Chapter LI

  "Finally! Something’s working in my favor." Jerome can hardly believe what he just heard. Nero genuinely seems pleased with how things are unfolding.

  For a moment, Jerome wonders if the mage has finally cracked under the despair of falling into this trap. But on the other hand, the young man still appears as confident as ever. And Nero always seems to have something up his sleeve. Jerome turns his gaze back to the vampires, hoping this is yet another of Nero’s tricks, proving the mage’s unyielding resourcefulness.

  “That bastard... he’s the mage,” says a familiar voice, one that Jerome recognizes as the vampire with the distinctive roll of his r's, the one they thought Nero had already destroyed.

  “Oh! Who is he? I had a feeling you managed to escape,” Nero replies, clearly amused, and seemingly recognizing the vampire.

  “Damn you! Let’s see how long you keep ughing. Prepare to pay for what you did.” The vampire steps forward, allowing Jerome a better look.

  Jerome hadn’t seen him clearly before, so he can’t compare precisely, but it’s evident the vampire may have survived Nero’s fireballs, albeit not without consequences. He has several burns and appears unable to move one of his arms.

  “Calm down, Vanus, calm down. I assure you, they’ll regret what they did,” says the other vampire, stepping into view as well. Dressed like a nobleman in dark colors, he holds himself in a way that leads Jerome to conclude he must be the leader of the vampires.

  “What we did?” Nero’s curious voice interrupts the vampires. “Oh! You mean surviving. Yes, we should just let you guys feed on us!!”

  The vampires say nothing, though Vanus throws a deadly gre at Nero, who, as usual, appears completely unbothered. “It’s quite an unappealing situation. How about this? Why don’t you leave now while you still can?”

  The vampires’ ughter echoes through the cavern. Standing on Nero’s side as he spars, feels strangely reassuring to Jerome. The mage’s composure, his arrogance—it all suggests he still sees a way to survive.

  As Jerome and Sab move closer to Nero, who remains seated on the ground, they exchange gnces. Jerome finds in Sab’s look the same hope he feels himself, and a willingness to take the risks Nero might choose for them.

  Seres also approaches Nero, and with him, there’s no need to wonder what he’s thinking. If anyone here is certain of Nero’s victory, it’s the young blonde. Together, they close ranks in front of the mage.

  The vampires will have to defeat him if they want any chance of victory, and they’re ready to defend him at all costs. In a way, even trapped in this snare, this is their greatest advantage.

  “I don’t find it funny,” Nero’s calm voice rings out, now devoid of amusement. “I’d say this is your only chance at survival.”

  “I don’t care how powerful your fireballs are. You still need to get out of there, and that won’t happen,” retorts the vampire leader.

  “Starving and thirsting to death won’t be pleasant, boy. Trust me, it wouldn’t be the first time we resorted to such means,” he says, gesturing toward the bodies in the cavern. Jerome swallows hard, feeling doubt seep into his heart amid his growing fear.

  Laughter echoes in the cavern lit by Seres’s magic, and Jerome doesn’t need to turn to know who’s ughing. Nero stops, but his voice retains an amused tone while talking.

  “Fireballs!?” Nero chuckles again before continuing. “You’re assuming I’ll use fireballs here! A brilliant pn to kill us, while you’d only have to hide from them.”

  It’s difficult to grasp what the mage means, as he seems to affirm the vampires’ position without revealing what he pns to do. Yet he still sounds confident.

  “I thought Mercy was simply young and inexperienced, but it seems you’re all incompetent.” Nero’s comment seems to come out of nowhere, leaving Jerome puzzled, though he’s grown accustomed to the mage creating confusion around him.

  “What does that mean?” the vampire leader asks, almost with disdain.

  “Alright. Can you answer a quick question for me? Oh, great vampire, mighty predator of the night.” His sarcasm is evident to everyone. For a moment, it seems Vanus will respond, but a look from the leader restrains him as if warning him not to take Nero’s bait.

  “I’ll assume I may ask,” Nero says, pausing briefly before asking his question. “How many hearts are beating down here?”

  The question is so strange that both Jerome and Sab look at Nero, who is still calmly sitting on the ground with a broad, confident smile.

  “Come on. Aren’t you supposed to have heightened senses as might predators? Surely you can hear our hearts beating, see the air leave our lungs, and feel the warmth radiating from our bodies, right?” His smile becomes almost manic as he speaks.

  He turns his head toward the mule, standing calmly beside him, as if oblivious to everything happening. As if the very ground hadn’t just vanished beneath them, leaving them in this pit. “You know, this mule stressed Mercy out quite a bit. But the poor thing never figured out why. Can any of you?”

  Jerome can only stare at the mage, struggling to understand what he’s getting at, but sensing that it must be important. Just as he had hinted at this strange animal’s nature before destroying Mercy, Nero is doing so again.

  “A… undead!” The vampire leader’s voice is low and hesitant, but it reaches Jerome’s ears clearly. Once again, he hears something, but the words make no sense.

  “Ding, ding! Congratutions, your grand prize is…!” Nero excims cheerfully, reaching out to grab the two nearby skeletons before closing his eyes and whispering something.

  For a moment, Jerome thinks he sees a dark mist flow from Nero to the skeletons. But whatever he may be seeing becomes irrelevant as the skeletons begin to move on their own.

  In just moments, they stood upright. One still wore a humble shirt, while the other was bare bones. Their eyes glowed with a weak golden light.

  All Jerome can think of as he witnesses this impossible sight is how they stay intact. After all, these two are just bones, with no skin left to hold them together.

  His thoughts are interrupted by Nero’s voice: “Go after them. Destroy any vampires you find.”

  The skeletons race forward. Jerome instinctively raises his dagger to defend himself, but they pass by him and Sab without a second gnce, climbing the dirt ramp that leads to the colpsed tunnel.

  “Necromancer!!” Sab’s harsh voice reaches Jerome, and once again today, he finds it hard to believe his own eyes. In a way, this feels like an even greater betrayal than Mercy’s. He’d understood that part of his attachment to her stemmed from the powers she possessed. But with Nero, he’d actually started to trust the mage.

  Only to discover this!

  One of the undead loses its footing and tumbles down the ramp, while the other slows its advance. The two vampires at the top of the ramp can only watch as the undead rises and begins climbing again.

  At this moment, Jerome—and likely the vampires too—know nothing will stop these undead from following their orders.

  The sight and the idea strike terror into Jerome’s soul. He remembers every tale of necromancers and their poor victims, unfortunate souls who could find no rest even in death, forced to obey the commands of these dreadful mages. And then, even their bodies wouldn’t remain for their families to y to rest.

  Just like these two skeletons, now under Nero’s control. In this instant, Jerome realizes the necromancer may be even worse than the vampires. At least they would simply drain him to death—a mercy Nero does not grant.

  The first undead creature reaches the top of the ramp, and the vampire leader attempts to kick it back down. Unfortunately for him, the undead grabs his foot and refuses to let go, even if it means they both fall. In this moment, he understands the terror of fighting a creature to whom death means nothing.

  The vampire leader’s luck is that his companion intervenes, and between the two, they manage to free him, sending the undead tumbling back down the ramp. But as they struggle, the other undead reaches the top unchallenged. Seeing this, the vampires flee, pursued by the undead. The st undead creature rises and begins his climb again.

  “Run, run!” shouts a delighted Seres as he watches the vampires’ desperate retreat. Hearing him, Jerome realizes Seres’s ck of surprise. This indicates the young man already knew Nero’s true nature—a logical assumption, as they are both mages traveling together. It’s not surprising now to think both of them are necromancers.

  "Shut up, you idiot," grumbles Nero as he stands up.

  "Sorry, it's just funny, watching them realize that their victory has turned into a total defeat," says the blond youth, grinning widely. "I could hardly hold myself back, waiting for you to act."

  "Quit your chatter, Blondie, and focus on finding a way for us to get out of here," snaps the necromancer, the irritation almost radiating from him.

  "But Nero, we don't need to rush now. They can’t possibly stand a chance against you," Seres says, slightly hurt by the necromancer’s sharp tone. Jerome begins to see the dynamic between the two in a new light. Noting how the blond is constantly put down by the necromancer.

  "They don't seem to hear as well as I was worried about, so," the necromancer starts, appearing to calm down a bit, "Listen carefully, you idiot. We need to get out of here as soon as possible before those vampires come back to kill us."

  “What? But…” Seres tries to object, sharing Jerome's confusion. The necromancer has just shown his hand; they are surrounded by bodies he could animate to fend off the vampires.

  "I only have enough magic left to cast about four more spells like that," Nero says, putting them at a disadvantage against the vampires once more.

  "But..." begins Seres, only to be interrupted by his master.

  "Look, this is one of the best necromancy spells there is. Only a few others could even compete," Nero says, aggression in his voice evident as Seres withdraws slightly. "This isn’t some garbage spell like that trash your te master used, and taught you morons."

  “This spell is what you would use to reanimate a mythical monster, so it’s one of the most magic-consuming spells out there. And my reserves will not st forever.” With this, Nero reveals knowledge Jerome suspects other mages would kill to obtain.

  “When they destroy those two undead, they’ll start figuring out how to deal with us. And I'd rather not be here when that moment comes," the necromancer finishes, scanning the cave as if studying it.

  "Destroy the undead?" Seres's question reveals his disbelief at that possibility.

  Without even gncing at the young mage, Nero responds, "Shouldn't be too difficult. After all, they were just low-level peasants, like everyone else here seems to be."

  "Peasants!" Sab’s voice beside him speaks up, though Jerome isn’t entirely sure what Sab means.

  "Yes, if there were warriors or mages among them, I could prepare a much more capable attack. If they were skilled, I might even defeat them. But these vampires only went after the weakest," Nero replies, viewing these deceased individuals. As nothing more than ingredients for his magic.

  An intense rage surges in Jerome, and he steps toward Nero, knife in hand, seeing him turn away. Sab stops him while grabbing his arm. To then look him in the eyes, and whisper, “Not now. First, we need to get out of here.”

  Jerome understands, though it’s painful to let it go while allowing Nero to continue exploiting innocent victims weighs heavily on him.

  As Sab meets his gaze, Jerome finds it ironic that Sab seems to be handling this revetion better than the discovery that Mercy was a vampire. Then again, he had never fully trusted Nero, which likely softened the impact of this discovery.

  With a deep, frustrated sigh, Jerome nods in agreement with Sab.

  "Nero, Nero! Look what I found!" Seres calls out, waving his arms to catch the necromancer's attention, holding what appears to be a book in his hand.