“Ka-haaaak...!”

A city that was already half-collapsed.

At the highest point of that city, a gigantic pillar of light came to rest.

Saaaaa....

As that beam of light, thick beyond belief, gradually shrank,

the figures beneath it came into view.

“You bastard Yun! Are you all right?!”

“I-I’m... fine...”

Awakened sat atop a massive magic circle drawn across the ground.

And seated at its center was an old man.

It was old man Yun, one of those who had led the last survivors of this land.

'So what he said... that the Grand Duke might come here. It was true.'

The Guide who had led them to this city had been given an order: hold this city no matter what.

There had even been a warning

that a Grand Duke of the vampires might descend here.

That was why.

Every awakened in this land had thoroughly prepared for the coming battle against the vampires.

'We used every technique the Chairman passed down to us.'

Now.

All across the city, countless bizarre patterns had been inscribed.

The teachings their Chairman had bestowed on them.

The essence of an old faith that no longer existed.

'The power we wield is a power that burns life. That is why it cannot be used lightly... but even so, the efficiency of burning that life can still be increased.'

Some of them were for strengthening the light they emitted.

Others were traps meant to scatter that light at approaching enemies.

Some were circles that acted as turrets, burning the life force stored inside them all at once and scattering it toward the enemy.

Their former stronghold, now fallen—

that island had also been covered in countless similar devices.

But then, sudden bombardment and massive explosions had rendered all those preparations meaningless and destroyed them.

...This time was different.

'Right now, this city is a natural fortress for fighting vampires.'

And.

Among the many measures prepared throughout the city, the greatest of them all

was right here.

[Sun Mage]

Old man Yun, an awakened above level 30,

and several hundred of the most devout among the awakened.

They had gathered all the light they could produce into one place and amplified it to the utmost.

“I-I’m fine, so...”

The greatest strike they had prepared in case the Grand Duke appeared here.

If they could have gotten through this without using it, that would have been best.

But in the end, the Grand Duke had appeared.

So what mattered now was this.

“The result... check...”

That attack just now.

Had it dealt with the Grand Duke, or had it not.

Saaaaaa....

The massive light heated the surrounding air by its mere presence.

Because of that, the scene at the point where the light had detonated could not be seen clearly.

But as time passed,

that distortion gradually subsided....

And then, from within it—

“...God damn it.”

“Move!”

KWAAAAAANG!!!

At terrifying speed,

something came flying in.

KWAJIK!!!

They hurriedly dodged aside, and when they looked,

they saw a massive boulder embedded there.

An attack aimed precisely at the pattern where they had been sitting just moments earlier.

“That was the greatest strike we could unleash....”

And then.

Watching that sight, old man Yun murmured,

“Are you saying... we could not even wound him...?!”

Just as he said.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen tricks like these.”

Even after taking that massive beam of light head-on,

the Grand Duke’s body did not bear so much as a scratch.

“It was a rather troublesome technique to deal with.”

The Grand Duke walked forward in silence, making no effort to hide his rage.

Draped over his shoulders was a dark crimson mist, almost like a cloak.

“But understand this.”

“Everyone!!!”

The city’s awakened raised their weapons, burning their life force to imbue each one with light.

Bright light descended over the city that had been sunk in darkness, but—

“In the end, all things became one with me.”

“Commence battle!!!”

In the Grand Duke’s footsteps as he advanced toward them, there was not a trace of hesitation.

***

Papabang... pabang....

All kinds of light streaked through the sky above the city.

Most of it was golden, but quite a lot of it was not.

An overwhelming barrage.

“No! We have to hold this place...!”

But....

“Keugh...!”

KWAAAAANG!

Another defensive line collapsed,

and one of the patterns carved into the city was destroyed.

Then—

srrrk....

The lights that had filled the sky.

The intensity of that light itself weakened.

“...Of all places, he starts by destroying the most important amplification circles.”

At that,

the bald old man commanding the awakened in battle—

old man Yang—

frowned and said,

“That bastard is different.”

“He knows... how to fight against this power of ours.”

KWAAAAANG!

Last time, when, with the Guide’s help, they had first become truly able to wield this holy knight’s power properly,

their enemies had seemed unfamiliar with how to respond to it.

They had simply been swept away one-sidedly by that light, which was little different from a natural nemesis.

This power was the weakness of every vampire.

Even the Grand Duke was no exception to that.

Perhaps,

if it was them, could they defeat even that Grand Duke in battle...?

Many of them had entertained that thought.

But.

“Spawn of that treacherous system.”

KWAAAAAANG!

“Amplification Circle Number 3 has been destroyed...!”

The Grand Duke was different.

As if he had fought those who wielded this kind of power many times before,

he was dealing with them far too skillfully.

'Our light should still be fatal to him...'

Even so—

'He’s too fast. Too clever.'

Unlike the real sun,

the light they created did not have such a wide area of effect.

Even the level of light they were producing right now was only possible because they had eaten the food the Guide had made for them.

The Grand Duke avoided every last one of those attacks with terrifying speed.

PAAAAAAAK!!!

Every so often, by rare chance,

one of the traps planted throughout the city would activate, creating an opening to project that light at the Grand Duke—

srrrkk...!

“That mist!”

The dark crimson mist draped behind him blocked that light.

KWAAAAAAAAANG....

And so, all the various defenses they had prepared throughout the city were destroyed one by one as time passed.

To begin with, the combat strength of the awakened had never been all that great compared to those vampires.

Even compared with the vampires that had first been staying in this city,

aside from the fact that they could wield light—their weakness—they were far weaker.

And now that they faced, for the first time, an opponent who could skillfully deal even with that weakness—

'He’s on a different level.'

Every awakened fighting in the battle felt it.

It felt like facing a life-form dozens of tiers above them.

And more than that....

“Even so, for the Grand Duke alone to be this strong....”

“...If the other vampire bastards join in too—”

For now, they were only facing that Grand Duke.

But now that their presence here had been discovered,

the vampires spread all across the continent would surely be converging on this place.

They had been able to deal with the other vampires easily enough.

But that had been only when that Grand Duke was absent.

If, on top of this already disadvantageous situation, the other vampires joined the battle as well—

what the result would be was as obvious as fire.

But.

Just as despair was about to spread across the people’s faces at that thought—

at that very moment.

“Then!”

From the center of the city, a loud voice rang out.

“All that means is we settle this before the rest of the enemy can join in!”

When people turned their heads,

there—

“That is....”

“Surely, the Guide’s....”

A group was fighting in military uniforms.

“Do not give in to despair just because defeat seems near!”

And then.

The shout of the woman who seemed to be their leader spread wide across the battlefield.

“No matter how strong the enemy may be, you too are people who have survived in this ruined world until now. You must have faith that you can prevail.”

“...B-but.”

“And even so—if you still cannot bring yourselves to believe in yourselves—”

Even on a battlefield this dangerous, her eyes were filled with certainty.

“Then do not believe in yourselves, but in the one who led you here.”

“...!”

“Believe in the Guide... and in the miracle that person showed you!”

And.

Those words, overflowing with conviction... undeniably had an effect.

“...It was the Guide who entrusted this city’s defense to us.”

“That person would never have handed us something this unreasonable without some kind of plan.”

On the way to taking refuge in this city,

there had been hopeless situations again and again—situations that seemed impossible to overcome.

And yet they had survived all of them and made it here.

“...Then!”

If one more miracle appeared here now,

that would not be strange at all.

“The Guide entrusted us with the defense of this city!”

KUUUUUNG!!!

“That person saved our lives! We owe the price of those lives, and we will pay it!”

One of the figures commanding the awakened—

old man Yang—slammed his weapon against the ground and shouted.

“We will prove here and now that we are not garbage fit only to live off the help of others! Understood?!”

“...OOOOOOOH!!!”

In answer to that shout,

the awakened spread across the city—

more than a hundred thousand powerful fighters—burned away their souls,

creating a brilliant golden radiance.

“Barrage Circle Number 3 has collapsed!”

“The damage isn’t too severe. If we invest a little, we can repair it!”

“The Grand Duke is approaching the core of the barrier!”

“Stop him no matter what!!!”

All-out battle broke out everywhere.

“Even if it is hard, keep fighting and endure just a little longer!”

The tide of battle was by no means favorable.

The many traps and defensive networks they had painstakingly established were being torn down one after another.

“If you do that...!”

But even so.

That defense did not collapse easily.

The reason was simple.

“The Legion Commander will bring us a miracle!”

If they defended this place, they were certain they would witness something close to a miracle again.

That conviction was firmly rooted in every one of their minds.

...And then.

While that fierce battle continued—

somewhere on the outskirts of the city....

“Huff...!”

Crash.

“Thought... I was going to... die....”

Someone pushed away the rubble of a collapsed building and emerged.

***

“Huff....”

Already in the worst possible condition,

I somehow forced aside the rubble of the collapsed building and dragged myself back to the surface.

Then I lifted my head blankly and looked up at the sky.

And in the distance, I saw the city where a fierce battle was raging.

'So I got flung this far.'

The moment the Grand Duke first came up aboveground, the city attacked him.

The light had been so intense that even I, not a perfect vampire, felt like I would be erased in a single hit.

At that time,

the Grand Duke had blocked the attack using Kirchhoff’s mist draped around his back, but—

'he couldn’t protect the extra baggage too. That’s what it was.'

I looked around with my exhausted body.

While stopping that attack,

the Grand Duke must have decided it was impossible to protect us as well, and threw the people he had been holding onto the surface.

“Keugh... hhk....”

Ariella, still clutching at her body in pain

because of the excessive power overflowing beyond her rank.

And—

“Keoheok....”

Jinlei, who was slowly dying after all the blood had been drained from his body.

Neither of them was in any kind of decent condition,

but somehow, both still seemed to be alive.

Once I had confirmed that much, I turned my head and examined the battle.

'They’re fighting hard.'

The awakened battling the Grand Duke.

I was the one who had ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) ordered them to prepare for battle, just in case,

but the way they were fighting was, well—

'To think they’d fight this well....'

It far exceeded my expectations.

I had promised them that I would make them use that power only once.

How had they understood that promise?

It looked like they intended to pour everything they had into that single battle—enough strength that it should have taken dozens of fights to exhaust.

Because of that, from the outside, it looked like a battlefield the Grand Duke was overwhelming.

But the information my tongue picked up said otherwise.

'The Grand Duke’s getting desperate too.'

Inside that body, there was still the 97% power accumulated through the conquest war.

Power far beyond what the vessel was fit to contain must be putting a huge burden on him.

He must have intended to finish the conquest war as quickly as possible, but the people here were wielding a power that was all but his natural nemesis.

He had to be badly shaken.

...Of course.

'If this keeps going, the ones who lose will be us.'

No matter how well they were fighting,

I couldn’t believe they would be able to hunt down the Grand Duke.

At best, their limit would be buying time—keeping the conquest war on this land from reaching 100%.

If we wanted to win this somehow,

we needed the next move.

The truth was, I already had something in mind for that next move.

And....

'The ingredients are ready too.'

If there was a problem—

“Keuhp... kaahk....”

“Keooo....”

it was that the condition of those ingredients was absolutely terrible.

“...Ha, god damn it.”

Looking at them,

I scratched my head and let out a sigh.

According to the original plan,

those ingredients should all have been in normal condition.

But unfortunately, the situation had gone far off from that plan.

Still, what else was there to do.

“I’ll just have to try it.”

By nature, kitchen work can’t always go as planned.

That’s why a chef’s skill is decided by how well he improvises.