Most likely.
The unknown enemies that were attacking them.
Were gathering the nearby monsters.
To get rid of me.
‘How many? And from where?’
I picked up my kitchen knife.
And turned my head toward the direction where I could feel their presences.
‘...!’
What I saw in front of me...
Was frankly quite shocking.
A dense blizzard.
Because of it.
I couldn’t see any silhouettes behind it at all.
But.
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Combat Power Gauge]
I had a trait that visualized the enemy’s magic power and showed it to me as numbers.
Since I had the Combat Power Gauge.
Behind that dense blizzard.
‘What the hell is that number?’
Countless colors were all mixed together without distinction.
Painting the pure white blizzard in brilliant hues.
There were even.
‘Blue in there too...?’
It was very faint.
Nowhere near the saturation of Alraune’s or Ariella’s, which had grown intensely vivid recently.
Even so, there was a blue aura settled deep in there.
And around it, yellow, green, and other colors that should normally be treated as serious threats were all casually mixed together.
‘Just how many monsters are in there?’
CRK...
I tightened my grip on the kitchen knife and muttered.
“Yeah... fine by me.”
Either way.
If I wanted to find the strike force that my parents were a part of, I’d have to head in there.
I could die in the process.
But with Environmental Assimilation, I might somehow survive and track the strike force’s footprints.
I got my trembling body up and was about to step toward that inside when—
SNRNG...
“Master of our master!”
Right then.
Blocking my way.
“You must stop right there!”
“...What, you bastard?”
There were two hands.
****
“Master of our master!”
“You must stop right there!”
The two vampires blocked my way.
I frowned when I saw them.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
These guys called me “Master of our master.”
Which meant.
They were vassals of my vassal.
Not just simple subordinates—there was a status gap like a slave and a king.
“This is an order. If you don’t want to die, get lost. Now.”
Doing something like blocking my way like this.
Shouldn’t have been allowed in the first place.
“Mmm, what should we do, oppa?”
“Are you really still asking that? What else. We do exactly as our master ordered!”
At those words.
I naturally thought they were going to listen to me and move aside.
“Master of our master!”
“...?”
But to my surprise.
“Going in any farther is absolutely not allowed!”
These vampires.
Were refusing my order.
‘...How?’
Their master.
Even Ariella couldn’t disobey my orders.
By the Vassal Pact, even if I ordered her to die, refusing would be impossible.
The question flashed through my mind.
But I was able to figure out why pretty quickly.
“The order we received from our master... was to put Master of our master’s safety above all else!”
“What?”
Their master.
Ariella might be my vassal.
But strictly speaking.
Even her vassals weren’t my direct vassals.
If it were Ariella herself, bound by the Vassal Pact, she wouldn’t have been able to refuse my order.
But these ones, one step removed.
They were only following me because that, too, was Ariella’s order.
‘They don’t feel any compulsion from my orders personally, is that it?’
I couldn’t help but knit my brows.
This kind of thing.
I hadn’t expected.
“If Master of our master heads in there...”
“No matter how hard we try, you will not be able to escape death!”
Their red eyes glowed.
“In that case, we will—”
They stretched their arms out.
FWIP.
Small cuts opened on their wrists.
And from those tiny cuts, an enormous amount of blood poured out.
Only.
The blood that flowed out did not run down toward the ground.
It stopped in midair near their wrists.
Then that red liquid formed a solid shape.
[Blood-Red Shadow Blade]
A weapon allowed only to ‘elite vampires.’
Blades like dark-red jewels, forged from their blood.
There was no one who knew their power better than I did.
I’d seen those blades being swung at a single word from my mouth, over and over.
The two vampires pointed those blades at me and said.
“We will use every means available to protect Master of our master’s safety.”
“Even if it means... cutting down Master of our master!”
They said it with tense expressions.
The content sounded heavy and dramatic.
But with crooked little grins.
Their lips were.
Full of amusement.
Even when you turn into a vampire.
Your base nature doesn’t disappear.
The fact that they were doing it to obey their master’s orders didn’t change that.
They’d finally gotten a chance to cut a human again.
For these two siblings, once pleasure-killing murderers.
It was hard not to laugh.
‘The tension of maybe having to fight me... and the excitement that they might get to cut a human again after so long.’
The two emotions surfacing at once.
Was what made.
Those bizarre expressions.
‘...What should I do.’
Seeing that.
I ran my fingers along the handle of the kitchen knife at my waist.
Elite vampires.
Each one was as strong as a squad leader in our unit.
No, if we used a baseline of being unarmed, it would be more accurate to say they were stronger than the squad leaders.
They had plenty of penalties, but they were also stronger than humans—that’s what vampires were.
However.
‘If I decide to kill them, I can.’
Vampires were a strong species.
But they had clear penalties to match.
It definitely wouldn’t be easy.
But if I exploited those penalties.
Cutting down those two wouldn’t be impossible.
Still, I shifted my gaze away from them.
And looked at the raging blizzard.
At the “colors” of magic, hazy like mist beyond it.
A power so immense.
That I couldn’t resist it in my current state.
‘I can’t beat those.’
What little reason I had left.
Was screaming that at me.
Even if I took these two with me, breaking through that place would be close to impossible.
If I killed these two here.
And then headed there alone while wounded—
That wouldn’t just be close to impossible.
It would be absolutely impossible.
“...Haa.”
In the end.
I let out a sigh.
Then, gripping my knife, I walked up to the two.
“H-hey!?”
“Master of our master!? A-are you really going to do it!?”
They were flustered, unsure if it was really okay for them to cut down their master’s master.
I walked right up to them.
KONK.
“We’re going back, you brats.”
“Argh!”
“Ow.”
And smacked their heads with the knife handle.
‘Damn it.’
It was frustrating.
But what they’d said was right.
Combat wasn’t my specialty.
If I had the Legion with me, I had confidence I could break through that place.
But right now, I only had two at my disposal.
Trying to break through there alone.
Then go searching for the missing humans.
Would have been too much.
“...We’re returning to [Central Branch].”
I’d run out here in a rush only to turn back.
But.
‘That doesn’t mean I’ve given up.’
My resolve to find those missing humans.
Had not been broken.
It was just that... their forces were stronger than I’d anticipated.
So I had to find another method.
‘Me breaking through on my own is pushing it.’
In that case, what I needed was...
‘Forces that can substitute for the Legion.’
Fortunately.
There were quite a lot of humans around here that could serve as manpower.
‘I have to use that Association.’
The problem was.
Whether they would agree to go with me toward that dangerous place.
When I first left the [Northern Branch] to head for [Central Branch].
I recalled what Park Junggu had said to me.
—Words aren’t the only way to persuade people, are they.
Right.
Just like he’d said.
When it came to methods for persuading others...
There was no one who had more than I did.
****
“Over there!”
“That’s the direction the monster disappeared! Break through that way!”
The Awakeners of the [Southern Branch] who had been attacked by invisible monsters.
They had.
Been in such a despairing situation.
That they’d been about to accept death as it was.
“Someone came to help us...!”
“Everyone advance! Follow the direction that shadow opened up for us!”
When something unknown.
Cut the neck of the monster that had been attacking them.
[Commanding Shout – Breakthrough Order resounds!]
In the eyes of the people who had been giving up.
The desire to live took root once more.
In the end.
After struggling for a long time like that.
“Haa... haa...!”
“...We broke through!”
“We did it...!”
For reasons they didn’t understand.
That unknown silhouette had neatly cleared away the monsters encircling them.
Thanks to that.
They managed to punch through the hole in the encirclement and escape.
Barely slipping out of the enemy’s ring.
They moved until they reached a safer area.
“Who on earth was it that helped us?”
“...Who knows.”
One question.
Embedded itself in their minds.
A being that suddenly appeared.
Helped them, declaring only with a voice that it would open a path.
Then disappeared without ever showing itself.
They were extremely curious about its identity.
But they had no guesses.
“Are we even sure it was human?”
“I’m more inclined to think it was another monster that’s hostile to those things.”
“I think so too.”
Their group was by no means weak.
They were an Awakener force that had prepared thoroughly for a long trip.
Even so, that enemy had pushed them so far.
But that unknown something.
Moved freely across the battlefield as if it had completely escaped the monsters’ detection.
And cut off their heads.
‘Who is it?’
Their leader.
Jo Beomseok was just as curious.
Only.
His reason was slightly different from the others’.
‘I’m certain I’ve heard that voice somewhere before...’
That voice.
Was very familiar.
‘It definitely felt familiar... but also a little different.’
How should he put it.
It felt like the sound quality had been worse, or something like that...
Jo Beomseok felt like he was just on the verge of recalling who that voice belonged to.
But.
“General Jo.”
“...Ah, what is it.”
At the voices of his group calling him.
He had no choice but to set those thoughts aside.
“We think this is the monster that attacked us.”
“Hm. You collected its corpse when you broke through?”
“Yes. And we’re pretty sure this is also what that unknown being cut down.”
The monster that had attacked them.
Looking at the corpse, Jo Beomseok frowned and said.
“I recognize this one.”
“Yes. It’s the one we call [Frost Monkey]. It’s definitely a tricky monster, but...”
[Frost Hunter Panteron]
Because of its appearance, Awakeners often called this monster “Frost Monkey.”
“It wasn’t this strong.”
It was fairly strong and boasted incredible agility.
But it wasn’t the kind of monster that could throw ice-made spears.
Or display tricks like tearing through the snowfield at unbelievable speed, like the ones that had attacked them this time.
‘There’s not a single thing about this that makes sense.’
In the end.
Jo Beomseok and his group were unable to resolve those questions.
And they finally reached the destination they’d originally been heading for.
[Central Branch].
“...General!?”
When they arrived at the Wall.
The man who served as a sort of leader for the Central Branch.
Yunseong, greeted them with wide eyes.
“Keh-heh. Why so surprised? You talk like you were hoping we’d die.”
“No, even as «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» a joke, that’s too much...”
Jo Beomseok spoke lightly.
But Yunseong’s expression was stiff.
“When you still weren’t here long past the scheduled time. I thought something had happened. I was just about to send out a scouting party. But then...”
“Heh-heh. You should have sent them earlier, if you were going to.”
The joking expression on Jo Beomseok’s face.
Vanished in an instant, replaced by gravity.
“On our way here... we were attacked by monsters.”
“...I’m sorry. The Southern Branch has been late to meetings a few times before, so I just thought it was the same reason again this time... I should have acted faster.”
“That’s fine. We managed to survive somehow. The problem is...”
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if recalling the monsters that had attacked him.
Then opened his mouth again.
“Those monsters weren’t normal.”
“Yes? What do you mean...?”
“They seemed to have our usual travel routes almost perfectly mapped out.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’ve known for a while that monsters hunt more cleverly than we expected... but this was a first.”
Because of the brutal blizzard, it was hard to even recognize the old terrain.
When moving to another region, sticking to routes with at least some guaranteed safety was basic.
“But for an enemy like that to have those routes figured out.”
“Monsters that just happen to be good at hunting...”
“I’ve also heard that monsters with intelligence sometimes, like humans, want to expand their territory.”
If that was the case, had they attacked in order to claim land?
So that by taking over “Uiwang City,” they could possess three percent of the territory?
“If we assume that, then how do we explain the fact that they knew our travel routes...”
Was it just a clever monster.
That had observed them for a long time and memorized all their movement paths?
“Or else...”
A horrific possibility.
Took root in his mind.
“Could it be that... some human out there... told the monsters our travel routes?”
He had a lot of questions.
But not a single one came with an answer.
“And then there’s the one who helped us... Haa. We really don’t know anything.”
Even when they tried to draw up some kind of plan.
They knew far too little.
In the end.
The only thing he could do.
Was look to “the meeting between each group... that’s happening tomorrow.”
There.
He could at least properly bring up this incident and talk about it.
****
And the next day.
Finally.
The meeting between branches, which had been delayed due to the Southern Branch’s absence, began.
‘From the Eastern Branch, it’s that “Architect” again, as always... Central is just Yunseong alone? And the Northern Branch is... Park Junggu.’
Most of the faces were familiar.
But.
‘And who is that?’
Jo Beomseok’s eyes.
Turned to the one and only stranger there.
A man with a sharp look in his eyes.
