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Chapter 398. A Single Touch of Armor Sleeve

Zudooon! A monstrous thunderclap like a lightning strike.

“Kyah! What!?”

In the central part of the ship, Hilda Shushuri, who had been sleeping soundly in her luxurious four-poster bed, was jolted awake.

“What… What was that!? Daniel!?”

Hilda, the type who rarely woke up once she fell asleep, was certainly startled by the massive sound. Groggily, she looked around, but her beloved Daniel was nowhere to be found, and the space next to her bed was empty.

“…An attack!? Are we being attacked!?”

Listening intently, Hilda realized she could hear the sounds of battle and grabbed the sheets, flabbergasted.

In addition, she heard the lake pirates screaming out, “It’s the hero!” “This is bad, we can’t win!” “Hiiiee, just spare our lives!”

“A hero… Could it be the Vampire Hunters!?”

Hilda, whose pallor was already reminiscent of a vampire, felt her color drain even further, but quickly regained her composure, saying to herself, “No, calm down, Hilda. Think…”

Since the age when the Night Kingdom (the land of vampires) boasted its glory, the fierce battle between the Holy Church and vampires has continued. The terror of Vampire Hunters from the Night Kingdom era is still talked about among the vampires of the modern Demon Lord Kingdom.

What makes Vampire Hunters troublesome is their obsession. They relentlessly pursue their prey throughout their lives, willing to do anything to hunt vampires, making them seem quite mad.

They have been known to use other humans as bait to lure vampires, or using the moment they are bitten to unleash holy magic that takes the vampire down with them, or attacking a seemingly weak target only to find dozens hidden in traps. You never know what kind of traps they might set, and their dangerous episodes are countless.

Hilda, having grown up purely in the Demon Lord Kingdom, had certainly heard more than enough from her family about the trouble of Vampire Hunters. The advice for when one catches the interest of a Vampire Hunter was, “Don’t engage them” and “Run away quickly.”

It would be painful to be injured by holy magic, and engaging them was a waste of time and effort.

Following that principle, Hilda instantly thought, “I must run!” But then realized, “No, wait a minute, Hilda. Something’s off…” and she looked out the window at the dark scenery outside.

—If it were Vampire Hunters, they shouldn’t be attacking at this hour.

Regardless of a sudden encounter, they were attacking the ship. It was nighttime, when vampires excelled, and they could easily fog away if necessary, making it unlikely for Vampire Hunters to attack.

Furthermore, they were completely caught off guard. If it was known that vampires were aboard, they wouldn’t need to board the ships; they could incinerate the entire ship instead. At least, if Hilda were a Vampire Hunter, that’s what she would do. From the many episodes of the Night Kingdom era, she learned that’s how Vampire Hunters operated.

So, if it wasn’t that way—

“This is… a regular hero!!”

It must be! Hilda nodded in agreement to herself. There was no rational reason for meticulously prepared, cold-blooded Vampire Hunters to attack at night willingly.

Rather, it would make sense if a patrol ship from the Holy Church was attempting to inspect a suspicious ship and, as a result, stumbled upon lake pirates, leading to an unintended fight.

“What should I do?”

Gently stroking her lips with her fingers, Hilda let out a sigh and lay back down.

Compared to Vampire Hunters, normal heroes didn’t seem all that formidable. While the threat of holy property remained strong, friends had informed her that their clunky armor made them sluggish, making blood magic easier to cast on them.

Of course, it can be troublesome if they command a large number of soldiers or have the backing of priests or Forest Elf Archers, but that was a battlefield concern. If they blended into the darkness and used common soldiers as bait, it was relatively easy to take them down—so said a friend who had been to the front lines.

By the way, Hilda had no practical combat experience against equally ranked foes. She had attempted to deploy to the battlefield before, but there was no space available. Frustrated by her inability to increase her title, she had been wandering around the alliance territory after meeting Daniel.

“Hmm…”

Now that the ship was discovered, simply escaping wasn’t an option, but running away without doing anything felt… pitiful.

“!! Perhaps Daniel is already fighting!?”

Suddenly realizing this possibility, Hilda leaped up again.

It had to be! He probably thought it would be rude to wake the sleeping Hilda and went to intercept the intruders alone!

“I can’t just sit here!”

With no time to change her dress, Hilda put on at least her underwear, misted, and flew out of her room.

“Hyii! What are we gonna do!?”

“What do you mean what?! We’re escaping!”

As she quickly moved down the hallway, she encountered several lake pirates thundering toward her.

Leading the pack was a fat, lewd-looking pirate, followed by a skinny man and a few younger ones. Hilda, still in mist form, made a disgusted face. Though Daniel was the one who thought it up and acted, it was hard for her to deal with such lowly scum.

“This is actually a chance! The ship’s captain and first mate turned into monsters and got taken out by the heroes! Now’s our chance to escape this ship!”

“But even if we say that, how do we escape!?”

The fat pirate grinned fiercely, while the skinny one nervously asked.

“There are emergency boats at the ship’s rear! We can use those!”

“Now that you mention it, that’s right! You’re smart!”

“You’re the dumb one!”

—Naturally, hearing such a conversation made Hilda feel uneasy.

What a bunch! A mere lake pirate group who I’ve kept alive decides to flee at the first sign of trouble…

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Hilda materialized to block their path, crossing her arms defiantly in front of her chest.

The skinny lake pirate, along with the younger ones, looked shocked, and even the fat pirate widened his eyes before lewdly stretching his neck.

“…………”

At that moment, Hilda remembered she was in her underwear.

“Wha—! Don’t look!!”

Staring at her with a disturbingly happy expression, she felt goosebumps as she misted away and hid in a nearby cabin. She opened the door quietly, poked her head out, and glared at the lake pirates.

“You’re not allowed to escape.”

“Escape? How could we possibly think such a thing! We were just grabbing weapons!”

The fat pirate brazenly declared.

“Liar! You were planning to escape on the boat at the ship’s rear.”

As Hilda narrowed her eyes, the fat pirate seemed taken aback, his face contorting.

“P-Please forgive us! But the heroes are seriously dangerous! We’re just weaklings who won’t be of any help and will only become a burden…! Please, spare us…!”

The fat pirate knelt down, begging for mercy, but he was just an eyesore.

“Useless? That’s not true.”

Hilda sliced her wrist with her nails, letting blood flow as she spoke.

“You’re useful.”

With a swift motion, before the pirates could react, she plunged the blood blade into them over and over.

Through the blood, she injected strength.

“Aagggghhhh…!”

“Gggggg…!!”

“Goaaahhhh…!”

The pirates’ veins bulged as they turned pale and trembled.

Eventually—

Their eyes turned blood-red.

“[Now, go. Kill the heroes.]”

“[Yay!!]”

With bloodshot eyes and drooling, the pirates ran back the way they came, now bound to her will. They were now low-level familiars. Their intelligence had regressed, and they were akin to beasts that couldn’t understand human speech. Perhaps better than goblins.

Creating familiars is established by a vampire sharing their blood. The master holds magical superiority over the familiar, allowing them to compel actions and thoughts to a certain degree. Depending on how much blood is shared and how powerful the vampire is, the rank of the familiar is determined.

However, due to the nature of sharing blood, the vampire becomes weaker when creating familiars. To be useful as subordinates, enough blood must be shared, and the stronger the familiar becomes, the more resistant they become to commands.

Moreover, regardless of rank, they still count as vampires, which means they turn to ash when exposed to sunlight. To keep the lake pirate ship running during the day, it was necessary to have living crew members, so limitless familiarization wasn’t feasible.

Still, as disposable soldiers, there was no more convenient existence.

“Ha, what a fitting end.”

Snickering to herself, Hilda misted away and followed behind her familiars.

Bang! The sounds of battle grew closer. It sounded quite noisy… Were there many of them? Hilda felt some unease when—

Climbing the stairs.

Emerging to the lower deck.

“It’s here! The hero!”

“Get rid of them!”

“I’ll kill you, you bastard!”

The familiars charged, swinging curved blades—

“[Holy Strike!]”

A blinding flash dazzled the familiars, who shrieked, “Gugyaahhh!”

“They’re familiars!!”

“Turn them to ash!!”

“I’ll free you right now, dammit!!”

Men in light armor swung gleaming silver swords, cutting down the familiars in an instant, reducing them to ashes.

“Wha…!!”

Hilda, hiding near the ceiling in the darkness, was left speechless. They didn’t just act as bait; they didn’t even buy her time!

In an instant, they were scattered!!

What mercilessness…!

(Mercilessness…?)

A sense of dread overcame her. The heroes moved without hesitation and with absolute precision. However, they weren’t clad in armor, and aside from their holy swords, they wielded strange weapons instead—

An overwhelming aura of killing intent radiated from them.

(T-These guys…!!)

Could they really be Vampire Hunters?! Why!?

(B-but it was fortunate that I got a feel for their power! My familiars were surprisingly useful! I’ll make sure your sacrifice wasn’t in vain!)

Hilda attempted to swiftly mist away and escape, blending into the darkness—

But one hero among them.

A beautiful young man with a silvery gleam in his left eye.

Pointed directly at her.

“You’re still there.”

With a chilling glare, the heroes turned their bloodshot eyes in unison.

This is bad—!!

“[Holy Strike!]”

“[Let there be light!]”

“[Chains of Binding!]”

Holy magic cascaded down like an avalanche.

Lightning struck and light burned her; unable to stay misted as it felt like she would vanish, she materialized and was instantly bound by the silver chains searing her flesh.

“Ugh—Gyaaaahhh!!!”

A torment the like of which she had never experienced before, feeling as if both her soul and body were being incinerated, escaped her lips as a scream. To follow that, bolts released from a strange mechanical bow and thrown stakes pierced her, pinning Hilda to the wall.

“You… You’re a ‘pureblood,’ aren’t you!?”

A man clad in a maroon long coat glared at her, excitement evident in his eyes.

(It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! No, no, help me!!!)

Seeking salvation, Hilda urgently moved her eyes around in search of help.

“Daniel!? Where are you!?”

Where did he go!? Where was her beloved!? Wasn’t he fighting ahead!?

Please don’t tell me—

(Did he escape first!?)

Just as she thought that—

“Hilda!”

From downstairs came the voice of her beloved.

Peering further up, she saw Daniel at the foot of the stairs!

“Daniel—!”

How foolish she was to even entertain the thought of doubt. He wouldn’t run away; he was the proud heir of the Night Aristocracy—Cheesuina family!

“Help me…!”

Hilda instinctively reached out towards him—

But Daniel, with a determined expression, froze upon seeing the silver-glowing men crowds surrounding him in a fierce battle stance.

“…”

With an airy mist, Daniel dissolved into thin air.

He disappeared into the darkness beyond.

“Eh!?”

Why…? Hilda was left in shock.

Fortunately, she didn’t have time to be overwhelmed by despair.

Sshh! One of the twin swords cleaved Hilda’s head off.

Then, the remaining sword pierced her heart.

Zaraa… The once-noble Hilda turned to ash.

“There was another one!”

“Let’s kill her!”

“Where’s the hostage!?”

Even after defeating the vampire, the heroes remained silent, advancing in a cautious formation toward the depths of the ship.

 

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