Chapter 17:

Truthfully, keeping my telekinesis a secret until now had been a perfectly rational decision for my own safety.

In a world where science and magic were the norms, my power, which belonged to neither, was like carrying a ticking bomb.

Just its existence could put my life in jeopardy.

So logically, the best course of action was to stay out of this situation entirely, keep my head down, and remain hidden.

Nighthaven was a labyrinth where people like me were as common as pebbles.

This crisis would eventually resolve itself without me having to step in.

And if I recklessly revealed my telekinesis and word got out, the vampires might shift their target to me instead.

Yes, it was best to think rationally.

For the sake of the future….

‘No. Why should I hold back?’

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the type to endure quietly.

If I wanted something, like a delicious deluxe chocolate cream bun, I had to have it.

And if someone did something bad, they deserved to be punished appropriately.

More importantly, while I stayed silent for the future’s sake, I couldn’t bear to watch the people I knew suffer.

Good grief. Despite being a scaredy-cat, I could also be impulsive at times.

Even I had to admit that my personality was frustratingly foolish.

‘Not that I plan to jump into the fire without thinking.’

Of course, I wasn’t entirely without a plan.

Let’s think about this. Right now, I was just a ghost cloaked in white fabric.

The only person who knew my true identity was Greg.

So, if I made a grand spectacle, pinned all the attention on the Ghost, and then disappeared forever, that would be enough.

A classic scarecrow tactic.

Until recently, the Ghost had been my only identity.

But starting today, there was Yuria, Greg’s employee. That should be enough to keep things safe.

‘I really owe Greg a lot.’

He fed me, gave me a job, and even gave me a name.

In a way, he was like a father figure in this life.

Though, considering he was only in his late twenties despite his stoic demeanor, calling him “Dad” would probably freak him out.

That might actually be fun in its own way.

Lost in these trivial thoughts, I eventually found myself stepping out of the alley and onto a wide street.

Since there weren’t many bounty hunters around here, the street was crawling with zombies—so many it was revolting.

“Graaaah…”

“Kik, krrrrk…”

Sensing my presence, the zombie horde surged toward me like moths to a flame.

The scene could’ve been straight out of a horror movie, but I didn’t bat an eye.

My telekinesis had already extended in every direction along the street.

‘Neck crank.’

CRACK!

I extended a hand from beneath my cloak and made a simple twisting gesture with my wrist.

In response, the necks of every approaching zombie snapped sideways.

It wasn’t a particularly difficult task.

All I did was grab their jaws with telekinesis and twist them to the side.

Compared to earlier, when I had forcefully crushed their necks, this move barely consumed 20% of my focus.

Still, the result was impressive.

The street, once teeming with zombies, was now filled with the sight of them collapsing simultaneously—a surreal spectacle.

“What the… What just happened to them?!”

“Th-their heads twisted?!”

“Don’t let your guard down! Double-check they’re dead! Zombies can still move like this!”

Of course, zombies didn’t die just from having their necks snapped. You had to destroy their heads or sever them entirely.

The bounty hunters, though startled by the fallen zombies, didn’t relax.

They quickly moved in to crush the heads or slice the necks of the downed creatures.

They didn’t need to, though.

“Hey, you don’t have to destroy their heads. These ones aren’t moving anymore.”

“What?!”

These fake zombies, filled with mysterious black material instead of flesh and bones, had a different mechanism.

To keep it simple, they had magical circuits concentrated in their necks.

Twist the necks enough, and the circuits would break, rendering them nonfunctional.

In other words, when it came to these fake zombies with clear weaknesses, I had a significant advantage thanks to my ability to target multiple foes at once.

‘Maybe I should make some noise and draw the mastermind’s attention.’

Taking a deep breath, I propelled myself forward with telekinesis, speeding down the street.

As I went, I snapped the jaws of zombies in my path, leaving a trail of incapacitated bodies piled like mountains.

It was a stark contrast to the bounty hunters, who were painstakingly fighting one zombie at a time.

My rampage was more like a sports car tearing through a narrow alley.

“Th-the Ghost is here!”

“It’s real! S-seventy thousand credits…!”

“W-what am I even looking at?”

“M-maybe I should just collect zombie heads…”

As expected, my blatant rampage couldn’t go unnoticed.

Among the bounty hunters who had regained their composure thanks to the weakened zombie assault, I heard voices filled with confusion and awe.

Focused on efficiently neutralizing the zombies by twisting their jaws, I paid no attention to them.

After who-knows-how-long of this frenzied sprint, my head began to heat up from overexertion.

Then, suddenly, someone—not a zombie—blocked my path and shouted.

“Stop right there, Ghost! Do you have any idea where you are?!”

A pale face, a jaw dripping with wet blood, and razor-sharp fangs.

No matter how I looked at them, the figure before me was unmistakably a vampire.

In an instant, I assessed the situation, and my gaze sharpened naturally.

‘Vampires don’t die unless both their neck and heart are destroyed. That’s the rule.’

So, there was no need to hold back.

I slowed down, halting just in front of the female vampire. With all my strength, I used telekinesis to snap her neck.

Most vampires were sorcerers who wielded blood magic.

Even if they used blood as a medium, they still needed to chant, and the neck was critical for that.

Besides, she wasn’t going to die from this.

I didn’t feel even a twinge of guilt about breaking it.

“G-ghkk… keck…!”

As the vampire writhed in pain, clutching her neck, I hurled her into a wall with telekinesis.

Then, I tore off a thin iron frame from the wall and drove it through her limbs, pinning her firmly in place.

The metal embedded in her arms and legs would interfere with her regeneration, and unless someone came to help, she wouldn’t be able to escape on her own.

With her completely neutralized, I immediately lost interest and dashed through the streets of the western labyrinth again.

Zombies, zombies, ghouls, vampires, and more zombies.

How long had I been rampaging like this?

As I sprinted through the chaotic streets, my instincts suddenly screamed of danger.

A sharp killing intent pierced through me, like needles stabbing deep into my skin.

I hastily retreated and enveloped myself in telekinesis to shield my body.

Just as I completed the protective barrier, a blood-red spike shot toward me at incredible speed, rattling me violently.

‘Tch! This is…’

Thankfully, my hasty telekinetic shield managed to deflect the spike to the side.

When it clattered to the ground, I realized it was formed entirely of coagulated blood.

Blood magic.

There was no need to guess who the culprit was.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Good reaction. You’re not just some nobody, it seems.”

My head turned toward the source of the voice.

Standing there was a tall, lanky man with pale skin.

A handsome but gaunt face, crimson eyes filled with cold madness, and dark red hair that looked as if it had been soaked in dried blood.

His attire was sharp and formal, resembling a tailcoat.

Even without an introduction, I could tell he was Drakel—the vampire noble and the mastermind behind the zombie-filled chaos in the western labyrinth.

My headache, worsened by excessive use of telekinesis, blended with my rising anger.

Could he sense my emotions even through the white fabric cloaking me?

Drakel, surrounded by magical circles drawn in blood, seemed equally emotional. His voice rang out, brimming with fervor.

“I’ve been searching for you, Ghost. The one who ruined my grand plan!”

“….”

“Hah! How laughable. Because of a single mistake by my useless son, this noble vampire must now flee and scheme like a coward!”

His crimson eyes bulged, and he trembled with barely contained rage.

The air grew heavy, his mana responding to his emotions with an oppressive force that seemed to distort space itself.

Ah, so the vampire I had incapacitated before must have been Drakel’s son.

That explained the fury radiating from him.

Drakel wasn’t just any vampire—he was a noble among their kind.

Although his power had waned compared to his prime, his bloodline still placed him among the most dangerous entities in the world.

From what I could piece together, someone must have investigated Drakel’s son and discovered the noble vampire’s existence through his body.

Relentless pursuit had then exposed the preparations Drakel was quietly making for the Blood Night Incident.

Once uncovered, all his plans had fallen apart in an instant.

All ambushes fail the moment they’re detected.

Drakel’s schemes must have shattered completely, leaving him with no choice but to target me in his anger.

‘Well, whose fault is that? He should’ve kept a better eye on his son. Serves him right, idiot.’

Drakel had no one but himself to blame.

Even if I hadn’t interfered, the protagonist’s party would have crushed his plans.

And if he had succeeded, the factions of Nighthaven would’ve swiftly banded together to annihilate him.

There was no way a washed-up vampire like Drakel could withstand that kind of assault.

The Blood Night Incident was doomed to fail from the start—a fundamentally flawed plan.

But oblivious to that, Drakel clenched his fist as if gripping my neck and shouted with manic laughter.

“I’ll kill you, turn you into a ghoul, and leave this city! A vampire’s life is eternal, after all! Even if not now, one day I will fulfill my ambition. So die, Ghost!”

The veins beneath his pale skin pulsed visibly, a sign of his boiling rage.

Vampires were known for their literal blood running hot when overcome with emotion.

All around him, blood magic circles began to form.

Each one radiated power equivalent to the earlier attack—lethal enough that even my telekinesis would struggle to block them all.

As expected of a monster that had once managed to defeat the protagonist.

Against a foe like this, my telekinesis, optimized for overwhelming weaker enemies, seemed insufficient.

Victory appeared out of reach.

Not for me, though.

I wasn’t unsure of winning—I was unsure of losing.

‘Well, if I thought I couldn’t win, I wouldn’t have come this far in the first place.’

Closing my eyes briefly, I sifted through the original story in my memory.

Drakel’s weaknesses, the environment of the western labyrinth, and the unique aspects of my abilities—one by one, I put the pieces together.

In my mind, a strategy for victory began to take shape.

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