Chapter 18: Of All Things

It’s dark.

Hands are clasped.

But no sensation is felt.

Rachel realized at that moment.

‘It’s that dream again,’ she thought, swallowing a nervous breath.

Familiar voices were heard nearby.

The sound of people mocking her for being alone in the family, the pressure from those who believed she would overcome it, the betrayal of those around her who she thought would support her until the end, and the ceaseless misfortune.

Whenever this memory resurfaced, she felt as if her heart was being stabbed repeatedly.

Rachel instinctively hugged her own elbows.

In the darkness, the only thing she could rely on was herself.

She had been afraid of sleep, to the point where she would stay away from it when she had nightmares like this.

That’s why she’s even more sensitive.
Whether it was a succubus or an incubus, there was this side to Rachel’s fuss.

But it’s strange.

Clearly, it shouldn’t be this volume. Her body isn’t this big.

It’s warm. She feels the touch of thin arms embracing her.

After being lost in a daze for a long time, Rachel came to her senses at the touch.

“I…Ian? Ian? Are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

The shape of her lips, which had only been moving, now becomes familiar.

But when she faced the face that was only a few sheets of paper away again, the unsettling yet somewhat exciting and slightly expectant embarrassment that she had felt earlier overwhelmed her heart.

It’s close. It’s too close. It’s a narrow gap where even a faint breath can be heard.

A complex feeling that she can’t understand even if she tries.

The moment she met his face, she felt an emotion that she should never have. That’s why she was even more ashamed of herself.

“Mother?”

“…am.”

“What did you say?”

“No….thing!!!”

-Thump, thump, thump.

Her heart hurts.

She doesn’t know what it is, but she thinks she should stop playing with emotions.

Sometimes she even mistakes herself for being young again. Because her body looks young.

They say a late wind is scary. Rachel, who has been thinking such thoughts lately, grabbed her leg, which was moving forward.

Break it, pull out the bones, and damage the spinal cord.

The reason why she’s doing this is… she felt like she would keep going.

Really, really. How many times has she thought that it was just one more step?

If that happened. She felt that she could never go back.

“Mother, are you alright? You’re sweating a lot all of a sudden.”

“…I’m, f…ine. Stop… talking.”

Rachel shook her head as if to say that she had had enough, after repeatedly moving her lips several times before falling out of my arms.

When Ian carefully approached her, Rachel walked a little further away at the same time.

Was she that shocked by what she just said?

After taking a deep breath, Rachel spoke in a low voice, as if she had made up her mind.

“…Ian,”

At the serious tone, I turned my head to look at her face, and I felt like I wanted to ruin the determination I had just made.

“I, I’m sorry. Please. Can we just stop now…? It’s not right anymore. Going any further… No, you and I are parent and child. This kind of behavior shouldn’t… it’s not, r…ight.”

Rachel said, turning her face away from me.

Every time she punctuated a sentence, as if each word was a nail being hammered into her own heart, the woman’s shoulders trembled violently.

Her hand, which had been trembling like she had Parkinson’s, was forcibly clenched because she had just woken up from a nightmare.

Behind the woman, who was standing behind a large artwork displayed in the hallway, she opened her eyes as she didn’t get a response to her continued questions.

“…Ian? Wh, why… aren’t you answering me? Are you lone-”

She was startled by the words she was about to say at the end and contracted her eyes, covering her mouth.

Ian, who was silently looking down at her pathetic self, scares her.

“…”

“I’m sorry that I keep disappointing you today.”

“Rachel.”

“No. Don’t… please don’t call me by my name, this isn’t right. It’s not right…. Normally, there shouldn’t be this kind of atmosphere or conversation between the two of us.”

“…Is it because of Father?”

“That’s not the issue. I can’t be with you in the first place. It’s not possible. This fact will never change. It won’t… change.”

Facing the hesitant woman, Ian put his hand on her shoulder.

“Then let’s stop. It seems that we need some time to sort out our feelings between mother and me.”

“……Is, is that so?”

Rachel spoke in a dead voice at the end.

Did she really expect that answer? Or did she want to ruin everything and have him embrace her?

Her hand, which was holding her shoulder, was painfully clenched.

But this is for the best.

Just as she was about to finish her 고민 with the thought that she would… be with Ian at this banquet.

-Clash.

She automatically raised her head at the familiar embrace that held her.

By the time she was about to shout what he was doing. She was already aware of the situation.

-Boom!

A black-skinned figure, a strange light with mana.

“…..M, monster? No. A devil….?”

Just as she was about to lose her mind at the sudden appearance of the devils.

The devil, which had been visible for about 3 seconds, disappeared, torn in half before her eyes, as if its existence was meaningless.

-Master. I…. I, now. Why,

But at the same time, she stepped back at the red presence.

While she was briefly absorbed in Ian’s arms, a chilling killing intent was directed at her.

“…Vam, pire?”

…

“Is this the place?”

The red-eyed maid swung her arm once.

But unlike what it looked like from afar, just the empty wind that should have flowed through the mansion made a loud noise that was enough to make you believe it was a monster, constantly making the inside of the hall noisy.

‘What the hell is that woman…!!!! The client said that the only ones to be careful of were the head of the family and the Ice Palace Mistress…!’

The leader of the thieves, who barely managed to change his position behind the pillar, couldn’t hide his astonishment.

With a sound of ‘hi, hiik!’, he covered his head and barely avoided the magic that was being fired extensively by rolling his body.

The shield, which was supposed to be able to withstand 10 attacks from Lahino?

Damn it, that thing was crushed into a D-shape and disabled after being hit by a single blood arrow when they first met.

It’s unfair that just by having a mysterious object in that arrow, which clearly looks the same, it produces more than 10 times the difference in power.

“Ugh… damn it,”

His legs naturally lost strength, and as his vision shook, he only felt fear at the sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway.

It was possible to hold on this far because he had stealth, which was useful for erasing his traces.

Assassins usually train stealth at a low level, but among them, those who survive for a long time train it to a mid-high level and sublimate it into a skill… that kind of thing existed.

But now it’s meaningless. No, it became meaningless due to an absurd, out-of-the-ordinary response.

The characteristic that they are more sensitive to the scent of blood than vision, and a surprise attack that takes advantage of that.

Even if Yuria had let it hit her somehow, she wouldn’t have been able to even scratch her, unless it was an Aura Blade, and she would have only torn her clothes, saying ‘….How dare you touch the maid uniform that Master gave me directly.’, and she would have become even more enraged, killing all the surrounding subordinates and leaving him alone to continue this vicious game.

“What the hell is that, if not the devil…!”

-Drip, drip, drip.

Blood was already flowing from his right abdomen. When did he get hurt? If he had known, he would have avoided it from the beginning. The truly terrifying thing about that vampire maid was her unbelievable mana manipulation.

‘Her body itself feels strong in mana, but it’s being strengthened through at least three layers… and her breathing, trained with mana, is correct, so her recovery is fast.’

At that pace, if he just ran away, his mana would recover just by breathing.

It was at that moment.

-“You, so how long are you planning to play this childish hide-and-seek?”

A chilling voice heard in his ear next to the pillar.

-Click.

His trained reflexes made him get up faster and pull the trigger of the crossbow.

But.

The crossbow had already been crushed in Yuria’s hand.

“A, a steel crossbow so easily… cough!”

A kick landed precisely on his solar plexus, sending the thief’s body spinning several times and crashing into the wall.

If he had been an ordinary person, he would have died instantly, but he was the leader of the assassination squad, so he didn’t die in one hit. In fact, he was the only one who hadn’t died in one hit, so Yuria had been slowly killing him, giving him time.

She wasn’t cruel from birth, she just had a strong aversion to humans, so she didn’t feel any guilt at all. Rather, she was only being particularly kind to her master, Ian. Nothing more, nothing less.

But now even that was tiresome.

“Unlike Master Ian’s blood, everything else smells so bad that I don’t even want to put it in my mouth… well, that’s fine. At least as food for the dogs.”

Yuria, who smiled lowly, slowly opened her eyes.
Her ruby-like eyes stared blankly at the path she had passed and her torn clothes, losing their color.

The assassin’s arm, with the crossbow attached, was thrown to the side.
And there, like a swarm of ants, the vampire’s subordinates, who had emerged from the shadow where there was nothing, were busy putting it in their mouths. Now, the assassin’s arm was crushed to the bone, and there was no form left.

But that leader guy was incredibly tenacious.

“Guh…kuh, khhk!”

Seeing him almost on the verge of death, Yuria tilted her head.

As if she had just remembered something she had forgotten. Wide eyes and a slightly smiling mouth.

“…I didn’t expect you to last two hits.
Don’t look up at me with those worm-like eyes. At least die painlessly-

No.

Dying without pain would be too merciful. After all, you took away the time I had with my master.”

At this moment. The assassin regretted thousands of times that he had instinctively raised his neck.

Yuria tapped the window with a troubled look, touching her lower abdomen.

Tap.

A piece of wood that had fallen off for a moment.

The piece of wood that had been on the assassin’s shoulder fell off with a slight movement.

Accordingly, her ruby-like red eyes shined through the black streams falling between the blood-stained windows.

“…Were you still alive? You’re tenacious. I guess you’ve been blessed by God.”

Would there be any hopeful words to save his life?

He had already prepared to escape.

But.

He has no feet.

No, his ankles have already been torn off.

He didn’t even need to see the source.

The leader of the assassins didn’t even take three minutes to enter the mouths of the wolf-like subordinates.

-Grrrrr….

“…Damn it.”

The assassin, who had already confirmed his end, ground his teeth.

Then there are dozens of hungry subordinates who have devoured the assassin’s ankles.

He knows. That among them, each individual has leather that is tough enough to barely scratch when Aura is applied, and enough jaw strength to easily crush the head of a human.

‘I should have known from the beginning.’

Normally, young vampires spew red aura around their bodies and scream as if they want to kill at least one person, but Yuria’s surroundings were surprisingly quiet.

He felt a sense of doubt from there.

The fact that she was doing what even a 100-year-old vampire would find difficult, suppressing her own bloodlust as a matter of course, was a serious matter.

The assassin, who had been stepping back, could only choose one last option.

To activate the demonization that he was originally going to use as a catalyst for everyone in the banquet hall.

On himself,

Or face death as it is.

Soon, a low-level demon roamed the banquet hall.

…

Back to the present situation.

Having barely saved Rachel from the demon’s attack, I barely managed to raise my head.

Rachel was slightly flustered and tried to raise her voice, but when she noticed the sight below, she became complicated again.

“I, Ian. It hurts. Take some strength out of your shoulder… please.”

Was I holding her waist too tightly?

If you really look at it like this, you wouldn’t believe that she was the one who told me to keep my distance earlier.

It was like a couple who had decided to love each other.

Really, if you look at it like this, it was like lovers sharing their affection.

-Slip.

“Hmpf?!”

At the same time, as the two of them slipped on the fallen demon’s corpse, their lips almost touched.

Suddenly, an existence visible in the mirror.

[ You are in absolute danger of your life. Escape from the scene immediately. ]

[ ?????The final boss (Yuria) feels deep betrayal towards you. ]

[ ?????The final boss (Yuria) says you are not at fault. The only sin is %%$@## ]

[ ?????The final boss (Yuria) is feeling an emotional overload of #$~^%%%% towards you. ]

[ ?????The final boss (Yuria) is ^%#@@#
~^%@!%. ]

[ ?????The final #
~^%%$. ]

-Tap.

“Master, I. Am I… am I no longer needed……..?”

A woman’s figure is reflected in the crack of the broken mirror.

A red-eyed maid walked unsteadily.

Her eyes were red. But the emotions swirling in the hall were as great as that.

The night was just beginning.