Dracula was dead—dead in a truly miserable way.
He had slammed into Angel's body, but couldn't suck out any blood. Instead, it felt like he had bitten into plaster. Then Qin Ming caught up with a bear hug, grabbing him fiercely.
To be precise, Qin Ming was hugging Angel, and Dracula was sandwiched painfully in between two tough opponents.
On one side was plaster, on the other an iron plate—and the iron plate was already glowing red hot.
Dracula couldn't run away, and he couldn't bite through either. Amidst his desperate pleas for mercy, he was completely burned away, leaving behind only an epic-level key.
Bending down to pick up the key, Qin Ming ignored Angel's sharp cries from being scorched, his brow tightly furrowed.
First, it was the magical stone puppet that couldn't die in the special environment. Then the magic sword that could perfectly revive whenever there was a corpse. And now this vampire, who could turn into blood mist, run, fly, and had astonishing regenerative powers.
Since entering this world, Qin Ming realized that all the bosses he faced were terrifying mechanism monsters.
Especially this last one—if it weren't for Qin Ming's abilities naturally countering him, he definitely wouldn't have been able to beat him.
And even with this advantage, without Zhao Honghua's assistance, Qin Ming wouldn't have been able to catch him at all.
The ability to transform into blood mist and escape was just too terrifying in mobility.
Stowing the key in his pocket, Qin Ming quickly reunited with Zhao Honghua.
Zhao Honghua, who had stopped maintaining the formation, breathed a long sigh of relief as she saw Count Dracula defeated.
She had been chasing this guy for a very long time, and though she'd defeated him many times, no matter what, she just couldn't kill him.
Now that the troublesome creature was finally taken down, Zhao Honghua felt a wave of relief.
"Zhao Honghua, what's the next step?"
"Close the Gate of Darkness!"
Putting away the talismans on the ground, Zhao Honghua pulled out a compass and searched around. Soon, inside a hidden room within the villa's high tower, she found the legendary Gate of Darkness.
The so-called Gate of Darkness didn't look impressive at all—in fact, it was quite plain.
What was its shape exactly? You could think of it as a hole, covered by a manhole cover.
A round pit that seemed bottomless, from which monsters kept crawling out.
The manhole cover was made purely of iron, covered in mysterious symbols.
According to Zhao Honghua's deductions, this cover and the symbols above it were left by the previous sealers, containing powerful magic within.
She yanked off the cover and quickly placed talismans around its edges.
With the infusion of magic power, the special talismans immediately fused with the cover, reinforcing the seal once again.
With a loud boom, the huge cover was placed back on the deep pit, and as the two merged, they gradually faded away together.
Seeing this, Zhao Honghua wiped sweat from her brow and stood upright.
"All done. The seal is operating again. The Gate of Darkness has been hidden back into the void. As for when it will reappear, I don't know."
Qin Ming, standing beside her, frowned upon hearing this.
"If it reappears and someone opens the cover, won't they come out again?"
"It's not that simple. The seals on top are no joke. Each seal represents the power of a strong expert. With so many layers of seals stacked, opening it is far from easy. Of course, it doesn't really matter if someone does open it."
Looking at the Gate of Darkness that had completely vanished, Zhao Honghua's lips curled into a slight smile.
"This gate has never appeared before. I've never even heard of the various sealing powers above it. So I suspect this thing isn't even a product of this world. It may randomly appear across countless worlds. If it does appear again next time, surely it won't appear here again, right? I hope we're not that unlucky."
"Crossing worlds, so that's how it is… What should we do next?"
"My friend, as far as I know, there should be another Gate of Darkness in this world. Would you be willing to accompany me to seal it? Afterwards, I can help you apply for a hero's medal!"
Having just defeated a powerful enemy together, Zhao Honghua's attitude toward Qin Ming clearly changed—now she spoke with a bright smile.
Qin Ming smiled slightly in response.
"I want a big medal."
"Don't worry, even if you want one that weighs ten pounds, they'll be willing to give it to you."
Turning toward the stairs, Zhao Honghua's voice softened.
"After all, you saved the world, a true hero."
...In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. During these days, Kasamoto Eri and the others stayed with Zhao Honghua, dealing with the remaining evil creatures nearby. At last, they cleared everything, and the city was once again under human control.
Without the constant influx of monsters, the remaining evil creatures in the city were no match for humans—even though humans had suffered heavy casualties and had been pushed back into scattered strongholds.
What was Qin Ming doing since he hadn't joined the cleanup? Well, he was busy with a big task.
At dawn, aboard a huge passenger plane, Zhao Honghua and the others sat quietly, waiting for the plane to reach their destination.
The location of the second Gate of Darkness had already been confirmed—or rather, it didn't really need confirming, because it was obvious now.
In a world overrun by evil creatures, a floating technological city had appeared, continuously spawning monsters like dumplings being dropped into a pot—clearly the enemy's stronghold.
Without a doubt, the floating city that endlessly spewed monsters must contain a Gate of Darkness.
So the group boarded a passenger plane provided by the human forces and set off once more, heading toward the tech city.
Seated in her spot, Zhao Honghua glanced toward a sealed room nearby, frowning.
After a long silence, she couldn't hold back her curiosity and quietly asked,
"Angel, do you know what Qin has been busy with lately? Why hasn't he shown up at all?"
Lying nearby with her legs casually resting on a table and nervously shaking her legs, Angel answered without restraint.
"I don't know either. Maybe he's in a bad mood and hiding. You know how men are—there are always a few days every month when their mood's bad."
"Huh? Really? I didn't know that."
"Yes, yes. And that's just normal people. My boss is even worse—he's in a bad mood every day, so watch out. Be careful, or he might hit you. He hit me the first time we met."
Angel was obviously up to no good, spinning nonsense with complete confidence.
Zhao Honghua, always practicing her magic with a naïve heart, was easily fooled, looking a bit stunned.
As for Kasamoto Eri? She could only sit quietly at a distance now, unable even to interrupt.
Whenever she got close, Zhao Honghua would quickly clutch a talisman and glare fiercely at her, as if ready to exorcise her on the spot.
After all, Zhao Honghua was innocent, but not stupid.
Kasamoto Eri's intentions were obvious to everyone with half a brain, so how could Zhao Honghua not be wary?
Good grief! That time when she drank with her, she'd been careful enough not to get truly drunk!
Otherwise, Zhao Honghua would be going all out against Kasamoto Eri right now.
Meanwhile, amidst the peaceful atmosphere on the plane, Qin Ming sat alone in a small enclosed room, his expression unusually serious.
In his hand was an item—something he had taken from a chest and had been wrestling with for a long time.
It was the spoils from Count Dracula—the high-level Class A bloodline: the Vampire Count's lineage!
Staring at the blood-red bottle, watching the liquid blood swirl inside, Qin Ming showed no expression.
He had been hesitating for several days, thinking over one question: should he strengthen this thing?
(End of chapter)