A spreading yellow smoke screen. Through it, blood-red eyes flashed.
Too murky to be called red. Too grotesquely viscous to be called dark crimson.
That was why it was blood-red.
An ominous color. Facing it, Ian felt as though the fishy scent of blood were spreading through his nostrils.
‘So that’s a vampire.’
In most works of fiction, vampires were an extremely intelligent race that gave off the air of aristocrats. Though they coveted human blood, the process was often elegant or rational.
From time to time, there were those who could not overcome their urges and tore humans apart, but in any case, the ones that mainly appeared in films, dramas, novels, and the like tended to be portrayed as beautiful and archaic.
“Kyaaaak!!”
Reality was not like that.
It was skin and bones, the outlines of its bones and organs plainly visible beyond its grayish skin. It had no lips, so its sharp teeth were exposed without the slightest cover, and blood was plastered all over its abnormally long limbs.
It looked like a perfect beast, stripped of anything resembling reason. The Hunters had not described them as living by instinct for no reason.
Not even the smallest fragment of reason could be felt in its gaze, so all that remained was surely its instinct as a vampire.
It was a monster in the truest sense. There was no reason to hesitate, nor any reason to show mercy. Ian immediately thrust the muzzle toward the vampire and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
With a loud report, the pistol spat fire, and a silver bullet was fired.
The bullet pierced straight through the vampire’s ear. It was an injury, but not a fatal one. He had intended to pierce its head, but he was not yet used to the pistol and had missed.
He would not miss the next one. Ian took one step back, held his breath, and placed his finger on the trigger.
At that moment, centered around the spot the silver bullet had pierced, the vampire’s body crumbled into ash and vanished.
“……What.”
A far more anticlimactic exit than he had expected. As Ian let out a hollow laugh in disbelief, Alpha grinned and took the two revolvers tucked at his waist into his hands.
“They’re special silver bullets made for vampires. No matter where you hit, you can kill them.”
“……Even if it only grazes them?”
“If it grazes the upper body, it can kill them. If it’s the arms or legs, they just get cut off.”
The moment he said that, a liquor bottle flew toward Alpha. The elderly Hunter pulled the trigger without the slightest panic and shattered the bottle.
Shards of glass fell below along with the alcohol. Alpha dipped a finger into the bit of liquor that had splashed onto the railing, tasted it, then wagged his revolver toward the vampire that had thrown it.
“Le Pin, huh. Expensive wine. Don’t waste it by throwing it; pour it into a glass and bring it over.”
“……Gyaaaak!!”
Right in front of the DJ. A vampire that had been disguised as a human bared its fangs and sharpened its claws. Alpha smiled brightly at the sight.
“If you don’t want to, I’ll come to you.”
Whoosh!
He launched himself over the railing and pulled the trigger while aiming precisely at the vampire.
Bang, bang!
The hammer struck the rounds, and silver bullets were fired. The vampire deftly dodged the shots and thrust its elongated arm toward him as he fell.
Crunch!
Alpha threw one of his guns, twisting the trajectory of the arm. Then he hooked a finger on the trigger of the revolver in his right hand and, with his empty hand, pulled the hammer back in rapid succession.
Bangbangbangbang!!
For an instant, gunshots rang out so loudly that his ears went numb.
That was the signal. The vampires that had been hiding all around began to slowly reveal themselves.
“Hoo……”
Ian took his eyes off Alpha and turned his head toward the scent of blood that was drawing closer and closer.
Beyond the thick smoke, he saw the smooth heads of two vampires climbing the stairs from the basement.
It would have been normal not to see them because of the smoke screen, but the sunglasses pierced through it and showed their figures clearly. Now he understood why they had handed him sunglasses.
Ian immediately lined up the sights and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets smashed precisely through the vampires’ shoulder and head. As they scattered brain matter and blood and turned to ash, another one burst through the ceiling above them and sprang out. The creature caught Ian’s scent, immediately opened its maw wide, and leapt.
A speed impossible for a human to even imitate. Ian furrowed his brow hard, grabbed the railing with his hand, and activated magic.
Grrrkkk!
The moment he exhaled, the shape of the railing changed. The cylindrical metal bar, snapped off from the middle, split into several branches, then rushed like spears and planted themselves squarely in the path of the charging vampire.
“Gyaaak?!”
It was only natural, but changing position midair was not easy. With a wet thunk, the vampire was impaled by the spears.
“Gyaak…… gyaaak……!”
But it did not die. It only writhed in pain, still very much alive. Ian observed it with interest.
“So it won’t die unless you attack its weak point? If it’s alive even after its brain and heart have been pierced, that’s the only possibility……”
“Mage! Don’t get complacent!”
Shweeeek!!
The moment he muttered, a silver arrow flew in from the side and lodged in the vampire’s temple. When Ian turned his head, he saw Beta reloading the crossbow mounted on his wrist.
He picked up the silver arrow that had fallen to the floor, slipped it into his pocket, and tapped Ian on the shoulder.
“I understand that you’re interested in vampires, but we’re still in the middle of combat. If you don’t want to die, don’t let your guard down.”
“Mm. Sorry. I’ll focus.”
Bang!
Ian answered while firing a bullet past Beta’s shoulder into the forehead of an approaching vampire. At the gunshot that exploded right beside his ear, Beta flinched in shock and frowned.
“Ah, fuck! You nearly blew out my ear! Didn’t you serve in the army?!”
“I was exempt because I’m an orphan.”
“You’ve had it rough. Sorry about that.”
Having switched his attitude in an instant, he drew back the string of his crossbow, pulled out a stake in his other hand, and said,
“You handle the ones coming up to the second floor. You’ve killed three so far, and I’ve killed five, so there are only six left. We’ll deal with them, then join that old man. Got it?”
“……Wasn’t that vampire just now essentially mine?”
“Don’t nitpick every little thing. It’s not like we’re competing.”
“That’s true.”
Ian nodded.
He tapped Beta’s shoulder with his pistol, then stared at the vampires beginning to poke their heads through the gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Let’s finish this quickly and go back.”
“Yeah. After-party’s blood curd soup. No objections.”
“You’re the vampire here.”
Ian laughed softly and aimed the muzzle.
Then he fired.
Bangbangbang!!
He emptied all the remaining bullets and dealt with two vampires. Between them as they turned to ash and disappeared, one fairly large creature dropped down.
“Krrrraaaagh!”
Its cry was a little different from the others. Apparently, even among vampires, this one was treated as a superior specimen.
Ian fixed the position of his slightly crooked sunglasses and shoved the now-empty pistol into his pocket.
Instead, he opened the grimoire.
With his empty hand, he touched the floor and activated Re-creation.
Grrrrk!
The tile beneath his hand distorted, then soon became a slender arm that seized the vampire’s leg.
As the vampire was startled by the sudden contact, Ian pulled his arm backward. Along with it, the vampire’s body scraped across the floor and toppled forward.
“Krrk!”
The vampire lost its balance and fell. Ian Re-created a nearby chair, changing it into a long, stake-like shape, then drove it into the creature’s elbow. Blood splashed between the embedded stake with the sensation of flesh being torn.
“Kyaaaak!!”
The vampire screamed in pain and reached out with its other hand, thrusting toward Ian’s heart. Ian reflexively pulled the grimoire in front of his chest.
And the moment the creature’s hand touched the grimoire.
Booooom!!
With a tremendous roar, the vampire’s entire arm exploded.
It was an explosion caused by a being that was not its owner carelessly making contact with the grimoire.
Ian did not miss the opening. Avoiding the pouring blood, he placed a hand on the creature’s leg.
“Be born anew.”
Gurgle……!
The magic of Re-creation activated. Starting from the creature’s leg, its body began to melt, becoming limp like water. The vampire thrashed in horrible pain, but with its arm pinned by the stake, escape was impossible.
“Kraaaaaa—”
In the end, the creature could not hold out for long and melted away as it was. Ian left behind the reddish-gray liquid soaking the floor and looked down at Alpha, who was fighting on the first floor, and the vampire that had been leading the group.
“Damned mosquito bitch. You’re pretty tenacious! Looks like you got blood directly from a noble!”
“……Damn…… human……!”
“Oh-ho, even intelligence is starting to form? A noble really must have entered Korea. Looks like I’ll have to stay here for a while.”
As Alpha said that, he skillfully reloaded his revolver.
But separate from the ease overflowing in his voice and movements, blood was pouring from his shoulder. It was a wound made by a vampire’s claw piercing him.
The vampire did not look intact either. The parts struck directly by 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 creature’s slightly pinkish blood, then confirmed the sight of Beta, who had just driven a silver arrow into a vampire’s forehead.
Perhaps he had engaged in quite a fierce struggle, because blood was pouring from his thigh as well. Judging by how urgently he was trying to stop the bleeding, a blood vessel seemed to have been injured. The crossbow mounted on his wrist was also broken and rolling around on the floor.
‘Looks like he doesn’t have the leeway to provide support.’
In the end, the only one left was Ian. He immediately took a ring case out of his pocket and opened the lid.
Inside the case was not a ring, but a fish’s eyeball carefully wrapped in cloth. Ian quickly peeled away the cloth and, holding the flat eyeball in his hand, adjusted the angle so that the vampire’s figure would be reflected on the retina.
……Click.
At some point, he heard a sound in his head as if something had slotted into place.
It meant the target had entered the retina. Just in case, Ian checked the object reflected in the retina.
Fortunately, only the vampire’s figure was clearly captured in the lifeless eye.
Without hesitation, he crushed the eyeball in his hand.
Crack!
“……!”
At the same time the eyeball was crushed, the vampire’s eye burst. With a splat, blood and transparent fluid streamed from the creature’s shattered eye.
“Kyaaaaaak!!!”
Unable to endure the pain of having its eye crushed while still alive, the creature let out a monstrous scream. At the sight, Alpha let out a hollow laugh.
‘Magic that crushes an eyeball from a distance, huh. Frightening.’
For an instant, that thought crossed his mind, but he soon regained his composure, took precise aim with his revolver, and pulled the trigger.
Crack!
The bullet accurately smashed the raging vampire’s head and buried itself in the wall. The vampire with the broken head trembled briefly on the spot, then soon turned to ash and disappeared.
“That’s the end.”
With that creature as the last, all the vampires were gone. Alpha immediately took a small capsule from his coat and threw it to the floor.
Saaaaa……
Pale blue smoke began to spread thickly from the broken capsule. Alpha left the smoke alone and shouted as he looked back at Ian.
“We’re leaving the site! The van hired by the cartel should have arrived by now!”
“We head to the parking lot?”
Ian asked as he tucked the grimoire into his waistband.
Alpha chewed and swallowed a hemostatic agent, holstered his revolver at his waist, and nodded.
“Yeah. Move before the cops get here! Run!”