Night had fallen.
Muriel slowly opened her eyes, staring in confusion at the rocky ceiling above her. Still groggy from sleep, her thoughts were muddled and slow to connect.
After a moment, she muttered, "I'm… not dead?"
"Oh? So eager to die, are you?"
Muriel froze at the sound of that familiar male voice.
She sat up quickly, alarmed, and turned toward the voice with guarded eyes.
The man who had nearly killed her earlier was sitting beside her now, smiling casually as he looked at her.
"You… why didn't you kill me?" she asked, disbelief lacing her voice.
After all, she had tried to kill him more than once.
Vlad didn't respond. Instead, he continued reading the ancient witchcraft scroll in his hand.
Seeing that he wasn't paying her any attention, Muriel slowly relaxed her posture.
Only then did she notice she was lying on a bed.
She instinctively glanced down at herself. Her dress was still intact. She breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Was he the one who put me here? What does he want with me? Muriel thought nervously.
Watching Vlad read the scroll with great interest, she calmed her breathing, but couldn't resist asking:
"Who… are you?"
"What do you want from me?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Vlad replied casually, still flipping pages.
"Your witchcraft is quite fascinating. Bloodline Fusion, huh?"
"'Bloodline Fusion: Greatly enhances physical strength, speed, melee combat ability, magic resistance, elemental affinity, and more.'"
"Tsk tsk… why didn't I see you use it before?"
He closed the scroll, then looked up at her, still wearing that relaxed expression.
Muriel's lips twitched slightly at his words. After a pause, she admitted,
"It's not that I didn't want to use it… I just didn't have a suitable bloodline to fuse with."
She glanced at Vlad again, her lips pursed in mild embarrassment.
"Besides… the fusion makes you look awful."
Vlad lifted his head, stunned by her answer.
He hadn't expected Muriel, at this stage of her life, to care so much about her appearance.
According to Witch Hunter, Muriel eventually became the leader of the black witches in this region—ruthless and willing to do anything for power.
By then, she had already practiced bloodline fusion and undergone grotesque transformation.
Vlad's mind immediately conjured the image of that transformation.
Yes… it was definitely hideous.
Noticing the strange way Vlad was staring at her, Muriel shuddered. Goosebumps prickled her smooth skin.
"W-why are you looking at me like that?"
Vlad, gazing at the not-yet-transformed version of Muriel, asked calmly:
"Have you decided yet? Will you submit to me?"
"My patience isn't endless. This is your last chance."
Muriel, who had been trying to buy time to think, suddenly trembled. She seemed to recall the paralyzing fear she'd felt earlier when her life had been on the edge.
She fell into silence. Vlad didn't push further.
He believed Muriel—who would one day lead the witches—would make the smartest choice.
After a long pause, Muriel looked at him, resentment in her eyes. "I still don't know who you are."
Seeing that she had relaxed and lowered her guard, Vlad smiled.
"Vlad."
Muriel repeated the name silently in her mind. Strangely, it sounded familiar—like something she'd heard in passing.
As she frowned, lost in thought, Vlad suddenly stood and reached out, lifting her chin with his fingers.
Forced to look up, Muriel's heart skipped a beat. Panic flooded her mature, seductive features, and her gaze flickered, unable to meet his eyes.
What's he doing?
Vlad's handsome face drew closer.
Muriel shut her eyes on instinct, her heart pounding.
"You said you don't have a suitable bloodline? I can give you one."
"It won't make you ugly."
"You'll stay young… forever."
"Just think about it."
"Wha—what…?"
Flushed and overwhelmed, Muriel froze at the whisper in her ear. For a moment, she couldn't react.
"What, was I not clear enough?" Vlad frowned, sounding slightly annoyed.
"N-no, I understood."
"I get it."
She quickly nodded and looked away, clearly embarrassed.
Now she realized she had made a serious misjudgment earlier.
She did her best to calm the pounding in her chest. After a long while, the blush on her cheeks finally faded.
But she failed to notice the faint smirk tugging at Vlad's lips—or the amusement gleaming in his eyes.
Watching Muriel finally yield, Vlad shook his head slightly.
Truly, mature women are nothing like girls…
They were too rational.
Even when flustered, they still knew how to negotiate for themselves.
Unlike Suzette, Lucie, Aleera, and the other young girls who would lose all sense of direction when teased, Muriel was focused and composed.
By the way—transforming a witch using vampire bloodline wasn't easy.
It had cost nearly 30% of Vlad's blood essence to complete her transformation.
This was because Muriel's innate magical energy had fiercely rejected the vampire bloodline.
That was also the reason why most black witches in Witch Hunter looked so deformed. The violent energy conflict within their bodies ruined their appearance.
Thankfully, Vlad had noticed the signs.
After Muriel drank his blood, her skin began to crack from the internal backlash.
He had to inject even more blood into her to stabilize the energy, or she would have met the same horrific fate as in the original timeline.
"My lord, nearly all the witches around Augsburg have arrived."
Muriel looked at Vlad, who stood tall and poised before her. His handsome features stirred something within her, a flicker of heat rising in her eyes.
"Good. You'll take charge now."
Vlad nodded calmly, hands clasped behind his back, as he looked down at the dozens of witches gathered below.
He had carefully selected these witches over the last few days. All the useless ones—the weak, the mad, the unsightly—had been filtered out. Only the most viable remained.
Gathering all the black witches here served one purpose: to take control of them in a single sweep.
A group this powerful gathering in one place was a rare occurrence in this world. Vlad had no intention of wasting this chance to boost his power.
As Muriel leapt off the cliff and landed on the platform halfway down the mountain, all the witches below turned their eyes to her.
The Witch Conference had officially begun.