Chapter 111
With my shooting skills, I should have been able to hit her. Thinking that, I pulled the trigger, but Secriem's reaction speed was beyond my imagination. The instant I fired, she moved laterally across the line of fire at incredible speed, dodging the bullet after seeing it, almost as if she'd used Blink.
A critical moment.
I revised my strategy. The instant I aimed and fired, I predicted her escape route, shifted my muzzle, and fired again.
ㅡBang!
It worked!
My bullet pierced Secriem's shoulder!
"You have some amusing tricks...?"
I expected a major reaction since the silver bullet had lodged in her, but she merely laughed at me.
"But now it's over."
Red waves poured from Secriem's eyes.
"Sisteeeer!"
If I got hypnotized, I was screwed!
As I thought that and hurled myself aside, the red energy flying toward me exploded into a brilliant white flash upon impact.
"Huh?"
A brilliant radiance.
"Don't worry about hypnosis."
The moment I heard the nun's voice, I realized it. Had the buff I'd received earlier given me resistance to hypnosis?
But where was that voice coming from?
ㅡSwish!
The voice had come from behind Secriem. At some point, the nun had appeared there, wielding a longsword in the shape of a cross, its blade shining white, and was slashing as if to cleave Secriem's waist.
"Tsk!"
To evade the attack, Secriem transformed her body into a swarm of bats. But it was a poor choice. The nun's eyes burst with radiance as she spread her palm.
"Repent in hell!"
ㅡFwoosh!
Holy flames spurted from her hand. The swarm of bats exposed to them burned white and turned to ash.
"Kyaaaah!"
Some of the surviving bats flew off to the side and re-formed Secriem's shape. I wouldn't miss this opening. I nimbly pulled the trigger and hit Secriem.
ㅡBang! Bang!
Silver bullets pierced her massive chest. Her body reduced to a bloody mess, she howled.
"How dare you...! How dare vermin like you!"
"Shut up, you giant mosquito! You'll pay for sucking the blood of so many people!"
"You don't even need a coffin! Hell itself will be your eternal coffin!"
The nun charged with her longsword raised. I rapidly reloaded and pulled a garlic pack from inside my clothes. I'd half-peeled the garlic beforehand so I could spread it quickly.
ㅡFwish!
I swung the bag as it was, flinging the peeled garlic everywhere, then opened a pack of minced garlic and threw it like a grenade.
"What a disgusting trick! I'll kill you!"
Secriem was a complete mess. She swung her one arm with her claws extended, knocking the nun's longsword aside again and again. With garlic flying at her from all directions, she seemed irritated and glared at me.
"Nice! Keep it up!"
Up to this point.
To bring down Secriem, I had devised every inhuman method I could think of. What I was about to pull out was my trump card.
I pulled out a canteen.
The moment I opened the lid, a powerful garlic smell rose from it. That's right. It contained garlic extract in liquid form. On top of that, I'd stuffed it full of bead-sized miniature crosses.
Garlic and crosses?
For a vampire, that was hell.
"True Ancestor...! You'll die here!"
With that cry, I kicked off the ground.
ㅡClang!
Secriem and the nun were locked in a fierce battle. Guns were absolutely out of the question, but friendly fire from this garlic extract wouldn't matter.
It wouldn't even hurt!
"Die!!! True Ancestor!!!!"
I shouted that and swung the canteen.
ㅡSwoooosh!
Garlic extract sprayed out like magic. Countless particles floated in the liquid—particles shaped like miniature crosses.
"N-No!"
At the moment Secriem let out a miserable howl.
ㅡSizzle!
Secriem and the nun.
Both of them were drenched in garlic extract.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
"Ghk...!"
Smoke billowed as if they'd been splashed with hydrochloric acid. My holy liquid was purifying Secriem.
"Yaaaaah!"
The nun also let out a near-manic howl as she swung her holy longsword. Her slash cut through Secriem's torso and then her arm. It didn't sever the limb, but dark-red blood spurted from the wound.
Secriem's expression turned vicious.
"Die, all of youuu!"
She bared her fangs as red light blazed from her eyes.
Then a red aura gathered around her body, but—
"Have a taste...!"
By then, I had already drawn the Tokarev.
A full-magazine volley.
ㅡRat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
I showered her with silver bullets, and when those were all spent, I pulled peeled garlic from my pocket and hurled it wildly.
"Die! Die, vampire!"
"Ghk...!"
The battered Secriem staggered backward. Her flesh was being sliced away second by second, and she no longer even looked human.
I had now used up every weapon. Even so, I still had one method left: the cross-shaped silver dagger the nun had given me. If I didn't draw it from its sheath, it was simply a cross. Just showing a vampire a silver cross ought to deal some chip damage.
I thrust the cross forward and chanted a spell.
"To!"
I didn't actually spit anything out. This was my final weapon. I was merely shouting as if chanting an exorcism spell and waving the cross around wildly.
"To!"
"Grrk...!"
The nun's burst damage.
"To!"
And when that combined with my support—
Secriem finally fell to her knees.
"Wow!"
"We did it! At this rate, we can take down the Red Woman...! Ah!"
Just when I thought we'd won, a torrent of blood burst from Secriem!
ㅡKwaaang!
"Good heavens! Is this True Blood?!"
"True Blood?!"
"Run! She's not an ordinary clone! This is practically the True Ancestor herself! It means she's not a clone made from blood, but a successor she gave birth to herself!"
She gave birth to what?!
I didn't really understand what that meant, but the pillar of blood surging upward looked truly tremendous!
"How did I make it all the way here...! You swordswoman! You half-breed! And you disgusting garlic bastard! I'll definitely kill you!"
Secriem, who had reappeared, was in an absolutely monstrous state.
Her clothes had long since been torn to shreds and disappeared.
Her naked legs were covered in carapace-like armor made of blood.
Her arms were the same. They had become vicious gauntlets, as if five scythes had been attached to each one, with that crimson blood structure extending all the way to her shoulders.
She even had membranous wings on her back. The moment I saw them, I thought of the vampire angel Ghanak.
She looked similar to it...!
"Has she unleashed her true power?!"
"I think so!"
"Why didn't she do that from the start?!"
"There must have been some restriction! Perhaps she had a reason not to reveal it except at the moment of death! Either way, it's dangerous...!"
I ran like hell alongside the nun.
"What do we do now?!"
"There's a church nearby! If we just retreat there for now...! Gasp!"
At that moment, the nun slammed a shoulder tackle into me!
ㅡKwaang!
It sent me flying and tumbling across the ground.
"What the hell?! Hey!"
Had she betrayed me...?
No.
ㅡShaaak!
A blood spike shot up from the ground, with the nun impaled through the abdomen and carried skyward.
The nun had been hit!
"Sister!"
"Fuck...! Run like hell!"
Did that mean I had to abandon my soul mate, Sister, and run away?!
"Ahaha. Did you think I'd give you time to run?"
Secriem flew toward us with her wings spread. Then she seized the nun impaled on the spike with her vicious hand. The nun's habit tore as blood poured out. The five scythe-like claws were ripping into her flesh.
"Ghk...!"
"What should I do with this half-breed? Kill her? No. That would be boring. Ah, right. I'll make her one of my kin. That sounds more fun."
"You fucking Satanic demon...!"
"Do you think I'd let you kill yourself?"
ㅡShrrrak!
Blood chains flew out and bound the nun. Then Secriem hurled the nun toward the back with all her strength.
The nun flew away helplessly.
Blood chains shot toward the nun from every direction. They wrapped around her again and again until she was completely cocooned.
"Now there are only two of us."
Secriem slowly walked toward me.
Running away... would be impossible.
I raised the cross.
"Ahaha, do you think that pathetic cross will protect you?"
"There's only one way to find out."
"Why? Are you going to vomit like last time? It was disgusting, but fun. What an amazing ability—to vomit whenever you want!"
Secriem approached, sneering at me.
All I had left was the cross and the holy liquid inside me.
"Then shall we wait a little? Until it's digested. Given a little more time, your precious weapon will be digested. Heh heh."
"You fucking bitch... Are you trying to make me despair?"
"Isn't that more fun? Now, feel your garlic being digested."
Just as she said.
The garlic was being digested.
Once it passed through my stomach and the duodenum, I wouldn't be able to use my true incantation anymore.
Sister was tightly bound in chains, like a cocoon. But would the Management Bureau come here while it was waging war? Director Lee Dohyeong might track me down, but if he came, I'd be captured or killed as well.
As expected, the only way was...
That was the only option.
The nun happened to be sealed away now.
...Let's take it out.
The hospital director's grimoire!
ㅡSlide.
I pulled the grimoire out of my inventory.
"Huh? Where did that book come from all of a sudden... You!"
Secriem, who had been wondering about it, suddenly sensed something and tried to hypnotize me, red light blazing from her eyes.
"What kind of book is that? Hurry up and show it to me... Huh?"
The moment that hypnosis touched me, I felt something strange. I had opened the book myself.
To show her the book, just as she wanted.
The next moment.
"Huh?"
Secriem actually faltered.
"Eeeeeek?!"
Screaming, she backed away.
"What is it?! What is it?! What is this?! Aaaaaah!"