“Right. So how does it feel?”

My body still felt pretty heavy, but I walked up to the bastard like nothing was wrong and said it anyway.

“...Ha.”

At that, Jinlei, kneeling politely on the ground, looked up at me.

“I see. So it wasn’t just your face that earned you that Count’s favor.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t know why you were pretending to be the Count’s knight, pretending to be incompetent... but I suppose you were someone with a hidden ace after all.”

As he said that, the bastard gave a slight flick of the wrist.

“But... aren’t you getting a little too careless?”

I could see its blood vessels moving.

The blood somewhere inside its body had started surging violently.

“I, too, have an ace or two of my own.”

And then, looking at the bastard, I said,

“Oh, that?”

In the past, that bastard had killed me by blowing up my head and heart at the same time.

The abilities it possessed were probably far more numerous and powerful than what it had shown just now.

“I know, dumbass.”

Still.

I didn’t think I needed to worry too much about that part.

Fssshaaaaaa...

“...!”

Right after the bastard twitched its hand as if trying to use some kind of power, that arm—

“Melting...!?”

—was dissolving into a grotesque mess.

“Oh, the right hand?”

Looking at the arm that had melted away, I said,

“So that’s where you were storing my blood.”

“...!”

If what I’d confirmed was correct, there was an essential step to that bastard’s ability.

[Sorcery - Blood Collection]

[Collects the target’s blood and stores it within the user’s body.]

[Collected blood remains within the body in a state separate from the sorcerer’s own blood.]

It collects the target’s blood and isolates it inside its own body.

Then—

[Blood Explosion]

[By releasing the blood being collected and letting it flow into the user’s own body, the blood is used as the medium of the curse.]

[By sending that blood to a specific part of the user’s body, the corresponding part of the curse target’s body is caused to explode.]

—when it wants to use that blood, it first has to release the isolation and let it flow into its body.

“Does it hurt?”

“Grrk...”

“Well, sorry about that.”

And.

Once I’d confirmed that, the countermeasure was simple.

“My blood runs a little poisonous.”

The blood it had stored inside itself had a bit of seasoning mixed into it.

[Soul-Melting Poison - Nepenthes]

And not just that.

A pretty vicious kind of seasoning.

“Just in case, let me give you some advice—you’d better leave the rest right where it is.”

“...”

“The moment you try to take out and use the blood you stole from me... fssshk. You get it, right?”

One of its hands had already melted away.

Its physical condition had probably gone straight to hell.

“Last time, when I said we should get friendly, you turned me down, remember?”

So.

“I was pretty disappointed back then.”

I walked up to the bastard, forced its mouth open, and said,

“This time, you won’t get to refuse.”

The blood of mine inside that bastard was definitely doing its job.

But strictly speaking, it hadn’t “eaten” it.

And the proper way to use my cooking is through a meal.

“Ha, damn it.”

The bastard looked at the dish in my hand and muttered that weakly.

***

“All right, then.”

I stared down at the bastard kneeling on the ground for a moment, then opened my mouth in a playful tone.

“Raise your left hand.”

Sliiide.

“Raise your right hand.”

Sliiide.

“You listen well.”

“...”

I grinned at the bastard as it frowned, then lifted my head and looked around.

‘The fight over there is almost over too.’

My body wasn’t in good shape either, so I couldn’t keep that sun going much longer.

If the other awakened succeeded in breaking through that wall, then from that point on we’d have to move quickly toward our objective.

Which meant I didn’t have much time to keep this bastard here and have a chat.

“Looks like it’s finally time for you to be punished.”

Just then, voices rose from around us.

“Traitor of humanity...!”

A group of awakened who had been fighting over there, noticed that Kaio and I had been attacked, and came running to help.

“Die! Die in as much agony as possible!”

“You thought you’d get an easy death, you bastard?!”

The atmosphere was razor-sharp.

Some of them were even throwing stones at Jinlei.

‘Well, I get it.’

From what I’d heard, on the day the vampires first started pouring out in the capital, that bastard had gone around hunting humans alongside them.

I could understand how people would feel after being betrayed by someone they trusted.

“Everyone, calm down.”

Still.

This wasn’t the time to beat the bastard to death.

“...!”

At least one fortunate thing was that, maybe because I’d played my part in getting them off that island—

“Mm. He’s definitely a bastard I want dead right now, but...”

“If the Guide says that, there must be a reason.”

“Let’s hold back.”

“Hoo...!”

Even though their piled-up rage had to be enormous, they restrained it because I told them to.

“You can probably get the general mood just by looking around.”

“...”

“It’s a shame, since we only just got close, but we don’t have much time to talk.”

“Ha. That’s a relief.”

The bastard answered in a mocking tone.

“This piece of shit.”

“How dare you speak to the Guide like that...!”

The anger of the people around us, which had only barely settled, flared up again.

“You still look awfully confident.”

“Do you want me to grovel? Then order me to.”

Even in the face of all those awakened bristling around it, the bastard spoke without losing its sneer.

“I don’t know exactly what you did to me, but if you give an order, it’ll come true, won’t it?”

“...”

“But even so, you won’t get to see me submit of my own will.”

Instead, the bastard looked around at the awakened nearby and continued.

“If anything, I ought to be thanking you. Under normal circumstances, the moment I ended up surrounded by those people, I’d have been beaten to death. Aren’t you the one keeping me alive?”

“Hm? Why do you think that?” 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“If you wanted me dead, you could have killed me a long time ago. The fact that you’re keeping me alive like this... means there’s something you want to get out of me.”

Ah. I see.

“So as long as I’m still useful to you... you’ll be the one who has to protect me from those pieces of trash.”

Sure enough.

The bastard wasn’t wrong.

There was a lot I needed to find out from it.

But.

“You’re mistaken about something.”

“...?”

At that, I raised the knife in my hand and tightened my grip on the handle as I said,

“You really thought that alone was enough reason for me not to hurt you?”

“...!”

The bastard’s eyes widened sharply as it looked at the knife.

And in the next instant—

Slice—

my blade cut right across its head.

“...Huh?”

“Huh...?”

The blade passed straight through the skull where the brain was.

And then, the people watching muttered in confusion instead.

“D-did he kill him?”

“Really? In one strike?”

But.

That confusion only lasted for a moment.

“...The Guide has cut down the traitor!”

Cheers erupted from among them.

“Traitor Jinlei is dead!”

“At last, at last my family’s revenge...!”

“I wish he’d died in more pain, but still...!”

They were worked up at the death of the enemy they had longed to see killed.

But.

“Quiet.”

“Long live—”

“Everyone, quiet.”

I stretched out a hand and calmed their excitement again as I said,

“It’s not over yet.”

“...?”

And only then did they finally notice.

My blade had definitely passed through the bastard’s head.

The brain and the heart are fatal weaknesses even for vampires.

Even if you dragged one of those Melchiorn Bloodline nobles over here, it should’ve died from that strike.

Heh.

“I thought so. And of course, I was right.”

Unfortunately, I hadn’t felt anything being cut at the tip of my blade.

The reason was simple.

“[Mistform], huh.”

At the exact moment my blade passed through the bastard’s head—

“You stole Ariella’s blood.”

—the part of its body that had been in the path of my knife had transformed into a blood-red mist.

***

“Huff, huff...!”

Maybe it wasn’t used to using [Mistform].

“So you really did cut me...!”

The bastard slowly returned from mist to its original face and shouted with a look of disbelief.

“If I hadn’t had this power, I really would have died.”

“Well, yeah. You would’ve.”

“You... didn’t you have a great many things you wanted to find out from me?”

“Yeah, I did.”

Looking at its face, I picked lazily at my ear and said,

“But seeing a bastard who’s already been subdued act that shamelessly was getting really unpleasant.”

“...”

“Well, you lived, didn’t you?”

The bastard stared at me in shock.

“And from here on out, this is an order.”

Whether it liked it or not, I crouched down in front of it and said,

“From now on, you’re going to answer my questions honestly.”

“...Yes.”

“Good.”

The bastard had eaten both my blood and my cooking.

[Special Sauce] had probably stacked twice too.

“First question.”

The truth was, I didn’t actually need to fight this bastard here and now.

The true body of that bloodline wasn’t this bastard anyway—it was the Grand Duke.

The survivors of this land seemed filled with rage toward the bastard, but I didn’t particularly share that anger.

Even so, I had deliberately lured it here, and deliberately subdued it and forced it to kneel in front of me.

There was only one reason I had to go this far.

“So you really did have Ariella’s blood.”

With that bastard’s ability, I’d judged there was a high chance it had already secured Ariella’s blood.

‘A bastard who can do all kinds of things as long as it gets hold of someone’s blood and uses it as a catalyst.’

The reason it blew up my head, too, was probably because the last time we met, I was already covered in minor wounds from fighting, and it had secretly stolen my blood and used it.

‘That would mean it practically holds her life and death in its hands.’

If that bastard kept Ariella’s blood, there was a good chance it would become a major obstacle to my plans going forward.

“By the way.”

If there was one part I found a little strange—

“How did you get it? She wasn’t in any position where she’d be easily injured.”

—it was when, exactly, it had stolen Ariella’s blood.

‘Ariella had always been the one directing things safely from the rear.’

She wasn’t someone who’d easily bleed.

Even when Kaio attacked, she had stayed in a safe position somehow, protected by the Grand Duke’s thralls.

“...When I first lost you.”

At that, the bastard lowered its head deeply ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) and answered.

“After hiding the Count in a safe place... I intended to gather troops immediately and pursue you and those attackers.”

“...What?”

“One of the Grand Duke’s orders to me... was that the Count was important, yes, but so was making sure you never left her group.”

Come to think of it, that was true.

That had even led to an argument between Ariella and me.

‘Now that I think about it.’

That bastard had borrowed the vampires’ power through the ability of an awakened.

It had only borrowed their abilities. It hadn’t become a vampire.

Even the paladin secret art Kaio had mastered wasn’t all that fatal to this bastard.

‘Even in that last battle, when it clashed with Kaio.’

While all of the Grand Duke’s overwhelmingly powerful thralls had melted away horribly,

this bastard alone had remained fine.

‘The only reason it pulled back was to protect Ariella, who was with it.’

Meaning, if it had wanted to chase me, it could have.

And yet, the bastard hadn’t pursued me.

“But...”

And.

The reason was simple.

“The Count opposed that pursuit.”

“...Ariella did?”

“She said that with the other Grand Duke’s thralls all annihilated, what else was I supposed to do if not protect her personally.”

Because Ariella had stopped the pursuit.

“There was a disagreement... and if I chose to listen to the Count, then it was obvious I’d be the one to receive the Grand Duke’s reprimand.”

“...”

“So... I was able to demand a price worthy of that.”

So that I could escape from that bloodline’s clutches—

“a few drops of the Count’s blood.”

That was the price she paid.