CH 141

There were many different types of monsters and races under the term undead. Vampires were technically undead as well. However, vampires weren’t treated as monsters because they had intelligence and reason. Instead, they were considered a race or high-ranking nobles belonging to the undead. And the biggest reason why vampires were considered a ‘race’ was because most undead possessed no threat to vampires. As such, whenever undead monsters were discovered in a place, vampires often took care of the issue instead of humans, orcs, or elves. When faced with the same enemy, other races might suffer a damage of 10, while vampires would only take 1 or 2 damage to wipe out the undead monsters.

However, it was a different story if the enemy was a lich or a death knight. Liches and death knights differed from regular undead. They were born from an artificial power of magic containing evil energy, while regular undead was usually born from naturally formed deposits of death energy due to wars or diseases.

As such, vampires didn’t possess a natural advantage against ghouls or skeletons, which were created by a death knight. Vampires had no choice but to deal with them with their strength alone.

In the case of ghouls, they possessed physical power and abilities rivaling vampires, although they were without reason.

“What should we do?” Clay asked. She was flustered. Although she had lived for decades as a vampire, she had never faced undead like ghouls or skeletons.

“What do you mean? Put your sword away. You won’t need it,” Eugene responded.

“What?” she mumbled, dumbfounded. Her hands were tightly gripping the pommel of her sword.

Galfredik looked at her with pathetic eyes and asked, “Your sword. Does it have silver?”

Clay responded, “N-no. I can’t use silver weapons.”

One needed to be a lord at the minimum to even touch silver coins, and they wouldn’t feel much intimidated by silver weapons unless they were stabbed or cut. On the other hand, lower-ranking vampires, which made up the majority, would shrink in mind and body by simply looking at silver, unless it was at night.

“Tsk, tsk! This wench is even more useless than Selena. But I’m also a tiny bit afraid of ghosts, so sayonara! Kieeee…” The spirit clicked her tongue before diving into her pocket with a strange wail.

Eugene and Galfredik ignored her words. If anything, the spirit could be considered the most useless of them all right now.

“It doesn’t have silver, so what are you planning to do with it? Do you have a mace?” Galfredik spoke.

“Ah, I do,” Clay answered before quickly sheathing her longsword and pulling out a small shield and mace from her back. As a vampire knight, she was capable of handling various weapons like her human counterparts.

“Don’t think about killing them. Think about smashing them apart instead. It will be best to crush their limbs, but you can also aim right here. If you blow away their heads, they won’t be able to move for a while.” Galfredik continued while also taking out two, large steel maces from his back.

Clay’s eyes quivered when she saw the hideous weapons, which were several times larger than her own and riddled with dozens of blunt bumps.

‘Will Sir Eugene use something similar as well?’

Her gaze turned toward Eugene.

“Heup!”

Clay gasped when she saw Wolfslaughter glimmering with a sharp light in the dark. Silver weapons would have similar effects on vampires as regular weapons had on humans. In addition, silver weapons would inflict enormous pain and would weaken a vampire’s regenerative abilities. A critical injury from silver weapons could easily kill a vampire, and even lighter blows wouldn’t heal so easily.

Her vampiric instincts were warning her as soon as Clay saw Wolflsaughter. The sword wasn’t just a simple silver weapon. It was ‘something else.’ And as if to prove it, she felt suffocatingly dizzy and stiff just by looking at the weapon.

However, it appeared both Eugene and Galfredik were unaffected.

“Excuse me… Sir Galfredik, are you feeling fine?” Clay asked.

Galfredik responded, “I’m fine, but I did notice that inferior vampires get stiff just by looking at it.”

“Ah… I-I see.” Clay wasn’t even surprised anymore. Moreover, she felt courage and pride blooming within her heart. She was accompanied by true great figures who had surpassed the intrinsic limits of their race.

However, her newly found emotions disappeared only a few minutes later.

Guooooooo…

The damp winds of the sewers carried a strange cry towards them.

Twap. Twap. Twap.

The deep, dirty water reached their ankles, and the rhythmic, yet chaotic sounds of splashing slowly neared them. Clay’s anxiety peaked.

She tightened her grip on her mace. Although she was a vampire with cold blood, an encounter with an unknown, undead monster was sufficient to make her feel a strong pressure. In contrast, Eugene and Galfredik were relaxed.

“Master. I think they’re coming from behind as well,” Galfredik said.

Eugene responded, “They are trying to surround us. I tried challenging them with my Fear, but they’re not backing down. They’re definitely undead monsters.”

Eugene had realized a simple truth after participating in numerous subjugations. Monsters would either become frightened or stimulated by Eugene’s Fear, but undead monsters would remain unaffected.

Of course, Eugene didn’t really care. He had learned something after his fight with the twin-headed ogre.

‘The undead are useless as long as I can get rid of their master.’

Eugene reduced his Fear to a minimum, just enough to detect the movements of their enemies, and raised Wolfslaughter.

Guooooooo! Guwauuuuk!

After a while, monsters started appearing from around the corners of the two split paths. They were dressed and armed as they had been when they were still alive. The blue-skinned monsters were ghouls.

“P-Philine? Even Matio…!” Clay exclaimed when she saw the leading ghouls armed in longswords and chainmails. It was clear from their jutting fangs that they were, in fact, the missing vampire knights from the search party.

The two vampire knights, or rather, the ghoul knights walked through the narrow path while widening their grotesque, strangely torn mouths.

Guoooooooooo!

An unfamiliar wave of energy washed over Eugene’s party, and Eugene reflexively raised his magic shield to block it.

“Huaagh!” Clay screamed.

Eugene flinched. It wasn’t because he was afraid, but because it was unexpected.

“Hooh?”

It wasn’t Fear, but Clay was floundering. It appeared there was a strange, magical power at work. Eugene was certain that the power originated from the master of these ghouls, the death knight.

Guoooooooo!

The ghouls once again let out a terrible roar and rushed forward. Similar sounds resonated from the back as well, but Eugene didn’t care.

“Kuhahahahaha! Know your place! There are different ranks even within the undead! You pathetic bastards!”

Thuck! Bang!

Galfredik would smash everything in the back. Eugene released the magic shield and swung Wolfslaughter.

Clang! Kkang!

The ghouls were outstanding knights during their lives, and their attacks were quite threatening. However, their swords shattered into pieces as soon as they made contact with Wolfslaughter. Regardless of how polished their swordsmanship was, there was nothing they could do once their weapons were destroyed.

After destroying the weapons of the ghouls, Wolfslaughter continued and separated the heads of its enemies from their bodies. Black smoke soared instead of blood from the stumps, and the ghoul knights collapsed.

“They’re nothing much,” Eugene muttered.

The mercenary ghouls met the same fate. Though they had gained tremendous power after turning into terrible cannibals, they were no more than moving morsels of meat in front of the famed blade, which was smithed by mixing pure silver and meteoric iron.

Shing! Shiing!

Black smoke soared with each sharp swing of the blade. The ghouls shattered and scattered into pieces without so much as a scream, perhaps because they were already dead. Clay’s lips trembled as she witnessed the otherworldly sight. She jerked her head around.

Booom! Bang!

The rear also looked like a mess. Galfredik was literally crushing, mowing, and pulverizing the ghouls. So what if they were cannibals with exceptional regenerative powers? So what if they couldn’t be killed with normal weapons?

Such things didn’t matter when two large, horrible maces were mincing them into mere molecules at a speed invisible to the naked eye. What use was regeneration when their bones were shattered, their skins were peeled, and their muscles were chopped up into million pieces? There had been around 10 ghouls. Galfredik finally turned around after transforming every ghoul in front of him into unrecognizable chunks of meat.

“Kehehe.” He laughed. Clay felt all her hair stand on edge when she saw the crimson eyes glistening with murderous intent. It was strange that a vampire would feel such an emotion, but it was certainly a type of Fear she had never felt from any lord or banneret.

“Here they come again. A little bit stronger this time,” Eugene said.

“Y-yes.” Clay hurriedly nodded, although she had done nothing but watch until now. She soon came to realize that the one who was only ‘a little bit stronger’ was in fact banneret Randolph, who had been turned into a death knight.

Wuoooooooo…!

A low, heavy cry resounded throughout the sewer.

Clack! Clack!

The sound of metal rattling grew closer, and a dark figure appeared at the end of the corridor. Ominous energy wavered like a haze through the gaps in the creature’s armor. The creature’s original color had been drained, and its black figure was even darker than the surrounding darkness.

“Ugh…”

The dark, evil essence of mana contained in the creature was enough to cause even a knight of the Dark Clan to shrink back.

“Black magic?” Eugene immediately recognized the source. He had previous experience dealing with a black wizard who controlled the undead, twin-headed ogre.

“Hmmm. No wonder all of them were done for, including the vampire knights.” Eugene could guess how much evil mana was contained in the creature from how it penetrated his armor and caused his skin to tingle. Ordinary mercenaries would have fainted immediately, and even experienced knights would have been struck with fear.

“This feels a little strange. Ptooey!” Galfredik spat. His fighting will was still burning intensely, though.

Eugene took a step back before speaking, “Do you want to take care of it?”

“What?! Really?” Galfredik was delighted. Even as Eugene’s vassal, Galfredik was a knight in essence, and it was the fate of a true knight to live and die in battle. As such, they always had the desire to face the strong in battle.

“Judging from that thing’s Fear, no, its evil energy, it won’t be easy. So…” Eugene paused.

He held out Wolfslaughter toward Galfredik before continuing, “I command you as your master. Subdue that damned creature with all your strength.”

Galfredik’s eyes glittered when he saw Wolfslaughter’s brilliant edge. He bowed his head and received the treasured blade in the most polite and respectful manner. “As the master wishes.”

Boom!

A mace fell to the floor. Galfreidk slowly raised his head. Wolfslaughter lay in his right hand and a mace in his left.

Woooooooo…!

The death knight came closer while continuously emitting clouds of evil energy. Galfredik’s mouth ripped into a grin. “Kuwuuuuuuuughh!”

The vassal of an Origin—a being to be considered ‘royalty’ of the vampire society, a presence that even the clan’s high lords would show awe and reverence toward. The vassal unleashed all of his powers and rushed toward the death knight with his master’s permission.

Kwarararararara!

“Hiieeek!” Clay sank on the spot as Galfredik’s unleashed Fear surrounded the latter’s figure like an extreme gust of wind.

“Hiiiek! Hiek!” Every member of the Dark Clan was capable of measuring the approximate power and position of another member when that member expressed their Fear. And as such, Clay had finally discovered the truth, as did Delmondo and the other vampires of Mungard did.

The Covenant of Blood imprinted on her very soul was screaming at her.

“D-d-du-duke! A vampire duke…” Clay’s eyes quivered crazily without focus as she stuttered. It slowly moved away from Galfredik and headed toward Eugene. A vampire duke stood at the peak of the vampire society. There was only one class of vampires capable of commanding a duke.

They stood at the apex.

They were the beginning and the end of the Dark Clan.

They were monarchs capable of ruling all of the Dark Clan under their feet.

“A great Origin!”

Kuwuuuuugh!

Clay’s cry was filled with indescribable emotion and awe. It overlapped with the roar of the vampire duke.