Chapter 93

Damian was confident.

Although the unexpected trap set by Kurt had weakened the connection with the subordinates they had worked so hard to create, making it unusable in this battle.

Even though he himself had taken some damage from being influenced by Gale’s body.

Still, Damian was a leader of a bloodline worthy of the rank of Count.

He was confident he could annihilate an unnamed adventurer party in an instant.

Even without using his subordinates, he possessed a force that surpassed all of them, and even though he had indirectly consumed food that was poison to vampires, he had already returned to his original condition by gathering the components in one place and spitting out a handful of blood without any aftereffects.

So, even though he had been struck unexpectedly, Damian was not displeased but rather delighted.

Just as one can come to love the spicy taste that usually only brings discomfort when eating spicy food, this unexpected situation was like an appetizer that would make the upcoming events even sweeter.

In fact, he was so excited about the reaction the Lizardman would show when he enslaved him after wiping out the adventurer party that Damian could feel his body trembling.

*Slap!*

*Crash!*

So,

until he was slapped by Kurt and rolled embarrassingly on the floor.

A tense silence fell over the inn.

“…Uh, uh?”

‘What just happened?’

He had clearly charged in at a speed that an ordinary adventurer couldn’t react to, shrouded in a veil of blood.

‘So why am I looking up at that guy now? And what’s this stinging pain on my face?’

Unable to understand why he was lying on the floor looking up at Kurt, or why he was the one in pain instead of Kurt, Damian held his swollen red cheek and stared blankly at Kurt.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he staggered to his feet and smiled confidently at Kurt.

“Heh, hehehe… I must have underestimated you.”

So, it was clear that Kurt was stronger than he had expected, and he had charged in not to kill Kurt but to control his strength to make him a subordinate.

Kurt’s strike had only been possible because it had luckily exploited his carelessness, a beginner’s luck.

That was the most objective conclusion Damian could draw to accept reality.

It was an arrogant perspective befitting a vampire who called himself a noble and saw other human species as nothing more than food.

No, actually, Damian wasn’t particularly arrogant.

Who would have thought that an adventurer who happened to visit a rural Dwarf village could reach the level of a Master, the pinnacle of the human species, capable of slapping a True Blood vampire, the leader of a bloodline capable of destroying a city, like scolding a child?

In terms of probability, it would be similar to the chance of buying an old decoration from a shabby antique shop that turns out to be a relic from the Ancient Empire, said to have perished long ago.

“Until now, I didn’t intend to take your life, thinking of making you a subordinate… But you’re kicking away my mercy. So this time, I won’t hold back!”

And so, Damian charged in at an even faster speed than before.

His body was not only cloaked in a blood-red mantle but also his fingertips.

His nails were tipped with blood-red claws.

They were just claws made of his own blood, but that made them the most powerful weapon of all.

‘A vampire’s blood is the vampire’s rank itself.’

Thus, the claws made from the blood of a Count-level True Blood were harder than steel armor and sharper than a masterfully crafted sword.

Moreover, they could extend dozens of times in length at the will of their master, and even a slight scratch could drain the opponent’s life force, though not as effectively as directly sinking fangs into them.

Having closed in on Kurt, Damian suddenly extended his claws to the length of a longsword.

It was a clever trick to create an unexpected gap for an opponent anticipating a normal claw length.

Simple, but precisely because of that, it exploited psychological gaps, and with this technique, Damian had ended the lives of many confident humans.

“Die!”

*Slap!*

*Crash!*

“….”

“….”

And a chilling silence fell over the inn, so quiet that even breathing seemed loud.

Damian held his other cheek with a look of disbelief.

“Huh, how…?”

This time, he hadn’t been careless.

From the start, he had used his ultimate weapon, his claws, and even employed feints to secure a sure victory.

But it still didn’t work.

No, not only did it not work, but he didn’t even know how he got hit and was already slapped a second time.

‘Wait, how…?’

At that moment, Damian realized he hadn’t been able to read Kurt’s movements, both when he was first slapped and now.

He had thought Kurt couldn’t react to his actions, but he was the one attacking.

Yet, when he came to his senses, he was the one rolling on the floor.

Realizing this, Damian felt the blood drain from his body and asked in a trembling voice.

“Th-this is impossible! An attack I couldn’t even see!”

“Hahaha. And here I thought your pale skin couldn’t get any paler.”

But instead of answering Damian’s question, Kurt only laughed as if he found it amusing.

His relaxed demeanor, devoid of any tension, sent a shiver down Damian’s spine.

.

.

.

“Gaaah!”

*Crash!*

Damian rolled on the inn’s floor for who knows how many times.

He kept trying to attack, but all his actions were futilely blocked by Kurt.

Even when he spewed a veil of blood to obscure vision, or tried to take his companions hostage, or used other feints.

Even when he thought he had luckily found a gap in Kurt’s defense, arrows from Mari, hand axes from Karina, and magic from Serena flew in from afar.

As a result, Damian was helplessly pushed into a corner.

The only reason he wasn’t finished yet was because Kurt seemed oddly half-hearted in subduing him.

His initial arrogance had long since vanished.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find a way out.

For Damian, who took great pride in being a Count-level vampire, this was an unbearably humiliating situation.

Kurt looked down at Damian with a relaxed expression and said.

“How about giving up and telling us where the other warrior squads are?”

The only reason he was barely holding out against Kurt’s party was because Kurt was being half-hearted in subduing him.

And the reason Kurt hadn’t actively tried to eliminate Damian until now.

It was because of the whereabouts of the other warrior squads Damian was thought to be hiding.

When Kurt had searched, what he hadn’t found wasn’t just Damian’s traces.

The traces of the other warrior squads had also vanished as if evaporated.

If there had been any traces left, it might have been different, but the fact that there were none indicated Damian’s involvement in their disappearance.

Battered and bruised, Damian gritted his teeth in response to Kurt’s question.

To think that a so-called Count was being kept alive just because there was still information to extract.

Ugh.

‘…But that complacency will be your fatal mistake.’

“In that case, I have no choice but to use my last resort.”

Saying this, Damian began to expand the size of the blood mantle he was wearing.

“…What nonsense are you planning now?”

“If you’re so curious about the Dwarven Warrior Squad’s whereabouts, I’ll show you now!”

“Th-those people are…!”

As he spoke, Damian opened the mantle wide, and out came the figures of the Dwarven Warriors who had been reported missing.

It was as if he was summoning an army from within his mantle, continuously spewing out Dwarves.

“Subordinates! Capture them!”

This was Damian’s unique bloodline ability, Assimilation.

Not only could he hide within his subordinates’ bodies, but he could also carry as many subordinates as he wanted within his own body.

In fact, this was Damian’s true ability.

To carry around a loyal slave army within his body, obeying only his commands.

Unaware that Damian could carry an army within his body, Kurt’s party was flustered as they faced the mindless Dwarven Warriors.

Unlike vampires, who could be dealt with violently, these subordinates were people who could be restored to their original state through treatment.

Therefore, they couldn’t recklessly inflict fatal wounds.

Fortunately, they hadn’t fully transformed into subordinates yet, unlike the ones disguised as ordinary Dwarves in the village, and their movements were sluggish and mindless.

Just as Kurt’s party managed to somewhat subdue the staggering Dwarves, Mari was the first to notice something strange and shouted in a panicked voice.

“Ah! The vampire is gone!”

“What!?”

Where Mari pointed, only the wide-open inn door letting in the chilly night wind was visible.

And it was only a little later that they realized Nail was also gone.