“What the…”

Hundreds of different monsters were surrounding a type of underground tomb.

‘Are they perhaps protecting it?’

I saw a wolf demihuman who joined our ranks scrunch up his nose when he sniffed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him after approaching.

“Ah, there’s a smell of death coming from the tomb. I’m not sure what it is but its smell is definitely the smell of a corpse.”

“Corpse? There’s an undead in there?” The commander came up to us when he heard us talking.

“That’s highly likely, Steinburg-sama. If it’s a Lich then we’re screwed.”

“That’s true. They can summon many dead people as their offense and defence.” I said with a sigh.

“Everyone! There’s a possibility of an undead being in there! Focus on protecting the priests! They will be exorcising it!”

The commander screamed even though we’re in hiding. Luckily, the monsters seem to be making too much noise themselves.

I took off the cloth from my staff and prepared to cast my first spell.

I already told the commander that I will be launching my first attack. Surprise attacks works best with more firepower.

[Lightning Dragon]. One of my many intermediate rank spells.

I mumbled the chant and sent my mana up to the sky.

Tsssssk

Tsskkkk

BOOM

The monsters seemed to have noticed the ruckus since they were running around and looking for us.

But one thing is certain–They aren’t moving from their position for some reason.

“Erica.”

Erica got my signal and sent her power into my staff. The sheer scale and power of the spell increased immensely with her buff.

The people with us were quiet for a second. The commander was the first to break out of his daze.

“When he drops his spell, we’ll charge! Everyone understand!?”

“””””Yes, sir!!”””””

The power output reached its limit. If I send any more mana then it’ll cancel the spell. It’s almost like filling up a storage unit to its maximum capacity. Sadly, this is the limit of the spell even with a buff. I’ll need to do experiments if I want to improve the power equation of the spell itself.

“----!!!!”

Along with the swing of my staff, dozens of manifested dragons roared and rained down on the monsters.

RUMBLE–

BOOM

BOOM

Huge tremors and shockwaves spread throughout the forest. Mini earthquakes broke apart the forest floor and sent trees toppling flying from the force.

A dust cloud formed from the charred remains of the aftermath. Hundreds of bodies laid around the snow.

“GO!!”

With his shout, all members of the unit charged. The martial artists rammed the entrance and broke apart the boulder blocking it.

Arielle, Helen, Erica , Nate and I were in the front. The entire cave was dark and misty. Even without the demihuman sniffing the enemy out, I could feel the touch of death in the mist that’s low on the ground.

“Strange. I was expecting bodyguards to–“

THWACK

When the commander said in a confused tone, a sound of something slicing the air rang. I was then pulled down to the ground from the behind.

“GYAAAA! MY ARM!!!”

“T-The commander’s dead!”

Just when I looked behind me, I saw Arielle looking around.

“Traps…” She murmured and helped me back up.

I looked around again to see what’s the cause of the noise and saw multiple people’s bodies on the ground. Some had missing heads while others were battered with a blunt object that flew out of the wall.

It was quite the horrendous sight.

The commander’s head was freshly sliced off.

‘What just happened?’

–You dare enter my home, humans?

A cold feminine voice came from deep within the cave. The voice alone could tell me how strong the owner was.

Arielle stood in front of me.

“Stay behind me from now on, Clyde.”

“O-Okay.”

My eyes couldn’t follow the activation of the traps so I’m glad Arielle is with me. Helen seemed to have saved Nate is time too since he had a pale look on his face while looking on the ground.

There were two arrows filled with poison in the ground between his legs.

‘Yikes.’

Erica simply casted a divine barrier around herself(Those things are tough to break).She said she wanted to cast one around me too but Arielle was faster to grab me.

Anyways, we started advancing forward, ignoring the voice constantly telling us to leave. The people with us have no choice but to take care of this now. Whatever undead there might be has to be eliminated so they can take back their city.

**

As we walked, I saw a pale blue light up ahead. Strange, it wasn’t night when we arrived so what is that blue light?

As we got closer and closer, I began to feel the pressure of whatever is in there.

I clutched at my staff’s crystal that’s heavily reacting to this dense energy. I can’t put my finger on why it always reacts to strong outputs of magic power. Back when I used [Lighting Dragon], it did the same thing.

“…eh?”

When we got through the light, I was blinded for a second before opening my eyes again.

‘W-Whoa…’

Further up ahead, two red eyes were glaring at our group. The owner is a young woman with pale white skin and white hair. Her body looks like she has been in a coma for months without proper meals.

The dress she was wearing was pitch black along with her heels. She would be considered beautiful if she didn’t look like someone who has AIDS.

She then began speaking.

“I warned you humans many times since you entered but you never listened. My hunger has been satiated so I was planning on letting you bugs leave anyway.” Her voice sounded childish now that I was actually near her. “You have tested my patience long enough.”

With the flick of her wrist, a scythe appeared in her hands. I squinted my eyes to look at the coffin on the ground next to her throne of bones.

Brynhildr?

Is that her name?

The knights and residents clutched their weapons and gritted their teeth.

“Despite the difference in our abilities , you insects still refuse to back down? Well, I can satiate my hunger for another 10 years before hunting humans again after killing all of you.”

–“Many people have been disappearing at night so others took refuge in my castle.”

The count told us that in the meeting we held.

“Wait, were you the one that was kidnapping people?” I took a step forward. Arielle still stood in front of me.

“Kidnapping? What are you saying, boy? I drank their blood and dumped threw them over the mountain range.”

‘Shit… she really is a vampire.’

Vampires are known to have superhuman strength and agility that surpasses normal humans. I’m not sure if I’m right but they can copy the abilities of the ones whose blood they drink.

Erica sent her buffs throughout the entire unit. Everyone roared with vigour and started attacking the young woman in the black dress.

WHOOSH

“GYAAAH!”

“---!!!”

“AAAAH!”

As she swung her scythe, it left behind a blurry image because of how fast she was attacking.

‘Fuck.’

A few were cut in half when they entered the range of her scythe. She twirled around as if dancing and cut off a head with each of her swings. A few managed to survive longer against her power but were ultimately beheaded.

“We need to stop her before she kills everyone.” Arielle body exuded silver Ki causing her hair to flutter like a burning silver flame. She unsheathed her sword and took a stance in front of me.

“Clyde, cast one your strongest spells to assist once I make an opening for you to blast it at her.”

I nodded and began chanting. I just learned this spell recently so I can’t cast it chantless yet.

[Trishula]–A water trident possessing the pressure of 10000 meters underwater. Undine taught me this a week ago. The spell can be used as a lethal missile weapon with its spiralling tip. It can be used as a melee weapon too but since I’m a mage, that’s a bad idea against that vampire.

The only downside is that this cave has little water spirits so I can only use water spirit magic in small quantities. Since I’m manifesting a powerful weapon like [Trishula], I can only use it once.

“I’ll support.” Nate spoke and started chanting his own spell.

His magic circles were larger than usual since Erica was supporting us from behind.

Speaking of her, she’s the perfect match for an undead like that vampire. The only downside is that she’s buffing everyone up at the moment so she can’t attack the vampire. If she were to use her power to kill the vampire then she’d exhaust herself. That would mean we’d be attacked by monsters from all directions and I’m not sure we can make it out alive.

I heard if mind control is broken forcibly then the affected will lose consciousness. We plan to kill the vampire and achieve that. That would give the knights and mages back at the castle enough time to kill those monsters.

“Clyde. Nate. Now!” Arielle shouted and dashed towards Brynhildr.

The latter swung her scythe when she saw Arielle approach.

However, Arielle was but the distraction while the mages were the main force.

“!?”

With a heavy rumble, countless spells flew in the vampire’s direction. All the fighters fled from her as the spells came soaring through the sky. I threw mine a couple of seconds later.

“Humph!”

The vampire just lifted her slim, white hand with black nail polish and spoke:

“Did you think spells of this calibre could kill me, a true vampire? [Break Magic]!”

‘She seems quite confident in her strength.’

Along with her shout, all the spells instantly disappeared. She smirked mockingly before her face froze.

“I-Impossible!”

My spell was still soaring towards her.

‘Is it because it’s spirit magic?’

“Gyaaaaa!!!!!”

The trident pierced her stomach and a sound similar to something melting came from the wound.

“AAH! What is this–!!!”

Before she could finish speaking, Arielle and Helen both kicked her at the same time.

Boom‐!

She crashed against the cave wall.

The entire cave shook. How powerful were those kicks of theirs?

‘I shouldn’t anger Arielle, ever.’

I sighed in relief since our attack was successful.

“You inferior humans–!”

‘S-She’s still alive!?’

A powerful gust of wind came from her direction. It swept all the smoke away revealing her figure.

Her eyes glowed red and ominous black mana came from her body. Her fangs grew bigger along with her nails.

“I’ll kill you all!”

Her figure then disappeared and then a thud came from my right. I saw a person whose head was sliced right off.

‘Shit!’

I subconsciously stepped back. She was hiding this much power?

“I’ll have to summon all the monsters here to kill you all. Forget about drinking your blood before killing you. I’ll let the monsters eat you alive.”

Her gaze then landed on me.

She must’ve remembered the attack coming from me. A vein popped on her temple.

“....!!!”

With a strong jump from her legs, she flew towards me with her arms crossed.

I was about to activate Lightborn but then a familiar silver haired girl came in front of me. Arielle.

“Out of the way, bug!”

“You’ll have to go through me before you lay your hands on him, undead bitch!”

Clank–

Shiiiing

Arielle skilfully parried her menacing nails from reaching her. She was parrying instead of taking the attacks head-on.

The others could only look at their fight blankly. I could tell it was only because of Erica’s help that Arielle could somehow match the vampire.

THUNK

“UGH!”

But then Brynhildr punched Arielle aside using the black mana as arms.

‘Shit. Using spirit magic on a large scale would break apart this cave.’

In summary, I’m basically useless. My arcane core hasn’t even reached silver stage yet. I’m still in my green mana refining process.

Brynhildr then flew towards me again. Her steps were so powerful that it shook the entire ground.

Just before she reached me, Helen then came to my rescue. Her heels kicked Brynhildr in the face.

I felt like a maiden being saved twice already.

BOOM!

RUMBLE!

CRASH!

The latter’s nail grazed my cheek. A scar opened up.

I clutched it painfully as blood dripped down my cheek. An iron taste spread through my mouth.

A lot of thumping noises came from outside. The monsters are here.

The vampire got up shaking in rage once again. Her face was scrunched up dangerously.

“Huh?” She then exclaimed as she started sniffing something.

“What is this intoxicating aroma?”

She lifted her arm and sniffed her nail. Her eyes widened.

‘Eh? She suddenly stopped attacking?’

She looked at me as she sniffed her nail.

“…Pure blood…”

Her eyes then changed from red to purple. It looked like she was about to move towards me again.

“I think you should stop right here.” A sweet voice came from my side. Erica was standing there with her right arm pointed at Brynhildr. There was a light beam releasing dense energy on her fingertip.

“Erica–“

“Saving you will be more worth my time then saving all these useless fools that can’t even fight against this trash vampire.”

She said so with an emotionless tone. I never knew she could also be this cold. She’s always so youthful and outgoing.

“Cedric…?” Brynhildr said as she licked my blood on her nail.

“Huh?”

Her complexion then changed. Her body that originally looked like a dead person gained vitality. The skin that looked pale turned milky white and healthy.

“What’s going on?”

“Why did she stop attacking?”

The people around us were also confused.

“T-Truce…”

“Truce?”

Brynhildr suddenly spoke.

“Yes. I will let you leave… if…” She pointed her finger at me. “If you stay by my side.”

WHOOSH

The wind was the only sound as silence dawned on us. Even the footsteps of the monsters were gone.

“Eh…?”

Her scythe then vanished into thin air and her black mana decreased in quantity.

“You shall stay by my side as I consume your blood to keep on living. Do you accept? To vampires, a human with pure blood is far too valuable to kill–“

“Are you fucking kidding!? You must be fucked crazy in the head!” Arielle screamed as she got up with one arm dislocated. She then popped it back into place with no hesitation.

‘Does that not hurt?’

Erica’s eyes were also dangerous and they glowed in a golden colour.

“P-Please listen!”

Brynhildr then got flustered.

“F-For vampires we must consume pure blood to stay healthier. The trash blood I’ve been consuming makes it harder to survive. To survive on their blood, I must consume far more!”

“There’s still no way I’m staying here! You already killed so many people! And for what? Blood!?”

Did this vampire grow retarded during her long lifespan?

“T-Then–“ She put her finger on her lip. “Blood Sacrifice.”

“Huh?”

“Give me a portion of your blood then I shall let you leave. You must know that you can’t survive all those monsters outside, right?”

Is it just me, or does she look desperate?

“…”

Silence then loomed again.

“How much?”

“20%”

“Won’t I die!?”

“For someone with your quality of blood, that should be replaced within a day. Plus, I can survive for an eon before needing to consume more. That’s if I don’t hunt.”

–It’s true, master. It’s actually good that she brought this up. I would’ve used anything in my power to help you escape if things went the wrong way. The cave might collapse but that would be solved with the Lady Saintess barrier. Although, casualties above the agreed limit will be lost.

Yeah. We’re trying to avoid more casualties. That’s why using spirit magic is stupid when I don’t even have full control of it yet. There’s not much water so my power would only be limited to collapsing the cave using the water in here. Thus, killing many along with the vampire.

My mana from that time with our fight with the dragon still hasn’t recovered enough to manifest water the same way as before.

Erica’s current barrier would only be able to save 20 people. There’s a chance that even if we succeed then the Count would refuse to give us something as valuable as a teleportation gate pass. There’s about 70 people left now.

“We accept.”

“Clyde!?”

Both Erica and Arielle looked at me.

“If that’s the only way to avoid more casualties then that’s fine.”

I rolled up my sleeve.

Brynhildr smiled in satisfaction.

“Before that. How do I know you won’t just kill the others?”

“Believe it or not. Vampires have pride in their promises to the ones with pure blood. It is said that if we break it then our heart will stop and our soul will collapse. That was the curse of the first Vampire Lord herself.”

‘I wonder what pure blood is.’

Brynhildr fetched a cup from her coffin. It looked oddly cute how she held it with both hands in anticipation.

“Mmm~”

Her fangs dug into my skin and she began draining my blood. I felt a sensation similar to something flowing out of me and pure ecstasy enveloped my body even though I’m being sucked by a vampire. Very familiar feeling.(XD)

After a few seconds of greedily drinking, she let the blood from the wound fall into the cup.

Drip–Drip–Drip

She smiled in satisfaction when the cup was full. I felt a bit drowsy when I rolled my sleeves back.

“You may go…”

She waved her hands and then the wave of monsters that was by the cave entrance instantly made a path to walk through.

“I will keep my promise and send those monsters away from the city.”

I sighed in relief. It might not have been perfect but we managed to succeed.

Brynhildr’s eyes were on me the entire time as we exited the entrance. She kept mouthing something every time I glanced back.

–Cedric….

That was the name she kept saying. Who is that?