It was a bizarre scenery.
In a world devoid of light, only the crimson outlines, like a sunset, existed. That was the only boundary distinguishing things.
What about the corpses forming low hills?
All were women with silver hair and blue eyes. Their appearances were so similar that it almost felt like the same person had died thousands of times.
Thus, I couldn’t recklessly take a step forward.
The feeling of stepping on a corpse was chilling, and the aura emanating from the woman standing before me was formidable.
‘Vampire.’
It was a foe I had encountered before. I remembered them giving off a somewhat innocent impression at that time, but the atmosphere of the vampire I faced again today was entirely different.
Rather than pure, it felt gentle.
Moreover, thoughts of maturity, composure, and beauty sequentially brushed across my optic nerves.
Furthermore, her frail appearance evoked a strange sense of crisis in the observer. It felt akin to gazing at a flower that might succumb to the wind at any moment.
But I knew.
That being was a monster beyond standard expectations. My instincts and intuition were continuously warning me.
I would die.
That sentence arose with a drop of cold sweat.
Both the archmage and Senior Elsi were alive merely out of the vampire’s small interest. If I provoked her unnecessarily, the lives of not just myself but the other two might also be at risk.
One fortunate point was that the vampire didn’t seem to have any intention of killing me right away.
The woman even managed to show a gentle smile as if she was pleased to see me.
“Did that scare you? It seems you’ve encountered one of my ‘pieces’ before.”
“……‘Piece’?”
I had no choice but to follow the suspicious vocabulary.
‘Piece’, you say?
Are you saying that the ‘vampire’ I encountered was merely a part of their power?
If so, just how many pieces does the vampire possess?
The vampire seemed surprisingly kind-hearted. At the very least, she threw the archmage she held in her grasp to the side to answer my question.
“Gyaah!”
As the archmage let out a groan and twisted her body, blood-red chains coiled tightly around her small frame.
She was undeniably thorough in many ways.
“Do you see the shell my foolish little sister is wearing? It’s referred to as a ‘husk.’ A ‘vessel’ capable of containing a human soul.”
“I have heard of it.”
Feeling the cold sweat on my forehead, I cautiously measured the distance between myself and the vampire.
It was significant that the archmage had been freed from the vampire’s hold. Although I might not have been effective, the archmage would surely land a valid blow against that monster.
Moreover, I still had hidden cards left.
Time Stop.
No matter how legendary a monster was, they couldn’t be free within halted time. Even the ‘saint’ and ‘sword master’ could only move after facing many constraints.
A very brief moment would suffice.
If I could rescue the archmage in that time and launch a joint assault, the odds wouldn’t be entirely against us.
Of course, I doubted the vampire was unaware of that.
I drew upon my magic while cautiously observing the woman’s demeanor. Regardless, the woman continued her explanations in a relaxed tone.
“It was originally a technique I was researching. Although my foolish little sister intruded and stole my idea along the way, a fake is a fake… In the end, I completed the ‘true vessel of the soul’ in the genuine sense.”
“Are all these corpses husks?”
“Yes, they’re vessels containing my soul. Although my true body cannot move, what happens if I extract pieces of my soul and power one by one?”
As she said so, a hand clapped, a sound of impact.
The answer was obvious. The existence standing before me was practically the answer itself.
So, you escaped the barrier, did you?
In metaphor, it meant that the entity known as ‘vampire’ had been divided into smaller parts. No matter how dense the net was, there would always be gaps.
If only it could shrink sufficiently to escape through that hole.
Yet, there were still points that didn’t make sense. For instance, the sheer number of husks resembling ‘vampires’ was one of them.
There were hundreds of husks.
Hadn’t the archmage mentioned that creating a husk required considerable resources and effort?
Yet how could one secretly produce hundreds of husks?
The vampire elegantly resolved that question.
“In reality, too many resources are necessary to create a husk. That was the only challenge, but… I soon reached a new conclusion.”
“……You madwoman.”
As she coughed up a handful of blood.
The archmage spat with a trembling voice. Her verdant eyes brimmed with hatred and fear.
“The reason so many resources are needed to create a husk is that the body has to be replicated with precision in order to contain the soul. At least, it shouldn’t differ from the genuine body! You can’t create such a thing without some price!”
“And that’s why you’re foolish.”
The vampire clucked her tongue, showing a genuine inability to grasp the archmage’s line of thinking. Just then, with a flick of her wrist, the faces of the corpses lying in front of me began to melt away.
No, to be more precise, they should be called ‘transformed.’
The corpses resembling the vampire were changing into distinct appearances. The only commonality they shared was having silver hair and blue eyes.
This was a characteristic shared by bloodlines.
“Why should I pay an expensive price to create a body? I could use an existing one instead.”
“No matter how much you seek the truth, there are lines you must not cross…!”
“I merely granted the wishes of the children.”
The tone of the vampire responding to the archmage’s heated plea was serenely unemotional.
Only then did I realize the identity of all these countless corpses.
The bloodline of the vampire.
Their source of power was likely simply due to having received bits of the vampire’s soul.
“The children wanted power, so I shared a little of my strength. Although they sometimes displayed symptoms of delusion when the influence from my soul became too large…”
The vampire trailed off and subtly cast her gaze toward the corpses at her feet.
Had the ‘vampire’ I had seen been one of those deluded members of the bloodline?
I quietly moved my hand to my waist. Though our relationship wasn’t particularly intimate enough for my blood to boil, it was unavoidable that such questions arose.
“……They considered you ‘Mother.’”
“Hmm?”
As if in disbelief of what I was saying, the vampire tilted her head slightly. I continued to lay out my emerging questions.
“Your bloodline. They called you ‘Mother.’”
“Ah.”
The woman smiled as she brushed back her bangs.
She was an extraordinarily beautiful sight that made my heart race. Yet strangely, my chest remained tranquil.
“Now that I think about it, the number of my children has dwindled… Was that you? How unfortunate, had those children remained, I could have recovered a bit more strength.”
That was the end of it.
The sentiment over losing dozens of ‘children’ was merely that much.
At least it wasn’t the demeanor of someone addressing family. Rather, it felt more like lamenting the loss of useful tools.
I suddenly recalled all the enemies I had slain so far.
Guildford, Leorick, and the vampire’s bloodline members.
Weren’t their lives all ultimately in vain?
According to those who had made contracts with the Dark Cult, it often went like this.
They were forsaken by the world and hung on, only to ultimately be forsaken again by the Dark Cult—a cruel fate.
At this point, I realized once more.
Indeed, the Dark Cult is not a trustworthy entity.
“Hahaha, but it’s alright. I’ve regained about a third of my true power… After all, since this isn’t my true body, I can’t output any higher than this. The time for proof has finally arrived.”
It seemed the vampire had become entranced with herself, no longer paying attention to me.
She simply looked down at the archmage with a gaze filled with deep sentiment.
“The day will come when I’ll announce to the world, to the entire continent, that I am superior to you!”
Just as the vampire was about to slowly raise her hand.
With a clang, a beam of light shot forth.
It was a rush that left no afterimage behind. As if darting through the depths of the sea like a barracuda, my movements within the stopped world swiftly surged.
However, it was just slightly insufficient to achieve my objective.
With a thud, my body was ejected from the halted time. In the distorted spacetime from which I had emerged, the archmage was now situated before me.
Yes, that was the problem.
I hadn’t managed to unbind the blood-red chains that bound the archmage.
As I gasped and displayed signs of exhaustion, the vampire smirked as if expecting it. There was no sign of panic at my ambush.
It was as though she had already known my limits.
“I know, little one. I’m aware of how exhausted you are… I’ve heard you’ve done whatever it takes to achieve feats deemed impossible. Amazing, wonderful!”
Clap, clap, clap.
From the vampire, there were no indications of hindering me. Rather, an air of confidence, as if inviting me to try.
The fierce look I directed at the woman was met with the same indifference.
“But you were just lucky so far… Can you manage it this time?”
Then with a snap, she flicked her fingers. Simultaneously, a painful gasp escaped the archmage’s lips. The chains that bound her began to tighten even more.
“Ugh, ugh…!”
“By the way, that chain cannot be undone even by those called ‘Archmages.’ It’s constructed from intricately woven sorcery. No matter how much the exhausted high expert writhes…”
At that moment.
Clang, clang, clang!
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed repeatedly, dozens of times, without leaving an afterimage.
I was once again bent over, trying to catch my breath. My ragged breathing indicated that my condition was far from good.
Indeed, as a monster that had lived for hundreds of years.
The vampire quickly realized what I had just done.
“Hoho. You concentrate your strikes on a single point after stopping time? Not a bad idea, but how much longer can you stop time…?”
Clang, clang, clang!
Clang, clang, clang!
Yet the vampire’s relaxed tone did not last long.
Again and again, dozens of axe chops battered against the blood-red chains. My handaxe, scattering starlight, was gradually causing cracks to appear on the crimson chains.
It was around this time that the vampire’s brows began to narrow.
A creature of her caliber wouldn’t fail to notice.
The number of axe chops I was unleashing while time was halted was steadily increasing.
“What are you doing…?”
What this meant was only one thing.
