Chapter 71 - Bloodline
"Did that thing just say 'Zahad'?"
Jin's eyes narrowed.
The flickering bioelectricity illuminated the surroundings with a violet glow.
Yet, despite the improved visibility, the figure beyond the darkness remained unseen.
Only the deeply unsettling voice crept into his ears once more.
"Zahad—"
The word struck even clearer this time.
Zahad.
It was unmistakably Zahad.
Could it actually recognize the Polar Radiance?
Jin's mind raced.
Alright, let's assume the mercenary was telling the truth.
Something had awakened in these underground ruins,
and if that something was standing right before him—
Then wasn't this a situation where a thousand-year-old ancient being was uttering the name Zahad?
…What the hell did that even mean?
A flicker of uncertainty crossed Jin's face.
Yet, his lips twitched instinctively.
Jin's special trick—his secret weapon—
[Using Zahad's name as a shield whenever things get dicey] was just about to slip out like a sneeze.
Think about it.
The Era of Light and Roses was a feudal society.
A rigid class hierarchy had existed, meaning—
The prestige of the Seven Families at the time?
Even without knowing the full extent, it was surely untouchable.
Absolute.
As rulers of entire regions, to commoners, their status was no different from that of kings or house lords.
Alright!
Got it.
The intent behind the question.
Jin's razor-sharp instincts, honed from years of grueling college entrance exams, flared to life.
And in the next moment, he confidently declared—
"That's right. I am Jin Zahad. The heir."
A true masterclass in acting.
Not a single tremor in his gaze or tone.
Maximo and Natasha flinched at the sheer conviction in his voice.
And from the darkness, a slow response came.
"Zahad n'gha notog yett liveth."
"…What the hell is it saying?"
Jin frowned at the incomprehensible words.
Squelch.
A damp footstep echoed—
And then, emerging from the dim boundary of shadows, appeared a pair of deathly pale, bare feet.
The next thing Jin saw was a gaunt, bald man, his face smeared in blood.
At a glance, he looked like a walking corpse, but—
His crimson eyes glowed with a bizarre light.
And the moment their gazes met, Jin felt himself being drawn in—
A vision unfolded before his eyes.
A land soaked in blood.
Walls whispering of horrors long past.
A mountain of white corpses beneath an ashen sky,
A suffocating stench of rot,
And twin streams of bloody tears running down the faces of the dead.
"…"
Jin forcibly tore himself from the grotesque hallucination.
His right hand clenched around Gravis.
The man's dry lips parted.
"…Blood of the sinners. How much longer will your false peace last?"
At last, comprehensible words.
But that was all.
Jin tilted his head at the cryptic nonsense.
Scratching the back of his head with his left hand, he muttered—
"I have no idea what you're—"
BANG!
Gravis roared.
Feigning conversation, only to fire the moment an opening appeared!
Dirty?
There's no such thing as 'dirty' in a fight!
Jin pulled the trigger again.
The man's head snapped back violently.
His body convulsed as if struck by an earthquake,
And as his balance tipped, he collapsed onto the ground.
Click, click—
Feeling the resistance against his trigger finger, Jin swiftly reloaded.
"…Did we get him?"
Maximo's voice came from behind—right as the body on the floor shattered into thousands of fragments.
The shards scattered and took flight—
A swarm of black wings.
Bats.
"Maximo! You bastard!"
Jin's voice carried unmistakable resentment.
Maximo flinched.
"How is this my fault?!"
He might have been indignant, but he deserved every bit of blame.
Because now, a flood of bats swarmed toward them, threatening to blot out the world itself.
"Here they come!"
Natasha shouted, raising her shotgun.
Boom!
The spread of buckshot shredded through the incoming bats, sending their tattered bodies plummeting.
She pumped the foregrip and fired again.
Boom!
More bats fell, but there were too many.
As it was when they were surrounded by corpses earlier—
A pump-action shotgun, limited to four or five shots per reload, simply couldn't keep up with the relentless swarm.
So, she called out—
"Maximo!"
"Damn it! Here!"
Maximo, who had already been rummaging through his bag, yanked out a rifle and tossed it.
Natasha caught it midair, immediately unloading a barrage of bullets in all directions.
"Aaaaaahhh! Aaaaagh!"
Meanwhile, the mercenary, overwhelmed by another seizure, clutched his ears and screamed.
The fallen bats, their bodies dissolving into pools of blood, coalesced into a single, writhing mass.
From that crimson mire, the man rose once more.
Each step he took left vivid red footprints in his wake—
And at the end of his gaze was Jin, standing amidst Polar Radiance's lightning, incinerating the encroaching bats.
Jin glared back, brows furrowing deeply.
"Blood? Bats? …A vampire?"
A thousand-year-old ancient being, an entity that should never have awakened—
A race long thought to have gone extinct now stood before him.
"You're too good to waste by drinking. I'll make you one of my own."
The man said as he raised his hand.
Then, he clenched his five fingers into a fist before spreading them wide, and blood splattered from his wet hand.
At the same time, Jin instinctively pulled his body back.
And then—an explosion.
Kwahhh!!
With the shockwave, the smell of blood surged, and dust poured from the trembling ceiling of the stone cavern.
Fortunately, Jin wasn't caught in it, but there was no time to relax.
A swarm of bats, flying through the blood fog, took on human form as they stretched their arms out.
Bang!!
It exploded its arm to gain propulsion and launched its legs directly at Jin.
Jin blocked this insane attack with his arms crossed.
But this time, the leg exploded.
With the intense heat and pressure, Jin was shoved back, gritting his teeth.
His arms, now soaked in blood, were badly injured.
But at least it meant the pain hadn't numbed him.
That was a good sign.
As he struggled, Jin saw the vampire starting to regenerate its broken limbs.
He immediately used Blink to close the distance, but—
It didn't work.
Unlike when he faced Killgit, who could distort coordinates with the heat of Black Flame, this time, the issue was the blood fog.
The crimson mist surrounding them acted like a barrier, not allowing his body to move freely through it.
Desperate, Jin kicked off the ground.
His fist sliced through the air, smashing into the vampire's face.
With a loud burst, blood spurted out.
Though the shock was immense, the smashed face only gave a grim smile.
"Do you have experience in street brawls? I'll adjust to that."
The next moment, a bloody fist slammed into Jin's abdomen.
The shock was enough to shake his entire body.
But with his incredible resilience, Jin managed to power through and landed a punch to the vampire's chin.
His eyes burned with a fierce light.
In close-quarter combat, there was no one who could outfight Jin, except for Taha.
There was no way he was going to let someone challenge him on his own turf.
Gripping the vampire's neck with his hand, Jin yanked it in, bringing his elbow up to strike.
Then, with a quick twist of his hands, he locked the vampire's neck.
This time, he kneeled into the vampire's abdomen.
With the opponent's balance shattered, Jin yanked their head back and drove another knee into the back of their head.
The cycle of violence continued.
Jin controlled the vampire's head, pulling it towards him, bringing their center of gravity into his control—this was the clinch technique.
The art of Muay Thai, the elbows.
Of course, Jin was not a Nakmuay, nor had he formally studied striking arts.
He was just a casual UFC fan, watching the major events here and there.
But Jin's physical capabilities had long surpassed those of humans.
His innate athletic ability, what is often called "sports sense," had reached superhuman levels through rigorous training.
Therefore, learning the techniques of professional fighters was no challenge for him.
And now, these techniques were being honed in real-life combat, slowly forming his own unique style.
This was the process of creating something truly personal.
As Jin relentlessly pressed the vampire, his mind briefly flickered with an image of a great line crossing between two worlds.
"Impressive."
With a soft laugh, Jin's nose wrinkled in pain.
His consciousness was forcibly dragged back to reality, thanks to the burning agony.
He slowly lowered his gaze and saw the vampire's hand embedded deep in his side.
The depth was considerable.
It was close to tearing his peritoneum.
Another inch and it would directly reach his internal organs.
If the vampire tore that out, even someone like Jin wouldn't escape unharmed.
At this moment, Jin knew he had to make the best decision: release the grip on his opponent and get some distance before he bled out.
Then, he would have to buy time for his side to heal.
No way!
Jin yanked the vampire's arm harshly.
He then slammed his head back into the vampire's face.
"Die, you bastard!"
Something seemed to snap in his mind as he furiously drove his attack forward.
A brutal brawl began—a fight to the death.
This could be described as "the best defense is offense."
While tightening his abdominal muscles to stop the vampire's hand from digging deeper, he never let go of the clinch, staying in close enough to deliver a killing blow.
With his unyielding will to end this here and now, his attacks became even more ferocious.
But the vampire didn't go down easily.
Despite being broken and battered, it absorbed the surrounding blood mist and bats, maintaining its human form, and finally reached deep into Jin's abdomen.
Then, leaving the hand buried in his torso, the vampire scattered its body into bats.
"This...!"
Even as he staggered, Jin glared with bloodshot eyes.
A few of the bats caught in his lightning-fast movements burst into flames, but the rest regrouped a short distance away, forming together once more.
That position was behind Natasha.
Sensing the presence, she reflexively turned, but—
"Ah!"
Maximo had already swung his bag, slamming it into the vampire.
The vampire's arm narrowly missed as it swiped through the air.
Natasha, quickly reacting, unloaded her remaining bullets into the vampire.
Then, as she retreated, her body trembled—not from fear or pain.
Though her face remained calm, it briefly split into two, each part running in opposite directions.
One Natasha helped Jin, lifting him onto her back, while the other rushed toward Maximo, who had been thrown by the explosion, grabbing a shotgun along the way.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
With rapid-fire shots, Natasha stopped the vampire's advance.
Without stopping, Maximo pulled out a cartridge resembling a battery from the belt around his waist and loaded it into his gun.
Once again, the rhythmic sound of gunfire began, and just as Maximo barely regained his senses, he rose to his feet.
Coughing and rummaging through his bag, he pulled out a grenade, which looked like a miniaturized drum can, and removed the safety pin.
SSSZZZAAAANG!!!
Maximo swung his arm with all his strength the moment he saw the sparks flying wildly.
The grenade, spinning through the air, struck the vampire's body and ignited flames.
"Now's the time! Run!"
Maximo shouted as he lifted the fallen mercenary to his feet.
"Dammit! If you want to live, run too!"
Meanwhile, Natasha, who had emptied her last bullet into the vampire engulfed in flames, took a few steps back to gain distance and then widened her stride to join the retreating group.
"Were you a clone master?! Isn't that a pretty low-level psychic ability?!"
At Maximo's question, shotgun Natasha furrowed her brow.
"Is that important right now?!"
And so, the group, in a frenzy, began running without knowing where they were headed.
Kiiiiiick!!!
To make matters worse, corpses started charging from all directions.
"Maximo! 12-gauge shells, anything!"
"Did you leave them behind?!"
"Hurry!"
"Damn it! Give me a second!"
Amid the chaos, Natasha, carrying Jin on her back, could only grit her teeth.
It was a situation where he should have gotten up immediately, but his body strangely wouldn't cooperate.
Ringing filled his ears, and his blurry vision stacked objects into multiple layers.
This alone was enough to leave him disoriented, but then, his status screen popped up.
「(Hidden!) True Blood」─────────────
Do you accept the Bloodline? (YES/NO)
If accepted, your species will be transformed.
If refused, you will die within 24 hours.
─────────────────────
Jin muttered softly in response.
"Can't see... damn it..."