NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5 - Light (1)
[ Hunter Gallery. ]
A community for the Association, Union Department, government, and all wandering hunters.
May you return safely today as well.
< 1 > Revisiting ‘That Person’s’ massacre era at this point ㄷㄷ
Author: I hate high-nicks
[ Photo ]
Image of rampaging after half-destroying the Association building
[ Photo ]
Smiling despite having dozens of knives stuck in the body
[ Photo ]
Mom! What’s that?
Oh~ That’s..
The place where That Person passed by, sweetie.
Likes 459 Dislikes 112
[ Comments ]
[1] In the last one, you can only see skin? Isn’t a murder scene supposed to be covered in blood? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Vampire ㄷㄷ
ㄴ It is a vampire
ㄴ ?
ㄴ Go study about rankers again~
[2] ‘Who’ did this ㄷㄷ
ㄴ You don’t know Aureli? Fucking newbie?
ㄴ If you really don’t know this ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Don’t you read Association notices, news, etc??
ㄴ Arrested for making M-shaped soup stock ㅋㅋ
ㄴ I know, it’s a fucking joke
ㄴ Can’t you tell at a glance that among rankers, only those with wide-area mage tech tree can do this level…
ㄴ Just turn off your phone and go to sleep even now~
ㄴ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Getting roasted hard
ㄴ I said I know, fuck
[3] Are the dislikes from those who got PTSD from memories from a year ago? ㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Hunters are usually nice and don’t dislike, but they become like this when Aureli is mentioned
ㄴ Whether it’s the Association, Union Department, or government, they all just go on high alert
[4] The third photo is really something else. The interview with the awakened one who witnessed this in real-time is no less than a horror movie
ㄴ With pupils rolled back, gasping for breath during the interview
ㄴ It was terrifying just to look at ㅋㅋ It’s no different from a movie where they were taken hostage in a criminal den during a standoff between Association hunters and criminals, and suddenly Aureli burst in ㅋㅋ
ㄴ They said when they opened their eyes, a boy who looked familiar was licking each of the dozens of knives he had pulled out from the corpses one by one.
ㄴ (Pointing a knife) Do you want to eat too? No? It’s delicious
ㄴ Please don’t call him a boy, refer to him accurately as ‘Rank 1 Aureli’
ㄴ What? So Aureli let that awakened one live? Wasn’t that crazy bastard known for killing everyone who made eye contact with him?
ㄴ Don’t know;
ㄴ There were incidents where he massacred like a madman, but strangely, there were times when he let people live too
[5] Fire mages are crying…
ㄴ Please go back to your country before getting burned at the stake
ㄴ Gotta beat up those fire bug bastards using overpowered builds, you can quickly reach 3rd tier just by raising stats a bit
ㄴ But that’s the limit ㅋㅋ
ㄴ For real ㅋㅋ
ㄴ 3rd tier is enough to blow up buildings, so wow ㅋㅋ How big is the scale of 1st tier wide-area builds?
ㄴ There are all sorts of speculations, some say it’s on a planetary scale
ㄴ That massive magical power is the reason why Aureli is called a crazy monster. 1st tier wide-area build is not something you can reach with talent alone.
Yes, it must be because I didn’t clean up properly.
Thinking I could cut off the hellish night’s feast, I fell asleep without tidying up the book stained with my blood and flesh, and the puddles scattered on the floor.
Being caught by this bright red spirit, I could say it was the most regrettable thing in recent memory.
Probably the moment Bloody, who is presumed to be royalty among the spirit race, with her noble and elegant eyes, saw me collapsed on the floor and the splendid, fishy scene that would make ordinary people clutch their chests and retch, as soon as she woke up from subspace and entered my house.
Along with anger, the suspicion she had harbored towards me for months instantly turned into certainty.
That I had accepted vampire instincts without overcoming the difference in species, and that I had been embracing the side effects intact.
Without telling her, my one and only existence, anything.
[ Kneel. ]
Her tone was truly merciless.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I sat demurely with both knees on the cold floor.
[ I think you know what you did wrong. ]
“……”
It was a story I couldn’t possibly tell you. You know that, right?
[ Haah····. ]
I flinched unconsciously at Bloody’s sigh.
I carefully looked up at her with eyes pleading for forgiveness just this once.
In my memory, my reflection in the mirror was on the pretty side, and since spirits have eyes too, she shouldn’t be able to be too harsh.
[ Even if you look at me like that, I won’t let this incident slide, so know that. ]
It’s not working at all.
“I’m sorry.”
[ Why did you hide it in the first place? No, before that, you knew I had sensed something, didn’t you? ]
I firmly closed my mouth. And I avoided the gaze of her who would be staring at me intently.
Silence flowed like that.
“……”
I didn’t want to answer.
But the cold blood on the cold floor invaded my body and whispered in my ear.
Saying it was an inevitable stage.
“····What could you do for me?”
I was engulfed in momentary regret after saying it. Because it was filled with emotions completely different from our usual conversations.
But Bloody didn’t seem to mind. Perhaps she had reached a level of understanding beyond concession.
[ There are plenty of medicines and devices that can alleviate side effects if you look for them. If need be, we could even enter the spirit realm and try to make something. Although it might be difficult right away given how chaotic things are now. ]
Her cloak fluttered and emitted light. It wasn’t particularly bright.
[ Even so, couldn’t we look for ways and move forward? The royal family of the spirit realm, and an awakened one of humanity, you and I together. It would be much better than suffering alone while groaning. There’s no need to bear it all by yourself, is there? ]
It was cool words.
I almost applauded.
There were times when I thought I could do anything if I heard words like, “If we join hands together, we can overcome the crisis.”
“For four whole years.”
But reality is not like that.
Sometimes you need to compromise.
“I’ve lived like this for 4 years. I massacred numerous species and hunted high-level magical beasts to find materials. I sought out beings of different nature and threw myself into research day and night. I explored all sorts of gates and reached the peak.”
It’s like a fairy tale. Crossing mountains and waters.
“I tore through rifts and set foot in the spirit realm. I experienced the benefits of civilization and encountered new devices, but even so, even so, there was no perfect cure that could cleanly treat my illness.”
Even when I looked ahead as my legs were being crushed, there was no fairy tale happy ending.
“The cores of high-level magical beasts, rare magic herbs and fruits of a different class, and even the fishy blood of awakened ones. At best, they only allowed me to breathe for a moment with temporary pleasure and endorphins. Still with the same mental illness.”
Yes, that was the conclusion I reached that day.
That even after years of bloodying my hands and tearing at my hair, there was no light for me in this world.
And around the time such a daily life became fixed, I met Bloody.
To me, who had searched every corner of the world, this world was a dystopia without a cure, and Bloody was a beautiful spirit who would never let go of someone.
As if on cue, my mental illness worsened at that time. I absolutely couldn’t let this spirit find out.
The feeling of seeing a sickly boy who couldn’t do anything for himself when she couldn’t do anything must have been unimaginable.
[ Aureli. ]
“I’m not particularly blaming you. You probably wanted to do something for me when you saw me. I’m truly grateful for your feelings, I’m happy.”
I wasn’t used to having long conversations. Moreover, I wanted to quickly end this sticky conversation arising from the relationship between her and me. Stories of the past were the kind I hated the most.
“But almost all the medicines and devices you’re thinking of now are things I’ve already experienced. Of course, they weren’t ineffective. It’s just that because the dhampir race is so rare that I want to kill myself, the efficacy of the medicines doesn’t work and they only act as painkillers.”
I want to stop talking. I wanted to have normal conversations with her as much as possible. But I don’t know why I’m like this from the morning. It’s just, just something I could let slide.
I could just say I’m sorry and that I’ll be honest with you from now on.
I felt like crying because I felt so stupid. So disgusting I wanted to kill myself, to tear myself apart.
[ I’m sorry, Aureli. ]
I didn’t know if Bloody had something she wanted to say or not. But she didn’t show any emotion and quietly bowed, concluding the conversation.
Maybe she saw through even my worsening mental illness and was being considerate of me.
“No, don’t apologize. I’m genuinely happy that you worried about me.”
But what came out of my mouth was neither consideration nor understanding, but a lie.
For someone like me who had only seen cold condemnation and murderous eyes, such concern for me felt too much.
“Anyway, we’ll have to get all the medicines that could help my body.”
[ …… ]
“Can I stand up now? My knees are getting too cold from kneeling for so long.”
Bloody nodded slightly and said nothing. Neither did I. A quiet silence flowed.
[ So, is this what you wanted to show me earlier? ]
“Yeah. Isn’t it cool?”
So I turned my gaze to a new place.
The small crown floating in the air, having somehow reduced its size, and five sentences and numbers glowing beside it.
“So it’s okay. Even if my mental illness flares up and my body becomes sickly, I have a goal.”
Bloody blinked.
Then she smiled faintly. No, she doesn’t have a mouth.
But I felt like she did.
Blood from ten corpses with 70% assimilation rate.
Five sentences, and the first one.
70% assimilation rate, looking at it again, it really was a sentence tailored for me.
That the ratio that can assimilate with the blood flow invading my entire body is about that much means, based on years of experience, at least 2nd tier or higher awakened ones would do.
After pondering for a moment, I made a decision.
[ It’s a pure vampire species. ]
That was the goal. The final act to meet the end.
[ Is that what you want? ]
“Yeah.”
[ Then I’ll support you, Aureli. ]
Her voice was kind.
But I didn’t feel much emotion.
However, there was a pounding in my heart.
I smiled slightly and raised my knife. With a little pain, I felt the bones behind my back twisting.
I glanced at the full-length mirror beside me. Huge red wings sprouted and fluttered. Numerous wounds, holes, and torn skin were noticeable.
They glowed and dyed the air red.
They were scars and experiences gained from stirring up battlefields.
They were precious decorations.
The scent of slaughter filled my nose.
I kicked off the ground and flew into the sky.
It was hunting time.
Gyeonggi-do branch office.
A red dot appeared on the beam projected on the screen.
“These are the places where the girl has appeared over the past week. You can see that she’s gradually spreading out from an area in Yongmun-myeon, committing crimes centered around stores. As you know, because the crime locations are very monotonous and easy to predict, we were able to appropriately deploy limited personnel.”
Erica couldn’t shake off a slight bewilderment at the unexpectedly long time this was taking. Clearly, in her eyes, it was nothing more than a trivial incident, yet the fact that a week had passed without any results rather fired her up.
“As you requested, we’ve hired some hunters from the Magic Governor’s office to widen the measurement range and are searching based on the estimated crime time during late night hours.”
Blue dots were added to the beam, and some letters appeared around them.
Erica stared at the screen intently and opened her mouth.
“Let’s form 7 new field teams. I’ll select the personnel myself.”
But that was it.
Among all the tasks she had taken on so far, there was no record of failure.
No matter how much it seemed like there was something, the opponent was just a mere girl.
She would enter the field starting tomorrow.
Once caught in her eyes, the girl’s life was as good as gone.