Chapter 74

Before the dust raised by the greatsword magic could even settle.
With thunderous shouts, the Fourth Battalion entered the battlefield.

The cavalrymen on white horses began sweeping away the remaining monsters,
and Serpens stood there, blankly watching the sight.

“Is it over……?”

Relief drained the strength from him.
Serpens sank down to the ground and looked around.

The Fourth Battalion.
With their arrival, victory was firmly within grasp.
The Death Knight, which had been an obstacle…… no, a massive wall, had been subjugated,
and the undead that had lost their leader could be dealt with easily.

Serpens looked up at the sky.
A black silhouette floating high above.
The person presumed to be the Knight Commander of the Fourth Battalion was slowly descending to the ground.

A long-haired man dressed in dazzling white clothes.
His blond hair, holding light, flowed down over his shoulders,
and his blue eyes, resembling the clear sky, were hidden beneath half-closed eyelids.
With his thin build and a face that looked either irritated or tired, he seemed like someone extremely sensitive.

In front of him, a massive book was spread open in the air,
and it was so thick that one had to wonder whether it was even meant to be read to the end.

A moment later, once his feet touched the ground, he greeted Lionel with a nod of his head.

“It has been a while, Mister Lionel.”
“……It has been a while, Lucius.”
“I apologize for arriving late. I had to exterminate some bugs I encountered on the way.”
“Bugs?”
“I mean the monsters that left the battlefield.”

Lionel’s eyes narrowed.

“We didn’t let any monsters break away.”
“I imagine it would look that way from your side.”

Lucius pointed beneath his feet with his white fingertips.

“To begin with, undead are monsters that come out from underground, are they not? If the land is contaminated, they can come out from anywhere.”
“On the fortress side, there was no rotting smell or sogginess unique to contaminated land.”
“Just because the outside is fine does not mean the inside has to be fine too, does it?”
“…….”
“Well, in the end, the Death Knight was subjugated, so is that not enough?”

Lucius closed the book in front of him.
Then the light held in his blond hair disappeared.

“It seems Lord Lucas is fighting not too far from here, but…….”
“He will finish soon.”
“It does look like that will be the case.”

Lucius yawned widely.
He looked around with eyes that seemed bored.

“Mister Lionel. Who is that kid?”

Lionel looked at Serpens.
In this situation, there was only one person who could be described as a kid.
He was an admirable little fellow who had done his share in this battle.
If one left out the foolish mistake of charging at the Death Knight, that was.

For his age, the boy had excellent experience and skill.
He felt quite different from the polished geniuses who came out of the Academy.
And to be at the threshold of Expert level at thirteen.
No matter how much his master was Lucas, it was astonishing.

“The Commander’s disciple.”
“Commander? Ah, you mean Lord Lucas.”

Lucius’s eyebrow twitched faintly.

“Come to think of it, that sword……. It was probably the sword His Majesty bestowed upon Lord Lucas.”
“……That is right.”

Both of them looked at the sword Serpens was holding.
The dark blade and the hilt that had once been pure white were covered in monster blood,
and it seemed to have performed its role as a sword very well.

‘The hilt will need to be changed.’

Lionel frowned.
To wrap a sword hilt in white cloth.
It was obvious it would get dirty even if a blister burst during training.
It wouldn’t matter if the owner were someone who didn’t care about such things.
But from the position of someone who cared a great deal about such things, it was uncomfortable to look at.

“Lionel!”

Serpens quickly ran over.
Had something occurred to him?

“Where’s Lucas?”

The boy who approached the two asked while panting.

“The Commander is still fighting over there.”
“Shouldn’t we help him?”
“Well. The Commander isn’t someone who needs help.”
“That…… is true.”

Serpens nodded and shrugged.

“Well, Lucas should be fine.”

Lionel chuckled without realizing it.

“You may be the only person who worries about your master.”
“……I’m not worried. Who would worry about someone like him?”

Tap.

Serpens looked at the rough hand placed on his shoulder.

“It’s all right to worry. There should be at least one person who worries about the Commander.”

On a field not too far from Serpens’s battlefield, a red mist lay thickly.

The mist, filled with the smell of blood, caused headaches,
and because of that, irritation had settled over Berisa’s face.

Lucas slowly rested his greatsword on his shoulder.
The hem of his robe fluttered in the wind.
As always, his expression held no emotion.

“Vampires that do not fear the sun…….”

Berisa muttered and raised her spear.

It had been only twenty minutes since the heads of the three vampires they first encountered fell to the ground.
The ones that had flashed their red eyes were dealt with easily by Lucas.

Lucas had drawn a wide circle with his greatsword and cut the first one’s torso in two at once.
The remaining two crossed paths and aimed for Lucas’s neck from both sides,
but he slightly twisted his waist to dodge, cut one of their legs to knock it down,
then turned the tip of his sword and pierced its heart.

All three became red smoke and lost their forms.
However, all of them soon regained their forms.

That was exactly why vampires were troublesome.
Fast recovery and minds capable of rational judgment.
And the fact that they would not die until their magic power ran out.

The method for killing such monsters was very simple.
You only had to keep killing them until their magic power ran out.

Before long, panic began to color the vampires’ arrogant speech,
and at the end of that panic, they tried to run away.

But Lucas did not allow them to escape.

Only three corpses remained on the grass.
Lucas flicked the blood from his sword once, then rested it on his shoulder again.

“It is over.”

The words were spoken simply.
Berisa stared blankly at him for a moment, then quietly steadied her breath and followed.

The encounter with the second group of enemies ended even faster than the first battle.
The pattern was the same this time as well.

The monsters were arrogant, and they had to pay the price with their lives.

When two of them rushed in at the same time like mist, Lucas raised his sword as if he had been waiting.
The one that looked strong, the one called Vladi-something, charged in first,
and Lucas raised his blade at the proper timing and thrust up into its chin.
He smashed it into the ground, cut off its neck, and pushed it away with his foot.

The remaining one seemed flustered and tried to retreat,
but when Lucas twisted his waist and swung his sword sideways, its chest split open and it collapsed onto the grass.

In that way, the one-sided exchange continued.

“We move.”

With Lucas’s unwavering voice as the last note, the second battle ended as well.

And finally, the last.
Beneath the sky that had slowly begun to take on a red hue, he faced the Vampire Lord.
A fluttering long black cloak.
Beside him, two subordinates stood with a chilling air.

“Ah……. You have finally arrived.”

His voice clearly carried arrogance and scorn.

“You killed my children quite well.”

He smoothed down his cloak with his fingertips and looked down at the two of them.

“Especially you.”

His red eyes flashed toward Lucas.

“It seems you are somewhat special.”

Lucas answered by raising his sword.
With an expressionless face like the passing wind, he took one step forward.

The Vampire Lord sneered.
At the same time, red mist began to gush from his body.

A thick smell of blood that caused headaches.
As the mist blocked her vision, Berisa raised her spear and took a guarded stance.

“Berisa, take the two small fries. The way to kill them is exactly as I showed you.”
“Yes, Commander!”

At that moment, two vampires pierced through the mist and threw themselves toward Berisa.
Berisa took one step forward to meet them.

Kakang!

Berisa blocked the two subordinates charging in at the same time,
then cut one’s leg with the tip of her spear and knocked it down.

The other aimed for the back of Berisa’s neck from behind,
but Berisa twisted her body, stabbed its arm, then twisted the spear and pierced its side.

The vampire immediately finished recovering, making the exchange meaningless.
Berisa held her breath, charged again, and stabbed straight through its chest, knocking it down.

“Let’s do this!”

Within the red mist,
blue Aura began to rise.

Meanwhile, the battle between Lucas and the Vampire Lord began.
The vampire laughed and hid himself in the shadows, then appeared by splitting the ground and struck down at Lucas’s face.
However, Lucas slightly twisted his body and blocked it with his sword.

The vampire disappeared into smoke, then appeared in the air, spreading his wings.
When the winged monster descended on red lightning, sparks flew from the blade that struck back.

Kagang―!

A collision erupted, and the ground was gouged out.
The vampire hid himself again.

Tsupat-

When the monster burst out of Lucas’s shadow and reached out,
Lucas’s robe tore with the sound of leather ripping.

The monster increased his speed and pressed Lucas.
A frontal collision. A chain of attacks followed.
When distance opened, red fragments poured down from the sky,
and when it became close combat, the vampire aimed for Lucas’s back and raked down with his claws.

The time spent exchanging attack and defense grew longer.
Within that lengthening time, the level of the exchange rose, and the speed grew faster.

The two beings changed positions several times and cut each other.
In the process, the Vampire Lord lost his arms a few times,
while Lucas only suffered a small wound on his arm.

Unease slowly began to mix into the monster’s eyes.
Why was he not tiring?
Why were his attacks not reaching?
Why…… did he feel that he could not win?

It was bewildering.
One day, he had realized that he no longer felt pain beneath the sun.
He had not wondered exactly when it began or why.
Because joy at no longer needing to avoid the sun came before such thoughts.

He persuaded the Death Knight and invaded the humans’ territory together with the undead.
It was a fairly perfect plan.
Since he no longer had to fear the sun, there was nothing to be afraid of,
and with the undead by his side, he could prepare for unexpected situations as well.

And yet…… what was this human?

The speed of the greatsword the human swung grew faster without end.
How could he swing a greatsword of that size so quickly?
He kept losing sight of the movement of the man’s arms, and afterimages of the sword came at him in dozens of layers.

Even using magic, even strengthening his body, he could not block every attack.
And when he tried to counterattack-

Clang!

It was blocked easily.

Was there another human like this besides ‘that one’?
But according to his information, that Sword Master bastard had left the humans several years ago.
Thinking of that human who had slaughtered monsters made fear writhe together with anger.

Killing intent that tightened around his breath.
A greatsword swung without mercy.
Skill no one would dare approach, and confidence born from it.
As he recalled that human who stood at the vanguard and moved more cautiously and boldly than anyone-

“Wait, you!”

The moment Lucas took one more step forward, the Vampire Lord’s lower body was torn apart.
The Lord immediately recovered and flew into the air,
but Lucas leaped and chased him right before his nose.

The figure of one human was reflected in the monster’s eyes.

Gray eyes that had lost their fighting spirit held quiet killing intent,
and the massive greatsword he swung moved solely for killing.
Skill he had no choice but to acknowledge.
Among humans, he had only seen such cautious yet bold movement once before.

“Lucas Liberator! So it was you!”

In that instant, the Vampire Lord’s eyes turned red.
He slowly lowered his gaze.

Putsutsut-

His body, now missing its head, was pouring out black blood.
Naturally, he tried to restore the wound,
but only then did he realize that his magic power had run out.

“Ha……. You uncivilized human…… bastards-!”

The Vampire Lord’s head floated in the air.
When the bloodied head fell to the ground, the red mist slowly disappeared.

Lucas silently shook the blood from his sword and slung it onto his back.

“Good work, Commander.”

Berisa, who had finished her own part and been waiting for Lucas, smiled.
Fine scratches had been added all over her silver armor.

“……Let us return.”