The Hunt for the Blood Princess

Supporting her weakened body, Iqiyah painstakingly crawled, attempting to distance herself from the golden-haired Knight, who gleamed with a terrifying, blood-silver light.

“Oh dear, Miss BOSS, please don’t lie on the ground. It’s truly filthy.”

Watching Iqiyah awkwardly scramble, trying to escape, the Knight leisurely followed, step by step, like a cat toying with its prey, always maintaining a precise distance.

“Look… on this ground, not only is it covered in mold, but there’s also a very large rat.”

“Allow me to help you clean it up!”

With that said, the Knight planted their feet, elegantly drew their silver sword, and swung it sideways. A hum of magic activating filled the air as a massive, silvery-white sword aura tore through space.

Accompanied by a piercing shriek as the air was ripped apart, the silvery-white sword aura crushed everything it touched, including the floor. It hurtled towards Iqiyah like a runaway dump truck.

‘This, this power!?’

‘No, this is a powerful foe!’

“Are you sure you don’t want to flee?”

Watching the sword aura charge wildly towards Iqiyah, the Knight lowered their head and smiled.

“If you don’t escape soon… your body will be ground into paste, just like this floor~ Miss Rat~”

“Who are you calling a rat, huh?!”

As the sword aura was about to reach her feet, Iqiyah gritted her teeth, extended her right hand, gathered all her strength, and painstakingly conjured a purple magic circle.

A magical hum resonated as a massive black wooden door appeared behind Iqiyah. The instant the sword aura was about to touch Iqiyah’s toes, the door swung open, pulling her inside.

Missing its target, the silver sword aura continued its trajectory until it struck the corridor wall. With a thunderous boom, a thick, greyish-white mist instantly billowed from the stone surface.

Once the smoke dispersed, the sturdy wall behind the dense fog had completely crumbled into countless fragments, revealing the dim room beyond.

“Hmph, she even forgot to erase the traces of her teleportation path. It seems she truly is very weak.”

Gazing at the swirling purple dust left by Iqiyah’s teleportation spell, the golden-haired Knight sneered and donned their silvery-white helmet.

“However… being this weak certainly takes a lot of the fun out of it…”

Without haste, the Knight sheathed their silver sword and walked in the direction Iqiyah had fled.

****

“Say… hiccup, Levian, do you have a… hiccup, strange feeling?”

Setting down her bowl, Seraphina, whose mouth was full from drinking, wiped the corners of her lips, trying to suppress the hiccups rising in her chest.

“You’ve had too much to drink, Lady Seraphina,” Levian said, taking the empty bowl and presenting another bowl of nourishing soup. “This was already the fourth.”

“Ugh… I’m not talking about my body…” Seraphina rubbed her chest, feeling a dull ache. “I mean… a psychological feeling.”

“Even though I’m just sitting here drinking soup, I keep feeling an intense sense of danger…”

“It’s as if… someone is hunting me down.”

“That’s merely your imagination, Lady Seraphina.” Levian shrugged. “The depths of the Blood Manor are quite safe. Not a single human has managed to break in since Lady Iqiyah arrived.”

“However, speaking of Lady Iqiyah…”

Levian glanced down at her watch.

“At her usual patrol speed, she should have returned by the time you finished your second bowl of soup. Why is she still not back yet…”

Hearing Levian’s words, Seraphina blinked.

Iqiyah’s overdue return, coupled with a familiar’s sense of danger… These two elements combined always evoked an ominous premonition.

“Levian.”

“Yes, Lady Seraphina?”

“I need to go out. You are to wait here and not move…”

****

The perspective returned to the mansion’s outer perimeter.

“Hey, little rat!”

Amidst countless rooms, Iqiyah struggled to support her weakened body, constantly fleeing.

‘Gasp… gasp... No, I’m running out of stamina.’

The prolonged escape had utterly drained Iqiyah’s body.

Exhausted, she could only quietly hide in a corner of a room, leaning against a wall and lying down to snatch a moment of rest.

“Stop running! Fight me honorably!”

Before Iqiyah could even catch her breath, she suddenly felt a violent tremor from the wall behind her.

‘No!’

Before Iqiyah could react, a formidable force suddenly tore down the wall behind her. As air swirled violently, the immense impact sent Iqiyah, along with the countless bricks she had been leaning against, flying outwards.

“Hey, I heard you were strong, which is why I took this job.”

Struggling to prop herself up, Iqiyah painstakingly lifted her head to look at the wall behind her. There, the silver-armored Knight strode over the remnants of the wall, passing through the terrifying chasm they had created, crushing the scattered bricks on the ground to dust.

“Yet you’re so weak, only capable of endlessly fleeing… Do you have any idea how disappointing you are!?”

“If you desire a proper battle so much, then why not wait until I’ve recovered my strength before we have a good fight?”

Facing the approaching silver armor, Iqiyah attempted to use her silver tongue on the Knight, but to little effect…

“Alas, while on a personal level, I truly yearn for an honorable fight with you, the truth is…”

The silver-armored Knight extended a finger, pointing directly at Iqiyah’s delicate face. “Someone has offered a high price for your head. Who, I ask, would turn down such money?”

‘Hmm?’ Iqiyah furrowed her brows at this. ‘Who would be foolish enough to pay someone to conquer a BOSS…’

“Heh, you’re right, that person does seem a bit idiotic.” The Knight sneered, then raised their silver sword and smoothly sheathed it.

“But who knows what you did to make that foul-mouthed, idiotic scout mortgage their freedom and borrow a massive sum from the Krieg family, just to hire me—Sevilya the Blessed—to cut off your head.”

‘A scout?’

Hearing this, Iqiyah was startled.

‘Could it be… Seraphina’s former teammate?’

“Hehe, you remember who it is now, don’t you?” The Knight’s voice held a hint of amusement. “Honestly, I wasn’t particularly keen on taking this job. After all, working purely for money can tarnish the reputation of Sevilya the Blessed. But what can I do… she simply offered too much, didn’t she?”

“Moreover, I’ve also made an agreement with her: all the spoils you drop will be mine. Now, that’s quite tempting, wouldn’t you say…?”

“Tell me, Miss BOSS…”

Even through the silver helmet, one could perceive the Knight’s sharply upturned lips.

“The legend of the ‘Fragment’—it’s true, isn’t it?”

Hearing the word ‘Fragment,’ Iqiyah’s heart jolted.

‘She actually… believes that legend?’

“Hahahahaha,” the Knight burst into hearty laughter. “Seeing your surprise, I knew immediately that I was right.”

“As a holder of the ‘Fragment,’ you must surely understand its power, its preciousness…”

“Therefore… you must also be prepared to die for it, correct?”

Before the words had even faded, a flash of silver light appeared, and the Knight vanished instantly.

‘No!’

Seeing her enemy suddenly disappear, Iqiyah quickly stood up, nervously scanning her surroundings, trying to pinpoint the Knight’s location. All she saw was a myriad of silver glints surrounding her body, like an inescapable net woven with enemies, trapping her without a means of escape.

“According to intelligence, Blood Princess Iqiyah can perceive all moving objects before her with her naked eye, regardless of speed or size.”

An arrogant female voice resounded.

However, to Iqiyah’s shock, though the voice was incredibly loud, she couldn’t discern its precise origin.

“But now, seeing your clumsy, sluggish appearance—slower than a turtle—I can’t help but wonder…”

The tone was filled with mockery and boundless arrogance.

“Which is the lie: the intelligence, or you?”

“Swish!”

Like a sudden clap of thunder, the sound of a scabbard sliding echoed, followed by a flash of silver light. Before Iqiyah could even react, she felt a sudden chill in her chest, and a powerful thrust surged from behind, pushing her entire body to the ground.

“It seems it is you, Blood Princess Iqiyah.”

Iqiyah looked down at her chest, where a silvery-white blade had pierced through her entire sternum. Crimson blood gushed incessantly from the sword’s entry point, cascading like a waterfall onto the dark floor.

“Gurgle…”

“Forged from fine iron, plated with pure silver—an absolute vampire killer.”

The Knight gripped the blade with both hands and pushed forcefully. With a dull thud, Iqiyah’s body crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.

“How does it feel? Do you sense it? This helplessness, this inability to resist a powerful foe…”

“You, too, have killed countless adventurers who attempted to clear dungeons, haven’t you?”

“Ugh… but… you’re the ones… who trespassed…”

Iqiyah’s voice was broken and intermittent. A sweet taste spread through her throat. With even a slight exertion from her chest, countless streams of blood surged from below her throat, filling her mouth.

In a daze, she felt herself growing weaker and weaker, her soul gradually drifting away from her body…

“Hmph, I don’t care about that. I am human, and I will always stand with humanity, no matter what.”

Seeing Iqiyah still struggling, the Knight lifted a foot and savagely stomped on Iqiyah’s back. With a swift pull of both hands, they violently wrenched the sword from Iqiyah’s back, bringing forth a torrent of blood.

“Now, quickly drop your gear for me! You damned vampire!”

“How can you bully such a cute vampire girl? Does your conscience allow it?”

“Of course it does! You’re a BOSS, I’m an adventurer. Isn’t it only natural for us to fight each other… No, wait!”

Gazing at the unresponsive Iqiyah beneath their foot, the Knight instantly sensed that something was amiss.

“Who—who’s speaking!?”

[Divine Resurrection]

As the incantation was uttered, a surge of light suddenly emanated from beneath the Knight’s feet. Countless luminous motes converged, rushing like a tide into Iqiyah’s rapidly chilling body.

Within seconds, the body beneath their foot suddenly trembled. The chest, which had ceased its rise and fall, began to convulse violently, and the blood reversed its flow, surging back into the wound on her back like rivers.

‘A Divine-tier spell? A powerful foe? When did they arrive?’

The Knight swiftly looked behind them. A sharp click of high heels echoed, and from the darkness beyond the gaping hole in the wall, a slender figure slowly emerged.

“My name is Seraphina Scarlett…”

In the darkness, a pair of crimson eyes slowly opened, radiating a dazzling red light that was impossible to meet directly.

“I have come to defend my mistress’s dignity as the Blood Princess.”