"Then, my lord."

The castle walls were close enough.

Deciding this, Alpha bent his waist to Celendion.

"I will pave a path over their castle walls."

"Do so."

Celendion nodded with a smile.

"Go forth, Alpha. Beta."

"Yes, my lord."

Alpha once again deeply bowed, and Beta also quietly held her hand to her chest in salute.

Then, the two vampire generals turned around,

Whoooosh-!

Like bullets, they began to charge towards the castle walls.

At the forefront was Beta.

With her maid frills and skirt fluttering like a cloak, and her giant axe in the water waving like a feather from side to side, Beta sprinted.

Whooosh! Whooosh!

A few archers on the castle walls used their skills to fire silver arrows, but,

Thump-thump-thump!

Useless.

As she swung her axe like a fan, the swarm of silver arrows shattered in the air like chaff.

'Like I would be affected by these pitiful attacks.'

A smirk slid across the lips of the vampire with the face of a maid lady.

'If you're going to shoot, bring something at least like the holy arrow that sniper shot earlier!'

But that sniper from a moment ago was no longer in sight on the front lines.

Then - there would be no more formidable attacks.

All that was left was to take down the castle walls!

Thump-thump-thump!

Beta reached the bottom of the castle walls in an instant and squatted down, feet together on the ground.

Thud, thump...

Beta's slender thighs and calves transformed in an instant into muscular forms, swelling as if they would burst,

Whooosh-!

With an enormous leg strength, she kicked the ground and rocketed up like a missile.

-Thud.

With a single leap, Beta had reached the top of the castle walls.

"What?!"

"No way..."

The humans on the castle walls spat out their words as they met her gaze, their faces turning pale.

Now sharing an eye level with the monster, all sorts of emotions that had not been apparent before began to surface from the humans.

Disbelief, surprise, horror, and...

Fear.

A primal fear of death.

'Ah.'

Beta stroked her neck with her left hand. The pale neck where a long scar was etched horizontally.

'If only my neck was intact, I could've taunted you.'

The joy of tormenting humans lay in the blood sucked dry and the bone marrow extracted.

It would also be in mocking the trembling humans in fear and tasting the tears shed when they begged for their lives.

Sadly, Beta had lost her language when she was beheaded in the distant past.

'But this is enough for now.'

Beta smiled with her red lips.

The war had only just begun.

There would be plenty of time. To taste the blood and bone marrow of humans, and their tears.

So now,

Aaaaaahhhh!

It was time to be faithful to the task at hand!

Beta swung her axe overhead. The deafening noise was sharp enough to tear the eardrums.

In the next moment, the axe was buried in the castle wall-

Rumble!

A huge vibration erupted, followed by a cloud of dust. The entire castle wall shook with a formidable force.

"Argh!"

"Grab something!"

The soldiers screamed and stumbled.

Thud, thump-thump.

As the vibration finally ceased and the dust settled, the demolished castle wall's outer surface was revealed.

The brutally torn bricks and iron plates shed fragments, slowly falling to the ground.

The automated defensive turret installed in the central part was also smashed to pieces and fell.

"Well done, Beta."

At the same time, Alpha, a vampire butler who had reached the bottom of the castle walls, grinned.

"Now it's my turn."

Alpha waved his hands vigorously, as if conducting an orchestra.

Crack... crackle...

The corpses of the Frost Ghoul piled up to form a hill below the castle walls began to freeze all at once.

Not only that, the corpses scattered around began to gather layer by layer, forming a path.

From the castle walls down below, to the center of the castle walls, wide open from Beta's axe.

Alpha gingerly climbed up the path made of frozen ghouls.

The soldiers watching from the castle walls opened their mouths wide.

"He's making a path... with corpses?"

In an instant, a path of ice and corpses connecting from the bottom to the top of the castle walls was completed.

Alpha, who reached the top of the castle walls, looked around at the humans and grinned,

"Move aside, vermin."

He said coldly.

"The king is on his way."

And so it was.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Accompanied by five ordinary vampires, Celendion, seated in a palanquin, stood in front of the path of ice and corpses.

"Beautiful, my domineering one."

Celendion muttered with satisfaction, looking at the path piled up with the lives of his subordinates.

"Well, shall we go up?"

It was time to overcome the human barrier.

Time to bring about the ruin of the human race.

***

Just as Celendion's carriage was about to ascend the path made of ice and corpses,

Thud!

Screeeeech...!

Suddenly,

The tightly closed castle gates started to slowly open to either side. It was right next to the path of ice and corpses.

"...?"

Not only the ordinary vampires but also Celendion stared with wide eyes at this unexpected development.

Opening the castle gates?

At this timing?

In the middle of a siege?

"Huh? What?"

Alpha and Beta, who were standing on the castle wall waiting for the king's procession, also widened their eyes and looked down.

And the one who came out through the opened castle gates... was the human side's commander, Ash.

Ash, who confidently walked out through the castle gates, looked at the vampires with dumbfounded eyes, then turned around and yelled,

"Prepare the drinks!"

"Yes!"

Immediately, soldiers ran out from behind Ash, put down a table, and placed snacks and liquor bottles on it.

Screeeeech...

Thud!

The soldiers ran back inside, and the castle gates closed tightly.

Now, outside the castle gates, there were only a table with drinks, two chairs, and Ash.

Thud!

Ash, who pulled out a chair from behind the table, casually sat down on it.

And he gestured toward Celendion.

"Come sit, Vampire King."

A relaxed smile was on his face.

"Let's have a drink and chat a bit."

***

...Nervous.

Nervously nervous.

Cold sweat was pouring down.

Though I was pretending to be calm, setting up the drinks, and sitting at the table, inside, I was extremely tense.

'Is it working? Will it work? This is working, right? Huh?'

I licked my drying lips as I surveyed the motionless vampire bastards. Hurry up and come over, don't check me out!

During the last operation directive, I clearly told my party members,

- I will isolate Celendion and bind him with the secret strategy I have prepared. During that time, you and the ordinary soldiers will wipe out the vampire legion.

The secret strategy to isolate and bind Celendion. What is that secret strategy?

'It's obviously the boss stage special gimmick!'

Every 5th stage is a boss stage.

And there is a special command activated only on boss stages - 'Commander's Conference'.

In the boss stage, one monster army commander level beast, named monster king, would emerge.

A 1v1 conference between commander characters can be requested from them. In the game, the success rate was 100 percent.

When the conference command is activated, both commander characters become unusable for 10 turns.

Both commander characters sit face to face and exchange dialogues for 10 turns.

The game explains that you can get clues about the secrets of the world from this conversation, or the battle may unexpectedly change.

'But in the actual game, this command was barely used.'

After all, on our side in the game, the commander character was Lucas.

Even if there's an effect of binding the enemy boss for 10 turns, our side also loses an SSR grade knight character from the front line.

That void is immense. So, it was treated as a non-existent gimmick.

But now I'm the commander.

Of course, it's not that my role in the front line is small, but I'm not a pure combatant.

If someone like me can bind the enemy boss, Celendion, for 10 turns, it's a huge benefit.

'In the game, 1 turn is about 3 minutes in reality.'

So, 10 turns are 30 minutes.

It can keep the Vampire King away from the front line for 30 minutes. If it works, the gain is overwhelmingly greater than the loss.

'But they came over right away in the game!'

Why are they standing there stupidly and looking at me as if I'm a madman? Hurry up and come over!

I grabbed the liquor bottle and poured it into the cup with a pretense of leisure.

In fact, I tried to pour it smoothly, but I was so nervous that my hand trembled and it came out in a spurt. Damn it! Keep a poker face, Ash!

And then,

Step. Step.

Celendion, who had lightly descended from the carriage, really started walking toward me alone.

The battlefield was enveloped in a bizarre silence.

All the soldiers were quietly watching this insane spectacle.

Thud.

I dragged the chair backward,

Thunk.

And took a light seat.

Celendion, sitting across from me, silently lifted his glass. I chuckled slightly as I poured alcohol into his glass.

Swirling the glass, Celendion asked,

"Shall we toast?"

"We're not exactly on those terms."

"Quite heartless of you to invite me and then say that. But, I like it."

Celendion glanced towards the path made of ice and corpses next to him.

"To drink while watching lives wilt like flowers..."

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

The remaining vampires began to march up the path.

Watching his subordinates advance, Celendion lifted his glass to his lips.

"It has quite a mood."

"I agree."

I too snorted and lifted my glass to my lips.

"There's nothing as delicious as drinking while watching your monstrous underlings dying."

"Hooh," 

With a smug smile, Celendion turned towards me.

"You seem to trust your army quite a bit."

"Of course. That's why I'm sitting here drinking, right? My subordinates can easily turn your monster underlings into blood puddles even without me."

"Shall we make a bet?"

"What kind of bet?"

"Isn't it obvious? By the time this bottle is empty... who will be the victor atop that castle wall. That's the bet."

I frowned.

"What's the stake?"

"If you win, I'll spare you."

Celendion didn't lose his smile.

"And let you watch until the last moment as humanity is annihilated."

"..."

So what's that?

Even if his subordinates are annihilated, he's confident he can destroy the world alone? Is that what he just implied?

Taken aback, I glared at him for a while, then asked slowly,

"And if you win?"

"Can't we take our time deciding that? After all, we'll have plenty of time."

I pointed my index finger at Celendion, who was savoring the aroma of the wine in his mouth.

"Let's see how long that nonchalant attitude of yours lasts. Celendion."

Filled with sincerity and hope, I shouted.

"My subordinates are strong. Strong enough to kill all of your subordinates and even pluck your feathers!"

***

"So weak."

One of the vampires carelessly muttered.

In his hand was a severed human neck.

It was Dion's neck.

Whoosh-

Clank. Roll.

The casually tossed neck rolled on the castle wall, splattering blood.

Licking the blood off his hands, the vampire grumbled discontentedly,

"Tasteless."