Counter-attack

Nia, Luchila, and Grulf went into a fighting posture as soon as the alarm went off.

Shia, Serulis, and Kathe continued to work as if nothing had happened. Though, they did glance towards me.

This was so the intruder wouldn’t realize that we knew.

After all, the dark wraiths wouldn’t know the meaning behind the alarm.

That is, unless they had acquired information from the other mansions.

“Please get inside.”

“Cluck-cluck.”

I picked Lord Gerberga off of Luchila’s shoulder and put him inside of my jacket.

And then I activated Magic Search and Magic Exploration at the same time.

‘There are a lot of them.’

Kathe had used Magic Search and Magic Exploration as well, and so she nodded.

‘Yes, there are. And annoyingly enough, they are not just dark wraiths.’

Ten dark wraiths had surrounded the mansion.

There were also three dark ones further away from the mansion. They seemed to be lesser vampires.

In any case, lesser vampires were not really a threat.

Perhaps they were only positioned there to make sure that the dark wraiths could really scout out the place.

Thankfully, I didn’t detect any other enemies.

It was with all of that considered, that I decided on what direction to take.

‘Kathe. Luchila. Continue with the reinforcements, while also protecting the mansion.”

‘I understand.’

‘Yes.’

‘Shia and Serulis, you two deal with the lesser vampires. They are about 300 steps in the west direction.’

‘Understood!’

Shia replied, as she could speak through telepathy.

Serulis nodded silently. Then the two of them hurried away.

I didn’t even need to tell them to hide their presence and stay in the shadows.

‘Nia and Grulf. You two stay with me. Wait quietly until I give the order to attack.’

“Groof.”

Nia nodded and Grulf barked.

And then I calmed my breathing.

It was easy to kill dark wraiths, but I didn’t want to let the lesser vampires escape.

Because it would mean giving the enemy information.

And so I waited until Shia and Serlus reached the lesser vampires.

They quietly and quickly closed the distance between them. And then they attacked.

“Gaaaah!!”

I heard the lesser vampires scream.

The dark wraiths would be distracted by the noise.

And so I attacked them all at once. I knew where they all were.

I would not let a single one escape.

When I reached the closest one, I raised my right hand to it and activated Drain Touch.

“Kiii…”

The strange sound rose from where there was nothing. And then, just for a second, a shape appeared before the thing died.

I had absorbed so much energy that it was unable to maintain its life.

There was still energy in the air that I hadn’t taken in. It was about half of what came from a single dark wraith.

“So I only need to absorb half of it.”

It was easier than I was expecting.

But when you think about it, humans would die if they lost half of their blood as well. So it shouldn’t have been surprising.

In any case, Drain Touch worked well for fighting dark wraiths.

That suggested that the Devil King Sword would also work well.

“Nine more!”

I continued to kill the dark wraiths as they tried to escape.

They were not slow monsters, but they weren’t especially quick either.

At least, they wouldn’t be considered quick next to me and Grulf.

“Grrr! Groof! Groof!”

Grulf pounced on a dark wraith and killed it.

Once I had killed 5 and Grulf killed 2, the 3 remaining ones started to glow faintly.

They had decided to fire off some magic attacks while they ran. It was a good idea.

“Be careful!”

“Groof!”

“Yes!”

I could see the thin outlines of the dark wraiths as they desperately tried to escape.

At the same time, fireballs were launched towards us. They were quite powerful.

I dodged them and dashed forward.

Grulf followed my every move and charged.

However, just as I touched a dark wraith with my right hand and sucked the energy from it, I heard a noise.

“Grrooo-!!”

Grulf let out a cry.

Just as he had killed one dark wraith with his fangs and claws, the other one had hit him with a fireball.

It was dangerous to focus on attacking so much that you forgot to defend yourself.

Grulf was still young, and was still not very skilled in combat.

“Grulf, don’t be reckless.”

“Groof!”

At least the damage seemed to have been minimal. He quickly moved away from the dark wraith.

The fireball had mostly just skimmed him, and his fur was highly resistant to fire.

“AAAAHHH!”

Nia didn’t miss her chance when the dark wraith became briefly visible, and she quickly fell upon it.

The enchanted sword cut through the dark wraith.

“Kiiiii!!”

“HAHHH!!”

The dark wraith wailed and tried to disappear.

However, Nia did not back down. She continued to swing her sword once it was no longer visible.

“…She’s cutting it.”

Was it a mere coincidence? While not all of them, about 80% of her attacks were landing.

After a while, the dark wraith was annihilated.