“Cough! Cough!” A lower-ranked vampire started coughing.

Another vampire beside him started to tease him, asking, “Did you suck the blood of a sick goat or something? Why the hell is a vampire coughing?”

“Shut up,” the coughing vampire shot back, glaring at his friend.

However, after a day passed, nobody could laugh at the coughing vampire anymore, as more than one hundred and fifty vampires had begun coughing.

“What’s going on?” a few vampires asked, perplexed by the fact that they were coughing.

Vampires were usually immune to most diseases, and almost never got sick. In fact, not once in the entire history of the vampires had they ever had an outbreak of colds, or any other disease for that matter. However, most of the vampires did not pay any attention to the outbreak.

“What a bunch of morons. How can vampires get sick with colds?” the average-ranked vampires said, clicking their tongues.

The next day, however, all of the lower-ranked vampires had begun coughing, and a few average-ranked vampires had started to cough as well.

“Cough! Cough! Couuuugh!”

“Hey! Wake up!”

A lower-ranked vampire, who had been struggling with fever, suddenly succumbed to his illness and died. Additionally, the number of vampires who became lethargic for no reason had increased as well. It was only then that the vampires realized something was wrong.

“An infectious disease has broken out among us!”

It was a pandemic! A disaster that the entire vampire race had never faced in their history had fallen upon them.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo stood atop a cliff that gave him a bird’s eye view of the entire city, which was covered in blackish-red fog. The disease had already spread throughout the city.

‘The real fight starts from now on,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he looked over the city, deciding to make his next move. There was no way he would have spread the disease just to stand and watch from the sidelines. He took out the Staff of Plague. It was the staff that had been used by the black magician responsible for creating the disease strains.

“Identify Infection Area,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered, and a message popped up on his wrist device as soon as he said those words.

[Sanguineum]

Population: 3,057

(2,276 Vampires currently reside here)

Hygiene Status: Bad

Infected: 972

Type of Disease: Vampire Disease

Cure: N/A

Fatalities: 142

‘It’s better than I expected,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he went over the message.

Sanguineum was a city vulnerable to diseases. Vampires belonged to a race that rarely got sick, and that was why their medicinal knowledge was almost nonexistent. Besides, it would look hilarious if a vampire went to see a doctor in the first place.

‘However, it’s now completely different.’

The vampires could no longer be safe from disease just by trusting in their strong immunity. The Vampire Disease was a disease that only infected vampires, and it was inevitable that they would succumb to it.

‘On top of that, Sanguineum only has a few residents.’

Normal cities usually had tens of thousands of inhabitants, but Sanguineum was a large city that was only populated by vampires, who usually numbered only in the thousands. It was also a city that had no contact with the outside world, so its response to a pandemic would be very slow.

‘They could never imagine that the fog is the medium for spreading the disease,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he waved the Staff of Plague. Then, some words floated up from his wrist device.

[172 vampires have been infected with the Vampire Disease in the eastern district of Sanguineum.]

[The rate of infection has increased.]

[The places with poor hygiene will see a drastic increase in infection.]

[The infected vampires are sucking the blood of other creatures.]

[The virus has mixed with another virus and mutated into a new disease.]

That was the power of the Staff of Plague. Kang Yoon-Soo earned experience points whenever a patient succumbed to the disease and died. The amount of experience he earned would not be as much as what he would receive if he personally hunted the vampires, but the sheer amount of vampires becoming infected and dying to the disease increased his level at an exponential pace.

‘That’s not all.’

[A Corrupted Cross has been erected in the southern district of Sanguineum.]

[The disease has become even more active.]

[The duration of the disease has increased.]

They were the other items he had received after killing the black magician—the Corrupted Crosses. The rest of his party was currently going around erecting those crosses across Sanguineum.

‘A Corrupted Cross not only increases the rate of infection, but also makes the hygiene of the area deteriorate.’

A Corrupted Cross would make the environment worse for any infected, but better for disease to thrive. The number of infected was guaranteed to increase whenever one of those crosses was planted in the area. Kang Yoon-Soo had tasked his party to plant a total of four Corrupted Crosses in Sanguineum.

‘All of Sanguineum will be covered by the Corrupted Crosses.’

The rate of infection would increase, and so the number of infected would increase as well; then, the city’s environment would deteriorate as fatalities started to rise. Finally, the vampires would then be massacred.

‘The rate of infection has increased because I used the fog as the medium.’

The blackish-red fog had protected the vampires from the hot rays of the sun for some time, and it had acted as a trustworthy shield for them. However, that same fog had now turned Sanguineum into a living hell for vampires.

‘The vampire race has started to crumble.’

There were no more vampires on the street because of the pandemic, and most vampires were lying sick in bed in their mansions. The only vampires out on the streets were the homeless ones.

‘It’s now time for me to make my move,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he made his way down to Sanguineum. He ran into a vampire on the way down, however.

The vampire, who looked quite haggard and lethargic, shouted toward him, “It’s a human!” He had been infected with the vampire disease. He charged at Kang Yoon-Soo, but it was not difficult to avoid him at all.

‘It’s a low-ranked one.’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he smashed the vampire’s head with his staff.

Kwachik!

It was not that strong of a strike, but the vampire was already staggering. Kang Yoon-Soo swung the staff like a mace at the vampire’s head once again and crushed it into pulp.

Kwachik! Kwachik!

“Euk…!” The vampire groaned one last time before it died.

‘The infected vampires are much easier to deal with.’

A vampire was still a vampire regardless of its rank, but Kang Yoon-Soo had been able to deal with the vampire without using his Sword of Revelation—that was how weak they had become.

“Summon Mini-Lich,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered, and a small skeleton popped up.

Mini-Lich looked around the dark, sinister atmosphere and rejoiced. “It smells like death over here! I like this place!”

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at the lower-ranked vampire’s corpse and said, “Raise it as a bloody zombie.”

“Alright, teacher,” Mini-Lich said as it waved its bone wand. The vampire, whose head had been crushed in, stood up from the ground. It looked at Kang Yoon-Soo and nodded

‘This is the difference between me and Mini-Lich,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He was able to raise multiple corpses at once thanks to Nakron's skill. Mini-Lich could also raise multiple undead at once, but it could not raise as many as Kang Yoon-Soo could in one go. However, Mini-Lich was able to raise whichever undead it wanted from the corpses.

‘A zombie is the perfect undead in cases like this.’

A zombie that was rotten to its core made the hygiene of its surroundings deteriorate, and it was also the best undead when it came to spreading diseases. It was not as strong as other undead, but it had the best infection rate among them. There was nothing scarier than a zombie roaming around the streets of a city that was going through a pandemic.

“I’ll create a legion of undead after killing all the vampires in this city,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Alright, teacher,” Mini-Lich responded.

All of the vampires Kang Yoon-Soo met were infected with the vampire disease, and he killed twenty-five lower-ranked vampires and four average-ranked vampires. Mini-Lich looked down at the vampires’ corpses and asked, “Teacher, can I research the vampires?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

[Mini-Lich is researching the vampire corpses.]

[Mini-Lich has realized the dangers of sucking the blood of any creature and the risks it carries.]

[Mini-Lich’s intellect has increased by 8.]

Kang Yoon-Soo added, “Vampires are innately born with high resistance to diseases, and they’re less likely to get infected the purer their blood is.”

“Thank you; I understand now that you have explained it,” Mini-Lich said.

[You have utilized your high knowledge stat to teach your student.]

[You have made Mini-Lich realize something new.]

[You and your student’s reading speed has increased.]

‘I guess solving all those cases at Sheryl’s house wasn’t all for naught.’

Mini-Lich had received an increase in its stats after Kang Yoon-Soo increased his own knowledge stat; in this instance, however, it was not only Mini-Lich who had gained an increase to its stats, but even Kang Yoon-Soo as well. It was not much, but it would be a helpful skill later on.

“Cough! Cough! Damn it! When will this cough go away?” a vampire exclaimed.

Kang Yoon-Soo grabbed Mini-Lich’s head to stop his jaws from making their distinct clacking sound.

“What’s the matter, teacher?” Mini-Lich asked.

“Be quiet,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he stuck to the wall beside him and silenced his breath. A vampire decorated with jewels roamed the streets, and was undoubtedly a high-ranked vampire.

‘A high-ranked vampire takes at least four people to raid.’

However, the situation this time was different, as the vampires had gotten weak because of the spread of the vampire disease. Even a high-ranked vampire was bound to have been weakened by the disease.

‘I have to kill it,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he gripped his sword. He could not afford to miss it no matter how small the opportunity was—since this was his final life.

“Teacher, your eyes are scary,” Mini-Lich said.

“Let’s climb this building,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he climbed the walls of a building. After he reached the roof of the building, he was able to gain a good view of a high-ranked vampire. The high-ranked vampire was walking beneath him.

‘I have to finish this in one strike,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he measured the angle. Then, he jumped off the roof as soon as the high-ranked vampire was exactly beneath him. He had already drawn the Sword of Revelation, and he stabbed down toward the high-ranked vampire with his full might. “Abyssal Sword.”

It was at the moment that Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword, which had become enveloped in a dark aura, was about to slice the vampire in half that the vampire shouted, “Ice Spear!”

A large spear made of ice grazed past Kang Yoon-Soo’s arm, and that was more than enough to make his sword lose its momentum and power. Thus, the high-ranked vampire easily parried his surprise attack.

Clang!

Kang Yoon-Soo rolled across the ground and landed unscathed.

The high-ranked vampire leisurely picked up the ice spear and said as he tapped his nose, “You were too impatient. Did you think I wouldn’t be able to smell the blood on you?” He smelled the blood of the vampires Kang Yoon-Soo had killed until then.

Tens of ice spears suddenly formed in the vampire’s hands, and he vampire confidently said, “I don’t know what you’re up to, whether it’s vampire hunting or whatever you call it, but did you really think that I, the great Olsen, would be weak just because of some disease?!”

The ice spears consecutively flew toward Kang Yoon-Soo, and he tried his best to either block them or avoid them, but it was at that moment…

Munch!

A Zombie Vampire emerged from within the darkness and bit Olsen’s shoulder. The zombie was being controlled by Mini-Lich.

“Euk!” Olsen groaned in pain.

“Corpse Explosion,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered, invoking the name of a Necromancer skill he had not used in a long time, and the zombie that was biting Olsen’s shoulder blew up when he spoke.

A portion of Olsen’s cape had burned to ashes, and one side of his cheek was burned as well. “You damned bastard!” the enraged vampire shouted, charging toward Kang Yoon-Soo.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo calmly drew a circle with his sword before he struck back. He cut off the high-ranked vampire’s nose, then stabbed his sword through the vampire’s mouth right as the vampire opened his mouth.

“Y-You…!” Olsen gagged.

“Die,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded, pulling the trigger of his crossbow.

Psshing!

The fiery bolt fired from point-blank range exploded in the vampire’s head.

[You have killed Olsen, the high-ranked vampire.]

[Your level has risen.]

Kang Yoon-Soo wiped the blood off of his face. Mini-Lich walked toward him and asked, “Teacher, are you alright?”

“Raise this one as a zombie as well,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he kicked Olsen’s corpse.

However, Mini-Lich said worriedly, “Teacher, you look exhausted.”

“I’m alright,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he touched his blood-covered face. He had not had a good night’s sleep these past few days, as he had been busy planning over and over again, but the fact that he had exposed his fatigue to someone else made him disappointed in himself.

‘I still have a long way to go,’ he thought.

There was no way he could win against the Demon Lord if he were to get tired from just this much, and he did not plan to rest at all until he managed to reach his goal of defeating the Demon Lord.

It was then that laughter resounded from somewhere.

“Hahaha! You did quite well!” a vampire who looked high-ranked, judging by his luxurious attire, called out while clapping. The vampire looked at Olsen’s corpse as it lay beside Kang Yoon-Soo’s feet and snickered, saying, “You did quite well. That guy was my mortal enemy. Actually, I was watching you from a distance away. I didn’t expect much from you, but you did quite well. Ah, forgive my rudeness; I forgot to introduce myself. My name is…”

“You’ll die in three seconds,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, interrupting him.

“What?” the vampire exclaimed.

Then, a silver bolt penetrated the vampire’s head. Kang Yoon-Soo did not miss his chance, as he ran toward the vampire and swung his sword with all his might.

Thud…!

The high-ranked vampire’s head fell off and rolled across the floor.

“That was a talkative vampire, aye?” Deff remarked as he lowered his crossbow. It was the group that had gone to plant the Corrupted Crosses.

Shaneth ran toward Kang Yoon-Soo and touched his ankle, asking, “What happened to your ankle? How did you get hurt?”

“While fighting,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied. Shaneth quickly took out a bandage and wrapped it around his ankle.

Henrick snickered at the sight and said, “That guy is so lucky. He has a beauty to nurse him and all.”

“Omo, why did Henrick not ask Rick to do it for him?” Iris said.

“Hey, you punk… She’s a doll,” Henrick retorted.

“Then should I do it for you?” Iris asked.

“No, you could kill someone while wrapping them with a bandage,” Henrick grumbled, refusing the offer. He then ducked to avoid Iris’ fist.

“What do we need to do now?” Renil asked.

All of them had naturally started to follow Kang Yoon-Soo’s commands.

Kang Yoon-Soo said, “We need a drink first.”

“…” Shaneth suddenly gripped the bandage hard and pulled it.

Kang Yoon-Soo winced in pain for a moment before saying, “We’ll ambush the place where the vampires keep their slaves.”