The Legendary Vampire Dragon
"Hey. What's a legendary vampire dragon?"
"Is... is that really a legendary vampire dragon??" Vlad was flustered too. A legendary vampire dragon? Why was it here?
"Stop panicking and explain."
"Well... the legendary vampire dragon is, literally, a legend passed down among vampires..."
A terrifying vampire dragon! Just hearing the name made it sound incredibly powerful.
"They say that one day, the King of Vampires will appear riding a vampire dragon and bring all vampires to their knees!"
"What? There's a legend like that? Vampires are pretty hilarious. Becoming king just because you ride a dragon. If it were that easy, I'd already have two thrones."
From Tae-hyun's perspective, owning two dragons made this legend sound utterly ridiculous. But the rest of the party couldn't agree.
'You're the only player in the entire game who actually owns a dragon, you know...?'
While others struggled to even catch a glimpse of one, Tae-hyun had two!
"But seriously, how does a vampire dragon even exist?"
Hearing Vlad's shocked voice, Heuk-heuk seemed to feel a bit better. Awe and terror were always a Black Dragon's favorite emotions! Fear me more!
"Dragons are an arrogant and proud race, so they would never willingly become vampires... How on earth...? Did he get Akisus-ed?"
-.......
Heuk-heuk realized. Vlad wasn't looking at him with awe and terror. It was more like: 'Wait, what kind of dragon actually becomes a vampire? Is he an idiot?'
-Roar!
"Argh! No, I was just asking just in case...!" Vlad quickly bowed. Even if he became a vampire through some foolish mistake, he was still a dragon. He would definitely be stronger than Vlad!
"True, it would be hard to find another dragon dumb enough to become a vampire."
-Master...
Heuk-heuk looked at Tae-hyun with a tearful face. He thought that by defeating Hakkaras and stealing his rarity, he could finally hold his head high among other dragons...
-Did you hear? Valcaleos's son became a vampire.
-Really? How could a proud Black Dragon become a vampire? Is he even a real Black Dragon?
-Seriously, he's bringing shame to the entire Black Dragon race!
'No!' Heuk-heuk despaired.
"Don't worry, Heuk-heuk."
-...?
Heuk-heuk was puzzled. Don't worry? 'Does he have a plan? Of course he does!'
"You're a big hit here. You can just live here forever."
-...Master!!
Heuk-heuk was horrified. Live forever on this gloomy, sunless island?!
Meanwhile, Count Scabio's vampire forces were completely decimated. The knights' charge, the Archisus Artillery's bombardment, and the appearance of the vampire dragon!
Count Scabio's vampires are beginning to flee!
Your Engineering skill has...
...
The vampires abandoned their temporary coastal fortress and fled. Experience points and rewards flooded in.
"Vlad. You should say something to those fleeing bastards."
"*Ahem, cough...* Hehehe... You weaklings! Submit before me, Vlad, who rides the legendary vampire dragon! Bow before the Lord of Blood, Lord Vlad!"
Vlad's infamy is spreading across the Blood Archipelago!
Vampire assassins are beginning to target Vlad.
...
"Gasp."
Vlad stared at Tae-hyun in sheer terror. Assassins?!
"Hmm... Well, it'll be fine."
"R-right? Since we have Archisus believers here..."
The Archisus believers were probably scarier than any assassins! Vlad comforted himself in a bizarre way.
"He possesses Count Knema's sword? And he rode in on a legendary vampire dragon? Who on earth is this Vlad guy?!"
Count Scabio was furious. It was only natural, as some completely unknown vampire had suddenly appeared and blown his camp to smithereens.
"But Count! If he truly rode in on a legendary vampire dragon..."
"We must be careful if he has the legendary vampire dragon!"
"Ugh. If it's the legendary vampire dragon, we have no choice."
They could have dismissed Count Knema's sword as something he just picked up somewhere, but they couldn't ignore a legendary vampire dragon. It was too powerful to overlook!
"Send an envoy to this Vlad. Tell him we want to join forces. If we use him, we might be able to end this tedious war quickly."
Count Scabio was a cunning, long-lived vampire. He had taken a hit, but he could swallow his pride for that. What mattered was profit! If he could push out his rival, Count Andalto, and claim Knema Island, he could tolerate this setback.
"A wise decision!"
"Indeed. If this Vlad has any brains, he'll jump at the chance. Kehehe."
"No matter how incredible he is, he doesn't have any backing of his own!"
"What? He appeared riding a legendary vampire dragon?"
"Yes, they say he rode in on the legendary vampire dragon!"
"And he fought Count Scabio? Even better! Send an envoy. Tell him we should join forces! Together, we will drive Count Scabio out!"
Count Andalto slammed his armrest and shouted. Count Andalto was a relatively young vampire. Count Scabio was old, cunning, and loved plotting. In contrast, Count Andalto was hot-blooded and preferred fighting directly alongside younger vampires! If Scabio was a mage, Andalto was a warrior.
"He will surely accept Count Andalto's offer immediately!"
"After all, it is an offer from the greatest swordsman among vampires!"
Unaware that both counts were eagerly sending envoys, Tae-hyun's party was leisurely constructing a fortress.
Current occupation rate of Knema Island is 2%.
The island was vast, and territory capture quests required patience. To do that, they needed a base—a place to fall back on and hold out in case of emergency. Fortunately, the vampires had graciously abandoned their fortress, allowing them to recycle it.
Your Blacksmithing Skill level has increased.
The Archisus Artillery's Blacksmithing Skill level has increased.
...
Fortunately, the dwarves of the Archisus Artillery were highly experienced in blacksmithing.
Tink, clank— The fortress walls were completed in no time! Of course, it wasn't completely without issues.
The Akisus Tribe Warriors have destroyed a fortress wall!
"......."
"......."
The Akisus Tribe Warriors had only ever held hammers to smash people's heads in!
"...Repair it quickly."
"Yes, sir."
Embarrassed, the Akisus Tribe Warriors swung their hammers even faster.
As the Archisus Artillery handled everything from cannon installation to fortress repairs, the guards they had brought along began to feel anxious. They had done absolutely nothing since arriving! Honestly, their role was closer to porters. The knights and artillery did all the fighting, while they just stood near the artillery holding spears, wondering, 'Uh, are the vampires coming? Are they?' until the battle ended.
"Your Majesty. What can we do, since we don't have any special abilities?"
"You guys are useless. Just watch from the sidelines."
"......."
"Just kidding."
"Hahaha!"
"As expected of Your Majesty! Even your jokes are magnificent!"
The guard captain laughed heartily at Tae-hyun's joke. Of course they weren't useless!
"Take your spears and stand over there."
"...??"
The guard captain tilted his head. What was the point of that?
"Is there... a reason for that?"
"Vampires might launch a surprise attack."
"Ah. I see!"
The guard captain quickly took the guards and began standing watch.
Seeing this, Yu Ji-soo tilted her head and asked, "They don't have detection skills and their field of vision isn't that wide, so wouldn't it be hard for them to notice if vampires approach using stealth?"
"Yeah. I just put them there so they can leech some experience."
The guards were indeed quite useless. The artillery was far stronger than expected! They blasted their Demon-Possessed Cannons, melting the enemies before they could even get close, so close-quarters combat rarely occurred. And even if it did, the Akisus Tribe Warriors would fight much better than the guards. Still, bringing the guards along was for the future reward! If he trained them well and returned them, the lords would reward him, so just keeping them on the sidelines was enough.
'Unless it's an absolute emergency, there's no need for them to fight.'
Thinking back to the days when he lacked forces and always had to dive in first to engage in messy dogfights, Tae-hyun was deeply moved. Now that his forces were strong, playing the game was so easy! He felt like a ranker mage. A mage who swept away monsters from afar with just a flick of a finger!
The jokes that circulated among melee classes weren't groundless:
—Warrior is a 3D job.
—Mages and priests don't even fight in the front lines, but they get better treatment. Damn it...
In reality, melee classes were much more exhausting. Instead of just clicking a mouse, you had to actually swing a sword and block with a shield. It was bound to tire you out mentally much faster. Tae-hyun was the weird one for doing it constantly without getting sick of it; other people were perfectly normal.
"Oh. There are vampires over there."
Cain spotted vampires approaching from afar, carrying a white flag. True to their nature, they were riding undead horses, but as envoys, they still looked quite stylish.
"Hmm. I see. Fire!"
"...???"
Cain was flustered.
"Hey! They're holding a white flag! Aren't they envoys?"
"That's just a trick to make us let our guard down. Fire!"
"?!?!"
Tae-hyun had no intention of playing annoying political games in this campaign to conquer Knema Island. Schemes and tricks were for when you lacked power! Having fought once, he had a good grasp of things. He could easily sweep through Knema Island with his current forces.
An undead-specialized holy knight order and the artillery. In fact, his forces were overflowing. Under these circumstances, there was no need to bother with tedious negotiations. Just wipe them all out and take all the rewards!
Of course, the infamy would accumulate under Vlad's name.
Vlad's infamy is spreading across the Blood Archipelago!
"Ugh... Ugggh...!"
Only then did Vlad truly realize why people said never to get involved with Archisus!
"I see them over there."
"Hmph. Arrogant bastards. They're repairing the fortress."
"Isn't it because they fear us?"
The vampires chattered as they approached the coastal fortress.
"Let's not go any closer. Make them come to us. Arrogant fools."
"Since they were the ones who attacked the fortress first, they'll come on their own. They're the ones who need us, after al—"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"???"
"W-what the? You crazy bastards! What are you doing?!"
A bombardment flew in before they could even speak! The vampires roared in anger.
Tae-hyun replied nonchalantly, "How dare you disguise yourselves as envoys to lay a trap! Did you think Lord Vlad wouldn't see through your scheme?!"
"N-no! We hadn't even thought of doing that yet!"
"We came as envoys! Stop attacking at once!"
"Not yet? So you did plan on doing it eventually! How dare you try to deceive Lord Vlad! In the name of Lord Vlad, you shall not be forgiven!"
"N-no..."
Vlad tried to stop him. If they attacked even envoys, wouldn't he look like a truly ruthless, bloodthirsty bastard? Of course, most vampires were like that, but Vlad didn't want to be seen that way. Now he really wouldn't be able to sleep in peace!
"Wipe them out!"
"Aaargh! You bastard, Vlad! How dare you treat us like this when we came on our master's orders! We will never forgive you!"
The envoys sent by both counts were utterly thrashed and spat out curses as they fled.