The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness (WN)

The air trembled. Beneath the glowing full moon, two huge beasts were rampaging. While observing the two from a distance, Senri had a complicated expression on her face.

The black dog that End had transformed into was overpowering the silver wolf. The silver wolf itself wasn’t weak at all, but the physique of the two was too different. It was said that the size of the vampire after their transformation was proportional to their power. In other words, this meant that End Baron’s basic abilities already surpassed the abilities of the Stake King’s retainer. Even if his opponent was already exhausted from their previous exchange and even if she hadn’t used her full powers yet, it was abnormal that End had reached this level after only a few months of changing.

He’s strong. Way too strong. He doesn’t have vampire abilities yet, so he wouldn’t be a tough opponent from the perspective of Death Knights, but if he obtained powerful special abilities of a vampire, he’d instantly metamorphose. Senri trusted End, but if it was her blood that gave him that much power―― she couldn’t explain what she was feeling.

End hadn’t changed much since they had met. No, the more composure he gained, the more lenient he became.

That was probably his ―― core. He already had a talent as a warrior. His handicap sickly body disappeared and after a lot of experience, it blossomed. Great power often attracted demons. Now that a large force had found out about his power, it would become harder to live peacefully. It’s also impossible to seek refuge with the Order of Death Knights. No matter what, they wouldn’t forgive a vampire.

Senri had absolutely no idea how much peace the Night Crystals that the vampire had acquired would bring to him.

Claws dug deep in her flesh and Sable let out a frightened howl. But End didn’t let her guard down. The big lustrous black dog continuously bit into the wolf that he had blown away without giving her any time.

He seemed to have decided to end things with continuous attacks. But it would be impossible to kill her. Even multiple Death Knights would have trouble killing a vampire of that class without any preparation beforehand. Moreover, the other party knew that End had Senri with him. She didn’t think that Sable would be stupid enough to appear nonchalantly unprepared. Even if all of her current wolf flesh was blown away, she’d come back to life like nothing happened. Experienced vampires were infinitely closer to being immortal.

The undead had already been mostly destroyed by End.  It was unlikely that the clutches of evil would reach the mercenaries. Senri advanced forward while paying attention. She wanted  to be able to help them out at any moment if they ended up in trouble.

Countless bones were scattered on the ground. Most Undead were created by Necromancers. There weren’t many cases where many undead were created from the corpses of the undead, but when there were this many of them, they couldn’t be ignored. They would need to be purified later.

Cold wind stroked her cheeks. It would take a little longer for the permeating presence of the undead to disappear.

Then, Senri caught the glimpse of the knight that was waiting in the shadow of the castle walls. It was a knight equipped with an ominous jet-black armor. A pulsating sword, with a clearly strong curse cast on it was in his right arm. And in his left arm――

“A Dullahan…”

A dry head held in his left arm looked at Senri. Its eye sockets, reminiscent of the abyss, were extremely eerie in a different sense than the eyes of a vampire.

Dullahan is the undead symbolizing death. As a variant of Skeletons, while it doesn’t have many troublesome abilities, its pure combat abilities surpasses even those of a vampire. At its level, it couldn’t be erased with Soul Release, so in some cases, it might be the Death Knight that ends up dead.

Judging from the tendency of the undead that attacked so far, he was undoubtedly the trump card of the assailant. The black lips of the detached head slightly distorts. His sword was precisely pointed at Senri. The cursed sword of the type that sucked the owner’s life in compensation of the power was the strongest weapon for the undead. Looking at his polished movements, Senri pulled out her sword without even flinching.

A warm breeze blew. Dullahan stepped in as quietly as the breeze and as fast as the wind. Senri gently parried the swung down blade with her holy silver sword. She didn’t take him on directly. She knew even without crossing swords with him that she was greatly losing in power.

His large body tottered. By that time, Senri’s sword had greatly flicked his left arm. The head he was holding flew in the air. She didn’t make any unnecessary attacks. She had to kill him before he got used to her movements.

She took a breath. Her third attack pierced the cross section of the head that was covered with the helmet.

That was the end.

The remaining body convulsed, kneeled and collapsed on the ground. Neither great durability nor the regeneration ability meant anything when his weakness was struck with the holy silver sword.

Almost at the same time, Sable raised a loud howl. End, which was almost twice her size, crushed her head.

Vampires are immortals, but the head and the heart are their weaknesses just like in the humans. If those are crushed, there will be a clear opening until they are regenerated.

End’s movements after that were frighteningly fast from Senri’s perspective. After releasing his transformation and returning to the form of a human for a moment, he extended the 5 claws in his right hand and pierced the chest of the fallen silver wolf without any hesitation. 

The silver wolf convulsed. He was planning on pulling out her heart ―― the symbol of the vampire’s power. If he pulled out her heart, her regeneration ability would drastically fall and her abilities would also be limited.

But then End’s expression changed. Clearly impatient, he pulled out his hand and stabbed in a slightly different place. He checked several times and muttered in astonishment.

“No way… this is impossible.”

Then, Senri moved ahead of End. The presence of Sable, who was thoroughly beaten up by End, was on the verge of disappearing. She looked so fragile it was hard to believe that she was an immortal vampire. With imploring eyes, End said to Senri.

“Senri… she doesn’t… have a heart. She has no heart!”

“… That method exists too. She’s hiding her heart.”

Only the heart is removed and stored in a coffin. The power drops greatly, but in case of emergency, they can avoid dying. Sable’s crushed head slowly recovered. She didn’t have a heart so her power must have been running out.

Her regenerated eyes looked at Senri and End and said in a hateful voice.

“To think, that you have gotten this strong… I have, underestimated you.”

“It’s cowardly to hide your heart! Are there only cowards within the ranks of the undead and the Necromancers?!

“Why do you pander to a Death Knight, who’s your enemy, when you have that much power…?”

She sounded truly vexed. She probably didn’t even have enough power to change into bats and escape. It was End’s power that had exhausted her so much. Though even if she had saved enough power to transform and run away ―― Senri would absolutely not let her go. “Ancestor, I’ve seen all your tricks. I won’t let my guard down next time. Next time, I’ll take away just your head.”

“S-stop… it. It’s my loss, please just leave me alone! I just want to leave peacefully!”

End said with a face that looked like he’d break out in tears at any moment and collapsed to the ground. A slight smile appeared on Sable’s lips. At that moment, End extended his fangs and thrust them into the neck of the silver wolf.