The City of the Awakened Dragon was plunged into darkness. The light sources in the city, including street lamps, were destroyed by the aftermath of the earthquake and ceased to function. After turning off the lights and evacuating, people were scattered, relying on torches.
“Hoo…”
Leia staggered and leaned against a collapsed wall. Finally, the earthquake had stopped. The oppressive presence that had dominated the port was no longer palpable. Leia gripped and released the sword hilt, thinking.
“It hasn’t disappeared.”
The resurrection of the Dragon… If such a thing was possible, if it had already happened, then the current silence was like the calm before the storm.
As the oppressive atmosphere dissipated, the humans who had been running in fear began to regain their composure.
There was no time to enjoy peace. Leia ran towards the port. All the Elves must have felt it, but at least there was something she could do. She had to find Ainard.
The most trustworthy general among the five Elf generals, the King’s right hand. She had to find him. With him and the King, they could quell this crisis.
-Kyaooo!!!
“What?!!”
Leia abruptly stopped and gripped the sword hilt. At the entrance of the alley, a grotesque monster was tilting its head, looking down at Leia from atop the wall.
Its yellow eyes met Leia’s gaze.
Bat-like, with ears as large as a human head, pale blue skin, and yellow, pupil-less eyes… The monster, hanging on the wall with a hunched back, reeked of the sea’s fishy stench.
“A… Vampire?”
“Kyaruruk?”
The monster tilted its head repeatedly, then suddenly laughed. Its large mouth split horizontally, revealing razor-sharp teeth.
-Tat!
-Chang!
Without any warning, the monster lunged at Leia. An ordinary human would have been split in half and killed by that single move. Leia instantly drew her sword, blocking the monster’s claws and stepping back.
-Chang! Chang!
“Kyaaaak!!!”
Incredible strength and speed. The monster relentlessly swung its claws, pressuring Leia. Leia ducked, dodging the claws, and slashed upwards.
-Skreech!
“Kyaaaak!!!!”
The monster’s right arm flew into the air. Leia’s hair swayed like waves. She rolled to the side and swung her sword.
-Chwak!
No matter how fast the monster’s reflexes were, they couldn’t surpass the honed reflexes of an Elf swordsman. Leia’s blade scattered the moonlight. With a flash of blue light, the monster’s head rolled to the ground.
-Slurp… Thud.
Leia sheathed her sword as the monster’s body collapsed. She bit her lip and kicked off the wall.
Leia vaulted over the wall, landing on the opposite wall, then twisted her body mid-air and leaped onto the roof of a half-destroyed building.
-Tat.
She crouched low, surveying her surroundings. Her ears perked up, collecting sounds amidst the chaos.
-Kyaaaak!!!
-Monsters!!!
-Help me!! Help me!!!
“Vampires. Franzrit… Bat creatures!”
From beneath the sea at the port of the City of the Awakened Dragon, Vampires and corpses were rising! Far away, on the Elven Fleet, a naval battle was raging against the Vampires.
The Elven Navy, still disorganized from the earthquake, was thrown into chaos by the sudden ambush. Meanwhile—
The assault from the port of the City of the Awakened Dragon was ravaging the defenseless harbor. This… this was unexpected.
‘Not from the inland, but from the sea?’
The Elven Navy’s naval combat capabilities are the strongest in the world. Thus, Leia had never imagined an attack on the port from the sea.
‘Then… is the Dragon’s resurrection the work of the Vampires?’
At that moment, from a corner of the roof, a clawed hand with black fur emerged. Soon, a monster appeared, holding a human arm in its mouth.
“Krrrup??”
My King, I’m sorry. Leia gripped the sword hilt, thinking. In such a situation, as the Wild Prince, she should have been by the King’s side, but the Elven Navy couldn’t defend the inland. If urban warfare broke out, half-Elves like her had to step up.
-Skreech.
The monster’s head split in half. It flipped its eyes and plummeted to the ground. The city’s damage was already beyond control. Vampires and monsters, spreading from the port, were devouring the city.
-Kyaooo!!!!
Not far away, a human was seen being torn apart by a monster’s claws. The monster buried its face in the human’s body, greedily sucking blood.
Leia’s face twisted in disgust. She gripped the sword hilt and leaped into the night sky.
-Kurururung.
In the distance, tremors echoed once more.
A blood-stained snowy field stretched out. Fernandez slowly surveyed his surroundings. The basin, surrounded by massive rocky cliffs, was covered in thick snow.
“The Realm of the Imagination…”
Fernandez carefully brushed away the snow beneath his feet. What he thought was rock turned out to be smooth, polished bricks. Bricks? His hand, digging through the snow, felt something strange.
“A tombstone.”
It was a tombstone lying on the ground. Fernandez cleared the snow with his foot. The ground was filled with tombstones. The snow falling from the sky was stained red with blood seeping from the ground.
-Hoooung…
In the distance, at the center of the snowy field, stood a massive stone monument. The tombstones on the ground lay facing it. Fernandez headed towards the center of the snowy field.
-Sa
