Chapter 112
A sharp scream I heard once before erupts. That terrible, ear-splitting scream brings back memories of what happened then.
When I activated the reality recognition device... Secriem showed that same fanatical fear back then. This reaction is almost identical.
Could there be some connection between that incident and this one? Or does Secriem simply always react this way whenever she sees something frightening?
I look at Secriem's terrified face.
"Ah, aaagh! Aaaaaaaagh!"
The reason that vampire fell into such terror was this grimoire. I am currently under hypnosis, opening the book and holding it out toward her as instructed. Thus, I cannot see the book's contents.
But Secriem can.
That vampire is a powerful monster. She knows many things unknown to humans, so she must have recognized the grimoire and fallen into terror.
Apparently, she knows this sort of thing, but lacks the resistance to withstand it. Her middling level of understanding seems to have become her downfall.
The fact that she hypnotized me in the first place was also a problem.
Come to think of it, trouble always started whenever she hypnotized me.
"You, you! Hurry...! That! Hiiik!"
Just as Secriem grabbed her head and tried to flee.
ㅡSaaaaa.
From the grimoire.
A highly ominous aura poured out like fog.
Fog... Is that fog? Black mist forms a bizarre shape. Something writhing like an insect's leg stretches outward.
Then it grabs Secriem.
ㅡDing.
[You have activated the item 'Hospital Director's Grimoire'.]
[You can now check your Reality Recognition Value.]
[Reality Recognition Value : 0 -> 130]
What?!
What on earth is this?!
I was extremely confused by the sudden notification window, but I had no time to check it now.
"Let go, let go! Ah, aaagh! Aaaaaagh!"
Something of unknown identity was pulling Secriem. It was trying to drag her in, as if it wanted to pull her inside the grimoire.
Was this what it meant for the grimoire to be activated? What exactly was this grimoire? What ability did it possess that made it try to devour Secriem?
"Hiiiiiek!"
The only emotion left on Secriem's face was fear.
She was a high-level vampire known as a successor of a True Ancestor, yet she was completely terrified, weeping and struggling.
But it was useless.
Perhaps she was unable to resist the grimoire. She was simply being dragged along, as if someone had seized her by the hair. What would happen if she ran out of strength and was dragged all the way into the grimoire?
Would my activated grimoire really devour her?
ㅡSplurt!
Blood began bursting from Secriem's body. As if the grimoire had acquired gravity, the blood was pulled horizontally toward it, trying to soak the pages.
I realized from that sight that Secriem's existence was being whittled away.
She was growing weaker.
"No...! My, my blood! Please! I'm begging you! Stop! Haaah, aaaaagh...!"
A terrified plea.
That face reminded me of the Secriem from the first round.
The events of the first round. They were ultimately my own experiences too. I simply did not retain the memories because I had become a ghoul.
Because some of those memories had been passed on through the Ghanak incident, I could feel compassion as well. Secriem and I had been rather close, after all.
That was why I knew what kind of being Secriem was.
"Vampire. Have you ever stopped when someone asked you to?"
"I don't know, I don't know! I'll stop from now on! Please! Please...!"
Blood continued to flow. The armor's shape had vanished long ago. Secriem, now extremely weakened, clutched the back of her head and bowed forward, resisting with all her might.
"Please close it! I said close it!"
Would closing the grimoire really end this?
At this moment, I felt as if I were being seized by a strange madness. I wanted to see the power of this terrifying grimoire. At the same time, thoughts about its danger began sprouting wildly.
I felt as though I were in a flower garden. Countless flowers of every shape and color were blooming all around me.
Each of those flowers was one of my thoughts. The impulse to learn the truth of the grimoire, and my reason warning me of its danger. All those flowers released a rich fragrance as they scattered pollen, as if asserting themselves.
While my mind felt as though it might go numb, I finished making my decision.
I had to eliminate Secriem here. If I failed, she would eventually come looking for revenge.
However.
I had no idea what would happen when this activated grimoire devoured Secriem. Secriem was a powerful vampire... In mystical terms, that meant she was choice meat—a valuable sacrifice.
Who knew what would happen to me if the grimoire devoured such a precious sacrifice?
I did not know where this realization came from... but I knew I had to go through with it.
Above all, that Reality Recognition Value bothered me.
"Aaaaaaaagh! Hic! Hiiiiiek! No, nooooo!"
As I watched Secriem, who had somehow been dragged right up in front of me.
I spoke.
"Secriem."
"Huh?!"
"Run. Do your best. Don't let the grimoire devour everything you are."
A true name carries profound meaning in this world. For an instant, red radiance burst from both of Secriem's eyes.
And then.
ㅡFlap-flap-flap!
She transformed into hundreds of blood-red bats. The bats flew vigorously, but mere wingbeats could not carry them out of the grimoire's domain. In an instant, more than a hundred bats were pierced by tentacles.
ㅡWhoosh!
The black tentacles that had pierced the bats went into the grimoire. Like an octopus extending its tentacles to eat its prey, they frantically—no, insanely—speared and devoured the bats. Caught in the grimoire's gravity, the bats could not even move properly as they were hunted down.
ㅡWhoosh!
The maddened grimoire whipped its tentacles around as if running wild. The bats struck by those tentacles turned into bloody mist and vanished. Amid that frenzied spectacle of tentacles slaughtering hundreds of bats, a new message window appeared in my field of vision.
[Reality Recognition Value : 130 -> 2,900]
Some unknown value kept skyrocketing. This was definitely not normal. I must not feed this grimoire any more.
[Reality Recognition Value : 2,900 -> 5,400]
That was close.
Only about twenty bats remained now.
The tentacles rampaged as they tried to claim the last of their prey.
When only a single bat remained.
"Get in!"
I put the grimoire into my inventory.
ㅡFlap!
The blood-red bat flew high into the air.
It flew away and disappeared beyond the other side of the city.
ㅡDing.
[You have repelled a vampire.]
[You have acquired 2,000 points as a reward.]
The reward was 2,000 points?
I thought that seemed stingy for capturing a successor of a True Ancestor, but the word "repelled" bothered me.
Was it because I had driven her away instead of killing her?
"..."
The grimoire... quietly entered my inventory. As if the frenzied devouring from moments ago had been a lie, not a trace of it remained at the scene. Even a terrifying grimoire like this apparently could not escape the rules of the status window and inventory.
In the end, the grimoire had failed to devour all of Secriem. That meant it had consumed the sacrifice incompletely. It was fair to say I had stopped it before anything truly horrifying happened.
And Secriem.
She had escaped with only enough power for a single bat. At this point, I no longer needed to worry about her. A vampire with that much power would be weaker than a ghoul.
Having reached that conclusion, I raised my head.
ㅡClatter.
Red chains woven through the air were melting away.
The melted blood evaporated and vanished in an instant.
The chain cocoon at the center was the same.
The cocoon had completely come undone, and.
ㅡThud.
The nun fell.
"Sister!"
I ran toward her.
As I ran, I wondered.
Had the nun witnessed what had happened?
If she had, what should I do?
I knelt before her where she lay on the floor. A large hole had been punched through her abdomen, and a great deal of blood poured from her torn habit.
Was she dead?
"Ah...!"
When I touched her, I found that she was at least alive!
But she was barely alive.
I pried open her eyes, but she was completely unconscious.
I didn't think she had seen me go completely berserk with the grimoire, but what should I do now?
"Ah, right!"
The bag the nun had thrown aside was nearby. I ran over and brought it back. It contained things like holy water and whatnot, so I opened a bottle of holy water and poured it over the nun's face.
"Sister! Wake up! If you stay like this, you'll really die!"
Should I pry her mouth open and make her drink the holy water?
Just as I was thinking that.
"Kuhup! Khak...!"
"Ah! You're awake! Quick! What should I do?!"
"Ah, ahh... Eugh... Ehu... Ehu-ehu...?"
The nun mumbled as if she were drunk and reached out a hand. It looked like she wanted me to give her something. Ah, was it the cross hanging around my neck?
I took it off and gave it to her.
"Here!"
The nun gripped the cross.
Then she muttered something, and.
ㅡWhooosh!
Light burst from her hand.
"Ah...!"
I felt a momentary warmth and comfort from that gentle light. Soon, as the radiance faded, the nun exhaled.
"Phew... I nearly died."
"Did you heal yourself?! The hole in your stomach...!"
"I filled it."
"Filled it?!"
"It's a heal, a heal. You know this sort of thing, don't you? I restored my body with my devout faith. Even the True Ancestor... She could have killed me if she'd wanted. But she sealed me because she wanted to turn me into a vampire, so I survived."
"That's a relief!"
Whatever the case, it was a relief that she was alive!
"But what happened here?"
"Huh?"
"How are you and I still alive, and where is the True Ancestor? Where did she go?"
Suspicion filled the nun's eyes.