Thoom...!
—Ah... my apologies, my lady.
—How vexing...!
The battle fought inside the hideout ended, just as Ariella had expected,
in defeat for the vampires.
Those who had become her vassals gained power greater than in life,
yet even so, the difference in numbers was far too great.
With the sun spread outside, escape was impossible; they had to fight at a disadvantage against an overwhelming host.
As a result,
most of the vassals she had painstakingly raised had their hearts torn out and turned to ash.
And then—
seeing the woman standing behind the warrior who had crumbled into ash:
—So it was you...!
The prime mover who had cut down the bulk of her vassals—
the Great Warrior ground his teeth and spoke.
—Krrk...! You toyed with our kin well, you wicked witch.
The great calamity that had recently struck the tribe—
it was no exaggeration to say most of it had been caused by this single monster.
By swelling her flesh like a cancer in the rear, she had let the natives strike the tribe weakened from behind.
Because of it, the tribe had been forced to lose roughly half the territory it had built up.
Their connection to the spirits attuned to that land was cut, and the tribe’s strength weakened somewhat.
Damage beyond absurd.
‘To think the true body of the great evil that inflicted that loss would be something so small and paltry-looking.’
What enraged him most of all
were his kin brainwashed by her—
that, to their last breath, they had called «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» not upon their ancestors nor the spirits, but upon this paltry-looking woman’s name as they died.
The Great Warrior’s presence rippled with fury.
“I did toy with them. But do not be too angry.”
Regardless,
Ariella smoothed her hair and replied, expressionless.
“They were surely happy enough.”
—What...?
“A noble being like me played with those beasts. From a beast’s point of view, it is a thing to boast of even in the afterlife, is it not?”
Open mockery.
Few exist who could endure hearing it and stand still.
———!!!!!
The enraged Great Warrior let out a beastly roar and launched himself forward—
“How barbaric...”
[Mist Form]
Ariella’s body turned to mist and vanished.
A powerful trait that was all but a guaranteed second life for vampires.
Because of this trait, even with the Green Manes’ overwhelming numbers, the purge had dragged on.
That much for ordinary vassals.
How much more for their master.
“Do not mistake me.”
—Do not flee—!
“If it were only you, I would gladly have made you my little dog with my own hands.”
The difference in numbers was too great.
Were it not for that alone, she would have savored that one’s blood.
Veiling her regret, Ariella made her break for the cave’s mouth.
—Where do you think—!
The High Shaman tried to cast to seize that mist—
—Do not hinder my lady.
—...You... Hakahjin! Even the shaman of such wisdom!
Hakahjin, who had hidden to the last moment and watched with care,
cast to interfere with the High Shaman.
Freed from the ritual’s influence, Ariella swiftly cleared the cave.
The assault had begun at dawn,
but her vassals had not been trifles either.
‘I ordered them to use Mist Form and drag things out as much as possible.’
Outside, the sun was now sinking.
When the lingering glow still left in the world touched her skin,
“Kh—...!”
an all-consuming burn of pain swept her body.
Yet the setting sun did not emit enough light to kill her.
After she somehow slipped the enemy encirclement,
she looked over the Green Manes horde.
Even the sizable force that had come to purge her had been reduced by about half,
and the number she had, directly and indirectly, cut down while harrying their rear thus far was surely enormous.
‘This should count as doing my part, yes?’
In truth,
even though she had lost all her vassals, her stature had risen to dizzying heights.
As far as she was concerned, she had done what needed doing.
The rest...
‘My master will see to it~’
She decided to pull out of Green Manes territory as fast as possible.
After wreaking havoc on this scale once,
no matter how barbaric the beasts,
so long as they possessed any capacity to learn, they would not permit her infiltration again.
Fleeing from monsters—
ordinarily an intolerable disgrace for the Nobles of the Night.
But to Ariella, such things meant nothing.
Her mind held
only one thought.
‘Heh-heh... I’ve worked this hard. A special meal... no! At least some special grace, surely?’
The reward her master had promised,
befitting her merit...
“Perhaps... he’ll even feed me the blood of that warrior I saw earlier. Huhuhu.”
In short—
she was thinking only of food.
****
—Do not flee——!!!
The Great Warrior bellowed,
but the one meant to hear was already long gone.
—We give chase!!! To take the head of that accursed worm...
—Compose yourself, Great Warrior.
It was the seasoned High Shaman who steadied the excited Great Warrior.
—It is regrettable we failed to slay the enemy’s leader... but with this, the rear of our territory is stabilized.
—So long as we fail to catch her, who knows when she will do the same again!
—I will not allow such antics.
Thump.
The High Shaman’s staff struck the ground.
The spirits of the earth responded, nodding their heads.
—So long as the spirits keep their eyes wide, she will not play the same trick again.
—...Yet she insulted our kin! Our warriors!
—I too lost a shaman who was a longtime friend. My resentment is the same. But... we will have the chance to meet that witch again someday. Revenge will not be late then.
—...Hff.
—To take revenge, we must first resolve the immediate problem. Young Great Warrior. You are not so dull you do not know even the time spent raging is too precious to waste, are you?
—...True enough.
Barely calming himself, the Great Warrior
looked over the surrounding warriors and spoke.
—The mighty great evil has fled, cowed by our warriors’ strength!
—Grrrrroooooooo!!!
—So now!
His gaze
turned far afield.
—We go to clean up the natives that offended my eyes!
The Great Warrior stepped out,
and the warriors followed with roaring cheers.
****
With the rear cleared, the Green Manes tribe
began their counteroffensive.
The Awakened moved to defend the territory they had seized:
Myohyangsa, the Awakened of Chuncheon City, and the Legion.
Three forces against a single tribe—
and yet, surprisingly,
“Guhk...!”
“Damn it, casualty! Get him to the rear!”
“Healers say their mana is almost dry!”
the side with the upper hand was the Green Manes.
In truth, it was only natural.
Not only did they possess numbers so great it was no exaggeration to say they were born for war—
each individual was far from weak.
Through long experience, these warriors were perhaps soft in governance, but hardened for invasion.
“They’re strong to the point of absurdity.”
The Green Manes had been at a disadvantage before
because they were being attacked on all sides while encircled.
Among those factors,
the vampires harrying the rear had been the largest key.
With the vampires gone,
the four-sided encirclement became three-sided.
The difference was significant.
Even though it was certain the Green Manes had lost considerable numbers,
they now held the advantage against the three fronts.
‘When things seemed a bit in our favor, I thought maybe they weren’t much... In the end, it was only possible thanks to the vampire Youngjun subdued.’
Even accounting for that difference, the battle had swung far more unfavorably than before.
The reason was simple.
————————!!!!!!!!!!!
In the middle of the enemy ranks, something roared—
a monstrous figure that looked over three meters tall.
“Damn it. It’s Fear!”
“It’s that one again...!”
The Legion had faced enemies larger than this,
but enemies stronger than this were rare.
The Green Manes’ Great Warrior—
Kargara.
When he swung the massive greatsword in his hand—
“Gah—...!”
“Lance Corporal Lee Hanil!”
three elite Legion soldiers who had stepped up to face him spat blood and were blown away.
At the sight, Legion soldiers grimaced, uneasy.
Until now, the Great Warrior had focused on purging the vampires and had not stepped onto the front against the Awakened.
But now, with the counterattack underway,
he appeared on the battlefield without a day’s miss and carved a path of slaughter through the Awakened.
“...Looks like a tasty enemy.”
“Uh-oh, it’s the baby!”
“She’s trying to eat a monster again!”
“Help her!”
The Legion, too, was not without out-of-spec powerhouses.
Lee Hyunjin, whose class was “Abnormal Appetite,”
joined forces with other high-level soldiers to somehow hold the Great Warrior’s leg—
—but—
—Ha-ha... The young Great Warrior seems unusually pleased. Best not to interfere.
“...!”
Kurdan, the High Shaman waiting in reserve,
communed with the spirits of the earth to support the Great Warrior,
making it nigh impossible even to check his stride for a moment.
“...How is this even fair.”
To the Awakened,
it felt like facing a colossal wall.
“Damn...”
“If only Sergeant Shin were here!”
As the situation turned against them,
that talk began to spread among the soldiers.
‘...We’ve been relying on Youngjun too much.’
All this time,
the Legion had faced crises far worse than this, time and again—
and yet they had survived and grown to this scale entirely thanks to Shin Youngjun and his cooking.
“The Chuncheon Awakened say they can’t hold any longer. They’re retreating!”
“The monks of Myohyangsa... say with their small numbers, this is their limit.”
“We can’t hold either! If the other two forces fall back and we’re left alone, we’ll have to take all of the enemy’s fire!”
Even with him absent,
even with the combat rations he had made himself—
to be in this state now.
‘Irritating.’
For Sergeant Lee Minjae,
it stung his pride.
“Are we the kind who can’t do anything without Youngjun?”
“Th-that’s not...”
“We are not!”
The enemy assault was fierce.
They had pushed this far in—
unlike past defensive fights at a fortress, a battle in a place with no proper fortifications had many shortcomings.
Conversely,
precisely because of that—
‘We must not miss this chance!’
They had penetrated this deep into enemy territory.
With Shin Youngjun’s vampire purged,
if they pulled back now,
who knew when they could strike this far again.
If, after retreating, they tried to retake this place—well.
They would have to fight a battle tens of times harder than now.
Crackle...
Blue lightning rippled along Sergeant Lee Minjae’s skin.
KRAKOOM!!!
Lightning crashed down and charred a cluster of enemies to cinders.
Soldiers turned their heads at the sound.
Looking back at them, Sergeant Lee Minjae shouted:
“Hold out as long as you can!”
“...!”
An overwhelmingly unfavorable field.
Many soldiers balked at an order that was not “retreat,”
but a few quick-witted veterans nodded.
“They said Sergeant Shin’s party set out.”
“So we just hold until then.”
At those words,
Sergeant Lee Minjae nodded and gripped his spear of lightning once more.
“At least that much—so we won’t be called useless.”
“Ha-ha... Well, Sergeant Shin isn’t the type to say that.”
“Even so... I don’t want to be thought useless.”
Thus,
the Legion’s soldiers clenched their teeth and began a life-or-death struggle.
Tank barrages fell like rain,
and gunners traced red arcs across the battlefield.
“Kh—...!”
Many soldiers took mortal wounds,
and the damage mounted to the point even healers and priests struggled to keep up—
“Hold!”
The Legion’s soldiers
did not give an inch on the line.
Thus,
a fight of torment like an eon dragged on—
“...Ha... ha-ha!”
How much time had passed?
“It’s Sergeant Shin!”
“Sergeant Shin Youngjun is here!”
Reinforcements had arrived.
“Minjae?”
“Youngjun... we held on somehow.”
Perhaps from drawing too hard on his mana,
deep dark circles had sunk under Sergeant Lee Minjae’s eyes.
Sergeant Shin Youngjun took in the field.
Within Green Manes territory, there were no defensive works at all for Legion troops to use.
Even so, in such harsh conditions, they had held back the tribe’s overwhelming numbers.
“...Amazing. To hold this long under these conditions. Truly amazing.”
“Heh-heh. Guess we’re not complete idiots without you.”
The exhausted Lee Minjae sat down hard.
“But it looks like this is our limit on our own. It stings the pride, but... you’ll have to fix it.”
“Hm.”
With Shin Youngjun here,
if they handed it to him,
even this brutal field would somehow be resolved.
“You’re probably the only one who can fix this battle.”
All the soldiers believed that.
However—
“You’re telling me to fix this.”
At that, Sergeant Shin Youngjun
waved his hand as if to brush it aside.
“Uh... as if that could happen.”
“What?”
“Come on. Think about it.”
Even if he wanted to cook,
in the middle of fighting this fierce, there was no way anyone could eat.
And if he fought alone,
even with food doping, there was no way he could keep going that long.
“Mm. No matter how I think about it, I don’t see an answer.”
At those words,
shock spread across Lee Minjae’s already haggard face.
“You bastard, Youngjun. What are you saying—that’s not like you...!”
“Which is why you should listen to the end.”
While the soldiers stared blankly at the man they pinned their hopes on,
Sergeant Shin Youngjun
smiled faintly.
Grin.
“I’m not the one who can fix this.”
“...?”
When Sergeant Shin Youngjun turned his body,
the figure of the man behind him came into view.
A hard service uniform and gauntlets of steel.
And—
“Corporal Jeon...?”
a monster armed with dense Madness
stood there.
