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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 59: The Vampire Disturbance (2)
"We are the agents of God. The earthly enforcers of divine punishment. Our mission is to utterly exterminate the foolish ones who defy our God, down to their very last piece of flesh..."
"Mr. Kim. That's plagiarism."
"I just tried it. It sounds cool, right? And this is partly your fault too."
"Mine?"
"It's Helsing, isn't it? Descendant of Abraham Van Helsing."
"...Kim. Cartoons from across the sea have nothing to do with the Helsing family. And are you, a priest, allowed to use words like 'exterminate' and 'pieces of flesh'?"
"It's fine to use them against heretics and monsters. Plus, it's great for gaining the upper hand."
"Well, if I were the vampire in front of Kim, I might have proven my innocence with tears."
Anyway,
Pastor Kim often used such lines in front of vampires or monsters to gain the upper hand.
Nothing looks as dangerous as someone who seems completely unhinged.
"Idiot! I'm a Japanese vampire, you think I wouldn't know that?!"
The problem was that sometimes someone understood, and it was incredibly embarrassing.
"......"
"......"
But in this world, there were no vampires who would recognize it.
"Inquisitor..."
"You recognized me right away, you vampires. I can't believe two of the suspects were vampires."
Ray was honestly feeling a bit put out.
He had come to investigate Viscountess Mesily, but instead, he encountered a bunch of ghouls.
Ghouls were vampiric offspring that resulted when a vampire fed on someone who wasn't a virgin or had some form of spiritual corruption.
The mere fact that they had these creatures stockpiled in the residence was proof they were vampires.
'I'll just take care of the Viscountess then.'
But what was this? After leaving the ghouls to Yan, when he went to kill the vampire Mesily, he ran into Lucy and her butler, Johnson.
These bastards were vampires too?
Ray decided to strike first and gain the advantage.
"Ugh...!"
Lucy, the vampire who had been caught off guard by the ambush, coughed up blood and writhed in pain.
"Lucy, regenerate..."
"N-no... I can't, I can't regenerate..."
At her words, Johnson quickly pulled the sword out of Lucy.
The golden gleam coating the blade.
It was a golden sword for great vampires, blessed by a sacrament.
'This is no ordinary object. To stop even Lucy's regeneration, who is a high-ranking vampire?'
It was a sword that had received a direct blessing from Erdio, the Golden Saint.
For vampires, it was the worst of the worst weapons.
Johnson was wary of the priest's armaments.
"......"
To escape this, he had no choice but to kill the priest.
Johnson menacingly bared his sharp claws.
"Did you come alone? Brave of you."
Vampire Johnson approached.
Ray gripped the golden sword, dripping with blood, and moved toward him.
As they both gauged the timing for an attack, Ray made the first move.
A direct thrust.
Powerful, but its trajectory was obvious.
Johnson could have dodged it, but he didn't.
"......!"
A daring charge, aiming for a counter-thrust.
Ray, with his longer reach, pierced Johnson first, but it only went through his shoulder.
And then...
"Die."
Johnson's claws dug into Ray's chest. They were sharp enough to cut plate armor like paper.
Clang!
But it was blocked.
While Johnson was flustered, Ray put more force into the sword piercing Johnson.
"Gah!"
Feeling the danger, Johnson kicked Ray and retreated.
He had committed to a mutual kill, relying on the vampire's regeneration, but he only suffered a one-sided loss.
'What kind of armor is this...?'
Hidden beneath his priest's robes, the armor Ray wore was the Armor of Saint Germanicus.
Its sheer defensive power far surpassed plate armor, and it also possessed holy power that blocked the strength of unholy beings.
"You should've aimed for the head."
Ray grinned and lunged at Johnson.
He wielded the sword, stained with Johnson's blood, pushing him back.
'Fast! And strong!'
How was this possible? Johnson was a high-ranking vampire.
Even a priest with Sun’s Blessing shouldn't have been able to match his physical abilities.
In other words, even for Ray, who had Sun’s Blessing even at night, his current movements were abnormal.
'Maybe it's because I'm taking it for the first time in this world, but the medicine is really working.'
The secret lay in a special elixir Ray had consumed.
A special elixir made from the blood of the vampire Jorick, it enhanced physical abilities and reflexes.
The effects might not last long since it was from a low-ranking vampire's blood, but a higher-ranking vampire's blood could offer permanent effects.
'They're vampires who survived being pierced by a golden sword. They'll make good elixirs.'
Perhaps sensing Ray's gaze, Lucy and Johnson felt an instinctive chill.
"Don't get cocky, human!"
Johnson performed mist transformation and moved behind Ray.
The fact that he could perform mist transformation even after being pierced by the golden sword proved how formidable a vampire he was.
Swish!
Claws swung from behind, grazing Ray's neck.
Ray quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding decapitation.
"Tsk."
A vampire indeed.
Even with the sun's blessing and amplified by the elixir, it wasn't easy.
'Even without those, I'm the one who fought vampires!'
Ray rolled forward, throwing a dagger to keep Johnson in check.
But Johnson's mist transformation was even faster.
"......!"
Johnson, already right in front of Ray, kicked him.
Ray gasped, flying back. J
Just before hitting the ground, Ray quickly recovered his stance with a breakfall.
When he looked up, Johnson was gone.
Whoosh!
Mist swirled everywhere.
All that mist was Johnson.
It wouldn't be strange for Johnson to attack from anywhere anytime.
"......"
Ray relaxed his stance and hardened his resolve.
Johnson grinned at Ray's defenseless appearance.
"Idiot."
As you wish, I'll aim for your head.
Johnson approached Ray at a speed beyond his perception and thrust his sharp claws at Ray's head.
"I will not rely on chariots of iron, but I will call upon the name of our Savior Sol Invictus and rely on Him."
Whoosh!
At that moment, pages from the Holy Scripture flew from somewhere.
Johnson, who had dispelled his mist transformation to ambush the defenseless Ray, was ambushed from behind by the swirling pages.
"......!"
The sealing magic of the Eclipse Scripture had entangled Johnson, who had revealed an opening.
"Ugh! When did you...?!"
"From the beginning."
Even while bound by the pages of the Holy Scripture, Johnson spotted the Scripture lying at the end of the corridor.
The Eclipse Scripture had been waiting for this moment, with its pages of sealing magic spread open.
"Do you think I'd face a vampire head-on? It's all about strategy."
Ray grinned, looking at Johnson, who was restrained by the Holy Scripture's pages.
"The Eclipse Scripture is made of paper soaked in holy oil, right? What do you think happens if it catches fire?"
"Fire won't affect a vampire...!"
"Of course, it's not just any fire."
Whoosh!
Sparks flew from Ray's snapping fingers.
It was the minimal manifestation of the power of Holy Fire.
As the sparks touched the oil-soaked paper, the Holy Fire spread uncontrollably.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
"Jo-Johnson!"
Johnson, bound by the sealing magic, was engulfed in flames.
It wasn't just any fire; it was a fire manifested by the power of Holy Fire.
It took mere tens of seconds for Johnson's body to burn and turn to ash.
"Father Ray!"
At that moment, Inquisitor Yan belatedly rushed in.
Covered in blood, he had just finished dealing with dozens of ghouls.
"Have you dealt with all the ghouls?"
"Yes. There were quite a lot. I apologize for the delay, but... the vampire?"
At his words, Ray grinned and looked at Lucy.
"There's still one left."
Since one had been burned to ash, he would take care of the remaining one.
Just as Ray picked up the Eclipse Scripture and was about to perform the sealing magic...
"I-I propose a deal!"
"Huh?"
That was quite an unexpected statement.
"You monster who devours people, how dare you propose a deal? You're asking to die."
As Ray was about to strike down with the golden sword, Lucy prostrated herself and spoke.
"I, I! I've killed people before, but I've never tasted blood!"
"Huh?"
A vampire who doesn't eat people? What on earth does that mean?
No, it wasn't impossible.
In fact, a vampire feeding meant they could consume anything as long as it was blood.
However, human blood was just incredibly tasteless.
'Come to think of it, her soul color is also orange...'
Vampires who devoured people typically had blazing red souls.
This was because devouring, not just killing, was such a heinous act.
But Lucy's soul was orange.
Her claim that she had killed people but never devoured them held some credibility.
"Hey, does that even make sense? A vampire who's never tasted human blood?"
"I'm... a vegan."
"Ah..."
"I only extract and drink animal blood, and I don't even drink blood unless we're fighting among ourselves..."
A vampire vegan. She was one of those who only drank animal blood.
***
Lucy Westenra.
She was a member of a vampire clan residing in a small country in the eastern part of the continent.
Why had vampires from a small nation east of Campbell, a city on the eastern border, flowed all the way here?
"Our ancestor's coffin was stolen. And I heard that the coffin is here."
"The ancestor's coffin?" Iris asked, interrogating Lucy, who was completely subdued.
Lucy answered more compliantly than expected, so there was no need for torture.
"Yes, it's our clan's ancestor."
"Who stole it?"
"We... don't know either. We only found it after searching for more than ten years..."
Iris discussed with the Inquisitors.
"Vampire internal disputes are none of our concern."
"I agree with Len. We can't trust what those monsters say either."
"I agree."
Ray also agreed with Len and Yan's statements.
However, if Lucy's words were true, there was a problem.
"Assuming it's true, the problem is what they plan to do with the ancestor's coffin."
"Probably resurrection."
"Resurrection?"
Iris spoke about the state of the vampire ancestor Lucy had told them about.
"He was sealed hundreds of years ago with a stake through his heart. That means he was a monster impossible to kill."
Such vampires did exist on Earth.
The most prominent example was the Count they had subdued in Romania.
A powerful vampire who had caused thousands of casualties and was finally sealed away, he had resurrected in modern times.
Pastor Kim, Helsing, Lincoln, and even crusaders from Rome were mobilized, but they could only re-seal him in the end.
The vampires' life force was said to be infinite, but truly infinitely living beings were only such monsters.
"How do vampires resurrect?"
On Earth, vampire cults performed it by offering large-scale sacrifices. Was it the same method here?
"At least hundreds of sacrifices. And there has to be a large-scale ritual."
"To perform such a large-scale ritual, shouldn't it be done in a local village somewhere, not near the Solar Theocracy?"
Why specifically in Baron Enfield's territory, so close to the Solar Theocracy?
Vampires weren't fools; if they were doing such a thing where the Solar Theocracy's eyes could reach, there must be a reason.
"Vampire bitch. If you're hiding anything, you'd better speak now."
"Uh, I'm not."
Lucy complained as if she were being wronged, but the Inquisitors' gazes did not soften.
Then, suddenly, Lucy said something strange.
"I just want to get back the coffin that the warlocks stole."
"Warlocks?"
So, it wasn't other vampires who stole the coffin, but warlocks?
"Why do vampires have a coffin stolen by a warlock? What kind of conspiracy is this?!"
"I-I really don't know!"
Warlocks. Vampires. Ancestor. Resurrection. In this world, were there any keywords more ominous than these, apart from demons?
"So... you're sure the ancestor's coffin is in Baron Enfield's castle?"
"Yes! Johnson and I were looking for a way to infiltrate the castle! We were planning to enter the castle soon."
"...Saintess, it would be best to request support from the Solar Theocracy using your heresy authority."
"Yes. I think so too."
If the Holy Knights were dispatched like they were in Campbell, they could sweep away all vampires and anything else.
As Iris agreed to request support from the Solar Theocracy, there was a commotion outside.
"Saintess! A large number of villagers are moving!"
"At this time of night?"
Looking out the accommodation window, they indeed saw a large number of villagers moving.
Like moths drawn to a light.
Their shambling gait, with unfocused eyes, was chilling.
"...It's a charm."
"Charm?"
"It's one of the vampires' powers. The power to control those whose gaze they meet. It doesn't work on those with strong faith like us, though."
'No, even this part is exactly the same.'
The vampires' charm was one of their notoriously famous abilities on Earth.
If even one vampire charmed a high-ranking official, it wouldn't be strange for any great catastrophe to occur.
Just recently, the vampire conspiracy that Pastor Kim and Lincoln III stopped was an attempt to charm the U.S. President and start World War III.
Charm was a type of hypnosis, so activating a specific trigger would cause pre-implanted actions to occur.
The villagers must have been undergoing hypnosis for a long time.
So, what were they planning to do by charming hundreds of villagers all at once?
"Saintess."
"Yes, I was thinking the same thing."
Not only Iris but all the Inquisitors shared the thought that came to Ray's mind.
The ancestor's coffin, which vampire Lucy's clan claimed had been stolen.
They intended to resurrect it.
Right now.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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