When his darkened vision returned, what entered his sight was a world blanketed in darkness everywhere.
That did not mean it was a void.
The solid ground beneath his feet and the moon floating overhead clearly showed this place was another world.
[ Due to the effect of Original Vampir, you are not affected by darkness restriction effects. ]
His vision was secured.
It was an effect produced by Vampire Blood.
And in addition—
[ You are receiving moonlight. ]
[ The Rune of the Moon reacts. ]
[ The Power of the Moon is activated. ]
[ You receive the Blessing of the Moon. ]
[ All stats increase by 2%. ]
[ All recovery abilities increase by 2%. ]
[ Ice attribute is activated. ]
[ Darkness attribute is activated. ]
Due to the trait effect of the Sun-Moon Body, the Rune of the Moon activated and granted additional effects.
‘So that moon must contain magical power.’
An ordinary moon would never produce these kinds of effects.
Only a special moon infused with magical power could trigger them.
Because of that, it really felt like he had properly arrived at the correct place for the Vampire Blood Trait Quest.
Before summoning his subordinates, Su-ho checked the information regarding the fourth authority engraved into Vampire Blood.
As he did, several things caught his attention.
[ High Blood ]
Rank : S# The fourth authority of the awakened Vampire Blood and the High Blood of Levan de Nosferatu.
# Vampires are born with their ranks predetermined. High Blood are chosen beings that only those of the highest class may possess.
# Vampires possessing High Blood do not take damage from ordinary sunlight, silver, holy water, crosses, or garlic.
# Vampires possessing High Blood can dominate lower-ranked vampires through sheer power.
# Vampires possessing High Blood possess the strongest grade of power among identical bloodline techniques.
# Having inherited the blood of a true High Blood, all vampire traits have been further strengthened.
# By inheriting the blood of High Blood, your blood itself has taken on the nature of High Blood.
[ Price of Power ]
Rank : S# One of the possessed abilities of Levan de Nosferatu, the fourth authority of awakened Vampire Blood.
# Through a transaction with Levan de Nosferatu, you obtained his High Blood.
# Therefore, several conditions are attached to the use of Levan de Nosferatu’s High Blood.
# The first condition: against vampires who believe the prophecy and oppress or despise him, the Rage effect is additionally applied, increasing abilities by 20%, while instinctively allowing the detection of High Blood.
# The second condition: if you are defeated by, submit to, or sympathize with the prophecy upheld by the vampires who oppress and despise him, you will lose all Vampire Blood traits due to Levan de Nosferatu’s curse.
# The third condition will be revealed once all High Blood vampires are killed.
The third condition attached to Price of Power.
What could it be?
Most likely, it referred to the final ability hidden within the Vampire Blood contained in Price of Power.
To summarize, this mission was about killing all High Blood.
‘And if I lose, I lose everything.’
An all-or-nothing situation.
Su-ho spoke briefly.
“Come out.”
“We answer your command.”
At Su-ho’s order, four figures emerged.
The mutt Roynan, and Shuraia, Seorio, and Periotin, who had once served him.
The moment they arrived here, they instinctively realized this was the world they had once lived in, and their hearts swelled.
Su-ho asked,
“Mutt.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Where is this place?”
“Yes, this place is known as Noctarion.”
“Noctarion?”
“Yes. Noctarion Empire is the name of the world where we live.”
“I see.”
Just as Roynan said.
Noctarion was the name of the sole empire existing in the world inhabited by vampires carrying Vampire Blood.
‘Calling it an empire when there’s only one country is pretty ridiculous.’
But what did that matter?
If they wanted to call it that, then fine.
Su-ho continued.
“Alright. Then where exactly are we within Noctarion?”
“This is...”
Roynan examined the surroundings before narrowing his brow.
“Judging by the smell of lowly blood, I believe this is Lowfield, outside the Iron Line.”
“Lowfield?”
“To explain simply, the Noctarion Empire is backed against a massive crimson mountain range called Red Maria...”
A long explanation followed.
Put simply, the structure was like this:
Red Maria → Middle Town → First Line → First Town → Second Line → Second Town → Third Line → Third Town → Iron Line → Lowfield
Among them, the temple existed in Middle Town.
The royal palace stood in First Town.
Second Town housed the Noble Palace for aristocratic vampires.
Third Town was where the Normal class and other lower classes lived.
Lowfield was literally the outdoors.
“Then where was Helldown located?”
“Helldown was built alone, quite far away from Noctarion.”
“Don’t tell me they isolated it from the empire because Levan was the Cursed Prince?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“That’s seriously vicious.”
At the word vicious, Roynan laughed awkwardly.
“So our current location is Lowfield?”
“Yes. Lowfield is inhabited by lowly Vampirs lacking intelligence.”
Vampirs.
Not vampires, but beings possessing vampiric traits.
The difference between vampires and Vampirs lay in sapience.
The difference between intelligence and sapience was that intelligence centered on cognitive abilities like language, mathematics, spatial awareness, logical reasoning, and memory, whereas sapience included deeper contemplation, critical thinking, and value judgment rather than simple calculation.
‘People say monkeys are intelligent, not sapient.’
In that sense, Vampirs truly were mindless creatures.
They lived almost entirely by instinct.
“Do Vampirs attack vampires too?”
“They attack the Normal and Under classes.”
“I understand Normal, but what’s Under?”
“It refers to a slave class punished after being demoted below commoners for committing crimes.”
“So there aren’t ordinary slaves?”
“No. There are no slaves in Noctarion without reason.”
The Under class was a type of punishment.
A class created by higher ranks who could kill others anytime they wished, yet deliberately chose instead to inflict prolonged humiliation and suffering.
Having roughly understood Noctarion, Su-ho nodded.
“So to wipe out those High Blood bastards, we’ll have to break through every Line and reach Middle Town whether we like it or not.”
“That is correct.”
“There’s something I’m curious about.”
“Please command me.”
“Judging by the way you talk, this place seems to have a very strict class system. So does that mean Normals and Unders are loyal to the higher ranks?”
“It is closer to submission than loyalty.”
“That’s even worse. Forced?”
“It is instinct engraved into the blood.”
“That’s the worst.”
“It is not always so terrible. Unless something truly exceptional occurs, the classes within each Line... especially the Normals, only encounter the royal family perhaps once every several decades.”
“What’s the point? It’s still forced submission.”
Su-ho thought briefly before nodding.
“I just hope they don’t get in my way.”
“What kind of interference do you mean?”
“The other bastards might interfere while I’m hunting the High Blood. You said your class system is absolute and based on submission, right? Then those High Blood bastards might sacrifice lower classes to block my attacks.”
“The High Blood value dignity highly, so I do not think they would do something like that...”
“Talking back?”
“N-No.”
“Fine. Whatever the case, as long as they don’t interfere, I’ll let them live. Otherwise... well, they’ll only have themselves to blame. More importantly, mutt.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You came from High Blood too, so you know, right? About how many vampires exist in Noctarion, and who the strongest vampire is.”
“Yes. I know roughly.”
“Spit it out.”
“To be honest, I never cared enough to count the Under and Normal classes, but I know approximately about the noble classes and above.”
“How many?”
“I believe there are around three thousand. About two thousand of them are nobles.”
“Then are there a thousand High Blood?”
“No. To explain in more detail, the vampires residing in Second Town consist of nobles and royals. Above them, in First Town, are the royal family, the High Blood, and the priests.”
“But you said nobles number two thousand?”
“Yes. And the royals and royal family total around seven hundred, while there are approximately two hundred fifty High Blood and fifty priests.”
“What a packed lineup. But hearing it like this, you were actually pretty high-ranking yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“Then in your opinion, do you think I can take on all three thousand by myself?”
“With Master’s current power...”
Roynan glanced sideways at Su-ho.
Then he curled his lips inward before speaking.
“I apologize. I do not think I dare answer.”
“Really?”
“P-Please spare me. I truly cannot predict it...!”
“Who said anything?”
“Y-You’re sparing me?”
“Someone watching would think I’m some psychopath who kills people all the time.”
Su-ho narrowed his eyes.
This was not just anyone’s opinion—it was the opinion of a former High Blood.
Since Roynan had belonged to the highest ranks, his words were likely true.
Which made it disappointing.
Because if he really could have dealt with all of them alone, he had planned to skip a frontal assault entirely and simply ride Cheolma straight through.
But since Roynan believed that would not work, there was only one option left.
“Jack.”
- I’m listening.
“Looks like the only answer is a frontal breakthrough.”
- In that case, a lot of vampires are going to die.
“Does it matter?”
At those words, Jack grinned.
- Not at all. Not one bit.
“Right?”
Su-ho spoke to Roynan.
“Lead the way. To Noctarion.”
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