“How many slaves are making a fuss?”
“Queen Shaiven, it’s not just a fuss. All the slaves have taken a stand.”
Shaiven’s rage grew so intense that it reverted back into a strange sense of calmness.
“By all, do you mean all 1,200 of them?”
Shaiven’s adjutant replied, “Yes. All the soldiers guarding the slaves were attacked. But the majority of them aren’t even armed, so we’re trying to stop them from escaping the camp, but…”
“But?”
“We’re short on soldiers.” 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚
“You can’t stop unarmed slaves even with knives and spears?”
At Shaiven’s question, the adjutant hesitantly said, “There are far more slaves than soldiers guarding the camp. And the strange thing about these slaves is…they’re belligerent.”
“Belligerent?”
“Yes. I don’t know what happened. Even though our soldiers are armed, the slaves are ganging up on them, throwing the camp into disarray. And even though our soldiers kill many of the slaves amid the chaos, the slaves never get scared. They instead attack the soldiers and take their weapons.”
Shaiven shook her head.
The adjutant had misjudged the slaves. That was courage, not belligerence.
‘Lakrak… Did you think this far when you opened the gates?’
Lakrak hadn’t acted recklessly, nor relied on luck. And Shaiven realized that the cavalry who managed to get near the gates had actually been a part of Lakrak’s calculations.
‘…Can it be that he didn’t simply grow by conquering powerless tribes in the corner of the peninsula?’?
Shaiven regretted using the slaves as arrow blockers, but there was no point in lamenting her past mistakes now.
“Queen Shaiven?”
“What is it?”
“There’s blood coming from your nose…”
Shaiven sighed. A soldier brought a linen towel to wipe Shaiven’s blood. The adjutant and the soldiers listening to Shaiven looked at her anxiously as she bled from her nose.
Compared to other species, bleeding was a much greater matter to Vampires. Vampires survived by sucking on blood that no other species wanted to ever shed. Perhaps because of that, the Vampires had strong vitality, and those of earlier generations, namely those who got bitten by Shaiven and received her venom earlier, also had excellent physical abilities. Therefore, Vampires were less likely to bleed than other species.
Apart from Shaiven being the one bleeding, the fact that blood was being shed without any wounds could mean it had something to do with faith.
‘No. There’s no way this is a sign from God. God is blaming me? No way.’
Shaiven threw the towel onto the ground. Her face was stained with blood.
“What are you looking at?”
“No…nothing. My apologies.”
“…We need to at least take over the fortress before tomorrow morning. Although very slowly, the numbers of soldiers reaching the fortress walls are increasing. And some even managed to climb the walls. All soldiers need to focus on attacking the fortress.”
“Does that mean…you can’t give me any more soldiers? Are you saying we should just let the slaves run away?”
The adjutant protested against Shaiven’s orders.
“But even if we take over the fortress, we will need slaves to carry our things and do other chores. Otherwise, our soldiers won’t be able to fight properly. And above all, those slaves are our food. That over there isn’t just a fortress, but a mountain fortress. With our soldiers alone in the fortress and the enemies shutting us inside, we wouldn’t be able to hold out.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean…?”
“Don’t you get it?”
Shaiven held the adjutant as if they were lovers. And the adjutant belatedly realized what it meant.
“Queen Shaiven, you can’t…argh!”
Shaiven’s fangs pierced through the adjutant’s neck. Blood sprayed out from the big holes through the main artery and hit the roof of her mouth and her uvula. Shaiven sucked the adjutant’s blood and drank it. The adjutant’s beating heart slowly died. Once it stopped completely, Shaiven pushed him away.
“Finally…my head is a little clearer. It seems I needed blood because of the nosebleed.”
With her mouth smeared with blood, Shaiven looked around. No one made eye contact with her. Even though Vampires treated other species as food, sucking the blood of other Vampires was taboo. Shaiven revealed her blood-stained teeth and smiled.
“All of you seem to have something to say, am I wrong? But you all agree with me, don’t you? That the one who asked me for more soldiers to subdue the unarmed slaves was…”
Shaiven kicked the head of the collapsed adjutant, and the holes in his neck left by Shaiven’s fangs ripped and widened. Blood poured out from the torn blood vessels and soaked the soil.
“He was no longer my soldier. Is there a general who can stop the slaves? …There’s no one?”
One of the generals finally stood up.
“I…I will do it.”
“What about the soldiers?”
“I…it’s fine. I’ll block the slaves with the soldiers already at the camp.”
“Good. As you should. Go.”
After the general hurried off, Shaiven pointed to another Vampire carelessly.
“You.”
“Yes!”
“You will be my adjutant from now on.”
“Th…thank you.”
“Bring my armor.”
Shaiven looked through the trees to watch the fortress in the distance.
“I will open the fortress gates myself.”
***
Lakrak had been encouraging the warriors on the fortress walls. The lookout at the very top of the fortress brought news that he had been expecting.
“There seems to be some kind of commotion at the enemy’s camp.”
“Tell me in more detail.”
“From what I saw, crowds were moving through the tents, weapons were glinting under the moonlight, and there were more torches lit. They were inside of the forest, and it was dark at night, so I couldn’t make out the exact situation. I’m sorry.”
“No, that’s more than enough.”
Quezle then said, “…Did we perhaps count the enemy’s troops incorrectly? Were they not their reinforcements?”
“No, that’s not the case,” Lakrak said. “The fact that weapons glinted under the moonlight means that there was a fight.”
“A fight? There’s still lots of time until Danyum, Asbestos, and Yur’s armies would get here. I don’t think there would have been a fight.”
“No, it is a fight.”
“Between whom…?”
“The Vampires and the slaves. Why do you think more torches have been lit? Vampires can see in the dimmest of light.”
Quezle wasn’t easily convinced, but he found nothing wrong in Lakrak’s deduction.
“But that’s still weird. If that were true, our situation would become more favorable. Why did we get so lucky that the slaves began to resist the Vampires?”
Lakrak laughed wryly. Quezle was smart, but still needed to study more.
Ignoring his question, Lakrak said, “It might be good to get the Cockatoo warriors ready.”
“What?”
“Quezle, if what I said was true, what do you think would happen?”
Quezle furrowed his eyebrows and got lost in thoughts.
“There are 1,200 slaves. Even though they are unarmed, at least 300 soldiers will be needed to keep them at bay if everyone gets up to fight. Then we will let those coming up the hill know what is happening. Their morale will drop, and they will be anxious knowing that their enemy has learned of the situation. But they have no other choice. They have to send soldiers to stop the slaves. Otherwise they would need to put a pause on their attacks to boost their morale. Oh, but King Lakrak, look. They aren’t stopping their attacks.”
Lakrak then threw another question at Quezle.
“What if they don’t send soldiers to stop the slaves?”
“What?”
“Answer me.”
“…That’s a ridiculous assumption. But if that really is the case, they will try to resolve things once and for all as soon as possible. If it’s certain that all the slaves have turned against them, the enemy will have to fight enemies from both the front and the rear. Their only way to break through the gates will likely be to rely on their god…”
Lakrak slowly nodded. And his gaze was directed past the fortress walls.
“Look..”
Lakak pointed at the bottom of the fortress with his chin. The Bloodsucking Queen, Shaiven, was making her way up to the fortress. Arrows were shot at Shaiven, but every time she swung her sword, the arrows broke into two and dropped. Then, Shaiven and Lakrak met eyes.
Shaiven pointed at Lakrak with the end of her sword and shouted, “Lakrak! If you’re not scared, come out here and fight me!”
It was a ridiculous provocation, but it wasn’t a bluff as God’s power was within her. Lakrak then told his aide-de-camp to prepare his large monstrous Cockatrice.
“Are you going to accept the challenge?”
.
“If I don’t, that Vampire will break down the gates with the power of God.”
Quezle couldn’t deny that.
“Soon, the slaves will appear from behind the enemy. When that happens, send out the Cockatoo warriors. We will join forces with the slaves and annihilate the Vampires.”
“I will do as you wish.”
***
Meanwhile, Shaiven was thinking about something else.
‘As soon as the gates open and Lakrak comes out, the big Weasels will charge through the gates.’
As the battle continued, more dead bodies piled up at the bottom of the hill. Behind the pile of bodies were Vampires that used to be Renards, and they were riding on Big Weasels. Shaiven had ordered them to hide amid the chaos and wait for the fortress gates to open.
‘If they somehow leave their gates open, they will lose the advantage provided by the fortress and the terrain.’
If a skirmish broke out, Shaiven believed that the Vampires would be at an advantage. She thought that the best weapons Vampires had were their fangs. What gave her pause wasn’t the fact that their fangs could only be used a couple of times per day, or that those who got bitten wouldn’t immediately become submissive, but the fact that the victims wouldn’t become as obedient as the generals if they were determined to kill the Vampires even at the price of their lives. That wouldn’t change even if Shaiven, who had the strongest venom, was the one giving the bite.
‘But poison causes strong pain and paralyzes the body. No matter how strong the Lizardmen are…’
A Vampire’s bite was probably meant to turn hostile opponents into friendly ones, but it was still valuable on the battlefield.
‘There’s no way he would jump directly to the bottom of the fortress. I did hear that Lakrak had a mount though.’
As Shaiven got halfway up the slope, Lakrak appeared riding his large monstrous Cockatrice. However, he did not join the battle by opening the gates as Shaiven had anticipated. The Cockatrice that carried Lakrak slightly flapped its wings and stepped onto the fortress wall. Shaiven took a step back, looking up at Lakrak and the first quarter moon behind him.
“H…how?”
“Do you not know?”
Lakrak tapped the Cockatrice’s wings with his spear.
“Things with wings fly in the sky.”
Shaiven wanted to say that wasn’t what she meant, but it was so absurd that she couldn’t respond quickly enough to counter the statement.
Kaaooo!
The Cockatrice let out a horrible shriek and flew into the air. Then it reached out with its claws and struck Shaiven.
***
Sung-Woon looked down at the fight between the two.
‘He’s overpowering.’
The slaves had not appeared from behind yet, so Quezle had yet to send out the Cockatoo warriors. Even though Lakrak was supported by the archers at the top of the fortress walls, he was right in the middle of the enemy line. Regardless, no one could stop Lakrak as he charged ahead on the Cockatrice’s back.
The moment Shaiven’s sword and Lakrak’s spear met, Shaiven was the one who staggered back. Shaiven’s physical ability was surely sufficient enough to fight a cavalry on a horse, but Lakrak was in no way a normal cavalry. Lakrak’s large monstrous bird was a Cockatrice that even ten hunters would struggle to hunt, and Lakrak, the one riding the Cockatrice, was a heroic individual with a level of 21.
Shaiven didn’t have a chance to use the venomous fangs she was so confident of, while the other Vampires couldn’t even get into the range of Lakrak’s spear. Shaiven had somehow stood her ground and not retreat, but she needed the help of the big Weasel cavalry that were prepared for the gates’ opening. Even so, Lakrak didn’t seem surrounded. Rather, it seemed more like Lakrak had surrounded the enemy.
‘I see the slaves have eventually defeated the Vampire general. Now they’ll arm themselves and attack the enemy from behind. But the problem is…’
Sung-Woon, who had been thinking to himself, had to question his eyes when he read the next message that popped up.
[Player ‘癤Woo bbit瑜swem ssik’ has requested a Whisper Conversation.]
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