Vulgar Slaughter, Cowardly Survival (3)
Human Ranch.
Exactly what it sounded like. A facility built to pen humans like livestock and drain their blood on demand.
Double duty as a blood supply and a base of operations, all folded into a single project.
Still incomplete, and already working exactly as intended.
The scene inside was hell.
"Ugh, ngh..."
A storage room.
Where the kidnapped were kept.
Iron cages barely a square meter across, crammed side by side in rows stretching the length of the room. It looked like a chicken coop. Roughly a hundred people packed inside it."......"
None of them had seen daylight in a while, by the look of it.
Every face gaunt and hollowed out. Eyes unfocused, blank, aimed at nothing.
Among the half-dead slumped against their bars, only one pair of eyes was still moving.
'...Shit.'
Somewhere in middle age, probably.
A finely trimmed beard. A knight corps uniform, now crumpled and filthy inside a narrow cage.
His name was Kantas.
'Please let this be a dream.'
Border Knights.
A seasoned veteran among them, someone who had put in the years to earn that standing.
The place where he was currently imprisoned was the underground level of the city of Riventa.
He had come to investigate the string of recent disappearances. The vampires had taken him before he could blink.
'Fucking bloodsucking bastards...'
A week in this cage already.
Everything he had witnessed made one thing clear. This was hell.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck... fucking bastards.'
A facility built by vampires.
Humans here were treated as something below livestock.
Getting your blood drained through a hose at all hours was just the routine. Every now and then they would drag a few people out, torture them, slice thin strips of flesh and savor them one by one.
'The worst thing I saw... was someone having their organs pulled out while they were still alive.'
And that was only what his eyes could reach from where he sat.
God only knew what was happening in the parts he couldn't see.
That wasn't even all of it.
Humans brought in as livestock were disposed of once they had outlived their usefulness. Disposed of here did not mean death. It meant being reborn as something else entirely.
The vampires turned their discards into mindless monsters.
Ghouls.
Bound to the vampires. Subservient to the last.
Not even death offered escape from this place.
Kantas had come to accept it.
'I'm not making it out of here.'
He was no weakling, not by border knight standards. He had the years and the scars to show for it.
But the vampires running this place were in a different league entirely.
They had taken him before he could even think about resisting.
'There are at least thirty posted outside.'
Count the ones inside the facility and the number would be higher.
And even if he managed to shake them off, there was nowhere to go. The place was underground. From the sheer scale of it, they had dug at least several dozen meters down.
The same word kept finding his lips.
"...Shit."
Kantas of the Border Knights.
He had lived by the sword and crossed the line between life and death more times than he could count. But this time, death felt like it had truly arrived.
No. He would be turned into a ghoul. He would not even get to die.
His wife. His daughter. He missed them.
'Reinforcements... won't be coming.'
No one could even find this place, let alone mount a rescue. All he could do was hope the people out there weren't suffering the same fate.
No hope left.
Empty eyes.
"......"
He was leaning against the bars of his cage when the noise started.
A low, booming rumble from somewhere outside.
Something had gone off, maybe. Or someone was screaming.
Were the bloodsucking bastards torturing more livestock again?
His stomach turned, but out of habit Kantas scanned the gap in the wall anyway. Even with escape off the table, some instinct in him kept reaching for information.
"......?"
It was not a torture scene that met his eyes.
The vampires were converging on a single point. All of them staring in the same direction.
Following that gaze, he found a black robe billowing in the gloom.
'A mask...?'
A person.
A masked person standing right in the middle of the vampires.
Holding a glittering shard in one hand and a colorful balloon in the other.
'What the fuck.'
Kantas could do nothing but stare, his head full of question marks.
None of which seemed to matter. The grotesque smile carved into that mask stayed wide and curled all the same.
***
"......"
I stood still and looked straight ahead.
Eyes boring into me from every direction.
Twenty, give or take.
They had heard the commotion and come running from wherever they had been.
"Hm."
Some of them glanced around, sizing up the attacking force.
But no matter how carefully they looked, only two masked figures stood before them.
"Wait... just two of them? And one of them's a vampire?"
"They triggered an alarm for this? There's nothing here."
"Those three on the ground. Are you seriously telling me those two did that?"
"Give me a break."
The vampires laughed among themselves.
While they muttered, I turned to Carmilla beside me.
"A little late to be asking, but... are you alright with this, Your Highness?"
"What are you asking?"
"They are your kin, in the end. I will try to avoid killing them where I can, but if it comes to that, I will not hesitate."
"......"
"Your Highness."
"...... I know."
A long, slow exhale from Carmilla.
Silver hair slipped loose and fell around her face.
"Even the thick smell of blood in here told me as much. How many lambs have been sacrificed here, and what kind of place this is. Good and evil are absolute. Being the same kind does not make something righteous, and being a different kind does not make something evil."
Carmilla Blandid.
Her Highness did not waver.
"They deserve punishment."
"If it is too much, you can stand back. I will handle it."
"No... were these not once subjects under my domain? This responsibility is also mine to bear."
The girl's eyes were resolute.
Blood Manipulation spread from her fingertips, shaping a thin spear in her grip.
Solid backup.
"Then..."
I stepped forward.
Toward the mass of vampires packed ahead.
"Good day to you all."
"Ha... this one's more unhinged than I expected."
"Is he sick in the head? He's got some weird mask on his face..."
"Whatever. Beat them into the ground first, ask questions later. Same for the vampire girl in the back."
They stared at me like I was something broken.
A few were already laughing.
The one at the front walked toward me with slow, deliberate steps.
A greatsword forged from blood.
He was carrying a blade the size of my whole body.
"Hey, kid. You two came alone? No other humans?"
"That's right. Was the number of visitors a concern?"
"Hah... you are genuinely hilarious."
Thud.
Heavy footsteps rolling across the floor.
The three unconscious bodies nearby still seemed to be on his mind. He kept his eyes on me, not yet closing the distance.
"Do you understand your situation? You can see the vampires surrounding you from all sides?"
"Of course. You are all absolutely drenched in blood, which is quite unsettling."
"And you still walked in here with just two people? Are you some kind of death wish case?"
"Hardly. I intend to live a long life."
"Look at this guy. Not even scared. He is definitely not right."
A quiet pause. He looked me over with care.
"Hmm... nothing special, actually. No, worse than nothing. Not a hint of muscle on him, no mana, no divine energy, no sorcery to speak of..."
"That is quite impressive. How did you pick up on all of that at once."
"Hey, what gave you the nerve to walk in here? And how did you even get in?"
"That is a secret."
A smile.
The mask's corners curled and twitched in kind.
"But never mind that... you are all absolutely covered in blood. Are you alright?"
"We're fine. This isn't our blood."
"Oh?"
"When you play with humans, blood tends to spray around a lot."
"That does sound like an interesting subject."
I asked.
To the hand caked not only in blood but in scraps of organ meat.
"Where did all that blood come from? What did you do to the people you kidnapped?"
"Ha ha! Don't worry. We didn't kill them. Just played around a little."
"......"
Maybe it was the weight of those words.
The other vampires watching nearby decided to chime in.
"Heh, heh heh... can't argue with that. They're still alive, technically."
"Just pulled out their nails one by one, sliced thin strips of flesh and ate them piece by piece. Oh, is that too boring? Let me tell you the creative ones. My personal favorite was making two humans stand across from each other and eat each other's organs. Winner gets to live."
"You didn't let the winner live, you psycho. You turned them into a ghoul."
"Shh... technically they're still alive! I never said they'd live normally, did I?"
"And the two you picked were a mother and her son. That part was actually entertaining."
The vampires boasted with genuine delight.
Carmilla's face drained completely white.
I listened without a word.
Did they think I was frightened?
They were thrilled to keep going, spilling story after story of their so-called heroics.
"I've always had a soft spot for children, personally..."
"Even by our standards you're rotten. Pulling organs out of someone still breathing and watching the life go out of them. Do you have any idea how much of a mess that makes every single time?"
"He's the worst one here. He alone probably brought in thirty kids."
"It's fine, it's fine. They were all turned into ghouls right before they gave out."
"Right, they didn't die. Now they'll just spend forever not being themselves... heh heh."
Quietly.
I just kept listening.
"Still, aren't you killing too many lately? Leave the useful ones. We need to be draining as much blood as possible."
"What does it matter? His Majesty said to collect ghouls too."
"We've already got a hundred ghouls stockpiled. That's quite an achievement."
Malice.
Every word soaked in it.
Something dense and cloying settled at the back of my throat.
"A knight corps came poking around a while back. We might want to start showing some restraint."
"Oh right, where did that knight end up? I think we kept him with the blood packs."
"His subordinates are already ghouls. Just the squad leader left, I think."
"Insolent thing. Let's keep running him for a while longer."
People who treated life and death like a game.
Mouths that spoke of blood and flesh without the faintest trace of guilt.
After hearing all of it, I had exactly one thought.
"Why."
But.
It was a question I could not hold back.
"Why did you do it."
"Huh?"
"Your goal is blood, at the end of the day. The secondary purpose would be accumulating ghouls."
And yet.
"So why all the rest of it. Things that gained you nothing. Torturing people. Humiliating them. Giving them grief, giving them despair... what was the point of any of it? When you could hear them begging, what were you thinking?"
""......"
Asking why. The last remnant of something barely human.
A brief silence settled over the space.
Then.
"Pfft!"
Someone burst out laughing.
The moment that silence cracked, laughter spread from one to the next. Before long the vampires were howling together, doubled over, clutching their sides.
I was the only one in the room not laughing.
"Ah ha! Ah ha ha...! This guy is genuinely something!"
The one with the greatsword again.
He caught his breath and grinned over at me.
"Why, he asks... never had to think about that one before. Well, since you want to know."
A short answer.
"Just because."
"......"
"Just because I could."
"......"
"Humans are perfectly suited to that role. No real strength, but the thrashing around is something else. That reaction is what makes it fun to torment them. And they have better utility as ghouls than other livestock, too."
"......"
"What, you mad?"
"......"
I did not react.
Just stood there.
Behind me, a hand caught my sleeve.
Trembling red eyes. Carmilla, utterly pale.
"...... Viktor."
"Yes, master."
"......"
"......"
She searched for something to say, but could not find the words.
So I held none either.
The brief quiet felt like it could snap a neck.
At the end of it, the sound the girl managed to produce was as small and frail as anything could be.
"...... Those are ones who have taken human blood by force."
"So it seems."
"Their aggression is fierce. Easily twice as strong as ordinary vampires."
"Do you think I will be outmatched?"
"No... not at all."
"Your intention to fight is still the same?"
"Yes. Every last bit of this is a responsibility I must bear."
Tears.
What ran down her cheek, was it rage or grief?
It did not matter either way.
"My plan has changed. A clean capture will not be possible."
"I know..."
"I will leave them breathing. Sever both arms and both legs, blind them..."
The balloon sword had already been stored back in the inventory.
This was not the time for games.
A pocket watch sat in one hand instead.
In the other, the stake fragment glittered.
"What, they're just standing there chatting."
Thwack!
The one with the greatsword didn't wait.
He must have thought we were completely defenseless. Maybe he had never considered us a real threat to begin with.
"I'll play with you too! And once I catch the girl in the back, I'll squeeze some information out of her first, then...!"
Whoosh!
A body shot forward like an arrow.
The blood-red greatsword came hurtling down toward my head.
Even then I stayed quiet.
Just turning the watch over in my fingers.
Click.
My thumb pressed the button. In the next instant I had already slipped past him.
"...?!"
Confusion erupted around me.
His greatsword had been parried and sent flying across the room.
Across his body, clean lines left by the stake fragment were seared in deep.
Both arms. Both legs. Vivid, precise.
"Ugh... wh, whaagh...?"
Crash!
His limbs separated from his torso.
Arms and legs drifted through the air and hit the floor in pieces.
I grabbed him by the hair and lifted his face.
Then pressed the edge of the stake fragment against both his eyes and dragged it across.
Ssssss!
"Kgh, kgh, KGHAAAAA!!!"
Screaming tore loose between cracked lips.
I drove my fist in a few times.
Crack!
"Mouth."
"Awgh, aaaaa!!"
"Mouth. Shut. It. Close it. Shut up. Quiet."
Crack, crunch, crack!
His teeth shattered to pieces.
I stuffed a handkerchief into the gap as the blood ran freely.
His eyes were nearly cooked through. The screaming faded with them.
"Hoo..."
A shallow breath let out.
Dangling in my hand was a body reduced to a wreck.
"Urgh..."
Arms gone, legs gone, eyes gone, voice gone. He hung there unconscious.
I dropped the ruined thing and left it where it fell.
Thud.
""......"
The noise that had filled the room just moments before.
Gone.
Not a sound.
The vampires stood slack-jawed.
"That's one."
""......"
I brushed my hands off.
The mask was smiling. The voice behind it was not.
"So."
Just cold enough to freeze.
"Who's next?"
I was already pressing the watch button before any of them could answer.
Click.
***
By the time it was over.
A faint smell of scorched meat hung through the air.
Complete chaos, barely half an hour ago.
I wiped the soot from my fingertips.
Sweat was running freely down my forehead from having pushed that hard.
"Hah, hah..."
Fourteen vampires lay face-down across the floor.
Arms gone, legs gone, eyes gone, mouths gone.
For a moment I genuinely wondered whether they could still be called vampires.
Thought about it briefly, and decided that calling them caterpillars would probably do.
'The other seven got away...'
After a handful had slipped out, the time it had taken to turn the remaining fourteen into caterpillars.
Twenty-one minutes and fifty-four seconds.
I shoved a hand through my hair roughly.
The mask's grin stretched all the way to where my ears would be.
The person behind it had not smiled once.
"Hah... shit."
I really am weak.
All-E-grade stats, a combination no one had ever managed before or since.
A body that would have a fair fight against a passing farmer.
Which was exactly why I never wanted to go all-out like this.
"Fucking bastards."
Making me lose my temper like that.
A long, deep breath, and I pulled myself back to my feet.
"Viktor..."
Beside me stood Her Highness, looking just as worn through.
Probably from rushing to back me up every time I moved, her stamina was more depleted than usual.
'Or maybe it was the mental toll.'
Red eyes swept over me.
Checking to make sure I was not hurt.
"Are you alright...?"
"I'm fine. It looks like Your Highness pushed herself, though."
"I am not finished yet. I cannot simply step away from my responsibilities."
Thud.
Carmilla stepped up beside me.
Even if I tried to stop her here, she would not listen.
She was the kind of person who would rather be broken than flee without reason.
A small sound left me.
"Ha..."
Something burning in my chest had settled, just a little.
Matching her pace, I walked toward the blood-red backdrop ahead.
"Shall we keep going?"
"Yes."
There had been no discussion, but we already shared the same goal.
The Human Ranch.
A place that called itself a livestock facility, and was home to far worse than that.
This place had to be torn down without leaving a trace.
Ting!
[Sub Quest]
-Title: Vile Slaughter, Wretched Survival.
-Objective: Stop the construction of the 'Human Ranch' by the New Kingdom's vampires. Rescue those kidnapped by the vampires.
-Failure Penalty: Destruction of the city 'Riventa'
-Reward: Unlimited goodwill from the city of 'Riventa.'
[Time Remaining: 1 hour 18 minutes 39 seconds]
"We will need to hurry."
And to save the survivors still waiting somewhere inside.
We moved toward the sprawling facility looming in the distance.
"To rescue all of them..."
The night had only just begun.