We finally reached the end of the Red Zone. Before us, nearly four kilometers away, stretched the White Zone, enveloped by a vast, semi-transparent, hemispherical white barrier. It shimmered faintly, stretching out further than the eye could see.
Between us and that shimmering wall was a barren wasteland — cracked, dry, and littered with the decaying skeletons of creatures that could probably use a Nighridh as breakfast… and still feel hungry.
And guess what?
Our vegetarian vampire wanted us to cross this land.
Fucker was born with a screw loose.
"Ready?" Carl asked us, his voice devoid of emotion.
"NO!!" I shouted, loud enough to make Joey and Jack flinch.
"I'm not going a single inch forward unless you tell me what's going to happen to me inside that White Zone."
Carl just looked at me for a moment. Then, without another word, he started walking forward. "...Alright. I'll go alone then." He didn't look back.
"Wait—! If you don't want to tell me, that's fine! Just— don't leave me alone. Just tell me I'm not going to die, right?" I ran after him, with Joey and Jack following.
"No, you'll be alright. The ones who should be worried are us, actually," Carl replied, not even turning his head.
What? They need to be worried? Then why did he say that he was sorry for what is about to happen to me? It doesn't add up. Carl isn't telling me everything.
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"Alright everyone! In the same format as before: Carl in front, you both in back."
"But Mr. Darcy, we're not in the forest anymore, so we don't nee—" Joey started, his innocent curiosity piquing again.
"BALDY ROID, ARE YOU THE VETERAN OR ME IN HERE?! DO YOU HAVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THIS FIELD OR ME?!" I snapped at him, my voice cracking from the sheer stress.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Darcy! In the format, at once!" Joey and Jack shouted in unison, their voices echoing in the sudden silence of the open land.
"Good. And make sure not to ask every random thought that pops into your brain,"
I commanded, trying to regain some composure.
We stepped into the open land. The heat hit immediately — even though it was nearly 4:30 PM. The cracked ground stretched endlessly, with massive skeletons scattered across the wasteland.
They were huge. Way bigger than a Nighridh.
I want to ask what they are, but I don't want to look ignorant in front of Joey and Jack, and I don't want to whisper because I've been doing it so much the steroid bros might get suspicious of me.
"Mr. Carl, are these the skeletons of the predators of the Red Zone?" Jack asked, oblivious to my internal struggle.
Oh, thanks, Baldy. I might just give you a kiss on that shiny head now.
"No, these are the ones they prey on."Carl said.
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Let me go!! I don't want to live here!! I want to go back!! Grandma!! I miss you! Rosie (buffalo)!! I hope you get eaten alive by hyenas!!
We kept marching ahead. We were probably halfway there; luckily, we'd encountered nothing except scattered bones. No sound, no blowing wind, just the oppressive heat.The soil was marked with massive prints — three or four toes, at least — and my heart kept pounding with every step.
Damn this heat, it's killing me. I'm thirsty, but I can't drink too much because we might soon run out of water,and I have a feeling that the constant heat has something to do with the tomb that lies in the White Zone?
Now it was 5:20 PM. We could clearly see the boundary of the barrier; the White Zone was just nearly 800–900 meters away. It was making a noise, like a person would hear near a high-voltage current, a faint hum audible even from that far ahead. The sun was near its departure for the night, but the heat didn't even decrease a level; it was constant. Everything was going smoothly, then…
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"Run!!" Carl shouted.
I didn't ask a question; I ran. So did Joey and Jack. We were so close; no way were we giving up now. But because of my non-athletic lifestyle, I wasn't able to keep up. I was slowly being pushed back. Then I saw it. One of the predators of the Red Zone… it was….
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A FREAKING HUMONGOUS ROOSTER!?! That COCK was huge, with mostly BLACK and few RED FEATHERS!! Like nearly 12 stories tall.
I was falling back, now at the very last, and the monster black cock was getting closer. We were really close, like 200 meters, then the cock did the thing they do in the morning… "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" It was so loud it paralyzed me and the boys. Now it was just behind me, about to eat me up. Then I saw Carl point at the rooster's head and say, "BLOOD COAGULATE!"
The cock fell off on the ground and started rolling toward us due to inertia, but before it could hit me, Carl moved with a speed I had never seen him use. He punched it using his left hand while I could see a glass capsule in his right hand. The monster rooster blasted like a firecracker, but in place of flames, it was his meat, blood, and bones.
"You alright?" Carl asked without looking back.
"Y-yes… thanks to you."
He turned back. There wasn't even a single drop of blood on his clothes or hands, a testament to the sheer force of that punch.
"From here onwards, we can't go with you," Carl said.
"Wh-what?" I replied.
"Joey and Jack would die if they enter the barrier. I can go inside the barrier, but I can't enter the tomb because it would kill me. But you, who have no spiritual power, can enter freely. I've put Joey and Jack to sleep using blood enchantment, so they won't wake up for a while. I don't want them to know that I'm a vampire."
"What do you mean I have to go alone? Carl… don't you know I'm powerless? Don't you know how pathetic I am?
Do you really think I can do something like this alone?!"
My whole body was trembling.
"I-I can't do this. Just thinking about going in there alone— I can't even see the tomb! The barrier sounds like it'll fry me alive the moment I touch it! And you want me to go alone?!"
"First of all, the barrier will do nothing to you, as you have no spiritual energy. Second of all, the tomb is underground, and you only have to go to the first floor and get the artifact that's on the paper the advisor gave," Carl said.
"Alright, let me catch my breath… I have a question: how did you kill that thing that easily… and what is in your right hand?"
"It's… an artificial supplement for blood. I only have five for emergencies… now four. Although its potential in comparison to human blood is only near seven percent, and to other animals near twenty-two percent, something is always better than nothing," Carl said.
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"Why do you think vampires drink blood?" he added after a pause. "It's because vampires are highly deficient in a compound called spirituoglobin — something every organism on this planet needs, except for you. We can extract it from humans; theoretically, we can get it from animals too, but the efficiency drops drastically. Since we're most closely related to humans, their spirituoglobin is far more compatible with us."
"Then why don't you use it when we were around the advisor?" I asked.
"Then what? Kill him? I already explained why that's not an option," Carl replied.
"Then you could do the blood enchantment thing and make him remove the curse voluntarily," I asked. "Especially if you become that strong after drinking that supplement!"
"It's already been over a month since he started sucking people's spiritual powers, so his mental fortitude would have been quite high by the time we met him. I didn't want to risk us getting exposed," Carl replied.
"But aren't we risking everything here too?" I
asked.
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"I never thought of it," Carl replied after thinking for a moment.
Motherfucker!!!