Food eaten when you're the hungriest tastes the best, and sleep taken when you're the most exhausted is the sweetest. Though I was holed up in a burrow lying on a blanket, right now I was experiencing comfort unlike any other in the world.
Naturally. My current fatigue had accumulated over three days. Having purged it all at once, it couldn't feel more refreshing.
The way to make your body feel light isn't by carrying nothing at all. You must carry something heavy and then set it down to truly feel light. Humans are creatures of adaptation, so they can only perceive all stimuli relatively. Feeling much lighter, I jerked my body up...
Huh? It's light?
Strange. I'm sure Hilde was sleeping nearby yesterday. Why doesn't it feel heavy?
The reason was simple. It was because Hilde wasn't beside me.
Going out? Leaving me behind? What did she find that's so good?
With a bit of anticipation, I threw off the blanket and was looking for my clothes when I found a small piece of paper stuck into my bio-terminal. I wouldn't have slipped it in my sleep, so Hilde must have done it. I unfolded the crumpled piece of paper and read it.
[To Father. Your snoring is too severe, so I can't sleep with you! This little girl is leaving to find her own life. So, Father, please live your own life. Don't miss me. That is all.]
Who says I snore? And why suddenly, when she's been keeping up this 'finding myself' act all this time? Besides, I'm not your father. And I won't miss you either. How many errors can there be in a short letter of just a few lines?
Analyzing the letter coolly, sentence by sentence, I suddenly felt like I had missed an important fact. What was it? This letter sounded exactly like she was saying she would act separately from me.
"Huh? I was abandoned?"
No matter how I looked at it, that was the case. Reading the context of the letter, it contained the message that she would leave me behind, so I should live well on my own.
No way. It's a joke, right? I'm ordinary and weak. Without a guard, I can't even run away against an Ain, let alone an Elder! Dumbfounded, I turned my head to look toward the burrow's entrance.
It must be a joke. Of course. She'll come into the burrow soon, saying, 'It was a joke~'. As expected...
"Huh? It's a rat hole!"
A different girl came in. From her facial features to her mindset, she was completely different from Hilde; a mountain girl born and raised in the nearby village, full of the will to keep living. The girl, who discovered the hole from over there and shouted, didn't approach and yelled.
"Mister! I found a rat hole! It's huuuge!"
"Matilda! Don't get any closer and stay still! Lord Valiteer said not to approach recklessly before night falls!"
"Why? I can catch rats too!"
"An ordinary rat wouldn't have gone into such a huge hole! Come back! We'll be watching, so hurry!"
The girl seemed displeased, but fortunately she didn't approach any further and just backed off. I survived. With this, it's safe until night...
No, that's not right.
If it's night, even if the opponent is an Eiling, I couldn't guarantee victory. When facing a vampire, do it during the day. This is already an established iron rule.
If I really want to escape, I should run out of the hole right now, but... there's a problem.
I am weak in combat against multiple opponents.
If it's one-on-one, I can stab the opponent's blind spot. If it's many-on-many, I can hide in the gap of chaos and find a crevice in their consciousness.
But if it's many-on-one, it's a different story. My combat style is trickery. Using hidden cards to stab the opponent's blind spot is my one and only method.
But as you know, the most important thing in trickery is headcount. No matter how good a hustler is, they can't win money on a stacked board. The number of cards they can play changes.
Moreover, the opponents are ordinary villagers who have entrusted their safety to a vampire. They are amateurs who don't even know how to fight. To a pro like me, the ignorance of amateurs is even more terrifying. Escaping unscathed from a dozen robust men who don't even know where the spears they're swinging are aimed is nearly impossible. Especially if they have the burrow entrance surrounded.
In other words. There is only one method left for me now.
"Up!"
Rather, I'll dig through above my head and break the siege. That's it. Fortunately, there's no need to pass by the Eiling's cabin. I can just move a little to the side with Earth Technique.
Earth Technique isn't omnipotent either, so I can't control the earth like playing with sand. When borrowing Jizan's power, I could split the earth and all, but without it, Earth Technique is just average; meaning, digging through the earth like an earthworm within the limits of not destroying the earth's structure is all I can do. It's funny, but that's useful enough. I created a passage slanting upward from this burrow. Gently pushing the dirt aside, I quickly crawled up the burrow on my knees.
Perhaps because she sensed my movement, the vampire's thoughts came from above.
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‘You're pushing through the earth. You seemed like a rat. I didn't expect you to really have the power of a rat.’
Hmph. What are you going to do? What can a mere Eiling who can't even use her power properly under the sunlight do? I scoffed and pushed the earth up with Earth Technique. Through the cascading pile of dirt, the morning sunlight shimmered.
‘If you thought I, who have lived for five hundred years, couldn't handle even that much, you're mistaken.’
Huh? What is?
I tried to read Valiteer's thoughts for a moment, but the Eiling's reaction was faster than my telepathy.
Tch, this is why vampires are like this. Because they're old, it's hard to read everything at once.
I never thought she would have dominated the building itself over a long period of time!
The vampire's cabin was a space that blocked sunlight, with a frame made of logs and covered with leather. Valiteer shed blood inside the building. Although she was merely an Eiling, moving a house was possible for her.
Grrrk. The cabin scraped the ground and moved. The dirt, suddenly forced to support a massive weight, poured over my head. If I stayed still, I'd be buried alive. I quickly pushed the pile of dirt above my head and soared upward.
In front of me, a girl wearing a one-piece dress shone her red eyes in the darkness.
"You came out, you little rat."
It was the village chief, the Eiling Valiteer of the Blood-Leech Clan. I greeted the vampire I suddenly faced in a friendly manner.
"Squeak squeak."
"You have the leisure to joke. If it's the ability to swim through the earth, are you an alchemist of the Ten Nations? Or the Earth Mother Cult? ...No."
Chief Valiteer reached out and grabbed a weapon. A fork and a knife, closer to tableware than weapons, but... for the Blood-Leech Clan, where fighting is a meal, there is no weapon that suits them better.
"Um, how about we put away the sharp things and talk first?"
As I tried to unsteadily stand up, Chief Valiteer came closer, holding the fork and knife in a reverse grip.
"Alright. I'll talk to you. Once I hang you on the hook."
Damn it!
The opponent is an Eiling. A vampire of the Blood-Leech Clan with powerful strength and immortality. True to the Blood-Leech Clan, her Blood Control Art is somewhat lacking, but she can perfectly control the blood she has made her own; compared to Junguk, she is a Jangseong-level powerhouse.
Unlike the Qi techniques worn on the body, a vampire's Blood Control Art is life itself, making it extremely stable. In terms of instantaneous firepower, a Jangseong who actively utilizes Qi techniques and equipment would be stronger. However, unlike a Jangseong who can die if their weak point is struck... an Eiling does not die.
The 'Shadow' I fought in Junguk was also much stronger than me, but he had to attempt a probing battle. Because approaching without knowing my power could be dangerous. But Chief Valiteer didn't need to do that.
Because there is no danger.
"If you don't resist, I'll spare you by only eating your right arm."
"The right arm here too?! Why are there so many people in the world who covet the right arm?!"
My scream went in vain as the swung knife aimed for my shoulder. I was reading her thoughts, but it was a speed I couldn't properly respond to. Until now, someone stronger than me had protected me, but right now, it was just me alone.
Damn it. It's the right arm I've somehow protected...! I have to block it somehow!
But my wretched body didn't move as I thought it would... Huh?
"Huh? It moves."
Clack. My hand blocked Valiteer's wrist. I felt a quite powerful force, but my hand was only being pushed back little by little, still resisting.
I read the opponent's thoughts and reacted, and I'm keeping up pretty well? Until now, even if I read them, it was hard to keep up with the speed and power.
It's probably the influence of the Demon God? Come to think of it, I did feel my body moving a bit more comfortably lately.
"So it wasn't just your mouth that was relaxed."
"It seems like your mouth needs to be a bit more relaxed. Since we have plenty of time, how about we put away the sharp things and try talking with our mouths? Of course, rest assured I don't mean a kiss."
I even added a simple joke, but it didn't seem to resonate with the vampire. Chief Valiteer immediately twisted her wrist. Instead of the original target, the shoulder, the knife aimed for my arm and sharpened its blade.
An attack designed to induce bleeding rather than impact. And if bleeding occurs, it's over at that moment. Because wounds inflicted by a vampire rarely heal.
Shaking off Chief Valiteer's hand, I rummaged through my waist. The usable cards were a skewer, and two steel wires. Why are there so few cards? Vowing to resupply someday, I hastily threw the cards. It was a desperate struggle telling her not to come, but true to a vampire, she didn't care even as the cards embedded into her body.
Let's just run for now. I leaped over the vampire's chair and headed for the wall. The vampire leisurely followed behind me and said.
"It's useless to try to escape. This cabin will not open until I permit it."
"What thief comes and goes from a house with the owner's permission? Goodbye!"
Whether she cared or not. I attached the Demon God's card containing the elixir to my palm and slammed it against the wall. The Golden Mirror's card turns all matter into cards. That is no different even for a vampire's cabin. This is the power of the Demon God. Witness it clearly...
At that moment, dozens of cards burst out like a torrent from the part where the wall and my hand met. A part of the cabin was being converted into cards. However, the result I wanted did not occur. Because the wall, which should have crumbled after turning into cards, remained intact.
"Did I not tell you? You entered with my permission... but without my permission, you cannot leave."
Chief Valiteer muttered, holding overflowing blood energy in her hand. The blood that started from her was swirling madly along the wall of the building. My cards had converted a part of the cabin, but at that moment, the blood flow clumped together and filled the wall.
The ability of the Blood-Leech Clan is Gluttony. Among Blood Control Arts, it is a type that is particularly difficult to manifest externally. So I was a bit careless, but... only after reading Chief Valiteer's thoughts right in front of me did I finally realize what she had done.
Chief Valiteer had shared and stored her authority over a long time, making this cabin like her own body.
"The moment you entered the cabin, it was over. Because you are inside my stomach."
The plates, the chair, the large cauldron and the poker. Every piece of furniture existing in this cabin moved slowly. As if they were alive. Is this what a witch's house in a fairy tale would be like? The furniture that shared her blood pressured me little by little.