Read Novel Full Chapter 736: The Cost of Survival
Chapter 736: The Cost of Survival
The rain started again.
Cold droplets struck Nikolai’s face as the clouds gathered above the outpost, spreading across the sky until they swallowed the blood moon. The remaining red light faded from the courtyard, leaving the damaged floodlights and burning buildings to illuminate the dead.
“We lost this fight…”
After those words, his father’s weight seemed to double, slumping against him with each step.
Nikolai tightened his arm around his father’s waist, stopping him from falling as the wounds across Ivan’s chest continued pouring blood. His transformed body had already disappeared, leaving his torn clothing hanging from his battered frame.
“Dad…. Save your breath.”
“I’m not dying.”
“Then stop talking in such a defeated manner… we’re alive to fight another day…”
Ivan released a weak grunt, but he didn’t argue.
Nikolai lowered him beside the remains of a concrete barrier, keeping one hand pressed against the wound left by Alucard’s lance. The blood continued slipping between his fingers, hot enough to stand out against the rain.
Before his father spoke again, he turned around and called out to the woman, eagerly glancing his way.
“Selene, come here.”
Nikolai spread his arms, with a tired smile upon his lips.
“I’m here!”
She rushed across the ruined courtyard with several medics behind her. Trickles of blood clung to one side of her face, though Nikolai couldn’t see any wounds beneath it as she leapt into his arms.
He could feel her weight, the warmth of her body despite the coldness of night as he spun her around slowly, clinging to her tighter with each rotation.
“Are you alright, my love?”
“Nn!”
Selene buried her face in his chest, her reaction at odds with the usually cool and calm vampire princess. Yet he didn’t mind; this was Selene’s true self, the weak and delicate woman she usually kept hidden from the world.
Neither of them spoke as their bodies shifted under the fine rain.
Her glossy golden hair floated with each rotation, as she stared up into his calm eyes.
When holding Selene, everything else vanished from Nikolai’s attention: sounds, scents and voices… all he could hear was the pounding beat of her heart and the slightly rough breaths leaving her swollen red lips.
Her fingers moved across his back and shoulders, checking every wound she could reach as if she didn’t trust the blood covering him. Nikolai pressed his face against her damp hair, breathing in the faint scent of roses hidden beneath smoke and gunpowder.
“I’m fine, there’s nothing to worry about,” he said while hoping to calm her trembling fingertips.
Selene glanced up, her blood-red eyes glinting in the night. “Y-You always say that… even when you’re suffering!”
“Haha… but it’s usually true.”
“Idiot!”
Selene pulled back and gripped his face between both hands. Her red eyes moved over his features, lingering on every cut and patch of bruised skin before she pressed her forehead against his.
“You suddenly vanished behind those walls… all I could hear was grunting and the sound of combat… How could I keep calm in that situation?”
He quickly grasped the back of her head, slowly threading his fingers through her hair, pulling gently so she gazed into his eyes. “Do you think I didn’t worry for you…?”
“Ah…. Mmm….” Her cheeks reddened as she turned to the side. “But still…” Her lips brushed against his as their words became subtle sounds of contact.
A brief, wet kiss followed… her sweet breath filled his mouth as her tongue slowly curled and flicked along his as if checking for any wounds.
Nikolai lost himself in the sudden warmth and delicious taste.
A rough cough sounded behind them.
Ivan leaned against the barrier with one hand pressed over his chest, his pale face twisted between pain and irritation.
“I don’t want to interrupt whatever this is, but I’m bleeding quite heavily.”
Selene stiffened.
Nikolai glanced over his shoulder.
“A….A… Father-in-law…!”
“Tsk! You said you were fine, Old man.”
“I’m reconsidering.”
Selene slipped from his and ordered the medics to rush to his side. They dropped beside Ivan and opened the nearest medical bag while two Fenrir soldiers cut through the remnants of his shirt.
While watching, Nikolai felt a sudden tug at his shirt from behind.
“Hm?”
Yank!
The second pull dragged him from Selene’s embrace and into another… the short, but modest chest of Nikita pressed against his stomach as she clung tightly to him, rubbing her soft little nose on his chest.
“Baby… it hurts…”
Nikolai lowered his gaze, watching as the moonlight illuminated her face. Her white hair soaked through with rain and blood clung to her cheeks. Both of her golden eyes appeared swollen, while several cuts, bruises and wounds covered her arms and shoulders.
Yet her grip remained firm.
Nikita pressed her ear against his chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart before releasing a long breath.
“Bastard…. cheater….. idiot…. why did you go to her first….” she snorted, while clinging tighter, he felt the slight prick of her nails digging into his flesh.
“Come on now, Kita. You’re both my beloved wives…”
“Hmph…!”
Her fist struck his stomach.
Thud!
Nikolai grunted and caught her wrist before she could hit him again.
“O-Oi…! Is that how you treat the father of your children?!”
“I heard you fighting, then Father’s aura exploded, and after that the entire outpost collapsed!” Nikita snapped as she glared up at him. “Don’t get smart with me… I thought you were hurt again, and I couldn’t do anything…”
Nikolai couldn’t answer immediately, because he’d already made her cry tonight.
Her lips trembled despite the anger across her face. Nikita hid it by lowering her head and tightening her arms around his waist.
He placed one hand against the back of her neck.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologise… I know you’re not really sorry and would do it again…”
“But—”
“It’s fine! I know… I am being annoying, I am clinging to you like a child, but I cannot help it… seeing you get hurt makes my heart so painful… and I cannot breathe as if I am being choked…”
She paused for a few moments, gaping because of her sudden outburst… then she glared up at him, her big golden eyes softening. “Just don’t disappear and return hurt again…”
Nikolai stroked her wet hair, feeling the tension slowly leave her shoulders. Selene stepped beside them and touched Nikita’s back, her previous embarrassment disappearing as the two women checked each other for injuries.
Nikolai glanced towards Ivan.
The medics had already removed the remains of his shirt and pressed several thick pads against the hole in his chest. Blood continued staining the material, though the flow had started to weaken as his natural regeneration recovered.
His father met his gaze, then shook his head with a smile.
He then mouthed the words “Stop staring and focus on your wives.”
Nikolai clicked his tongue.
A loud crash echoed from the other side of the courtyard.
“Dad!”
Nikita released Nikolai and turned sharply, then dashed away like a wolf on the hunt.
Several Fenrir warriors surrounded the collapsed watchtower, struggling to move the metal beams and broken concrete covering Dimitri. His large hand protruded from beneath the wreckage, claws scraping against the stones.
“I’m not dead!” Dimitri shouted. “Stop screaming like that!”
“Then get out yourself!”
“My leg is trapped!”
Nikita rushed across the courtyard.
Nikolai followed, but Selene caught his sleeve.
“Where are you going?”
“To help.”
“You have wounded people everywhere, Honey.”
She nodded towards the outer wall.
Vladimir remained pinned several metres above the ground by Alucard’s blood spear. His head hung forward, while his feet barely touched the cracked surface beneath him.
Several soldiers stood below, unable to reach the weapon without risking more damage to his shoulder.
Nikolai looked between Vlad and the collapsed tower.
Dimitri appeared loud enough to roar and insult everyone trying to rescue him, but Vladimir wasn’t conscious; he hadn’t spoken once and likely because of the recent tension between the Tepes and Volkov clans, not many had gone to help him.
“Alright, I’ll help him.”
“Be careful.”
Nikolai crossed the courtyard.
The rain grew heavier, striking the burning buildings and turning the smoke into a damp haze. Bodies covered the ground between the broken barricades. Some wore the uniforms of the Volkov clan, while others possessed the twisted faces and damaged bodies of the Nosferatu mutants.
One Fenrir soldier knelt beside his fallen companion.
His hands pressed against the man’s neck, trying to stop the blood slipping through his fingers.
“Where are the medics!?”
Nobody answered.
The body beneath him remained still.
Nikolai continued walking, but the man’s desperate voice followed him across the courtyard.
The victory he had imagined earlier no longer existed.
There were no cheers.
No soldiers raising their weapons.
Only the bitter smell of blood mixed with burning timber and the cries of those still waiting for treatment.
Vladimir slowly raised his head as Nikolai reached the wall.
“Is my daughter safe…?”
Nikolai didn’t dislike Vladimir; he understood the reasoning behind his actions and no longer blamed him for what happened. “Always putting your daughters first like an idiot… “
“That is the burden and glory of being a father, child.”
“A difficult burden, but you look comfortable.”
Vladimir glanced towards the spear piercing his shoulder and grunted at Nikolai’s dry humour, before closing his eyes. “I’ll live.”
Nikolai climbed onto the damaged stone beside him. The weapon had expanded after entering the wall, creating several barbed branches inside Vlad’s shoulder and the surrounding concrete.
Pulling it free directly would tear through more flesh.
“I’ll cut the stone around it.”
“How thoughtful.”
The Obsidian Tide gathered along Nikolai’s forearm, forming a narrow black blade.
He carved around the spearhead, slowly separating a large section of stone from the wall. Vladimir remained still throughout the process, though his jaw tightened whenever the blade passed close to his shoulder.
Crack!
The stone broke loose.
Vlad dropped.
Nikolai caught him around the waist and lowered them both to the ground, keeping the broken piece of wall attached to the spear.
Vladimir looked at the arm around him.
“Do not misunderstand me, you are my wife’s father… if you died, Selene, Anya and Lunaria would be upset.”
“I see… all my daughters are married to you… tsk!”
“Want me to drop you?”
“After carrying me this far?!”
“Be good.”
“….”
By the time the pair reached the central area, most of the medics and doctors had created a pseudo-treatment zone. Several medics arrived with a stretcher. They supported Vlad’s shoulder and laid him down without removing the spear.
Nikolai watched them carry him towards Ivan.
A group of Fenrir soldiers finally lifted the largest section of the watchtower. Nikita crawled beneath it and dragged Dimitri out by his arms while he cursed at everyone around him.
His left leg bent badly below the knee.
It was the kind of break that would end the entire career of a human athlete, and no matter how many times Dimitri tried to stand, his leg folded beneath him like a deckchair.
“Fuck!”
Nikita caught him before he hit the ground.
“Stop moving!”
“It’ll heal.”
“Not if you keep trying to fucking destroy it, Dad!”
Dimitri leaned against his daughter and looked across the courtyard. His usual grin disappeared when he saw Ivan and Vladimir receiving treatment beside the broken barrier.
The three strongest defenders of the outpost had survived.
‘Dad is lucky he managed to step into the threshold of an Ancestor mid-battle… or he might’ve died too.’
However, Nikolai knew it best… only one of them would recover enough to fight the Nosferatu in their final battle.
‘We’ve lost far too much… just to save my life.’
Yet, the vision forced his words to end, as he glanced at Selene and Nikita; both of them were still breathing and alive.
Thus, he couldn’t be upset with the situation.
If anything, his chest felt lighter, and he was filled with the desire to fight.
Nikolai remained standing beneath the rain while the wounded gathered around them.
One of the surviving officers approached, holding his useless left arm against his chest.
“Young Master.”
Nikolai turned.
“How many did we lose?”
“We’re still searching the southern barracks.”
“How many?”
The officer swallowed.
“One hundred and thirty-four confirmed dead. Fifty-seven seriously wounded, and at least nine are missing beneath the collapsed buildings.”
The officer lowered his gaze.
Nikolai looked towards the piles of Nosferatu bodies. Alucard had raised them once already, turning every fallen soldier into another weapon.
Their enemies could replace the dead.
The Volkov clan couldn’t.
“Spare no cost, heal those who can be healed… if they need treatment, the Volkov main family will cover all costs or needs. For the fallen, ensure their families are completely supported and kept safe. We must not forget their sacrifice.”
“Understood.”
“Send any able-bodied scouts to cover the outer roads and contact the main mansion to send support, but do not engage. If the enemy appears, give them permission to flee no matter what. Even if it breaks the family code, all will be forgiven.”
The officer saluted before leaving.
Nikolai glanced up at the blood-red moon before biting his lip.
‘This is fucked… everything is fucked now.’