Published: July 3, 2025
With a sanctified weapon, I sever the head and pierce the heart.
That is the method publicly proclaimed by the Western Church for slaying vampires.
Graham’s approach was perfectly in line with this.
“Gordon, burn the head, torso, and all limbs.”
Graham instructed Gordon, a fire attribute mage.
Thus, the vampire Kalinikos was completely obliterated.
“Well, that was something, Graham-san.”
“Indeed. It was far more impressive than Nils’s swordsmanship.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Ryo jumped in on Nils’s comment, causing Nils to retort once again.
“But Nils... you might feel like it’s already over, but our true objective this time is the demon, you know?”
Ryo said this in his usual tone, and after a moment, Nils’s eyes widened as he realized, turning to Ryo and saying,
“Indeed... that was the case.”
The reason Hugh McGrath and the Hero Party had come from the City of Run was to deal with the demon that was confirmed to exist.
The vampire incident was merely a fact that came to light later.
“After burning the Strigoi’s remains, we’ll head to the demon’s cave.”
Hugh’s voice echoed.
The demon’s cave was quickly located.
“It seems that the seal on the entrance itself has been broken for some reason. Therefore, it appears that the rocks which had sealed the cave due to an earthquake or something have shifted, revealing this cave.”
Bellrock, a Dwarf earth attribute mage and expert on stones, examined and explained the entrance to the cave.
“It’s amazing that the seal functioned for nine hundred and fifty years. It requires magical power to maintain a seal, but where did that magical power come from...?”
After listening to Bellrock’s explanation, Hugh muttered as he looked at the cave’s entrance again.
(The answer is probably alchemy. There is a method to utilize the magical power of the sealed being when sealing something with powerful magical power... it was written in Hasan’s Black Notebook.)
Ryo concluded this in his mind.
Of course, since the Black Notebook left by Hasan was not meant to be shown or taught to anyone, he had no intention of mentioning that such a technique existed in alchemy here.
Moreover, Hasan also wrote that this method was a form of “external techniques,” meaning it was not a normal way to use alchemy.
It forcibly uses the magical power of the sealed being without obtaining their consent... Even if put gently, it is inhumane.
If he were to say that such a dangerous method exists, Ryo might face persecution!
That said... currently, Ryo’s proficiency in alchemy was not enough to use such “external techniques.”
Since they entered the forest, Ryo had been using the [Passive Sonar].
Near the entrance of the forest, there were responses from both ordinary animals and monsters, but as they approached the cave, those responses dwindled, and before the cave, there were no responses at all.
Within a radius of about three hundred meters from the cave, there were no monster responses whatsoever.
(This means there’s something that wild creatures recognize as dangerous inside...)
Ryo thought this while looking at Hugh, the leader of the group.
He was already holding his unsheathed sword.
As expected of a former a-rank adventurer, he might be sensing an unusual atmosphere.
Seeing this, swordsmen like Roman, Nils, and Amon also drew their swords.
The distance to the cave was short, and they quickly emerged into what appeared to be a large hall.
At the back, there was an imposing stone coffin.
“From what I can see, there are no physical traps...”
Scout Maurice reported.
“They said that when a vampire touched the coffin, their magical power was drained. So, what should we do?”
Cleric Graham said as he turned to Hugh.
“Things like this are decided on the spot... Honestly, we have no plan.”
Hugh replied with a shrug.
However, it might not have been the trigger, but suddenly, the stone coffin began to emit light.
“What’s going on?”
Even a child could tell that something abnormal was happening.