Chapter 392 – The Followers of August: Part One

Due to the increased amount of text, the back side has been split into front and back parts.

“L-Lady Isolde! Under these circumstances, wouldn’t it be acceptable to deploy those individuals!?”

“Do as you please.”

Isolde responded curtly to Kahar’s desperate words without taking her eyes off Grace.

The identity of Kahar’s “those individuals” quickly became clear to everyone’s eyes. New vampires with glowing red eyes came leaping down from the fortress.

However… they didn’t seem capable of transformations like growing wings, and were undoubtedly several ranks inferior to those led by Isolde. But for Farid, that wasn’t the important point. What mattered was that he recognized the faces among them.

“You remained human… and offered your own subordinates as sacrifices to the vampires. What a despicable wretch.”

“That’s not true! Those individuals willingly offered their blood to gain power!”

At Farid’s contemptuous tone, Kahar became enraged. The new vampires also wore faint smiles as if affirming his words.

These vampires who were once retainers of the Kingdom of Baharzad. Since they were keeping the existence of vampires secret, they had likely been holed up in the fortress judging them unsuitable to confront Farid directly, but now that things had come to this, there was no point in conserving their strength.

“…Very well. Out of consideration for our acquaintance, I shall deliver your final rites here.”

King Farid then looked up at the sky, glanced at the young magician, and nodded.

It was a signal meaning “leave the new ones to me.” The boy also nodded and immersed himself in battle with the vampire before him. The others did the same. Each faced off against a vampire.

“They seem intent on fighting us, Alexis.”

“That’s right. Let’s make them regret it, Gilbert.”

They spoke while laughing. Gilbert and Alexis. They were originally the children of prominent figures from Count Flamsteed’s territory. The older brother was Gilbert, the younger sister Alexis.

Gilbert bit through his own wrist, wrapping his fists and feet in the spurting fresh blood. Alexis created a spear.

“Don’t let your guard down, both of you. Mabel too. Between that traitor’s daughter… it seems they’ve known about our existence from the very beginning.”

“You mean they might have weapons capable of killing us, Irvine?”

Irvine, dressed as a butler, held twin swords in both hands. Mabel, responding to Irvine, created a bow and arrows.

Mabel’s clothing resembled that of a noble’s daughter. However, it was something that was once popular among nobles of the maritime nations located west of Verdgar. She was the daughter of a noble who should have died after falling ill during a journey to the eastern countries.

Without exception, August’s close aides had youthful appearances and beautiful features.

That said, you couldn’t rely on a vampire’s apparent age. As if to prove this, every one of them wore old-fashioned noble attire.

To those with discerning eyes, like Mabel’s case, they would notice that each of their outfits reflected the trends of different eras and regional characteristics.

That was—likely their master August’s taste, and it probably vividly illustrated his bloodstained history.

Even so—Grace judged that didn’t mean they were pitiful victims. The dense scent of blood wafting from the close aides, including Isolde. That was also the history of the killings they had accumulated. Those who had joined the side of taking, alongside August. That’s why they followed August so joyfully and proudly.

And—Grace knew examples that were different, instances where people refused to accept serving August.

“…Why did you kill my father? If you were going to flee once discovered, you should have just left him alone from the start. He was your descendant, your blood relative, wasn’t he?”

Seeing them like this, Grace shook her head.

Even if they were vampires. Like her own father and mother had been. They should have been able to join hands. That’s what Grace thought.

The fact was that they even had a sense of camaraderie where they warned each other among the close aides, so why couldn’t they leave her parents alone? Why couldn’t they have considered those two?

Their appearance, with belligerent and ominous smiles, the blood aura enveloping their bodies—they were completely steeped in being vampires. They, who assessed their opponents as food, were the very embodiment of what Grace despised.

“How ironic. He had too much aptitude as a vampire. He developed resistance to mental domination and rebounded it midway. Lord August had no choice but to make him a direct subordinate by having him drink his blood. Even for a direct descendant, this is quite rare.”

Isolde laughed at Grace’s words.

“You and your mother were hostages against him… but it was also the result of begging Lord August, wasn’t it? For someone who received mercy… betraying that trust and fleeing cannot be forgiven. He was a weak man who couldn’t enjoy the joy of being reborn as one of the chosen. Even if we hadn’t laid hands on him, wouldn’t he have eventually despaired and taken his own life?”

“…I see. You people are truly—beyond redemption.”

What answered Isolde’s response were Grace’s words and gaze of contempt.

“Shut up, half-breed!”

The glow in both their red eyes rapidly closed in and collided in mid-air.

Isolde alone didn’t use blood weapons but wielded a physical greatsword. The greatsword and axe were swung and slammed at ridiculous speeds, scattering sparks in the air as they were deflected.

Isolde was handled by Grace, while the other close aides were handled by Ashley and the others.

A group battle. The vanguard consisted of Sheila, Ignis, and Dullahan. The rearguard was Ashley, Marlene, Claudia, Rosemary, Irmhild, and Seraphina. And as midguard, Lindwurm and Alpha intercepted those heading for the rearguard.

When Marlene made a praying gesture, Claudia’s blessing enveloped them.

“Let’s go—”

Sheila charged toward the vampires with fluid movements that didn’t even make a sound of cutting wind. Her opponent was Gilbert. Matching Sheila’s movement, a storm-like fist strike was unleashed.

“Oh?”

Gilbert let out a light sound of surprise. At the moment their attacks were about to connect, Sheila’s figure vanished. She activated the cloak magic tool to disappear, deceiving vision. A slash attack as they passed each other.

Gilbert took a hit to his neck, spraying fresh blood from his carotid artery. But he laughed. A broken smile spread across his face as he narrowed his eyes.

“—Interesting. Fine by me!”

He put his hand to his neck, and when he removed it, the wound had already closed. He charged after the briefly visible Sheila. Both fists roaring. Powered by vampire strength, they would easily crush a flesh body if they connected.

Sheila dodged by a hair’s breadth and unleashed another slash attack. Gilbert accepted the slash attack knowingly and delivered an unconcerned counterattack.

—Gilbert was certain he’d hit, but it didn’t connect. Because a lightning strike had been unleashed simultaneously with the slash.

The lightning transmitted through Sheila’s sword robbed Gilbert’s body of its freedom.

It made his muscles contract, preventing him from launching the attack he intended, resulting in his strike cutting through empty air. The next instant, before Gilbert could even blink, various parts of his body had been slashed.

“Full of openings.”

Sheila left only these words as she disengaged. Even if he had transformation abilities, since he was fundamentally humanoid, receiving a lightning strike would rob him of freedom. Even so, it was temporary and wouldn’t cause damage, and Gilbert could see countermeasures.

Gilbert laughed with wide eyes and tried to chase after Sheila, but was prevented by something cutting through the wind and rising up from below.

“Wh-what? A fake?”

What passed by was an illusion of Sheila. Looking around, illusions of Ignis and Dullahan were also dancing through the air.

“Over here. Over here.”

Sheila’s voice came from unexpected directions. When Gilbert’s red evil eyes opened wide, they flickered like candle flames swaying in the wind. He could tell they were fakes, but they didn’t seem to be mere illusions—they appeared to have something at their core. What appeared faintly translucent looked like high-speed rotating circular metal disks.

“Alex. Someone—there’s someone controlling those disk-like things along with the illusions.”

“I think it’s that small child over there, and the fairy on her shoulder. Only those two are concentrating on control. The magical power I sense is the same too. What I see and hear is suspicious.”

Among the close aides, Alexis had the sharpest sensitivity to magical power. Gilbert trusted his sister in this regard—if she said so, it couldn’t be wrong.

But that same Alexis was locked in combat with Ignis, exchanging blows of spear and war hammer, unable to move. The sight of her small frame grappling with Ignis’s massive body was quite surreal. While their physical strength was evenly matched, that very fact made breaking through Ignis no easy task.

Moreover, even though the spear was piercing through gaps in his armor, it wasn’t causing damage. It was all she could do to forcefully knock him back and barely shake that massive frame.

“Heavy and hard. How irritating.”

And—unlike Sheila, Ignis’s strikes were area-of-effect destructive attacks, so if taken head-on, one would likely receive chain attacks before being able to regenerate.

From the vampires’ perspective, he was a troublesome opponent—immune to both blood draining and charm, and not inferior in physical strength either.

And around Marlene and Seraphina, whom Alexis had indicated, Ashley astride Lavigne and Rosemary floating magic slaves stood ready.

All of them magicians. While their full capabilities were unknown, they were expected to be troublesome opponents. Charging in would obviously mean being obstructed.

“Then I shall.”

Mabel launched blood arrows toward Marlene and Seraphina, but they collided with light arrows flying from the side and were erased. Cancellation. The solidified blood lost its effectiveness due to the light arrows.

“This is—”

Mabel, as another bow user, felt something close to admiration for her opponent’s skill. Looking in the direction the arrows came from, there was the figure of a lamia swimming as if flying through the air.

“…Kuku. What entertaining people. I like you. Before killing you, I could drink your blood and make you one of us, you know?”

“Sorry, but I have enough friends.”

“Is that so—. Then what a pity.”

After sizing up their respective enemies—following a brief standoff, blood arrows and light arrows were unleashed like rain. They continuously swapped positions while flying around, maintaining a certain distance as they engaged in a shooting battle.

Predicting each other’s next movement locations, they exchanged arrow fire. A battle where skill competed against skill. Irmhilt used her tail. Mabel used a third arm formed from blood to nock arrows. They fired at each other at speeds impossible for humans. Red and white beams of light intersected, collided, and burst apart.

“—Good grief. To create a stalemate like this. When we need to finish quickly and go support Lord August.”

Seeing this spectacle—Irvine felt things weren’t progressing.

The high-level spirit he was currently facing—Dullahan, and that doll dressed as a knight too. They were opponents against whom vampire characteristics were less effective. Neither blood draining nor charm seemed likely to work. That said—since they had challenged them knowing they were vampires, they had probably prepared countermeasures.

The easiest opponent for them was probably the beastkin girl. Even if attacks landed, one strike would likely finish her, and while blood draining and charm wouldn’t work, if they could make contact, energy drain should be effective.

But—what prevented that were the illusions controlled by the rearguard girl.

And protecting that rearguard were the magicians. Even when firing blood bullets during breaks in the fight with Dullahan, they were easily scattered away by ice bullets or wolves with bodies of light.

The reason the rearguard didn’t come forward was probably because they couldn’t withstand physical strength and martial arts.

Then all that remained was to overwhelm them with sheer power, Irvine resolved himself. He just needed to seriously cut down the powerful enemy before him and advance. Once he closed in on the rearguard, the match would be decided. The dragon knights were also engaged in combat with lower vampires and Kahar’s forces, and didn’t seem to have the leeway to interfere here.

He blocked the roaring greatsword rushing toward him with one sword, and cut in with the other.

But a moment faster, the horse kicked off into the air and disengaged. Their coordination was too good, Irvine inwardly clicked his tongue.

Both the knight and horse were likely parts of the same spirit. Illusions overlapped with its body, then separated in different directions. Even understanding they were illusions, he had to activate his evil eye each time to confirm.

Even without that, his senses were being disrupted. The direction and distance of the sounds he heard had been completely chaotic since earlier.

Dullahan, having swapped positions, charged in again. If they took distance and charged on horseback, he would likely be overwhelmed by weight and power. This too was a first experience for Irvine.

Gnashing his teeth, he forcefully parried Dullahan’s sword, running alongside the horse while crossing swords with the knight. If distance opened up, the illusions would be used effectively. Then he just needed to stick close to the main body.

Whether because they disliked involving the vanguard, or to protect the illusion girl, the rearguard didn’t launch aggressive magic shooting attacks. That was probably the correct decision. Since half-hearted long-range attacks wouldn’t cause damage even if received.

With the situation and combat power evenly matched, once the balance tipped to one side, the match would likely be decided in one go.

“—I’m going.”

Rosemary said quietly. It wasn’t only Irvine and the others who understood the situation. Among Rosemary’s cards too, there were means to break the equilibrium.

“Persistent! Annoying!”

He forcefully knocked back the Baharzard knight who had slashed at him with a fierce battle cry. If slammed against the wall, they shouldn’t be able to get back up.

But light enveloped their body, and they returned to the battle line as if it were natural. Even when trying to deliver finishing blows, other knights and soldiers took turns preventing it.

Those who couldn’t move were carried back to the circle of light in the rear, healed of their wounds, and stood back up. It was a scene that made one want to lament over which side was truly immortal.

What was returning the knights and soldiers to the battle line was probably healing magic. And it was incredibly advanced, unlike anything seen before. The girl riding a white wolf in mid-air was healing King Farid and the others’ wounds from a distance.

Even so, if they received injuries, there should be pain. They couldn’t understand why they returned to the battle line with such high fighting spirit, unconcerned.

A mere soldier who should have had his arm bone broken stood up gritting his teeth without even receiving healing magic. The moment he was distracted by this, he took a spear to his flank from another direction.

“Guohhh!?”

The moment he let out an agonized cry, a knight’s katana wrapped in fighting spirit pierced the vampire’s heart. For an instant, it looked like fire overflowed from inside his body, but in the blink of an eye, he turned to ash and burned out.

“Lord Razak has defeated the enemy commander!”

“Ooohh!”

They were overwhelmed by the sight. By the fighting spirit.

Even as vampires, they still felt pain. Pain slowed their movements. To act without regard for injury despite having gained immortality required either more “experience as an undead monster” like Isolde and her aides, or else resolute will—preparedness. These newly reborn vampires possessed neither.

And while high-ranking vampires might withstand it, a newly turned vampire stood no chance against a Fighting Spirit blade striking their heart. They would simply turn to ash and scatter.

“Th-these bastards—!”

“What are the archers doing! Turn them into pincushions! If we inflict wounds faster than their Healing Magic can keep up, the vampire squad can overpower them!”

Kahar shouted. He sounded the gong to signal a regroup, but the detached units separated from the main force had no such luxury.

Though they avoided the pitfall traps, they were far from destroyed—yet they couldn’t lift a hand or foot against the airborne assaults of the Demon-Slaying Knight Order. Even when they tried to counter with their Bows as the knights closed in, the knights deployed Magic Shields below, making their arrows useless. One by one, the archers were snatched up and slammed into the rubble.

The number of archers dwindled rapidly. The Demon-Slaying Knight Order chased Kahar’s private soldiers as they fled in panic through the streets, their will to fight broken. Though not attacking to kill, the knights harried them until they collapsed, rendering them useless as combatants.

The units were fragmented. The chain of command severed. Kahar’s private soldiers couldn’t even mount an organized counterattack as their numbers dwindled.

“Whoa!?”

An arrow loosed by King Farid grazed past Kahar’s face. Thrown from his Earth Dragon and unable to use Levitation, he tumbled to the ground.

As Kahar raised his dust-covered face, Fareed stood blocking his path.

“Y-you bastard…!”

Fareed already held his drawn curved sword. On the other hand, Kahar gripped his Magic Staff.

One step forward would bring them within sword range. Sword versus Magic—which was faster would depend entirely on their respective skill at this distance.

But Kahar released his staff and thrust his palm toward Fareed as if to halt him.

“W-wait! You said you’d accept surrenders! Would a king go back on his own word!?”

“…That was for the soldiers following you. Do you think someone who willingly threw the nation into chaos and led troops could hope for such terms? As a commander, you took up your staff and stood to fight.”

“G-guh…!”

Kahar groaned at the reality thrust before him, clenching his fist.

“F-for the king himself to engage in single combat… how antiquated…!”

As he said this, Kahar reached his left hand toward his staff on the ground, placing his right hand on his knee as if to rise—but in the next instant.

From his kneeling posture, his right hand snapped upward, unleashing a Lightning Strike. He had fired it from a Magic Circle concealed in his palm.

Fareed moved almost simultaneously. As if he had anticipated Kahar’s actions, he stepped forward in sync with the upward snap of Kahar’s right hand.

The arc of Fareed’s swung sword left an afterimage in the air, trailing the glow of Fighting Spirit. Fareed remained in his follow-through stance. Kahar stayed frozen in his spell-casting posture. They stood motionless, backs turned to each other.

“Guh… fuh…”

Finally—Kahar let out a small sound, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed on the spot. Without even turning around, Fareed said:

“…You have a habit of raising your right eyebrow when you’re about to lie. Since long ago… I never trusted you.”