My Stepmom Is A Vampire & Her Entire Bloodline Wants To Breed Me

Chapter 164: The Rescue

Maria saw a chance to save Matthew and sprinted toward him. His body was bound tightly by the red strings, some already burrowing beneath his skin.

The tips of his fingers had started turning black. The sight made her stomach twist.

She wondered if the red strings were turning him into one of those creatures. Her eyes flicked between the burning monster and the dead one on the ground, and the thought became more horrifying.

She grabbed the dagger at her waist and slashed at the strings. They snapped for a brief moment before growing back as if nothing had happened. No matter how many times she cut them, they regenerated immediately.

”Why? What kind of monster are you?”

Her voice broke with frustration as Matthew’s body jerked and spasmed, showing signs that the transformation was accelerating.

”Matthew! Wake up! Can you hear me?!” She shakes his body, but to no avail.

He won’t wake up whatever she would do and she knows the time is ticking.

Her gaze caught the stone head statue in front of her. Its carved eyes stared at her without blinking, and then blood began to spill from the sockets.

The liquid slid down its face and moved toward the strings. It traveled up into the body of a follower who was still kneeling and chanting.

The chanting stopped. The man’s mouth stretched open in a voiceless scream. His fingers dug into his own face, tearing skin as if he was trying to claw something out.

His eyes darkened into a deep, bloody red and his skin shifted into a pitch-black color. His body stretched unnaturally as he transformed into a monster.

The creature’s gaze locked onto Maria. Its arms split and lengthened into sword-like blades as it lunged forward.

Before it reached her, steel met steel. Dylan stepped in and parried the attack.

Even though he was clearly terrified, he still shouted, ”Just focus on saving him. Destroy the statue.”

He pushed back against the creature and swung again. His blade managed to cut into the monster’s side, but the creature moved with swordsmanship skill.

Its movements resembled a trained knight, and the realization hit Dylan. This was exactly how Matthew moved when he used to beat him senseless during training.

The creature twisted its arm and the blade grazed Dylan’s forearm. Blood dripped immediately, warm against his skin.

”Damn it!”

There was no pause. The monster slashed again, faster this time. Dylan lifted his dagger to block, but the second blade came in from the side.

He stepped back as quickly as he could, but his jacket was sliced open and the white fabric of his shirt became visible.

Panic washed through him as the threat became real. This was no practice bout. His opponent would not stop even after he died.

The monster was trying to kill him, and his pulse hammered in his throat.

”Calm down, I can do this!”

The creature advanced with relentless pressure. It stepped with perfect footwork, just like Matthew, and its swings came in tight arcs that rattled Dylan’s arms every time he blocked.

Each blow pushed him back, forcing him to retreat step by step while it maintained control over the fight.

”Dylan, focus!”

Andrew’s voice came from across the room. It was weak and strained. He was still pinned to the pointed stone, blood streaming from his wound.

”Stop panicking!”

”I’m trying!”

Mika laughed behind him, his hand gripping Andrew’s head. ”You still have the energy to worry about your subordinate. Interesting.”

He tightened his grip until Andrew’s eyes rolled back.

”Andrew! Fuck, don’t die yet, man. You’re not training me yet!” Dylan tried to move toward him, but the monster rushed in again.

He blocked the overhead strike, but the strength behind it nearly made him buckle. The creature aimed a second blade at his ribs, and he twisted desperately to avoid it. His feet slipped slightly before he regained his balance.

The monster continued its relentless assault. Dylan could barely breathe between each clash, and the pressure only grew heavier.

Then something clicked in Dylan’s mind. The rhythm of the attacks was identical to the harshest drills Matthew used to force him through.

High and low attacks in alternating patterns, sudden feints, and constant pressure. Then he could turn it against him.

The creature lunged with a scissoring strike aimed for Dylan’s neck.

He reacted on instinct. He ducked low and kicked straight into the monster’s stomach. The impact knocked the creature off balance, sending it crashing into a group of corrupted villagers behind it.

Dylan did not waste the opening. He rushed forward and drove his dagger down into the monster’s skull. The creature convulsed violently, its limbs thrashing before it collapsed in a spreading pool of dark blood.

”YES. I BEAT THIS THING!” Dylan shouted, raising the dagger triumphantly.

Mika only laughed. ”You believe this will end now.”

Dylan’s excitement vanished. Several villagers nearby began twisting and reshaping as the corruption took hold.

Their bodies darkened and their eyes glowed red until five new monsters stood ready to tear him apart.

Dylan swallowed hard and pointed his dagger at all of them, his hands shaking.

”MARIA! DO SOMETHING!”

Maria nodded and searched frantically for something she could use. Her eyes landed on a shovel leaning near the wall. She grabbed it and swung with all her strength, striking the stone again and again.

The structure cracked piece by piece, yet Mika’s laugh echoed throughout the mine, loud and distorted.

”You can destroy it all you want. The statue is only a vessel.”

”Oh really?” Maria narrowed her gaze at the ruby crystals set in the statue’s eyes.

She lifted the shovel again. Mika spoke calmly, almost bored. ”You cannot destroy it, and even if you manage to do it... Well, that would be a different story.”

His tone made her hesitate. But the blood-tears crawling along the red string reminded her she had no time left before all of the villagers would turn into monsters, and so did Matthew.

She raised the shovel high, determined to end it, but a hand suddenly gripped her shoulder. She froze and turned slightly. Seamus stood behind her, his expression steady.

”Don’t do it, Maria,” he said. ”We will finish this.”

She didn’t understand what he meant by ’we’ or why Seamus was here. He was far away in the North. She blinked.

’Am I starting to hallucinate?’ she thought.

But when she lowered the shovel and looked behind him, she saw two figures she had never seen before standing face to face with Mika. A man and a woman. Their presence alone shifted the entire atmosphere.

Mika’s face went pale. His hands trembled. ”You... how are you here?”

”Oho, is that how you greet your master?” X said. ”You are only a Crest meant to absorb sin, yet you parade around like some prophet?”

The old man staggered back. ”I’m a prophet and you are already corrupted by this world!”

Madeline clicked her tongue as she crossed her arms. ”You really let your Crest rot into this mess. Impressive incompetence. I will help you, but you owe me A LOT.”

She lifted her hands. A golden circle formed beneath her feet, glowing brighter and brighter.

The ground trembled as pale white fire rose from the magic circle and spiraled into her palms, shaping itself into a smooth sphere.

”No. Stop. What are you doing, you wretch!”

Mika tried to lunge, but X flicked his fingers and golden strings shot forward, wrapping around Mika’s body and locking him in place.

”You should have helped me spread the name of the False God,” Mika shouted desperately. ”You are his creation but you betray Them instead!”

”No, They are the True God who should walk the earth in glory. The world must be remade into a kingdom of darkness. It is their will and you will serve—”

The golden strings sealed over his mouth, muffling the rest. Blood tears spilled from his eyes and soaked the bindings. The ropes hissed as they melted under the corruption, unraveling slowly.

”Blablabla, whatever.” X groaned. ”Hurry up. This creature is irritating.”

Madeline sighed in annoyance. ”If you complain one more time, I will stop and let him eat you.”

The white fire finally shaped into a glowing sphere, smooth like a pearl, with rotating rings of light encircling it like a pale Saturn.

The sphere pulsed brighter. ”In the name of the False God, I will draw out every corrupted sin and seal it inside the Vessel of Sinner until time itself decays.”

A heavy wind burst outward. The sphere inhaled every red string in the mine, ripping them out of stone, corpses, villagers, and even the monsters still fighting Dylan. Everything was pulled into the Crest.

Mika screamed as he was dragged toward the sphere. ”YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I’M A PROPHET! I NEED TO SPREAD THE GLORY OF MY LORD WHERE YOU WILL BE BURNED IN HELL!!”

He tried to latch onto the ground, but the pull was absolute. His body ruptured into red smoke and vanished into the sphere along with the last wailing string.

Silence fell across the mine. The villagers collapsed where they stood, unconscious but breathing. Only the sound of their breaths and the soft fall of snow remained.