Len gives Ururu a smack in the neck.
“As for you. Do not press your lips to my beloved’s neck so. That is the sole right of his wife.”
She immediately changes into a human and catches Ururu as she slides off me. Of course, with the difference in body sizes, she looks like she’s hefting a big object rather than carrying someone.
“No… Not yet…!”
It seems Carmilla still hasn’t given up. She calls the young lady out from the shadow of her mantle, then puts her nails up against her neck.
“Did you forget the hostage is still in my hands? If this is jogging your memory, would you mind getting out of my palace?”
First she wants me to come in, and now she wants me to get out. I wish she’d make up her mind.
However, probably because of the holes I created, cracks are rapidly spreading through the palace walls. Crystal fragments start falling like raindrops, too. It doesn’t take a genius to realize I should probably get the heck out of here.
“Miss Carmilla, what do you intend on doing?!”
“Regrouping. As long as we have the girl, he can’t try anything.”
Ngh. She’s right. That is a problem.
More importantly, this blondie vampire is talking to a skull. It always struck me as a decoration in poor taste. Is he one of Carmilla’s?
Actually, that skull…isn’t that Lich? He’s so tiny now, but there’s no denying the voice.
He should be safely stored in our stomachs right now, but he must have survived.
Wait, does this mean we get a free replay?
As I slurp my drool back up, the skull yelps a little and starts to shiver.
Carmilla puts Lich in her pocket and glares at us.
“Squeak? (What will we do, beloved? Risk it all and everyone jump her at once?) ”
“Arwf. (No. If we had the element of surprise, maybe, but we can’t go right at her like this. Oh, Nahura, what about your teleportation? Hecate did that before, right? When she took back that elf the slaver captured.) ”
“Mrow. (With my humble control over magic, I don’t think I can transport myself between two people so close together. And I can’t activate it instantly like my mistress can.) ”
Hmm. So, it’s not that Nahura is bad, but that Hecate is too good. It would have been a big help if she were here, but there’s no use crying for the moon.
“Arwf… (What shall we do? Ah, wait…) ”
I notice something behind Carmilla. It’s the big hole in the wall. And visible through it, black ears poking out.
This might be our chance.
“What is your choice? If you dally, I’ll kill her.”
“W-woof, woof! (A-all right, all right! We’ll leave. Just don’t do anything to her!) ”
Still facing Carmilla, we back off, little by little.
“Get out of here already!”
“Arwf! (We are! Don’t rush us!) ”
Once we’ve backed off to the hole behind us, I select a few words that will draw Carmilla’s attention.
“Arwf, arwf. (By the way, Miss Carmilla, we’re both out of options here, so why not just put everything back to normal and call it even? We’ll stay out of poking our noses in places we don’t have any business being.) ”
“What?! You must be joking! Look how badly you’ve destroyed my crystal palace! You aren’t getting off for free! I will have my revenge!!”
Ohh, scary. Now the Demon Lord’s army definitely sees me as an enemy.
“Arwf. (Actually, it seems like you’ll be the one receiving vengeance first.) ”
“…?!”
Carmilla finally senses the danger. She automatically turns her attention to the direction my nose is pointed—at the nearest hole in the wall. That, however, is the exact opposite direction she should be concerned about, and Garo, who has crept up behind her like a black bolt of lightning, latches her teeth onto Carmilla’s arm—the one holding onto the young lady—and rips it off.
“Grwl. (Don’t make me say it again. The Fen Wolves will devour you even after death.) ”
Carmilla and Garo’s clash lasts an instant. Garo decides not to deliver a follow-up attack on the now-one-armed vampire, instead jumping over to us, with Lady Mary’s pajama-clad body held in her mouth.
“Woof! (Nice one, Garo!) ”
“Grwl, grwl… (My king, it is well that you are safe…! I am terribly sorry for my late entrance…) ”
“Arwf, arwf. (Don’t be. It’s because of you that the young lady is okay. Thank you. Wait, look at you! Why are you all beat up?!) ”
I couldn’t tell before from her black fur, but Garo’s legs are dripping with blood.
“Grwl… (No particular reason…) ”
Uhh, actually, there must be a very particular reason.
“Mew. (I’ll just use some healing magic on it.) ”
“Grwl… (Nahura? I’m sorry. Thank you…) ”
After jumping onto Garo’s back, Nahura covers Garo’s body with a soft light.
“You’re that Fen Wolf…! I mopped the floor with you, and you’re telling me you’re still alive…?”
“Grwl, grwl. (Your mistake was hating me, dirt-covered as I was, so much that you didn’t turn me. And now I’ve repaid the favor.) ”
We’ve rescued Lady Mary. Carmilla is gravely injured, having lost her left arm. The skull I think is Lich probably can’t even fight.
The tables have turned.
“Arwf. (If you want to surrender, I’m still willing to listen.) ”
“Ho, ho-ho-ho…”
Carmilla, head still hung, begins to laugh.
“Ho-ho-ho-hope you didn’t actually expect me to surrender. Did you?!”
She stands up, and a torrent of mana erupts around her, and we have to brace ourselves against the gust of wind.
“Fine… I don’t need any hostages. Sorry, Uncle. I’m killing all of them right now .”
Carmilla’s severed arm regenerates instantly. After clenching a fist to test it, she glares at us.
Oh, shit. She’s going berserk. The killing intent in her eyes almost makes me pee myself.
Her golden hair stands on end as her eyes flare up like red flames and her nails extend into the shape of sickles.
“This is my final plan. It wasn’t a coincidence that I chose this particular night to challenge you.”
Carmilla’s mantle flutters, and she puts strength into it as though she were going to grab hold of the moon floating in the night sky and take it.