A little while ago.

Right after the regular vampires had jumped into the castle walls.magic

Someone blocked the way of Alpha and Beta, who were slowly following them.

Click-

"Hmm?"

Scanning the one blocking their path, Alpha smirked.

"No matter what, this is a bit much."

"..."

"Do you suggest that a mere knight can stop me, Alpha, the first vassal of the great No Life King?"

The one standing in front of Alpha was Evangeline.

Clang!

Wearing hefty armor that didn’t match her small stature, Evangeline held her unique chubby expression while gripping her shield.

Alpha clicked his tongue.

"To go as far as putting up a mere whelp like you. Does your side lack notable individuals?"

"Do vampires fight with their tongues, not their bodies?"

After spinning her massive cavalry lance, Evangeline adjusted her posture and grinned.

"Stop showing signs of retreating and just charge. I’ll flatten you like a bug."

"It seems you have some talent..."

Rustle-

Behind the sneering Alpha, a red magic circle spread out like a flower bud.

"It seems you haven’t learned to gauge your opponent’s abilities yet."

The next moment, the magic circles that were closed like flower buds bloomed all at once.

Beep-beep-beep-!

From the countless magic circles that opened, a red magic power flickered like blood, firing hundreds of blood bullets.

Alpha was confident.

With the power of the magic he displayed, he could shatter even a knight in heavy armor.

However,

Thump-thump-thump-!

"…?!"

Fast.

Evangeline dashed over the castle walls with a speed that made it hard to believe she was wearing such heavy armor.

Boom!

Blood bullets exploded right behind the soles of the knight, scattering and exploding.

However, Evangeline ran zigzag without blinking an eye, barely avoiding the attacks.

"What the-"

Evangeline reached right in front of the startled Alpha in no time.

"For someone who has lived quite a long time..."

There was a teenager’s cruel smile on the girl’s lips.

"It seems like you can’t gauge your opponent’s abilities!"

Swish-!

The lance coated with sacred power cut through the air and thrust forward.

But just before the lance could touch him, Alpha spread a blood magic shield in front of him.

The shield shattered and bought time, Alpha managed to roll his body to the side and evade it.

"Tch…! Annoying!"

Alpha, who had rolled on the ground, gritted his teeth.

Evangeline swished her mouth as if it was a pity and shook off the tip of her lance.

"Tsk, this armor is sturdy, which is good, but it slows down my weapon swinging..."

Evangeline’s armor, the Golem Armor, was a double-edged sword. It had exceptional physical and magical defenses, but imposed penalties on attack speed and movement speed.

However, Evangeline ignored the movement speed penalty with her unique attribute, [Unstoppable], maintaining her swift movement speed like a flying squirrel.

However, the attack speed penalty was unavoidable, so the speed of the cavalry lance was significantly slower than usual.

Alpha could easily realize this. The female knight was much more agile than she seemed.

’Then I just have to reduce the power of the blood magic and increase the firing speed!’

Again, blood magic circles spread out behind Alpha.

Beep-beep-beep-!

Again, hundreds of blood bullets were fired. This time, each bullet’s power was reduced, but their speed was significantly increased.

However,

Whoosh-!

This time, Evangeline raised her shield and bravely charged straight forward.

"What…?"

The blood bullets that poured out like rain exploded like fireworks on the shield.Through the dense blood mist created by the exploding blood bullets, Evangeline advanced like a tank.

From behind the shield, Evangeline showed a grin.

"If you reduce the power, I can simply block it!"

Damage reduction through the shield for the first time.

Offsetting secondary damage with the high magic defense of the Golem Armor.

And absorbing the incoming damage with her 1st skill, [Damage Save]!

Because Alpha had lowered the individual damage of the blood bullets, she was able to receive hundreds of shots comfortably due to the damage reduction and offsetting by the shield and armor.

"It was good that you tried to be cunning, but you’re just a mosquito, old man!"

She charged towards Alpha again.

Evangeline’s spear tip glowed white hot as she thrust it forward.

"That’s the wrong answer~!"

Thrust-!

The damage she had accumulated by taking hundreds of hits was redirected back at Alpha through Evangeline’s second skill, [Damage Payback].

***

On the opposite rampart.

“...”

"..."

Whooooosh-

A chilling wind blew amidst the tense stand-off between Lucas and Beta.

Lucas had his double-handed longsword lowered, and Beta, likewise, held her axe low with both hands.

The knight and the monster stood still about ten paces apart, each measuring the other’s fighting spirit.

“...”

"..."

There were no weak points.

The stances of the human who had trained his body to its limits and the vampire were near perfect.

They both refrained from making the first move, as the one to attack first would be at a disadvantage.

"...Hrmm."

The first one to break the silence was Beta.

What she found unbearable was Lucas’ cold and dignified face, similar to a statue.

An inferior human being.

The audacity of him standing his ground in front of her, a warrior of equal standing.

She wanted to trample on that clean-cut face as soon as possible... Beta thought.

And a seasoned warrior’s body moves with the mind.

Thrust-!

Beta’s thigh muscles swelled like balloons, and with a powerful leap, she charged forward like a ray of light.

The distance of ten paces was reduced to one in an instant.

Screeeeeeeech-!

A gust of wind wrapped around her screaming axe.

The muscles in Beta’s arms, holding the axe, bulged, threatening to burst through her maid uniform.

She brought the axe down with all her might.

Crassshhhhh!

Her axe struck the rampart, shattering the fortification.

Solid bricks turned to sand, metal plates were ripped apart, and iron bars were twisted like candy canes.

The impact was enormous, akin to being hit by a siege weapon.

But the axe hitting the rampart meant the knight had evaded the attack.

"...!"

Looking at the place where her axe had landed, Beta’s red eyes swiftly moved to the side.

“...”

Lucas was still standing there, expressionless.

He was just one step, a single step, away from the impact zone, having evaded Beta’s attack.

And with the same emotionless face, he looked down on Beta.

His gaze was full of disdain, as if he was looking at a bug.

"Hmph."

Beta furrowed her brows.

It was irksome.

This human knight, who was supposed to be the bug, was looking down on her. She wanted to gouge out those insolent blue eyes.

Screeeeeech-!

So she swung her axe horizontally towards the knight’s face.

There was no wind-up, just a horizontal slash with tremendous speed, powered by her overwhelming physical strength.

However, he evaded it.

Lucas moved like a feather, narrowly avoiding Beta’s axe.Despite Beta launching over five attacks in a flash, Lucas had managed to dodge them all with the minimal movement necessary.

And then.

Ching-!

For the first time, he brought his sword against Beta’s axe.

With a precise strike to the side of the axe, he deflected its course.

Lucas hadn’t even moved his feet, and Beta’s axe, thrown off course, embedded into the ground beside his foot.

"...!"

"You’re slow. Much slower than your king."

Lucas muttered impassively at the wide-eyed Beta.

"You need more training. I’d ask you to be faster."

Beta hissed, baring her fangs. Staring at the infuriated monster, Lucas squinted.

"Oh, is that all you got?"

The light clusters unique to skill use began to form around the longsword held by the knight. It was his first skill [Strike of Will].

The number of monsters he had slain with this skill already exceeded a hundred.

As a stacking type skill that grows stronger with every monster slain, the might of a hundred-stack [Strike of Will] was...

"You’ll die."

It was not inferior to that of the monster.

Crassshhhhh!

Lucas’ sword swung down from above, and the bricks on the rampart all simultaneously shot towards the sky.

***

Evangeline’s eyes widened.

Her thrown spear tip was hanging in mid-air.

“Huh?”

When she came to, Evangeline felt as though she was bound in webs of spider silk, unable to move an inch. She was still in the position of having swung her spear.

"What the hell is this? What’s going on?"

Evangeline hurriedly looked around and saw a dense fog of blood surrounding her.

It was a blood mist, caused by the exploded blood bullet that she had blocked, spreading all around.

"The battle often starts with laying the groundwork, young human."

Alpha mocked her, taking steps towards the immobilized Evangeline. The vampire’s long fangs glistened.

"You thought I scattered the blood bullet without a purpose? How naive."

"Hey, sto...! Let me go!"

"I may not fancy sucking the blood of a child, but..."

Alpha’s hand went up to the armored portion of Evangeline’s neck. His fingers began to glow red, preparing to disintegrate the armor.

"Taking the life of a talented human, that’s quite enjoyable."

"…!"

Thud-!

With a direct hit from the blood magic, the neck guard was blasted away in an instant. Evangeline’s slender, pale neck was revealed between the armor pieces.

"I’ll have a good meal. Your life."

After whetting his appetite, Alpha drove his fangs into Evangeline’s neck.

Splat!

Blood spurted out.

***

Immediately after swinging his sword, Lucas shuddered.

From the thick smoke caused by his own sword strike... the sword wouldn’t budge.

’What?’

A moment later, as the smoke cleared, Lucas saw why.

Beta had caught it.

Beta was holding Lucas’ sword in her left hand.

Well, to be precise, ’caught’ was hardly the right term.

Lucas’ sword was lodged in Beta’s hand, having torn through it and burrowed into her forearm.

But she was regenerating.

Lucas’ longsword was the [Undying Fortress Longsword], forged with the devil’s bone marrow.

The healing reduction rate applied to this weapon, a natural enemy of vampires, was a whopping 75 percent.

Yet Beta’s immense regenerative power, her natural healing coupled with physical enhancement, was recovering her severed arm with just the remaining 25 percent.

So... it was stuck.

Between the muscular bulge inside Beta’s forearm, Lucas’ longsword was trapped.

Hehe.

Beta grinned, her mouth stretching monstrously on both sides.

She then mouthed silently. Lucas was able to read her lips clearly.

You. Can’t. Dodge. Now.

Splat-!

The axe in Beta’s right hand cleaved Lucas’s chest.

--TL Notes--

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