“Good God.”

The enormous sun visible far in the distance.

Light so intense it felt like it would blind you if you looked at it directly was pouring down from far away.

‘The Grand Duke’s bloodline hadn’t been able to occupy the south.’

Only after seeing that did I realize it.

‘They couldn’t... break through that light.’

When I looked behind me, a world of pitch-black night stretched out everywhere.

But ahead of us alone, it was bright, as if someone had switched on a giant lamp in the sky.

If vampires so much as touched that light, they’d suffer fatal injuries.

Still.

As I stared at that light in admiration, I soon noticed something.

“...Those clouds haven’t disappeared, have they?”

The reason sunlight didn’t reach this land was those dark red clouds covering the sky.

When I first saw that sun, I thought maybe this place simply didn’t have those clouds above it...but that wasn’t it.

The sun was floating beneath the clouds.

“You really don’t know, or what...?”

At my words, the man holding my chain and watching me, Wei, looked at me suspiciously and said,

“Those clouds were made by the king of the vampires... the one called the Grand Duke. They won’t disappear unless the Grand Duke himself is eliminated.”

“Even when sunlight touches them? The sun is supposed to be their weakness.”

“By that logic, sunlight should already be hitting the top of those clouds in the first place, shouldn’t it?”

Ah, right.

Whatever had been done to them, those clouds were some kind of exception that remained intact even under sunlight.

“Still, thanks to that sun, our territory is safe. Even the clouds the Grand Duke made can’t descend all the way to the ground.”

“And... how are you so sure of that?”

“If it were possible, they would’ve covered our sun with those clouds and invaded long ago— no, wait, why am I even explaining this to you?”

As if realizing something, he let out an “ah,”

then shoved my back and said,

“I told you we’d talk once we got farther inside. Walk.”

“I’m perfectly fine even with that sun touching me. Isn’t that enough to trust me a little?”

“Yeah. Looking at you, you do seem to be human. But.”

He looked over my body as he spoke.

“Doesn’t look like those were your original clothes.”

“Ah.”

Just as he said.

When I looked down at myself,

Srrrk...

the medieval noble clothes Ariella had made for me out of shadows vanished, and the military uniform I had originally been wearing was revealed.

The Grand Duke’s thralls had blocked that artificial sun for me, and the general had only directed his light at my head.

This was the first time sunlight had actually touched my whole body.

The clothes Ariella had made melted away as if they were dissolving.

“Hah. For someone who claimed he’d been kidnapped, you sure were being treated well. Looks like your kidnappers even gave you clothes.”

“......”

“Even if, by some chance, you really are human, that doesn’t mean you’re trustworthy. At the very least... it’s obvious you’re hiding something.”

With those words, he kept walking, chain in hand.

Maybe it was thanks to that sun.

I could see the expressions of the group as they got closer growing noticeably more relaxed.

Faces reassured as if they knew they wouldn’t be attacked here, at least.

I too walked on, looking at the distant sun.

‘The fact that a sun is hanging in the sky feels this strange.’

After walking quite a while longer, I finally saw a scene in the distance.

‘...A harbor?’

Most of the buildings had collapsed, so it was hard to picture what it had once looked like, but what appeared was a massive port city by the sea.

And only after approaching it did I realize where that sun was actually hanging.

‘Beyond this sea.’

And then

I recalled the map I had seen not long ago.

The place where that sun was hanging was at the southernmost edge of this vast Chinese land.

A place beyond the sea there.

An island.

‘Hainan.’

That place was where the survivors of this land had gathered.

***

“You’re back.”

As we approached the harbor, I saw people near it noticing us and coming over.

There had to be dozens of them.

‘I was already thinking it when I saw the people escorting me... but the scale of the survivors may be bigger than I expected.’

It was rather good news from my point of view, so I looked at them in a pleasant mood, and they, seeing the group surrounding me, said,

“You haven’t been gone that long, but you’re back earlier than expected. Did the mission succeed?”

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t actually know why these people had been moving around in vampire territory in the first place.

It wasn’t like they would have just been wandering through a dangerous place like that for no reason.

They must have had some objective too.

But—

“No. It failed.”

Unfortunately, that objective seemed to have ended in failure.

“Failed?”

At that, the people looked at the group with wide eyes.

“General Kaio went out personally, and you’re saying the mission failed?”

“There was an accident along the way. It couldn’t be helped.”

“An accident...? Then how bad were the losses?”

“We used up the artificial sun. General Kaio is seriously injured too.”

“...Good God. Just what happened?”

Some of them seemed to hesitate for a moment, then finally opened their mouths with darker expressions.

“...Any dead?”

The expressions on their faces looked quite gloomy.

At that, Wei waved a hand and answered,

“No. No one died.”

“What? You used the artificial sun, and the general was seriously injured. Then how?”

“It got complicated. Rather than anyone dying, if anything...”

He stuck up a thumb and pointed behind him.

“We gained one.”

“...Artificial sun?”

People’s gazes stabbed toward me.

“No way. Did you rescue a survivor?”

“I don’t know if rescue is the right word... but it’s something like that.”

At that, a few of them frowned.

“The mission failed, you used up one of the few artificial suns we have... and you picked up a survivor too?”

“He’s not exactly just a survivor.”

“Good God. What in the world were you thinking...?”

But they soon shook their heads and held back further comment.

“...No, forget it. Then should we count it as one more person added to the headcount?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll prepare a boat for that number, then. Follow us.”

With those words, the people began leading the group somewhere.

“Brother Wei.”

A little later.

When both I and the rest of the group had boarded the boat,

“Since this isn’t really something for us, the ones managing the boats here, to worry about...”

one of the people who had guided us to the boat spoke with a worried expression.

“I imagine... it’s going to get pretty loud once you go inside the island.”

“...It will.”

***

Hainan Province.

A massive Chinese province made up of an island.

It was called an island, but its size was larger than Gyeonggi Province and Chungcheong Province combined.

‘Before the Legion summoned Bimana, they were trying to use islands as bases too.’

Monsters usually targeted prey they could see first.

It was rare for them to cross the sea and go hunting on distant islands they couldn’t even see.

Leaving aside the fact that the island itself was extremely large, as long as it could be cleared out, it would make a pretty decent stronghold.

Bang!!!

...Of course.

I didn’t know how wide or narrow things were inside here, but it didn’t seem like it had much to do with me.

“He’s an extremely dangerous individual. Don’t let your guard down around him for even a moment.”

“Yes, understood.”

After arriving on the island, the one called General Kaio went off separately for treatment first, and I was dragged somewhere by these people.

And the end of that was right here.

‘A prison already. That makes twice now.’

I had wound up thrown into a cell.

Wei, who had put me inside it, looked at me and the guards for a moment with an extremely worried expression, then ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) said,

“...You must be careful.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

With a sigh, he stepped out of the building.

“You’d better not try anything suspicious.”

Just as Wei had warned them, the people standing guard began staring at me with their eyes wide open.

There wasn’t much to gain from watching someone locked in a cell that diligently, but they were carrying out their duty quite earnestly.

That diligence was certainly worthy of praise, but...

-What should we do?

Unfortunately,

-If you want to escape, we could do it right now...

being earnest and being good at surveillance were apparently two different things.

***

I couldn’t see them well, but I could sense faint presences nearby.

And I could hear very small voices.

-If you want to escape, we could do it right now...

At that voice, I gave a slight shake of my head, then wrote in small letters in the corner where they couldn’t see.

-Did you have any trouble crossing the sea?

-At first we thought about sneaking onto the boat, but with Squad Leader Jeong Sua’s help, we managed to cross safely.

Members specialized in stealth.

In truth, they had been with me from the moment I escaped those vampires.

Even when I was captured by those humans.

Even until I reached this harbor.

The whole time.

‘They were the ones who could fool even monsters with sharp senses.’

As some of the best in our unit, ordinary awakened couldn’t detect them even with them standing right in front of their noses.

-What about Luca and Squad Leader Jeong Sua?

-Both of them crossed safely as well. For now, they’ve settled in an empty building on the outskirts of the island, and they’re surveying the island with either our abilities or Squad Leader Jeong Sua’s. So far, nothing unusual has shown up.

Still—

-We considered trying to infiltrate farther into the island, but that failed.

-Failed?

-It looks like there are beings deeper inside who can detect people like us. We weren’t discovered, but I think going any farther would be a little dangerous.

I see.

If our people were specialized in stealth, then naturally there would also be people specialized in detecting infiltrators like them.

Meaning it would be difficult to stay hidden all the way into the inner area.

-Still, getting the Legion Commander out of here wouldn’t be difficult. If you give the order, we can do it whenever—

-No. Wait for now.

-Yes, sir.

Anyway.

Now that they had succeeded in crossing the sea, I had, more or less, secured a means of protecting myself on this island.

Even if something happened here, if I mobilized all the squad members, escaping and getting away somehow shouldn’t be a problem.

‘Then... let’s see.’

The moment I knew my safety was secured, I decided to calmly assess the situation.

‘First... this.’

Tap, tap.

I lightly nudged the floor with my foot a few times, testing the shadow on the ground.

All I felt was an ordinary concrete floor.

...Unfortunately, my foot didn’t sink into that shadow.

‘Well... there’s nothing to be done about that.’

Thinking about the ingredients I had kept stored in there made it feel like a bit of a waste, but I had expected this would happen the moment I lost my thrall.

I thought with a bitter smile to myself.

‘And next... this island.’

I recalled the sights of the island I had seen on the way here.

The fact that humans had gathered in a place like this was surprising enough.

But what lay farther inside was even more astonishing.

For example— 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

‘I didn’t expect them to be using electricity.’

When I was brought to this prison, they transported me in a vehicle.

Not one that ran on fuel, but an electric car.

And where that electricity came from...

I didn’t need to see it to know.

‘Solar power.’

That sun hanging in the sky.

By means of that light, the people here seemed to be enjoying some degree of civilization.

On the way over, I had even seen signs of farming being carried out with tractors.

‘And their numbers are quite large too.’

I hadn’t seen the whole island, but even just the number of people I’d seen on the way here had been considerable.

There might be tens or even hundreds of thousands of survivors here.

‘A force astonishingly large.’

The area they occupied alone was extensive, and their numbers...

together with that strange level of technology capable of hanging a sun in the sky, was enough to make me think the Legion might actually be outmatched a little.

The problem was—

‘Even being this strong, they’re still nothing compared to those vampires.’

These people were definitely strong.

But the reason they were keeping the vampires back was clearly because of that sun in the sky.

The moment that sun disappeared, the vampires controlling the mainland would wipe this land out in an instant.

‘If that sun can be maintained forever, then there’s no problem, but...’

I recalled what I had seen of the Grand Duke.

...Someone like that didn’t seem like the type to just sit back and leave a force like this alone.

‘...Well, that’s that.’

Anyway.

Worrying about them could come later.

What mattered right now wasn’t them, but me.

‘I don’t intend to rot away in this cell forever.’

With that thought, I slipped a hand inside my clothes and muttered quietly,

‘[Force-Feeding].’

After murmuring those words, I closed my eyes for a moment

and simply sat on the floor with a peaceful expression.

“...Locked in a prison and he’s trying to take a nap?”

“He’s the one Brother Wei warned us about. He could just be pretending to sleep so we’ll let our guard down. Let’s keep a close watch on him.”

I heard the puzzled voices of the guards as they watched me.

After that went on for a while.

Once some time had passed,

“Hey.”

I opened my eyes and looked at them as I spoke.

“I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

They frowned.

“Maybe you’re confused about something. You’re locked up in here right now. You’re not exactly in a position to ask us for—”

“I know that too. Still, hear me out. It’s kind of urgent.”

They had looked ready to reject any request no matter what it was, but—

“If you would just pass along one message to the man named Wei, wherever he is right now.”

“...What?”

The moment Wei’s name came up, they closed the mouths that had been about to reject me.

Apparently that man held quite a high position among them.

“You want us to pass something along... what?”

“It’s simple. Just this...”

I turned my head toward the concrete walls, and, thinking of someone somewhere beyond them, I spoke.

“That I was one of the Grand Duke’s thralls.”

“...?”

“That alone should be enough.”