The Black Forest (Schwarzwald) is a forest surrounded by tall trees.
　The trees have long, thick branches and large leaves.
　It is dark even in the daytime because the trees are so dense.

'The bat army should invade from all sides of the forest, but slowly. But slowly.
Yes, sir.

　Dick takes off at my command.
The bats that I've made into "errand boys" see things with light during the day and with ultrasound at night.
　Even if this forest is in total darkness, I can clearly see the movements of demons and people.

''Goshujin.''

　After a while, Dick, who had gone to send a message, came back.

'There were people in there! They're down!'
People?　Don't tell me you're Dorothea-Zamuels or something?
"I don't know what's going on, sir, but I think the three of them are stuck near the carriage.
Okay. I'll try.

　I used my 'flight' skill and entered the forest from the air.
　With Dick's guidance, I headed to the carriage that had been reported.
　There........there were indeed people down....three.

　It's a pitch-black forest, but since I'm originally called 'Vampire Lord', I have good eyesight at night.
　The people lying on the ground were humans wearing the robes of the Magic Guild. One is a man and two are women.

''I didn't see that in the daytime report, did I? These people.''
"I think he came to the forest after scouting...
...Order. The bat army is to be informed. No further entry into the forest, and to stand by for now.
Yes, sir.

　With a start, Dick flew away.
　I climbed down from the tree branch and made my way to the fallen sorcerer.
　I covered his face with a cloth, just in case.

'Are you okay?　You're from the Magic Guild!


　When I called out to her, one of the women looked at me.

'Oh, you're...'
'I've received a report. You're from the 'Magic Guild' just like me, aren't you?

　I'm not lying.
　I got a report from Dick and I'm from the Magic Guild.

"Well Dorothea-Zamuels ... is ... ...here. Just ... dangerous.
Danger?
"He took possession of the Reaper because he wanted to take possession of an ancient artifact that he had found inside the... ...

　With that, the woman lost consciousness.
　She's not dead. When I put my fingers to her neck her pulse is weak.
　It's as if her life force is deprived of life force.

Anyway, "Double 'body strengthening'...

　I reinforced myself and then carried the sorcerers out of the forest, carrying them on my back.
　I gather the bat army and send two of them to guard the bats.
　I wrote the 'Body Strengthening' and the emblem of attacking magic on the wings of the remaining ten bats, and we're ready to go.

''All of us will proceed in unison. If you feel anything unusual, get out of the forest immediately. Alright.
"'It's a choo-choo!'

　With Dick and the others in tow, I entered the forest again.




　The guild's top mages were splitting up to look for Dorothea.
　If she was here, she must have gotten some information.
　Then it's natural to assume that they were attacked and couldn't move.

　So Dorothea is no longer here?
　If they're here, why not run?

Well, you'll see that too.

　I move on, flying through the air.
　There's nothing wrong with Dick and the others. They haven't lost their strength, and there's no magic that's going to hit the 'anti-magic barrier'.
　I pulled out the staff at my waist.
　When I said I was going to go exterminate the demons, Roderea from the Grail Trading Company handed it to me.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of it. I was in a hurry, so she prepared one for me.

"Deployment 'anti-magic shell' - go!

　Swoosh.

　The wand flies ahead of us.
　Me and the bat army follow after it.
　The silver wand flies high, faintly reflecting the moonlight that enters through the leaves.
　I fly through the forest, using it as a guide.

　I've been going for 20 minutes, but there's nothing wrong.
　Ten more minutes and I'm ready to go home.



　Hmm.



"Gosh!
I know!　All hands on deck!

　Me and the bat army descended to the ground all at once.
　At the same time, a gray light passed through the place we were at.

　The staff that was ahead of us was swallowed by the light.
The wand automatically deploys the shield of the "anti-magic barrier". It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

"──what was that........

　I pick up my wand.
　The crest was gone. And it's running out of magic.

　The magic power was sucked out........no, no.
　Considering the state of the magicians earlier, it seems that their life force itself was sucked out.

A vampire ray..........................

　That's why the sorcerer was down earlier.
　I don't know of any magic like that.

''Well that's bad.
'What do you want to do? 'The Five Peoples'
Dick and the others will be far away. I'll give you the signal.

　I gave them a plan.

　Now, we'll see what happens.
　I don't mind if we leave here.

　I went outside in the middle of the night and I heard screaming, which brought me inadvertently to the Black Forest. I found some people who had fallen and helped them. They said they saw Dorothea-Zamuels," he said.
　The higher magicians will come to the Black Forest.
　But then again it would be too risky for them to escape. And besides...

It's just not a very pleasant thing to unleash this kind of wicked magic on a world where Iris and Martha are around.
Come out. Intruder.

　A voice came from out of the darkness.
　It's a woman's voice.

"You 'magic guild' dog. This is your chance. You will be a testament to my legacy of ancient artifacts.
Bullshit.
.........lie?
'Ancient artifacts' are supposed to be useless.

　I said.

"I learned that in the Guild. I learned in the guild that 'antiquities' were useless in times of war. They must have been sealed away. What use is that stuff?
Well yeah, I guess so.

　Beyond the darkness, the woman seemed to laugh.

'Because of that treacherous sage, the 'Ancient Artifacts' were sealed. But not all of them have been sealed. The strongest one - the one with the most strength - was only imperfectly sealed. And that is - this.


　Whew.


　I heard something move.


　Whew. Twinkle.

　Clank, clank, clank.


　Is it a piece of armor?
　No ... I've never seen armor like that.

　The one that appeared from the other side of the darkness was a woman with a jet black something (...).
　This "something" - how can we describe it?

　It was twice the size of a human adult.
　Probably twice as wide as a human adult.
　Her whole body was made of something like metal. It has a human shape.
　If I had to describe its appearance alone, it would be 'bulky and ornate armor'.
　However, it has two other arms on its back. They are shining gray and moving undulating.
　Its color is just like the 'vampire ray' we saw earlier.

　Inside the armor - it looked like someone was in it........
　I don't know.
　The only thing I could see through the gap was a face. It was limp and didn't move at all.

"'Ancient Artifact' - 'Spiritual King (Lord of) Horsemen (Phantom)'

　The woman said.

''The survivors of our 'Sanctuary Church' have passed it down from generation to generation. By adding the bishop's spiritual body to this, the strongest weapon that can move infinitely is...
Activate 'Efreet Blows'.


　Do do do do do do!


　For now, I aimed at my arm and fired.

　But..........the fireball I started to shoot disappeared by hitting the Ancient Instrument Armor - the Lord of the Rings Phantom.
　They weren't even shot. It's just a matter of being sucked into the air.

It's useless.
Interesting. Just like the life-destroying ray of light that was fired earlier, the surface has a mechanism to take away magic power. That's why the 'ancient magic' is useless even if it hits, and the higher level magicians couldn't do anything about it even if they fought it.
Who are you?
Who are you?
My name is Dorothea.

　The woman said.
The opponent who had been hiding in the shadow of the 'Spiritual King Rider' appeared.
　He has long green hair and is wearing a black robe.
　She has slit eyes and a slight smile on her face.

　It's something........there was this guy in a previous life. Guys like this.
　He looks just like the holy knights who pushed Lyle to the front and came from behind him.

'The treacherous sage──the successor of the 'Sanctuary Church' that was nearly destroyed because of him──the one who is in charge of the third new bishop.
I've seen what a pain in the ass you can be.
...Is it too much trouble?
'I was wondering why you taught Gaiel-Wolfgang the 'Spirit Bishop Summoning Technique'. But when I saw that 'Spirit King Rider', I understood. That's the type of 'ancient artifact' that uses the human inside to move, right?

　The people inside, visible through the cracks, are limp.
　He's pale.
　I've seen this face many times in previous lives. It's the face of a man who has lost his life force and is about to die.

"Let's assume. It's powered by the magic and life force inside of it... so the person it's used on is bound to die. Who would want to use such a thing when they know they're going to die? So we can assume that he's using magic or something else to control his mind.
Who the f*ck are you?
'But it's a pain in the ass to do that every time. But it's a different story if you're a person possessed by a necromancer bishop. The Dead Spirit Bishop doesn't care about the death of the body. He just needs to possess another person. Then you can control that ancient artifact indefinitely...
Kill him!　"The Spirit King (Lord of) Horsemen (Phantom)!
"Dick!
It's on!　"Force the Earth!


　Thud!


　The ground shook.

　Countless spears of rock flew out of the ground in response to the voices of Dick and the others (...).
　Earlier I wrote the emblem of 'Earth God's Dance' on the wings of the entire bat army.

　That is the magic that Odette used to use to make the rock spears fly out of the ground.
It doesn't work on the "Spiritual King's Horseman", but it works on Dorothea-Zamuelus.
　Moreover, if you fire them all at once, the ground will shake.
　It should be enough to stop them from moving.

''You can't blind me!
"Foaoaoaoaoao!

The Spiritual King's Horsemen waved their arms.
　Countless spears of the rock disappeared in quick succession.

　But I've bought myself some time.
　I took the time to hide behind the trees.

"There's no point in stalling for time. Magician's boy.

　Bun, the 'Spirit King Rider' waved his arms.
　The tree breaks and blows away.
　I roll over and move further into the forest.

''Give up. Give up, sorcerer's boy. This 'Spirit King Rider' was prepared to destroy the 'Magic Guild'. A sorcerer's natural enemy. They are the natural enemy of sorcerers. ''Warriors Knight.''

　You're right. My natural enemy.
　A mysterious beam that robs life force and magic power, and an anti-magic coating.
　Probably, even if I showered it with "magic blood" and "hacked" it, it would be rejected.
　The only way to hack it is to put a scratch on its surface and pour magical blood on it, but....

It's just a matter of time. Let's prepare a weapon that we can use.

　I injured my finger and scattered the Mystel Blood on the ground.



With my blood as a catalyst, I summon my family!


　I draw the emblem of "Summon Ancient Magic" on my hands.
　I invoke the magic.

　The one who summons me isn't Iris.
　I have one more relative - another one.
If it's possible to summon Iris - Alice who has received magical blood - then it's possible to summon him as well.

The one that is connected to me through the "Mystel Blood".
　The one that gave me the life of reincarnation.
　The one that has been immersed in my Myster Blood for 200 years.
　The one that has been immersed in my magic blood for 200 years, the one that sucks in my magic power and calls me 'My Lord'.


I summoned you to come here. My family, the Holy Sword Lean Kaal!


You!

　Dorothea-Zamuelus and the 'Spirit King Rider' start to move.
　They are slow.

　I've already drawn my silver holy sword.
I'm going to use my "Boosted" double, and I'm going to sneak into his bosom....

"......

The arm of the Spiritual King's Horseman fell off.
　I knew it.
　Even if you can't understand a sword or a spear, the same ancient artifact can still be used to kill him.

"What the hell, what the hell. What the hell is wrong with you?　Why!　How can the 'Spiritual King Rider' slay!　Why!
It's just an aging process.

　I also cut off the 'Spirit King Rider's' extra arm with the holy sword.
　Now the 'Vampire Ray' can no longer be shot.

''Then let me ask you to tell me. Dorothea-Zamuels.

　I pulled the sword on Dorothea.

"You say. "You mean the traitorous wise man? You know, I just had a feeling that I knew the guy pretty well. So I'm going to ask you a little more information.