“Hah.”
Lee Yuri sighed in disbelief. She couldn’t believe it, but fortunately, it was real.
“Teacher!”
People shouted as they ran toward Yuri. They were shouting with tears of joy.
“Teacher!”
One of the women embraced Yuri. She would not have dared to try it under normal circumstances, but just like the others, the only thing she had was thankfulness and joy.
She cried, “We did it! We did it! We…”
She repeated the same words again and again. Yuri didn’t pull her off. Rather, she embraced her softly.
“Yeah.”
Yuri spoke, not only to the woman, but to everyone around them, to her lovely students who achieved a miracle.
“We really did it.”
She then turned to a direction at the far end of the metal ground. No one had noticed yet because it was too far, but…
‘…Yeah. I guessed as much.’
Dohyuk was there even before the fight had finished.
‘That’s our mayor, alright.”
Blass appeared from the metal ground again. After their fight against Vehume was over, Dohyuk and Blass quickly returned to where the fight was going on. Instead of joining the fight, Blass hid himself in the ground to shoot metal spikes at an invisible speed or alter the ground to secretly kill the vampires. Dohyuk also sniped from a distance.
It wasn’t that efficient as a fight, but it did allow the people to feel the joy.
“It’s a victory.”
“…Yeah.”
Blass turned to Dohyuk who answered slowly.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m counting.”
Blass did not know what he was counting. Dohyuk was looking at the people who were not just ‘happy’. There were some who were looking down at something. They had won, but there was no perfect victory in a war. Someone had to die.
“It wouldn’t have been different even if we joined directly. They put up a good fight,” Blass commented. Many those who were killed had died even before Dohyuk and Blass arrived.
“I’m not blaming myself for it,” Dohyuk said.
“But I need to remember them.”
Dohyuk then turned.
“78 people. I will remember the lives that were lost to bring this victory to our city.”
“…”
Dohyuk blushed.
‘I see.’
Blass sighed in relief.
‘He’s used to the fight, but not to the war.’
Blass then remembered he went through the same thing when he was a ‘leader’. Compared to him during that time, Dohyuk was faring much better. Blass followed Dohyuk silently.
Dohyuk walked for a few steps toward an opening in the distance. It was the entrance of an underground parking lot, but it wasn’t blocked by any debris. As they walked in, they realized it was much different than a parking lot.
“It’s disgusting. I can’t smell it, but just looking at it makes me think it smells awful.”
“It’s not that bad.”
It was a discomforting smell. The underground cavern appeared in front of them, which was covered by insect carapace-looking surface. But when touched, it was fluffier with sticky ooze coming out from within.
“It’s probably created by the feces of those transformed. If it takes one sip of blood…”
“No need to go into the details.” Dohyuk interrupted him, “If it’s those who completed transforming… I don’t think there’s a lot.”
“Hmm.”
Blass began walking ahead of the tunnel. Soon, they found the answer as one of the vampires charged at them. Dohyuk swung his feet, killing the vampire instantly.
“…Hm?”
He felt as if something wasn’t right. Even if he was much stronger, this was just too easy.
“It’s a woman.”
“What?”
“A young one at that. It’s bound to be weak.”
Dohyuk couldn’t understand. Young woman? Why did it matter? There was no difference in gender or age in this world. Especially if it transformed to…
“Oh.”
“Yes. These are not from this world. It’s those that have been brought from the otherworld.”
Blass then turned to a point. At the dark point of the tunnel, there were five women vampires, shaking in fear.
“These aren’t transformed ones like me. They’re the descendants of those transformed. They are not trained to be warriors.”
Blass then reached out and shot out metal spikes, killing the vampires instantly.
“Hey…”
“What.”
Blass turned to Dohyuk.
“You asking me to spare them because they can’t fight back?”
“No,” Dohyuk shook his head. He valued ‘human’ lives only. He knew Blass and the President of the Merchant Group, and he realized people weren’t that much different they hadn’t undergone an illumination. But these vampires were not as such.
Even then… Blass seemed to be too cold against these vampires. Even if these vampires meant bad memory for Blass, it wasn’t like him to kill these helpless weak ones.
“This way.”
Blass began to move, and soon they were at the end of the tunnel.
“….!!”
It wasn’t just a large space. It was like an apartment? for vampires. In the hexagonal room, there were hexagonal holes all over the walls. Some were empty, and some were filled with woman vampires shrieking in hostility. And some were…
“They’ve started breeding already,” Blass mumbled. Opaque skin covered the hole, and the inside had blood-colored liquid. There were two to three dog-sized beings floating inside.
“It’s my first time seeing it, but this how Vehume invades a world.”
As Blass had said, the vampires who were bred to be warriors were going to be strong. But it was costly to bring these along. That’s why Vehume made a plan. The only ones he brought were young women in which he bred with his followers to breed new warriors.
“It’s an efficient way. It’s easier to increase the population and these young ones have religion from…”
“Stop.”
Dohyuk spoke coldly, “That’s enough.”
He was looking at a structure at the center of the room. They didn’t walk closer, but it was easy to see it was a pile of dead corpses. And from the inside of the empty hole, there were painful voices coming from within. Dohyuk then realized why Blass was that cold. He wasn’t being cold, but remorseful. He wasn’t excited about showing this to Dohyuk.
Dohyuk turned.
It wasn’t hard to find the Godly Item now. At the bottom of the pile, there was the Godly Item. If Dohyuk acquired it, these ugly beings would return to their own world.
But…
Dohyuk did not take the Godly Item right away.