105 – A New Persona – 5

The sight of the boy, youth, mature, middle-aged, and elderly vampire hunters stepping freely through a space with neither floor nor ceiling and rushing forward was truly a grand spectacle.

Furthermore, how amusing it was to experience, on the spot, the stages of a single person’s growth throughout their lifetime.

Perhaps because dhampirs were also a type of vampire and aged slowly, most of them had reached their youth and prime—and it was amusing how even their combat styles, marksmanship, and swordsmanship proficiencies varied in detail.

“Once they reach a certain point in their youth, their pistols change.”

―Ah, it really is. It must be the pistol that the vampire from earlier was using. How fortunate, Contractor! It looks like he avenged his mother!

Lucy clapped her hands in admiration, as if she had been fully immersed in the play that had unfolded in that short span of time.

Yet, contrary to her naive admiration, even at this very moment, she was combining Gi-jun’s spiritual power with her own spirit power to conjure and wield a whip of light, knocking away the enemy bullets flying from all directions and shooting spears of light in the gaps to smash them.

“Each one of them is weak, but since those who have mastered the same abilities coordinate their moves perfectly, they’re tricky. Tsk—!”

Gi-jun wielded his two shields to block all the bullets Lucy failed to deflect, and he extended fangs infused with light and fire to strike down those who drew near to slash him.

All his movements were visibly faster than before, because he was currently riding the griffin, which increased all his speeds by 20% due to the effect of the ‘Griffin Rider’ title.

Gi-jun calmed Fortis, who was trying to run wild with excitement, and sat on its back to fight using only his upper body, appearing as natural as if he had lived on a griffin’s back his entire life.

―Contractor, watch out!

“It’s fine.”

Although he had reduced their numbers significantly, there were still many enemies left.

As was common in such situations, the more their numbers dwindled, the stronger the mana of each individual became, and naturally, the power contained in the bullets they fired or the swords they swung also grew stronger.

Gi-jun smiled broadly as he faced the bullets flying from all directions with perfect timing to leave him no room to breathe, and the sharp, gleaming sword blades rushing in to prevent him from blocking.

‘This is definitely much more fun than experiencing a play.’

He read the trajectories of every attack that entered his field of vision.

Immediately after distinguishing between what could be avoided and what had to be blocked.

He concentrated Ur’s spirit power to create a barrier of fire in front.

―Kiiiiiiiiii!

Ur’s flames burned away all attacks coming from a certain direction, and the enemies shrank back at the appearance of this unexpected variable.

“Now!”

At that moment, the shield he threw forward moved strangely in midair, twisting and disrupting the trajectories of dozens of bullets.

His throwing skill, which had been limited to just flying out quickly and returning back when he first raised it to Rare rank, had now become capable of creating subtle changes in midair multiple times, reflecting his will.

―Ting! Ti-ti-ting!

Even more surprising was that some of the bullets deflected by the spinning shield canceled out other bullets, while others flew toward the swordsmen lunging from all sides and stopped their movements.

And taking advantage of the moment they hesitated—the shield held in Gi-jun’s remaining arm turned into sharp fangs and quickly smashed their heads!

―They’re down to less than half!

“It starts now.”

―Piyoooooooooo!

As the number of enemies dwindled and their movements grew faster, Fortis, who had been quiet until now, finally began to move in earnest.

Against the enemies who stepped freely in midair as if it were solid ground and utilized the space, the griffin also performed three-dimensional movements while carrying Gi-jun.

Befitting a griffin, the lord of the skies, it manipulated wind-attribute mana at will and could move its body freely with just the light folding and unfolding of its wings, even generating powerful winds to stop the enemies’ movements or divert the trajectories of incoming bullets.

“With this, there’s no need for a wind spirit.”

―Once they’re a phantasmal species, they’re practically half spirit anyway.

Would Fortis be able to manipulate even stronger winds if it grew more?

Gi-jun idly thought about such things while parrying the attacks of the enemies who rushed with an even stronger aura than before, immediately stabbing them to death with the fangs.

Come to think of it, the same went for Nabinya, who had signed a master-servant contract with him.

Excluding the party, the connections growing together with him, including his contracted spirits Lucy and Ur, had increased this much.

‘Although they are still just promising rookies right now…’

He chuckled as he imagined a future where Nabinya and Fortis would grow to the level of wiping out groups on their own, and threw his shield again.

This time, it was purely to keep them at bay, but surprisingly, Fortis added speed to the flying shield with a flap of its wings, blowing off the head of an enemy in its path.

‘Oh, wait.’

Gi-jun did not miss the fact that Fortis’s mana reacted with the light mana he infused into the shield, becoming even stronger.

He had been thinking that the griffin seemed to accept light mana well ever since he first rode it in the sky… but could this perhaps be a clue leading to its growth?

“Okay, Fortis. Let’s do this properly!”

―Piyoooooooooo!

Fortis cried out loudly and charged, stepping through the air.

The number of remaining enemies was barely in the double digits by now.

Now each and every one of them boasted strength of Unique rank or higher, making him wonder if it wouldn’t have been much simpler to just play along with the theater of the vampire hunter’s life as this ruin wanted, but—

‘No one can interfere with my body and mind at will.’

Even as Fortis let out a brave cry and thrust forward its front paw equipped with sharp claws,

Even as Lucy drew out Gi-jun’s spiritual power all at once to light up the dark space and conjured dozens of chains of light to bind their movements,

Even as Ur, having reached Unique rank, compressed and re-compressed his even stronger flames to reliably eliminate each target one by one,

Even as Gi-jun wielded his two shields, which had become extremely hard and sharp through the use of Adamant, deflecting the enemy bullets and driving the fangs into their hearts,

―Tick, tock

He could feel his unique power operating constantly, making the loud sound of ticking clock hands.

Did they call it a unique domain?

Gi-jun was trying to suppress and overcome the space, which the vampire hunter had ruled entirely with his own power, by enforcing his own will.

Was this not indeed a step closer to the overman that Gi-jun dreamed of?

“If you have something you want to convey, don’t unilaterally force it on me; try convincing me directly with your own mouth—!”

Forcing a tragic past and emotionally assimilating someone would only end up creating a minor copy of oneself.

Humans were at their strongest only when they fought with their own will.

Gi-jun disliked vampires and intended to do his best to drive them out of Gratia, but that had to be done by his own will, not anyone else’s.

He performed the quest because it suited the path he was walking.

This meant he had no intention of empathizing with the vampire hunter just to slay vampires better!

―Crunch

Falling vertically from above, the fang crushed the head of the elderly vampire hunter.

After a bloody battle lasting nearly several hours, all of the many dhampirs vanished, leaving only a single mature vampire hunter who possessed the most perfect physical abilities and experienced skills.

“I understand your will well.”

Surprisingly, the lone remaining vampire hunter, unlike the ones who had died so far, spoke to him with a very vivid appearance, grinding his teeth.

“So you have no intention of inheriting my will, and came all this way only coveting my abilities.”

“I will hunt vampires. Purely of my own will.”

―I really respect that steel-like will of the Contractor…

It would have been fine to give at least a word of lip service to the clone of the vampire hunter, who must have had his life ruined by vampires and dedicated all of his remaining life to hunting them.

Watching Gi-jun stubbornly stick to his will as if his neck would fly off if he lied, even Lucy could only shake her head in amazement.

Yet, at that sight, the vampire hunter, Krat van Helsing, ended up chuckling instead.

“Yes, a vampire hunter should at least be of that caliber.”

He reached out with the hand not holding the pistol and gripped the empty air.

“In that case—excluding everything else, prove that will with purely your own strength against me, who am close to perfection.”

The moment he tore the air, Gi-jun felt that all the threads connecting him to the outside had been severed.

Not only did Fortis, who was carrying him, disappear, but the figures of Lucy and Ur also vanished without a trace.

Was that all? Even the mask he was wearing was stripped away, returning him to the form of a pure human.

“Ah.”

Fortunately, Gi-jun, confirming that his armor and two shields remained as they were, smirked and nodded.

“Excluding everything else, you say.”

“It’s too late to regret.”

Before they knew it, the two were standing on the very plain where the youth had faced the countless pouring ghouls earlier.

Because the medal that formed the axis of the space and was interfered with by Gi-jun’s power was in his pocket, the background was shimmering here and there, but this time Gi-jun had no intention of disrupting it.

He smiled broadly as he faced the vampire hunter, who was standing a short distance away, holding the pistol he had obtained after killing his own father in one hand and a sharp straight sword in the other.

“I want to say just one thing.”

“Speak.”

“If you’re going to drop only one of the two, I hope it’s the pistol. One of my companions uses a pistol.”

That companion, of course, referred to Gin.

If he told Gin, the boy would be startled and say there was no need, but Gi-jun still harbored a secret guilt, thinking that his own immaturity had caused Gin’s parents to die and twisted his fate.

He already felt sorry for not paying much attention to Gin lately… how happy would the boy be if he brought him that pistol, which clearly overflowed with history and ‘karma’?

A werewolf fighting with the pistol Vladimir left by Ruthven in one hand and the pistol left by the legendary vampire hunter Krat van Helsing in the other.

It was a combination that deserved applause just by imagining it.

“You would give this precious thing to someone else? Truly an absurd junior from beginning to end. I cannot believe you are a vampire hunter despite that.”

Krat spoke, shaking his head at the absurd words.

Hearing those words, Gi-jun recalled how he had been scanned by the key before entering the ruins.

As expected, the entry condition for these ruins was the title ‘Vampire Hunter’!

Thinking about it calmly, it was only natural given that the ruins were prepared for a vampire hunter.

“But if you keep having such lax thoughts, your skull will be crushed.”

Even though Gi-jun was sincere, Krat seemed to take it as a provocation, coloring one of his eyes red like that of a vampire as he raised his energy.

Blood power, which Gi-jun was now quite familiar with dealing with but gave off a subtly different feeling from that of vampires, swirled around Krat’s entire body, greatly amplifying his overall abilities.

At this point, it was vastly different from his clones that he had faced so far.

“My power is strongest against vampires, but that doesn’t mean it’s weak against humans… Prepare yourself!”

The moment a bullet filled with red energy was fired.

Gi-jun, who dodged the bullet by lightly tilting his head, also kicked off the ground strongly and raised his light mana.

It was true that the opponent had become incomparably stronger than before now that all the power that maintained the unique domain was concentrated, but it was also true that Gi-jun had experienced his combat methods and skills by facing his clones for several hours.

“I’m already used to it—!”

The two shields worn on his arms emitted a dazzling light and transformed into giant fangs.

However, Gi-jun, who was charging wildly toward him like a beast, let out a chuckle when he felt the bullet he had dodged earlier turn in the air and fly toward the back of his head.

Immediately after, the shield he threw without even looking back hit the bullet accurately and turned it to dust.

If it was unavoidable, the only choice was to block and break everything!

“What…!”

“Let’s see whose skull gets crushed!”

Gi-jun, who retrieved his shield, thrust forward his fangs with shining eyes.

The vampire hunter also swung his straight sword and aimed his pistol in response, showing a fierce smile on his lips.

Dozens more gunshots rang out after that.

Before the divine metal could break, it stopped.