Chapter 145: Escape

Chapter 145: Escape

◆Death God; Zarxis

「What? How could you let both of them escape?!」

「My deepest apologies! Master!」

Veig, the vampire lord, bowed his head in apology when I raised my voice at him.

The battle with the Dark Knight got interrupted by the Clown that appeared out of nowhere.

I was just one step away from cornering the Dark Knight and yet, he ended up escaping in the nick of time.

Even the Clown who assisted his escape managed to get away, too.

Currently, the specter knights were in the middle of searching for them.

But, Veig then came with a report telling me they had escaped.

Thus, I ended up losing my temper after hearing his report.

Then I looked at the altar.

The soul orb that should have been there was gone.

It was stolen by the Clown who let the Dark Knight escape.

「How dare he snatch Zarxis' treasure...」

That Clown actually managed to slip through this temple's defense system and steal the soul orb.

The Dark Knight was bait all along. That Clown had been waiting for me to leave this temple to fight the Dark Knight to steal the soul orb.

Still, my kin aside, an outsider shouldn't be able to get into this temple unnoticed with all the defensive measures set.

Just who in the world is that Clown?

But, now wasn't the time to think about that.

「FIND THEM, GENERAL VEIG! PREPARE THE SPECTER SHIP! CATCH THAT CLOWN NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!」

「Yes! And My Lord, what shall we do about the Dark Knight? He didn't seem to escape with the Clown.」

I racked my brain upon hearing that question.

The Dark Knight should be greatly weakened due to the effect of the shadow of death. The evidence was obvious since he chose to escape. I couldn't just leave him to his own devices. He had to be killed.

But, if I catch him alive, he might become a negotiation tool for the soul orb.

「Leave the pursuit of the Dark Knight to Zaffrada and the others! Catch him alive if possible! It should be possible now that the guy's strength has weakened!」

「Understood!」

Veig then called out to his vampire attendant who he brought with him. And ordered her to go.

「Now go!」

Just when I was about to leave, the attendant called out to me.

「Wait a minute! My Lord! There's a possibility that the Dark Knight will take off his armor to escape unnoticed! Do you happen to know what he looks like?」

I almost killed the attendant on the spot for her discourtesy.

I mean, how in the world did she get confused about such a simple thing?

「PIG! HE MUST LOOK LIKE A PIG INSIDE! HE'S THE COMRADE OF THAT MODES! JUST CATCH PIG-LIKE GUYS!」

◆Vampire Count, Jusio

「Catching the Dark Knight. I understand. Tell Dear Father that I'll definitely catch that guy.」

「Yes Milady.」

The vampire attendant bowed respectfully after she replied and then left.

She was the messenger who was sent to give Milady her orders to catch the Dark Knight.

「Catching the Dark Knight? Dear Father is really such a slave driver. What do you think, Jusio?」

Her voice came from behind the thin curtain.

Meaning that she was behind this curtain.

Milady was in the middle of bathing.

She was bathing to heal the wound she got from fighting the Dark Knight.

The bathroom in Milady's mansion in Modegal was spacious, and the vampire attendants were gathering around her bathtub.

The pink illumination inside the room brought about a dangerous air.

The smell of perfume that filled the entire room erased the smell of death.

I kneeled before the thin curtain, waiting for Milady to finish her bath.

「That guy is injured. This might be our best chance to catch him.」

I replied to Milady.

It wasn't a lie.

It was possible, but I could see that we would have a hard time catching even the injured Dark Knight since he was just that strong.

「He's definitely injured. But it sounds like a hassle. My wound hasn't healed even after I killed all the girls that I gathered.」

Milady spoke dissatisfiedly while raising her left hand.

The left arm that got blown off due to the Dark Knight's attack had returned to normal. Alas, it wasn't completely restored yet.

The corpses of female humans were scattered around her.

Milady was soaking herself in the blood of human girls.

Otherwise known as a bloodbath, in the literal sense.

That was the bath that Milady referred to.

Milady could regenerate herself by sucking the life force of other creatures.

Though the other kin of death had the same powers, hers were on a whole other level.

Milady kept captured human girls in her custody, especially the ones with strong magical power, for this reason. She would then suck their blood when she was injured. Their blood was a literal lump of life force. She filled her bathtub with their blood and sucked their life force as she immersed herself in it.

When I looked around, I guessed from the number of corpses on the ground that she had crushed all of the captured girls.

It seems the time she would order me to capture another batch of girls was just around the corner.

The problem was the number of girls I had to catch.

I looked at the head of the girl that rolled around nearby. Her face was disfigured.

Milady loves to disfigure a beauty's face as they get cornered and driven to the depth of despair. Maybe this girl was tortured till just before she died.

Maybe the reason why I felt a prickling pain in my stout heart was because I had to go through the trouble of collecting another batch of girls.

It seems this prickling pain was unique to me since when I consulted the other vampires, I heard that none of them felt this way.

But as Milady's faithful servant, I had to follow her orders.

And Milady was pretty much the same as me.

「But, Milady. I don't think you have to follow your honoured Father's o—」

「I know what you want to say, Jusio. I'll move as soon as I heal up. Ha~ah, If only the Dark Knight was a handsome man... But I guess I can't expect much from that ugly Demon King's comrade.」

The Demon King Modes was famous for being ugly and surrounded by his comrades.

That's why Milady wasn't so keen on following that order.

「I have to gather my knights too now that many of them have fallen. And I can hardly find a strong man with a handsome face... You need to find me more than girls now.」

「Shall I attack the settlement in the northern land then?」

The northern land wasn't ruled by the kin of death.

I might be able to find a suitable human knight amongst them.

「No, not now Jusio. We have to prioritize finding the Dark Knight for now. And while you're at it, do you happen to know my little brother's condition?」

「Yes. He's already on the move to find the Dark Knight. You're the last one, Milady.」

「I see. Then I have to make my move too I guess.」

I felt Milady standing up from behind the thin curtain.

And then the thin curtain opened up.

When I raised my face, I saw Milady standing before me, naked.

Her attendant wiped her body and brought her a change of clothes.

Fresh, red blood was trickling down from her white skin.

She had a voluptuous and beautiful body. My heart throbbed as I sniffed the sweet smell of blood.

I might lose my self-control due to the smell of the blood if I stay in this place any longer.

「Milady, I want to send the warriors who just returned a while ago. We should add more personnel since we have no idea about the current location of the Dark Knight.」

I stood up as I spoke to her.

I wanted to return to my territory, Sanshos.

「Wait, Jusio.」

But, she stopped me.

I got mesmerized by her voice.

「What's the matter, Milady?」

I turned around as I felt Milady's presence closing in on me.

「Turn around and get on your knees, Jusio. Your heart hasn't fallen even after you received my kiss. I guess I have to re-educate you. Don't worry, I'll send someone to take care of your territory while you're away.」

My heart rustled the moment I heard her words.

Alas, I couldn't refuse her.

「Yes Milady.」

I turned around to face Milady and kneeled before her.

「Now lick it, Jusio.」

When I raised my face,

I saw Milady looking down at me with a sadistic smile on her face.

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

Though some time had elapsed since I barely escaped from Modegal, I couldn't escape too far from there.

I was still wandering around Ruvania along with Tibel, the dark fairy.

Clown didn't go with us since he wanted to distract our enemy from us.

My legs felt heavy.

I was aware that Nargol's shadow of death was eating away my body and mind. Even the dragons were trembling in fear before Nargol's power. That's why they were paralyzed and as a result, I couldn't unleash their power.

I had never expected that Nargol was such a terrifying existence. Now I understand why Nargol's Gods feared her so much.

「Are you okay, Kuroki-sama~? Shall we take a break?」

Asked Tibel, the dark fairy, with a worried look on her face.

「Don't worry, Tibel. Our top priority is to escape as far as possible. We finally managed to escape from that Forest of Lament after all. I have no idea how long the incense will work. That's why we should get as far away as possible.」

I could feel the specter knights approaching our direction.

We'll be fine as long as we have this incense burner alas, we will be discovered once they find us.

Moreover, we couldn't fool the eyes of the worshippers of the death god and vampires.

Tibel had an invisibility spell, alas, the spell would drain her mana if she used it to hide something much bigger than herself. That's why we couldn't use it for too long.

「Bu~t, Kuroki-sama's face is clearly as pale as a sheet. That's why we should rest somewhere for the time being.」

Tibel spoke with a worried face.

Seeing her worrying, I felt bad for endangering her due to my reckless act of saving the angels, which in turn got me in this situation.

Thus, I ended up making Tibel worried about me.

Tibel was right.

My legs felt so heavy. Maybe it was time to stop and rest somewhere.

「Sorry, Tibel. I ended up making you worry about me...」

「Ye~sh. I'm worried about you, Kuroki-sama~. That's why please stop acting recklessly like that again.」

Tibel puffed her cheeks as she replied to me when I expressed my apology to her.

Honestly, her appearance was so adorable and warmed my heart.

「My bad. Let's take a break, Tibel. Is there a place to sleep nearby?」

「Let's see~.」

Tibel shut her eyes.

The dark fairy had an extremely keen sense of danger.

That ability was called the fairy whisper, it helped them avoid dangerous places by following that voice.

This ability was one of the reasons why we managed to avoid our pursuers so far.

「That direction sounds go~od. There's a nice smell of flowers from there.」

Tibel pointed in a certain direction.

「I understand. Let's go to that direction, Tibel.」

Thus I walked toward the direction Tibel pointed at.

The moment I said so, I recalled the human village I saw along the way.

It should be a place called Sanshos. Maybe I could rest in that place.

I followed Tibel while pondering about such a thing.

TN: Racist chapter LMAO