Chapter 110
Since I had to take the nun to that heretical village, I came up with a plausible story and told it to her.
It was about how I'd entered a certain village while fleeing and sensed something strange there. I felt a very ominous gaze, as if vampires were watching me.
"That was one hundred percent a vampire. They're definitely settled in that village. In my view, before we try to catch a high-level vampire like an avatar of a True Ancestor, it'd be best to sweep that place out and gain some experience."
"Hmm... A village where vampires are hiding?"
"Yes! Exactly!"
"I think that's just paranoia. It's a chronic ailment among vampire hunters."
"No, it's not! I'm telling you, it's real!"
I certainly felt a great deal of fondness for the nun, but seeing her make such uninformed remarks made me want to argue with her.
She's treating vampire hunters like mental patients, but that's a huge misunderstanding. They're rational and levelheaded. It's just that they look that way because they become ruthless in combat. The nun probably misunderstood after seeing that side of them.
If she kept slandering them, I'd have no choice but to file a formal complaint.
"Haaah. If it were true, you'd already have been attacked. You came back in one piece, didn't you?"
The nun sighed and shook her head.
"I'm not a man they can just take down. They probably noticed I'd prepared and proceeded cautiously. Besides, I made a quick getaway. Sister, before we go after a high-level vampire, I want to sweep that place first and build up my experience. That's the only way I'll be able to survive from here on out."
Would persuasion work?
"Hmm... Well, all right. If there are vampires there, it would be good to check. Let's go. Where is it?"
"Thank you."
It worked!
With this, I could naturally draw the nun over there. If she was with me, we'd be able to determine whether Ghanak would descend.
* * *
I headed to the site with the nun.
Honestly, I was worried.
That place was already a battlefield.
The Management Bureau would already be running a large-scale perception-obscuring device, and the fake Management Bureau would be conducting its incineration operation inside it.
The two sides must have been fighting fiercely.
Without Grong, one of the Management Bureau's greatest assets, they were clearly being forced into a disadvantageous battle. Given how intense the fighting was, Spangdal and Jaaldi might even die in battle.
There was nothing I could do... right?
Even worrying about Ghanak was too much.
"Hey. You seem to have some pretty grandiose ideas about vampire hunters, but I told you, they're not that kind of group, didn't I?"
"Yes, yes."
I let the nun's nonsense go in one ear and out the other.
At last, we arrived at our destination.
"...Wait a moment."
The nun got out of the car and reacted exactly as I expected.
"Something's strange here."
"What is?"
"Can't you feel it?"
It was dark.
And the fog was thick.
"Not really...?"
"Hmm... Is it because you're an ordinary person that you can't tell? The situation here has become rather strange. I can feel a vampire inside, but it seems there are others too."
"Others?"
"Could it be... the Management Bureau?"
"The Management Bureau?"
As expected, could the nun tell just by looking?
"There definitely seems to be something in this village. You... no, never mind. Haaah. There's no way around this."
The nun sighed and scratched her head.
"Why?"
"The situation here is rather strange, you see? I think we need to check it out, but I can't exactly send you off somewhere alone. The Red Woman might come. But going in there with you..."
"What the hell, let's go check it out. If it seems dangerous, cover me. Then we can retreat."
"You're brimming with fighting spirit. Well, hatred of vampires isn't easily extinguished. All right, let's go in. But you must obey my orders. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Let's go."
Was I really going to enter this place again?
Not as Management Bureau agent Grong.
As vampire hunter Kim Geunhong, I set foot inside once more.
ㅡSsssh.
Once we passed through the fog, a familiar scene came into view.
A city occupied by vampires.
A city turned into a battlefield.
"..."
It didn't look like Ghanak had descended.
If Ghanak had descended, the sky should have been red.
"Careful. Just follow me."
"Yes."
I moved while taking cover with the nun. But the nun in the previous loop had said she'd used some church to get around. Was that impossible now?
Anyway.
As we moved, signs of the battlefield began to appear.
I could hear gunfire in the distance.
And there were also...
Ghoul corpses sprawled across the ground.
"I can roughly see what's going on. I told you about the Management Bureau last time, right? It looks like that Management Bureau and the vampires are having a showdown. It seems pretty large-scale... Could it be that the Red Woman has risen up?"
"The Red Woman caused a vampire hazard, and the Management Bureau detected it and came to exterminate them?"
"You summarize things well. Yes. That's what it looks like."
I already knew what was going on.
"Let me pray for a moment."
"Pray?"
ㅡWhoosh!
When the nun prayed, light imbued both our bodies.
"It's a prayer that protects and conceals our bodies. Let's move farther in for now. We may be able to take advantage of the situation."
"Take advantage?"
"If the Red Woman and the Management Bureau are fighting, we can slip in and behead the Red Woman."
"Oh...!"
What an incredible plan!
My faith in the nun exploded. She really was an expert among experts. If I killed Secriem here, I could sleep soundly with both feet stretched out.
Even as I envisioned that hopeful future, I moved while keeping watch in every direction.
"Hmm... You. No matter how I look at you, you seem trained. Are you sure you came from an ordinary unit? You look too seasoned."
"I served in Kim Il-sung's unit."
"I told you not to use the same gag twice!"
"Yes."
The gunfire was drawing closer.
I could see ghoul corpses, as well as incinerated bodies.
"Look at this. These bodies. People burned them all."
"The Management Bureau did this, right?"
"Yes. This is why I told you to be careful. At a glance, they must have eliminated every person before they could turn into ghouls. What do you think will happen if you get caught by people like that?"
"...I'd be eliminated."
"Be careful."
As we continued moving with the nun like that...
"They're coming."
She gave me a signal.
I gripped the Tokarev.
"Grrrk!"
"Grrk!"
I aimed at the ghouls running toward us from the other side.
I fired and blew their heads apart.
"Amazing, as expected. You hit every head from that distance."
"Sister, why don't you show me something too?"
"Yes. Stay still a moment."
Having said that, the nun...
ㅡFlash!
Suddenly kicked off the ground.
Then she ran vertically up the wall beside us and threw herself through a window. What was this intense movement? I was only briefly lost in that question.
"Kheek!"
Someone was thrown out from inside, and at the same time, the nun sprang out after him, grabbed him by the neck, and...
ㅡCrash!
She fell straight down and smashed the back of his head against the ground!
"What the—! What is this?!"
"Vampire apprehension complete."
"A vampire!"
She'd sensed the vampire and immediately gone in and dragged him out!
ㅡSlide.
The nun reached a hand behind her and pulled a silver stake from the strap around her thigh. She swung it with all her strength and drove it into the vampire's shoulder.
"Kek!"
The vampire trembled, his skull smashed and his shoulder pierced.
"Now, I'm going to inject garlic extract into your veins. If you don't want that, submit to questioning."
"Kek, gururuk..."
"Scalpel."
The nun held out her hand like a doctor, and I placed the garlic syringe in it like a nurse.
ㅡTrickle.
When she pressed the syringe, some garlic liquid splashed onto the vampire's face.
ㅡSizzle!
"Kieeeeeek!"
What a satisfying scene.
"If you don't answer, I'll inject it. Three. Two. One."
"I-I'll talk!"
"Who is the vampire leading you?"
"T-The avatar of a True Ancestor! Her!"
"The Red Woman, then? Where is she now?"
"I don't know! Her psychic signal suddenly disappeared...!"
"Her psychic signal disappeared?"
"I see."
The nun jabbed the needle into the vampire's neck.
"Grrk! Why...?!"
"Interrogation concluded."
ㅡGurgle!
What happened when garlic extract was injected into a vampire's veins? The answer was simple. The vampire's body began to melt.
"Kieeek! Kirik! Kiririk!"
In an extremely gruesome state.
"Sister? What's going on?"
"This is a good opportunity. We've confirmed that the Red Woman is here. And she's under enough pressure that she can't maintain her psychic domination."
"Psychic domination?"
"Think of it as a supernatural power used to control low-level vampires and ghouls. I think now is the perfect time."
The nun saw this as an opportunity, but I felt uneasy.
Secriem was in a bad situation.
It wasn't that I was worried about her safety.
The problem was why she'd been cornered in the first place.
Could it be because Ghanak had descended, stolen the initiative, and weakened her? No. If Ghanak had descended, that vampire would have shown some kind of reaction just now.
Ghanak hadn't descended yet.
"I'll look for the Red Woman."
The moment she said that...
ㅡWhoosh!
The nun's eyes glowed red!
Not only that, a red tattoo began appearing on her cheek... That tattoo. I knew it. It was the tattoo I'd seen on the nun in the previous loop.
"Sister?! Is that some kind of prayer too?"
"Don't talk to me."
The atmosphere had become ominous.
Could she be drawing out her half-vampire power to find Secriem?
"Found her. Run!"
"Yes!"
I ran with the nun.
At this very moment, I was going to fight Secriem. The time had come to put an end to our long, drawn-out conflict.
But I couldn't focus entirely on her. How could I get to the point where Ghanak would descend? It was in the middle of the battlefield. There was no way I could get there without extraordinary means.
I keenly felt the limits of my abilities. I had been able to come here with the nun, but I couldn't move around as I pleased.
Was it unavoidable?
Choose and focus. For now, I would deal with Secriem first.
ㅡThud!
"Stop."
The nun hit the brakes.
"I can feel her. The Red Woman's presence. She'll appear any moment. Be careful."
I trusted the Tokarev in my hand.
At that moment...
ㅡFlash!
From the other side...
A very familiar blonde woman appeared.
"You...!"
A hatred that burned red.
She glared at me with eyes filled with that hatred.
One-armed...
Secriem?
"What?"
Why was Secriem missing an arm?
Why had she suddenly changed careers and become Shanks...?
"Sister, why is she missing an arm?"
"I wonder...? Maybe she lost it fighting?"
"Lost it? Who could have cut off an arm from an avatar of a True Ancestor, ah."
At that point, I realized.
"...!"
That's right!
It was Director Lee Dohyeong!
In this worldline, Director Lee Dohyeong was alive, and if so, he would naturally have joined this war!
Director Lee Dohyeong had cut off Secriem's arm!!!
"I came because I thought I might find a familiar face, but there's a half-breed here...?"
The one-armed Secriem approached with a thoroughly threatening expression, but there was no need to fear someone whose arm had been cut off by Director Lee Dohyeong.
"I'll have to eat both of you and recover."
"Ha, you damn mosquito. Do you think that's going to happen? Can't you see my nun's habit?"
"I can see it, half-breed of the Vatican. Tear off the clothes, and you're no different."
"Fire!!!"
My Tokarev breathed fire!