Archlich (2)
[Oooh... very good. Splendid!]
Hans stored every last item the undead brought him into his subspace.
He swept up literally anything that looked like it could be worth money.
Kwaaang!
With overwhelming dark mana, he scanned the entire mansion, and whenever he found a place that seemed suitable for hiding something, he smashed his way in without hesitation.
[...Impressive.]
All sorts of precious metals and jewels filled the hidden storeroom.
He could feel the wealth of the vampires, accumulated over a long time after devouring an entire city.
‘But now it’s all mine.’
That day, along with Hans’s subspace, my heart too became abundantly full.
‘Today, we feast on beef.’
***
“Hans, is it... A common name.”
Talaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Thalia in the western part of the continent.
In a dark room with thick curtains drawn, a man was gazing into the red liquid contained in a wineglass.
‘Who... are you?’
‘My name is Hans.’
A brief exchange with a being wearing a bizarre mask.
“Tch, useless to the very end.”
It was the final memory sent by Wirak, the person in charge of the Azantu branch.
Perhaps there had been an obstructive barrier when the information was sent, because that was all the memory conveyed to him contained.
“I cannot simply sit still.”
The fragment of the Immortal King that he had been paying attention to had been stolen.
The Azantu branch was probably not intact either.
First, he needed to grasp the precise situation.
He downed the drink in his hand in one gulp and threw the wineglass to the floor.
Crash!
“Hans...”
Mulo Brokoslak, the Clan Lord of Brokoslak.
He dispatched an investigation team to the city of Azantu.
***
It was a peaceful time.
“My, my, you really are something. How do you catch them so easily every single time...?”
“Hahaha, I was just taking a quick look around and saw them, so I caught them right away. Then I’ll leave them to you.”
“Don’t you worry. I’ll get them ready at once.”
The middle-aged man took the rabbits I had caught to one side and began to dress them.
“Mister! Are we having meat again today? Waaah~!”
Aaron, who had been helping his sister set up the campsite, jumped up and down excitedly.
I smiled and patted Aaron on the head.
We had left Azantu and were heading toward Tilak City to the east.
Leaving the city had not been difficult.
All the vampires had been eliminated, and the back-alley organizations had no attention to spare for us.
It had been three days since we hired a baggage wagon and a coachman and set out.
The coachman, Walter, had once worked as a mercenary, and thanks to that, I was able to learn various minor bits of know-how.
“You worked hard, mister.”
Diana came over and handed me a waterskin.
“It was nothing. Thanks for the water.”
I tilted the waterskin to drink, then looked at Diana.
Perhaps because she had been eating well for the past few days, Diana’s complexion had become noticeably better compared to when I first met her.
The fact that she had left Azantu, where she had always lived in tension, must have had a positive effect as well.
After a moment, Diana noticed my gaze and cautiously looked around.
Then she sidled closer to me.
“Um, mister. Are you still thirsty? Should I give you blood?”
I stared dumbfounded for a moment at her as she whispered into my ear, then chuckled.
Then I lightly pushed her forehead and patted her head.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I ate until I was about to burst this time.”
I had gorged myself on the vampires of Azantu, so I would be fine for a while.
Even if I were not, how could I suck blood from such a small child?
I would rather arrive in a city and take some blood donations from bad guys.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t think I saw Rosilica.’
All of a sudden, I thought of the Residual Blood vampire who had been in charge of my education.
Rosilica had not been seen where the fragment was, nor later when I raided their stronghold.
Still, since she was someone I had a connection with, harming her directly would have felt uncomfortable. So it was fortunate, but...
‘Well, it would be better for both of us if we never see each other again now. I hope she thinks I died in the city.’
After all, I was a runaway.
“The meat’s ready to be grilled.”
“Waaah~ Mister! Sis! Hurry, hurry~!”
Walter and Aaron called us from the campfire.
For the past few days, whenever we grilled meat, I had sprinkled on spices I brought from Earth, and the reaction had been extremely good.
I smiled as I headed toward the campfire with Diana.
One more day remained until our destination, Tilak City.
It was an exceedingly peaceful journey.
***
Late at night, before dawn.
In the forest near Azantu City.
The Residual Blood vampire Rosilica finished her report while prostrating herself.
Beside her, Pirita, a Pure Blood who had gone out of the city to search for the fragment, was also prostrating herself.
“Hmm... In the end, there is nothing certain.”
Immediately after the attack occurred, Rosilica had been dispatched in haste to call Pirita, who was outside the city.
The problem was that when those who had left the city hurried back, everything had already ended.
Both the hideout where the fragment had been hidden and the stronghold where the clan branch was located had been annihilated.
And Pirita, who specialized in detection abilities, could tell.
An enormous dark mana could be felt within the city, as if it had leaked out because it could not be fully concealed.
She realized that the perpetrator still remained inside the city and judged that the current situation was something their strength alone could not handle.
After that, she immediately retreated and reported this matter to the clan.
Then, while monitoring the area around the city, she watched the being’s subsequent movements.
“After causing all that chaos, it’s still staying inside the city? It must have looked down on us quite a bit... Just who is it?”
The boy who had heard all of their reports rose from the tree branch where he had been sitting and looked in the direction of the city.
In the darkness, his two red eyes gleamed fiercely.
“Then shall I go see its face for myself? Who dares do something like this in our territory?”
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
The moment those words ended, dozens of shadows surged from the darkness of the forest toward the city.
Rosilica and Pirita, who had been prostrating themselves, followed after them as well.
The one leading them was the boy standing atop the tree.
He was the True Blood vampire, “Obor Brokoslak.”
Soon, a swarm of bats headed for the city.
***
Hans was touring the city again today.
‘Public order isn’t collapsing as much as I expected.’
He had expected the organizations’ leashes to be cut loose once the vampires were annihilated, but things were running more systematically than expected.
‘Well, it’s only been three days. It’s only natural that they’d lie low until they understand the situation for certain.’
For them, their lives were on the line.
If they acted out for no reason, their heads could be taken by the rulers who later returned.
‘For the time being, I can just clean up the ones who seem to cross the line.’
As long as they did not cross a certain line, he decided not to touch the current organizations.
After all, they did keep to their own rules in their own way.
‘It’s better than thugs who know nothing taking over the empty spots for no reason.’
It was not as if he would remain in this city forever, so it was not good to interfere too much.
The best outcome would be for the kingdom to dispatch administrative personnel again...
‘That won’t happen. The mayor was already a vampire’s servant.’
Perhaps because of his public activities, they had not turned him into a vampire, but the mayor had been no different from a puppet moving according to their orders.
‘This place will fall back into the hands of the vampire clan, but even I can’t do anything about that... Hmm, have they arrived...?’
He sensed beings approaching the city at high speed.
This energy was definitely vampires.
‘Now that those who were going to come have come, it’s about time I leave the city.’
I left the city in the opposite direction from which they were approaching and headed into a nearby forest.
‘They’re coming straight this way. Did they find my location? The mana-concealment field isn’t perfect either.’
Of course, I was still not used to handling the dark mana that had explosively increased after absorbing the second fragment, and the magic I had spread out to monitor the entire city was likely also a problem.
In any case, I had no intention of fighting, so it did not matter how many of them came.
‘I’ll play along moderately, then slip away—?!’
Kwaaaaang—!
The defensive magic I had cast in an instant shattered, and my body was flung backward.
[Keuu— That startled me.]
In the blink of an eye, I had been attacked by something that approached at tremendous speed.
Fortunately, the mana barrier I released at the moment of impact absorbed the shock, and by sending my body flying backward, I was able to minimize the damage.
I wrapped all sorts of barriers around my body and examined the one who had attacked me.
A boy who looked to be in his mid-to-late teens. He was definitely a vampire.
But the energy I felt from him was...
[A True Blood, is it?]
“Oho... I wondered who it was. With this much aura of death, are you a lich?”
A True Blood vampire with white hair and red eyes.
The fellow looked this way with a sinister smile that did not suit his cute boyish face.
When I had only heard about them, I had not really grasped it, but seeing one in person, I could tell for certain.
This was a monster incomparable to a Pure Blood.
“My name is Obor. I am a True Blood of the Brokoslak Clan. Are you affiliated with the ‘Heaven-Defying Oath’? Is that why you targeted the fragment in our possession?”
[That’s right. We obtained information that you bastards were targeting the ‘Fragment of the Immortal King’ in our possession, so we made the first move. Did you think you could hide it forever?]
The moment I found an opportunity to screw over the bad guys and sow confusion in their information, lies naturally flowed out.
If it worked, good. If not, then so be it.
Perhaps because he thought this was already a won battle, he leisurely struck up a conversation.
Or perhaps, to make absolutely sure, he was waiting for his subordinates currently approaching from all sides to surround me.
‘I think I could beat one True Blood...’
But if five Pure Bloods and over twenty Residual Bloods were added on top of that, it would definitely be too much.
There were still several hours left before the sun rose as well.
At my reply, Obor narrowed his eyes and stared at me as if weighing me.
“I heard the village where those bastards were hiding was attacked by someone. Did you steal it?”
[Ha! We merely differed in what we aimed for. In that case, was there any choice but to determine superiority through strength?]
I raised my head and answered brazenly.
I had a body whose pupils could not be read and that did not sweat.
My voice, too, was merely sound produced by resonating mana.
“...At this point, it no longer matters. Because of you, our side’s reputation has been dragged through the mud.”
Before I knew it, dozens of vampires had surrounded me atop the nearby trees.
Looking closely, it seemed they had spread a blood-magic barrier around like a net, cutting off my escape routes as well.
‘So that’s why they were approaching as if tightening the noose from all sides...’
If I focused my strength, I could break through, but the True Blood over there would not simply stand by and watch.
If I mobilized all the undead I had as well, the possibility would be high, but I would suffer considerable losses in fighting strength.
“There is nowhere to run. I will capture you and extract the fragment you stole.”
A powerful enemy encountered while I had yet to grow accustomed to my new power, and vampires surrounding the area.
It was clearly a crisis situation, but...
To me, it was nothing more than one interesting story.
[Kekeke... You cannot capture me. Today, I shall withdraw from here.]
That was why.
Why I immersed myself in the situation and threw out a line that sounded like something a villain would say.
Kwaaang—!
No sooner had I finished speaking than Obor attacked.
The barriers around me rippled, and one after another, they were torn apart, but they could hold for a short while.
Soon after, the surrounding vampires also began launching attacks at me.
[Remember this. I am Hans of the Heaven-Defying Oath! I am the stake that approaches in silence at peaceful dawn and pierces the heart! Lament your powerlessness. I am your very death!]
As I delivered lines that were the specialty of villains, I unknowingly got excited and rattled off whatever came to mind.
One corner of my rational mind seemed to be screaming, but wasn’t it fine as long as I was having fun right now?
I decided to think about later matters later.
[I will return.]
After spouting as many lines as I pleased off the top of my head, I finally raised my thumb toward the ones pouncing at me from all directions.
‘Unsummon.’
And so, Archlich Hans vanished from the dimension of Auterica.
And on Earth.
As the price for running wild to his heart’s content, Han Seonghyeon had to kick his blanket for several dozen minutes afterward...
It was his destined karma.
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