Chapter 166
「They’re not coming……」
「Doesn’t look like it……」
We’re concealing ourselves in a place slightly outside of Rafen . This land is not suitable for growing crops and was thus abandoned because of the numerous rocks scattered across the ground and the sloped plane .
According to the slave trader, who was turned into a hole slave for the okamas, this place is where he was supposed to meet with the buyers, so I took Celia, Myla and a small number of light cavalry to ambush them, but there’s not a single torch to act as a landmark for the correct location . I’ve heard that even though it’s supposedly hard to meet in the dead of night, they can mysteriously find you quite easily .
「The day is going to be over already . Can you sense anything at all?」
「We’ll be losing out if things end here . 」
No matter how much of the supply we crush, someone else will start the business again as long as there is demand .
The winter nights are cold too, so I raise my hips up ready to return home .
「Wait! I can hear something!」
All of us rush into the shadow of a rock when we heard Celia’s voice .
It was the rattling of a moving carriage – as soon as it started travelling to a place away from the main road, we knew nine times out of ten they would be the ones we were expecting . However, they don’t get much closer to us .
「Have we been found out?」
「There’s no way, in this darkness? There’s no way they could tell if anyone is around unless they call out or approach closer……」
「No, it looks like they know . 」
I could hear the sound of a whip being used from the carriage .
Then, there was some neighing and the sound of the wheels instantly getting louder .
「Change of plans! After them!」
Initially, we intended to ambush and capture them at the place they’re supposed to rendezvous with the slave trader so we could make them spill the beans on their hideout, but it can’t be helped now that the situation has become like this . If we let them get away now, they probably won’t come back to Rafen anytime soon .
A hidden pilot flame was taken out to light the torches and the light cavalry jump on their horses to make chase .
「The moon isn’t out tonight either . How can they grasp our position despite not having torches?」
「I don’t know . They might have someone who can see clearly even in the dark . 」
「They might have got a head start, but they’re on a carriage . The light cavalry should catch up immediately . 」
Or so we thought .
「Gyaah!!」
「Tch-! Again?」
One of the light cavalry crashes into a rock strewn around the area and he and his horse tumbles to the ground .
As the abandoned land takes away the soldiers’ footing, the dismounting and tumbling continues .
「Aegir-sama, sprinting full speed on this deserted area is unreasonable . Let’s slow down . 」
「I guess there’s no other option…… but they’re not slowing down at all . 」
The carriage should be way more affected by the terrain than the light cavalry and they don’t even have torches with them .
「Gueh!」
One of the soldiers beside me get shot in the chest by an arrow and fell over .
So those guys have started shooting at us . These torches are practically an additional enemy of ours .
Even if we wanted to shoot back, we can only go off the sound of the carriage .
「Let me take that, give it a try, Celia . 」
「Yessir!」
I grab a torch from a soldier and hurl it to the place I heard the sound .
The flame flies in an arc and briefly reveals the shape of the carriage when it falls to the ground .
「Right there!」
Celia bends her body like a bow and flings a knife over in that direction .
The light disappeared as soon as the torch hit the ground but I could hear the sound of a horse neighing and the carriage toppling over .
It looks like Celia was able to ascertain the enemy’s location from that split second of clarity, allowing her to throw her knife accurately at their horse .
「They’ve been stopped! All units, surround them!」
Myla shouts orders and the light cavalry circle around the fallen carriage .
With this, it’s over .
「……」
Crawling out of the carriage as expected is three individuals . Neither of them appear too large, but because all of them are wearing hoods over their heads, we couldn’t even determine their gender .
「If you give up on escaping and lead us to your hideout, we’ll ensure you stay alive . How about it?」
「……」
The three of them remain silent .
「…………if you’re not going to respond, then we could also shoot two of you right now . 」
「……gk」
「Watch out!」
The three of them don’t say a single word but jump out in different directions to try and break the encirclement .
「Hmph!」
It’s not like we didn’t expect them to try and escape, so I intercept the one coming in my direction with my spear . I use the handle of my spear to strike the face of the one who jumped in my direction with a sword .
「Gugah!」
「Nnh?」
I was certain his head would split open but the man just rolls to the ground and tries to pick himself up again .
「You’re really stubborn . 」
Using more strength than before, I bring my spear up above my head and swing down towards him, smashing against the upper half of his body from the chest up .
「Gyugh……」
After spasming several times, the man stops moving .
「Uwah! This one’s insanely strong!」
「Be careful!」
The one who rushed in Myla’s direction dodged an attack, got his leg cut, and fell to the ground . The soldiers dismount from their horses and crowd the area but the man swings his sword around in resistance . It doesn’t look like the trained soldiers can end things instantly against the desperate man as I initially thought .
「Gaaah! Ugggaaah!!」
The man doesn’t seem to be a master swordsman . He’s just recklessly swinging the one-handed sword and knocking the soldiers down to the ground with his brute strength .
The man’s swings resemble those of a crazed man .
In the meantime, the last individual was able to break past the soldiers and escaped .
We don’t have time to waste on a wild man like this .
「Move it, I’ll take care of him . 」
「Guggaaaah!!」
The man screams as if he’s lost his sanity and is met with a thrust from my spear at his chest .
Holding my aim steady, the man’s chest gets punctured quite deeply with my weapon .
「Guh! Gh!」
Even so, the man grabs my spear and flails in an attempt to pull it out from his body .
「Hey, hey…… are you serious? 」
With such a large hole in his chest, it’s clear the wound is fatal, yet the man’s strength does not seem to have diminished .
「You’re kidding……」「What the heck is this guy……」
The soldiers seem perplexed too .
We should finish this up quickly .
I lift up the man while still stabbed on my spear and slam him against a rock beside me .
「Gyabh!」
The man’s head is completely crushed and his limbs hang loosely from his body .
As expected, he’s dead .
「One of them ran off . We’re pursuing right away . 」
「Well, the thing is……」
The light cavalry chasing the man trails off .
「What’s wrong?」
「H-he shook us off…… we definitely saw him in the beginning…… but he ran and the horse-……」
「Huuh?」
I don’t get what they’re saying . It isn’t possible for a person on foot to outrun cavalry .
「Hey, how long are you going to lay there . Hurry up and get your horses- waaah–!!」
The soldiers trying to wake up the other fellow soldiers knocked away by the escaped individual shout out .
「What’s wrong?」
「This guy…… I just pushed him a little…… and he’s d-dead . 」
The necks of the defeated soldiers who had their faces caved in are broken . They weren’t simply broken, but stuck all the way to their backs and on the verge of snapping off entirely .
「……their faces are a mess too . They wouldn’t get like that unless they were hit with a war hammer . 」
I’m starting to piece things together .
「Hey, abnormally good night vision, unbelievable strength…… doesn’t that sound familiar?」
「Could it be they’re gathering so many slaves to-……」
It looks like the soldiers have reached the same conclusion .
「「Vampires……」」
Everyone’s voices were in sync .
「Lord Hardlett, I don’t want to believe this . 」
Myla comes over sounding worried .
「Was this the northwest? It isn’t the southwest, I don’t think . 」
I think it’s unrelated because of the distance, but if it really is connected to her, we have to stifle this problem immediately .
「I’m sorry? It is . 」
「Then that’s fine . 」
Am I overthinking?
It was always just the two of us and no one else .
But if that’s true, then……
I look down and my shoulders tremble .
「Lord Hardlett? Are you……trembling? I don’t blame you, if it’s really a vampire then our numbers won’t be able to handle it . 」
Myla speaks anxiously .
「Aegir-sama, let’s return to Rafen and bring the army here . They shouldn’t be able to do anything if we surround them with a few thousand soldiers . Don’t look so down, I’m here with you!」
「I’m fine, I’m not scared . 」
It’s just hard to keep my dick from getting hard after hearing the word vampire .
Even picturing the identity of those guys makes me erect and my pants are about to tear right now . If I don’t keep my wits about me, I’ll cum on the spot .
「We’re following them . 」
「Eh? B-but with the personnel we have now-……」
「It’ll be fine, I’ll go and talk to them myself after we find their dwelling place . 」
Vampires are women too, there’s no reason we can’t see eye to eye .
Actually, I wouldn’t mind if my blood gets sucked either .
「Vampires don’t need blood that frequently . The ones we’re facing today in particular aren’t going around attacking every person they see, rather they’re acting in a way so nobody will find out about them . I can’t imagine them gulping down someone’s blood because of their appetite…… nonetheless, they gathered 50 people in half a year…… there’s also a possibility they collected people from places outside of Rafen too . 」
Everyone looks at me .
「One or two…… no, there might be ten of them . 」
「How could this be……」「I don’t believe this……」
The soldiers cry out and Celia’s and Myla’s expressions also stiffen .
Not good, I can feel my cum leaking out just from imagining myself playing around with a dozen vampires .
「In that case, it’ll be impossible for Aegir-sama to talk with them by yourself . You’ll definitely be killed!」
「That’s right…… Although it sounds like you’re quite well-versed about them . 」
Well, I’ve experienced a few things .
I take the frightened soldiers with me to search in the direction of where the last individual ran off to and unexpectedly found their hideout quite easily . It was a gaping cave in this deserted land where rocks were piled in the surroundings to prevent rain water from dripping down and there are even horses tied at the front .
No matter how we look at it, it doesn’t look natural .
「Once again out in the open……」
「It’s away from the main road after all . They don’t have to worry about being discovered even if they light up some torches . 」
With that said, I dismount from my horse .
「I really think we should monitor the area and call the army here!」
「That’s right! It’s crazy for the feudal lord to march in by himself!」
「Didn’t I say it would be fine? You guys just wait here . 」
「Where does all that confidence come from……?」
Celia sounds like she’s about to cry so I pat her head and then enter the cave .
It’ll be fine, I’m sure we’ll come to an understanding with each other .
Right now, a bunch of guys holding swords and spears are surrounding me . They must not have thought I would enter, since I was able to advance halfway without problems before these guys were dispatched and quickly surrounded me in this wider man-made area in the cave
「I already know you guys are vampires . I have something to talk to you about . 」
When I ignore the murderous intent coming at me from all directions and call out, a few people in robes appear before me .
「How dare a human stand in our presence . 」
I couldn’t hide my agitation as soon as I heard that voice .
「It is meaningless to talk to our prey . 」
Again…… what a disaster .
「You lower life form . 」
「How dare you……」
A deep voice was squeezed out from within my stomach .
「What?」
「How dare you deceive mee-!!」
As I yell out at them in a voice that surprised even myself and glare at them, it causes my opponents to take a small step back and reveal their faces from a gap in their robes .
They had blood-red eyes and sickeningly pale skin as expected, but…… .
All of them are male .
On second thought, it was wrong to limit all vampires to being women . However, I tend to picture a vampire who is broad-minded and has stunning beauty and unbelievably large breasts whenever I hear the word . It might have been unreasonable of me to expect that, but I still couldn’t suppress my anger .
「There is only one way you guys can save yourselves! Submit to me!」
I bellow at them in a fit of anger .
It was as if everyone stopped breathing for a brief moment and the eyes of the vampires seem to glisten in a deeper red color .
「You talk big for a mere human! I’ll dismember your body into pieces!」
The men holding swords and spears appear around me again . All of them have red eyes, but their glow is dull .
「Ghouls, huh……?」
Ghouls are monsters which are born from corpses but of a higher class than zombies . Unlike zombies, they have intelligence and most of them have a proper sense of self too . However, the ghouls are bound to the vampires who created them and treat them as a parent figure so they aren’t free to do whatever they want .
Furthermore, the strength of ghouls are largely determined by the strength of the vampire . Lucy didn’t make them because she said they looked ugly .
「……!」
The silent ghouls charge at me as I regrip my spear, then brush them away .
I see, they are certainly strong . But these things were created without any battle experience, so they only rely on their brute strength to attack .
「Doryaaa!」
I take out two of them at once and destroy the legs of another .
The male vampire smiles after seeing that happen from a distance .
「Hmph, so you’re a little skilled for a mere human even though these are only low-level familiars ……」
I crush the head of the one lying on the ground with my foot, then I split another one in half vertically . Next, I skewer the third one and hurl it over to where the vampires are .
They casually twist their body to evade, letting the ghoul crash right against the wall of the cave and shattering every bone in its body before falling to the ground . It doesn’t look like it’s dead, but it won’t pose a problem to me if it can’t move with that broken body .
「I’m the feudal lord of Rafen . If you don’t submit to me, I’ll just have tens of thousands of soldiers come and set this entire cave on fire . 」
I don’t actually have that many troops though .
「What nonsense…… even if you were telling the truth, a bunch of dim-witted humans could never capture us . 」
He’s probably right . Although the army won’t suffer defeat, they won’t be able to catch the one who escaped .
However vampires aren’t beasts . This cave isn’t even fit for him to live in . There was water and alcohol near the entrance, the path inside the cave was shaved and polished and he’s even collected what looks to be furniture he purchased from somewhere .
「You guys might escape, but are you going to rebuild your dwellings from scratch? What are you going to do about that? Holing yourself up in the cave you dug and then sucking on a person’s corpse…… you’re practically a goblin . 」
「Whaaaat-!!?」
「If you don’t want to be like that-…… 」「This youngster! My patience has just about run out!」
I was going to offer a few suggestions to him if he didn’t want to be a goblin, but this vampire has quite the short fuse .
Even though they don’t have body temperature, he’s getting fairly heated .
「I’ll tear you apart limb from limb!」
「No, I’ll turn you into a ghoul and make you my eternal slave!」
The ghouls surrounding me were pushed aside and the three vampires take their positions around me .
I might have made a mistake . If these guys have the same strength as Lucy, then I don’t think I have the ability to extend my life any further .
「Prepare yourself!」
I swing my spear at the man who throws a bare-handed punch at me . If this was a normal fight between a fist and a spear, the hand would have been smashed into pieces and the battle would be over, but a large metallic clang rang out as the two objects clashed and I was pushed backwards .
A tingling and numbing sensation runs through my hands, surprising me that my spear wasn’t the thing that broke first .
「Shi-!」
Another man swings his claws at me, which I evade by a hair’s breadth before I slash at his legs with my spear . However, the man was able to twist his body to dodge my attack despite being completely off-balance .
「How about this!」
The third man leaps about four meters in the air and pounces at me with both his hands . With that much excess movement, I easily dodge, but the attack continues on to destroy a rock, accompanied by a loud exploding sound, and sends debris and dust all over to rob me of my vision .
Hidden in the cloud of dirt and dust, the vampire aims a kick at my stomach . I try to block reactively with my spear but the heavy impact sends me flying back to the wall of the cave . The collision takes the air out of my lungs and I feel my ribs creak .
「Gugah ……」
「Hmph, after such big talk, this is a human’s limit . 」「If you give up, I’ll make sure your dismemberment is quick . 」
Fumu, they’re stronger than humans as I thought .
However……
「I guess that’s what I expected . 」
「「What!?」」
Lucy is the only vampire I knew about . We did fool around and sparred a few times, but it was nothing like this .
She would send me flying ten meters back while smiling and she would leave a hole as tall as her height whenever I dodged her attack .
Looking at the hole made by this male vampire just now, it was large enough to fit only an arm or a leg at most .
They’re vampires, but not as strong as I imagined . The problem is that it’s three against one .
「Come, I’ll get you the next time . 」
「Such drivel!」
I swing my spear down towards the charging man . He tries to deflect my attack with his outstretched hand like before but I release one hand from my spear and twirl the powerlessly deflected spear . No matter how forcefully he deflects it, I can just convert the energy by spinning it and it won’t get flung out of my hands .
「What?」
Then, I take my free hand and throw a punch at his face .
That hurts…… these guys are made of steel or something .
「Guh, bastard!」
Of course, that was just a distraction .
The indignant man rushes at me without thinking . I sidestep and use the momentum of my spear being deflected to bring down my spear on his head like a counter .
「Gaguh!」
My attack which used his own strength against him causes the man to fall flat on his face to the ground and slide all the way into the wall .
「How dare you!」
As another vampire charges at me, I similarly rush forward and perform a three-part thrust .
He dodges the first one, blocks the second with the back of his hand and knocks my spear away on the third hit .
I was about to follow up with a punch, but the vampire grins as he sees me try to attack bare-handed, lifting up his arms as if to say my attack wouldn’t work on him .
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