“Hey, Ma Sang-Sik! There’s another forked road up ahead! Five paths this time!” Tae-Jin urged.
“Give me... just a second!” Sang-Sik shouted as he looked into the fire lit by the Zippo Lighter of Memories.
The silhouettes and the blood tanks made by the fire headed down the first and third paths.
“One and three!” Sang-Sik shouted.
“Okay! Let’s go with number one!” Tae-Jin shouted as he raced toward the leftmost path.
“Growl! How convenient,” Tigrinus said, his whiskers twitching, as he stared at Sang-Sik’s lighter with great interest. “Sniff! Their scents have already disappeared, but you can still track them. That’s quite an item.”
“Haha, it’s not an item, but a D Weapon. I couldn’t give it to you, even if I wanted to.”
“Keh, that’s a shame.”
“It was a gift from my wife,” Sang-Sik said with a smile and closed the Zippo lighter lid.
Just then, Tae-Jin shouted, “Halt!”
The ones behind him simultaneously stopped and stared at Tae-Jin’s back.
“What’s wrong?” Hector asked.
“Something’s coming,” Tae-Jin replied, his guard raised to the maximum.
Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. Their opponent had no intention of hiding his presence. A giant mass soon flew toward them like a cannonball and landed on the ground.
“Hehe, what do we have here? Blood packs have come of their own accord!” said a muscular man over two meters tall, blocking the group’s path.
His long hair was a mix of black and white, and his ruby red eyes exuded violent bloodlust.
“How dare you sneak into the jurisdiction entrusted to me, Impeto Motus?! You must not value your eyeballs!”
“Impeto... Motus?” Tae-Jin mumbled.
“Motus of Violence!” Wang Chen shouted.
“Impeto Motus... Impeto Motus... Gasp, Count Impeto Motus, the Eye Collector!” Sang-Sik said, recalling the information he had collected during his time in the intelligence division. “He’s a Ranker! Eighteenth in the vampire ranking!”
“An intermediate race’s Ranker! An upper Ranker, no less!”
Wang Chen, Hector, Tigrinus, Sang-Sik, and Tae-Jin drew out their mana and tensed every muscle in their body.
“Hmm...Huh? Who are you? Why do I smell the blood of the Rabies bloodline from you? Are you their Canis?” Impeto, who had been cracking his neck in preparation for combat, walked toward Wang Chen.
Wang Chen could feel the opponent’s caliber and Blood Force more sensitively than anyone else here. The scent of blood coming from the vampire was chillingly thick. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how many people Impeto had killed in his life.
“We have to work together! He’s no ordinary monster! We have to think of him as a human High Ranker!” Wang Chen shouted.
“No, I will keep him at bay by myself,” Tae-Jin said firmly.
“Growl! What are you talking about, Tae-Jin?!”
“Our time is limited. We have to rescue the people before the dungeon closes. We’ll divide the team into two.” Tae-Jin’s black eyes filled with resolve. He turned around and said, “Wang Chen will be the second commander. Go back to the forked road from earlier and go down the third path! Now!”
“Grrr! Tae-Jin! I’ll stay here with y—”
“No! We don’t know what lies ahead, so we can’t have two people tied down here. Trust me, Tig!”
Tigrinus bit his lip, unable to fight back against Tae-Jin’s obstinacy.
Wang Chen stared at Tae-Jin with his blood-red eyes and said with certainty, “You’re... going to die.”
“Growl! Why would you say something like that?!” Tigrinus shouted at Wang Chen ragefully.
However, Tae-Jin simply held his lantern jaw up high and smiled brightly. “No, I’ll live, no matter what. I’m not the kind of man to die in a place like this.”
Impeto approached even closer and remarked, “Geheh! You sure are cheeky, human. Are you seriously saying you’ll keep me at bay? The likes of you? By yourself?”
“Hurry!” Tae-Jin shouted.
“Dammit!” Hector shouted.
“Growl! Tae-Jin! Just keep him at bay for as long as you can and run away!” Tigrinus implored.
“I... wish you luck,” Wang Chen mumbled.
“Stay safe!” Sang-Sik said.
The four of them quickly turned back and ran the way they had come.
“No, you don’t!” Impeto shouted, pushing off the ground to catch them.
Just then, a grey silhouette blocked his path. A giant lowland gorilla swung his giant fist at Impeto. The fist of justice struck Impeto, sending him tumbling across the floor.
GRAAAAAHHH!
“Wahaha! The enemies will only see my front, and my comrades will only see my back!” Tae-Jin laughed as he tensed his core and verbalized his conviction.
His black eyes, filled with unwavering resolve, glared at Impeto.
“Gehehehe! Your eyes... I like them!” Impeto chuckled as he stood up, shaking off the dirt and pieces of rock.
His Blood Force boiled from seeing a sacrifice filled with vigor.
[Activating Race Skill: Blood Control.]
Blood poured out from each of his pores and floated in the air. A wave of blood instantly filled the corridor and surrounded Tae-Jin.
Tae-Jin calmly took deep breaths and shouted, “LET’S GO, SILVER!”
ROOOAR!
The silverback gorilla, Silver, charged toward Tae-Jin’s back.
[Activating Unique Skill: Beastification.]
[Silver.]
Tae-Jin transformed; he was covered with thick grey skin, his arms were thicker than telephone poles, and his back was vividly silver.
“HAAAAAHHH!” Tae-Jin shouted as he clashed his fists together to activate another skill.
[Activating Unique Skill: Silver Back.]
Tae-Jin’s back flashed with a silver light, explosively amplifying his mana. The skill, Silver Back, amplified his mana whenever there was someone he needed to protect behind him. Mystical silver mana wrapped both his fists. The silver mana he was exuding undid his hairband, and his long black hair rose toward the sky.
“A true man talks with his back!” Tae-Jin shouted.
He needed to become someone with a dependable back. He had learned that life lesson from Silver, the silverback gorilla.
***
A massive wave of people poured out from a giant octagonal pillar, the entrance of the dungeon, Progenitor’s Sanctuary.
“Ahhh! Run away!”
“Help me!”
“Run for your lives!”
Rubens Plaza, Lunatic’s central plaza, was currently the epitome of pandemonium. An unexpected wave of evacuees filled the plaza, and the pandemonium made it difficult for those in Lunatic to understand what had occurred in Blood Castle. They had only found out from the fleeing people that the dungeon closure had commenced.
“W-what the hell is going on?”
“Apparently, the dungeon is closing!”
“Blood Castle is closing? There’s no way! That place should be under Consanguineus’s complete control!”
Lunatic’s moonlight illuminated the confused vampires, making their faces even paler than usual. Not only that, but the forces of Underground, who had received a reinforcement request from the members of the intelligence division, were appearing in Lunatic one after another.
“There is an emergency! An army is approaching from the city outskirts!”
“Humans, dwarves, and elves were spotted!”
“Where are the aristocrats?!”
“We’re being invaded! Contact the Sēmen immediately!”
“Defense forces, assemble!”
Three individuals were hastily exiting the pandemonium that was Lunatic. They were Glasya-Labolas, Taizet, and Choi Hee-Gyeong.
“We greet Master Glasya Labolas, the President of Butchers!” shouted a group of a little over ten individuals.
They were a mix of men and women, each with horns growing from their temples, and they exuded Demon Force as they smiled nastily. The voices of each demon were filled with exhilaration from the thought of war.
“The Underground army is marching toward Lunatic, President!”
“Gehehe! It’s time for war! Let’s run wild to our heart’s content!”
“Ahaha! As long as you will it, I will personally sprint to the palace and bring those starved demons here, President!”
“Barbaria is making their move, too. Those sons of bitches must have joined forces! Necrophilia should also join forces with Consanguineus!”
“SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!” Glasya-Labolas shouted. “Necrophilia will withdraw from this war!”
“Pardon?”
“What do you...”
“President! Is it because we lack justification? Isn’t that why you had Abyete infiltrate Consanguineus?”
“That’s right! Not even the Sēmen will be able to reprimand—”
“That is... not the issue!” Glasya-Labolas shouted, appearing more impatient than enraged.
The Supreme One is watching! He has expressed interest in this battle! Glasya-Labolas shouted inwardly, still feeling as if the green eye shining from the abyss were still observing him.
He still recalled what Curiositas had told him with his gut-wrenchingly chilling voice.
“Send word to Doom. Since it has been a while, I want to meet him.”
Glasya-Labolas groaned. Curiositas was a natural disaster—one to be avoided, not to face head-on.
“President?” one of his subordinates called.
“Withdraw all forces from Lunatic immediately!” Glasya-Labolas shouted.
“Pardon? But—”
“One more word, and I will butcher you all!”
The demons expressed dissatisfaction, but kept their mouths shut due to Glasya-Labolas’s ferocious attitude.
“Where is Gula?” Glasya-Labolas asked.
“Madam Gula is... in our lord’s territory, Kakus.”
“I heard she was holding a memorial or something.”
“Taizet! Go to Kakus and bring Gula with you to the palace!” Glasya-Labolas shouted.
“Kakus... Kakus... in the northern fifth zone, right? Kikik! It’s very far from here. Okay, I’ll go!”
[Activating Unique Skill: Hellfire Wings.]
A pair of wings made of black flames sprouted from Taizet’s back. Taizet leaped and flew away from Lunatic without looking back.
Glasya-Labolas stared at Taizet, getting further away, and mumbled, “Cheon Seong-Hwi... Cheon Seong-Hwi! What the hell is he?! How is he connected to the Supreme One?!”
Hee-Gyeong could only blink dumbfoundedly beside him.
I didn’t know... Card was this influential, she thought.
Seong-Hwi had the massive superpower, Necrophilia, and the demons, a superior race, trembling in fear. Hee-Gyeong was in disbelief, and... a little proud that Seong-Hwi was a human like her.
***
[Time remaining until closure.]
[20:33:42]
[20:33:41]
[20:33:40]
...
The more time flew by, the more it hit people that the party was over. Everyone was escaping the dungeon in confusion. It was an unbelievable sight for the Night of the Full Moon, which had always been clamorous and filled with vigor.
The private chamber inside the Palace of Sovereignty was silent once the swarm of people had left.
Semita Sigillum, an old man in a tuxedo, darted his eyes anxiously and shouted, “H-how could this have h-happened?!”
Grawamen Dirae, a bald, scrawny man covered in scabs and pus, answered, “The detached palace... was attacked. In an instant, no less. By just a single attack.”
“H-how does that make any sense? I-it was under the s-strictest of protection!”
“I couldn’t find out who it was, but... they could control chaos scurvy.”
“T-that makes even l-less sense! Chaos scurvy is a disease formed by the mixture of B-Blood Force and C-Chaos Mana!”
Grawamen nodded. “Yes, it makes no sense. In the first place, chaos scurvy originated from Lord Mulleus. Could Lord Mulleus have been resurrected?”
“C-could it be t-that?”
Semita and Grawamen shifted their gaze to the middle of the chamber. Red moonlight entered from the arched stained glass ceiling. The fragmented light mystically illuminated the coffin in the center of the chamber, where all the brass pipes were connected like spiderwebs.
Semita swallowed his saliva and walked toward the coffin.
“I suggest you stop, Semita,” Grawamen said.
“A-aren’t you curious too, G-Grawamen? I-if Lord Mulleus is i-inside?!”
Grawamen remained silent.
“H-Haema said he’s been p-preparing something for a l-long time. I-I’m sure it’s this. He c-called us here to s-show us this!”
Semita swung open the coffin’s lid, and Grawamen did not stop him. Once Semita saw the mummy inside, he was certain about who it was.
“Ahhh! L-Lord Mulleus Rubens Sanguineus!”
“Correct,” said a voice from behind them.
Semita and Grawamen quickly turned around to find Haema staring at them with a smile.
“T-this is... I-I mean—”
“It’s okay. I called you both here to show you anyway,” Haema said.
“A-as I thought, this is Lord M-Mulleus!” Semita shouted.
Haema nodded and asked, “Where is Scite? I believe I had called the remaining three marquisdoms here.”
“We couldn’t get in touch with Scite Amor,” Grawamen reported.
Haema’s expression hardened momentarily, then immediately relaxed. “Well... fine. This should be enough of a spark.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“Do the two of you wish to see Lord Mulleus’s resurrection?” Haema asked his two brothers without answering Semita’s question.
Their eyes flashed.
“O-of course!” Semita shouted.
“I do! I wish to see the man of legends with my own eyes!” Grawamen shouted.
Haema smiled and replied, “Your wish shall be granted.”
He raised both arms, and the complex layout of brass pipes simultaneously exploded. Tens of thousands of tonnes of blood filled the chamber instantly, and Haema activated a skill.
[Activating Unique Skill: Blood Govern.]
Every single drop of blood became countless soldiers made with blood that fell from above like raindrops.
“H-hurgh!”
“What the—”
Semita and Grawamen, confused by the unexpected series of events, drew out their mana and Blood Force, but it was pointless.
[Activating Star Power: Blood Rule.]
[Recording the story of Blood Unification in the Akashic Records.]
[The Blood Moon restores the divided blood to its origin.]
The red crescent moon shone brightly over the skies of Blood Castle, writing an unavoidable history. Semita and Grawamen, who were about to activate their skills, froze in place.
“GAAAAAHHH!”
“GUUUUURGHHH!”
The blood soldiers, filled with a fatalistic power, fell toward them and ripped them apart into finely diced meat. Haema, who had killed his two brothers in an instant, expressionlessly outstretched his hand and extracted their blood, condensing it into small drops. He swirled them around his hand as he approached the coffin.
“It can’t be helped... Change of plans. I will resurrect him first... and replenish the blood later!”
[Activating Star Power: Blood Rule.]
Blood Rule was the power to establish rules on blood. In other words, Haema had absolute power over anything that could be done with blood. If used to the extreme, he could inscribe his entire existence, consciousness, and power into a single drop of blood.
Blood began to pool over the end of Haema’s index finger. At the same time, he, who used to be young and handsome, began to age and thin just like Lord Mulleus. Haema groaned for the last time before the drop of blood fell from his index finger. Haema’s body collapsed, turning into dust and scattering.
A teardrop-shaped red stone fell from where Haema was. On the other hand, the three drops of blood rose and entered the coffin and were absorbed into Mulleus’s mouth.
After a long silence, heartbeats echoed throughout the chamber, growing more intense from Mulleus, who had practically been a corpse until now. Blood perfused the skin that had been cracked like arid land, and the mummy opened his eyes.
A pair of rubies lay their eyes on the world. A storm of immense caliber spread the thickening scent of blood, writing great history.
Lord Mulleus—no, Lord Haema Sanguis shouted with his dry vocal cords, “I need... blood!”
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