Chapter 64
This bitch is asking me for help now?
What face does she even have to show up with?
That simple sentence sent me into a frenzy of rage. In an instant, hatred surged all the way to my head. Asking for help after doing something like that? Even if it wasn't human but some abomination, could it be this utterly devoid of humanity!
"You vampire bastard, have you lost your damn mind... barging in here out of nowhere and asking me for help? If it's killing you, I can help with that."
Unfortunately.
Because the world is only half-destroyed, there's no fresh garlic.
Still, I'd thought this day would come someday.
The day I'd meet that hideous, horrifying vampire again.
I slipped my hand inside my coat.
The garlic packed in this sealed container must have rotted to mush by now. But it's perfect for a rotten bastard. It's like whiskey I've been aging for a special day. On a good day, let's raise a toast with something good. There's no greater blessing than celebrating while the more evil side dies.
"Wait."
Spangdal stopped me.
"Spangdal?"
"I want to kill that vampire too, but... I think there must be a reason it came looking for us now."
"Listening to that monster's ranting doesn't seem very useful. The only way is to kill it as quickly as possible."
"...Grong."
"Yes."
"We're still agents."
Agent.
"That's proof enough—you still call me senior, don't you?"
"..."
"If you're an agent, you should be gathering clues. Let's hear it out first? At least before we kill it."
"...Understood."
Though I was deeply dissatisfied.
But if Spangdal says so, there's nothing to be done.
Listening to the vampire and making a judgment isn't a bad idea either.
Of course, I'd have to be careful, because it might deceive me with some ugly sophistry and contaminate the information.
My knowledge carries over even after regression... so if it fed me wrong information, that alone could be a massive counter to me.
A regressor is one who fights information.
"..."
The vampire stared straight at Spangdal.
Then it gave a slight nod.
That sight, as if it were trying to mimic a human, felt utterly disgusting.
Since the world became like this, I haven't seen any vampire hunters. In places I don't know, they must have fought vampires and gone down in a blaze of glory. They must have martyred themselves in the darkest places in the world, where no one could see. Now nowhere can you hear their bright laughter anymore. Their cheerful, kind hearts were all trampled.
That is why all vampires must die.
"I really didn't come here to fight. I need your help."
The vampire said, pointing at me.
"The situation right now won't be good for you either."
"What are you talking about?"
"If that monster in the sky isn't dealt with... humanity will eventually be destroyed too. So you have to help me."
That vampire bastard, spouting nonsense from where...!
"This bastard... is talking as if he left something here and just came back to get it... First of all, that thing is the angel of you vampires. Why would you, a vampire, try to get rid of the angel?"
The likelihood of a trap is way too high.
Why would a vampire try to destroy the vampire angel?
"That thing is indeed the angel of us vampires. It is such an existence. But even so... I can't say it's good for vampires."
In an instant, the vampire drew its arms around itself, looking frightened.
"Not good for us? The whole world has already fallen into the hands of vampires, hasn't it?"
"You're mistaken. It didn't fall into the hands of vampires. It fell into the hands of that angel."
"What?"
"Grong. I think that's what he means."
Spangdal whispered to me.
"The throne was stolen. By the angel. Of course that wouldn't sit well with you."
"Ha!"
I snorted at that.
"So the whole world belongs to vampires, and you're going to raise a rebellion against your angel over some petty command issue? As expected of a vampire bastard! If you can't have it yourself, then everything's invalid!"
This is a massive gain.
Because I've come to understand the vampires' ugly hearts even more deeply. The absolute good-and-evil divide—perfectly opposed to the kind hearts of vampire hunters—has now been completed.
Right now, vampire hunters are absolute good, and vampires are absolute evil.
"Then why don't you gather up your proud vampire friends and start a rebellion? Do you need my power too?"
"That's not it...!"
In an instant, the vampire glared at me.
"All the vampires except me have disappeared."
"What? Disappeared?"
Come to think of it, I don't think I'd seen any vampires.
Gone?
"They were all dragged into that bizarre hell! Into the hell created by that angel!"
"Hell?"
Vampires got dragged to hell?
"Yeah!"
"That... is good. Serves them right. Vampires going to hell is something utterly fitting, proper, natural, and just."
Absolute happiness, unprecedented in human history.
This is a present on par with erasing humanity's original sin.
ㅡClap clap clap.
At this happy news, I clapped while calmly analyzing the situation.
Why would the angel of vampires drag vampires to hell? And just how bizarre is that hell?
"Tch...!"
That resentful face is truly sweet.
"So. Just how bizarre is that hell?"
"I-I don't even want to imagine it! That kind of hell...!"
The vampire's face goes pale.
It even trembles all over.
I don't know, but it must really be a terrible place. A place where the vampire angel endlessly torments vampires?
It stands in complete contrast to the heaven of vampire hunters, where they dance together, sing together, happily play board games, cut cake together, and exchange fun gifts.
Ah, perhaps.
Maybe this is why the fake Bureau equated me with the vampire angel. I also want to send vampires to hell. At least on that one point, we do have something in common.
I want to send every vampire in the world to hell and burn them. If I became an angel, I would surely do the same thing.
"Now, vampire. Then tell me this. Why didn't you get dragged to hell? If there's a vampire most suited for hell, it would be none other than you."
"Th, th-that's."
"That's what I find suspicious. The fact that you suddenly came here to ask me for help too. The fact that all the vampires got dragged into hell while only you are fine. Everything's suspicious. All of it."
"That..."
The vampire fidgeted as if trying to choose its words.
"...You'd know."
"What?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That I'd know?"
"To begin with! The reason I came to ask you for help was exactly that!"
The vampire screamed hysterically. It already looked insane. It seemed close to being seized by fear and madness.
"You keep talking strangely, so explain again why you came to ask me for help."
"Because if it's you, you can do it!"
Then why!
Why would I be able to do it!
"Because if it's you, you can do it...!"
"Then why the hell can I do it!"
"Because that angel is you in the first place!!!"
"What?"
Ah.
This bastard.
This bastard knows that too.
"Your double? Or what? Whatever it is, it's something that originated from you, isn't it? Then it should be possible to deal with it too, right? If there's a way, you'd have it. Right? You'd know, definitely!"
The emotion I felt from the vampire was a kind of desperate hope. Driven into a corner again and again, it was clinging to the belief that if it were me, I could do it.
"This is... what?"
Spangdal said.
"I don't understand, Grong. Why are you calling that monster you...?"
"Vampire. How do you know that?"
All along.
I hadn't told Spangdal this either.
"...Grong?"
Her eyes widened. Seeing my expression and attitude, she realized that there was something I'd been hiding until now.
This is... very painful.
"I know that that angel is one and the same as you. I can see the source of that blood. But do you know why I can see it...?"
The vampire continued, utterly insane, rambling while clutching both arms to itself and trembling as it spoke.
"That angel! That bizarre angel was born from me! It's the bloodline I created! But I never made something like that, never, I didn't! And yet why!"
The kneeling vampire screamed in anguish.
"Why... how could something I never made descend from the sky...?"
"..."
"What the hell are you...? What in the world are you...? Ah, ahaha... but there's one thing even stranger."
The strangest thing.
"The you from that subway... absolutely wasn't that kind of being... So how did you end up like that?"
As if drained of strength.
The vampire's two arms hung limply.
My archenemy was showing its most vulnerable side.
"Help me... you must know something... definitely... right? If you know something, tell me. If you don't...!"
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to use hypnosis!"
ㅡFwoosh!
The vampire's aura instantly turned vicious.
The sort of attitude fitting that outrageous claim.
Countless thoughts echoed in my head.
"That won't do!"
Spangdal shouted.
Even I was conflicted at this moment.
Whether to fall for hypnosis or refuse it. This vampire had picked up on something I didn't know, something fundamentally and critically important.
Information as important as my killing intent toward that bastard.
I remind myself of my duty.
To set all of this right and create a better future, I need the vampire's information.
It might be a scam, but a gamble is always necessary.
I realized that this would be a major turning point.
"Vampire. I heard your rambling. But I still don't really understand what you're talking about."
"What?!"
"If I fall for your hypnosis, I'll understand?"
"Ah, ah?! Right! Probably! Maybe! You'll understand!"
The shocked expression instantly changed into a face brimming with joy. Seeing that face makes me want to say, "Just kidding," at once and shatter that hope.
But I also want to know what the vampire has figured out.
Because it's highly likely to be a clue that solves this situation.
"Grong! What are you thinking!"
"It's all right, Spangdal. I already have everything I need on me. Garlic and crosses, all of it. Even if I get hypnotized, I'll be able to break out of it."
"Even so...!"
Then I'll let myself get caught by it once.
That hypnosis thing!
ㅡFwoosh!
The vampire's eyes widened as a red wave burst forth.
At the same time, my vision warped.
...A scene I'd seen once before.
Did I see this scene in a dream?
Yes, that's right.
On that savage dawn when, after being tormented by this vampire, I came home, drew crosses on the wallpaper, and rubbed garlic all over my body, I once had a dream that I became a vampire and destroyed the world.
I thought it was a nightmare born from my madness, but it wasn't.
It wasn't a nightmare.
It was something I experienced.
...from the previous
playthrough.
ㅡDing.
[You have learned about the 'playthrough element'.]
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