Chapter 84: Tempering
When Seras entered, the place was already a bloodbath, with rivers of blood and corpses strewn everywhere. Those whose heads had been blown off remained lifeless, while the others had all "come back to life."
Although the ghoul forces were armed with guns, the Valentine brothers were here primarily to create chaos and eliminate the upper echelons of Britain.
Thus, they continued to reanimate the fallen corpses. Faced with their former comrades, the operatives—most of whom had little experience fighting vampires—hesitated to pull the trigger. As a result, the situation became entirely one-sided.
The elderly butler Walter had no choice but to step in and try to stop Jan Valentine and the ghoul forces from advancing further. However, his aging body meant that the lethality of his wire-based techniques had greatly diminished.
Against the ghoul forces advancing with shields, Walter could only barely hold the line.
As for Alucard, he remained in the basement, undisturbed, as Walter had deliberately kept him unaware of the situation.
At this moment, a figure attacked from the rear of the ghoul forces.
"Stop overthinking—kill them all!"
Seras took a deep breath. Her right hand morphed into a sharp, blade-like shape, while her left transformed into a claw. She charged forward, slashing with her blade-like right hand and effortlessly cleaving two ghouls in half.
With a flash of cold light, the bisected ghouls' bodies fell to the ground. Walter was momentarily stunned by the transformation Seras had undergone.
He recognized her as the policewoman taken away by Chang Wei, but why had she become like this? That menacing form—she no longer looked human. Or had she become a monster?
What had Chang Wei done to her to bring about this change?
Seras quickly adapted to the situation. Though the Blacklight Virus didn't affect one's desires like a vampire's powers, it was an optimized combat virus. Once Seras entered combat mode, her physiological responses adjusted to allow her to unleash her full potential.
It was akin to unlocking the first stage of a genetic lock or entering a berserk state, like Kira Yamato.
The commotion in the rear soon drew the attention of Jan Valentine at the front.
Jan Valentine, the younger of the Valentine brothers, fought with submachine guns and commanded the armed ghoul forces. Compared to his brother, Luke Valentine, his combat abilities as a vampire were much weaker.
Walter had initially planned to keep tangling with Jan Valentine, hoping to create an opportunity to eliminate a member of the Round Table Conference. However, with Seras as an unexpected factor, he had no choice but to bring out his full strength and take Jan Valentine down.
"Seras."
Chang Wei contacted Seras from the rear.
"Mr. Chang Wei?"
Seras was startled by the voice in her head.
"Don't be nervous. Ahead of you on the right is a powerful vampire. Ignore the ghouls—leave them to the Hellsing personnel. Your goal here is to train."
Chang Wei's tone was calm.
He was, of course, referring to Luke Valentine, a vampire acknowledged by Alucard as being above Class A.
However, he was still an insignificant vampire. Modern vampires—especially those created artificially by the Pure Unit—were all based on remnants of Mina Harker's remains, effectively making them copies of Alucard.
Who was Mina Harker?
Mina Harker was the reincarnation of Dracula's wife. After encountering her, Alucard turned her into a vampire. Extracted genetic material from her remains could turn humans into vampires.
Yet, judging by the performance of these vampires, it was clear they had inherited little beyond basic vampiric traits. None of the abilities had been passed down.
Was this because Alucard held back, or because such abilities simply couldn't be passed down genetically?
Even though Chang Wei himself was now a True Ancestor vampire, he felt vastly different from Alucard.
For instance, Alucard could not cross running water, whereas Chang Wei could. He didn't need his coffin or native soil to traverse running water, nor did he need an invitation to enter a house.
Thus, Chang Wei was uncertain about Alucard's limitations.
"Understood!"
Seras obediently slashed through a wall with her blade and charged forward.
Walter watched her departure with some surprise.
"What an energetic young lady," Walter remarked, shaking his head.
Following Chang Wei's instructions, Seras soon encountered a man holding a short blade, standing amidst several bodies clad in bulletproof vests.
The man had pale skin, piercing green eyes, and long blonde hair tied at the end with a white ribbon. He wore silver-rimmed glasses and a white coat trimmed with gold. His outfit also included white suit trousers, gloves, and a jacket.
"Oh, a lady has arrived," Luke Valentine said mockingly, holding a cigarette in his mouth as he noticed Seras appear before him.
"I'll kill you!"
With her eyes blank and emotionless, Seras charged directly at Luke Valentine.
In an instant, Luke Valentine became a flash of firelight—the glow of his cigarette forming a trail as he moved at high speed.
His speed was so great that a human could not possibly react, but Seras was no longer human.
Clang!
Luke Valentine's short blade, aimed at Seras's arm, was blocked by her claw. Her blade-like right hand slashed at him in return.
Luke's pupils contracted as he leaned back, his heels digging into the ground. Maintaining a half-fallen posture, he narrowly avoided the slash, abandoning his short blade in the process.
As the two crossed paths, Luke drew two long-barreled pistols and unleashed a rapid volley, using his high-speed movement to corner Seras. The bullets cut off her avenues of escape, but she reacted quickly. The Blacklight Virus extended biomass from her claw, forming a massive shield to block the bullets.
Seras charged forward with the shield raised.
"What?!"
Luke Valentine was shocked. He had believed he could easily defeat Alucard, confident he was destined to bring about Alucard's downfall. He thought his relatively advanced abilities made him superior in every way.
He was convinced he possessed greater strength than Alucard, being an advanced vampire created through the combination of technology and vampiric genetics. Alucard, in his mind, was an outdated relic who couldn't compare to him—a modern, artificial vampire.
Such thinking might hold in a "normal" world. For instance, in the world of Underworld, the werewolves created through human research later posed a significant challenge to the protagonist.
But this was no ordinary world. This was a world rooted in the occult, where vampires were not mere mutated humanoid creatures but mythical beings.
(Support me and read additional chapters on my Patreon: p@treon.com/craxxtranslation. Thanks!)