Record of a Thousand Lives-Chapter 102

Just as Rapelka clutched her fangs, left completely disoriented from the pain, Kang Yoon-Soo charged toward her and swung his sword. He aimed the Sword of Revelation toward the vampire’s left chest.

Sukeok!

“Keu…!”Rapelka groaned in pain. She managed to react just in time and dodge the attack, but Kang Yoon-Soo was able to slash her waist. As the sword filled with divine power sliced through it, part of Rapelka’s waist crumbled to dust.

Rapelka glared sharply and screamed in a voice filled with rage. “Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Her blood-red eyes shone brightly, visibly contrasting against her pale white face, and she suddenly disappeared. In an instant, she appeared behind Kang Yoon-Soo, poised to dig her fangs deep into his neck.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo quickly reacted and blocked the vampire’s attack with his sword.

Clang!

Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword and the vampire’s fangs clashed against each other; Kang Yoon-Soo was flung backward from the impact, rolling across the ground before getting back up on his feet. Meanwhile, the vampire’s face crumpled as her fangs disintegrated after clashing with the holy sword.

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”The vampire let out a scream once again. Suddenly, Iris popped up out of nowhere and smashed the vampire’s face in with her fist.

Baam!

Rapelka staggered backward as four of her teeth fell to the ground. Shaneth instantly launched an attack, swinging her scythe wreathed in flame. She shouted, “Pyrokinesis!”

Multiple flame orbs shot from the scythe and hit Rapelka. The vampire’s body was engulfed in searing flames, and she screamed in agonizing pain. “Kyaaaaaaah!”

Vampires were weak to sunlight, garlic, flames, and divine power. As such, the divine power imbued in Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword and the flames cast by Shaneth struck a nerve in the vampire.

“You insolent fools!” Rapelka roared, waving her left hand in a large motion. Then, the dozens of kobolds that were standing guard behind her charged toward the party at once. They were bound to be at a disadvantage if they faced the vampire and the army of kobolds at the same time.

“Summon White,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered as he extended his right hand, and the silver-white werewolf appeared.

“Grrrrr…!”White roared as soon as it saw the vampire. Vampires were the natural enemies of werewolves, and the two races instinctively avoided running into each other.

“You take care of the kobolds,” Kang Yoon-Soo commanded.

“Grrr…Urnokra…!”White growled for quite a while before charging into the army of kobolds.

Kang Yoon-Soo could have brought out more summons, but the amount of experience points they would obtain would decrease if he summoned all of them at once. It was not only for the sake of Shaneth, Henrick, and Iris, but also for himself as well. Kang Yoon-Soo had to awaken his combat instincts to the absolute limit. He had been complacent due to being fed up with his hundreds of regressions and foreknowledge of everything that would transpire.

‘It’s going to be different this time.’

He had to fight against monsters that were much stronger than him, and Rapelka was a perfect but risky fit for that requirement. Rapelka was a high-ranked vampire, and just the fact that she was a named monster alone made it a very high-level and risky raid. Named vampires had the ability to increase their rank by sucking the blood of numerous victims.

‘She’s a strong monster,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he raised his sword. Rapelka immediately charged toward him, her eyes filled with rage.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo did not avert his gaze. ‘I have to kill to get stronger,’he thought as he rushed forward and clashed against the vampire that was charging toward him.

Sinister energy gathered around the vampire’s hand as she shouted, “May the darkness execute my blood offering!” It was a high-ranked black magic spell. The sinister energy that gathered in her hand turned into a formless sword that contained extremely strong destructive power.

Kang Yoon-Soo ducked and quickly swung his sword, muttering, “Abyssal Sword.”

The skill ‘Abyssal Sword’ was a skill that gave Kang Yoon-Soo a higher chance of inflicting critical damage if the target was a monster stronger than him, and it was his favorite skill at the moment. He struck the vampire in the shoulder with the skill.

“Kyaaah!”Rapelka screamed in pain before turning her head and attempting to bite Kang Yoon-Soo’s neck.

However, Shaneth intervened at the perfect moment, swinging her flame-covered scythe and shouting, “Fire Strike!”

Rapelka easily blocked the scythe and grabbed it with her bare hand. However, that hand started to sizzle and burn from Shaneth’s vicious flames. Rapelka immediately started to cast another spell, chanting, “I call forth the corrupted jaws of darkness to swallow the fools…”

Baam!

“Kyaaaah!”

Iris slammed her fist into the vampire’s cheek and interrupted her as she was casting her spell. Rapelka glared at her, but she tilted her head in confusion and asked, “Is it not obvious that you should attack your enemy before they finish casting their spell? Did I do something wrong?”

“Nah, you’re right! Thanks for stating the obvious!” Henrick replied as he moved the hand his mana threads were attached to. Rick immediately moved as soon as Henrick gave the command and struck the vampire in the abdomen. The little girl’s tiny fist carried an extremely destructive power.

Baaam! C-Crack!

“Kyaaaaaah!”Rapelka screamed and vomited blood.

Three strikes. Rick’s fist, which was almost as destructive as Iris’, struck the vampire three consecutive times in the same spot.

Iris could not hide her surprise and exclaimed in admiration, “Rick is so strong that I cannot believe she is a human just like me.”

“Unni, Rick is a doll,” Shaneth corrected her.

“Also, you aren’t exactly a human too, are you?” Henrick grumbled.

Iris charged toward Rapelka with tears welling up in her eyes. Shaneth followed behind her as well and shouted, “Fire Strike!”

Iris and Rick pummeled the vampire into a pulp, and Shaneth burned the vampire whenever she attempted to escape from the pummeling. The three women viciously attacked the vampire.

Kwachik!

Bam!

Bam! C-Crack!

The men had no place in the vicious fight unfolding, and so just stood at the back quietly talking to each other.

“Don’t you think we’ve been traveling with women who are strong both physically and personality-wise?” Henrick whispered.

“I agree,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied with a nod.

Rapelka’s body was now tattered and covered in bruises. The cornered vampire let out an ear-splitting scream. “KYAAAAAAAH!”

The three women were instantly flung back as soon as Rapelka let out her scream. The vampire’s skin tore apart, and her body grew in size as black fur covered her whole body; then, two black wings grew out of her back.

[The high-ranked vampire Rapelka has shown her true form.]

The vampire’s new appearance resembled a gigantic Blood Bat.

“It turned into a bat!” Shaneth exclaimed as she readied her scythe. However, the vampire, who had taken the form of a bat, did not charge toward Shaneth as she had expected. Instead, the vampire turned around and flapped her large black wings.

“It’s trying to escape!” Henrick shouted.

It was at the moment that the bat was flying up into the night sky that Rick extended her hand toward the vampire.

Pshhooo!

The little girl’s hand suddenly twisted and opened, and a net made out of mana threads flew out of her wrist. The bat was entrapped by the blue net and crashed back down to the ground.

[Rick has unlocked a new skill.]

[New Skill: Mana Net]

[The Final Masterpiece has the ability to unlock skills as it grows stronger.]

[There are certain skills that will only be unlocked while the Final Masterpiece is in a rampaging state.]

“How the heck is a doll so strong?” Henrick exclaimed while reading the notification and furrowing his brows.

Kang Yoon-Soo aimed his sword toward the bat’s neck. The gigantic bat felt immense pain whenever the sword struck it, due to the divine power the sword was imbued with.

“Abyssal Sword.”

“Abyssal Sword.”

“Abyssal Sword.”

Three consecutive attacks struck the giant bat’s neck. “Kieeeeeeeek!”the bat shrieked as it struggled.

Kang Yoon-Soo unslung the crossbow on his back and shot a fiery bolt right into the gigantic bat’s mouth.

Tang!

The fiery bolt pierced all the way into the body of the gigantic bat; Kang Yoon-Soo had finally managed to kill Rapelka, the high-ranked vampire.

[You have killed the high-ranked vampire Rapelka.]

[You are now an enemy of the vampires.]

The vampire’s corpse turned into dust that scattered in the wind. Kang Yoon-Soo picked up the item Rapelka left behind. Perhaps it was because she was a high-ranked vampire who had controlled an army of kobolds and taken over the grape fields, but the item she left was quite a lucrative one.

[Rapelka’s Mantle]

The mantle of a high-ranked vampire. When equipped, the user will move faster at night and the opposite sex will be attracted to them.

[Vampire’s Fang]

The fang of a high-ranked vampire. It is as strong as steel.

[Old Bloody Key]

It is rusty and broken.

White returned after massacring the kobolds, drenched in their blood. It looked at Iris and started to growl at her, “Grrrrr…! Doppelganger…?”

“I am a human!” Iris cried out, sounding scared as she hid behind Kang Yoon-Soo.

Werewolves had the ability to discern a creature’s scent through any deception and feel their target’s fear, and so they were the race doppelgangers feared most.

“K-Kang Yoon-Soo… Hurry…! D-Do something…!” Iris stuttered, trembling as she gripped Kang Yoon-Soo’s shoulder.

Kang Yoon-Soo extended his right hand toward White, whose fangs were bared toward Iris, and commanded, “Go back to the summon dimension.”

White hesitantly returned to the summon dimension, and it was only then that Iris was able to let out a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Henrick was putting Rick back into his summoning box.

“Call me more often,” Rick said.

“No way. Just go and rest, you punk,” Henrick replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo touched the Old Bloody Key and thought, ‘The key to enterSanguineum…’

He would only be able to repair the key after hunting down all of the vampires hiding in Vulpehin and collecting the Old Bloody Keys in their possession. Then, the item name would change and it would open the door to Sanguineum.

‘Sanguineum… Thevampires’ ossuary,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he recalled the information he had from his previous lives.

Sanguineum was a city where vampires resided. It had become known as an ossuary because each territory in it contained the bones of a previous Vampire King. The vampires of Sanguineum were much stronger than normal vampires. In fact, the average vampire there would be much stronger than Rapelka, who was a high-ranked vampire on the continent.

‘It’s going to be difficult, but we have no choice.’

The next destination Kang Yoon-Soo chose was Sanguineum, the city of evil and vicious vampires.

‘But we’re running out of time.’

He gripped the Old Bloody Key in his hand and crushed it, turning it into dust.

Shaneth was surprised by his sudden action and asked, “Why did you suddenly break the key?”

“We don’t need it anyway,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The process of repairing the Old Bloody Key was too tedious and complicated. He was fully aware of where each of the vampires was hiding in Vulpehin, but killing them one by one was the main problem. In fact, it would take them at least three months to kill all the vampires and fix the key. Kang Yoon-Soo preferred to give up on fixing the key and look for an alternative solution.

‘The plan is all set, but there’s something more important than that.’

Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly said, “First off.” He pointed at the grape fields and continued, “Let’s drink some wine.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Henrick said, nodding in agreement.

Iris had been stealing glances at the grapes in the fields for some time, and smiled brightly upon hearing Kang Yoon-Soo’s announcement.

Shaneth was already at a grape tree, and plucked a grape off it. As she ate the freshly-picked grape, she exclaimed, “Wow! This grape is really tasty! But where is the wine coming from when there’s no distillery in sight?”

Kang Yoon-Soo walked across the dead kobolds littered on the ground, heading further into the grape farm and entering a barn. The barn was void of any trace of human life, and it seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time; there were tools lying around that had already accumulated dust.

Heading deeper into the barn, he saw a wooden barrel. He opened the barrel; it was filled to the brim with bottles of red wine.

“Well, would you look at this? Doesn’t it seem as if the owner kept these hidden, planning to steal them later on?” Henrick said.

Kang Yoon-Soo took out a knife from underneath his sleeve, then skillfully pulled the cork off a bottle. The wine’s fragrance filled the barn.

“This is it! This is the fragrance I was looking for!” Henrick could not help but exclaim in delight with a laugh.

Iris curiously sniffed the bottle and said, “It smells much more fragrant than other alcoholic drinks.”

The four of them clinked their glasses.

Clink!

They drank the wine at the same time, and their eyes shot wide open when they tasted it.

“This… This is really good!” Shaneth exclaimed.

“The fragrance is still in my throat,” Iris said.

“It’s been a while since I tasted this,” Henrick said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

They all finished a whole bottle of the red wine in an instant; still, none of them seemed to be satisfied with only one bottle.

The others looked at Shaneth, and even she seemed to not be able to resist, offering, “…Shall we have another bottle?”

***

Kang Yoon-Soo filled his backpack with the Vulpehin Red Wine. They had already drunk more than ten bottles just the night before, but there were still some bottles left in the barrel. That was how much the owner had kept hidden for himself. He then looked back at the other three and said, “Let’s go.”

“Don’t you ever get hangovers?” Henrick groaned.

Shaneth held her head, seemingly struggling with a hangover as she moaned, “My head hurts…”

Iris was on the ground, barely managing to struggle to her feet as she complained, “I’m so dizzy… I feel nauseated… This is the first time I have felt like this…”

The only one who seemed to be fine among the three of them was Henrick. He clicked his tongue a few times as he passed a glass of water to each of them and said, “That’s because you don’t drink frequently and decided to drink a lot all of a sudden. Didn’t I tell you before? That you had to build your tolerance?”

“Is what you are saying true? I suppose I have to drink more often from now on,” Iris said.

“It’s a lie, unni. Don’t be fooled by him,” Shaneth said.

The party left the grape farm and walked through the fields, heading back to the outskirts of the city.

Shaneth asked while struggling to keep from vomiting her guts out, “Where are we headed to next?”

“Sanguineum, the vampires’ ossuary,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“V-Vampires’ ossuary…?” Shaneth asked.

“The city where the vampires live,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.

Iris puked on the ground. Henrick clicked his tongue as he rubbed her back and rebuked Kang Yoon-Soo, “Hey, you punk! Can’t you at least warn us before saying something so shocking like that?”

Iris wiped her mouth and drank some water. Her body trembled as she exclaimed, “The city of vampires! I am very scared of having my blood sucked…”

‘The problem is the scheduleinSanguineum…’

It would not be difficult to enter the vampire city, but the real problem would come after they entered it. They had to prepare a lot of things if they were to move according to Kang Yoon-Soo’s plans. As they continued walking, he was deep in thought.

Suddenly, Henrick asked, “Eh? Who are those people?”

Kang Yoon-Soo raised his head and saw that a group of people wearing investigator uniforms were quickly running toward them. He immediately understood the situation and said, “Shaneth, Iris, and Henrick. Run.”

“What?” Shaneth asked in confusion.

“I’ll find you guys no matter where you are,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“What are you talking about?” Henrick asked, confused.

“Hurry,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded simply.

Shaneth and Iris froze in place, dumbfounded by what was happening. However, Henrick seemed to have understood the gist of things, as he pushed the two women and said, “Something’s not right. Let’s start moving for now.”

The rest of the party ran away just before the investigators arrived in front of Kang Yoon-Soo. They all drew their swords, pointing them at him and exclaiming,, “Hands up where we can see them!”

Having been left all alone, Kang Yoon-Soo raised both of his arms and asked, “You, what do you think you are doing? Do you even know who I am?”

“You are under arrest for impersonating a Zero Grade investigator.”

Kang Yoon-Soo slowly lowered his hand. Suddenly, he pulled out a knife from his sleeve and swung it at the investigators.

“Euk!”

The investigators did not see the attack coming; they hurriedly jumped back to create some distance. Kang Yoon-Soo used that opportunity to run away from them as fast as he could. He ran so quickly, climbing up the walls of some nearby buildings, that he was able to lose the investigators tailing him.

‘Things have become troublesome.’

The investigators who were tailing him were the full force of the Royal Special Investigators division. They might be only 3rd Grade on record, but they were on par with the Royal Knights in terms of combat ability, which meant that they were stronger than the current Kang Yoon-Soo. He was certain that, even if it was him, he would be caught if they trapped him in an encirclement.

‘It might be easier for me to surrender and roll the dice later on.’

Just as Kang Yoon-Soo was thinking of a way to escape, a whip hit his hand as he gripped a wall.

Crack!

Kang Yoon-Soo fell to the dirty ground, and a beauty wearing an investigator’s uniform emerged from within a dark alley.

Sheryl touched Kang Yoon-Soo’s cheek and whispered in his ear, “I am glad to see you again, Mr. Zero Grade investigator.”

“…”

A pair of large, thick handcuffs were placed on Kang Yoon-Soo’s wrists.