Chapter 152: Why So Noisy So Early in the Morning?

“Kaka — kakaka! I thought you three were some kind of powerful monsters, but you’re just trash! Cough!”

The blonde girl let out an arrogant, classless laugh before spitting up a mouthful of blood.

“…Tch, you petty scoundrels! Attacking while someone is sleeping!”

Confronting the three men from a distance of 100 meters, Inefa Einsealion wiped the corner of her mouth with her lantern sleeve and tilted her head back, cursing them with disdain.

She clutched her stomach over her black Gothic Formal Dress.

Several chains hung from her exquisitely crafted skirt.

Three minutes ago, while she was still in a deep slumber, a piercing, violent pain had forced her to wake.

Upon opening her eyes, she saw that loathsome, long-lost, and lethal Cross Artifact.

A Silver Weapon.

A silver Cross Artifact, even larger than the coffin she slept in, had pierced through her abdomen, leaving a fist-sized hole.

Inefa had no time to wonder how they had accurately located her within the Castle — a place filled with multiple protective Barriers where anyone visiting for the first time would surely get lost.

The moment her consciousness returned, she summoned her Blood Spirit Servants to launch a counterattack.

The three men and the one Vampire fought their way from the deep basement all the way to the first-floor hall, carving a hideous hole through the building.

It was mostly the trio barraging her while the Vampire chased behind.

This pained Inefa deeply.

She usually spent a great deal of effort maintaining the Castle, and seeing it turn into a wreck in an instant made her want to cry.

She needed time.

Though the Silver Weapon had been pulled out of her body long ago, the problem was that the residual silver particles within her had not been completely expelled.

With her Blood Spirit Servants standing on either side of her, Inefa cast a disgusted glance toward the window.

Sunlight could not inflict a fatal wound on her, but she could not use her full strength during the day.

The three people before her had clearly planned this for a long time, choosing to attack her during the day.

No matter how she looked at them, the enemies were human, yet their attire did not match that of the Sanctuary of Merciful Light.

Why attack her?

Inefa had no interest in asking.

Since the other party had struck first, she would simply kill the invaders, tear their flesh from their bones to turn them into blood, and devour them entirely.

When she first arrived at this Third Zone and the Barriers were still being established and perfected, monsters often invaded.

However, none of them were a match for her, and she had eaten every last one.

The three men before her were the first group brave enough to step into the Castle and challenge her since its completion.

Since they could break through the Barriers, their Guild likely included someone proficient in Magic.

“Miss Vampire, could you please surrender?”

An elderly voice spoke.

The man stood behind his companions, the furthest away from Inefa.

“…Huh? Sur… render?”

Blood began to flow faster through her brain, which had been asleep for far too long, as Inefa chewed on the meaning of the word.

Dressed in an elegant purple windbreaker, the thin man spoke plainly yet clearly.

“Surrender. Give up your resistance. Do nothing. As long as you don’t make another move, I guarantee you won’t have to die in pain.”

“Kaka.”

Inefa let out a laugh.

Upon closer inspection, the corner of her mouth was twitching slightly.

The thin old man continued his explanation at a leisurely pace.

“I’ve killed five vampires already. That seemingly powerful regenerative ability is nothing special; under the influence of Silver Weapons and holy water, it’s about the same as a human’s death. You don’t look like anything special either.”

“You… Ugh!”

‘If it were Night, you wouldn’t even have a chance to stand before me!’

Various parts of her body throbbed with pain as the silver particles inside Inefa continuously produced harmful reactions.

“Miss Vampire, you absolutely cannot win against us.

This isn’t arrogance or pride; it is a settled fact.”

As the thin old man finished speaking, his left hand gripped a Staff he had used for many years, which emitted a deep, treasure-like glow.

In the palm of his right hand, a nest made of pitch-black branches appeared, shaped like a bird’s nest.

That was… what?

The moment that strange Black Nest appeared, Inefa instinctively sensed a massive aura of blood gathered within it.

The aura of Death.

For a moment, she felt a sense of pressure she hadn’t tasted in a hundred years.

An inexplicable chill swirled within her.

Inefa knew this was psychological; her body wouldn’t feel cold even in a heavy blizzard, and it certainly wasn’t cold now.

She realized her body was shivering.

At this moment, Inefa screamed in her heart:

‘Why hasn’t Tiana arrived yet?!’

‘I’ve been calling her for so long!’

‘I really can’t hold on much longer. These three feel extremely dangerous!’

“Kakaka, ka.”

The petite girl with blonde hair and golden eyes straightened her back and crossed her arms.

This not only made her look more haughty but also made her appear fearless.

She was glad that when she was chasing these men, she had materialized a skirt for herself; otherwise, they would have noticed her legs were shaking.

“Mere humans dare threaten me? Just turn into fertilizer!”

Inefa pointed her small hand forward.

The two original Blood Spirit Servants grew pale blue bones all over their bodies.

They doubled in size, and the murderous blood aura around them surged.

Massive wheel-shaped weapons made of fresh blood appeared in their hands.

The Blood Spirit Servants had been Upgraded into Skeletal Armored Blood Spirits.

‘Stupid humans! While you were blabbering, I was funneling Magic into these two.’

Even though her power was only at half of what it would be at Night, it should be more than enough to handle them!

Inefa’s eyes lowered slightly.

‘Provided that… disheveled old human doesn’t do anything with that Black Nest.’

“—!!”

The two Skeletal Armored Blood Spirits swung their weapons and charged forward with explosive speed comparable to a cheetah.

“Sigh, what a shame,” the old man in purple sighed.

“As we agreed, leave the brain to me!”

One of the humans wore a pointed helm.

Under the brim, a pair of small, sharp eyes were glowing intensely as they stared at Inefa.

Eek!!

The greasy gaze made Inefa feel incredibly disgusted.

Klang—! Thud!

The man in the pointed helm fought the Skeletal Armored Blood Spirits with a giant axe.

A gray-green symbol of intertwined tree roots glowed above his head.

The blood-formed weapons and the iron weapon clashed repeatedly, creating the sound of whistling wind and heavy impacts.

The speed was a dizzying blur.

How could a human fight a blood spirit to a standstill?

Inefa’s golden eyes darted toward the old man in purple.

Looking closely, she saw that he was providing support Magic to the man in the pointed helm.

‘No wonder you’re standing so far back! You’re a mage.’

‘In that case, I have to take you out first!’

The second blood spirit threw its wheel, creating a terrifying sound of tearing air as it aimed straight for the old man in purple.

As the wheel grew larger before him, the old man remained motionless.

“Hmph…!”

A human wearing a moss-green jacket over bronze armor blocked the wheel with two Big Swords, using the momentum to hurl it back.

A silver branch symbol also appeared above his head.

“LORD, THE MOST NOBLE IZABILIS…”

The old man in purple began to mutter something.

Dark Magic elements emerged around the branches of the ugly Black Nest.

Inefa could manage to summon a third one if she tried hard enough, but then she wouldn’t have any Magic left to protect herself.

Although she wouldn’t die, it didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of pain.

Inefa was glad she still possessed a fear of pain.

She remembered her Mom saying that relying too much on immortality made it easy to lose the ability to judge “danger.”

She had various other kinds of Magic, but they were either difficult to use or impossible to cast in the morning.

Fighting in the morning was just too taxing.

…Or was it?

A smile tugged at the corners of Inefa’s mouth.

She gently raised her left hand, and condensed crimson Magic formed a sphere in her palm.

Inefa’s eyes locked onto the old man in purple.

With a light flick of her left hand, the crimson sphere transformed into a blood arrow, flying toward the target like a meteor.

It was the Magic known as “Blood Magic Spike.”

It was the fastest Magic Inefa could currently deploy.

The arrow spun in the air, sprouting spiral barbs as it shot toward the Black Nest in the old man’s hand.

The old man’s two subordinates were busy fighting the blood spirits and could no longer protect him.

Clearly, that Black Nest required startup time.

And no matter how she looked at him, the old man was a mage type like her; he had to be incredibly fragile in close combat!

The greatest evidence was that Inefa hadn’t seen the old man at all when she first woke up; he had been hiding behind his two subordinates the entire time, casting support Magic.

Therefore, the first goal was to kill the old man in purple.

She could win.

Inefa’s intuition told her that if she could kill that bearded old man, she could crush the remaining two humans into biscuit crumbs with her own fists.

It wouldn’t matter even if the old man had some kind of holy light protection.

The Blood Magic Spike was imbued with effects that ensured it would absolutely hit and could not be blocked.

It was truly a spell her Mom had taught her.

The only problem was that it instantly drained one-third of Inefa’s Magic.

But that wasn’t really a major issue.

Once she killed the old man, she could extract his blood to replenish her Magic.

The arrow reached the tip of the old man’s nose.

Just in case, Inefa quietly prepared a second red sphere in her hand.

Even if the old man didn’t die, his head was going to explode!

Inefa smiled triumphantly, baring her white teeth, and then —

The scene before her turned pitch black.