Free Web NovelChapter 2: Chapter 2: The Monster in the Mirror
The blood was divine.
Lucian ran his tongue across his fangs — his fangs, because they were his now, whether he liked the implications or not — savoring the lingering copper taste of the shadow hound. The warmth spread through his chest like fine wine, settling into his limbs with a lazy, intoxicating heat.
He laughed. The sound bounced off the trees, startling a flock of mutated crows from their roost. They burst into the night sky with harsh, screaming caws, and Lucian watched them go with mild amusement.
"Calm down, birds. Daddy’s not hungry anymore."
Yet.
The system window hovered patiently in his peripheral vision, updated after his latest meal.
╔═══════════════════════╗
║ ETERNAL NIGHT SYSTEM ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ [ HOST ] Lucian Grimaud ║
║ [ RACE ] Human (Transitional) ║
║ [ AGE ] 16 ║
║ [ TITLE ] None ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ CULTIVATION BASE ║
║ ├─ Neophyte Realm (Mid) ║
║ ├─ Star Palaces: Light Palace ║
║ └─ System Level: 4 (EXP: 80 / 500) ║
╠═══════════════════════╣ frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
║ VITAL RESOURCES ║
║ ├─ HP: ██████████ 100% ║
║ ├─ MP: ████████░░ 80% ║
║ ├─ Stamina: ██████░░░░ 60% ║
║ └─ BE: ████████░░ 72/100 ║
╠═══════════════════════╣
║ BLOODLINE: THE ANCIENT VAMPIRE ║
║ ├─ Seal Progress: 97% LOCKED ║
║ └─ Passive: [Eternal Regeneration] — Active ║
╚═══════════════════════╝
Human (Transitional). Interesting. The system didn’t call him a vampire yet. Something in between — neither fully human nor fully whatever the blood in his veins wanted him to become.
Suddenly, Lucian paused, tilting his head.
A distant sound with heavy and multiple Footsteps.
Lucian melted into the shadow of a massive oak, pressing his back against the bark. His senses reached out — that new, predatory awareness that felt as natural as breathing now.
Three heartbeats. No, four. Fast. Agitated. The scent of fear-sweat hit him like a wave, underlaid with something else — leather, steel, and the sharp tang of mana.
Humans.
They crashed through the undergrowth a moment later, and Lucian’s lips curled with distaste.
Three men and one woman, all wearing the standard-issue combat gear of the Hunter Guild. Their insignia marked them as F-rank hunters, probably from one of the outlying patrol stations.
They were running. Terrified, actually. The woman was sobbing, her visor cracked, blood streaming from a gash on her forehead. One of the men was half-carrying another who had a chunk missing from his left shoulder — the wound was ragged, torn, and Lucian could see bone gleaming white in the moonlight.
"Keep moving!" the uninjured man snarled. He was the largest — broad shoulders, a scarred face, a two-handed sword slung across his back. "If we stop, we’re dead!"
"W-what was that thing?!" the woman gasped. "That wasn’t on the intelligence report! They said this territory was only F-rank beasts!"
"It was," the scarred man said through clenched teeth. "That’s a mutant. E-rank at minimum. Maybe peak E-rank. Something triggered a growth surge, I don’t fucking know—"
"It took Davis in one bite!" the wounded man moaned, his face grey with shock. "One fucking bite! His head just—aaahhh—my arm, my arm—"
"Shut UP!" the scarred man hissed. "If you keep screaming, it’ll find us again—"
Lucian almost rolled his eyes.
Pathetic.
The ground shook.
BOOM.
A tree twenty meters to the left exploded, showering the area with splinters and leaves. The hunters screamed — the woman a high-pitched shriek, the men guttural yells of terror.
From the gap in the treeline, something emerged.
Lucian’s breath caught.
It was a boar. Or it had been, once. Now it was a thing — three meters tall at the shoulder, its body swollen with mutated muscle beneath a hide that had hardened into something resembling blackened stone. Its tusks were each as long as a man’s arm, curving upward like scythes, and they dripped with something that sizzled when it hit the ground.
Its eyes — six of them, arranged in two rows across its broad skull — glowed a sickly yellow.
Peak E-rank. Maybe even the cusp of D-rank.
Don’t even think about it.
The rational part of Lucian’s brain — the part that had kept him alive under Louisa’s roof for seven years — screamed at him to stay hidden. He was Mid Neophyte Realm. Even with his A-rank Light Control, even with his vampire-enhanced body, a peak E-rank beast would tear him apart. The cultivation manuals he’d memorized at the Du Maurier estate had been clear:
Neophyte Realm = F-rank beasts. A Mid Neophyte could challenge an E-rank beast only with extreme caution, preparation, and luck. A peak E-rank was suicide.
Core Realm = E-rank to D-rank beasts. You didn’t fight D-ranks until Late Core at minimum.
Grand Core Realm = C-rank to B-rank beasts.
Astral Realm = A-rank to S-rank beasts.
The gap between each rank wasn’t linear. It was exponential. A peak E-rank beast could kill ten Mid Neophyte cultivators without breaking a sweat.
"FORM UP!" the scarred hunter roared, drawing his two-handed sword. The blade glowed faintly — a D-rank weapon, probably. "Theresa, support! Rick, get your ass up—"
"I c-can’t—" Rick, the wounded man, was on his knees, clutching his ruined shoulder. His face had gone from grey to white. "I can’t feel my arm—"
"Then use your other fucking hand!"
The boar charged.
PAM! PAM! PAM!
The ground shook with each thunderous step. It moved faster than something that size had any right to move — a freight train of muscle and bone and killing intent, aimed directly at the scarred hunter.
He swung.
The sword connected with the boar’s shoulder. The glow flared — and the blade shattered, sending metal fragments spraying across the clearing. The boar didn’t even slow down.
"NO—" the scarred man had time to say, before a tusk caught him in the chest.
CRUNCH.
The sound was wet. Final.
The man’s body flew thirty meters, slamming into a tree with a sickening splat. He slid down the trunk and didn’t move. His chest was caved in — Lucian could see the shattered ribs poking through the torn vest, the blood pooling beneath him, spreading, dark and thick.
The woman — Theresa — screamed.
Rick just stared, his mouth open, a thin whistling sound coming from his throat. Shock. He was in shock.
The boar turned its six yellow eyes toward them.
Toward the easy prey.
Lucian watched from his shadow.
This isn’t your fight.
The boar took a step toward Theresa. She raised her hands — some kind of ability, mana flickering around her fingers — but her hands were shaking too badly to form a spell.
"P-please—"
The boar lowered its head. The tusks aimed at her stomach.
This isn’t your fight, Lucian.
But Lena’s face flashed in his mind. Seven years old. Green eyes. A smile that was fading.
I promised her.
"Light Blade."
The words left his mouth before the thought finished forming.
The dagger of white light appeared in his hand — but this time, Lucian poured everything into it. Every drop of mana in his depleted reserves. Every scrap of willpower. Every ounce of that new, hungry thing burning in his blood.
The blade blazed.
"What—?" Theresa’s eyes widened.
Lucian moved.
Earth Evasion carried him out of the shadow like a ghost, his body low, his silver hair streaming behind him. The boar’s head began to turn — those yellow eyes tracking him — but it was too slow. He didn’t aim for the body. The hide was too thick — stone-like, reinforced by mutation. Even his empowered Light Blade wouldn’t cut through it.
He aimed for the eyes.
SHLICK!
The blade punched through the left cluster of three eyes with a sound like a melon splitting. The boar screamed — a sound so loud and so wrong that Lucian’s vision went white for a half-second.
Then it swung.
Lucian saw the tusk coming. A massive, curving blade of bone, moving faster than his body could dodge.
It caught him in the ribs.
CRACK!
The world spun. Lucian’s body left the ground — he was flying, tumbling, the forest canopy whipping past above him — and then he slammed into something hard. A tree. His back hit the trunk with a boom that shook leaves from the branches.
Pain. Absolute, blinding, beautiful pain.
He slid down the trunk, gasping. His ribs were broken — he could feel them grinding against each other with every breath. Blood bubbled up in his throat, and he spat it onto the ground with a wet cough.
The boar was thrashing in the clearing, screaming, blind on one side. Black ichor poured from the ruined eye sockets.
It’s not dead. Get up. GET UP.
"Sir!" Theresa’s voice, distant. "Sir, are you—"
The boar found him by scent.
It charged again, a blind, rage-fueled freight train, tusks lowered, killing intent rolling off it like heat from a furnace.
Lucian’s hand trembled as he raised the fading Light Blade. His mana was almost gone. His body was broken. The Eternal Regeneration was working — he could feel the ribs knitting back together with a warm, tingling sensation — but it wasn’t fast enough.
Three seconds. That’s all I need. Three seconds for the ribs to heal enough to move—
The boar was ten meters away.
Two seconds.
Five meters.
One—
The boar’s remaining three eyes suddenly went wide.
It skidded to a stop, hooves tearing furrows in the earth, and let out a sound Lucian had never heard from a beast before.
Fear.
The boar was afraid.
It turned — awkwardly, wildly, crashing into trees — and ran. It fled into the darkness of the forest, its massive body crashing through undergrowth, its screams fading into the distance until silence reclaimed the clearing.
Lucian stared after it, breathing hard, blood dripping from his lips.
"What... the fuck... just happened?"
The system answered.
╔═════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⚠ BLOODLINE REACTION DETECTED ⚠ ║
║ The Ancient Vampire bloodline emitted a [Predator Aura] (Unconscious activation). ║
║ Effect: All beasts below D-rank within 50m experienced an instinctual fear response. ║ ║ ║ ║ Note: This ability is not yet under conscious control. ║
║ Seal Progress: 97% LOCKED ║
╚═════════════════════════════════╝
Lucian chuckle.
Theresa was staring at him like he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had.
Rick had passed out.
Lucian pushed himself upright, his regenerated ribs protesting weakly, and looked at the scarred hunter’s corpse. The woman was still alive — shaking, crying, but alive. Useless to him.
But the corpse...
The blood.
His fangs extended.
"Hello, love," Lucian whispered, and his smile was the most honest thing he’d felt in years. "Daddy’s home."
