As everyone stared at Mateo in confusion, his nostrils began to flare.
“Hmm…. Let's see.”
What is that bastard doing?
The club members hesitated, bewildered. Then Mateo's mouth curled into a grin.
“Confusion, wariness…. And the scent of shallow fear everywhere.”
Mateo was certain now.
The one who had killed his kind was here.
“Hey, enough of that nonsense.”
“Huh?”
As every eye turned toward him, Kang Do-jun briefly lowered his mask, blew out a puff of smoke from his electronic cigarette, and spoke.
“I'm the one you're looking for.”
“What?”
“The serum factory near the docks. I'm the one who wiped out every bastard there. So quit flaring your nose like a creep, and let's get to the point.”
“…Huh?”
Mateo was baffled.
He had not expected the man to reveal himself so boldly.
‘I should report this first.’
Mateo frowned.
He drew blood from his fingertip and summoned a bat.
He intended to inform Brooklyn's ruler at once.
“That's not happening.”
Something shot from Do-jun's hand.
SWISH—!
Mateo tilted his head and easily dodged it.
But he had not been the target.
It stuck to the doorframe. The yellow paper… it was a talisman. It shone blue and formed a vast barrier.
“What is this little trick?”
“You're not getting out of here now.”
Mateo used the blood on his fingertip to summon a bat.
“Screee!”
FWOOSH—!
The bat burned to death as it tried to pass through the doorway.
“…You bastard.”
Mateo approached the door and sniffed it. He sensed a fiercely powerful energy pouring from it.
If he forced his way through, he would meet the same end as the bat he had summoned.
Then Do-jun added coldly,
“If you want to leave alive, try beating everyone here.”
“What?”
“You're confident in your skills, aren't you?”
Mateo was not the only one startled by those words.
“What? Are you insane?”
“What are you saying?”
Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter, and the other club members stared at Do-jun in shock.
They could not understand why he would openly invite an enemy to attack them while the enemy stood right there.
Do-jun spoke again.
“He's only a scout. You need to fight him yourselves…. How else will we get a sense of the enemies we're up against?”
“But….”
Meanwhile,
“You rotten bastards…. What do you take me for?”
Mateo took a syringe of V-Rise Serum from inside his clothes, plunged it into his body, and tossed the empty syringe onto the floor.
His body swelled, his nails grew long… and so did his hair.
The energy pouring from him became incomparably stronger than before.
Do-jun rubbed his chin and made his assessment.
‘That one is probably… around ‘Bing’ Grade.’
Mateo's power alone was far weaker than Annabelle's had been.
The problem was that a great many more like him would come for the club.
That was why the club members needed to feel for themselves exactly how strong their enemies were.
“Die!”
Mateo charged like a rampaging beast.
“Move!”
“Hnnngh!”
The club members hurriedly swung their silver weapons, but they could not withstand the enlarged Mateo's strength and were swept aside like autumn leaves in the wind.
CLANG—! CLANG—! BANG—! BANG—!
The silver bullets could not pierce his hardened muscles, and the holy water evaporated to no effect.
Even with nearly ten people attacking at once, they could not overcome a single vampire.
‘His skin won't break! He's strong, too!’
‘This bastard…. He's incredible!’
As the fight went on,
“Ggh!”
Mateo's kick struck Cheshire Cat square in the chest and sent him crashing into a wall.
Mateo started toward him.
CRACK—!
Michael Burrard—Clock Rabbit—burst from the darkness and drove Mateo back with a swing of his mace.
“Are you all right?”
“M-Master….”
Michael quickly helped Cheshire Cat up, then spoke to Do-jun.
“I think… everyone understands the situation by now.”
“Yeah. All right.”
Do-jun stared at Mateo and asked,
“You dog bastard, how high up are you in the organization that sent you?”
“There are plenty stronger than me! Killing the likes of you… is nothing to them! Grrrr….”
Mateo's words came out as though he were coughing up blood. Do-jun turned and tossed a remark to the members behind him.
“You heard him, right? At least dozens of bastards like him are coming.”
Their faces went deathly pale.
‘D-dozens like him?’
‘…Damn it, we're all going to die.’
They had fought desperately and still could not handle this one vampire. If dozens like him descended on them, they could see no way out.
Mateo charged again, shouting,
“You bastards… standing there so calmly while I'm still here!”
Do-jun snapped his fingers.
“Bind!”
CLATTER—!
Golden chains materialized in midair and bound Mateo's limbs in an instant.
“Aaaagh! Aaaagh! What are you doing?!”
Even his enlarged, monstrous strength could not shake off the absolute restraint.
As Mateo stared in shock, Do-jun formed a hand seal toward his chest and shouted,
“Bamboo Break.”
This time, a shaft of blue light shaped like a bamboo spear shot forward.
CRACK—!
It pierced Mateo's heart with perfect accuracy.
His hulking body shriveled like a deflating balloon. He collapsed to the floor and began to turn to ash.
Only his clothes, smartphone, and the Annabelle doll remained on the floor.
Do-jun stepped forward at once and reached out.
WHOOSH—!
Mateo's soul, circling in the air, was sucked in.
‘Enjoy your meal, Elder.’
《He tastes like stinking dog meat. You have a talent for giving me only the foulest meals, human.》
Ignoring Wakan Tanka's complaints, Do-jun picked up the Annabelle doll from the floor.
He attached another talisman, compressed it to the size of his palm, and tucked it inside his clothes.
‘Looks like they found me through that George Goldwyn fellow. Well, I got a ghostly object out of it.’
Having pieced together roughly what had happened, he slowly turned around.
The hall was as silent as if someone had poured cold water over it.
‘He killed that monster in one hit?’
‘Just how strong is he?’
Everyone stared at Do-jun in a daze, as though they had seen a ghost.
All of them were exorcists of at least Grade D, each confident in their own abilities.
But they had realized that Kang Do-jun stood on an entirely different level.
Do-jun shrugged.
“Master, like I said, dozens like him will be here in a few days. Someone even stronger will probably come in person.”
“…I see.”
Clock Rabbit swallowed hard. The other members spoke up in alarm.
“Are we really going to fight them, Master? If dozens of them are like that one…. There's no way we can take them on.”
“Y-yes! That would be suicide.”
Do-jun tapped his feet on the floor.
“Don't worry. Your Master decided to defend this club, and in the meantime I'll make you lot capable of pulling your weight.”
“How are you going to do that?”
Instead of answering the Queen of Hearts, Do-jun picked up a nearby mop.
He snapped off the handle without hesitation and held it in his hand.
“All of you, come at me. The fastest way to learn is in a real fight. That's fine with you, right, Master?”
“You mean… to train us?”
“Yeah.”
Wonder and doubt crossed Clock Rabbit's eyes.
Do-jun answered by loosening up his body.
This was the best choice if they wanted to defend the club.
‘Kill or be killed. Those are the only two choices.’
From his experience fighting blood demons in Korea, he knew how vampires tended to fight.
That was why he was confident.
If he put these people through their paces for a day or two, they would at least grow accustomed to fighting vampires.
After all, none of them lacked spiritual energy or fighting skill.
And….
‘I need to get back into better shape myself.’
It was a chance to kill two birds with one stone.
No, if he considered the souls he would gain from wiping out all those vampires, it might be worth even more.
Clock Rabbit spoke.
“Do as he says. It is the only way to defend the club… and for all of us to survive.”
“B-but….”
“Enough talking. Come at me, all of you. If you can land just one hit on me together, we can skip the training.”
Do-jun pressed them.
Humiliation showed on every face.
‘One hit?’
‘Damn it…. What does he take us for?’
Cheshire Cat, still nursing his grievance, activated the holy-type spell Haste and charged with nimble footwork.
“Hnnngh!”
He rushed in so fiercely that it was difficult to follow him with the eye, then thrust his mace straight out.
But….
“There's no power behind your legs, and you're half a beat slow following my movements. You won't crush a vampire with a blow that weak.”
“Huh?”
Tap—!
Kang Do-jun caught the mace between two fingers.
CRACK—!
Then he kicked Cheshire Cat to the floor and said,
“Next. All of you, hurry up. We don't have time.”
Shock… filled their faces.
***
Brooklyn, a city where the nights burned hotter than the days.
At Club Blidia, which stood at the pinnacle of the city, a frenzied beat and eardrum-splitting music filled the air again tonight.
In its deepest room, the air inside the soundproofed VIP suite was as cold as ice.
“…….”
Smithers sat deep in a sofa, swirling the thick liquid in a crystal glass.
It was a special blood wine, darker than fresh human blood, enjoyed only by chosen upper-tier individuals.
Just as he brought the glass to his lips, his brow twitched.
A thin thread connected to the farthest reaches of his soul snapped.
‘Mateo?’
Bloodhound.
The hound's presence had vanished without a trace.
It was no mere loss of signal. A dreadful emptiness brushed his mind, the kind felt only when a being had been utterly annihilated.
Smithers hurled the glass to the floor.
“Fuck….”
The glass shattered with a crash as he stood.
He shoved the door open and strode into the corridor. The guards in black suits waiting there bowed.
“Turn off the stage music. Get every customer out and close the club.”
“Sir? Director, it is still the height of the evening….”
“I said get them all out.”
The guard went pale at his low voice.
The order was carried out at once.
The pounding beat stopped, and the complaining humans were pushed out by the guards like water retreating with the tide.
When the dazzling lights went out and only bluish emergency lamps illuminated the interior, everyone left in the club had pale skin.
Smithers stood in the middle of the hall and looked around.
Red eyes flashed in the darkness.
This was the vampire army under Smithers's command, rulers of Brooklyn's nights.
“We've lost Bloodhound's signal.”
A brief murmur followed Smithers's words.
It meant that someone had killed Mateo the hound, a Tier 4 vampire no less.
“His presence… vanished in western Brooklyn. I'll give you the coordinates. The scouts will comb that area as if hunting rats until they find them. The moment they do, we'll begin the slaughter. The rest of you, wait here.”
“Yes, Boss!”
The shout that rose from them together echoed through the empty club.
Smithers watched his subordinates disperse into the shadows.
He looked at the Roman numeral VII(7) tattooed on the back of his hand, his body trembling.
‘I don't know who you bastards are…. But I'll show you what real hell looks like.’
His lips twisted at a grotesque angle, and a stream of white vapor escaped between his fangs.