I'll Just Watch Without Saying a Word

"Don't go!" Seeing Anna about to leave, Van Helsing hurriedly grabbed her. "Besides Dracula, there's now another demon lurking in the shadows. If you go, you'll be walking straight into danger!"

"But what else can I do?" Anna shouted at him. "Brother is the last family I have left. How can I just stand by and watch him turn into a mindless beast!?"

Overwhelmed by grief, Anna dropped to her knees, covered her face, and began to sob. "God! What sin have I committed for you to torment me like this?"

Van Helsing had no answer. The Church might be trying to make amends now, but it was true that it had abandoned the Villeris Family for centuries. If not for that, the Villeris Family would not have dwindled to such a pitiful state. He had no reason at all to stop Anna from saving her only remaining relative.

After venting for a while, Anna stood again, wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, picked up her weapons, and set off without looking back. She did not leave a single word for Van Helsing or Carl.

Van Helsing lay on the ground while Carl anxiously tried to stop his bleeding. Then Carl suddenly discovered that the bullet lodged in Van Helsing's chest was slowly being forced out!

Just as he was about to cry out in surprise, Van Helsing covered his mouth and whispered, "Shh! Pretend I'm about to die!"

Carl was no fool. He came to his senses at once and, showing remarkable potential as an actor, shouted, "Heavens, I... I can't stop the bleeding! Damn it, that bastard hit your arterial blood vessel..."

As he cried out, Carl fumbled frantically over Van Helsing's body.

"D-Don't waste your effort, Carl..." Van Helsing looked equally weak and breathless. "When dawn comes... you... go back to the Church and... report what happened here... I'm... so cold. I'll just... rest for a while..."

Then Van Helsing abruptly lowered his head, closed his eyes, and stopped moving.

Yet in the darkness, one could see that Van Helsing's hand was tightly gripping a bottle of Holy Water...

Roy's memories had not been wrong. Van Helsing truly was an Angel Incarnation. The only mistake was that Van Helsing was not merely an Angel Incarnation—he was one of the incarnations of the famed Archangel Gabriel, known as God's Left Hand! Legend said that he had been demoted to the mortal world to temper his will after refusing to carry out God's judgment upon Rome and arguing with God.

More than four hundred years ago, before Dracula sold his soul to a demon, Van Helsing, then incarnated as a human, had been friends with Dracula. At the time, Dracula had also been a believer in God. But while he was away fighting heretics for the Church, his enemies spread rumors that Dracula had died in battle, causing his wife to take her own life out of grief.

When Dracula returned victorious, all he saw was his wife's corpse. Worse still, in his grief, the Church told him that because she had committed suicide, her soul could not ascend to heaven.

How could he possibly endure that? In a fit of rage, Dracula killed the Churchmen on the spot. He believed that he had served God, yet God could not protect his wife and even barred her from heaven after death. What was the point of believing in such a God?

From that day onward, Dracula became an enemy of the Church. He led his army in a war against it.

Van Helsing, who stood with the Church, could only become Dracula's opponent. After a brutal war, Van Helsing killed Dracula with his own hands and took the Knights Order Insignia from Dracula's finger. It was precisely at death's door that Dracula used his blood to summon a demon, selling his soul in exchange for resurrection. The demon used its own blood to turn Dracula into a vampire.

As for Van Helsing, though he had won the battle, he had not won God's favor, so his trial had to continue. Because he had also suffered grievous wounds in his fight with Dracula, he lost his memories after recovering. No one knew who had left him at the Church's doorstep. Once the Church took him in, he became a member of the Sacred Order Knights, the Church's personal enforcer, hunting monsters across the world for it.

Though incarnated as a human, Van Helsing still possessed the power of an Angel. Aside from his extraordinary agility and combat skills, he had a long lifespan and a body that rapidly recovered from injuries. Otherwise, he would likely have died long ago during his many years of hunting monsters.

At Roy's command, Lucius had lain in ambush here and suddenly shot Van Helsing twice. Although the bullets struck him, they could not kill him. During the time he had spent lying on the ground, Van Helsing's gunshot wounds had already begun to heal.

However, Van Helsing smelled the Demonic Aura in the surrounding air, and it was far stronger than when Lucius appeared alone. Thus, even though he could not see clearly at night, Van Helsing suspected that the demon behind Lucius was nearby! He suspected that the demon's true target might be him, so he had Carl cooperate with him in putting on an act. He wanted to fake his death and lure the demon out, then give it a proper lesson with the Holy Water in his hand...

Yet second after second passed. Carl's tearful performance gradually became impossible to maintain, but the demon never appeared!

The situation became incredibly awkward, and Van Helsing began to wonder whether he had guessed wrong.

What he did not know was that Roy really was there—the problem was that Roy had not fallen for it at all!

It was not because of Carl's acting. Roy simply did not believe Van Helsing could be killed so easily by two bullets. He hid in a nearby tree and watched. With Dark Vision, his eyesight was completely unhindered at night. No matter how Van Helsing acted, he still had to breathe, and the rise and fall of his chest could not lie.

Act all you want. I'll just watch without saying a word. Roy even wanted to get himself some sunflower seeds to crack...

As long as he stayed here, the Demonic Aura would remain. Van Helsing would not dare leave, and as time passed, the distance between Anna and Van Helsing would only grow. By then, even if he wanted to chase her, he would not be able to catch up.

As for rushing down and trying to kill Van Helsing, Roy had not considered that for the time being. During the past two days at Lucius's manor, he had tested a few things. Garlic, Silver Stakes, and crosses—Roy did not know whether they worked against vampires, but they truly had no effect on him as a demon. Only Holy Water was like sulfuric acid to demons!

And that meant real Holy Water, instead of the so-called "Holy Water" the Church used to fool believers, which merely had a little salt added to it. True Holy Water carried blessings and purification, infused with Holy Light Power!

The Holy Water Roy had Lucius obtain came from the Small Town Church. Perhaps because the townspeople were often harassed by vampires, their faith in God was exceptionally devout, making the Holy Water produced by the church especially potent. Roy had merely touched a tiny bit of it, yet the pain had been unbearable.

There was no helping it. It was a weakness shared by all demons, one Roy could not avoid either.

Thus, Roy was not afraid of Van Helsing's other weapons, but he was deeply wary of any Holy Water Van Helsing might be carrying. Without confidence in his chances, Roy would not rashly make a move.

So he simply waited Van Helsing out for two hours. Then, he quietly left with Lucius and headed for Dracula's Castle.

Only after the demonic scent in the air gradually faded and dispersed did Van Helsing suddenly sit up, startling Carl.

"What's going on? Why did you fake your death for so long? I cried myself hoarse..." Carl asked in confusion.

"There was a demon. He stayed nearby the whole time..." Van Helsing answered with a puzzled expression.

"A demon!?" Carl was terrified and hurriedly pulled out a cross, gripping it in his hand.

"Don't worry, he's already gone!" Van Helsing waved a hand. "I originally thought I was his target, so I pretended to die to lure him out. But I didn't expect him to keep watch without making a move. Now he has even left without showing his face..."

"Is that so?" Carl sighed in relief, then asked, "By the way, what's with your body? Your gunshot wounds have already healed."

"Ordinary monsters can't kill me!" Van Helsing explained. "Hurry, let's go. That demon kept us here for two hours for a reason. Anna is in trouble—we need to help her at once!"