Several shelters existed in the city.
They had now turned into sarcophagi with all entrances and exits covered over.
Only a few citizens had noticed this strange phenomenon.
Most of those who were aware of the situation did not have the time to pursue such an incomprehensible mystery in depth. Their lives were more important.
Two of them grabbed the guards and explained the situation. But one of them refused to take the explanation, saying that they were probably drunk or hallucinating from fear.
The other pulled the guard aside and had him identify the mysterious sarcophagus. The guard was astonished and promised to report this immediately to his superiors.
“≪Masonry≫”
A gaping hole appeared in the stone wall in front of them, and then it was too late.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Marquis-sama! What’s going on outside!?”
“Keep quiet, Ghislain!”
“If the enemy of God appears, I must fight!”
“I told you that’s not your job! There is nothing going on, so be quiet! … Damn you, why don’t you listen to me!?”
In the glamorous hallway of Marquis Edfeldt’s castle, Marks and Ghislain were yelling at each other across a door.
Marks was annoyed. Or rather, he felt creeped out. Ghislain, who had always been obedient, only doing as he was told, and otherwise remaining quiet and still, suddenly began to make a fuss.
The incarnate holy beasts were obeying Morgana because they had seen her spirit, which they said was divine or something. However, since they could not leave the reins of the holy beasts in the hands of that dangerous person, others were issuing orders under the pretense of receiving the authority to do so from Morgana.
And so it worked just fine out of Morgana’s hands. The same was true for Ghislain.
Something was not right.
Ghislain heard the sound of cannon fire and reacted.
At the moment, he was only asking Marks to explain the situation, but the fact that he moved out of order was strange in itself.
“Don’t ever let him out!”
“Understood.”
Knowing it was a comforting thought, Marks ordered the guard. An armed man stood in front of the room as if he was Ghislain’s bodyguard, but in reality he was a sentry.
Marks locked Ghislain’s room from the outside and put a guard there. But now Ghislain had the power of a holy beast. If he wanted to smash through the door, it would be quick.
The door that was trapping Ghislain looked as fragile as a soap bubble. Still, it was not broken now. Marks prayed that it would stay that way.
With that, Marks decided to push Ghislain to the back of his mind for the moment and concentrate on the battle.
For now, it was up to the “Sub-Zero Crystal Spear” fighting outside the walls. More than half of the holy beasts were attached to them, as well as some low-ranking adventurers to protect them and shield them. All he could do was hope that they performed well.
What was worrisome was that the whereabouts of the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” herself were unknown. Therefore, Marks had to keep the Second Order in town and Earl Keely’s forces at his disposal, he was unable to make any moves.
He even briefly considered sending Ghislain to fight. But Marks quickly dismissed the idea. If Ghislain died here, it would all be for nothing.
Marks ran back to the command post. But mercilessly, before Marks could return, one of the call marks clutched at his waist flashed like a purple flame.
The other side was not … “Sub-Zero Crystal Spear”. It was not the troops on the northern city wall, which was the front line. The guards were sent to patrol the city as a reserve force and as a precaution in case of civil panic, although they might have been unreliable.
“Marquis-sama! In the town, there is an unbelievable number of undead …!”
“What!?”
The kind of report that one wouldn’t want to hear suddenly jumped into his ears, and even Marks felt as if his heart had been grabbed in a tight grip.
“They say it’s a monster called a Bloodsucker. A lower-class vampire that attacks people and sucks their blood and turns them into Bloodsuckers…”
“Where did they get in!!”
The time he was away from the command center to deal with Ghislain should have been very short. He was astonished that he had been away for such a short period of time, and at the same time he could not help but curse his own misfortune and carelessness for having left his seat at the worst possible time.
However, there was no time to be so carefree and careless. If the situation worsened, he would have to do something about it.
“I said I don’t believe it, but it doesn’t make it any clearer! How many are there?”
“Oh, probably… at least 500 and of course they are still multiplying.”
The Captain of the Guards said in disbelief himself. Marks was now in a state of shock. It was no longer a situation to cope with, or to do anything about. It was doomed.
“… Stupid. Stupid…”
＊ ＊ ＊
Looking down at the bloodsuckers flooding the street, Bertil ran across a row of buildings.
He pulled out a call mark, plucking it from his luggage and stroked the surface with his fingers to activate the arm. As soon as he was connected, he shouted out.
“Kaya, where are you!?”
“Commander! We are near the north city wall. Suddenly a large number of undead …!”
“I know. Bloodsuckers. These guys are sucking blood to increase their numbers.”
A swarm of undead walking unsteadily headed in one direction as if drawn by something.
The color of their bodies was so pale that they even looked blue. Their eyes glowed red and their canine teeth were as long as a dog’s fangs. And their bodies were atrophied, like they were on the verge of drying up.
Bloodsucker. Although there were individual differences, they were generally low-class creatures and had many weak points. But the problem lied in their numbers and their ability to multiply. Those who died after being bloodsucked by a bloodsucker would come back to life as a bloodsucker. They multiply and multiply without control. Furthermore, they did not consume the magic power of the operator because they consumed the bio-magic power contained in blood as energy to move.
–René-chan doesn’t have to use magic power to increase or maintain the number of members. This is too convenient.
“It’s impossible to get rid of bloodsuckers that have multiplied beyond a certain point if you’re fighting them normally. They will increase more than we can defeat, at least until we run out of materials and supplies. These guys are extremely vulnerable to the holy energy, so if anyone can make a wide-area «Sanctuary» like the one in the capital, it would be a complete sweep…”
Bertil had thought about whether or not he could counter René’s plan when he had roughly figured it out.
There were no magic items in the city at thta moment that could deploy «Sanctuary» and if he thought about substituting with ritual magic, he would have to spend all of his money on holy magic users. Then, it would be a simple matter of putting out a single barrier and that would be the extent of it.
The only thing left to do was to use garlic, which vampires avoid. It would be impossible to raise the necessary numbers after the event had occurred. Well, Bertil made sure that he and his subordinates had enough for themselves.
“Vampire protection should help. Have you used the garlic juice yet?”
“Yes. I covered my head with it.”
“And if there are bloodsuckers around, that means there’s someone out there who made them too. Did you give the guys the anti-charm accessories?”
“We are already wearing them.”
In addition, as a countermeasure against the undead, the armor had been enchanted with a «Sanctification» spell in advance.
With this, some safety was secured for the time being. The question was how to move the situation from here.
–Well, I can only rescue the citizens. If things continue as they are, people will die indiscriminately.
“Kaya.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t mean to sound heartless, but we can no longer defend the city. We can deal with the bloodsuckers with holy seals and garlic, but the bloodsuckers are going to destroy the protection of the city walls from the inside. We can’t deal with these numbers, and even if we participate, there’s nothing we can do about it. The undead soldiers outside the walls will soon be pouring into the city. And the smell of garlic won’t keep them away.”
“…Yes.”
Explaining the situation over the call mark, Bertil pulled out a crystal.
The image of nobles praying was reflected in it. It was a spying item he had set up in the castle’s chapel.
–The only place safe from the “Wedge of Isolation” I’ve been forced to set up is the chapel inside the castle. I think René was probably going to make a bloodsucker inside the castle as well to break down the castle wall protection… Hmmm, it looks like it’s safe for now.
This was the only place where Bertil deviated a bit from the scenario he had envisioned. He had some idea of the cause, but he would analyze it later.
Even if the castle was safe, the result would not be much different. Just because the castle was safe for now didn’t mean that the citizens could be evacuated there.
“The battle will probably soon turn into a siege for the castle. But then the outcome will be decided. The battle is lost if it goes into a siege. The enemy can easily replenish their forces, but we can’t even hope to add more holy beasts, so if it becomes an endurance battle, we’ll just be slowly and steadily getting smothered to death. The only way to win this battle was to first reduce their siege capabilities, then use the city walls as shields while striking the enemy, and when the time was right, launch a counteroffensive and annihilate them all. And all at once, while we can still fight at full strength. That plan had long since collapsed. The magical artifact defense weapons that had been installed on the castle walls had been moved to the city walls, so as soon as the city walls were breached, we were finished. Even if we holed up in the castle, we can’t launch a counterattack unless we can deliver an effective blow to the enemy.”
The odds of winning were too limited. It was like poking a needle through a hole with the tip of a spear.
Everything had to go as planned, René had to make the wrong decision, and the frontline had to fight hard to overturn their inferiority… They knew that, but it still seemed impossible.
“Kaya. We are not the Marquis’s subordinates. We have been with him up to this point, but for the sake of His Highness Ghislain, who is only one of the candidates for crown prince, there is no need for us to throw ourselves into a battle that we cannot win and end up dying. Instead, we must help the candidate for crown prince in the West from now on.”
“But then, the people of this city…”
The fact that Bertil’s words were so out of line made Kaya frightened.
In fact, Kaya’s bewilderment was justified. Bertil was saying that he was giving up on the idea of winning and abandoning the city.
But Bertil was more interested in what he could get rather than betting on the possibility of a miracle.
“The city is not under siege at the moment. We’ll just try to get citizens who can escape quickly and somehow lead them out of the city through the south side. It’s pathetic, but it’s the best we can do. … I need to go check on the castle while I’m here. I’ll leave you in charge of that.”
“Yes.”
Bertil disconnected his call mark when he heard Kaya’s reply.
Looking down, the Bloodsuckers seemed to be moving in one direction, breaking into buildings in their path and adding to their ranks.
“… Huh. I’d like to help the citizens to the extent that it doesn’t make us look bad. Oh, adults are so filthy.”
He felt like he had to make a fool of himself while doing it.
But it was not pointless. For those who were rounded up, this was where it all ended, but for those who were saved, it was everything.
And Bertil had to take this battle in to the next.
–The battle is won. Now all that’s left is for René to take out our ace, and if she doesn’t, we’re good. On the other hand, if we can take out as many of their captains and executives as possible, then all the better. I wonder if the “Sub-Zero Crystal Spear” is okay.
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