“You've come from so far; won't you stay for a rest?”
The voice drifted from the end of the cellar.
A wooden wall slid inward, revealing a narrow gap.
A young man in a long black coat with snow-white cuffs stood behind the door, cradling a thin ledger in his hands.
His face was deathly pale, and his hair was groomed with meticulous precision.
Elmelo’s expression darkened completely as he cursed the royal family a hundred times in his heart.
This was a titled blood servant, not some low or mid-tier trash monster.
How… how could a monster of this caliber enter a human kingdom?
The vampire lowered his head and flipped through the ledger. “A hired adventure squad from the wilderness, four members in total. Mr. Elmelo, Miss Selena, Miss Philthali, and… Nega.”
He looked up, offering a smile to the youth standing at the very back. “Welcome to Black Gallows. I am the Steward here, Eno.”
Nega’s face turned pale, his hands trembling as he reached for his document bag.
Elmelo took a step sideways, shielding his team members behind him. “Twelfth Generation, or Eleventh?”
Eno’s smile remained unchanged.
“You have a keen eye,” he said softly. “This is merely a place where we need not meet with drawn swords. The town is still running, the miners are still alive, and the accounts are still being kept. If you are only here to investigate, I am willing to cooperate.”
“Cooperate? You call what just happened cooperation?”
“It was merely to help you all live better.” Eno’s tone was as steady as a calm sea. “Is it not good to be alive?”
Dense footsteps echoed from the stairs.
The hollow-eyed townspeople from above had blocked their only exit.
More figures stepped out from behind walls and from under counters. Their eyes were equally vacant, and thick, thin red lines snaked out from their necks, wrists, and collarbones, tethering every living soul in the town together.
Selena let out a low curse and lunged forward, her short blade aiming straight for Eno’s throat.
The moment the blade neared his skin, Eno’s body caused a ripple of distorted fluctuations in the air, instantly displacing him to the opposite corner of the cellar.
Selena’s blade hit nothing but air, slicing into the stone wall behind him.
The impact tore through a weight-bearing pillar, causing a section of the stone wall to collapse outward. The floor of the general store above gave way, sending splinters of wood, cargo, and soil crashing into the cellar, instantly burying three puppets and a narrow bed.
Philthali’s pupils shrank.
That mana fluctuation… it was impossible.
That was her Refraction Transposition.
“Get us out of here!” Elmelo shouted at Philthali.
“I’m trying, I’m trying!” Philthali pushed her mana with everything she had.
But all she sensed was a void.
The retreat path… was gone?
“Hehehehehe.”
As if he had heard something hilarious, Eno slightly raised his hand, a thin glass shard held between his fingers.
The Refraction Anchor that was supposed to be embedded in the wall crack at the street entrance was now being flipped idly in his hand.
“It is quite useful,” he said with a smile. “I have always liked these sorts of life-saving skills. Only those who escape alive can carry fear further away.”
In a flash.
With a speed no one could follow, Eno appeared beside Philthali and whispered with a chuckle.
“Now, it is mine.”
Blood sprayed.
Elmelo swung his sword in a horizontal slash, forcing Eno back.
But a deep, bone-deep gash had already appeared on Philthali’s shoulder and neck.
The townspeople at the stairs lunged down simultaneously.
Just as Philthali raised her inscribed book to release a Moonlight Shield, the old woman from earlier threw herself straight onto Elmelo’s blade.
The blade sliced through her chest, yet she continued to repeat unconsciously, “Save my son.”
Philthali froze.
A swarm of bats took the opportunity to follow the blood lines, fluttering down to her feet and clinging tightly to her shins.
The cellar had descended into total chaos.
Selena used a splintered wooden beam for leverage and dove, her short blade slashing at Eno again.
Stone pillars exploded, and the corner along with the side wall of the stairs collapsed, blocking the townspeople who were swarming in.
Eno did not dodge. His fingertips twitched slightly.
Using Refraction Transposition, he forcibly swapped the mid-air Selena into the very center of the cellar.
Elmelo watched helplessly as the short blade slipped from Selena’s hand. Three red lines shot out from the shadows, piercing through her neck.
Selena only had time to gasp before she was dragged into a dark door behind them by an immense force.
“Retreat! Save whoever you can!” Elmelo’s eyes were bloodshot as he let out a roar.
But it was too late.
Having lost her transposition skill, Philthali could only use magic missiles to attack the bats that were everywhere.
Nega trembled as he pressed the documents to his chest, repeatedly casting healing spells to drive back the lunging blood servants.
Elmelo swung his sword, severing two Blood Contract Puppets, and turned back to grab Philthali.
Eno vanished again.
When he reappeared, he was standing at the stairs, slowly closing the only exit with his hand.
Rate on N.U.
