After fighting for a while, I finally felt their presence.
‘Here they come!’
‘What do you mean?’
Kathe asked. And then as if to reply…
“ARGHHHH!”
Goran dropped down from the sky.
“Tskkk!”
Goran’s magic blade cut the true ancestor’s body, from shoulder to groin.
At the same time, the wounds burst into flames.
“You two seem to be having fun.”
So saying, Goran continued his attacks. The true ancestor flew back in order to create some distance between them.
“I was waiting for you.”
“Ah, sorry that I was late, Locke.”
And Mors, who was in the form of a great dragon, descended. Eric was riding on Mors’s back.
Eric spoke to Goran in a calm voice.
“You shouldn’t jump off so suddenly. It’s dangerous.”
“You may say that, but the ambush succeeded. So it’s fine.”
Goran said with a laugh.
And so I turned to the three newcomers.
“Do you understand the situation?”
“Aye, leave it to us.”
“To think that it’s still alive.”
It was when I realized the presence of the evil god protection. Before the true ancestor came down from the sky.
I had activated the communications bracelet.
Because of this, Eric and Goran had heard everything that was said.
The existence of the evil god protection. The appearance of the true ancestor. How the battle was moving. They knew all.
In other words, Eric would have also brought the magic tool that could weaken the effects of the evil god protection.
In fact, he had already activated it. I could feel my body become lighter.
“So you finally came. Heroic apes.”
“The tide has turned now.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Judging by the way he talked, the true ancestor was still confident. However, he had not healed himself after Goran cut him.
“It looks like he studied us beforehand.”
“Even though you did manage to cut me. Oh, that’s right. There is something I should tell you…”
As the true ancestor continued to talk, I shot a magic bullet into him.
It hit him head on and a great hole opened up in his torso.
And then the core that he had swallowed fell to the ground, along with his organs.
“You are so impatient. We should talk more leisurely. After all, I went through the trouble of…”
Without answering him, I used the Devil King Sword to cut off his head. At the same time, I thrust my hand into the hole in his body.
“Give me your magic energy before you disappear. Because I think we’ll be quite busy after this.”
And then I touched the true ancestor’s heart directly and activated Drain Touch.
In a previous attack, the true ancestor had gouged out a chunk of my shoulder.
And so I also wanted to use Drain Touch to heal that wound.
At the same time, the head that was on the ground began to shrivel and dry up.
And then my shoulder began to heal.
However, the true ancestor had less magic energy than I expected. I could do little more than stop the bleeding.
As for the true ancestor, he did not resist, as if he had already given up. The head on the ground just smiled.
“…Do you understand now? Well, I guess that’s why the apes call you Ruck the Hero. But it’s too late. And you will feel regret.”
The true ancestor was talking like he had won. He had little magic energy. In other words, this wasn’t his real body.
When defeating him, I had been able to take his magic energy by using Drain Touch on his clones, but it didn’t work this time.
In other words, this one wasn’t connected to the real body when it came to magic energy.
That revealed several other things as well.
“You bastard. The body is…”
But without answering me, the true ancestor began to turn into mist.
“Cock-a-doodle-dooo!!”
Lord Gerberga’s godly cry echoed loudly. At the same time, the true ancestor turned into ashes.
“…I guess it wasn’t possible. Oh, well. It’s not much of a loss.”
He disappeared with a smile.
“Thank you, Lord Gerberga.”
“Cluck-cluck.”
“Locke. What happened?”
“Aye, it looked like he was trying to say something? Perhaps we should have listened first…”
“There is no time. We can talk later. We must hurry back to the royal capital. Kathe, I’m counting on you.”
“I don’t understand, but I’ll take you there.”
And then Kathe returned to her dragon form.
I quickly gathered the ashes and remains of the vampires.
“Locke. Are you all right?”
Eric asked me with a concerned voice.
“Aye. The true ancestor took a piece of my shoulder, but I healed it with Drain Touch. It’s not completely healed, but I can move. So I’m fine.”
I said with a laugh. And it wasn’t a lie.
The true ancestor had so little magic energy, that I could only stop the bleeding.
It was far from completely healed, and it hurt a lot.
And since a piece had gouged out, it was difficult to use my muscles to move my right arm.
“…Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Goran said worriedly.
I hadn’t wanted Eric and Goran to know the state I was in, but I was not able to hide it from them.
“I know. And I won’t. However, I can still use magic. And we don’t have time.”
“Gruff!”
Just then, Grulf returned and barked at me.
“We wouldn’t leave you behind, Grulf. As for Ario and Ginny…”
When Ario and Ginny returned, they kneeled before Eric.
“Yo-Your Majesty. It is an honor to meet you. Thank you for everything.”
Ario’s attempt at speaking to the king was not considered proper at all.
However, he was born in a farming village and had no prior contact with nobles, so this was the best that he could do.
Eric would occasionally show his face to the people during public ceremonies.
And so Ario and Ginny recognized him.
“…Raise your heads. This is a state of emergency. I’m sure Locke will explain it to you later.”
“Ye-yes, Your Majesty.”
Both Ario and Ginny were very nervous. While it would be hard to explain it later, it could not be helped.
“You must keep it a secret that you encountered vampires here, and that you met us. At least, for a while.”
“Ye-yes, Your Majesty!”
“Thank you.”
While Eric spoke with Ario and Ginny, I called out to Mors.
“Mors. After we are finished dealing with the village, can you take Ario and Ginny back to the city?”
“Certainly. …As for the village, there are thirty thralls and seventy who have been charmed.”
Mors had used Magic Detection to quickly grasp the situation with accuracy.
“That’s right. Thank you.”
“Mors. I dispatched an A-Rank Adventurers party. So you don’t have to worry.”
Goran said, and Mors nodded firmly.
“I understand. I’ll leave things to them once they arrive.”
I left the rest to Mors, and got onto Kathe’s back and we headed towards the royal capital.
Eric, Goran, Grulf, and Lord Gerberga were with me.
The moment that I jumped onto Kathe’s back, my right arm hurt terribly.
“Locke? What is going on? What is in the capital?”
Eric looked worried as he asked this. He was still concerned about my injury.
However, as it was an emergency, he prioritized the exchanging of information.
“The true ancestor, no, the shadow, was a feint.”
“Tell me the details.”
“Fine. To put it simply, the true ancestor attack was a way of luring you and Goran out.”
The true ancestor had continued to dodge the attacks. But it wasn’t because he was toying with us for his own enjoyment.
After all, aside from the first magic bullet he unleashed at Ario and Ginny, he hadn’t attacked us at all.
“Why didn’t he attack?”
“Probably to save magic energy. As the evil god protection lowered the accuracy or Magic Detection, I was unable to tell.”
In the first place, the true ancestor was good at using concealment magic. And with the evil god protection on top of that, I had been fooled completely.
What we were fighting was just a phantom. A shadow with a body.
It was one of the clones we had fought when defeating him previously.
Perhaps he had learned after losing the last fight, or he was too far away to connect to it. Regardless, there was no magic energy link.
The reason that he had been afraid of my magic absorption was because one it was absorbed, he would be defeated easily.
“I figured it out thanks to you bringing the tool that stopped the evil god protection. Thank you.”
“I’m glad that it was useful… But why do you say it was a feint?”
“Because the moment you and Goran arrived, it started to stall for time.”
And in order to do that, he had started talking about things of no consequence.
“Though, at first… It had been trying to kill me and take the Devil King Sword…”
To me, it had felt like he suddenly started talking more, and was trying to buy time without attacking.
My guess was now that Eric and Goran had moved, he changed strategy.
“Locke. Wait a minute. How did he know that Eric and I started moving?”
“Did you forget, Goran? There are spies in the palace. And they have not been found yet.”
I said, and then Eric and Goran’s expressions turned grim.