The severed head floated in the air before it quickly fell to the ground, rolling away.
A deflated groan escaped between its sharp fangs.
"Kuh, kuh..."
The body of Durald, now without its master, slowly knelt down.
Karnak, who was watching, let out a small chuckle.
[Serati has a good sense, doesn't she? She really took advantage of being a subject.]
[Though, it's also thanks to the opponent's foolishness.]
Durald's decision-making was far too sloppy.
Now that he had become a vampire with regenerative abilities beyond human capabilities, he should have acted more decisively.
He should have ignored the fact that his neck was being cut and completely severed Serati's arm.
[Had he done that, he might not have had his entire neck cut off.]
It would have stopped at being half-severed, which could have been quickly restored by the vampire's regenerative power.
[Or he should have given up on her arm from the start and focused on protecting his neck.]
Had he done that, they both might have walked away without significant injuries.
[He should have either acted like a human or like a vampire. He needed to be decisive, tsk tsk.]
[Well, it hasn't been long since he became a vampire, so it's understandable.]
As Durald collapsed, the fates of the other vampires weren't far behind.
Despite their fanatical struggle, they fell one by one, spilling their blood on the ground.
"Gah!"
"Aaaargh!"
As soon as the last one's head was cut off, Alice ran towards Serati.
"I'll treat your wounds first, Dame Serati!"
Though the wound on his arm was deep, it wasn't severe enough to require amputation. As Alice's healing spell unfolded, the wound began to heal, and the pain gradually subsided.
Although full recovery would take more time, it was no longer severe enough to hinder her movement.
After testing her arm, Serati expressed her gratitude.
"Thank you, Priestess Alice."
"We're the ones who should be thanking you. If we had come here alone, we would have been in real trouble."
If the three of them had come alone, they would have become wandering spirits in the wilderness.
They had never imagined that such a powerful vampire actually existed.
Tarman, his face stern, moved forward.
Even with only his head left, Durald was still emitting a silent groan.
"Ugh, ugh…"
Without lungs, he couldn't make a proper sound, yet he still couldn't die.
The power of darkness was keeping him alive, even with just his head remaining.
'Not yet! I'm not dead yet!'
Tarman, gathering his magic, reached out his hand.
"Yes, you're not dead."
A white flash of light struck Durald's head directly.
"But that's all you are."
A powerful chill froze the severed head completely.
"This secures the evidence of the count's crimes."
Lifting the frozen head into the air with telekinetic magic, Tarman smiled coldly.
"Contact the headquarters, Miss Alice. Tell them we are ready to bring down Count Brelant's family."
"Yes, Captain."
***
Three days after the battle, just past noon at Brelant Castle.
A group of over a hundred armed men surrounded the castle, turning it into a scene of slaughter.
"Capture them all!"
"Don't let a single one escape!"
Heavily armed soldiers swarmed throughout the castle, mercilessly cutting down anyone who resisted.
The servants were killed.
"Gaaah!"
The maids were killed as well.
"Aaaah!"
The soldiers showed no hesitation.
The attacking servants and maids were far from ordinary humans.
Each one bared their fangs, their crimson eyes filled with malice, moving with speed beyond that of any human.
Operating under the shadow of the castle's thick curtains, they continuously slashed at the soldiers with their sharp claws.
"Kyakakaka!"
"Kyaaaah!"
Yet, it was the vampires who were falling.
Though they weren't as powerful as the King's Order, the soldiers were seasoned veterans hardened by countless battles. They also had the advantage in numbers, and most importantly, it was broad daylight.
"In the name of the Goddess!"
"Punish these evil beings!"
Just pulling back the curtains would expose the vampires directly to the sunlight.
From the moment the battle began in daylight, the vampires' strength had already been severely diminished.
"Aaaargh!"
Brelant Castle crumbled pitifully under the soldiers' relentless assault.
The knights, once the pride of the Brelant family, were now utterly useless.
They stood outside the castle, helplessly watching the situation unfold.
"This can't be happening..."
"The Count..."
For those unaware, the knights and soldiers who had no connection to the power of darkness or the cult were simply in disbelief at the current situation.
But disbelief wasn't an option.
The "living head" of Sir Durald, presented by the King's Order, was irrefutable evidence that Count Brelant had allied himself with the cultists.
Moreover, weren't the vampires themselves rampaging right before their eyes?
There was no more undeniable proof than what they could see with their own eyes.
"Our castle was a den of cultists...?"
With the loyalty of his subordinates gone and the protection of the dark cult lost, Count Brelant had few options left.
All he could do was sit in the lord's seat, idly playing with the edge of his blade, his empty eyes staring into nothingness.
"Tesranak, please watch over me..."
The body of the count who had committed suicide was discovered after the castle was completely taken over.
But Tarman was not satisfied.
They hadn't yet captured all the sins of the Count's family.
"Find the young lord of the Count family! Not a single seed of this evil must be left behind!"
***
In a forest on the outskirts of the castle, two men and a small boy were running.
"Hurry, young lord!"
"They could catch up to us at any moment!"
The necromancers, priests of Tesranak who served the Cult of the Dark God, urged the boy on.
But the boy's pace only continued to slow.
His body was weak from the start. Even becoming a vampire had only barely restored the physical strength of an ordinary boy his age.
And now, it was broad daylight.
Despite being cloaked in a thick robe and using necromancy to block the sunlight, the effects were still there.
"Huff, huff..."
They tried to move through the shadows of the forest, but his breathing grew more labored. His entire body was damp.
It wasn't sweat. His skin was cracking, and blood was seeping out.
Gritting his teeth against the burning pain caused by the sunlight, the boy thought bitterly.
'Father...'
I cannot forgive them.
I will never forgive them.
I will have my revenge.
In the name of the great Tesranak, I will surely repay this grudge!
But the boy's resolve would not be fulfilled.
Three figures had already appeared from the other side of the forest.
"Ah, so they came this way after all."
"It's really amazing. How does Lord Karnak know all of this?"
"I told you, I just see things. The traces are all there, so what's so hard about tracking them?"
It was Karnak's group that had separated from Tarman's party and pursued them.
Karnak wiggled his finger and grinned wickedly.
"Hehe, shall we hunt down our prey? Go ahead, Serati."
It was a truly sinister smile.
Clicking her tongue inwardly, Serati launched herself forward.
"Yes, yes."
The necromancers hurriedly tried to counterattack, but it was futile. At that moment, Karnak snapped his fingers.
"Who said you could use necromancy?"
With a snap, a dark shadow enveloped the two men, suppressing all their power.
The necromancers cried out in shock.
"Are you also a necromancer?"
"How can someone who wields the power of darkness defy Tesranak?"
"Oh, so these guys know a thing or two about Tesranak? Good to know."
There was no reason to keep them alive since he intended to extract information through the Darkness of Doom anyway.
Serati's sword, infused with battle aura, flashed twice. The necromancers' heads flew off simultaneously.
"Ugh..."
"Guh..."
Now, the only one left was the trembling young boy.
Serati looked at the young count with a sorrowful expression.
"Even such a young boy..."
She knew the boy was a vampire. She understood that he had become an unforgivable existence, prolonging his life through the corrupted power of darkness.
But killing a child still filled her with a sense of revulsion.
"Young lord, you may not be guilty, but..."
As she struggled to steel herself and raised her sword, a nonchalant voice cut in.
"What are you waiting for, Dame Serati? Just kill him already."
With that, Baros swiftly sliced the boy's neck.
"Huh?"
The boy was killed so easily that it barely felt real.
Serati stuttered, astonished.
"No, it's just that... you killed him so easily..."
"Why? Did you have some business with him? If you're curious about anything, just ask the young master. He can use necromancy to find out for you."
"It's not that..."
She sighed.
She had thought they had become quite close, but moments like this made her painfully aware of the kind of people they really were.
"I just feel like I've become a villain."
The two abnormal individuals, facing such a normal reaction, tilted their heads in confusion.
"Huh? Really?"
"Aren't we the good guys here, Baros?"
"That's what I thought too."
Serati didn't bother to argue further.
"No, you did well."
"Right? You almost scared me into thinking I was acting inhuman again."
Feeling relieved, Karnak pointed at the decapitated body with his finger.
"Burn it all."
Fwoosh!
The three corpses were instantly engulfed in flames.
The sight of human figures burning is truly horrific, and Serati cried out in horror.
"Wait! Why are you burning the bodies?"
Karnak calmly replied, "If we leave them, we'll have to return the Darkness of Doom they possess to the church. We need to erase all traces."
This time, even Baros was puzzled.
"Were you planning on claiming all of the Darkness of Doom and pretending we never found them in the first place?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
Until now, Karnak hadn't shown much interest in the Darkness of Doom. What he sought were the secrets hidden within it, not the power itself, which he handed over to the cult without hesitation.
After all, increasing necromantic power would only lead to an inevitable downfall.
To live as a human, it was better to cultivate pure Chaos Power.
But now, it seemed he was starting to covet necromantic power again, as he had in the past.
Wondering what had gotten into him, Baros tried to dissuade Karnak.
"Young Master? We promised to live like humans, remember?"
"I don't exactly want to end up as a skeleton myself..."
Karnak's expression hardened as he absorbed all of the Darkness of Doom.
"But it's also true that we can't just grow our strength cautiously anymore. The situation is dire."
Serati blinked in surprise.
"Dire?"
Of course, she acknowledged that the current situation was serious.
The Darkness of Doom was spreading across the continent, an unknown cult was gaining power, and, most importantly, the enigmatic presence of Tesranak had appeared.
But this was all known information, and Karnak had already decided to act accordingly.
So why the sudden change in attitude?
"Has something more serious come up?"
"Yes. Because of that Durald guy."
Karnak nodded as he continued to absorb all the darkness.
"And that Shutraff guy too."
Baros and Serati's expressions grew even more confused.
"Shutraff, sure... but Durald?"
"That guy wasn't that strong, was he, Young Master?"
"He was a bit of a challenge, but nothing I couldn't handle."
Karnak sighed.
"The guys themselves aren't the problem."
"Then what is?"
He turned away. With the matter here settled, it was time to rejoin Tarman and the others.
As he walked, Karnak murmured quietly.
"The real problem is how they came to be in the first place..."
[T/L: Please support me: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]