MAEPG: Episode 15
Episode 15 Azantu (3)
There were several iron doors in the basement, with a desk and chairs placed in front of them.
And keys were hanging in a row on the wall.
‘There’s no one guarding. Those bastards ran away.’
I looked inside through the peephole on the iron door and saw that most of them were empty.
Except for one.
A small boy huddled in a corner, hugging his knees.
He didn't move even though he must have heard me coming.
Clank, creak—!
I opened the iron door with the key and felt the small body flinch.
“Ahem… Hey, your sister sent me. You’re Aaron, right?”
I spoke gently, keeping a distance, and the boy trembled before slowly raising his head.
His face, with tear stains, looked even younger than his age, just like Diana.
“My sister? Really…?”
“Yes, Diana was so worried about you. Let’s get out of here and go home.”
“Sob— Sniff, Waaaah…”
Aaron burst into tears as if relieved to hear Diana’s name.
“There, there, good boy. Calm down. Stop crying, we have to go see your sister.”
“Sniff, Sob… Okay, mister.”
I comforted Aaron, calmed him down, picked him up, and left the room.
“We’re going outside now. There are scary things behind the door, so close your eyes tight, okay?”
“Okay…”
I covered his eyes for the sake of his education and left the room.
Just in case, I held Aaron’s head close to my chest so he couldn’t see outside.
“The smell of alcohol…”
Aaron muttered softly, but I pretended not to hear.
It was better than smelling blood.
As soon as I left Barcollack’s headquarters, Diana ran over, as if she had been watching from afar.
“Aaron!”
“Sister—!”
The two siblings hugged each other and burst into tears.
I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt them, but the situation was urgent, so I had no choice.
“Hey guys? Sorry, but can you cry later?”
“Sniff… Sorry, mister. Thank you for saving Aaron. But are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Diana, who had calmed down somewhat, hugged Aaron and thanked me.
“Yeah, I told you, it was nothing.”
“But there’s blood on your clothes…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s not my blood.”
That was a lie.
But it was true that I was okay, so I quickly got to the point.
“Anyway, I still have things to do. Diana, you go home with Aaron.”
“Huh? Aren’t you coming with us?”
“I’ll visit after I’m done. And try to act normal until I tell you otherwise, okay? Oh! And keep these. You can use them if you need to.”
I handed Diana the money I had and some of my belongings. Diana looked up at me for a moment, then lowered her head as if she had no choice and whispered.
“…You’ll come back, right? Promise?”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely be there within three days, so wait patiently. And don’t forget to take routes where there are no people when you go.”
I smiled at them and sent the siblings off, then went back inside the hideout.
The real work started now.
‘The problem isn’t solved yet.’
The reason they kidnapped Aaron.
‘A vampire specifically requested Aaron.’
It was information I obtained while interrogating the gang members before killing them.
Of course, the guy didn’t know it was a vampire and thought it was an order from some high-ranking person.
‘And he said he would come tonight.’
If that guy was alive, nothing would be solved, so I had to kill him.
There was no chance of winning in a head-on fight, but fortunately, I had the materials to try something.
“Whew… Shall we prepare to welcome our guest?”
I didn’t have much time left.
There were several iron doors in the basement, with a desk and chairs placed in front of them.
And keys were hanging in a row on the wall.
‘There’s no one guarding. Those bastards ran away.’
I looked inside through the peephole on the iron door and saw that most of them were empty.
Except for one.
A small boy huddled in a corner, hugging his knees.
He didn't move even though he must have heard me coming.
Clank, creak—!
I opened the iron door with the key and felt the small body flinch.
“Ahem… Hey, your sister sent me. You’re Aaron, right?”
I spoke gently, keeping a distance, and the boy trembled before slowly raising his head.
His face, with tear stains, looked even younger than his age, just like Diana.
“My sister? Really…?”
“Yes, Diana was so worried about you. Let’s get out of here and go home.”
“Sob— Sniff, Waaaah…”
Aaron burst into tears as if relieved to hear Diana’s name.
“There, there, good boy. Calm down. Stop crying, we have to go see your sister.”
“Sniff, Sob… Okay, mister.”
I comforted Aaron, calmed him down, picked him up, and left the room.
“We’re going outside now. There are scary things behind the door, so close your eyes tight, okay?”
“Okay…”
I covered his eyes for the sake of his education and left the room.
Just in case, I held Aaron’s head close to my chest so he couldn’t see outside.
“The smell of alcohol…”
Aaron muttered softly, but I pretended not to hear.
It was better than smelling blood.
As soon as I left Barcollack’s headquarters, Diana ran over, as if she had been watching from afar.
“Aaron!”
“Sister—!”
The two siblings hugged each other and burst into tears.
I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt them, but the situation was urgent, so I had no choice.
“Hey guys? Sorry, but can you cry later?”
“Sniff… Sorry, mister. Thank you for saving Aaron. But are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Diana, who had calmed down somewhat, hugged Aaron and thanked me.
“Yeah, I told you, it was nothing.”
“But there’s blood on your clothes…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s not my blood.”
That was a lie.
But it was true that I was okay, so I quickly got to the point.
“Anyway, I still have things to do. Diana, you go home with Aaron.”
“Huh? Aren’t you coming with us?”
“I’ll visit after I’m done. And try to act normal until I tell you otherwise, okay? Oh! And keep these. You can use them if you need to.”
I handed Diana the money I had and some of my belongings. Diana looked up at me for a moment, then lowered her head as if she had no choice and whispered.
“…You’ll come back, right? Promise?”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely be there within three days, so wait patiently. And don’t forget to take routes where there are no people when you go.”
I smiled at them and sent the siblings off, then went back inside the hideout.
The real work started now.
‘The problem isn’t solved yet.’
The reason they kidnapped Aaron.
‘A vampire specifically requested Aaron.’
It was information I obtained while interrogating the gang members before killing them.
Of course, the guy didn’t know it was a vampire and thought it was an order from some high-ranking person.
‘And he said he would come tonight.’
If that guy was alive, nothing would be solved, so I had to kill him.
There was no chance of winning in a head-on fight, but fortunately, I had the materials to try something.
“Whew… Shall we prepare to welcome our guest?”
I didn’t have much time left.
___________________
Late at night.
I was sitting on a chair in the middle of the messy hideout.
To be honest, I didn’t expect everything to go according to plan.
I wasn’t a genius strategist, and how well could a plan I cobbled together in a few hours work?
‘Still, I did what I could. I’ll leave the last missing piece to luck.’
I had considered various factors and prepared what I thought was the most likely scenario, but there was definitely a possibility that it wouldn’t go as planned.
‘If that happens, it’ll be a bit more difficult, but I’ll have to proceed with Plan B.’
As I was waiting for someone,
The moment I heard the presence of someone opening the door and looked in that direction, I knew that the luck I had been waiting for had arrived.
‘As expected, you have to live a good life! Now everything depends on me.’
Someone was walking in, calmly looking around the bloodstained mess.
“Hmm, a nice scent. Did you prepare this to welcome me? I definitely like it.”
The vampire, who had been approaching with a smirk, suddenly stopped and looked down at me with a hardened expression.
“But no matter how I look at it, these guys seem to be the thugs I used to boss around. You know what you’ve done, right?”
He didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking immediately, perhaps curious about me calmly waiting.
I got up from my seat and faced the vampire.
“I came to this city a while ago, and these guys tried to extort money from me. I got pissed off thinking about it.”
“Oh, so you came here and killed them all? But why are you still here instead of running away?”
“The owner is responsible for the dog’s mistakes, right? I waited to see your face.”
I just said whatever came to mind, whether he believed it or not.
He didn’t seem interested in the context anyway.
“Well, I had these guys do something for me, and this is a bit of a problem now.”
“Oh dear, I guess I unintentionally caused you trouble.”
“It was almost dinner time. I’m not in a good mood because I was interrupted.”
He continued talking nonchalantly, looking at me as if I were already dead.
Not only was he ignoring me, but he was also quite talkative.
“So, you. Where did you take the child?”
Damn it, was I caught?
“I found a kid locked up after I took care of these guys, so I just let him go. But why are you looking for that kid?”
I thought about denying it, but it seemed pointless since he was already sure.
Instead, I subtly tried to find out how he had identified Aaron.
He seemed to like to talk, and it was important to figure out the cause.
“Hmm, there’s no particular reason. I like the blood of young children, and I happened to find a child with a delicious scent at the pharmacy, so I told them to bring him.”
Was that the cause?
Even though Diana had been good at avoiding dangerous places, there were limits.
Especially since Aaron was sick, they couldn’t help but go to the pharmacy.
“Ha… I guess I’ll have to send someone else to get him tomorrow. For now, I’ll have to make do with you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, blood vessels from his fingertips flew towards my arms and legs.
“Gasp?!”
I barely managed to react and dodge thanks to staying tense throughout the conversation.
And I immediately drew my weapons and charged at the vampire.
Clang—!
The sword I swung was blocked by his red, elongated nails.
And then my abdomen was slashed by the nails on his other hand, and the bulletproof vest, already tattered from the previous battle, was torn to shreds.
“Oops, I almost chopped you up by mistake. You’re tougher than I thought, though?”
“Ugh, I told them to be careful with the product because it’s delicate!”
I ducked, avoiding the sharp nails that were flying at me.
At that moment, a fist enveloped in red energy came towards my face.
Crash—
I rolled on the floor and dodged the attack, but I felt a chill down my spine for a moment.
“Tsk, you’re quite agile.”
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to want to kill me right away, perhaps intending to drain my blood while I was alive.
Of course, that didn’t mean I had a chance of winning.
Clang—!
I gritted my teeth and swung, but the sword was easily blocked.
At the same time, blood vessels shot out from his nails, slashing my entire body.
He seemed to be trying to immobilize me, but I wouldn’t go down so easily.
I swung the sword again, and even though it was blocked again, I continued to swing.
“Your recovery ability is also quite impressive. This seems like another new delicacy. I’m looking forward to it.”
His attacks became fiercer.
Red nails swung faster and sharper.
“Ugh!”
I resisted as much as I could with the sword, but…
Slash!
It seemed that even “Sturdiness” had its limits, as my right arm, holding the sword, was cut off.
‘My right arm got cut off again. But it doesn’t matter now that it’s over.’
I calmly made a comment and launched a final physical assault on the vampire.
Crack—
And the vampire’s arm pierced through my chest.
“What’s this? You’re even delivering yourself to be eaten? Great service. I should come here often.”
If I was still alive, that is.
The vampire muttered softly and sank his sharp fangs into my neck.
Ignoring the sensation of my blood being sucked out for the first time in my life, I grinned.
“Customer, you’re in a hurry. As a first-time customer benefit, I’ve prepared a special service for you, so please enjoy it to your heart’s content.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I bit down on the ring-shaped magic tool I had hidden in my mouth and activated it.
Whoosh!
Sparks flew, and my body burst into flames.
And the fire spread to the vampire who was attached to me.
“Ugh?! You crazy bastard!”
The vampire tried to shake me off in shock, but I clung on like a cicada, using my remaining arm and legs.
I could feel his arm, embedded in my body, crushing my internal organs, even my heart.
When his other hand tore off my left arm and I still wouldn’t let go, he reached out to cut off my legs as well.
‘But it’s already too late.’
The flames that erupted from my body spread to the surroundings, turning the place into a sea of fire in an instant.
I didn’t just set a fire.
“You bastard! You were planning this from the beginning! You were going to die with me all along!”
I had set the stage before he arrived, intending to die with the vampire.
I placed the oil I found in the kitchen and storage room all over the messy interior.
Even though the smell of blood was strong, if I poured it out in the open, the vampire would notice, so I provoked a fight and broke the oil drums.
He must have smelled the oil during the fight, but how could he focus on that when there was a crazy guy right in front of him, bleeding profusely from being chopped up, and charging at him like he wanted to die?
And I used a small amount of oil to connect the oil drums that were some distance apart, like a fuse, so that the smell would be masked by the smell of blood.
Whoosh—! Boom!
The flames that spread from the center reached the oil drums, causing a chain explosion.
The entire building was engulfed in flames, like a pile of firewood for a campfire.
‘Wow~ What a spectacle.’
I casually admired the sight, clinging to the vampire who was engulfed in flames and thrashing about, now only able to bite into his shoulder with my teeth after all my limbs had been torn off.
Inside my chest, which was pierced by his arm, were several bottles of oil, and the oil soaked my body as my heart was crushed, turning me into a living torch.
‘And all I had to do was ignite it with the ignition magic tool.’
I had kept the magic tool in my mouth in case the arm it was equipped on was cut off.
“Kuaaaagh—!”
I fell to the floor, separating from the vampire who was screaming while engulfed in flames.
I couldn’t see because my eyes were damaged by the blazing flames.
Boom!
The roaring flames continued to explode everywhere.
My tenacious life force was still clinging on to me even in this situation.
‘I’m glad it went according to plan.’
I was lucky in many ways.
As a result of fighting him directly, I realized that he was definitely stronger than me, but that was all.
He only had superior physical abilities and used blood as a weapon; he didn’t use any extraordinary magic.
He must have been a low-ranking vampire.
‘And that’s not enough to survive this inferno.’
Moreover, wasn’t fire one of the weaknesses of vampires?
‘It might not be in this world, but with this much firepower, it doesn’t matter.’
Thud—
My eardrums, which had been barely holding on thanks to my recovery ability, finally gave out with the sound of the vampire collapsing.
Now I could only feel the heat and vibrations of this world.
I had caught the vampire who ordered Aaron’s kidnapping, and I had also killed all the guys who carried it out.
‘Now all I have to do is pretend I don’t know anything and everything will be solved.’
Actually, the thing I was most worried about was the vampire not entering the building.
Vampires were sensitive to the smell of blood, so if he had noticed something wrong happening inside the building and turned back, or called other vampires from outside, the plan would have failed before it even began.
‘I had to leave that part entirely to luck, but fortunately, he was arrogant and overconfident.’
As they say, complacency was one’s greatest enemy.
It was also an opportunity for me to reflect on whether I was becoming complacent, engrossed in the “Avatar” ability.
‘I might as well use this opportunity to experiment with what happens when an avatar actually dies. I couldn’t figure it out properly with Hans. …But I’m probably reaching my limit.’
It was a miracle that I had lasted this long with my heart crushed.
“Sturdiness” and “Super Recovery” must have been burning my last remaining life force to heal me.
I felt the end of my life as I felt the impact of the debris collapsing on top of me.
‘It was fun while it lasted. <Mission: Help the unfortunate girl find her brother.> …Success…’
Whoosh— Rumble!
Thus, Heinz met his death in the other world, along with the vampire.
Late at night.
I was sitting on a chair in the middle of the messy hideout.
To be honest, I didn’t expect everything to go according to plan.
I wasn’t a genius strategist, and how well could a plan I cobbled together in a few hours work?
‘Still, I did what I could. I’ll leave the last missing piece to luck.’
I had considered various factors and prepared what I thought was the most likely scenario, but there was definitely a possibility that it wouldn’t go as planned.
‘If that happens, it’ll be a bit more difficult, but I’ll have to proceed with Plan B.’
As I was waiting for someone,
The moment I heard the presence of someone opening the door and looked in that direction, I knew that the luck I had been waiting for had arrived.
‘As expected, you have to live a good life! Now everything depends on me.’
Someone was walking in, calmly looking around the bloodstained mess.
“Hmm, a nice scent. Did you prepare this to welcome me? I definitely like it.”
The vampire, who had been approaching with a smirk, suddenly stopped and looked down at me with a hardened expression.
“But no matter how I look at it, these guys seem to be the thugs I used to boss around. You know what you’ve done, right?”
He didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking immediately, perhaps curious about me calmly waiting.
I got up from my seat and faced the vampire.
“I came to this city a while ago, and these guys tried to extort money from me. I got pissed off thinking about it.”
“Oh, so you came here and killed them all? But why are you still here instead of running away?”
“The owner is responsible for the dog’s mistakes, right? I waited to see your face.”
I just said whatever came to mind, whether he believed it or not.
He didn’t seem interested in the context anyway.
“Well, I had these guys do something for me, and this is a bit of a problem now.”
“Oh dear, I guess I unintentionally caused you trouble.”
“It was almost dinner time. I’m not in a good mood because I was interrupted.”
He continued talking nonchalantly, looking at me as if I were already dead.
Not only was he ignoring me, but he was also quite talkative.
“So, you. Where did you take the child?”
Damn it, was I caught?
“I found a kid locked up after I took care of these guys, so I just let him go. But why are you looking for that kid?”
I thought about denying it, but it seemed pointless since he was already sure.
Instead, I subtly tried to find out how he had identified Aaron.
He seemed to like to talk, and it was important to figure out the cause.
“Hmm, there’s no particular reason. I like the blood of young children, and I happened to find a child with a delicious scent at the pharmacy, so I told them to bring him.”
Was that the cause?
Even though Diana had been good at avoiding dangerous places, there were limits.
Especially since Aaron was sick, they couldn’t help but go to the pharmacy.
“Ha… I guess I’ll have to send someone else to get him tomorrow. For now, I’ll have to make do with you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, blood vessels from his fingertips flew towards my arms and legs.
“Gasp?!”
I barely managed to react and dodge thanks to staying tense throughout the conversation.
And I immediately drew my weapons and charged at the vampire.
Clang—!
The sword I swung was blocked by his red, elongated nails.
And then my abdomen was slashed by the nails on his other hand, and the bulletproof vest, already tattered from the previous battle, was torn to shreds.
“Oops, I almost chopped you up by mistake. You’re tougher than I thought, though?”
“Ugh, I told them to be careful with the product because it’s delicate!”
I ducked, avoiding the sharp nails that were flying at me.
At that moment, a fist enveloped in red energy came towards my face.
Crash—
I rolled on the floor and dodged the attack, but I felt a chill down my spine for a moment.
“Tsk, you’re quite agile.”
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to want to kill me right away, perhaps intending to drain my blood while I was alive.
Of course, that didn’t mean I had a chance of winning.
Clang—!
I gritted my teeth and swung, but the sword was easily blocked.
At the same time, blood vessels shot out from his nails, slashing my entire body.
He seemed to be trying to immobilize me, but I wouldn’t go down so easily.
I swung the sword again, and even though it was blocked again, I continued to swing.
“Your recovery ability is also quite impressive. This seems like another new delicacy. I’m looking forward to it.”
His attacks became fiercer.
Red nails swung faster and sharper.
“Ugh!”
I resisted as much as I could with the sword, but…
Slash!
It seemed that even “Sturdiness” had its limits, as my right arm, holding the sword, was cut off.
‘My right arm got cut off again. But it doesn’t matter now that it’s over.’
I calmly made a comment and launched a final physical assault on the vampire.
Crack—
And the vampire’s arm pierced through my chest.
“What’s this? You’re even delivering yourself to be eaten? Great service. I should come here often.”
If I was still alive, that is.
The vampire muttered softly and sank his sharp fangs into my neck.
Ignoring the sensation of my blood being sucked out for the first time in my life, I grinned.
“Customer, you’re in a hurry. As a first-time customer benefit, I’ve prepared a special service for you, so please enjoy it to your heart’s content.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I bit down on the ring-shaped magic tool I had hidden in my mouth and activated it.
Whoosh!
Sparks flew, and my body burst into flames.
And the fire spread to the vampire who was attached to me.
“Ugh?! You crazy bastard!”
The vampire tried to shake me off in shock, but I clung on like a cicada, using my remaining arm and legs.
I could feel his arm, embedded in my body, crushing my internal organs, even my heart.
When his other hand tore off my left arm and I still wouldn’t let go, he reached out to cut off my legs as well.
‘But it’s already too late.’
The flames that erupted from my body spread to the surroundings, turning the place into a sea of fire in an instant.
I didn’t just set a fire.
“You bastard! You were planning this from the beginning! You were going to die with me all along!”
I had set the stage before he arrived, intending to die with the vampire.
I placed the oil I found in the kitchen and storage room all over the messy interior.
Even though the smell of blood was strong, if I poured it out in the open, the vampire would notice, so I provoked a fight and broke the oil drums.
He must have smelled the oil during the fight, but how could he focus on that when there was a crazy guy right in front of him, bleeding profusely from being chopped up, and charging at him like he wanted to die?
And I used a small amount of oil to connect the oil drums that were some distance apart, like a fuse, so that the smell would be masked by the smell of blood.
Whoosh—! Boom!
The flames that spread from the center reached the oil drums, causing a chain explosion.
The entire building was engulfed in flames, like a pile of firewood for a campfire.
‘Wow~ What a spectacle.’
I casually admired the sight, clinging to the vampire who was engulfed in flames and thrashing about, now only able to bite into his shoulder with my teeth after all my limbs had been torn off.
Inside my chest, which was pierced by his arm, were several bottles of oil, and the oil soaked my body as my heart was crushed, turning me into a living torch.
‘And all I had to do was ignite it with the ignition magic tool.’
I had kept the magic tool in my mouth in case the arm it was equipped on was cut off.
“Kuaaaagh—!”
I fell to the floor, separating from the vampire who was screaming while engulfed in flames.
I couldn’t see because my eyes were damaged by the blazing flames.
Boom!
The roaring flames continued to explode everywhere.
My tenacious life force was still clinging on to me even in this situation.
‘I’m glad it went according to plan.’
I was lucky in many ways.
As a result of fighting him directly, I realized that he was definitely stronger than me, but that was all.
He only had superior physical abilities and used blood as a weapon; he didn’t use any extraordinary magic.
He must have been a low-ranking vampire.
‘And that’s not enough to survive this inferno.’
Moreover, wasn’t fire one of the weaknesses of vampires?
‘It might not be in this world, but with this much firepower, it doesn’t matter.’
Thud—
My eardrums, which had been barely holding on thanks to my recovery ability, finally gave out with the sound of the vampire collapsing.
Now I could only feel the heat and vibrations of this world.
I had caught the vampire who ordered Aaron’s kidnapping, and I had also killed all the guys who carried it out.
‘Now all I have to do is pretend I don’t know anything and everything will be solved.’
Actually, the thing I was most worried about was the vampire not entering the building.
Vampires were sensitive to the smell of blood, so if he had noticed something wrong happening inside the building and turned back, or called other vampires from outside, the plan would have failed before it even began.
‘I had to leave that part entirely to luck, but fortunately, he was arrogant and overconfident.’
As they say, complacency was one’s greatest enemy.
It was also an opportunity for me to reflect on whether I was becoming complacent, engrossed in the “Avatar” ability.
‘I might as well use this opportunity to experiment with what happens when an avatar actually dies. I couldn’t figure it out properly with Hans. …But I’m probably reaching my limit.’
It was a miracle that I had lasted this long with my heart crushed.
“Sturdiness” and “Super Recovery” must have been burning my last remaining life force to heal me.
I felt the end of my life as I felt the impact of the debris collapsing on top of me.
‘It was fun while it lasted. <Mission: Help the unfortunate girl find her brother.> …Success…’
Whoosh— Rumble!
Thus, Heinz met his death in the other world, along with the vampire.
Comments
Post a Comment