Blood And Shadow

Sun Ruby Blade. At the radiance pouring from that blade, the vampires screamed as if in pain. Even though they didn’t care about the sun blazing overhead.

‘Wow, it works great.’

So this was the hotel’s membership service. It was absurd in more ways than one.

“You damn bastard…!”

In pain so sharp they couldn’t even open their eyes properly, the vampires moved. The five scattered as if bursting apart, and in that moment Solomon calmly sensed the flow around him. It was strange.

More clearly than ever, he could ‘feel’ their movements.

‘Don’t tell me this is the Blood Mage’s class effect….’

A class trait didn’t have to be visible. It wasn’t strange for a mage who handled blood to have sharper perception toward a blood-borne race than others did.

“Hup…!”

Right then, in front of the vampire pack surging in from all sides, the Blood Moon Tribe orcs began to move as well. The tattoos carved into their bodies flared, and like the orc who had fought Solomon before, they wrapped themselves in blood magic and took up a fighting stance.

The difference was that they weren’t Solomon’s enemies, but his allies.

“A temporary alliance.”

“I like the sound of that.”

A tattooed blood-red orc in a suit spoke right beside him.

“Kieeek! Pathetic mortals!”

A vampire ran along the wall and shouted. Any dignity that suited a suit was long gone, and with fangs bared, it spat out a metallic voice dripping with malice.

“!”

Not just words, but a spell charged with magical power.

‘Why is my spell coming from over there?’

Come to think of it, it wasn’t strange for a dark race like vampires to use shadow magic.

The area was swallowed by darkness. But it wasn’t Solomon’s veil. Rather, like Solomon had done to enemies before, this was a spell layered with debuffs that now grabbed at his ankles.

‘This is annoying.’

Inside it, he raised the Sun Ruby Blade again. Unlike at first, the blade’s light was clearly dimmer. As if it couldn’t fully pour out that radiance inside this darkness.

Inside the pitch-black darkness that had fallen despite it being broad daylight, they surged in.

“Kkaaaah!”

Kwagik!

Screams rang out in the middle of it. The sound of orcs being slaughtered one-sidedly inside the veil.

‘In this area, the enemy’s attacks are treated as lesser ambushes.’

Now Solomon was the one being targeted by the enemy’s ambush.

Kwagik!

Right then, the ground under his feet rippled. A scene that felt familiar. It was the blood orcs’ sorcery, raising pillars of blood from what was splattered across the floor.

The rising pillars of blood tore apart the Veil of Darkness covering the area.

“…Let’s fight together.”

By raising pillars of blood and breaking the veil the same way as before, the tattooed blood-red orcs in suits took their positions beside Solomon.

“No. We will hold here.”

“What?”

“You should go beyond the guild hideout and meet the elder.”

The suit-wearing blood-red orcs said, blocking the way in front of him.

“Isn’t your contract to move the relic to where it belongs?”

“…That’s right.”

Solomon glanced at the vampire mob there. How long could they hold against them? Probably not long.

“I’m counting on you back here.”

Even so, he couldn’t ignore that resolve. Solomon stepped forward, leaving behind the orcs guarding the entrance of the Blood Moon Archipelago’s guild hideout.

“Where do you think you’re…!”

“We’re your opponents.”

Kooong!

At the same time, the blood-red orcs’ tattoos flared, and each of them began to unfold their own blood magic against the vampires. At least they could trip them up. Solomon immediately moved beyond the hideout.

The Blood Moon Archipelago, the Blood Moon orc tribe’s guild hideout. Unlike its grand-sounding name, in truth it was closer to a shabby-looking, medieval ritual structure. It wasn’t that deep either. Pushing past ritual cords and hanging charms, a room filled with an unknown incense smell greeted him.

“…So you have come. Outsider of the hotel.”

There was a familiar tattooed blood-red orc there. Older and smaller than the other orcs, a build that looked like an elder’s.

“I brought your relic, the heart.”

Solomon said.

“On a contract from your dead kin.”

“That is something to be grateful for….”

The elder said that and turned his head. Around them, the scent of rites that seemed to honor the dead was rising, and it looked like they were commemorating the deaths of many.

“Because of that single heart, many of our young have died. Even now.”

“…Wallachia Co.’s chairman was after it.”

“Yes. Unfortunately, we do not have the strength to resist.”

The old orc elder said sadly.

“Tribal honor and all of that. In the face of power, it is truly fleeting.”

“Knowing that, why did you still force the attempt to take it back?”

Solomon sneered. Even if they got it back, they wouldn’t be able to protect it anyway.

“It was the spirit of our young.”

“…….”

At those words, Solomon let out a hollow laugh.

“He said he would protect it even if it cost the lives of our entire tribe, even if it meant courting death. No matter how much we tried to stop him, he was stubborn.”

The old elder laughed weakly.

“A truly meaningless thing.”

“Meaningless?”

“To resist an evil you cannot resist.”

“…….”

Without a word, Solomon took the glass bottle from his chest.

At the same time, screams rang out from outside. Orcs’ screams. The sound of burning, breaking, someone dying in the ruins. Blood spraying, flesh scattering, the spark of life going out.

“My contract is, strictly, to return the relic to its rightful place.”

And this was where the relic belonged. Whether they could protect it or not was a separate matter. It wasn’t Solomon’s concern.

“Would you… take that heart with you?”

But the next words were not like that.

“What?”

“The place that heart belongs is by your side.”

“Why should I?”

Solomon asked back coldly on purpose.

“To resist an evil you cannot resist is meaningless. But… you are not like that.”

The elder said.

“You have the strength to resist.”

The strength to resist an evil you cannot resist. Solomon let out a hollow laugh.

“And even in this situation, didn’t you willingly fight for us?”

“I’m no apostle of justice. I just move toward what benefits me.”

“I believe in you. More precisely, I believe in the ‘benefit’ that will move you.”

“…What does that mean?”

“The 「Baptism of Blood」 you received does not end there.”

At the elder’s words, Solomon swallowed in silence.

“Depending on your potential, it will open endless paths.”

“Then why hand over a treasure you should cherish like that to someone else?”

“…There’s only one reason.”

The elder said. For the first time, he showed anger he couldn’t hide, even making the sound of grinding teeth.

“Because it’s better than going into the belly of that disgusting vampire, Chairman Țepeș!”

“…….”

“For that, he forced pressure on the city council to secure redevelopment approval for this street, pressured us, drove us to the cliff. We cannot suffer him any longer.”

The orc elder said.

“The old collapses, and the new wins. But the new, too, soon becomes old. I believe in the new wind you will bring.”

“The old collapses, and the new wins.”

That was when it happened. As if mocking them, a vampire’s voice rang out.

“!”

Kwaang!

It seemed the orcs’ resistance at the entrance had reached its end. Beyond the hideout, the suit-wearing vampires were already striding in.

“You’re spouting nonsense, old man.”

“Our proud bloodline… is always renewed within immortality.”

“Usually the ones who don’t realize they’re old say that.”

Solomon said. Then he realized too late. That damn 「Foul Mouth」 had slipped out of his control again and moved on its own.

“Well, sure. If you can live the same way even when you’re old, that’s great. Be proud.”

“…….”

Trying to patch it up after the fact was obviously too late. As the atmosphere turned more vicious than ever, Solomon silently reaffirmed his resolve. There were no allies to help him. Even so, Solomon didn’t care.

‘I’m going to pour out every card I have left.’

‘.’

For the first time, he recited a spell that enhanced his body. And that wasn’t all.

‘, .’

A Level 1 spell and a Level 3 spell, each strengthening a weapon. He honed two enhancement spells onto a single weapon. Onto the Sun Ruby Blade in his hand.

A blade of blood and shadow.

It wasn’t just 1+1. He knew from the rulebook. When two attributes created synergy, the result could transform into a third spell.

Blood and shadow. A black-crimson blade rippling darkly.

‘.’

In the rulebook, it was called spell combination. And among them, blood and shadow, true to their edgy reputation, boasted especially strong synergy.

With this spell, if he ambushed an enemy in a Bleeding state, it meant he could theoretically output up to four times the damage. It was, literally, damage inflation.

Of course, that was only the ideal theory, when every puzzle piece clicked into place.

In the end, Solomon’s role was to fit that puzzle together.

Numbers were surging through Solomon’s head. Dice, permutations, rolls, all kinds of numbers churned, and the answer that came out was one.

The optimal efficiency he could extract in this situation. What remained was not an experiment. It was proof.

As his entire nervous system accelerated faster than ever under , Solomon recited another spell.

“.”

This was different from the riffraff’s version. A special spell that received an enhancement effect from House Bale’s innate bloodline trait, 「Shadow Attunement」.

“……!”

And though Solomon didn’t realize it, the difference made by the ‘Mental Power +3’ gained through leveling as a Blood Mage was not small. In a TRPG world where a single stat point could decide strength, a +3 to Mind, which directly affected spells, carried a different kind of weight.

With bloodflow accelerating through his whole body, Solomon reset his grip on the hilt. Toward the vampires inside the veil.

Not as the hunted, but as the hunter.