Ch.47Chapter 47: Vampire (3)

Valt and his companions charged through the dense forest in a straight line.

Thud!

Crash!

Crack!

As Valt ran, smashing through trees, he occasionally checked on Lilis.

“Lilis, are you alright?”

Crack!

“Eek! Y-yes! I’m fine!”

Proving that the shortest path is indeed a straight line, Valt and his companions soon reached the outskirts of Brasov.

“W-we’re almost there!”

But Valt couldn’t see anything.

“Hmm? There’s nothing here.”

“We need permission to enter. But with so many monsters around…”

At Lilis’s words, Valt’s eyes gleamed.

Despite Valt throwing away the higher-grade monsters and Robin and Yuria taking care of the weaker ones, dozens of monsters still relentlessly pursued them.

“Hah! Ack! Hah! This—this is exhausting!! What on earth is he?!”

“Huff, puff, I-indeed. Valt’s physical abilities are simply preposterous.”

Valt removed his gauntlet and handed Lilis to Robin, who had just caught up.

“Protect her. Hup!”

CRASH!!

“Valt, you’re not—?”

Even Yuria was shocked when she saw Valt smashing the ground.

“Hey! Valt, don’t do it! Who knows what will happen if you use that in a forest like this!”

The scale of Stone Hurricane was enormous.

The forest’s devastation was a foregone conclusion.

“That’s not my intention. This is a different technique.”

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.

Valt stood sideways and began rotating his right arm rapidly like a windmill.

A long, snake-like vortex began to form and extend from Valt’s arm.

Whoooosh!

It looked like he had created a whip-like tornado by reducing the range of a normal tornado.

This way, Valt could control it, minimizing the damage.

“Unique magic, Stone Tornado Whip!”

Robin and Yuria stared in astonishment.

“What is that now…?”

As the pursuing monsters appeared, Valt sucked the stone fragments he had created into the vortex.

Rumble-rumble-rumble—

The whirling stone whip connected to Valt’s arm lashed out at the monsters.

CRASH!!

Monsters caught in the vortex were smashed to pieces by the stones and immediately blown away by the tornado.

“Hup!”

Before long, the tornado had absorbed so much monster blood that it turned crimson.

Faced with this natural disaster-like phenomenon, the approaching monsters all began to flee.

Lilis watched with wide eyes and whispered softly:

“Blood Tornado?”

***

After the situation settled, Valt asked Robin and Yuria:

“Is this acceptable?”

Though the immediate area was devastated, it had been a clearing, so the forest damage was minimal, and the monster corpses had been blown far away, leaving the area clean.

“Um… honestly, I’m not sure… But I guess it’s fine since this is vampire territory?”

“Good. I tried to minimize the damage. I like this forest too.”

In the end, they had accomplished the impressive feat of covering a two-day journey in just half a day.

The forest was now quiet.

With the situation resolved, Valt asked Lilis:

“Now, where do we go?”

But just as Valt asked, Lilis suddenly lost consciousness.

Yuria, who was holding her, shook her gently.

“Hey! Lilis! W-what’s wrong with her?”

They quickly laid Lilis down, and Valt asked:

“Lilis! Are you alright?”

She still seemed conscious.

Lilis’s lips trembled as she uttered:

“H-hungry…”

Who knew how long she had been in that well, and their rush had apparently made things worse.

Plus, riding on Valt’s back and enduring all those impacts had likely depleted her strength.

The fastest way to restore a vampire’s strength was obvious.

“Right, she looks so pale—she probably hasn’t had blood for a long time.”

But it’s said that vampires don’t drink just any blood.

“I’m a forest species, so my blood might not be good for vampires. As for Valt… I’m not sure, but Robin is definitely human, so his blood would probably be best. Robin, you’re not mixed-blood or anything, right?”

“Pure human. Let me give her my blood.”

Robin quickly answered and made a cut on his forearm, letting the blood drip into Lilis’s mouth.

Gulp, gulp—

As Lilis drank the blood, a faint red aura rose from her body.

Color returned to her pale face.

“Phew-!”

Lilis let out a sigh mixed with exclamation, and her eyes snapped open.

“Are you feeling better?”

“You… gave me blood?”

“Yes, you looked in danger, so we had to.”

Lilis sat up and bowed her head to Valt.

“Thank you. I owe you my life, Lord Valt.”

Though Robin had given the blood, she thanked Valt instead.

Valt smiled at Lilis’s polite gesture.

A good first impression. He thought this might lead to friendly relations with the vampires.

“It’s nothing. But where is your home?”

At Valt’s question, Lilis hesitated.

“W-would you come if I invited you…?”

“Gladly.”

“Many of our kind… are hostile to humans… It could be dangerous if you come?”

Valt calmly replied to Lilis’s warning:

“It’s the same with us Geruntu. Some really hate humans, but others, like me, don’t. It’s all because of misunderstandings. I believe I can be friends with vampires.”

Hearing Valt’s words, Lilis nodded.

“If that’s how you feel…”

Lilis turned and walked toward a cliff face with a large boulder.

“Kiri tue almathos, o irete philos suo.”

As Lilis muttered incomprehensible words similar to what Arias used when helping summon spirits, a blood-red energy flowed from the large boulder, creating a crimson warp portal.

Woooong—

Lilis turned to Valt’s group with a calm expression.

“I formally invite my benefactors to the City of Night.”

Valt’s eyebrows twitched at the fascinating sight.

“Oh… So this leads to Brasov, the world of night…”

“Yes, Lord Valt. As I mentioned earlier, it could be dangerous…”

Valt moved his massive body with an excited expression.

“Hehe, so we enter through here? But isn’t the entrance a bit small?”

Valt struggled to fit his body through, barely able to enter.

A flustered Lilis exerted more power.

Finally, the portal expanded just enough for Valt to enter by ducking his head.

“Let’s go then.”

***

Bonk—

“Ugh, it’s dark.”

Yuria bumped her head in the cave-like passage.

Robin looked at her incredulously.

“Aren’t lions nocturnal?”

“I can still bump into things! You know you’re quite the nag, Robin!”

Lilis quietly cautioned them.

“Be careful. It gets brighter once we’re past this part.”

“Really? So vampires don’t live in complete darkness after all?”

“Yes, though vampires are weakened by sunlight, paradoxically, we still need light to see.”

Valt was about to use light magic but gave up since he still couldn’t control it well.

His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness anyway.

Yuria, true to her lion nature, adapted quickly.

“Hmph~ I can see well now. By the way, Lilis.”

“Yes?”

“I’m a beastkin. Is it okay for me to enter a vampire kingdom? We’re not exactly friendly with the werewolf clan, but I know enough history.”

At Yuria’s words, Lilis smiled slightly.

“That’s true, but is there anyone in the beastkin race who actually lived through that war?”

“It was thousands of years ago, how could anyone still be alive?”

“The same applies to us, Yuria. Too much time has passed for us to keep hating each other.”

Thump, thump—

Valt asked another question.

“From what I can tell, this isn’t teleportation. This is just the other side of that boulder, right?”

“That’s right. You know a lot, Valt.”

“The smell of earth is identical. That’s not easy to achieve. By the way, Lilis, can you use blood magic?”

Lilis gave Valt a very surprised look.

“Yes, of course. Are you interested in blood magic?”

“Mmm, very much so. I’d like to learn it.”

Lilis seemed puzzled.

“You want to learn blood magic? But you’re already so strong, Valt…”

“Being strong doesn’t mean I should stop learning. And I still have a long way to go.”

Lilis looked amused.

“You’re quite greedy, Valt.”

Valt found it strange. At first, Lilis had been crying and panicking, but now she seemed quite composed, and even her way of speaking had changed slightly.

‘Hmm… Is it because she drank blood? She doesn’t seem to be trying to put us in danger…’

After walking a bit further, a vast basin opened up before them. It was so enormous that, with slight exaggeration, you could see the horizon. A massive basin.

Above it, blood-red clouds blocked the sunlight from entering the basin surrounded by mountains. Though extremely wide, the sky above narrowed toward the center, making it smaller than the land below.

“Wow, isn’t this amazing? Was such a place here all along? And it’s brighter than I expected?”

Lilis answered Yuria’s question.

“It’s because of those red clouds above. The Blood Mist. It blocks harmful light from reaching vampires and actually makes us stronger.”

Hearing Lilis’s explanation, Valt showed his curiosity.

“Oh… A race-specific magic.”

Lilis nodded.

“Yes, it’s a massive barrier magic derived from blood magic that protects our race.”

Just as they were admiring the sight.

From the distance, several bats flew toward them and transformed into vampires right before their eyes.

Poof—

Poof—

They quickly rushed to Lilis.

“P-Princess!!”

Valt’s group exclaimed in surprise.

“What?”

Lilis elegantly lifted her skirt slightly and curtsied.

“Let me formally introduce myself again. I am Lilis Bloodwell, daughter of the Night Emperor, Vladir Bloodwell.”