A Bloodline That Must Be Claimed
He had not lived nearly as long as the elders, yet of this one truth the man was utterly certain.
That boy must become one of our blood!
Barely a hundred years as a vampire, and still he had never once laid eyes on a mortal who carried such refined, aristocratic presence.
Had he never known love, he would not have found it strange to wonder if he preferred men — so fierce was the feeling that rose in him.
Too… far too perfect a bloodline’s dignity…! Damn it, is this all the vocabulary I have?
Never once in his life had he thought his words inadequate. Yet faced with that pure-white boy, he could find no language equal to what he saw, and for the first time he felt ashamed of his own poverty of speech.
That was how noble the aura Kaisent carried looked through a vampire’s eyes — noble enough that the boy had to be made one of the clan, without question.
Someone like me must not dare turn him. At the very least, he must inherit an elder’s blood.
In their world, not every mortal a vampire bit became kin.
They were proud, fiercely selective creatures; making someone one of their own was a decision taken with extreme care.
In the most conservative houses, a vampire who decided to create new kin had to report it to the family and obtain majority consent from those of sufficient age and rank before the act was even permitted.
Violate that law and create vampires indiscriminately, and the offender faced the sun’s execution — the most agonizing punishment a vampire could suffer.
Moreover, one’s standing within the house was decided by whose blood had performed the turning.
The man burned with a sense of mission: he would abduct Kaisent and have him turned with blood of elder rank or higher.
Through a vampire’s unique senses he could feel the boy’s lineage — the blood of a human who had reached demigod heights, mixed with the blood of a Dragon Sovereign.
The other humans can’t sense that boy’s noble bloodline, can they? Well — this is a sense only we possess.
He had meant only to drop a few composite zombies and slip away. Instead he activated his senses and counted the undead in the area.
Scattered, but roughly two hundred fifty. I’ll use fifty as bait for the humans… Two of them carry strong life force. As long as I watch those two, the rest should be manageable.
Two powerful humans and a band of seasoned fighters could hold against that many attackers without much trouble.
But his goal was not annihilation. He only needed to snatch one person. For that, this force was more than enough.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Noise rose as the mercenaries tried to draw the undead toward them.
He guided a portion of the undead under his control in their direction.
Seeing the horde pouring toward them, the mercenaries turned their backs and fled.
Seizing that opening, the man began gathering every undead in the vicinity and set his plan to abduct Kaisent into motion.
Uuuuuuooo——
Grrraaagh—
The undead that had followed the mercenaries tumbled into the pits Kaisent had dug.
"Douse them!"
As they splashed oil and prepared to burn the undead, the mercenaries began to hope that at this pace they might finish the day’s work early — early enough to eat a leisurely dinner and rest.
"Having a mage around really makes this nothing."
"No kidding. When it was just us, digging these damn holes was murder."
Several veteran mercenaries who had mastered the Mana Road had left the company, yet thanks to Kaisent their absence was barely felt.
"Huh? Wait— wait, that—!"
"What is it… ugh!?"
A mercenary pointed in horror. Nearly two hundred undead were charging straight at the Wolf Mercenary Corps with unmistakable intent.
"Reform ranks! Everyone, gather!"
Fredrick barked orders at the sudden crisis and pulled the mercenaries back into formation.
"Aaagh!? Wait— help me!"
"Th-they’re dragging me in! Aaaagh! Aaaaaah!"
Some of the undead that had fallen into the pits bent at the waist, forming living stairs. Others climbed over them and seized the trousers and ankles of mercenaries near the edge.
Thwack! Thunk!
A spinning arrow streaked in and shattered the wrists of the undead gripping the men.
Trace the arrow’s path back and there stood Kaisent, already finished with his shot.
"Run!"
"Th-thank you!"
"Urgh!"
"Wolf! I’ll handle them with magic!"
"Do it!"
Once he confirmed the mercenaries had cleared the blast radius, Kaisent loosed a Fireball into the pit.
The explosion tore undead bodies apart; oil caught and flames roared up at once.
Some of those corpses might have held Necromantic Orbs, but in the chaos no one had the luxury of such thoughts.
"Kaisent! Dig pits across their advance!"
"Yes! Dig!"
At Fredrick’s command Kaisent tried to open a vast pit in front of the charging undead.
Nothing happened.
"Huh…?"
"Kaisent! Hurry!"
"Y-yes, yes! Dig!"
Before he could even understand what had gone wrong, the order came again. He cast in a panic.
Still nothing. Fredrick, too, began to sense something was off.
"What’s happening!"
"Th-the magic’s vanishing mid-cast!"
Never before had another mage dismantled his spells. Kaisent had no idea how to respond and stood frozen in confusion.
He cast again and again, hurling magic at the undead, and every time the spells unraveled halfway and died.
Someone else’s mana is interfering with mine and tangling the structure!
The lower the level, the simpler the structure — and the easier it is to break.
Hidden in the dark, the vampire kept dismantling Kaisent’s magic while driving the undead to close even faster on the mercenaries.
CRACK!!
"Ugh!?"
A furiously spinning arrow punched clean through the tree the vampire was hiding behind, leaving a hole wide enough for a fist to pass through.
Had he not glimpsed the glint an instant earlier, his skull would have been pulp.
He ducked just in time, then looked along the arrow’s path — and saw Kaisent already nocking another shaft.
What— what is this? I’m suppressing my presence completely. How does he know where I am!? Coincidence?
Certain now that the boy’s gaze was locked on him, the vampire slipped through the tree’s shadow and took cover behind another trunk.
Crack! Crack! Crrrack!
"Kh!"
Kaisent’s arrows still found the exact trees he chose. Each shot carried enough force to tear a body apart; the vampire had no choice but to keep moving.
He knows precisely where I am!
The threads of black energy keep shifting! Whoever broke my magic is definitely in that forest!
Kaisent could track the vampire because he could see the mana paths that formed whenever the creature dominated undead.
"Dig!"
While he kept loosing powerful arrows at the unknown enemy dismantling his spells, Kaisent suddenly snapped out the Dig incantation.
Casting magic in the middle of this!? I can still feel residual mana from those attacks — double casting? No. A mage of that caliber wouldn’t fall to basic disruption! Fine — force a melee!
Forced to dodge, the vampire missed the window to break the spell. A pit large enough to swallow dozens of undead yawned open. He immediately ordered the horde to detour around the trap.
Kaisent striking into the forest. Undead veering to avoid the pits.
From those two facts alone, Lillian understood everything. She turned to Fredrick.
"Fredrick! Go finish it!"
At her command Fredrick flung his shield aside, raised the magic sword he had taken as spoils from Kenneth, and charged into the trees.
"Stop him!"
Undead formed a living wall to block the streak of motion that was Fredrick —
Skakakak!
— but he swept his blade in a wide arc, shearing off arms and heads, and plunged straight into the forest where the vampire hid.
"Kaisent!"
Just before he vanished among the trees he shouted the boy’s name.
Kaisent understood at once. He loosed an arrow toward the single point where every mana path linked to the undead converged.
CRACK! Thud-thud!
"Found you!"
The vampire dropped from the treetop in a panic. Fredrick’s sword was already swinging.
The vampire shifted into a bat and slipped cleanly past the blade.
"Vampire! Did you cross over from the Saryeong Kingdom!"
The moment Fredrick recognized the enemy, raw hatred flooded his face.
One of the mortal enemies of the Luciarkenel Kingdom stood before him. The reaction was only natural.
"Die, you foul monster!"
"Hmph."
Hearing himself treated as a beast beyond all speech, the vampire resumed human form and snorted.
This was the narrow, bigoted gaze humans always turned on his kind.
Once more he confirmed that their own actions had never been wrong. He cast at once.
As a vampire who had not yet reached the higher ranks, he could not maintain bat form and work magic at the same time.
Kararararak!
A high wall of bone erupted from the earth. At the same instant a composite zombie that had been lying hidden underground burst free.
"What is…!?"
It wore a roughly human shape, yet bones jutted from every joint as though countless corpses had been melted and fused together.
It had no neck. A maw of bone gaped across its belly. Four arms marked it unmistakably as a monster.
"KRAAAAAAAAH—!!"
"Kh! Damn it!"
The composite zombie howled from the giant mouth in its gut and flailed the stone blades the vampire had conjured, hammering Fredrick with a relentless assault.
It swung every attack at full power, ignoring any notion of stamina. Fredrick had no chance to climb the bone wall.
I meant to use this in the middle of a brawl, but pinning a strong one down works just as well.
With Fredrick successfully tied up, the vampire burst from the forest and dove straight into the ranks of the Wolf Mercenary Corps.
Mind Fog!
At the same moment he cast, scattering a mist that clouded the mind over part of the mercenary line, then attacked alongside the undead.
"Graaah—"
"Guoooooo—"
"Hold them!"
"Form the line!"
"If this turns into a free-for-all, we’re finished!"
Lillian and the mid-level commanders judged that mixing with the undead would only make things worse. They ordered the men to keep the current formation and hold the line.
"Khhaat!"
"Die!"
"Uriyaaah!"
The mercenaries who had mastered the Mana Road proved the greatest help in holding that line.
They struck harder than the rest, shearing through stiffened muscle, severing necks and limbs.
Where the vampire had cast Mind Fog, however, the situation was far worse.
"Ugh…"
"My head… feels so foggy…"
Mind Fog did not shatter a mind outright, but it dulled thought and weakened will.
The vampire slipped through the undead ranks and locked eyes with the mercenaries whose resolve had already frayed.
"I am your captain. From this moment, you will obey my orders."
"Ah… y-yes… yes…"
"The enemy is those people over there. Go attack them."
"Under… stood… Captain…"
Weakened by the fog, the mercenaries fell easily under the vampire’s thrall. Together with the undead, they turned their blades on their own comrades.
"Die…"
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!"
"They’re brainwashed!"
"Kh! Close ranks!"
Lillian was forced to cut down her own thralls while still carving through undead.
If she fell, the mercenary line would collapse, the fight would dissolve into a chaotic melee, and the casualties would be catastrophic.
—Lillian! Don’t worry about me! He’s after me — I’ll handle him myself!—
Certain the vampire was targeting him, Kaisent sent the message by transmission magic so she could focus entirely on holding the company together.
Every obstacle is gone!
Having pinned the strong ones exactly as planned, the vampire charged straight at Kaisent.
Curse of Doom!
"Witness your own annihilation—"
⟨ Curse of Doom ⟩
A curse that forced the victim to see every possible form of their own destruction until the mind itself collapsed.
The vampire meant to break Kaisent’s spirit and leave him helpless —
Crack!
The instant the curse finished forming, a single thread of mana slipped into the completed spell, tangled its structure, and tore it apart.
He dismantled my spell!?
Got it! So that’s how you break magic!
Even as the vampire reeled in shock, Kaisent — who had just learned the method by having his own spells dismantled — turned the technique back on his enemy.