MAEPG: Episode 41
Episode 41 Ambush (2)
Heinz frowned and looked around.
Vampires surrounding him and an unidentified group in masks.
He knew the level of the vampires through “Insight”, but the undetected masked group was also quite high-level.
“How did you know?”
Even though stealth was disabled now that their barrier was activated…
How did they figure him out and activate the barrier at the right time, even though he was using “Concealment”?
“We put in some effort to catch Hahoe Mask.”
A black suit, hair slicked back with pomade, and a sly smile.
The man on the stairs, who looked like a villain executive, shrugged lightly.
It seemed he had no intention of explaining it kindly.
“Are you Heaven’s Turn Society?”
Heinz looked at the masked men who seemed to be the man’s subordinates and asked.
They were the only ones who could have set up a trap with the Blood Alliance hardliners.
“Hmm, but who are you? I don’t understand why a vampire is with him. Beta One, Beta Two, do you know anything?”
The man in the suit didn’t answer and instead asked him back, turning his gaze to the Blood Alliance side.
“…We don’t know either. Judging by his level, he seems to be at least Level 7, but I’ve never seen his face before.”
“His energy itself is very unfamiliar. Is he someone who recently returned from an unknown place?”
The two with the strongest energy among the vampires answered in turn.
‘Both Betas are here.’
From reading the memories of many hardliner vampires, he had learned that their title indicated their rank.
The leader of the Blood Alliance hardliners was Alpha, and there were two Betas under him.
There were thirteen Gammas below that rank.
‘Now nine, though.’
He had hunted down three more after dealing with the first Gamma, Do Han-soo.
The information about this place was also obtained from the last Gamma he eliminated.
‘And it seems they haven’t noticed that I committed cannibalism, perhaps because the power of “Concealment” is still lingering.’
With “Concealment” weakened by the barrier’s influence, he couldn’t maintain stealth, let alone conceal his presence.
So he was focusing the remaining power on hiding the traces of cannibalism.
That was his most secret secret and would be his trump card to catch them off guard.
‘Two Level 7 Betas. Twelve Level 6s. Some of the exceptional ones among the Level 6s received the title of Gamma, but I don’t know how many are here. And the guards who rushed in outside the lobby…’
Actually, it wouldn’t be a big problem if he only had to deal with the vampires.
The problem was the group wearing masks, presumed to be Heaven’s Turn Society.
He couldn’t properly gauge their energy even in this situation.
“But how long does Hahoe Mask intend to hide in the shadows? It’s about time he came out. Or is he still ignoring us?”
Heinz’s eyebrows twitched.
He thought they hadn’t noticed because they hadn’t mentioned it until now.
[Hmph… How audacious. If that’s what you want.]
A voice that seemed to echo from hell vibrated through the space.
There was no need to hide anymore if they already knew.
Swoosh—
As Hans slowly emerged from the shadows…
The temperature dropped sharply, and a chill spread, and the lights illuminating the interior lost their power.
He wasn’t even intentionally releasing his magic power, but the surrounding phenomena were forced to change just by his presence.
The vampires surrounding him flinched and unconsciously took a step back.
“…Hmm. This is more than I expected. We would have been in big trouble if we tried to handle this alone.”
Cracks appeared on the nonchalant man in the suit’s face.
His confidence was shaken after seeing Hans in person.
“It’s more than expected, but not to the point where we can’t handle it.”
But soon, his face regained its composure.
It seemed like he had a well-prepared trick up his sleeve.
“Dark magic power and necromancy. Both are extreme powers, so their weaknesses are also clear.”
Snap—
The sound of his fingers snapping echoed through the space.
Wooong—
The barrier surrounding them vibrated.
Clang— Clang—
And the masked men surrounding the second floor were holding all sorts of objects, as if they had taken them out at some point.
Those shaking bells that shamans would use, those taking out wooden totems and placing them on the ground, those taking out yellow talismans and sticking them everywhere, and even those holding symbols of various religions that didn’t exist on Earth.
Hans’s presence was suppressed by the energy surging from all directions.
A suffocating energy was shaking his unholy energy mercilessly.
[…You’ve prepared quite a bit.]
I could tell that they had thoroughly investigated and prepared various things to counter him.
The vampires in the room also made uncomfortable expressions due to the nature of the spell, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to Hans, who was the direct target.
‘It doesn’t have much effect on Heinz either. It’s a bit stuffy, though.’
A giant trap set up to hunt down Hans.
If Heaven’s Turn Society and the vampires joined forces and attacked him in this state where his power was suppressed to this extent…
Even Hans would have had no choice but to retreat.
‘If Hans had come alone, that is.’
I understood their thoughts.
Heinz seemed to be Level 7, so one of the Betas would hold him back, and the rest of their forces would all deal with Hans.
“Ha—”
Heinz took a deep breath.
His heart started to race, and the blood in his entire body started to circulate rapidly.
“Blood Flow Amplification.”
His pale skin turned red.
His muscles bulged, and his veins popped out.
“Haaa~”
He exhaled.
His senses sharpened, and he could feel the emotions of those nearby as if he could touch them.
Unfortunately for them, he wasn’t an ordinary True Blood, a Level 7 by their standards.
The amount of blood magic power and the concentration of the bloodsucking factor itself might be similar to the Betas, or even less.
But…
Boom—!
“Acceleration.”
His body, pushing off the ground, shot forward like a cannonball.
“What?!”
One of the Level 6 vampires who was closest to Heinz and couldn’t react to his movements.
Stab—
Heinz’s hand pierced through his back as he screamed in shock.
“G…ah!”
The vampire, whose heart was pierced in an instant, trembled, coughing up blood.
But his surprise didn’t end there.
‘My blood… it’s being sucked in?!’
His blood was being sucked into his heart at an incredible speed.
More precisely, it was the arm of the opponent that had pierced through his heart.
‘Cannibalism?! Through his arm? What nonsense…!’
Heinz pierced his heart and immediately cut his own wrist, sucking the vampire’s blood through it.
By mixing minute blood particles with the opponent’s blood through the wound on his wrist and then retrieving it, he was able to ignore the opponent’s control.
It was possible because he had gained overwhelming blood control ability after becoming a True Blood.
It was also possible because he had directly contacted the center of the opponent’s blood flow by sticking his hand into his heart.
“Ugh… you bast… Gaaaaah!”
The vampire, who tried to warn his companions with his last strength, screamed.
The blood he coughed up had already turned into beautiful red flowers and were blooming around his mouth.
“Blood Blossom”, which had consumed his head, slowly spread throughout his body, turning him to ashes before disappearing.
‘It’s a trick to hide the cannibalism.’
He covered the entire body to hide the sight of him withering and turning to ashes after being drained of blood, but he only burned the vampire’s mouth.
It was thanks to “Blood Blossom”, which selectively burned according to his will.
“…”
The vampires froze at the sight that unfolded in just a few seconds.
The Betas, who reacted belatedly, hardened their expressions and glared at Heinz.
While Heinz was sucking blood through one arm, he had been wary of them and exuding his presence, so they couldn’t find an opening to intervene.
They didn’t know that Heinz was sucking blood, so they quickly gave up on their subordinate, who had been pierced through the heart and burned, with no chance of recovery, and waited for an opportunity, but…
“You… how?”
Beta One muttered, grinding his teeth, full of wariness.
‘I couldn’t react in time!’
He was confident in his physical abilities, but Heinz’s movements were beyond his imagination.
By the time he reacted, his subordinate’s heart had already been pierced.
And the subordinate who was defeated was one of the Gammas, the strongest after the Betas.
Even if it was a surprise attack at an unexpected moment, it only took a few seconds for such a strong individual to be defeated.
Even he couldn’t do that.
Heinz leisurely looked around at the tense vampires.
‘It would have been nice if I could have taken out a Level 7 with a surprise attack… But if I had attacked him directly, he would have reacted somehow. Of course, I could have inflicted a fatal wound, but he would have recovered quickly while the others were buying time.’
It would be better to surely eliminate the Level 6 vampire who was closest and had Gamma-level power.
《New bloodsucking factor collected. The individual’s magic power control ability increases due to the influence of the special skill “Hybrid Evolution”.》
Thanks to that, their power weakened, and mine became even stronger.
And one more thing they didn’t expect.
[Hehehe… impressive. Is this also that? A combination of spells from different worlds?]
Hans was shocked after discovering the research results of spell combination at the Blood Alliance hardliners’ base.
An idea he hadn’t even thought of, a result that broke the common sense he had thought was impossible.
Of course, Hans had also significantly improved his magic level by referring to and incorporating dark magic from other worlds.
The combination of “Wicked Wisdom” and “Forbidden Knowledge” provided excellent analytical and learning abilities when it came to dark magic.
But there was a sudden regret.
Had he become too reliant on those skills, which provided additional bonuses only for dark magic, and neglected to try anything else?
Had he only pursued the easy path and become complacent with the present?
Although “Wicked Wisdom” provided absolute understanding of dark magic, it was based on the insight into magic itself that was given as a foundation.
“Forbidden Knowledge” was also biased towards dark magic, but it still contained countless mysteries accumulated in one world.
Was there really no other way to use it?
Wasn’t that limiting his potential?
Of course, someone might point out that it was a pointless ambition, considering Hans hadn’t even been on the path of magic for a year.
But for ‘Hans’, time wasn’t a significant factor in deciding on a path and dedicating himself to it.
At least ‘Hans’ sincerely believed so.
Since then, Hans had been researching Heaven’s Turn Society’s techniques whenever he had time while attacking the vampires.
He observed the vampires’ magic system, experimented on them, and tried to utilize his skills in various ways.
‘It’s not much yet, but I’ve made some progress. And this is an opportunity.’
Boom—
Hans tapped the floor with his staff.
The ground beneath his feet turned black and spread, and undead started to crawl out from it.
He couldn’t fill the entire building with darkness like he usually did because of the influence of the spell that was suppressing him, but…
[Let’s see how much you’ve prepared. It will also become a stepping stone for my growth!]
If he didn’t know, he could just experience it firsthand.
And there was a stage set up by Heaven’s Turn Society, who were at the forefront of that field, wasn’t there?
It would have been best if they used dark magic, but spells of the opposing attribute weren’t bad either.
Since it was fatal to him, he could sense and understand the spell more acutely.
[Hahaha! I’m looking forward to it! Come on, entertain me! It would be wise to use everything you have!]
It was also an opportunity to identify his weaknesses.
Facing your weaknesses was the first step to overcoming them.
If he overcame this, he would be able to grow even further.
Wooong—
The barrier that Hans had set up before entering activated on top of the barrier that Heaven’s Turn Society had cast, enveloping them.
Inside the villa… no, in this battlefield, surrounded by two layers of barriers…
No one would be able to escape easily anymore.
[Then, let the death match begin.]
Heinz frowned and looked around.
Vampires surrounding him and an unidentified group in masks.
He knew the level of the vampires through “Insight”, but the undetected masked group was also quite high-level.
“How did you know?”
Even though stealth was disabled now that their barrier was activated…
How did they figure him out and activate the barrier at the right time, even though he was using “Concealment”?
“We put in some effort to catch Hahoe Mask.”
A black suit, hair slicked back with pomade, and a sly smile.
The man on the stairs, who looked like a villain executive, shrugged lightly.
It seemed he had no intention of explaining it kindly.
“Are you Heaven’s Turn Society?”
Heinz looked at the masked men who seemed to be the man’s subordinates and asked.
They were the only ones who could have set up a trap with the Blood Alliance hardliners.
“Hmm, but who are you? I don’t understand why a vampire is with him. Beta One, Beta Two, do you know anything?”
The man in the suit didn’t answer and instead asked him back, turning his gaze to the Blood Alliance side.
“…We don’t know either. Judging by his level, he seems to be at least Level 7, but I’ve never seen his face before.”
“His energy itself is very unfamiliar. Is he someone who recently returned from an unknown place?”
The two with the strongest energy among the vampires answered in turn.
‘Both Betas are here.’
From reading the memories of many hardliner vampires, he had learned that their title indicated their rank.
The leader of the Blood Alliance hardliners was Alpha, and there were two Betas under him.
There were thirteen Gammas below that rank.
‘Now nine, though.’
He had hunted down three more after dealing with the first Gamma, Do Han-soo.
The information about this place was also obtained from the last Gamma he eliminated.
‘And it seems they haven’t noticed that I committed cannibalism, perhaps because the power of “Concealment” is still lingering.’
With “Concealment” weakened by the barrier’s influence, he couldn’t maintain stealth, let alone conceal his presence.
So he was focusing the remaining power on hiding the traces of cannibalism.
That was his most secret secret and would be his trump card to catch them off guard.
‘Two Level 7 Betas. Twelve Level 6s. Some of the exceptional ones among the Level 6s received the title of Gamma, but I don’t know how many are here. And the guards who rushed in outside the lobby…’
Actually, it wouldn’t be a big problem if he only had to deal with the vampires.
The problem was the group wearing masks, presumed to be Heaven’s Turn Society.
He couldn’t properly gauge their energy even in this situation.
“But how long does Hahoe Mask intend to hide in the shadows? It’s about time he came out. Or is he still ignoring us?”
Heinz’s eyebrows twitched.
He thought they hadn’t noticed because they hadn’t mentioned it until now.
[Hmph… How audacious. If that’s what you want.]
A voice that seemed to echo from hell vibrated through the space.
There was no need to hide anymore if they already knew.
Swoosh—
As Hans slowly emerged from the shadows…
The temperature dropped sharply, and a chill spread, and the lights illuminating the interior lost their power.
He wasn’t even intentionally releasing his magic power, but the surrounding phenomena were forced to change just by his presence.
The vampires surrounding him flinched and unconsciously took a step back.
“…Hmm. This is more than I expected. We would have been in big trouble if we tried to handle this alone.”
Cracks appeared on the nonchalant man in the suit’s face.
His confidence was shaken after seeing Hans in person.
“It’s more than expected, but not to the point where we can’t handle it.”
But soon, his face regained its composure.
It seemed like he had a well-prepared trick up his sleeve.
“Dark magic power and necromancy. Both are extreme powers, so their weaknesses are also clear.”
Snap—
The sound of his fingers snapping echoed through the space.
Wooong—
The barrier surrounding them vibrated.
Clang— Clang—
And the masked men surrounding the second floor were holding all sorts of objects, as if they had taken them out at some point.
Those shaking bells that shamans would use, those taking out wooden totems and placing them on the ground, those taking out yellow talismans and sticking them everywhere, and even those holding symbols of various religions that didn’t exist on Earth.
Hans’s presence was suppressed by the energy surging from all directions.
A suffocating energy was shaking his unholy energy mercilessly.
[…You’ve prepared quite a bit.]
I could tell that they had thoroughly investigated and prepared various things to counter him.
The vampires in the room also made uncomfortable expressions due to the nature of the spell, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to Hans, who was the direct target.
‘It doesn’t have much effect on Heinz either. It’s a bit stuffy, though.’
A giant trap set up to hunt down Hans.
If Heaven’s Turn Society and the vampires joined forces and attacked him in this state where his power was suppressed to this extent…
Even Hans would have had no choice but to retreat.
‘If Hans had come alone, that is.’
I understood their thoughts.
Heinz seemed to be Level 7, so one of the Betas would hold him back, and the rest of their forces would all deal with Hans.
“Ha—”
Heinz took a deep breath.
His heart started to race, and the blood in his entire body started to circulate rapidly.
“Blood Flow Amplification.”
His pale skin turned red.
His muscles bulged, and his veins popped out.
“Haaa~”
He exhaled.
His senses sharpened, and he could feel the emotions of those nearby as if he could touch them.
Unfortunately for them, he wasn’t an ordinary True Blood, a Level 7 by their standards.
The amount of blood magic power and the concentration of the bloodsucking factor itself might be similar to the Betas, or even less.
But…
Boom—!
“Acceleration.”
His body, pushing off the ground, shot forward like a cannonball.
“What?!”
One of the Level 6 vampires who was closest to Heinz and couldn’t react to his movements.
Stab—
Heinz’s hand pierced through his back as he screamed in shock.
“G…ah!”
The vampire, whose heart was pierced in an instant, trembled, coughing up blood.
But his surprise didn’t end there.
‘My blood… it’s being sucked in?!’
His blood was being sucked into his heart at an incredible speed.
More precisely, it was the arm of the opponent that had pierced through his heart.
‘Cannibalism?! Through his arm? What nonsense…!’
Heinz pierced his heart and immediately cut his own wrist, sucking the vampire’s blood through it.
By mixing minute blood particles with the opponent’s blood through the wound on his wrist and then retrieving it, he was able to ignore the opponent’s control.
It was possible because he had gained overwhelming blood control ability after becoming a True Blood.
It was also possible because he had directly contacted the center of the opponent’s blood flow by sticking his hand into his heart.
“Ugh… you bast… Gaaaaah!”
The vampire, who tried to warn his companions with his last strength, screamed.
The blood he coughed up had already turned into beautiful red flowers and were blooming around his mouth.
“Blood Blossom”, which had consumed his head, slowly spread throughout his body, turning him to ashes before disappearing.
‘It’s a trick to hide the cannibalism.’
He covered the entire body to hide the sight of him withering and turning to ashes after being drained of blood, but he only burned the vampire’s mouth.
It was thanks to “Blood Blossom”, which selectively burned according to his will.
“…”
The vampires froze at the sight that unfolded in just a few seconds.
The Betas, who reacted belatedly, hardened their expressions and glared at Heinz.
While Heinz was sucking blood through one arm, he had been wary of them and exuding his presence, so they couldn’t find an opening to intervene.
They didn’t know that Heinz was sucking blood, so they quickly gave up on their subordinate, who had been pierced through the heart and burned, with no chance of recovery, and waited for an opportunity, but…
“You… how?”
Beta One muttered, grinding his teeth, full of wariness.
‘I couldn’t react in time!’
He was confident in his physical abilities, but Heinz’s movements were beyond his imagination.
By the time he reacted, his subordinate’s heart had already been pierced.
And the subordinate who was defeated was one of the Gammas, the strongest after the Betas.
Even if it was a surprise attack at an unexpected moment, it only took a few seconds for such a strong individual to be defeated.
Even he couldn’t do that.
Heinz leisurely looked around at the tense vampires.
‘It would have been nice if I could have taken out a Level 7 with a surprise attack… But if I had attacked him directly, he would have reacted somehow. Of course, I could have inflicted a fatal wound, but he would have recovered quickly while the others were buying time.’
It would be better to surely eliminate the Level 6 vampire who was closest and had Gamma-level power.
《New bloodsucking factor collected. The individual’s magic power control ability increases due to the influence of the special skill “Hybrid Evolution”.》
Thanks to that, their power weakened, and mine became even stronger.
And one more thing they didn’t expect.
[Hehehe… impressive. Is this also that? A combination of spells from different worlds?]
Hans was shocked after discovering the research results of spell combination at the Blood Alliance hardliners’ base.
An idea he hadn’t even thought of, a result that broke the common sense he had thought was impossible.
Of course, Hans had also significantly improved his magic level by referring to and incorporating dark magic from other worlds.
The combination of “Wicked Wisdom” and “Forbidden Knowledge” provided excellent analytical and learning abilities when it came to dark magic.
But there was a sudden regret.
Had he become too reliant on those skills, which provided additional bonuses only for dark magic, and neglected to try anything else?
Had he only pursued the easy path and become complacent with the present?
Although “Wicked Wisdom” provided absolute understanding of dark magic, it was based on the insight into magic itself that was given as a foundation.
“Forbidden Knowledge” was also biased towards dark magic, but it still contained countless mysteries accumulated in one world.
Was there really no other way to use it?
Wasn’t that limiting his potential?
Of course, someone might point out that it was a pointless ambition, considering Hans hadn’t even been on the path of magic for a year.
But for ‘Hans’, time wasn’t a significant factor in deciding on a path and dedicating himself to it.
At least ‘Hans’ sincerely believed so.
Since then, Hans had been researching Heaven’s Turn Society’s techniques whenever he had time while attacking the vampires.
He observed the vampires’ magic system, experimented on them, and tried to utilize his skills in various ways.
‘It’s not much yet, but I’ve made some progress. And this is an opportunity.’
Boom—
Hans tapped the floor with his staff.
The ground beneath his feet turned black and spread, and undead started to crawl out from it.
He couldn’t fill the entire building with darkness like he usually did because of the influence of the spell that was suppressing him, but…
[Let’s see how much you’ve prepared. It will also become a stepping stone for my growth!]
If he didn’t know, he could just experience it firsthand.
And there was a stage set up by Heaven’s Turn Society, who were at the forefront of that field, wasn’t there?
It would have been best if they used dark magic, but spells of the opposing attribute weren’t bad either.
Since it was fatal to him, he could sense and understand the spell more acutely.
[Hahaha! I’m looking forward to it! Come on, entertain me! It would be wise to use everything you have!]
It was also an opportunity to identify his weaknesses.
Facing your weaknesses was the first step to overcoming them.
If he overcame this, he would be able to grow even further.
Wooong—
The barrier that Hans had set up before entering activated on top of the barrier that Heaven’s Turn Society had cast, enveloping them.
Inside the villa… no, in this battlefield, surrounded by two layers of barriers…
No one would be able to escape easily anymore.
[Then, let the death match begin.]
Sheesh
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