Chapter 29: With a Red Light of Triumph in His Eyes, Part 5

The hero in the golden armor had managed to destroy the barrier protecting Dracula's castle. His name lacked importance, so it would remain unspoken. What mattered was his bravery and sacrifice.

And it was up to the warriors of humanity to ensure it wasn't in vain.

Now that they had a clear path, those who had already arrived in the city abandoned the citizens to approach the previously impenetrable gate.

The best way to save the greatest number of people possible wasn't to stay behind cleaning up the mess and helping citizens evacuate.

The monsters coming out of Dracula's castle were numerous and terrifying, but deep down, just like the castle, they were nothing more than shadows of their master.

In other words, this wouldn't end until the Prince of Darkness died.

They understood this, gathered, and organized the charge to reach the interior of Dracula's castle. The magical barrier had disappeared forever, irreparably, but there was still a barrier of flesh. Hundreds of salivating monsters, ready to devour any living being.

Naturally, Alex and Daniela participated in that charge. They were heroines of humanity who had been fighting to protect it almost as long as the hero in the golden armor. They wouldn't die so easily, although it was also difficult to feel alive in the midst of this hell.

They were walking on and through a river of blood and entrails. Both were so stained with blood, so sore and tired already, that they wouldn't notice if they started bleeding themselves. And this was just the beginning. No, it hadn't even reached the starting line. It hadn't begun.

"Come on, we can't falter here. It'll be much worse when we reach the first floor."

Someone who probably thought themselves a leader shouted above the chaos. Any previous attempt at organization had fallen apart once the charge began. There was no possible order in the midst of this hell, with carnivorous demons everywhere, with open, wet, and hungry jaws.

Yes, it would be.

To begin with, they had no idea what awaited them on the first floor and the following ones.

In fact, they didn't even know how many floors Dracula's castle had.

A view from outside allowed them to count seven floors.

However, legends spoke of the castle as an illusory territory where nothing made sense and everything could change at any moment. It could really be seven or seventy or any number in between. Once they entered the monster's territory, everything would be in the hands of the Prince of Darkness. However, they had no choice but to play his game depressingly.

The survival of the human race depended on it.

Alex brandished her sword once more.

Again and again, she couldn't stop, there wasn't even a second to breathe.

Her whole body was aching, numb, but her arms were the worst. She had the feeling that they would fall off if she kept forcing them like this. A ridiculous thought, of course, but it couldn't be helped.

She had had many longer missions, often with Daniela of course.

A particularly memorable one had been chasing a vampire through a frozen tundra for an entire week. It seemed short, but it had felt as long as months. A white void and each day the same as the previous one. In comparison, she had only been striving and fighting in this city for a few hours.

However, the intensity meter was always at one hundred and ten percent, so in reality, this hell was incomparable to the horrors she had faced in her short but long, very long life.

That's why she felt like her arms could tear off.

That's why she could barely keep going despite not having crossed the starting line.

If the situation was so desperate before entering Dracula's demonic castle, did they even have the slightest chance of defeating the greatest monster that existed, or at least making him sleep again to lick his wounds?

She didn't know, but this was how Alex lived.

She knew no other way to live.

She couldn't regret or let go of the only life she knew right at the end.

Yes.

She wasn't doing it for nameless strangers, but for herself.

This was her only pride.

She was a monster hunter, pure and simple, and if she had to die, she would do it with her boots on. Even if it turned out to be a meaningless effort in the end, it was much better to fall fighting than to wait for the end at home, like the millions of innocents who had already died.

But still, the tide of monsters was too overwhelming. Alex had the feeling she was drowning. If they weren't even able to cross the threshold, then...

Humanity had never had any chance against Count Dracula from the beginning.

So then, the life she had spent killing monsters and protecting people... had she wasted it? If things were going to end this way, what was all the blood, sweat, and tears for? She could have had a normal life. She could have enjoyed life and death like everyone else. Once you died, it didn't matter how you had lived your life. Not really. You would be nothing but a memory.

I wish my heart were made of stone, she thought.

Alex screamed.

She screamed until her throat was raw, and kept screaming. Her body filled with strength again.

She couldn't die here! Of course it mattered! If she failed, her whole life would have been a farce!

She had to win, she had to win, she had to win, she had to win!

Crush her enemies!

She redoubled her efforts. Her sword became a silver blur and she started using her shield more to attack than to defend, hitting the monsters with the sharp edge, crushing.

"Alex..." Daniela's voice.

Breathless, like her, like anyone.

It sounded as if she had never seen her like this, and she supposed it was true.

She had never seen her truly desperate before.

The charge was successful.

Dracula's army seemed unstoppable both on land and in the skies, but they managed to push them back enough to pass through the threshold and close the heavy doors behind them.

Hundreds of fists, tentacles, and claws crashed against the door, trying to break it down.

But they wouldn't yield.

Surely the doors of Dracula's castle were impenetrable even to his own army, or at least that's what everyone present definitely hoped. Alex saw the same hope wherever she looked, even if it wasn't very well-founded.

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Well, even if it held, who's to say they couldn't open it?

Now all they could do, in any case, was to move forward.

It was already too late to regret or reconsider. The fact was that they couldn't defeat all the monsters outside before entering. Even if they were theoretically capable, they would be crushed sooner or later by the numerical advantage. So this was the best they could do one way or another. As desperate as the situation seemed.

She didn't like it, but even if the doors opened right now or in five minutes, this situation was much better than the alternative.

Everyone understood this.

That's why there wasn't much fighting spirit to speak of.

The cruel world welcomed with open arms the opportunity to crush what little was left.

The ground began to shake, as if an earthquake was occurring, but it wasn't an earthquake at all. She realized immediately, although she wished she hadn't.

They were footsteps.

"Ready," someone said, probably the same asshole who had been shouting in the middle of the charge. He didn't understand that there were no leaders anymore, not really, nor any organization. Alex understood that it would be harder to survive like this, but she was strong enough to accept reality. Besides, she was used to fighting alone.

Hundreds of mages did just that.

Charging their energy, setting traps, for example, drawing symbols with magical energy or their own blood on the ceiling and walls.

More mundane traps like dynamite were also used. The pride of the Watchtower could be set aside when necessity pressed, as she had always known. She would have laughed if the situation wasn't so desperate. So much fucking hypocrisy.

And for what? To die like cockroaches on the first floor of Dracula's castle?

The door at the end of the hallway opened.

A door much larger than the entrance, and from the darkness inside emerged...

"Fuck me, we're all going to die."

A mountain of burning skeletons, joined in a vaguely humanoid shape. Its eyes were simply empty holes. There was a limit when you were made exclusively of skeletons, she supposed.

Of course, she should be worried about other things, but... fuck. She couldn't imagine winning against that monster. That was the first step of any fight.

Daniela and she weren't alone for a change, but still, she saw it as a tough situation.

And this was just the first floor.

If this monstrosity was the welcome party, what awaited them on the second? Or even just around the corner.

Fuck.

She felt like vomiting. Still, she raised her shield and sword.

She had no idea if they were capable of winning, but she had to fight. Otherwise, all the effort so far would lose meaning. That's why Alex was the first to advance towards the beast, ignoring orders, if anyone had pronounced any. They weren't an army in the first place. They were hunters accustomed to their individuality. Better not even try to pretend otherwise.

——

"Interesting. Interesting," Dracula muttered.

Cracking sounds echoed throughout the throne room. It was because Dracula was eating popcorn from a bowl. The suggestion had been from Davy Jones (of course, he had the best ideas) and Death had been the one who prepared them.

More importantly, they were delicious.

Not as much as pizza, not by a long shot, but somehow it felt right to eat these things while watching the show.

"Ah, I'm nervous, to be honest," said Dracula. "Our debut after a thousand years, holy shit. Death, do you think Joe has been impressive enough? Do you think he'll do a good job?"

"Who?" replied the tattered hood floating a few inches above the ground. "Oh, yes. Well, I think they're all, how would a human of this era say it? Scared shitless, sir."

"You think so?" Dracula asked, hopeful.

"Yes. It's obvious at a glance, my prince."

"Great."

Dracula continued eating his popcorn. Davy Jones told him they could also be eaten with butter. To each their own, but to him that sounded absolutely disgusting.

"Oh, it's starting, it's starting."

Dracula leaned forward, opening his mouth, letting his fangs gleam.

While bits of popcorn between his teeth were falling out.

"The massacre of the century."

——

The fight hadn't started well. Alex had barely avoided being crushed, first by the huge arm of the beast, second by a mountain of corpses. At least two dozen people had died in the first instant.

Daniela threw the spear at the creature's chest. Perhaps she had made the mistake of thinking that just because its shape was humanoid, it must have weak points, organs, in more or less the same places. It wouldn't be the first time she had warned her about it.

Well, it was a mistake to assume that something made of skeletons had organs in the first place.

It was alive by some dark magic, nothing remotely natural.

Vampires, to say something, were natural living beings. It made her want to vomit thinking that, but they were. That thing, however, was an abomination.

Neither more nor less.

In any case, Daniela's attack could be effective.

The spear multiplied by ten times, spreading through the creature's body, and exploding simultaneously.

She had expected that to happen, of course. It was impossible to fight side by side with someone for so long and not know all their little secrets, their aces up their sleeve.

However, it had no effect.

The smoke dissipated immediately and the giant didn't seem to be hurt. The repeated explosions hadn't even made it stagger. As said, it was an abomination.

The shadows around said abomination came to life. Like chains, they tied its arms and legs. That would have been better before Daniela's attack, of course, but as she had said there was no coordination. Not even an attempt.

But they did their best to take advantage of it anyway. Daniela launched herself between the abomination's legs, seeking to distract it, that is, barely avoiding being crushed like an insect, even though she had to fight against its bonds at the same time.

Then, at least half a dozen mages launched their attacks simultaneously.

Earth, water, wind and fire.

More esoteric things too, which couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Judging by the way the abomination's body sank, one of them might have used gravity magic, but the same effect could have been produced by too many things.

There was no way to know.

In any case, it had as much success as Daniela's solitary attack, and immediately afterwards the abomination broke its chains.

Daniela retreated, joining her again. Seeking the familiar, like any human. Their shoulders touched.

"This bastard is tough."

Alex swallowed.

"Yes."

"But we're tougher, huh?"

"Of course we are," she replied with a conviction she didn't feel at all.

She doubted that Daniela had as much confidence as she appeared to either. At least, she saw no reason for her to have it.

A guy approached her, already tired, like everyone else. He gave the impression that he wanted to be anywhere but here. As said, like everyone.

"You two look strong. I can clone you, but only one."

If he could make enough clones, maybe they would be able to defeat that monstrosity without anyone having to risk their life. But of course, life couldn't be that easy.

And only one of them two. Daniela looked at her.

"You do whatever with Alex, she's a better fighter than me. If it's safe."

"It is, it is. The clones aren't very smart, but at least, you know..."

"Then go ahead."

Daniela started running. There was no need to say more.

The guy, whatever his name was, at least finished quickly. Five copies of her appeared instantly as if they had always been there. They didn't even make any noise to mark their creation.

They must have had a basic programming already, so to speak, as they launched into the attack and didn't even wait for her, the original. Well, end. Alex started running, catching up with them soon, rejoining the battle.

If you could call it that. None of their efforts so far seemed to have made a dent in that damn abomination.

No, that wasn't the right way to approach it. She was desperate and had good reasons to be, but she wouldn't get anywhere if she didn't at least try sincerely.

It felt like she was spending more time complaining about how desperate the battle seemed than actually fighting.

So she tried, giving it her all.

Alex launched into a coordinated attack with Daniela, with her clones, and with the forces of humanity.

Humanity had resisted Count Dracula for a very, very long time.

When they could barely be said to have come down from the trees.

After so much progress, so much advancement, and why not say it, so much reproduction, why would they fall precisely now?

Why would they be the generation that failed humanity? Surely all the people in their position, the great heroes of legends and the nameless people who had died by hundreds, thousands, the bulk of the forces of any army, each and every one of them had felt the same.

They had felt there was no hope.

And yet they had triumphed.

Of course she could do it.

No, they could do it.

Alex, her clones, and well, anyone near the monster, anyone who didn't have a way to fight at long range, not only had to dodge the attacks of that abomination.

The powerful fists that made the earth tremble, its shakes.

Also all the attacks raining down on the monster. Of course, the mages did everything possible not to harm their own, to coordinate, to do things right.

But nobody was perfect and everything could change in a tenth of a second in the midst of the chaos of a battle. You had to pay attention to that too.

If they went in turns, attacking first with long-range magic and then physically, or vice versa, over and over again, it would be less dangerous. But less efficient.

A predictable pattern that wouldn't make the most of the forces gathered here.

In fact, one of them had already fallen that way.

One of the clones. Not a real life, but it was terrifying and very strange to see herself exploding, her organs and blood spreading everywhere. Although then to disappear without a trace in a flash of magical energy. The energy that had been used to build it was running out.

It wasn't something she wanted to see again, that's for sure.

Or maybe she did.

She found a guy whose magic must have been creating explosives, since that was all he was throwing at the abomination. A specialist. For her job, Alex had to be good at many things, better at nothing, she couldn't afford to specialize. Not if she wanted to live to see another dawn, but in this case it suited her.

She loaded the explosives onto the clones, and gathered them on the right arm of the abomination. It was quite simple. Apparently they had a tendency to follow her. When they exploded, of course, she was far from there. Jumping, grabbing onto a ceiling lamp, far enough from the explosions for it to matter.

The explosion made that damn bastard stagger backwards.

And when the huge cloud of dust, even bigger than the damn bastard in question, dissipated, she saw that he had lost his arm.

They all saw it.

That they could win, that they could do this, damn it!

With a Red Light of Triumph in His Eyes, Part 5: END