Chapter 18:

According to the original story of Fixer, when various otherworldly races first arrived on Earth, most were bewildered by its environment.

The reason was simple:

Unlike their worlds, Earth’s atmosphere had an extremely low mana concentration.

It was like ascending to a high-altitude area and suffering from altitude sickness due to oxygen deprivation.

For beings who were accustomed to an abundance of mana, Earth’s environment was inherently difficult to adapt to.

However, not all races faced the same challenges.

Some races didn’t rely heavily on atmospheric mana.

For instance, beastfolk, orcs, and goblins—who were inherently poor at using mana—or dwarves and halflings, who benefited from mana but didn’t depend on it for survival.

And then there were dragons, living generators whose very hearts produced mana.

For them, mana deficiency wasn’t much of an issue.

The vampires, however, were unique in how they adapted.

These were beings who used blood as a medium for their magic.

While others struggled, vampires resolved the problem of mana scarcity with sheer quantities of blood.

As a result, while most otherworldly beings had their powers greatly diminished on Earth, vampires retained their terrifying strength.

In fact, two of the so-called “Seven Great Evils,” the most infamous criminals in the world, were vampires.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were among the strongest and most dangerous races.

Of course, Drakel wasn’t one of these globally renowned vampires.

On the contrary, he was an aged, weakened vampire who couldn’t even maintain his youth through blood anymore—a ghost of the past.

The fact that a proud noble vampire was hiding in the underworld and scheming spoke volumes about how far he had fallen from his prime.

‘Ugh… The power gap is just too much. If one of those hits lands properly, I won’t walk away unscathed.’

The blood-red spikes flew at speeds that were hard for even my eyes to track.

Their power was so overwhelming that even blocking them felt burdensome, leaving me no choice but to throw myself to the ground, rolling out of harm’s way.

Despite being past his prime, the difference in strength was clear.

Attacks that were barely casual jabs to him felt like critical hits to me if I didn’t avoid them.

The sheer disparity in power was enough to drain my focus.

‘Well, I knew it would be like this.’

Still, I wasn’t despairing.

After all, I’d always known there were countless people in this city stronger than me.

If the world were ruled purely by size and strength, humanity wouldn’t be on top—African elephants would.

‘Thanks for smashing the walls and floor for me! Really helps!’

Drakel’s blood spikes were undoubtedly powerful.

They tore through the concrete walls and floor with ease, just brushing past them.

But this worked to my advantage.

Without the luxury of using my telekinesis to break through thick concrete, his attacks were conveniently creating weapons for me.

Holding my breath, I heightened my concentration, grabbing the shattered fragments with telekinesis and firing them at Drakel like a shotgun blast.

“Hmph, pathetic tricks…!”

But vampires were far from human in terms of durability.

Drakel swatted away the debris as if shooing flies.

And then, as if sensing something off about my telekinesis, he shot me a sharp, displeased glare.

“This… Is this incantationless magic? No, there’s no mana movement. I’ve never seen magic like this.”

“….”

“You—what kind of unknown power are you wielding?!”

As a seasoned practitioner of magic, he had immediately grasped the fundamental difference between telekinesis and mana-based spells.

It was a good reminder that keeping my power hidden until now had been the right choice.

But at the same time, I realized I had to finish this here and now.

If I failed to take down Drakel and let him escape, the aftermath would be catastrophic.

‘First, I need to change the battleground.’

I continued shooting concrete fragments at him to keep him at bay while dodging the blood-red spikes flying at me.

Then, using telekinesis to propel myself, I leapt high into the air.

Seeing me exposed mid-air, Drakel smirked and conjured an enormous blood blade beneath me, ensuring I’d have nowhere to land.

But I didn’t fall.

With telekinesis, I kept bouncing higher, like mocking laughter, while continuing to bombard him with debris.

“You damn… bug!”

Perhaps enraged by my persistent and evasive tactics, Drakel’s face contorted into a monstrous snarl.

Using the thick blood flowing from his body as a foothold, he accelerated toward me at incredible speed.

He moved so fast it was as if someone had pressed fast-forward on time itself.

But I wasn’t fazed by the narrowing distance. Instead, I led him higher and higher, finally landing on a rooftop.

As soon as I touched the ground, I spread my telekinesis wide, quickly taking control of the space.

When Drakel landed moments later, fury radiating off him, I sprang my trap.

CRACK!

Invisible hands of telekinesis wrapped tightly around his entire body like a giant’s grip.

“You insolent… fool! Did you really think this could stop me?!”

Of course, the expected happened.

With a surge of power, Drakel began breaking free of my telekinetic hold.

His sheer physical strength was enough to disrupt the control I had over him.

Telekinesis could indeed be broken with superior force, and this was immense.

The moment I realized I couldn’t hold him much longer, I didn’t hesitate.

I fired a volley of concrete shards directly at his now-exposed body.

“This… garbage!”

CRUNCH! CRACK!

The sharp debris slammed into him relentlessly, battering his entire body like a storm of bullets.

Pinned by my telekinesis, Drakel couldn’t move to defend himself and was soon riddled with holes. Blood poured from him as if his entire body had turned into a sieve.

For any ordinary person, this would’ve been instant death.

Even for a creature with the tenacity of a beastfolk, these injuries would be critical.

But Drakel merely laughed.

“Ha… Haha… Hahahaha!”

Despite his gruesome state, he showed no sign of distress. Instead, he cackled, his voice brimming with exhilaration.

Vampires—especially noble ones like Drakel—were not so easily defeated.

“…How long has it been since I’ve felt pain like this? Not since that vile traitor from my clan stabbed me in the back. It’s been so long…”

“….”

“Well done, Ghost. I underestimated you! To think you could make me bleed. Consider it an honor. But from now on, I won’t be holding back!”

His tone shifted dramatically, and the aura around him thickened with genuine, murderous intent.

“I’ll turn you into a ghoul! Make sure your corpse stays intact, Ghost!”

‘What is this… strength?!’

With a deafening crack, Drakel finally broke free of my telekinetic hold.

The force of his escape sent waves of nausea through me, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to focus.

Freed, Drakel let his blood flow freely, scattering it around him.

“Armarim, play!”

The droplets transformed into weapons—spikes, swords, axes—all manner of deadly implements.

The sky was filled with an arsenal of blood-forged blades, a scale and precision far beyond the earlier spikes.

Without hesitation, I leapt to a neighboring rooftop as the blood-formed weapons came crashing down.

BOOM!

The rooftop I had just vacated was obliterated, as if savaged by a giant wolf’s maw.

Even the resulting shockwave was powerful enough to lift my body into the air.

Drakel’s true power, unleashed in earnest, was beyond imagination.

‘So this is the strength of a named villain from the original story?’

The telekinesis I had taken pride in felt utterly insignificant by comparison.

‘Ugh, I can’t dodge them all…’

With my focus stretched to its limits, I struggled to avoid the onslaught of attacks flooding in from every direction, as well as the falling debris from the crumbling buildings.

I had no choice. My body was too small and fragile.

Even being hit by a piece of debris could turn into a fatal injury.

But dodging every single attack in this rain of destruction was impossible.

I could only shield myself from unavoidable hits with telekinesis while moving desperately to evade the rest.

Even so, my entire body already felt like it had been pounded with a hammer.

The fabric wrapped around me was in tatters, practically rags.

‘It hurts…! And I’m already dizzy…!’

My condition was the worst it could be.

From overusing telekinesis, my concentration was at its breaking point, and my head spun as if I were about to faint.

Every part of my body groaned in pain, like I had been tumbled down a flight of stairs.

To make things worse, somewhere along the way, I’d been nicked and cut in several places. Blood trickled down my pale skin, stinging with every movement.

Thankfully, I hadn’t broken any bones or suffered severe lacerations, but…

At this rate, it was only a matter of time.

“Pathetic! Utterly pathetic! Show me again what you just did!”

Drakel, clearly exhilarated, laughed maniacally as he conjured an endless array of blood-forged weapons.

As more blades and spears rushed toward me, I suddenly glimpsed a path forward through the haze of my collapsing consciousness.

‘The first condition to defeat Drakel: make him fight me seriously.’

I focused my telekinesis on the weakened rooftop beneath me, creating a hole and slipping down into the building below.

The ground disappeared beneath me, and a violent shaking followed, as though an earthquake had struck.

Drakel hadn’t anticipated me retreating into the structure.

Still, it was only a temporary measure—buying mere seconds at best.

‘Seconds are all I need.’

Gritting my teeth, I forced my battered body to keep moving.

Above me, Drakel seemed convinced I had fled outside. He hammered the building’s outer walls with his blood weapons, carving through them like a hot knife through butter.

Thanks to his miscalculation, I reached the space directly beneath him without interference.

‘Ghost Punch!’

BANG!

With a concentrated burst of telekinesis, I shattered the floor beneath Drakel’s feet.

Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to close the distance so suddenly—his expression was one of complete surprise.

But by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late.

I was already rocketing upward from below.

“Ghost!”

As I rose, I extended a hand from beneath my cloak and mimicked the gesture of flicking someone’s forehead.

The move was deliberate, exuding intent.

Drakel instinctively raised his arms to guard his face, assuming that’s where the attack would land.

But that wasn’t my target.

“WHAM!”

“Gahk!”

The telekinetic “flick” struck the crown of Drakel’s head with the force of a thunderbolt.

His body lurched forward involuntarily, the unexpected strike throwing him off balance.

The theatrical hand gesture had served as a perfect feint. How adorably gullible of him.

‘Now!’

I seized the opening, thrusting my tiny palm into his exposed chest.

At the same moment, a massive hand made of blood materialized beside me, swinging at incredible speed.

I barely managed to block the blow with telekinesis, but the impact sent me flying like a ragdoll, as though I’d been struck by a speeding truck.

The exchange was infuriatingly lopsided—a cross-counter where I had come off far worse.