TRPG 16

Chapter 16

The half-blood vampire vanished completely in an instant.

Is it a trait?

It was probably one with a stealth-type trait—or at least capable of using concealment techniques.

…This is getting troublesome.

The underground waterway already let in almost no light, forcing me to rely on the glow of a mana lantern. If the enemy could even hide its body through a trait, dealing with it would become several times more difficult.

Especially since I didn’t possess a sensory-type trait capable of detecting hidden enemies, nor could I use detection magic.

Of course, that didn’t mean I had no options at all.

It wasn’t magic, but I could still use mana to perform detection.

It’s been a while… not sure I can pull this off properly.

I focused my mind inward for a moment and operated my Force Core, generating aura.

Then I linked my senses to the aura and spread it across the ground, resonating with the surface and covering it like a net.

…A spiderweb.

Spiderweb.

A technique that spreads aura linked to one’s senses to grasp movements in the surrounding area—something I learned from a former-life companion who had once been an assassin. It’s a method for finding hidden targets or detecting invisible enemies.

And the moment I deployed the spiderweb, I felt the half-blood vampire’s position.

It had already moved behind me.

…Damn it!

I urgently threw my body forward to create distance, twisting my torso as I turned and swung my sacred steel sword toward where I estimated it to be.

Thunk!

I couldn’t pierce through the blood energy wrapped around its hand, so I didn’t deal any meaningful damage—

“Ho…?”

—but the moment my blade made contact, I forced it to reveal itself.

“How did you know?” it asked, clearly surprised. “You couldn’t have heard my footsteps.”

“The stench of blood gave you away.”

“Blood, huh…? Then how about this!”

It wildly swung both arms, scattering blood energy in every direction before vanishing again.

It really seemed to believe I had tracked it by smell.

But the reason I knew its position wasn’t blood—it was the aura spiderweb spread across the floor.

Just like before, its body faded and disappeared from sight. I couldn’t see it with my eyes, but the sensations transmitted through the spiderweb told me exactly where it was.

Looks like it can’t move fast while concealed.

After hiding itself, the half-blood vampire circled widely to the side and slowly approached me.

Come…

I deliberately put on a tense, flustered act, glancing around in apparent confusion.

When it entered my attack range, I continued scanning the area—then subtly turned my back toward it, inviting carelessness and an attack.

…Now!

The instant its stride shifted, clearly preparing to strike, I spun around and swung my sword.

“Ghk!”

The half-blood vampire reacted instantly, catching the sacred steel blade with its hand—but that judgment was a clear mistake.

Crunch!

Even without reinforcing the blade with additional aura—since I was maintaining the spiderweb—my full-powered swing sliced through the blood energy and cut into its palm.

I had broken through its blood-energy shield and wounded it.

It was only a small cut, but the fact that a sword imbued with neither aura nor divine power had pierced blood energy was more than enough to instill fear.

Sure enough, the half-blood vampire—who had felt so light and relaxed until now—glared at me with a completely different air.

“Facing that sword barehanded won’t work.”

This time it was just the hand—but next could be the torso or the head.

If a limb were severed or its body pierced, even a half-blood vampire would have difficulty recovering.

So instead of risking further combat barehanded, it decided to reveal its true strength.

“Seems it’s been a while since I’ve had to do this…”

The half-blood vampire drew blood from the wound on its palm, and the extracted blood began to take shape.

That shape was—

“…I’ll have to draw my sword.”

A sword.

* * *

There are five clans within vampire society.

Each clan inherits a unique blood art passed down from its progenitor. Naturally, blood fiends inherit the blood art of the vampire who turned them.

All blood fiends of Overlake belong to the Bloodguard Clan.

And the Bloodguard Clan’s signature blood art is Blood Swordsmanship.

A technique that uses one’s own blood and blood energy to create weapons—most commonly swords.

“I haven’t had to take my sword out in quite some time. Didn’t think it’d be today.”

Holding the blood-forged sword up for me to see, the half-blood vampire spoke as if I should feel honored by its seriousness.

I snorted in response.

“Of course you haven’t. Cowards rarely need to.”

“What? A coward?”

“Yeah. If you rely on stealth, it just means you lack confidence in a frontal fight.”

“You little…!”

Whether the word coward struck a nerve or not, its body visibly trembled as it raised the blood sword and pointed it at me.

“Abandon any hope of a painless death!”

It rushed at me faster than it ever had before, swinging the blood sword. I blocked it with my sacred steel blade.

Its speed and strength were slightly below—or roughly equal to—mine, so blocking the strike itself wasn’t difficult.

But—

Grrrk!

The ominous sound the moment the blades clashed, and the unsettling sensation transmitted through my hand, made me immediately knock it away and retreat.

“Tch.”

As it chased me down again, I quickly checked my sword’s condition—and couldn’t help clicking my tongue.

The sacred steel blade had chipped where it struck the blood sword.

Using sacred steel against that thing won’t work.

Sacred steel is a blessed metal, so it’s far from an ordinary weapon.

But at the end of the day, it’s still just standard-issue equipment.

The half-blood vampire’s blood sword, on the other hand, is forged entirely from blood energy.

That makes it less a simple blade and more a form of sword energy itself.

That’s why my blade chipped.

No matter how good its quality, a mass-produced sword can’t stand against something equivalent to sword energy.

Sword energy can only be countered with sword energy.

To fight the blood sword, I needed to wield sword energy as well.

However—

“You’ve grown far too arrogant, human! You’re nothing more than a low-class!”

Sword energy is a technique unlocked from the mid class onward.

As the half-blood vampire correctly observed, I was still low class—not even a master, merely an adept.

I shouldn’t have been able to use sword energy.

“…That’s what you think.”

I shattered its assumption and blocked the incoming blood sword once more with my sacred steel blade.

And this time—

“…Sword energy?”

A brilliantly glowing aura unmistakably coated my blade.

“…Weren’t you low class?”

“I am. Just like you said—low class. More precisely, a low adept.”

“Then how are you using sword energy?!”

The idea that sword energy is exclusive to the mid class is common knowledge.

Yet I broke that rule.

The reason was simple: as a regressor, I had mastered countless bizarre and unconventional techniques.

“This isn’t sword energy.”

“It’s not…?”

A chilling, blade-sharp aura rose from the sword—identical in form to conventional sword energy.

“But it is sword energy.”

“What kind of wordplay is that?!”

Thinking I was mocking it, the half-blood vampire lashed out again. I blocked every strike and replied calmly.

“I don’t really need to tell you—but I’ll make an exception.”

“It’s sword energy—but not in the way you think.”

“The difference lies in how it’s manifested.”

“This is true sword energy.”

Not mana mimicking the shape of a blade, but the blade’s own essence brought forth—

True sword energy.

“True… sword energy?”

The half-blood vampire couldn’t grasp what that meant.

Which was only natural.

The concept of true sword energy was ancient knowledge—forgotten in the present age, revived only during the Era of Destruction.

“What does that even—?”

“I said I’d tell you. I didn’t say I’d explain.”

I shoved aside its blood sword with my guard and thrust toward its neck.

“Fine! I’ll make you my thrall and force you to tell me everything you know!”

But that declaration would never be fulfilled.

A half-blood vampire is dangerous for three reasons:

Its physically enhanced body reinforced by blood energy.

Its unique blood arts like Blood Swordsmanship.

And the techniques refined over a lifespan far longer than any human’s.

As for physical strength—durability aside—my power, thanks to Herculean Strength, matched or slightly exceeded its own.

Blood Swordsmanship was now countered by true sword energy.

That left only one advantage.

Technique.

Its centuries of accumulated swordsmanship.

And yet—

“…What are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“What are you?! How can someone who hasn’t even lived half—no, a quarter—of the years I’ve trained surpass me in swordsmanship?!”

It couldn’t defeat me with skill.

In fact, the flow had completely shifted in my favor.

In just five exchanges.

“That’s because…”

I deflected its downward strike, pressed it aside, and swung at its exposed head.

“Kgh!”

It desperately tried to raise blood energy for protection—but my blade was faster.

The sacred steel sword sliced through its neck.

Its severed head scattered ash from the cut as it fell to the ground.

“Those without sufficient skill all died.”

The Era of Destruction.

Those lacking ability couldn’t survive.

Only those strong enough lived on.

And all who survived acquired strength worthy of survival.

And I was the one who survived until the very end.