WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 25: O Vulgar Slaughter, O Craven Survival. (3)
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Human Ranch.
A facility where humans were kept like livestock and drained of as much blood as needed.
It was a project intended both to supply Vital Blood and establish a foothold.
Though it hadn't been completed yet, it was already serving its purpose well.
The sight inside was nothing short of hell.
“Ugh, ngh...”
A warehouse.
A space where kidnapped humans were confined.
Iron cages barely thirty-six square feet in size, packed tightly together like rows of prison cells.
Around a hundred people were trapped in that chicken-coop-like arrangement.
“...”
Had they gone without seeing daylight for some time?
Every one of them looked gaunt.
Their eyes had lost focus as they stared blankly into empty space.
Only one person among those half-dead people moved his eyes.
‘Fuck...’
He looked middle-aged.
He had a fine beard and wore the uniform of the Border Knight Order.
Yet crumpled inside that cramped cage, he looked utterly pathetic.
The man's name was Kantas.
‘I wanted this to be a dream.’
He was a veteran of the Border Knight Order, a man with years of service under his belt.
The place where he was currently imprisoned was beneath the city of Riventa.
He had come to investigate the recent string of disappearances, only to be kidnapped by vampires himself.
‘Those fucking bloodsuckers...’
He had been locked in this cage for a week now.
From what he had seen, this place was no different from hell.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck... You fucking bastards.’
It was a facility built by vampires.
Here, humans were treated worse than livestock.
Having their blood constantly drawn through hose-like tubes was routine.
Whenever the vampires felt like it, they dragged a few people away, tortured them, carved strips of flesh from them one by one, and savored them.
‘The worst thing I saw... was them pulling out someone's organs while they were still alive.’
That was only what he had seen through his limited view.
What on earth happened beyond where his eyes could reach?
That wasn't all.
Once the humans kidnapped as livestock were deemed used up, they were disposed of.
Here, disposal did not mean death. It meant being reborn.
The vampires turned those marked for disposal into mindless monsters.
‘Ghouls.’
The monsters they created became enslaved to vampires.
This was a place where even death brought no peace.
Kantas had no choice but to give up.
‘There's no way I'm getting out alive.’
Kantas was one of the stronger fighters among the Border Knights, with years of experience behind him.
But the vampires stationed here were on another level.
He had been kidnapped without even a chance to resist.
‘There are at least thirty vampires posted outside.’
There would be even more if he counted those inside the facility.
And even if he somehow fought them off, there was no way out as long as this place was underground.
Judging by the sheer size of the space, they had dug down at least several dozen meters.
The same words kept slipping through his lips.
“Fuck...”
Kantas of the Border Knight Order.
He had crossed the line between life and death countless times while making a living with his sword, but this time, death truly seemed close.
No... Since he would become a Ghoul, perhaps he wouldn't even get to die.
He missed his wife and daughter at home.
‘No reinforcements... are coming.’
It was doubtful anyone could even discover this place.
He could only hope the others didn't end up in the same state as him.
There was no hope.
His eyes were lifeless.
“...”
As he leaned against the cage, a sudden commotion reached his ears.
Kuuuuung-.
A sound from outside.
Something might have exploded, or perhaps someone had screamed.
Were those bloodsuckers torturing the livestock again?
Sick of it though he was, Kantas peered through a gap in the wall.
Even after giving up on escape, he instinctively checked his surroundings.
“...?”
Yet what entered his sight wasn't a torture scene.
For some reason, the vampires had gathered in one spot.
All of them were staring in the same direction.
Following their gazes, he saw a black robe fluttering in the distance.
‘A mask...?’
A human.
A masked human stood among the vampires.
A sparkling shard in one hand, a colorful balloon in the other.
‘What the fuck?’
Kantas couldn't help but stare in confusion.
Regardless, the corners of the mask's mouth were twisted into a grotesque grin.
* * *
“...”
I silently stared ahead.
Eyes glared in my direction.
There were around twenty of them.
Apparently, they had heard the commotion and rushed out in the middle of their work.
“Hmm.”
The bastards looked around.
Were they checking how many enemies had invaded?
But no matter how much they searched, there were only two masked figures standing before them.
“What the... Just two? And isn't the one in the back a vampire?”
“You said there was an enemy attack. Why the fuck did you sound the alarm when there's nothing here?”
“Those three sprawled over there. Don't tell me those two took them down?”
“Wow, that's pathetic.”
The vampires sneered among themselves.
While they murmured, I asked Carmilla, “It's a little late to ask, but are you all right with this, Princess?”
“What are you asking?”
“They're your kin, after all. I'll try not to kill them if possible, but if necessary, I intend to kill them without hesitation.”
“...”
“Princess.”
“...I know.”
Carmilla took a deep breath.
Her silver hair spilled down as though it had come loose.
“I knew from the thick scent of blood alone. How many lambs have been sacrificed, and what a horrible place this is. Good and evil are absolute standards. Those of the same kind are not good merely because they are kin, nor are those of another kind evil merely because they are different.”
Carmilla Blandir.
The princess did not waver.
“They deserve to be punished.”
“If it's too difficult, you can rest for a moment. I'll handle all of them.”
“No... Were they not once my people? I, too, must bear responsibility.”
The girl's eyes were resolute.
She had shaped a slender spear with Bloodcraft in one hand.
Reliable backup.
“Then...”
I stepped forward.
Toward the vampires gathered in a swarm.
“Hello, everyone.”
“Huh... That guy's even crazier than I thought.”
“Is something wrong with him? He's even wearing some weird mask...”
“Well, we can beat the shit out of him first and find out. Same goes for the vampire bitch behind him.”
They stared at me as if I were insane.
A few of them even burst out laughing, as though this was entertaining.
One of the vampires at the very front stomped toward me.
A greatsword forged from blood.
They carried a blade as large as my body.
“Kid, did you two come alone? No other humans with you?”
“That's right. Was our visiting party perhaps too large?”
“Haa... You're a really funny bastard.”
Kuuung-.
A heavy footstep shook the ground.
Perhaps the three bodies sprawled nearby still bothered them.
They watched us carefully, but didn't close the distance too quickly.
“Do you not understand the situation? Can't you see the vampires all around you?”
“Of course I can. You're all covered in blood, which is rather ominous...”
“And you still came with just two people? What, are you looking to kill yourselves?”
“Of course not. I want to live a long time.”
“Well, look at that. You're not even scared? You're definitely not normal.”
The vampire fell silent.
They seemed to be examining me closely.
“Hmm... You look ordinary. No, you're far weaker than ordinary. You don't have any muscle, I can't sense mana, and it doesn't look like you can use divine power or curses either...”
“How amazing. How did you notice all of that?”
“Hey, what kind of nerve did you have to come in here? More importantly, how did you get in?”
“That's a secret.”
I smiled.
The corners of the mask's mouth twitched softly along with my smile.
“Forget that... You're all drenched in blood. Are you all right?”
“We're fine. This isn't our blood.”
“Oh?”
“When you play around with humans, blood tends to splatter everywhere.”
“That's an interesting topic.”
I asked the hand that was caked not only in blood, but also in chunks of organs.
“Where did that blood come from? What did you do to the kidnapped humans?”
“Haha! Don't worry. We didn't kill them. We just played with them a little.”
“...”
Perhaps because of those loaded words, the other vampires watching nearby joined in.
“Kik, kikik... That's not wrong. We did leave them alive.”
“We just pulled out their fingernails one by one, carved up their flesh and ate it piece by piece... Ah, is that too boring? Then I'll tell you only the creative ones. My favorite was making two humans stand together and eat each other's organs! The winner got to live.”
“You didn't let them live, you crazy bitch. You turned them into Ghouls.”
“Tch... I did let them live! I never said I'd let them stay whole, did I?”
“And weren't those two a mother and her son? That was pretty funny.”
The vampires eagerly bragged about their exploits.
Carmilla's face went pale.
I listened without a word.
Did they think I was frightened?
Excited, they continued pouring out their tales.
“I still like children best...”
“Still, you're the worst. Pulling out their organs while they're alive, then watching them slowly stop breathing... Do you know how filthy the place gets every time you do that?”
“That bastard is sick. They must've brought in at least thirty kidnapped people alone.”
“It's fine, it's fine. I turned all of them into Ghouls right before they died.”
“Right, they didn't die. Now they'll live forever without being themselves... Kikik.”
Quietly.
I only listened.
“Still, haven't you been killing too many lately? Don't turn useful ones into Ghouls. We need to draw as much blood from them as possible.”
“So what? Their Majesty said to collect Ghouls too.”
“Have we already piled up a hundred Ghouls? We've really done a lot.”
Malice.
Malice mixed into every single word.
A ragged breath caught in my throat.
“Didn't the knight corps come to investigate the other day? It's about time we held back a little, right?”
“Come to think of it, where's that knight? Did we put him with the blood bags?”
“We already made the subordinates into Ghouls. Only the one who seemed to be their leader should still be alive.”
“I'm pissed at that one, so let's keep him going a little longer.”
They toyed with life and death so easily.
Lips that spoke of blood and flesh without a trace of guilt.
After hearing all of it, I had only one thought.
“Why?”
But.
It was something I couldn't help asking.
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Your purpose is blood, isn't it? Your additional goal would be accumulating Ghouls.”
And yet.
“Why did you do such things? Things that bring you no benefit. Torturing and tormenting people. Giving them sorrow, giving them despair... What meaning is there in that? When you heard their pleas, what did you think to yourselves?”
“...”
Asking for a reason was the bare minimum of humanity.
A brief silence settled over the area.
Then,
“Pfft!”
Someone burst out laughing.
The silence broke, and more laughter followed one after another.
Before long, the vampires were clutching their stomachs and laughing as though they were singing in chorus.
Amid that laughter, it seemed that I alone wasn't laughing.
“Aha! Ahaha... You're a fucking riot!”
It was the vampire with the greatsword again.
After catching their breath, they grinned at me.
“You're asking why we did it... That's a question I've never imagined. Well, if you want to know, I should tell you, right?”
The answer was short.
“Just because.”
“...”
“Just because we can.”
“...”
“It's a role that suits you humans perfectly, isn't it? You're weak, but you struggle like crazy anyway. Those reactions are fun, so it makes tormenting you worthwhile. And when you turn humans into Ghouls, they're more useful than other livestock.”
“...”
“What, does that piss you off?”
“...”
I didn't react.
I only stood there.
Someone grabbed my sleeve from behind.
Carmilla's red eyes trembled, her face drained of color.
“...Viktor.”
“Yes, Master.”
“...”
“...”
The princess searched for words, but found nothing she could put on her tongue.
So I did not offer any words either.
The brief silence felt as though it were snapping my neck.
At its end, the sound the girl let out was pitifully small.
“...They have consumed human Vital Blood.”
“It appears so.”
“Their violence runs deep. They will be at least twice as strong as ordinary vampires.”
“Do you think I'll lose?”
“No... Not at all.”
“Do you still intend to fight?”
“Yes. I must bear responsibility for all of this.”
Tears.
Were they anger, or grief, as they ran down her cheeks?
It didn't matter.
“The plan has changed. I don't think a gentle subjugation will be possible.”
“Yes...”
“I'll leave them breathing. I'll just cut off all their limbs and blind them...”
The Balloon Knife had already been put back into my inventory.
I wasn't in the mood to play around.
Instead, I held a Pocket Watch.
A Stake Fragment glittered in my other hand.
“What? They're just standing there having a chat among themselves.”
Tak-!
As that happened, the vampire with the greatsword rushed in.
Did they think I was completely defenseless?
Maybe they had never considered me a real opponent in the first place.
“I'll have fun playing with you too! I'll catch the bitch behind you, get some information out of her, and then...!”
Shwaaaak-!
Their body shot forward like an arrow.
The crimson greatsword raced toward me, ready to fall over my head.
Even then, I remained quiet.
I only fiddled with the watch.
Click-.
At last, my thumb pressed the button on the watch.
“Hmm.”
The next moment, I had already passed by them.
“...?!”
The others recoiled in shock.
Their greatsword had been parried and sent flying far away.
A clear line marked where the stake had passed through their body.
Distinct wounds on both arms and both legs.
“Ugh, ughhh...?”
Crash-!
Then their arms and legs separated from their torso.
The pieces hanging in the air fell onto the floor.
I grabbed them by the hair and raised their face.
Then I rubbed the Stake Fragment against both their eyes as though searing them.
Sizzle-!
“Kk, kk, kkuuaaagh!!!”
A scream burst from between their lips.
I swung my clenched fist several times.
Thud-!
“Your mouth.”
“Agh, aaaagh!!”
“Don't open your mouth. Close it. Shut up.”
Crack, crunch, thud-!
Their teeth shattered into pieces.
I stuffed a handkerchief into their bleeding mouth.
Their eyeballs were almost completely cooked, and their screams faded away.
“Phew...”
I let out a faintly ragged breath.
A ruined torso dangled limply from my hand.
“Ugh, eugh...”
Arms ruined, legs ruined, eyes ruined, mouth ruined, the bastard had fainted.
I carelessly tossed aside their body once it was no longer useful.
Splat-.
“...”
The area that had been so noisy only moments before was now completely silent.
The vampires stood there dumbfounded.
“That makes one.”
“...”
I dusted off my hands.
The mask was smiling, but there wasn't a trace of laughter in the voice beyond it.
“So.”
It was only cold enough to freeze them.
“Who's next?”
Before they could answer, I had already pressed the button on the watch.
Click-.
* * *
Afterward.
The thick scent of burnt meat spread through the area.
The situation had become complete chaos.
I wiped the soot from my fingertips.
Perhaps because I had moved too forcefully, sweat streamed down my forehead.
“Haa, haa...”
Exactly fourteen vampires were lying sprawled around me.
No... Things with their arms, legs, eyes, and mouths all gone.
For a moment, I wondered whether they could really still be called vampires.
After thinking about it for a bit, I decided I could call them caterpillars instead.
‘The other seven ran away...’
From the time a few of them escaped to the moment I turned the remaining fourteen vampires into caterpillars, it had taken only twenty-one minutes and fifty-four seconds.
I roughly ran a hand through my hair.
The corners of the mask's mouth were split all the way to its ears.
Though I wasn't smiling at all beneath it.
“Haa... Fuck.”
I'm really weak.
My overall rating is an unprecedented E-rank.
I've got the kind of body that could put up a good fight against any passing farmer.
So I hadn't wanted to fight this intensely...
“Fucking bastards.”
They had to make me lose my temper.
After taking a deep breath, I got back to my feet.
“Viktor...”
The princess stood beside me, looking equally exhausted.
Perhaps because she had to support me after I suddenly rushed forward, she seemed more drained than usual.
‘Or... maybe it's the mental stress.’
Her red eyes examined me.
As though checking whether I had been hurt.
“Are you all right...?”
“I'm fine. More importantly, it seems you've overexerted yourself, Princess.”
“I am not done either. I cannot casually withdraw from my responsibility.”
Step.
Carmilla came to stand beside me.
Even if I tried to stop her, she wouldn't listen.
Rather than run away helplessly, she was the sort who would stay and be beaten until she broke.
I smiled.
“Ha...”
The thing churning inside me settled down a little.
Matching my steps to hers, I walked toward the blood-red scenery ahead.
“Shall we go now?”
“Yes.”
We hadn't discussed it, but we already shared the same goal.
The Human Ranch.
A place that claimed humans were livestock, where atrocities worse than that took place.
We had to destroy this facility so thoroughly that nothing remained.
Ding-!
[Sub Quest]
-Title: O Vulgar Slaughter, O Craven Survival.
-Details: Prevent vampires of the New Kingdom from constructing a ‘Human Ranch.’ Rescue the people kidnapped by the vampires.
-Penalty upon Failure: The destruction of the city of Riventa
-Reward: Endless favor from the city of Riventa.
[Time Limit: 1 hour 18 minutes 39 seconds]
“We should hurry.”
We also needed to rescue any survivors who might still remain.
We headed toward the large facility in the distance.
“To save everyone.”
The night had only just begun.
Footnotes:
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