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Dracoliches were born out of research conducted by Necromancers and Witches. The subject could be any old Ground Dragon, and it would still survive the procedure thanks to its draconic heritage.

These Dracolich experiments drew their inspiration from a more ancient variant known as Bone Dragons, who once ruled the battlefields in ancient times.

When the ancient battles drew to a close, the majority of the pure Dragons left the Western Human Realms, leaving behind a small portion who stayed for unknown reasons. The power of a fully matured Dragon was immense, and not something that could be overcome with just strength of numbers.

Thankfully, these prideful creatures found it beneath their status to harass those weaker than themselves. For the most part, they lived reclusive lives.

In the contemporary age, Necromancers found themselves starving for materials, but still sought the sheer destructive power of a Bone Dragon. The pure-blooded Dragons still lived in seclusion, but even if the Necromancers found them, they couldn’t win. Thus, they began experimenting on Ground Dragons instead, hoping that their draconic bloodline would serve as a usable substitute. However, their mixed blood meant that they were destined to never meet the exacting standards of the Necromancers.

Not willing to give up on chasing this dream of supremacy, they began refining the blood of Ground Dragons, in hopes of one day reviving their glory days.

Unfortunately, the draconic blood within Ground Dragons were too thin, so even refinement couldn’t produce the desired results. That was when the Necromancers started working with the Witches in order to improve the combat strength of their Undead Ground Dragons. Finally, the Dracolich was born.

A Dracolich wasn’t a living creature, yet it wasn’t a solely Undead creature either. At its core, it’s a host of souls stuffed into a vessel.

—-From: Evil Strikes! Necromancers and Witches!

Because the lower-starred Undead were unable to stop us, we easily cut a hundred meter deep swathe into their ranks. But our blinding speeds meant that the Devils I summoned over couldn’t keep up either. At this rate, they would have to be abandoned.

The bodies of these Devils were different from Humans. Before dying, they were practically immune to the effects of the Veil of the Dead. Yet that didn’t stop their corpses from turning into Undead once they died.

If I had to be perfectly honest, the only idea I had in mind when I summoned them was to use them as fodder. Since they were just fodder, I wasn’t going to spend too much effort on them either. Besides, abandoning them would serve the exact purpose they summoned for: stalling the Undead.

However, reality had a way of defying my expectations. Just when I thought we would successfully escape from the clutches of the Undead, the ground shook once more. Like a spider’s web, rifts in the ground began extending outwards from the center of the village. It was the Dracolich again! It was merely trying to extract its body from the ground, yet that was already enough to send the earth beneath us howling. By the time its upper body had surfaced, its body measured up to a staggering 20 meters tall! And that was given that its four limbs were still buried as well! If it were to fully break free, it might even measure up to 45 meters!

“Boom. Boom. Boom.”

With each step the Dracolich took, the ground groaned from its massive limbs. It wasn’t particularly fast, but its sheer size meant that it covered a great distance with each stride. In contrast, we were like sprinting ants next to it. No matter how fast we ran, it was easily made up with one stride of the Dracolich.

The Dracolich outwardly resembled a lizard. Its head was cone-shaped and spotted a pair of large black horns that poked straight up – the typical trait of a dragon. Clearly. Because lizards did not have horns.

The Dracolich was now running towards us at top speed. A staggering explosion would blanket the battlefield each time it kicked its feet off the ground. On top of breaking the rock beneath it, it also decimated whatever was unfortunate enough to be near it at the time.

A number of the villagers who were in the process from being zombified were instantly squashed into meat cakes. In some sense, this was a stroke of good fortune amidst a decidedly disastrous day. At the very least, they were released from their suffering before they could be trapped in a mindless, Undead husk.

Yet it wasn’t just the villagers who were affected by the Dracolich. The Devils whom I summoned weren’t able to escape this untimely fate as well.

Normally, Ground Dragons rarely grew up to twenty meters. This Dracolich had clearly received a horrifying boost in strength from the inhumane experiments performed on it.

A beast like that would normally roar into the heavens, declaring its intent to fight. But this Dracolich had been completely silent till now. Even so, I couldn’t be sure it was completely an Undead. While it might have had Soul Flames for eyes, its eyes also had the red of blood within it. A completely illogical pairing.

A half-Undead, perhaps? Its consciousness should still be intact even if its body has been zombified… must be painful…

Perhaps it was this pain that afforded it limitless power. In barely any time at all, it had caught up to us!

Yet just when it looked like it would reach us, eight of the Assassins covering our backline suddenly broke off from the pack to stall it. Using their Arcane magic, they launched a barrage of attacks at it, but to no avail…

They began waving their hands about, summoning forth a giant magical array in front of them that spat out hundreds of blue Arcane orbs at the Dracolich.

These Arcane projectiles first came into contact with the Veil of the Dead. It was then that I learnt that this strange mist not only was a dangerous biological weapon, it also suppressed magic. Hundreds of Arcane orbs slammed into the Dracolich, causing an unending torrent of explosions to shake the air. Yet when the dust settled, not even a single scale had been knocked down…

Dragons were born with a natural resistance against magic. This creature born of Witches and Necromancers fully inherited this trait as well. With the Veil of the Dead aiding it, it would be hard for magic under the level of an Overlord to harm it. In that case, there was only melee combat!

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Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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Regardless of whether or not I planned on telling Nicole, the most pressing matter now was the Undead horde left behind by Umbra. Even though these creatures were not more than Four-star, and were now weakened by the sunlight, they still numbered over a hundred thousand. But if it was just a matter trying to run away, we could still manage. The only problem was how to convince Nicole to come with us.

However, events would soon prove even more troublesome than I had initially thought.

I assumed that Umbra’s death would lighten our load significantly, but something happened that exceeded my expectations… the village was now destroyed.

Not long after Umbra died, the ground began to quake. The ground in the center of the village began to crack apart first, from which a sickly green draconic head suddenly emerged. Its emergence sent the rocks and even the buildings above it flying into the air and towards the villagers.

“Save us… ahhh….”

A number of the more unfortunate villagers yelled before they were unceremoniously squashed by a landing debris.

The giant draconic creature opened up its gaping maws, and spat out an eerie green mist that slowly rose into the air, blotting out the sun soon after. The sheer thickness of the green mist prevented any sunlight from reaching the village beneath. In other words, the Undead were no longer weakened in day.

As the giant draconic creature continued spewing forth fumes, the village of Lyon was slowly engulfed in that strange green mist. Those villagers fortunate enough to be alive were horrified at what they saw, scrambling head over tail to evacuate from the village. Even a fool could tell that a giant dragon-looking creature and his mystery green smoke was not a good sign.

Unfortunately, they were but ordinary people. They had neither Fighter’s Aura, nor mana. Furthermore, the sheer size of that creature meant that the damage to the ground had spread quite far. Cracks and rifts abound, the villagers could barely get a steady footing, let alone run. The proximity of the creature also meant that a significant portion had been exposed to large quantities of the fumes. Soon, they began to exhibit worrying symptoms. Vomiting; Breathing problems; Weakness in the limbs; Lightheadedness; and etc…

“Not good, the mist is toxic! Everyone, get on your air filtration tools!” A natural-born commander, Zurnalin quickly realised what was up with the fumes before even the villagers.

Assassins often had to embark on difficult missions that sometimes required one to traverse through toxic environments. Naturally, given that the Dark Elf soldiers I brought with me were all Assassins, they each had a tool to filter the air on them. Its appearance resembled that of a gas mask back on Earth. The difference being that this gas mask operated on a magical array to filter the air, one that was powered by a mana crystal contained within.

As Demon Hunters, Nicole and Neneth often encountered such situations as well, so they both had tools to filter the air. Jill, a seasoned Thief, had all manner of strange contraptions on her being at all times, so she was covered as well. Fortunately, all of us had the mind to put on our gas masks right away before the green mist reached us, else there might have been casualties already.

“Master, that mist is called the Veil of the Dead, an area spell Necromancers use to block out the sunlight. Not only are Undead not affected by the sun while under it, they are even strengthened by the spell itself. The level of strengthening has to do with the thickness of the mist.” Jezsere explained as she retrieved two gas masks from her dimensional ring, and put it on herself and Ann.

Having done that, she continued on by explaining the origin of that draconic creature. “That creature is a Dracolich, a gigantic, Undead, landbound Dragon. They are created from an amalgamation of Undead magic and Witchcraft. Based on the thickness of that mist and its sheer size, it should be at the peak of Eight-star…”

An Eight-star Peak Dracolich?! Curses. Why is such a monster hiding underneath this tiny village? And for it to be right under our feet as well… why haven’t I noticed it till now?! When it did infiltrate the village? How did it even burrow under the ground without causing a stir… Unless! It was already beneath the village to begin with!

As of right now, the village of Lyon was in ruins. The remaining villagers were all slowly dying, collapsing to the ground weakly, not even able to make a sound at this point.

“Master… that mist has the ability to turn living creatures and corpses into Undead. I’m afraid those villagers are going to die soon…”

Having just said that, a portion of the nearly lifeless villagers started to cough violently. Shortly after, they puked out a mouthful of black blood.

Seems like the village is really done for. That means, barring Ann who is with us, the only person who should be alive right now is the traitor. Maybe it was that traitor who summoned that damned Dracolich!

“Nicole, we need to leave this area right now!” As I said that, I steeled my voice. Now wasn’t the time for Nicole’s willfulness. She was coming with us, even if I had to use force to achieve that.

“All right.” Perhaps it was because she herself had confirmed the demise of the village, but she was surprisingly agreeable this time. “Let’s find a point we can break through. I wish to contact my teacher as soon as possible. Hopefully he can remove this threat before it spreads to the other regions.”

“Everyone, we’re breaking through the west!”

The fact that we were finally in agreement was perfect. I immediately gave the order to our forces. The strongest of the Assassins promptly took up positions in the front to clear the way for the rest of us. Quick like the wind, they covered the distance of a hundred meters in a blink of an eye. Their dancing daggers, enhanced with magic, easily sliced a path through the Undead horde.

While the Undead were indeed strengthened by the mist, that did not save them from the fate of being destroyed by a bunch of Eight-stars.

It’s working. We will definitely break their siege and leave this godforsaken village!

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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“Master, should we…”

“It’s okay, as long as both of them aren’t in danger, we can just watch from the sidelines. Still, some preparations have to be made…”

“You mean… I got it…”

Zurnalin immediately realised what I had in mind. She promptly signalled to the Assassins in secret, after which several of them disappeared into the shadows.

Up till now, the Vampire hadn’t shown any high-level minions yet. But there was no guarantee he only had lower-starred minions, so I decided to play it conservative for the moment. At the very least, there was no need for me to show my hand while Nicole and Neneth were showing off their heroic side.

“Curses… just you wait!” Yelled the distraught Vampire; perhaps he wasn’t too proficient at close-quarter combat? The Lycans he had brought over were all dead thanks to Nicole and Neneth. Other than using some Blood Magic, Umbra did not seem to have much else to show. After all, he wasn’t a Vampire Overlord, who were known to have the power to control the blood within their opponents. Soon after, Umbra finally relented to the two girls’ relentless attacks and tried to flee in a cloud of bats.

However, that was exactly what I was waiting for. My lips curled into a smile. “Now!”

With the command given, ten or so Assassins suddenly emerged from the shadows, every one of them so happened to be stationed around Nicole’s battlefield. Umbra’s bats were completely surrounded. From every one of their fingers, a thread of white, translucent webbing shot out into the air, forming a gigantic spider web across the horizon…

“Bring it in.” On my signal, the spider web made entirely of mana descended from the skies, easily snagging all the fleeing bats.

As the mass of bats slowly congregated into a struggling mass, Umbra emerged once more, looking a lot more haggard than before.

“Blasted Dark Elves… why are you interfering in my business with the Humans…”

As of right now, his body was entangled within the half-translucent web. It was conjured with the aid of ten Dark Elves who were all at least Seven-star; based on his strength alone, there was no way he could escape.

“Interfering? If you had just let us go from the start, would all this have happened? Bet you never thought you would get caught, did you?” I sneered at him. “Why would I not have a backup plan after knowing that you can transform into bats to escape?”

Umbra’s actions till now had been very contradictory in my eyes. What was he even up to? The only thing I managed to discern was that he wanted a rift to form between Nicole and those villagers, and if possible, have her murder them. But so what if she killed them? Based on his words, this wasn’t the first time they had tried this tactic on a Demon Hunter. Why then?

Hmm… creatures of darkness… creatures of darkness… Wait. Lucifer’s upcoming Apocalypse? Don’t tell me they are laying the foundations for that?!

At this point, I was quite sure I had hit the mark in some way. But I still needed someone to definitively prove this conjecture. I glared at the immobile Vampire writhing before me. “Speak. What are your real goals? Who is the evil Witch hiding amongst the villagers?”

“…” Umbra remained silent.

Seeing him so uncharacteristically silent for once, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Something was up, and it made me uneasy. “Not just your goals, I’m curious about that barrier that allows you to walk in sunlight. Since you’ve recognised the Dark Elves under me, I’m sure you are familiar with their reputation as well. They have many ways to make a person talk, even in death. It’s fine if you do not wish to answer, I just thought I should spare you the unnecessary struggling.”

“Goals? Hah. You think I would tell you? Since I’ve been caught, that means I’m no longer of use…” As he said that, his voice couldn’t be any firmer. In all likelihood, he was already prepared to die, or perhaps he was afraid of what the Dark Elves would do to him. A second later, he did something which surprised even me.

He reached into the pockets in his shirt and seemed to be grabbing onto something. “I’ll admit that I was careless. But don’t think you’ve won just yet. This ordeal will soon engulf the entire Western Human Realms. All those lowly Humans are done for, though it seems we need to add in the Dark Elves as well. I’m just the beginning… doom is sure to come to your world. The Devil gods will rain fire upon you all… Cry, scream, struggle, all that awaits you is death and despair. When that time comes… I’ll be waiting for you all in hell… hahahaha…”

He gripped down on that mystery object in his shirt. A few seconds later, I felt the sunlight return to normal, or rather, the barrier blocking the sunlight had disappeared…

The Vampire immediately burst into flames, his body no longer shielded from the scorching caress of day. Smoke began spewing from his body as the flames grew stronger by the minute. Even so, he continued laughing as if numb to the flames. Finally, after ten seconds of maniacal laughing, he was silenced forever in a pile of ashes…

He’s dead? Just like that? And here I thought he was supposed to be some kind of scary boss monster. What a cheap death!

It wasn’t just me who found this abrupt ending unacceptable as well. Everyone present had on a what the heck expression right now…

Umbra probably thought that he stood no chance against the Dark Elves’ interrogation, so he decided that killing himself would be the best way to guard his secrets. Even so, his conviction surprised me. I had wanted to find out more about the barrier, but he had chosen death, even destroying his soul in the process…

What a bother…

While Umbra’s death meant that we couldn’t get anymore information, he had at least confirmed that this series of actions was linked to the upcoming Apocalypse.

Should I tell Nicole about that? After all, she might just end up in the frontlines of that battle. I should at least let the Humans have some time to prepare.

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Nicole’s attitude said everything, even if she abhorred it, it was her duty to protect the villagers of Lyon.

Man… I never knew Nicole had such a willful side to her as well…

With Neneth in tow, Nicole slowly approached the Vampire, Umbra, who had been watching us from a short distance away. Contrary to my expectations, he wasn’t sneering at us anymore. In fact, his expression looked a little strained, as if the situation was spiralling out of his control.

“Master… we should…” Zurnalin was about to suggest something but she paused mid-sentence. In all likelihood, she wanted me to leave this area at once but stopped herself midway because she knew I would never abandon Nicole.

“All these Undead have over us is their numbers. Our side has the better soldiers. As long as we decide on escaping, there’s no way they can stop us.”

“Master wishes to save them then?” Said Zurnalin with a look of disgust on her face. To which I shook my head.

“No. We just need to protect Nicole.”

“But her goal seems to be to protect these wretched beings…”

I coldly shook my head once more. “I want her safety guaranteed. As for the others… they can die, for all I care.”

“Will she mind if we do that?”

“Well, that Vampire did give his word that he will let the villagers go as long as we leave. Even though I do not think his words can be trusted, it is a fact that fresh food is always better than stale.”

“Indeed.”

While Zurnalin was clearly jealous of the place Nicole held in my heart, that did not stop her from placing my safety as her number one priority. Petty enmities weren’t enough to cloud her judgement yet.

“Let’s go. We need to keep up with them. As for Ann…” I turned around and waved at Ann. “Do you want to follow us or stay in the village?”

Ann’s father was most likely one of the bandits I killed, a weight which I had to now bear. Even though I had done so to prevent any harm from befalling their future victims, it was also a fact that the bandits only decided to become bandits due to that Vampire. There was no absolute right or wrong to be had in such a lawless world. Killing the bad guys meant that no one else would have to suffer for their misdeeds, but at the same time, sometimes those same bad guys had their own circumstances and loved ones who cared about them.

Ann uneasily clenched down on her little white hands. Her teeth grinded against each other as her petite body shook. Finally, after much effort, she came to a decision. “Ann… Ann wishes to follow Sister Mo Na…”

“Follow us, huh…”

While Ann might have been young, she was self-aware enough to understand who it was that killed her father. Did she choose to follow us simply because no one in the village would look after her? Perhaps. Either way, I couldn’t let a young girl like her face the world alone… if that’s what she wants, so be it.

“Sister Mo Na… Ann wants to be with you all…” Seeing that I hadn’t given any explicit approval yet, she anxiously reiterated herself before giving me a pitiable look, like a kitten that had just been abandoned. “Ann does not want to stay in this village… please do not leave Ann behind… Ann does not want to be alone…”

“All right, let’s go together then.” I gently patted her on her hands then lifted Jezsere up onto Mo Ning’s back. “Jez, look after Ann for me.”

“No problem. Jezsere will be sure to look after Ann. Don’t worry, Master.” Jezsere reached from behind to hug the little girl.

I’ll be happy if you can look after yourself… maybe I’ve just given her an impossible mission?

I turned towards Jill, who was looking quite bored at the moment. “Jill, when the battle begins, I do not need you to join the fight. Just stay with Mo Ning.”

Hearing that, she couldn’t help but facepalm. “My employer this time…”

“Do you regret it?” Strictly speaking, my relationship with her wasn’t deep. Getting her into such a mess was inappropriate on my part, so I wouldn’t blame her if she was dissatisfied.

“Regret? No!” She turned behind to face Regine. “I’ve got to meet my senior, Regine, again, and even met such an interesting employer like yourself. I dare say this mission has been exciting for me as well!”

I couldn’t help but smile at her response. “As long as you’re happy then.”

Exciting, huh… you haven’t seen the half of it yet.

“Listen up, everyone. We will move to leave this village right away. Once the battle starts, I want everyone to be careful of their safety.” I turned to look at Reyage. “You do not need to fight as well. Just look after Jezsere.”

“Got it.” Reyage nodded.

“In that case… let’s move.” I led the charge with the rest of the Assassins. Because the Devils I summoned weren’t many and were weak to begin with, I left them at the rear to guard the outskirts of the village. Naturally, that wasn’t meant to scare those foolish villagers, not at all!

Now that we were leaving as they had wanted, the villagers all heaved a sigh of relief, though some of them had on a conflicted look. Lest one forgot, had we left just but a day earlier, we would have been sent off with bouquets of flowers instead of insults. Yet to the villagers now, they would much rather believe the Vampire who harmed them than the Occultist who saved them… how ironic…

Also, if we were to attack that Vampire now, what would happen to the village? Would Umbra go back on his words and attack them? Perhaps.

As I arrived close behind Nicole and Neneth, the former did not react much to my presence. In contrast, Neneth was practically beside herself with joy.

“Hahaha… I just knew Sister Mo Na would come!”

“Didn’t that Vampire say that he would leave the villager alone as long as we leave? Well then, let’s see how true those words ring now.” I gently rubbed Neneth’s head for a second, then in the most solemn voice I could muster, said, “I’ll do my best to protect you and Neneth. As for the rest… they’re on their own.”

Nicole nodded at me. “Just make sure Neneth is safe.”

From that point on, we didn’t speak at all till we were less than fifty meters from Umbra.

“Why?” Umbra was the first to speak up. Furthermore, his question was a rather strange one. “Don’t you feel indignant at all, being chased away by a bunch of cattle?”

“I do.” Nicole curtly answered before launching herself at the Vampire, sword drawn. Her Epic weapon lit up in flames that somehow radiated a bone-chilling cold at the same time as it swung towards Umbra.

“Blast… if that’s the case, why must you rush to your death so?” Umbra deftly dodged backwards to avoid her quickdraw. A pair of transformed Lycans rushed to flank her but she had no problem fending them off at the same time.

“You are clearly a cut above these lowly peasants, why must you go so far for their sake? If you do not like how they are treating you, just unleash your anger!”

Hm? Was his aim to try and get Nicole to kill those villagers? Speaking of which, those villagers really are a disagreeable lot. Or maybe that’s just how Humans are, negative emotions amplified to its extremes.

Yet in the face of Umbra’s provocations, Nicole did not waver in the least. She evaded a leap from one of the Lycans and coolly counterattacked with a slash to its left leg. Unable to maintain its balance, it started to fall forwards but not before Nicole sent another slash to its head. The first of the Lycans was down. Nicole pointed at the other and declared proudly, “Demon Hunter Tenet One: never bow to evil.”

Upon hearing her response, Umbra almost tore out his hair on the spot. “Blast… why are all the Demon Hunters worth poaching like this…”

All the Demon Hunters worth poaching? What is that supposed to mean? Does he have some other motive for being here?

“Demon Hunter Tenet Two: never swing your sword at those who need protection.”

Nicole sent a flying slash of fiery sword energy at the other Lycan. It quickly ducked down to avoid, then launched itself at Nicole like a flying arrow. Nicole swiftly drew her sword back and pointed it towards the Lycan, however that Lycan was merely feinting. It was waiting for the brief moment of cooldown between her attacks to launch its own…

Yet just when it thought it had succeeded, Nicole’s sword suddenly grew a few inches, icy blade stabbing right through the Lycan’s abdomen. Because of the speed at which the Lycan was already turning about, the sword easily split open its abdomen, spilling its guts onto the floor before it itself had crumpled to the ground.

“Demon Hunter Tenet Three: steel your faith.

Nicole spun her body about and gave the finishing slash to the Lycan’s neck!

At the same time that the second Lycan died, a black wispy mass swooped in on her back, its razor sharp claws raised high in the sky…

Nicole could sense the impending danger behind her, but she had no way of reacting right now. Yet I wasn’t in the least bit worried at all. The moment that black mass launched its attack, Neneth made her move as well. She leapt into the air and brought her massive blade crashing down onto the third Lycan!

Boom…

That foolish Lycan was smashed into the ground. At the same time that her feet touched down, the Lycan’s head finally gave way to the unstoppable force of her blade. She pumped her dainty fist into the air. “Demon Hunter Tenet Four: believe in your comrades!”

Neneth bumped her giant blade lightly against Nicole’s ice and fire sword. The two exchanged a glance with each other, then charged towards Umbra, yelling in unison, “Demon Hunter Tenet Five: never break faith!”

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In order to prevent the scene from further descending into chaos, I not only did not lose my temper, I tried to steer the conversation back towards Umbra.

Unfortunately, I didn’t even manage to get a single word in before the villagers, having been emboldened by my inaction, started tossing more rocks in my directions. As they furiously reached for whatever throwables they could get their hands on, they continued admonishing us as if we were punching bags that couldn’t fight back.

“Protect the master!” Zurnalin and Reyage were the first to react by standing in front of me, magical barriers raised, followed closely by the Dark Elven Assassins forming a protective ring around me. Because I had given the order not to harm anyone, none of the Dark Elves dared to retaliate against the villagers, merely deflecting any incoming projectiles with gritted teeth.

Regine and Jill both took up positions around Ann who was still riding on Mo Ning. As of right now, only Neneth and Nicole were both exposed to the villager’s wrath. However, the both of them were strong in their own right and shouldn’t… or so I thought…

Neneth sent the majority of the rocks flying away with a swat of her door-like sword. However, even a blind chicken could find the corn if you threw enough of it. Finally, a stray rock managed to lightly land on Nicole’s shoulders. Simply because she had no intention of avoiding the rocks or even moving away.

Seeing her endure their unjust anger mutely like that, I finally lost it. My head began to go blank as an overwhelming surge of murderous intent washed over me. The sight of that single rock grazing Nicole continued playing over and over again in my collapsing psyche, as the word destroy started creeping in from the back of my head.

“Kill them.” Angered to the point I started to smile, I pointed at the foolishly daring villagers and yelled, “don’t leave a single one of them alive!”

“As you command, your holiness!” The Dark Elven Assassins acknowledged the command with a nod of their heads. Their soon-to-be bloody knives were now fully directed at the unsuspecting villagers.

With nothing to restrain them, the killing intent of a hundred ruthless, battle-hardened Assassins were laid bare for all to see. Against such a spine-chilling display, a weak-willed person would have fled already. While these villagers were still blinded by their hatred, it wasn’t like all of them had lost their wits completely. The moment that wave of killing intent crashed into them, they immediately stopped their provocative actions and fell to the ground in a terrified heap, having clearly understood what was soon to happen to them. As for those who were just senseless husks of hatred, they were still blissfully throwing their rocks.

Don’t worry… there’s no need to be afraid anymore…because that’s only for the living!

“No!” Stoic as a rock just moments ago, Nicole finally reacted and stepped forth between us and the villagers. Her arms spread out, she stared me right in the eyes. “Our enemies are those monsters, not the villagers!”

The Dark Elves all knew how much importance I placed on Nicole. When she yelled for us to stop, the Assassins promptly halted their attacks and turned towards me in unison. Had they even hesitated for a second back then, a villager would have died already. Perhaps we might have even had a falling out with Nicole because of that, something which I definitely did not want…

“…”

Even so, the moment I saw her in front of me, I felt something in me snap. The clawing feeling of being wronged yet unable to express it both chilled my heart and set it ablaze at the same time. “Anyone who dares to harm you all have to die!”

“…” Upon hearing that, Nicole was startled for a second. But she soon returned to calmly staring at me, shaking her head. “They have reason to hate us.”

A reason to hate us… That’s right. All because I killed almost a hundred of them. Regardless of why I did it, it was a fact that I gave the order. They did have a reason to hate me. I doubt I can absolve myself of Leeder and his companions’ deaths at this point…

“Tell me. What is going on with them?” Asked Nicole as she pointed at the dried up corpses of Leeder and the other survivors. “Did you do that?”

My expression grew solemn. Regardless of what others thought of me, at the very least, I did not want Nicole to misunderstand me.

“It wasn’t me.” I shook my head. “I did plant a parasite in them, but those were spiders, not Vampiric Leeches.”

She did not react to my explanation. Instead, she asked another question, “you’re a Dark Elf?”

I hesitated for a second, but finally decided to come clean in the end. “…I’m not a Dark Elf… but I do have some relations with them.”

Seems like Nicole has picked up on the fact that those black-haired Assassins are Dark Elves… Makes sense. After all, Dark Elves who had their appearance changed by a magical tool all end up with jet-black hair. A very distinct trait, especially given how all 103 of my companions have black hair. Then there’s that male-female ratio imbalance…

“I see.” She coldly nodded her head.

Everyone knew that the Dark Elves worshipped the Spider Queen Lolthe. Even though I never told her that Lolthe was my godmother, just based on how I was interacting with these Dark Elves, she could tell I wasn’t lying. That was because the Witches of the Dark Elves all chose the spider as their parasite of choice, for obvious reasons…

Seeing as Nicole was dead set against me killing off the villagers, I could only swallow my indignation and try to explain myself to the villagers.

“I have already taken out the parasitic spiders living in Leeder last night. As for those Vampiric Leeches… they should have been placed in them after I removed the spiders. My spiders will instinctively seek out any other parasites within their host bodies so I’m sure there has to be a traitor amongst your ranks who planted the leeches afterwards…”

“And who is to say you can’t plant leeches as well?”

“Our village has a traitor?! You’re just trying to shirk your responsibility!”

“A bloodthirsty Devil like yourself has already slain dozens before coming to our villager, what more Leeder and the others?”

“Justice! Justice!”

“Get out of our village, Devil!”

“Go to hell, you murderer!”

I didn’t even get to finish explaining before those villagers quickly forgot how they almost died a few seconds back… Do they really think I won’t kill them? Have they never heard of the phrase, do not seek Death, lest he comes knocking on your door?

In all honesty, I was beginning to wonder if I had been too hasty back then. At the very least, maybe I shouldn’t have killed those bandits. However, the moment these villagers started acting up again, any shred of guilt within me disappeared. Instead, there was now a growing part of me that felt that they weren’t even worth saving.

In a lot ways, my current situation was similar to what I encountered in Plateau Villager, the difference being that I was now facing Undead instead of bandits.

Is it really impossible to get along with Humans? But I truly wish to be Human…

“Enough!” Neneth finally broke her silence with a yell. She slammed her sword loudly against the floor, and as the dust settled on that mini-explosion, a sizable hole was left in its wake. A number of rocks ended up flying towards the villagers, striking those at the forefront.

“Neneth believes that Sister Mo Na is a good person!”

Neneth… oh my sweet, innocent Neneth… innocent to the point of almost being stupid… well, I guess that’s why she’s cute… Who would have thought that the first person to stand up for me in this spiralling mess would be the girl whom I had always written off as being naive… I’m really touched, to be honest…

“Little lady, do you think murdering someone can be forgiven so easily?” Perhaps it was because she had confirmed we won’t kill her, that aunty who labelled me a harlot not too long ago was now up to no good again. Her giant flatbread of a face first sneered at Neneth. “The person you’re trying to protect is a murderer. She killed a hundred of our villagers, and based on how she’s acting, she’s probably used to killing as well. Who knows how many have died at her hands. Perhaps thousands? Are you sure you want to cover for such a fiend?”

Neneth was at a loss for words. In the first place, she wasn’t a proficient orator to begin with. Up against a battle-hardened aunty like flatbread face, it was only natural that she would lose spectacularly. She could only repeat that same assertion that her sister Mo Na was a good person. However, such words meant nothing to the villagers.

Cornered, her opponent sought to finish her off right there and then. Seeing that, I wished for nothing more than to throw a giant fireball at that aunty’s face. But I was too late, a wave of sword energy swept across her feet, missing her toes by a mere centimeter!

“To think we have to protect people like you… How sad…”

Nicole glared icily at that aunty, then having left those words behind, turned around and walked out of the village.

Who was Nicole feeling sad for? In all likelihood, for herself…

“Wait for me, sister Nicole!”

On the verge of tears not too long ago, the innocent and pure girl that she was quickly recovered and chased after Nicole the moment she realised Nicole was off to face Umbra.

Nicole… so this is the decision you’ve come to… for a bunch of people like them…

“Nicole!”

“…” Hearing me call out to her, Nicole stopped for a moment. Her back remained faced towards me, but her long hair was currently blowing behind her in the wind. Even after all these years, she was still that beautiful, back faced to me or not…

“There’s no need to care about these people. Come with me instead.”

I tried to persuade her once more. However, her hesitation barely lasted a second before she shook her head and continued forward… do you really have to go that far for them…

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Witches are an offshoot occupation that have its roots amongst Demonesses. Some of their fortes include Alchemy, Curses and Parasitic Insects. Curses as an art is a rather special branch of magic. It contains a wide variety of spells that borrow from almost every branch of magic. While its most common variations have to do with Darkness and Psychic magicks, there are spells that come from the Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and even Light branches.

In recent times, Witches have gained independence as an occupation, no longer serving their Devil patrons or believing in them. Because of that, most Witches can no longer be considered Demonesses. While they might have lost the abilities granted by Devil worship, they have also gained an equal degree of freedom.

Strictly speaking, Witches that have broken free from their Devil patrons do not necessarily have to be a threat to humanity. A recently trending small-scale healing potion and mana recovery potions are both products of Witches.

—– The Modern Witch and Understanding Them

The situation was dire, but not in the way most would imagine. The opinions of the villagers weren’t even on my mind right now. Instead, what truly concerned me was how Nicole viewed this mess.

The moment Umbra uttered those fateful words, she immediately threw me a look. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking when she did that, but in order to avoid any misunderstandings, I started explaining myself to her with utmost trepidation. “Back then they were trying to rob me and also… Well, I won’t go into the details of what else they wanted… That’s why I killed them in a fit of anger. I’ll admit I did place parasitic spiders inside Leeder and those other bandits, but I’ve already removed them last night. In other words, they aren’t even under my control now…”

Hearing that, her expression softened a little. Her brows were still knitted together but she remained silent for the most part.

Does this mean she believes me then? Even with all those holes in my story?

“Ah…”

Just as I was mulling over how to regain Nicole’s trust, I heard several pained cries from the direction of the villagers. Those were soon followed by panicked screaming…

“Leeder… what’s going on with you all…”

“Arsen! Are you all right, Arsen…”

“Stop scaring me, Dolan!”

I hurriedly turned to look in their direction, only to witness a sight that drained the blood from my face.

I had clearly removed the spiders from their bodies, and any talk of spider eggs within them was all fake. Yet what was happening right now could be said to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back for the villagers.

As the screaming became more widespread, the remaining eight bandits were started to transform. Their bodies were being drained out at a visible pace as if something was sucking out all of their blood. What had to be the most headache-inducing part was that this transformation did not kill them right away. Instead, they were all crawling towards me with despair and disbelief in their eyes. The visceral look of anger and betrayal in their eyes was gut wrenching, to say the least.

With barely any life left in him, Leeder managed to get the closest to me, seeing as he was a Four-star unlike the rest. With his dying breath he tried to reach for me and said, “Sirs… why… we didn’t even…”

And just like that, he expanded the last bit of his life without ever expressing the regret and anger in himself. His eyes were wide open as they admonished me even in death, his body no longer able to enunciate the maelstrom of emotions they stored up at that single moment.

By now, not only Leeder had died, the remaining seven of them all died in a similar fashion to him -reduced to a dried up corpse.

Impossible… I know I removed the spiders from their bodies… and those spiders don’t kill their host by draining their blood…

Not long after they died, countless finger-thick, blackish-red worms started crawling out of their orifices in a horrifically disgusting display.

“Master… those are Vampiric Leeches…” Jezsere was quick to say. While she might have been timid, she was still a well-read Mage. From the moment the first leech crawled out of Leeder’s body, she had already recognised it. “They are a common tactic amongst Witches… but they have a troublesome stipulation that their eggs have to be ingested orally…”

Orally? So they just ate something bad then?! And what’s a Witch? Crap, now’s not the time for explanations as well… those villagers are starting to act up…

“They are the ones… Murderers…”

“Devil… get out of our village!”

“Vengeance! Vengeance for our kin!”

“Chase them out of the village!”

Now that Leeder and the others were all leech bait. The situation with the villagers deteriorated rapidly. They first backed away from his body, and upon confirming that they themselves weren’t in danger, they somehow mustered the courage to try and condemn me.

Without a doubt, they all believed that Vampire’s words about me implanting creatures in Leeder’s body. While it was true that I did implant a parasite in each of them, that Vampire conveniently left out what it was that I implanted in them. That was why they ended up laying the blame on me…

In all honesty, this situation couldn’t be any worse. How was I to explain myself at this point? Telling them that I had already removed those spiders last night was basically an admission of guilt. Furthermore, if I could implant spiders in them, who was to say that I couldn’t implant leeches in them as well. Either way, whether it was the spiders or leeches, none of them mattered at this point. The death of those bandits outside of the village had caused their minds to be clouded by hate…

Curses. We’re practically dancing in the palm of his hands… did he already predict this when we first came into contact with Leeder? Last night, I even made sure there were no other parasites in Leeder’s body too. Those spiders will never allow another parasite to live in their host’s body to begin with… So the leeches were planted afterwards? But the Assassins were all on high alert last night so that Vampire couldn’t have snuck in and implanted those leeches. Furthermore, those leeches have to be ingested orally and Leeder himself didn’t seem to know of their existence… so there’s a traitor amongst us then… someone that is close to Leeder as well, otherwise Leeder would have never eaten their parasite-laced food.

The villagers could basically be split into two camps at this point. One that called for vengeance and another that called for me to get out. Either way, they were completely opposed to me.

From the sidelines, the Vampire watched the scene unfold with a barely disguised smirk on his face -how I wanted to punch him there and then. This whole charade, while not directed by him alone, surely had his involvement.

Regardless, those villagers were starting to get on my nerves at this point. Not to mention that special trait of Humans that was starting to reveal itself. When enough Humans gathered together, they often acted in ways they otherwise would not have..

Their yelling had only grown fiercer by the minute. Being timid as she was, Jezsere was already shivering in my arms from the fright. The outpouring of negative emotions was also starting to give me a headache.

If I wanted to find out who planted those leeches, all I really had to do was ask the Assassins who Leeder came into contact with last night. However, those Villagers would most likely doubt my words, assuming they even gave me a chance to explain myself at this point.

Perhaps it was because I hadn’t said a word so far, but a number of villagers were starting to get ahead of themselves…

It all started with a boy tossing a rock at me -something about how his mum was killed by that Vampire and how his dad was killed by me and how he was now an orphan…

“Give me back my daddy!” He yelled as he threw the rock. Zurnalin immediately reacted by swatting down the offending object despite the fact it could have never harmed me to begin with. However, Zurnalin looked unusually angry right now. Not only Zurnalin, the rest of the Assassins were furious as well.

Zurnalin even tried to thrust her sword at the brat who threw the rock but was stopped by me.

“Zurnalin! Calm down.” I stepped in to stop her. He was just a child, at the end of the day. It was also a fact that I killed his father; it was only understandable that he would do that.

Even so… hatred truly was a terrifying thing…

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The shock of the Anti-light Barrier wasn’t one to dissipate so easily. Because of its existence, the Vampire and his minions could operate in day unimpeded. That was a cause for concern, for sure, but it wasn’t like the Undead were just as strong as they were in day as in night. The night itself enhanced their abilities, so it wasn’t all bad news, at least. However, Humans were never a logical species to begin with. Especially not when the villagers were nothing but a makeshift army with no training. Our morale had taken significant damage and our previous plan was basically null and void.

We had banked on the Undead being weakened and the Vampire being absent. Both of these were now false. That Vampire was standing in front of us without a care in the world and had even taken out a barrier to block the sunlight. Truly, the tides had turned against us.

“Did you really think my brains had turned to mush? If I already knew about our weakness in the day, why would I still give you 24 hours to consider? I’m sure you know the answer to that question now.” The Vampire smugly proclaimed while basking in the shocked looks of the villagers. “But it’s not too late yet. My earlier proposal still stands. If you all want to live, you, you, you… and you, have to leave the village. Only then will I forgive these innocent villagers.”

“…”

That Vampire’s motive couldn’t have been as simple as chasing us out of the village. If it was, he could have done that by force rather than persuade us… Was he trying to get the villagers to chase us out then? But we were going to leave anyway… Either way, we will know soon enough what his plans are.

I wasn’t going to let this Vampire get his way regardless of what he had in mind. Even though I did not specialise in psychic magic, fooling a bunch of ordinary villagers was no problem at all. After all, Lust Demons and Illusion Demons were both the strongest psychic users amongst the Seven Original Sins. With both of them in my bloodline, psychic magic was a walk in the park.

“Everyone, you mustn’t believe his words. Vampires have only seen Humans as cattle. He might not kill you right now, but he will turn your village into a blood farm. Just like before. One villager at a time. Till everyone is dead!”

My psychic suggestion proved effective once more. Just a few seconds ago, their hearts were beginning to waver but they were now back on my side.

“Haha. It’s true we Bloodkin feed on lowly animals like Humans. But what about you, Occultist? Of everyone here, you have the least qualification to criticise me.” Just when I thought that I finally stabilised the situation, the Vampire suddenly broke out in boisterous laughter before dealing the final nail in the coffin.

“Did you really think that no one else knew about those one hundred villagers who left the village to become bandits. They might not always return with loaded coffers and full strength, but they at least returned. So why have only eight of them returned now? Where did the rest go? Aren’t you fools curious at all?”

“That’s right, Nasus left with Leeder as well. But when he returned, there were only Arsen and a few others. I tried to ask around but Leeder refused to say…”

“Leeder! Where is my son, Harvey? Tell me the truth…”

“That’s right. My husband used to return with you as well, but I haven’t seen any signs of him at all. Don’t try to brush it off as some business deal, I want the truth!”

“Uncle… where is daddy?”

“Leeder, I only have that one son. If someone were to happen to him, how do you want this old bag of bones to live…”

Umbra’s word had set off a chain reaction of unease amongst the villagers. Their already tense emotions were amplified to the point where they broke free of my psychic magic and began bombarding Leeder with questions.

While I still did not know how he found out about those bandits I killed, his motives couldn’t be any clearer. He wanted to see us tear each other apart. And it worked. Leeder and the remaining seven bandit/villagers were no longer able to keep this secret under wraps. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had lied to them before about the spiders being in their bellies, they would have probably spilled the beans to this angry mob.

“Hahahaha. Foolish Humans. Do you still not understand? The one who killed your loved ones is standing before you right now.” Having said that, he pointed in my direction, smiling sinisterly. “See that beautiful lady over there? She’s an Occultist, with abnormal power as well. It was her who killed the other villagers. Not only that, in order to control the survivors, she left a parasite in each of them to seal their mouths. You can ask those survivors if you do not believe me.”

“Leeder! Is this true?”

“Leeder! Answer us!”

“Arsen… is there really a monster in your body?”

“Leeder!”

“Leeder…”

Countless villagers began calling out Leeder’s name in hopes of getting an explanation, especially those who had family members amongst the deceased. Had it not been for the more sane amongst them holding the mob back, he would have probably been torn apart by now.

Even so, Leeder had his neck fully retracted and his head lowered to its maximum.

Yet he wasn’t the only one nervous right now. I was too. Even though killing those bandits was to prevent them from harming anyone else, there was no point saying that now.

If Nicole were to…

I was at wit’s end, but I still put on a brave front to prevent anyone from seeing my weakness.

Leeder still believed they had those spider eggs in their bodies so they dared not say a word. There were no leftover spider eggs to begin with, but the problem was that they did not know this. Honestly, that worked in my favour now since they wouldn’t rat me out.

“There’s no point trying to force him.” Umbra stepped in once more to toss more oil into this raging inferno. “Their lives are in the hands of someone else. Of course, they wouldn’t say anything. Silence is the only reason they are still alive at this point.”

Hearing that, the anger in the villagers was stoked once more. Even though I was the one trying to save them here, and that Vampire was the one who caused them to be in this situation in the first place, the situation had somehow turned against me. At this point, a riot was only a matter of time.

To the villagers, their hero had now turned into an evil Occultist. That same Occultist had also slain their family members without their knowledge. Yes, they were bandits, but to the villagers of Lyon, they had only done so to survive. They should be forgiven.

The ironic truth was that I was actually the one trying to save them, the Occultist and probably murderer in their eyes…

Crap, what to do now? Tell them that their loved ones deserved to die? That will only make them angrier. Blast… I actually wanted to save them at one point too… Now I’m their hated enemy…

“Master… they are scary…” Ever the timid one, Jezsere was overwhelmed by the angry stares thrown our way. Their insults and shouting had scared her into seeking refuge in my embrace.

“It’s all right, your master will protect you.” I tenderly comforted her, in spite of the fact that I needed comforting just as much. I couldn’t think of a way out of this situation. I wanted to ask Ferti’nier for help, but that she-devil was dead set on ignoring me right now.

“Do not worry, Master. If need be, I can kill them all right now.” Zurnalin suggested with seething anger. She took a couple of steps forward to shield Jezsere and I from the crowd. “Not just those villagers, that Vampire as well. I can kill them as long as you give the order!”

From the get go, Dark Elves had always been a selfish race. Had it not been for me insisting on protecting Nicole, Zurnalin and the others wouldn’t have even considered helping the villagers. In fact, not killing them was probably a miracle in and of itself. But I had already promised to protect them along with providing them some assistance in restarting their lives. Even so, what did I get in return? Betrayal. Betrayal at the drop of a hat. Betrayal because of an enemy who we should have been facing together… The situation was now completely out of my control…

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The effect of the gold coins was as good as I had hoped for, so I quickly closed the lid back on the chest. Sweeping my eyes across their disappointed faces, I couldn’t help but sneak in a grin. “I’m sure it will be difficult living in a new environment, but worry not. As long as we successfully make it out of this place, I will divide up this chest to everyone equally, even the young and old.”

There were at least a few thousand gold coins in this chest, from a quick count. Based on what I knew of a gold coin’s purchasing power, that was probably a few hundred thousand dollars worth of money right there. But even if our escape was a success, there would be casualties…

So… if more people died, the more gold coins each person gets… Meaning that even if someone were to die along the way, those alive could at least take solace in the fact that their share of gold would increase… maybe some of the more extreme amongst them might wish that more died…

Yup. Sounds about right. Anyway, as long as those villagers do their best to break through the siege of the Undead, I’m sure even Nicole will have no reason to object. It’s just a matter of how many of them survive in the end… probably not a lot?

Naturally, all that was prerequisite on the Vampire not having a means of immobilizing us. Vampires were afraid of sunlight, and even if his Lycans could act in daylight, it’s not like they would be at full power like they would have been at night.

Speaking of sunlight, why does it feel like today’s sun is missing something? Missing something… what the heck am I even saying… probably just my imagination…

With the prospect of gold on the horizon, the villagers of Lyon were noticeably more motivated as they went about their work. In just a short span of three hours, the majority of the preparations had been completed, not that there was much to carry with them in the first place. The children and elderly had all boarded their wagons and carriages while the men took up guard on the flanks. The defenseless housewives followed closely behind the wagons. Hopefully with those wagons as a front, they shouldn’t meet too much trouble. If there had to be an issue now, it would be my confidence… this is going to work, I think…

“Master…” Jezsere’s uneasy voice came echoing from a distance away as she ran towards me, most likely startled when she woke up to find me missing from her side.

With her arrival, came Jill, holding onto our newest addition, Ann, then Zurnalin, Reyage, Nicole and Neneth.

“There, there. Did you sleep well last night?”

I smiled and spread my arms wide open to receive her. “Master is a big liar…”

“No way. I just had some matters to take care of, that’s all.” Even though it was kind of mean to just leave her alone like that, Regine needed my company more. Sorry, my little white rabbit…

Zurnalin, on the other hand, was more silent than Jezsere. She merely glared in my direction, giving me the goosebumps. She’s not going to just jump me all of a sudden right?

“Master, the preparations are done.” Regine called out while leading Mo Ning along with her from the stables.

Upon seeing me, Mo Ning broke away from Regine, trotted up to me, then nuzzled against me and gave me a couple of licks on the face. However, I quickly pushed her away. “All right, all right. We need to settle the matter at hand first.”

Being the reasonable horse that she was, she was still level-headed enough to know that now really wasn’t the time for being affectionate. Thus, she backed away a couple of steps and took up position behind me.

“Ahem.” I amplified my voice before clearing my throat to grab their attention. As expected, the villagers all turned their heads towards me in unison. By now, our preparations were mostly sorted out and breakfast was about half an hour ago. Everyone was nervous as you would expect. Most people reacted with anxiety when faced with such uncertainty, though there were those who were more distracted by the gold. Thankfully, I already had the Assassins scour the ground for any stray gold coins, lest a riot suddenly broke out.

Taking into account the direction in which the Vampire left and that he would probably be asleep right now, we decided to break through the north side of the village. And if we were lucky, we might stumble upon his coffin along the way. Hopefully… we can roast him to a nice doneness this time.

With everyone ready, it was now time to break through the siege.

For the most part, the plan was pretty self-explanatory. My hundred Assassins would act as the spearhead while my summoned Devils would protect the villagers. Until these Devils all died out, the men protecting the carts wouldn’t act.

Naturally, there was nothing more motivational than good old cash. That was why I decided to speak to them one last time before setting off. “Even though the future ahead after breaking through the Undead is unknown, staying behind is certain death. I vow to protect everyone here to the best of my abilities. And as long as we succeed, I will divide up that chest of gold equally to everyone. Mark my words!”

“Wooaahhh!”

It was said that gold clouded the mind, but were these villagers truly so simple? In actuality, that wasn’t true. It was just that I had infused my little speech with some psychic magic to persuade some of the less strong-willed amongst them.

Ever since I found out that I won’t gain any more abilities from evolving, I started to seek out Ferti’nier for lessons. Thus began my journey of self-learning. Honestly, with my three Original Sins and Lucifer’s own bloodline, I was pretty much a genius at this point. My learning speed was quite impressive, and if it wasn’t for Ferti’nier always siphoning away a large amount of my souls, I would have been a Seven-star by now.

My own mana reserves were nothing to scoff off. Even with a small amount of psychic magic infused into my words, that was enough to send the villagers into an excited frenzy.

Unlike the villagers, however, Nicole had noticed me using psychic magic. But she knew that I was just trying to raise their morale and stimulate their desire to live. In the end, she kept quiet about my little display of underhandedness because it was all for the greater good… Well, that’s a good start, at least…

“Aren’t you guys a lively bunch? So what’s the occasion? A feast of some sort?” A decidedly out-of-place voice abruptly cut into the cheering with its annoying yet strangely familiar tone…

Hold on… that voice… I whipped my head around to check. There stood five humanoids, with the most prominent amongst them dressed in the typical garb of a Vampire. He was a blonde-headed youth with a pale countenance, devoid of any blood whatsoever. When he smiled, he revealed a pair of fangs that glittered in the sun… Umbra… that’s Umbra!

“…”

I silently lifted my head to look at the sky. It was still there… So what is that guy doing here? What the heck?

“Don’t bother, even I’m amazed as well.” Umbra arrogantly smiled back at me. “No matter how many times I look up, I’m always taken aback by how the sun feels on my skin. It’s like I’ve been reborn.”

Reborn, huh? So you do know you used to be a human.

But when he said no matter how many times… this isn’t his first time then? No way. This may be my first time encountering a Vampire in the Western Human Realms, but according to the lore on Earth, Vampires face certain death under the sun. Not unless they sparkled, of course… Maybe Umbra is the sparkling kind of Vampire?

With regards to Vampire lore, there was no one present more proficient than Nicole, a professional Demon Hunter. With that in mind, I turned towards Nicole but found her just as stunned as I was. In other words, they were supposed to die in the sunlight!

So why was this Vampire immune then? Was I missing something…missing something… Wait… didn’t the sun feel like it was missing something…

“What did you do to the sunlight? No, what kind of magical tool are you using?!”

“As expected of the girl I chose, your mind reacts quickly.” Umbra flashed me a lewd grin, proof that I was at least on the right track even if it wasn’t the whole truth. He then began to explain his methods calmly, as if to lord his superiority over us.

“An Anti-light Barrier. It blocks out the portion of the sunlight that is harmful to us Bloodkin. It’s a barrier we developed after tens of thousands of years of research. You should feel honored; this is the first time we’ve employed it. How is it? Stunning, right? Now that the noble Bloodkin possess a means to bask in the sunlight, there’s no one who can stop us now! Humans, you are all our food!”

Back on Earth, I had once watched a film that said Vampires were afraid of ultraviolet light. If that was the case here, then that barrier was an anti-radiation spell.

Looking around, I found that the Undead were not affected by the sun as well, meaning its radius most likely covered the entire battlefield.

But how big was it, actually? Depending on the size, it might even be enough to cover an entire city. If that was true… a Vampire could really function in the day as well. Given time, they might even discover a method of miniaturization that was portable… Humankind would face the same fate as cattle then…