Chapter Volume 1, Diary of a Butler 8: The Music that has Changed Tempo (2/2)

At the moment, the gunshots suddenly paused, but my intuition told me that perhaps this was not a good thing. Just after I thought this, heavy footsteps came from behind us. It did not sound like just one person, yet the sound was exceptionally uniform. I cautiously stretched my head out, and Melody also leaned against my shoulders as she peered out.

A division of fully-armed troops was walking up from the doorway. They were all wearing the same clothes, a completely black military uniform with the stomach and lower vital parts protected with metal plates. They were carrying pikes in their hands, two short swords hung by their waists, and large firearms rested on their backs. The most unusual thing was, they were all wearing golden masks.

On the forehead part of the mask was a symbol that could be seen everywhere… The crest of the Sun Alliance.

Melody’s breathing became heavy; she was close to despair as she murmured, “The Adjudication Squad…”

Adjudication Squad? Is it the Adjudication Squad that Bramble spoke about, the one that would come forward to execute them if Mission: Protect to the Death failed? When I thought until this point, Melody suddenly pinched my shoulder forcefully and asked fiercely, “Charles Endelis, have you done anything that endangered the young master before?”

I blinked. The previous incident with Mr. Burt, who had wanted to capture the young master to threaten me, was simply too unforgettable and instantly rushed forth in my mind. I blurted out, “Recently, there was someone who wanted to kidnap the young master to threaten me. However, they lost the young master during their pursuit and so it did not succeed.”

“No wonder the master’s actions are so extreme!”

An expression of desperation appeared on Melody’s face as she groaned, “First, you nearly allowed the young master to become a hostage. Then, you said something that would encourage the young master to become independent. It would be strange if the master didn’t murder you. If I had known earlier that the situation had already reached this stage, I would not have come here to die with you!”

Upon hearing this, I could only smile bitterly as I said, “You should go on ahead while I block them. Jump down the building and go look for the young master.”

“Do you think that the master did not anticipate that vampires can jump down buildings?”

Just as Melody said that icily, as if to prove her words, noises came from the edges of the rooftop and then in rapid succession, identical masked men jumped up. After that, they stood motionlessly at the edges of the rooftop, by chance forming an encircling net.

However, it seemed like that was still not enough to support Melody’s words. The loud rumbling of a helicopter’s propeller came from the sky. I lifted my head up and looked around in the sky. There were three helicopters all together; moreover, these were attack helicopters each equipped with two missiles.

“Charles Endelis.”

Melody inhaled deeply, and then harboring great hope, she asked me, “If the young master discovered you were missing, would he run up to the rooftop to look?”

Even though I hoped for the same, I could only extinguish this bit of hope and answer honestly, “The young master may think that I went out to hunt for food, not that I have disappeared. It is unlikely that he will be in a hurry to look for me.”

When I finished speaking, Melody’s face immediately fell. The eyes that were originally filled with demonic charm were now full of resentment. Matched with her pale complexion, she suddenly turned from a tender and beautiful mistress to a weak and sickly beauty.

As I looked at her, who appeared like she could wither up and die at any moment, I could only sigh and suggest, “I am sorry for involving you. I will do my utmost to block all the attacks I can. During this period, try to escape to the house. The young master should be back home already.”

Melody did not reply. Instead, her entire person suddenly nestled into my bosom, and then she seized my shoulder, looked up, and in this manner placed her red-lipstick mark beside my mouth. Following that, she giggled flirtatiously, took out a handkerchief and cleaned the corner of my mouth. As she did that, she said, “Thanks, you really are a good man, and very suited for red lipstick marks!”

I forced a smile once more. A gunshot rang out. I gently pushed her aside, and then with a wave of my hand, caught the bullet.

A sharp pain came from my palm. I opened up my fist to look. The bullet had cut into my palm, and based on the sharp pain in my palm, without a doubt, this bullet contained silver.

Furthermore, according to the knowledge that I gained over the past few days from researching firearms ammunition due to the young master’s needs, this bullet was seven centimeters long, which meant that it was an armor-piercing bullet. Armor-piercing ammo was originally used for penetrating light armor, and normally the surface of the bullet would be coated with a layer of copper. This was to reduce the damage from the overly hard bullet on the gun barrel. However, presently, this round was not coated in copper, but rather “silver.”

Armor-piercing rounds were originally considered unsuitable for usage on animals because this kind of bullet’s main attribute was its high penetration ability. It was unable to cause large amounts of bleeding. However, its penetrating attribute was indeed very suitable for wounding vampires, and then coating the outside with “silver” to send it into a vampire’s body…

“What are you daydreaming for?”

Melody yelled angrily at me, and then she violently shoved me out of the way as a few armor-piercing rounds flew through the space where I was previously standing. Only then did I suddenly awake up. This is not the time for analyzing bullets! I hurriedly apologized, “I am sorry, recently I have been reading too many books about weapons, so…”

“Behind you!”

The moment she shouted, I instantly vanished from my original position and then reappeared beside her. Both my hands waved in front of her chest, scattering all the bullets. Even if it was armor-piercing ammo, as long as I was mentally prepared, I could still deflect them.

However, Melody rolled her pretty eyes at me and said unhappily, “I take back what I just said. You aren’t a good man, but a stupid man! You can dodge, so do you think I can’t? Why on earth would you want to receive those things head on? Also, I’m afraid they’re going to come at us for real now, so don’t blank out again.”

“‘For real?'”

I looked at the masked men surrounding us, and only then realized that with how many of them there were, around thirty men, if they opened fire at the same time, it would result in a heavy shower of bullets, that perhaps even I could not withstand and would have no other choice but to evade. However, the number of people who had fired on us just now was only three or four at most.

Melody coldly sniffed and said, “They’re warming up. They’re computing our movement patterns first, and then they will launch their true assault.”

Computing our movement patterns? I was extremely doubtful. If these people can use their eyes to capture our movements, then among the human race, perhaps they will all be experts. How then, in such a short time span, can they compute movement patterns on the spot?

Probably because my expression was full of disbelief, Melody spoke to me sternly, “Don’t treat these people as humans. They aren’t any more human-like than us.”

Humans yet less human-like than us two vampires?

Without waiting for me to dwell upon it, the opposition opened fire again. This time, it was not just a few people opening fire, but all thirty of them shooting at us simultaneously. I went full swing into evasion, but even so I could not stop a strange feeling from forming in my heart. Is not this wave of gunshots rather too uniform? As if there is someone currently counting beats and making these people open fire according to his beats.

I followed my previous evasive maneuvers; however, I abruptly realized that the opposition’s gun muzzle was already aimed at where I was about to move to. However, at such a high speed, I was completely unable to change my direction in time… No! There simply was no “direction” I could take. I could feel that in every direction there was a bullet that was either already shot or about to fly through. They had sealed off all my escape paths, so that I was completely unable to dodge.

“Idiot! Hurry up and use ‘blood ability’ to defend!”

Melody’s voice entered my ears. I was stunned. Is there really a need to? However, at the next moment, there was a pain in my leg. I looked down and saw two bullets stuck in my thigh, with only a small section of the finger-long bullets still protruding out. Without any second thoughts, I immediately drove all the blood in my body, emitting blood vapor from pores all over my body.

My body was veiled with the redness of my blood vapor. When the bullets struck the surface of the blood vapor, it made a sound like an object dropping into water. Even if it were armor-piercing bullets, they could only penetrate ten centimeters in before dropping powerlessly onto the ground.

I turned and saw that there was also red blood surrounding Melody’s body. She looked completely unharmed. Evidently, she had started using “blood ability” even earlier than I.

Blood ability was actually just when vampires release their blood outside their bodies.

The function of vampire blood is vastly different from that of humans. It is not used to carry oxygen and so on. Vampire blood is a lot more viscous than humans’. We can control our blood as we please, and the function of our blood is, in short, to move our body, and if released outside our bodies, it can also be used to attack or defend.

However, generally speaking, unless it is a life-threatening situation, vampires would rarely release their blood out. That is because when blood is released outside our bodies, there would more or less be some loss. From a vampire’s perspective, the loss of blood is even more severe than an injury to their body, and even harder to remedy.

Melody shot a glance at me and said in a gleeful tone, “The color of this blood ability is so pretty, as expected of a fifth generation vampire. Looks like we won’t have to die. Hurry up and use your blood ability to counterattack!”

I took a deep breath before giving her an apologetic look as I explained, “I am sorry. I am not good at fighting, especially in using blood ability. I can defend, but attacking is too difficult.”

Melody made extremely subtle expressions. Rigidness, disbelief, blank staring, despair… Even though they were complicated, they were all shown vividly. I could thoroughly feel the immensity of her resentment towards me right now. If it were possible, her current target to attack would most likely be me, instead of those masked men.

I was actually feeling very apologetic, but there was nothing I could do about it. My honorable father who had taught me since I was young, although well-learned and practically an omnipotent butler, was still a human. With respect to “blood ability,” he truly could not help me there.

“You’re able to defend, right?”

Melody pointed at the sky and said icily, “Then, I’ll leave those missiles to you!”

Missiles… I lifted my head and looked towards the huge warheads beneath the helicopters. Then I keenly suggested to Melody, “How about we make a break for it, then jump down the building?”

Melody did not answer me because she did not need to give a reply. When the masked men surrounding us saw that the bullets were unable to break through our blood ability, they rapidly put down their bullets and drew out the two swords at their waists. Only now did I realize that between those two swords, one was an energy weapon, while the other was an ordinary weapon that had silver embedded into it.

Melody’s expression was extremely unsightly, but she still stiffly warned me, “The cutting edge of those silver swords is diamond. You had best not be under the impression that your skin is tougher than diamond.”

“Are they faster than me?” I was already a little fearful of verifying this point, even though speed was my one point that I was always proud of.

“Of course not.” Melody replied briefly, “However, they are definitely less afraid of dying than you.”

Even less afraid of dying than vampires who are publicly acknowledged to be hard to kill? And adding on their superiority in numbers, I am afraid that it will truly be very difficult for Melody and me to break out.

However, even so, I also would not stay here and wait for the missiles to blow me to smithereens.

I withdrew the blood ability surrounding my body, and then transformed it into things required for battle. Two rapiers and full-body armor… Once more I thanked the young master for his unusual interests which made me do a lot of research recently on weapons and armor. Hence, the speed at which I transformed my blood ability into these items was a lot faster than before.

This allowed me to finally be able to block the attacks coming from all directions. The blood-red rapiers in my hands danced swiftly, but always kept to the same few simple motions. Deflect and flick aside the opponent’s attack, or strike his sword and directly knock down the opponent’s weapons. Then, after defending against the enemy’s attack, immediately counterattack and pierce the opponent’s fatal points with precision.

With these few simple actions, together with the transformation of my blood ability to rapiers of varying lengths, and a vampire’s own high speed and responsiveness, I was invincible… At least until now, I had not met with any adversaries who could challenge me, but I also had to admit that I have not participated in many fights.

Melody cried out in amazement, “Aren’t you unskilled at fighting? Then what on earth are you doing now?”

As I brandished the two rapiers transformed from my blood ability, I replied, “I am not good at fighting, but as a butler, I have to adequately comprehend all of the upper society’s recreational activities, and so I have studied fencing, free wrestling, muay thai, judo…”

“… So, what do you think all those are if not fighting?”

Melody’s voice sounded abnormally agitated. I could not help but cast a glance at her, just in time to see her rip a masked man’s head off as she roared at me, “Don’t tell me it’s playing house!”

“They are…”

The two blood swords crossed, slicing open an X in the throat of a masked man, after which I spun around and stabbed above Melody’s shoulder, right into the middle of a masked man’s forehead. As I passed her, I replied, “The master’s recreational activities.”

Obviously, Melody did not like my explanation. She replied, “Wait till I finish ripping off all these people’s heads. The next one will be you!”

“I am afraid that might be rather difficult, unless you still have strength to rip off my head after being blasted by missiles.”

I smiled bitterly as I watched the helicopters fly closer to the rooftop. The missiles underneath them were gradually moving downwards, and seemed to be entering the preparation phase before launch. Without much hope, I asked Melody, “Would they care that their own comrades are still here?”

“Go to hell, these lunatics wouldn’t even care about their own selves!”

Melody raised her head, and evidently also saw those missiles. She clenched her teeth and growled, “Make a break for it! However more these people attack, it will never be more painful than a missile.”

I agreed, especially when the number of missiles was six.

Turning around, I cut down the masked men in front of me, and then yelled aside to Melody, “This way.” Two large blades transformed from blood ability flew out from less than ten centimeters in front of me. They hacked apart several masked men, clearing a road for a brief moment.

She ran across in front of me, tossing a sentence, “If we don’t perish, you had better learn how to use your blood ability properly, fifth generation!”

I smiled wryly and then quickly followed behind her.

However, as we ran, the masked men who were unafraid of death surprisingly did not obstruct us. It felt odd, and I turned back to look. However, I saw that there were several modified humans behind us, who were in the process of lifting up a firearm and then shooting… It was actually not an artillery shell, but rather multiple nets.

“Melody!”

I promptly sprinted and knocked her aside. Following that, nets covered me in quick succession. The force of the impact was so great that after knocking me down, the nail-shaped things on the edges of the net firmly drove into the ground. This net was made of metal, and there were even barbs on it. With one struggle, all those barbs pricked into my skin, bringing waves of intense pain… It was actually “silver.” There was “silver” on the barbs all over this net!

“Charles!”

Melody ran two steps, then turned back hesitantly and looked at me.

“Hurry up and leave!” I raised my head with much difficulty, and yelled at her, “Hurry and look for the young master. Only he can save us, was that not what you said?”

However, Melody continued to hesitate.

Seeing this, I hardened my heart and spoke malicious words, “Hurry up and leave! You rotten eighth generation vampire, you cannot do anything even if you remain here! Hurry up already…. Hurry up and get lost!”

“Go to hell, you rotten man! You aren’t even good at scolding people!”

Melody stamped her feet and used her blood ability to force the masked men to retreat, then rushed over to my side. As she pulled at the nets, she was pricked by the silver until her tears flowed continuously. She yelled, “Your rebuke is so mild, how can you get me to leave? You’re such a rotten man, a rottenly good man!”

Through the net, I pushed her. “Melody, hurry up and go. I will not die. I am a fifth generation vampire. You know that I am very strong, I…”

“I also know that you’re very weak!”

Melody roared back angrily, “Where would there be a fifth generation vampire that can get pinned down by a few nets! You straw bag vampire, your body doesn’t contain blood but grass, huh? You’re even worse off than I, this eighth generation. You bastard…”

As she scolded me, she forcefully dragged at the net. The outermost nets actually did get pulled apart by her. However… It was too late!

When I saw that those missiles had already left the helicopters, I could not spare any thoughts about the nets on my body stabbing her and me. I instantly pounced onto her forcefully, tightly protecting her underneath my body. Then I forced out all the blood in my body and set up a thick wall of blood behind me… But even so, will I be able to block six missiles?

At this moment, I heard a series of unique noises associated with missiles leaving the helicopters’ bodies. I could not help but hug Melody even closer. She was trembling, and so was I.

“Stop!”

Suddenly, a loud roar came from behind me. I froze, twisted around to look, and only saw… a pair of gigantic wings.

Boom!

The blinding light stole away my sight, and the loud sounds practically splintered my hearing. A violent wind lashed at us. I really did not know if I should consider it lucky or not, that the net covering me was pinned solidly. I hugged Melody even tighter. One reason was to prevent her from getting swept away by the gale; the second was to relieve some of my terror.