“Is the scout unit still far off?”
In the northeastern front of the Sahelrn Duchy, the empire army general, Hamilton Besheunay, couldn’t hold back his impatience and spoke up.
The sun was about to set. If everything went according to plan, the scouts should have already returned by now.
He wasn’t standing at the border anymore but right in the heart of the duchy. The thought that vampires were lurking beneath him, waiting for nightfall, made him want to withdraw his troops immediately.
“They’ll be here soon.”
A knight from the Luminous Kingdom, Dave Rakel, answered alongside Hamilton for this operation.
Wasn’t that a name he had heard before? He was one of the top experts from the Luminous Kingdom.
Hamilton wondered why he was even politely asking instead of spouting complaints about whether the Luminous Kingdom had ulterior motives by using the scouts as bait to bury some of the Empire’s forces in the land of vampires.
Even for the Luminous Kingdom, as hostile as they were towards the Empire, they wouldn’t send five of their strongest knights into the fray just to use them as disposable pawns.
Hamilton and Dave’s mission today was to search for the Progenitor.
Honestly, no one believed they could wipe out all the duchy’s vampires with this scale of forces, no matter how much they were united.
To do that, the three nations would truly have to be prepared for total war, but they couldn’t ignore the Beastmen eagerly watching for their chance. If they were to wipe out the vampires while getting robbed by the Beastmen, it wouldn’t even be a laughing matter.
All the leaders of the three nations understood this, which is why the goal of this war wasn’t complete occupation of the duchy from the start.
To assassinate the Progenitor who fled to the duchy. If they can achieve that, there would be no need to linger any longer.
While he wanted nothing more than to eradicate the disgusting vampires, that wasn’t something he needed to accomplish at the cost of unnecessary sacrifices right now.
However, to assassinate the Progenitor, they had to approach the Grand Duke’s castle in the heart of the duchy.
In order to do so, the united forces made their way through gruesome bloody warfare, gradually pushing the front lines forward, and finally, during today’s daylight, they had reached right in front of the Grand Duke’s castle.
It hadn’t been a short time.
And the current reconnaissance was the final preparatory step before achieving their ultimate goal.
According to the rumors, they would set up detection equipment around the Grand Duke’s castle, measure the elemental energy in the area, and compare it with the data of the Progenitor held by the Luminous Kingdom to pinpoint a specific location.
Hamilton wasn’t an expert in that area, so he didn’t fully understand, but what mattered was the result. If everything went well, he might put an end to this long war today.
The moment the Progenitor’s location was determined, an elite force would infiltrate the castle and assassinate the Progenitor.
If they missed today, he couldn’t guarantee when the next opportunity would arise, so it was a crucial moment unlike any other.
How much blood had been shed to lure the Grand Duke Martini Sahelrn out of the castle, who would pose the greatest threat if they infiltrated?
To draw out the Grand Duke, a massive number of troops had to be gathered in one place, and finally, the word of the Grand Duke’s sighting had just come in from that front line last night.
Thankful that he wasn’t on-site, where a horrifying level of casualties was reported, Hamilton was still aware that if he didn’t conclude matters before sunset, he might have a run-in with the Grand Duke returning to the castle tonight.
Though he could count the number of people stronger than him in the Empire, he wasn’t old enough to think he could win against a living nightmare famed in history.
Even a knight had to know when to show off their courage.
Moreover, he was not merely a knight but a commander responsible for the lives of many soldiers, so he hoped to minimize casualties and achieve the war’s objective without fail.
“Hey, sis. I’m coming soon…”
Hamilton glanced over at the sudden, vacant mumbling sound.
It was a young girl who had just become an adult, but despite her appearance, she was one of the Luminous Kingdom’s asymmetric powers among the knights. Moreover, she was said to be an exceptionally promising talent, making her a significant force.
Since Hamilton had seen her abilities firsthand, he had no intention of questioning them.
However, he seriously doubted whether someone who seemed half-awake, mumbling to herself, could be thrown into an assassination team.
“Is it really okay to send that girl into the castle, knight?”
“Well, she wishes to, so we can’t help it. There’s no reason to refuse, and she fits the purpose of a small elite unit quite well.”
Dave replied to the question he couldn’t hold back, but it was clear he wasn’t too keen on the idea either.
It seemed that they had their reasons too.
“Either way, I wish they’d hurry up.”
It might sound harsh, but until the reconnaissance team returned, it was the Empire’s job to provide cover, and infiltrating the Grand Duke’s castle wasn’t Hamilton’s responsibility. Deep down, he just wanted to wipe his hands clean and comfortably watch the show.
Hamilton gazed at the sun, nearly on its last leg, and estimated the remaining time.
There was about 30 minutes left until the sun completely set. The Grand Duke wasn’t in the castle, so getting attacked right after dark wouldn’t pose a threat, but considering the time for retreat, they would need to start pulling back within an hour at the latest.
Just as Hamilton finished his rough calculations, the sun, precariously hanging in the sky, vanished suddenly without a sound.
“What?!”
Hamilton jumped up in disbelief.
Night had fallen. There had to have been time until sunset, but as if the sun had already set ages ago, the red sky darkened in an instant to deep black.
“Everyone, prepare for battle! Stay alert for unusual phenomena!!”
Hamilton wasn’t the only one to sense the irregularity. The sky, which had just been crimson, had turned dark too quickly to be missed.
A mere 30 minutes’ discrepancy was not a long time, but in the heart of the vampires’ den, it had a different meaning.
Creeeeak—
With an eerie sound, the castle gate opened, drawing the attention of the allied forces.
It was fast. Even amidst the sudden occurrence, as soon as the sun set, it was as if they had been waiting for this moment.
“Stay calm! The Grand Duke isn’t here anyway!!”
Hamilton commanded his subordinates and drew his sword. Only about 500 meters to the castle gate.
The heightened tension shifted to confusion as an unexpected figure emerged from the open gate.
“…A maid?”
Dazed questions escaped from here and there.
It would’ve made sense to question what she was doing right in front of the enemy’s base, but no one spoke up.
After all, what appeared from the open gate was just one person—a single vampire maid dressed tidily, which was not fitting for the situation.
“How rude of you to lay down in front of someone else’s home. You really are ill-mannered mutts.”
Her voice, though not raised, echoed clearly as if she were speaking right beside them.
Who was that maid? She wasn’t in the intel.
This castle of Sahelrn couldn’t have spies like human nations, so they couldn’t have known every detail about the castle’s residents.
Yet the soldiers’ guard was at its highest.
The first reason was the provocation in her scathing tone that ignited their fighting spirit, and the second was that even if she didn’t truly intend to fight, her confidence in stepping forward alone signified a level of ability on her part.
No one let their guard down. No one thought the opponent in front of them was just an ordinary maid.
However, the unfortunate fact for these humans was that at this point, without issuing a retreat order, they had grossly misjudged their enemy within the bounds of common sense.
“The price of your rudeness will be paid with your lives.”
With a contemptuous retort, the maid vanished from sight. Hamilton had not once taken his eyes off her, yet—
Whoosh!!
“Aaaaargh!!!”
“What the?!”
A storm of blood erupted behind Hamilton, who was leading the charge.
In disbelief, he turned around to find an unbelievable sight before him.
The soldiers were slitting their own throats. About ten percent of their number.
Before he could comprehend the situation, inky black hands surged up from the ground.
The grotesque hands made of viscous darkness swept through the area, disassembling the limbs of the entangled soldiers, creating a horrifying scene.
“It’s dark magic!! Counter it with holy magic!!”
“How lucky to have the luxury to look elsewhere.”
As a gentle voice rang out, Hamilton twisted his body at superhuman speed, swinging his sword.
Boom!!
Hamilton gritted his teeth and braced himself against a shock that felt like crashing into a siege weapon.
It was only because it was him that he managed to block it; had it been someone else, they’d surely have lost their head in an instant.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
“A knight, huh? Convenient for me. If you gather the annoying ones in one place, I’d be happy to oblige.”
The maid swung her arm toward Dave’s sword as he charged in to support Hamilton.
Ting! From the hand she swung, a shadowy arm larger than her body emerged, deflecting Dave’s sword away as if it had never existed.
Cold sweat dripped down Hamilton’s back.
“This girl isn’t ordinary.”
“We have to take her down ourselves; the soldiers can’t handle this.”
A knight and an army general. Normally, even if a hundred vampires rushed at them, they could handle the two of them without issue.
“Bring it on, you trash.”
But facing such humans, the vampire maid grinned savagely.
Stella Banteker. The personal maid to Grand Duke Martini Sahelrn.
The only noble of the duke rank, aside from the Grand Duke himself, that existed within the Sahelrn Duchy.
She hadn’t been active outside the duchy for nearly a century, so humans knew almost nothing about her, but centuries ago, she had been feared as the shadow of nightmares; now, the strategic weapon of the Sahelrn Duchy had descended upon the allied forces.
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