NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35
Earth’s Vampires (2)
“Uh, this is exciting!”
A betrayal I never expected.
Could that guy be under Gamma’s mind control? But there were no signs of that.
“···Cough, Min-young! Why are you…?! How come!”
Jin So-Ran, lying on the floor with a shattered spine.
If only she had enough time, her vampire regeneration could kick in, but that was currently impossible.
Meanwhile, Gamma’s subordinates charged at her with long skewers.
“Ugh, [Get away from me!]”
Boom—!
A shockwave erupted with her shout.
The attacking vampires were flung back.
But her resistance wouldn’t last long.
“Ugh— You guys…”
Her body was pierced through with skewers, wounds frozen, and pitch-black chains bound her abilities.
No matter how strong she was, facing everyone here after being ambushed was too much.
“Hoo, that’s why I call you a rookie.”
Gamma smirked as he stepped forward.
The initial attacker, Min-young, just folded her arms and watched, while another comrade closed their eyes and looked away.
She glanced at her trembling comrades and glared at the approaching Gamma.
“Peace? Sure. But you need strength to maintain it.”
He lectured while looking down at her, subdued on the ground.
“We are strong. Much stronger than those livestock-like humans. But we have to live hidden, watching our backs because of those disgusting hypocrites.”
“You’ve lost your mind. Are you denying your time as a human? Just because you became a vampire?!”
“Well… there was a time.”
Gamma grinned wickedly.
He didn’t care about her protests.
“But we are chosen. We’ve faced life-and-death battles and countless hellish arenas to stand here now. Haven’t we all?”
He shouted dramatically while scanning the surroundings.
His companions, along with those who came with Jin So-Ran, nodded in agreement.
“Why should we be treated like this? Until when? We can’t even step forward proudly or make a name for ourselves. Living a life of hiding just to survive—does that even have meaning?”
“That’s nonsense! It’s all your hardliner group’s fault for causing so much trouble! If you had just cooperated from the start, we could have coexisted just fine!”
“Well, that’s just your opinion. Maybe it could’ve been that way.”
Unexpectedly calm despite her protest, Gamma remained unfazed.
“What about those who have been working together in the moderate faction until now?”
Following his gaze, Jin So-Ran turned to her former allies.
One was still with eyes closed, ignoring the situation, while Min-young continued to glare at her with folded arms.
Min-young, who had been meeting her gaze in silence, finally spoke up.
“We’ve tried a lot under the moderate faction’s policy, but nothing changed. So, I’ve grown disillusioned. How long do we have to live like this? For a lifetime? We barely made it back from that hellish place?”
“The past cannot be reversed. Right now, this is our best option.”
One of the party, who had been silent, finally spoke up.
At their reactions, Jin So-Ran gritted her teeth and looked down.
After enjoying her discomfort for a moment, Gamma stepped forward once more.
“We are predators at heart. So why should we bow down? Well, the lack of sheer numbers is indeed our biggest problem. Numbers dictate influence.”
With Jin So-Ran bowing her head and Gamma blabbering to himself, I leisurely took in the spectacle and organized the information.
The motivation for the crime was exquisite intel.
“To overcome that, we need strength. Overwhelming strength!”
But this isn’t another world.
In that world, I grew stronger quickly with benefits, but coming back to Earth meant abandoning that.
“Now we can’t even accumulate karma, nor can we grow fast like before! We have to feed on blood constantly to grow stronger, just like the vampires from the original world. But we’re even restricted on that? Ha! Blood packs?”
The act of drinking blood itself held a ritualistic meaning.
It wasn’t just about increasing strength from drinking blood, but rather a ritual where you harvested the victim’s life force to gain strength.
Blood packs devoid of any intent could satisfy thirst but wouldn’t increase strength.
“So, is it like a diet plan?”
You can survive solely on blood packs.
But it’s barely scraping by, and if used in excess, your possessed strength will gradually decline.
“So, we searched for a way to grow stronger fast, and we’ve finally found a way.”
If one had a bit of wit, it was likely they already figured out what he was about to say.
Jin So-Ran was no different.
“You… Did you dare touch a taboo?”
Where do you think all those abducted vampires went?
Cohesion among kin.
The fastest and most assured way for vampires to grow stronger.
But the side effects were just as severe, if not more.
This was true even in Auterica, but the notoriety in Earth was on another dimension.
“Taboos are taboos for a reason! Are you trying to repeat that tragedy again?!”
In the early days of the returner incident, there was much chaos worldwide, with many incidents caused by vampires among them.
Cohesion among kin was a taboo in any dimension, yet some returned stronger after overcoming that.
Those who had been slightly crazed attacked their fellow vampires to become stronger and, as a result…
“Are you trying to create another frenzied vampire?!”
Accepting the blood of a vampire from another dimension would lead to an evolution as different vampire factors combined.
The recessive factors would be discarded, leaving the dominant ones to emerge overwhelmingly stronger.
‘The problem is that extreme mental contamination occurs beyond that.’
Since it’s evolution on a genetic level, it’s only natural there would be a cost…
As a result, crazed vampires rampaged, raising worldwide concerns regarding vampires.
In truth, the persecution of vampires was greatly influenced by those past events.
“The higher-ups won’t just stand by! Regardless of the strings you hold, you’ll be wiped out!”
Henceforth, kin cohesion became a taboo on Earth, and frenzied vampires became targets for extermination among other vampires.
To take on that risk…
“Listen until the end. Yes, it’s true that we utilized kin cohesion.”
With a smirk, Gamma continued with a self-assured expression.
“But after countless research and collaboration, we discovered a way to strengthen safely while maximizing the removal of the sentiments embedded in blood. The effectiveness may have been reduced, but it’s worth the cost.”
With achievements made from combining blood magic, black magic, curses, alchemy, and knowledge from various dimensions.
Though they received significant outside help, as long as this was possible, the rest didn’t matter.
‘…That guy was spouting off trying to sound clever while preparing something sneaky, huh?’
From a distance, I could see the group’s demeanor shifting as they became swayed by his words.
The weak followed him blindly, while even the strong appeared slightly influenced as the last bits of guilt remained in those who betrayed Jin So-Ran.
“Have we washed away all the curiosity by now? And don’t worry about those left. I have no desire to see kin fighting against each other.”
Gamma seemed to be winding everything up, coming closer while grabbing her by the hair.
“Those two have agreed to help, so don’t bother with alibis. I’ll just write you off as dead to the guardian on your way.”
“Keep your promise. When she comes here, we took the risk of getting found out to follow her.”
“Of course. Thanks to you, we’ve obtained such excellent materials, so I’ll prioritize giving your group the medicine.”
He cheerfully replied while looking down at the miserable Jin So-Ran.
She was a woman with whom his values clashed repeatedly since their time in Nocturnia.
Thinking this might be the end made me feel a bittersweet sensation.
“Well, since it’s the last ride, let’s send you off comfortably. Just take a little nap, and it’ll all be over soon.”
“You…!”
Before she could shout anything, she soon lost consciousness from the blood magic poured over her by Gamma.
He stood up and directed for her to be moved into an inner room.
“I apologize for making you wait long due to an unexpected situation. Well, you roughly understand the circumstances, right? I feel bad about it.”
Gamma turned this way while chuckling.
Finally, he was looking our way.
“No, it was pretty entertaining. No need to worry.”
I replied leisurely as I took off the mask I was wearing, and in that moment, his expression froze.
He exchanged glances with his subordinate.
“···Level 5. Her regeneration is quite strong, but not enough to be notable.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Gamma returned to his nonchalant demeanor as he walked over.
It seemed like the subordinate had some ability to measure levels…
A pureblood from Auterica appears to typically be around level 5-6.
“Is he bluffing? I don’t know how you managed to free yourself from my suppression, but do you think just a level 5 can escape this situation?”
Indeed, that was the case.
I wasn’t sure about the exact levels, but there were four purebloods in this room, and the rest were bloodlines of lesser quality.
If she was going to escape, she should have made her move when Jin So-Ran was resisting.
‘But now there’s no need for that.’
In the first place, that thought was never in my mind.
Now that I had gathered good information, I had to put it to use myself.
“Let’s see… Nine? If that’s so effective, I wonder how strong I’d become after consuming nine of them?”
“···What nonsense are you spouting?”
Gamma frowned at my calm demeanor.
“Weren’t you just excitedly explaining earlier? It turns out that the frenzied vampire incident happened for that reason. Today seems quite fruitful on many levels.”
“You’re just a madman…”
He gestured to his subordinates, evidently unwilling to continue chatting.
At Gamma’s signal, the thugs began to approach slowly.
But their steps wouldn’t last long.
Whooooosh—
Suddenly, an intense chill spread.
The air grew dense.
Everyone present unconsciously held their breath, and a moment of silence enveloped the venue.
Those who regained their senses looked around with a sense of caution but…
Before long, darkness covered the entire interior wall of the building.
[The concealment ability was pretty decent, but the security is terribly lax.]
From the darkness, Hans slowly revealed himself.
While I had received slight help from Heinz inside to detect the barrier, that didn’t matter at this point.
“…Hahoe Mask? How did you get here?!”
Gamma shouted in shock.
Although he prided himself on his concealment ability above all, his carefully set barrier had been discovered.
As he frantically assessed the situation, Heinz, who had been unusually calm all this time, entered his sight.
“You, you…! You brought him here…!”
Whatever trick was used, it was definitely him who had done something.
Otherwise, that attitude would not have made sense.
Just as certain as Gamma, there was another one taken aback…
“Uh, G-Gamma!?”
It was the insight user who had revealed Heinz’s level.
Noticing that Hahoe Mask showed no signs of moving, Gamma glanced sideways at him.
“I-I’ve never seen such an aura, so I’m not exactly sure…!”
“What are you stammering about! Just say what you need to say!”
The stuttering individual squeezed his eyes shut at Gamma’s reprimand and shouted.
“Level 8…! At least level 8!”
The room turned icy once again.