The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

Her small body instantly became gigantic, turning into a beautiful beast. It was a repulsive sight that could have easily fit right in some tale.

The lone beast kicked off the ground, ignoring the countless magic bullets fired at it by the dozens of demons surrounding it.

It had graceful limbs and the silver fur that was impervious to the most attacks, including magic, physical attacks, and firearms.

Senri once told me that vampires are originally beings that not even Death Knights would take on alone. Especially, when the opponent is a skilled vampire, even a group of Death Knights might be in danger.

Vampires with numerous weaknesses overpower Death Knights that are the experts in them. The strongest quality of vampires I can think of – is their overwhelming physical strength. Infinite stamina and the muscle strength to easily lift several tons of the rubble. The durability to move just fine even with a hole in their guts and the regeneration. And, resistance towards magic and poison.

In exchange for more restrictions, the performance of vampires is genuinely higher than that of most demons.

I was watching the memorable first battle of Mirele Noah, my only blood-related kin, from above the sky in the form of a bat.

I’m sure she has a talent for combat. Even though she had a senior like me and even though she was able to become a vampire right away – she didn’t hesitate to fight right from the beginning. The first thing I made her fight was a monster that looked like a furry beast, but she killed it as if it was a matter of course. I got used to fighting after several battles under the Lord’s orders, but she’s different.

Mirele likes transforming into a wolf, but her wolf form is very beautiful, with its huge and elegant body and shining silver fur. The first thing I transformed into was a dog, so there would be some differences, but the gap is too big even though our circumstances are the same. It’s to the point that I’ve been restraining myself from transforming into a wolf recently because it’ll be sad if I look less cool than her after turning into a wolf.

But still, she’s a newborn vampire.

Mirele is strong. She’s far stronger than I was at the beginning. But this world isn’t that easy on us.

I’m watching over her secretly from the sky just in case something happens.

I’ve been through hard times ever since becoming undead. I was left as just a head by Death Knights, had my weaknesses exploited by vampire hunters, was burnt by cursed flames, was wounded by silver claws and attacked by blood stakes. Now that I think back on it, I’d be laid to eternal sleep if I had made a single misstep. The only reason I managed to somehow survive the battles was because I had Senri, somebody who understood me. Even if she wasn’t by my side, her existence always supported me.

That’s why, I’ll be the one to watch over Mirele next. I don’t doubt her talent, but vampires have too many weaknesses and the vampire weaknesses are well–known so the enemies usually exploit those. You’ll get hurt if you let your guard down and you’ll get mostly hurt even if you don’t let your guard down too.

This is the first time Mirele is facing a big opponent. This time I’m making her target the forces that are compatible with her to gain experience, but still, the other person is the Demon King, there’s no knowing what kind of tricks he’ll use.

And just as I’d worried, it was obvious from the first attack that Mirele was an amateur. Since the recommendation to surrender had already been made via Oliver and rejected, she should have attacked secretly and reduced their numbers, but she showed herself from the front. Flag should be the last thing you put up!

Unaware of my feelings as I fearfully watched over her, the silver wolf attacked the soldiers of the Demon King of Evernight while taking the barrage of magical attacks head-on. She sent the opponents flying with a body slam, trampled them with her forefeet, bit their necks and swung them around. It’s definitely effective, but it takes a lot of courage to do that in her first battle with no backup, even though flowing water could instantly disable her power and incapacitate her.

As it was one of the opponent’s bases, there were a lot of soldiers in the town. As we had previously discovered, most of the subordinates of the King of the Evernight were mages and they shot the flames and the lightning continuously.

Even though they should be aware that the other person is a vampire and immune to magic, they probably still can’t help but attack. They have an overwhelming advantage in numbers, but it’s obvious even from looking from the sky who has the weakness.

Mirele was too daring. And the subordinates of the Demon King of Evernight were being overpowered by her killing intent. With so many numbers, they should be able to do something about a single vampire, but the silver wolf easily trampled the hesitant soldiers of the Demon King of Evernight.

And then, I noticed several dark elves with bows that had gathered on the roof more than 100 meters away from the plaza where Mirele was wreaking havoc.

Dark elves are demons that excel in the bow and magic. They have good night vision and it is said that a skilled dark elf can shoot an apple several hundred meters away with a bow.

The dark elves drew their bows with an enchanting motion. Their arrowheads had a peculiar silver shine. They don’t seem to have been blessed so it’s much better, but silver is the weakness of dark beings. Vampires aren’t exempt from that. Silver weapons can easily pierce the tough flesh of vampires and inhibit their regeneration. The sense of pain of vampires is far duller compared to humans, but it’s different when they’re wounded by silver weapons. Some vampires apparently become paralyzed due to the intense pain they experience for the first time. If a vital organ like the heart or the brain is pierced, they might not die instantly, but they’ll surely stop moving after that.

So finally trouble came to Mirele… She should be used to pain because of the Soul Death disease, so there’s no need to worry about her becoming unable to move — that’s what happens when you don’t set up a surprise attack! I could have gone in to save her, but it’s better for her to get in hot water at least once. I won’t always be with her.

Mirele bit into the dark elf that was shooting magic at her from close range and stopped moving for a second.

Taking advantage of that brief moment more arrows came pouring down.

Countless silver arrows came flying in the dark night. Unlike the firearms, their attacks were almost soundless. I would have noticed them, but only because of the experience I have accumulated until now.

The cowardly hail of silver arrows approached Mirele from behind.

And right before the silver arrowheads were going to pierce her beautiful fur — Mirele turned around widely and shook off the silver rain with the dark elf in her mouth.

Most of the arrows in the silver rain were swatted away, while the rest pierced the body of the dark elf in her mouth in succession. The soldiers, who had been attacking from afar in an attempt to inflict as much damage as possible, were rattled.

It’s not – a coincidence. Mirele isn’t panicked at all. No way, did she anticipate this attack!?

Discarding the dark elf that now resembled a hedgehog, Mirele strongly kicked off the ground. She closed the distance of several hundred meters in one leap, pulled down the dark elf mage that had stopped moving in panic and pulled him into her mouth, running like a gale towards the direction where the arrows were coming from.

I can’t help opening my eyes wide. She’s even clearly aware of the direction where arrows are coming from.

However, while a few hundred meters is no big deal for a vampire, there’s no way the enemy will just take it silently either.

Mirele blocks the new wave of the countless silver arrows using the new shield, not slowing down even a little. I always tell her to be watchful of silver weapons, but what’s up with her courage? The transformation in a wolf should have changed both her body sensations and the perspective, making it hard to maneuver, but it’s simply amazing how she’s able to block and repel the coming arrows with the thing in her mouth. I might not be able to do that…

One of the soldiers used a spell, made water burst out from the ground and created a small river a few meters ahead of Mirele. It’s one of the weaknesses of vampires — flowing water. Its momentum would be nothing for humans, but it’s fatal for vampires. Mirele, who should have been at a loss of what to do if she still had the same senses she had when she was alive, stepped on the ground, dodged sideways, and threw the ‘shield’ she had in her mouth toward the roof. Unable to deal with their comrade that came flying at them with great force, the archers lost their balance. Once you let them get close enough, you can’t match a vampire unless you have great physical abilities.

I was both impressed and stunned by how brilliantly she fought, despite only having become a vampire several months ago. Her field of vision still remained wide, even though she was rampaging so much. She stayed vigilant. Normally, during a battle, blood rushes to your head or your field of vision narrows… In fact, I ended up in trouble each time too.

…Maybe Mirele won’t have a bitter experience?

My plan to swoop in and save her from the peril—

Perhaps sensing their defeat, the underlings of the Demon King of Evernight scattered in all directions. Even though the numbers are still on their side — Were they that scared of Mirele? Mirele tried to chase after them, but was stopped in her tracks by the muddy stream of water created by several mages.

As a result, all that remained in the town were the remains of a tumultuous fight and the countless corpses of the subordinates of the Demon King of Evernight. In a moonless night that was as close to the true darkness as possible, the silver wolf howled in triumph, lit only by the bonfires that had flared up everywhere during the battle. She’s really standing out. I frantically warned her in my head as I flapped my wings in the sky.

That’s not good… if you do something like that, you’ll stand out and it’s dangerous… It’s really dangerous! Seriously!

But, in the end, I didn’t get to make an appearance, and as I was starting to have pitiful worries, Mirele made a big detour around the river to avoid it.

And, after sniffing the ground, she started running in the direction where the underlings of the Demon King of Evernight had fled.

☠

In the basement of the mansion, which had its windows completely covered with boards and was remodeled to prevent any sunlight from entering, I was listening to Mirele’s report on her return with a grim expression.

Mirele was wearing a fluttering dress that reached nearly to her feet, perhaps obtained at the stronghold she had attacked. Although it must have been her first battle and she must have run through the battlefield, her expression showed no sign of fatigue, with only a slight flush in her cheeks.

“In other words… you tried to sniff out the next stronghold before the scent disappeared.” “Yes. I was thinking of advising them to surrender after giving them a little scare, but… even though there were a lot of them left, all of them got away…”

Just to be sure, I kept watching from the sky the whole time, but Mirele’s rampaging was really spectacular. She chased after the subordinates of the Demon King that had escaped, attacking one town after another, to the point that I even started to pity the enemy. Even I wouldn’t have chased after the enemy so relentlessly.

I cleared my throat quietly and frowned.

“… I didn’t give you any instructions like that.”

Or rather, even though we have a very clear limitation like the sunrise… It’s unbelievable that she managed to take down several towns in a single night. At the end, when the sunrise was approaching, even I, an observer, started sweating.

The last enemies ran away without even fighting back… I’d probably do the same too. She’s too much of a tomboy.

Mirele shrugged at my admonishment and said with an auspicious expression that was hard to believe came from somebody who went on such a rampage last night.

“I-I’m sorry… b-but I raised the flag properly! I’m sure your prestige was properly conveyed, Brother!”

No, I’m sure the prestige was conveyed long ago. It was conveyed so well that at this rate we might become the army of the silver wolf instead of the army of the white puppy. I want to scold her for disobeying the orders and taking risks. I want to scold her, but Mirele’s unscathed and as far as I could see from the battle situation, she was calm and had no problems from start to finish. Considering that I might not have been so calm in the same situation, it would be strange to scold her here. It would also be strange to complain about her loyalty. It would be as if I were envious of her.

“…D-did you not think that it was dangerous?”

“I did not. Brother… they seemed to be mostly mages, they wouldn’t be a match for you!”

Mirele asserted clearly. Carelessness… carelessness is the biggest enemy… but… was she careless?

I want to punish her for making her senior vampire lose his face. I want to strip her off the princess title I gave her the other day and give her the title of captain of the shock corps instead.

“… then, I think I’ll leave defeating the Demon King of Evernight to you, Mirele.”

“!! Really?!”

Mirele’s eyes widened and she broke into a smile. Why does she look so happy when she’s being forced to do something troublesome?

“Please leave it to me, Brother! I will engrave your majesty in them in three days!”

Mirele jumped at me as if moved to tears. I let out a sigh while stroking her head with a feeling of helplessness.

I might have turned a dangerous girl into my kin.