The Nest at Seoraksan
Tszzzzzz.
"Talk. Where is it?"
As crimson light poured from his eyes, Carit's gaze went glassy and unfocused.
The true terror of the Blood Field Do-ha had unfurled was its power of domination.
Of course, its real strength lay elsewhere entirely.
"A hu…man… how can you use Blood Magic…"
Carit forced the words out, his face slack with disbelief. Under the Blood Field's grip, his speech had gone thick and clumsy.
Slap!
"Quit stalling and tell me where your Gate is hidden."
Do-ha struck Carit across the cheek.
"Seo…raksan…"
"Canteas. Was there any report of a Gate appearing on Seoraksan?"
"No."
Canteas shook his head. He had gathered virtually every scrap of intelligence available, and he had never once heard of a Gate forming on Seoraksan.
"How many humans have you taken so far?"
"One hundred thirteen…"
"?!"
Do-ha's eyes widened. That number did not match what the Association President had told him. He had been informed that twenty-three people were missing.
"Have you been taking humans from other countries as well?"
If that many people had vanished from Korea alone, there was no way he would not have known.
"From a country called Japan… and one called China…"
So that's why the reported numbers didn't match.
They had probably been snatching people from other nations as well, knowing that confining the abductions to Korea alone would make the disappearances far too conspicuous.
Still, something felt off.
Vampires did not kidnap humans indiscriminately. Haul too many back and the management became a nightmare — and more than that, they hated the idea of humans dying on their own doorstep. It was not out of any fondness for humanity. They simply despised having their nest fouled.
The careful husbandry they practiced was merely an extension of that same fastidiousness.
"Then is the Lord on Seoraksan as well?"
"The… Lord is… right in front of me…"
Slap!
Do-ha struck Carit's cheek again. Even for a Tainted Blood, how was his intellect unraveling this quickly?
"The… Lord is… the Lord is…"
In the end —
Blood streamed from Carit's eyes, nose, and mouth as his body convulsed, then toppled forward.
Thud.
Psssssh.
"Huh? Why'd this guy die?"
As Carit crumbled into scattering dust and vanished, Canteas tilted his head. Do-ha had done nothing, so why had the vampire simply dropped dead on his own? Had he taken his own life?
"Hmm. This might actually make things easier."
Do-ha stroked his chin as he regarded the dust that had once been Carit. Piecing together what the vampire had said when they first clashed with the state he was in now, the picture was becoming clear.
"Remember what he said when he regenerated his arm?"
"Uh… something like, This power was never meant to be used on the likes of you, wasn't it?"
"Anything come to mind?"
"Ah?! Don't tell me they were force-hatched?"
"Exactly."
Vampires were born differently from other living things. A Lord fused his own life force and power to create a vast cocoon of blood. Calling it an egg would not be wrong — and within that cocoon, noble-class True Bloods were born. Those True Bloods then expended their own power and authority to create Tainted Bloods.
That was the vampire ecosystem.
But the vampires currently loose in the world had been force-hatched. By human standards, they were premature infants. A blood cocoon normally required more than a year for a proper birth — yet the Lord, pressed for time, had dragged them out early.
"With a Gate sitting there in plain sight as an entrance, they never had the luxury of hiding and quietly building their strength."
Had there been no Gate, they would have tucked themselves away somewhere and cultivated their forces properly.
"So that's why his intellect burned out so fast."
No wonder. Even accounting for the Blood Field, his condition had been far too strange.
"Then the Lord… no — not just the Lord. The entire vampire faction must be severely weakened right now."
"Which is why they were snatching humans left and right."
With their own power so diminished, they were abducting humans to use as fuel.
"We need to get to Seoraksan. Fast."
Vampires only grew stronger with time. Giving them room to breathe was not an option.
"By the way, there's something I've been curious about for a while."
"How I use Blood Magic?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"You're a guy who uses martial arts and magic together. Blood Magic on top of that isn't exactly shocking. That's not what I'm asking about."
"So what is it?"
"Why don't you ever use black magic?"
He could use martial arts. He could use magic. He even wielded vampire magic. And yet, strangely, Canteas had never once seen him cast black magic. Do-ha knew the discipline well enough — he understood its formulas and structures. But whenever black magic was needed, Canteas always ended up handling it himself.
"Because there's no need to?"
"Huh? Back in Belhart, and here on Earth too — there have been plenty of moments when black magic was necessary."
"I think you misunderstood me a little."
"?"
"When I said there's no need to use it, I meant there's no need for me to use it."
"…Which means…"
"Exactly. I've already got a walking black-magic pocket named Canteas. Why would I bother casting it myself? Besides, black magic is unpleasant — that peculiar mana of it."
Demonic arts and black magic shared a great deal in common. In particular, every time he used them, a murky energy crawled through his body in a way he thoroughly despised.
"You bastard! Even so — a black-magic pocket?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"Come on, it's just a figure of speech. It means I rely on you."
"Ah… is that what you meant? Eheheh."
Canteas scratched at his head, looking embarrassed. What exactly a hairless skeleton thought he was scratching was anyone's guess.
KRAAAANG!
BOOM!
"How dare a mere skeleton—!"
"Killing these things is pointless — they never stop coming! Find the summoner first!"
The vampires, locked in an unexpected battle, shouted over one another as they smashed through the swarming skeletons. They had already destroyed more than five hundred of them — so where in the world were these things coming from?
"Bwahahaha! Bow your heads, you mosquito vermin!"
Canteas cackled as he swept his staff and issued commands. Just as Do-ha had said, the vampires were in a severely weakened state. Under normal circumstances, skeletons would never have been enough — he would have needed to summon a wraith corps at minimum. But in their current condition, even enhanced skeletons were sufficient to inflict real damage.
"A Li… Lich?!"
"What the hell is a Lich doing in our territory?!"
The vampires reeled at the sight of Canteas. And with good reason — Liches ranked among the apex predators of the undead. In raw power alone, one could stand toe-to-toe with a Vampire Lord.
"Skeleton archer corps. Forward."
Clatter-clatter.
Rattle-rattle.
At Canteas's command, a hundred skeleton archers snapped into formation with perfect discipline.
"Loose."
Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip!
Whoooosh!
Fwoooosh!
They were only fire arrows — but the moment they punched into the buildings, flames roared skyward.
"You boneheaded bastard! Why the hell are you attacking us?!"
"That uneducated pile of bones!"
"Who just called me a bonehead?!"
As the vampires bellowed, Canteas whipped his head around and roared right back.
Whoosh.
THUD!
Death Rising
Grrraaaaah…
Canteas drove his staff into the ground, and dozens of ghouls clawed their way up from below.
"Ugh, disgusting!"
"Filthy!"
The fastidious vampires recoiled at the sight of the ghouls. They already hated drool — and every time these things attacked, chunks of flesh splattered across the floor.
But Canteas was already summoning his next creature. The ghouls were nothing more than meat shields. The real weapon was something else entirely.
Boom.
Saaaaah…
"Come forth, Dullahan."
Bone-chilling demonic energy swirled as a Dullahan of colossal bulk rose from the magic circle.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Is that really a Dullahan??"
The vampires recoiled in shock. Unlike an ordinary Dullahan, this one was roughly four times the size, and instead of an axe it gripped an enormous scythe.
"Heh heh. I poured months of blood, sweat, and tears into making this one."
Swoosh.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
Canteas thrust his staff forward, and the Dullahan charged. It was so massive that the ground shook with every stride.
"How dare undead filth defile our land!"
"You're undead too, you idiots!"
Canteas bristled at the vampires' cry. They were the same damn undead — what gave them the right to act superior?
Fwoosh.
Crash-crash-crash.
"Do-ha!"
As the vampire buildings began collapsing under the flames, Canteas shouted Do-ha's name.
"I'm already out."
Thud-thud-thud.
Whoosh!
Do-ha burst from behind Canteas and soared high into the sky.
Woooooooom.
"Eek?! Co—come back, Dullahan!"
Sensing Do-ha's aura, Canteas panicked and frantically reverse-summoned the Dullahan. Damn that mad emperor! He had nearly lost the Dullahan he had worked so hard to create.
Shiiing.
Do-ha drew his sword, and power erupted in every direction.
Ssssss.
Bathed in moonlight, the gleaming blade began to stretch and lengthen — the edge rippling like silk cloth.
And then —
Seventh Form
Moonlit Lake Reflection Sword
The silk-soft blade split into two, then four — and in moments, it had fractured into thousands of strands.
KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
"AAAAAARGH!"
Do-ha's attack carved through the entire vampire compound, and screams erupted from every direction. The vast, towering structure was annihilated in a single stroke.
Shuuuu.
Thud.
"Hey! If you were going to use Moonlit Lake Reflection Sword, you should've warned me! My Dullahan nearly died!"
The moment Do-ha touched down, Canteas exploded at him. Knowing the technique was the only reason the Dullahan had survived — otherwise that precious construct would have been obliterated in an instant.
"Even if the Dullahan had still been there, I would've steered the blade around it, you idiot."
"Hmph. What about the kidnapped humans?"
"I already got them all out of the Gate."
That was why Canteas had attacked first. While the skeleton corps kept the vampires reeling, Do-ha had evacuated every captive human to safety outside.
Rumble-rumble.
"Ugh, there's a disgusting number of them."
As vampires poured out from the rubble, Do-ha shook his head. Sleeping in their coffins had apparently kept them safe beneath the wreckage.
Tszzzzz.
Swoosh.
"Huh? What did you just do?"
Do-ha flicked his hand and cast a spell, and Canteas cocked his head. Whatever magic it was, there had been no incantation — so he had no idea what it was.
"I've got my reasons."
Then —
KOOOOOOOM.
An overwhelming pressure began to billow up from beneath the collapsed building.
"At last. The True Bloods make their entrance."
BOOOOM!
From deep underground, five figures blasted through the rubble and shot into the sky. Only a shock great enough to bring the entire building down had been enough to draw them out.
Flutter.
Ssssss.
Five beings hung in the air, gazing down with luminous crimson eyes.
Vampire True Bloods.
Every Tainted Blood that had died fighting up to this point had been created by these five.
"You have emerged."
Clatter-clatter.
Duke Helraid.
Marquis Sephionade.
Count Nellamon.
Viscount Furial.
Baron Moraine.
As the True Bloods appeared, the vampires dropped to their knees as one and bowed their heads to the ground.