Yandere Monster Evolution: My Blind Wife Will Become a Demonic Queen

Chapter 117: A Crimson Moon

As we stepped in, the Gate swallowed us whole.

The transition was violent. Most Gates feel like stepping through a cold curtain, but this one felt like being chewed up and spat out by something ancient.

My feet hit the ground hard, and for a second, the world was just a blur of dark red and gray. I felt Vera’s hand tighten on mine.

As the world stopped spinning, I took a deep breath. The air was heavy. It didn’t taste like the salt of the Mermaid Kingdom Gate or the stale air of a normal one. It tasted like iron. It tasted like old blood and dust. I looked up, and the sight was enough to make anyone’s heart stop.

Above us, there was no sun. Instead, a massive, bloated red moon hung in the sky. It was so big it felt like it was falling toward us. The light it gave off was a sickly, deep crimson that turned every shadow into a pool of ink. There were no clouds, just a dark, empty sky that looked like a bruised eye staring down at us.

We were standing in the middle of what used to be a city. But it wasn’t a city like Seoul. There was no concrete, no glass, no steel. Everything was made of dark, weathered stone.

Tall, gothic buildings with sharp spires reached up toward the red moon like skeletal fingers. Most of them were broken. Half-collapsed towers, shattered archways, and streets paved with cracked cobblestones that looked like they hadn’t seen a living soul in centuries.

And the water. A river ran through the ruins nearby, but it wasn’t blue. It was a thick, dark red. It moved slowly, like syrup, reflecting the red moon above. It looked like the world was bleeding, and the river was its open vein.

’This is it,’ I thought. I had my doubts before, but now they were all gone.

The red moon, the red water, the gothic ruins. This was the Vampire Kingdom. A world where every other race had been wiped out, leaving only them behind.

I slowly turned my head to look at the group behind me.

First, my gaze landed on Seok. He was standing right behind us, his spear held ready.

’I didn’t tell him to wear a mask,’ I mused. ’I certainly didn’t tell him to wear one like mine, yet he did.’

He noticed me looking and gave a small, respectful nod. He didn’t ask questions. He just followed. He already knew what Vera and I were capable of, and it seemed he had decided that if the "mastermind" wore a mask, he should too. It was a smart move. In a place like this, being anonymous was a weapon.

Beside Seok was Hana. She was the mage who had been with us when we cleared the Mermaid Kingdom Gate. She was clutching her staff, which she didn’t have in the first raid, her eyes wide as she took in the surroundings.

She looked at Vera and me with a mixture of awe and expectation. She had seen what we could do. She knew that even in a place this terrifying, we were the ones to follow.

’I asked Seok to get Hana because it seems she has a big role in the story, but I don’t remember,’ I thought, my brow furrowing slightly. My knowledge was good, but some details were still fuzzy. If she was important, I needed her close.

My gaze moved past them to the three new Hunters. These were the ones I had hired anonymously from Vera’s contacts using my black card. I had paid them a ridiculous amount of money—more than they would see in ten normal raids combined. They didn’t know us. They didn’t know our strength. They only knew that the pay was good and the Gate was dangerous.

The first was a woman with different rings on her fingers, named Jisu. She was currently scanning the rooftops. She looked professional, but I could see the way her eyes darted toward the red moon. She was nervous, even if she tried to hide it.

Next to her was a bulky guy named Grog. He was a mountain of a man, carrying a massive, heavy broadsword that looked like it could cleave a car in half. He was a "big sword" user, the kind of Hunter who relied on brute force. He was currently grumbling something under his breath, his eyes fixed on the red river.

"I don’t like this," Grog rumbled. "The water is wrong. The air is wrong. I don’t care how much you’re paying us, kid. This place feels like death."

"It is death," I replied, my voice muffled by the paper bag. "That’s why you’re being paid so much."

Jisu looked at me, her eyes narrowing. "You’re the one in charge? The guy in the bag?"

"I am," I said.

"And her?" she gestured toward Vera. "She’s your bodyguard?"

"Something like that," I muttered.

They didn’t know. They had no idea that the "bodyguard" was someone they once knew. To them, we were just two weirdos with a lot of money. It was better that way. Let the shock be earned.

And then, at the very back, was someone I didn’t even know the name of.

She was also a girl, but she seemed much closer to Vera’s age than the other two middle-aged Hunters. She wasn’t speaking or looking around. She was just standing behind us quietly while hugging her sword closer to her chest.

As for Adrian, he was standing there, his arms crossed, his dark coat fluttering slightly in the cold wind. He didn’t look scared. He didn’t even look impressed. He just looked... bored.

His eyes were locked onto mine. He knew who I was, and I knew who he was. He was here for his own reasons, and I was here for mine. Having him at the rear was like having a tiger guarding your back—you were safe from the other monsters, but you always had to worry about the tiger.

"Look at this place," Jisu whispered, her voice shaking slightly despite her professional demeanor. "The water... it’s blood. It’s actually blood."

"It’s not blood," Hana spoke up, her voice steadier than the old woman’. "It’s mana. Highly concentrated, corrupted mana. It just... looks like blood."

"Whatever it is, it’s not normal," Grog rumbled, his voice deep but filled with unease. "This is a graveyard."

I stepped forward, the sound of my boots on the cobblestones echoing in the silence.

"It’s a kingdom," I said, my voice muffled but clear. "A kingdom that outlived its subjects."

I looked at the group. Hana and Seok were ready. Jisu and Grog were on edge. Black was watching. However, the sword girl didn’t care about what I was saying.

"We move toward the center," I instructed, pointing toward the tallest spire in the distance. It was a massive, dark castle that sat on a hill, overlooking the entire city. "That’s where the core will be. And that’s where we’ll find what we’re looking for."

Seok stepped up beside me. "The mana is thickest there," he noted, his voice calm. "It’s also where the strongest signatures are coming from," he said while looking at his device.

"I know," I said.

As we started walking, the silence of the city was broken by a long, mournful howl. It wasn’t a wolf. It was too high, too melodic, and filled with a hunger that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"What was that?" Hana asked, her staff glowing with a faint light.

"A welcome," I muttered.

We walked through the streets. The buildings were grand, even in ruin. Huge stone pillars, intricate carvings of bats and wolves, and massive iron gates that were now rusted and broken. It was a world of high fantasy, but one that had been dragged through hell.

I glanced back again. Black was still at the rear, his pace steady. He was watching the rooftops, his hand resting near his waist. He wasn’t helping, but he wasn’t interfering either. He was just... there, like a silent observer.

’He’s doing this for his family?’ I thought. ’Or is it something that doesn’t involve them?’

"Movement!" Jisu hissed and lifted her ring-covered hand in an instant.

She was pointing toward a shattered archway about fifty meters ahead. For a second, I saw it too. A tall, gaunt figure with pale skin and glowing red eyes. It was wearing tattered, ancient clothes that might have been a noble’s robes once. It stared at us for a heartbeat, its fangs bared in a silent snarl, and then it vanished into the shadows of a building.

"Was that... a person?" Grog asked, his voice a whisper.

"No," I said, my grip tightening on my own dagger. "That was a Vampire. And he’s going to tell his friends we’re here."

The shock on their faces was priceless. Jisu nearly dropped her guard. Grog’s greatsword wavered. They had heard of Vampires in myths, but seeing one was different.

"Vampires?" Jisu stammered. "But... they’re supposed to be myths. Monsters from the old stories."

"Everything in a Gate is a monster from an old story," I said. "Now, get ready. They’re coming."

I looked at Vera. She didn’t need to be told. She was ready to tear through anything that came at us.

The red moon seemed to glow even brighter, the crimson light intensifying. The shadows around us began to shift and move. The silence of the city was gone, replaced by the sound of hundreds of feet moving over stone, and the low, guttural hissing of a hungry race.

’Vampire... Heh?’ I thought, a faint smirk forming under my mask. ’Let’s see what kind of history you had.’