Chapter 43: Chapter 42: Vampires

[Kingdom of night]

Flying over the hilly grasslands of what the vampires inhabiting the area call the kingdom of steel after the nearby mountains, Darganth scanned the ground for a good place to spend the night. This quickly had turned out to be harder than anticipated, with dozens of different monsters being dispersed all over the hilly landscape.

Despite being often seen as nothing but pests, monster races were far from the small annoyances they are often viewed as amongst civilians inside cities. With the large city wall protecting them they may not have to fear them, but that wasn't the case for merchants and other traveling groups.

This danger of course leads to regular culling of their numbers, with even high ranks taking charge of these operations should their numbers be too large. This was done because high numbers often meant enough food and the most prominent species of them grow stronger through consuming meat, especially if it is mana rich.

And while Darganth didn't find any goblins or orcs that could threaten him, they would still be a major annoyance if they were to attack them regularly. Thus he made the decision to try and directly cross the entire region without landing. While Jennia and Allaire offered to keep guard to allow him to sleep on the ground while they would during the flight, a few days of continuously being awake wasn't that hard for him.

After some time reassuring them, they had relented and were now sleeping peacefully on his back. While this forced him to keep from making too strong wing movements, with the help of fire magic to heat the air he could glide for as long as he needed without loosing altitude. This possibility was actually the main reason why nearly all winged creatures held a high fire affinity in high esteem, second only to wind.

Using this combination of the two elements, they managed to cross a large part of the hilly terrain without much trouble. Though by now he had drastically increased his vigilance as they had reached deep into vampire territory and night was approaching. No matter how little he thought of them, he wouldn't let his guard down.

By the time it was near midnight, he noticed a castle on the horizon. Quickly verifying his thought of it belonging to the vampires that made this are their home, he just wanted to circumvent it when he noticed a movement to his left.

Turning towards it, he quickly cast a barrier that shattered the boulder sailing through the air towards them. Alerted by this, Allaire and Jennia instantly jumped up and readied their weapons and spells.

Looking towards the source of the boulder, they found a relative small group of about a dozen orcs. And while orcs were generally stronger than goblins, these were barely above the baseline of an adult one and thus not threat.

What did draw Darganth's interest was the group currently stalking these orcs. Hidden by a veil of darkness each, three vampires stood around them. When she noticed this situation, Jennia started to smile gleefully.

The next second she disappeared, teleporting directly between the group of orcs. Before these could even react, her form started to shift and not even one second later she had returned to her true form. Disposing of the orcs with a quick swipe of her claws followed by a wave of flames, she turned to one of the vampires while taking care to minimize the movement of two of her heads.

This act brought the vampires the shock of their lives. Due to dragon-hydras being relative unknown in this world and their similar silhouette to normal hydras, they believed her to be a mythical ranks based on the number of heads.

Stumbling back in shock, the vampire stumbled and fell. Looking at Jennia with a fearful expression, he tried and failed to stand back up due to his shaking hands.

Trying to hold back her laughter at his reaction, Jennia soon failed and burst into laughter. This irritated the three vampires. While the other two didn't know how to react, the one she had focused her gaze on seemed to grow even more distressed.

A few seconds later Darganth teleportet next to her in his human form, holding Allaire by her hip.

“Sorry, couldn't help myself.” Jennia said amidst her laughter, slowly transforming back into a human form.

“Just tell us next time.” Allarie replied.

After this short discussion, they turned their attention to the three vampires. Abruptly turning to the two who still hoped to be hidden, Darganth made it clear that he already knew their locations. This prompted the two to gather next to the one that Jennia had scared, standing close in case they would need to defend themselves.

“What do you want?” One asked, eying them suspiciously.

“Just dealing with these annoyances.”

Darganth's answer didn't ease their vigilance. Feeling the mana around him falling under the control of one of them, he instantly reacts and counters the darkness element with his own. Before the vampire could even react, the earth a step in front of him broke open and formed into a stone spike that went through his abdomen and lifted him from the ground.

Just as the other two wanted to grab their weapons, bands of darkness restricted their hands. Surprised by this, Darganth quickly searched the surroundings for the newcomer.

“And here I was wondering what it is that delays the three of you.” A voice said, causing the two to relax against the binds.

Soon the source of the voice came into view, with a man with glowing red eyes walking towards the six. Upon seeing the man, Darganth's vigilance grew and he quickly materialized an aura armor. Seeing his reaction, Allaire and Jennia also prepare themselves for attacks.

Only then did the two focus on the man and when they did, their eyes widened in shock. Sensing the his mana pool to reach into what is expected of an advanced fourth rank magic user, a full blown great mage, they nervously glanced towards Darganth.

“No worries, I am not stupid enough to attack a dragon nearly directly next to the steel mountains. That old man would arrive here before I could even blink and another meeting with him is the last thing I currently want.” The man said calmly.

Thinking about these words for a moment, Daranth relaxed his vigilance ever so slightly. It wasn't even fully because he didn't trust the man as his senses could quite accurately pick up the subtle hints when someone lied as long as he focused on it. Instead it were mainly the vampire who had initially tried to attack them who he was cautious about.

“I assume that you are in charge here?” Darganth asked after a short pause.

“Yes. I am king Andrei and as the king of this region I naturally wonder what a dragon wants here?”

“Only passing through.” Hearing Darganth's answer, Andrei nodded slightly.

After a moment of thought he continued, “While I am sure that you could make the rest of the trip without much trouble, I would like to invite you to my castle.”

This offer slightly stunned Darganth. Thinking about it for a moment he weighted the options. He was quite sure that Andrei was doing this to gain his favor, though he didn't know for what. At the same time he felt the prospect of having a normal room again, even if only for one night, quite a good one. Looking towards Jennia and Allaire he asked them for their opinion.

“Never seen a vampire castle so I wouldn't say no.” Jennia said.

“Then lets go, hearing out what kind of favor he wants doesn't hurt.” Allaire said afterward. Nodding, he went along with their decision as Darganth didn't particularly care for it.

Seeing their decision, Andrei smiled slightly. With a wave of his hand a portal sprung into existence, showing the inside of a castle on the other side. Walking through it while motioning for his three subjects to follow, he disappeared to the right after passing through it while leaving the portal open. A few moments later Darganth, Jennia and Allaire followed him.

Arriving in the grand hall, they looked to where Andrei went. Seeing him talking with some of his subjects, they waited patiently for him to come to them.

“Nearly forgot, Jennia better don't transform here. Beast blood is quite a delicacy for Vampires as it very mana rich compared to aura users or magicians of the same rank.” Darganth suddenly said.

“I know.” She answered shortly, preoccupied with her fascination towards the armors standing lined up along the walls.

Even though her mother had told her about them, she had never personally witnessed a golem not to mention such a strange one. Compared to the usual hulking vaguely humanoid form made from any solid material, these were closer to works of art.

These full plate armors made it so that its nearly completely hollow interior was visible only through a handful gaps in the plates. Within this largely hollow space was the golems core, connected to different parts of the outer shell through thin metal beams and wires that allow for a more efficient transport of the mana.

Compared to regular golems this had the advantage of them being less clumsy. While the trade off for this was a lower defense, the all or nothing style made it so that it wouldn't be easily chipped away. Normal golems often struggle with large numbers of attacks that slowly destroy the material around their core, with only rare and expensive versions that can repair themselves lacking this weakness. In the case of these armors, attacks would either fully pierce or do nearly no damage, archiving a similar but weaker effect for less cost.

This allowed them to be more efficient against large numbers of weak individuals at the cost of being weak against fewer stronger ones. But this made them perfect for the vampires purpose as their race generally lacks in numbers and less so in individual power.

While she was admiring these golems, Andrei finished his discussion and made his way towards them.

“If you want then we can give you one.” He said when he noticed her interest.

“Really?” She asked surprised. She had expected them to try their best to keep the workings of these golems a secret, something that giving one away was counterproductive. Additionally they seemed quite expensive, though she attributed this to them hoping for Darganth's help.

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“Well, its not as if we lack them. And while they may be slightly expensive, one won't make a difference. We loose so many each year that it wouldn't even stand out.” He said with a light laugh as if remembering a funny story.

Seeing her confusion still remaining after this, he though for a moment before realizing her thoughts.

“While we do normally keep them a secret, we have learned the hard way that dragons can easily see through them. That's why I don't really see the reason to hide it from you, I am quite sure he can see through them easily. Hell, from what I know he may very well be able produce one many fold better.” He said, motioning towards Darganth.

This caused Jennia to look towards him questioningly to which he just nodded with a smile. Thinking about this answer for a moment, she turned back to Andrei.

“Still, I wouldn't say no to one of these.” She said.

“Gladly. I will organize one to be brought to your room later.” He said to which Jennia nodded with a smile.

Just a moment later Andrei noticed a person nearing and said, “Ah, just when we were talking about your rooms. This is Iona, she will take you to them.”

Turning to follow his line of sight, they found a vampire women walking towards them. Upon seeing her they became slightly surprised as they had expected a servant and at least her clothes didn't fit the position.

“If you would follow me.” She said when she arrived, performing a slight bow.

“I assume we will see each other later?” Darganth asked Andrei.

“Yes.”

After this short sent off, they followed Iona through the castle. On their way they quickly the strange style of the castle, with nearly each piece of decoration serving to make it seem like one was in the wilderness. The ceiling everywhere depicted a star filled nights sky, the walls were all made from rough stone that seemed to come straight out of a cave and animals and plants stood decoratively along these walls.

After overcoming the initial irritation, they quickly grew accustomed to this.

While making their way through the wide but empty corridors, they noticed nearly all of the few servants to be dressed similarly well as Iona was. Intrigued by this, Allaire decided to ask her.

“Andrei sees to be treating you extremely well.” She said.

Hearing this Iona smiled lightly, “Yes, that he does. From what I have been told we have it even better than those in the employ of one of the other Vampire kings. And their servants live far from bad lives, though such a pay is needed.”

“Why? Even if vampires are few in numbers, from what I know its still more than for example dragons. Finding some who are willing to work as servants can't be that hard.” Allaire asked.

“While the first part is true, only a handful of us are can even be considered for such jobs. My kind isn't well know for their control and having ones servant going berserk wouldn't do wonders for the reputation.” She explained.

Agreeing with her words, they continued walking through the corridors while asking her questions.

After a short while Darganth asked, “You said something about other Vampire kings?”

“Yes. A few centuries ago the strongest and most influential members of my kind got together to organize us. Our … preferred food brought us often into conflict with the other races so our numbers slowly started to dwindle.”

“Then how many are there?”

“Currently eight. The number changes from time to time due to the constant conflict, especially with humans. While not the best blood, their kind exist in large enough numbers to allow a large amount of vampires to feed.”

At this Jennia perked up and asked, “Then what blood is the best?”

“While I can't attest myself, dragon blood is supposed to be the best. Though it is closely followed by mythical rank beasts, especially those of a species of legends.”

“Species of legend?” Allaire asked.

“A designation for some mythical rank beasts. Well, technically they are no longer beasts and instead a classification on their own. Beings like phoenixes are a famous part of this group, though not all as there are some that still count as beasts. Additionally, some even count dragons among this groups, something that isn't entirely incorrect.” Darganth explained.

At his explanation Allaire just nodded in understanding, while Iona looked at him wide eyed.

“Dragons are part of that group?” She asked surprised.

“As I said, it isn't entirely correct. Legendary species are, by definition, beasts that no longer go through stark changes when they reach a new rank. That means that they don't experience the growth spurts other beasts of higher ranked species have and instead naturally grow to their full size over time. That is also the case with dragons, but species of legend additionally are all evolved from beasts and still have their innate mana cultivation method, something that dragons lack.” He explained.

Surprised by this revaliaton, she wanted to ask him further questions but noticed that they had already arrived. Towering before them stood a luxuriously decorated wing door of about five meter high.

Ignoring her lingering curiosity she turned towards them, “This will be your room for your stay at the castle. If your are alright with it then I will lead you to Lord Andrei in a few hours. He wishes to discuss some matters with you over dinner.” She said.

“That's no problem.” Darganth answered.

Hearing his answer Iona performed another curious bow before turning around and walking back the way they came from.

Without wasting a second, Jennia walked towards the door. As soon as she opened it, her eyes widened at the sight of the room.

Decorated in more gold than she had ever seen, it presented an extreme contrast to the remainder of the castle and looked closer to the main hall in style. The illusion of a night sky on the ceiling, the metallic black and gray mix that formed most of the furniture and the golden swords and shields hanging decoratively on the wall presented an imposing picture.

Following her into the room, Darganth's interest was soon drawn to the weapon hanging along the walls.

“What's so special with them?” Allaire asked when she noticed this.

“Nothing besides the fact that they are here.”

“Ah, something like my bow?” She asked.

Overhearing this, Jennia looked towards her and asked, “What's so special about you bow?”

“It closely resembles an angelic design, too close for it to be likely to be accidental. These are similar, all belonging to different species styles of crafting.”

Darganth's answer made her interest in them rise. Looking over them, she soon noticed the miniscule differences. Becoming engrossed with this, she studied them in detail.

“As much as they are fascinating, its just the crafting style. If you want then I can organize you true blade of these species, not just mere imitations made out of gold.” Darganth said when he noticed this. This made a beaming smile form on her face.

While she continued satisfying her curiosity, Darganth and Allaire lay down on the bed. When Jennia noticed this she thought for a moment before joining them, cuddling herself to them.

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