The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

The blood-sucking for vampires is about more than just drinking blood. The reason why demonss like us, with various fearsome abilities like superhuman strength, regeneration and shapeshifting into a bat, wolf or mist (although I can’t do this yet) are called ‘blood-sucking demons’ instead of mist demons or wolf demons, is most likely because that’s the power that the common people are the most afraid of.

As far as I have felt from sucking Senri’s blood many times after I’ve become a vampire, the act of blood-sucking is more than a means of replenishing energy. It is also a reproductive act that gives strong pleasure to me and the other person, a means of communication and also the violation of the soul.

The anecdotes about pitiful people who have had their blood sucked by vampires and become enchanted by them have existed in all times and places. By sucking her blood, I have come to understand Senri well. When I drank Albertus’ blood, for a moment I even felt like I was reliving her life. Senri and Albertus showed little to no visible change after having their blood sucked, but that’s because they are humans with extremely strong mental fortitude, and not because that’s normal.

It’s only natural that Monica is afraid of having her blood sucked by me. She is smart. And therefore, she knows that she is not strong enough to resist me.

Three bites. That’s all it took me to win her over. From my understanding, Fiends are generally stronger than humans, but looks like that doesn’t apply to mental strength. The first bite was still followed by a strong resistance. By the second bite, the resistance suddenly weakened and by the third bite, she had already given in, turning into a pitiful being, who only twisted her body and asked for mercy. 

Monica is a useful teaching tool for me to correctly measure my strength.

I can’t always take her with me. I am Senri’s ally, and Monica is her enemy. But even without that, I still wouldn’t take her in. It’s because that would be meaningless. Monica is too weak. If Monica had any worth, it would be as food. That’s why, I should have bitten her with gratitude that she gave me an excuse to do it herself.

Monica’s skin and flesh were very soft, and her blood was as greatly delicious as I had imagined from its smell. Senri’s blood was also delicious. But Monica’s blood had the concentrated sweetness that felt like it would get caught in the back of my throat. The viscosity of her blood was the same as humans’, but its taste reminded me of the jam made from sweet fruits.

I shut off Monica’s resistance by forcefully holding her down inside the dark coffin, hugged her twitching voluptuous body and took my time slowly sucking her blood. A Fiend’s body is pretty much no different from a human’s. She is plumper than Senri, but that’s probably just their individual difference. The sweet smell that got stronger each time I licked her skin and drank blood and her skin, that was damp with excitement and pleasure wasn’t any different either. And with regard to her blood – there also wasn’t much difference.

Hugging her throbbing body hard enough to strangle her and sucking blood gave me the utmost pleasure. But the pleasure Monica was feeling was most likely much stronger than mine. The pleasure vampires felt was most likely closely related to death. The pleasure born from the fusion of the fear of death and sexual satisfaction is something you can’t easily experience if you’re alive.

My only miscalculation was that Monica lied.

“Haa… you lair… it’s not cursed…”

I whisper to Monica, whose body is twitching from having her blood slowly sucked, with breaks, and experiencing unending slow pleasure.

Monica’s blood was quite delectable, but ‘Curse Steal’ didn’t get activated. Well, I didn’t really expect much from the start anyway, but I guess having cursed blood was her excuse to avoid having her blood sucked. To start with, the only curses I can absorb are the ones that have been placed from the outside. Fiends are born that way, it’s not like they have been cursed by anybody.

However, I’m in a good mood because of blood that I haven’t drank in a good while. I haven’t been able to replenish my power like I did after drinking Senri’s and Albertus’ blood, but a Fiend’s blood is still able to help me recover some of it. Maybe appearance played a role in it too.

That’s why, I spoke while sliding my tongue on Monica’s neck and carefully searching for the next place to bite. Ultimately I’m going to bite everywhere I can, but I don’t want to suck Monica dry, so I need to make a choice.

“Hey, Monica, it’s bad to lie. Aren’t you going to apologize?”

“―――― Ah… Ahh… Uu… kh… please… forgive… me… I’m, sorry… I… am… sorry. Please, please have mercy――Lord…End… please… forgive me… please… forgive me…”

Breathless, Monica tearfully apologizes. The clothes that completely covered her body have already been torn by my claws, creating deep slits all over her. I unhesitatingly cling to her, skin to skin, restraining her. I was thinking that now that I finally had a chance I would do things that I couldn’t do to Senri.

Unfortunately, I can’t have a so-called  intercourse with her. It’s because I don’t have that function yet as a ‘Lesser Vampire’. If I try hard enough, I can do it artificially, but I’m only interested in sucking blood and I don’t want to do things that aren’t fun for me.

The next thing I need to do is collect information. Monica most likely carefully selected the information she gave me. She would be adjusting the information so it wouldn’t become disadvantageous for the Demon King’s army while observing me. But right now, it would be a problem if she hid information from me. I have to save the captured Death Knight, kill both Man-Eater and Rainel and stop the attack on Romberg while I’m at it. 

It’s my first time interrogating somebody, but in Monica’s current absentminded state even a beginner like me could get decent results. It’s a little exciting. Drinking Monica’s blood and seeing her writhe in pleasure, I feel truly blessed to be a vampire. I feel a bit reluctant, but since I’ve already bit Monica, there’s no meaning in hiding my rebellious thoughts. The time limit is also approaching. Given her personality, it wouldn’t be strange if Senri came after me. The situation is becoming strained.

Well, if in the worst case, I failed, I can just leave everything and run away. The emotional knots will remain, but while there is life, there is hope. Everything will be fine as long as I and Senri survive. It’s my first time, so there’s no problem even if I fail. Let’s take it easy. Let’s have a fun interrogation. I sink the tips of my fangs in Monica’s neck only by a few centimeters, and whisper straightforwardly.  

“Monica, tell me Demon King Rainel’s weakness from your point of view.”

“Ahh… Haa, haa… Huh…? 

The twitching stops for a second. A befuddled voice resounds. Looks like Monica’s soul hasn’t fully submitted. Good. Very good. It wouldn’t be as rewarding otherwise. The night is still long, and even if the morning came, in this coffin, where light doesn’t reach, I’m invincible. Let’s only be careful in not accidentally killing her. Let’s talk slowly.

So I came up with a very interesting game. While rubbing her soft skin, I say to Monica, who’s been trembling from a different thing than pleasure.

“That’s right… I’m not the devil. While you’re talking… I won’t bite you. Isn’t this a special treatment for somebody who’s been dragged away by a vampire? While I’m at it, I won’t kill you either. Despite my actions, I’m still a man who keeps his promises so you can trust me.”

☠☠☠

Monica’s upper lip was very stiff.  In order to gain information, I had to lovingly bite her stomach, chest and thighs. In the end, after being overwhelmed by the strong pleasure and writhing with fear she had never experienced before, Monica talked. Demon King Rainel, toughened by numerous battles, the Gamelyon King.

His true identity is ―― a lion magical beast and dragon hybrid.

There is a race called Dragonute ―― a demi-human race known as the strongest, who also have dragon blood, and Rainel is a magical beast version of that. Dragons never copulate with magical beasts to start with, so his existence can even be called miraculous. 

His extraordinarily giant body might be the result of his dragon blood. His golden fur outdoes Man-Eater’s body and his claws slash through the castle walls like it’s a piece of paper. His strength even surpasses those of the Dragon race and while he apparently might not be able to use Breath, one of the reasons that make dragons a threat, there’s no way of knowing if that’s actually true either. Apparently, if there’s anybody who can wound Rainel in this army, it’s the army’s Number 2, ‘Man-Eater’. If the words of half-conscious Monica are true, Rainel has no obvious weakness unlike vampires. If I want to defeat that Demon King, I either have to outperform him with pure power or set him up. However, something more interesting than Rainel’s strength is the fact that ―― He is classified as a pure living being rather than a ‘demonic’ creature. For example, Monica, who’s a Fiend, is a demonic being, therefore, silver and holy water are her weaknesses. Oliver, who’s a werewolf, is also of a demonic nature and I, as an undead, am the same. A ‘demonic’ being is a darkness-aligned entity that’s weak to silver… simply put, it’s a general term for cursed beings. It might have various other definitions, but right now I don’t care about semantics. The important part is that because Rainel is a living being, he can arm himself with holy silver. Oliver, Monica and I are weak to silver, so fundamentally we can’t use silver weapons. What the implication of this is however―― I kept my word. After she finished talking, I sucked Monica’s blood to the limit, but the rank-up didn’t happen. If I ranked up and I got my hands on the vampire abilities, I might have been able to fight Rainel head-on, but, well, it can’t be helped. I have no choice but to fight him with what I have.

I get up from the coffin and take in the precious fresh air. Turns out I was too concentrated on sucking blood, the crimson light is now shining through the gaps of the window. Is it… evening? It’s a bit early for a vampire, but it’s not bad.

Inside the coffin, Monica is sleeping as though she is dead with tattered clothes wrapped around her body. Perhaps noticing that I had woken up, Oliver quickly got before me and prostrated himself. He reverently gave me the clothes I chose yesterday.

Was Oliver perhaps actually keeping watch all this time like I told him to?

 “G-good morning. Here’s your clothing, Lord End.”

I speechlessly accept the clothes. Well, I don’t mind being paid respect, but Oliver’s reverence is not towards me, but towards the vampires. I can’t trust him.

Well, I have to do what I need to do before meeting Senri.

My first target has already been decided.