have belonged to a Vampire Lord was pouring out of a human.
"Come down."
Whoooosh!
Boom!
At Do-ha's casual command, Carit plummeted from the air.
"The Gate where your kind is hiding. Speak."
At some point, Do-ha's eyes had turned blood-red.