# The Final Vampire
The last vampire offered little resistance. After an execution that resembled butchery, once Enrique or Lucia consumed its blood, even its final resistance would end.
Of course, vampires are generally immortal undead. They belong to a category extremely difficult to kill through ordinary means.
Driving a stake through the heart, burning the corpse, and scattering the ashes in a river—this is the traditional method of disposing of vampires, yet even then they sometimes revive. Even their characteristic of melting under sunlight cannot be relied upon. After all, there are high-ranking vampires like Enrique who can walk freely under the sun.
Beyond that, Ivan's preferred method is "killing continuously." Fundamentally, a vampire's physical recovery is proportional to the total amount of blood it has consumed. These creatures recover by consuming the souls of the living beings they've devoured.
In other words, if you cut them down until they can no longer recover—until they've depleted all their stored blood—they die. When they become too weak to regenerate their bodies, beheading them prevents resurrection.
However, if there's an even more efficient and powerful method...
"For your abilities, you have quite good lineage?"
Cannibalism. Completely devouring the blood and souls accumulated by one's opponent. This is the characteristic that created the current Enrique.
A vampire consumed by its own kind never resurrects. Therefore, battles between vampires become conquests in the truest sense—a process of completely subjugating the opponent's soul and life.
"Is that good news?"
"No, it's very bad news."
Enrique licked the blood from the corner of her mouth as she spoke.
"The fact that these newly created ones could be given this level of pure blood... it means that whoever is their 'master' has devoured Olega."
Many of Olega's vassals were very ancient vampires. What does it mean that they used such pawns while launching the boldest operation since the war—attacking a human city using only vampires?
It means Olega and all his vassals have been killed. It also suggests that the vampire who devoured Olega has been indiscriminately producing vassals to expand its power.
Adding one more inference:
"It means they came in a desperate rush."
Bestowing this level of lineage upon creatures without proper abilities means they gave the maximum power possible to all available vassals.
To put it another way, it's like a lord who can only form troops with conscripts, stripping away all his wealth to equip them with full plate armor and magic spears before driving them onto the battlefield.
They had a desired objective and were even pressed for time. A vampire powerful enough to kill Olega would have no reason for this. For immortals, time is always on their side.
Enrique gazed at the night sky, lost in thought.
"Why? If they were plotting against me, there would have been better methods. Why be pressed for time? Neither I nor they would fade with time."
"Enrique."
"Yes?"
"After Pritzenkaya was raided, did they perhaps send requests for support to other territories?"
"The Capital Defense Force isn't that incompetent, despite being halved. Of course they sent requests for military aid. On the very first day."
In retrospect, this country's military is not incompetent. From the beginning, the incompetent couldn't survive under Elizabeta's regime.
The Capital Defense Force dispatched messengers the moment they determined the city could no longer maintain its functions. Meaning they attempted this on the very first day—a remarkably swift response.
In this era, requests for military aid directly translate to financial burden. In an already impoverished financial situation, asking local lords for assistance would mean the Elizabeta regime would have to expend authority and concede many privileges.
Knowing this, local lords would have no reason to refuse intervention. The country was already excessively centralized compared to its territorial size. This would be an opportunity to diminish royal authority.
"What about Tilles and Droan?"
"They probably sent messages there too, but does Tilles have any deployable forces left? As for Droan..."
"It's close."
The "great powers" formed by Tilles-Krasilov-Droan get along relatively well within the entire United Kingdom.
Since the last coup, Tilles has entrusted about half of its defense capabilities to Krasilov, while Droan doesn't even consider such a thing.
More precisely, that means Einarr. If they were invaded by demon-kind, especially if support was requested, Einarr would have deployed troops without hesitation. After all, Enrique and Patricia are in this city.
He's one of the few remaining comrades from the Hero Party in this world. That man isn't cunning enough to restrain himself when it comes to comrades, family, and brothers.
Moreover, his direct bloodline is in this city. Though he tries to raise his daughter to be relatively strong, there are limits to that.
"Even if Einarr had only sent Huskarls, they could have traversed the distance within three days."
And considering how long this city has been shrouded in darkness, even with roads ruined by the rasputitsa, the fact that no one has responded by this point...
"They weren't pressed for time—they were timing it."
"...Oh no."
Enrique gritted her teeth at Ivan's words.
At the moment when Pritzenkaya was most vulnerable—when the 2nd Corps, Royal Guards, Counterintelligence Command, and most of the Capital Defense Force were planning overseas expeditions.
At this precise moment when even the dwarves had to focus on the southern expedition, they launched their attack—which means...
"They were preparing for war. With an intelligence network dense enough to continuously monitor the internal situation in Pritzenkaya."
"The Seven Dragon Generals joined hands without a Demon King?"
"Didn't you say Olega died suddenly?"
"...That's right."
"'Someone' killed a Dragon General to prove their strength. In a way that forced others to acknowledge them as the Demon King."
Only one person in this era could do that.
"Maximillian..."
"Hmm."
Ivan looked at Enrique and sighed.
Yes, come to think of it, Enrique's quest name was [Prelude to the Great Collapse].
Like [Doctrine War] or [Winter of Ten Thousand Years], quests themselves contain independent narratives. That's what they'd understood so far.
Then Ivan should have realized when organizing the quests that Yu-jin had identified. He had to admit his own complacency.
He had been too preoccupied with the situation unfolding in the south. It was a cliché he could have figured out with just a little thought.
[Linked Quest].
The reason for developing an intelligence network capable of real-time surveillance of Pritzenkaya's internal situation, and attempting to eliminate Enrique, the biggest obstacle to vampire agents, was obvious.
If they intended to mobilize forces on the scale of the Great War, which country would they need to neutralize first? If they could only bring down Krasilov and Droan, the United Kingdom would have to face war having lost most of its means of resistance.
It was a feint operation.
While paralyzing Pritzenkaya, launching offensives from other directions.
There was no need to consider the direction of the offensive. From Maximillian's perspective, there were only two high-value targets: Enrique and Einarr.
The political situation confirmed this. After Kalion fragmented and Tilles suffered internal strife, with the southern kingdoms' civil war just being resolved...
Except for Droan, no country remained powerful enough to warrant a preemptive strike.
Ivan stared at Asidis, who was growing increasingly pale as she listened to the conversation.
"Calm down. All of you."
There was no time to offer reassurances that Einarr wouldn't die easily, that a country like Droan wouldn't fall in one blow, or that the Hero Party should see hope even in despair.
"First things first."
Ivan spoke toward the broken window of the shrine. A dark green light source was rising into the starless night sky.
This would be their final guest. Based on the circumstances, it must be the one who had devoured Olega but somehow failed to recover divinity—a half-baked Dragon General wannabe.
All worries and concerns could wait until after killing it.
Yust looked down at the vermin crawling out from beneath the shrine and smiled. Magic power swirled throughout his body, making his head throb.
He had lost many of his kin. Though he never had great expectations for those useless ones, it was a painful loss considering their blood would have gone to Enrique.
That would have been true until yesterday. But now it was all worthless. True power—power that transcended the inherent limitations of vampires—was boiling throughout his entire body.
Aviditas was the god of necromancy, and Olega was the god of vampires. If he inherited both their powers completely, what should such a being be called?
Now Yust could declare with certainty: he was the God of Death. The embodiment of the concept of death itself. Though he hadn't yet claimed divinity, it was only a matter of time.
Over twenty thousand lives still remained in this city. If he devoured them all and raised an army from their corpses to consume tens or hundreds of thousands more lives...
In this era when the humans' god could no longer manifest divine power through that hateful sun, how could mortals possibly stop him?
"Rise—!!"
Yust raised his hand and shouted. From the inner city to the sewers of the lower city, all corpses sleeping underground in each district raised their heads at his command.
"RISE—!!!"
No complex spells or powers were necessary. This single word was enough. The time of the dead had come, and the screams of the living echoed in his ears...
Ah, what magnificent power.
Death had always been abundant in this city. Even in his long life, the massive number of corpses lying beneath this city was unusual.
Such death was rare even in the fiercest battlefields of the Great War. This country of barbarians was so inferior that even its capital was like this.
As if they had committed mass slaughter once every generation.
"Kneel! The final destination of all you vermin, your ultimate king is here—"
At that moment, something flew in like an arrow.
Yust paused mid-sentence and reached out to catch the flying object.
"An axe...?"
The axe, imbued with fierce power, whined in his grasp. Looking in the direction it had come from, he saw the Spider staring directly up at him.
[Kill him—!! Kill him—!!]
Simultaneously, Aviditas's remains atop his head screamed. Ignoring this with effort, he turned toward the man.
From below, he could see the man jabbing a needle into his forearm.
"To think I'll have to kill the same thing three times."
The man's voice resonated deeply.
"How tiresome. Come down, Aviditas."
[Kill him—!!!]