"Sawing through immortality?"
Victor frowned. The chainsaw in his hand idled, letting out a low, vibrating hum.
He looked the "weird old lady" who had suddenly appeared up and down.
She was too old.
That was Victor's first impression.
She was draped in a tattered cloak whose original color was long lost. The face peering out from under the hood was as shriveled as an orange peel that had been air-dried in a desert for three hundred years. Her eye sockets were sunken deep, her eyeballs a murky yellow where pupils were barely visible.
What was most unsettling was the smell coming from her.
It wasn't the stench of rotting flesh, but a stale, metallic odor—like an expired bottle of red wine stored in a basement for too long, its cap rusted shut.
"Old lady, we can't have any of this feudal superstition."
Victor turned off the chainsaw and set it down on the steps, his tone laced with helplessness.
"This is a legitimate clinic; we believe in scientific treatment. As for curses, immortality, and all that, I suggest you take a left at the door and find a charlatan at a church, or maybe buy a few copies of the 'Mental Health Guide' to read."
He genuinely thought she was a wanderer suffering from senile dementia.
After all, in the exile lands, there was no shortage of such crazed, pitiful people who believed they were cursed.
"A legitimate... clinic?"
The old woman's shriveled, puckered lips twitched slightly, letting out a couple of owl-like cackles.
"Jie jie jie... what an interesting little fellow."
She raised her hand—a withered ghost claw.
Her fingernails were a full three inches long, black and curved, as sharp as deboning knives. The skin clung tightly to the phalanges, and dark green veins bulged like earthworms.
"It has been a long time... since I've tasted blood as bold and fresh as yours."
The old woman took a greedy breath, as if Victor were some peerless, delicious dessert.
She was Elizabeth Bathory.
A true horror and overlord of the Eternal Night Peninsula's outskirts, an ancient vampire who had lived for untold ages.
To her, the ogres and Twin-Headed Demon Wolf who had just fled were nothing more than low-class guard dogs.
The reason she hadn't died yet was entirely due to the blood sacrifices and deep slumbers she took every ten years. But now, her body had decayed to its limit, and she urgently needed high-quality "Source Blood" to reshape her youth.
And the human before her...
That bursting vitality was like a torch in the dark, making her shriveled heart throb with hunger.
"Give your blood... to me!"
Without any warning.
The old woman, who had been hobbling just a moment ago, instantly transformed into a blur.
She was too fast.
So fast that Alice had barely raised her great scissors before that withered ghost claw was already closing in on Victor's throat.
Pshhh—
It wasn't the sound of claws piercing skin.
Instead, it was like the sound of a red-hot branding iron being quenched in water.
The moment the old woman set foot on the clinic's steps and entered the range of the entrance—
Hum!
A ripple vibrated through the air as if an invisible barrier had been struck.
【Warning! High-risk pathogen detected attempting forced entry!】
【Initiating Level 1 Suppression Procedure!】
【Neutralizing target's hostility... Weakening target's biological field...】
Before Victor could even blink, he saw the old lady who had been lunging at him with such ferocity suddenly look as if her bones had been removed. Her lightning-fast movements instantly turned into a slow-motion replay.
That power, enough to tear through steel, was forcibly stripped away under the rule suppression of the "Clinic Domain."
Thud.
The old woman stumbled and face-planted onto the floor. The hand that had been reaching for Victor's throat now flopped limply against his boot.
It was as if an old lady trying to pull a scam had mistimed her distance and fell too early.
The scene was momentarily very awkward.
"..."
Elizabeth was stunned.
Sprawled on the cold floor, she felt as if a mountain were resting on her back. The magic within her was locked tight; even her two proud fangs felt sore and weak.
What kind of hellish place was this?
An anti-magic field?
A divine barrier?
She looked up in terror, meeting Victor's lowered, emotionless eyes.
"Scamming?"
Victor took a half-step back, pulling his boot away from her hand with a look of disgust.
"Old lady, that trick is way out of date. Even if you lie there, I don't have the money to pay you."
As he spoke, he habitually activated the system's 【True Sight Eye】.
As a doctor, seeing someone collapse at his doorstep, his professional instinct was to check if they were having a sudden stroke.
Flash.
A red scanning light flickered across Victor's pupils.
The withered, terrifying old woman was instantly transformed into a detailed 3D pathological map in his vision.
【Patient: High Vampire (Extremely Aged Phase)】
【Danger Level: S (Currently suppressed to D)】
【Pathological Diagnosis Report:】
Severe periodontitis and full-mouth dental caries: Long-term consumption of unclean blood and lack of brushing has led to severe gum recession and exposed roots, accompanied by severe halitosis and dental nerve necrosis.
Pernicious anemia: Hematopoietic stem cell failure; unable to produce blood independently, extremely dependent on exogenous blood supplementation.
Osteoporosis and malnutrition: Due to dental issues causing difficulty eating (unable to bite through blood vessels), the patient has been in a long-term state of hunger; bodily functions are on the verge of collapse.
【Comprehensive Evaluation: A pitiful old lady about to starve to death with a mouth full of rotten teeth.】
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
After reading the diagnosis report, the wariness in Victor's eyes instantly turned into deep sympathy and disappointment.
It wasn't a scam; she had fainted from hunger.
And that mouth of rotten teeth... it looked painful just to see.
"Director, this old woman is dangerous."
Alice walked over with her great scissors, standing in front of Victor, her red eyes full of vigilance.
"She has a heavy scent of blood on her. She's here to steal food! Let me cut her into pieces!"
"Wait."
Victor pressed down on Alice's eager hand.
He crouched down, ignoring the killing intent and terror in Elizabeth's eyes, and reached out to pinch her chin.
"How dare you! Lowly human, what do you think you're do—"
Elizabeth wanted to roar, wanted to resist.
But Victor's grip was extraordinarily strong (or perhaps it was the system's rule suppression), and he forced her mouth open.
A nauseating, bloody stench wafted out.
"Urgh—"
Victor held his breath, frowning as he peered inside.
It was a disaster.
The two vampire fangs that should have been sharp and long were now not only blackened and yellowed but had rotted through at the base, wobbling as if they might fall out at any second. Her other teeth were incomplete, her gums red, swollen, and bleeding.
"Just as I thought."
Victor let go, pulled a disinfectant wipe from his pocket, and scrubbed his fingers hard.
He stood up, looking down at the vampire queen on the ground with a gaze reserved for a stubborn patient who avoided treatment.
"Old lady, how long has it been since you've had a proper meal?"
Elizabeth froze.
She had imagined ten thousand things this human might say.
Begging for mercy, cursing her, or the mockery of a victor.
But she never expected him to ask if she had eaten.
"I..."
She subconsciously tried to show her majesty. "I am the Queen of Blood! I..."
"Stop boasting."
Victor interrupted her without ceremony, his tone as stern as a teacher scolding a disobedient student.
"Look at the state of you! Skin and bones, sunken eyes—you can't even walk two steps without falling over!"
He pointed at Elizabeth's mouth and said loudly:
"And those teeth! Don't you know how rotten they are? Your mouth is full of tartar, and your gums have receded so far the roots are exposed!"
"Is this what you call immortality? This is your so-called curse?"
"No! This is purely because your hygiene habits are terrible, combined with malnutrition from being a picky eater!"
Victor's voice echoed in the empty night. Every word was like a heavy hammer smashing into Elizabeth's pride.
"You... you're talking nonsense!"
Elizabeth shook with rage, her ash-white hair trembling.
"This is the erosion of time! This is the price of a noble lineage! What would a human like you know!"
"I don't know?"
Victor let out a cold laugh—the disdain of a professional facing the doubts of a layman.
"I am a doctor. Under my ultrasound... under my True Sight Eye, you have no secrets."
"Doesn't it hurt like a drilling needle in your gums every time you try to drink blood? Doesn't the blood you swallow lack flavor and make your stomach churn instead? Don't you often feel dizzy and empty, like your body has been hollowed out?"
Elizabeth fell silent.
Her pupils shook.
He was spot on.
Every single symptom was terrifyingly accurate.
For centuries, because of the excruciating dental pain, she hadn't been able to tear into prey as she had in her youth; she could only extract blood through magic. But blood obtained that way lost its vitality and couldn't satisfy her body's needs.
She had grown weaker and older, trapped in a vicious cycle.
"You... you can see all that?"
Her voice trembled. The original killing intent vanished completely, replaced by a desperate longing, like a drowning person catching a straw.
"Obviously. Why else would I hang that sign?"
Victor pointed at the 【Benevolent Heart Clinic】 sign by the door.
He put on a fresh pair of gloves, a trademark professional smile appearing on his face—the kind that made people want to hand over their wallets.
"Old lady, your situation is critical."
"Your teeth are all rotten, and your blood production has failed. If you aren't treated immediately, you'll turn into a real mummy within three months from severe anemia and starvation."
Victor leaned down and extended a hand toward the former dark overlord.
"Get up. Stop lying there."
"Since you're here, don't be in a hurry to leave. I happen to be free tonight, so we must operate immediately."
"I'll pull out all those rotten teeth and give you a fresh set of blood."
Elizabeth looked at that hand.
It wasn't a strong hand; it was even a bit pale.
But in her eyes, this hand seemed to possess a certain magic—a magic that could pull her back from the abyss of decay.
"Pulling them out... will it hurt?"
She subconsciously asked a foolish question, completely forgetting she was a cold-blooded vampire.
"Hurt?"
Victor smiled.
He thought of the "Special Promotion" written on the sign outside.
"Don't worry. We advocate for 'Pain Therapy' here."
"Although it hurts a bit, it's proof that you're alive, isn't it?"
Rate on N.U.
