Chapter 248 – Reunited

I had never before seen a vampire transform into mist after it had become just a head.
They would usually try and turn into mist or bats before I cut their heads off.
And if I tried to question them while they were just a head, they would usually choose death by turning into ashes.
It had been that way with all of the high-ranking vampires I had faced up until now.

“I won’t let you get away!”
I cut through the mist with the Devil King Sword, and then used Drain Touch to suck up all of the magic energy.
I had wanted to keep it alive for questioning, but if it was going to escape, then it would be better off dead.

The Devil King Sword sucked in the mana as I swung it.
At the same time, I used Drain Touch to absorb anything that had leaked out.
In the end, the True Ancestor’s head turned into ash.

“I wish we could have questioned it…”
“Well, it’s better than letting it get away.”

Eric muttered. And then he let out a sigh of relief.

–Surely that was a good enough reward for your victory? You should look forward to meeting me again.

The voice came from nowhere. It was quiet and low, and seemed to shake the air.
The whole room, no, the entire building seemed to shake.

“Where is it? Where is it coming from?”
Eric looked around with a grim expression.

I also used Magic Detection and Magic Exploration to the fullest, but I couldn’t catch the True Ancestor at all.
However, his presence seemed to be all around us.

–Of course, a reunion with me would mean your death.
“You’re the one who will die next time. Don’t expect to be able to run away again.”
—Ruck… I know your magic now….

And with those final words, the voice faded away. And the presence around us also vanished.

“He got away…”
“Grrr. What happened! How did he do that?”
“I don’t know.”
“So even Ruck doesn’t know…”

Maybe the wolf beastkin would know. I also wanted to ask the water dragons and Dorgo.
These True Ancestors were incredibly rare. Eric and I had never encountered one before.

As Kathe and I thought about this, Eric turned to us.
“In any case, we should reunite with Goran, Serulis and the others.”
“Yes, we should do that first.”

Just as I was about to start running, Kathe shouted at my back.

“Do not look this way.”
“Ah, that’s right. You don’t have any clothes.”

Kathe had hurriedly turned into a dragon during the battle. And so her clothes had been ripped.

“Do you have any spare clothes?”
“Yes, I prepared some.”

I looked at the door that Goran and the others had gone through. Indeed, it would be difficult for Kathe to go through it.
And even if she forced her way in, she would not be able to move much in the hallway.
Considering we might need to fight, it was better for her to be in a smaller form.

“Alright, come after us when you’re ready.”
“Very well.”

And so Eric and I rushed ahead.
As I was using Magic Exploration, I knew that there were no more enemies around us.
Kathe would be fine even if she was alone. Besides, she was very strong.

After Eric and I had run for a short while, we saw Goran, Serulis, Shia and Grulf up ahead.
They seemed to have just finished fighting. I called out to Goran.

“How are things here?”
“Aye, we’re fine for now. But there were quite a lot of Lords.”
Goran said as he cut off the last Vampire Lord’s head off with his sword.

“Groof!”
Grulf also looked very happy as he jumped onto me.
There was blood on his fangs and claws. It must be vampire blood. I would have to wash it off later.
But as he seemed to have done very well, I gave him plenty of praise and pats.

“Grulf, you fought well, didn’t you?”
“Groof! Groof!”

Grulf’s tail wagged happily.
Serulis and Shia were wiping the blood off of their blades and adjusting their armor.
They were probably preparing for the next battle.

Goran said,
“What about you? Huh? Where’s Kathe?”
“Kathe should be coming soon, after she returns to her human form. But the enemy managed to escape.”
“…What! It’s unusual for an enemy to escape when both you and Eric are there.”

But Goran wasn’t blaming us. He was just genuinely surprised.
However, Eric opened his mouth apologetically.

“I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t need to apologize. But what happened?”
“About that…”

Just as I was about to explain, we heard the sounds of stomping feet.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

After seeing this, Eric said,

“Well, Kathe is back. We can explain everything later. Let’s go and save these people.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”

I agreed. Goran, Shia, and Serulis also nodded in agreement.
As I started to run in the lead, Serulis said,

“We wanted to save the people first, but there were more Lords than we were expecting.”
“Yes, that seems to be the case. But I’m glad that you’re all fine. Were you affected by the Protection of the Evil God?”
“We were mostly fine. I just felt a slight headache.”

So the range of Evil God Protection used by the True Ancestor, who are the highest-ranking vampires, was rather small.
We could then assume that at the very least, the other Dark Ones would be no different when using it.

As I was feeling some relief because of this, we reached the room where the humans were being held captive.