BLOODY FEST (5)
The Absolute of the Household cannot leave the domain of the household.
That was true even during a descent.
Therefore, a preparatory step was necessary for a descent-I had to turn the destination into part of my domain.
In other words, this place now bore the same nature as the household domain or a forward base.
I intentionally descended before the enemy to provoke them.
[A hostile entity has been detected by the Absolute of the Household.]
This was to utilize the system's function of eliminating everything hostile to
[Eliminating.]
With a concise alert-
Splurt!
Jinjo's head exploded, and it seemed the situation was over.
But his vitality was far more tenacious than I had expected.
SPLAAASH-!
The body, now headless, burst into a torrent of blood.
And then-
"Grgh!"
I heard the urgent cry of Owenju, who was in her beast form.
Her eyes were wide with alarm as she reached out and ran toward me-but her gaze was fixed behind me.
Then-
KRAAANG!
A massive boom erupted from behind.
When I turned my head, there stood Jinjo, glaring at me with eyes so bloodshot they had turned completely red.
The tendrils of blood he had launched in a surprise attack were now quivering, halted in front of me.
Zzzing-
A transparent shield, about a meter in radius around me, shimmered with
energy.
'How is he still alive?'
Was it because the heart is the core of a vampire?
But I was sure that wasn't the only reason.
"The Eye of the Absolute."
Using the skill, I could see that his condition wasn't good.
He moved much slower than before my descent, and his twisted expression and ragged breath were proof of it.
Naturally so.
This space wasn't one he could even enter-let alone move freely within-without citizenship.
The fact that he had invaded and was moving without my permission was already a miracle.
'There's something in that flame.'
Whooosh!
The dark crimson flame still engulfed his entire body.
"Graaaagh!"
Unable to withstand the pain, Jinjo's desperate scream echoed in all
directions.
And as I looked at the dark crimson fire engulfing his entire form, I came to a realization.
'They're fighting each other?'
Thanks to the Eye of the Absolute, I could see it.
Black and red energies were clashing, each fighting for dominance.
The black energy looked almost exactly like the power Hadonggun used.
'This is...?'
The moment I recognized it, I instinctively understood-
That black energy originated from me.
And at the same time, I realized why he was able to resist within my domain.
'It's because of the red energy protecting his body.'
The reason he was able to pierce the transparent barrier before, and move freely in my territory without my permission now-it was all thanks to that red
energy.
At that moment-
[A hostile entity has been detected by the Absolute of the
Household.]
[Eliminating.]
Once again, the system alert appeared, and both Jinjo's body floating in the
air and the tendrils of blood reaching toward me began to swell and pulse with crimson light.
And then-
Splurt!
This time, his entire body burst apart mid-air.
Thud!
The chunks of flesh scattered in all directions, falling onto the blood-soaked ground and melting away.
However—
'The system alert hasn't appeared.'
Again, just like before.
No "hunt complete" notification meant he wasn't dead yet.
This time, not just his head, but his heart had clearly exploded too. And yet he was still alive.
'...So the heart isn't the core?'
And then it happened.
Bubble bubble
The blood soaking the floor began to bubble and churn, soon emitting a crimson mist.
My vision rapidly narrowed, but thanks to maintaining the Eye of the Absolute, tracking his movements wasn't difficult.
I saw the blood mist coalescing behind Owenju.
Immediately, I activated a skill—
"Invisible Hand."
And the moment his body began to take form-
Thud!
An invisible hand pierced the heart of the one who had been aiming for Oh Eun-joo.
And then-
'Enlarge.'
Splat!
The invisible hand that had penetrated the heart grew in size, and the target's entire body was shattered.
However, the shattered body quickly dissolved into a mist of blood and vanished from sight.
'I see.'
The Eyes of the Absolute weren't just a skill that allowed one to see a location or sense space.
The "Sage's Eye" function, unlocked at level 3, only provided simple information like the monster's level when outside a designated area. But within its domain, the function operated on a completely different level.
Within a proper domain, the Eyes of the Absolute lived up to their name.
It allowed one to observe the entire space and instantly analyze and comprehend what was happening within it.
And thanks to that, I realized—
'His true body isn't the heart, it's the blood here.'
The reason the progenitor vampire kept resurrecting-
It was because the body that had manifested wasn't the real one.
If you wanted to be precise, it was more like a hand or a foot-just a part of his body.
His true body wasn't the head or the heart, but the vast pool of blood spread out across the floor.
'In that case...'
To kill him, the entire pool of blood had to be incinerated.
Recognizing this fact, I willed my intention clearly.
At that moment-
Fwoosh-
[A hostile entity has been detected in the Domain of the Absolute.]
[Neutralizing.]
Boom!
The blood mist spread across the area and the pool of blood soaking the floor exploded all at once.
'Just as I thought.'
I had often pondered the activation of the system.
Why is it that when the domain expands, some beings are recognized as eligible for citizenship, while others are simply eradicated?
The phrase "hostile entity" from the system messages had always felt ambiguous.
If the system were truly absolute, then someone like Jegal Sung-gyu wouldn't have been able to enter the domain and turn citizens into vampires or devour
them.
But that event did happen.
I had formed many hypotheses trying to understand the criteria, and one of them seemed to match the current situation.
'First, his head exploded. Then, his body burst around the heart.'
If the system's activation is tied closely to my awareness, then this situation makes complete sense.
Because now, having recognized that the vampire's true body was the blood itself, the system reacted accordingly.
And
'Looks like I managed to control the power too.'
The system message, which had always said "eliminating," now said "neutralizing."
'Even what seems like an automatic response by the system can be influenced by my will.'
That fact had now been clearly proven.
Feeling a thrill at the confirmation of my theory, I looked toward the place where the progenitor vampire had been completely subdued.
The vast amount of blood that had soaked the ground, and the blood mist that had filled the area, were completely gone.
In front of me, a frail-looking man knelt on the floor, trembling violently.
The black-red flames no longer burned his body.
That was the meaning of "neutralized.'
"
All his power and energy had been stripped away.
The system had even taken his youth.
The source of a vampire's strength-his vitality-had been so thoroughly suppressed that he was barely clinging to life.
He had aged in an instant, becoming half bald, with the few remaining strands of hair turning thin and stark white.
I addressed the man.
"Hey."
I could've just killed him then and there, but there was still something I wanted
to know.
"What was that red power you had?"
I slowly released the power that had been restraining his face.
The man, now aged in a flash, slowly lifted his head with great effort.
He looked devastated and didn't answer my question-instead, he asked one of his own.
"What are you?"
It seemed he had no intention of answering.
'Well, it's not like he'd tell me even if I asked.'
I hadn't subdued him to extract information in the first place, so I wasn't particularly disappointed.
The vampire, now without fangs, kept muttering in a slurred voice:
"Why would someone like you... in this world- cough!"
He couldn't finish and coughed up black blood.
It looked like he'd reached his limit.
The progenitor began mumbling to himself through tears.
"Ahh... the connection to the Great One... the blessing...!"
It seemed he was no longer in his right mind.
"Oh Eun-joo."
...Yes?"
"Please finish it."
"Understood."
Oh Eon-joo was currently freed from the restriction binding her.
That was because her body was already in a wrecked state.
Right before using the Descent, when the power of the True Ancestor was unleashed and all of Ulsan was dyed in blood, a massive energy shockwave had erupted from this place.
Because of that, her father-who had been fighting the closest-was blown away all the way to the area near the Taehwa River.
Naturally, Oh Eon-joo, who had also been nearby, took considerable damage.
Even so, she risked her life to approach the True Ancestor.
So it was only right that she should be the one to finish this bastard off.
'Even economically speaking, that's the right call.'
He had poured money into his retainers to prepare for the fight against the vampires.
Even the newly joined members had their levels raised as much as possible through financial investment.
'The higher the level goes, the more inefficient it becomes.'
But there were no regrets.
Had he been stingy, there surely would have been significant losses.
Squelch!
With all the sources of power sealed, the True Ancestor had to suffer a pitiful death as Oh Eon-joo's hand pierced his heart.
The monster's body, grotesquely aged in an instant, disintegrated starting from the heart.
[You have hunted the True Ancestor () (Lv. 62).]
[You have gained an enormous amount of experience.]
[#995,858,494,923 has been deposited into the Absolute Family's
account.]
'Huh?'
For a moment, he thought he had misread the digits.
'Million, ten million, hundred million, billion...'
The money earned from hunting the True Ancestor was-
'Nine hundred ninety-five billion?'
Almost a trillion won had been deposited.
'Wait... is this even real?'
He had earned more money from killing just this one True Ancestor than everything he had made until now.
'Even with all the stacked bonuses...'
Most likely, the biggest contributor to this astronomical sum was the crown still floating above his head.
Thanks to the crown's effects on citizens and the title of Viscount that Oh Eon-joo held, they received nine times the original reward amount.
And then-
'If the monetary reward is this insane...'
Of course, the amount of experience gained must also be just as ridiculous.
[Skill level has increased.]
[Skill level has increased.]
[Skill level has increased.]
[Skill level has increased.]
[Skill level has increased.]
Naturally, it led to an explosive surge in skill levels.
'Ah, shit. I'm screwed.'
And right after that-
Whoosh-
As the Descent ended and he returned to his home-
"!!!!!!"
The time of maddening pain began.
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