Ace Party (3)
Ahn Sang-hyuk stared into empty space with a hardened expression.
Around him, high-ranking vampire officers were each voicing their opinions.
"We need to strike them first! This is war!"
"No, we need to move our hideout. If they keep attacking with the same tactics, this place will become our grave."
Even in a crisis like this, Shim Hyung-sik and Son Ki-hwan glared at each other, divided in opinion.
"Hey! Haven't you heard the saying, 'There's no paradise in a place you run away to'?"
"These enemies can launch a terrorist attack with just a single rat. There's nothing good about staying in a location that's already been exposed."
"Exactly, damn it! That's why I said we should hit them first!"
Shim Hyung-sik shouted, and Son Ki-hwan scowled as he responded.
"Do you even know who they are?"
At that, Shim Hyung-sik looked dumbfounded and snapped back.
"Who else could it be, damn it! Who else do you think? It's gotta be those bastards with guns!"
"No."
When Ahn Sang-hyuk finally spoke, Shim Hyung-sik asked in a much calmer tone.
"Sir Sang-hyuk, do you know who they are?"
Ahn Sang-hyuk shook his head.
"I don't. But I'm sure that group doesn't have anyone with abilities like this. And…"
There was something even more serious than the fact that a rat had emitted poison gas.
'The corpse disappeared.'
He had seen one of the lower-ranking vampire officers in the meeting room die from the gas with his own eyes. But the moment he stopped breathing, his body vanished like a mirage.
'Just like the explosion incident!'
Back then too, there were only traces left behind—no bodies at all.
Moreover, right after the gas-spewing rat burst into the meeting room, a large number of vampires suddenly went missing.
'It's the same group behind all of this.'
The explosion, the poison gas—
'It wasn't the cops.'
Which meant there was another group targeting them.
'But why?'
At this point, they knew nothing—not their identity, their motives, or the power they held.
"Sir Sang-hyuk, we need to take all the surviving vampires and leave this place immediately."
Logically speaking, Son Ki-hwan's suggestion was the correct one.
Staying here would only result in continued attacks from an unknown, powerful force.
'But…'
Even knowing that, Ahn Sang-hyuk couldn't bring himself to make that decision.
Because the person who saved him—and turned him into a vampire—had left him with a request.
That man had ordered Ahn Sang-hyuk to remain here.
He had told him to grow stronger by feeding on everyone in the apartment complex until he returned.
And Ahn Sang-hyuk had faithfully followed that command, now extending his influence even to nearby survivors.
'Just a little longer, and my benefactor will return.'
That was why he couldn't leave this apartment complex.
"We're reinforcing the defenses. If you see any rats nearby, kill them on sight. That's all."
"Sir Sang-hyuk!"
Both Shim Hyung-sik and Son Ki-hwan protested his decision.
But Ahn Sang-hyuk was resolute.
"It's an order."
The two men went silent for a moment before bowing their heads in submission.
It was at that moment—
Bang!
The conference room door burst open, and a low-ranking vampire burst in, gasping for breath.
"We're under atta—!"
He never finished his sentence.
Boom!
A spear flew in from somewhere, impaling him and pinning him to the wall.
Shhhk—
And then, his body crumbled away like sand and vanished.
Ahn Sang-hyuk's eyes gleamed.
"…What is that?"
He instantly realized the uninvited guest now arriving was part of the same group as the gas-spewing rats.
Step. Step. Step.
Footsteps echoed slowly toward them.
Only one person.
Then he revealed himself.
He pulled the spear from the wall and looked into the meeting room.
"What the hell?!"
Shim Hyung-sik charged at him.
He was unarmed, but his sharpened claws were deadly weapons.
However—
Slash!
Before Shim Hyung-sik could even swing his claws properly, the man's spear cleanly sliced through his neck.
Shim Hyung-sik vanished without even a proper scream.
"Hmph."
Seeing this, Ahn Sang-hyuk thought to himself:
'Well, I'm screwed.'
He had planned to wait for his benefactor—but instead, the Grim Reaper had come calling.
The decision was quick, and the conclusion, simple.
"Son Ki-hwan."
"…Yes, Sir Sang-hyuk."
"Stop that guy."
With that final order, Ahn Sang-hyuk dashed full speed toward a shattered window.
"You bastard!!"
Son Gi-hwan spat curses and bolted toward the window in the opposite direction.
"Graaaah!"
His final scream echoed from behind.
The next moment, Ahn Sang-hyuk, sensing a chill run down his spine, rolled his body to the side.
Ssshhhhhkk!
A spear zipped past him at high speed and flew out through the shattered window.
Quickly springing to his feet, Ahn Sang-hyuk leaped out the window, chasing after the spear.
But then—
'…What the hell is that now?'
The first thing that greeted him outside were suspicious figures clad in silver armor.
Wearing full-plate armor in a place like this, which was clearly not medieval Europe, meant only one thing—they were definitely shady.
'Goddammit!'
But he didn't have time to dwell on the thought.
A flash of light burst before his eyes.
"Oh, shit."
An arrow of light pierced through his body.
Pffbbbpt!
"Graaahh!"
He crashed to the ground, screaming in pain as his body was torn apart.
Then,
Thud! Slash!
The halberds wielded by the silver knights ruthlessly tore into his body.
[You have hunted a Mid-Level Vampire (Lv. 38).]
[You gained a massive amount of experience.]
[₩1,823,003,273 has been deposited into the Absolute Ruler's wallet.]
The vampire extermination ended far more anticlimactically than expected.
Ha Dong-gun and Oh Eun-joo were sweeping through the building, taking care of the remaining stragglers, while the vampires who sensed danger and fled outside were annihilated by Kang Deok-soo's Steel Knights.
Even if any vampires were lucky enough to spot a gap in the knights' encirclement, Kim Ga-young's arrows of light would immediately track them down. And even if they somehow slipped past, they wouldn't escape Moon Byung-ho, who roamed in stealth.
Most importantly, there was no escaping Kim Geon's sight—he had merged with Kkamangi (his crow) and was monitoring the entire apartment complex from above.
Ha Dong-gun's party was executing a perfect vampire purge.
[Civilian Kang Deok-soo has taken down the leader of the Daeyeon Prukasteel Apartment Complex.]
[You can now construct an outpost in the Daeyeon Prukasteel Apartment Complex.]
"An outpost, huh."
That message sometimes popped up after defeating the boss-level monster in a certain area.
"Though I've never really had a reason to use it…"
Among the construction features, it was the only one he'd never touched.
"Feels like a white elephant."
Even now, it seemed that way.
The current area was an apartment complex relatively close to their territory. Once they leveled up a bit more, it would be within range anyway.
"There's no reason to waste money turning this place into an outpost."
A good location for an outpost had to be several kilometers outside the current territory, at the very least.
Also, to qualify for outpost construction, they had to defeat monsters that had been entrenched in one place for a long time, just like now. And three vassals with the [Knight] title needed to remain in the area for a whole week.
Even after construction, [Knight]-titled vassals would have to stay stationed there.
"It's just too inefficient!"
He still hadn't found a compelling reason to go through the trouble of activating an outpost.
As he was pondering how to make better use of the outpost system, Seo Ye-jin opened her eyes and said,
"It's all clear now. I think all the vampires have been exterminated."
After confirming it with the reconnaissance mice, he used the Ring of Communication to inform Ha Dong-gun's party.
[Great work, everyone. You can now return.]
As Ha Dong-gun's team gathered near the entrance, he turned his attention to Kim Geon, who was still soaring through the sky.
[Did you see any survivors inside the apartment complex?]
With his crow-like face, Kim Geon slowly shook his head.
"Not so far. Most of the windows have curtains drawn, so we'd have to check each unit one by one to be sure."
He had hoped otherwise, but it was no surprise—finding survivors wasn't going to be easy.
"Well, to a normal person, Kim Geon probably looks no different from a monster."
Even if someone spotted him, they probably wouldn't send out an SOS or anything like that.
In contrast, the vampires, who looked just like ordinary humans, could easily deceive people.
They could have just stood at the door, offering water or emergency rations, claiming to be rescuers—and people would have opened up.
"But I'm sure there are still survivors out there!"
Even in their own apartment complex, there were more people than expected who had refused to open their doors out of sheer caution.
He wanted to at least deliver emergency supplies to those people, but the method was the issue.
"What should I do…"
While he was struggling with the dilemma, Kim Geon opened his beak and said,
"Jaehyun-nim. Someone is approaching us."
Ha Dong-gun, meanwhile, was checking his team and preparing to return to headquarters.
"This wasn't too bad, actually."
Although the vampires had looked like humans, Ha Dong-gun didn't feel any guilt about killing them.
To him, they overlapped too easily with the Black Orcs.
It was obvious why vampires, who fed on humans, chose an apartment complex as their base of operations.
Few places had a population density as high as an apartment complex.
It was easy to imagine how they had lured people out and devoured them. Maybe that's why it was easier to end their lives without mercy.
In fact, there was even a small thrill in killing and executing them.
"I'm definitely not normal either," he thought.
But so what?
The world had already gone mad.
In a world like this, maybe not going mad was the strange thing.
"Monster hunting, huh…"
Ha Dong-gun could feel a small goal starting to take shape in his heart.
He wanted to wipe out every single monster that had appeared in this world.
Fortunately, he'd been lucky enough to be chosen by Kim Jae-hyun, and because of that, he had gained power beyond his means.
On top of that, the party made up of his friends held a unique and unmatched position within Kim Jae-hyun's domain.
"Maybe it really is possible."
As he crushed vampires with overwhelming power, a sliver of hope took root in his heart.
"If I'm with Jae-hyun… maybe we really could wipe out all the monsters in this world…"
He would not forgive the monsters.
Especially the ones that had made their home in the apartment complex—he would show them no mercy.
The moment he etched that firm resolve into his heart—
"Who are you guys? What's with this delicious smell?"
A young man appeared in front of them with a grin on his face.
In that moment—
[It's a high-ranking vampire. Be careful.]
Kim Jae-hyun's voice rang out to Ha Dong-gun's party, and instantly, their eyes sharpened.
"Rise!"
Kang Deok-soo was the first to move.
Before the grinning man, a steel knight was summoned and swung its halberd.
Crash!
But with a simple kick, the man sent the steel knight flying like a rag doll.
"!!"
"What the—?"
The steel knight summoned by Kang Deok-soo wasn't something that could be taken out that easily. Just from that display alone, it was clear how powerful this enemy was.
But that wasn't the only steel knight Kang Deok-soo had summoned.
Thunk!
From behind the man, another steel knight drove the axe blade of its halberd deep into his right shoulder.
However, the blade only managed to pierce a few centimeters. Normally, a swing from that halberd would slice most monsters clean in two.
Then—
Shhhk!
Tendrils of blood shot out from his shoulder and burrowed into the silver armor.
Moments later—
Rip!
As if it were a lie, the armor was torn apart.
While Ha Dong-gun's party stared in shock at the scene—
The man's mouth split open wide, stretching to both sides.
"This is fun."
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : http://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]