Ch.52Chapter 52: Vampire (8).

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-

Valt’s relentless sprint.

Yuria transforms into her beast form to keep up with Valt.

Robi, too, despite having the lowest level of mastery, manages to keep pace with Valt and Yuria thanks to the exceptional footwork techniques of the bow god, which demonstrate their true power when maintaining distance.

Lilis, the mage, inevitably finds herself being carried on Valt’s back again.

Even if she transformed into a bat and flew, her speed wouldn’t be fast enough.

Clinging tightly to Valt as she’s carried, Lilis blushes and murmurs to him in a small voice.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it. I can’t even feel your weight.”

Is it thanks to their incredible speed? Or perhaps the monsters remember the scent of Valt’s group?

The number of monsters charging at them has decreased incomparably from before.

Even those that do approach are blown away by the wind created when Valt sweeps his hand.

Lilis is utterly bewildered.

‘This power from just a 1st Circle mage… The world truly is vast. We need to venture outside.’

Thanks to Valt, Lilis’s desire to emerge into the light grows even stronger.

***

Before they know it, they’ve arrived back at Yorn Village. It took less than three hours, let alone half a day.

Still, enough time has passed that it’s now 6 PM.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-

The sound of Valt running is unmistakable.

Lisa and her friends, who had already arrived at Yorn Village, come out to greet them.

“Valt!”

“Brother!”

Arias, also happy to see Valt, was about to call out his name when…

“Val…t…?”

She notices the clearly beautiful woman riding on Valt’s back.

‘Again!? Why does he always have women hanging around him?!’

Seeing the subtle expression on the face of the woman on Valt’s back, Arias’s feminine intuition sounds an alarm.

In the end, Arias lets out a sigh.

“Haah…”

But Valt, oblivious to Arias’s feelings, greets his friends with a bright, open smile.

“Everyone’s here early. Did you find the cat?”

Lati grumbles as she transforms to fairy size and climbs onto Valt’s head.

“Don’t even mention it! That cat was so quick…! Huh? There’s a guest in my spot?”

Since when did Valt’s body become Lati’s designated place? No one knows.

Lilis awkwardly greets Lati.

“H-hello?”

“Hi there! I’m Lati Tinker, princess of the fairy tribe! Who are you?”

In response to Lati’s question, Valt introduces Lilis as he sets her down on the ground.

“This is Lilis, a vampire princess. Say hello, everyone.”

At the mention of a vampire princess, Lisa is the first to step forward.

“Wow!! A vampire!! A real vampire!! You’re so pale and pretty! Like a doll! And how is your hair so black and beautiful? Look at those red eyes!! Oh! I’m Lisa Valentine! So nice to meet you! I’m the vice-captain of Valt’s gang!”

“V-Valt’s gang?”

“Yes! We’re friends of Valt Gerung, the champion of the Grovint Academy Tournament.”

Lilis feels dizzy from Lisa’s overwhelming introduction.

After greeting Victor and Arias as well, Lilis stands beside Valt.

But noticing Arias’s unfriendly expression, Lilis grows concerned.

‘Elves and vampires shouldn’t be on bad terms… This hostility… Is there some secret history I don’t know about?’

Lilis is making a strange misunderstanding.

Once everyone has gathered, Valt begins explaining the current situation to his friends.

.

.

.

“Does everyone understand?”

“Yes, Captain Valt!”

Lisa’s spirited response rings out, and the friends, having heard the full explanation, begin searching Yorn Village again.

***

Somewhere in the great forest.

A woman with purple hair wearing tight-fitting black leather leans crookedly against a tree and mutters.

“Do we really need to go this far? Isn’t the Lord already significantly weakened? I think we could just charge in now.”

In the direction she’s looking, a man of average build wearing a coat sits on a rock, carelessly tossing a few pieces of firewood into the campfire before him.

“It’s not that simple. Bladir is a monster among monsters who has lived for half a millennium. Even a weakened 9th Circle Arch Wizard is not to be taken lightly. There’s no harm in being cautious.”

The woman shrugs, clearly dissatisfied.

“Hmph, the 7th Seat of the Obscurant is quite the coward.”

“Stop talking nonsense, Roxa. A mission is a mission. Increasing our chances of success is only natural.”

The woman called Roxa shakes her head and walks away.

“Yeah, yeah. How could I, the 8th Seat, possibly understand the profound wisdom of the 7th Seat Proc~”

“Where are you going now?”

“Prey has been caught in our web, so I should check it out, right? We even sent the princess back. Those fools must have sent another search party. Didn’t you say we should be careful? We should reduce their numbers.”

The man called Proc silently throws another log onto the campfire, making the flames grow higher.

***

“There’s nothing here. How can people just vanish so suddenly?”

Among them, Lilis and Lati have the strongest magical abilities.

Lati informs her friends that despite using various detection spells, she can’t find anything in this village.

“Hmm, this is troubling. The enemy is clearly present, but we can’t even guess who they might be.”

Robin, who has expertise in reconnaissance, shares what little information he’s discovered.

“From footprints to traces, everything has disappeared. If they moved physically, it would be impossible to erase all evidence like this. This can only mean one thing.”

Lati picks up on Robin’s thought.

“Space magic. Not teleportation or other spatial movement magic. It’s highly likely that people were all placed in something like a pocket dimension and moved. Nothing else makes sense.”

“Exactly. They must have used space-based magic beyond our ability to detect.”

It’s been said that elven abilities are enhanced in the forest.

Arias, an elf who has received the forest’s blessing more than anyone, nods in agreement.

“I agree. Robin and Lati are right.”

After hearing everyone’s input, Valt asks Lilis:

“Can you think of anything? Does your uncle possess any space-related artifacts, for instance?”

But Lilis is doubtful.

“That’s impossible… And my uncle’s people have never come this way.”

As the mystery deepens…

Valt’s keen senses detect something.

“It seems some people have arrived who might answer our questions.”

“What?”

A subtle killing intent. Valt’s refined senses didn’t miss it.

“Ambush. Protect Lisa and Arias.”

Valt instantly assesses the enemy’s strength: 5th rank or higher, with some 6th rank experts mixed in.

At Valt’s shout, Victor, Robin, Yuria, and Lati position themselves in front of Lisa and Arias, while Valt prepares for battle.

At that moment, black-masked figures rush toward Valt’s group from the distant underbrush.

“We’ve been spotted. Kill everyone except the vampire princess.”

Pa-ba-ba-ba-bat!

Twenty people appear in an instant.

Fifteen 5th rank, five 6th rank.

Objectively, Valt’s group is outmatched.

As soon as the 6th rank experts appear, Valt doesn’t hesitate to launch himself toward them.

He has to trust that his friends can hold their own against the 5th rank experts.

“Don’t push yourselves! Focus on holding out!”

The masked group is dumbfounded by Valt’s shout.

It’s absurd enough that a mere 1st Circle mage would charge at them, but the idea that they think they can hold out against such overwhelming odds is laughable.

However, the 6th rank masked figures can’t help but be shocked by the tremendous flow of magical power from Valt as he charges at incredible speed.

A massive stone hammer forms in an instant.

It looks to be about ten meters long and falls vertically toward the 6th rank masked figures.

“D-dodge!!”

But perhaps because they underestimated him for being only 1st Circle? The aura users could escape instantly, but the ones who appeared to be mages couldn’t.

BOOM!!

CRASH!!

THUD!!

The earth-based physical magic, enhanced by gravity as it strikes vertically, easily surpasses 6th Circle power.

Two of the five 6th rank masked figures are instantly crushed to death.

First strike, first victory.

The enemy’s morale crumbles.

Having completely broken the enemy’s momentum with his opening attack, Valt now summons magical gauntlets to cover his fists.

Drrrrr-

“Silver-haired giant!! Barbarian! He’s at Great Warrior level! Attack together!”

Finally recognizing Valt’s identity, the 6th rank masked figures charge at him.

Sword strikes fly at Valt simultaneously from three directions.

SWOOSH-

Seeing the swords clearly rippling with energy, he confirms they’re using fairly powerful aura threads.

But Solphin’s attacks were stronger.

CLANG!

CLANG!

“Impossible!!”

The masked figures are shocked when their aura-infused thrusts are easily blocked by Valt’s magical gauntlets, but one more time-delayed attack remains.

A well-trained combination technique.

It’s a coordinated movement designed to seal the opponent’s defensive capabilities before delivering a decisive blow.

The third masked figure’s aura-glowing sword flies like a beam of light straight for Valt’s neck.

“Die!!”

SWOOSH-

‘Got him…!?’

CLANG!!

“W-what!?”

A small stone rapidly rotating in front of Valt’s neck.

Following the magical gauntlets and armored gloves, this is the third form of magical defense technique: Satellite Stone Curtain, which can defend against attacks with minimal magical power.

The stone that had been floating around Valt’s body incorporates the principles of the vortex sphere that Airin taught him, serving as both a defensive and offensive technique.

Fragments of the Satellite Stone Curtain that blocked the sword shoot toward the masked figure who made the final attack.

CLANG!

THUD!

“Urgh!!”

Being at such close range, he manages to block one fragment but takes another to the abdomen.

“What are you doing, you idiots!! *cough*!!”

He shouts at the two who attacked first, but they’re already caught by Valt’s magical gauntlets, their hands and swords trapped and unable to move.

“Ugh!! What strength!!”

Escaping from this grip is impossible.

Having made this assessment, masked figures 1 and 2 use their free hands to attack Valt.

But simultaneously, Valt extends his arms while holding onto the two and spins several times, causing the masked figures to be lifted into the air by the centrifugal force.

“U-uwaaaaaa!!”

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!

‘I probably don’t need to use Tornado for this.’

After several rotations, Valt throws each masked figure vertically into the air.

THWACK!!

THWACK!!

BOOM!

The sound of breaking through the air barrier—a sound that shouldn’t occur when people are thrown—rings out as the two masked figures soar higher into the sky than ever before.

“UWAAAAAAAA!!!!”

The rest of the group, who had been holding off the attacks of the 5th rank masked figures by sticking together, are stunned by this incredible sight.

Even the 5th rank masked figures who had been pressing the attack can’t help but stare at the scene.

Yuria is flabbergasted.

“He really went easy on the Empress, didn’t he?”

“I thought that was impossible too… What is this… Hey, Robin, could you survive falling from that height?”

“…Please ask something possible.”

The screams of the 6th rank masked figures, which had faded into the distance, begin to be heard again.

“UWAAAAAAAA!!!”

SPLAT!!

Though they tried to protect themselves with aura, the tremendous kinetic energy was enough to turn even 6th rank experts into mere lumps of flesh.

“……”

The battlefield suddenly falls silent.

Only Valt’s quiet voice echoes in that place.

“Not much of a challenge.”