“If I had met him in a decent condition, I would’ve had beaten him without even swinging my sword.”

Terrible death and a massive loss of experience and items. It was okay up to here. Any player would have to accept it. However, it was a big shock to have the Sun Sword taken away and to be treated as a fool.

“What’s more, he was able to figure out a player’s intentions. Does this make sense? He's the worst monster ever. I’ll live well until the day the game is broken!”

It was Asuka’s new drinking habit. She repeated the same words like a parrot.

Black Teddy, who was watching her empty her glass with a helpless smile, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her tears. “Young lady... I’ve been watching you for over 20 years. Every time I saw you running around like a thunderbolt, I thought of a wild horse. Now that girl is like a sick pony. My heart aches at the weakness unbecoming of you.”

“Teddy...”

“Please wake up. Act as usual and kill all those bastards! You should shake off your unbecoming frustration with a cigarette and burn with vengeance! Rather than a sick pony, become a mad dog... no, a wild horse!”

“Teddy, there are many monsters in this world that I can’t kill. I am just a pony who acted like a wild horse.”

“Y-Young lady...! Sob sob!”

“...Those crazy humans are still at it again today.”

“Are they shooting a movie?"

Hayakan Pub—the most famous pub in the southern part of the Saharan Empire—was a seven-story pavilion carved from a small mountain. It was as big and gorgeous as a palace. That’s right. This wasn’t reality, it was Satisfy. It was impossible for a player to get drunk and cry with runny noses.

Asuka and Black Teddy weren’t drunk but they were drunk on the atmosphere. They were just crazy in other people’s eyes.

“By the way, who are those people?”

“I don't know. If they’re like any other gang then I’m not interested.”

Asuka and Black Teddy were high rankers and had the burden of their position. They covered their faces and names when drinking in the pub. However, the accessories like their earrings were obviously expensive and they became the target of many groups because of the loud noise they made every day. The PK criminals who played in the area would attack the two people. The result was naturally an easy win for Asuka and Black Teddy. Since then, no one touched the noisy duo.

“Excuse me, Young Lady.”

“Huh?”

“Should we contact Grid and pass on the information of the Sun Sword?”

“You want us to confess that we illegally intruded on the hunting grounds?”

“We didn’t catch the boss anyway. We didn’t ruin the hunting ground so won’t he forgive us if we give the information on the Sun Sword?”

“We killed the soldiers guarding the hunting ground.”

“Even if he values NPC, he might not care about some soldiers. It isn’t us who killed the soldiers in the first place, it was Pastel Crayon...”

“It’s fine. There is no need to act rashly.”

Asuka wanted Fenrir’s death. The first reason was the quest reward for Fenrir’s death and the second was because of vengeance. That’s why she left the Sun Sword behind. Still, in front of the crisis of survival, any compensation or revenge were secondary problems.

Asuka remembered the Veradin incident. ‘Veradin killed his NPC so Grid opened a press conference and gave an order for infinite killing.’

Asuka’s personality wasn’t common either. As a third-generation chaebol, she often showed judgments or behavior hard to understand with the standards of ordinary people. It certainly wasn’t normal to think of handing over a legendary item to someone who came later, just to get revenge on a monster. Even so, she couldn’t get a handle on Grid. She decided that it was better not to face him for the rest of her life than to approach him in a wrong manner.

‘Well... I have to believe in him.’

Asuka stared at the ‘Fool’ title, which decreased the value of the rewards she got from hunting Fenrir’s wolf. Then she emptied the last remaining bottle and rose from her seat.

“Let’s go hunting.”

“Yes.”

The one hour drunken play somewhat relieved her stress. She really wanted to drink a lot of alcohol in reality but she put up with it because it would interfere with the game if she was drunk. Asuka was a pro. Like other high rankers, she was constantly becoming stronger.

***

“It’s still here.”

Grid smiled bitterly as he checked the faces of the soldiers guarding the entrance to Fenrir’s city. The people who saluted awkwardly were prisoners, not official soldiers of the Overgeared Kingdom. It was the idea of Reidan’s former lord, Chris. Chris claimed that standing guard in the desert itself was a punishment so he released them from prison to guard the vampire city. The penalty was reduced by three times so there were many volunteers. Among them were many prisoners of suitable strength, so they were able to be used as sentries in the desert.

Zednos scratched his head. “Precious soldiers shouldn’t be treated as consumables. There is still hope, even if this is harsh for prisoners... that’s why we’re maintaining the policies that Chris set up.”

“Yes.”

Grid didn’t bother thinking too deeply. A notification window emerged when he entered the city with his companions.

[The owner of the city, Marquis Fenrir, has woken up after feeling your presence.]

[Fenrir has no intention of acknowledging you as the Blood King.]

[Your blood has cooled down. Your body temperature is falling sharply and all stats will drop dramatically.]

[You have resisted.]

Blood King Candidate—it was a title that intimidated ordinary vampires, confused true blood vampires, and alerted the direct descendant vampires. The system described the blood king as the ‘king of all bloodlines’ and in fact, Tiramet vowed to obediently serve Grid.

It was a title that looked very good at first glance, yet it wasn’t the case in reality. Any direct descendant vampires facing Grid would temporarily be freed from the Curse of Sloth. Marie Rose and Fenrir’s strength would be unmatched when freed from the curse so Grid was caught by the ankle by his own title.

“By the way, why am I the Blood King Candidate?”

Grid received the Blood King Candidate title because he fought and won against the direct descendant vampires. However, he was only a human, not a vampire, so why was he nominated as a Blood King Candidate?

Braham answered the question Grid had been wondering for a long time, “Before Marie Rose was born, my mother developed a technique. It was a technique designed to strengthen Fenrir, who was born stronger than the other direct descendants. His blood was strengthened every time he won against his siblings, giving him the power to be on par with our mother. It was the Blood King project. Her ultimate goal was to work with the strengthened Fenrir to unravel the curse and take revenge on Yatan and Baal.”

“Why bother...? Why didn’t she make Fenrir strong from the beginning?”

“What happened to my mother after she gave birth to Marie Rose?”

“...!”

Beriache died in exchange for giving birth to Marie Rose. The act of giving birth to a child as strong as herself took her life. That’s why she created the Blood King project.

“Yes, my mother had no intention of dying lonely in a distant place. However, Fenrir didn’t live up to our mother’s expectations. He used the Curse of Sloth as an excuse to sleep in his coffin without competing with his other siblings. I challenged him and even beat him.”

“......”

“That useless Fenrir made Mother’s elaborate Blood King project obsolete.”

“....?”

No, Fenrir was Fenrir but Braham was also wrong. Why did he win over Fenrir? If he hadn’t won and just let it go...

‘...Is trolling innate?’

Grid learned a new fact and stared at Braham with fresh eyes. Braham—still disguised as Lux—dropped his head with a somber expression.

“My mother was frustrated by the failure of the Blood King project and eventually gave birth to Marie Rose. She gave up on getting revenge herself and instead created an existence stronger than herself, entrusting revenge to this existence.”

“It’s a sad story.”

Grid’s arms were burning from his lie. Grid didn’t point out Braham’s faults and listened silently. Still, there were some doubts that couldn’t be erased.

“What does that have to do with why I’m the Blood King Candidate now?”

“It seems that she made a change to the Blood King system before she passed away. She removed the Qualification of a Blood King from Fenrir and applied it to those who fought and won against the direct descendant vampires.”

“...!”

“On behalf of the fallen Fenrir, someone else could become the Blood King and work with Marie Rose. This was Mother’s final arrangement. The variable that was applied to that arrangement was you.”

“......”

What was this absurd thing? Grid smiled awkwardly when he learned the truth. “Will I become the Blood King today if I defeat Fenrir?”

“Probably.”

“Do I have to get revenge for the vampires or something if I become the Blood King?”

Grid wasn’t a vampire. There was no obligation to get revenge for the vampires. It might be different if the vampire’s revenge target was a passing slime but the target was the 1st Great Demon Baal and Evil God Yatan. Grid, who had vowed a long time ago not to be involved with absolute existences like a god or dragon, became anxious and Braham smiled at him.

“Of course not. Revenge is for our clan, not humans.”

“I’m glad. By the way, why are you avoiding my eyes?”

“When did I do that?”

It was at this moment...

“The smell of human blood!”

“Dinner! It’s dinner! Yohohoho.”

Vampires smelled the intruders and emerged from their coffins. Grid stepped back because he couldn’t waste his buff while the Overgeared members stepped forward. The vampires of Fenrir’s city were level 400, even if they were normal rated, but the Overgeared members saw a chance.

“Fight and win with our own strength as much as possible! We don’t know when Fenrir will appear so don’t let the strength of the knights be consumed!”

“Yes!”

“It will be a tough fight! Everyone, maintain your spirit!”

At the forefront, Zednos yelled and started to cast large-scale magic. He planned to slow down the momentum of the hundreds of vampires flocking in order to create a favorable battle for his allies, but before he could even reveal his magic, all the vampires burned and died.

The Overgeared members, who were taking buff potions with nervous faces, turned to Braham. Braham looked satisfied as he stood within a sea of fire reminiscent of Hell Gao’s hellfire.

“Delicious.”

[Your knight ‘Braham’ has leveled up.]

[Your knight ‘Braham’ has leveled up.]

“......”

Piaro, Grid’s other knights, and the Overgeared members were stunned. They couldn’t believe Braham was so much stronger than he was just a few days ago.

Grid scratched his head. “He was naked at the time and now he is overgeared.”

Braham agreed. “Your words are correct. You saw it at that time and now it is less.”

In fact, Braham was empty-handed. He hadn’t yet taken out Belial’s staff. The Overgeared members wanted to turn the clock back by two seconds.

‘I drank buff potions for nothing.’

In the midst of this silence, someone took a step forward. It was Jude. He headed to the place where the hundreds of vampires had been a moment ago and started to pick up something.

“Item. Pick up. For. Grid.”

“Jude...” Grid’s heart stirred.