A woman walked alone as a street lamp illuminated her path. The tapping of her high heel shoes sounded in sync with her steps. Her eyes couldn't stop rolling, looking at the dark shadows.
The bone-chilling cold night wind blew through her. The woman held her hands tightly and quickened her pace. The longer she walked, the more she wanted to leave this place.
As the woman was about to cross an intersection, a shadow flashed quickly under the streetlight. Naturally, she froze upon seeing it.
Trembling in fear, her animal instincts kicked in, telling her danger was coming. Suddenly, she felt something pass behind her. Looking back, she found nothing but empty air. Without a second thought, she took off running.
She kept running without looking back as if something was chasing her. Her mind only thought of saving herself, escaping this terror as soon as possible. However, no matter how far she ran, she felt there was no way out.
Swoosh!
"Aaaaw!"
The woman fell as the shadowy figure had just attacked her. She tried to get up, but her high heel broke. With trembling hands, she took off her shoes and ran with all her might even though the soles of her feet stepped on gravel.
Her breathing was ragged, and her heart was beating fast, whether from fear or exhaustion.
Slash!
Splat!
"Kyaaaa!"
The woman fell for the second time. But this time, her hand felt the pain. Her eyes opened wide as she saw blood flowing down her arm. Naturally, she cried out, and her body trembled in fear.
Suddenly, she heard a swishing sound breaking the silence.
Ggggggrrrrrr
An ugly monster emerged from the shadows. Its body swelled, and its skin revealed black streaks. The woman gasped as the creature stared at her with blood-red eyes.
"KYAAAAAAAA!"
She screamed hysterically. The monster ran over to the woman with drool in its mouth.
As she thought she would die, a black sedan car hit it.
BAM!
The monster was slammed into the building, and debris buried it. Meanwhile, the woman was stunned when a man exited the car. Klaus casually made a phone call in front of that monster.
"The damn monster took the bait. Call your men," he said.
Sheila got out of the car and quickly approached the woman.
"You did well." She saw the blood on the woman's arm. "Let's get out of here. Come with me!"
The woman nodded, and Sheila pulled her away.
At the same time, other cars stopped at the spot. A group of men came out with conventional weapons. They quickly surrounded and pointed their guns at the monster.
Roach approached Klaus with a grin on his face. "Your plan worked, Mr. Morgan!"
Klaus just nodded. "Where are the others?"
"On their way."
As they devised a trapping plan, they found three locations with CCTV cameras that often captured the monster's appearance. Klaus then divided his men into three groups.
Klaus, Sheila, and Roach were in one group.
They hired prostitution workers to become monster bait. While they hid, they waited for the monster to appear from a distance. When one spot trapped the monster, the others quickly gathered at that spot.
"My guess was right. It's not a vampire. But what's it?" muttered Klaus.
The monster rose from the rubble. The gangsters held their guns tightly. Their finger was on the trigger. Just waiting for the order to pull it.
"Grrraaaaaaa-!"
The monster roared. The scream was so loud that it echoed throughout the Bronx. However, the gangsters seemed unfazed.
"Hahaha! Damn, monster! This Noise Canceller is amazing!" Roach laughed loudly. Then the man gave the order to bombard the monster.
"Fire!"
Bbbbbbrrrrrr!
Gunshots broke the silence of the night. Muzzles spewed flashes of light, and shell casings fell to the ground. The monster screamed in pain as thousands of bullets lodged in its body.
Clack!
The gangsters stopped firing, reloading. At the same time, the monster curled up on the ground with a bunch of holes in its body. However, it was slowly recovering. The bullets came out of the flesh slowly.
"Tie up the monster!"
Another order escaped Roach. Several gangsters grabbed long iron rods with wires at the ends in cars' trunks. They hooked them on the monster's arms and legs and pulled them from four directions.
"GRAAAAAWR!"
The monster was thrashing around, overwhelming the sixteen people holding it. Klaus had yet to take action; he wanted to know the limits of the monster.
"You have the [Taming] skill. Use it on that monster," Klaus said.
"Without you telling me to, I'll do it."
The bald man stood above the monster. He touched its chest. Roach was bathed in blue light not long after, channeling his mana to the monster. He began to tame it.
However, no matter how long it took, Roach could not tame the monster. He began breaking out in a cold sweat, but the monster thrashed.
"Mr. Morgan, it's like I can't tame it! It has never happened before. It's weird!"
"Keep going," Klaus said.
Of course, Roach couldn't keep doing it. After trying to tame him for 20 minutes, the bald man finally ran out of mana. The light that enveloped his body vanished as he fell to his knees.
"Damn it, I can't tame it," Roach growled. Breathing heavily.
Klaus remained silent. His eyes were glued to the monster.
"Gwaaaar!"
The monster became savage. The gangsters began to sink into a panic. They wanted to pull the trigger, but their comrades were still in the firing range. The monster went berserk and threw the men who were holding it back. It grabbed one of the men and bit him. While he dried up as his blood was sucked out, the monster quickly recovered its wounds.
Seeing how fast the monster's regeneration was, Klaus nodded his head. When he first saw its form, he couldn't identify what kind of monster this was. He had lived for hundreds of years. He could recognize a monster with just one look.
However, this monster was different. It had the physical characteristics of a ghoul, claws like a water hag, and a rapid regeneration mechanism like a vampire.
"Do you know what this monster is, Laplace?" muttered Klaus.
<Sorry, my liege. I have no idea. It's the first time I've seen a monster like this.>
Even Laplace didn't know it either. It made Klaus even more curious. What exactly is this monster?
"Uwaaah!"
The monster pushed through the ranks and fled. The gangsters shot at it, but it managed to escape.
"Let me take care of it. Take care of your boss!" Klaus said to the gangsters before he chased the monster.
Meanwhile, Roach was kneeling, and his strength was exhausted to the point he couldn't stand.
Klaus shot off at high speed in the darkness. Flicking his fingers, Klaus threw metal spheres. They darted until the wind whistled and hit the monster's feet.
"Kwaaaargh!"
The monster collapsed instantly. As it tried to get up, Klaus pulled out the road sign pole and threw it at the monster.
Splat!
"Kyaaa!"
The road sign was stuck in its chest. The monster was about to pull out the pole, but Klaus pressed it deeper.
"Gwwaaarrr!"
Klaus stood over the blood-sucking creature with a cold expression, even as it screamed in pain. Crouching, Klaus took a closer look at the monster's face.
"Look, you're so ugly that I don't even know what you are. How did a creature like you get out of the dungeon?"
"Gwarrrar—!"
Klaus slapped the monster's face when it screamed in front of his face.
"Stop it."
As Klaus was trying to figure out what this monster was, a shiny object caught his eye. He saw a necklace around its neck.
"THIS!"
"Gwaaarrr!"
Klaus was caught off guard. The monster pulled out the stake stuck in his chest and immediately fled.
While the blood-sucking monster ran away, Klaus was glued to the necklace with the apple pendant in his hand. The same necklace belonged to one of the children at the orphanage.
