Ch.4646. The Peculiar Fate of the Kingdom of Levia (3)

However, that change never manifested outwardly.

Was it because something necessary for the transformation was lacking, or was there another reason?

Though the process remained unknown, Barca XIV, who had completed his mutation into a Grade 4 Blood Vampire with several unique internal organs—

“Grrrrrrrrrr…”

Soon began looking around with a growl closer to that of a beast.

Where had his human rationality gone?

With his head hunched forward and moving slowly, yet ready to charge and pounce at any moment like a predator.

The vampire who had once been Barca XIV was leisurely circling the room, mapping out the space with his vampiric senses.

..step… thud… step, step, step, step.

“…!?”

And at that very moment.

As someone’s presence approached from afar, accompanied by footsteps, the vampire crawled just above the door to prepare an ambush.

“…Sigh, they said to open it since he must be dead by now.”

Click.

That “someone” grumbled in a thin voice while bringing a key to the door, inserting it into the lock, and after easily unlocking it, this “someone”—a maid—opened the door and entered.

—Thwack!

And that was the last action this unfortunate maid would ever take of her own will.

“G-guh… ack… gah…”

The vampire, who had ambushed the maid from behind in an instant, thrust his hand-blade into her throat, severing her vocal cords, then began draining her blood using fang-like feeding organs that emerged from his skin.

The maid could only reflexively make strange moans and death rattles, unable to resist as all the blood was drained from her body, killing her… yet she did not collapse.

“Uuuuuuuuhhh…”

The lowest form of undead—a Vampire Zombie, Grade 9—created when an intelligent being is drained by a vampire of low-intermediate rank or higher.

A monster with wrinkled skin reminiscent of a dead tree and a hideous appearance, having had all its blood sucked out.

The maid, now transformed into a Vampire Zombie, stood motionless, emitting corpse-like wails while awaiting his commands.

Of course, as a vampire, he had no reason to refuse a zombie servant.

After brief consideration, the vampire decided to use this inferior vampire as bait, and thus began the hunting partnership.

※ ※ ※

If you wrap up a Vampire Zombie’s skin tightly and leave it lying face-down on the floor, humans who discover it will see it as just a collapsed person and rush to help.

And at that moment, the vampire waiting invisibly on the ceiling would ambush and feast on their blood.

This hunting method, extremely simple yet effic—effective, continued for about an hour, resulting in the vampire acquiring a total of 47 Vampire Zombies.

“W-what is th—”

Slash!

“Undead! It’s undead!!! The undead have app—”

Crunch!

Beginning with the killing of a pair of royal guards who happened to pass by and spotted the gathered Vampire Zombies, the vampire and his zombie army were finally discovered.

Ah, though that wasn’t necessarily something that could have been prevented.

“Raise your spears!”

“Here they come! Prepare for impact!”

“GRAAAAAAAH!!!”

“Thrust!”

Squelch!!!

The royal guards formed defensive formations and held their ground, but… that only worked against the Vampire Zombies and Vampire Ghouls, which had grown to over 200 in number.

Whoosh—slash!

When the vampire swung his arm, blood blades formed along its trajectory, slicing through humans. These attacks left no physical wounds but instead absorbed massive amounts of blood.

And humans who died from this blood loss joined the vampire’s army as Vampire Zombies or Vampire Ghouls, causing the undead army to grow larger as time passed.

Of course, this undead army was nothing but a collection of straw men with large numbers when faced with the elite forces of the royal guard.

“…Move aside.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The fifty intermediate warriors of the royal guard cut, slashed, and crushed through the 2,000-strong undead legion—created from most of the humans who had resided in the palace—advancing relentlessly.

These warriors, who had transcended human limits through the power of aura, literally ground through the undead and reached the end.

And what these warriors witnessed beyond the undead was—

“Grrrrrrrrrr…”

“…Y-Your Majesty?”

The shocking sight of Barca XIV, the very person they were supposed to protect, standing behind the corpses and howling like a beast, as if he were the culprit behind this catastrophe.

And in a form that was clearly no longer human.

Naturally, the royal guard commanders—once co-conspirators in the coup and still his trusted confidants—were at a loss, not knowing what to do.

“…?”

And perhaps this confusion was shared by him—Barca XIV. Upon seeing the royal guard commanders, Barca XIV froze, seemed to hesitate, and then—

Whoosh!!!

Instantly changing his stance, he launched a surprise attack with a spear made of blood, cleanly removing the head of one royal guard commander, making his intentions clear, though perhaps unintentionally.

The current Barca XIV was a monster who viewed his previous connections as merely useful tools… or even simpler, as preparation materials for ambushes.

The remaining 49 royal guard commanders felt as if their lord, before becoming a monster, was making one final plea.

“Everyone—prepare for battle! From now on, we will eliminate the monster that killed His Majesty!”

Therefore, they steeled themselves at the voice of the Acting Commander-in-Chief (the actual Commander-in-Chief was Barca XIV) who declared the being before them as the king’s assassin. They charged to kill the vampire with certainty, but—

—Slash!

“Gack! Guh…”

Thud—flop!

Crash—crunch!

“Ugh, uuugh—”

Crunch!

Somehow, despite being only a mid-tier monster (Grade 4), the Blood Vampire was… overwhelming 49 intermediate warriors, including five high-intermediate (Grade 4) warriors.

With each extension of his hand, a warrior’s head would be separated and roll on the ground, limbs would be brutally torn off, and bodies would be reduced to pitiful chunks of meat.

In just 1 minute and 34 seconds, more than 20 intermediate warriors fell. Witnessing this scene, the royal guard commanders had to acknowledge the truth.

The monster they were facing had stepped into the realm of the ultimate—what people commonly called Sword Masters or high-tier warriors—a superior monster.

“■■■■■■■■■!!!”

And as if to prove this himself?

The vampire, growing stronger with each passing moment—or more precisely, with each drop of blood consumed—began moving like a pure beast—

“Y-Your… Ma-Majesty—”

CRACK!

Finally, the vampire grabbed the last remaining Acting Commander-in-Chief and tore him in half, annihilating the entire royal guard. Then, looking at the corpses piled around him, the vampire fell into contemplation.

He wanted to eat the corpses. To devour them. To chew and swallow those chunks of flesh, to drink the blood flowing from within, to gorge on the slimy entrails, to split the bones and feast on the delicious marrow inside.

This should be impossible for a vampire who possesses the instinct for blood-drinking but not flesh-eating—vampires can survive on blood alone—but…

Why?

Like a moth drawn to flame, the vampire began to feel toward corpses what he should feel toward blood. He opened his mouth and bit into the split head of the Acting Commander-in-Chief—

—CRUNCH!

Intoxicated by the brain matter, blood, flesh, and the flavor of the brain itself that burst forth, the Acting Commander-in-Chief eventually…

Began devouring human corpses so frantically that it took only about 5 minutes to consume an entire body, going beyond merely burying his muzzle in the corpses.

Crunch… crunch… crunch… CRACK!

From the moment he had consumed exactly ten bodies, changes began to occur in the vampire’s body.