A Wolf King in the Dark
I had sensed it from the instant I awoke in this new body—this alien vampire flesh.
A vampire’s physical abilities were different from a human’s in every conceivable way.
Strength and speed were only the beginning; even at the level of primal senses such as smell and hearing, the two could not be compared.
Setting aside the fascinating ability to absorb a victim’s power through blood, there was more.
I could catch the footfalls of a wolf kicking up earth long before it emerged into view, and even track its path with my eyes.
Fwoosh!
A shadow split the forest’s darkness and came racing toward us like a white comet, then came to an abrupt halt right in front of us.
Grrr...
"Y-You...!"
Carbin, standing beside me, cried out in alarm.
The boy instinctively dropped into a fighting stance, but the massive wolf with pure white fur did not even spare him a glance.
Its yellow eyes were fixed solely on me.
And I, too, found myself interested in the beast.
A monster that had crossed a distance that would have taken an ordinary knight half a day in the blink of an eye. Even the air around it seemed to sink under the weight of its presence with every breath it exhaled.
My instincts were warning me faintly: this was not the same sort of creature as the trash I had dealt with a moment ago.
At the same time, the corners of my mouth rose before I even noticed it.
The quality of the blood is... good.
Though there wasn’t a single wound on its body, the scent radiating from its very existence was enough to tease my nose.
It was on the same level as the old elder whose blood had served as the sacrifice that woke me—perhaps even above it. Dense, intoxicating, and rich with the fragrance of noble life.
...For my first thought to be something like that. I’m insane.
Just as revulsion rose in me at the realization that I was measuring life by the grade of its blood, the white wolf opened its mouth in a low, muffled voice.
"So it was true."
"And what would that be?"
"Crimson eyes, silver hair that bears the mark of the progenitor’s bloodline. No—then again, I can’t entirely rule out the possibility that you really are that vampire lord from legend."
It bared its fangs and growled menacingly. I gave neither confirmation nor denial.
Silence was sometimes heavier than any affirmation. Perhaps the beast took my silence for agreement, because it snorted in disdain.
"And yet, contrary to the rumors, you’re pitifully underwhelming. It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for those bat-creatures who revere a pretty-boy freak like you as their ancestor."
"You bastard!!"
Carbin snapped first at the ridiculous provocation.
But Penrix continued to look at him as though he were a bug, his gaze fixed only on me.
"I am Penrix, King of the Wolves."
"So what?"
"The name of the one who will send you into eternal sleep. Remember it well—into that tiny skull of yours, which will soon be inside my stomach."
Fwoosh!
The moment he finished speaking, Penrix’s enormous body kicked off the ground and launched itself upward. Naturally, I assumed he was coming for me. But that wasn’t the case.
The boy he had been ignoring until now, the one treated as if he were invisible, was the target. He had bared his fangs at that fragile boy.
How very sly, for a wolf pup.
Even if Carbin was a vampire, aside from his monstrous strength he seemed no different from an ordinary boy. There was no way he could react to Penrix’s speed.
Whoosh—!
The giant maw opened wide, aiming straight for Carbin’s neck.
One bite from those teeth, and the boy’s neck would shatter like tofu.
To act all fierce and strong, then go after the weak first—what a cowardly trick.
I don’t like it.
Thunk!
"Kyaah!!"
"Grrr...?"
Just before Penrix’s fangs reached Carbin’s throat, I seized the wolf by the muzzle.
My thin, pale hand clamped around the jaws of the massive beast, and the predator that had been suspended in midair froze where it was, as though turned to stone.
It had been close.
The fangs slick with drool were inches from grazing Carbin’s nose.
"You’d better close that tasteless mouth."
At my cold words, the wolf’s bright yellow eyes shook with shock for a fleeting instant.
Then, with a heavy boom, I put strength into my arm and slammed Penrix’s enormous body straight into the ground. The earth rumbled as the huge mass was thrown down, and a cloud of dust burst into the air.
Hm.
Even through the dust, his movement was clear to me.
The instant he was hurled away, he twisted in midair and landed on his back feet, absorbing the impact.
Whether it was beast instinct or the experience forged through countless fights, he immediately rose and took a counter stance.
So the monsters in this place really are on another level.
Who would have thought I’d find something to learn from a mere mutt? While I was briefly lost in thought, I reached toward Penrix and snapped my fingers lightly.
The technique that the thing sleeping inside me had once used. I recalled the sensation of flinging droplets of blood like magic bullets.
Tap.
...No good.
As expected, a clumsy imitation wouldn’t cut it.
I had definitely been the one to use that technique, but it had been at a time when I did not hold the reins of this body.
Still... I think I understand something.
And yet it wasn’t as though I’d gained nothing at all.
When I pictured a bead of blood forming at my fingertip and shooting forward, I could feel the blood in my veins stir faintly.
This sensation. This flow of power. If I only dug a little deeper into this tangled knot of abilities, I felt as though I could seize hold of something.
If I could control this freely, then even back in that moment of betrayal...
KRRROOOOAAAR!
The roar that dragged my attention back was enormous.
The ground shook, and leaves rained down like water.
Carbin, overwhelmed by instinctive terror, clamped both hands over his ears and collapsed onto the ground.
I supposed that was a bit too weak a reaction, but the sound really was deafening.
"You bastard!! Don’t look away!"
Baring his fangs, Penrix leapt at me this time.
He worked his forelegs and hind legs with a cunning stagger in their timing as he charged in. It was clearly meant to be his decisive attack, but to my eyes it was nothing more than a beast’s petty trick.
And an especially obnoxious four-legged one at that.
Even if I was trapped in this grotesque body for the moment, I was still a knight.
And as such, I had no intention of showing mercy to a beast that used such cowardly methods to target the weak first.
Crash—!
"Yip—!"
As Penrix came barreling straight at me, I hurled myself forward as well.
I seized the foreleg that crossed in at an angle with both hands, then used the force of his charge against him and threw him over my shoulder, driving him down with even more strength than before.
Bang!
Once again, a great cloud of dust burst up from the ground.
With Penrix smashed into the earth, a whimpering cry burst from his mouth like the yelp of a dog.
Thump. Thump.
As I watched the white wolf roll on the ground, my heart began pounding once more. But this was different from the unpleasant throbbing I had felt when I’d lost control of my body a moment ago. This sensation now...
I want to eat him.
Thirst. Hunger. A primal desire to drain every last drop of that beast’s blood.
If such a sweet scent could rise from a body without even a scratch on it, then what sort of pleasure would I feel if I actually tasted that blood?
Flinch.
I was horrified to realize I was unconsciously smacking my lips as I looked at the wolf.
What had I just been thinking?
Self-disgust, along with a cold unease that crept up my spine.
If craving the blood of the strong was a vampire’s instinct, then perhaps there was nothing to be done.
But...
If this thirst wasn’t limited to the strong.
If I felt this same desire when I met Silvia...
Grrrrr...
Penrix’s howl as he struggled back to his feet cut off that line of thought before it could go any further.
Despite being thrown to the ground twice, the fire in his eyes was still fierce and unbroken.
For now, focus on the fight.
Shaking my head to clear away the ominous thoughts, I reflexively reached for my waist.
But there was nothing there.
"...I’ll need a sword."
Whenever my mind became tangled, I always drew my blade. The cool feel of steel was the only thing that ever calmed me.
But right now, I had no sword.
KRRROOOOAAAR!
As Penrix’s roar struck me head-on, my brow furrowed of its own accord.
I hated this situation. I hated everything about it.
*
"Anything to report?"
"Sir! There are no monsters approaching from this side!"
"Maintain strict vigilance! The howling coming from the mountains is anything but normal!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldier stomped his foot and answered briskly at his superior’s barked order.
In the deep hours before dawn, while everyone else slept, the joint army garrison guarding the northern border of the continent had been thrown into an emergency state.
The cause was the intermittent wolf howls echoing from deep within the mountains since a little while ago.
The Kron Mountains, crawling with unknown monsters and therefore called the Demon Realm. Wolf howling had become more frequent lately, but tonight was on an entirely different level.
A roar that seemed to make the whole mountain range tremble.
It had clearly been a wolf’s cry, yet it possessed the overwhelming force of some mythical beast from legend giving voice to its death throes.
Captain of the Guard Hans already suspected who the owner of that roar was.
The King of the Wolves.
A creature so massive its body towered over the far side of a tree, with brilliantly gleaming white fur.
There was also a rumor now spreading rapidly among the joint forces: that a giant white wolf lived in the mountains, and that this wolf ruled over all wolves.
Hans had only learned of the beast not long ago himself.
After the commander of the Bernice Empire’s knights had fallen in the north a short while earlier, he had seen it with his own eyes during a reinforced patrol mission.
He had gone farther along a route he normally never took, and that was where he found it.
A white wolf whose mere gaze sent a crushing weight down over the whole body.
The moment Hans laid eyes on it, he thought he was definitely dead. If the beast had not, for whatever reason, backed down so readily that day, who knew what might have happened?
"I just hope nothing’s happened."
Standing alone atop the wall, Hans muttered to himself and stared into the dark mountain range. What on earth could have made that monster so enraged? Whatever unfortunate beast had offended it tonight would be lucky to leave with its bones intact.
Unless some dragon from legend shows up, there’s no creature in those mountains that could possibly beat that thing...
Even he couldn’t help letting out a snort at the absurdity of the thought.
Fortunately, after the last roar faded, the mountains had remained quiet for a while. The beast’s anger, presumably, had finally subsided.
Hans swallowed dryly as he imagined the poor victim who had been torn apart by the Wolf King.
But he could never have known.
"Kiiiiiing..."
That very Wolf King who had thrown the entire joint army into fear since dawn was, at this very moment, being put through the wringer.