Chapter 303

Chapter 303
## Chapter 303

Doctor (1)

* Individual Name: Heinz the Second
* Race: Vampire (Divine Blood)
* Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Persona」, 「Clear Mind」, 「Super Strength」, 「Xenoglossy」
* Individual Traits: 「Blood Ancestor」, 「Hybrid Evolution」, 「Blood Mystery」, 「Refined Blood Essence」, 「Existence Denial」, 「Return to Origin」, 「Rapid Acceleration」, 「Insight」, 「Charm」
* Special Notes: By gathering diverse blood components, the individual has drawn closer to the primal source, the progenitor of all vampires. However, because this primal source has not yet fully merged, the current state remains incomplete. Grants augmented enhancements to all abilities tied to blood. Possesses immense dominion over all members of the vampire race.

Heinz the Second stared down at his palms, gradually squeezing and releasing his grip.

‘Astonishing.’

A tremendous tide of force welled up from the deepest depths of his being, broadcasting outward.

Furthermore, his mind… it felt as though a vital component had locked into place, like waking up to full clarity after an incredibly protracted sleep.

A novel faculty, a fresh method of comprehending reality, flooded his awareness.

‘…Adjusting to this will require a bit of time.’

It was an ethereal sort of… intuition, a spiritual perception that went far beyond the simple detection of raw energy.

Having previously inhabited various manifestations ranging from the undead to dragons, he possessed the adaptability needed to adjust… but had he lacked that background, simply moving his limbs in this current state would have been impossible.

‘Additionally… ’

His brow knit slightly as he detected the immense pressure bearing down on his 「Mind Hub」 and 「Soul Firewall」.

The culprit was his 「Persona」, which had expanded exponentially alongside his rising level.

‘And this represents an unfinished state?’

It was imperative that he bolster his cognitive defenses using 『Other Skill Enhancement』.

Precaution was always the wisest path. He could not permit his core identity to suffer any form of corruption.

Just as he concluded the evaluation of his physical and mental state, he received the coordinates of his target from Harris’s Wind Spirit, Pascal.

‘The remaining details can wait.’

He immediately transitioned into motion.

Though Doctor appeared to be lingering to observe the unfolding events, there was no telling when he might depart from Romania.

Missing this window might mean never crossing paths with him again.

‘The gap between us is… ’

His current position was a protected wilderness tract situated between Bucharest and a neighboring municipality to the north.

He was roughly 15 kilometers away from the target stationed in the southern sector of the city.

For a being like him, a span of 15 kilometers was—.

‘Negligible.’

An insignificant stretch of land.

Swish—

The moment he triggered 「Existence Denial」, his form dissolved from the woodland.

The already compromised boundary line fractured entirely and dissolved into nothingness.

A heartbeat later, Heinz materialized in an entirely different environment.

He stood precisely where Pascal had directed him.

‘To ensure total confinement.’

Whoosh—

A pale, blood-colored vapor surged from his frame, blanketing the entire vicinity.

「Blood Mystery」 was set into motion.

In an instant, the zone was completely severed from the external world.

“Time to unmask that magnificent countenance of yours.”

He paid no heed to whatever defensive mechanisms surely littered Doctor’s sanctuary.

Heinz vanished from sight once more, and—.

Kaboom—!

…The defensive shield protecting the estate detonated violently.

—

As Phantom’s projection faded from the holographic display, Doctor merely inclined his head in slight curiosity.

Yet, the moment his defensive shield was shattered into pieces, his gaze sharpened with genuine astonishment.

He held absolute pride in the barrier network he had personally constructed. It should have been impossible for the target to flee without triggering an alert.

Had the target attempted to force an exit, the structure would simply fracture.

‘Precisely like that.’

With the target now loose, his impending objective was entirely transparent.

Beep— Beep— Beep—

The instant that realization struck, the defensive sirens within his sanctuary began to wail.

“What?”

This secondary alert grid was tied directly to his immediate headquarters, functioning independently from the broader surveillance net spanning Bucharest.

The implication was undeniable.

“He bypassed the municipal grid entirely and materialized right on my doorstep.”

Doctor’s brow twitched with irritation.

Barely ten seconds had ticked by since Phantom vanished from the woodland.

To bridge the gap so rapidly… the intruder must have possessed precise data.

“Fascinating, and those… incredibly well-timed backups. They couldn’t possibly have mobilized so swiftly without prior knowledge of the ambush… This development demands my full attention!”

He had been so captivated by their exotic traits that he failed to weigh the broader context.

Beings of such extraordinary caliber do not simply materialize out of thin air without a cause.

To make matters more intriguing, one of them was an otherworldly fae!

‘An unidentified cabal is operating behind Phantom. They possess the espionage capabilities to map out my ambushes and the logistical weight to deploy high-tier assets at a moment’s notice!’

He had drafted the architecture of this sanctuary’s defenses with his own hands. A mere infiltrator could not have unraveled them easily.

It was highly probable they employed someone gifted with foresight or absolute clairvoyance.

They had clearly seen through his grand design…

Kaboom—!

His train of thought shattered as a violent detonation rocked the structure, sending shockwaves through the floorboards.

As the master of this estate, the reality of the situation was instantly clear to him.

A hostile force had breached the threshold.

The anomaly that had consumed the Duke, now elevated to even greater heights of power, was standing right outside.

Advancing directly toward him!

“A level 10 vampire…”

Doctor felt a shiver run down his spine at the prospect of sharing an enclosed space with an unprecedented entity he had previously only analyzed through recordings.

Yet, his expression betrayed no hint of terror.

“This is exhilarating! I cannot wait to witness what such an exceptional specimen can achieve…!”

His cheeks flushed with intense fervor, mirroring an enthusiast encountering an idol, or a love-struck youth finally coming face-to-face with an obsession.

His intellectual obsession easily overrode any concern for his personal survival.

Furthermore, he held a trump card he relied upon.

Rumble— Boom!

The deafening impacts and structural tremors intensified.

It appeared surreal, given that his sanctuary outwardly resembled nothing more than a sprawling estate… yet within a domain governed by sorcery and supernatural phenomena, such a reality was perfectly plausible.

-First floor breached.

-Second floor breached.

-Third floor breached.

-Fourth floor in progress.

While he currently dedicated his days to quiet scholarship, safe and insulated… his past had been forged in far more chaotic environments.
To endure within a perilous reality teeming with cosmic hazards, raw power was a necessity.

During that bygone era, Doctor’s renowned expertise was that of a ‘Dungeon Master’.

-Fourth floor breached.

-Fifth floor in progress.

He was the architect behind an impregnable labyrinth, famously dubbed the ‘Demon King’s Castle’, within his realm of origin.

According to widespread accounts, even following his departure, that labyrinth remained entirely unbreached, and the Demon King who claimed it as a throne eventually subjugated the entire continent, locking the dimension away from the cosmos.

-Sixth floor in progress.

Naturally, Doctor remained indifferent to those outcomes. It was solely due to the Demon King’s financial and political backing that he had secured his foundations as a scholar.

“…Hold on, this is… moving a bit too rapidly, is it not?”

Yet even he could not suppress a trace of anxiety as the situation escalated at breakneck speed.

Earth was distinct from alternative realms. Its materials were scarce, meaning there were definitive bounds to what his craft could manifest.

Consequent to those limitations, the labyrinth he had constructed here comprised a mere nine strata.

He maintained absolute faith in its craftsmanship, relying on the intricate synergy of various interlocking enchantments…

-Seventh floor in progress.

How many minutes had passed since the intrusion commenced?

Even a level 10 vampire ought to find themselves hindered by a labyrinth engineered to delay transcendent entities for hours on end, yet this individual was tearing through it effortlessly…

“Ah, it appears this marks the conclusion! What a pity!”

Forcing a strained grin onto his face, Doctor began to take steps backward.

His survival instincts warned him that further hesitation would result in him being consumed before he could even register the threat.

“What? A localized spatial lock?”

However, the moment he attempted to initiate an escape, he discovered he was already confined within an isolated pocket of reality, causing his features to twist in astonishment.

‘By what method did he…?’

It defied reason.

The domain of ‘Space’, alongside ‘Time’, ranked among the absolute pinnacles of esoteric sorcery.

It was not an effect that could be deployed on a whim without meticulous, long-term preparation.

A transcendent Archmage might command the capacity for such a manifestation… but Phantom was no such spellcaster, was he?

He remained entirely in the dark, completely oblivious to Heinz’s 「Blood Mystery」, which permitted the instantaneous shaping of incantations through vital fluids, his 「Rapid Acceleration」, which twisted cause and effect to eliminate casting delays, and the indirect coordination provided by Hans and Horus, who commanded a vast array of elemental attunements.

-Eighth floor in progress.

The avatar of death was crossing the final threshold.

Granted a brief respite, he might have unraveled the spatial lock… but the intruder’s velocity was simply too overwhelming.

Only a single stratum remained.

Once that final line fell, he would be forced into a direct confrontation with the anomaly itself.

The solitary, perhaps even cross-dimensional, level 10 vampire!

“…Hm, perhaps such an outcome wouldn’t be entirely terrible…”

The concept held a certain intellectual allure, but he promptly cast it aside.

He evaluated the variables with cold detachment.

What leverage could he possibly wield against Phantom?

“Absolutely none! My life would forfeit before my mind could even process the blow! Haha!”

Alternatively, he might be subjugated into absolute servitude, compelled to alter his allegiances… an alternative that held no appeal for him.

His documentation on Heinz’s psychological profile provided a clear picture.

The individual was fundamentally unsuited to permitting ‘unfettered academic freedom’.

“Hehe—!”

This outcome was truly… beyond avoiding.

—

Kaboom!

Heinz, having completely demolished the ‘Unbreakable Wall’, tore through the subterranean labyrinth.

He bypassed the hordes of beasts, automated constructs, runic circles, twisted amalgams, and technological hazards that materialized in his path, dedicating his entire existence to sheer velocity.

Whirr— Click!

“Kyaaa—!”

Kaboom—!

He had successfully neutralized eight strata, each presenting an escalation in defensive complexity, yet the destination remained elusive.

He found himself genuinely respecting Doctor’s capacity to engineer such an expansive domain within the confines of Earth.

‘It behaves as though the natural laws of Earth are suspended within these walls. An entirely distinct framework of reality… This is virtually a pocket dimension. What method did he use to achieve this?’

He was well aware that Doctor served as the intellectual engine behind the Heaven’s Turn Society, an absolute authority on sorcery and occult mechanics… yet witnessing the practical application firsthand offered a striking revelation.

Under past circumstances, reaching this depth would have required a minimum of half an hour.

His current rapid transit was solely possible because his newly inherited Divine Blood permitted him to completely disregard the specific rules governing the labyrinth’s ‘Unbreakable Wall’.

‘He likely possesses the means to dismantle my confinement field given enough time. I must close the distance before he slips away…!’

Rapidly mastering his elevated physical parameters, he accelerated his sprint through the corridors.

An innate awareness informed him that this current stratum would be the absolute final line, and then…

[“Do I have your ear? Phantom!”]

…A transmission resonated throughout the subterranean chambers.

[“This development is… quite remarkable! I never anticipated your confederates would wield such devastating potency. Haha!”]

The tone was entirely flippant, completely devoid of any palpable dread or panic.

Heinz’s brow furrowed, his form remaining a streak of motion.

Was the target already executing an exit strategy?

[“I am an individual driven by profound curiosity, you see. There is an inquiry I must put to you before our paths diverge!”]

Heinz offered no verbal acknowledgment.

He channeled every ounce of his internal force into maintaining his forward momentum.

‘Greater speed!’

As his focus narrowed to a razor-sharp point, his newly unlocked instinct flared, causing his sphere of perception to expand dramatically.

‘…What is this clarity?’

It was no longer limited to his immediate floor or the sectors he had already bypassed; Doctor’s exact position and the layout of the upper estate…

…laid themselves bare before his mind’s eye.

He could perceive even a solitary droplet of vital fluid resting upon the flooring of Doctor’s chamber.

His awakened faculties were remarkably precise.

[“Therefore… would you grant me the privilege of knowing the title of your collective? Consider it a token of… mutual respect!”]

Heinz now held absolute certainty.

Doctor was actively striving to rupture the external spatial lock, this location marked the absolute boundary of the labyrinth, and he was mere moments from breaching it.

The transmission was nothing more than a desperate stall.

[“Astounding. That an entity of such immense power remained entirely obscured from global intelligence? The entire network is incompetent. I shall have to restructure their cognitive faculties! Through surgical intervention! Ha!”]

The destination materialized ahead.

Doctor’s exertions had managed to introduce minor fissures along the perimeter boundary of the estate, but they lacked the scale required to facilitate a departure.

‘Is he attempting to buy himself precious seconds?’

A specific title he had once pondered suddenly surfaced in his thoughts.

He had previously set it aside as a concept intended for a later date, but…

Heinz permitted a faint smirk to trace his lips as he crossed the final boundary line.

Crackle—! Shatter!

A sharp, fracturing echo filled the air, akin to the destruction of glass.

His boots met the polished surface of the estate’s reception hall, and locking his gaze onto the older gentleman waiting ahead, he uttered with calm indifference,

“Masquerade.”

It was a word devoid of deeper explanation, a basic introduction.