A night noble’s vitality is tremendous.

Unless parts like the heart or brain burst in an instant with no chance to recover,

or unless their recovery is reduced by power like divine power,

extinguishing them was not easy.

Just looking at my own recovery, barely vampiric by half,

you could tell just how immense the power they possessed as a species truly was.

And yet.

“Recovery is...... going to be a bit difficult.”

Ariella, who said she had gained strong power even among those nobles,

was saying that.

“Aren’t you...... not supposed to die easily from something like this?”

“Normally, yes. But.......”

She spoke with a bitter smile.

“A natural enemy isn’t called a natural enemy for nothing, you know.......”

Even the divine power I used when I hunted Ariella only weakened a noble’s power, and at most made wounds heal more slowly when struck by attacks wrapped in holiness.

But the sun is their true natural enemy.

Even though her retainers blocked most of that light for her,

in that brief time—

that brief time alone, she had taken massive damage.

“Then. Blood. If I bring you blood, isn’t that enough?”

Their recovery comes from blood.

If I brought high-quality blood, she could regain the power she’d lost.

But.

“To satisfy me as I am now...... ordinary blood won’t be possible.”

“.......”

The problem was that Ariella’s level had risen too far.

If the quality of blood she needed to recover back when she fought me was a 1, then now it would be in the hundreds.

And.

Half-vampire as I was, I could feel it.

‘The blood of those monsters wandering outside...... isn’t high quality.’

They were bastards the doctor made for experiments in the first place.

There was no way they’d have blood of a quality high enough to satisfy Ariella.

The other retainers had also taken direct hits from that sunlight and lost most of their power.

The retainers’ blood wouldn’t help much either.

“......Then!”

I lifted the kitchen knife I’d been holding

and brought it to my wrist as I spoke.

“What about my blood.”

“.......”

“You won’t be able to find blood this high-quality anywhere else.”

At my words,

a faint warmth returned to her face as it paled.

“That’s...... a tempting offer, it is.......”

At that—

without hesitation, I moved the knife, intending to cut the vein in my wrist—

“But.”

Pak.

“I’ll have to refuse.”

“What?”

She spoke, suppressing the rising hunger.

“As you know, master, I am bound by the Oath of Retainers, and I am set to prioritize my master’s safety and orders above all else.”

“So?”

“If I recover with my master’s blood...... I will probably end up drinking quite a lot. Then my master’s condition will deteriorate greatly, and.......”

She turned her head.

And looked at the gigantic monster fighting out there.

“And the odds of my master being able to escape that grotesque hybrid would also drop. I...... cannot make that choice.”

“What if I force you to drink it?”

Shhhh.

Part of her torso turned into mist,

and the organs inside were revealed.

Thump, thump.......

A pulsing organ.

A heart that didn’t look all that different from a human’s.

“If a situation arises where my master’s life is put at risk while saving me.”

She

brought her nails up over that heart.

“Then I would probably decide that ending my own life is the way to save my master...... wouldn’t I?”

“.......”

Hearing that,

I had no choice but to make a decision, even as my face tightened.

‘We retreat first.’

I couldn’t lose Ariella here.

Letting out a sigh, I pushed my hand into the shadow beneath my feet.

I was going to put her into [Shadow Veil]

and leave this place......

“......Huh?”

What I felt at my fingertips

was not the strange sensation like touching smoke that I felt whenever I put my hand into that veil—

but the sensation of hard ground.

‘The veil...... isn’t active?’

[Shadow Veil] is Ariella’s ability, not mine.

I had merely moved the other realm that was originally inside her shadow under my own shadow.

And in the past,

when I first fought Ariella,

she and I fought inside [Shadow Veil].

And that battle ended when—

[All mana required to maintain Shadow Veil has been consumed.]

[Shadow Veil is canceled.]

Ariella’s power became so weak

that she couldn’t even maintain the veil.

“.......”

Just like now.

‘Calm down. Think calmly.’

Ariella cannot heal her wounds on her own.

Even if I try to heal her by feeding her blood,

it’s hard to obtain blood of ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) that quality among the monsters gathered out there.

If I feed her large amounts of my blood, she might be able to recover,

but if I choose that option, my life will be put at risk, so Ariella will avoid that choice even if it means killing herself.

Even if we try to leave the battlefield,

if we can’t use the veil, it’s impossible to escape while carrying her.

And.

What those facts point to......

only one thing.

“......Wait, just—just wait.”

Even though I clearly realized that single conclusion,

I shook my head, teeth clenched, as I spoke.

“There are other ways to recover you besides blood.”

“.......”

“My body’s been in bad shape so I haven’t even been able to try it until now, and it’ll probably take quite a while, but with this, maybe somehow.......”

“Master.”

But.

Ariella looked at me,

then said—

“Go.”

“.......”

The one conclusion

I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud—

she spat it out.

*****

“If it’s that rude knight fighting outside...... he can probably buy enough time for you to escape, master. While he draws it out...... you must run as far away as you can.”

“Then you.”

“I...... well, shouldn’t I try to live somehow?”

Try.

Outside, even now, Ariella’s retainers were being hunted down one after another by the doctor’s experimental subjects.

The doctor was at least being held back by Mountain, but even that situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable.

No matter what she tried,

the outcome waiting for her was decided.

‘......I was careless.’

I shouldn’t have come this lightly to Seoul, where this hellscape had unfolded,

and I shouldn’t have trusted that doctor so easily.

In truth,

I probably wouldn’t have entertained careless thoughts in this Seoul,

and I wouldn’t have trusted that doctor so easily.

And yet the reason I made this mistake was—

‘That doctor...... was a lot like me.’

The more we talked,

the more there were parts of it I could empathize with,

and the more it resembled me.

And above all—

‘It was more honest with me than anyone.’

Even—

even now, when it had turned into an enemy like this,

it was always honest with me.

‘Ha.’

That’s why I believed it.

But I never should have.

‘How long has it even been since I spoke so confidently to the Matron.’

A bitter smile formed inside.

That [Matron] said it would come looking for me again if a moment came when I greatly regretted something.

How long had it been since I heard those words—

and already something I could regret like this was happening again.

‘Did it say the road I walk would be filled with nothing but regret and pain.’

It wasn’t a divine being named after regret for nothing.

Its prediction hit with perfect accuracy.

“......Hoo.”

And after hesitating for a moment,

I got up and said,

“Then wait here for a bit.”

“......Yes?”

As I gripped the kitchen knife and moved,

Ariella widened her eyes and asked me.

“Wait? What do you mean......?”

“This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work. I get it. But there’s one way that does.”

I looked out beyond the broken window.

“In the end, you can recover as long as you have high-quality blood, right?”

Most of the fusion’s blood is low-grade.

I can’t feed you my blood.

“Then, well, the answer’s obvious.”

I grinned,

and looked toward the cause of the earthquake still roaring.

The being delivering one-sided violence to Mountain.

The most powerful giant beast on this battlefield.

“I’ll bring you that bastard’s blood.”

“......Master!”

If it was the doctor’s blood,

it would be able to restore this one.

“You have to just go!”

A hand grabbing my ankle.

Ariella, with the one remaining hand, clutched my ankle and told me to run.

But whether she did or not—

“Bullshit.”

I shook off that powerless grip,

and stared outside as I spoke.

“I’m not leaving my unit behind.”

Just as the Matron warned,

I’d already ended up in a situation this painful.

But I—

“......I am not a unit member, am I.”

“Ha, what are you talking about.”

Here,

I had no intention of creating something else I would regret.

“I told you last time. You and your retainers are...... my royal guard that protects me closest of all.”

“.......”

“If you’re not here, who’s supposed to protect me?”

At my words,

Ariella bit down hard on her lip and said,

“Then there’s that woman and the followers, aren’t there.”

“What?”

“The followers who follow you, master.” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

At what came out of her mouth,

I couldn’t help being a little startled.

That woman and the followers.

Meaning—

Jeong Sua and the unit members who volunteered to become my royal guard.

“Make them your new royal guard.”

Her words were recommending them

as her successors.

*****

Telling me to make Jeong Sua and the unit members my new royal guard.

At that, I widened my eyes and replied.

“When they were coveting the royal guard position, you were so wary of them?”

“You should...... think about why I was wary, shouldn’t you?”

Before, she’d hemmed and hawed about how she’d never been wary and all that—

but now she seemed like she didn’t even have room for that kind of leisure.

“That hybrid’s words weren’t entirely wrong.”

“.......”

“I definitely have defects.”

She continued in a flat tone.

“Me and my children...... are ultimately residents of the night.”

I thought she meant

the weakness that they could only act at night.

“Whether it’s day or night...... we are in a position where we can never go into the light.”

But.

That wasn’t all she meant.

“To you, master, and your species, I am ultimately nothing more than a monster.”

At those words,

only then did I realize what she was saying.

“This isn’t a noble’s territory...... and we are the ones your species calls monsters.”

She is a monster.

If she were merely a monster, there might have been room for compromise.

But she had a record of slaughtering countless humans—

even unit members.

“In truth...... it isn’t only a matter of this land.”

That’s why

there was so much resistance to accepting her.

“In my homeland as well.......”

Even after that,

the existence of the vampires was treated as classified even among the unit members, except for a small number of cadres.

“Nobles were regarded as beings of the shadows.”

I, too,

had been recognizing the Legion’s power and the retainers’ power as completely separate things.

But.

“Those humans are different, aren’t they?”

“.......”

“They’re diligently expanding their influence in the light...... and their loyalty to you, master, seems firm.”

Ariella and her retainers are strong.

Why had she, with that kind of power, been wary of Jeong Sua and that group.

At first, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“The royal guard are...... the ones who attend the Legion Commander at the closest distance.”

But only now—

I understood why.

“I was occupying this position by putting forward only force, at least.......”

In the end,

a night noble belongs to the night...... to the shadows.

“I already knew well enough that I lack the qualifications in every other respect.”

A being that could never

be integrated with our unit that belonged to the light.

“Right now my force may look great...... but that was only because we were lucky and there were many environments where we could exert our power. If we are exposed to the sun like this...... even that force becomes trivial.”

“.......”

“And the rude knight can supplement some of that lacking force...... so leave force to that knight, and attendance to that woman.”

I clenched my teeth hard,

and listened to her words in silence.

“Handling a monster’s power...... is a dangerous weakness for the head of a group like the Legion, a group that seeks to save people like the Legion, isn’t it? Right now, master...... for the sake of that weakness, you are pushing away others who are qualified.”

One of the biggest reasons I rejected the royal guard proposal

was that if I kept other unit members close, it would place constraints on using Ariella and her retainers’ power.

“Because of my greed, I didn’t want to let go of this role...... but in truth, which side is right is obvious, isn’t it?”

“.......”

“Throw away this dangerous element...... and keep those more fitting people by your side.”

At that,

I clenched my teeth hard,

and tried to rebut her words—

“Bullsh—!”

“More fitting people.”

In that moment,

a voice reached me before my own.

“Thank you for thinking that way.”

“......?”

“It isn’t wrong, certainly. I think it’s a hundred times correct, if anything.”

A voice coming from behind me.

When I turned my head that way—

“But...... just because there’s something better, do we really need to throw away what’s less good?”

What was there was—

“The manpower to attend the Benefactor at your side.”

“You guys.......”

The ones I thought had already left the battlefield long ago.

“The more, the better.”

“Why are you here......?”

Jeong Sua and the unit members.