The vampire floating in the sky grinned and stretched out his hand. A torrent of blood surged from his palm, shooting straight toward the ground.
Watching the crimson magic fly toward him, Yohan let out a sigh of relief. Then, he immediately threw a punch.
BOOM—! The crimson beam exploded on contact with his fist, scattering in every direction.
“What!?”
The vampire was stunned by the unbelievable sight. He hadn't blocked or dodged it; he had simply shattered it with a punch.
While the vampire was still in shock, Regina, who had been watching the scene unfold, used the most effective scroll she had against vampires.
“Light—!”
“Guh!”
Screeeech—!
The bats surrounding his body were struck by the intense beam of light and began to scatter.
With the bats that had been blocking the sunlight gone, the vampire immediately vanished into the shadows.
Seeing this, Yohan quickly dashed toward a sunny spot where the light was brightest. Regina stuck close to his side and asked.
“What’s the plan now?”
“How should I know!? Why are you asking me!? You’re the Witch of Records! Come up with something!”
“Hmm— a vampire’s weaknesses are as follows: sunlight, consecrated silver weapons, running water, a stake through the heart, a stronger vampire…”
“What can we do right now!?”
“Unfortunately, nothing.”
Vampires are monsters with powerful regenerative abilities. In addition to that regeneration, they possess a keen intellect on par with humans.
She had read records of the Holy Nation successfully sealing one due to its obvious weaknesses, but it seemed the Dragon of Calamity had managed to break that seal in this short time.
“Why is a monster like that here?”
“The Blood Moon. We just thought it was an unusually shaped island… but it seems that wasn't the case.”
“So this island has some kind of secret?”
“For now, that’s all we can surmise.”
After running for a while, Yohan managed to find a sun-drenched spot with no shade anywhere. He stood under the blazing sun, careful not to cast a shadow, and remained vigilant.
“With the sun this strong, he won’t be able to get close, right?”
“I can’t be certain. If he approaches by commanding animals like before, we’ll have no way to stop him.”
“…True, but at least we’ll be able to see him coming from a distance.”
Having seen the vampire use shadows to move, Yohan judged it was safer to stay under the open sun where its movements were restricted.
It was better than being in the shaded forest and getting ambushed from who-knows-where. At least here, they could see an attack coming.
Since it was winter, standing under the sun wasn't particularly torturous. In fact, a pleasant warmth enveloped them, and they felt they could stay like this all day.
Standing back-to-back with Regina, Yohan cautiously called her name.
“Regina, what were you about to say earlier?”
“What I was about to say…?”
“You said there was a way to get out of here.”
“…I just need to Awaken.”
“Awaken?”
Regina nodded and began to explain cases of other Awakened witches.
“Miss Beatrice, a witch who could originally only control her own dolls, became able to treat any being as a doll as long as her magic allowed. Miss Evangeline became able to change the preferences of a place her hands had never touched.”
Awakening, in essence, is the realization of a higher level of magic. If one could Awaken, things that were previously impossible would become possible.
Regina thought that if she could Awaken, she might be able to use the magic of the other witches without their help.
And if so, they could escape this place. The only problem was—.
“I don’t know how.”
She didn't know how to Awaken. Beatrice, the first to Awaken, did so after completely depleting her magic. Thus, they thought total magic depletion was the condition.
However, Evangeline had apparently Awakened without any hardship or trial. From what she heard, it was because her sex was interrupted or something.
In other words, the conditions were completely random. As the Witch of Records, Regina was strong when it came to things she could analyze statistically, but she was weak against something so arbitrary. She couldn't be sure she could Awaken.
“That was a really useless story.”
“Yes, I feel I spoke out of turn.”
“No. Awakening, Awakening… I’ll keep it in mind.”
Yohan said, stomping his foot. A bat caught under his boot let out a squeak and died an unceremonious death.
As if that scream were a signal, bats swarmed in from all directions. Their vision was obscured as darkness began to fall all around them.
“Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak—.”
“Screeeech—!”
“…Fucking hell.”
Instantly plunged into darkness, Yohan looked at Regina. She must have used the light-emitting scroll earlier, as she shook her head, signaling she had no more.
As she didn't use any magic, the vampire materialized from the darkness.
“Hmm— I don’t know what you’re plotting, but it’s too late now.”
The vampire revealed himself and grinned, pointing at the bats.
“This curtain is layered three, four times over. You won’t be able to get rid of it with a simple burst of light.”
On top of that, the vampire even draped a layer of shadow over the curtain of bats. Even if Regina unleashed a light as intense as before, it wouldn't be able to eliminate the bats and the shadow curtain instantly.
It would take quite some time, and he, the vampire, was confident he could kill them both in that amount of time.
Realizing he was firmly in a position of power, the vampire smirked and opened his mouth.
“Before that, let’s talk.”
“…About what?”
“Witch, are you by any chance a virgin?”
Hearing such an absurd question out of the blue, Yohan stared at the vampire with a dumbfounded expression.
But the vampire paid his expression no mind, and Regina, perhaps because she also needed to buy time, showed no particular displeasure at being asked.
“I am.”
“Excellent. Very good—.”
“And if I weren’t, would that be a problem?”
“Ah— the blood of a non-virgin is tasteless.”
The vampire licked his lips as he spoke. Seeing his sharply gleaming fangs, Yohan understood why the vampire had brought up Regina’s virginity.
Vampires were monsters of legend who were said to favor the blood of virgins above all else. This was a well-known story even on Earth, where Yohan was from.
The fact that a vampire in this other world shared the exact same lore as a vampire from Earth was unsettling, but…
While the vampire was focused on Regina’s virginity, Yohan quickly dashed toward the curtain of bats.
“How pathetic, human. Go on, run until your feet sweat.”
The vampire watched Yohan run off but did nothing to stop him. He was certain the human couldn't pass through the barrier he had created.
And just as he thought, Yohan reached the curtain and realized he couldn't get through because of the biting bats. This was true even when he used his magic-nullifying ability.
‘No, fucking…’
Yohan quickly understood why. The vampire was controlling these bats, but it wasn't through magical means.
Just as hundreds of bees and ants move organically without any magical intervention, this vampire was controlling the bats through purely chemical methods.
And in the face of physical means, Yohan was extremely weak. He was a superhuman who had surpassed ordinary humans, but he was not yet at a level where he could lord it over true monsters.
“Seeing you nullify magic, I thought you were someone of substance— were you just a mere holy knight?”
“…I’m not.”
“Haha! Are you denying it out of fear? A holy knight? Have you abandoned your faith?”
The vampire thought Yohan was a holy knight. A pathetic holy knight who had abandoned his god in the face of death.
Creatures like vampires loved such beings. Holy knights were not easily made. Only those with an unbreakably strong faith could become one.
For such a holy knight to deny his own identity meant that he had been instilled with a fear great enough to cast aside his faith.
What sweeter praise could there be? The vampire was genuinely delighted.
“Go on, do more. Abandon your god, trample upon him!”
The vampire descended before Yohan, urging him to curse his god. For Yohan, who didn't believe in any god, it should have been an easy thing to do, but for some reason, he felt a sense of repulsion.
Was it because he found the idea of obeying the vampire pathetic, or was it because he thought the vampire would kill him the moment he complied?
Either way, he couldn't help but hesitate. Seeing Yohan’s hesitation, the vampire began to laugh even louder.
“That’s far enough.”
Watching Yohan hesitate before the vampire, Regina spoke up. Hearing the witch’s words, the vampire turned his head slightly.
Regina was glaring at the vampire, her hand held out before her stomach as if to stab herself.
“If you touch Yohan, I will remove my own virginity right here and now.”
“Hmph, it makes little difference unless a man’s essence touches you directly, you know?”
“It is that small difference that separates a masterpiece from a mass-produced item.”
Perhaps finding some truth in Regina’s words, the vampire clicked his tongue once and turned back to Yohan.
“Human, you’re luc—”
“Die, you motherfucker—!”
“Gwaaargh—!?”
Taking advantage of the moment the vampire turned his head, Yohan, who had been preparing a full-power punch, let his fist fly.
It wasn't a boxer's straight jab, but a punch thrown from far back like a shot put, smashing directly into the vampire’s jaw.
The magically charged fist blew the jaw clean off. Seeing the vampire collapse to the ground, Yohan yelled to Regina.
“Hey, let’s run!”
“Wh-what?”
With the vampire controlling them unconscious, the bats lost their coordination and began to swarm chaotically. Yohan broke through the bats and the curtain, fleeing the scene immediately.