The Land of Vampires, Beltane (4)
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Though filled with an ominous aura, it clearly isn’t the ‘black magic’ engraved with [Dark Covenant].
Despite the unusual appearance and red gleam in his eyes, he’s neither a vampire nor a Death Knight.
The man was definitely ‘human’.
It’s just that his exterior was so peculiar that it was difficult to consider him human at first glance.
-No answer, eh? Then I’ll have to ask directly.
A voice that sounds as if it’s been scratched is heard through [Language].
And as he opens the old closet, the man slowly walks out.
The fact that he called me ‘Kelbilid’.
And this familiar warrior’s aura I’ve experienced several times.
There was a high probability that this man was a member of the ‘Termen tribe’.
In other words, it means we’ve come to the right place.
“......”
But perhaps due to that unpleasant impression and unfriendly attitude?
I notice Ripley beside me suddenly drawing up magical power.
In fact, throughout our journey together, Ripley had completely entrusted combat situations to me.
After all, my own strength is formidable, and our contract relationship isn’t a full master-servant arrangement like other contractors.
But now, she’s showing a slightly different side.
She’s exuding magical power as if ready to kill the man before us at any moment.
‘...Why is she like this?’
Instead, I inwardly swallowed my tension.
Ripley is a mage beyond an S-grade Holder.
With one spell from her, this entire castle could be blown away.
The spell was prepared in an instant.
The attribute is fire.
Within 3 seconds of the magical power gathering, an intense heat engulfs the surroundings.
At a glance, it’s such a powerful fire-attribute spell that one might believe Kang Juyeon had cast it.
It displayed the majesty of a level 20 [Elemental User] rune.
“Ripley, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t like him.”
Here, ‘him’ obviously refers to that gloomy Termen guy.
At her gesture, even the Termen guy seemed to flinch for a moment.
...It seems he also realizes this is no ordinary magic.
“In what way?”
“Everything from how he looks to how he acts. That bastard, he’s one of those damn Termen offspring, right?”
“......”
I kept my mouth shut at the harsh curse that spilled from Ripley’s lips.
As I felt when interrogating Caroline earlier, Ripley particularly despised the Termen warriors.
From what I hear, even when she was in <The Room of Deserter>, Ruden’s domain, she supposedly turned every Death Knight Termen warrior she saw into dust... I couldn’t understand why she hated them so much.
Perhaps it’s related to the reason why Ripley called me to conquer <Beltane>, I thought.
“And one more thing. You’re Do Jae-hyun, so why is he calling you Kelbilid?”
“...Good point.”
As expected of the noble vampire countess.
She seems to have understood the Termen language even without the [Language] rune.
Moreover, every word is right on point.
Kelbilid and I just happened to use the same sword, but these damn Termen guys keep calling me Kelbilid every time they see me.
Thanks to that, I always had to fight with all my might when facing Termen Death Knights.
Ripley, still holding onto the magical power she had drawn up, turned her head and asked me.
“Shall I kill him? Master.”
Orland nodded at Ripley’s words.
-That’s correct. Baroness Caroline proposed a contract with me in exchange for destruction.
Contracting in exchange for destruction.
The cheesy contract contents using symbols are all similar, huh.
Orland thumped his shoulder again and continued.
-It was a satisfactory contract for me. Unlike other Termen warriors who quickly settled in Beltane, I’m a bit old-fashioned, so I found a guardian vampire rather late.
Guardian vampire.
Another unfamiliar term came up.
“Help me out, speed wagon.”
“Don’t call me by strange names.”
“Sorry.”
“A guardian vampire is exactly what it sounds like. Specifically, it refers to vampires who contract with Termen warriors and provide them with conveniences. You’ve heard that when the Termen tribe was destroyed, they scattered to Ludenark’s domain and Beltane, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Most of the Termen warriors who came to Beltane contracted with vampires. After all, they need some kind of backing to survive in this land of death.”
-That’s right. As I mentioned, I was late in making this contract compared to other warriors, so I didn’t hesitate much to proceed with it. But then one day, dimensional movement began, and the system was applied to Beltane.
Holder system and dimensional travel between worlds.
Orland was talking about <Beltane> becoming a dungeon.
-And not long after that happened, Baroness Caroline attempted to escape the dungeon and left Beltane. I don’t know the exact reason, but in my opinion as a contractor, I think she probably went to find her father. That’s based on combining what Mr. Do Jae-hyun and Countess Ripley said.
And then the decisive word came out.
“Father?”
-Yes. Baroness Caroline is a half-vampire born from a vampire and a Termen warrior. And her father, who was the chieftain warrior of Termen, Tashmad, went to Ludenark’s territory. Unlike us who settled in Beltane, Tashmad was a representative warrior who settled in Ludenark.
Hearing up to that point, things started to make sense.
So Baroness Caroline left <Beltane> to find her father and went to the <Room of Deserter>, where she met her father and the Ludenark school.
And then, accepting their proposal, she tried to carry out a terrorist attack at the New York arena.
When Ripley first mentioned it, she said Caroline was expelled from <Beltane>, but that seems to have been incorrect information.
Caroline didn’t get expelled from <Beltane>, she escaped on her own. Just like Ripley.
Such a timeline roughly formed in my head.
“So is Caroline the only vampire who escaped?”
Most vampires who escaped from <Beltane> went to the <Room of Deserter>.
I asked the question to confirm their additional forces.
-That’s probably not the case. Countess Ripley standing right in front of you also escaped, and I heard that several vampires who are on friendly terms with Caroline also crossed over, but there probably won’t be any vampires above the rank of viscount.
Through that answer.
The main purpose of why I came all the way to Baroness Caroline’s domain in <Beltane> was achieved.
That was to check how much vampire power the Ludenark school had.
Since I learned about their new forces through Baroness Caroline, I needed to understand this more accurately and specifically.
‘If they’re all at the baron level... It shouldn’t be too difficult.’
It seems like it won’t be as difficult as I thought.
I didn’t stop there and immediately asked about my second objective.
“Orland. Then what’s the power level of the Termen warriors who went to Ludenark’s territory? I think most of them would have sided with Ludenark.”
But this question seemed to make Orland uncomfortable as he frowned.
-What? That’s difficult to answer. Even though I’m a Termen warrior contracted with vampires, how can I so easily give information about warriors who were once my kin...
And then Ripley emits magical power.
“You like fire attributes, right?”
“I-I’ll tell you.”
Indeed, comrades were far, and magic was close.
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