Chapter 33 : Chapter 33
Chapter 33. I'll have to think about it from now on.
Lucas flinched at the voice that came without any presence and gripped his sword.
Hyunwoo slowly approached him.
Only then did Lucas spot Hyunwoo, his guard raised high.
“…Who are you?”
Lucas raised his sword and created distance.
Hyunwoo sheathed Cheonbyeondo at his waist and raised his hands.
“You look like you’re in danger. Want some help?”
“I don’t need it, so get lost.”
“We’re fellow gladiators, we should help each other out.”
“Who said we’re the same? You’re all just trash with no honor.”
Lucas snorted as if in disbelief.
Even at a simple offer of help, he was on high alert.
‘He’s right. We are trash with no honor.’
It was a common occurrence for gladiators to turn into plunderers after going out on a request.
Hyunwoo inadvertently nodded, about to agree with his words, but stopped himself.
First, he had to build mutual trust.
“You don't look like you're in a position to refuse. It's a long way to the castle from here.”
“I do not need the help of a human.”
Like the prideful vampire he was, Lucas stood up straight and pretended to be strong.
Blood trickled down his proudly puffed-out chest.
“Well, alright.”
Hyunwoo shrugged and stepped back.
For now, just becoming acquainted was enough. Hyunwoo slowly disappeared into the forest.
“……”
Lucas scanned his surroundings with a wary expression.
That too was brief, as he checked his condition and quickly began to move.
As he moved away, Hyunwoo quietly followed from behind the trees, keeping his distance.
And so, their strange journey together began.
***
Thwack—!
Kieeeeeee—!
A Lafre was split in half with a single swing of Lucas’s sword.
However, his condition didn't look very good either.
“Pant, pant……”
Lucas moved with difficulty, gasping for breath, until at one point, he staggered and collapsed.
His eyes blinked slowly, his breathing slowed.
He seemed to have no strength left to move.
He clutched his shoulder and looked around.
Kkieeek! Kkieeeek—!
It was the worst possible situation, surrounded on all sides by Lafre.
Lucas made a conflicted expression, then tore the sleeve from his clutched shoulder.
Riiip—!
A wound engraved with a faint crimson light was revealed on his shoulder.
Stigma..
‘He’s considering using the Stigma.’
A Stigma was a blood wound that vampires carved directly onto their own bodies.
By carving the wound, they could temporarily unleash explosive power.
The wound remaining on his shoulder was proof that he had already used the Stigma once.
If he carved a new Stigma, he could escape the Lafre forest in an instant.
However, there were immense aftereffects from using a Stigma.
He hesitated, bringing a hand to his shoulder.
Proof that he had been pushed to the brink.
‘Now's the time.’
When the moment he had been waiting for arrived, Hyunwoo revealed himself again.
He approached Lucas, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth.
“What, you’ve only made it this far?”
“……!”
Lucas flinched in surprise and took his hand off his shoulder.
“It's still half a day’s journey to the castle, think you can make it alone?”
“Have you been following me?”
“We’re heading in the same direction. I saw you clearly, you know?”
“…What do you want from me?”
“I told you. I’m heading back to the castle too. Still don’t need a human’s help?”
“……”
“I understand if you can’t trust me… but if I had any ill intentions, you’d already be a corpse, wouldn't you?”
Lucas looked at Hyunwoo without a word.
He met his eyes for a moment, then gave a bitter smile.
It seemed he had finally realized.
The fact that if a human who could conceal his presence had launched a surprise attack, it would have been over long ago.
“……”
Seeing Lucas glare at him in silence, Hyunwoo let out a short sigh.
The pride of a noble vampire.
If he didn't set the stage, this was a man who would simply choose death.
Hyunwoo decided to proceed with his plan.
“If you’re so suspicious, we can make a pact.”
“…A pact?”
“Vampires have a pact that binds each other with blood, don’t they? Was it called a Blood Pact?”
“How does a human know of such a thing?”
“I used to know a vampire back in the day.”
A Blood Pact was a contract that bound two parties through a vampire’s blood.
Once the pact was made, it held a strong magical binding force.
No matter how high-ranking a demon was, once a Blood Pact was formed, there was no easy way to break the contract.
“What are you plotting?”
“Plotting? What plot? Let’s just say I have good memories.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Hyunwoo looked at the setting sun of the Demon World with a melancholic gaze, as if recalling something.
‘Okay, good angle. I’m getting better at this as I go.’
After a short pause, Hyunwoo lowered his head and let out a deep sigh.
Then he looked at Lucas again.
“I have good memories of a vampire I had a connection with in the past.”
“You’d help me… just for that?”
“It’s not ‘just’ that.”
Hyunwoo shook his head with a heavy expression. His acting skills were improving by the day.
As if making a final offer, Hyunwoo slowly backed away as he spoke.
“Ever since then, I can’t just pass by a vampire in crisis. The choice is yours. If you still refuse, there’s nothing I can do.”
He was a suspicious man, so I had to approach him slowly.
Casually. As if it was no loss to me.
Hyunwoo continued his wholehearted facial acting.
Watching him, Lucas fell into deep thought.
‘Stigma’ and ‘Blood Pact’.
He was contemplating which of the two to choose.
Normally, he would never have considered making a Blood Pact with a human.
‘The reason he’s hesitating is because using a Stigma is too much of a waste. Or… my acting wasn’t half bad.’
If the Stigma wasn't his only way out, he would have refused flatly.
After a short wait, his expression changed, and he opened his mouth.
“Do you have the skill to take me to the castle?”
“As you can see.”
Instead of answering, Hyunwoo approached a Lafre.
“I’m safe from the Lafre. Taking you to Sylvester Castle won't be that difficult.”
“…Come to think of it. The Lafre don’t seem to perceive you.”
Kieeeeeee—
Kieeee—
As Lucas hesitated further, the cries of the Lafre swarm were heard, as if urging him to make a choice.
The sound was ominous.
The number of Lafre swarming in was far too great.
At this rate, there was truly no way out without carving a Stigma.
In the end, Lucas nodded his head.
“…Fine. My condition for the pact is that you get me safely to Sylvester Castle. What is your condition?”
“My condition is that you grant me one favor.”
“One favor… that’s too abstract. Be more specific.”
“It doesn’t matter if you refuse after hearing the details. Deal?”
“It doesn’t matter if I refuse?”
“Of course.”
“…You are an incomprehensible human.”
“There’s no particular reason. I’m just helping you because you’re a vampire. You have nothing to lose, right?”
There was no special reason why Hyunwoo wanted to form a connection with Lucas.
‘Because among all the races in the Demon World, they’re the most trustworthy. The vampire race, which values honor and fidelity.’
Among them, Lucas, the man before him, was one of the few beings in the Demon World he could trust his back to, once trust was established.
Companions are essential for survival in the Demon World.
His current actions were an investment to gain that companion.
Just as Hyunwoo said, Lucas had nothing to lose.
“…Fine.”
After much thought, he nodded and took the stance for a Blood Pact.
Bite—
Lucas bit his thumb.
A large amount of blood gushed out even from the small wound.
The blood that dripped from his thumb soon gathered before him and Hyunwoo, according to Lucas’s will.
An unintelligible incantation flowed from his mouth.
Then, he recited the terms of the contract.
“I, the vampire Lucas Cayenne, wish to form a Blood Pact. The subject is the human….”
Lucas looked at Hyunwoo.
“It’s Hyunwoo.”
“Hyunwoo. In return for your help, I will grant you one favor. However, refusal is also possible.”
Lucas looked at Hyunwoo and gestured with his head as if it was his turn.
“I, the human Hyunwoo, wish to form a Blood Pact. The subject is Lucas Cayenne. I will take him to Sylvester.”
As Hyunwoo finished speaking, Cayenne's blood, which had been floating in the air, circled around them before seeping into their chests.
“Phew… it’s done. But how are you going to take me to the castle?”
“Ah, that… Huh? Over there?”
Hyunwoo pointed a finger behind Lucas.
As he turned around.
“Hm?”
Thwack—!
Hyunwoo quickly approached and struck the back of his neck, knocking him out.
He had vowed to take him there, but he never vowed how he would take him there.
Hyunwoo slung Lucas over his shoulder with his left arm.
The presence-suppressing range of the ‘Footsteps of the Abyss’ only applied to himself.
As soon as he slung Lucas over his shoulder, the Lafre began to notice him.
Kieeeeeee—!
“Alright, as for how I’m going to take you there—”
Hyunwoo drew his Cheonbyeondo in its greatsword form.
“I’ll have to think about it from now on.”
The cries of the Lafre, filled with clear hostility, echoed through the forest.
***
Noctis, a knight of Sylvester Castle, stared at the forest and let out a groan.
‘…Are they all dead?’
The once-bustling forest had fallen silent.
The sun was setting, but so far, only a few gladiators had returned.
They were all cowards who had run away without even making it to the middle of the forest.
As for the others, they were probably all dead.
Knight Noctis shook his head.
The forest had been noisy with the gladiators' active hunting.
But the noise was brief.
The gladiators’ screams had been heard, and it didn't take long for it to turn into a deathly silence.
Gazing at the silent forest, the knight gritted his teeth.
‘This is why I said we should have sent the Gold gladiators as well…!’
Had the long period of peace that had come to the Demon World caused even the demons’ fighting instincts to wither?
The castle lord had deployed the Gold gladiators to defend the castle walls for his own safety.
The choice of his lord, who was overly cautious for a demon, had created this situation.
Pant, pant—
A messenger who had been periodically running between the forest and the castle came rushing from a distance.
Noctis looked at the approaching messenger and repeated the same question as before.
“Any survivors?”
“Pant, pant… N-None, sir!”
“Understood.”
Looking at the soldier who seemed on the verge of collapsing, his anger welled up, but he forced it down.
Other than the cowards who had fled midway, not a single gladiator had returned alive and well.
In other words, they had no information about how Gert Castle had been annihilated.
Some foolish ones claimed that the Lafre were the main culprits of this disaster, but he didn't believe it at all.
There was no way that mere Lafre could annihilate Gert Castle.
Noctis looked at the forest.
The forest was closer than it was yesterday.
He could feel it on his skin, the forest getting closer as time passed.
An ominous feeling, as if something would happen once the forest reached the castle walls.
In the barren Demon World, for a forest to expand its territory in such a way was an unprecedented and bizarre phenomenon.
‘What in the world is that thing?’
At this rate, he felt they would meet the same end as Gert Castle at the hands of unknown enemies.
Along with the expanding forest, his anxiety was also creeping up and growing.
He had come out to the watchtower himself out of frustration, but….
Just then, Noctis spotted something.
‘…Hm?’
In the quiet forest, he saw a moving shape, rustling.
‘What’s that?’
As he followed the rustling in the forest with his eyes for a moment, something shot out from it.
It wasn't one thing, but two.
Two figures that looked like gladiators.
One gladiator seemed to be severely injured, as he was being carried on the other’s shoulder.
Spotting them, Noctis practically flew from the castle walls and approached the forest.
As he got closer, he could get a better look at the two, who were in a complete mess.
The one walking on two feet was a human.
The one on his shoulder was a vampire.
Covered in the Lafre's fluids, they looked as if they had just swum out from the body of a green slime.
The moment Noctis made eye contact with the human.
Phew—!
The human let out a long breath and gasped raggedly.
Before Noctis could say anything, the human spoke first.
“…Water.”
The human, as if his strength had run out, collapsed on the spot.