Point-of-View: Arturo Lagusa

  ———————————————————————————


  "So, uh……this is bad, huh?" Sighed Rion restlessly.

  "Yes, quite bad," I replied with a frown.

  "Can I be honest, guy?" Valaque spoke up in a sheepish tone, "I'm actually kinda excited."

  "Haha, I know whatcha mean, boss!" Laughed Kuua in agreement.

  What suicidal fools, no sane person would welcome such bleak and dire odds. We were currently in a room at the east end of the Research Tier building. One of our scouts had just teleported back and reported that the Vampires would be here within an hour. It was currently a little past 11 PM, which meant that they would arrive around midnight.

  We had placed several different protective barriers around our walls, including a barrier that cast a bright light, in order to combat the darkness of the night, but it was still far from ideal to battle at this late hour. On top of that, we knew next to nothing about the Vampires……we were aware of their 'core' weakness, and our scout had reported that they seemed to be able to kill humans by sinking either their teeth or claws into them……I would guess that they were sucking out human souls, or life force, or whatever you want to call it.

  I highly doubted that any of the protective barriers would keep them out for long, and even if did manage to defeat them, or at least drive them back, we would likely suffer a large number of casualties. We were already low on manpower as it was, thanks to the four thousand we'd sacrificed in order for the Retribution Tier members to gain additional Elemental Magic types.

  I had gained Fire Magic, which I combined in use with my lightning. Azeria had gained Earth Magic, which she used it in tandem with her Fire Magic in order to create and manipulate black lava. Kuua had gained Lightning Magic, which she used to electrify her water attacks. And Rion had gained Wind Magic, which he used to fly as well as intensify his flames. All four of us had also developed greater physical abilities.

  As for the remaining three, we didn't have enough sacrifices to spare. Presde already had incredibly powerful Earth Magic to begin with, so we decided that we could afford to put him on hold for a while, and I personally would not mind if Hacte was to die. As for Rex, he was still new, and the least important of us.

  "I hate to say it……but we should probably get everyone in position now. We don't have much time left," Pointed out Presde, standing up with a sigh.

  "Ideally, we should have a lot more information about the Vampires, but all we know is that the way to kill them is by destroying a core somewhere in their body. I believe we should move on the assumption that this core is not in a fixed position, the Vampires may be able to move it around in their bodies for all we know," I remarked, as the rest of us also stood up.

  "Ooh, just like a video game!" Exclaimed Valaque with a sparkle in his eye.

  He truly is not sane, not at all.

  "Is this really the time for you to get excited? We may well die here today," I replied in exasperation.

  "That's exactly why, man! You know, laugh in the face of danger and whatnot, stressing about it ain't gonna help, so we might as well look at it from a positive perspective, know what I mean?"

  I suppose I understood what he was getting at, but even so, not everyone can simply change their perspective just like that.

  "How wise, my lord……I shall strive to do the same and see things as you do," Remarked Hacte, sucking up as usual.

  "You're disgusting," Muttered Azeria, saying what we were all thinking.

  "Tch, I do not remember asking for your opinion."

  "Now, now, no fighting amongst ourselves, direct all that energy at the Vampires when they get here!" Interjected Valaque enthusiastically.

  He is way too excited about this, it was rather unsettling.

  "Man, I'm super nervous," Sighed Rex, "Especially about leading my own squad, I've never led anyone before!"

  Ah, that's right, each of the eight of us would be leading a large group of our lapdogs and pawns. We had our researchers posted inside the Research Building, while most of our lapdogs and pawns were positioned just inside the east side of the outermost wall.

  The population of The Empire was currently only a little over two hundred thousand after all the pawns we'd sacrificed. To put that into perspective, the other nations each had populations of approximately four to five million. The main difference between us and the other nations were the percentage of combatants, effectively our entire population were combatants, with the exception of the Research Tier members, of which there were less than ten thousand. As for the other nations, despite each of them outnumbering us over a dozens times, they each had only a few hundred combatants, their Adventurers. We also had brainwashed and were in control of about seven hundred animal-monster hybrids and dinosaurs.

  Of course, several of our pawns were pitifully weak, so it was a case of quantity over quality, but there is strength in numbers to consider. The eight of us would each command a squad of a mix of fifteen thousand pawns and lapdogs, and spread out across the east side of our walls at hundred meter intervals to keep the Vampires from surrounding us.

  Obviously, we did not even come close to covering the entire length of the east wall, not even a full kilometer at that, but we could not afford to spread out our forces too much. Each of the eight groups of fifteen thousand were already in position just inside the outermost wall, Presde had created large openings in the wall at each such position to allow our squads to charge through.

  We were now atop the wall, above the east gate. We had teleportation spells on us in order to instantly get into each of our assigned respective positions. We had a final scout report due any minute now, after which we were to get into position.

  "So, what's with all these different barriers, how many have we cast around us?" Inquired Rion, looking up at the barriers surrounding us.

  "There are five barriers in place, the Colossal barrier, Light barrier, Repulsion barrier, Paralysis barrier and Explosive barrier. They are all equally strong in terms of defense, the first has no additional features, the second is self-explanatory, the third repels anyone who comes into contact with it, the fourth paralyzes upon contact, and the fifth explodes upon contact. And they are all one-way barriers, so while they attempt to take down the barriers, they will be sitting ducks since we shall be able to attack," I informed him.

  "Cool, we might actually be able to win this without having to directly fight them!"

  Right on cue, the lapdog scout we'd sent out teleported back, a pale look on her face.

  "It's about time! So, what's it looking like out there?" Inquired Valaque with impatient curiosity.

  "It looks like the Vampires will be here within twenty minutes, my lord. And I believe that they number less than a hundred and fifty."

  What? That could not be right.

  "I believe our strategy should be as follows……if and when the Vampires break down our barriers, we shall have all eight squads converge upon them and overwhelm them with pure numbers," I suggested after mulling it over.

  "Huh? But that's so boring, what if all the Vampires die?" Whined Valaque in dismay.

  Tch, how exasperating this was……I need to convince him somehow……

  "If our pawns and lapdogs really do turn out to be enough to defeat the Vampires, then they would not have posed any challenge to you anyway, would you not agree?"

  "Hm……I guess you have a point. Fine, we'll send the expendables at them first," He relented with a slight look of disappointment.

  Was he suicidal but not even aware of it himself?

  "Great, then let's all take our positions atop the wall, move all the troops outside the wall and have them charge as soon as the barriers are taken down. Of course, in the best case scenario, they will not be able to break past the barriers, but that may be too optimistic."

  After a little more discussion to ensure that we were all on the same page, we moved out to our assigned positions. I was at the far left while Rion was at the far right, we were both tasked with ensuring that the Vampires did not surround our walls by making sure that they stay within the area across where our army of over a hundred thousand pawns and lapdogs were spread out.

  That number sounded very impressive, and would be considered a more than substantial army even in my old world, but the problem was that all of them, with the exception of those in the Lapdog Elite Squad, would barely even qualify as B-Ranked Adventurers, while at least half of them were so weak that they would be unlikely to even be considered Adventurers at all.

  We learnt that the hard way when we lost a few hundred pawns while failing to inflict even a single casualty upon the Rustlands group that had been on the way to Goldway before we destroyed it, and that group had mostly consisted of student Adventurers. In this world of magic, quantity did not mean much if quality was lacking.

  I took out a pair of binoculars and looked through them, focusing on the east. All of us of the Retribution Tier and Valaque had one of these, I am surprised that I did not think of making these before, they were very useful and were not that difficult to make.

  Nothing yet……wait, I see something. It is a good thing I thought to create this Light barrier, I may not have been able to spot them if not for its illumination. There was some moonlight, but it was rather dim. It really was true, there were less than a hundred and fifty of them……they were being led by a Vampire wearing a black hooded cloak that was red on the inside.

  Behind that one, there were three others, wearing black capes that were also red on the inside. And behind them, were nine Vampires that wore black bands with a single horizontal red stripe around their necks. And finally, behind those nine were a little over a hundred other Vampires. They were all wearing different outfits to each other, but very few of them were wearing any form of armor.

  They continued advancing towards us, before stopping in front of the boundary of the barriers, which was a little over half a kilometer ahead of the walls. Their leader turned around and relayed something to the others behind him. A few seconds later, all of their hands began glowing red. Were they charging up their attacks? No matter, before they can even begin to attack the barriers, we will make full use of the one-way function of the barriers……

  "Now, pawns and lapdogs, launch your long-ranged attacks and……n-no, impossible……!"

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Tirayze Valaque

  ———————————————————————————


  "Okay, looks like they're here……I guess I should order my guys to attack through the one-way barriers, huh," I muttered to myself, as the Vampire in the hooded cloak stepped forward while the rest were all charging up red energy or something like that, before I exclaimed in surprise as all the barriers disappeared, "Wha-!? Hey, now, they weren't supposed to take down the barriers that quickly! Crap, now what? Uh, better get it together before the underlings notice……attention, my pawns and lapdogs! I command you to attack, charge as you fire off long-range attacks, overwhelm the monsters with your sheer numbers, and let the wild beasts run free as well!"

  On my signal, they began firing long range Elemental attacks and guns while charging ahead, after letting the animal-monster hybrids and dinosaurs charge ahead. To my left and right, the others followed suit, sending out their troops as well. I looked through my binoculars in the direction of the charge. I don't know how they took down all the barriers in one go like that, but either way, this was bad……it was so dark, the moonlight was way too dim. Plus since the light suddenly went off without any warning, my eyes were taking a while to adjust.

  Suddenly, as the eight groups of fifteen thousand each began closing in on the Vampires, launching their ranged attacks……their attacks dissipated as they got within fifty meters of the Vampires, before bright flashes of red lit up the area, as the Vampires fired their red blasts, which blasted onto our army, culling them at an alarming rate. The one in the front was especially alarming, a single charged-up blast from just one of his hands wiped out a couple hundred in an instant.

  The three behind him and the nine behind them were also very powerful, but even the ones at the back were nothing to scoff at, each of them were taking out multiple of our pawns and lapdogs with single attacks. As for the attacks our underlings were launching, most vanished without even getting close to the Vampires, the only exceptions were arrows, other projectile weapons and Earth Magic attacks, but most of those were deflected using those red blasts.

  A few, and emphasis on few, of the Vampires went up in flames and disappeared as arrows and spears pierced them, thanks to the sheer number of attacks that were being launched at them, but they were thinning our numbers a lot more than we were doing to them.

  I wanted to move, to charge in and change the tide of this battle in our favor, but……I was frozen, unsure if I would truly be able to do it. The scent of blood was heavy in the air, as hundreds of our white-clad underlings were slaughtered by the second, unable to even get within a hundred meters of the Vampires. Our strength in numbers, the one advantage we thought we had, was being wiped out effortlessly.

  'Only a hundred and fifty Vampires', no……'only' was the wrong word, each Vampire was like a tank, while our troops were like unarmed toddlers……we had looked at this the wrong way. After all, when you see a large group of ants in your room, you don't think 'I'm outnumbered', no, you just stomp on them without a worry, the worst that could happen is slight irritation when they bite you.

  Bullets, arrows, fireballs, lightning bolts, rocks, water and ice blasts, wind shots, thousands upon thousands of attacks launched simultaneously, but it was no use, all of them excluding the rocks disappeared as they got within fifty meters of the Vampires. The Vampires in front almost appeared to be bored, effortlessly vaporizing the incoming attacks with their crimson blasts, and while the rest were having a bit more trouble……well, emphasis on a 'bit more'.

  I shook my head to snap out of my daze, as I realized that over half our troops had been wiped out, while I had only seen about six or seven of those flare ups caused by the Vampire's dying. To put it simply, they had wiped out well over a fifty thousand of our troops while we had taken down only seven of theirs. It was preposterous, and absolutely unbelievable……so, now what? Do I declare a retreat so that we have some underlings left, or do I let them die out and subsequently take out as many Vampires as possible before the eight of us are forced to enter the fray?

  Damn it……I can't think about maintaining The Empire right now, that would just cost all of us our lives. In which case, I would have to let this continue. Tch, just to survive this, I may have to give up everything that I worked so hard to build up over the past several years……grr, I hate this!

  This was a one-sided bloodbath, not that there was much blood, since the Vampires' red beam-like attacks scorched the bodies, some were completely vaporized into ash. And since there were so many of our troops, they couldn't dodge easily without getting tangled up with the others, making them easy to wipe out. Some of the Vampires had gone airborne, at different heights, giving them several angles and lines of attack, while also avoiding striking their allies.

  Meanwhile, in their sheer panic and terror, some of our troops were firing blindly and injuring those around them as a result. That's right, these people aren't soldiers or mercenaries or even Adventurers, and we certainly hadn't put them through any training or anything like that, excluding the Lapdog Elite Squad and a handful of other lapdogs. Even if we had thrown our entire population at these monsters, we'd probably not even take out twenty of them.

  For what felt like ages, but in reality couldn't have been more than a few minutes, I watched as those who were loyal to me were eradicated like combustible trash, while only leaving minor chinks in the enemy's armor……and this wasn't even the entirety of the Vampires.

  The majority were gone, and they were now picking off the remaining few hundred stragglers, biting them or digging their claws into them, their bodies slumping lifelessly after they were done. Were they drinking their blood? No, the corpses don't look shriveled or anything……maybe it was their 'souls'? Either way, the charge was over, effectively an eight of a million people wiped out in, what, twenty-five minutes? Less? Meanwhile, as for the Vampires……they couldn't have lost more than ten of their troops.

  All the Vampires in the front were unharmed, and looked perfectly calm. I felt……scared. No, that can't be right……that was supposed to be my role in this world, to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies through sheer power, I wasn't supposed to be on the receiving end……

  "I've had it with this……you fucking monsters!" I yelled, using Flight to shoot towards them.

  The one in front noticed me and fired a large blast of red, I quickly swooped down to avoid it before putting on a burst of speed and continuing forward. Three of the Vampires in the back flew up and shot towards me, extending out their claws.

  I evaded out of the way of the first one, before forming ice claws on my fingers, digging them into his back, and freezing all his blood before shattering it. The Vampire went up in flames, his ashes blowing away in the wind. It doesn't matter where their cores are if I just destroy their entire bodies, right!?

  The other two flew at me from either side, I channeled Mana into both my hands, and right as they got close enough that they wouldn't be able to dodge, I pointed my palms outwards, firing a large, scorching blast of flames from the left and a massive bolt of lighting from the right, incinerating both of them. They were fast, but were not too much more powerful that high level S-Ranked Adventurers, and I was the strongest human in this world, so I could take them!

  The one in front……he's strong, but if I can just take him out……

  I swooped towards him while forming an oversized blade of ice. Some of the other Vampires began to move, but the one in front gestured for them to stay back. Hah, don't underestimate me, Vampire!

  As I got within fifty meters of him……my Flight suddenly stopped working, my ice blade shattered, and I began plummeting down. What the-!? Shit, shit, shit! Arturo's lightning enhanced black flames suddenly shot towards the Vampire, but dissipated as soon as they got within fifty meters of him……no way, so that's it……this is really bad, damn it!

  Suddenly, a massive boulder came hurdling towards the Vampire, and as it neared him, he swiftly sprang back, with a rapid flap of his wings to zip backwards and across, getting out of the line of the boulder's trajectory. Oh, I can fly again……I quickly used Flight to halt my descent and slowly hovered back to the ground.

  "Boss, you good?" Inquired Rion, flying down towards me while carrying Presde, along with Rex, as Arturo arrived using his Lightning Boost.

  Azeria was almost here too, and Kuua and Hacte weren't far behind.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I think that Vampire in the hooded cloak has the ability to negate magic within a fifty meter radius of himself, that explains why our underlings were so ineffective……Presde's attack worked because Earth Magic simply manipulates earth that already exists, while the other Elemental Magic types use Mana to manifest the element. I don't think all Vampires can do that, the three I killed certainly didn't," I informed them, as everyone arrived.

  "Hm, then guns should work too……Rex and I should fight him," Suggested Arturo, placing his hands on the pistols holstered on either side of his waist, "Although they will not have as much firepower as usual, since the spell parchment strips inside will not activate if that Vampire can really negate all magic. At best, each bullet will be about two-thirds as fast as a regular pistol from our old worlds. What do you say, Rex?"

  "Well, that's way less than ideal, but……sure, I'm game," Agreed Rex with a nod.

  "Okay, in that case, the rest of us will attack and wipe out the other Vampires," I decided, looking at the others.

  "You know I ain't gonna stay out of a good fight!" Grinned Kuua, cracking her knuckles.

  "Your wish is my command, Lord Valaque," Responded Hacte immediately.

  "Guess I don't have a choice," Sighed Presde, rubbing his eye.

  "Yeah, I have no objections either," Azeria chimed in affirmatively.

  "So, what're we waiting for, let's do this!" Exclaimed Rion, punching his fists together.

  As Rex and Arturo began to step forward, the Vampire in the cloak pulled back his hood and stared at us, before addressing us.

  "Oh, so we are finally done with the small fry? Good, there were so many, it was starting to get tedious……I certainly drew the short straw, I would have preferred to lead the attack on the east, or at least the north……what a pain. Now, then……I do not like the confidence that I am seeing from you humans, therefore, we shall show you how misplaced that confidence is……I myself shall fight you, Zero of the Evil Numbers, along with these three Vampire Knights and nine Vampire Generals. As for the remaining Vampire Minions……they will go into your nation and occupy it. That way, we can finish this job faster and I can rest. Since we are the superior beings, I shall let you attack first," He remarked loudly enough for us to hear him clearly, before turning around and relaying his orders to his subordinates.

  "No, we must stop them! We cannot let them enter!" Exclaimed Hacte furiously.

  "It's fine, let them go……we stand a better chance of winning this way, anyway. Though if it comes to the worst……I'll be using our last resort," I replied with a sigh, as the eighty or so remaining weaker Vampires flew above and past us, heading in the direction of our nation.

  Tch, this is the worst.

  "Yes, I agree……now, then, as we already agreed, Rex and I will engage the leader with our guns. That leaves twelve of them for the six of you," Pointed out Arturo warily, "Does everyone have a healing spell on them?"

  We all nodded affirmatively in reply.

  "I'll take the three with the capes, they look strong. As for the nine with the black and red neckbands, Rion, Azeria, Kuua and Presde, you take on two each, and Hacte, you take on one," I declared, the others nodding affirmatively, "And lure your opponents away about five hundred meters to a kilometer, let's spread the fights out. As for how to do that, uh……maybe fire at them and run away, you know, make them chase you……its risky since that'll mean we can't help each other, but consequently, the Vampires won't be able to help each other either. That, and I don't want that Zero Vampire's magic nullification ability interfering with the other fights, so we need to put enough distance so that it won't be a concern. I'll lure my quarries towards the wall, since I need to be close if I'm going to trigger the last resort……"

  "What is taking so long, humans? Stop dragging this out, I want to get this over with as soon as possible……you had better not keep me waiting much longer," Called out the Vampire, his tone sounding irritable.

  "Heh, sorry not sorry to keep you waiting, Zero……here we come, you monster cunts!"

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.