Chapter 77.1

In the small city of Inje-gun, Gangwon-do province, deep within a mountain range to the north, there was a cave that even the locals barely knew about.  Only a very small number of people knew that a military facility had been built inside that cave, prepared for emergencies.  

However, no matter how few people knew about it, it was still a human military facility.  

And so, a monster appeared.  

“Aaaargh…!”  

Unlike the monsters that had attacked other military bases, there was only a single monster that appeared in this bunker.  

That lone monster sank its fangs into a man’s neck.  

The man whose neck was pierced by the fangs struggled against the sudden attack, writhing in pain.  

But it didn’t last long.  

After all the blood in his body had flowed into the monster’s mouth, the monster’s own blood began to flow back into the man’s veins.  

And then,  

“I pledge my loyalty to the Queen…”  

“Good. I expect great things from you.”  

With soulless eyes, the man knelt before the monster.  

Seeing this, the “Queen” monster thought,  

‘My family has grown quite big.’  

It had been some time since she had appeared in this place.  

The first member of her family was the man who had been managing the facilities in this cave.  

He must have held an important position among the humans.  

But such status was worthless before her.  

Yet, since he was a man of relatively high standing, he was quite knowledgeable about the ways of this world.  

From this first member of her family, the Queen learned about this world.  

And based on the knowledge she gained,   S~ᴇaʀᴄh the n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

she reached a single conclusion:  

‘This is the ideal environment for me to grow my power.’  

There were no pesky holy knights, anti-demon soldiers, or vampire hunters.  

There were stories of beings similar to her concept, but they were dismissed as mere fantasy.  

There were no real preparations against an existence like her.  

In her eyes, the humans of this world were like ones offering their necks, begging to be fed upon.  

‘It was so satisfying back then.’  

Realizing this, she was eager to immediately go on a hunt.  

Just as she was about to leave the bunker, filled with the anticipation of quickly growing her power,  

a thought suddenly came to her mind.  

[Invade and occupy the human military facility]  

[It must not be taken by anyone else]  

She tried to ignore it, but the thought grew stronger the closer she got to the exit.  

Unable to let go of her greed, she thought,  

‘If I can’t leave this place, I’ll just make the prey come to me.’  

Fortunately, her family members were able to freely roam outside the bunker.  

It was less efficient than hunting directly, but still workable.  

The number of family members she could create per day was five.  

In the beginning, there were many days when she couldn’t create even one.  

Thanks to the efforts of her first, more intelligent family member, they had managed to spread rumors among the survivors.  

Only recently had the growth of her family begun to accelerate.  

‘If I keep building up my power this way, the number I can create per day will increase.’  

For now, the survivors who came were all either fed to her family or turned into new family members.  

But once she had enough power, she might be able to capture and farm the humans as a food source.  

It would be like a factory for producing sustenance.  

If she could achieve that, the speed at which she grew her power would only accelerate further.  

Someday, she might even be able to push away the thoughts that dominated her mind.  

‘How annoying.’  

She frowned as she thought.  

Just as the pace had started to pick up, a recent unfortunate incident had slowed it down a bit.  

‘He was a family member with good abilities.’  

Gwon Wantae.  

He was one of the higher-level family members, possessing excellent abilities, and someone she had particularly cherished.  

His sudden and unexpected murder was not difficult to investigate.  

‘Soldiers… the warrior class of this world.’  

Among the more recently joined family members, some had information about these soldiers.  

Apparently, there was a surviving military unit that was actively engaged in exterminating plunderers groups.  

The rumors even included the approximate location of this military base.  

As a warrior class, they posed a risk if she sent only her family members to attack them.  

But she was confident.  

‘My family is growing in number every day.’  

She had no intention of forgiving someone who has killed her family member.  

For now, she would grow her power.  

But once she had built up sufficient strength, her family would become a tidal wave that would annihilate those soldiers.  

“I’d imagine she’s thinking something like that,” said Sergeant Lee Min-jae during the unit’s meeting.  

“Sadly, that’s probably not too far off the mark. If the information Young-joon gathered is true, the rate at which that vampire is increasing its family is abnormal. We can’t keep up.”  

“You said it increases by five per day? That’s incredible…”  

“Even when the lizardmen were recklessly attacking our unit, the fastest we could ‘awaken’ was around five per day. Anything more was impossible.”  

Five per day may not sound like much, but in a week, it adds up to over thirty, and in a month to 150.  

That’s enough to replace our entire unit’s manpower.  

“So, the gap will just keep growing wider over time, won’t it?”  

“If we leave it as is, it’ll eventually reach a point of no return.”  

That’s right.  

So…  

“We’ll have to launch a pre-emptive strike.”  

That’s why we had obtained the tank, after all.  

However, simply using the tank as-is wouldn’t be enough.  

While the tank’s armor is thick, the awakened individuals and monsters are not ordinary beings.  

A powerful enough awakened individual can potentially destroy that armor.  

The engineers would have to modify the tank to address this shortcoming.  

And while the engineers were working on the tank, the rest of the unit would develop the tactical plan for the vampire extermination operation.  

“What about the entrance to the cave?”  

“…If you follow the mountain trail, there’s a large boulder. Going up from there…”  

“Oh ho. So, it’s been fortified, huh? Can you tell us the locations of the outer lookout posts too?”  

“Sure… They’re spread out in several places, so anyone approaching on foot won’t be able to survive… The locations are…”  

After ‘persuading’ the captured vampire to be truthful, he recorded all the gathered information on a map.  

Then we huddled around that map, hashing out a tactical plan of attack.  

Most of those involved in the planning were known as the brighter ones in the unit.  

But there was one unexpected participant.  

“That’s the wrong approach. If you try to attack this section, then here…”  

“Ah, I see.”  

One of the soldiers proposed a plan, but someone voiced an opposing opinion.  

Yet no one was dissatisfied with this dissent.  

Even as an outsider to strategy, I could tell the critique was lucidly rational and convincing.  

It was so professional-sounding that I was somewhat overwhelmed.  

The issue was…  

“If we’d gone with that original plan, it would’ve been disastrous.”  

“Thank you, Lieutenant Kim.”  

That dissenting voice belonged to Lieutenant Kim Hyun-seok – the man notorious in the unit for his incompetence.  

“No need to thank me. We’re here to share ideas and fill in each other’s gaps in the planning process.”  

“…I still can’t get used to this.”  

“Hmm? What did you say, Young-joon?”  

“It’s nothing.”