The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

When I use ‘Silhouette’, it becomes exceedingly hard to find me at night. This ability, that makes my presence, odor and even the sound disappear, provides an extremely high level of concealment. If anybody sees me running, they will only think of me as a fragment of their imagination. It makes sense why ‘True Vampires’―― those who possessed power before becoming vampires by continuously evolving from lower ranks, would be considered more terrifying than people who were turned into vampires after being bitten by them. I avoid the main street and the street lights, running through the city at night. Meanwhile, nobody paid attention to me. Nobody is chasing after me either. My five senses are keen at night. I’ve realized that I’ve become able to use the abilities that were too overwhelming at first to some extent.

When I reach a desolate inn, I strongly kick off the ground and lightly land inside the open window. There’s a single lamp lit in the room, leaving it mostly dim. The light won’t really hurt me unless it’s sunlight, but she must be keeping my extremely keen eyesight in mind.

“It was no good, as expected.”

“I see… any injuries?”

The one waiting for me inside the room was Senri. Her somewhat cold beauty hasn’t changed ever since we first met. Looks like she has taken off her fake glasses. I get up and turn around.

“It’s as you can see. Look, no holes anywhere, right? I wasn’t discovered.”

“… I’m glad.”

Senri’s expression doesn’t change, but I can feel from her heartbeat that she’s relieved. I’m unharmed. They didn’t have silver weapons, so even if they pierced my body, I would still be completely unscathed, but in reality, there aren’t even holes on my clothes. Bullets were fired at me but I evaded everything, I’ve become used to it.

My body regenerates, but my clothes don’t. It was simply a big problem for me. Each time I’m burnt, cut or when I transform, I end up naked. Humans would end up dead if they got burnt or torn to shreds, so they don’t have the luxury to think about their clothes, but I’m different―― and those things unexpectedly happen quite often to me. I can make my body black if I use ‘Silhouette’ but that can’t replace clothes.

Though, if I’m careful, I can more or less evade bullets, arrows, knives and slashes. In some cases, I can even grab them. I can’t do anything about transforming, but I can suppress most enemies without having to turn into a dog. At first, there were many times when I got cut and there were times when I was spattered by blood too, but now that I have crushed plenty of mafia groups, I’ve become able to evade most things.

But… Sable was different. When she transformed into bats in the end and ran away, she didn’t leave her clothes. I wonder if there’s a way to do it. Senri doesn’t seem to know how to do it and Albertus was also naked. And, while it’s beyond my understanding at the moment, the vampire curse is really profound.

The fierce battle with Demon King Rainel’s army gave me various things. There were both good and bad things, but the most important was ―― the existence of the person chasing after me.

The Stake King. Sable, the retainer of the vampire Demon King, was looking for an outsider vampire. In addition, she also had the means to control me. This is a fact that can’t be overlooked.

We were heading for the fortified city, Romberg. One of the reasons for that was running away from the human controlled territory to hide ourselves from the Order of Death Knights. I also had the ‘Night Crystal’, although it was small, so it wasn’t an impossible feat. Even if I didn’t have the ‘Night Crystal’ I might still have been okay if the Order of Death Knights was my only pursuer. But everything is already a meaningless imagination.

Senri said that she couldn’t finish off Sable. It’s too risky to run beyond the land inhabited by humans while we’re being chased by non-human pursuers. The ‘Stake King’ seems to be a mighty Demon King. Just how mighty you ask? He’s mighty enough that he still hasn’t perished to the Order of Death Knights despite being a vampire. He has countless demonic beasts under his control and their numbers seem to be incomparable to the scale of Rainel’s army.

I was able to guess that Sable was a vampire with a single glance. Her wicked presence must be what the Order of Death Knights use to find us.

The key item here is the ‘Night Crystal’. Also, Senri. If I lose Senri and the ‘Night Crystal’, I will never have peace.

I never intended to always live out in the wild in the first place. I was going to return to the city once things calmed down. I mean, Senri wouldn’t get enough nutrition out in the wilderness and the strain on her would be big too. Besides, I also want to go sightseeing in the city. That man-eater, Hebram, completely destroyed all of my plans. Ah, why didn’t I just take off the crystal during our duel?… I want to punch my past self.

As I sit on the bed, Senri whispers to me. I look at the large suitcase to the side. I can only stay a human for a few more hours.

“End, as I thought, it’s better to run away. It’s impossible to keep living this way.”

“I know. I know, Senri. Anything more than this will come with a higher risk. The Mafia is no good, they’re useless. Same with the bandits. But just running away isn’t enough. That option has no future.”

Senri is right. Defeating humans isn’t hard, but information is spreading. If it spreads even more, someone will definitely realize my true identity. No matter what, a single ordinary human crushing many organizations is unnatural. After all, this is not a fictional story. And while it might not be easy to kill an uncovered vampire, it’s still not impossible.

Things seem peaceful at a glance, but the situation is tense. I’ve realized that I can’t get a hold of ‘Night Crystal’ with ordinary means. The Mafia hasn’t even heard of it before, so it would be useless to ask the merchants.

If there was a chance of somebody knowing about it, that would be a vampire specialist. A ‘vampire hunter’ like Keeper or the Order of Death Knights. Or Huck――

If it’s Huck, who had a deal with Horus Carmon and delivered corpses to him, if it’s that man, who could even procure a fang of the giant evil dragon, there’s a chance of success. No, there’s even a chance that he’s the one who obtained the crystal the Lord had. But, I don’t know where he is. I might have combat abilities, but I don’t have the ability to find people that are far away. I can’t use magic either and I also don’t have the ability to change my body into bats yet. Senri gently grips my hand. This faint warm and soft sensation somewhat calms my thoughts. My fangs ache, but I received blood just the day before yesterday. I have to endure it.

In fact, my fangs will start aching even if I’m touched right after receiving blood, so I must hold myself back or Senri will end up being anemic. I’m so thirsty because Senri’s blood is so delicious, but also partly because I’m in my growth period.

“End, it would be better to not think about it too much. You’re doing well.”

“… Yeah, I’m fine. The murderous urge hasn’t gotten worse. I’m already used to it. At least, it doesn’t hurt.”

“You are… very strong.”

I’ve already built up tolerance against things that I can’t do anything about when I was alive. It’s not like I’m not impatient, but I wouldn’t call meaninglessly wasting energy smart. In particular, taking it out on Senri is the action I’d like to avoid the most. Fortunately, what I don’t lack is the time to think. I’ll think about it while I’m being carried by Senri during the day. About the way to survive together with her.

Senri says. “But, if you evolve into a Vampire, the urges will become stronger.” “Yeah… thanks. I’ll be careful.”

I’ve become a lot stronger compared to when I was just a head, but Senri’s gaze towards me is still full of concern.

Right now, I can somehow understand people’s feelings from their scent and heartbeat. It’s amazing how Senri, even if she’s still overwhelmingly stronger than me, isn’t afraid of me as I continue to evolve into a higher level monster. That’s why I must never betray Senri, who’s been on my side since the beginning.

This is a secret from Senri, but I have a suspicion about why I don’t evolve into a Vampire no matter how much time passes. And if my thoughts are right, at this rate, I’ll never turn into a Vampire.

But, that’s fine. If the power isn’t necessary for survival, I don’t really need it. Sure, vampires are powerful, but the body of a Lesser Vampire isn’t bad either. In my current state, I don’t have many weaknesses and I’m even able to walk under sunlight a little bit. I love the Sun, so I haven’t been able to get rid of my regrets towards it. And if possible, I’d like to walk under sunlight once more with Senri…I haven’t been able to try it because it’s scary, but I wonder if using a parasol would work?

It’s been a long time since Epeé’s attack, but there haven’t been any follow-up attacks. I doubt that terrifying Hero would be content with just 1 attack, but he must’ve really been pushing himself. And, if there was another attack, if it was on the same level as the previous one, it most likely won’t be a problem.

If I put a hand over my heart, I can instinctually sense that my soul continues to fall even at this moment. Compared to that time ―― I’ve become a deeper, even more abominable monster.

My power became stronger, my regeneration ability has strengthened, I can control blood power and I have countless special abilities. That’s the kind of monster I’ve become.

Senri, who’s sitting next to me, suddenly turns forward. Beautiful – featured face. Purple eyes, reminding one of amethyst. Smooth straight hair. Brilliance of soul reminiscent of moonlight. Senri opens her mouth with rare hesitation.

“End… it doesn’t have a high chance of success, but I do have an idea.”