Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

243 – Dancing Amidst the Sudden Rain of Blood 4

Holding the box in her left hand, and a blood sword in her right.

The giant blood sword liquefied and returned to the inside of the box.

Rather than cutting me from afar, she plans to engage in close quarters, huh?

The rain runs along my hair and gets into my eyes.

By the time I blink to drive out the drop of water, her sword was already approaching.

Fast…! But…!

Not as fast as the Reaper Knight Furcus!

The results of getting relentlessly beaten up by her during training are clearly showing.

Her peerless spear techniques worked me to the bone until my eyes got used to it.

I met Carmilla’s blade with my Holy Sword. Rather than the swords clashing in a test of strength, the blade of my sword smoothly cut across her blade.

Her thin blade of blood cannot defend against a Holy Sword.

She should know that too. Yet, she attacked with such an easy-to-understand slash…

I immediately jumped back.

Soon after, a cone made of blood popped out of the ground at the spot where I was just standing.

I see… She gave me the perfect opportunity to attack in order to take me out instead.

If I had gone after her neck at that moment, I would have been skewered.

「Resist.」

Carmilla probably said that on purpose.

Is she doing that to sell it to the audience or me?

Vampires manipulate blood with the use of Magical Energy.

Those with the Blood Manipulator Job that specializes in that possess a Magical Energy organ equivalent to a Wizard.

Above all else, she is a capable person who is assigned as one of the Impregnable Demon King Castle’s Big Four.

It isn’t strange for her to be able to Resist normal Black Magic.

But the Black Magic she just defended against was a special kind that tries to slip through the Resist like a thread threading through a gap.

It’s a Technique that I am proud of that can get through to strong opponents, let alone ordinary ones, but if it’s against a skilled individual like Aerial or a person who has full knowledge of me like Carmilla, they can deal with it.

Even so, her timing was impeccable, and not a drop of Magical Energy was wasted at that moment.

This may be the first time my Black Magic has been Resisted so magnificently.

「To be able to cast such Black Magic in the heat of battle… I’m impressed. My Magical Energy is decreasing greatly by the second.」

Her tone of voice sounds relaxed, but in truth, she probably isn’t.

I’m sure she used up Magical Energy to Resist the Black Magic from the Black Sorcerer-only party.

Soaking the blood in the box with her Magical Energy before the Festival began. Today, no one but her could make full use of it all with her spirit alone.　

I can’t confirm it now, but the Hydra’s heads must still be moving. Because if they weren’t, Wraith would have joined up with me a long time ago.

After driving Fran away, her blatantly reducing the amount of manipulated blood wasn’t because she was underestimating me.

It’s because she’s reaching her limit.

So she plans to cut me down with a minimal amount of blood and focus on Resist.

「Why do you not use the Magical Energy stored in your Holy Sword?」

If I can hit her while releasing this Magical Energy at the same time as I slash, I can defeat her.

Carmilla knows this as well, so she is cautious of it.

Previously, when I jumped into the fight, I was basically invited to release the Magical Energy in the Holy Sword.

Because I didn’t jump at the chance, she has no choice but to prepare another strategy.

「…Hm. Alright, then how about this?」

Here it comes.

Perhaps due to the mental strain, her mouth twisted into a grimace as if it hurt a little as she formed a massive blood sword once again.

She then made it fly towards me.

Similar to the attack that Melania had to quickly protect me from.

However, it’s an attack I have already seen several times. Even if I can’t dodge this, I can cut through it.

The iron sword my father gave me. I grabbed tightly onto the hilt of the sword I yearned for as a child.

It is unaffordable to common people, but it wasn’t hammered by a master blacksmith, nor does it have any sort of legend surrounding it.

Still, it is more special than any sword in the world. I swing what can be said to be the only Holy Sword for me.

The Magical Energy that was flowed into it is compressed and purified, and if it was changed into magic, its increase in effectiveness can be expected.

Only that kind of Magical Energy can have an effect on the world in that state.

I can’t afford to blink. There is a large blood sword right in front of my eyes.

In order to stop it, I ready both my hands on the grip of my Holy Sword.

I release the Magical Energy. A sharp, deafening sound rings out, and my body slowly moves backward.

「Gr…!」

It only lasted a moment.

The giant sword broke.

No. It split. Centered on the spot where it touched my Holy Sword, it was split cleanly in two as the momentum causes the halves to zoom past me.

We were both predicting each other’s actions.

Carmilla believed that I would deal with the giant sword and approached by secretly hiding behind it.

I thought that this attack wouldn’t be Carmilla’s only attack, so I cast Black Magic at a location where she would most likely be hiding.

「Resist.」

On top of that, Carmilla predicted as far as me casting Black Magic, so she Resisted it.

She had a blood sword in her hand.

「!」

I understand her surprise.

I held onto the Holy Sword with my other hand and assumed a thrusting stance.

「Splendid.」

Carmilla’s mouth was agape with delight.

We keep predicting each other’s strategies and continued to deal with them through our own strategies.

I can only see one thing in our near future. The one moment when all the plans from both sides have been thwarted.

A battle that can only be settled by the weapon in your hand. That kind of battle.

Both sides are aiming for the other’s heart.

There is no time other than this moment when a one-to-one fight can be arranged.

At the very least, this is the first and last time we can have a match like this.

Both our swords plunge forward, tearing through the enemy’s skin and penetrating the flesh.

There is a large difference in durability between her, a Vampire, and me, a Human.

Even if we received the same wounds, Carmilla can withstand them and regenerate.

So, Carmilla wins.

The Black Sorcerer Lem has no other way to accomplish it. If he wanted to use the power of his horn, there were other times he could have.

…That’s what I was able to make her think.

She only felt a sense of unease soon after piercing my heart.

She realized that her sword pierced the abdomen of the Black Sorcerer Lem, but not his heart.

「H-how…?」

Mixed with the scent of rain and blood, I could almost smell her scent.

「You didn’t hold up an umbrella, right?」

「…No…」

She unintentionally blurted that.

The reason she misjudged her aim was due to my Black Magic, Confusion.

The fact that she wasn’t that far off the mark shows that it affected her barely on time and wasn’t even that effective.

However, Carmilla was always wary of the Black Sorcerer Lem.

If I were to release Magical Energy again, she would immediately Resist it.

So I hit her with Black Magic I prepared beforehand, which was outside of her expectations.

「Compound magic…」

Compound magic. In the Adventurer business, that indicates a type of magic that was jointly created by two or more different people.

The one by the Storm Hero Aerial and the Crimson Wizard Michelle is particularly famous.

Big Blast, compound magic created with Wind and Fire Magic, is a massively powerful attack that blows away any obstacle before it.

Black or White Magic can also be combined with other elemental spells. I haven’t seen anyone do it in practice, though.

I mean, of course. There’s the drawback that they are visually bland, but they also specialize in support spells on top of being invisible.

With how difficult it is to go to all that trouble to make it visible, there is no advantage.

This is why Carmilla didn’t see this coming either.

「There is no way that you improvised this. It must have been since…the beginning…」

If I hadn’t practiced it together with Wraith beforehand, this compound magic would not have succeeded.

The Vampires immediately saw through the purpose of the rain. Having done that, they didn’t think any further about it.

They just flatly accepted that the rain is only there to disrupt their ability to manipulate blood.

Also, Carmilla had already gotten used to the surroundings being filled with Wraith’s Magical Energy.

On top of that, I had just released the Magical Energy from my Holy Sword.

That’s why she didn’t notice it.

She didn’t notice the little bits of Black Sorcerer Magical Energy mixed in with the wet Hero’s rain.

The raindrops with my magic in them drench her, and Confusion worked as the raindrops reach her skin.

Black Magic that was just enough, even slightly, to cause her attack to miss.

「Even…so-!」

She twists the blade and tries to pull it outward.

But she failed.

Due to Wraith’s rain causing problems with blood manipulation, the blade crumbles.

She was already no longer in a state that could transfer the Magical Energy, enough for repelling the effects of the rain, to the sword.

I put my left arm around her waist to stop her from pulling away from my Holy Sword.

While Magical Energy particles scattered about, we clumsily set foot onto the plaza ground.

I hold on to her, making sure to not let Carmilla escape.

Amidst the rain, we probably looked like two beginners trying earnestly to dance.

Eventually, the dance came to an end.

It felt like it lasted a long time, but it was actually extremely short. Probably just a few seconds.

Nevertheless, the Holy Sword was stuck in her heart the whole time.

Carmilla was unable to regenerate that wound.

In such a situation, even the Vampire Queen would not be able to remain calm.

「Once…again…」

That voice…was not the voice of the Monster known as Carmilla, but of a woman whom I know very well.

「Once again, I am the only one to have my heart pierced.」

She whispered in a voice that only I could hear.

「…」

The Black Sorcerer Lem is able to think and act quickly in the heat of battle, but not able to give a witty comeback at a time like this.

Without waiting for my reply, she looked down at her own crumbling Avatar and muttered…

「While frustrating, my revenge shall have to wait till the next opportunity.」

Her body unravels, becomes particles of light, and melts into the rain.

The beautiful Vampire Queen…is defeated.

She knows me extremely well.

So in order to outsmart her, I had to prepare a version of me that she doesn’t know.

Doing something that I never did during my time in the Fenix party, of course, nor even when I became the Demon King Army’s Chief of Staff.

Black Magic combined with the magic of another element.

Without it, she probably would have won.

Or I would have had to use the horns.

The face of my master suddenly comes to mind.

Until I finally reach him, I cannot lose to even one person.

Not to my best friend, or even my benefactor.

「There you go stealing the show again.」

Applying pressure to my wound, I heard the seemingly frustrated voice of my leader.

When I turned to look, I saw the Water Hero sitting atop a giant ice sculpture, which was the Hydra that he had frozen completely.

On the ground was the Destroyer who had lost her massive right arm.

It seems that they defeated Haagenti around the time I concluded my fight.

From their injuries and traces of battle, I could tell that it was quite a fierce battle.

「It’s all thanks to everyone.」

Because of this party, I was able to win.

Other than Wraith or Fran, we still don’t have the strength to defeat a Vampire by ourselves.

Still, we thought, worked together, and attained victory in the end.

While Josh was being defeated, he healed Melania, then Melania immediately protected me, then Fran came running, and finally, the compound magic with Wraith made it in time.

That is how much of a threat Carmilla’s assault was.

Wraith laughed heartily, perhaps predicting my answer.

「Well then, let’s celebrate this victory with everyone.」

The sound signaling the end of the match rang out, also signaling that we have broken through the first stage of the All-Heaven Festival Contest.