NOVEL NEXT Dizzy. My neck hurts.
I grimaced as I threw the body of a soldier with not a drop of blood left in it towards the oncoming spear tips.
How many have I killed? How many times have I been stabbed?
I don’t even know how I’m still moving. My legs, which are moving non-stop, have already lost feeling, and every step makes my left arm jerk uncontrollably.
My head feels foggy, like I’m drunk.
Every time I open my mouth, blood wells up from my throat, but I can’t tell if it’s the blood I drank flowing back or if I’m coughing up blood.
Even in the midst of this, my body mechanically obeyed the commands of instinct.
I pounced on my prey, attracted by the scent of blood, biting into its nape. Desperately, I sucked hard to drain its blood, forcing myself to maximize the speed of my feeding.
After repeating the action several times, my jaw feels numb, and my slick fangs throb dully.
But I can’t stop.
I know better than anyone that if I stop even for a moment, I’ll never move again.
In the end, the idea of replenishing my exhausted regenerative power by drinking blood was half right.
The fact that I’m still moving when I should have collapsed long ago is proof enough.
But ultimately, this too couldn’t perfectly solve the situation.
The mistake was in thinking that the strength gained from drinking blood would be more than the energy I was currently expending.
It felt like I was temporarily pushing my body beyond its limits, like I’d taken performance-enhancing drugs, yet the recovery speed was slowing, and my limbs were starting to rebel against me, signaling an inevitable end.
I was truly doing my utmost to survive.
I had withstood everything I had to the point of using all my abilities.
But I was at my limit now. Even the last ounce of strength I had drained was entirely burned out, and my body finally hit its breaking point.
With my right leg severed, I collapsed to the floor.
As the supply of blood that I was force-feeding myself like an oxygen mask stopped, the wounds on my abdomen, which had been healing slowly, began to open up again.
I tried to rise again, but my body felt as heavy as lead and wouldn’t budge, and my severed leg was no longer regenerating.
Ah, it’s really the end. This is my limit.
Even though I still had no intention of giving up, even though I didn’t plan to die quietly, I found myself coldly acknowledging reality.
No, I had already surpassed my limits long before this.
In essence, I was just remnants of what was left from the fire.
I had merely postponed my moment of collapse through sheer willpower; it was a predetermined conclusion.
Now, I could hardly see. The once intense scent of blood was fading away.
I don’t want to die. I want to live.
Move. Please, move for me.
I can’t end it like this. I won’t end it.
But the resentful world proved that mere desperation couldn’t change anything. The miracle of forcing my exhausted body to rise again didn’t happen until the very end.
However, the miracle granted me another opportunity in a different form. No, whether this was a miracle or another seed of destruction, I couldn’t tell yet.
“Are you the Progenitor of this generation?”
I don’t even know when they appeared.
By the time I noticed, they were already standing right in front of my blurry vision.
All I could tell was that they weren’t human. The smell wafting from them was unmistakably that of Vampires, so familiar to me.
“The Grand Duke has summoned you. Please come with us.”
I didn’t even have the strength to respond, so I simply closed my eyes.
From the fact that it wasn’t, “Would you like to accompany us?” but rather “Please come with us,” it was clear I had no choice from the very beginning.
I don’t trust Vampires. But still, I could only hope that the outcome would be better than being captured by humans here.
As I closed my eyes, my consciousness quickly sank into darkness.
The last emotion I felt before losing consciousness was anger at my own powerlessness to once again entrust my fate to someone else’s hands.
*
“Who the hell are you!!”
The commander of the imperial troops shouted at the suddenly appeared mysterious figures.
They had just managed to take down the Progenitor and were about to finish up the battle, but now these unexpected intruders had barged in.
Upon seeing their crimson eyes and ominous atmosphere, he realized they were Vampires.
However, despite the commander’s loud voice and the fierce energy of the soldiers surrounding them, the Vampires remained calm. In fact, they chuckled among themselves as if finding something amusing.
“That’s a strange question to ask. Is that something an invading group leading an armed army into the Duchy’s territory should say?”
Setting aside his disgust for the Vampires, the commander gritted his teeth at what he considered a very legitimate question.
Clearly, this was the territory of the Sahelrn Duchy. Although humans didn’t recognize the rights of Vampires, having crossed the border, they held the moral high ground.
Due to their fear of the sun, most Vampires were content with the land they currently possessed, but there was no guarantee that a disturbed Grand Duke wouldn’t use this situation as a pretext to launch an attack against the Empire.
And if that were to happen, the first ones to suffer would be the participants in this incident.
“…An unfortunate accident has occurred. If you hand over your captives, we will retreat.”
The commander answered in an still intimidating manner. Given the situation, this was an attempt to concede somewhat to the Vampires, but it wasn’t the right answer.
No, at this point, there was no longer such a thing as a right answer, so it was unreasonable to blame his judgment as well.
“You don’t seem to grasp your position.”
Darkness spreads, devouring the night. Something could only be described in that way was happening.
A foreign darkness, creeping up like fog even in the night, blocked out the moonlight and obscured the soldiers’ vision.
The soldiers belatedly recalled what it meant to confront the Vampires of the night.
“Do not let that invader go free. That is the command of the Grand Duke, and the law of the Duchy.”
Before they had a chance to resist, blood sprayed from the black mist.
Moments later, when the mist cleared, not a single human remained among the hundreds of soldiers present.
*
‘Where am I, this place.’
As soon as I regained consciousness, I tensed up. People tend to panic when they see an unfamiliar ceiling. Of course, I’m no longer a person.
I whipped my still-dazed mind into shape as I tried to recall my memories before everything went dark. What was I doing?
Right, I was being chased.
I had been desperately fighting against the watching imperial soldiers’ line of sight while trying to escape, but in the end, I was caught and fought with all my might, but I collapsed.
Another defeat. I fell once more before an enemy and couldn’t move.
Anger at my own powerlessness surged up. But right now, grasping the situation was the priority.
I collapsed, and then what happened?
…Right. Someone appeared. I had the feeling it was a Vampire.
They asked me if I was the Progenitor… Yes, they said the Grand Duke had summoned me.
Among the Vampires, the only one referred to as a Grand Duke would be the leaders of the two Duchies. Since this place was the Sahelrn Duchy, it was inevitable that the Grand Duke referred to must be Martini Sahelrn.
‘……Why do they want to see me?’
I had heard snippets about Vampires looking for me before. But no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine that their intentions were friendly.
After all, among humans, there were lunatics who schemed to attain eternal life through studying my blood.
There’s no way there wouldn’t be a Vampire who wanted to somehow use me to bolster their own power. Rather, it would be surprising if there wasn’t.
‘The problem is that I have no right to refuse anyway.’
Assuming the other side is an enemy, then I’m in the very heart of enemy territory. I had temporarily saved my life, but I was still sticking my head right into the mouth of a beast.
For now, I decided to sort out the situation.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t bound or anything. Should I interpret that as a friendly sign, or should I see it as their confidence that I couldn’t escape no matter what I did— it was a perplexing matter.
My gaze shifted to the bed I was lying on. I had been so engrossed in organizing my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed, but it was the most luxurious and comfortable bed I had ever seen, even counting my previous life.
Come to think of it, the room was spacious and had a vintage yet opulent feel; it must have cost quite a bit.
It certainly felt nothing like the lair of Vampires I had envisioned.
I had imagined a creepy castle built from black bricks, with candles stuck in skulls, filled with cobwebs and bats, and adorned with torture devices and coffins.
Compared to that, these Vampires might actually be quite trendy. Or maybe my prejudice was just too severe.
In any case, it seems I was being treated exceptionally well for a prisoner?
Due to a past experience of being bitten by someone I trusted, my thought process was inclined to negativity, but it was also the first time I was encountering any other Vampire than myself. What kind of relationship we’d have was still a mystery.
Would they truly be my enemies, or not?
Still, considering that they hadn’t kept me chained underground like humans, was there room for positive reassessment?
As I pulled the covers off, two pale white legs came into view. It turned out they had even changed my clothes for me.
More importantly, if my severed leg had healed completely, then most of my wounds must have been healed as well.
‘There was a huge hole in my abdomen though, is it really all healed?’
I’d never been in such a bad shape, even when I was tortured. At least my torturer didn’t intend to kill me.
My gaze naturally drifted downward, but I could hardly see beyond my chest.
I sighed at the absurd situation of not being able to see my own belly without a mirror, and as I touched my belly to inspect the wounds, the door suddenly swung open.
“You’re awake? …What are you doing?”
I stiffened in my awkward position and pulled my hand out from under the covers, shaking my head silently.
Now that I think about it, I hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but I felt embarrassed for some reason.
But how should I treat that person, no, that Vampire?
From the looks of their attire, they were undoubtedly a Maid.
Should I assume they were friendly and show some etiquette? Or should I assert dominance?
However, fortunately or unfortunately, I no longer had to ponder further in that regard.
“The Grand Duke has commanded that you be brought to them the moment you awaken. Please follow me.”
Once again, I had no choice in the matter. I expected as much.
Fine then. I’d surely find out whether these Vampires were enemies or not once I met the Grand Duke.
I swallowed hard and, not bothering to look back, quickly jumped out of bed to follow the Maid.