Chapter 96.3 (1/2)
One of the Pure-breed Vampires who wors.h.i.+pped Hihiryushukaka, Ternecia, had been defeated by an adventurer.
This was big news that was enough to shake the world.
However, the greatest effect of this news was not on the surface of society, but on a society of individuals who squirmed in the darkness, a society that was difficult to even call an underworld.
The Vampires who wors.h.i.+pped Barurushapeh, the Evil G.o.d of Foreign Writings, stirred.
After the Pure-breed Vampire who was their leader was defeated by the Pure-breed Vampires who wors.h.i.+pped Hihiryushukaka, they left the Bahn Gaia continent and had survived up until now by remaining hidden.
However, they had spent a long time gathering strength. Now, they had decided that Ternecia's death, the disappearance of one of their bitter enemies, was a good opportunity to restore their status.
It would be particularly convenient to establish a position in the Hartner Duchy of the Orbaume Kingdom and a part of the Amid Empire, where an empty s.p.a.ce had opened with Ternecia's death.
But the Five-colored Blades were working in the Orbaume Kingdom, led by the new S-cla.s.s adventurer Heinz.
With that being the case, the Vampires made moves into Kalahad, a maritime va.s.sal nation of the Amid Empire to its south.
But the Storm of Tyranny, the party led by Schneider, the only S-cla.s.s adventurer in the western region of the continent, was working there. However, they hadn't performed any major deeds recently. And the party was led by someone who, despite being an S-cla.s.s adventurer, was a depraved man who had a weakness for money, alcohol and, most of all, women. The Vampires thought that if they crushed each member individually, they could be victorious.
After finding out that one of the Storm of Tyranny's members was Zod… the Pure-breed Vampire Zorcodrio, they felt certain that they could win.
Guon, the leader of the Vampires, had heard from his previous master that Zorcodrio had once been defeated in ancient times.
According to that story, Zorcodrio was the man with the least talent in magic and combat among the Pure-breed Vampires.
According to that story, even during the battle between Alda and Vida, Zorcodrio had been the first one to fall at the frontlines.
It was said that there were around a hundred Pure-breed Vampires. With a hundred of them, naturally, some of them would turn out to be failures. Zorcodrio was one of those failures, the weakest Pure-breed Vampire.
Guon decided that this was the case after remembering his former master's words.
He decided that the first step of ruling the darkness of the Bahn Gaia continent would be to make a casualty of this Pure-breed Vampire, even if he was a failure, in order to show his power and the power of his followers.
The Storm of Tyranny cooperated with Guon's plans almost too quickly, separating themselves from one another. Guon himself, along with his elite subordinates, surrounded Zorcodrio and attacked.
“How frail…”
Several Vampire corpses littered the plain, which lay in waste as if a storm or hurricane had swept through.
“I-impossible. The elite Vampires that I raised myself, i-in a single instant… They were all at least of count status, Rank 10 and above!” Guon shouted. He was standing stock-still in the middle of the plain, simply shuddering at the monster of muscle before him.
Barely a minute ago, there had been a slim, gentleman-like person between the prime of his life and middle-age standing there.
But now there was a monster covered in steel-like muscles.
“Hmm, you are still young, but have your eyes aged too much?” asked Zod, who now looked like a completely different organism, never mind a different person. “I broke the ones you raised in a matter of seconds. Now then, it is your turn next.”
It seemed that Guon still hadn't accepted reality. “Do not fool yourself! There is no chance that I, Guon-sama, who serves the Evil G.o.d of Foreign Writings, would be defeated by one such as you!”
Guon, who had reached the status of Vampire Emperor, used the Chant Revocation skill to cast fire, wind and earth-attribute attacks in rapid succession.
Zod brushed all of these aside with his overwhelming physical strength. He swung his arm swiftly to extinguish the flames, and the blade of air and spear made of minerals simply bounced off his pectoral muscles and abdominal muscles.
“The one who is fooling himself is you, you rotten youngster!”
Zod closed the distance between himself and Guon in a single instant, the ground beneath his feet crushed and broken.
During the moment where the defensive spell that Guon had cast in reflex was broken, he realized the true meaning of his former Pure-breed Vampire master's words.
Zod had the least talent in magic and combat among the Pure-breed Vampires, but he made up for that with overwhelming physical strength.
During the battle between Alda and Vida, he fought further at the front and more fiercely than anyone else with this physical strength, and after enduring more attacks than anyone else, he was the first to fall.
“Take this! Violent Burst Lightning!”
As Zod began vibrating at such high speeds that his body began to blur, bolts of lightning erupted furiously from him.
Guon's Mythril armor, which was supposed to withstand even the magic of master mages, was pierced by that lightning and his heart was incinerated. He crumbled and fell, along with his ambitions.
Zod, who was releasing an acrid, ionic-smelling stench, made sure that Guon had stopped moving and then exhaled.
“Fushururu*… Just like the electric eels that inhabit Earth that have lightning coursing through their bodies without using Mana, this was my Muscle Technique's move that produces lightning with nothing but the vibration of my muscles. This is the power of science that was pa.s.sed down by Solder, the champion chosen by Peria, the G.o.ddess of water and knowledge.”
TLN*: This seems to be a catchphrase of other j.a.panese muscular characters.
“No, that's not completely science,” said Lissana, who was standing there before Zod knew it. “Solder would cry if she heard that; she didn't deal with macho men well, either.”
“Fuoh?! Lissandono, how rude of me,” said Zod, hastily restoring his appearance.
He wore clothes that were Magic Items that could be restored by channeling Mana through them, no matter how badly they were torn, allowing him to return to his true muscular appearance at any time without hesitation.
“What about Schneider-dono and the others?” he asked.
“They've already finished and are heading back,” said Lissana. “Unlike your situation, we couldn't resolve it by just hitting them a few times, so it was a little troublesome, though.”
The Vampires had tried to persuade Schneider with a female slave's tears. Dolton, the spiritual mage with a mohawk who was concealing the fact that he was a Dark Elf, had been challenged to a drinking contest while the Dwarf dancer Merdin had been challenged to a dancing contest. Lissana had been busy making preparations for their next job with the Guild Master of the Adventurers' Guild.
It seemed that Guon and his followers had used methods other than battle against everyone but Zod. They had been unexpectedly wise.
“I see. However, it seems that I have caused trouble for everyone,” said Zod.
“It's not really your fault, is it, Zod?” said Lissana.
“But this incident was caused by my brethren, even if they have strayed from the path,” Zod continued as he gathered and buried the corpses of Guon and his subordinates.
In modern society, Guon and his subordinates were monsters who wors.h.i.+pped an evil G.o.d, but Zod remembered the times when the Pure-breed Vampire who was Guon's parent was a believer of Vida. They had been comrades in arms in the battle against the Demon King, Zod's brethren who had felt the G.o.ddess's kindness and become Vampires alongside him.
As they showed no signs of reforming, Zod hadn't been able to allow them to escape, but he wanted to at least bury them as a final act of compa.s.sion.
“If you're going to talk like that, then they're children of my old companion, too.” Lissana, who was the incarnation of Jurizanapipe, had fought for Vida against Alda alongside Zod before he was sealed, as well as Guon's master.
Zod had been defeated a hundred thousand years ago and sealed until recently, while Lissana had used the Demon King's circle of transmigration system to be reborn.
Ternecia and Guon's master had been defeated but managed to survive. However, in the end, they had fallen as low as to become hounds for wicked G.o.ds.
“Well, I'm sure those people had struggles of their own,” said Lissana.
“There is no telling what would have become of us if we had taken one wrong step as well,” Zod agreed.
The two of them, who were now in a somewhat dreary mood, completed the graves with blank gravestones and turned around to go back to the city.
“Ouch!” Lissana suddenly raised a hand to her head.
“W-what is the matter, Lissandono!”
Was it an enemy attack?! Zod began pumping up the muscles in his body once more.
“No, it's not an enemy,” Lissana said, frowning. “This is a Divine Message. That Ricklent, why did he push himself so hard? And feeling like I have a hangover when I haven't had anything to drink is the worst, too.”
Gubamon, who had finished moving his prized collection to a base that Ternecia hadn't known about, let out a heavy, weary sigh.
“Good grief, that half-Vampire youngster… he torments us to no end.”
After those events – after Vandalieu vanished into the Dungeon from Ternecia's hideout, Gubamon and Birkyne had entered the Dungeon to kill him together.
However, the Dungeon had been nothing more than a single floor with few rooms, and Vandalieu was nowhere to be found in any of them.
There were rare cases where the stairway leading to the next floor was cleverly hidden, so he and Birkyne searched for a while in case this was one of those Dungeons, but such a trick wasn't present in this Dungeon, either.
It was likely that Vandalieu had used time-attribute magic or a Magic Item to teleport away from the Dungeon. After coming to this conclusion, Gubamon and Birkyne had been left with no choice but to leave the Dungeon behind.
And then they moved their bases with great haste. Ternecia had died, but Gubamon and Birkyne knew that Vandalieu seemed to be a Spiritualist. There was no guarantee that Ternecia's spirit wouldn't sell them out to Vandalieu.
… They had accompanied Ternecia for over a hundred thousand years, but they had been the ones to try to betray that person who had been their companion since the age of the G.o.ds, so it was difficult to imagine that she would try and keep them safe now.
“Curses, what are we to do now! Even if I cooperate with Birkyne… Hah! Wait. Can… can I trust him?”