Paleblood - The Hunter's Dream Never Fades

Location: Iosefka's Clinic Time: Unknown

Issei's Point of View

"Ugh... My head... What happened to me?"

He found himself on a double bed, and as he sat up, he clutched his head in pain.

"Mmm... This is... Iosefka's room?" Looking around, he could see that he was indeed in Iosefka's room.

It took him several minutes to recover from his headache. Once he felt a little better, he got out of bed and looked around the room.

It was similar to how it had been before he passed out, but why did he faint? That was when all the memories came rushing back—the beast that almost killed them, what Iosefka had told him would happen, and... when he looked out the window, he finally understood what she meant by a mystical place.

Through the window, he saw a sky of a beautiful, slightly golden orange, giving the city an atmosphere that revealed how truly breathtaking it was. This kind of sunset wasn't normal—it felt unreal.

Lowering his gaze to the cane and weapon in his hands, he couldn't help but feel like an isekai protagonist about to start his adventure.

When he saw a full-body mirror in the room, he approached it and admired how cool he looked in his clothes. Following his deepest otaku instincts, he started striking various poses from anime characters.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he realized how ridiculous he was being, feeling extremely embarrassed. But with a better mood and a clear mind, he turned to face the door, ready to leave.

According to what Iosefka told him, there were beasts he had to kill to get out of this place. Although he wasn't sure if he could kill something like that werewolf, at least he knew that if most beasts had similar speed, he might be able to do something. After all, despite freezing when the beast attacked, he had still been able to track its movements perfectly.

He didn't know how it was possible, but he had been able to follow its movements. He recalled Iosefka saying that thanks to the miraculous blood, his whole body would become stronger. Though he had doubted it at first, remembering how he could keep up with the beast's movements and how he later lifted the creature with little effort made him reconsider.

Now, with a bit more confidence, he stepped through the door, walking as quietly as he could down the dark hallway. Fortunately, his new outfit allowed him to blend in better, but there was nothing he could do about his footsteps, which, despite his best efforts, were still quite loud.

'Sigh' "I'm really bad at this, aren't I?"

And as if it were fate, he suddenly heard a growl coming from one of the closed doors.

'Gulp' "I guess it's time..."

Approaching slowly, he noticed that the door had a small slit to see into the other side of the room. When he leaned in to look through it, he saw... nothing.

But then, out of nowhere, a head and a pair of eyes appeared at the slit.

"Outsider! Another one coming for our treasure!"

With a furious scream and eyes filled with madness—eyes of someone who had already lost their mind—the man stared at him.

Terrified, he stumbled backward, completely frozen, as the man began banging on the door, trying to break it down. Not long after, similar screams echoed from several other doors, accompanied by the sounds of people desperately trying to break free and kill him.

His eyes widened in horror as he realized what he was feeling now. It wasn't just fear—it was also a killing intent, the deep desire of someone who wanted to take another's life.

At that moment, he understood—if he did nothing, he wouldn't live much longer.

Filled with fear and disgust, he gripped his cane with both hands and thrust it through the slit, stabbing the tip into the forehead of the man before him. But...

"AAAHG!! Damn, outsider!! I knew it! You only came for our blessing, and now you just want to kill us!"

He trembled in absolute fear and revulsion. The sensation of piercing human flesh was disgusting, almost making him vomit, but he held it in.

Pulling the cane out of the man's forehead, he watched as blood gushed out in a stream that would have splattered him if not for the door. Swallowing hard and with trembling hands, he stabbed the man's face again through the slit.

This time, his thrust pierced the man's eye, easily reaching the brain and killing him instantly.

"Ugh..."

Feeling like he might throw up at any moment from the sheer horror of taking a life, he pulled the cane from the man's eye, causing the body to collapse to the ground.

Before he could vomit, his gaze turned to the next door. He knew he didn't have much time before the others broke free, and if he started vomiting now, he wouldn't be able to defend himself at all.

With great difficulty, he walked to the second door and killed the occupant in the same manner—using the slit to stab their face with his cane until they were dead.

Slowly, he killed them one by one until only one of the deranged men remained.

But at that moment, the door in front of him collapsed, revealing a grotesquely deformed man—someone who seemed to be in the middle of a transformation. He was wearing the kind of clothing you'd see on a hospitalized patient.

Overwhelmed with terror, he watched as the man—no, the beast—lunged at him.

[Image]

Driven purely by survival instinct, he grabbed his pistol with his free hand and aimed at the beast's head, pulling the trigger.

For a moment, nothing happened, and he felt a sharp, needle-like pain in his hand.

At that moment, he thought his weapon had failed, and he was about to die.

But in the last instant, the tip of the barrel glowed a deep crimson before a loud explosion rang out, followed by a silver flash that pierced through the beast's skull as if it were butter.

As the beast collapsed lifelessly to the floor, he couldn't hold it in any longer—pulling down the mask covering his mouth, he began to vomit everything in his stomach.

For the next several minutes, all he could do was cry and vomit as his body trembled.

It was the first time he had killed someone.

And the first time something had tried to kill him—excluding the werewolf that attacked when he was with Iosefka.

He knew he had to kill them to survive, but even knowing that didn't make him feel any better. All he could think about was the repulsive sensation of piercing flesh—human or otherwise—and taking a life.

After five minutes, he managed to pull himself together a little and got up from the floor, giving one last glance at the corpse in front of him.

But at that moment, he noticed a white light shining above the body.

It was about the size of his hand.

When he reached out to grab it, a screen suddenly appeared before him, making him jump in surprise.

[Item Found]

[Blood Vial x1]

[Collect]

Reading what the screen said, he couldn't help but be surprised—he had a damn system! Without thinking twice, he pressed the word "Collect," and suddenly, another screen appeared in front of him.

[Blood Vial backpack full, storing Blood Vial in inventory]

His eyes widened upon reading that he had an inventory, and he shouted with pure excitement, "Inventory!!" But after shouting, he realized what he had done and looked around, hoping that no beasts would suddenly appear.

When nothing appeared, he turned his attention back to the screen in front of him, which made him want to curse the person who had given him this system.

[Inventory (Locked), you cannot access the inventory until you complete a special mission. Keep moving forward until you acquire/complete a special mission.]

Who the hell gives someone a system with an inventory function and locks it right from the start?! On top of that, it didn't even tell him what mission he needed to complete to unlock it—it was absolute garbage.

Muttering under his breath about the damn system, he suddenly noticed that a new screen had appeared.

[Congratulations! You have completed your first mission: Kill your first beasts! (Completed)]

[Description: You are a novice hunter who encounters his first beasts. The citizens of Yharnam are turning into monsters—save them from their pain and grant them a merciful death to end their suffering. Kill 10 half-transformed Yharnam citizens (10/10).]

[Reward: Partial system unlock, acquiring the 'Status' function. New Title Unlocked.]

[Congratulations! You can now view your status. It includes your Name, Age, Titles, Stats, Skills, and Traits.]

[Chain Mission!: Free the Yharnam Citizens from Their Torment]

[Description: As a hunter, you have to eliminate the beasts and protect the civilians. However, most civilians have already transformed into monsters. Kill them and end their suffering while saving those who still retain their sanity. Kill 100 Yharnam citizens (0/100). Save 5 Yharnam citizens (0/5).]

[Reward: New Title, One Random Skill]

Reading all the notifications made him happy to have completed a mission and disgusted by what he had to do to complete it—not to mention the new mission.

"Kill 100 citizens and only save 5... What kind of bullshit mission is this...? Are there so few that I can save? Or is that just the minimum required to complete the mission?" Although he tried to find hope in the possibility of saving someone, seeing how few he could rescue compared to how many he had to kill made him truly sad.

"Come on, don't despair. Remember what Iosefka said—kill the beasts, and everyone will be saved." Clinging to that small thread of hope, he moved forward and decided to check the rooms where he had killed some of the patients.

Even though he felt bad about searching the corpses for something useful, he knew it was necessary to survive. He had read enough stories to know what complacency and human morals did to protagonists.

Not wanting to end up like those characters who were betrayed or got into trouble for not doing what needed to be done at the right time, he steeled himself and began searching the second-floor rooms.

He found three more Blood Vials but not much else. After finishing his search, he checked the rest of the floor, encountering some patients who had already lost their sanity. As soon as they saw him, they attacked, while others remained locked in their rooms like the first ones.

Now, after his first kills, he was getting used to taking lives, but he still felt disgusted by it, whether they were beasts or not.

But he knew he had to do it if he wanted to live. So, with his resolve strengthened, he started killing the patients he encountered. With each fight, he became more accustomed to his new abilities and slowly began to form a combat style—clumsy and full of openings, but it was a start, built on constant battles.

The more he fought, the better his style became. He felt as if something was guiding him down the right path.

By the time he finished killing all the patients, he felt exhausted. Fighting nonstop for so long, no matter how physically superior he was, still left him drained—not so much physically, but mentally.

On his way back to Iosefka's room, he checked some of the notifications he had received.

[Blood Echoes +50]

[Blood Echoes +50]

[Blood Echoes +50]

[Blood Echoes...]

….

[Blood Echoes: 1800]

When he reached Iosefka's room, he entered, hoping to get some rest. He headed straight for the bed. He didn't know how, but it was the most comfortable bed he had ever laid on.

"Will this ever get easier?" Small tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his cheeks. Even though he could now face and kill the patients without trembling from the disgust he felt each time, that repulsion was still there.

"Didn't Iosefka say she would be brought here after some time...? Right now, I could use one of her hugs..." Letting out a bit of his sadness, he cried for at least five full minutes.

He had lost count of how many times he had broken down after eliminating a group of patients, but every time, he had to forcibly suppress it unless he wanted to leave himself vulnerable to an attack and die in this dark world.

"There's still the first floor... but if Iosefka ends up appearing in this beast-infested place, she could be in grave danger... I can't leave here until I'm sure it's safe for her." Remembering why he forced himself to kill the patients, his dwindling determination reignited into a firm resolve to secure the place where his only friend would appear.

'Sigh' "But before that, I should check my status—I haven't done it yet, and now would be the perfect time." But just then, two system notifications popped up.

[Congratulations, Host, for completing your first hidden mission. Your rewards will be upgraded.]

[Hidden Mission: Caring for a Loved One, Part One. (Completed)]

[Description: Your care and affection for a loved one drove you to find a way to keep them safe. Seeing that the clinic's patients attacked on sight, you decided to eliminate them all to ensure your loved one's safety. Kill all the patients on the second floor (30/30).]

[Reward: Caring for a Loved One, Part Two. 2500 Blood Echoes.]

[Skill Acquired: Basic Threaded Cane Mastery Lv 1]

Seeing that he had acquired a skill for handling his weapon made him happy, and he decided to test how good it was. Gripping his weapon, he made several slashes in the air.

The grip felt more comfortable, and his swings were smoother and straighter. He needed to level up this skill as soon as possible.

Sitting back down, he placed his weapon on his lap and finally checked his status. "Status."

[Status]

Name: Issei Hyoudou

Age: 15

Title: Novice Hunter (New)

Pervert of Kuoh Academy

Origin: Coward

Level: 10

Insight: 0

Blood Echoes: 4300

Vitality: 11

Endurance: 10

Strength: 12

Skill: 10

Bloodtinge: 9

Arcane: 8

[Skills]

Basic Hunter Combat Style Lv 1 (New): This is the fundamental skill and the foundation for all combat styles a hunter can develop. It provides the basics of a balanced style, whether in power, speed, blood vigor, or arcane abilities. The more you develop this skill, the stronger your combat fundamentals will become, opening up a variety of different styles. But remember, a hunter must be versatile in all situations.

Basic Firearm Handling Lv 1 (New): A basic style that grants better handling and accuracy with pistols—an essential skill for any hunter. You can perform parries, leaving enemies vulnerable for a few seconds, allowing you to land a devastating attack. Low probability of parrying medium and small enemies, very low probability of parrying large enemies.

Basic Threaded Cane Handling Lv 1 (New): A skill that represents your proficiency in wielding this trick weapon. The higher the level, the easier it becomes to handle, and the more fluid each attack will feel. Your current level is that of a beginner; you can barely use this weapon correctly.

Iron Will Lv 2 (New): Despite adversity, your strong will allows you to rise and continue fighting against every enemy that stands in your path. This skill strengthens your determination in the face of hardship, granting a calm mind in moments of danger and providing slight resistance to negative mental states.

Thus, a long and arduous journey filled with loss, suffering, and pain awaits Issei. But when he feels most desperate and broken, a person will give him the strength to keep going, becoming the moonlight that guides him on his hunt.