“Captain, what’s going on??”

  The crew of the Unicorn Whale rushed in, following the little mice. Most of them looked disheveled, reeking of alcohol, with various lipstick marks on their collars.

  “Does anyone know where Deep went last night?” Charles asked them.

  The skinny cook, Frey, quickly spoke up. “Captain, I know! That kid was taken away by the second mate yesterday. He said he wanted to find a fancy place to become a real man. It’s just ahead, not far from here.”

  “Grab your gear and follow me!”

  Charles immediately thought of the possibility that they had offended the local gang. Such establishments often had specific groups controlling them. However, it didn’t add up; if it were a gang, why would they send resignation letters after kidnapping? This behavior clearly indicated they wanted to keep the disappearances under wraps.

  Soon, they arrived at an inn draped in red curtains. Even approaching the entrance, they could smell the enticing scents that stirred the men’s desires.

  “Bang!” Charles kicked the door open and stormed inside, drawing the attention of the couples embracing in the hall.

  A nearly two-meter-tall brute stood up, his face dark with anger, flanked by dozens of subordinates.

  “Who dares to cause trouble on our turf?” shouted a short man, only to be sent flying by a slap from the brute.

  The heavily built man approached Charles, looking down at him.

  “I hear my crew is here,” Charles said, unwavering as he met the brute’s gaze.

  The brute, surprisingly calm in the face of Charles’s challenge, replied, “Your two crew members aren’t here. Perhaps they’ve gone somewhere else.”

  Charles narrowed his eyes, his expression cold. “Did I mention two crew members?”

  The brute’s face darkened, realizing he had been caught in a lie. Unable to conceal it any longer, he waved his hand.

  The thugs around them began to usher out the remaining patrons, and within moments, the once lively establishment grew eerily quiet.

  “I know you sea-faring types aren’t easy to deal with, but since you’re here, why not stay?” The brute licked his lips with a crimson tongue. “By the Lady’s grace, I, Durand, have struck it rich by capturing this batch of humans.”

  Hearing Durand’s menacing words, Charles didn’t hesitate. “Swish!” He drew his revolver, aiming it directly at Durand. The other crew members followed suit, brandishing their weapons.

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  In an instant, everyone burst into laughter, as if Charles had just told the most ridiculous joke.

  “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” Bullets struck Durand’s body, splattering blood everywhere.

  To everyone’s shock, Durand’s grotesque wounds began to heal rapidly, and within seconds, he was back to normal.

  “Looks like you don’t know what you’re up against, humans,” Durand sneered, a terrifying smile spreading across his pale face.

  From beneath his upper lip, two sharp fangs emerged, and his eyes turned a blood-red hue.

  “So, you’re a vampire,” Charles said, his pupils constricting.

  “Your blood is mine!” Durand lunged forward, kicking off the ground and crashing into Charles, sinking his fangs into Charles’s neck.

  At that moment, the others sprang into action, shedding their disguises and revealing their fangs as they lunged at the crew.

  However, as Durand drank, he suddenly felt something was off. The man in front of him wasn’t struggling at all, which was highly unusual.

  “Is this guy paralyzed with fear?” Just as this thought crossed his mind, a white mask of ecstasy was placed over Charles’s face.

  “Swish!” A glint of cold steel flashed, and a black blade plunged into Durand’s chest, forcing him backward.

  “I thought you were something special, but you’re just a pathetic vampire!”

  “Ahhh!” Behind them, the nearly four-meter-tall James roared as he seized one of the vampires, ripping it in half.

  The mice squeaked and charged forward, overwhelming another vampire, who screamed in agony.

  The remaining crew members began to attack. Though they were timid in the face of the giant, vampires were nothing compared to those who had encountered “the Divine.”

  “You!” Durand glared angrily at the masked figure before him, realizing this was not what he had anticipated.

  With a swift movement, Durand’s sharp claws slashed through the air toward Charles’s face.

  Charles’s neck muscles tensed, and the smooth mask narrowly avoided the razor-sharp claws.

  “Like to bite, do you? Let me give you a taste!”

  The bloodied black blade rose swiftly and plunged into Durand’s mouth, the blade piercing through to the back of his skull.

  Furious, Durand attempted to resist, but Charles pushed the hilt forward, cleaving the vampire’s hideous face in half. In the next moment, he raised the black blade and drove it into Durand’s heart.

  The once-mighty vampire convulsed and collapsed, lifeless.

  Focusing on reassembling the bloodied remains, Charles performed a backflip and joined the fray behind him.

  Seeing Charles slaughtering his kin with ease, the remaining vampires finally couldn’t bear it any longer and fled, crashing through the windows to escape.

  “What a joke, is that all there is? You’ve got my blood boiling!” Charles sneered at their retreating figures.

  His ears perked up as he led the crew through the wrecked hall, arriving at a wooden door.

  As soon as he pushed it open, he saw Deep and Knona hanging on a cross like cured meat, their wrists slashed and blood dripping into a wooden basin below.

  Both were ashen-faced, and it was clear that if Charles hadn’t arrived in time, they would have bled to death.

  Upon seeing Charles, the two men on the cross thrashed wildly.

  Charles didn’t immediately free them. Instead, he approached Deep and tapped the black blade against his face. “So, how does it feel to be at the mercy of a female vampire?”

  Gagged and unable to speak, the boy’s eyes pleaded silently.

  With a flash of white light, the chains binding them snapped apart.

  Not bothering with the two miserable souls, Charles turned to examine the various blood-drawing instruments nearby.

  This appeared to be a place specifically for vampires to extract blood, and just from seeing the tall glass jars filled with blood, Charles knew there were more victims than just these two.

  The other missing crew members were likely not here, indicating that the vampires were not limited to just these few.

  “What should we do next, Mr. Charles?” Lily asked curiously.

  “What else? After killing so many vampires, it’s time to call the authorities.”