Chapter 20
A spreading yellow smokescreen. Through it, blood-red eyes glint.
Too murky to call it red. Too grotesquely slick to call it dark crimson.
Thus, blood-red.
A bewitching color. Looking at it, he could almost smell the tang of blood spreading through his nose.
‘That’s a vampire.’
In most works of fiction, vampires are a race that gives off a highly intelligent, aristocratic air. They crave human blood, but the process is often portrayed as elegant or rational.
Sometimes there are also those who can't resist their urges and tear humans apart, but in any case, the ones that usually appear in films, dramas, and novels are depicted as beautiful and old-world.
“Kyaaaak!!”
Reality was not like that.
Its skin and bones were so gaunt that the outlines of its bones and organs showed clearly through its gray skin. With no lips, its sharp teeth were exposed without any cover, and blood was caked all over its grotesquely long limbs.
It was the image of a perfect beast, stripped of reason. Hunters did not call them creatures that lived by instinct for nothing.
There wasn't even the slightest trace of reason in its eyes, so all that remained must be vampire instinct.
It was a monster, plain and simple. There was no reason to hesitate or to show mercy. Ian immediately pointed the gun at the vampire and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
With a loud crack, the pistol spat out a silver bullet.
The bullet went straight through the vampire’s ear. It was an injury, but not a fatal one. He'd meant to hit the head, but he still wasn't used to the pistol and missed.
The next shot wouldn't miss. Ian stepped back, held his breath, and put his finger on the trigger.
At that moment, starting from the spot pierced by the silver bullet, the vampire’s body turned to ash and vanished.
“……What.”
It was a far more anticlimactic exit than he'd expected. Ian let out a disbelieving laugh, and Alpha grinned as he took the two revolvers tucked into his waistband.
“These are special silver bullets made for vampires. Hit them anywhere and they'll die.”
“……Even if it only grazes them?”
“If it grazes the upper body, it can kill them. Arms and legs just get cut off.”
The moment he said that, a bottle flew toward Alpha. The veteran hunter didn't panic; he pulled the trigger and shattered it.
Shards of glass rained down with the liquor. Alpha dipped a finger into the drink that had splashed onto the railing, tasted it, then flicked his revolver toward the vampire who'd thrown the bottle.
“Le Pin, huh. Expensive wine. Don't waste it throwing it around—pour it into a glass and bring it here.”
“……Kyaaaagh!!”
Right in front of the DJ booth. A vampire disguising itself as human bared its fangs and sharpened its nails. Alpha smiled brightly at the sight.
“If you don't want to, I'll come over.”
Whoosh!
He leapt over the railing and pulled the trigger, aiming squarely at the vampire.
Click!
The hammer struck the round and fired a silver bullet. The vampire deftly dodged the shot and thrust out its long arm toward the falling man.
Crack!
Alpha threw one of his guns, knocking the arm off course. Then he hooked a finger on the trigger of the revolver in his right hand and kept cocking the hammer again and again with his free hand.
Tatatatang!!
At once, gunfire thundered out loud enough to numb his ears.
That was the signal. Vampires hidden all around them slowly began to reveal themselves.
Phew…….
Ian tore his gaze away from Alpha and turned toward the smell of blood growing closer.
Beyond the thick smoke, the sleek heads of two vampires climbing the stairs from the basement came into view.
Normally, the smoke screen should have hidden them, but the sunglasses cut through the smoke and showed them clearly. That explained why they'd handed him the sunglasses.
Ian immediately took aim through the sights and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets smashed clean through the vampires’ shoulders and heads. Spraying brains and blood, they turned to ash, and another one burst out through the ceiling above them. Sensing Ian’s scent, it immediately leapt forward with its jaws gaping wide.
A speed humans couldn’t even imitate, let alone match. Ian furrowed his brows and grabbed the railing with one hand, activating his magic.
Grrrk!
The instant he spat it out, the railing’s shape warped. The cylindrical chunk of metal, snapped in two at the middle, tore into several pieces and shot forward like spears, taking up position squarely in the vampire's path.
“Kyaaak?!”
Naturally, it wasn't easy to change direction in midair. The vampire was simply impaled with a soft, wet thunk.
“Kyaak…… Kyaaaak……!”
But it didn't die. It only thrashed in pain, still breathing. Ian watched it with interest.
“So it won't die unless you hit the weak spot? If it’s still alive even after its brain and heart were pierced, that must be it…….”
“Wizard! Don't get cocky!”
Whizz!!
The moment he muttered that, a silver arrow flew in from the side and lodged itself in the vampire's temple. When he turned his head, Beta was there loading the wrist-mounted crossbow on his arm.
He picked up the silver arrow that had fallen to the floor, tucked it into his pocket, and patted Ian on the shoulder.
“I understand that you're interested in vampires, but we're still in battle. If you don't want to die, don't let your guard down.”
“Mm. Sorry. I'll focus.”
Bang!
Ian replied by driving a bullet into the forehead of a charging vampire over Beta's shoulder. The gunshot that exploded right by his ear made Beta flinch and frown.
“Ah, fuck! I nearly went deaf! Didn't you go to the army?!”
“I was exempt because I'm an orphan.”
“You had it rough. My bad.”
After instantly shifting gears, he drew back the crossbowstring and took a stake in his other hand.
“Leave the ones coming up to the second floor to me. You've killed three, and I've killed five, so that leaves six left. Deal with them and then join that old man. Understood?”
“……Wasn't that vampire basically mine?”
“Don't bother nitpicking something that trivial. It's not a competition.”
“Fair enough.”
Ian nodded.
He tapped Beta’s shoulder with his pistol, then stared at the vampires beginning to poke their heads up through the gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Let's finish this quickly and head back.”
“Yeah. The post-battle meal is blood soup. No objections.”
“You're basically a vampire yourself.”
Ian gave a small grin and aimed his gun.
And fired.
Tatatatang!!
He emptied the rest of his rounds, taking out two vampires. Between them, one fairly large one dropped down with a thud.
“Graaaargh!”
Its cry was a little different from the others. It seemed to be one of the more robust ones even among the vampires.
Ian adjusted his slightly askew sunglasses and shoved the empty pistol into his pocket.
Instead, he opened the grimoire.
With his bare hand on the floor, he activated Recreation.
Grrrk!
The tile his hand touched warped, then turned into a slender arm that clamped tightly onto the vampire's leg.
As the vampire was flustered by the sudden contact, Ian yanked the arm backward. With that, the vampire’s body scraped the floor and toppled forward.
“Krrgh!”
The vampire lost its balance and fell. Ian recreated a nearby chair, reshaped it into a long stake, and drove it straight into the vampire’s elbow. Blood spurted through the gap around the embedded stake, accompanied by the sickening sensation of flesh tearing.
“Kyaaaak!!”
The vampire screamed in pain and thrust its other hand toward Ian's heart. Ian reflexively pulled the grimoire against his chest.
The moment its hand and the grimoire touched.
BOOOOM!!
With a deafening blast, the vampire's entire arm blew apart.
The explosion occurred because someone other than its owner had carelessly touched the grimoire.
Ian didn't miss the opening and, dodging the spray of blood, placed a hand on the vampire's leg.
“Be reborn anew.”
Gurgle……!
The magic of Recreation activated. Centered on the vampire's leg, its body began to melt away like water. The vampire thrashed in agony, but with its arm pinned to the stake, escape was impossible.
“Khuuuuuugh……
In the end, it couldn't hold on for long and melted away on the spot. Leaving behind the reddish-gray liquid that soaked the floor, Ian looked down at Alpha and the vampire leading the group as they fought on the first floor.
“You damned mosquito bitch. You're pretty tough! Looks like you got your blood straight from a noble!”
“……Damn…… hu-man……!”
“Oh, so it's even developing intelligence? Looks like a noble really has come into Korea. Guess I'll have to stay here for a while.”
Alpha said that as he expertly reloaded his revolver.
But regardless of how relaxed his voice and actions were, blood was pouring from his shoulder. It was a wound from being pierced by the vampire's claws.
The vampire was no better off. The parts hit directly by the silver bullets had turned to ash and fallen to the floor, and a stake was lodged in its throat, blood streaming down.
Ian stared at the vampire's slightly pink-tinged blood, then spotted Beta just as he rammed a silver arrow into the vampire's forehead.
He must have been in quite a fierce struggle too, because blood was pouring from his thigh. Judging by how frantically he was stopping the bleeding, a blood vessel must have been damaged. The crossbow mounted on his wrist was also broken and rolling around on the floor.
‘Looks like there's no room to back them up.’
In the end, Ian was the only one left. He immediately took a ring case from his pocket and opened it.
Inside the case was not a ring, but a fish eyeball carefully wrapped in cloth. Ian quickly peeled away the cloth and adjusted the angle so the vampire’s image would be reflected on the retina of the flattened eyeball in his hand.
……Click.
At some point, he heard something click into place in his head.
That meant the target had come into view on the retina. Ian checked the figure reflected there, just in case.
Fortunately, the lifeless eye showed only the vampire's image clearly.
He didn't hesitate and crushed the eyeball in his hand.
Crunch!
“……!”
The moment the eyeball was crushed, the vampire's eyeball burst. With a pop, blood and clear fluid streamed out of the shattered socket.
“Kyaaaaaagh!!!”
Unable to bear the agony of having its eyes crushed while still alive, it let out a ghastly scream. At the sight, Alpha let out a dry laugh.
‘A spell that crushes eyeballs from a distance. Terrifying.’
For a moment he thought that, but soon regained his composure and aimed the revolver squarely before pulling the trigger.
Crack!
The bullet that cleanly blew apart the raging vampire's head buried itself in the wall. The headless vampire shuddered briefly in place, then turned to ash and vanished.
“It's over.”
That vampire was the last of them. Alpha immediately pulled a small capsule from his pocket and flung it to the floor.
Sssshhh…….
Sky-blue smoke began to spread thickly from the shattered capsule. Leaving the smoke alone, Alpha turned to Ian and shouted.
“We're moving out! By now, the van hired by the cartel should have arrived!”
“Should we head to the parking lot?”
Ian asked as he tucked the grimoire into his waistband.
Alpha chewed and swallowed a hemostatic pill, then nodded as he tucked the revolver into his waistband.
“Yeah, move fast before the cops get here! Run!”