Chapter 107: Extermination of the Infected, 2
People infected by blood contamination exhibit vastly different symptoms and degrees of infection.
Some are completely transformed into monstrous slime-like beings, losing their rationality and craving only blood.
Others retain their human appearance and reasoning abilities.
The latter group often comprises individuals with a higher aptitude for mana.
Central researchers concluded that mana within their bodies might preserve some semblance of reason, but the exact mechanism is unclear.
Even if reason is preserved, it doesn’t grant human-like intelligence or morality; the primal instinct of true ancestors to crave human blood and flesh remains unchanged.
In some cases, becoming a mindless monster without emotions or guilt might be a preferable fate.
However, when reason is retained, the situation becomes more complicated.
While one might assume these infected individuals grapple with identity confusion, fear of their monstrous form, and guilt over preying on humans, most retain their intelligence to hunt humans more cruelly.
Infected individuals with reason are thus far more dangerous.
Within a sector of Caracas Industrial Steps, there was a family of infected individuals.
These were not traditional large families but infected individuals whose memories and human identities had been wiped away.
Instead, they formed something resembling a family structure among themselves.
Infected individuals rarely retain their human identity completely.
Most fully infected individuals transform into vampire-like entities, subordinates to true ancestors, losing their human memories in the process.
While intelligence and reasoning persist, their transformed nature often makes them forget their humanity, creating new identities akin to children or something else entirely.
This family was formed by infected individuals in similar circumstances.
They lived like a family in a small industrial complex within Caracas Steps, which had been converted into a mansion-like structure.
Originally a drug production facility, it had been turned into a livable space by wealthy gangs, making it suitable for their needs.
“I drew a picture of Daddy!”
“Ha ha ha, well done.”
“Ugh, that’s awful.”
“What about you, sister? What are you drawing?”
“I’m combining the styles of neo-metaphysical and surrealist schools…”
“Dad, sister’s talking nonsense again!”
“Do you want to die?!”
“Ha ha ha, now, now, let’s all get along.”
The children’s admiration for their father and the vampire father’s kind smile resembled a peaceful, multicultural family more than infected beings.
The wife’s contented gaze as she prepared dinner added to the scene.
Other activities included tending to the fireplace, cleaning the dirty house, reading books, and a childlike infected drawing in their diary.
They truly seemed like an ordinary, peaceful family, not infected beings.
Originally, they might have been members or executives of a crime syndicate, but they lost their human identity in the blood contamination sweeping through Caracas Steps.
With maternal instincts slightly stronger than others, one infected became the mother.
Those with childhood trauma or strong attachment tendencies became the children, forming this vampire family.
While these infected individuals banded together due to similar circumstances, their collective strength became a significant survival advantage.
The blood-contaminated Caracas Steps had become both a feeding ground and a survival battleground for vampires.
It was natural that a family-like group of vampires outperformed other factions and dominated in the competition for prey.
“Tonight’s dinner is four orphans~!”
“Wow!”
“I’ve tried different cooking methods for each one.”
“One is smoked, another is just grilled. What’s this?”
“There was a huge cauldron in the meth production facility! I poured oil into it and boiled them alive. They were so fresh, wriggling about!”
“Oh my, that sounds delicious~”
“I even coated them in batter to keep the blood from leaking out.”
The mother vampire’s exceptional cooking skills drew cheers from the son and sister vampires.
Among all blood types, children’s blood, especially from orphans who lived miserable lives of despair and suffering, was the most delicious.
The drawback was that they hadn’t grown up well-fed, so there wasn’t much meat.
Considering the basic malnutrition of orphans in Caracas Steps, it was inevitable.
Still, their blood tasted far better than the heavy, polluted blood of adults soaked in drugs and toxins.
Someday, they planned to move to the upper levels and cook plump, well-fed children.
With the power gained from becoming vampires, reaching the upper levels wasn’t impossible.
Of course, Executors, Hunters, or Overseers might come after them, but there were plenty of other vampires, weren’t there?
By then, they’d be much stronger, so there wasn’t much to worry about.
“But, Mom, you brought one of them back alive this time?”
“Really? That’s unusual for you.”
“Mm-mmph, mmph…!”
The orphan girl, who had watched her friends being roasted and fried before her, had already lost her mind.
Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes, and though it might have been better if she fainted or passed out, the vampires seemed to have done something to prevent her from losing consciousness.
“Hmm, well, I requested it.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Dad did?”
“Your father enjoys playing with lively ones, savoring their blood directly.”
The wife knew her husband enjoyed giving false hope to children by promising to spare them before drinking their blood.
The vampire playing the father role had once been the boss of a crime syndicate, while the wife had been an executive who served him.
The memories of my human days were completely erased, yet some of the relationships from that time seemed to have carried over to my current life as a vampire, allowing us to understand each other without words, as if by telepathy.
Anyway, those bonds had turned into the roles of husband and wife, so it was only natural that we were harmonious.
“Ahem, thank you, my dear.”
“It’s what a wife should do, of course. Hohoho. Kids, would you like to call your aunties and uncles?”
“Yes~!”
“Uncle’s going to love the fried stuff.”
“Ugh, uhhh…!”
Despite this cheerful family atmosphere, it was unfortunate for the orphaned girl, but her fate was limited to either being toyed with and killed or suffering a horrific death through torture.
That’s how it would normally end.
-Crack!
At that moment, as the children disappeared down the corridor to call their uncles and aunts, a sound of something breaking echoed from the far end.
Steel bars? Pillars?
No, it was the wall.
Whatever it was, there was no way the vampire family would mercifully spare someone who dared to invade our “home.”
The moment the noise was heard, the vampire family members, scattered across their rooms or the streets, immediately moved.
It didn’t even take seconds for the entire family to gather at the source of the sound.
And then, they saw it.
Bright red mana flickering through the machine tendrils.
The machine tendrils, coated in a reddish glow enhanced by mana, had impaled the heads of the “son and daughter” who had gone to summon the others for dinner.
“Ah, my son!!! My daaaughter!!!”
With a scream that resembled a mother vampire’s wail, the younger uncle, the elder aunt, and the elder uncle’s wife dashed forward to sever the tendrils.
Even if a vampire’s head is destroyed, as long as there is sufficient blood, they can be revived.
Believing it wasn’t too late, they thought feeding them the prepared blood from the meal would suffice.
-Bang!
However, as the two approached, dozens of machine tendrils bristling with sharp spikes shot out from beyond the wall.
It was as if they had been waiting, reminiscent of carnivorous plants.
-Thwack-thwack-thwack!!
“Urgh!”
“Ghh, blghk!”
The aunt and uncle, pierced even more brutally than the son and daughter, caused the family members to freeze in shock.
【Gaia Drain】
“Ghh, urk…!”
“Aaah…!”
“Arrgh…”
Accompanied by a mechanical, inorganic voice, the life force of the four vampires impaled by the tendrils began to fade in an instant.
No, it wasn’t merely fading.
It was being absorbed by those mechanical tendrils.
A vampire’s life force cannot be easily taken by ordinary means.
Vampires are subordinate entities of the true ancestor.
Even as a subordinate entity, they inherit the true ancestor’s fundamental nature of seizing and stealing others’ life force, clinging desperately to their own and others’ vitality.
Such tenacious vitality was vanishing like fleeting sparks, being stolen.
The machine tendrils, which had even absorbed Gaia’s distorted natural life force, had no trouble stealing a vampire’s.
Witnessing this, the large family instinctively felt threatened.
“Cherry flavor.”
A soft voice echoed.
“Blueberry flavor.”
-Crack!
The rest of the wall collapsed.
A delicate, bare foot stepped out.
“Apple flavor.”
The girl grinned mischievously.
She licked her lips, like Alice from a strange land enjoying a feast, as she gazed at the vampire son impaled by the machine tendrils.
“This one tastes bad.”
Spit.
The sound rang out.
The corpse of the son was flung out like a ragged bundle.
The lifeless body, drained of vitality, was merely thrown aside, yet its limbs were torn and tattered.
And for a moment, as if time had stopped, an oppressive silence and stillness enveloped the mansion.
“You, you.”
“You… You dare…”
“To us.”
“Our family…”
Anger and sorrow.
This family, even before they were infected with blood contamination, inherently possessed an aptitude for mana, which led to their transformation into rational vampires.
Now, as vampires, their mana affinity had increased exponentially, making it natural for the mana within their bodies and the surrounding air to react to their emotional upheaval.
“I won’t let this go!!!”
With the furious roar of the eldest, the grandfather vampire, the entire vampire family charged.
Alice merely smirked at the sight.
It began with the little aunt’s hand morphing into a blade, striking down toward Alice like a massive pillar.
Thanks to Theresa’s attack trajectory prediction, Alice foresaw this in advance and bent her body backward with fluidity to dodge it.
The vampire mother, seized by grief and vengeance over her lost child, attempted to tear Alice apart with her claws, but when her nails struck Alice’s body, only a metallic clang echoed.
“What!?”
The vampire’s hand possessed enough strength to tear through heavy industrial metal equipment with ease.
Her nails could cut through rebar effortlessly, and imbued with mana, their power and cutting edge only grew stronger.
Even if Alice’s body was mechanical, it shouldn’t have mattered.
The vampire mother had poured the greatest amount of mana she could muster, born from her sorrow, into her claws, yet she couldn’t pierce Alice’s slender neck.
Well, if it were merely a mechanical body, it might have been pierced, but Alice’s body had recently undergone union with Gaia.
Naturally, her original mana and Gaia’s vitality were now housed within her body, making her mechanical body vastly more durable compared to the time she first arrived at Ark.
Back then, even the true ancestor’s fangs could only be stopped once.
If they had bitten consecutively, Alice’s mechanical body wouldn’t have endured, but Alice managed to reverse the situation by draining the flustered true ancestor herself. Luck, perhaps.
Regardless, the current Alice couldn’t even be scratched by the claws of a mere vampire, which was just a lower derivative of the true ancestor.
【Total: 17 entities.】
【Infection levels: 98 percent, 88 percent, 99 percent, 104 percent, 107 percent… All confirmed as terminally infected.】
【Various blood ampules detected, estimated total victims: 671.】
【All humanity stripped from the subjects confirmed.】
【They are all beings deserving death, Alice.】
“Is that so?”
Theresa’s confirmation made Alice grin.
Although murder is generally avoided, exceptions are made for those “deserving death.”
From Alice’s hand, the Mantis Blade spun violently as it extended outward.
The bizarre, razor-sharp tip of the blade, reminiscent of a mantis, carried the scent of blood from multiple vampires.
On her way here, the blade had been soaked with the blood of countless vampires, causing the large family to tremble in fear.
-Fwip!
Alice’s body seemed to vanish, only to reappear behind the grandfather vampire.
Her body twisted unnaturally, propelling off walls and the ceiling, and before anyone could follow her movements, the grandfather vampire’s head was severed diagonally.
-Krrack!
-Thud!
The nearby vampires cried out in anguish or stood frozen in shock at the sudden loss of their elder, but before they could react, limbs, heads, and hearts were already skewered by the Mantis Blade.
One step.
Like a ballet.
Like a dance.
One, two, three.
With each count, what disappeared were the heads, arms, legs, and hearts of members of the large family.
For those in torment, Alice smiled gladly from atop their blood-soaked pool.
Strengthened by her union, Alice could now instinctively wield the powers she had mastered in her previous life as the Demon King, albeit faintly.
As a result, Alice’s dazzling, lightning-fast movements were imperceptible even to the vampires’ eyes, resembling a swift ballet.
Barefoot, she stepped on their loathsome blood, turning to kick and slash with her blade at those venting their rage over the loss of their children and family.
At first, the vampires mocked Alice.
“Do you think kicking and slashing us with a blade will kill us?”
“We’ve already surpassed blood contamination and become complete vampires.”
“We’ve consumed enough blood to store plenty of power, so no matter how strong you are alone, it’s useless.”
However, the Mantis Blade, infused with fragments of the Demonic Sword and the Holy Sword, mercilessly severed the vampires’ life force the moment it struck their bodies.
Alice’s body, imbued with Gaia’s life force, twisted the very essence of the vampires’ life with just a single kick, allowing the distorted vitality to infiltrate their core life force.
Those infected with blood contamination couldn’t handle the immense backlash and side effects caused by Gaia’s distorted life force penetrating their bodies.
Even a mere touch was a critical hit—that’s what this was.
-Thud!
-Crack!
Not only Alice’s body, but also the bright red mechanical tendrils sprouting from the ceiling and floor mercilessly absorbed the vampires’ life force.
Some of them tried to abandon their family and flee.
However, the moment they stepped outside the mansion, they were riddled with bullets by Marlang and the Doll, who had been lying in wait.
Even though being riddled with bullets didn’t instantly kill them, their bodies were shattered enough to halt their movement, and the red mechanical tendrils that appeared out of nowhere latched onto their bodies and drained their life force.
One by one, the large family began to die in this manner.
The mansion was filled with bitter cries and screams, and before long, Alice, who had personally ripped out the throat of the last remaining vampire, wore a light expression.
“Haaah…”
How sweet.
Alice lifted the corners of her mouth as if she had finished a delicious meal.
“Why, whyyyy…!”
At that moment, a vampire cried out in a sorrowful voice.
It was the vampire mother who had survived the initial attack.
“Why, what did we do…! What did we do! Why our family…!”
At that anguished voice, Alice tilted her head slightly.
“What are you talking about, you trash that ate orphans?”
Theresa already told her.
671 distinct blood ampules.
These bastards had devoured 671 orphans.
Just because a non-human mimics a human family doesn’t mean they become similar to humans.
Creatures that brutally crave human blood and flesh and mimic harmonious human families were already monsters.
Kidnapping and consuming orphans and impoverished people hidden throughout the step regions was the same monstrous behavior, even if it was done by those pretending to be a family.
Even though human lives had lost value in the decaying Ark, Alice couldn’t help but sneer at these monsters lamenting as if they were unjustly treated after eating humans.
At that moment, a girl filled with tears and rage appeared beside Alice.
She was an orphan girl who had been captured alive to be offered to the vampire father.
The girl had witnessed her friends, whom she had lived with, being gruesomely cooked, and barely avoided being slaughtered herself.
“Well then, my dear. Would you like to try?”
“…….”
Alice detached the Mantis Blade, which was fused with fragments of the Holy Sword, from her arm.
Because of her union with Gaia, the bones and muscles inside had merged with the Mantis Blade, making its removal slightly painful. But if a young girl was shedding tears of blood in rage, lending her a hand was the least Alice could do.
The girl, naturally and without hesitation, tightly gripped Alice’s Mantis Blade in her hand.
“Haha, hehe…!”
“Kkhaa!?”
The girl accepted Alice’s Mantis Blade.
Alice, to ensure the vampire mother couldn’t move, embedded mechanical tendrils into her limbs and crushed her head beneath her blood-soaked foot.
To prevent any possible trickery using mana, the mechanical tendrils piercing the vampire mother’s body injected Gaia’s twisted vitality, disrupting her internal mana flow and rendering her completely powerless.
“Hehe, heehee, hahaha!”
“W-wait, stop…”
-Thud!
“Kyaa, kyaaaah!!!”
The girl swung the Mantis Blade down with her bare hands.
-Thud! Thud!
“A-aaagh…! S-stop, kehk…!”
With a crazed look of resentment, she repeatedly struck at the vampire mother.
-Thud! Thud! Crack!
“……..”
Even as blood flowed from the girl’s hands, even after the vampire mother’s screams had stopped, the girl didn’t stop.
Much later, after everything was over, the girl sat down, staring at the now pulverized vampire mother.
She seemed exhausted.
Alice gently patted the girl’s shoulder and spoke.
“Congratulations.”
“……”
People often talk about the futility of revenge, but for now, offering congratulations seemed appropriate.
And conveniently, Alice had more than enough wealth to take in a few orphans and care for them.