Chapter 3

"Seek death."

The moment Buck's massive hand was about to touch the Empress's token, I drew my right hand from my coat pocket like lightning.

As a human without supernatural powers, surviving in a pile of monsters depended not on brute force, but on the element of surprise and ruthless cunning.

"Hiss—!"

I pressed the valve forcefully, and the metal cylinder instantly sprayed a high-pressure silver mist that hit Buck's grinning face with perfect precision.

"Ahhhhhhh—!!!"

An ear-piercing scream instantly shattered the tranquility of the south gate. The moment the highly concentrated liquid silver contacted the blood servant's skin, it was like pouring boiling concentrated sulfuric acid on snow. Intense corrosive sounds accompanied by acrid white smoke shot skyward.

Buck clutched his completely burned face and melted eyeballs, rolling frantically on the ground in agony, smashing the wooden crates nearby.

"What the hell?!" Marcus behind him was shocked, never expecting a human to dare strike first.

"Tear him apart!" Marcus roared at the other blood thrall, Tim.

Tim let out an inhuman roar, opening his fang-filled maw to bite viciously at my neck. His speed was extremely fast, bringing with it a putrid wind.

But I was prepared. I didn't retreat; instead, I lowered my center of gravity and made an extremely dangerous sliding step forward to close distance.

The moment he missed his pounce, my left hand twitched.

With a crisp "click," a folding pure silver dagger shot out from the mechanism in my sleeve and was gripped tightly in my palm. The blade was also coated with toxins mixed from garlic extract and holy water.

I gripped the silver blade and, using the momentum from his lunge, thrust the pure silver edge upward without hesitation into the main artery at the root of his thick thigh, then twisted hard!

"Splurt!"

Dark blood sprayed out like a fountain, sizzling and burning as it hit the stone slabs. Tim's massive body suddenly stiffened. The soul-burning sensation from the silver weapon instantly robbed him of his fighting ability, and his enormous frame crashed to its knees before me.

The entire process happened too quickly. In less than five seconds, two blood thrall guards with monstrous strength were one dead, one crippled.

Marcus stood frozen in place, his pale face that always wore an arrogant sneer now filled with shock and disbelief. He seemed unable to understand how two powerful servants could be instantly killed by a human without magic.

Taking advantage of his moment of stunned confusion, I stepped on Tim's shoulder to vault up, like a starving wolf driven to desperation, directly leaping over the half-height viewing window and lunging hard into the guard booth.

"Bang!"

I tackled Marcus heavily to the ground, knocking over the goblet of crimson blood.

"You lowly—"

Marcus finally reacted, baring his fangs, trying to use his pure-blood vampire strength to throw me off.

But I gave him no chance to cast any spells. I rode on his chest, my left hand stained with hot blood gripping his collar tightly, while my right hand held the still-dripping pure silver folding knife mercilessly against the carotid artery in his neck.

The moment the blade touched his pale skin, it immediately made a "sizzling" burning sound, and a wisp of black smoke rose up.

"Ah!" Marcus let out a pained grunt, his body instinctively stiffening. Pure silver was equally deadly to high-ranking vampires. If I applied just a little more pressure, this knife could sever his throat, and the poison would instantly prevent his wound from healing.

"Don't move." I panted heavily, staring fixedly at him, my voice cold as ice chips. "Otherwise I guarantee your head will roll before my daughter's does."

The commotion here finally alerted the inhabitants of the nearby slums.

Weak spirit-stone lamps lit up in the shabby houses all around. Bottom-tier vampires, werewolf half-bloods, and human blood bags like myself all poked their heads out.

When they saw the carnage at the south gate, when they saw the usually swaggering and arrogant patrol officer Marcus now pinned to the ground by a human janitor with a knife at his throat, they all gasped in shock.

"My God... is that Lucas?"

"Has he gone insane? Attacking a patrol officer—the family guard will nail him to a cross and burn him for ten days!"

Suppressed whispers spread through the crowd of onlookers, shock rippling through the air.

I ignored the surrounding gazes, pressing the blade down another half-inch. A trickle of dark red blood flowed down Marcus's neck.

"Now, put away your arrogance." I stared coldly into his fear-filled eyes. "Tell me, now that the key is destroyed, is there a backup emergency activation procedure for the barrier? Speak!"

Marcus was breathing heavily. He could sense the aura of someone who had truly killed on me. He spoke tremblingly: "No... there's none! The absolute defense is connected to the castle's ley lines. Once physically damaged, unless the Elder Council lifts it from within, not even a fly could get through! If you let me go, I can help you..."

My heart sank to the bottom. Could it be that I really had no choice but to crush the pendant and drag Isabella into this?

Just as I was trapped in this desperate internal struggle—

"Help—me—!"

An extremely piercing scream filled with endless terror suddenly came from beyond the completely sealed deep purple barrier, instantly tearing through the death-like silence of the night.