138 – The Day I Became a Vampire – 3

The castle of the Lord of Thorns was a kind of unique territory created by weaving a massive amount of holy relics with blood power.

However, now that he had become unable to use it, how immense would the loss be?

One could easily guess how great the Lord of Thorns’ blood power was, as it could scatter intruders and degrade their abilities even without the support of the unique territory.

However, it was barely effective against the party led by Lora at the front.

If the Lord of Thorns were to face Lora directly, it might be different, but the mana scattered inside the castle could not pierce through her blood power.

Yes, at least until now.

“Ugh.”

Around the time they rescued the third suicide squad member, Lora, who had been guiding them at the front of the party, suddenly clutched her head and collapsed.

“Miss Lora!”

“Don’t come near me!”

“Eek!”

Gin tried to approach her in panic, but Lora’s sharp voice stopped him before he could.

While in agony, Lora chanted a holy spell on herself to wrap her head in a ring of light, and after barely succeeding in driving away the surging impulse, she spoke while panting.

“The one at the top of this castle…… is calling. All of the vampires……!”

Although Lora was not a vampire by race—she was closer to a pure vampire than anyone else in that she was a direct blood relative of the high vampire Carmilla.

Because of this, she could clearly feel the agitation emanating from the ruler of this castle, the Lord of Thorns.

“Perhaps he is…… afraid. He, who has been looking down on us until now, has finally recognized us as dangerous enemies. It is obvious just from the fact that he ignored his usual chain of command and called every single vampire within reach of his voice.”

“It’s Jun.”

When Tilla muttered in a convinced voice, Lora also pressed her forehead with one hand and nodded.

“Because he must have been prepared for the power of the Hero. Since Lord Jun is someone whose visible appearance and actual abilities differ the most, surely—perhaps a member of the Dragon Knights has died. Two, no, three…….”

Lora did not accurately comprehend what the ‘Dragon Knights’ referred to, even after she had spoken the words herself.

The higher they climbed the castle, the more memories and emotions that did not belong to her seeped in and tormented Lora—but ironically, the information fished out from those infected memories was now helping the party.

Fortunately, there was someone who knew about the Dragon Knights, and that was the suicide squad member they had just rescued.

“If it is the Dragon Knights, they are a group consisting only of Kudlak’s top elite that obeys only the commands of the Lord of Thorns, and there are even rumors that everyone is of Legendary rank……!”

Muttering in disbelief, he shook off the support of the other suicide squad member and shouted.

“We have no time to waste, we must rejoin His Highness immediately! I am grateful for the rescue, but I must go to His Highness!”

“What? But there are still people who are separated.”

“His Highness’s safety is far more important than those who fell behind!”

“If you put it that way, it is the same for us. The Hero who shoulders the fate of the continent is far more important than the prince of a small kingdom. If you have no intention of cooperating, I will also leave to find the Hero!”

“Ha, let’s go!”

Of the three they rescued, two were knights belonging to the party led by Lectus, and the remaining one was a member of the Hero party led by Fatum.

However, when one of them acted impulsively, all of them suddenly grew angry and spat out a few words as if their emotions had been contaminated, and then they unilaterally left the spot without saying anything to the party.

Their steps extending beyond the hallway were confident, as if they really knew the locations of Lectus and Fatum, but that could not be the case.

They would surely wander around the castle like this and, if they were unlucky, meet a strong vampire and get defeated.

Gin was dumbfounded to see them seek their own death after they had gone to the trouble of saving them from the brink of death and even treating them, but Tilla and Lora had expected things to turn out like this to some extent.

“Tsk, it seems the Lord of Thorns’ influence is getting stronger and stronger.”

“This is why I hurried…… but it’s too late.”

“Ah, it’s because of blood magic.”

It seemed like a choice that no sane person could understand, but they were truly not in their right minds.

Tilla glanced at Lora’s face and asked.

“What about holy magic?”

“If I overuse holy magic to protect them, my divine power will soon be completely depleted. Since I gave them the minimum treatment, we can only hope they survive and rejoin us.”

She did not say anything more, but Tilla had an inkling of why Lora did not calm them down by casting additional holy spells.

It was likely true that the Lord of Thorns’ blood power filling the castle influenced the people’s minds, but what triggered their behavior was Lora’s fit just a moment ago.

Even after receiving help from Lora’s abilities, they had fled this spot under a plausible excuse because they were frightened to see her affected by the Lord of Thorns.

It was cruel, but since she had indeed shown a sight that would make them anxious, Lora was also resigned to the fact that it could not be helped.

“Perhaps it was the correct answer not to separate from Lord Jun after all……”

Gin, who had noticed nothing, muttered bitterly while looking at the empty space left by the suicide squad members, but Tilla scoffed and denied his words.

“That’s not true. If we had, someone might have definitely died, you know? Let’s not think too negatively and hurry. The Lord of Thorns trying to summon the vampires means that the fangs Jun has feel quite threatening to him anyway.”

“There are many vampires who ended up dying after trying to scatter us and defeat us individually. So the vampires inside the castle gathering together might actually be a good thing. But……”

Lora muttered, glaring with an anxious expression toward the hallway, beyond the invisible castle walls.

“Kudlak’s strength is by no means only this much. If they were to all return……”

“Then we must hurry even more. In any case, it will all end once we break the Lord of Thorns’ neck.”

“That alone…… will not end it. Unless we drive a consecrated stake into his heart…… drain all his blood, cut off his head, and purify it with powerful holy magic……”

In Lora’s appearance as she discussed the procedure to kill the Lord of Thorns in a trembling voice that seemed on the verge of collapsing at any moment, even a chilling, eerie aura could be felt.

“That’s troublesome. It seems it would be fine if Lucy returns in time, but if she doesn’t…… Lora, will it be possible with your divine power?”

“I can do it. ……Probably.”

No, in truth, she lacked confidence.

With the urges growing more intense the deeper she went into the castle, there were times when she suddenly forgot who she originally was.

The only reasons she could hold out were two: her desire for revenge against Carmilla, and her yearning to be recognized by Gi-jun.

Her excessively intense emotions had reached an extreme, to the point where they were sometimes hard to distinguish.

‘It’s fine…… I’m doing well. I’ve killed a lot of vampires, and I’ll kill more. Carmilla……. Once I kill Carmilla, I’ll be at peace. Yes. Then, it will be fine even if I don’t bite Lord Jun.’

Lora stepped forward.

“Let’s go. Lord Jun is above.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Tilla replied calmly and walked beside Lora.

Gin looked at Lora with an anxious expression—but in the end, he could not say anything and followed behind her.

However, the three did not reach Gi-jun’s side.

Because before that, Carmilla discovered Lora.

* * *

Ye-min thought from the beginning that the retreat of the expeditionary force was impossible.

This was because she had learned well from years of experience that there was no end to the desires of people that exploded when gathered together, and that they could not be settled without seeing things through to the end in some way.

Under the assumption that the others did not know the leadership were vampires, and of course, when assuming they did not know that Ye-min, Lucy, and Eun-shin had wiped them out.

Even while knowing that vampires were fearsome opponents, to the point that the leadership had been wiped out before the expeditionary force could even notice, continuing to march was an act of sheer foolishness.

However, the group called the expeditionary force was already buried under the presented goal, feeling an immense reluctance to take any action other than that.

In other words, rather than stopping the expedition, they were focused only on continuing it by citing other plausible reasons.

Not a shred of intelligence could be found in that value judgment—but even if there were someone who wanted to stop the expedition, they would not be able to raise their voice.

This was because the voices of individuals held no power against a group.

“Those vampire bastards are afraid of our expeditionary force!”

“If we back down now, we will draw people’s criticism without having achieved any of our goals. The royal family might even try to find fault with us.”

“Retreat? If we retreat, we won’t have another chance! I’m sick and tired of just rolling around at the bottom……!”

“Anyway, we killed all the vampire bastards who raided us, right? Then isn’t that enough? It will be safer to move forward than to keep staying here.”

“But, uh…… then who will lead the expeditionary force?”

Sure enough, just as Ye-min expected, the people were not even thinking about turning back and were worrying about other problems.

They wanted someone other than themselves to become the leader of the expeditionary force, take on the risk of becoming the vampires’ primary target, and lead them.

Despite the entire expeditionary force being in an absurdly dangerous situation, they were thinking complacently, believing that since the leadership had just been wiped out, they only needed to avoid being the leadership themselves.

As humans gathered together and grew in numbers, they tended to rely on others and lose their fear.

In other words, millions of people who were thinking, ‘As long as I don’t die, it’s fine,’ were gathered in this place.

This was exactly as Ye-min had imagined.

“I will do it.”

Just as countless expeditionary force members were falling into confusion.

Every eye focused on Ye-min, who stepped forward with her brilliant beauty shining.

Her natural beauty, though completely useless when trying to seduce the man she actually had her heart set on, was helpful only in times like this.

“You are the one who was in charge of supplies……”

“She’s the woman who defeated the vampires that raided the leadership. She must be incredibly skilled.”

“If it’s her, no one will have any complaints.”

“Moreover, right now……”

This was a situation where stepping forward would only bring losses, yet someone absolutely had to take the role of leader.

While a fierce waiting game was unfolding among millions of people, when Ye-min volunteered to be the group leader…… no, the expeditionary force leader, everyone readily accepted it.

Moreover, she was close to the leadership of the expeditionary force, was in charge of supplies, and was even the one who had defeated the vampires that annihilated the leadership, so they were all the more willing.

‘If it’s a sword that’s bound to break anyway, it should be sharpened at least a little more to slice open the bellies of those vampire bastards before it breaks.’

Ye-min snorted inwardly as she saw Earthlings, Letans, and even summoners from other civilizations looking at her with pathetic eyes without exception.

Among them, some sent eyes filled with pity or mockery, believing that Ye-min would soon fall dead, but…

Whether Ye-min would die or they would die was something that remained to be seen.

The existence of Earthlings was something that could have been a variable in this matter, but thanks to Gi-jun, there was no need to worry about the Earthlings anymore.

“As expected, there’s only Ye-min.”

“To think she would go that far for all of us.”

“Shh, if you make too much noise, she could be in danger.”

“That’s right, indeed……! We must show consideration, consideration.”

This was because they were currently so high on their civilization skills that they were in a state where they would follow Ye-min’s words even if she told them to withdraw right here.

What was even more admirable was that they had also finally realized how crucial the existence of a ‘Civilization Representative’ was to that civilization, and they did not even speak of Civilization Representatives or skills to keep her identity hidden.

It was a relief that, at least, there was no longer a need to silence them later, but……

Of course, since there was no point in retreating with only the Earthlings, Ye-min assumed the position of expeditionary force leader on the spot and began the march toward the Vampire Kingdom, leading them all.

“So? Where are the vampires?”

—They are close. Since they must have planned a raid—but for this great Lucy, even that trap zone filled with dirty demonic energy is fully visible. Let’s bypass the trap zone and make them attack first. Because if we leave the danger zone, they will use whatever means to force us back in.

“Okay. I will do that.”

Just how many of this expeditionary force of nearly two million would be able to survive?

The vampire bastards were said to be planning to trigger an overflow through human sacrifice, so would they really be able to avoid that and inflict damage only on the vampires?

There was a mountain of anxieties, but even so, she had no choice but to suppress all her worries and move now.

‘If I can’t even achieve this much of a contribution, Jun-i Oppa will be disappointed in me—.’

Whenever she saw the members of the party Gi-jun had created.

Whenever she felt the traces of other people she did not know in Gi-jun.

Ye-min realized the fear of being abandoned by another person for the first time in her life.

The second round, where she had realized her mistake and tried to dedicate herself to Gi-jun, had ended in her spinning her wheels.

She could not make any more mistakes—not anymore.

—Huh? What is this? Why are they trying to go back?

“……We have no choice but to pursue them.”

As always, the incident erupted from a place she could not control.