Chapter 229 Partners in Darkness (1)

Blood poured across the floor, spreading into a crimson pool as the familiar stench of blood gradually filled the air.

It was a smell Ethan had encountered countless times in Old Ashvarn.

He’d thought he wouldn’t have to experience it again for a while, at least.

Yet here it was, far sooner than he’d ever expected.

Verso had killed a middle-aged woman and her child, who could barely have been ten years old, with a single strike.

Without blinking.

Without hesitation.

Without the slightest concern.

"Ah! Fuck!! Look at all this wasted blood! I should’ve killed them more carefully so I could preserve as much of it as possible..."

While Ethan stood there in shock, Verso began complaining about the blood going to waste, doing his best to salvage as much of it as he could.

The way he drank blood was anything but ordinary.

He simply stood before the corpses, his eyes beginning to glow a deeper, darker crimson than usual.

His curse mark burned.

And without warning...

The blood began rising into the air of its own accord, floating upward and gathering at a single point.

The bodies of the child and his mother dried out at a terrifying speed, until all that remained were flesh, skin, and bones drained of color, their surfaces turned a ghastly, pale blue.

Every last drop of blood gathered together.

Then Verso absorbed it all at once, drawing it directly into his body.

It was a horrifying sight, something that looked as though it had been taken straight out of a horror movie.

There, in the darkness at the heart of the tower, Verso stood drinking blood while Ethan watched from behind.

Verso finished his meal quickly.

Then he turned toward Ethan with his usual cheerful expression, as though nothing had happened.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! I’m all done now, so we can—"

Before Verso could finish speaking, Ethan slammed him against the wall, pressing his forearm against the throat of the man responsible for murdering the mother and her son.

His eyes, burning with the same crimson hue, fixed upon Verso with murderous intensity.

When he spoke, his voice was dangerous.

"You... What the fuck is wrong with you? Did getting transported to another world make you lose your mind?"

Ethan tightened his hold around Verso’s throat as he demanded an answer.

Yet despite the danger of his situation, Verso remained perfectly calm.

Even his bloodstained smile never wavered.

"What’s wrong, Ethan? Did I offend you somehow? If I did something without realizing it, then I’m sorry."

Verso apologized, seemingly unable to identify what he’d done wrong.

And that only made Ethan angrier.

"I’M NOT THE ONE YOU SHOULD BE APOLOGIZING TO!"

Ethan shouted before he could stop himself.

Verso’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Then who exactly should I apologize to? I’m lost here, Ethan. Please explain yourself properly so I can understand how to respond."

His face was smeared with blood, his smile utterly carefree.

He spoke with complete ease, even as Ethan’s arm pressed firmly against his throat.

Staring into Verso’s eyes, Ethan realized that the man before him wasn’t trying to deceive him.

Nor was he pretending to be ignorant.

"You really... don’t understand what you’ve done."

The entire situation was giving Ethan a headache.

Behind him lay two headless corpses.

And standing before him was their murderer, a man who didn’t consider what he’d done wrong or even something worth thinking twice about.

Verso was so thoroughly convinced of his own innocence that it hadn’t even occurred to him that Ethan might be referring to the dead mother and her child.

"Verso... How many times have you done something like this?"

"Hmm? What are you talking about?"

"Killing!! Murdering people like this!"

Ethan demanded an answer, terrified of what he might hear as a horrifying possibility began taking shape in his mind.

Verso, meanwhile, tilted his head slightly before answering with a strained smile.

"How many times? Ethan... Are you seriously asking me that?"

He laughed and shook his head.

"I need blood every single day, or I’ll die. So I’ve been hunting humans daily ever since I was cursed..."

"Keeping count of how many I’ve killed would be impossible."

Hearing that horrifying answer, Ethan took several steps backward, releasing Verso from his grip.

The man standing before him wasn’t merely an ordinary murderer.

He was someone who killed every single day.

Men and women.

Children and adults.

Without distinction.

Without remorse.

A terrifying serial killer whose hands were stained with the blood of an unimaginable number of victims.

"Ethan... Why are you looking at me like that?"

Verso suddenly frowned, having noticed the way Ethan was staring at him.

Ethan didn’t know what to say.

More importantly, he didn’t know what he should do.

For a moment, he considered attacking Verso and subduing him before the situation deteriorated any further.

But he didn’t want this to turn into a fight.

If there was a way to resolve things through words, Ethan would rather take it.

After all, Verso was a transmigrated player just like him.

Someone who had once lived according to the same common sense and moral standards as the people of his former world.

Ethan wanted to believe that if he explained things properly, Verso would surely understand.

"Verso... You just killed a mother and her child."

"Yeah, I did... So what?"

"For fuck’s sake, Verso... They’re human beings! Humans, just like you and me! Real people living their lives like anyone else!"

Ethan threw those words at Verso, desperately hoping the other man would listen.

But the vampire merely laughed in mockery.

"What the hell are you rambling about, man?"

Taking one step after another, Verso approached one of the corpses.

He bent down, seized the woman’s severed head by the hair, and lifted it into the air.

"These blood bags aren’t like us. You and I are nothing like them."

"This isn’t a game, Verso..."

Ethan’s voice emerged from deep within his chest, heavy and strained.

"OF COURSE IT IS!!"

"It’s a game! A game you spent countless hours playing, and I spent just as many hours watching you play!"

"This city, this world! Even the members of your squad... Haven’t you met them all before? Haven’t you watched their stories begin and end from behind your screen?"

Verso closed the distance between them in several quick strides, bringing his bloodstained face directly in front of Ethan’s.

His eyes glowed with a terrifying light.

"Don’t try to pretend you’re one of them. Don’t talk like they do. Don’t even try!!"

"You’re not like them, and you never will be, even if you want to."

"What are you—"

Ethan tried to respond, but Verso immediately cut him off.

"Are you denying it, Ethan? Are you denying that you see them as nothing more than characters in a game?"

"Characters who exist for you to exploit so you can advance further?"

Verso sneered, particularly when he noticed Ethan’s hesitation.

"Back when all those hunters who entered Old Ashvarn with you died... Tell me, did you mourn their deaths?"

"Did you feel anything for them?"

"Or did you treat them like mere NPCs, whose existence meant no more to you than their absence?"

"..."

Ethan couldn’t answer.

Verso had struck him with an argument he couldn’t readily refute.

He wanted to argue that he’d never had any personal connection to the hunters who died.

But Verso could simply respond that he had no connection to the people he’d murdered either, and therefore felt nothing for them.

In that case...

Ethan found himself wondering about the members of his own squad.

What about Asterion?

What about Luna?

He’d begun to see them as genuine companions, people he could rely on and fight alongside.

But Verso saw through that as well.

"You’re someone who looks out for his own interests, Ethan. You keep whatever benefits you and suits your needs close to you, and throw away whatever you no longer need."

"That’s why I admire the way you play."

"And why I’m trying to learn from you."