The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

Werewolves spread out and surrounded me. When I’m in my transformed state, my field of vision is slightly different from a human’s, but even if they were in my blind spot, I’d be able to know where they are from their scent. Perhaps Albertus and Rainel felt what I’m feeling right now when they were fighting me.

I howl towards Sable, who’s floating high up in the sky. If I jump with my current physical abilities, I’d reach her, but for me, with no ways of properly moving in the air, that would be a bad move.

I stand up high with my hind legs and stretch my front legs towards Sable ―― or rather, I act like I do and spring at the nearest werewolf.

The werewolf hurriedly tried to stop the attack, but I trample him without caring. My hands are scraped, but ordinary claws can’t injure me. And, werewolves can only be injured with silver weapons, but perhaps because of the grief of being the kin, they take attacks from vampires as an exception.

“Kh… surround him! Restrain him from all sides!”

Sable issues an order. She’s underestimating me too much. Even if they attacked me from all sides, they’re nothing to worry about. In the first place, would Sable herself lose to the slightly trained werewolves, while they’re even holding back to not kill me? She would be able to come up with as many countermeasures as she wanted if she imagined herself in my place, so I can only laugh.

Werewolves attack while showing impatience on their faces. I blow away the stout arm that’s swung with the full force by shaking myself. This body can’t hold a sword, but I have claws. And I have no reasons to hold back.

As long as I get rid of Sable’s underlings, it’s all over. If nothing gets in the way, it’s unlikely that I’ll ever lose when Senri is waiting behind me in case of an emergency. The more I kill, the easier things will get later. A vampire with an ability can somehow manage to create werewolves, but they need training to master the curse they’ve received.

“Kh… shit!”

Perhaps because she sensed that she was at the disadvantage or because she read my mind, Sable spat out.

And ―― it started raining blood.

This is not a metaphor. It was a rain created from blood. Each drop of blood that was fired with great force turned into a bullet and rained down on me without leaving me any ways of dodging them. The still remaining outer wall of the old castle collapsed beneath the downpour of the blood rain. The werewolves who were stuck to me, were struck with the bullets and were violently blown off. It was truly the work of a monster. I’ve heard that the wide scope high-power combat magic is something that multiple mages cast over time by working together. In that sense, Sable, who can release the attacks with almost no time lag that can scatter even robust werewolves is worthy of being called a great fighter.

But, my body in this form is sturdier than the werewolves and the outer wall of the old castle. The blood rain stopped. I raised my head and intentionally looked at Sable.

“Did you do something… ?”

“Guh… curse you, Ancestor…”

There was a heavy impact. A few blood bullets dug into my flesh, but that was it. My wounds had already healed. Very few wounded werewolves, who had barely endured the attacks from blood rain, moved back as if wary.

Sable’s face obviously lacked composure compared to before. She seems to still have her fighting spirit but she can’t hide her exhaustion.

Why is she so tired even though she hasn’t fought that much yet? I slowly digest the question that suddenly popped up in my mind. I look at the pools of blood on the ground. I see…

“So you can’t move ―― the blood that you shot.”

“Kh…”

“You don’t have enough blood, do you? This is―― your blood.”

Rather than not being able to move it, I should think that there’s some condition to it. I can’t use Sharp Claw on an arm that’s been cut off either. And the reason why Sable’s face looks so exhausted is probably because she used most of the blood in her body.

“Rather than it being a defective ability… it’s more like you just didn’t use it well.”

If it has demerits, she should have used it without letting it leave her body. While the blood rain might be suitable for killing a large number of humans, it’s not powerful enough to kill monsters like Rainel. I take it, this woman―― has never fought in a battle where she had to put her life on the line. Sable’s eyes narrowed and I could see sharp fangs from the corners of lips that were meshed together. Then, I sighed and said with exasperation.

“So this is all you’re capable of, after all… judging from this, the Stake King shouldn’t be a big deal either. I’ll spare you, you can return.”

“Kh… what an obvious provocation!”

I said it while thinking that it was obvious too, so having it pointed out made me feel embarrassed.

But Sable released her blood wings on the spot and landed on the ground. Why now…? She knows that I was provoking her.

I unintentionally start thinking about her unexpected behavior. By that time, her transformation had already started.

Sable’s thin arms became swollen and her chin stretched greatly. The silver fur, a different shade than mine, grew on her while making creaking sounds. Albertus always appeared in front of me in the form of a black dog. It’s my first time seeing the transformation with my own eyes, but this is a ―― bit unsettling.

Her robust limbs crushed the ground that was full of holes. Sable transformed into a big beautiful silver wolf. Her height surpassed 3 meters and her red eyes, the only things that stayed unchanged, were looking up at me.

“So be it. I’ll show you what a real vampire is like.”

“A wolf and a dog, huh… the wolf seems stronger.”

I exhale my breath mixed with Cursed Flames for intimidation and let my real thoughts out. Senri said that vampires who turned into wolves gained more fighting power. Perhaps the essence of this dogification ability is in strengthening the searching ability. Looking at that, I’m the one who’s at a disadvantage.

“Well, only if they were the same size, of course.”

The wolf Sable transformed into is huge, but she’s only half my size. She doesn’t understand. Bigger is stronger than shorter. That’s why I’ve had so many struggles until now.

Sable jumps at me, baring her fangs. In response, I kicked her with my front legs with all my might.