This blood duel.

Even though it was a duel where the loser would have everything taken away—

Rashir was sure he was on the winning side.

There were many nobles within a bloodline, but he’d never even heard Ariella’s name.

That meant she wasn’t a noble with particularly strong authority.

He was different.

The great head of the house, Grand Duke Valarak.

He might be a distant descendant, but he still belonged to that grand duke’s direct line.

With blood purity that thick, he had no intention of losing to any ordinary noble.

His authority was the same.

He’d expanded without thinking, to the point where the host he commanded was more than he could even maintain.

Left with no choice, he’d kept his knights’ numbers up by lending part of his forces out to other nobles—

but now, he’d mobilized every last one of those excessive knights.

With this much strength, at the very least, he wouldn’t lose to a noble of the same rank.

That was why he’d entered this duel so confidently—

but.

“Wh-What is this......”

Rashir stared blankly at the battlefield.

“What the hell is this!!!”

The countless knights he’d brought so proudly were being ground to pieces—literally—by the massive beasts.

***

“Hehe...... splendid, my children!”

Ariella smiled in delight.

Her gaze was fixed on the beasts she’d brought from that demonic realm.

“They’d better be.”

Honestly, until recently, those bastards had been in no condition to be used in battle.

They were the ones that had taken a direct hit from sunlight—vampires’ weakness.

And those wounds weren’t something you could fill with any ordinary amount of blood.

So......

“After everything I went through.” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Khmm......!”

I gathered my unit’s blood and my own—right up to the edge of blacking out—

then used that blood to cook.

Even then, it still wasn’t enough to properly restore even a single one of those beasts, but—

[Five Loaves and Two Fish]

Fortunately, I had the power to inflate the amount of what I cooked.

‘Squeezing every last drop of mana out...... I managed to get them recovered enough to be used in battle, at least.’

Of course.

[Five Loaves and Two Fish] isn’t power that creates something from nothing.

Simply put, it consumes my mana.

Even with its efficiency pushed to the limit thanks to the talent of [Large-Scale Cooking], it was still an enormous drain.

In reality, I’d already lost most of my mana.

Joining the fight myself would be a bit tough.

“I invested this much. You’d better perform.”

“Khmm, of course!”

Still.

Maybe it really had been worth that investment.

KWA-AANG......!

“Spread out!!!”

The moment the massive beasts dove into the middle of the vampires, Rashir’s knights scattered in panic.

And while their formation collapsed as they avoided the great beasts, Ariella’s retainers drove into the opening.

‘......Even using [Five Loaves and Two Fish], it was impossible to fully restore those retainers.’

If I burned through that much mana, I’d die.

So—

‘I recovered every force...... only up to “a level where they can fight decently.”’

Of course.

Since they weren’t in perfect condition, if they fought like that, they’d quickly become combat-ineffective again.

Right.

That was only—

‘If they were normal troops.......’

KWO-EONG!

The white lion opened its mouth—

and with that enormous maw, it swallowed one of Rashir’s knights whole.

CRUNCH.

The moment it closed its jaws, a massive spray of blood burst from the knight.

And then......

Sluuurrk.......

In that instant, a sheen settled over the white lion’s rough-looking fur.

“Ahh...... I can breathe again.”

“Thank you, brother......!”

Ariella’s retainers who got splashed by that blood, too, were visibly recovering their depleted stamina.

Considering the vampiric trait of restoring stamina through blood—

this blood duel was a structure where the stronger side only grew more advantaged as time passed.

From the moment we started overwhelming them by mobilizing the great beasts, all Ariella’s retainers had left to do was refill the blood they’d lost.

“N-No way. You said count...... the same as me......!”

I could see Rashir screaming as he watched.

To begin with, just as Ariella herself had said—

her strength wasn’t at a count’s level.

‘We’re short on numbers.’

But the quality of the forces—

Ariella’s side was so much higher you couldn’t even compare.

“How dare you touch my brothers!”

Of course.

Rashir’s knights weren’t pushovers, either.

KWAA-AAGH!!

Their brute strength was more than threatening.

Those who gripped their hammers tight spread their wings, rose into the air—

then—

KWA-AANG!!!

Just like they did against me, they dove toward the ground at terrifying speed.

‘Yeah... even I thought that was pretty dangerous.’

A plunging strike from above only grew stronger with gravity.

Whether that brute strength applied to their wings too, they moved at absurd speed.

I’d deflected it with the help of “martial arts,” but—

I figured it would’ve been dangerous if my mastery had been even a hair lower.

A strike that, if it hit clean, wouldn’t have left even bone intact.

That power would be lethal to those beasts too, but......

[Mistform]

“......Huh?”

Unfortunately, those attacks never landed.

KWAANG!

The massive beasts’ bodies turned into blood-colored mist, and the strikes driven down at them only tore [N O V E L I G H T] empty air before slamming into the ground.

“What... is that......?”

Rashir muttered, mouth hanging open as he watched.

Looking at that bastard, I thought—

‘I did think we couldn’t let it slip that we’re from a different bloodline, but.’

That was only before this blood duel was established.

‘The duel’s already established.’

They swore with their own mouths that the winner of this clash would take everything.

They couldn’t rewind a duel that had already begun.

And that meant—

Ariella’s retainers could now use their powers again.

Sluu-

“Wh-Where did they go!?”

“No...... they didn’t disappear. They turned into mist!”

Whenever a lethal strike came flying in, they’d shed it through [Mistform].

Shoo— CRACK!

“Ghk!”

“Where the hell did that come from!?”

They rode the shadows to move in silence, then stabbed into the backs of enemies who’d let their guard down.

‘In raw strength, their side is a bit stronger.’

That brutal power—

and those wings that let them move freely through the air—were both extremely dangerous.

In fact, in one corner of the battlefield, knights flying overhead and firing massive bows were gradually suppressing Ariella’s retainers.

But.

From what I’d felt fighting them myself......

‘Ariella’s retainers were way more of a pain in the ass.’

[Mistform], basically an extra life.

And a combat style full of irregularity—riding shadows and popping out from anywhere.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who found that hard to deal with.

“Wh-What is that supposed to be......!”

“Master, you have to get back!”

“What kind of ability is this......!”

Rashir’s forces were struggling too.

As the tide turned against them, Rashir’s knights were close to dragging him back to the rear.

For me, it was just nice to watch the battle go well, but—

“......Yeah, something’s off.”

“Hm?”

Maybe it wasn’t just me.

Ariella frowned and muttered.

***

“Shadow movement and [Mistform] are definitely troublesome abilities...... but it shouldn’t be to the point they can’t respond at all.”

“That’s...... true.”

In reality, once my unit and I figured out those abilities, we managed to deal with them somehow.

“Especially since bloodlines learn how to fight other bloodlines over long years of battling.”

Shadows and [Mistform]—

they’re definitely annoying in that they enable irregular tactics.

But if you identify their existence and succeed in breaking them, you’d end up getting pushed back by the knights’ simple strength—“power,” “wings,” things like that.

And yet......

“They look like they have no idea how to face my retainers.”

“.......”

“......Why?”

She’d been pleased a moment ago, watching her retainers fight well—

but now her expression said she genuinely didn’t understand.

‘It’s tempting to say good is good, but.......’

Still, it really was something that bothered me.

‘Ariella’s information about nobles is wrong more often than I expected.’

It wasn’t just this.

I still didn’t know the exact reason, but—

it was clear I couldn’t fully trust her knowledge about nobles.

If I believed her and acted on bad information, we could take serious damage.

Why these errors kept happening, it bothered me too, but......

“You don’t have to worry too much.”

“But—”

“We’re going back to the Legion before long anyway.”

We’d gotten information that survivors were gathering somewhere in this land.

And we’d learned that vampires had established themselves across China on a large scale.

“N-No way...... that power, could it be...... how.......”

This duel was clearly turning into our victory.

If that was the case—

“We take everything that bastard has, use that mana, and return to the Legion. That’s all.”

After we finished conquering Korea first—

as long as the Legion was still alive by then, someday we’d have reason to expand into another country... into China.

‘The information we got here will be incredibly useful then.’

Now that we knew the enemy was vampires, there were plenty of ways to handle them—gear tied to sunlight or the divine, for instance.

By then, we wouldn’t need to rely on Ariella’s knowledge.

......I felt bad for the survivors in this land.

But we couldn’t help them right now.

All we could do was hope they held out until then.

‘......From the looks of it, it seems like I won’t even need what I prepared just in case.’

Thinking that, I watched the battlefield with some ease—

and then.

Crrrk.......

“......Huh?”

Something shifted, ever so slightly, on that battlefield.

***

“Go! For our master!”

“Offer their blood to our master, Ariella!”

With the momentum on their side, Ariella’s retainers kept pressing the enemy.

Those knights were definitely strong, but—

they couldn’t respond to any of the abilities we were using.

‘Even if they could respond...... our knights are stronger.’

One of the “elite vampire knights” commanding the battlefield, Lee Beomjae, looked across the field and thought that.

Even if they figured out how to respond, their side’s forces would be a little stronger.

But with no response at all right now, even if the enemy had far more troops, the difference in individual combat power meant the battle was rolling overwhelmingly in their favor.

‘Today, we’re going to gain a lot of new brothers.’

If we won this fight, not only that noble, but every last retainer he commanded would become Ariella’s retainer.

Proud at the thought that his master’s host would grow even stronger,

Lee Beomjae swung his sword with a satisfied smile.

“Ghk......”

But then......

“Ghhk.......”

“......?”

As he fought on, he noticed something slightly strange about one knight in front of him.

‘With defeat staring them in the face, they must be hallucinating.’

Even if they were a noble’s knights with high loyalty, it didn’t mean their mental fortitude was exceptional.

In a situation this shockingly one-sided, it wouldn’t be strange for some to be driven to the brink.

‘They’ll be brothers later anyway...... I’ll spare their life.’

But then......

“Gurgle......!”

“......!”

In that instant, Lee Beomjae felt it—

no.

The alien mana infused in that knight’s blood.

“Gweeeeeegh......!”

KWAGAGAGAGAK......!

One of Rashir’s knights—huge-bodied, packed with powerful strength.

That knight’s body began to swell grotesquely.

It looked like how they inflated their muscles to unleash brute strength—

but it was swelling far, far more than that.

“This is......!”

Panicking, he slashed urgently, trying to stab through the heart—

but unfortunately, he was a little too late.

The moment his blade sank into the flesh of that grotesquely swollen knight—

PUUUUUUUUUUUNG!!!

That swollen body exploded on the spot.