Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Chapter 765: The Route to the Island

The human engineer seemed to regret speaking the moment every eye inside the compartment settled upon him. Nikolai quietly observed the man for several seconds before approaching the blood-filled crystal.

“What kind of blood is best?”

“Ah… Sir, a vampire’s… preferably fresh.”

“That’s it, nothing else?”

The man quickly shook his head.

“No, sir. The crystal doesn’t power the vessel. It’s closer to an ignition system and security lock combined. Once it accepts the blood, the engines and navigation controls become accessible.”

Ryan glanced towards the doorway, where several dead thralls remained scattered across the deck.

“We’ve got plenty of vampires.”

“S-Sorry, but it needs living blood… the one who fit the crystal mentioned something about coagulation affecting the purity…”

“…Of course it fucking does.”

Nikolai ignored Ryan’s complaint and examined the crystal more closely. The veins beneath its glass covering pulsed slowly, almost matching the rhythm of something alive.

“Living blood is fine.”

He didn’t particularly like feeding strange Nosferatu technology his blood, but spending another hour searching for a living prisoner while the entire harbour knew they were here sounded even worse.

“Move.”

The engineer hurried aside.

Nikolai extended one finger and allowed his nail to sharpen before slicing across his palm. Dark crimson blood immediately gathered within the shallow wound. It wasn’t enough with a single claw, so he began to dig deeper, gouging a chunk of flesh to stop his regeneration.

“Ngh…”

“Boss?!”

Alexei’s worried shout came from behind.

‘Ah… these kids didn’t see me when I was helping my wives or mother, did they?’

“I know.”

Nikolai wasn’t stupid enough to pour half his blood into an unknown device. He allowed several drops to fall onto the crystal first.

The crystal remained silent for several moments until… a flicker of sound, like a fairy taking steps, and then the dark-red surface rippled. His blood disappeared as the faint vibration travelled through the vessel, and the veins surrounding the crystal illuminated one after another.

“Huh…”

The engineer stared at the console.

“It accepted you.”

“Was there a reason it shouldn’t?”

“You’re a Volkov.”

Nikolai looked back at him with the widest grin, ‘ah… this is why new people are fun.’

“Consider me a hybrid, alright?”

That seemed to confuse him even more, but Nikolai wasn’t interested in explaining his family tree or circumstances.

Several screens awakened across the compartment.

The engine beneath their feet groaned before settling into a deep mechanical hum, while lights appeared throughout the cabin and along the exterior deck.

Ryan immediately moved towards the controls.

“You know how to drive this?”

“No.”

“Neither do I.”

Both men looked towards the engineer.

His face became pale.

“I-I do.”

“Good, good, good. Hahaha!”

Nikolai placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling the man’s entire body stiffen beneath his grip.

“Then help us get these ships out of here, and you’ll walk away afterwards… You might even get a new job with a wage someone might just kill for.”

The engineer glanced towards the fighting outside and back to Nikolai, swallowing.

“You’ll actually let us go?”

“Unless you give me a reason not to.”

There was no kindness in Nikolai’s voice, nor did he think pretending otherwise would reassure someone who’d spent months working beneath the Nosferatu.

Yet the man’s shoulders gradually relaxed.

“I’ll help.”

“Ryan, keep him alive.”

“Mhm.”

Nikolai turned towards the door.

“And don’t scare the poor bastard.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

Ryan quickly put away his Desert Eagles, sighing as he averted his gaze from Nikolai.

“Fine.”

The moment Nikolai returned outside, he realised most of the fighting had already ended.

Bodies covered the dock between the warehouses and transports, while several remaining thralls fled towards the southern road rather than trying to defend a position that had already collapsed.

Nobody followed them, and immediately after he left, the doors shut with a loud clang as they sealed the metal safety bars.

‘At least they listened.’

Alexei stood near the second transport, his coat torn around one shoulder but otherwise unharmed. The Elder who’d tried drawing Nikolai away earlier lay several metres behind him with his head separated from the rest of his body.

Vernan emerged from between the warehouses with the other two men.

“East side is secure.”

“Casualties?”

“One injured. Nothing serious.”

Nikolai nodded before looking towards the burning patrol craft.

They hadn’t managed to save everything, but both transports remained afloat, and the supply ship had suffered little more than superficial damage.

“Well, let’s get this second ship running. It needs fresh vampire blood.”

“We’ve got several vampires here.”

Alexei looked at Nikolai.

Nikolai looked back.

Understanding slowly appeared upon his face.

“Ah.”

“I’ve already done the first boat… It’s your turn. So use your own damn blood.”

Nikolai left him to it and returned towards the first vessel.

The human engineer had already moved into the navigation cabin by the time he arrived. Ryan remained nearby while the man’s hands travelled across the unfamiliar controls with considerably more confidence than before.

A coastal map filled the largest display.

Nikolai immediately approached.

“Show me the island.”

The engineer stopped.

His expression changed enough that Nikolai noticed.

“What?”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“The ships don’t store the island’s position normally.”

Nikolai felt irritation beginning to rise again, but the engineer quickly continued.

“The Nosferatu were paranoid about captured vessels or traitors, and so… the navigation information is transmitted before each crossing and automatically deleted afterwards.”

“What about the people who sailed the boats?”

The human engineers all avoided Nikolai’s face, struggling to give the answer.

“So they died…huh?”

“So stealing the boat doesn’t give us a route.”

“Normally, no.”

Normally.

Nikolai caught the word.

“But?”

The engineer enlarged a section of the vessel’s records.

“There was supposed to be a supply run tomorrow morning, and the one who would have driven the boat was killed in your attack earlier… he shouldn’t have had time to shred the route just yet…”

Tak – Tak – Tak!

With surprising dexterity, the old human tapped away through countless screens and files on the strange operating system.

Then a long sequence of coordinates and coded navigation instructions.

The engineer pointed towards them.

“They already loaded tomorrow’s approach route.”

Nikolai stared at the screen.

“Can they erase it remotely?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can you copy it?”

The engineer hesitated.

“I can try.”

“Do it.”

Nikolai watched as the man connected one of the terminal drives and began transferring the information.

For the first time since they’d entered the harbour, a genuine sense of progress settled inside his chest.

They hadn’t merely stolen transportation.

They’d stolen the route the Nosferatu themselves intended to use.

“How long is that route valid?”

“Probably as long as they don’t know we stole the boats… but the island cannot move fast, so… you might have 3-4 days at worst.”

Nikolai reexamined the man.

“Do you want a job?”

“Huh?”

The poor human trembled on the spot.

“Don’t act so scared; our family also has human-facing companies… your skills are just too good to waste away. I hope you don’t reject my offer without thinking about it properly. I will give you a month. That way, you won’t worry about the future…”

“O-Oh?”

Nikolai handed the old human and the slightly younger male his business card; on the back were numbers directly linked to Nikolai and Sarah.

‘Thinking of her…’

His eyes trailed back to the distant docks, a few hundred metres away, where she and seven of his most skilled thralls worked to the bone for him.

‘To think she is happy being a mere shadow…’

Unlike the Maids or the Wolf Guard… the shadows were only seen by the highest members of the clan. Though Sarah became his wife, and might even be carrying his children… she was currently on duty as Nikolai’s personal shadow.

‘Well, I am sure she’ll complain about it later… let’s focus.’

Nikolai slowly breathed through his nose while staring at the route disappearing into the sea.

So much for spending several more days preparing.

Alexei entered the cabin shortly afterwards.

“The other transport is running.”

“Good.”

Nikolai pointed towards the screen.

“We have their route onto the island.”

Alexei’s expression immediately sharpened.

“But there’s a problem.”

“When is there not a problem, Nikolai?”

“Hahaha, true… well. We have three days to prepare ourselves and attack.”

Alexei stared towards the map, then towards Nikolai.

“You aren’t thinking about attacking tomorrow.”

“No.”

Nikolai answered immediately.

Charging onto Alucard’s island because they’d stumbled across an opportunity would ignore everything Ivan and Viktor had beaten into him only a night earlier.

However, throwing the opportunity away would be equally foolish.

“Copy everything. The coordinates, timings, turns, speed changes, anything the system records.”

He turned towards Ryan.

“Contact Vernan and Mikael. I want both ships taken back intact, along with every piece of equipment aboard them.”

Ryan nodded and left.

Alexei remained beside Nikolai.

“And if the route really becomes useless?”

Nikolai closed his eyes, listening to the sound of waves crashing against the artificial island pier. “Well. Then we learn as much as possible from it before that happens.” He adjusted his eyes as he shifted focus to the dark, void-like sea.

His gaze lingered upon the final stretch, where the route vanished beyond the effective range of the mainland charts.

They were finally looking at Alucard’s doorstep.

“We’ve spent long enough wondering how we’re going to reach that fucking island.”

Nikolai’s expression gradually hardened.

“Now we find out exactly what waits for us when we get there… as if we would mess things up at this point…”

Though his saying that felt strangely prophetic.