Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

240 – Dancing Amidst the Sudden Rain of Blood

The various races that were once called monsters or abominations have so-called weaknesses.

However, I believe these weaknesses can roughly be split into two.

The first being a true weakness.

If a person who is fighting an invincible Dragon daringly jumps into its gaping maw, they are able to hurt the Dragon from within, defeating it. It appears that their interiors are not nearly as tough as their exterior.

The second being an imaginary weakness.

Superstitious countermeasures thought up by people who feared that an undeniable threat lurked in their daily lives if they encountered it.

Things that were mainly for a person’s peace of mind…thinking that they are safe, they won’t be assaulted, so long as they have these countermeasures.

There is a particular abundance of these sorts of countermeasures for Vampires.

They look just like Humans, can manipulate blood, have the ability to shapeshift, possess tremendous physical strength, and suck out the lifeblood of man.

Some people in the past trembled at the thought of not knowing whether or not the person walking next to them was a Vampire.

One such imaginary weakness that came about was the notion that Vampires hated water.

However, the rain that Wraith created was effective.

「Fufu. Today seems to be rife with troublesome Black Sorcerers.」

The Vampire Queen Carmilla smiles as her sensational yet elegant feeling dress gets soaked in the rain.

Only moments ago, they clashed with a party of five Black Sorcerers and crushed them.

「…Were they strong?」

「Quite.」

「Thought as much.」

There’s no way they would have been weak.

I checked them out, even if it was just public information from TV or the Net.

They aren’t your average Black Sorcerers.

Since they can’t register as a party of Adventurers without a hero, they would usually look for another form of occupation, right?

While doing so, they gathered like-minded allies, trained each other by casting Black Magic on one another all the while polishing each of their own Second Jobs.

If a Black Sorcerer wanted to learn the ways of the blade, there is rarely anyone who would offer to teach them. If they went to somewhere like a dojo, most would refuse them at the gate.

So I’m sure that they’re self-taught.

In that sense, I was blessed.

I had a master. I had Fenix. I was alienated, yet I had allies. I was even fortunate to happen across a sword master.

Not everyone can have such an environment where enthusiasm can be turned into strength.

Just how much pain and hardship did they suffer through? They finally got their chance to fight, and they splendidly passed the preliminaries.

They are strong.

But I only ever foresaw the Carmilla party and I fighting.

That is…no, I should focus on the enemy before me.

「We shall be victorious this time as well.」

I return a smile to Carmilla’s words.

「I wonder about that.」

I’ll compare the composition of both parties once again.

The Wraith party has the Water Hero Wraith, the Destroyer Fran, the Miner Melania, the White Sorcerer Josh and the Black Sorcerer Lem.

A party composition that ignores the common sense of modern Adventurers by including two support types and even not caring about what race is included.

Wraith, a leader who excels in a variety of magical offensive and defensive maneuvers, Fran, who boasts overwhelming offensive power, Melania, a Half-Cyclops whose individual attacks boast the same level of devastating power, and she is also in charge of protecting her allies, and then there’s Josh, the Ogre who supports his allies with his White Magic while confident of his own stamina.

In addition to all of them is me, the Black Sorcerer who wields a Holy Sword.

I think the team balance is pretty good. The plainness of White and Black Magic can’t be helped, but the grand actions of the other three will more than make up for it.

The usefulness of supports was proven in the preliminaries, and more importantly, I am happy to have allies who accept me and need me.

Many of them are young and still growing but they are a strong enough party.

And as for the Carmilla party-

「Lady Carmilla, please, leave this to me.」

Said a short-haired man.

The opposing side has three Monsters with titles. The Vampire Queen Carmilla, the Impaling Daughter Haagenti, and the Evil Eye Assassin Botis.

And then the two male Vampires.

All of Carmilla’s Vampire underlings, not just these two, introduce themselves as pigs with no name.

Her adjutant Haagenti is the only exception.

However, being called a pig by someone other than Carmilla causes them to be quietly furious.

This time, for convenience’s sake, I’ll call the one who is a good Blood Manipulator Long Hair and I’ll call the Semi-Immortal one, who excels in regeneration, Short Hair.

By the way, Carmilla and Haagenti are both Blood Manipulators.

This time, they don’t have a Shapeshifter who excels at body transfiguration.

「If a Semi-Immortal such as I go, I can finish them with minimal effect from the rain the Humans created.」

「Are you saying that you can stop this rainfall?」

Carmilla throws words at her underling’s proposal coldly.

With just that, Short Hair goes down on one knee upon the cold, wet floor and apologized.

「…No. I was merely too eager to be of use to you, my queen…!」

「So it seems. I’m glad because if you were squealing, saying that you could do it all on your own, I would have had no choice but to dispose of you first.」

A Semi-Immortal would certainly be less affected by this rain.

But if he were to launch a suicide attack, it would not be enough of a burden to force Wraith to stop the rain.

Vampires are fiendishly sturdy creatures, but in this very place, there is a Hero, a Destroyer, a Half-Cyclops, and an Ogre.

If there is a trap set in plain sight, the first course of action is to be vigilant.

Only a small portion of exceptionally strong people could afford to ignore it and rush ahead.

「Well done, Black Sorcerer Lem. You as well, Water Hero Wraith.」

Carmilla spreads her arms like a performer on a stage.

No matter what happens, she expresses herself in a refined way, as if giving exposition to the audience.

「Normally, a narrow space would be chosen as a counteroffensive to Vampires. In such an open space, we would be able to freely showcase our high mobility, after all. it would be quite the ordeal for Normals. However, things are different due to this Magical Energy-thick rainfall you’ve caused.」

That’s right, water isn’t the weakness of a Vampire.

Yet this rain is effective. What’s different? It’s because it is thick with Magical Energy, created by magic.

Magical Energy isn’t only generated from within people’s bodies, it exists out in the world.

Even natural rain has an infinitesimally small amount of it within.

So, this is the key point.

「The manipulation of blood that we Vampires excel at involves the interference with our own blood using Magical Energy. Even if we were to use blood outside the body as a weapon, commands to the blood must be given constantly.」

If the Magical Energy or magic of others mixes in with that, the orders to the blood cannot be given and the manipulation is disrupted.

「This rain, unfortunately, hinders those commands. Being in contact with this rain, thick with Magical Energy, makes it difficult for us to manipulate our blood. Oh, what a cruel state of affairs.」　

It’s like being splashed with water while you’re hard at work on a painting, causing the ink to bleed and the paper to blister.

This rain destroys the ideal form that the Vampires envisioned.

In the case of a sudden collision with magic, it is possible to deal with it by circulating more Magical Energy each time.

But in a situation like this where rain continuously falls around the surroundings, that won’t work.

In addition to guarding against a Black Sorcerer like me with Resist, spending a lot of Magical Energy on manipulating blood would dry out their Magical Energy reserves, no matter what kind of Vampire they are.

The magic of Josh and I will also be affected, but all that was taken into consideration.

At any rate… With the two chess pieces, the Water Hero Wraith and the Black Sorcerer Lem, just by gathering in a wide-open area with nothing to block the rain, we have completed our creation of an area that stops the group of Vampires, who transcend Humanity, in their tracks and causes them to hesitate.

「Tis nothing short of brilliant. It has now become an incredibly difficult battle.」

She doesn’t just want to praise us.

In fact, she continued speaking.

「If…your enemy was anyone other than us, the Demon King Army, that is.」

It came gushing out.

It came out both slowly and quickly.

Blood.

Copious amounts of it gushed out of a box.

「Wh-what the…?!」

Josh, who knows her true identity, exclaims in a surprised voice.

It’s a jet-black box.

Although its shape has changed, it is one of the Magic Tools previously discovered in the Original Dungeon Clear.

It’s the Bottomless Canteen.

Any amount of liquid can be poured inside it, and its contents do not deteriorate.

After Milla finished negotiating, she bought it.

『Huh, it doesn’t look like a canteen anymore, more like a box. She really prettified it, huh? Or maybe more like remodeled it?』　

Dark was saying something.

The image of the Vampire Queen carrying around a canteen was…too adorable. It would ruin her image. So it was necessary to retain her image, even if it means a drop in its portability.

Carmilla didn’t carry around the not-canteen-now-box. Instead, she took it from her underling moments ago, who presented it to her as an offering.

『…That’s a lot of blood. Considering when she got it and now, it’s a lot. It’s…kinda scary if you think about Miss Overbearing Fanatic cutting herself every night to put some blood into the canteen.』

…Could you please keep quiet? I’m in the middle of a serious battle.

When I told it that, Dark let out an adorably chick-like『chirp?』in surprise.

I decided to ignore it and focus on the fight.

It certainly is a lot. An incredible amount. It’s almost like a flood of blo-…now hold on a minute, this amount is insane!

「How rare. Hard to believe that I managed to surprise one such as you. I showed you something good, then.」

The plaza was almost flooded by the sea of blood.

Even if she steadily accumulated blood every day, to gather this much by herself is… That’s it…!

『If…your enemy was anyone other than us, the Demon King Army, that is.』

「…It’s the blood of the Monsters of the Demon King Army.」

Employing the Vampire bats who have sucked her blood for many years, she is able to manipulate the blood that the bats themselves suck.

Using them to suck the blood from the flesh and blood bodies of the Monsters of the Demon King Army, she collected that blood as well, huh?

So as not to expose this to me or the other Big Four, who would become her opponents later, she did it all in secret.

Until now, she had an issue with the preservation of her accumulated blood, but with this canteen, her problems are solved.

This is an extraordinary feat that can only be done by her as she is now.

「Correct.」

A red, red, red tide was approaching, threatening to bury our field of vision.

「Ahaha…! If the rain obstructs minute manipulations, then just unleash an attack where a rough command will suffice, huh?! Not bad, you’re pretty interesting, lady.」

It’s just as Wraith says.

This rain disrupts the delicate manipulation of blood to an alarming degree.

A detailed painting would become blurry if splashed with water, but if the goal was to draw a single long black line, for example, the line can still be recognized as a line even if it’s somewhat blurred.

Still, if it’s just a simplification of the imagined picture, then it will be easy to deal with.

But it’s a different story when that simplification comes with overwhelmingly oppressive power.

Aside from Melania, this amount is enough to drown the other four of us to death.

Even if it was just water.

Given that this is under the control of the Vampire Queen, the threat level jumps up leaps and bounds.

I have to focus all my nerves. Don’t look away for even a moment.

The enemy’s leader is the Vampire who fought and won against the world’s 3rd ranked Hero of the Cursed Sword Hervor.

「Wraith.」

「I gotcha, Mr. Brain…!」

Melania put Josh and me on her shoulders.

Fran moved to be together with Wraith.

Josh is preserving his White Magic. He’s focusing on regenerating his Magical Energy.

「It doesn’t matter how much of it there is, if it’s a liquid…it can freeze.」

Wraith brandished his short sword-shaped Holy Sword and an intensely cold wave of air surged out.

The red torrent that was about to engulf us turned to a red mass of ice, and then…

「…I see. Well played, Vampire Queen.」

Cracks formed on the mass of ice and then…the encroaching flood immediately resumed its march.

The flood of blood that is permeated with Carmilla’s Magical Energy only had its front part frozen by Wraith’s sudden freezing.

She would immediately abandon the front portion and send commands to the blood in the inner portion.

「Lacking in the cold department, are you, boy?」

「Now you’ve said it.」

A cone of blood shoots out of the frozen mass. Wraith cuts it off with his Holy Sword.

But from within the cut part, even more blood changed shape into a bloody thorn and assaulted Wraith.

If someone of Carmilla’s caliber puts in a large amount of Magical Energy, even the interference from the rain would soon prove ineffective.

「You got a thing for stringing up pretty boys like me with thorns, huh?」

Wraith immediately encases it in a ball of water. Being cut off from Carmilla’s commands, the thorns melt into the water ball like ink.

「My apologies, but little boys do not excite me.」

「Ahaha, it’s Lem you’re after, right? Well, that ain’t happening.」

「I do not need your permission.」

「Oh yeah you do, he’s my ally after all.」

「Well, he’s my target.」

「You’re a tyrannical queen, aren’t you?」

「And you are a lively Hero.」

That war of words reached a stalemate and quickly returned to a battle of magic.

「…Undine!」

「…!」

The Spirit’s Magical Energy that Wraith tried to preserve even during the battle against the Scales of Justice Astrea, he used here without a moment’s hesitation.

In an instant, an intense winter appeared in the plaza.

krck The sound of something bouncing and cracking on the ground could be heard.

Wraith’s rain was frozen by the influence of the Spirit Magic.

「Millennium Frost. During this match, queenie’s blood is just one big block of ice.」

Even this inordinate amount of blood was stopped in a matter of moments in the face of Wraith’s Spirit Magic.

However, Carmilla’s composure is still intact.

「Indeed. By the way, did I ever mention that this was all I had?」

From within the black box, a seemingly inexhaustible amount of blood came spewing out.

Seeing that, Wraith’s lips curled into a smile.