"We couldn't possibly send you there alone, Eli," Heracles said aboard the airship as we patrolled Ellynias. I knew it would come to this. They knew it was the best plan, but they weren't willing to sacrifice me. Cowards.

  I didn't speak of the plan any further, but it stayed alive in my mind. I did not want to give up on this plan. Because I knew this was the only way. Claire had done her best. However, she realized she could not possibly win against such an army. When the one-and-a-half million demons eventually landed, we would not stand a chance. I waited until we returned to Elderan, where I could steal a stash of feystones and depart for the enemy's homeland. Claire didn't care about the demons at all, so she didn't even spend an ounce of effort burying their corpses; she just had them piled up outside the city to avoid a plague.

  Deep into the night, I left a letter explaining my decision to the group at the table. They were running ragged, trying to hold off waves of demons while I sat back doing nothing lately. I couldn't even fill up feystones. I couldn't stand that, so I decided to assault their fortress alone. Even if I died in the process, I could at least take a significant portion of their population with me. The Kinslayer Law was still in full effect in their homeland and central settlers' hub. If I could infect just one of them, their entire tribe would be at risk. Four billion people—all crammed onto one continent—almost half the population of Earth. If a zombie apocalypse happened, there would be no stopping it.

  I could only imagine how crowded their continent was. I was sure a zombie apocalypse or even epidemics had never crossed their minds. With water mages, any tribe that fell ill could simply heal themselves with magic, so they had no fear of epidemics or illness. All of the demons were mages, after all. Their only problems would be war and killing, which were banned by kinslayer law. I remembered an experiment from Earth called "Rat Utopia."

  Rat Utopia was an experiment conducted by some scientists on Earth. He created a utopia for mice to observe their behavior in a cramped environment. In these conditions, the rats began to display strange behaviors such as killing each other, refusing to move, and even cannibalism. I wondered if the king had started this expansion to curb the downsides of such a "behavioral sink.". By giving his people purpose, he tried to prevent this behavioral perversion.

  I sneaked into the barracks and went straight to the feystone warehouse. I stuffed as many feystones as possible into a sack and headed to the stables behind the lab.

  The dragon was sleeping soundly. Using my dark magic, I could rouse and control it better than the soldiers or guild members could. And so, It woke up. It acknowledges me as its new master. I soon climbed onto its shoulder, and the dragon flapped its wings almost silently.

  "HIEEK!" I stifled a scream as we lifted off the ground on unsteady footing. It was honestly terrifying. The dragon's neck shook much more than a horse's, and even though I was undead and unlikely to die from falling, however scary things are still scary!

  Thankfully, my fear of heights only lasted a moment. Once I reached a high enough altitude, the view was breathtaking. Still, the lack of reins or a saddle made me hesitant to look down. So, I made reins from my magic and secured myself to the dragon by tying myself into it. It gave me some sense of safety, though it definitely didn't feel safe enough. The shaking and instability when flying still send my heartbeat jumping.

  I headed to Ellynias, the fort Claire had abandoned just days ago. Demons were prowling there. I planned to land at a distance, afraid the demons might attack my dragon. However, if I left the dragon unattended, someone else might steal it while I wasn't looking. This whole plan would go up in smoke if I lost the dragon.

  "Ralph! Let's charge in from the side. Be careful," I whispered to the dragon, whom I had named Ralph. It moved stealthily, though still far from matching my level of stealth. Moreover, its white scales didn't help at all. Thankfully, the demons were scattered and sparse.

  The demons had made several makeshift shelters for themselves inside the ruined city. My stealth still worked, but when I got too close, the demons could sense me because of my mana. I struck fast—there were only four of them. After slitting their throats and biting them, I went into their barracks and killed the ones who were sleeping, too.

  "So, where is the demons' homeland? When you came here on a ship, what direction did you take? How long was the trip, and where are the settlers?" I started my interrogation. The city wasn't entirely safe yet, but my goal wasn't to liberate it—it was to find their home.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Northeast. The settlers' hub is in the north. Two months' trip."

  "Thank you. You can go and attack the other demons in one hour."

  I left the city. Soon, screams from the vampire attacks echoed through the streets of Ellynias and soon silenced. They no longer had Kinslayer law here, so my attempt was fruitless. Ralph was a good boy; even though he was huge and had white scales, he blended well with the rubble. Nevertheless, it was time to go.

  I headed north. They'd said it took two months to reach the settlers' hub on that island. If this dragon was faster, I should be able to get there in about a week or two. I still had plenty of feystones, enough to survive this journey and back. Thinking about the return trip, I decided to divide the feystones in half: one part for the journey and one for the return trip. That way, I'd always be able to come back.

  "Do I want to return?" I whispered. Even as a vampire, I dreamed of the time I'd spent back at the academy. I wanted to see Safira and Nana again. Together with Alicia, we'd been best friends.

  I thought I'd face an endless expanse of ocean, but that wasn't the case; small islands dotted the sea less than a day into my journey. Since it was already evening, I decided to rest there. I couldn't tell which direction was north or south without the sun. Ralph curled up like a dog, and I slept in his embrace. His hard scales were uncomfortable, but I didn't have a choice. It was a lot better than the ground. I didn't want some bugs crawling me while I was asleep.

  "I really am reckless," I muttered as I began to doze off. This body doesn't feel tired, but thankfully, I'm still capable of sleeping. I soon drifted off as the evening sky darkened. This small island was safe. It was too small to house any animals larger than rats or pigs. There was no sign of monsters, either.

  In the red sky of my dreams, countless corpses formed a mountain. I climbed the familiar slope once again. There, a monument made of stones stood, asking if I wanted to form a contract with the Reaper Comet. Of course, I said no. Like Elidranthia, I sat there, leaning on the monument and staring at the red moon.

  I had killed many more demons, yet the mountain didn't seem to change. I must have killed so many that even a hundred or two hundred more corpses didn't affect it. The place was quiet, serene, yet gloomy. The whispers of the dead seemed to linger, and the haunting red moon seemed to smile gleefully.There was nothing to do, so I lounged idly.

  I woke up shortly after and found the dark sky gradually turning blue on the horizon. After feeding Ralph his daily feystone and munching on some myself, we set off. A moving island was spotted in the distance; another of the demon settlers' ships was heading toward our continent. I ignored it. I had bigger fish to catch. As expected, they were going south. I went in the opposite direction, hoping to find their hub.

  Several monsters flew in the skies, but recognizing Ralph and me as fellow monsters, they ignored us. That evening, I hopped onto another island to rest. After seven days and nights of travel, I finally found what I might have been looking for: a massive landmass. Demons were attaching their ships to it and then detaching them to send toward our continent. Surprisingly, the landmass was man-made.

  I descended onto a less crowded part of the island. Surprisingly, they didn't launch an attack. Instead, one of their superiors approached me. Not all of the inhabitants in this ship were demons; various animals and other humanoid creatures were present, though chained, suggesting they were actually slaves.

  "Halt! You are landing before the central hub for settlers. State your purpose. Who is your master?"

  "Are you demons?"

  "We are not demons! We are Leymen of the Central Continent, sent to occupy the southern realms as our lord requires it for our empire! You will be accused of disrespecting Leymen! Name your master! All of you shall be punished!"

  "I have no master." I dashed at him and bit him.

  "Attacking a Leyman is against… Ugh… AAGHH!" The demon began to convulse, soon transforming into a vampire. His hysterical shouts roused the other demons, who quickly gathered and fired spells at me, but I parried them with my dark magic. Ralph, my dragon, leaped around, fleeing in panic. Chaos erupted as my vampire infected others, spreading the curse further.

  The demons stopped attacking me, instead turning their magic to incapacitate their infected comrades. I sighed in relief; the Kinslayer Law was still in effect. I was impressed that these demons, evil as they were, still obeyed their king's laws so faithfully.

  As my horde grew larger, I felt power surge through me. My body felt hot as the vampires sent their mana to me as a tribute to their queen. Then, a familiar message box appeared before me:

  [Evolution possible. Evolution path:

  Vampire Princess

  Lich

  Wight]

  "I see. an evolution. As expected, I am no longer human..." I nodded. Monsters could evolve, and this proved that I was no longer human. Still, I preferred to retain a human form, so I chose Vampire Queen. I had no idea how the Lich or Wight forms would look; some were humanoid, but most were skeletons.

  The heat of the mana receded, and I felt no different than before. Ralph, seeing that the demons no longer even spared him a glance, joined the counterattack. I felt something behind me—it was a wing. But when I looked at the bat-like wing that had just grown behind me, I realized with a start the absurd blunder in my evolution.

  "Why are the wings white?!" I screamed at the heavens as a pair of white wings, identical to Ralph's, stretched out behind me. After I grew used to them, I felt a sense of camaraderie with Ralph as we used our wings to enhance our leaping power. When we fought together, I quickly noticed that my wings were magic-resistant and tough enough to block the demons' spells.

  Amid the ever-growing horde, I continued to fight. Thankfully, I could hide my wings when needed.