Chapter 106 - Increased Payment (1/2)

Ch. 106: Increased Payment

Loren ended up swinging his great sword until morning.

The undead that attacked them were slow and weren’t a threat individually, but there were just too many of them.

At the enemies whose numbers didn’t seem to drop no matter how many he cut down, Loren started to worry that it could come to the worst, the sky began to lighten, and morning soon came so the attackers gave up and disappeared.

After all of them disappeared, Loren pried his unmoving fingers off the handle of his great sword and dropped it to the ground.

Thinking that it would’ve been bad if there had been more proper vampires than there were, Loren stuck his great sword into the ground and sat down on the ground, breathing hard.

Loren thought that the only reason they managed to drive the attacker off was because most of them were the slow, zombie like enemies.

The amount of fatigue he felt told him that if it wasn’t for that, it would’ve been possible that they would’ve fell prey to them.

But he couldn’t afford to rest all day.

Although they had survived the attack during the night, it couldn’t be said that they were completely out of danger’s path.

Even though they didn’t know who it was, the fact that there was an attack meant that whoever it was knew their position, and there was no telling when the next attack would be.

“Let’s start moving. We can’t handle another attack.”

“Looks like we took quite the difficult job.”

Lapis quickly started taking down the camp even as she complained.

Loren stood up to help her, but Lapis stopped him with her hand and he ended up sitting down again.

“I’ll take care of the camp. Loren you should rest as much as you can.”

Even though she had used > the whole time, unlike divine arts, it didn’t drain any of her strength, and since she was a demon, she was stronger than a human as well.

Watching Lapis, who showed no signs of fatigue other than lack of sleep, quickly take down the camp, Loren took deep breaths and relaxed his body, trying to recover as much as he could.

“I’m impressed that you managed to keep swinging that until now.”

Dia was looking at Loren’s great sword.

Although it was made of many kinds of materials from its handle to the tip of its blade, the great sword, which was completely comprised of the color black, had cut through and crushed the undead all night, and as a result it was sticky with flesh and blood.

Loren knew that he should wipe it off or else it would rust the blade, but his body wouldn’t listen to him, and although he tried to reach for it, he felt that he wouldn’t be able to lift it up.

“Keep resting. I can wipe it for you.”

Seeing Loren’s shaking hand reaching for his great sword, Dia grabbed it by the blade and pulled it out of the ground.

Seeing a small girl lifting a sword that was taller and thicker than her was a strange sight, but what made Loren’s eyes widen was that Dia had grabbed the blade, which caused her hand to be covered in blood as well.

Vampires getting drunk off blood was well known.

It was a phenomenon where a vampire that touched or saw blood would lose its reason and start killing left and right, but although Dia was an Elder, she was a vampire as well, so she should have the same kind of thirst.

Although it was the blood of the undead, Loren was afraid that if she touched human blood, she would get drunk from it.

But with just a disgusted expression at the blood on her hand, she took the wet cloth that Lapis had brought her and started cleaning the blade.

“H-hey?”

“Don’t worry. We Elders can keep all other impulses except our blood impulse that happens once a year down with our willpower. Which is why there is no way for us to keep our blood impulse down.”

“Just wondering. Is there a possibility that one time hasn’t come around yet?”

It seemed to be an impulse so strong that they couldn’t keep it at bay.

And since Dia was an Elder, if she somehow went under its influence and attacked them, there was no way for them to escape.

And from what she had told them, one person would have his blood sucked out completely.

If it wasn’t, the supposed five hundred victims should be existing somewhere.

Loren had heard before that the powers of a victim of a vampire was reliant on the parent vampire.

Undead that were victims of normal vampires as well as Trues were already quite terrifying, so if undead created by Elders were roaming all around free, it wouldn’t be surprising if the world would end soon enough.

“Ahh, well, you know. If it happens, I’ll think of something.”

As Dia looked away slowly as she said that, Loren, without thinking, forced his body to move away from her, and seeing him, Dia frowned.

“It’s a joke. I’m already done with it. If not, I wouldn’t ask humans for help.”

“Bad taste for a joke…”

It was a life relating matter.

Wiping cold sweat, Loren sat down again, and Dia picked up the cleaned great sword and handed it to him.

“A great sword made of magic iron. Humans have quite fine weapons as well, I see. It must have cost you a fortune. Take good care of it.”

“Magic iron?”

“What? You’ve been using it without knowing?”

As Dia looked surprised, Loren glanced at Lapis.

Lapis, who was putting up camp, didn’t seem to notice their conversation, much less his gaze.

“You know that demon kin reside in the center of the continent, surrounded by mountains, don’t you? It’s a metal that could be found there. It’s a valuable material that gains different attributes when mana is poured into it, so it’s very rare to see a weapon which is made up of so much of it. It’s usually spread thin across a normal steel blade or just the blade being made of it.”

“It’s quite expensive, I’m guessing?”