Chapter 51: 99 Ways to Kill a Vampire (4)

“Seven Demon First Strike Secret Art: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub!”

<Current output of 『Gluttony Slash Secret Art』 …… 7%>

Everything around me was dyed in darkness.

The light from the torches hanging on the stone walls, the moonlight seeping through the old windows, even the crimson glow pouring from the Vampire Lord’s eyes.

A perfect darkness where nothing could be seen.

Yet it wasn’t just the light that had vanished.

Sound had disappeared too.

To be precise, neither light nor sound had truly disappeared.

KUrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr~!

The jet-black aura, the Gluttony Slash Secret Art, was devouring everything.

It was different from when I had used it last time off the coast of Incheon.

Back then, it felt like I couldn’t control a hose spewing water under immense pressure and just let it spray everywhere…

Now, I was barely managing to hold on to that hose.

The output was stronger, yet I was definitely controlling it.

A little more delicately. A little more precisely.

Finally, I swung both arms down with all my strength, as if wielding a sword.

The darkness that had enveloped the surroundings condensed into a gigantic blade and surged forward.

KWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWA~!

The sword aura of Gluttony Slash collided head-on with the violently rushing crimson tidal wave.

The red aura began to turn black.

No, it was being swallowed.

The black aura devoured everything it touched and made it part of its domain.

KWAKWAkWAkWAkWAkWA~!

The sword aura of Gluttony Slash rushed forth like a black tsunami and swallowed the Vampire Lord in an instant.

[……..! ……! ……! ……! ……!]

The Vampire Lord twisted its face and screamed.

Yet even that scream was devoured, and no sound echoed at all.

KWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWAkWABOOOOOM—!

The pitch-black tidal wave split the ancient castle in half and continued endlessly forward.

Through the gap in the cleaved castle, the sky began to appear.

Even the dark blue clouds that had covered the heavens were split in two.

Soon, the jet-black magic power gathered back into a single point like a black hole.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it evaporated and vanished.

I stared at the ground and clouds split all the way to the horizon and muttered.

“Did I… finish it?”

That was the moment.

Ding-dong!

<You have defeated the boss of the Instance Dungeon ‘Ancient Castle of Congealed Blood’!>

“I got it.”

And cleanly, at that.

***

Ding-dong!

<Releasing the summoning of Shadow Knights.>

Yi Seonggye, Cheok Jungyeong, Yi I.

The Shadow Knights scattered like black smoke and melted back into my shadow.

“Phew.

My arms are throbbing like they’ve been hammered.

Even after activating an ogre’s super strength, the recoil was this bad?

No.

Because I activated it, it only ended at this level. 

If I had messed up, my arms might have flown off entirely.

The ground split open like a fan.

More than half of the ancient castle had disappeared without a trace, along with the Vampire Lord.

Even the dark blue clouds covering the sky were split in two.

…So this is the power at just 7%.”

At that moment, Jeanne came running from afar.

“Master! That was a truly flawless technique! This unworthy disciple has learned greatly today as well!”

Jeanne kept nodding, her eyes filled with pure admiration.

She had no idea that the secret art I just used was only at 7% output.

‘The Seven Demon Strikes’ secret arts are top-secret information that must never be revealed to anyone except the successor,’ it said.

Well, as long as there’s no trouble, that should be fine.

Then.

Ding-dong!

<The entrance to the hidden treasure vault is now open!>

“Okay. I’ve been waiting for this.”

The reason the Hunter Association directly manages hidden dungeons.

The reason countless guilds and parties watch them with bloodshot eyes.

What else could it be? It’s obviously this treasure vault.

The hidden treasure vault that opens only after clearing a hidden dungeon.

A golden opportunity to obtain priceless artifacts.

Soon.

PAAAAH!

A brilliantly glowing golden door appeared in midair.

But.

‘There’s something I need to take care of first.’

I thoroughly searched the area where the Gluttony Slash Secret Art had vanished.

After finally killing the boss, and an A+ rank Vampire Lord at that, it would be stupid to leave without checking for drops.

Yet.

“Hm?”

No matter how much I looked, there was nothing.

Only tattered pieces of a dress and gray ashes fluttered about.

‘Did the Gluttony Slash Secret Art even annihilate the artifact?’

The moment I thought that.

Sparkle!

A single ring gleamed from within the pile of ashes.

Ding-dong!

-<Blood Mist Ring> / Ring / A+

A crimson ring worn by the Vampire Lord.

The wearer can transform into blood mist that is immune to physical influence.

-Skill ‘Blood Mist’ available

┖ Blood Mist (A+): Transforms into a mist of blood immune to physical influence. However, while in blood mist form, the wearer cannot physically affect the surroundings and becomes extremely vulnerable to fire attacks.

“This is… insane?”

Immune to physical influence.

Physical nullification. 

That one phrase says it all.

Seeing is believing.

I slipped the mist-shrouded ring onto my finger.

-Ding-dong!

<Activating the item skill ‘Blood Mist’ of the Blood Mist Ring!>

My body instantly scattered into crimson mist.

My entire body felt light.

No, it wasn’t just light; I literally felt no weight at all.

Is this what an out-of-body experience feels like?

I looked at Jeanne and spoke.

“Now, try attacking me once!”

“Pardon? How could I ever strike my mast—”

“Fist, kick, anything is fine. I need your help.”

Jeanne made a bewildered expression.

But only for a moment.

“If Master insists to that extent… please forgive my rudeness.”

The moment her words ended, Jeanne’s fist flew fiercely toward me.

Whoosh—

Yet I felt no pain at all.

It was like a gentle breeze brushing past.

“Don’t go easy on me. You can hit harder.”

“Yes, Master.”

SWHOOSH—!

A much heavier and faster straight punch came flying.

If that had landed squarely just now, my head would have exploded like a ghoul’s.

“Put even more feeling into it!”

“Yes, Master!”

This time, a kick of ferocious speed surged forward.

Whoa, that would have split an ogre’s skull.

Sharp punches and kicks continued several more times.

Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh—

Only the sound of air being sliced rang out; no damage reached me at all.

‘If even Jeanne’s attacks are nullified, that means I’m basically immune to most physical attacks.’

I just have to be careful of magic attacks, especially fire, since it seems to be a weakness.

Then, suddenly, the air around us changed.

Jeanne had raised her sword and was concentrating deeply.

“Fuuuuu……!”

The seriousness in her deep breath was palpable.

Soon, black aura began rippling along her blade……

“Okay! That’s enough!”

I released the mist form and returned to my original body.

“That just now… you were about to use a Seven Demon Strike, right?”

“You told me to attack with full sincerity… I fear I went too far… I’m sorry.”

Jeanne lowered her head with a sullen look.

I immediately patted her shoulder and said.

“No, I was going to praise you. Even without seeing it fully, I could tell. That was excellent aura. You’ve grown.”

“Ah… yes!”

Jeanne nodded brightly.

“As expected of Master! You saw through it with just my stance! After watching Master’s secret art earlier, I tried adjusting the flow of my magic power!”

“I thought so. Good. You’re doing very well.”

“Yes, Master! I will not neglect my training so that I may master the secret art as soon as possible!”

Jeanne’s eyes burned with passionate enthusiasm.

…Well, I think I managed to gloss over that nicely.

“Now then, shall we move on to the main dish?”

I vigorously flung open the golden door to the treasure vault.

CREEEEEAK—

At the same moment.

“Whoa!”

A gasp of awe escaped involuntarily.

A spectacular sight unfolded: mountains of silver coins, colorful jewels, and ornaments piled like a massive range, along with gold.

Because there were artifacts everywhere.

“How many artifacts are there? One, two, three, four……

There are so many I can’t even count them all.

Every artifact in a hidden dungeon’s treasure vault is at least B-rank.

Picking up just one of the artifacts rolling around here and selling it would easily buy a sports car.

“Let’s see. ‘Gentleman Thief’s Monocle’? What does this do? And… ‘Erysichthon’s Intestines’? Urk, that’s literally intestines? What the hell is this? ‘Garm’s Toy Cube’? It looks like a toy cube…”

A little later, I tore my eyes away from the artifacts and looked at the walls of the treasure vault.

Magic stones densely studded every inch of the walls.

For magic stones, weight, color, and shape matter, but the most important factor is the purity of the mana.

Unlike the lowest-grade magic stones that shimmer blue, the higher the purity, the deeper red they become.

And the color of the magic stones covering the walls of this treasure vault…

“They’re purple and pink.”

That meant they were at least B-grade to A-grade magic stones.

I took a pickaxe out of my inventory.

“Well then, shall we mine every single one without missing any?”

“I will help you, Master!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Clear, rhythmic sounds began ringing out regularly.

Each time, the magic stones rooted in the wall fell away refreshingly.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

About an hour passed like that.

“Phew! Finally done.”

Jeanne and I had succeeded in mining every magic stone inside the treasure vault.

One side was a pile of magic stones. 

Another side was piles of artifacts. 

The rest were miscellaneous treasures.

We had neatly organized everything into three categories.

“I’ve always been confident in stacking things cleanly, even when loading and unloading trucks.”

But here came another problem.

How were we going to carry all of this out?

For anyone else, just moving all these items would be a headache that could take days or weeks.

They would have to supervise the site to prevent workers from stealing, hire separate transportation manpower, secure vehicles, control onlookers, and even silence reporters…

Normally, it would be a massive pain.

Well, normally.

Of course, that didn’t apply to me.

-Ding-dong!

<Receiving the ‘Open’ command.>

<Opening Morgue’s Magical Warehouse.>

KUguGuGuGuGuGu~!

A place that stretched endlessly horizontally and had no visible floor vertically.

Because I have an infinite logistics warehouse.