If you see one, there are fifty

"Heeeeeeee..."

"God…"

The area shook with a thud, and the sound of something breaking and stones crumbling could be heard in the distance, causing an uneasy commotion.

The assembly hall was crowded with people. The chairs prepared for the audience had been turned into beds for the sick and elderly, and the rest of the people had made their sleeping arrangements with a blanket on the stone floor. The people who had each been cramped on their own turf were now cowering like frightened herbivores. Only the unreliable light of the magic lights, which were like candles, barely dispelled the darkness.

"What was that sound ...?"

Albaugh looked up at the ruggedly arched stone ceiling and muttered. Dust or something was fluttering down.

Albaugh was a farmer. He lived in a farming village near Terra Kaine, but his days of peaceful winter retreat came to an abrupt end. Suddenly, a swarm of hideous undead appeared and set the village on fire. It was the army of the "Rose Princess of Hellrage".

Dressed only in his clothes and unable to carry his belongings, he fled the village for his life and fled with the other villagers to Terra Kaine. He was not sure if the lord would help them or not..., but he had nothing else to rely on.

For the time being, it seemed he could sleep where there was a roof and walls, and he could keep his stomach quiet with a thin soup. But what would happen now?

Would the "Rose Princess of Hellrage" attack Terra Kaine as well? What was that sound?

"Father ..."

Something small and soft touched his hand and Albaugh snapped back to himself.

His daughter, Soria, looked up at him anxiously and clutched his hand tightly.

"It's okay. It's okay, Soria. I'm going to protect you."

Albaugh hugged his daughter, though he didn't know what was okay. It smelled of earth.

It seemed as if everything that could be lost had been lost. Just when he thought he could live a little easier for a while after making a big profit selling food to a mysterious merchant, the undead had taken that money away from him as well.

But Albaugh still had a family. He had a wife, a son, and a daughter. For Albaugh, who considered himself an ordinary peasant, his family was the only thing that he could regard as proof of his life.

"≪Masonry≫”

"Eh?"

Soria suddenly said something incomprehensible.

Darkness closed in.

The windows were filled with blackness.

The moonlight that had been slightly shining through the clouds faded away.

The stones on the walls were being stretched like clay, filling the windows.

He had no idea what had happened.

Albaugh was stunned, but then he felt Soria's hand, which he was holding, suddenly lose its warmth and grow cold, and he looked immediately to her.

"...Eh?"

A silver girl bared her fangs and jumped at Albaugh's neck.

＊ ＊ ＊

Several "shelters" existed in Terra Kaine.

One after another, the buildings filled with people who had fled to the city turned into sarcophagi, with every entrance and exit blocked.

Very few people noticed this from the outside. Even if they had noticed the strange happenings, they would have no idea what it was or what to do about it.

If one had approached the stone box carefully, one might have noticed the dozens or hundreds of screams echoing from within.

The screams of the victims fleeing from the ever-increasing number of bloodsuckers inside the closed box with nowhere to run.

Neither the holy beasts stationed throughout the city nor the magicians of the Order noticed.

After all, the magic item "Wedge of Isolation" for blocking the presence of others had been implanted around the shelters by someone, Bertil, and had been activated just a few minutes ago. No evil energy would leak out from a sarcophagus for several tens of minutes until the effect wore off.

＊ ＊ ＊

A silver girl vampire attacking people in a closed box.

Those whose blood was sucked became bloodsuckers, an inferior species of vampire with a dried-up body and empty eyes, and attacked those around them to create bloodsuckers themselves.

The shelter was a nursery for procuring bloodsuckers in large numbers.

A few minutes or a dozen minutes until the propagation was complete, blocking off their presence and preventing their escape, and before they knew it, there was a large number of undead in the city...

"Confirmed."

Bertil watched the tragedy through his crystal ball.

Catherine's speculation, the way they had fought in the two Noacurio assaults, ... and the order to use the "Wedge of Isolation", had given him a pretty good idea of how this was going to play out. The rest was up to guessing.

Bertil had placed a magic item inside the shelters where he had placed the "Wedge of Isolation" for remote viewing. Through it, he was able to peek inside.

The silver vampire that had been rampaging wildly inside the crystal ball suddenly collapsed as the corpse of an innocent girl.

Then, immediately after, she appeared in another crystal ball ... in another shelter that should have been peaceful. When she magically blocked the escape routes, she began to bite the fleeing people and increase the number of bloodsuckers.

"Possesses only girls around the age of ...10. Vampirizes, spreads the infection and ... discards the body when it is no longer useful and moves on with the soul. The body that is released from possession reverts back to human ..., but is dead. Is it a matter of preference that the possessions are all girls? Or does it have to be a girl for possession? ... The move is instantaneous. Teleportation? Or can it move at such speeds?"

Bertil stared at the carnage in the lined crystal balls.

"Good grief. Apparently, I'm only going to be 'the lowlife who sacrificed his people's lives in exchange for theirs'. ... I got something out of it."

It would be a waste of effort to simply do as René said and let the winner walk away. It would be a waste.

If he could see even a glimpse of René's abilities, which were still shrouded in a veil of secrecy, it would surely lead him to defeat René one day. Bertil had a hunch that the only way to defeat René would be after countless corpses had piled up.

--But if it's true that René can read minds, I'm glad I knew about it ... If I hadn't known, I would have tried to hide nearby and check on her myself. Then she probably would have found me.

Well, there was a possibility that she would discover the magic item planted in the shelters, but that would have to wait.

The scene beyond the crystal balls changed from exhausted-looking people to a writhing horde of undead.

This city was finished.

When she had enough pawns, René would go around opening the sarcophagi. Each one may not be much, but with so many of them, Terra Kaine would be devoured in the blink of an eye.

Bertil wondered what Marks would do. Even if he alone survived, he would be a goner if he lost his city. Then he would have to devote his forces to exterminating the bloodsuckers, but that was probably what René wanted. If there was a move to protect the citizens, he would surely exploit the opportunity.

Then, would he and Ghislain escape together with the forces at hand? Even if they could escape with that, it would mean abandoning the defense of the city.

Yes, in other words, Bertil thought. The end.

"... Well, I shall survive. I have to live to tell the tale."

Bertil retrieved the crystal balls and call marks he had laid out and quickly packed them up.

He then put them in his pouch or bag, pulled out his sword, and leapt into the night sky.

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