Chapter 101: 101 Chapter 9: Growth ③

The attack was swift, heavy, and undeterred. The crowd of armed bone men disintegrated in an instant.

There was no need for Senri to help at all. The End walking in front of him was already strong enough. His unassuming appearance meant that he had changed a lot since the first time they met.

Through his many struggles and victories, End had gained confidence and the strength to match. The End of today (though of course he would never have the chance to do so) would have enough power to make even a second-class knight like Senri struggle a bit. For Senri, who knew End when he was wary of all directions, this is a deeply moving fact.

End says in a serious tone.

What the hell are these guys trying to do? ......

The dog's ears were bushy and its eyes were dull and charming. It had no tail, but it was more than unique that a dog's head could speak human language.

End is strong. Strong, but amusing. It's hard to maintain tension when he says serious things while transformed.

But I guess this is End's way of communicating. It's a little hard to get used to, since the Knights of the End were all serious, but this kind of thing is tolerable as long as it's not too much.

End...... tongue is sticking out.

I'm not sure what to make of it.

It's really amazing that vampires can suppress their fighting instincts to such an extent, even if they are in a lower rank. It's impossible, considering the accumulated know-how of the Knights of the End.

Lately, they have been asking for blood more often, but they don't try to force it, which is probably a sign that they have forgiven me. He has never tried to kill me.

End...... ears are twitching. It's like a real dog.

I feel like I'm losing my mind when I look at it.

I wonder if Senri's old friends will stop chasing him if I show them this.

The vampire in front of me was so free spirited that it made me think such a ridiculous thing.

§ § § §

Darkness is an ally to the undead in general. Although my physical abilities and senses are far superior to those of a mere human, I was able to see through the darkness even when I was a carnivore, and the bone men who guarded the mansion walked around in complete darkness without a care in the world. For us abominations, night is like daytime.

The castle was full of bones, apparently invading from all sides.

The castle is used for tourism, so they must not have been the original inhabitants of the castle. The bone men are moving in groups of several, and all of them are heading for one place.

There's a dungeon. Part of the wall collapsed in the earthquake the other day.

Despite being human, Senri said as he walked unperturbed in the total darkness.

Perhaps he is using senses other than sight to grasp the situation around him. It's no use for a Knight of the End to be stuck in the dark.

I didn't know the inner workings of the castle, but by following the sounds and smells, I soon arrived at a place that looked like it.

There was no sign of a strong enemy, so I cut down the bone man with my machete and descended the stone stairs.

The dungeon smelled must have been unused for a long time, and it smelled musty. There are not that many rooms, but the iron bars are stronger than I expected, and the rust is acceptable.

As I gazed at it, Senri told me.

"It looks like [Descend] is maintaining it for tourism.

"...... Humans are tough.

However, if the city was maintaining the castle, they would have noticed the effects of the earthquake right away. I don't think there's anything left for the bones to gather around.

The collapsed wall was easy to find. The wall of the third cell. The rubble has been cleared away on both sides, and beyond the gaping hole is a staircase leading further underground.

The sound of small sword fights reverberates in the air. There's a faint smell of blood, but it's probably just a scratch.

A group of bone men came from behind Senri. He cleanses the spearhead with a single blow of his silver blade. He continued to move forward and eliminated the five bone men that had attacked him in the blink of an eye. His fighting technique was as smooth as art, but I noticed that Senri was getting a little impatient.

If it were up to me, I'd wait and see, but it's not.

I stopped Senri from moving forward and took the lead. In the basement of the dungeon was a narrow passage. It was about two meters wide, with a low ceiling and a very oppressive feeling. There seemed to be vents, so the air must be fine. There also seemed to be a hole, perhaps for drainage.

A hidden passage?　But it was blocked by a stone wall, and there was no gimmick in the doorway. I don't know what kind of battles have been fought in this castle, but it could be an escape route in case of emergency.

I frowned, searching for information about my surroundings through my senses of smell and wind flow.

True darkness. There was a smell of fire in the air, as if the lights were on.

The underground passage seemed to have many branches, like a labyrinth in a fairy tale. But if you follow the smells and sounds, it won't be hard to find your way.

Then, I suddenly noticed a small discomfort. Vampires are resistant to all kinds of attacks, but that doesn't mean they are numb to them.

This is ...... something. It's not something strong, but it's definitely something. It's hard to describe, but there's a slight tugging sensation.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's hard to describe. Apparently the demise knight's detection ability hadn't caught it.

Maybe it's something only the undead can feel.

The incessant sounds of battle indicated that a significant number of bone people had already entered.

But it was the humans who had the upper hand. They were breathing hard, and there was a slight smell of blood, but the hard thud against the ground was the sound of a bone man falling.

Attempts to negotiate with the bony man failed, but the human should be able to talk to him. He may not be an ally, but since he doesn't seem to be controlling the blessings that Senri uses (and if he could use them, he wouldn't be struggling against a boneman), he's probably not a Knight of the End. If you help him, he'll at least let you talk to him. I'd like to investigate the source of your discomfort, but that can wait.

Alone, he would have been suspicious, but with Senri's clean presence, there was no chance of him being suspected of being a vampire.

I was a little disappointed, but I put my head back on. There is also a race of beast-headed people called beastmen, but they rarely come down to human settlements and are not very friendly to humans, so there is no way they would go in front of someone who can't keep their mouth shut with a dog's head.

I felt Senri breathe a sigh of relief. I put on my sunglasses, which I like a little, and said to Senri with trust.

Senri, I'll take care of the back.

§ § § §

The violent sound of hard objects hitting each other echoed through the narrow underground passage.

A pile of human bones piled haphazardly on the floor reflected the faint light of a candle. In the narrow passage, five men were blocking the way, facing the rushing bones.

The skeletons are not human. But they are human bones. No one, even those who have worked as mercenaries for years, feels good about seeing the end of a human being.

But it's a different story when dozens of them appear. They could no longer afford to feel repellent or creepy.

The men were mercenaries. Not vampire hunters, not Knights of the End, but anything and everything that could be hired to fight.

One of them, a rather dirty looking Deck, wielded his mace while complaining.

"I didn't know there were so many of them!

I've never heard of so many!" "Don't waste your breath, kill them!　It's not much of an enemy, don't forget to crush their heads!

You are reading story Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN) at novel35.com

I'm not a big fan of this kind of thing.

Bone people inherit the qualities of their ancestors. The bone men who had come in were not very powerful, to say the least. The fact that none of the five who had taken the job had been seriously injured was proof of that.

Although the number of bones attacking them was large, the corridor was narrow and they could deal with them several at a time. They are undead who do not get tired, but we have replacements, so we do not have to worry about dying unless we are too careless.

Hunting the undead in the old castle is a tasty job that is well known among the mercenaries who have come to [Descend].

Normally, undead hunting is not profitable unless the opponent is a big fish.

There is no meat or bone to sell, and the lower undead do not have treasures to store. Unless you are a member of the Knights of the End, this is not a job you would take the initiative to do.

On the other hand, if the undead are so big that they have treasures, they are not worthy of being mercenaries.

But that's not the case if you have a client.

Don't complain because you'll be paid and there's little risk of dying.

The client this time is the city of [Descend]. The reward is guaranteed.

It wasn't a bad job, except that the only undead that showed up were the lowest class, such as bone people, and I had to pack them in at night. The best part is that even if no undead show up, you will definitely be paid.

The most important thing for a mercenary is life, and the second most important thing is money. 　

This job was much easier than the mercenaries who were on the front lines fighting the Demon Lord's army, even though the number of undead was high and I sometimes had a few close calls and even got injured by accident.

But where the hell do these guys come from ......?

You know. I've never heard of a war anywhere near here. ......

I follow gravity and swing my mace down. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of a war near here, but I've never heard of one.

He hadn't been told what had happened. All they knew was the nature of his work.

All they were told was that the castle was being infiltrated by the undead at night and that they needed to get rid of them.

Razzal and the others are at the end of an underground passage that was discovered five years ago. They are at the end of it.

The underground passage has already been searched by the city of Descend, and nothing has been found. Razzal and the others thought that there might be some reason for the undead to come here, and they investigated several times, but found nothing of the sort. The underground passageway is winding, and you might get lost at first sight, but it's not so wide that you can call it a labyrinth.

One of my companions says with a wry smile as he uses his shield to flick a spear that a boneman is wielding with great difficulty.

You can't just ask the Knights of the End to do it for you.

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that. No, they might come once they get the ...... information. But if they do, we're out of a job. They don't take rewards.

Razzal and the others are loose mercenaries. They don't aspire to be heroes and they don't go to the front to win or lose. Their skill level is only so-so, but holding a spear in this narrow corridor, I have to say that they do not understand warfare at all.

In addition, they seemed to be moving in units and were careful not to hit their comrades, making it very difficult for them to move.

I was surprised when the boneys appeared one after another, but at this rate, it looked like I would be able to finish my work today without any problems.

I would have to return to the city at the end of the night to rest my body for tomorrow night's work.

Exterminating the undead in the basement of the castle every night is a hassle, but the undead are not infinite. You never know when you'll run out of this lucrative job.

But you should have thought about it a little more when you made the assault: .......

As I mechanically crushed the bony man in front of me, one of my companions, who was squinting and watching the candlelight dimly, shouted sharply.

"There's a mutant!　It's the Kuro Bone!

"?　You're the conductor this time!

A Bone Man appears out of the darkness, protecting only the essential parts. The only difference between him and the bone men I've defeated so far is that his body is dyed black. However, this was proof that the being in front of him was different from a mere bone man.

I know this because I did some research on the undead before I took the job.

Most bonemen are small fry, but the Kuro Bone is different. By killing creatures or taking in the bones of their comrades, bone-men accumulate power and mutate, but the weak do not reach that point. Naturally, the mutated individuals become powerful enemies.

Tension rises in the group. There was only one of them, but it could be as many as the dozens of bones he had killed.

The narrow passage limited the number of opponents, but it also meant that we could not surround them.

The client had told him that he could run if he had to, but Razal shouted. He had to shout before they all ran away.

We're all in this together!　There's only one opponent!　We've got one opponent!

At the sound of his voice, his friends raised their weapons. The Kuro Bone is holding a huge curved sword. If you take it seriously, you could easily lose an arm. If the opponent is a mutated individual, it cannot be expected to be weak.

Razzal's decision to engage was not one of courage. I have a way out of here in case of emergency. We can leave the castle if we escape through the side streets. But if these bondmen were chasing us, there was no way we could escape. In fact, you'll be killed without a choice.

Don't worry, it's only one of them, and it's only mutated once. I've fought bone-men before, they're enhanced versions of them, and they don't have the unique abilities of vampires. You should be able to defeat it.

He raised his long, silver-plated mace with a faint smile on his face.

The skull of Kuro Bone. In the center of it, a blood-red light shines silently. There was no expression on his face. Only a dull, cold murderous intent.

Cold sweat slips down my cheeks. Concentrate on every move you make. Razal is not undead. There is only one life. Not even the slightest mistake is acceptable.

And then the Kuro Bone Man stepped noiselessly into the room.

It was a simple swing. But the blow had the speed of a whirlwind. Razzal intended to catch it. But when he realized, he stepped back.

The blade passed a few inches in front of him. A few bangs scattered and the air brushed his forehead.

There was nothing I could do.

Before I could feel death, the blade flipped. Time dragged on. The bony man is fragile. If his friends attacked during this time, perhaps they could distract him. But they weren't moving. No, they could not move. If Razzal had been in the same position, he might have frozen. That's how strong the blow was.

He was too different from the bone men he'd defeated so many times before.

No... I'll die. I was wearing armor, but what good was cheap armor in the face of a blow like this?

I didn't even have time to regret it. His eyes widened, and he fell, staring dumbly at the raised blade.

--And then, suddenly, a black line flashed before my eyes.

A high-pitched sound shook the air, and the skull that had been staring at me disappeared.

I couldn't keep up with my thoughts. I stared dumbly at the headless 'Kuro Bone'. The arm that had been frozen in place while lifting the curved blade collapsed as if it had remembered.

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.

A tense voice called out to the frozen Razzal and the others.

A black skeleton was standing, and behind it emerged a bespectacled girl with beautiful silver hair that didn't look out of place here, and a suspicious-looking man wearing sunglasses, despite the fact that it was nighttime.

You can find story with these keywords: Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN), Read Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN), Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN) novel, Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN) book, Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN) story, Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN) full, Kuraki Kyuuden no Shisha no Ou (WN) Latest Chapter