EP.7 Bloody handwriting
Life is a book. It is the only book that begins with birth, ends with death, and is filled with time.
If I compare my life to a book like this, my mind reading is reading. You can read the surface consciousness by looking only at the newly written part at the end of the book, or you can skim through the contents from beginning to end.
I could read it carefully from start to finish, but it takes a long time and it’s dangerous for me, so I skip it.
Amittengrad, the military capital, was a huge monster that ate the surrounding cities. The city, which had grown explosively, was revitalized by pushing all of the original things out.
People, houses, money and even ideas.
The stories of those who were pushed out like that all have a story, so I, who lived there, also took pride in experiencing quite a variety of people.
But above the jumping one, there is the flying one, and at the bottom there is always a guy who digs an inch deeper than that. As befits the great prison that the military nation boasts, the beings residing in Tantalus were on a different level.
dog king.
Vampire’s progenitor.
regressor.
Monsters that, if unleashed, could turn a city into a mess. As if claiming to be outside the standard, their books were also different from the norm.
To explain Aji’s book, it sounds like a book written in ancient hieroglyphic cave paintings. I can read it, but I can’t understand what it means.
what is this what is that Why do we have to distinguish the left and right sides by labeling them? If you have a ball, why aren’t you throwing it? Aji’s book doesn’t even have that concept and doesn’t try to understand it. I don’t even try to explain As if it were a very natural thing.
In a way, it is natural There’s no way dogs and humans can develop their thoughts with the same logic. As long as I am human, the day will never come when I fully understand Aji’s book.
If you read his thoughts carefully, you can figure out his mood, but in that case, it’s better to look up and read Aji’s expression. It won’t make much of a difference whether you read your thoughts or your facial expressions.
A vampire’s book can be defined in one word: ‘thick’. As an ancient monster who has lived for over 1200 years, the pages that are 20 times the size of an ordinary human weigh heavily on me. Even a cursory glance is an amount that the mind must be prepared for.
I don’t know if there’s not much content, but my life is full of ups and downs, so I’m writing an epic poem. Awakening as a vampire The history of scorn and persecution The history of long struggle Reign and downfall Escape and perish… This is what I saw while skipping through, so I can’t dare to touch it. In addition, it is difficult to reflect the times at the time.
It’s a book that an ancient literature researcher would fall in love with, but unfortunately, only I can read the book of the heart.
I am not an ancient literature researcher.
last regressor.
The book of the regressor did not fall under any type. It was a 14-volume series that never existed and shouldn’t have been a regressor’s book.
Even though it was clearly the end of a lifetime. Even if it is miserable, it is a life like a foul that continues even though it has reached its own end. A boring story written by a writer with lingering regrets. I can’t even see the end of the end…
Because of that, I’m very confused.
I read it clearly, but I can’t understand it.
Although he lives this life, the principles of action, ideology, experience, abilities and equipment he acquired were all acquired in his previous life. The reasons for her actions and the enemies to be defeated are listed in the previous volume.
But unlike the regressors, I don’t have anything as great as the ability to jump through time. All I can read is the story of this era.
If I had to compare it, it would be like picking up the latest book while skipping volumes 1 through 13. I can’t follow the story of why he is doing this here.
So even though I knew that in the future I would die and the world would perish, I couldn’t read what had happened. It can only be inferred from her sparse memories and actions.
To know, you had to listen directly to the regressor… or
have her ‘recall’ the past.
“Eh. Either way, I’ll have to deal with the regressor in the end…”
Realizing my situation, I let out a sigh until the ground burned out.
Because it was the bottomless pit, there was no more land to go down.
In a prison where there is no entertainment, if you have nothing to do, you will come out to the yard. I opened the iron gate and came out into the yard.
Then, a strange sight greeted me.
“Tirkanjaka! I came to see you! Open the door!”
The regressor was shouting with arms outstretched in front of the underground armory.
underground armory. It is a place full of weapons to subdue the prisoners by force when they riot. It is made of at least level 3 alchemy steel and can only be opened after going through three security procedures.
However, in Tantalus, where only the prisoners could not handle it, it seems that ‘something else’ was put in instead of weapons in the first place. In a way, it can be said to be the strongest weapon. In any case, it’s the same area that ordinary prisoners should never approach. If you approach him unknowingly, he has nothing to say even if he is executed regardless of the reason.
Right in front of the underground armory, where prisoners were not allowed access, the regressor was doing something like a ritual.
What the hell are you doing? I watched it quietly and suddenly remembered that I had impersonated an instructor.
Write. If I were an instructor, would I have to stop trainees snooping around the underground armory? I don’t want to cut my throat just by blocking it.
A regressor is a terrorist who has taken the world hostage, or a mad scientist who repeats experiments on the entire world. If anything, he is an irresponsible guy who overturns the entire episode and moves on to the next one.
But if you don’t stick to your role, you will be more suspicious. The opponent is a regressor who tries to find the best future by repeating rounds. If you think I’m a foreign being, neither an instructor nor a prisoner, I might try to get rid of it more aggressively.
okay. let’s stop do you really want to kill me
I exclaimed in an angry voice.
“Shay trainee! now…!”
‘Chit. An intruder has arrived. But I can’t be bothered here. If it gets in my way, I have no choice but to clear it somehow…’
“Did you sleep well until…? good morning. It’s the first time I’ve fallen asleep in prison, but it’s the same sleep inside or outside.”
I barely stopped screaming and changed my expression and approached with a grin.
I really wish I could kill you ok decided Let’s do everything we want to do in the future.
“…Chit.”
As I watched leisurely with a smile, the regressor wrinkled his face, turned his head around, and pretended not to know. Even so, I didn’t spit on my smiling face, as if I had improved my personality.
huh. thank you. Nice to meet you too
After exchanging greetings, I walked towards the tightly closed armory door.
“Screaming loudly in broad daylight. What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You want to meet the person inside?”
The regressor chuckled and clicked his tongue briefly. To her, the act of clicking her tongue seemed to be a sign of positivity.
“Why are you trying to wake someone who is sleeping well?”
“I don’t know.”
“I am I can’t say anything.”
The regressor was told that he was wary of me and would not take any action in my presence. It was really embarrassing.
How the world approached destruction and what happened here. The answer to my question can only be given by a regressor. To do so, the regressor must recall the past by my side.
However, with the same attitude as now, even after a year, it is far from the previous episode, so for me, it is far from digging into what will happen in the future.
uhm what to do I cast my gaze to the underground armory.
There are no weapons in Tantalus’ underground armory. Unlike other ordinary prisons, this Great Prison of Tantalus is an isolated space that cannot be escaped by ordinary methods. Since there was no fear of the prisoners running away, the instructors did not deploy weapons to attack the prisoners in case of emergency.
Instead, put something else inside.
The first vampire, the monster of reverse heaven, the queen of darkness.
Founder Tirkanjaka.
A palace and prison for vampires who reject the light and hide underground.
And the regressor is trying to awaken the ancient vampire ancestor Tyrkanjaka.
From my point of view, it is not very pleasant to wake up a being who feeds on human blood. More than anything, now that I am the only proper human being.
But now that you have to talk to the regressor, fixing these little things will make the relationship go forward.
how will we do it.
The thought was short and the decision was quick. okay. Let’s help the regressor.
Could a vampire kill me? Now that most of the prisoners have escaped, I am the only ‘normal’ human left in Tantalus. For vampires, it is a precious resource that produces blood every day. Could it be that because of a brief thirst, he cut open the belly of the goose that lays the golden egg? At best, it would make a body that is neither dead nor alive, and only blood will be squeezed out of it for eternity.
…the future looks bleak. Still, it’s better than dying.
Having made up my mind, I proposed to the regressor.
“Why don’t you break down the door at least?”
“This gate is under the control of Tyrkanjaka.”
Looking in the direction the regressor was pointing at, the keyhole where the security device was supposed to be was glistening with red bloodstains. I don’t have eyes to read energy, but it was a pattern that gave off ominous energy just by looking at it.
“The seal of fresh blood. Her blood-fortified iron gates are no different than Tyrkanjaka’s familiars while that glows ominously and wields dominion. It will never open without her order.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see it, so try your best to destroy it. do you know If you beat it for a few days, it will break.”
“…It’s not impossible, but I don’t want to. I’m asking Tyrkanjaka for help, not fighting.”
huh? I just threw it out, but why am I saying it’s not impossible?
Ordinary people can’t cut through a steel door. Even that is a military special alchemy steel door with level 3 strength. Even if you hit it with a wagon or hit it with a melee shot from a cannon, you can’t break it.
You can destroy it by simply using all your might? A human shouldn’t be destroyed just because he puts his best effort into it. That’s a courtesy to the person who made that iron gate.
“It’s more common sense than I thought.”
“It is natural. Killing someone else’s familiar is more rude than breaking into someone’s door.”
“what the. A man who suddenly tried to cut off a person’s arm talks about manners.”
“what?”
“no. I was talking to myself.”
I turned away from the blindfolded regressor and lost myself in thought.
Alchemy steel used in general underground bunkers is level 3. Hmm. If I use ‘that’, I think it will be dangerous. Shall we try?
I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out a chime. It was the same paper I used to train Aji yesterday.
“What is that servant?”
“It’s a dog caller.”
“dog what?”
Since it is a chime, the sound is not very loud, but the space called Tantalus is too small for the king of beasts, whose world is his home. Aji, who has a sensitive sense of hearing and smell, will hear it clearly as if it is ringing in his ears.
Of course, normally, no matter how much I rang the bell, I would have ignored it. There is too much sound in the world to pay attention to every single noise.
But if it was the guy who was with this bell all day yesterday, he would definitely hear it and come. To do that, I rang the bell repeatedly while playing yesterday. I held the bell above my head and waved it.
daughter and daughter.
“bruise? bruise!”
A clear chime rang from a small chime, and a dog barked in the distance. Right after that, Aji started jumping down the wall from the roof of the building.
I’m not joking, I was really coming down the wall. It is several times faster than falling. The grayish-white concrete that forms the outer wall of the building has been chipped away and the dog’s footprints have been engraved. Landing on the ground with a thump, before I could even feel the vibration, Aji bounced and rushed toward me furiously.
It is a sudden and passionate change of direction, like a rubber ball bouncing off the ground. faster than falling. If hit, it will kill one person.
I urgently found the piece of meat I made yesterday. I managed to take it out just before Aji approached and threw it at the door of the underground armory.
Aji, who was running, passed me along with a piece of meat.
At that speed, he crashed into the iron gate.
thud–. A majestic and majestic sound resounds. Even if you hit the big bell on the bell tower, it won’t make a louder sound than this. You can feel the air of Tantalus vibrating as if you were inside a percussion instrument. It may be because of my mood, but it seems that the ground is slightly tilted due to this collision.
A frightened regressor grabbed me by the collar.
“you…! What the hell are you doing!”
“Uh huh. Watch.”
“I told you! I need Tyrkanjaka’s help!”
“My dog ran into it, what should I do?”
And Aji who created that shock.
“delicious! bruise! delicious!”
He was holding a piece of meat in his mouth calmly and showing a happy expression.
I glanced at Aji and the iron gate once and nodded.
“hmm. Level 3 Alchemy Steel was ridiculously strong enough to break it. It seems that the strengthening effect of the imprint exceeds expectations. Minimum level 4.”
Aji, who ran at full speed, crashed into it, but the footprints were only engraved. If Aji gets enraged and throws a punch, how can he break through, but the gentle dog king won’t be angry with that iron gate.
done. I’ve confirmed that it doesn’t work, so I don’t need Aji anymore.
“I heard the bell ringing. Good job. Now go back.”
“Aww!”
The wildly whipped child waggled his tail round and round and jumped beside me.
“Let’s play! bruise! Let’s play!”
“Did you play yesterday?”
“So let’s play!”
Yesterday’s work was yesterday’s work, and today’s work is today’s work. It’s a truly enterprising beast that doesn’t care about the past.
“Today I am busy. won’t play go back.”
“no! Let’s play!”
Aji pretended to bite my calf with a dissatisfied expression. ha. stubbornness or insistence. Am I really my servant?
This is all because of the regressor. I should have corrected my habit from yesterday, but I only gave you carrots and couldn’t whip you because you interrupted me by saying you’d watch. I glared at the regressor with resentment.
“What is it? Why are you looking at me?”
“after. Speak.”
Everyone is irresponsible. Among the people who claim to take care of the dog’s rights, there is no one who is properly responsible. It’s up to me to pamper the dog and eventually play with him.
However, unlike animals, humans are animals that reflect on the past. I came out prepared in advance for such a situation. You can’t be a ball-throwing machine like yesterday.
“Come on, Aji. Smell my hands.”
“bruise!”
As I stretched out my hand, Aji quickly bit his nose and sniffed. In order to clearly remember my body odor, I had them smell the palms and the backs of their hands alternately. After enough time, I reached out for the prison.
“Oops! Ajay. It’s a big deal. I left the ball in there.”
“bruise?”
“You remember the smell? Chase my scent and bring me a ball. Then I will play with you.”
“Woof woof!”
Without a moment’s doubt, Aji kicked off the ground and ran toward the inside of the building. Seeing Aji walking away, he smiled in contempt.
Whoops. I washed the ball clean for today and poked it deep under the rubble of collapsed concrete. Even the dog king will take a year to find.
time was earned I turned to the regressor.
“I think there are limits to what we can do. Let’s find another way.”
what. It’s that gaze again. The expression that I’m not good at handling dogs.
The regressor looked at Aji, who was moving away, and said with a confused face.
“…When did you become so close with Aji?”
“To be friendly. I only played for a day.”
“Nonsense. Even though it’s been over a week, I’m pretending to know…”
That’s probably because you treat dogs like humans. Waving at a dog for a hundred days and saying, “Hello, how nice is the weather?” I mean, train it with carrots and sticks like I did.
Well, let’s end the chatter here. Now I have to think about how to get into the underground bunker where the vampires live.
“Anyway, if it’s a door that can’t be opened even with dog missiles and you don’t want to destroy it… then you have no choice but to open it yourself from the inside.”
“I’ve written all sorts of ways. I screamed and knocked. But Tyrkanjaka didn’t even respond.”
“haha. Do not worry. I know how.”
“you?”
A regressor who raises his eyes in doubt. Leaving her behind, I was lost in thought.
When it first fell on Tantalus, the vampire woke up, albeit only briefly. I was sure I could read my thoughts faintly at that time.
why did you wake up To greet a fallen prisoner? no, that wouldn’t be the case
If so, one reason.
“You must offer blood.”
When Aji bit my ankle and dragged me, I fell and my flesh was rubbed and blood came out. Like water flowing down and a ripe apple falling to the ground, it exercised its dominion over my blood very naturally and absorbed the lumpy blood on the concrete.
And what did you complain about not being delicious? Thinking about it again, I don’t think so again. Because he ate.
Whether it happened because it was tasteless or whatever happened in response to blood, it did happen.
“You have to offer blood to wake up the vampire.”
I said it proudly, but the regressor snorted and held out his finger.
“You don’t think I would have thought that much? I already did.”
The tips of his fingers were white and soft because he hadn’t wielded the sword much ‘yet’. There was a thin wound that was slowly beginning to heal.
“I cut my finger and offered my blood. But Tyrkanjaka didn’t wake up. Only blood was sucked into me.”
“what.”
“joy. You said it proudly, so I guess you don’t have much options either?”
The regressor crossed his arms and said to me as if he was angry. It seemed that I was in a good mood when I was fooling around. Why do you like it when the strategy you worked so hard for failed?
Considering that the shed blood was sucked inside, it is certain that it can ‘sense’ the blood. However, it doesn’t wake up with just a little blood. This is because for a vampire, absorbing blood is a normal action, just like breathing.
Well, then there is only one way left.
“I write with blood.”
“what?”
Originally, to the dog king, the sound of a bell was just a meaningless noise, just iron colliding with iron. So until now, the sound of the bell did not inspire Aji in any way.
But after playing ball with me and giving her snacks every time the bell rang, it was only then that the bell sounded a meaning to Aji. With a clear sound that evokes good feelings.
I explained it poetically, but it is called learning without being a little romantic.
The same goes for vampires. If it’s just bloodstains, I’ll suck it up, but if I’m writing with blood, my consciousness will definitely focus on that.
“It seems certain that Tyrkanjaka trainees can feel blood. However, there is no meaning in that blood, so I just suck it inadvertently. If you can convey the meaning by writing in blood… At least you can tell whether the trainee of Tirkanjaka wants to meet you or not, right?”
“…Chit.”
‘There is a point. Your head is spinning quite a bit. I’ll admit it.’
If you admit it, I want you to say it in words. don’t bite your tongue
“okay. I’ll try.”
The regressor raised his hands behind his head and grabbed the air. It was only then that the image of the heavenly sword floating in the back of the head was captured in the regressor’s perception. When I asked where he had put his weapon, he had left it floating in the air.
It was a completely unconscious action, so I didn’t even notice it with mind reading. I thought he was unarmed, but he had a knife floating over his head? Even though the cherry blossoms are weightless swords, they require more meticulous control.
It’s not an area that has been achieved by talent alone. A skill that only those who have carried a single sword for years and decades can master. It reminded me of the fact that regressors have more experience than they appear. How on earth could he unconsciously carry that sword after carrying it for several times?
I’ll have to be careful in the future. Regressor’s weapons are closer than they appear.
It was time to think so.
fit.
The sword is drawn horizontally. There is a regressor’s finger on that trajectory. The regressor, who had cut his finger to the point of not being cut off with a skill close to that of a master, raised his finger after floating a thousand cherry blossoms.
A thin, invisible wound was engraved on her long white finger, and red blood pooled in the gap.
After that, blood poured out as if a faucet had been opened. A large amount to worry about anemia.
It’s a sight that hurts just by looking at it, but strangely, my heart was as calm as if it had sunk.
It must be because the wounded regressor did not feel any pain. Fascinated by that strange calmness, I had no choice but to remain still.
“What should I write?”
The regressor raised his bloody finger as if holding a brush and said. The blood dripping from the fingertips stands out. I cleared my throat slightly and answered.
“Write it down. uh.”
“uh.”
The regressor continued writing, taking care not to let the dripping drops of blood ruin the strokes.
“le.”
“Ur.”
“god.”
“Old man…”
The regressor who had written that far suddenly raised his head and shouted.
“Are you old?”
“yes. It’s time for the elderly to cough. It is so little.”
“for a moment! What the hell are you doing?”
“yes? What are you doing? You’re literally trying to wake a grown-up.”
Apparently, the regressor did not know much about the existence of the founder, Tyrkanjakara. It seems that there was no relationship during the last episode. I calmly explained for her.
“Tirkanjaka trainee is an adult reaching 1,200 years of age, and when she was active, seniority was rampant. Therefore, it is appropriate to use honorifics in the most polite manner possible.”
“No! Even so, what woman in the world would like to be treated like an old woman!”
no way. What are you talking about. If you lived for 1200 years, you are not an old man, but a history book. It means that they have lived longer than most countries. Could such a person not even know his own objective age?
It was then.
[They’re bold guys…]
I heard a dark and deep voice and the iron door of the underground armory slowly opened with a smooth metal sound. Inside, visible through the crack in the iron door, there was pitch-black darkness.
Most of the light sources illuminating Tantalus in the bottomless pit are searchlights. It is a sharp and non-spreading light, so the darker the place, the darker it is.
But… the darkness in the underground armory was on a different level from the simple absence of light.
A jet black that seems to suck up light. However, a bloody color lingers in the darkness that is not reflected. It’s obviously pitch black, but it’s red like blood. An irony that is incomprehensible to common sense.
However, what dwells there is a monster that breaks the standards of common sense.
A few days,
a few months , a few
years,
a few centuries…
Legends, history, and the blood value of people who have passed away in the ages. The history of the desperately compressed and condensed blood that harvested all those deaths flows down there.
Clearly, what lies ahead is a mystery before discussing strength and weakness.
The one who was talked about in fairy tales, occupied a page in history and became a legend.
Founder Tirkanjaka.
It gives me goosebumps. What is inside is a monster that has lived for a thousand years on the basis of human blood.
When you’re worried about breaking the seal for no reason.
[Come in.]
The sturdy iron door opened wide, and a brand of fresh blood that glowed bright red came out and looked down at the regressor.
