Vampire Rise (3)
Immediately after fully absorbing and settling the power plundered from the Obayifo.
“Haa—.”
Hainjeu exhaled a breath laden with white steam, slowly repeating the motion of clenching and unclenching his hand. Exhilaration surged within him at his senses, sharper than ever before, and the indescribable power coursing through his entire body.
《The individual has met the conditions for growth. The unique skill 「Clan of Blood (Holy Blood)」 evolves into 「Lord of Blood」.》
《The unique skill 「Lord of Blood」 absorbs the subordinate ability 「Super Regeneration」 and is further strengthened.》
And it was not merely his imagination.
The twelve bloodlines that had splintered and spread afar became one again through Hainjeu’s body, and the foundation comprising his existence evolved closer to completion.
‘But I haven’t completely surpassed the wall of Holy Blood yet.’
It meant that unifying merely one dimensional faction was insufficient to reach the realm beyond Holy Blood (聖血), the pinnacle of vampires—the tentative Divine Blood (神血).
He could not be certain such a stage truly existed, but having risen to a higher level, he could somehow instinctively sense it. That the limit he could reach was by no means the end here, and that a level still remained above this.
‘My abilities also seem to have grown at least twofold.’
「Lord of Blood」 was the completed stage of the vampire’s basic skill series, 「Clan of Blood」, so its abilities and efficiency were incomparable to before. Above all, his already formidable regenerative power had grown even stronger; now, as long as energy remained, he possessed a body tantamount to immortality, capable of reviving even if his entire body turned to ash.
‘At this level... I dare say I’ve really caught up to right under Hanseu’s chin, haven’t I?’
At least, the destructive force he could display as a single individual targeting a living being seemed similar. If the two clashed, Hanseu would be absolutely advantageous due to racial compatibility, and if it came to warfare of influence—which could be called the Undead King’s true strength—he wouldn’t even be a match, so they were not truly equals. Still...
‘Well, getting stronger is good anyway. That’s what I wanted. But more than that, for now...’
There was still much more to verify and many problems to handle, but the most immediate task was decided. To quickly consolidate the Obayifo Clan now in his hands, and cleanly resolve the situation that had unfolded in the Republic.
‘Because everything is mine now. I can’t let it be ruined any further.’
Hainjeu firmly closed his eyes and spread his will throughout the entire city. Thus, when the order of Hainjeu II—the true and rightful monarch of all vampires on the continent, the Vampire King—was issued, the chaos that had been ringing out noisily subsided in an instant, as if it had never happened.
A dramatic peace arrived before greater damage could occur. Furthermore, that was also the moment the final arrangement of the Covenant of the Reversed Heaven planted in the eastern part of the Ion Continent crumbled.
***
An office located in downtown Seoul.
A beautiful woman with long hair tied in a ponytail sat before a computer, scrolling the mouse wheel while conversing on speakerphone.
“...I see. So you mean there are no unusual matters outside the report?”
“Um... It is so? I searched harder again too. Listening to vice president’s words. But...”
“You may speak in English, Mr. Andrew.”
“Oh! Thank you. I’m learning hard, but Korean is truly not easy. I can listen and read to some extent now, but speaking and writing are so...”
“You’re improving remarkably fast considering how long you’ve studied. It must be thanks to being bright and having invested many stats in mental and intelligence areas. Of course, you must continue studying. Because that is our Lord... no, the President’s order.”
Jin Soran, the second-in-command of Heterosis, conversed with her mouth while rapidly scanning the report on the monitor with her eyes. As expected, even after looking again, there were no notable unusual matters.
“Haah, is that so... Ah, come to think of it, I’ve never seen the President even once. Is he a very busy person?”
“Well, yes. You came through a recommendation from the President’s acquaintance, didn’t you, Mr. Andrew? Thanks to that, we’re grateful to be working with someone capable and diligent like you.”
“Ah, i-is that so? Hahaha...”
At her praise, the person on the other end of the phone—Andrew Weber, who had been forcibly brought to Korea by the Undead King and made to join Heterosis—let out an awkward laugh. He wasn’t being diligent because he wanted to, after all.
Of course, recently he had been somewhat satisfied with his current life. Under certain constraints he had no choice but to work hard within the given time, and with language education in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and others, his days were far from leisurely, but...
‘Compared to when I was worked to death by Olivia at the Castle of the Undead, this place is no different from paradise!’
Furthermore, there was cola, pizza, TV, and he could even play games if he managed to spare some time. An environment of a different dimension from when he had struggled desperately in a place crawling with lunatics and undead.
‘Living like this isn’t so bad. There’s no black magic that drives people crazy, and the pay is quite generous.’
The reality that he had no time to spend money in the first place was no longer in his mind. Thus, while still working in an environment no different from a black company, he was becoming an excellent voluntary slave, satisfied with the current situation.
“Thank you anyway, Mr. Andrew. Then please continue monitoring, and contact us anytime if you discover any additional anomalies.”
“Understood, Vice President.”
Click.
The call disconnected, and silence returned to the office. Jin Soran, who had been rubbing her temples for a moment, buried herself in her chair and let out a deep sigh.
“Hoo— It’s unsettling. It seems there are no major problems for now.”
In fact, until this morning her mood hadn’t been so bad. To be precise, until just a few hours ago, before she received contact from Aria, the leader of the moderate faction who was her superior, and heard a certain warning.
‘Aria wouldn’t say such things without reason.’
Once an executive of the moderate faction, Jin Soran could not easily dismiss her words. No matter what anyone said, she was an amazing person who had kept the powerful hardline faction in check for a long time with her abilities alone, despite the moderate faction being weak.
‘It must be a future precognition ability.’
In fact, while under her command, she had thought Aria possessed a separate information network she didn’t know about, but now that she was in a position to control the massive organization called the Blood Alliance, she knew well. At least, this warning wasn’t information obtained through such connections.
‘If she contacted me separately, it must mean something big is happening to me or Heterosis. Or somewhere in the Blood Alliance?’
She had urgently made a request to Andrew for this reason. Well aware of his information-gathering abilities, there was no one more suitable for quickly scanning for related matters.
‘I’ll have to be careful for a while. Might need to move the office just in case. Where would be good...’
Finishing her thoughts roughly, Jin Soran rose from her seat, opened the office door, and stepped out.
“No, I mean, this isn’t a place you can just...!”
“Hey, it’ll just take a moment...”
But as she passed the soundproof barrier installed in the office for information security, her sensitive hearing detected noise coming from outside. And one of them was a voice familiar to her.
‘What?’
Moving to the office entrance with a doubtful mind, she opened the door, and the back of a familiar girl who appeared to be no more than a middle schooler came into view. Together with an unfamiliar boy confronting her.
“Nahui? What’s going on?”
“Ah! Si... no, Vice President!”
At that, the girl, I Nahui, turned around and greeted her. She was a child who had once belonged to the same crew in the moderate faction. Now she was a spirited girl belonging to Heterosis alongside her, learning secretarial work.
“Ah! Hello? Are you by any chance the person in charge here?”
Then, the boy around the same age who had been arguing at the office entrance with I Nahui spoke to her with a bright smile.
“Well, I’m the highest-ranked here for now.”
“Aha!”
When she answered absentmindedly, the boy’s expression brightened even more. At that moment, I Nahui, who had furrowed her brows, stepped between them and raised her voice again.
“Unni! Don’t engage with him! He’s a stranger, and he’s weird. He’s been demanding to be let in recklessly since earlier, and...”
“But you are all vampires, right?”
However, she had no choice but to stop at the boy’s words cutting straight to the point. Contrary to her, the boy was still smiling brightly. Even in that situation, Jin Soran, who remained composed, naturally stepped in front of I Nahui—whose face had stiffened without managing her expression—and let out a deep sigh.
“Look, I don’t know where you heard such things, but this isn’t a place for you to play pranks, is it? Can’t you play pranks with your friends?”
She ignored the boy’s words and calmly admonished him with a mature demeanor.
“Ah! I know what you’re worried about, but don’t worry. It’s not like I’m going to do anything with that...”
“Whether it’s worry or whatever, could you leave before I contact the police? The employees can’t work because of the noise you’re making.”
“That’s not it, I’m a vampire too, you know? So I came here because I was happy to know there were fellow kin. I’m asking you to accept me as a comrade!”
At those words, Jin Soran looked at the boy with narrowed eyes. A face still smiling as at first. But from him, she couldn’t sense any blood demonic power, let alone any scent of blood.
‘A lie.’
Originally she had been in the upper ranks of Level 6, but after joining Heterosis and accepting Hainjeu’s 「Refined Blood Core」, she had now reached Level 7. Converted to Auterika, she was True Blood, equal to Beta of whom there had been only two even when the hardline faction had been dominant. How could such a person not see through the opponent’s identity? And decisively, the fact that this boy, around I Nahui’s age, appeared to be about a second-year middle schooler was significant.
“Haah, friend? I’m being very patient right now, okay? Won’t you leave while I’m being nice? I may look like this, but I’m a scary person when angry.”
But she exercised maximum patience and gently placated him. Though they camouflaged themselves as a perfectly normal company to the point where no problems would arise, it was still unpleasant to draw the attention of the police, the symbol of public authority. Furthermore, she didn’t like the idea of that boy carelessly saying unnecessary things to the police.
“Ah, you don’t believe me. It’s true, I tell you? Look at this? My fangs are protruding sharply?”
“Those are snaggle teeth. Go to a dentist for braces.”
Jin Soran answered coldly to the boy showing his teeth with his finger in his mouth.
“I hate garlic!”
“Everyone your age does. But being a picky eater is no good.”
“I can’t just enter if the homeowner doesn’t invite me!”
“Good job. Entering without permission is trespassing.”
“I don’t recklessly cross flowing rivers either!”
“Yes, it’s dangerous, so be careful from now on too.”
“My body temperature is lower than others!”
“You must have a cold constitution. Dress warmly.”
“I’m rather weak to sunlight!”
“UV protection is important. But you need sunlight to produce vitamin D.”
Now the boy seemed to have developed a fighting spirit, talking incessantly, and Jin Soran responded without yielding. Before the prideful battle of these two, I Nahui had unconsciously stepped back, simply standing with her mouth agape.
“I have a rejection reaction to silver!”
“A metal allergy?”
“I’ll die if a stake is driven through my heart!”
“So will I. Everyone dies from that.”
“...”
“...”
Finally, as if his repertoire had run out, the boy stopped talking and quietly looked up at Jin Soran standing proudly before him. Then he soon let out a light sigh and shook his head from side to side.
“Ah, this doesn’t work.”
“Are you done? Then won’t you leave now?”
At that reaction, Jin Soran replied dully, as if tired. But this time too, the boy paid no heed and looked at her with a smiling face again.
“Actually, that was a lie.”
“I knew.”
Jin Soran replied shortly at that—
“But I don’t die even if a stake is driven through my heart.”
The boy’s words held a slightly different meaning. And simultaneously, the face that had worn an innocent smile distorted strangely.
“...What are you?”
An atmosphere clearly different from before. At that appearance, as if he had changed into a completely different person in an instant, she retreated slowly while protecting I Nahui.
“Ah! I haven’t introduced myself yet? What a discourtesy!”
Though he spoke brightly, his appearance was clearly abnormal at a glance. Setting aside the exaggerated air of someone who had lost his mind somewhere, even his exterior had begun to twist to the point of evoking revulsion.
“Well, I abandoned my real name long ago, so I don’t even want to use it.”
In his right eye, three pupils had budded and roamed the eyeball arbitrarily at will, and in his left eye, four pupils did the same. A voice that seemed to overlap multiple times rang out strangely, creating noise.
“Just, please call me Alpha.”
“...Alpha?”
Skin began to crack like a spiderweb. Then, a thick scent of blood wafted from his body. So thick it was incomprehensible how she hadn’t noticed until now.
“Ah, right! So...”
His mouth tore open long to below his ear, revealing shark-like teeth, and from within, a bifurcated tongue slithered out.
“Where is that bastard Hainjeu?”
This was what occurred while Hainjeu was busy settling the situation in the Jepia Republic.