God of Favoritism

No matter how noble, strong, or commanding over many vampires one is, even if one is the ‘Vampire Lord’, there is one unchanging law.

If you drive a silver stake into their heart, they’re dead.

So what if you’re the Lord, punk? If you get one silver stake in your heart, that’s it.

“Did you really think I’d just stand still?”

The male vampire frowned as if he could read our minds.

“Where is Rozenkranz?”

I asked him.

Where had Rozenkranz, who was swept away, gone?

The male vampire cast his gaze towards a spot in the garden. There, the limp figure of Rozenkranz could be seen.

What’s strange was that roses were blooming all over his body.

And, those roses were blooming even redder, as if they were sucking out his life force.

“He’s dying.”

Seeing that, Barkal spoke with certainty.

“How dare you try to kill our compass!”

“He merely became fertilizer for the roses he longed for so much.”

Fertilizer for the roses.

So, as expected, the ingredient for Odheim’s famous ‘Bloody Rose’ was human blood.

I had guessed, but seeing Rozenkranz being so thoroughly drained made it certain.

“This is a fate that leaves us no choice but to fight.”

I looked at the male vampire as I spoke.

“I am Dmihtan, barbarian of the great Red Wolf Tribe. What is your name?”

The vampire tilted his head.

“I value honor. No matter how insignificant you are, I need to know your name.”

The male vampire sneered and spoke.

“I am Kronax, the last servant of the great Luminari.”

“Kronax… Kronax…”

I repeated his name.

“Remember it well. It will be the name of the one who gives you your end.”

“In our tribe, we barbars value honor. Even if you’re a lowly vampire, I will remember you.”

I reached out a hand for a handshake with Kronax. He cocked his head as if he truly couldn’t understand.

“Kronax, do vampires not have the concept of a handshake?”

“… What on earth are you thinking?”

“Even if you are my enemy, I will respect your honor. It’s a sign of that.”

“… This is ridiculous.”

Kronax spat on the floor and glared at me.

“Do you even respect the honor of prey? We noble vampires… to think of the honor of mere blood bags called humans…”

Kronax trailed off.

Damn, looks like he’s noticed.

“Where are the others?”

“The others? What do you mean?”

“I mean the others!”

Kronax quickly started looking around.

Then, what caught his gaze was Barkal and Serena moving toward the “coffin.”

“You damned bastard!”

“Stay put!”

As Kronax moved, I sprayed the blood I had prepared in the Blood-Colored Awl at him.

He seemed to instinctively raise his arm to block, likely remembering the wound from the previous ‘blood bullet’. That’s why, this time, I didn’t use Hardened Blood.

*【Summoning Warrior Skeleton.】

“Wh-what is this?”

I transformed the blood on Kronax’s body into a skeleton exoskeleton, trapping him in place.

“S-so sturdy… It’s just a skeleton!?”

Kronax seemed startled by the sturdiness of the Warrior Skeleton. He struggled, but the skeleton showed no signs of breaking.

“Stay still. I’m just about to kill your master.”

“You said you value honor… Is this honor, barbarian?”

“I value honor.”

Yes.

“Only the honor of the living.”

You’re dead already.

Kronax glared at me with bulging eyes and kept trying to break out, but the skeleton exoskeleton still did not break.

“Grr…!”

At that moment, kronax’s body began to change like a shadow once more.

His flowing form spilled out between the gaps of the skeleton exoskeleton, making the skeleton prison I had summoned completely useless.

“Kronax!”

Where do you think you’re going!

“There’s something I want to ask! Do you know the Rune of the Abyss?”

Despite my question, kronax didn’t pause.

No, I’m seriously curious!

How did you know we’d arrived in Odheim! Was it your people who told Rozenkranz to call the security to catch us?

“tsk”!

This time, I swung my dagger to use Blood Bullet.

But Kronax’s movements were faster than I’d expected. Dodging here and there, he avoided the Blood Bullet and shoved me aside.

“Dmihtan, my brother!”

“I’m fine!”

Just hurry up and drive that stake into the Vampire Lord’s heart!

I tried to shout that, but Kronax, now turned into a shadow, was charging straight at Serena.

“Uwahahahaha!”

But Kronax’s shadow never reached Serena. Barkal threw himself into the shadow and, apparently grabbing Kronax’s real body, the two tumbled and rolled around.

“Grr… let go! You filthy barbarian!”

Voices echoed from within the shadow, and at the same time, some blood began to flow from Barkal’s body.

“Kahahaha! That just tickles!”

But it didn’t seem to do much. Barkal seemed to have reinforced himself with the authority of Thrag, hardened Blood.

In the meantime, Serena approached the coffin.

“Open the coffin and drive the silver stake into the heart of whoever’s inside!”

I shouted.

We had already dealt with Isabella before, so she should be able to remember and repeat the process.

“Aaaargh!”

But her movements stopped before she could rush to the coffin.

“Rose vines…!”

Rose vines had sprung up around the coffin and seized Serena’s ankles.

“Grr!”

No matter how hard she struggled, the roses showed no sign of breaking.

The Vampire Lord.

I thought he was asleep, but has he awakened?

No, the atmosphere hasn’t changed. That’s probably just the Vampire Lord’s subconscious survival instinct.

In that case, it can be cut.

But how?

Serena seemed to be having a hard time breaking free from the vines holding her.

If I tried to run from here to the coffin, it was obvious the vines would just overwhelm Serena right away.

*【Summoning Dullahan, chunsik.】

“Serena!”

There’s no other way.

I summoned Chunsik and hurled his head at Serena.

“Combine!”

“Co-combine!?”

Serena was flustered.

Even then, she caught Chunsik’s flying head perfectly.

“Uh… uh?”

― Uh… nice to meet you.”

“Ah, nice to meet you too.”

Is this really the time for awkward greetings?

Hurry up and stab the Vampire Lord in the chest!

“Ah!”

Finally, as if realizing what I meant, Serena turned her gaze back to the coffin.

She began ripping off the rose vines blocking her path with her hands.

“Huh…!?”

Just seconds ago, the vines wouldn’t budge, but as soon as Serena caught Chunsik’s head, the situation changed.

“I-I feel filled with strength!?”

Like an adult smashing a sandcastle.

Serena began tearing through the vines.

At last, she reached the place where the Vampire Lord’s coffin was. Serena flung it open and, without hesitation, pulled the silver stake from inside her bosom.

“No, stop!”

Kronax’s urgent cry.

“It’s done!”

I ignored his shout and called out to Serena.

She slammed the silver stake down into the coffin.

CRACK!

The chilling sound echoed all the way here, and for a moment, it felt as if time had stopped.

And at that very moment—

“Kyaaaaaaaagh!”

A tremendous scream erupted from Kronax’s mouth.

Among the rules of vampires:

When your master, the one who made you a ‘vampire’, dies, you die too.

Just as the rule said, kronax lost his strength and began to turn to ash.

Does this mean all the vampires in Odheim are now dead? We killed the Vampire Lord, so it should be true.

The only thing that bothered me…

How did they know about the Rune of the Abyss, and how did they sense its aura?

Rumble.

What’s that noise?

Suddenly, a sound like the ceiling collapsing rang out from all directions.

When dust brushed my shoulder, I immediately understood what was happening.

This place.

It’s a dungeon.

The Vampire Lord was the dungeon’s master.

When the dungeon master dies?

The dungeon collapses.

“The dungeon is collapsing!!!”

I shouted to everyone. Barkal and Serena, who had been flustered, snapped to their senses.

Portal!

Where’s the portal?

If the dungeon is collapsing, then a portal should generate near the dungeon master, right?

“Huh?”

Then, something strange happened. The dungeon’s collapse began to slow down.

I didn’t know why. Could a collapsing dungeon really just stop like this?

“Liberas?”

From afar, I heard Serena’s startled voice, so I turned to look over there.

Why was the name of Liberas coming up here?

I was wondering that—

“Oh.”

And then I knew the reason.

The collapsing dungeon ceiling:

There, a heart-shaped crack had appeared.

Anyone could tell it was the work of the ‘Goddess of Love and Virtue,’ Liberas.

The light shining through that crack pointed at Serena for a moment, and then soon began to slowly move deeper into the dungeon.

“What… are you trying to say?”

As if she still couldn’t understand Liberas’s intentions, Serena asked the heavens once more.

But I had a feeling I knew.

Thrag and Mortis.

After talking with those two gods, perhaps my sensitivity to deities had increased, or maybe it was an effect of the Rune of the Abyss, but whatever the reason.

“Follow that light, Serena.”

“What? But…”

Perhaps concerned about the dungeon’s collapse, Serena looked up at the sky again.

I reassured her.

“Your god, Liberas, is holding back the dungeon’s collapse.”

“Lord Liberas is?”

“That’s right.”

A Goddess of Love and Virtue.

The god of “love”,

Liberas, who is often said to love all believers equally, in reality, is not so.

From the start, gods do not treat all followers equally. If that were so, why would there be Apostles and authority?

What’s more,

The god of “love” loves all things;

But naturally, some things are loved more than others.

Favoritism is a form of love, too.

“Go on.”

At my words, Serena nodded and began to walk slowly in the direction of the light.

We didn’t walk for long.

Five minutes.

No, not even three minutes passed before a mountain of piled bones and corpses appeared before our eyes.

***

New names, locations, skills, techniques introduced:

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