Night of the Oath (1)
"Looks like we've got other guests."
I muttered as I surveyed the crowd gathered in the plaza before the royal palace. I'd assumed it would just be the soldiers and knights of the Abilia Kingdom massed together, but that wasn't the case.
Scattered among them were people in distinctive attire, each radiating a presence that set them apart. Their numbers looked to be only a few hundred, yet they projected auras more powerful than anyone else assembled in the square.
"Holy knights and shamans, huh."
Judging by their garb, they appeared to be holy knights from the Holy Empire of Serion and shamans from the monastic nation of Tenma.
"Smart move."
Whether the Abilia Kingdom had formally requested reinforcements or Hero Varius had summoned them on his own, bringing them in against me was a sound choice. Both Serion's holy knights, who wielded sacred magic, and Tenma's shamans, who specialized in exorcism, had excellent matchups against the undead.
In a war between humans it might not matter, but against a necromancer who summoned demons and undead, the classes of "holy knight" and "shaman" enjoyed relatively high win rates. In particular, the woman in black saintess robes and the brown-haired boy leading their respective forces seemed well accustomed to this kind of fight, holding their positions with casual composure — as if a necromancer was something they could crush without breaking a sweat.
"…You should've brought a hundred times more."
But I only snorted at the sight of them. The notion that holy knights and shamans held an advantage over necromancers only applied to player-versus-player matchups between opponents of comparable level.
As the number-one ranked necromancer, Elzerva held an overwhelming edge even against other top-tier players. A few hundred holy knights and shamans led by mere NPCs wouldn't amount to anything.
"Elzerva! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
…The overall commander of what looked like roughly eighty thousand troops, the Hero, Belia Varius, bellowed at me. Whether he'd used amplification magic or not, his voice carried with perfect clarity despite the distance between us.
"Not content with assassinating the princess, you murdered the knights sent to arrest you as well! This is a high crime equivalent to first-degree conspiracy of rebellion!"
"Oh, please."
It was absurd. How could he stand there shouting so brazenly before so many people without a shred of guilt? I couldn't begin to understand his psychology.
"…And so I, Belia Varius, in the name of the Hero who protects the Abilia Kingdom, hereby declare the subjugation of the vampire Elzerva!"
"…"
A clear declaration of war. The Hero — the Abilia Kingdom — had crossed a river from which there was no return. The peace they'd barely won at the end of the war against the demonkin, they were now determined to shatter with their own hands.
"…If that's what you want, I'll oblige."
I had no intention of running or surrendering. When someone picked a fight, I simply answered it. I settled into a stance and prepared for the battle about to unfold.
"W-Wait!"
"…?!"
"That's…"
At that hair-trigger moment, someone stepped between me and the Abilia army with nothing but her own small frame. Fully armed with bow and blade, she cried out to Varius in a voice thick with sincerity.
"Stop, Varius! This isn't the answer! There has to be a more peaceful way! We at least need to hear Elzerva out!"
"Lilianel…"
The one passionately defending me before the humans was none other than my friend, the elf Lilianel Greenfield. Desperate to prevent a battle at any cost, she poured out her plea with tears in her eyes.
"It's been less than a year since the war with the demonkin ended! And now you're dragging in Serion and Tenma to 'subjugate' Elzerva, who was our comrade? Something about this is wrong! We need to find another way!"
"Lilianel, do you dare take that vampire's side?!"
"I'm not taking sides! I just want to stop meaningless sacrifice— Kyaah!"
Hearing Lilianel's words, Hero Varius launched a fireball at her feet. The scorching sphere of flame struck the ground and exploded, and the shock sent Lilianel tumbling toward me.
Having attacked his own companion, Varius glared at Lilianel with a terrifying look and shouted,
"If you continue to side with the vampire, I'll consider you an enemy as well."
"Varius…"
Faced with a Hero who would cast even her aside as an enemy without hesitation, Lilianel — who valued friendship above all else — wore an expression of pure shock.
"Haa…"
I sighed at this appalling spectacle and approached the fallen Lilianel, helping her to her feet.
"Get up."
"Elzerva!"
"Stay back."
"B-But…!"
"It's over. Give up on reconciliation or negotiation."
"How can you say that…"
"Go back and stay out of the way."
"No, I'll fight too…!"
"I said stay back!"
"…Okay."
A clash with the humans could no longer be avoided. Lilianel's efforts had been admirable, but there was nothing she alone could change. I forced her to the rear, if only to protect her from the battle about to erupt.
…After all, once the Hero himself had branded her, I was the only one who would look out for her in the chaos to come.
"Intelligence score: zero, as expected."
I sighed once more. That had been their true last chance, and they'd kicked it away, drunk on the idiotic certainty that they could beat me. I raised my voice toward the human coalition of Abilia's knights, Serion's saintess and holy knights, and Tenma's shamans.
"…All of you! First of all — I did not kill the princess."
"What? We have evidence, and you have the gall to say that?!"
"Silence, cunning vampire!"
…I'd spoken only a single sentence, and fierce denunciations erupted from every direction. It soured my mood a little, but I ignored their reactions for now and pressed on with what I had to say.
"What if the evidence was fabricated? I was fully prepared to submit to a thorough investigation and cooperate — assuming, of course, that it would be a peaceful process."
"Shut up! All that remains is blood and the mace!"
"We will pass judgment on you!"
"…But when you come at me like this, it puts me in a really foul mood, you know?"
I smiled. My patience is not infinite. I'm just an ordinary human who got isekai'd into a game — not a hero, not a god, and certainly not a good guy.
"You don't actually think that just because I'm nice, I won't kill you no matter how angry I get… do you?"
A vast black magic circle unfurled beneath my feet. From the circle, a sickeningly grim aura began to seep forth.
"A m-magic circle?"
"Impossible — a magic circle of this size?"
Seeing the formula I'd begun to deploy, the enemy couldn't hide their panic. I twisted my face in irritation and spoke to them.
"…If you're going to piss someone off, you'd better be ready for the consequences. You zero-point pieces of trash."
…Then the magic circle spread across the plaza floor expanded even further, and an enormous explosion of mana erupted.
Intermediate Skill: Summon Bone Fiends
"Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!"
From the black light of the formula I'd deployed, a skeleton legion beyond counting began to surge up from the ground.
"…Shall we, Tina?"
"Yes. Everything is for Master."
And the named summons Tina and Alfred moved with practiced ease to the vanguard of the skeletal forces, ready to lead them.
"E-Enemies have been summoned! All units, prepare for combat!"
"They're nothing but skeletons! Don't be afraid!"
"Hmph."
The enemy moved in crisp formation, bracing to meet the skeleton legion. They seemed to regard my skeletons as no better than low-grade monsters you'd find in the wild — a grave miscalculation.
The level of a necromancer's summoned skeletons scaled in proportion to the summoner's own level, growing stronger accordingly. So while they might look unimpressive at a glance, every last one of these skeletons already possessed power exceeding that of an A-rank monster.
But of course, they had no way of knowing that. In war, a lack of intelligence is as good as defeat — a mistake entirely of their own making, for coming here without the slightest preparation.
"This can't be…"
The scene unfolding before Hero Varius's eyes was nothing short of a massacre — one side unilaterally trampling and slaughtering the other in a display of pure brutality. And the greater shock was that his own forces were the ones being massacred. That the kingdom's finest knights and capital guards were being cut down by mere skeletons… Varius could scarcely believe his own eyes.
"Their bones are too hard!"
"Why the hell do skeletons have masterwork swords?!"
His soldiers were being swept away by Elzerva's fiends, who fought with power far beyond ordinary skeletons. He had already expected Elzerva herself to be strong. But he had never imagined that the piles of bones she summoned would overwhelm even his knights.
"Whoa, those things are strong!"
"Skeletons that can overpower trained knights… I've never seen anything like it."
Still holding their positions, Serion's saintess Marina Bergard and Tenma's shaman Jax watched the spectacle with open curiosity.
"…I think it's about time you two stepped in."
Varius demanded that Marina and Jax commit their holy knights and shamans to the fight. He had a hidden trump card of his own, but its chances of success were far from high. The only way to turn the situation around now was to throw stronger forces into the fray.
"Hmm, alright! Shall we get started?"
"…We shall assist."
Accepting Varius's request, they gripped their weapons and prepared to leap into the enemy ranks. But a single, tremendous roar froze every footstep in place.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
…A monstrous creature burst through the ceiling of the royal palace and soared into the sky. Its form resembled a dragon, yet its entire body was composed of nothing but bone, with eyes and a heart that burned a vivid red.
"Th-That is…"
A dragon that looked as though it had been turned undead. At the sight of this creature he had never seen before, Varius felt it instinctively.
That dragon was strong. An overwhelming aura poured off it. It might even surpass an ordinary dragon.
"Elzerva…"
Varius twisted his face and glared at the vampire Elzerva, who stood at the heart of the skeleton legion, summoning things beyond imagination.
"…If you're going to start a fight, you'd better take responsibility."
She was simply smiling, her crimson eyes aglow.
"Damn that bitch…"
Cold sweat ran down the forehead of Varius as he forced a smile onto his face.