Chapter 254
Trigger warning: The chapter ahead contains depiction of torture that some readers may find disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.
Five carriages that resembled container trailers rolled along a dark road in Lunatic. Fifteen nervous-looking humans walked alongside the carriages, guarding them, when three pale men blocked their path; one was a vampire knight, and the two behind him appeared to be his Cani.
“Stop,” the vampire said. “I am the vice captain of the Wax Knights, serving the great Count Noria Seetzen of the Seetzen bloodline! There will be a quick inspection.”
The vampire proudly approached the carriages, his nose twitching as he got closer.
“Wow, what a fragrance! What is inside?” he asked.
“It is wine of the highest quality,” replied a hairy man who appeared to be in charge of the carriages.
The vampire nodded in satisfaction and said, “You are a supplier, aren’t you? I don’t know which bloodline you are contracted to, but void it. I will put in a good word so that you can form a new contract with the Seetzen bloodline.”
He swallowed his saliva as he thought, A wine of such fragrance is perfect for Count Noria’s opening ceremony!
There was no better luck than coming across such high-quality wine a day before the Night of the Full Moon. However, the hairy man acted outside of the vampire’s expectations.
“That is... impossible,” the hairy man said.
“What?”
“I can’t just... void a contract with this bloodline without prior notice.”
“Gahaha! Your worries are needless. Very well, lead the way, and I will cancel it for you. Which bloodline have you formed the delivery contract with?”
“The Rabies bloodline.”
The expressions of the vampire and the two Cani hardened.
“Ra...bies?”
“Rabies of Madness!”
“One of the Seven Purebloods!”
Seven bloodlines carried blood far purer than that of other bloodlines: Amor of Instinct, Dirae of Burial, Sigillum of Betrayal, Rabies of Madness, Motus of Violence, Melos of Monotony, and Sanguis of Sovereignty.
These seven bloodlines were the direct descendants of Lord Mulleus Rubens Sanguineus, the primordial vampire. Vampire World Rankers were all members of the Seven Purebloods, and the caliber of their Blood Force far surpassed that of the other bloodlines.
“Well, then...” The hairy human trailed off as he bowed and passed the three men.
The five carriages followed behind him, one after another, but the vampire and his Cani did not dare touch the carriages carrying the name of the Rabies bloodline. A while later, the five carriages arrived at a small storage room. The door was wide open, and six humans were waiting inside.
The blonde woman among them stepped forward and said to the hairy man, “Thank you for your hard work. I feel bad for calling you out when you must be busy with spec force work.”
“Huuu, it’s nothing compared to the shit the intelligence division goes through. My heart can’t handle the stress of being here. Humans should reclaim fifth zone cities as soon as possible, too,” the hairy man said as he shook his head and stared at the carriages entering the storage room. “I don’t know how amazing the wine in there is, but it had the vampires practically salivating. We were stopped five times on our way here.”
“We don’t know what’s inside either. We’re just following the Union’s orders.”
“Really? Well, what can goons like us do but follow?” The hairy man chuckled. He noticed his subordinates returning after putting all the carriages away and said, “Alright, best of luck.”
“Thank you. You, too.”
Once the hairy man and the spec force members left, the blonde woman asked the Arab man behind her, “Any word from SS, Suleiman?”
“Not yet, but I’m sure he received the address for this place.”
“Is this really alright? He’s gonna kill Demens Rabies, isn’t he? How have we still not gotten any word from him when tomorrow’s the Night of the Full Moon?” mumbled a red-haired woman as she nervously bit her artificial nail.
“It will be alright. I am sure he has a plan,” Ma Sang-Sik replied.
“How can you be so sure?” the blonde woman asked.
Sang-Sik smiled faintly and replied, “Because I have experienced it.”
***
“GAAAAAAAAHHHHH! AAARRRGGGHHHHH!”
Screams so ear-splitting that it felt as if one could feel the pain just by hearing them echoed.
“Shut up,” Seong-Hwi mumbled apathetically as he deeply sliced the bottom of Peter Geraghty’s foot with the wavy Titanic Tide Kris.
“AAAAAHHHHH!”
The blood flowing from Peter’s foot dried up like a squid in an oven, but he couldn’t escape because Bulgasal had wrapped him with the Performing Chain Whip. Peter had been stripped naked and was dangling in the air like a pig hanging in a butchery.
Pwoo! Do you want me to turn him, Daddy? Bulgasal asked.
Seong-Hwi poured the water inside the Ace of Cups in his left hand on Peter’s foot. White vapor rose from the foot, closing the wound and stopping the bleeding.
“That’s a thousand,” he mumbled as he stared at the thousandth scale he had engraved on Peter. His entire body was covered in wavy slices, making him look like a tattered rag.
“Tsk. Oi, how long are you gonna do that for?” Wang Chen asked, staring at the fluid mixture of blood, water, and oil on the floor.
“What? Does it look heartless?” Seong-Hwi asked, his eyes gleaming with crimson bloodlust.
Wang Chen couldn’t answer.
Seong-Hwi continued, “This man has brought pain to tens of thousands of people. It’s only fair that the pain be repaid with interest.”
Although it was natural, he felt a contradictory emotion for some reason.
Maybe I’m not one to talk when I achieved the Ten Thousand-Man Killer trait, he thought.
According to his own reasoning, he would also inevitably face agony equivalent to being burned alive by hellfire one day.
But it doesn’t matter. As long as I can fulfill my objective, I will welcome the agony with a smile, Seong-Hwi thought, smiling with his eyes.
Wang Chen groaned, feeling stifled from encountering true madness. “I don’t mind you making him pay for his crimes, but didn’t you say we don’t have much time?”
Seong-Hwi nodded. “That’s right. You memorized everything he said, right?”
“Of course.”
Seong-Hwi threw the ominous Myriad Cheoyong Mask at Wang Chen.
Wang Chen caught the artifact and was left impressed after checking its description. “This is... quite a useful artifact.”
“I’m lending it to you. You had better give it back later.”
“Hah! I’m not some petty thief,” Wang Chen remarked as he wore the Myriad Cheoyong Mask and immediately activated its skill.
[Activating Artifact Skill: Myriad Faces.]
[Target: Peter Geraghty]
[Continuously consuming mana.]
Wang Chen’s whole body contorted like clay, beginning to turn into Peter. Not only did it copy his tiny red eyes, hair so brown that it resembled a wig, white dress shirt, black overalls, and cowboy boots, but he even exuded Peter’s unique aura of an old rat.
“Ah, ahhh. Mm, mmm.” Wang Chen cleared his throat. It was not his usual wheezing voice, but that of a vulgar opportunist.
“Good. Now, go wake up the Blood Cross clansmen under the effect of the Hymn of Sleepiness and have them get ready. Also, go to this address with Tae-Jin and his party members and bring the five carriages along with the people standing by there with you,” Seong-Hwi said as he handed Wang Chen a note.
Wang Chen grabbed the note and asked, “What about you?”
“I’m... still not done here.”
“Urgh... Urghhh!” Peter shook as if convulsing.
Wang Chen shook his head and said, “Do it in moderation.”
***
Seong-Hwi turned to Peter once Wang Chen left the room, and Peter tightly closed his eyes in terror. However, the pain Peter had been expecting did not come. Instead, he heard a soft voice.
“You haven’t become a Daywalker yet, have you?”
“Urrrhhh?” Peter opened his eyes to see the Devil smiling at him.
He was a considerably high-ranking Daywalker in my past life, which had made things far more difficult to hunt him down, Seong-Hwi thought.
However, the current Peter was not even a Canis.
“Time-wise... You must have been aiming to become a Daywalker during this year’s Night of the Full Moon,” Seong-Hwi remarked.
Peter’s small eyes widened as he thought, W-what the hell?! How does this Devil know about my plan? C-could he have come for that?
His gaze momentarily shifted behind Seong-Hwi, which widened Seong-Hwi's smile even more.
“You’re still hiding something.”
“Urgh... Urrrhhh!” Peter aggressively shook his head.
Seong-Hwi chuckled and mumbled, “Don’t pretend you can’t talk... I should at least commend your willpower in still holding onto hope.”
He grabbed a brown pouch from his pocket and said, “But you will give up on everything soon.”
He pulled out a capsule with pink and white on it from the pouch. There was the letter A on the pink portion, the letter Y on the white portion, and the capsule contained a suspicious liquid.
“Open his mouth,” Seong-Hwi said.
Pwoo!
Bulgasal manipulated the Performing Chain Whip and opened Peter’s mouth wide.
“Ahh! Ahhhhh!” Peter screamed.
Seong-Hwi ignored his resistance and flicked the capsule down his throat.
“Swallow it. It’s a precious item.”
[Ingesting Ayahuasca (B).]
[Absorbing DMT (Dimethyltryptamine).]
[Applying Debuff: Time Prison.]
[Time ratio 1:100,000]
Peter’s eyes widened from seeing the Akasha Messages. He shouted inwardly, Ayahuasca!
It was a drug that was known for making the worst kinds of torture possible.
“NOOO—”
“Yes,” Seong-Hwi said, cutting Peter’s screams short.
He stabbed Peter’s spleen with the Titanic Tide Kris, which had been dyed red with blood.
[Activating Item Skill: Titanic Wave.]
[Activating Trait: Ten Thousand-Man Killer.]
[The Ten Thousand-Killing Aura permeates the target’s body.]
The irregular mana flow of Titanic Wave, which induced internal injuries on the target it struck, began to tear Peter apart from the inside. The Ten Thousand-Killing Aura, the compressed form of the pain of the ten thousand people Seong-Hwi had killed, also entered Peter’s body. Peter’s mouth was left agape, unable to let out even a scream.
“One, two, three,” Seong-Hwi leisurely counted.
Although it was three seconds for him, it was three hundred thousand seconds for Peter. In other words, it was three days, eleven hours, and twenty minutes.
“What a revolutionary torture method,” Seong-Hwi mumbled.
If he doesn’t talk even after experiencing pain from the Ten Thousand-Killing Aura and Titanic Wave, I will at least acknowledge his willpower, he thought.
“Urhh... Urrhhh...” Peter groaned once the three seconds—no, eighty-two hours and twenty minutes passed. His eyes were completely blank, and he began to drool.
“Start talking,” Seong-Hwi said as he slapped Peter’s cheek.
However, Peter repeated the same words over and over again like a broken record.
“Please... Kill... Me... Please... Kill... Me... Please... Kill... Me... Please... Kill... Me...”
“Kill you? Why would I do that? We’re having so much fun,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he smirked and grabbed another ayahuasca capsule. “If you don’t start talking now, we’re gonna do it all over again.”
Peter’s lips trembled as soon as Seong-Hwi finished his sentence. “To... mor... row... I... was... go... ing... to... off... er... wine... to... Mar... quis... De... mens...”
***
Seong-Hwi turned around after taking a glimpse at Peter’s cold body and said, “This is a chance of a lifetime. It’s as if the whole world is urging me to kill Demens Rabies.”
Events could not have unfolded any better. His death was practically already written in the Akashic Records.
“And this is the final piece of the puzzle,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he approached the bronze-cast Venus de Milo at the center of the room. He couldn’t tell from Venus’s face whether she was smiling or frowning.
[Activating Skill: Rust of Ruin.]
A dark red aura enveloped Seong-Hwi’s hand, and he touched the statue with it. Rust of Ruin, which had reached its full potential once Seong-Hwi had promoted it to S-rank, instantly turned the bronze statue into powder. A small entity the size of a fist fell from inside like a butterfly. Seong-Hwi grabbed the entity with his hand.
The small entity yawned as she turned, treating Seong-Hwi’s hand like a bed.
“Urgh... It’s so cold... Who took my blanket?” the small entity said, rubbing her shoulders as she opened her eyes. “Huh?”
“Fairy, is your name Echo?” Seong-Hwi asked as he thoroughly scanned the fairy who sat up in his hand.
The fairy had golden hair that looked as if the sun were woven into strands, and warm golden eyes. She had twenty-four translucent wings on her back.
She... resembles Dryas, Seong-Hwi thought, recalling the last fairy queen he had met in the Forgotten Fairy’s Hideout dungeon.
The fairy stared at Seong-Hwi with her bright golden eyes and smiled brightly as she shouted, “Second Knight! Where have you been all this time! Echo’s been waiting for you!”