God of the Dark Ones

 

Aside from his head, the rest of the Vampire Lord turned into hardened ash.

Most of the bats that had flown out were also cut down by Shia and met the same fate.

The few bats that escaped her were burned after I grabbed them out of the air.

I burned them with a little flame from the palm of my hand so that Shia would not notice it.

 

“Now that you have finished me…”

 

The head of the Vampire Lord was mumbling.

I ignored him and turned to Shia.

 

“Will you be able to clear your name now?”

“Yes. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you, Mister Locke.”

“Don’t mention it.”

 

Shia raised the Devil King sword reverently and returned it to me.

 

“And thank you for lending me your sword.”

“Ah. And how did it feel to use it?”

“It was wonderfully sharp.”

“I’m glad.”

 

And then Shia tilted her head to the side.

 

“But, I felt as if power was entering into me when I cut into him.”

“You were probably imagining it? It’s so sharp that you might have misunderstood something.”

“Yes, that is probably it.”

 

Shia said and laughed.

It seemed that it did have a drain effect.

It likely had a special effect on enemies like Vampire Lords, who were able to transform and escape.

 

I asked Shia.

 

“So, what are you going to do with him? He’s just a head now. Are you taking him back to your homeland?”

I didn’t know what rules they had in her tribe. But maybe they required evidence that she had killed him.

For the guild, all you had to deliver was the magic stone that was deep inside your prey’s head as evidence.

 

However, that would only prove that you killed a Vampire Lord.

As this was about revenge, perhaps it would be necessary to prove that it was the right Vampire Lord.

 

“That will not be necessary for me.”

Shia began to inspect the body of the fallen Vampire Lord.

Its body was already like hardened ash.

Shia used her broadsword to rake through it as if using tongs in a hearth.

 

“There it is.”

 

Shia picked up a medal that was slightly smaller than her palm from out of the ashes.

It was pretty large for a medal.

 

The material looked like gold but was probably not gold. It was mysterious.

But more than that, I felt something strongly ominous from it.

 

“What is that?”

“Yes. It is a curse medal that is buried inside of special Vampire Lords.”

“I didn’t know about such things…”

 

I don’t think they had these 10 years ago when I was fighting as an Adventurer.

At least, I had never heard of them.

Maybe it became a trend among Vampire Lords within the last 10 years.

 

After thinking about this for a while, Shia said in a soft voice:

 

“You saved my life, Mister Locke. And my tribe owes you for helping me kill the Vampire Lord. And so I will tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“Every time a Vampire Lord with this medal drinks blood or takes a life, curses will collect inside of the medal.”

“Interesting.”

“It is said that once enough curses are gathered, a door to the place between dimensions will open.”

“…Between dimensions.”

 

That place I fought for 10 years.

It was not possible for humans to open a door from here to that place.

For humans, it was a one-way street. You could only escape from it.

The only people who could open such gate were demigods. Devil Kings.

 

10 years ago, we had fought and wounded the Devil Kin and pushed him back.

And so the Devil King had escaped into that place between our dimensions.

All we had done was jump through the door when he had opened it.

 

That was why Eric and Goran could not come back to save me after running away.

 

“This place between dimensions is…”

 

Shia explained to me.

A path to a different world. That is what the place between dimensions is.

Beyond the place between dimensions, lives the god of the dark ones.

 

“The god of the dark ones, huh.”

“Yes. The devils are only the vanguard of this god of the dark ones.”

“Is that right.”

 

It was a frightening story.

They had been so strong. How strong then, would this god who was behind them be?

 

The Vampire Head began to shout.

 

“Yes, exactly! You should live in fear. Once our God descends, this world will become ours.”

“Then you should just have the devils open a gate instead of collecting curses in this little medal.”

“Mister Locke, 10 years ago… It is said that the Hero Ruck, killed almost all of the devils.”

“I see.”

 

Indeed, I did kill a lot of devils. I even killed the revived Devil King.

Perhaps so many of them had been sent because they wanted to open the gate between dimensions.

 

“We do not care for these devils who do not even attempt to open the gate. We will summon our God with our own hands.”

“I see.”

 

The gate would not open because of all the devils that I killed, and they had lost patience.

If that was the case, it was definitely worth fighting there for 10 years.

 

“So then, that attack 10 years ago by the Devil King was about…”

“That is right. The Devil King came here as a vanguard for the god of the dark ones.”

“But the Heroes pushed them back, right?”

“Yes. The Hero Eric, Warrior Goran and the Hero, Saviour and Great Philosopher Ruck pushed them back. And so the god of the dark ones never appeared.”

 

I was a little embarrassed that my title was so long.

The Vampire Lord’s head laughed.

 

“I gathered many curses in that medal. It will only take a few more for the door to open.”

“So that’s why it felt so ominous.”

“The other Vampire Lord’s will come to retrieve that medal now.”

 

Shia’s face tensed.

It would be difficult to protect the medal regardless of the time of day if they were attacked by Vampire Lords.

 

“Yes, you should live in fear! Know that you will never feel tranquility ever again.”

“Hmph!”

 

I cut into the medal with the Devil King sword. The sword converted the curses into magical energy and absorbed it.

 

“What, how… The curses…”

“This is a pretty useful sword.”

“That sword…no…the Devil King’s Magical Pander…”

“Never heard of it!”

 

I then swung the Devil King’s sword into the Vampire Lord’s head.

And the head immediately turned into ash.