84 – 16 – Species Alliance – 4

Snap. The sound of chocolate snapping reached Lora’s ears sweetly.

A medicine that soothed the vampiric urge that surged whenever she was about to forget it, practically supporting what remained of Lora’s life as a human.

Although Lora had felt disgusted with herself thinking about the victim when she first ate this chocolate, as she ate it every day, even that emotion was now gradually fading.

―Delicious, isn’t it? If you’ve gotten used to that, how about sinking your teeth directly into a human’s neck next time and drinking their blood? It will definitely be much sweeter and tastier, Lo—ra.

‘Shut up, you trash.’

She had also grown accustomed to Carmilla’s voice, which rang out at all hours of the day.

Muttering curses to herself that she could never utter in front of Lord Jun, she chased the voice away.

She put a small broken-off piece of chocolate in her mouth and let it melt.

A surging joy, a faintly spreading sweetness, and the scent of blood.

A lingering craving, like a sticky thirst clinging to her throat that could not be quenched in the end.

―My lovely Lora, you won’t be able to hold out with just that forever. Conveniently, he is nearby, isn’t he? The one whose blood you want to suck.

‘Get lost.’

―It is such a shame that it is not me. Because… you know, right? The one a vampire wants to suck blood from is…

‘I said, get lost!’

She hurriedly put the remaining chocolate into her inventory to hide it and stood up.

It was because she felt the presence of someone approaching from a distance.

In the early dawn, there were only a few people, including herself, who would gather in the backyard of the rented lodging.

Soon, a young man appeared, twitching the two wolf ears that sprouted on his head, and greeted her.

“Miss Lora, you’re here early.”

“Did you sleep well, Gin?”

Lora also greeted him, feeling quite relieved that the person who appeared was someone other than Gi-jun.

At the same time, she checked to ensure the corners of her mouth had not loosened.

When she ate chocolate, her mood would become somewhat elevated, and if she were to show that face to someone else, she would want to die of shame.

Moreover, since she had also become agitated while chasing away Carmilla’s voice ringing in her head, she had to regain her composure somehow before Gi-jun arrived.

‘Calm down, calm down…’

“Um.”

Gin called out to Lora, who was patting her cheeks with both hands to adjust her expression, in a hesitant voice.

“Miss Lora? If you have any worries, I can listen to them.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, I’ve been in a similar situation to you before, Miss Lora… so it might help. Perhaps.”

“…”

At that moment, Lora prided herself on not screaming.

A similar situation? Of course, Gin did have some similarities to her, but she did not welcome him approaching her under the assumption that he could empathize with her situation.

After all, Gin did not feel the desire to suck the blood of someone he respected, nor was he tormented by a vampire who dug into his mind and spouted nonsense at every opportunity.

Although an urge surged within her to snap at him, demanding how well he knew her to talk such nonsense when he knew absolutely nothing—

“—Thank you. I’ll ask you if I ever feel like talking about it.”

Thinking that this surge of anger must also be Carmilla’s influence, Lora managed to suppress her feelings and reply with harmless words.

Even a fool would be able to tell that it was a polite rejection.

As Gin’s shoulders slumped in disappointment—Unica, whose shoulders were similarly slumped, made her appearance.

“Good morning, you two.”

“Uh, good morning…?”

“Are you alright, Lady Unica?”

“I am fine. Probably.”

Unica replied as if spitting out the words with a face that was not fine at all.

The reason she wore such an expression was simple, and could be seen by the fact that she had come here at this early hour—in the end, it was because Gi-jun had dragged even her into the training.

“Is everyone here? Where’s Ji-hye?”

Following that, the instigator who had gathered them all in one place, Gi-jun, appeared.

Scintilla, who was already nowhere to be seen when they woke up, was naturally clinging to his side.

‘Even though she has barely known Lord Jun, how dare she act so bold…!’

Lora muttered, gritting her teeth inwardly.

Honestly, it was an eyesore and highly annoying, but since it was to the point where even Gi-jun’s restraints were useless, it was not something Lora could resolve by stepping in.

Meanwhile, Unica, who had approached Gi-jun and finished her greetings, spoke.

“Miss Ji-hye said she would come down after finishing her makeup.”

“We’re going to be sweating and fighting right away anyway, so why on earth is she putting on makeup…?”

“Fufu, there are things even you do not know, Lord Jun. …Though I have also applied some light makeup.”

“What?!”

At Unica’s confession, Gi-jun looked back at Scintilla in silence, astonished.

She nodded to indicate that she, too, had put on makeup.

“No, why…? Won’t it all get ruined once we start training?”

“Jun. More than half of the female population on this continent are in combat classes, so wouldn’t cosmetics naturally be developed to match that?”

“I mean, but why?”

“There is the purpose of protecting the skin, but also because we want to look pretty. Especially to you right now.”

“I-I see…”

Overwhelmed by Scintilla’s heavy answer, Gi-jun stepped back slightly, then turned to Lora and asked.

“Lora, what about you?”

“I am still in the position of a priestess, after all… I hesitate a bit to adorn myself excessively.”

“I see.”

Lora also felt slightly better seeing Gi-jun heave a sigh of relief, but…

She soon realized that him being so relieved was not a very pleasant thing for her either.

‘Does he think of me as a child who doesn’t need makeup? I am an adult too…’

If Gi-jun knew what she was usually thinking, he would probably be startled.

Lora’s gaze lingered on the nape of Gi-jun’s neck.

How enticing was the nape of his neck, where healthy veins twitched clearly.

And what about his clearly defined collarbones revealed below it…

She swallowed her saliva with a gulp.

It was because she had imagined herself leaning against his firm shoulders and sinking her teeth—hard—into the nape of his neck, where sweet blood flowed.

‘No.’

She bit her lip, suppressing the urge.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of the chocolate she had hurriedly hidden due to Gin’s early appearance.

However, even if she wanted to slip away and eat the chocolate, she could not do so because of Ji-hye, who had just appeared fully armed.

“I’m here, Gi-jun oppa.”

“Then let’s begin today as well. Attack all at once. If you see an opening, attack without mercy!”

“No matter how much I think about it, this is a too brutish method, Lord Jun!”

“That’s not for you to say, since you were the one who suggested it. Now, everyone, come at me!”

“I did not mean that I wanted to fight you, Lord Jun—!”

As always, the sparring where everyone attacked Gi-jun—no, a small-scale raid—had begun.

Although Lora sighed, wondering if she could hold out until the training ended,

she knew that Gi-jun was by no means easy enough to face while having idle thoughts, so she drew her Decayed Moon and tried hard to empty her mind.

“Here I come, Lord Jun!”

And she, too, threw herself with all her might toward Gi-jun, who was already roaring as he flung all the other members back.

* * *

The idea that Unica came up with after listening to Nabinya, the Cat in Flat Shoes, was extremely simple yet mind-bogglingly difficult.

‘If the ranking is determined by the shock inflicted on Lord Jun, wouldn’t it be enough to wipe them out without getting hit even once?’

Hearing that, Nabinya wore an expression of disbelief, but Gi-jun thought it was quite plausible.

If only it succeeded, not only would no one be able to hold Gi-jun accountable, but it would also make it ambiguous to determine the winner of the faction war.

Gi-jun, who had been hesitating until the end since he did not know the detailed circumstances, also made up his mind at those words.

‘We can legally postpone the faction war without anyone getting hurt. We’ll achieve our goal while avoiding getting deeply involved in the complex affairs of the guild alliance.’

However, the reason no one prepared for such a possibility was that they could not dare to imagine that those participating in the faction war would be wiped out without even being able to touch Gi-jun.

However, Gi-jun was originally a master at blocking attacks, and he was the possessor of Adamant (L), which he confidently believed to be the pinnacle of defense-related skills.

‘I just need to be able to deflect attacks flying in from all directions without receiving the slightest shock.’

Gi-jun estimated the level of the goblin representative he had seen that day, and humbly admitted that if combatants of the same caliber as the species representative participated in the faction war, his current abilities would be insufficient to block them with zero damage.

Thus, for the two weeks remaining until the faction war,

he had taken on this brutish sparring schedule to sharply hone his evasion and defense capabilities in many-to-one situations, while also helping the members of Party Lumen and Unica grow.

―Kwooooooo!

A giant flame flew in along with the roar of the Red Flame Beast.

At the same time, from the left, Unica, who kicked off the ground and rushed in swiftly, thrust her foot forward, concentrated with dense mana at the tip of her slender leg.

From the right, Gin, clutching an axe reinforced and strengthened with the bones and teeth of a divine beast, charged forward, baring his teeth.

Their teamwork, including Unica’s, was gradually falling into place.

“Kyaah!”

“Ugh!”

However, the sharpness in each of their attacks was still lacking.

The shields held in Gi-jun’s hands swung with fierce force, easily knocking Unica and Gin back.

Immediately after, he infused holy fire into one of the shields and threw it straight ahead.

Spinning rapidly as it sliced through the air, the shield blocked the fireball shot by Scintilla, bursting into a bright flame—

“—Got you.”

“Ah!”

Lora, who had tried to ambush him from behind while he was blocking the fireball, was so flustered by Gi-jun’s rapid turn that her wrist holding the sword was grabbed just like that.

“Lord Jun… Aagh!”

“You shouldn’t let your guard down just because you got behind me.”

The moment she was caught by Gi-jun, the pink delusion that had rapidly bloomed in Lora’s head was twisted along with her wrist, rolling on the ground.

It was the price of temporarily forgetting that Gi-jun, who was usually gentle and gentlemanly, showed no mercy during training.

“Oppa, you’re the one who let your guard down!”

“Hmm?”

At that moment, along with Ji-hye’s shrill shout, Gi-jun felt a massive constraint of mana tightening around him.

While Gi-jun was dealing with the others, the magic she had woven with her Unique-grade mana had been completed, tightly binding both of his legs and arms!

―The Unfailing Body Clock resists the powerful magic attempting to bind the body—

―The Unfailing Body Clock resists the powerful magic attempting to bind the body—

“Oh, Ji-hye, when did you learn magic like this?”

“Now is not the time to be impressed, Jun!”

Looking straight ahead, Scintilla, who had thrown the fireball earlier, was now rushing straight toward him.

At first, she had hated the idea of attacking him, but after he emphasized multiple times that it would help his growth, she was now launching quite sharp attacks.

Though killer intent was still nowhere to be found in her…

“Ha.”

Just then, Gi-jun’s shield, which had been thrown into the air to block the fireball, flew back to him as if connected by an invisible thread, aiming for the back of Scintilla’s head.

Rodim, who was guarding her rear on Scintilla’s behalf, leaped toward it and blocked it by shooting flames.

Having detached Rodim, Scintilla kicked off the ground and closed the distance with him,

to drive a fist of fire into the abdomen of the immobile Gi-jun—

“Not a chance!”

Just as she tried to strike, the shield held in one of Gi-jun’s hands shot up like lightning and deflected her fist.

“Hup!”

“Huuuuh—”

―Clang, cl-cl-clang!

Scintilla did not back down, thrusting out her hands and feet enveloped in flames, but they were blocked by Gi-jun’s shield every time, and

―Boom!

she was eventually struck in the thigh by his heavy kick and slid all the way back.

Even in the midst of that, an indelible smile was plastered on her lips.

“As expected, you’re strong, Jun!”

“No, Scintilla, please take this seriously.”

“I am serious, though? I didn’t hold back my strength at all.”

“Your will is missing. Your will.”

Certainly, the flames Scintilla produced and the power in her two fists and feet were strong.

However, because the determination to win against him was crucially lacking, their exchange felt less like a desperate battle and more like a rhythm game where he just had to block to the beat.

While a complaining Gi-jun fended off Rodim’s interference and neatly caught the returning shield that had circled in the air to equip it, Ji-hye, who had been blankly watching, suddenly came to her senses and shouted,

“I mean, oppa, I poured so much of my mana into that, but how can you just shrug it off and move like nothing happened!”

“Did I not tell you? My unique skill has grown, so now spells that cause bindings, barriers, or status ailments don’t work well on me.”

“It’s because it’s not at a level that can be brushed off by just saying it doesn’t work well—!”

“So from next time, stick to offensive magic as well. Or you could try close combat like Scintilla.”

“How am I supposed to engage in close combat and trade blows with you up close, oppa!”

Even Gin and Lora, whose close-combat stats were Rare-grade or higher, were rolling on the ground, so if she, who hadn’t even reached Uncommon yet, rushed Gi-jun in close combat…

Ji-hye, imagining herself being beaten to a pulp, shook her head and sat down on the ground.

“Anyway, my mana is depleted. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Lord Jun, I want to rest as well… It feels like we’ve been doing nothing but fighting for three hours already, and I have never done such extreme training in my entire life…!”

Unica, who possessed excellent innate combat abilities and senses but had critical shortcomings in terms of endurance and battle sustainability, also declared her withdrawal.

Gin and Lora did not say they would stop even if it killed them, but perhaps because they had been fighting continuously for hours, their eyes were hazy, as if they had reached their mental limits.

Furthermore, Lora was holding her wrist with her cheeks flushed red, wearing a strange expression…

“Lora, is something wrong with your wrist?”

“L-Lord Jun. It’s fine, just a little… Ah. Ah.”

Gi-jun held Lora’s wrist, which he had broken earlier, and carefully channeled light spirit power into it.

Since Lora was not only Ishtar’s priestess but also had vampire blood running through her, her regenerative power wouldn’t fall behind Gi-jun’s, but since he didn’t know how the power of the holy fire imbued in all of his attacks might affect her, he channeled enough power to be considered excessive.

“How is it? It’s fine now, right?”

“Ah, yes. It’s fine…!”

For someone who replied that she was fine, Lora’s focus still seemed somewhat off.

Her face was flushed as if she had caught a cold, and she was unable to calm herself down.

Suddenly, Gi-jun noticed her gaze drifting lower than his face and stroked beneath his neck.

“Is there something on my neck?”

“No… *Gulp.*”

Lora, who swallowed her saliva as if she were thirsty, took a very slight step closer to him.

For some reason, Gi-jun also felt his body tense up at her movement.

It was at that moment that Scintilla intervened and separated the two.

“Ah.”

“It seems Lora is exhausted too, so let’s end the morning training here and go grab some food.”

“Shall we? It’s about time anyway. Then let’s eat, rest a bit, and start the afternoon training. Unica, Ji-hye, don’t you dare skip it.”

“Understood…”

“You devil of an oppa.”

However, the moment the two, who had been completely drained of energy, heard that Gi-jun had borrowed the kitchen since morning to cook stew, they immediately changed their expressions, smiled brightly, and clung to him.

Gin, who had been rolling on the floor, also jumped up upon hearing about the stew and followed behind them.

“Haa.”

Lora, who was staring intently at Gi-jun’s back as he turned away without any lingering attachment, also let out an inexplicable sigh and prepared to follow.

“Then I’ll also join—”

“You.”

However, before she could, Scintilla blocked her path.

As Lora quietly looked up at her, Scintilla asked in a low voice.

“You, were you trying to bite Jun just now?”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lora was unable to look Scintilla in the eye because the latter had hit the nail on the head.

Scintilla scanned their surroundings to make sure no one else was around, and glared at Lora, sparks igniting in her black eyes.

“You had better watch yourself from now on. I… I can do anything to protect Jun.”

“…I see.”

Since she had a guilty conscience, she had no choice but to nod.

However, unable to overcome the emotions that had been bubbling inside her since she saw Scintilla appearing clinging tightly to Gi-jun’s side this morning, Lora ended up adding one more thing.

“Coming from a complete stranger, no less.”

“You…”

“I only hope your excessive obsession doesn’t become a nuisance to Lord Jun.”

“…”

“Hmph.”

Ignoring Scintilla, whose expression stiffened as if caught off guard by those words, Lora dusted off her nun habit and only left the spot after checking even the clothes she wore underneath.

Inwardly, she regretted why she had said such harsh words and blamed it all on Carmilla, who annoyed her by appearing at all hours, but…

realizing anew that she could not return to the days when she was purely innocent, she bit her lip.