Just then, I saw from afar that Kathe and Nia were working quickly and efficiently.
Nia had immediately started to help the dragons after the battle was finished. She was a hard worker.
Her armor had broken in places and her head was wrapped in bandages. It would have probably been better if she rested.
“Leea. You should let Nia rest.”
“That’s what I said… But she said that she couldn’t when Shia was out there fighting.”
Nia was probably still nervous about that. And also scared.
Perhaps keeping herself busy helped with her anxiety.
“Nia! Come over here.”
“Yes!”
She replied cheerfully and ran towards me.
Her tail had swayed a little when she heard my voice. It suggested slight relief.
“Nia. I saw you fighting out there. You’ve improved so much. It was brilliant.”
“Thank you.”
I patted her on the head and her tail wagged.
“You did very well today. But I think you should rest now.”
“But, uh…I…”
“It’s very dangerous after an attack. There’s a possibility that they will attack again.”
“Yes. That’s why I want to help prepare…”
“But it’s also important to recover your energy. It will be no good if you couldn’t fight during the next attack. You are much smaller and have less energy than the dragons. You should rest.”
Leea took Nia’s small hand in her large dragon hand.
“He’s right, Nia. You should rest for a while.”
“But…”
“You can rest on my back. I was so happy when you saved me when I was attacked.”
“In that case…”
Leea was of the royal family and knew how to handle people.
And so a hammock was set up between Leea’s wings.
Nia got in.
It seemed like it would be comfortable as long as Leea did not move too much.
“Well, I have work to do. Leea. I’m going back to Eric and the others. Can I leave the rest to you?”
“Very well. Please be careful.”
“Yes, be careful.”
“Thanks. You two as well.”
And so I returned to the shed and reactivated the teleportation circle.
“Woah!”
A great sword rushed towards me. I was barely able to block it with the Devil King Sword and cut the enemy down as I stepped out of the circle.
“You’re back already!?”
Apparently, Eric had been using the shield for its original purpose.
I had popped out of the shield just as Eric was blocking the enemy’s greatsword.
“I nearly died.”
It was a good thing I hadn’t let Grulf go out first.
I would have to be more careful if we ever used a shield for this again.
“Groof!”
Grulf walked out cautiously.
“Eric, how are things going?”
“We somehow killed the one who seemed like the leader.”
“Both of us were fighting him and we still struggled. He was no ordinary High Lord.”
That being said, I didn’t think he was the ‘Most High King’ either.
Because there had been a similarly strong vampire in the water dragon settlement as well.
Shia and Serulis were fighting Arch Vampires and Vampire Lords.
Dorgo was flying in the sky and attacking the evil dragons. He looked as strong as ever.
And so I unleashed my own magic on the remaining vampires and evil dragons.
Eric and Goran had already killed all of the commanders and high-ranking vampires.
And so only the weak ones remained. It took a while, but it was not hard to wipe out the rest.
Serulis looked nervous as she held her sword up and said,
“Is it finished?”
“No, not yet. We have to go underground. Eric, Goran. Guard the entrance.”
“Very well.”
“Leave it to me.”
“I will go with you.”
“Groof.”
Grulf and Shia wanted to come with me.
And so we headed for the entrance that the vampire boss had stepped out of.
“There were a lot of exits that the vampires had crawled out of.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I had shot three fireballs.
And then the boss vampire and a swarm of lessers had flowed out of their holes.
There could still be more down there.
“Eric, Goran, and Serulis. You deal with them if they come out.”
“We know.”
And then I sent air down to the depths. And then we went inside.
“Shia, Grulf. Let me know if you notice anything.”
“Understood.”
“Groof.”
There was a room that had been carved out of solid rock. It was like a cave.
Shia went to inspect the piles of ashes on the ground.
“These are from dead vampires. It must have been from the fireballs. Oh, this… This one is from a Lord.”
She could tell their rank by looking at the magic stones that were in their ashes.
Anything above Lords had medals, which made them easy to single out.
And so we gathered all of the stones and continued walking.
The structure of the place was simple.
There was a path and a number of rooms on the sides like an ants nest.
They had doors once, but the fireballs had melted them.
And there were also numerous doors that led to the surface.
“It doesn’t seem like there are any survivors.”
“They probably all escaped after the fireballs.”
Before the doors melted.
“I guess it was a pretty effective attack after all.”
“It would not have done so much damage normally. It’s just that your fireballs are much stronger than most, Mister Locke.”
There was a mountain of burnt items at the end of the tunnel.
“What is this?”
“They look a little like the devices that they used for the evil god barrier.”
“Oh, they do…”
“Groof.”
It looked like the magic tool that had been used by the Vampire High Lord that Shia and I had killed together.
There were also half-melted fragments of what looked like an evil god statue.
“They clearly weren’t expecting to be attacked with fire.”
Their cursed tools were about to be destroyed, and so they had escaped.
“I think they did expect it…”
She pointed to the melted doors.
“They just didn’t realize how powerful your attack would be.”
The doors were apparently made of metal that was strong against such attacks. But they had still melted.
Yes, that would have been quite a shock for them.
And so I gathered the remains of the evil god idols and magic tools before we returned to the surface.