The Overlord of Blood and Iron (WN)

“Me? I am a ‘true’ vampire! Not one of those dirty half-bloods you can see just about anywhere.”

The blonde-haired man opened his mouth.

True Vampire.

These were beings superior to normal vampires and were also known to be contenders for being a ‘Vampire Lord’, the kings of all vampires. Basically, they were the nobles of the Vampire race.

“Thaddeus, Alfred Northrod de Thaddeus. That’s me.”

As soon as Kang Chul-In heard the name of the vampire, his expression turned extremely ominous.

Alfred?

This young, blonde-haired man standing in front of him was his old secretary?

‘How can this be…’

He couldn’t believe it.

No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get himself to believe that this blonde-haired man in front of him was Alfred.

Though Alfred in Kang Chul-In’s memory also had blonde hair, he wasn’t as young as this.

Kang Chul-In tried his best to remember how Alfred looked like in his memories and compared his image to the Alfred standing in front of him.

It wasn’t easy.

They were polar opposites; one a handsome young man, while the other an old man who just liked to speak to him as if he were Kang Chul-In’s own mother, always talking to him about marriage.

It was a stereotype that only Kang Chul-In possessed.

To him, Alfred was an old man. Whether it be 10 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago. Even when Alfred was born.

Kang Chul-In had never thought about Alfred’s appearance when he was younger.

‘Is this... really Alfred?”

Kang Chul-In looked carefully at Alfred’s face.

‘Eyes… nose… they’re all similar.’

As for his hair... he was always blonde, so he didn’t need to look at that.

‘And his mouth…’

The distinguishing thing about Alfred’s appearance was his noble-looking mouth.

‘It’s the same.’

Though it was difficult to believe due to him having such a different appearance than the one from before, it was undeniable that he could see traces of Alfred within the face before him.

‘Alfred… Alfred. The Valhalla Territory, no, the people inside the Valhalla Dungeon are not sane. Lucy, Bellatrix, and even the Immortal Vanguard. That means…’

“Alfred.”

Kang Chul-In called out to his old Secretary, with a wisp of a smile on his face.

“It’s been a long time.”

Though it had been a long time and his appearance was not the same, Alfred was still Alfred. It had to be a pleasant surprise for Kang Chul-In.

So instead of fighting, he asked another question.

“Do you remember me, Alfred?”

Kang Chul-In asked, with a sliver of hope remaining inside of him.

“Kuk…”

But Alfred laughed.

“Kuku… Remember you…? Do I remember you…? Kukuku…”

“A true vampire that had risen to the status of a Lord Candidate… Would he remember you? A puny human? Ha!”

His words were full of insanity and bloodlust, and it didn’t seem that he remembered Kang Chul-In at all.

But Kang Chul-In wasn’t flustered.

“Is that it…? Even you cannot remember me and have to fight, Alfred?”

“Kuku… A lowly human like you… you’re going to speak to me like that? Kuku… HOW DARE YOU!”

Kang Chul-In and Alfred, the two who once had the relationship of servant and master, faced each other and growled.

After that…

CLANG-!

Not even 5 minutes into the fight.

“Kang Chul-In… is being pushed back?”

Dorian was astonished.

It was surprising to Dorian because to him, Kang Chul-In was meant to be invincible. He had never been pushed back so hard in a fight before.

However, at this very moment, Kang Chul-In was fighting an extremely dangerous battle against a True Vampire.

Whiiing!

Puk…

Charged with the spell Vortex, Kaiforce pierced through the heart of Alfred.

A few moments afterwards, Alfred’s stomach was completely blown away from the aftershock of the Vortex. However…

“Puny and useless tricks.”

Though his heart was punctured, Alfred laughed maniacally and dashed towards Kang Chul-In.

“As if they would work on me!”

Saying that, Alfred grabbed Kang Chul-In’s collar, and slammed him into the ground. The wound that he had from before had already healed.

“Kang Chul-In!”

Though Dorian was running towards Kang Chul-In in worry…

“Don’t intervene!”

“Don’t come any closer.”

He was stopped by Kang Chul-In’s shout, as well as Alfred’s words.

“How dare you.”

The young Alfred stared at Dorian with bloodshot eyes.

“A stupid idiot like you dares to interrupt this noble one’s enjoyment?”

“S-Stupid?”

“Does such a thing like you not have eyes?”

Laughing, Alfred started swearing and dissing Dorian.

“Small height, no dignity in your behavior, and a stupid way of talking--- and not only that! I can sense that you don’t belong anywhere, so you just travel around. A lonely wanderer.”

Considering that Dorian’s height was 173cm while Alfred was almost 190cm, it made sense that Alfred would call Dorian ‘short’.

“You disrespectful vampire!”

An angry Dorian rushed towards Alfred even with Kang Chul-In telling Dorian not to do so.

Kuk!

Controlled by the telekinetic powers of Alfred, Dorian stopped midway in his attack, and had to slowly watch as Alfred walked closer, and grabbed his throat with an iron grip.

“Kuk..”

“Did you really think that you could do anything to me, pitiful human?”

“K-Kuk…”

Though Dorian tried his best to struggle and put up a fight, Alfred’s choke was just as powerful as Kang Chul-In’s grip, if not stronger.

“You do understand what will happen if I just put a little bit more strength here, right?”

Laughing, Alfred looked at Dorian with his bloodshot eyes.

“Now, it’s time for you to die. Pitiful tra…”

Before he could finish...

BANG!

Vortex around it, Kaiforce flew towards Alfred’s head, before completely blowing it up.

“I don’t know if it’s because he’s a true vampire, but that healing factor of his is just ridiculous.”

“Stay back now.”

Kang Chul-In looked at Dorian, his face serious.

“But, you’re being pushed back.”

“With your current level of strength, you won’t be of help to me in this fight.”

“But…!”

“I’m warning you right now. Don’t. Join. The. Fight.”

Kang Chul-In emphasized each word.

The opponent was Alfred.

And to Kang Chul-In, the one who had to put rest to his old secretary was none other than him. It was his way of apologizing to his old comrade.

“Seeing as how he doesn’t like you, that’s definitely the Alfred I know.”

Though he was in a pitiful state, Kang Chul-In still laughed. It was because he once again witnessed Alfred disliking Dorian.

“As a human, you’re not bad. Not bad, but…”

Alfred, who had already healed up from the previous attack, looked at Kang Chul-In again.

“How dare you look down on me, a true vampire? Do you wish to die?”

“Of course I look down on my servants. Should I look up to them instead?”

Laughing, Kang Chul-In once again retorted.

“Servant? Kuku… You’re just a guy who doesn’t know his place. For you, I’ll be especially violent in tearing up your body into pieces and devouring you.”

Though it was a terrifying threat, it didn’t have an effect on Kang Chul-In.

“You’re welcome anytime.”

To Kang Chul-In, it didn’t matter what happened to him after death. He wasn’t one to really care about those things.

“But first, it’s time for you to get punished for speaking like that to your Lord.”

Though his body was severely injured, Kang Chul-In walked forward as if the fight was just beginning.

Of course there was no way that Kang Chul-In, who had laughed at Alex Rothschild and the Lord alliance as he died, would be afraid of a situation like this.

Maybe I’ll have a chance if I use ‘that'…

It was at that moment.

-Do you want my strength?

Vibrating, Kaiforce talked to Kang Chul-In with sweet temptation.