Celendion longed for death.
He sought an adversary capable of ending his eternal, weary life.
However, he did not desire defeat.
Rather than willingly giving up his life to the enemy, he deemed it more honorable to take it himself.
Thus, he didn't take it easy on his opponents, nor did he deliberately lose.
A fair fight, a battle where he risked everything against his adversary, and dying after a satisfying conclusion.
That was his ideal death.
***
"..."
Looking at his subordinates dying like bugs beneath the castle walls,
Feeling the unrecoverable lives slipping away, the death as evanescent as grains of sand slipping through his fingers,
Celendion shivered for the first time in centuries.
"How could I have held back on such an electrifying game for so long?"
Tossing away the precious lives he had stockpiled like garbage onto the ground. This death game.
How could he have forgotten this for such a long time?
"Look at this wasteful extravagance of life."
Looking at the hill of his dead subordinates' bodies beneath the castle walls, Celendion murmured happily.
"To have held back on such a pleasurable event for so long. I too have become numb."
Seeing their master sincerely enjoying himself, Alpha and Beta smiled broadly.
"Seeing the Lord pleased, we too are pleased."
"But it's still not enough."
The first wave was annihilated right beneath the castle walls.
The second wave managed to climb up to the walls but eventually, they all died.
"Send out all the remaining ones. Let them pave the way with their lives."
Celendion, gesturing toward the remaining Ghoul Legion, sparkled with blood-red eyes.
"As we always have."
"Yes, my Lord. Your orders will be followed."
Alpha, who bowed to Celendion, raised his voice toward the Ghoul Legion.
"Third wave! Prepare to advance!"
A smile similar to their master's hung on Alpha's lips.
"Advance! Pave the way with ice and corpses!"
***
Lucas and Evangeline simultaneously dealt the killing blow to the last Fallen Blood.
"My sword destroyed the Spirit Core first."
"That's funny! My spear was faster!"
With their bickering, I had to intervene.
"Just split it in half. 0.5 points each. 2.5 against 2.5 total. Okay?"
"If you say so, Lord..."
"Hmph. No choice then."
With that, they both reluctantly withdrew. What a waste of time.
At any rate, given our lighthearted banter, the atmosphere at the front line wasn't too bad.
We had significantly depleted our hand, but we had dealt with over half of them without any damage on our side.
It was safe to say that we were off to a really good start.
I raised my telescope to scout the enemy lines. Well, what now, Celendion?
'Six out of ten of your subordinates have been wiped out! You must be getting worried now, huh?'
But.
"…?"
The image of Celendion reflected in my telescope was that of him smiling.
His mouth stretched so wide it seemed like it might rip at the corners.
Maliciously. Eerily. Hideously.
Literally… like a vampire.
'What's he so happy about?'
I swallowed dryly, not understanding.
Considering that already 60% of the lives he had in reserve for his army were gone, what could be so amusing...
"You're laughing, you monster…!"
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
And then, the Ghoul Legion began to move again.
This time, most of the remaining remnants were preparing to charge.
Around 400 ghouls.
10 Fallen Blood.
Excluding the vampires, it was all of their remaining forces.
Graaaah-!
Grrrrrr...!
With a roar that seemed to tear at my eardrums, they began to rush forward with a stomp.
Thump, thump, thump, thump-!
I couldn't understand why they were approaching as I watched them.
Why?
Had they not seen the 1st and 2nd waves get annihilated?
By charging blindly like this, they were completely exposed to our attacks, dying without achieving anything. They should have realized this by now?
"Why... the same strategy?"
As if they were begging to be killed.
Pleading desperately to be killed, they were coming to be killed on their own accord!
Thump, thump, thump, thump-!
The 3rd wave quickly closed in. Lucas looked at me anxiously.
"Lord! They are close! Orders!"
"…!"
Right. This wasn't the time to be lost in thought.
I had no idea what they were thinking when they gave such a stupid tactic, but that didn't mean their charge was light.
If we didn't respond correctly, the front would be breached.
"Artillery! Start firing! Delay their advance! Ballista squad, do the same! Fire!"
"Got it! Fire!"
"Shoot-!"
Boom boom boom!
Rumble...!
Cannons and ballistas spewed fire and arrows from the fortress walls.
"Archers, start sniping! And Burnout!"
I looked back at the Shadow Squad. Bodybag was loading silver arrows into a custom ballista with a telekinesis spell.
"Fire again as soon as the reload is complete!"
Bodybag, having loaded the last arrow, shouted out.
"The reload is just finished, Your Majesty!"
"Burnout! Shoot!"
Burnout, who was holding the trigger, had a red glow in her eyes, and the next moment...
Woosh-!
Hundreds of silver arrows cut through the air and rained down towards the enemy lines.
Boom-!
The silver arrows with explosive attributes completely razed the southern plain of the castle walls.
However, this third wave... was filled with special-enhanced ghoul units.
From overly muscular tank units, to agile units that charged at us, to buffer units that bestowed area-wide fury buffs on nearby ghouls, and so on.
'It's not some zombie shooting game, why are there such variants?'
Anyway, these creatures changed the situation a bit from before.
Boom! Bang!
The ghoul tank units leaped into the air, taking the shower of silver arrows with their own bodies.
They couldn't withstand it for long and shattered in the air, but most of the ghouls underneath were advancing without much damage.
Thud! Thump!
The agile units were dodging all the archers' sniping, sprinting in a zigzag from the front line.
"Tsk!"
"How can they be so fast...!"
Every time the enemies dodged the sniping, Skull and Oldgirl groaned.
Grr-!
Finally, about ten buffer units let out a roar, and the whole third wave got a fury buff.
The ghouls' bloodshot eyes intensified.
The ghouls, who were running on two legs, now started running on all fours. Their speed was much faster.
Drrrrr-!
With far less damage than before, a far larger number of ghouls rushed towards the castle walls.
"Shoot all available artifacts!"
"Understood! Activating artifact!"
"Activating!"
With the Alchemists' shouts, all the projectile artifacts lit up on the castle walls and were fired.
From the stage 2 flame-thrower artifact to the stage 4 gale artifact, all the area-slowing artifacts were activated.
But they all just bought us a little time, they couldn't overturn the situation.
The flame-thrower artifact couldn't penetrate the frost ghouls' ice attributes, and the gale artifact just blasted strong wind.
Boom-!
The automatic defense turret, which had been silent in the middle of the castle wall, started spewing fire earnestly, but it wasn't enough.
Now, they were just at our doorstep.
'We need an area spell.'
I glanced at Jupiter.
"Huff, huff..."
Jupiter, who had been overexerted from the lightning spell, was trying to regain her breath with a pale face.
'Even though she looked fine, rapid firing was too much.'
I looked at the other side.
"I guess you'll have to step in, Junior."
Junior, who had been standing by quietly, gave a fox-like smile.
"I thought it was about time for my turn, Your Majesty."
"Are you okay?"
Junior has an important role in the great vampire war.
Would she be okay managing her condition if she used her strength now?
'All of the area mages are sick...'
Despite my worries, Junior just chuckled.
"There is no problem. Rather, I think I should warm up in advance so I can move properly later. I was about to ask you to let me go first."
"...Alright, understood."
Then it happened.
"Your Majesty!"
Jupiter, who had noticed something, approached me hurriedly and opened her mouth.
"I was the one assigned to be the area attacker in this killing field! Why...!"
"You should recover, Jupiter. There's still a long battle ahead."
"But!"
"Burnout! How much time till the next volley?"
I disregarded the outcry from the wounded veteran, turning to question the Shadow Squad instead.
Burnout was loading an arrow into her ballista, and Bodybag, who was assisting her, promptly replied.
"We will be ready in a minute!"
"Good, Junior. When Burnout's volley of silver arrows is ready, cast your magic simultaneously. Can you handle it?"
"Of course, Your Highness."
Junior glanced at the elderly woman and grinned confidently.
"Just leave it to me."
Roarrrr-!
Meanwhile, the vanguard of the ghoul army had managed to approach the fortress walls.
Those bastards had jumped over the moat and started climbing the fortress walls, freezing their limbs to stick to the walls. I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
"Damien. Pick off the Fallen Blood among the remaining ones and finish them off."
"Roger that!"
"Lucas, Evangeline, and..."
I turned around.
Throughout the battle, five eager newcomers had been standing by, their eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Dion Mercenary Group."
What was so enjoyable about this hellish frontline?
When I called them, broad smiles spread across the faces of the Dion Mercenary Group.
"It's a melee battle. Keep them from climbing up."
"It's finally our turn!"
"We've been waiting for this~!"
"We'll teach these monster brats a lesson!"
I responded coldly.
"Stay cool-headed, focus on defending. Don't get hurt being overzealous. Deal with them systematically and take it slow. Understood?"
"Roger that!"
Well, they sure knew how to answer. The greenhorn brats.
The lead ghouls of the enemy squad began to climb the walls one by one.
"Heave-ho!"
"Charge~!"
Lucas and Evangeline rushed in first, knocking them back,
"One, two, three! One, two, three!"
The Dion Mercenary Group also diligently began pushing back the climbing ghouls one by one.
"Preparation for firing is complete!"
A heavy minute had passed, and just as the ghouls began swarming up the walls, the signal came. I immediately shouted.
"Fire!"
Instantly, Burnout's finger pulled the trigger.
Thwack-!
Hundreds of silver arrows shot into the void, striking the heart of the ghoul army in the next moment.
Boommmm!
Simultaneously, Junior's hands began to gather magical elements. One was of water attribute, and the other was lightning.
"I'll show you."
Junior smiled at the stiffly frozen elderly woman.
"How I wield the lightning."
The water and lightning magic spheres gathered at Junior's fingertips disappeared.
Whooosh-!
Immediately afterwards, a downpour fell from the sky.
The ghouls, reeling from the barrage of silver arrows and the explosion, looked up at the sky in unison, perplexed.
Rumble...
And then,
Flash-!
Above the heads of the drenched ghouls, a tremendously large bolt of lightning struck down.