Chapter 196 - Fortification of the Village

(Verc’s POV)

"..."

I opened my eyes as soon as I regained consciousness.

The pain was gone... And my body... I felt completely fine like nothing had happened.

Though I do smell like shit because of the dried blood that clung onto me.

The dark, crusted fluid covered my clothes and skin, cracking and flaking off onto the stone floor as I shifted my weight. The stench of iron was thick in the room, but beneath that unpleasant mess, a strange, overwhelming sensation stirred within my core.

What I noticed the most was that I felt powerful. It feels like if I move too much or recklessly, I will accidentally destroy things.

My internal mana didn’t just refill; it had expanded to an absurd degree, buzzing beneath my skin like a tightly coiled spring.

Every small movement felt unusually light, yet packed with a terrifying amount of force!

I didn’t gain any new abilities from Morcant because I already got his exclusive teleportation skill—But I feel my strength, mana, and overall prowess jump by a lot of levels.

I did expect to get stronger. After all, it was a demon king’s blood that I had just consumed.

But I didn’t expect to change this much. I felt my body leaner, taller, and more posing.

The physical container of my vessel seemed to have refined itself to accommodate the massive influx of raw power, sharpening my posture and raising my presence to an entirely different tier.

I stood up from the floor, and looking at my hands—

"I need to get to work."

I mumbled that.

*****

I used a bit of water magic and mana to wash away the thick layer of crusted blood from my face, hair, and clothes, making sure I didn’t smell like a slaughterhouse before stepping outside.

Once I cleared off the worst of it, I walked toward the heavy stone door at the exit of my private room and pushed it open.

CREAAAK—

As I stepped through the doorway, I immediately spotted two centaurs standing stiffly on guard duty on either side of the entrance, holding their spears tightly.

They were surprised to see me and bowed their heads before greeting me.

"L-Lord Verc!"

One of them stammered, his eyes wide with a mix of awe and sudden tension as he felt the subtle, suffocating pressure radiating off my presence.

"Be at ease."

I told them, and asked how long it had been since I entered the room.

"My lord... it has been two days since you locked yourself inside."

The guard answered quickly, keeping his gaze lowered.

Two whole days. I had been completely out cold on that floor for roughly forty-eight hours while my body digested Morcant’s essence.

I walked past them toward the open and looked up at the sky. The sun was high above the canopy, beaming bright and warm down onto the ruined village. It was the middle of the afternoon.

"Keep up the good work."

I said before leaving to find Tatum and the others after that.

... ... ...

I focused my mind, re-establishing the mental bond that connected me to my subordinates that drank my blood. The web of mana linked directly to Tatum and Diyael, showing me their exact locations.

I tracked their presence down, stepping past the long rows of stone beds where villagers were resting under the supervision of the scout team and guards.

The two of them were standing near a central stone desk, going over a rough list of names written on a piece of parchment. The moment they turned around and caught a glimpse of me, their eyes widened instantly.

I saw them flinch before bowing their heads and greeting me.

"Lord Verc."

Diyael spoke first, his deep voice carrying a trace of genuine shock. He, along with Tatum, could clearly sense the massive shift in my aura. It wasn’t something I could fully suppress yet; the raw density of a true demon king’s blood was practically oozing from my skin.

"How are things holding up?"

I asked, my voice steady as I stepped closer to them.

"Give me the full report on the situation."

Tatum straightened his posture, holding the parchment tightly in his hands as he immediately reported to me the current happening.

"Lord Verc, the transformation process for the villagers has mostly settled."

Tatum began, his tone serious.

"Half of the patients have successfully become vampires and survived. Their wounds have completely healed, and their physical conditions are fully stabilized. They are currently resting and adjusting to their new bodies."

He paused for a fraction of a second, his expression darkening slightly before he continued.

"A quarter of them are still fighting for their lives and in the middle of transformation. Their vital signs are fluctuating, but everyone is doing everything they can to keep them comfortable and monitor their progress."

Then, Tatum hesitated, his jaw tightening as he delivered the final piece of news.

"Then the rest... They all didn’t make it and died. Most of them were the most wounded ones and the young ones."

"..."

It became eerily silent around us after I heard that. I can’t hear anything around me.

The faint sounds of shifting boots, the distant murmurs of the guards, and even the rustling of the wind outside completely faded from my perception.

The children... and those who had suffered the worst under Morcant’s attack couldn’t endure the brutal, violent shock of the vampiric blood forcing its way through their frail, broken bodies. Even with my blood, their mortal shells were simply too damaged to survive the process.

A cold, heavy rage settled deep in the pit of my stomach again.

It wasn’t a wild, exploding fury like before, but a freezing, hollow wrath that made the air around me drop several degrees in temperature.

Morcant was already dead. His head was currently rotting on a wooden stake near the human border, and his remaining blood had been completely drained and digested by me.

Yet, the lingering consequences of his mindless, arrogant raid were still taking lives right in front of me.

’I gave them my blood... and it still wasn’t enough to save them all.’

I thought to myself, my eyes staring blankly at the stone floor beneath my boots.

I clenched my hands into tight fists. The sheer realization that even with all this new, terrifying power, I couldn’t undo the deaths of those who had already passed made my chest tighten with deep frustration.

Diyael and Tatum remained completely silent beside me, bowing their heads low as they felt the terrifying, ice-cold pressure rolling off my body. Neither of them dared to speak a single word, leaving the heavy silence to linger in the wide stone hall.

I forced a slow, deep breath into my lungs, pushing the dark mana back down beneath my skin.

"Where are the bodies?"

I asked, my voice dropping into a quiet, unreadable tone.

"We... we moved them to a designated area behind the facility, my lord."

Tatum replied softly, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground in frustration as well for our losses.

"We prepared them respectfully, as you instructed before."

"Show me."

I commanded simply, taking a step forward.

Tatum and Diyael immediately turned around, leading the way down the quiet corridor toward the back exit of the shelter.

As we walked, the surviving villagers who had successfully turned into vampires looked up from their stone beds. They saw me passing by, and one by one, they instinctively bowed their heads in deep reverence.

Their newly acquired vampire senses could feel the absolute authority radiating from my core, recognizing me not just as the master who saved their lives, but as their absolute monarch.

We stepped outside into the afternoon sun.

Behind the temporary facility, a long, quiet clearing had been cleared away. Laid out in orderly rows on top of clean stone slabs were the bodies of those who hadn’t survived the night—the brave orc warriors who had stood their ground at the gates, the elderly gnolls, and the young ones who were simply too weak.

I stopped at the edge of the clearing, looking down at the quiet faces of my fallen people.

’This is the reality of this world...’

I thought, my red eyes narrowing as I looked over the silent field.

’If you are weak, others will come to destroy your home, butcher your people, and treat your existence like nothing more than a minor inconvenience.’

I raised my head, looking past the clearing toward the vast, green expanse of the Cursed Forest stretching out toward the horizon.

Morcant was just the first. The world now knew that a new demon king ruled this territory, and whether they came with fear, curiosity, or open hostility, more threats would eventually knock on our gates.

I turned back to Tatum and Diyael, my face completely blank, but my eyes burning with an unshakeable, absolute resolve.

"Tell the scouts and the builders to clear out the rest of the ruined village tomorrow morning."

I ordered, my voice cutting through the quiet afternoon air like a sharp blade.

"We are not just rebuilding this settlement back to how it was. We are going to fortify every single inch of this territory. No one will ever step foot into our home and pull a stunt like this again."

"Understood, Lord Verc."

Tatum and Diyael answered in unison, bowing their heads deeply as the future of our domain began to take shape.