Papapapang...!

An attack suddenly poured down from the sky.

Huge pillars emitting a faint glow in the darkness hurtled toward the ground.

“Krrk...!”

Most of the vampires here were the Grand Duke’s thralls.

Creatures treated like boss monsters among ordinary awakened.

Under normal circumstances, they might have somehow been able to block it or evade it, but—

-Where do you think you’re going, kahak!

Of all times,  this was right in the middle of a chaotic melee with the Trow.

Compared to them, the Trow were far weaker, but they were still more than capable of tying them down.

...And thanks to that—

Crunch, crunch!

Into the vampires’ hearts, the faintly glowing pillars drove themselves, pinning their bodies to the ground.

“...That’s.”

Bizarrely enough, those pillars did no harm to the Trow at all, while striking the vampires directly through the heart with perfect accuracy.

“...Hunter’s stakes!”

The Grand Duke’s thralls, who had been fully absorbed in the fight with the Trow, saw the pillars and cried out with their eyes wide.

“It’s a vampire hunter!”

And then.

At the same time as that shout—

“All stakes expended!”

“Good. Everyone, prepare yourselves.”

On the battlefield where the Trow and vampires had been fighting, into that chaos-filled melee,

“Charge, all units!”

“Exterminate every last one of those vampires!!!”

another force came crashing in.

***

-Kak...?

The Trow, who had been focused on their chaotic melee with the vampires, looked toward the sudden intruders on the battlefield.

Peobeobeobeong...!

Fire, ice, acid, and all kinds of other elements tore through the air,

“Chaaaarge!!!”

while figures in heavy armor hurled themselves forward and swung their weapons.

In the case of vampires and Trow, there were combat styles and traits shared by their race.

But the intruders were all different, their clothing varied, and the powers they wielded were all over the place.

A few of the Trow who saw them muttered as though they had realized something.

-Indigenous species...?

They had no idea why ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) those people had suddenly barged in.

But because of it, the mood of the battlefield lurched violently.

And the ones who made the most effective use of that shift were—

-Don’t know what this is, but good. Kahak!!!

the Trow.

They were, to begin with, more accustomed than anyone to chaotic fighting in a forest.

This forest was their territory, so they knew the terrain well.

It was only because the Grand Duke’s thralls possessed overwhelmingly greater power that they had been getting pushed back through raw strength alone.

But once the battle situation began to grow complicated, they started moving freely through the trees and using that confusion...

to lead the battle into the kind of chaotic melee that was their specialty.

“Attack only the vampires! We don’t have the room to worry about other monsters!”

-Kakak! Kill the blood monsters first! Kahak!!!

The Trow, who had been fighting a disadvantageous battle from the start, did not touch the intruders because they wanted to make use of that confusion, and the intruders attacked only the vampires as if they had never had any interest in the Trow to begin with.

Even though they had never exchanged a word, a natural alliance took shape on the battlefield as though they had arranged it in advance.

“Grrk...!”

The vampires were certainly powerful, but once confusion broke out in a battle that had seemed certain to end in one-sided victory, the damage they were taking began to pile up little by little.

And in the end—

Thud...

one of the Grand Duke’s thralls, which had seemed so overwhelmingly strong, finally had its heart ripped out by a Trow Great Warrior and fell.

“How...!”

One of the Grand Duke’s thralls who saw that yanked out the arrow an intruder had fired and spoke.

“How was our location exposed!”

With a look of utter disbelief,

“Commander!!!”

“......”

it shouted while looking at Jinlei.

‘This area was dangerous from the start. I figured there was a high chance that people like them would be roaming nearby.’

And then, upon hearing that voice, Jinlei too thought, ‘But precisely because of that, I took every precaution that could be taken.’

The reconnaissance of the surrounding area through the Grand Duke’s thralls had been perfect.

They had erased every trace thoroughly as well.

Even if, by some chance, there had been enemies wandering just barely outside the edge of their scouting radius, those enemies would have had no traces to follow.

There was no way they could have approached this place, where a battle was taking place, in that short amount of time.

That was exactly why he had been confident enough to engage in this battle.

‘How.’

And yet, that certainty had come crashing down in ruin.

A situation whose cause he could not understand at all.

Then.

‘...No way.’

In his mind, the image of one man rose up.

He had been watched thoroughly so he could not do anything.

Even the smallest thing he did had been followed up and had its traces erased.

He had never done anything especially suspicious.

And yet, for some reason, there was one person who rose in Jinlei’s mind regardless.

‘No way. It couldn’t be.’

Even knowing that it was more likely not to be the case, Jinlei turned his head and looked that way.

And there, in that spot—

“...That.”

Grin...

“That bastard...!”

with an infuriating smile on his face, was a man looking right at him.

***

‘Oops.’

The sudden intrusion of a third force.

I had been watching that situation with a grin on my face, but—

“Ahem.”

the moment my eyes met Jinlei’s, I coughed awkwardly and turned my head away.

He was glaring at me with a look that said he couldn’t believe it, but...

‘What’s he gonna do about it?’

I looked elsewhere and played dumb.

“...My dear.”

“Hm?”

At that moment, Ariella, who was sitting beside me, looked back and forth between me and Jinlei glaring at me and spoke.

“Was this... your doing?”

“Mm... Who knows? I’m not really sure either.”

“Good grief.”

At my answer, Ariella pressed a hand to her head and said,

“I don’t know what you did, but those are troops sent by the Grand Duke. Attacking them is...”

“That’s what I told you, didn’t I? I’m not really sure either.”

“A lie so obvious...!”

At that, I gave a grin and said,

“What? That’s a little unfair.”

“What?”

“You’re way too certain this was my doing.”

As a rule, if you’re going to suspect someone,

“Where’s the proof that I did anything strange?”

“......That.”

“You don’t have any, do you?”

you’re supposed to bring proof.

Every one of my actions had been thoroughly monitored by the Grand Duke’s thralls.

“...Haa. I don’t know what you did, but do as you please.”

“Right. I didn’t do anything, but even if I had, it would’ve been something done separately from you.”

Ariella opened and closed her mouth as if briefly at a loss for words, then let out a sigh and lowered her head.

‘Well...’

And then, looking at her, I thought,

‘It was me, though.’

To begin with, if I just kept following this group, sooner or later I was going to get dragged back in front of that Grand Duke again.

It wasn’t like I could just sit there and watch that happen.

The problem was that the Grand Duke’s support force was too strong.

With only my strength and Ariella’s, there was absolutely no way I could escape their surveillance and get out.

...Right.

‘Only with my strength and Ariella’s, that is...’

When Jinlei and Ariella had argued over the next destination, the reason I steered things toward a dangerous place was... well, obviously—

‘It wasn’t because that bastard annoyed me or anything.’

It ended up feeling like I was screwing him over, but if he had wanted to head here from the start, I wouldn’t have done anything else.

I just—

‘needed a variable.’

I only needed to guide this procession in a direction where a variable might be created.

‘The south... on the map Luor showed me.’

There had been an unusually large number of red dots in the south, and beneath that, there was also an oddly broad region the bloodline had failed to dominate.

If it was simply a place they hadn’t occupied yet because they lacked the time, then Luor’s reaction when I mentioned that place had been a little strange.

That was when I started to wonder.

‘What’s in the south?’

That was why I had approached Jinlei acting friendly and asked.

‘In the end I got cursed out and chased off, though.’

...Well.

Still, it didn’t matter.

‘I knew from the start he wouldn’t answer me that easily.’

From the moment Luor had been so sparing with his words about the south, I had already guessed that it would be hard to get a proper answer about it.

Even while asking, I had expected him to avoid answering.

But...

Grin.

‘I got lucky.’

Just as I expected, Jinlei refused to answer my question.

No, more than that—

‘I was wondering how I was supposed to figure out the correct answer, and then he just got worked up all on his own...!’

He got so worked up that he even started burning with hostility toward me.

When I asked what was in the south, the answer that slipped out from that agitated bastard’s mouth had been simple.

-Once we build up the bloodline there, we’ll be going to war with them immediately after.

As a rule, getting too worked up leads to mistakes.

-You want to research our weakness in advance... is that it?

Only after hearing those words did my suspicions turn into certainty.

I didn’t know exactly what was in the south, but whatever it was, it was definitely—

‘the bloodline’s weakness...!’

Something so clearly a weakness that even the Grand Duke and his bloodline, despite possessing such great power, still had not broken through it.

That was why, even if I had to force things a little, I led the procession here.

Even after that, Jinlei’s response had actually been pretty excellent.

Reconnaissance that was nearly perfect, and meticulous care not to leave behind any trace at all.

No matter what danger might have existed here, if he acted that cautiously, he probably could have accomplished his goal without much trouble.

‘And it was also a solid call to keep watching me in case I tried to cause problems.’

...The problem was simply that if I really wanted to cause a problem, this was the sort of situation where just watching me wasn’t going to be enough.

“Target only the vampires!”

“They’re absurdly strong vampires. Where the hell did monsters this strong even come from...!”

At that moment, I heard the attackers shouting as they fought.

“Creatures this strong would never have been wandering around leaving traces that big for no reason!”

“We don’t know what they’re after, but we have to stop them here!”

At those words they shouted, I could see Jinlei frowning and muttering,

“Big traces...?”

The vampires had erased all traces of themselves perfectly, but there was no way they could possibly have realized it.

“What the hell does that even...!”

...that after someone erased those traces, someone else had gone back along them, left behind flashy traces, and vanished.

[Chef: Well done. That was a difficult order, but you carried it out perfectly.]

There was no way he could imagine that.

For the sake of this moment, when I spoke with Jinlei, I talked as though I had become a perfect vampire.

He thought I was no longer an awakened.

If that was the case,

[Chef: From here on, stay far away and observe the situation so you don’t get dragged into the fighting. I’ll call for you right away if I need help.]

then he wouldn’t realize that I could use [Guild Message], either.

‘All right, then.’

I turned my head and looked out over the battlefield.

‘Just as planned. I succeeded in drawing out the “enemy” Jinlei had been so cautious about here.’

What exactly that enemy was, what kind of power it possessed that even the Grand Duke had still not conquered it, and why Jinlei had gone so far as to think of it as the bloodline’s weakness—

I had been dying to know.

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

...But then.

‘Huh?’

When I actually drew out that enemy, they were a bit more unexpected than I had imagined.

‘Good grief. When I was looking for them, they were nowhere to be found...!’

And for good reason.

Because their identity was—

[Awakened]

[Wei]

[Lv.21 Fire Mage]

awakened.

‘So you were here...!?’

They were survivors still living as humans on this land.