132 – The Kingdom Where the Sun Does Not Rise – 2

It was only natural that the first to notice the smell of blood was Laura, who was leading the way.

“A battle has broken out between the other teams and the vampires. As expected, the vampires weren’t fools either. I can feel their presence all over the city.”

When she conveyed this to Patum and Lectus with hand signals, the reply, as expected, came back to ignore it and move forward.

Of course, stepping forward to help them would be tantamount to undoing the very meaning of their infiltration into the city—yet, for some reason, Gi-jun could not shake the feeling that Lectus had released the other two teams as bait from the very beginning.

If that were not the case, there would have been no reason to organize the formation around the three teams as soon as the other two were sent separately.

‘Although they are composed of only skilled individuals because of the danger, and they are moving with that risk in mind…’

Thanks to the vampires flocking to the other side, the three parties, including Gi-jun’s, were able to advance quickly.

If there was anyone else who was helpful besides Laura, it was Gin.

Having become quite proficient in using the Shadow Tracking left by Ruthven, Gin was able to move stealthily and conduct reconnaissance in the city shrouded in deep darkness.

Although Nabinya stomped her feet in envy as she watched Gin sink into the shadows right before her eyes.

“No matter how many times I see it, it is an amazing technique, nya. I want to learn it too, nya…”

“There will be a next opportunity for you, Nabinya.”

To be honest, now that Gin had begun to show his capabilities and act as a scout, it could be said that Nabinya’s position had become awkward.

If only Gin did not have a cheat-like skill like Shadow Tracking, Nabinya’s purely innate stealth and infiltration skills were overwhelming, and if Nabinya had possessed Shadow Tracking, she might have truly grown into a Cait Sith who surpassed Boots.

Through the course of the tutorial, Gi-jun had gained one precious realization, which was that the person who absolutely needed a skill was not necessarily the one to obtain it.

In the end, one had no choice but to somehow get by with only what was given to them.

‘That’s why the four in Min-i’s party are scary right now. Based on the information they gathered in the first round of the tutorial, they picked and chose only the skills they truly wanted in the second round.’

Laura, who sensitively read the presence of the vampires and guided them along paths without them, and Gin, who took the lead in reading the geography that she could not perfectly cover.

On top of that, the vigilance toward this side became relatively lax as the other two parties were discovered by the vampires and engaged in battle.

The three parties were able to close the distance to the giant castle in the center of the city in a single breath.

As they advanced toward the castle against the backdrop of the desolate, dark-red sky and the faint noise of battle echoing from various parts of the dead-silent city, Gi-jun fell into the illusion that they were a hero party infiltrating the demon realm to face the Demon King.

No, perhaps it wasn’t completely wrong.

“Are the buildings filling the city just decorations? Or did the vampires who originally lived here all go out to deal with the expeditionary force?”

Ji-hye, who had been extremely tense at the thought of having to face the entire Vampire Kingdom if things went wrong, seemed to have such questions because the stealth was proceeding too smoothly.

Laura, who had been injected with basic common sense about vampires and information about Valahia while being fed on by Carmilla, could not answer Ji-hye’s question immediately and made a troubled expression.

“That’s… well…”

“There aren’t many decent buildings, right? Vampires, who love vanity and luxury, probably wouldn’t be satisfied with a place like this.”

The one who answered in her stead was Tilla.

Having accumulated a lot of experience and developed her intuition while traveling all over Leta, she was even seeing through the inner thoughts of creatures like vampires.

“This city is probably just one giant livestock pen.”

“A livestock pen… No way.”

The livestock raised by vampires would certainly not be ordinary animals.

Ji-hye gritted her teeth as she imagined the identity of the livestock that would fill a city large enough to be called a small kingdom.

Evidence supporting Tilla’s deduction soon emerged.

The doors of many buildings opened all at once, and people began walking out from within.

Weak humans were the most common, but various races such as Orcs, beastmen, and dwarves were mixed in… The common point was that a red energy lingered in all of their eyes.

“They are already completely brainwashed by blood magic… Since the two parties were discovered, they must have released them to find the other intruders.”

One couldn’t help but applaud even the vampires for their wise judgment and prompt action, but the problem was that the group’s location was on the verge of being exposed in no time by the radar net starting to spread in all directions.

Fortunately, Laura was here.

“[Do not perceive me and my companions.]”

As Laura’s Blood Power transformed into a basic instruction that could hardly even be called blood magic and spread out, the vampire puppets that had been wandering around powerlessly looking around wore even blanker expressions.

Laura experimentally extended her arm within their field of vision, but they did not even cast a glance at it.

When her gaze met Gi-jun’s, he nodded and followed her, and the creatures similarly failed to perceive him.

Next, Lectus’s and Patum’s parties were also tested in turn, obtaining the same response.

“I wondered if I had to specify all fifteen people one by one, but fortunately, it seems to have activated according to my will.”

“Does this mean we don’t have to worry about them anymore?”

“Unless a vampire of a higher status than me has personally cast blood magic on all these puppets one by one, probably yes. However, Carmilla, who is my sire, might react sensitively to my Blood Power. As I mentioned earlier, it wouldn’t be strange if we were discovered and entered battle at any moment.”

Laura replied in an apologetic tone, looking troubled under the admiring gazes pouring from the group—but the group was already extremely grateful just to be able to avoid that wide-range search.

“Now is our chance, while the enemies believe they are searching for us effectively. Move as fast as possible.”

“Agreed.”

“Let us go immediately.”

The suicide squad dashed through the crowd of humans who were no different from the dead, heading toward the castle.

In fact, Laura had thought it wouldn’t be strange for Carmilla to appear at any moment, and upon realizing that she was not making a single movement despite her presence being clearly felt, she felt an indescribable, bizarre emotion.

‘Is she waiting for me to come? Or did she lose interest after tormenting me so much?’

Either way, it was infuriating.

If she intended to pretend not to know, she would go find her herself and beat that lovely head of hers until she recognized her.

No, until her head was crushed and she died.

Laura muttered her adversary’s name in a low voice, laced with a murderous intent and hatred that she couldn’t fully hide.

“Carmilla…”

Perhaps thanks to Carmilla’s carelessness, the group had reached the vicinity of the inner castle wall protecting the castle rising in the center of the city without any trouble.

The blood mist cast over the entire city grew thicker as they approached the castle, to the point where it was now difficult to see even ten meters ahead.

Even the pitiful puppets brainwashed by the vampires’ blood magic had not been able to approach this far.

Once they infiltrated the castle, they would have to reveal their identities and go wild anyway, so the infiltration operation was already a great success.

From now on, only a bloody battle awaited them.

“It went so surprisingly smoothly that it’s actually making me anxious.”

“The other two teams drawing attention played a part, but it was also possible because the majority of the vampire forces have withdrawn. It’s thanks to Jun’s party member.”

“The problem starts from now…”

Having reunited for now, the three parties took a breath and looked up at the inner wall.

The material of the castle wall was identical to that of the outer wall wrapping around the entire city, which meant it would be difficult to pass through without Laura.

Having spotted the vampires guarding the wall, moving with almost no sign of presence, the members of the suicide squad reviewed their plan once more.

Although they wished to wait for the arrival of the other two parties if possible, the sounds they were making were echoing from far away.

Rather than missing the timing while waiting for their arrival, it would be better for them to charge in on their own first.

—Fufu… I am looking forward to this.

“Why is she suddenly acting like this again?”

When the evil spirit suddenly let out a gloomy laugh without any warning, Gi-jun muttered in shock.

With Lucy, who would normally curse at the evil spirit with him, currently elsewhere, he was incredibly sad that he had to endure the strangely sticky whispers of the evil spirit all by himself.

—Kii, kikit.

“Right, Ur was here.”

Perhaps because they were fellow spiritual entities, did he read her inner thoughts?

Ur reported that he felt an emotion from the evil spirit that seemed somehow confident and full of anticipation.

Based on his past experiences, Gi-jun knew that the evil spirit would act for his sake rather than harm him, so he could only tilt his head in confusion at the report that she was holding anticipation rather than worry.

‘Could it be that everything up until now was a long, long build-up, and she’s finally trying to harm me… No, that can’t be.’

Gi-jun realized that he still did not know much about the evil spirit.

He knew a bit about her past, but what mattered was her current state as an evil spirit.

Perhaps the evil spirit possessed some ability that could be effectively used against the vampires…

‘At first, I ignored her as simply ominous, but at this rate, maybe I should treat the evil spirit as something akin to my spirit.’

Having paid the price for her sins and died anyway, now that she was an evil spirit, she had cast off her past self and was acting solely for Gi-jun, so perhaps he should openly accept her.

Of course, he still couldn’t completely shake the lingering discomfort, but…

“Then, Priestess, may I ask this of you?”

“Yes, right away… Ugh.”

Laura, who had placed her hand on the inner wall built of blood-colored bricks, suddenly clutched her head in pain.

“He saw us! The entity at the top of the castle… the Lord of Thorns!”

“It is something we were prepared for. As soon as we break through the wall, we will divide by party and charge into the castle! Minimize combat and target the executives!”

Laura ignored the pain and opened the wall.

The moment the three parties crossed the wall and entered the inner castle grounds all at once, ghouls filling the castle courtyard greeted them as if they had been waiting!

“Kiaaaaak!”

“The fresh smell of a living human’s blood…!”

“Give it to me, to me too!”

Undaunted by the wave of ghouls numbering easily in the tens of thousands, Patum thrust his greatsword forward, spraying a golden flame imbued with the dignity of a dragon in a straight line, completely pulverizing all the ghouls in its path.

He swung his greatsword here and there, bouncing the ghouls approaching them like pinballs, breaking down another corner of the wave as he shouted in a resounding voice.

“Run!”

However, it was not just ghouls that threatened them.

The Lord of Thorns must have informed the vampires upon detecting the intruders, as high-grade vampires could be seen descending from the castle with their bat wings spread wide, not to mention the vampires atop the castle walls.

—Humans, a werewolf, disgusting energy of light and flames! Even a Draconian!

—To think they reached all the way here without being detected by anyone…!

—Wait, that girl? She smells of Carmilla.

—Carmilla, Carmilla…? She lost her split soul right now and is half-crippled.

—That one must be related to it. How interesting!

“Lost her split soul…?”

At the words they spoke while baring their fangs, Laura muttered, dumbfounded.

As she possessed basic common sense about vampires, she understood what those words meant in an instant.

Losing the split soul invested in creating a clone meant, in other words,

that most of the memories of her activities as that clone could not be recovered.

“Did she really… forget about me…?”

Even though she was the one who turned my values upside down, messed up my head, and made me suffer from damn impulses.

Did she herself completely forget her memories of Laura?

How… how was that possible?

It was absolutely unacceptable.

Carmilla, she had to clearly realize how terrible what she had done to Laura was.

She had to meet the most miserable death as a consequence of the mistake she had made.

Yet, she forgot.

If that were the case, wouldn’t it be no different from being murdered by a robber who suddenly broke into one’s home?

She was someone who must not die an unjust death.

She had to die while clearly recognizing the punishment Laura was inflicting upon her!

“Carmilla…!”

—Huhuhu…

At the exact same time Laura gritted her teeth in anger, the evil spirit’s laughter grew louder.

Gi-jun felt like he knew how Carmilla’s split soul or whatever had perished because of the evil spirit’s voice that only he could hear, but he decided to keep his mouth shut for Laura’s sake for now.

Instead, he placed his hand on his mask.

Was it time now?

No, it was still too early.

Those guys could be sufficiently burned with just the flames of a Flame Human.

“Tilla.”

“Fufu, leave it to me.”

The next moment, after Tilla’s eyes reflected the bats flying in from the sky.

—Aaaaargh?!

—D-Divinity? No, something far more terrible than that… Kiaaaak!

The authority of the Divine Flame Eyes, which only she had bloomed among all Flame Humans, burned away the wings of all enemies caught in her sight!

It was the fiery debut stage of a Flame Human who had reached the legendary realm.