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

Chapter 118: Vampires (1)

The echo of the vampire’s hiss lingered in the blood-scented air long after the creature had vanished into the shadows.

"Vampires..." Jisu repeated the word under her breath, her ring-covered fingers trembling slightly as she adjusted her stance. "You’re joking, right? You’re saying this entire world... everything we’re looking at... was destroyed by them?"

"Not just destroyed," I said. "They outlived their prey. When you wipe out every other living race in your world, you don’t get a prize. You just get a massive, empty graveyard and a lot of hungry mouths."

I glanced back slightly.

Black was standing a few paces behind us, his arms crossed over his dark gray coat, just like before. He wasn’t looking at the gothic buildings or the crimson river.

He didn’t say a word, but the subtle pressure of his gravity field shifted slightly.

Beside him, Grog rumbled a curse under his breath, his massive broadsword resting heavily against his shoulder. "I’ve been in A-Rank Gates that looked like heaven, but in reality they were hell, kid. But this? This doesn’t feel like a Gate. It feels like we stepped into someone’s abandoned living room. A very bloody living room."

"Because it is a kingdom," Hana spoke up from behind Seok. She was clutching her magical staff tightly, the crystal at the tip pulsing with a faint, nervous blue light that cast long shadows against the dark stone walls. "The mana signature here... it’s completely static. In a normal Gate, the mana flows like a current. Here, it’s just... sitting. Like old puddles after a storm."

"An analytical observation," Seok murmured.

He was standing right next to me, his brightly colored, cartoonish mask looking completely ridiculous in the middle of a literal gothic horror landscape. Yet, his posture was dead serious. He held his blue spear perfectly parallel to the ground, his eyes darting across the high ledges and broken spires. He didn’t ask how I knew about the history of this place. He had already accepted that ’Brian’ was a mastermind who operated five steps ahead of everyone else.

’The atmosphere is working perfectly,’ I thought.

The Vampire Kingdom was one of those hidden, high-risk anomalies that the Hunter Association completely miscalculated. They sent standard tracking teams who treated it like a regular beast-type dungeon, only to get hunted down in the dark by creatures that possessed ancient tactical intelligence.

"We keep moving toward the main avenue," I instructed, pointing my dagger toward the wide cobblestone street that carved directly through the center of the ruined city. "Don’t touch the water in the canals. Don’t look directly at the moon for more than three seconds if your mental resistance is low. And most importantly, if you hear music... cover your ears."

"Music?" Jisu stammered. "What kind of music?"

"The kind that makes you want to dance right into their teeth," I replied.

Beside me, Viora didn’t look at the spires or the river. Her short hair rustled slightly under her mask as she tilted her head toward the dark alleyway to our left.

Thump-thump.

Her focus wasn’t on the environment. It was locked onto the subtle, erratic pulses hiding in the dark.

"They are gathering," Viora whispered. "Three on the left roof. Five behind the broken archway. They smell like... they are hungry, Woo Jin."

"How many?" Seok asked, stepping forward.

"I am not sure. Dozens, maybe." Viora replied. "They are circling the perimeter. Watching us."

"Let them gather," I murmured back. "They’re just assessing the threat level."

We continued to walk down the central avenue. The cobblestones were uneven, slick with a thin layer of crimson condensation that evaporated into a faint, sweet-smelling mist whenever our boots pressed down.

On either side, the grand gothic buildings loomed over us. The architecture was incredibly detailed—statues of gargoyles with weeping eyes, intricate stone carvings of bats wrapping around massive pillars, and high, shattered stained-glass windows that once depicted ancient noble crests.

It was a world of high fantasy that had successfully destroyed itself to death.

"Look there," Seok said, his voice dropping an octave as he pointed his spear toward the base of a collapsed tower.

Propped up against the dark stone were dozens of rusted suits of armor. They weren’t human. The breastplates were designed for slender, tall frames, and the helmets had elongated visors. They were completely empty, covered in centuries of dust and dark stains that had long since turned black.

"The old species," I noted, my mind instantly accessing the fuzzy fragments of the novel’s backstory. "Before the kingdom fell into total stagnation, there was a civil war. The lower-class wanted the remaining blood reserves, while the purebloods wanted to ration them. In the end, nobody won. They just ran out of cattle."

"Cattle..." Hana whispered, a shiver running down her spine. "You mean humans?"

"Elves, Dwarves, werewolves, or whatever lived here before them," I said.

As we moved deeper, the temperature began to drop rapidly. The cold air of the rainy season back in the real world was nothing compared to the absolute, unnatural freezing that swept through this place.

Cough.

A sharp, sudden cough escaped my throat, making me wince slightly beneath my paper bag.

Instantly, Viora’s grip on my hand tightened. She shifted her body slightly, placing herself half a step ahead of me. The aura radiating from her body spiked so fiercely that everyone looked at her with surprise.

"Are you okay?" Viora murmured.

"I’m fine," I whispered back. "Just the dust."

Behind us, Black let out a low, amused chuckle. It was a dark, dry sound that cut through the eerie silence of the street.

"A guy with a cough, and a bodyguard who looks like she wants to murder the wind for blowing too hard," Black mused, his voice carrying that familiar, irritating arrogance. "You really are an odd pair, Brian. I’m still trying to figure out if you’re a genius who calculated every variable, or just a lunatic who got lucky."

I stopped walking. The rest of the group stopped instantly with me, their eyes darting between my brown paper bag and Black’s dark mask.

I turned around slowly, facing the mercenary dead-on.

"The beauty of a gamble, Adrian, is that the result looks exactly the same either way," I said while dropping my voice into a serious, cold tone that completely erased the casual atmosphere. "But since we’re currently standing inside a kingdom where a single mistake means your blood gets served in a crystal goblet, I suggest you keep your eyes on the rooftops instead of my history. Unless, of course, you’re planning to drop your gravity field and clear the entire avenue for us?"

Black’s eyes narrowed behind his mask. The air between us grew thick. He didn’t appreciate being talked down to, especially not by me, and especially not in front of this many people.

For three long seconds, the tension was suffocating. Grog gripped his broadsword tighter, expecting a direct clash between the two masked figures.

Then, Black slowly leaned back, his shoulders relaxing as he let out a short grunt. "Fair enough. Let’s see if that tongue of yours stays this sharp when the monsters show up."

"They’re already here," I muttered, turning back toward the spires.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

[Warning: The density of the local ’Mana’ has increased by 14%.]

[An abnormal presence is observing the party.]

The warning popped up in my vision, the bright blue text glowing faintly against the dark gray surroundings.

High above us, on the very tip of a spire that reached toward the bloated red moon, a figure was standing perfectly still.

It wasn’t a foot soldier.

The creature was incredibly tall and slender, draped in a long, flowing cloak of deep crimson silk that fluttered silently in the wind.

Its skin was a pale, translucent white that practically reflected the sickly moonbeams, and its long, silver hair cascaded over its shoulders like frozen water. Even from fifty meters away, I could see the brilliant, glowing ruby hue of its eyes staring directly down at us.

It held a long, silver rapier in its right hand, the tip of the blade pointing casually toward the cobblestones.

"A vampire?" Jisu gasped. "The mana signature... it’s... it’s completely overwhelming. It feels like a boss!"

"It’s not the boss," I said while tightening my fingers around my dagger. "It’s just the doorman. And he’s checking our invitation."

The silver-haired vampire raised his rapier slightly, parting his pale lips to reveal a set of long, gleaming fangs. He didn’t scream or howl. Instead, he let out a low, melodic whistle that vibrated through the stone buildings, echoing down the empty avenue like a beautifully composed funeral march.

A second later, the shadows beneath the shattered archways began to boil.

Dozens of pale, gaunt figures with glowing red eyes began to crawl out from the broken windows, the dark alleys, and the red waters.

They were wearing tattered armor and decayed robes, their long claws scraping against the stone walls with a terrifying ’skrrrch’ sound.

"Woo Jin," Viora’s voice cut through the air. "They are done watching."

"Form a defensive circle around the fountain!" I ordered loudly. "Don’t let them break our line! Hana, prepare your area-of-effect spells! Grog, be ready to cleave the front line!"

"And why should we follow the instructions of a guy who looks like he just robbed a restaurant?" Jisu hissed, though she still moved when I moved. And the unknown sword girl at the end was also still hugging her sword.

"Because the guy in the grocery bag is the one who knows what happens if you touch that red water," I shot back smoothly.

Hana, who had been quietly clutching her glowing staff, looked up at me with wide eyes. "What happens if we touch it?"

"The Blood River corrupts your body. Your veins blacken, your blood turns into mana, and..." I explained as I slowly turned around. "...within minutes, you’ll attack the nearest living thing."

Hana swallowed hard, her knuckles turning white around her staff.

"Now, if you may, please raise your weapons," I said and turned around toward the army of vampires rushing toward us.