Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

The ghost skyship was floating outside while its bow was entering the room from the window.

The woman clad in a red dress, stood on the bow of the ship, then descended from the ship.

The Princess of Fresh Blood, Zaffrada. Daughter of Zarxis the Reaper, and the Goddess revered by the vampires.

Zaffrada was smiling happily.

「Kuroki-sama… That woman is bad news for the current you… Let's abandon the humans and run from this place…」

Tibel whispered into my ears.

Alas, I shook my head.

Frutin and co were stronger than your average human.

「I can't do that, Tibel. Leave this to me.」

「No… That's too dangerous…」

It’s just as Tibel had said, this choice was too reckless.

Alas, I was the best one to fight her even in my current condition.

「Don't worry, Tibel. I don't feel like dying. I'm just trying to buy time for us… That's why you should retreat.」

I gently touched the ring on my ring finger.

We could win this fight. But I need to buy time for that to happen.

As for how to do that, I had yet to come up with a clear solution.

「Uuh… I understand.」

Thus, Tibel had no choice but to follow my orders and retreated, albeit reluctantly.

「Frutin-dono! Leave this place to me! You take the children and get out of this place!」

I spoke to Frutin without averting my line of sight from Zaffrada.

「What are you talking about, Fairy Tamer-dono! I'm the one who sho—」

「STOP IT! YOU GUYS WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP HER!」

I shouted at Frutin, Mardas and co who wanted to stay behind instead.

Maybe because he felt something from my remark, Frutin and co then retreated.

「I understand, Fairy Tamer-dono! We will escort the children to a safe place! Godspeed to you! Mardas-dono, let's go!」

「I understand, Master! I'll lend you my a*ss once we're back safely, lad!」

「Me too!」

「Count me in!」

「Don't forget about me!」

Honestly, their parting remark was more terrifying than Zaffrada's.

I mean, who asked for your a*sses? I'm not asking for that.

「Later! Tibel-chan!」

Said Wendy, sobbing as she said her goodbyes to Tibel.

「Just go already! We won't be able to meet you again if you die!」

Tibel replied curtly.

「Okay! I'll survive for sure! I'll survive and meet you again later, Tibel-chan!」

Thus, Wendy and co also left this place.

「Good grief. They should go quickly since Kuroki-sama is willingly buying time for them.」

She added those words in the end while laughing at them.

It seems Tibel got really pissed off. It seems she didn't think that my stalling time for humans was a good thing.

I'll apologize to her later.

「Humph. Do you really think that I'll allow them to escape? Chase them.」

Zaffrada ordered the 5 vampires to go after Frutin and co.

The Vampires were powerful undead.

Even with light magic, Frutin would have a hard time against them.

That's why I had to stop them here.

I prepared myself and took a breath.

「Stop!」

I kneaded my magical power and roared loudly.

The movement of the vampires who avoided me and went after Frutin and co stopped at once.

Dragon Howling.

That was the name of the skill I used a while ago.

Dragon Howling was a howling-type magic. It was a magic that induced fear to those who heard it.

And if it was used by a Dragon Lord-Class being, it could even freeze the soul of the undead.

And my dragon howling was a Dragon Lord-Class howling.

That was the reason why I could stop the vampires in their tracks.

Alas, this effect only applied if the opponent was far weaker than me.

It wouldn't work against someone like Zaffrada.

「To think that you can stop my aides. I don't know who you are but, not bad. Now show me your face.」

Said Zaffrada as she looked at me.

Her sticky gaze was coiling around me.

And then, it vanished a while later.

「U~hm. You're quite handsome, but a bit plain. Not bad, but not to my liking either. It'll be a good thing if you're as handsome as the hero of light but, you can't become a knight.」

Zaffrada muttered dejectedly.

I was holding back from retorting "Sorry for having a plain face".

Though I didn't want to become her knight, her remark stung.

Well, I wanted to reject her offer right before her face.

I mean, Kuna was much more adorable than Zaffrada, by quanti-zillion miles.

「But since you're strong, I'll give you the honor to become my servant. Properly speaking, a dull man like you has no qualification to stay by my side.」

Zaffrada came toward me.

This was my one and only chance.

I sharpened my senses to its limit.

Zaffrada had yet to realize my true identity. She was still under the impression that I was a normal human.

That was my only chance to beat her.

「Wait a minute, My Lady. This person isn't normal. No normal human can stop vampires like us. We can't get close to him too carelessly.」

But then, the vampire knight beside Zaffrada suddenly interrupted my plan.

If my memories served me right, he was quite a skilled vampire knight.

Though my howling was working on him, he could still move.

He was clearly a cut above the rest.

「You're right, Jusio. He might be a human with special powers like you. Alas, he's still a human. It doesn't really matter no matter how strange is he.」

Zaffrada waved her hand while I was wondering what she was talking about.

It seems she had no intention to listen to the advice of the knight called Jusio.

「How about I bring him to you then, My Dear Sister?」

A small shadow then jumped out from the ghost skyship.

The Nobleman of Death, Zasha.

「What are you trying to pull here, Zasha?」

「I want to test my magnum opus. Come out, Headless!」

Three gigantic humanoids came out from the ghost skyship along with Zasha's call.

Their upper body was naked, and filled with patches like those white hoods.

Alas, there was one huge difference between the two.

The three who appeared before me had no head, physically.

Though I ended up wondering how they moved without a brain, I then remembered that I met something like this before.

Namely, the dullahan.

They could still move even without their heads.

I had no idea how they did that but, they must have the same principle.

「Well then, you seem to have a special attack that affects the mind but, will it work against them?」

Zasha spoke happily.

Surely, my dragon howling might not work against these headlesses.

「GO, HEADLESSES!」

The headlesses rushed at me upon hearing Zasha's order.

Their movements were really fast considering the fact that their body was full of patches their bodies were filled with patches.

Alas, this alone wasn't enough to catch me.

I slipped past the arms of those headlesses.

I tried to buy time without defeating them.

「WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? CATCH HIM NOW!」

Zasha scolded the headless.

The three headlesses then moved around to surround me.

「Not so fast.」

I matched the timing of moving with the headless who came from the front.

And just like that, the headless who came from the front collided with the other two behind me.

「WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? DO IT QUICKLY! MY DEAR SISTER IS WATCHING!」

At this point, Zasha had already lost his patience.

The three headlesses were standing sluggishly.

I guess I still had some leeway if my opponent was only at this level.

「Enough.」

Alas, things wouldn't go as I wished.

The three headlesses before me were torn to pieces along with Zaffrada's voice.

When I turned around, Zaffrada had already been walking toward me.

She touched her lips with her left claws as she looked at me.

「Zasha, since those junks created by you seems to be useless, I rather make them disappear altogether.」

Said Zaffrada to Zasha who slumped down behind her.

「Good grief, this won't happen if only you do as I say to catch him gently.」

Said Zaffrada as she spread her arms.

I put myself on guard upon seeing that.

The current me wouldn't be able to beat her in frontal combat. That's why I had to aim for an opening.

My opponent might be a woman alas, I couldn't let my guard down.

The reason was that Zarxis and co, the kin of death wanted to destroy this world.

Even if I didn't hate them or had a grudge against them, I had to fight them to prevent the world's destruction.

Zaffrada came closer and closer. I had to take her down first and think about the aftermath later.

Just a bit more.

「What's the matter? Are you not going to escape from me?」

It was only natural for her to ask this question since the person who was running about till just a while ago suddenly stayed in this place without running away.

Now.

「HAAAAAAAAAAA!」

I roared as I summoned the Demon Sword of Venous Blood and slashed at Zaffrada.

Gotcha!

The moment I thought I had succeeded.

「MILADY!」

Someone got in the way.

It was that skilled vampire knight.

My demon sword cut through the vampire knight who got in the way instead of my real target.

Since he used his body to protect Zaffrada, I failed to cut him down along with Zaffrada in my weakened state.

My demon sword had only managed to graze Zaffrada.

Zaffrada quickly retreated upon realizing the situation.

「That sword? I never expected that you were the Dark Knight…」

Zaffrada looked at me without even batting an eye toward the vampire knight who protected her.

On the other hand, the vampire knight just muttered 「Big… Sister…」as he looked at the ceiling.

I had no idea what he was talking about. But, he was at the end of his life.

This might sound weird but, may your soul rest in peace.

Now back to the present. My failed attempt resulted in Zaffrada raising her vigilance toward me.

Now she wouldn't let her guard down anymore.

Now that it came to this situation, I had no choice but to go all out. Thus, I summoned my armor and transformed into my alter ego, the Dark Knight.

「Zasha, call Zalbuth. And whoever is available. We found the Dark Knight.」

After Zaffrada said so, a pair of giant bat wings came from her back.

It seems she’s finally going all out.

I felt cold sweat running down my spine.

「Dark Knight, be my servant. Working for me is much better than that ugly demon king right?」

Her questions kinda remind me of Rena's offer from a long time ago.

In her case, Rena offered me to become her knight instead of a servant.

「Sorry but I refuse. A more beautiful lady gave me the same offer before.」

I bowed politely while refusing Zaffrada's offer.

I mean, I had refused the offer from Rena, a woman whose beauty outranked Zaffrada’s by many dimensions, not to mention that the former offered better conditions and clearly cared about her subordinates.

Only deranged people would take Zaffrada's offer.

「I see, then I'll show you hell on earth. I've called for reinforcements, don't think you can escape.」

Though I refused her offer politely, Zaffrada seems to be pissed off for some reason. She pointed her claws toward me.

But, it was already too late.

It seems I managed to buy enough time.

「Too bad though, I'm going to escape. My reinforcement has arrived first!」

The moment I said so.

The ghost skyship behind Zaffrada exploded.

The explosion had also sent Zasha, who had already been riding on the deck of the ship, tumbling down on the floor.

Then a jet-black dragon rammed their body at the ghost sky ship.

「LIES!? A DRAGON!? WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?!?」

Zaffrada shouted.

The said dragon was Glorious. They had come to save me.

And then, a small shadow jumped to the window from Glorious' back.

The figure with silver hair was moving freely in the air.

The figure looked like a silver wind at a glance.

The figure spun once in the air, and then landed before me.

「I CAME TO SAVE YOU, KUROKI!」

Kuna appeared with a smile on her face as she looked at me.

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