"..."
Silence.
An unbearably oppressive silence.
Riezel and Euryale, who had turned into a vampire, confronted each other—you look at me, I look at you—yet neither made a sound.
Riezel stared fixedly at the vampire woman before him, his eyes flashing with a crystalline gleam as he locked onto her every movement, as if the moment she made even the slightest move, he would immediately react.
Euryale, on the other hand, tilted her head slightly, meeting the gaze of the human man before her, looking both curious and doubtful as she stared at him, her thoughts completely unreadable.
Just like that, the two of them stood locked in a standoff, making the air grow ever heavier with every second.
"Mm..."
In that moment, Lizbeth, who was held in Riezel's arms, seemed to have broken free from her state of charm as her unfocused eyes began to gather clarity, and a faint moan escaped her lips.
Euryale's attention was drawn by that moan as her gaze shifted slightly, falling upon Lizbeth in Riezel's arms, the red glow in her eyes growing brighter.
Seeing this, Riezel instinctively called out to her.
"Euryale Reinnail."
As soon as this name was spoken, Euryale reacted—her brows furrowed faintly, her eyes blinked once, and then she turned back toward Riezel.
"Euryale Reinnail."
Seeing this, Riezel called her name again.
"..."
Euryale stayed silent, offering no reply—whether she couldn't speak or just didn't want to, no one knew, since she only kept looking at Riezel, blinking her eyes quietly.
Her behavior made Riezel pause for a moment before he finally spoke.
"I'm your creator and your master. Remember my name. I am Riezel Brynhart. You must obey my commands, understood?"
Riezel spoke neither forcefully nor softly, but more like he was stating an objective fact—his tone carried no rise or fall, yet it held a strange persuasiveness.
"..."
Euryale still didn't answer, but her gaze on him shifted again, which let Riezel get a sense of her condition.
'She has intelligence, but like a newborn child, her understanding of the outside world is still at its earliest stage.'
'She doesn't seem to have memories from her previous life, but she instinctively responds to the name Euryale Reinnail.'
'She's still in the process of recognizing me, of comprehending the current situation, so she won't refute my words, nor will she feel repulsion toward them, because she doesn't yet know what opposition or rejection even means.'
Quickly seizing this realization, Riezel began to act.
He gently laid the still-groggy Lizbeth against the wall so she could rest, then slowly walked toward Euryale.
"..."
Euryale blinked again, her slender hand twitching slightly as though she wanted to do something.
"Don't move."
Riezel spoke at just the right moment, halting her.
Euryale's body stiffened slightly, and once again she tilted her head in puzzlement.
As though he had not noticed any of this, Riezel walked straight up to her.
"Hold out your hand."
Riezel extended his hand toward Euryale and gave the command.
Euryale blinked her eyes again, then, after a few seconds, extended her hand and placed it on his.
"Now, the other one."
Riezel extended his other hand, issuing the next command, but this time Euryale did not comply.
Because his other hand was still split open and torn, with blood flowing freely from it, the fresh blood drew Euryale's attention, stirring her hunger as her eyes locked onto it, unable to look away.
"Hold out your other hand!"
Ignoring it, Riezel gave the command again in an even colder voice, exerting his control over Euryale.
"..."
Euryale hesitated, but after a moment she obediently extended her other hand and placed it in his.
"Good."
Riezel nodded in satisfaction, then flicked his finger, making a drop of blood shoot toward her.
Instinctively, Euryale opened her mouth and caught it, swallowing it down—her throat moved slightly, and then she revealed an expression of pure enjoyment.
"Sit."
Riezel spoke again, issuing a new command.
Euryale obeyed reflexively, sitting down on the spot, yet whether intentionally or unconsciously, she sat in a duck-like posture, her head tilted upward slightly as she gazed at Riezel.
Such a sight, it had to be said, was exceedingly alluring, which made Riezel's movements falter for a split second, but he quickly composed himself.
Next, Riezel gave Euryale several more commands, and each time she complied, he rewarded her by feeding her his blood.
Through this repeated process, Euryale grew increasingly compliant with Riezel's commands, and at the same time, his control over her strengthened, while the faint spiritual link between creator and creation grew far more solid.
If a sharp mind had been present to witness what Riezel had done, they would have realized that he was taming Queen Euryale Reinnail.
Honestly, there was no other way.
Euryale's power as a vampire was far too great for Riezel to completely control, so he could only use this method to deepen his control over her—dulling her instinct to resist while planting deep within her the conviction that he was her master.
Only at this point did Riezel finally have the leisure to observe Euryale more closely, attempting to assess her condition.
'As expected, this queen really has turned into a vampire—an undead.'
'But… what kind of vampire has she become?'
'Clearly, she's not a low-tier vampire.'
Judging from Euryale's appearance alone, she should have been a Vampire Bride.
In YGGDRASIL, vampires leaned more toward monstrous traits, which caused most of them to have grotesque appearances, not the handsome or beautiful forms spoken of in typical novels.
Especially True Vampires, with mouths split to their ears, fangs stretching down past their jaws, skeletal limbs tipped with claws several dozen centimeters long, and rows of razor-like teeth packed into their gaping maws, along with long, slimy tongues that made them look like lampreys—the very sight of them could shatter one's sanity.
It could be said that to still charge at such a horror was what marked one as a true warrior.
In YGGDRASIL, the higher the tier of their vampire race was, the more monstrous their form became. Only extremely rare types like Vampire Brides retained beautiful appearances among the undead, which was why Shalltear kept Vampire Brides as her attendants rather than higher-tier undead.
As for Evileye, the so-called Landfall, though she was a vampire, she did not belong to YGGDRASIL's vampire lineage but was instead a native vampire of the new world, where players were transported after the game's closure—an original vampire race from another world.
Because of that, Evileye was able to maintain the appearance of a beautiful human maiden, unlike the hideous vampires of YGGDRASIL.
Meanwhile, given Euryale had also maintained her beauty, just as she had in life, by all rights, that marked her as a Vampire Bride.
Yet Vampire Brides were low-tier vampires, whose level never exceeded Level 30, and in the world of Overlord, any being who stepped into the Realm of Heroes could easily defeat them.
Euryale, however, was clearly no low-tier vampire.
On the contrary, Euryale was exceedingly high-tier—perhaps even above an ordinary True Vampire.
Judging by YGGDRASIL levels, she had undoubtedly surpassed the maximum of Level 100, where even Shalltear herself would only be able to bow before her. Anything less would not match Euryale's earlier display of power, since she was, after all, a vampire who had wounded Riezel in just a single exchange.
A being of Euryale's level could not possibly be an ordinary True Vampire.
'If I remember correctly, True Vampire is actually just a general term for powerful vampires, and within it, there are terms like Progenitor and Cainabel...'
'Could this queen be a Progenitor… or even a Cainabel?'
Progenitor and Cainabel were the two strongest True Vampires in YGGDRASIL.
Especially Cainabel, regarded as the origin of the vampire race, one of the gods in YGGDRASIL's lore, infamous as a boss-level monster where even max-level players could not hope to defeat her one-on-one.
Shalltear's lineage included the bloodline of Cainabel, and Evileye was also a partial Cainabel, but their Cainabel bloodlines were far too low, so they were at most classified as Progenitor, not Cainabel.
In other words, neither was worthy of being called a god of vampires.
By contrast, judging from Euryale's earlier display, Riezel would not have doubted if someone claimed she was a god of her race.
However, the problem was—
'Progenitors are said to look even more monstrous than an ordinary vampire, and Cainabel isn't supposed to look much better either…'
Neither description fit the breathtakingly beautiful young woman before him.
'Could it be that this queen, like Evileye, is a special type of vampire?'
Riezel was uncertain, but the only thing he was sure of was that Euryale was a monster—even if her outward form was as beautiful as a Vampire Bride—no, even more beautiful—she was still, without a doubt, a true monster.
Her power far exceeded his expectations, so she might even surpass him at his very best.
Level 8?
Or perhaps... Level 9?
Riezel dared not think further.
"...Master?"
Just then, Lizbeth, having finally regained full consciousness, groggily called out to Riezel—but the moment her eyes fully opened, she froze, stunned to see him subduing her ancestor as if he were taming an animal.
"???"
Instantly, a string of question marks popped up in Lizbeth's mind.
Was this some kind of new type of battle?
Lizbeth was utterly baffled.
===
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