Chapter 71: Ace Party (3)

[Episode 15] Ace Party (3)

Ahn Sang-hyuk stared into the air with a solemn face.

Around him, the senior1Senior as in these are the leaders. Think council or board members. vampires were each voicing their opinions.

“We should attack them right away! This is war!”

“Rather than that, we should move our base. If the enemies keep attacking us in the same way, this place will become our grave.”

Even in this situation, Shim Hyeong-sik and Son Gi-hwan were facing off against each other.

“Hey! Haven’t you heard that there’s no paradise where you fled from2Meaning this is the haven/paradise. You won’t get another one if you abandon it.?”

“The enemy is a group capable of terror attacks with just one mouse. It means there’s no benefit to staying in a location that’s already been exposed.”

“That’s exactly why we should attack first!”

In response to Shim Hyeong-sik’s shout, Son Gi-hwan grimaced and replied.

“Do you even know who the enemy is?”

When Shim Hyeong-sik heard that, he was stunned for a moment before retorting.

“Who else, damn it! Don’t you know already? Those bastards are the only ones! The idiots with guns!”

“No.”

When Ahn Sang-hyuk opened his mouth, Shim Hyeong-sik immediately softened his tone and asked.

“Do you know who they are, Sang-hyuk nim3Not sure if “Sang-hyuk nim” or “Sang-hyuk-nim” looks better.?”

Ahn Sang-hyuk shook his head.

“I don’t know. But it’s clear that no one in that group has such abilities. And…”

There was something more serious than the fact that the mouse could emit poisonous gas.

‘The bodies disappeared.’

He could clearly see one of the lower vampires in the room being poisoned to death, but his body vanished like an illusion as soon as he died.

‘It’s the same as the explosion!’

Back then, only traces remained, but not a single body was left.

In addition, a number of vampires also disappeared shortly after the mouse spewing gas entered the room.

‘It was done by the same people.’

Both the explosion and the poison gas.

‘It wasn’t the police bastards.’

In other words, there was another group targeting them.

‘Why?’

They didn’t know anything about their identities, purposes, or powers.

“Sang-hyuk nim, we need to leave this place immediately with all the surviving vampires.”

If they thought rationally, Son Gi-hwan’s words were correct.

Staying here would only result in continuous attacks from a group with unknown powers.

‘But….’

Ahn Sang-hyuk couldn’t easily make a decision even though he knew about it.

It was because of the request from the person who saved him and turned him into a vampire.

He had ordered Ahn Sang-hyuk to stay here.

He told him to grow by hunting down and devouring everyone in the apartment complex until he returned.

Currently, he was faithfully carrying out that order and extended his influence4Turned them into vampires. to other survivors.

‘If I wait a little longer, my benefactor will return.’

That was why he couldn’t leave this apartment complex.

“Strengthen the guard. If you find any mice nearby, kill them on the spot. That is all.”

“Sang-hyuk nim!”

Shim Hyeong-sik and Son Gi-hwan both expressed dissatisfaction with his decision.

But Ahn Sang-hyuk was firm.

“It’s an order.”

After a brief silence, the two bowed their heads in obedience.

It was then.

Crash!

The conference room door opened, and a lower vampire gasped for breath.

“En…emy!”

His words were cut short.

Bam!

A spear from somewhere struck his body and pinned him against the wall.

Sshhhhh…

Soon after, the lower vampire’s body scattered like sand and disappeared.

Ahn Sang-hyuk’s eyes gleamed.

“….What’s that?”

He could immediately tell that the uninvited guests were the ones that were in charge of the mice that emitted poison gas.

Clack, clack.

Some could slowly be heard walking here.

The number of footsteps in the silence was only one.

Soon, he appeared.

He pulled out the spear stuck in the wall and looked around the conference room.

“Crazy bastard!”

Shim Hyeong-sik rushed at him.

Although Shim Hyeong-sik was unarmed, his sharp fingernails were weapons in themselves.

However.

Swish!

Before Shim Hyeong-sik could properly swing his nails, the man’s spear cut Shim Hyeong-sik’s throat.

Shim Hyeong-sik disappeared without even being able to scream.

“Hmm.”

Seeing that, Ahn Sang-hyuk thought to himself.

‘If this continues, it’s game over.’

He had tried to wait for his benefactor, but the grim reaper had come instead.

His contemplation was brief, and the conclusion was simple.

“Son Gi-hwan.”

“…Yes, Sang-hyuk nim.”

“Stop him.”

With those words, Ahn Sang-hyuk ran towards the already broken window.

“H-Hey, you bastard!!”

Son Gi-hwan cursed and ran out the opposite window.

“Ahhhh!”

Son Gi-hwan’s final scream was heard from behind.

The next moment, Ahn Sang-hyuk felt a chill down his spine and rolled to the side.

Swoosh!

A spear flew past him and out of the broken window at high speed.

Quickly getting up, Ahn Sang-hyuk flew out of the window.

However.

‘…What’s this now?’

As soon as he came out, he was greeted by suspicious figures wearing full plate armor.

It was obvious something was fishy since this wasn’t medieval Europe.

‘What the he–!’

But his thoughts were cut short.

A burst of light erupted before his eyes.

“No, damn it!!!”

Immediately after, an arrow of light tore through his body.

Boom!

“Argghhhhhh!”

He fell heavily to the ground at the pain of his whole body getting torn apart.

And then.

Thud! Slash!

The halberds held by the steel knights mercilessly hacked his body.

[You have hunted an Intermediate Vampire (Lv. 38).]

[You have gained a huge amount of experience points.]

[1,823,003,273 won has been deposited into the Absolute Dweller’s wallet.]

The extermination of the vampires ended much more blandly than expected.

Ha Dong-geon and Oh Eon-ju were running through the building, dealing with the remainders. The vampires who fled outside were chopped down by Kang Deok-su’s Steel Knights.

Even if they tried to take advantage of gaps in the encirclement, Kim Ga-yeong’s arrows of light were ready for them, and they couldn’t escape from Moon Byeong-ho, who moved around invisibly.

Most importantly, it was impossible for them to escape Kim Geon’s field of vision as he fused with Kaman and monitored the apartment complex.

Ha Dong-geon’s party completely annihilated the vampires.

[Citizen Kang Deok-su has eliminated the leader of ‘Dae-yeon Blue Castle Apartment Complex.’]

[Construction of an outpost is now possible in the Dae-yeon Blue Castle Apartment Complex.]

‘An outpost…’

It was a message that occasionally appeared when a monster that was the leader of the area was defeated.

‘It’s not as useful as I thought.’

Among the construction functions, it was the only one that had never been used.

‘It’s more like a waste5계륵 – not having much value, but would be a waste to throw away..’

That’s how it seemed until now.

The area they were in was quite close to the homebound area.

It was only a matter of time before it became included in the area after leveling up.

‘There’s no need to spend money and turn it into an outpost.’

An area suitable for building an outpost should be at least a few kilometers away.

Furthermore, to build it, they had to defeat the area’s leader and three vassals with the title of [Knight] had to stay for a week.

After that, the divine beings who obtained the title [Knight] had to continue to stay, and so on.

‘It’s too inefficient!’

I still hadn’t found a reason to create an outpost.

While pondering on how to utilize the outpost, Seo Ye-jin opened her eyes and said, “It’s clean now. I think all the vampires have been killed.”

After confirmation through scouting with the mice, I used the Communication Ring to inform Ha Dong-geon’s party.

[Thank you for your hard work, everyone. You can return now.]

Ha Dong-geon asked Kim Geon who was still flying in the sky as the party gathered at the entrance, “Were there any survivors inside the apartment?”

Kim Geon, who now looked like a crow, slowly shook his head and replied, “I haven’t found any so far. Most of the windows have curtains, so we’ll would have to check each house individually to confirm.”

I had a slight hope, but it was not easy to find survivors.

‘Well, to ordinary people, Kim Geon might look no different from a monster.’

Even if they saw Kim Geon, they wouldn’t send a notice for help.

In comparison, vampires who looked like ordinary humans probably had an easier time deceiving people.

They could just come to the entrance with water or emergency rations and say they came to rescue them.

‘But there must be survivors!’

Even in our apartment complex, there were quite a few people who remained suspicious and didn’t open the door until the end.

I wanted to support them with relief supplies, but there was no way.

‘What should I do?’

While I was thinking that.

Kim Geon opened his beak and said, “Mr. Jae-hyun, someone is approaching this way.”

Ha Dong-geon was checking the party and preparing to return.

‘It’s not too bad.’

Although the vampires looked like humans, Ha Dong-geon felt no particular guilt in taking their lives.

Because they reminded him of the Black Orcs.

The reason why the vampires had taken the apartment complex as their base was obvious.

There were few places as densely populated as an apartment complex.

It was obvious how they had lured and eaten them here.

Because of that, he could ruthlessly end their lives without feeling any mercy.

Killing and eliminating them even gave him a small sense of satisfaction.

‘It’s definitely not normal, even for me.’

But what does that matter?

The world was already crazy.

It might be weirder to not go crazy living in such a world.

‘It’s just monster hunting.’

Ha Dong-geon could feel a small goal forming in his heart.

He wanted to wipe out all the monsters that had appeared in this world.

Fortunately, he was chosen by Kim Jae-hyun and given an overwhelming amount of power.

His party with his friends also had an unparalleled position within Kim Jae-hyun’s domain.

‘It might really be possible.’

In the process of overwhelming the vampires with his immense strength, he found himself harboring a single hope in his heart.

‘With Mr. Jae-hyun, maybe we can eliminate all the monsters in this world…’

He would never forgive the monsters.

Especially those who had taken residence in apartment complexes. He would never show mercy to them.

As he engraved this firm resolve in his heart…

“Who are you all? Why do you smell so delicious?”

A young man suddenly appeared before them with a smile.

[It’s a Higher Vampire. Be careful.]

At that moment, Kim Jae-hyun’s voice rang in Ha Dong-geon’s party, and simultaneously, their expressions changed.

“Rise!”

Kang Deok-su was the first to move.

A Steel Knight summoned in front of the man swung a halberd.

Crack!

But the steel knight fell weakly at the man’s kick.

“!!”

“What?”

The steel knight summoned by Kang Deok-su was not something that could be easily defeated. Its power was clear just by looking at its appearance.

However, Kang Deok-su didn’t only summon one steel knight.

Another steel knight summoned behind the man thrust its halberd deep into the man’s right shoulder.

But the blade couldn’t dig more than a few centimeters deep. Normally, their halberds could easily cut through most monsters.

Suddenly.

Swoosh!

Tentacles of blood shot out from the man’s shoulder, digging into the silver armor.

Immediately after.

Slice slice slice!

The armor was ripped apart as if it were paper.

As Ha Dong-geon’s party stared blankly at the scene, the man’s mouth curled up on both sides.

“This is fun.”

TN: Happy Memorial Day!

Advanced chapters for Absolute Dweller can be found here or on Patreon.