Night of the Oath (2)
Night of the Oath — (2)
01.
"Ugh!!"
"Th-the shaman!"
Marina Bergard, the Saintess of Serion, cried out as she watched a young shaman of Tenma go flying from the sword stroke of a massive skeletal soldier.
— Uwooooooo….
"Kh!"
But she was in no position to worry about anyone else. She herself was hard-pressed just defending against the attacks swinging in from every direction.
"Damn it!"
She swung her enormous hammer with all her strength and crushed the skeletons that had been getting on her nerves.
She was a Saintess who served the Goddess of Earth and Heaven, Astira; an angel; and the Grand Master of Serion's Holy Knights. Being forced onto the defensive by low-grade undead like these was a humiliation in itself. She absolutely could not lose.
— Uwooooooo….
But the skeletons she had smashed to pieces soon recovered their original forms and rose again from where they had fallen.
"These tiresome things…."
At this rate there would be no end to it.
Undead that kept being summoned without cease, and allies whose numbers were limited. The longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became for them. If the situation continued, they would be annihilated before long.
"Hey, Saintess! Don't you have some kind of plan?"
The Hero, Belia Varius, asked her while fencing with a skeleton.
"A plan…."
In truth, there was only one way to wipe out this countless horde of undead.
…Eliminate the summoner who was calling them forth.
The undead moved by drawing mana from their summoner. If they could subdue that summoner—the vampire called Elzerva—everything would be resolved in a single stroke.
— Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
"A dragon…."
But in the sky an undead dragon of incalculable strength was breathing fire and roasting them, while on the ground the skeletons tightened their encirclement.
Even if they managed to approach the vampire, Marina had no confidence they could defeat a woman who casually summoned A-rank-class monsters.
"Damn it."
Marina Bergard frowned as she looked down at the silver necklace hanging around her neck.
If she could induce even five seconds of carelessness from the vampire, she could use this Necklace of Binding—charged with the power of the Goddess Astira—to seal her.
But far from inducing that fleeting moment of carelessness, she could barely even get close to the vampire. Frustration burned in the Saintess's chest.
"…So five seconds is all you need?"
"…What?"
After hearing the Saintess's explanation, Belia Varius spoke to her. The blue-eyed Hero wore a smile so steeped in malice that it was hard to believe he was a hero at all.
"If we just make Elzerva drop her guard for five seconds, we win. Is that it?"
"Y-yes. That should do it. Probably…."
The Saintess nodded at the Hero's question.
The necklace she had brought from the heavenly realm was a sacred relic forged by the Goddess Astira herself. No matter how far outside the norms that vampire might be, breaking a seal imbued with the Goddess's power would not be easy.
Using the one and only sacred relic of its kind in the world was a little regrettable, but to seal that unprecedented vampire there was no other choice.
No—rather, this necklace existed precisely for moments like this.
"Good. In exchange, I need about five minutes. In the meantime, take the others and draw as much attention as you can so Elzerva can't focus on me."
"Draw attention…?"
"Yeah. First I have to punch through those bones. There's someone I need to make contact with."
"…."
At the end of the Hero's gaze as he laid out his plan stood a green-haired elf at the very rear of the skeletal legion.
02.
Immortal Dragon Kelatus.
Along with Tina and Alfred, he was one of the named undead I could summon. Summoning the strongest among my death spirits was treated as a necromancer's ultimate technique, and the effect it delivered was every bit as decisive as that reputation suggested.
— Kraaaaaaaaaah!!
Kelatus beat wings that still had scraps of flesh clinging to them and swept through the enemy. They loosed arrows and flung magic in resistance, but their attacks could not even scratch the Immortal Dragon's steel-hard bones.
— R-run!
— It's a breath attack! Everyone down!
— Kyaaaaah!!
"…."
Unlike their initial momentum, the Hero's army was collapsing. From the sky came the Immortal Dragon's breath; on the ground, skeletons that revived endlessly no matter how many times they were killed.
Their numbers, which had looked close to a hundred thousand, had already dwindled to less than half that.
— Hah, hah, y-you monster….
— How the hell is that a vampire….
"…."
…And before me, the Saintess of Serion and a young shaman of Tenma stood swaying, their entire bodies caked in blood.
Thinking that eliminating me—the source of the summons—would solve everything, they had thrown every remaining soldier they had into breaking through one side of the skeleton line, and they had succeeded.
But that was all.
"Get lost, human."
"Such discourtesy toward my lady."
Half the force they had led was cut down in an instant by Tina and Alfred.
— Ugh….
— What kind of undead….
Faced with my death spirits whose red eyes blazed, the holy knights and shamans could not take a single step forward.
— Die!
— Here I come!
"…."
Curious about their skill, I personally took on the ones who looked like captains, but the result was disappointing. Their ability was on par with low-ranking players, or slightly below—despairingly weak.
"Hah."
— Kh!!
— Uwaaaaah!!
Not even a skill—just a single basic attack loosed with a sigh, and they were swept away like dry leaves. I had hoped for hidden-boss-level strength, but in the end they were nothing more than ordinary NPCs.
"I'll give it five points. Boring. Let's finish this."
I had enjoyed everything there was to enjoy, so I prepared the finishing blow. A mid-tier skill should be enough to carve through all of them.
"Blood Over Blade."
A dark-crimson aura began to gather in my hand. A few of them tried to flee, but their escape route was already blocked by a skeleton legion led by Tina and Alfred.
Torn apart by undead or butchered by my skill—two choices with the same result.
— Th-the way out is blocked.
— Wh-what do we do!
— Damn it….
In front of her trembling subordinates, only the Saintess of Serion glared fiercely at me while gripping a hammer broken in half. But even she had nothing left she could do.
I finished preparing the finishing attack.
"Elzervaaaaa!!"
"…?"
…That was when someone's roar calling my name reached me.
"Elzerva! Look over here!"
"Hic, sob, Elzerva, I'm sorry…."
"Lilianel…?"
From the direction of the voice, the Hero Belia Varius was walking toward me with my only companion—the elf Lilianel—held as a hostage.
"I-I got ambushed all of a sudden…. I-I'm sorry…."
Lilianel's body, approaching me with both hands bound, was already covered in blood as if she had just fought a hard battle.
"Damn it…."
I had deliberately left Lilianel at the very rear to prevent exactly this, yet he had still managed to take her hostage. An unexpected disaster.
At some point the Hero had vanished from sight, and I had assumed the skeletons had killed him and paid it no further mind. That had been a mistake.
"So, Elzerva, what are you going to do now?"
"Ah, that hurts…!"
Wearing a cunning smile, the Hero strode closer and called out confidently. He pressed a dagger to Lilianel's throat and applied a little pressure; red droplets of blood began to trickle down her neck.
"Your precious friend who believed in you no matter the situation has been taken hostage. You're not just going to abandon her, are you?"
"…."
At his words I furrowed my brow.
…A hostage drama so cliché I had only ever seen it in dramas.
When I watched them on screen I never understood why the characters panicked so much. Experiencing it myself, I finally understood.
Even with the number-one necromancer's abilities, there was nothing I could do. No matter how I calculated it, before any basic attack or skill of mine could reach the Hero, Lilianel's throat would inevitably be cut.
"E-Elzerva, s-save me! I don't want to die! I don't want to diiiiie!!"
To make matters worse, Lilianel seemed to have fallen into a panic; her face went deathly pale and she began screaming toward me. Her breathing grew ragged as if she were having a full panic attack.
"Zero points…."
I gave a bitter smile.
Abandoning the hostage was not an option—Lilianel was far too important to me.
The first friend I had made after possessing Elzerva.
The only friend who had stood by me when everyone else turned their backs.
The only friend who shared memories of the late princess Sophie.
…Rescuing her came first.
"What do you want."
I asked the Hero with a sigh. He beamed and answered in an excited voice.
"First, get rid of your undead."
"…."
So he wanted to eliminate the skeletons—the biggest threat—before anything else.
"…Understood."
I nodded at his demand.
"Master…."
"It's all right, Tina."
My death spirit, the Zombie Maid Tina, looked at me with worried eyes, but I smiled and reassured her.
Even without the skeleton legion and the named summons including Tina, I was stronger alone. They would not be able to do anything to me.
"…."
— Th-the undead…!
— They're goooone!!
— We wooooon!!
— Hooray!!
When I snapped my fingers, every undead including the named summons crumbled into ash and vanished into the air. The enemy's cheers of triumph shook the night sky.
"Good. Now raise both hands to the sky."
…The Hero deliberately emphasized Lilianel's throat pressed against the sharp dagger as he made his next demand.
"…."
Once again I silently obeyed. I lifted both hands high, showing I had no hidden weapons and no intention of resisting.
"…Tie her up."
— Yes, sir!
The Hero then ordered Serion's holy knights to bind my wrists and waist with silver chains, drive stakes into the ground, and secure them firmly.
To vampires and other undead, silver was a lethal substance. The moment my hands were bound in silver chains, I felt my strength drain away rapidly.
…It's still fine for now.
Even so, it was still manageable. The chains were only NPC items, and both my HP and MP remained more than sufficient.
Chains like these would snap the moment I applied a little force. If the situation turned strange, I could simply break free and resume the fight.
……That was what I thought.
"Marina Bergard, now! Throw it!"
"Understood!"
"…?!"
The moment he confirmed my body was tightly wrapped in chains, the Hero immediately signaled the Saintess. She tore the necklace from her own neck and hurled it toward me with all her strength.
"So bright…!"
What followed was an enormous flash of light. At the same time a crushing headache exploded through my skull.
"Ugh…!!"
Simultaneously, thick silver chains erupted from the ground and began to coil around me. When those root-like chains wrapped up to my knees, I realized something was wrong.
Wh-what is this…?
This was different.
I knew it instinctively.
This was a restraint that could not be lightly ignored.
I did not know its true nature, but if I stayed still I would definitely take a critical hit or a fatal status ailment. That intuition struck hard.
"Uuuugh…!!"
I immediately poured strength into my body and began snapping the silver chains binding me. The more force I applied, the more cracks appeared in the chains that had burst from the light.
"I-impossible…. A mere vampire is breaking Lady Astira's seal…?"
Whether this had been their prepared trump card or not, the Saintess's expression hardened as she watched the chains slowly come loose. Varius, still holding Lilianel hostage, looked just as shaken.
And the only one among them who made a meaningful move was the young shaman of the monastic nation of Tenma.
"Pour every single talisman on her before the chains come free!"
"Yes, sir!"
"…?!!"
At the young shaman's signal, every monk of Tenma hurled yellow talismans at me in unison.
They sliced through the night sky like swallows and began sticking one after another onto the Saintess's chains that were still wrestling with me.
"Khhhhh…?!!"
With each additional talisman, my entire body throbbed as if seized by cramps and strength drained out of me. Thanks to that, the silver chains called "Astira's Seal" coiled around my whole body with far greater ease.
Impossible, impossible—me? Ranked number one in my class? Beaten by mere NPCs? Elzerva?
As sensation vanished from my hands and feet as if total paralysis had set in, I screamed inwardly.
Even though a hostage had been taken, the shame and defeat of being bested by things that were fundamentally NPCs, and the shock of a mad sealing tool that even my power could not break, slammed into my mind.
Chaos filled my chest; my eyes reddened and my lips trembled.
"Ah…."
At last the silver chains bound my entire body like a chrysalis, leaving only my head free. Whether because of the chains or the shamans' talismans stuck all over them, I felt nothing throughout my body. I could not so much as twitch a finger.
Toward me in that state, the Hero and Lilianel walked slowly. I frowned and shouted at Varius.
"Happy now…? At least let Lilianel go already."
…Now that everything had gone according to their wishes, I had to secure Lilianel's safety at the very least. I glared fiercely at the Hero who was still approaching with Lilianel as a hostage and snapped at him.
"What? Let her go? Lilianel?"
At my words the Hero drew a question mark over his head and casually released Lilianel on the spot. Then he spoke to me.
"What are you talking about, Elzerva? Lilianel was never a hostage…?"
"…What?"
Varius was saying something incomprehensible. And the freed Lilianel wore an even more incomprehensible expression.
…She was smiling brightly.
"Hey, Elzerva!"
"Lilianel…?"
With a sunny smile that made it impossible to believe she had been a captive moments earlier, she skipped toward me.
…And then she smashed her hand across my cheek.
"Don't you dare say my name so casually, you fucking monster bitch."
My head snapped hard to one side from the impact.
"Uh…?"
More than the pain of being struck by her, more than the curses she spat, I could not understand the situation itself.
"Li-Lilianel…?"
When I turned my head back toward her with wide eyes, the green-haired elf was looking down at me with pure contempt.
"…A fox bitch who goes around wagging her tail at every man. Hurting Varius. Do you have any idea how much he suffered because of you?"
"Lilianel, wh-what are you talking about…?"
Lilianel began frantically defending Varius, the very man who had been holding her hostage. Her behavior made no sense. Had she been hypnotized or something?
"What? What am I talking about?"
She brought her bright-red lips right next to my ear.
And whispered.
"…You got played by us, you idiot."
"…!!"
At that line straight out of a trashy drama, the filth clouding my mind cleared in an instant. I stared at her with empty eyes.
"And you strutted around without even realizing it. I almost died laughing, you know?"
"…."
"Hey. I hate you."
Lilianel raised her right hand.
"I've hated you from the first moment I saw you."
Slap.
She struck my cheek.
"A filthy vampire putting on airs of elegance while stealing men."
Slap.
She hit me again.
"Hurting Varius."
Slap.
She backhanded my cheek once more.
"…And making me kill my own friend."
"…?!"
At her final whisper—
that quiet murmur meant only for me—
my heart sank.
"Kill a friend… y-you don't mean…."
I spoke to her like a broken machine. Whether from the mental shock or the effect of the chains, my tongue would not move properly.
"You… S-Sophie…."
"…That 'you don't mean' is exactly right. I killed her. Sophie. For this very moment."
Lilianel answered with a bright smile, not a shred of guilt on her face. I felt tears sliding down my cheeks.
"Right to the end she kept pitifully calling your name, Elzerva. Help me, save me. It was almost sad, that part."
"Why, why, wh-why on earth…."
"Hm? Why? Well, because I found something more important than friendship."
Having whispered that, Lilianel lightly linked her arm through the Hero Varius's. Varius smiled and stroked Lilianel's hair…
…and pressed his lips to hers.
"Ah, aah…."
Enormous rage surged through my chest at the sight.
I wanted to kill them both right then and there, to butcher them horribly, but my body wrapped in chains did not so much as twitch.
"Poor thing."
Lilianel snorted as she looked at me. After finishing their deep kiss, Varius smiled and lifted my chin with his hand.
"Elzerva, frustrating, isn't it?"
"…."
"There is a way to get out of this, you know…."
…The worst Hero brought his lips to my ear and whispered. His unpleasant breath brushed the tip of my ear, which still retained sensation.
"…Elzerva, become my woman."
"…What?"
"Become my concubine. Swear it now to that moon. That the rest of your life will be devoted to me."
"You, don't tell me…."
My pupils trembled.
All of this—just because I had rejected his proposal, just because he wanted to make me his woman?
"Kyaaaaaaah!! My ear! My eaaaaar!!"
"…Ptoo."
…I immediately turned my head and bit off his ear. Varius screamed at the pain of having one ear torn away and scrambled back from me. I spoke to him with cold eyes.
"Fuck off, you bastard."
That was my answer.
If I was going to spend the rest of my life on anything, it would be on killing you.
I would never forgive this.
"You damned vampire…."
Varius hurriedly stemmed the bleeding from his ear and glared at me murderously. He accepted a handkerchief from Lilianel to wipe away the blood and said,
"Fine. If that's your choice, then you'll just have to stay sealed in those chains. Marina?"
"…."
Until now he had spoken only in a low voice meant for me alone; now he raised his voice and signaled the Saintess. The iron chains that had stopped at my neck began to coil higher, seeking to cover my face as well.
"…After a few decades wrapped in chains, you'll eventually be wailing for me to make you my woman."
"Pffft."
At his needlessly confident voice, laughter burst out of me unbidden.
Not decades—centuries, no, even if I were sealed for a thousand years, that would never happen.
…I shouted toward everyone gathered here.
"…You lot. Think you can handle it when this seal breaks?"
Nothing in this world is eternal.
Even if right now I truly could not move a single finger, the day would come when this seal would break, when these silver chains would snap. It would come without fail.
"Hey, Saintess."
I first looked at the Saintess of Serion, the one who had cast this mysterious seal. At my call her body flinched.
"…The day this seal comes undone, I'll erase the religion you believe in from this world."
"…."
Whether from fear or something else, the Saintess lowered her head and avoided my gaze. Next I looked at the young shaman of Tenma who had delivered the finishing blow by plastering talismans onto the chains.
"Shaman. The day the chains break, the land you live on will seethe with nothing but the dead."
"Tch…."
The shaman clicked his tongue as if he had heard something unlucky. Next I glared at the elf, Lilianel Greenfield.
I had been betrayed by the friend I trusted most.
She had played along with that damned Hero and killed the friend I loved most.
…Rage and hatred toward Lilianel boiled over madly.
"Lilianel."
"Oh my? What is it? Our poor little vampire lady."
Lilianel mocked me. But I continued without caring about her words.
"…Elves live forever, don't they."
Like vampires, elves possessed undying bodies. Unless someone murdered them, they lived through eternity.
"Wait for me. I'll come for you first and tear you in half."
"Hmph. Creepy talk."
"…."
…Leaving Lilianel as she turned her head away, I finally looked at the Hero, Belia Varius.
"Varius. I don't know when this seal will break, but look forward to it."
I am a necromancer.
A master of death arts who raises the dead.
"…I'll drag your soul out even from hell and kill you, and kill you, and kill you again."
Tears streaming from my eyes mixed with the blood running from my chin and fell to the ground as tears of blood.
To the red full moon,
to this cold night sky, I swore.
"All of you—I will kill you without fail…."
Then my entire body was swallowed by the iron chains.
I felt nothing at all.
I felt the last sensation of tears brushing my cheeks.
"Without fail, I will kill you."
…My vision went black.
03.
"Whew! That was intense!"
"We won…."
Only after the vampire Elzerva was completely sealed, her entire body wrapped in silver chains, did everyone gathered in the palace plaza finally let out a breath of relief.
"…To snap half of Lady Astira's sealing chains…. That vampire is a catastrophe. It shouldn't be possible, but she possesses power that rivals a god."
"Haha, it was a close call…."
At the words of Saintess Marina Bergard, who was trembling all over as if still in shock, the shaman Jax gave a bitter smile.
She was right.
If they had left her alone, that vampire would have broken free of the silver chains imbued with the Goddess's power and escaped. Only by pouring every last talisman the shamans of Tenma possessed had they barely managed to complete the seal.
"H-hey! You can't touch those!"
"…Hm?"
Jax hurriedly stopped the Hero Belia Varius, who was about to peel off one of the talismans plastered all over the iron chains.
He warned the blue-eyed Hero.
"We only just managed to hold her by sticking this many talismans onto the chains. If even one comes off, the seal will break immediately."
"…."
This was a seal completed only by attaching talismans to Astira's Chains. Without either one, the seal would come undone at once and the vampire inside would start rampaging again.
She would almost certainly go berserk with rage far beyond anything they had just faced. At that point a hostage ploy like this would not work, and Astira's Chains would no longer exist either—true catastrophe would arrive.
"Ha, anyway, we can't just leave this here."
Jax sighed as he looked at the silver-chain cocoon that sealed the vampire Elzerva.
It was a super-high-risk seal containing a catastrophic vampire whose power surpassed even the Demon King and rivaled a god. They could not irresponsibly leave it lying in the middle of the road.
"Don't worry. I have an idea for that."
Varius answered Jax's concern.
"…A short distance from here there's an abandoned ruin. If we seal her more thoroughly in its deepest chamber, that should do it."
"Oh, that's a good idea!"
Jax clapped his hands.
An abandoned ruin would have no visitors, so there was no chance someone would deliberately remove the talismans. It was the ideal place to hide something safely away from prying eyes.
"Then for the time being, Abilia, Serion, and our Tenma will take turns monitoring the seal."
Even so, they could not simply leave the chain cocoon alone in the ruins. For at least several years they would need to watch and maintain it from nearby to ensure the seal did not break.
"We'll do that."
"Understood."
Varius and Marina, representatives of their respective nations, nodded at Jax's proposal.
"Ah, by the way."
"Hm?"
"What were you talking about with the vampire earlier?"
…Just before the vampire was fully sealed, the Hero and the elf had exchanged a few words with her. She had even shed tears, and Jax suddenly found himself curious about the content of that conversation, so he asked Varius.
"…Nothing important. Just a farewell."
But Varius only laughed it off.
In truth they had revealed that they themselves had assassinated the princess and orchestrated everything, but there was no need to tell the shamans and holy knights that.
"…Hey, shaman."
"What is it?"
…Afterward, while slowly examining the seal that held the vampire, Varius called to Jax. Looking as if something still bothered him, he asked the young shaman with a sour expression.
"What happens if this seal breaks?"
"…If the seal breaks? Come on, what do you think happens."
Jax laughed at Varius's question. But his eyes were not laughing at all. Cold sweat beaded on the young shaman's forehead.
"We all die."
