CH 39

Let’s Dance, Boys!

The undead released into the Noacurio army camp began killing at random. They broke into the tents and killed the soldiers waiting for them without hesitation.

“Undead! Undead!!”

The screams raised more in panic than a cry of urgency.

The surrounding area was in an uproar like a bee hive, and the emergency call trumpet was blown.

No one was wearing armor except those who were on guard. The knights, who had rushed out clutching only their swords and shields, were running for cover and falling prey.

But the undead were few in number. René herself did not count them, but there must have been less than 200.

She could not kill all the soldiers who were running away. In fact, more of them would escape. The soldiers who escaped the surprise attack of the undead formed a mob with various shields and other preparations, and began to form a makeshift defensive formation.

But then René saw them.

Climbing up on the nearest skeleton, scrambling onto its shoulders, she looked over the heads of the undead horde to see the assembled soldiers.

“Ah…Uh…”

“Princess……”

The soldiers who were near the front of the group looked at her funny. They stopped defending themselves, turned around, and slashed at their allies right behind them.

“What are you doing!”

“Hey, stop… Gyaa!”

“Stop! Stop these guys!”

The soldiers immediately began killing each other.

The converted soldiers wielded their swords like rampaging beasts and attacked those who had previously been their allies.

Soldiers who were cut down died.

Soldiers who came to their senses by counterattacking were already too far gone and died as they were.

Weather forecasts were very important to the military. It determined the direction of the march and engagement, and above all, whether or not the vampires would be able to operate.

The sun was already setting. The sky was covered with thick snow clouds, and it would start snowing at night. The area was eerily dark, and the vampires, who were damaged by the sun’s rays, were in no condition to operate.

“Come, poor souls. Burn!”

René called out, and the Jack-O-Lanterns, which had been waiting just out of René’s range of vision, instantly flew in. The flight of the souls was incredibly fast.

Dressed in simple robe-like clothing, wearing hollowed-out pumpkin masks, and holding up demon fire lanterns, the girl spirits (slightly deformed).

Incidentally, they were just used because they were in stock, and the Jack-O-Lanterns didn’t have to be made from girl souls.

“Charge!”

One command.

The Jack-O-Lanterns flew into the air, spraying out flames like a fireworks display.

“Kyahahahaha!”

“Moero moero!”

People to the right and left were engulfed in flames.

But actually, the damage was not that great. The tents also seemed to have a certain amount of magical defense, so the flames from the Jack-O-Lanterns would not burn them easily.

But that was not what René was aiming for.

“Aaahhhh!? What are you guys doing!?”

Half-crazed screams went up.

The Jack-O-Lanterns were going around setting fire to the stacked crates… few remaining rations.

If the food ran out, they would starve to death.

The soldier who had come to extinguish the fire with bloodshot eyes and a water bottle was slashed by a skeleton from behind and died.

The chaos accelerated further, and the battle escalated.

As if cutting through the mayhem, René felt a killing intent that stabbed straight at her.

–Am I being targeted?

The perimeter of the camp. Temporary wooden walls.

Someone was aiming at René from its walkways and watchtowers.

Sniper bows and stationary mechanical bows with magic artifacts were facing this way.

“Shoot!!”

Arrows were released all at once.

Making sounds of cutting through the sky, several arrows were aimed at René and attacked her. The arrows had an unpleasant scent, probably because the arrowheads were dipped in holy water. This was a technique often used in battles against the undead.

However, in order to deal with such a slippery attack, even the magical power used on «Short Warp» would be a waste.

A moment before an arrow pierced René, a hole opened up in her body, allowing the arrow to pass through.

René’s body was transformed into a cloud or mist of black particles like ash powder.

Vampire’s ability “Atomization”. The body could turn into mist. It was an ability that could be used in a variety of ways, such as for infiltration or escape. At night, it could be used to hide in the darkness to hide one’s presence.

Only René’s head floated above her incorporeal body, and she turned it around 360 degrees and shot a line of sight over the surrounding walls.

If the line of fire passed through, it meant that the line of sight also passed through.

The arrows began to scatter in a mess.

Avoiding René and the undead soldiers as much as possible, arrows from the mechanical bow smashed through a tent and landed in a group of confused Noacurio soldiers.

The soldiers who have received the “Charming Evil Eye” were siding with René.

“≪Pain Whip≫≪Pain Whip≫≪Pain Whip≫! ≪Create Undead≫!!”

René ran through the crowd, firing magic at random, and produced corpses at random. She immediately added them to the battle line with «Create Undead».

There was no need to kill everyone.

There was no need to kill the strong ones.

It was enough to reap dozens of miscellaneous soldiers.

The goal was a blowout.

This was the final push to take the will to fight out of the front line troops of the Noacurio Army and knock morale to the bottom of the barrel.

Once they succeeded in the first blow from the break-in, the kill quota was almost achieved.

They would be out of control here for a few more minutes. The objective was a … diversion.

Then, as a matter of course, there were the obvious obstacles.

“Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A roar that shook the heavens and earth.

–Here they come!

This camp, located on the outer edge of the city, was naturally within the Holy Beasts’ watchful eyes.

Of course, they were aware of the approaching signs.

Coming at them, reaping the piles of supplies and tents, was a tiger-shaped holy beast … code-named “Disjector”, as Everis code-named it.

In addition, a bird-shaped holy beast could be seen soaring in the sky, perhaps as a spare or a newly created one. Everis named this one “Watcher”.

René decided not to say too much about the taste of the codenames, which seemed to strike a fine line between tacky and inoffensive.

Three tiger-shaped sacred beasts, Disjectors, approached from the right and left.

They pounced at René with claws like golden cuirasses and fangs bared.

And then…

“Take a bite!”

René quickly pulled out a knife and threw it.

It looked like an enlarged arrowhead, with a bewitching decoration of magical formulas engraved all over it.

The knife was thrown to intercept the Disjector. It was small and did not seem to do much damage to the tiger’s body.

But the moment the knife touched the Disjector.

Multiple magic circles of purple light were drawn in the air and converged on it.

“Yiiiiiiii!!”

The Disjector uttered an indescribable cry and coughed up blood.

Its white skin floated up and melted in the air, like a skin being peeled off while still alive. And all that was left was a badly made model of a human body, with its muscles randomly assembled. The blood seeping out soaked the area.

“… It’s not … a one-hit kill.”

It was more effective than she had imagined.

The following Disjector, she also threw a knife at the descending bird-shaped Holy Beast Watcher, and what had been a Holy Beast earlier became an ugly realistic human body model and sank to the ground.

A special item specially made by Everis, the “Wedge of Fallen Heaven”, which was specially designed to be used against incarnate holy beasts.

It looked like a small throwing knife, but when it was thrown, it severed the magic formula that bound the body to the holy beast, and the holy beast was forcibly deported back to the heavenly realm. Afterward, only the raw garbage remained, which was an excellent fertilizer.

Instead of being more versatile, the effectiveness was supposed to be weaker, but by reverse engineering the carcass of the holy beast that René recovered, she was able to analyze the formula of Morgana’s holy beasts and make it even more precise by specializing it against them.

The wreckage of the holy beast was so messed up that it was impossible to turn it into an undead.

Either way, she couldn’t just leave this behind.

“≪Emergency Storage≫!”

René chanted a spell, and the carcass of the holy beast and the knife disappeared.

By Everis’ new magic (named only by René), she collected the incarnated holy beast, which turned into an earth-friendly raw garbage, and the “Wedge of Fallen Heaven” that was stuck in it.

This was to prevent them from knowing that there was a countermeasure, or from analyzing the technique and taking ‘countermeasures against countermeasures’.

–Well, it’s time to go…

Just as René was putting away the garbage, an explosion roared from relatively close by, shaking the ground.

A blast blew through the area, reaving the tents and raising dust and skirts.

“I blew up the temporary stove with explosives! I’m leaving first!”

Tracy, who was disguising his face with an Everis prototype disguise kit, said as they passed each other in the dust.

René used her flamboyant moves as a diversion, creating an opening for Tracy to sabotage.

The important thing was only to destroy it during the battle. A temporary cooking stove could be rebuilt quickly, but the purpose was to create the impression that the food had been thoroughly destroyed and to inflict psychological damage.

“Stay at point A. I’ll pick you up when I’m done here!”

“Roger!”

With Tracy running away, René ran on her four legs.

Her body, curled up on the ground, transformed into a melting form, her entire body covered in rich silver fur.

“Awwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooo!”

René roared out in a single, high-pitched roar as she ran.

Her body was no longer in human form. Instead, she had turned into a silvery wolf.

This was the vampire’s “Wolf Transformation” ability.

Vampires did not have any unique weapons like the Dullahan form.

If anything, it had claws and fangs, but they were no match for a sword.

If fighting normally, it was easier to fight in the Dullahan form or Lich form, so she wanted to change her form, but when she changed her form, the vampire’s special ability, the “Charming Evil Eye”, would be cut off.

Therefore, she decided to utilize the “Wolf Transformation” that derived from the vampire form. She ran around lightly, supporting the undead soldiers with magic while spreading her charm, and when the opportunity arose, she would leap on the enemy and bite their throats.

“What is that!? A silver…… dog?”

Incidentally, whether because René was a child or not, her size was about that of an adult Shiba Inu.

Both the undead soldiers and the mesmerized Noacurio soldiers had been reduced in number considerably.

The ones struggling on the enemy side were knights wearing mithril chainmail and carrying swords and shields that looked a little too nice. They must have been men of some rank and fortune.

They did not waver when their eyes met René’s.

–You’re using magic or magic items that prevent mental interference… This won’t get through. My vampire powers aren’t that great.

Perhaps they knew about the battle the other day when René attacked the reinforcements and prepared equipment to prevent the charm.

Though it was not possible to prepare enough equipment for the whole army in such a short period of time.

–Anyway, I’ll just get rid of the magician!

As the undead soldiers rushed forward, René dug in under their feet, blending in with the group.

“Woah!?”

“What!?”

“This thing!”

With the same momentum, she ran, ripping the earth.

… To describe it more precisely, it was running around under the feet of the knights, toying with them.

Then she caught the magician in the back in range and leaped at once.

“Shaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“What, Ugh.”

René jumped to put her paw on the magician’s shoulder, and bit him on the neck.

The taste of blood spread to her mouth.

She sunk her fangs in, stomped with her paws, and twisted her body.

Easily, the neck shredded.

Tumbling in a tangled mess with the magician’s corpse, René took a passive stance, and when she stood up, she was already back in human form.

Her clothes, which had disappeared when she was turned into a wolf, also returned. And.

“There!”

Pulling out the “Wedge of Fallen Heaven”, she intercepted a new Watcher.

The bird, which had swooped down with its golden claws flashing, received a throwing knife and self-destructed as a dirty firework in mid-air.

“≪Emergency Storage≫!”

The corpse was scrambled away before it reached the ground.

After confirming that there were no more magicians around, René atomized her entire body on the spot.

A swarm of insects drifted in flight and landed a short distance away from the battlefield, in front of a pile of burning provisions.

In the midst of the melee, the extinguishing efforts were long abandoned, and two Jack-O-Lanterns were dancing happily around a pillar of fire that looked like the masterpiece of a campfire. They were holding the remains of a wooden box, pounding out a primitive beat.

“What about the other two?”

“I think the Holy Beast got them.”

“Light on presence and glee…”

The girl in the pumpkin mask, … Panilla, ordered by … René to captain the squad as appropriate, reported in a straightforward manner.

“Oh well. We’re going back.”

“”Yes.””

René ordered the zombies and skeletons to halt with her own thoughts.

The top of the temporary wall was already in a state of confusion, so she would let the magicians and air-riding beasts in the area make a suicide attack. They would probably be beaten down soon, but that was fine. It was hard to bring them back, so she would leave the undead with their flesh here. She brought them as disposable troops anyway.

“Follow me!”

René jumped up, curling her body like a high dive.

Her body contracted like she was being twisted and turned, and the world seemed larger than it was.

René transformed into a lone bat, wrapped in silvery locks of hair. This was another vampire ability.

Small body and small wings. But the power that these wings produced was no less than that of a Hippogriff.

In the sky that was beginning to sink into darkness, René flew as a silver meteor. Two Jack-O-Lanterns followed in her wake.

Soon the battle was over and the Noacurio soldiers were left behind, their faces looking exhausted.