Chapter 160 – The Rift (3)

Turel, who had parted ways with his comrades after they crossed the gate, was resting alone in the underground passage created by the humans of this world.

Unlike the hybrids who had become vampires after being bitten by other vampires, Turel was a pureblood vampire, inheriting his bloodline from his parents.

Thus, even amidst the death energy spread by the King of Death, he had not turned into an undead and could still maintain his rationality.

Of course, even though he could maintain his rationality, he could not escape the grasp of the new Demon King.

The Demon King had devastated not only the lands where humans lived but also the lands of the monsters, turning most of them into undead. There was no place for pureblood vampires to flee.

They had no choice but to surrender to the approaching hand of death and become subordinates of the new Demon King.

After that, they had to follow the Demon King’s orders and investigate the lands of the Divine Tree.

By passing through the rift that had appeared in a distant continent called America.

And Turel, who had won the bet, chose to stay in this world to guard the rift instead of crossing the gate.

If vampires were mindless undead who only followed orders like the goblin undead and ghouls, Turel would have been patrolling the crater like them. But vampires were intelligent monsters.

True to his nature as a vampire with intelligence surpassing that of humans, Turel had been lazing around underground.

The appearance of humans before him was troublesome for them, but it was also annoying for him.

The humans who had arrived were armed with guns, a weapon of this world that, while ineffective, was incredibly bothersome.

Turel, irritated at being forcibly awakened, launched a surprise attack on them.

Like a true vampire, he sought to maximize their fear and quickly dispose of them, but to his astonishment, there were beings from Ea among them.

A mage who blocked his attacks with a shield and a hunter who shot arrows imbued with magic.

Though startled by their unexpected appearance, fortunately, they seemed unaware of how to deal with him.

After all, among humans, vampires were creatures that only existed in stories.

For that, how much effort had they put in over the years?

Filling their stomachs with the blood of beasts and monsters with terrible tastes,

and if they were accidentally discovered by humans, they went to great lengths to silence them.

They had wiped out entire villages to increase the number of hybrid vampires and had countless times discarded delicious blood.

For hundreds of years, they waited for the return of the Demon King.

The Demon King did return, but he was not the Demon King they had hoped for.

Fortunately, the King of Death found the vampires, who did not turn into undead, useful and spared them.

The vampires felt the same.

Though the death energy was less palatable than the blood of monsters, it was still absorbable, allowing the vampires to continue their lives under the new Demon King.

But it seemed all that arduous effort had been in vain.

‘Damn, didn’t they know?’

As the humans, who had been wildly casting magic and missing, regained their composure and began to spray holy power, Turel turned pale.

The new Demon King had planned to make a grand entrance after destroying the temples.

But that plan had gone awry.

No, that wasn’t the problem.

The holy power being sprayed everywhere was the problem.

The curtain of darkness melted under the holy power, and within the sacred light, he could not use any transformation spells.

Eventually, his true form was revealed.

Even if his true form was revealed, if the enemy only had ‘guns,’ it wouldn’t be a problem.

A shield made of blood could easily block bullets.

But they didn’t just have ‘guns.’

*Whoosh!*

The shield made of blood burst into flames.

It was due to the fireball shot by the mage.

As he hastily dodged, bullets and arrows came flying.

Bullets from the humans of this world and arrows from a middle-aged man who looked like a thief, using a strange bow.

The fireball imbued with mana that shattered his blood shield was dangerous, but the bullets and arrows didn’t even need to be blocked.

*Ting. Ting. Ting.*

The vampire’s body, which could easily block non-magical attacks, deflected the bullets, and he ignored the arrows that followed.

*Thud.*

But contrary to his expectations, an arrow slipped through the shattered shield and embedded itself in his shoulder.

He looked down at the arrow in his shoulder with a bewildered expression.

An arrow that could pierce his body, which had deflected bullets.

But the arrow embedded in his shoulder was glowing faintly.

It wasn’t imbued with light magic like the first arrow shot at him, nor was it imbued with mana as he had heard in stories.

Instead, the arrow contained something else.

*Kyaaaah!*

An intense heat rose from his chest.

It wasn’t just the pain that felt like heat.

The spot where the arrow had struck was burning.

“Got him!”

As he writhed in agony from the heat, cheers erupted from the humans.

It was the priestess, who had been spraying holy power with a frightened expression.

She was smiling brightly at him, her hand resting on the arrow held by the middle-aged man beside her.

The arrow she touched also seemed to glow faintly.

He knew exactly what that light was.

It was undoubtedly holy power, burning his shoulder.

Not mana, but holy power imbued in an arrow.

He had never heard of such a thing, even in the stories passed down through his clan.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), he wasn’t the only one surprised.

The mage and the middle-aged man who had shot the arrow were also looking at the priestess in astonishment.

“No way. I didn’t think this would work…”

“I told you it would!”

At the man’s surprised words, the priestess shrugged her shoulders with a triumphant expression.

Truly a priestess. As expected, they were the worst kind of villains.

Moral degenerates who would go to great lengths to exterminate his kind in the name of God.

How many of his kin had fallen to their hands? How long had they been forced to hide because of them?

And now, he had been defeated once again.

Just moments ago, his skin had tingled from the holy power surrounding him, but now he felt nothing.

The intense heat and pain deep in his chest had numbed him to all other sensations.

He felt like he was going to lose his mind from the burning heat.

It was only natural, having been injected with holy power, the bane of his kind.

Even as he screamed in agony, he moved his other hand to grasp the arrow embedded in his shoulder.

*Whoosh.*

The hand gripping the arrow began to burn.

Still, he desperately pulled at the arrow.

He couldn’t fall in such a ridiculous manner.

Though he had reluctantly become a subordinate of the new Demon King, he still had to fulfill his duties as the Demon King’s servant.

For the sake of his kin in Ea, and for the comrades who had crossed the gate, he couldn’t let these humans pass unharmed.

Even if he couldn’t stop them, he had to at least alert the others of their presence.

With that thought, he managed to pull out the arrow with all his might, and with a satisfied expression, he closed his eyes.

As he pulled out the arrow, several more arrows struck him, and finally, magical fire consumed his body.

“That vampire monster was terrifying until the end. The way he smiled so eerily as he burned… I’m scared it’ll haunt my dreams.”

Yerim trembled as she watched the vampire burn away.

Though they had successfully defeated the enemy, she was still shaken.

The vampire, who had been utterly terrified of the priestess, had fortunately not realized that fact.

In any case, having dealt with the sudden appearance of the vampire, the group breathed a sigh of relief and carefully surveyed their surroundings.

Fortunately, there were no other enemies.

Now, it was time for Yelena to prepare her magic.

Yelena first tried to send a message to Zahina to inform her of the situation underground.

But before she could send the message, Zahina’s message came through.

[The movements of the undead in the crater have changed. The roots of the Divine Tree have also started moving. Did something happen?]

It was an unexpected message.

The only thing that had changed down here was one thing.

[We only dealt with the vampire.]

A moment later, Zahina’s message came again.

[That must have been the issue.]

Could it be that the vampire underground and the roots of the Divine Tree were somehow connected?

As Yelena pondered this, another message came through.

[Is everything else okay?]

[Yes. I was about to start preparing the magic.]

Unlike above ground, there were no other enemies, and the distance to the rift had been confirmed.

Everything was fine.

At Yelena’s message, Zahina’s reply came again.

[Got it. We’re heading out now. Talk later.]

A simple reply, befitting the daughter of the Divine Tree.

But the reassurance and consideration in the message made Yelena smile involuntarily.

“We’ll start the operation.”

At Zahina’s words, I nodded.

I had thought that preparing the magic might change something, but as expected, things rarely go according to plan.

The appearance of the vampire was unexpected, and the undead’s immediate reaction to the vampire’s death was also unexpected.

I had no idea how the undead had sensed what had happened underground, but there was only one thing we needed to do now.

We had to jump into the rift before the undead could regroup and the roots could gather around it.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

At my words, Zahina responded, and we leapt out of the building we had been hiding in.

After jumping from the half-destroyed building right next to the massive crater, we began running across the desolate, sunken land of the crater.

The barren land, devoid of buildings or obstacles.

The crater, too vast to have been created by a mere satellite, offered no cover from the undead’s gaze.

In fact, those roots didn’t even rely on sight.

It was inevitable that we would be spotted as soon as we entered the crater.

The roots that had been slowly creeping into the crater quickly extended toward us, and the undead, who had been positioning themselves, moved to block our path.

But Zahina and I had no intention of fighting, so neither the roots nor the undead could stop us.

We dodged the flying roots by throwing ourselves to the side, and Zahina caused chaos among the goblin undead by manipulating the ground.

Passing through the goblin undead, cutting down the ghouls that tried to block us, we reached the rift in a single leap.

After beheading the ghoul, I looked up and saw the rift.

The rift from which the writhing roots extended.

Unlike before, the roots were now thrashing violently.

I thought I could cut those roots, but I decided against it for now.

According to Yelena, the rift’s stability was due to the roots extending from it.

I had no intention of disturbing it until Yelena’s work was complete.

Instead of cutting the roots, we listened to the sound of the nearby roots flinging the undead away as we leapt into the rift.

The rift floated 10 meters in the air, but neither Zahina nor I had any trouble reaching it.

The rift was stable, as Yelena had assured, and I was transported to another world.

Zahina’s homeland. We had arrived in the land of the Divine Tree.