Chapter 300

Chapter 300
## Chapter 300

Of Vampires, Elves, and Experiments (1)

Rumble—!

Engaged in the heat of combat, Harley cast a quick look across the battlefield.

‘Something is off here. Could it be another ambush?’

Yet, his acute perceptions failed to detect any hidden danger.

The only things surrounding him were the persistent forces of the Heaven’s Turn Society and the troops of Dracul, swarming like pests.

‘Still, ignoring my gut feelings is unwise. Caution is necessary.’

Even as he vigilantly monitored his environment, his well-conditioned body seamlessly managed multiple tasks, maintaining the onslaught.

Thump— Slash!

With a heavy resonance, his massive forearm, as thick as a tree trunk, cut through the air, five razor-sharp claws slicing through the open space.

It was an instinctual, animalistic execution paired with the refined intellect of a sentient warrior.

His physical form, already devastating through raw power alone, had become an unstoppable natural force, executing the fundamental laws of combat arts.

Whoosh—!

“Ugh, this freak…!”

“Fall back! Salmon! Is the preparation complete?”

“Curse it! What kind of physiology is that?! How can he possess this much resilience?!”

The skirmish was proving far more demanding than his initial expectations.

Despite the gap in raw power, his adversaries were transcendent entities who had broken past their mortal constraints.

Furthermore, they received backing from elite vampires, each utilizing distinct methodologies and supernatural phenomena.

‘They deployed their vanguard. They are fully committed to this encounter.’

Harley inclined his head slightly, locking eyes with the opposing line.

While he had cut down a considerable number of vampires, the threat remained high.

His priority needed to be neutralizing the subordinates of the Heaven’s Turn Society, yet these individuals were master-level combatants, deftly slipping away from his direct strikes.

‘Restraint is no longer an option.’

He had previously attempted to limit casualties and contain information leakage, but he had clearly undervalued their capabilities.

Allowing a single one to slip away would represent a massive setback.

A faction’s dominion was anchored by its concentration of high-tier combatants. He needed to wipe out the elite vanguard of the Heaven’s Turn Society right here.

“Kuh— There is no alternative.”

Holding back had lost its utility.

His presence was already entirely exposed.

“What is his objective…!”

“Stay alert! Avoid direct engagement…!”

The opposing warriors grew rigid, detecting the sudden alteration in his demeanor.

Thump—

The “Seed of Madness” buried deep within his chest throbbed violently, sending an uncontrollable tide of chaotic energy coursing through his veins.

The 「Tattoo of the Fighting King」, re-energized by this chaotic influx, blazed brightly beneath his crimson scales, while his “Bio-Aura”, roaring like an uncontained wildfire, completely cocooned his form.

“Hold on, that energy output…!”

“Falcon! Raise defenses…!”

Immediately following,

Dropping into a low crouch, his talons embedding into the dirt,

He propelled himself across the terrain like a projectile.

Crack— Boom!

“Khahaha!”

“Incredible speed…!”

“………!”

An invisible oppressive weight tried to bind his movements, but the mechanism failed entirely.

The chaotic aura circulating across his draconic hide shattered the external spellcraft, and the esoteric properties of his marking neutralized the hostile debuffs.

Whoosh!

A vampire who lunged forward to block his trajectory was casually backhanded away, his physical form instantly vaporizing into a crimson fog.

Even with supreme cellular regeneration, surviving such structural dissolution was impossible.

Kaboom—!

Following that, Harley’s clawed hand, expanding to twice its normal proportions, slammed directly into an unseen fortification.

This was the defensive barrier of the hammer-wielding warrior, a technique that had repeatedly secured the survival of the Heaven’s Turn Society.

Fractures, radiating outward like a spider’s web from the focal point of the strike, scarred the barrier’s surface… yet that brief delay provided the remaining master-tier combatants sufficient time to position themselves.

‘Up to this point.’

His resolution was set. Compromise was off the table.

Harley’s altered jaw parted abnormally wide, exposing rows of serrated teeth.

Then, wearing a savage grin—.

Crackle!

…He sank his teeth directly into the defensive wall.

“What?!”

“Voracity”, the specific trait designed to maximize his bite force.

Reinforced by his chaotic energy reserves, its destructive capacity far surpassed its previous iterations.

The unseen wall shattered completely, leaving a massive breach where his jaws had clamped down.

Subsequently, the sequence accelerated beyond measure.

Crunch! Crunch!

A hulking titan, jaws parted to display rows of lethal ivory, burst through the ruined fortification.

The spectacle was both monstrous and horrifying, yet the battle-hardened veterans maintained composure despite their rising dread.

The hammer warrior, raising his titanic bludgeon, stepped forward to contest him directly. The swordswoman, her edge coated in an exotic energy, maneuvered toward his rear. The martial artist, descending like a predatory bird from above, discharged a rapid succession of kinetic shockwaves. Simultaneously, the surviving vampires offered auxiliary cover.

Under normal circumstances, Harley would have operated with greater deliberation, pacing his maneuvers… but having committed to full eradication, such tactical caution became irrelevant.

Zing—

A verdant radiance flared within his left socket as 「Gem Eye: Coercion」 came online.

An irresistible gravity, amplified by his chaotic essence, radiated from his core, binding the motor functions of everyone within his vicinity.

“Ugh?!”

“What sort of pressure is…?”

Naturally, given their status as master-level entities, the paralysis was fleeting. Yet for Harley, that microscopic window of opportunity was all that was required.

Koooong—

“Gah!”

The hammer warrior, caught entirely defenseless, was sent hurtling through the air like discarded debris from a catastrophic impact.

He had managed to interpose his weapon to absorb the blow, but the gesture was futile.

This was merely the opening salvo.

‘This ends immediately.’

Within that fractions-of-a-second window,

Harley’s appendages and the warrior’s bludgeon crossed in an chaotic blur of exchanges.

Fists collided with solid iron, generating concussive waves, and friction sparks erupted as his talons tore down the shaft of the weapon.

Rumble—

The warrior’s allies threw themselves into the melee, desperate to provide intervention.

A blade infused with anomalous energy sliced across his draconic hide, carving a significant laceration, while the martial artist sustained a barrage of concussive force, attempting to drive him back…

Yet Harley, possessing near-limitless cellular restoration, completely discounted the damage.

His entire concentration remained locked onto the hammer warrior.

The conclusion was swift and unalterable.

“No!”

“Falcon!”

The hammer warrior, stripped of his armament, his throat firmly locked in Harley’s grip,

“One down.”

“Gah!”

Crack!

…suffered a snapped spine.

And that precise moment marked…

…the commencement of the slaughter.

—

Harley, the Pinnacle Evolved Lifeform.

The genesis of his development originated from the period when Hans and Heinz dismantled the radical factions of the Blood Alliance.

Specifically, when Hans initially confronted Yulryeongja within the psychic realm of an apprehended Heaven’s Turn Society director.

Extracting the coordinates of their hidden facility in Korea from those salvaged thoughts, Hans orchestrated an assault on the location, securing highly confidential research materials…

Which comprised the ‘Complete Evolution Project’ documentation alongside a specimen of the ‘Predator Dragon’s Blood’.

Doctor, constantly managing multiple lines of inquiry, distributed this specific pursuit across various sub-laboratories, seeking fresh analytical angles.

Operating under the belief that intellectual and technological breakthroughs were forged through collective input, he harbored no anxieties regarding information security.

His self-assurance in his individual intellect was absolute.

Regardless of how many minds pooled their talents, none could eclipse his capabilities.

Should an external researcher produce an advancement, it served his goals perfectly.

Every discovery would ultimately feed back into his master framework, ensuring he would be the final architect to realize the project…

Or so he had deduced.

Gnash— Gnash— Gnash—

Doctor, sockets heavily injected with blood, tracked the floating transmission while gnawing on his nails.

He remained completely oblivious to the crimson fluid pooling at his cuticles.

His consciousness was entirely captured by the projection before him, enhanced through the 「Eye of Truth」, leaving zero cognitive space for any separate matters.

“…The integrated modifications utilize unholy sorcery? The configuration closely mirrors the Hadesian methodology. It presents as a highly intricate matrix, synthesizing divergent elements… alongside sophisticated chimera development. Incorporating contemporary genetic engineering as well…”

He babbled continuously, sounding like an individual detached from reality.

While inferior to physical inspection, the projection utilized advanced magetech, yielding a substantial volume of data.

The deduction he ultimately established was…

“…Incontrovertibly…”

…that despite superficial deviations, the underlying architecture was unmistakably derived from his own postulations, debates, hypotheses, and verifications.

“Haa… Huu… Huu…”

Doubling over, he drew ragged breaths before correcting his posture, his stare locking onto the muscular titan over three meters tall currently devastating the ranks of the Heaven’s Turn Society.

That magnificent ‘creation’.

“Who is behind this…?”

The absolute peak of structural efficiency, a concept he had mapped out mathematically but lacked the means to construct.

The manifestation of physical perfection, a tangible realization of evolutionary theory.

A synthesized organism surpassing natural creation, shattering its genetic caps to attain an unquantifiable status.

“How…? By what means? How? How…?!”

An emotional response he had never previously experienced began to swell deep within his chest.

Doctor gripped his skull, crimson-smeared digits pressing deeply into his complexion as he mumbled into the empty space, his tone carrying an unstable undercurrent of mania.

The unauthorized appropriation of his intellectual property had ceased to matter.

A far greater issue had emerged.

“How was it achieved?!”

He was at a total loss.

How could this reality exist?

Even with empirical visual confirmation, the underlying mechanics evaded his comprehension.

That intellectual barrier was unraveling his sanity.

“Khehehe—! Kihihihik—!”

Intricate matrices, high-tier sciences, unholy sorcery, chimera engineering, transmutational alchemy, biochemical synthesized formulas…

He had deployed every conceivable methodology.

And the results had yielded only failure.

Yet an external entity had successfully manifested this masterpiece.

‘Who? By what mechanism…? Is it the chaotic energy source? No, that component was evidently integrated post-creation. Then through what means… ’

Inquisitiveness, unresolved questions, profound skepticism.

A wave of inadequacy, total failure, and profound resentment settled over him, acknowledging that an anonymous peer had outperformed his intellect.

Coupled with the bitter reality of being forced to acknowledge this truth.

He was incapable of deducing the true explanation, entirely unaware of Harley’s distinct properties as a vessel, his specific 「Adaptation」 trait, and the interventions of Immortal King Hans.

In truth, even possessed of that data, his psychological state would remain unchanged.

The reality persisted that another individual had triumphed where his own intellect had stumbled.

“…This baseline data is insufficient.”

Doctor, having exhausted his initial emotional outburst, abruptly went still and spoke in a quiet whisper.

The unceasing extraction of knowledge represented the ultimate duty of a rational mind.

He could not simply abandon the pursuit merely due to encountering an anomaly that defied his current understanding.

‘If the current data is insufficient, I will simply secure additional material.’

A comprehensive structural breakdown would alter the dynamic completely.

The true resolution of any scientific inquiry occurred within laboratory walls.

If he could secure possession of that masterpiece, perform a complete vivisection, and systematically dismantle its anatomy…

“Khehehe—!”

Doctor’s gaze, burning with an unhinged obsessive illumination, locked onto the floating projection of Harley executing his rampage.