Chapter 307: 162. Yet Another Beginning (Part One)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
**
A baby resembling a monster was dangling on the wall.
Chains bound its limbs tightly, while streams of holy water filled the cell’s floor.
There was a fountain near the infant’s head that gushed out holy water constantly.
Kirum sensed that Second Imperial Prince Ruppel was still faintly breathing.
‘He’s still alive!’
In all honesty, Kirum had not been feeling all that confident of their odds. He heard that without Timong’s aid, the baby’s body wouldn’t even have lasted one year before melting down into a puddle.
So it wouldn’t have been all that surprising for Ruppel to have broken down into some sticky goo by now, yet here he was, still somehow clinging to life despite going through all those torture sessions.
Although, he sure looked like he’d die soon anyway, from the way he had withered so much.
This process was what the Priests called a Purification Ceremony.
They were doing this horrible thing under the pretext of purifying the corrupted soul, but the truth was, to vampires, their death signified their complete erasure from existence itself.
The moment they died, their souls would be imprisoned in Purgatory. The God of Death residing there would erase their souls for good.
In other words, this type of ceremony was meaningless, and would only torture its victims unnecessarily.
‘To think that that old bastard would actually torture his own grandson like this.’
Kelt Olfolse, that devil!
Kirum, while thinking such things, focused his attention on the words written right above Ruppel.
< You are already no longer living. >
Kirum’s expression hardened at those ominous words. “What does that even mean…?”
But then, his eyes suddenly widened. He lowered his eyes and stared at the steel door he had broken down just now. That’s when he noticed the Runes engraved into the severed hinges of the doorway.
This trap was designed to activate when the letters had been severed.
“…Oh, crap.” Kirum quickly looked up.
The ceiling suddenly came down. It was falling at considerable speed.
In less than a blink of an eye, everything in the cell would be crushed flat. That also included Ruppel.
Kelt, that insane old man! Torturing his own grandson wasn’t enough for him, and he even decided that, rather than have someone steal the baby away again, he’d rather crush it to death, instead!
“Fuu-wook-!”
Kirum’s claws lengthened like whips. He severed Ruppel’s arms, then pierced the baby’s torso. The clown vampire’s hand rapidly reeled the Second Imperial Prince in.
Kirum clutched the baby and hurriedly leapt out of the room, just as the noise of the ceiling landing on the ground with a loud thud came from behind him.
Spears made out of silver had jutted out from the ceiling to stab into the floor. If Kirum was one breath slower, he’d been impaled down into the floor filled with holy water, unable to move.
“What happened?!”
The vampires turned their heads and looked at Kirum. But then…
Crunch-!
A silver arrow flew out from one of the holes in the wall and obliterated a vampire’s head.
Kirum’s disbelieving eyes stared at the spectacle happening in front of him. From all those holes in the walls, hundreds, nay, thousands, of silver arrows poured out.
‘These kind of childish pranks won’t even…!’
Kirum urgently dashed forward while deflecting the silver arrows with his claws. But when his gaze shifted over to the only exit in the prison, a wall suddenly came down to close the doorway.
“Dammit-!”
Kirum accelerated even more, but he was still too late in the end. The exit was completely blocked off by the solid wall by the time he got there.
Just as he reached out to touch the wall, holy water flooded out from the holes in the ceiling like waterfalls.
“U-uwaaaaahk!” The vampires drenched by the holy water began burning up in blue flames.
Kirum looked at the floor. The holy water had already risen past his feet by then. The speed of the water filling up the place was extremely fast. At this rate, it would only require twenty or so minutes for the water to submerge him completely.
“You devilish bastards-!”
Those Imperial bastards were really planning to liquefy him to death here!
Kirum hurriedly slashed at the wall with his claw. He managed to crack its surface a little.
‘Yes, I might have a chance here!’
A flickering light of hope lit up in Kirum’s heart. He began exerting all of his strength to create a hole in the wall. It began breaking slowly apart.
Bits and pieces of stone tumbled and fell. He continued to break it down.
Kirum grew progressively more and more frenzied. The tragic screams of his kin continued to sound out from behind him, but with the passage of time, even those noises gradually died down.
From a certain moment on, only eerie silence remained in the prison filling up with holy water.
Every one of them had died.
Kirum didn’t bother to look behind him, continuing to swing his claws nonstop. He struggled mightily in order to survive somehow.
His claws slashed at the surface of the wall again. Just as the stones crumbled down, his claws shattered.
Kirum’s stupefied eyes were now looking at what had been lying underneath the wall’s surface, a shining Rune engraved using the powder of the metal Eltera.
It was a temporary barrier emitting gentle rays of light, which happened to be strong enough to defend against an attack from the Archangel Metatron.
“…Ah.”
His feet were completely submerged in the holy water by then. A short while later, Kirum staggered as his eye level suddenly began sinking lower and lower.
His body had melted up to his knees while he stood there dazedly staring at the defensive Rune.
Bloody stains were visibly spreading in the holy water.
Kirum stared at Ruppel in his grasp. The baby monster was barely breathing right now.
“Ruppel, Ruppel!” The vampire clown grabbed Ruppel’s throat and slammed the latter against the wall.
The baby’s eyelids flipped open and his eyes stared dazedly at the ceiling. His jaw slackened and a strand of spittle drooled down from the corner of his lips.
He was clearly out of it even now.
‘This stupid little tyke!’
Even right until the end, he proved to be utterly useless!
“Now listen very closely. I won’t be able to survive this place.”
“…”
“However, you still can.”
Kirum began carving out the surface of the wall with what remained of his claws. He was trying to etch the Runes for warp magic on the surface.
‘This warp will not be stable.’
With Count Timong gone, there weren’t all that many individuals left who were capable of activating warp magic freely. Even if they wanted to use it, a ridiculous amount of demonic energy and the requisite technical know-how were still necessary to pull it off.
All Kirum could do right now was to send Ruppel, whose volume was comparatively tiny, to a forest nearby. That was all.
He began whispering his Spirit Speech into the infant’s ear. Using the strength of the Duke-class, he imprinted an order in Ruppel’s consciousness. “Survive no matter what. Find His Majesty the Vampire King.”
Even as he spoke, Kirum began staggering ever more precariously. The holy water had already reached his abdomen.
Kirum unleashed all of his demonic energy reserve and drove it into the miniature warp magic circle, then pressed Ruppel against it.
“For everyone’s sake, for our vengeance… For the sake of…”
The warp magic circle activated. Ruppel’s body began splitting apart into tiny little particles.
“…His Majesty the Vampire King. You must… Ah?”
Kirum’s words came to an abrupt halt as his brows shot up. He sensed a certain type of ‘aura’ coming off from Ruppel just now.
This faint but distinct repulsion he felt… Wasn’t that…?
“…No, it can’t be?” Kirum stared at Ruppel with deeply enraged eyes.
‘You imperial bastards, just what have you done…?!’
Before he could say anything else, though, Ruppel’s figure completely disappeared into the warp magic.
Kirum shuddered as unbridled shock ran through his whole body. Goosebumps broke out on his skin. That one thing that should not be sensed from a vampire could be felt from Ruppel.
He had to tell himself that it was merely a mistake on his part and held his forehead. ‘Yes, that’s utterly impossible.’
Indeed, he probably felt something that wasn’t really there, since he was currently drowning in the holy water.
“…Dammit.”
Kirum swiped out roughly with his claws to destroy the warp magic circle. He was doing so to stop the Imperial Family from tracking Ruppel down.
‘What are the odds of Ruppel surviving out there?’
It was at that moment that the holy water rose up to his neck. Kirum flinched nastily and leaned against the broken wall.
“Oh, my Vampire King-!!!”
He screamed nonstop at the top of his lungs. Eventually, the holy water rose past his neck and completely submerged his head.
He couldn’t breathe. Every time he kicked out or flailed about in sheer torment, and tried to scream out loud, more and more holy water entered his mouth.
‘…Ah.’
Bluish flames burned on his body. That was the sign of a vampire about to be wiped from existence, yet Kirum didn’t die.
Just as he thought he was dead, he was revived once more, only to drown in the holy water.
And so, he became stuck inside this prison where he was forced to experience death over and over again…
