BCST 04

chapter 4

From here on, it’s for real.

The time for bets and playful chatter is over.

“That’s the ‘picky vampire.’ I told you about it earlier, right?”

At my words, Kin looked slightly pale.

“This… that’s real?”

“Did you think it was a lie?”

From the perspective of someone who had given several warnings, it was frustrating but not entirely incomprehensible.

Who could have possibly imagined it?

That a mutant would breach the Arkham City walls protected by the family and the city government.

And that it would descend beneath such a lowly street gang.

Shrrrrk—

Once again, the vampire’s tendrils moved.

Its target: the gang lieutenant who was dazed over the boss’s death.

[Arcane Blast]

A crimson-black shockwave surged forward.

Boom—!

A deafening blast erupted right in front of the lieutenant, who had been staring blankly at his brain.

Thwack.

The tendril bounced, chunks of flesh flying off.

It had intended to tear him apart, but the vampire’s magical defenses were stronger than expected.

Tsk.

I clicked my tongue at the scene and spoke to the lieutenant who had narrowly escaped death.

“Still not coming to your senses?”

The lieutenant, finally realizing how close he had come to death, inhaled sharply.

“Th-thank you…”

Vampires become stronger and more revealed the more blood and flesh they consume.

We had to prevent the vampire from feeding on them at all costs.

“It’s coming!”

This time, countless tendrils surged from all directions.

Shhrrrk!

The lieutenants wearing exoskeletons and ordinary gang members returned fire.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Boom!
Thwack! Bang!

“Ugh, aahhh!”

“Don’t get caught! If you do, kill yourself!”

The cries of the lieutenants, who already understood the vampire’s nature.

The mounted heavy weapons on their exoskeletons spat out furious fire.

Bullets, mixed with thick tracer rounds, fired dozens in an instant, shredding the tendrils.

Indeed, heavy weapons are heavy weapons.

“What? This is actually manageable?”

Someone murmured after seeing the scene.

At that moment, a gang member who hadn’t managed to escape was grabbed by a translucent tendril.

“Ahhh! Somebody save me…!”

“Damn it! Shoot that bastard first!”

Rat-a-tat!

Bang—!

Everyone tried to stop it from feeding, but the vampire was one step faster.

Other tendrils shot out, wrapping the gang member while protecting the tendril that was ripped away instead.

Shhrrrk!

A gang member’s head shredded in an instant, just like the boss earlier.

Blegh.

The vampire spat out the brain in an instant like leftover scraps.

And at the same time, all the torn tendrils regenerated at once.

Snap.

Thwump.

The scene made the previously shredded form seem like a dream or illusion.

A slightly clearer nightmare hung in the air.

“Damn it… just one more! Tear it apart!”

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

The heavy weapons continued to shred the tendrils.

But compared to before, the tendrils were definitely tougher.

[Arcane Blast]

Boom!
Bang!

Firing Arcane Blast several times to save the gang member, I turned to the lieutenant I had saved earlier and spoke.

“How were you controlling it until now?”

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The lieutenant, briefly glancing at me while shooting, looked uneasy.

Anyone could see he didn’t want to talk to me.

I opened my mouth again.

“I get it, you hate me. I was in the middle of screwing you over. But don’t you realize that thing is killing your guys first?”

“That’s….”

Crack!

At that moment, new victims appeared.

I rushed to shield them, but the tendrils shredded the protection like paper.

“Ahhh!”

“I don’t want to die!”

Two this time.

The vampire grew stronger after consuming the heads again.

Damn it.

“Can’t you grasp the situation? Speak up!”

The monster rampaged, eating the boss the moment it appeared.

And its attacks, strangely persistent, targeted the gang members.

It seemed to harbor some grudge.

The lieutenant seemed to sense it too and hesitated before finally speaking.

“There’s a controlling spell, a Jueon. The guy who sold it put tons of restraints and brainwashing on it. But control wasn’t perfect, so when it got hungry and weak, we’d use it to discipline it…”

Unbelievable.

I wanted to applaud the flood of information, but the important thing was the existence of the Jueon.

“So who can use this spell?”

The lieutenant’s gaze involuntarily shifted.

To the clean brain lying on the ground.

The boss’s brain.

“And?”

His expression darkened.

“…No one. The boss never shared it.”

What a piece of crap.

So the picky vampire is regaining its strength in the middle of the city with no restraints?

The thought made my head spin.

“Damn it! Even seeing it would’ve helped!”

At that moment, a gang member who hadn’t been rescued was consumed by the vampire.

His scream echoed in my mind.

I shouted at Kin, who was shooting.

“To the dyeing area!”

The trickiest thing now was its invisibility.

Fortunately, we were in a textile factory.

Among the sections we passed earlier, this was definitely the dyeing area.

The machinery might not be running anymore, but the dye barrels should still be here.

“Dyeing? Got it!”

Kin understood immediately and responded.

“There!”

“Hmm?”

I relayed the same message to the lieutenant we’d been speaking to.

He thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Good. 20mm rounds are barely affecting it now. Once it becomes visible, it’s all over.”

20mm rounds can pierce light armor.

And now, the vampire was starting to withstand even that.

If it became fully visible, we’d be facing a monster beyond our capacity.

I relayed the info, and everyone started coordinating their fire while moving.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

Boom!

“Can we do this?”

“Don’t get caught!”

The ordinary gang members who couldn’t adapt were long gone.

Among the skilled survivors, there was a sharp but stable tension.

Lives hung in the balance.

Now, the team could coordinate even with just eye contact.

“Reload!”

“Over there! Fire support!”

One Neon Wings lieutenant shouted as they reloaded. Others fired mercilessly at the tendrils.

Thwack! Thud!

“Good!”

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

With support fire, the reloaded lieutenant shredded the remaining tendrils with the exoskeleton.

“Move!”

“Move!”

Then calmly guided them.

The target: the dyeing area.

Finally, with everyone’s cooperation, we reached the dyeing area.

I cast magic at a stacked dye barrel.

[Arcane Blast]

A modified version of the spell I had learned while running here.

The Arcane Blast, which normally struck like lightning, turned into a wide shockwave, propelling the dye barrel high.

Kin, seeing it, gripped his revolvers in both hands.

“My kind of game.”

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

The barrels flying near the vampire were shredded.

“Unload!”

Rat-a-tat-tat!

As more bullets rained down, colorful dye finally scattered in the air.

Shhhhhh—

Blue, yellow, green.

Various other colors splashed everywhere.

And finally, the vampire’s previously hidden form was revealed.

“…My God.”

Thump.

Thump.

At first glance, it looked like a massive pulsating balloon floating in the air.

Beneath its wriggling head, over half of its shredded tendrils flailed.

Its balloon-like head was torn in several places.

It had already taken substantial damage.

The revealed form was enough to give everyone hope.

“Good!”

Seeing it, I cheered.

“….”

But for some reason, the surrounding reactions were strangely quiet.

A cold, heavy air settled.

Why?

Looking around, I saw the lieutenants, once brimming with life, now collapsed.

Their eyes unfocused, drooling, clutching their heads.

“Ugh… no. This can’t be…”

“Ah… inside my blood… they’re sleeping. I-I…”

“Uwaaaaaaah!”

I stared in shock at the suddenly incapacitated lieutenants.

This… was madness.

I knew that mutants or deviants caused a “madness” debuff.

But as far as I knew, the picky vampire’s madness stat for mutants was the lowest possible.

Such mild madness shouldn’t have this effect.

Why, then?

At that moment, a thought struck me, and I looked at Kin.

Could it be?

“Argh… I don’t think I can hold it…”

Kin groaned, pressing the revolver against his temple.

“Don’t do anything stupid!”

A level 2 Resolver’s mental barrier was only this fragile?

Kin grimaced, answering my urgent shout.

“No… what are you talking about? My head hurts like hell. I need to take that thing down fast.”

“Then why the gun?”

“I’ve always done this.”

Come to think of it, when we first met, he was scratching the back of his head with the revolver.

Even during the mission briefing, he drew lines on the floor with bullets.

Absurd, but it calmed my racing mind.

Once my head cleared, I knew what to do.

[Arcane Blast]

Kaboom!

The tendrils that had been quietly extending toward the fallen Neon Wings lieutenants bounced off.

If I hadn’t acted, the vampire would have fed on them.

Bang!
Bang!
Bang!

Gunshots punched holes into the heads of the fallen lieutenants.

Blood flowed onto the floor.

What?

I turned to see Kin holding his smoking revolvers, clutching his head.

“What? Why? This counts, right?”

…Yeah.

I’d been momentarily caught up in sentimentality.

We couldn’t let the vampire feed.

Otherwise, all our efforts would have been wasted.

The fallen lieutenants surely wanted this.

…Probably.

At that moment, the vampire, suddenly deprived of all prey, shivered midair.

Phase 2: annihilation mode.

“Let’s run.”

Tendril attacks now carried the intent to kill.

Crack!

BOOM!

Tendrils surged.

We ran at full speed to avoid them.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Crack!

Bang!

The ground cracked, halted machines exploded.

While leaping over the conveyor belt, Kin spoke.

“Wizard! Any ideas? Maybe it’d have been faster to grab abandoned weapons back there and fight.”

He referred to the heavy weapons mounted on the lieutenants’ exoskeletons.

I replied while leaping over the corpses we’d killed several times.

Crack!

Kaboom!

“That’s one way, but there’s a better way.”

Originally a last-resort tactic.

But now, it was time to use it.

One of the plans I’d considered when I realized the factory was the stage:

The Big Explosion Ending.

The final area, the “waste disposal and storage section,” came into view above us.

Let’s end this here.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

Inside, we saw the manhole cover where we first entered.

Nearby were barrels of leftover dye and chemical waste.

“Should I blow these up?”

Kin, now noticing, asked with excitement.

“No, there’s something better.”

This was a textile factory.

There had to be accumulated fiber dust or scraps from the production process.

Sure enough, large compressed bags of fiber waste were stacked in one area.

Kin, following my gaze, shouted with delight.

“Dust explosion! Can’t miss this!”

BOOM!

The vampire crashed through a narrow door, chasing us.

I calmly began casting.

[Arcane Blast]

I referenced the ricochet technique Kin used when breaking my shield.

Boom!

The shockwave launched the stacked big bags toward the vampire.

Its tendrils tensed like drawn bows, ready to kill us.

But we were faster.

“Good!”

The second pre-cast Arcane Blast struck the airborne bags.

Boom!

The bags shredded into pieces.

Simultaneously, Kin fired his revolvers in both hands.

A precisely calculated angle.

Bang!

The two bullets collided in midair amid the exploding fiber dust.

Sparks.

Embers flew from the rotating bullets hitting each other.

“Jump!”

We leapt toward the sewer hole at the same time.