12 hours ago.
The night before Stage 5 began.
Junior came to me, saying she had a lot to discuss, as I contemplated strategies till the very end.
"Your Majesty. You knew I was hiding something, didn't you?"
I nodded.
Junior's attribute [Cunning Fox].
An attribute that hides her stats.
[Cunning Fox]
- Always digs an escape hole. To prepare a trump card, deceives opponents about her abilities.
Since Junior had this attribute from the start, it was hard to get a precise grasp of her stats.
"I knew you'd know."
With a bitter smile, Junior cautiously took off the glove on her left hand.
The back of her exposed left hand was covered in burn scars from childhood, and at the same time, a vivid magic pattern appeared.
My eyes widened.
"This is..."
"You know what this is, don't you?"
I nodded heavily. Junior put the glove back on.
"I told you before that I'd shown you all my abilities, but that was a lie. I was hiding one more thing."
"..."
"But I won't hide it anymore."
Quietly, I opened the system window to check Junior's stats.
Junior's real level, real skills, real attributes...
I let out a small sigh.
"...You showing me this means you're ready, right?"
"Yes. Just finished."
Junior gave a faint smile.
"The skill to hit the vampire king, and my readiness. Everything."
"..."
Junior told me about the results and achievements of the magic research she'd been delving into over the past few days.
I, who had been listening with bated breath, slowly opened my mouth.
"I also got a skill this time."
My level was already 36 at the final dungeon clear.
I should have gotten the 2nd skill a while ago.
But it wasn't a skill that could be normally applied, so I was thinking of sealing it for this stage.
If combined with Junior, it could be used in this stage too.
I explained my skill set to Junior. Junior looked at me with a surprised face.
"Then, if I combine my power with yours..."
"Even if he is a vampire lord, we should be able to kill him."
Immediately after, I shook my head slightly.
"But, Junior. Are you... really okay? If you use that magic, you will..."
"I'm fine."
Junior, who answered with emphasis, let out a fox-like smile.
"Your Majesty. I've always wanted to be a magician."
"..."
"And this front line was the first place to treat me like a real magician since I was born. The moment you gave me my first salary, I decided to show all my abilities here."
Even though it was a very thankful statement...
I sighed.
"But your grandmother will be sad."
"Didn't I tell you before?"
Junior cut me off.
"I never thought of her as my grandmother."
"..."
"So, shall we?"
With a magic circle floating behind her, Junior laughed lightly.
"Should we practice our combined skills all night for tomorrow?"
***
Present time.
On the fortress wall. The final showdown of Stage 5.
Ta-at!
Celendion charged forward.
The speed that was unseen to the eyes, just like what he showed before.
But it was different this time. My party members were reacting to it.
The first to block Celendion's path was Evangeline.
Evangeline's eyes flashed emerald as if she had turned on a night vision.
Exclusive Attribute [Crossroad].
Evangeline's intuition itself that shows the optimal battle path!
Celendion's outstretched hand met with Evangeline's shield.
A burst of red light erupted from the tip of Celendion's hand, and Evangeline's shield tried to absorb the attack, radiating white light.
However, it quickly reached the limit of damage absorption.
Crack!
The steel plate that made up the shield crumpled like a concertina, and the shield that had been on Evangeline's left arm was warped.
The gauntlet that had been encasing Evangeline's left arm shattered into pieces.
A gleam flashed in Celendion's eyes.
"Hoh. Reacting to my move."
Despite her left arm being flung back, Evangeline, with her trademark cocky grin, yelled.
"Do you think I just reacted, you brat-!"
Evangeline thrust the lance in her right hand forward.
Whoosh!
But, the attack was evaded.
Celendion nimbly twisted her small body and skillfully dodged the tip of Evangeline's lance.
Evangeline had anticipated that much as well.
"You won't be able to dodge this-!"
The tip of Evangeline's lance burst into white flames.
Bang!
The absorbed damage had all concentrated, causing [Damage Payback] to explode from the tip of the lance.
"It wasn't a bad move..."
Even so, Celendion defended against that attack by extending a shield of blood magic.
Brushing off his fingertips, Celendion used magic to lift Evangeline off the ground and flung her aside.
"You only prepared three moves, how do you plan to stop me!"
The direction Celendion had thrown Evangeline towards was where Lucas, who was running up from behind, was located.
"Whaaa?!"
"Huh?!"
Bang!
The two knights got tangled up and rolled on the ground.
In that moment, the frontline was empty.
Lucas quickly got up and started to run again, but he was a few seconds too late.
Those few seconds.
A few seconds were already enough. Celendion used a strong push to launch herself forward again.
Towards me.
He ran straightforwardly to suck the blood of me, his first target.
Behind and beside me, Damian, Oldgirl, and Skull started to fire all at once. Whoosh! Whoosh! Beep!
The barrage of arrows were wrapped in whirlwinds, frost, and flames.
The three of them had split up the attribute enchant scroll that I had given to Damian.
Thud!
However, Celendion caught each arrow with his hand, deflecting the remaining silver arrows with magic, and kept charging towards me.
He is a Vampire Lord.
A monster who has mastered both the physical enhancement and magic skills of the vampire skill tree.
As long as both physical and magical attacks are not completely blocked, stopping him is near impossible.
'So we have to block both sides...'
I quickly glanced at both sides.
The 'means' to block both sides was still not ready!
In the blink of an eye, Celendion arrived right in front of me.
I won't just sit still and die! I exclaimed.
"Summon-!"
[Summon Magic: Chimera Origin]
- This magic is one-time use. The skill will disappear from the list upon use.
- The summoned creature's level is the same as the summoner's. Only one summon can be maintained at a time.
- Please specify the summoning location.
It was the summon magic of the Chimera Origin that I got during the Colosseum exploration.
The summoning location is naturally right in front!
Flash!
A geometric magic circle was drawn, and a monster mixed with various animals such as lions, goats, snakes, and so on sprung up in front of me.
The original source of all chimeras. Chimera Origin.
This creature is also a boss-level monster. It should be able to hold off Celendion for a while.
That's what I thought, but...
"This battlefield is purely between me and humans!"
The vampire king let out a roar.
"Do not interfere, hybrid-!"
Boom!
With a swing of Celendion's hand, the body of the Chimera Origin exploded.
The summoned monster filled with venomous blood was destroyed in an unbelievably simple manner.
And Celendion tore through the scattered meat and blood to reach me and-
Grasp.
He grabbed my collar.
Celendion's grinning mouth gaped wide.
The four shiny fangs flashed a deadly light, heading straight for my neck-
Snap!
He bit into the arm that had come between his fangs and my neck.
In surprise, I saw the one who had put her arm between Celendion's fangs and my neck... it was Oldgirl.
Even as her arm was being bitten by the vampire and her blood was being drained in an instant, Oldgirl, with a calm face, turned to me, raised her hand slightly... and waved.
She smiled as usual.
In the next moment, Oldgirl, who had been drained of vitality, groaned and kneeled on the ground.
She had been completely drained by the vampire king.
There was no chance of survival. Oldgirl shriveled up and twisted like an old tree, dead.
While I watched this scene in shock,
"Prince!"
Thump!
Damian, who had been standing behind me, grabbed my shoulders and jerked me back.
At the same time, Skull, who had been standing to my right, drew a silver dagger from her waist and charged forward.
"Your opponent is me, vampire-!"
An archer going for melee.
What are you doing, Skull. Besides, you specialize in long-range sniping.
She wanted to resist, but there wasn't even a chance. Skull swung her dagger, aiming for the enemy's head, just like her codename and specialty suggested.
Purrr-Boom!
She was battered by a blood spell that Celendion swung in annoyance, her body shattered to pieces.
The droplets of Skull's blood, dispersed in mid-air, didn't fall to the ground. Instead, they stopped abruptly, then were all sucked into Celendion's mouth.
Celendion, who had killed Oldgirl and Skull in a matter of seconds, savored the taste of the blood in his mouth and lightly licked his lips.
"... An elf, huh? Hmm. Not bad for a first meal."
The monster with a boy's face curled his lips into a grin towards me.
"I guess I'll have to eat you, Ash, to satisfy this hunger."
Damien desperately tried to pull me back, but Celendion was approaching much faster.
Celendion took a step toward me, grinning as if he was joking, his mouth wide open -
Pooom!
The next moment, Lucas's long sword fell down, flashing from behind Celendion.
"Huh?"
Celendion let out a surprised moan from his mouth just as,
Thunk! Thud! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Lucas's long sword mercilessly cut through Celendion's back and nape.
The Sky Silver long sword had torn apart Celendion's core, and unable to endure it, Celendion dropped onto his knees.
Thunk-!
Finally, Lucas's long sword pierced through Celendion's chest and surged forward, precisely penetrating his core.
He had managed to expose and destroy the vampire's core with his sword, just by activating his skill [Soul Strike].
"... What is that state of yours, knight?"
Celendion slowly turned around, coughing up blood.
"It's as if you are not human... as if you've entered the same realm as us. I even feel a sense of similarity."
"..."
Lucas was a bit different from usual.
His lowered stance was like that of a wolf standing on all fours, and his blue eyes, seen through his disheveled golden hair, were emitting a dangerous light like a beast.
The heat blowing out from his back was rippling like a heat haze.
I swallowed my dry saliva.
'Don't tell me, this guy Lucas...'
Did he use [Beast Transformation]?
I have to stop that! If he uses that trait...!
"Thanks to you, I couldn't sense it. This is..."
Celendion's body slid down to the ground,
"...making me use 'one' of my lives. Impressive."
And then, as if nothing had happened, he rose again.