Lord Of Puppets

<<Honestly, I started doubting myself once they shown how powerful they are in the head on confrontation, thinking that maybe possible half of my golems would be destroyed... But fortunately, it didn’t came to pass and only acceptable amount of golems were lost.>>

<<My traps only slowed them down and barely caused casualties by themselves... Some traps were outright destroyed right before they could do something.>>

<<I mean, I sent it there to die. I knew it would happened... But it should at least DONE something with the power it had.>>

<<The plan was for the golem to create panic and destruction by creating opening, a distraction from the bomb hound’s army... But to think they were able to instantly take it down.>>

<<They had "few" bombs, which were gunpowder based, a small ones, but nothing really powerful as those explosives.>>

<<Or more exactly, the camp was taken apart.... Somebody was left behind in the camp... And somebody must had warn them before my scout golems regained the vision over their base.>>

<<Did they found out about the army defeat by themselves or was there truly somebody who escaped the forest without me noticing?!>>

<<They will reveal my secrets... My weapons.... DAMMIT!>>

<<But still, I’ve obtained a large number of corpses!>>

<<Powerful warriors, they will feed my dungeon well.>>

<<Honestly, I’m beyond scared now.... The enemy may know my tactics AND they may come again with much more powerful army.>>

<<...Good thing I managed to had golems capture several soldiers... I can probably extract some information about the enemy.>>

<<...I also need to find out if the "Y" and adventurers are working together... Maybe they are enemies?>>

<<.... No.... The.... Fuck...>>

(Hm? What is going on there?) – thought Thauma as it noticed something off about the delivered corpses.

"..."

"..."

Thauma stared at the human corpse... But something about it was... Off.

Thauma was beyond confused.

Not only that, but the man’s appearance somewhat changed, which confused and alarmed the golem as it was currently inspecting each and every part of the man’s body.

(But.... What the hell is going on?)

(Other corpse are not like this.)

(...Honestly.... I would dismiss it as the side effect of using blood magic.)

(But why is THIS corpse also the same?!) – thought Thauma as it stared at the destroyed corpse of the black knight tank.

(Not as dreadful as the captain who probably used up too much of his blood to perfume magic... But still... They are starting to get "drained".... And this isn’t all...) – thought Thauma as it inspected the body of the tank.

(Not only that, but this.) – thought Thauma as it inspected the tank knight eyes... And noticing his beastly yet savage pupils.

(Not only that.... Those.) – thought Thauma as it opened the corpse mouth, revealing a pair fangs.

(Those people.... They are vampires... Aren’t they?)

[Few years ago.]

{"YES, WHAT ARE THEY EXACTLY"} – written Thauma.

{"BUT WHAT ABOUT VAMPIRES"}

{"WHAT IS YOUR OTHER PART"}

"No... Calling them parasites isn’t the right word.... Well, technically it is."

"Okay. There is really no way to explain it in the short way."

"Vampires are usually divided into multiple categories."

"Let’s start off by the pure vampires."

"Do you know your golems?"

"Elementals are beings that are made out of magical energy and mana of specific element."

"Elementals are beings made out of elements."

"They represent... Well, they do represent BLOOD."

"Blood is... Blood."

"However, elementals are not made out of blood or what not."

"They are beings of element and mana."

"They are being of mana and flesh."

"I mean, are they like elementals that they don’t need like regular people?"

"Simple put, they do have a human like needs."

"But they also have a special need."

"Vampires hunger for it."

"If they wish to stay at the peak of their power, they need to regularly consume blood."

"Something that is both their curse."

"A drug, a pleasure, a need, you can call it many different things."

"Quality and freshness of the blood can influence their ’lust’ and ’fulminate’."

"For example, vampire can drink a blood from a living human on the spot to noticeable increase their self-healing ability, a regeneration."

"And beside that, vampires also have several abilities."

"Vampires also age much slower compare to the beings like humans, but if they want to stay forever young and make sure not to age too much, they need to constantly drink new blood."

"Meaning that if there is a vampire that has a same size and height as a human, it can store several times more blood inside of their bodies, sometimes between 2 to 5 times. But all of that also depend on the vampire in question as well."

"Or more exactly, they are humans."

"First thing first, is the fangs."

"These fangs are much special and different compare to all the other teethes."

"Another thing are their ears, they are bit more... Knife? Sharp? Not like elven ears... A short sharp-edged ear."

"Their eyes are beastly."

"And their sclera, this white being in the eyes, is pure red."

"Now... How do vampires reproduce?"

"But they can also infect other beings, turning them into vampires."

"It is made to fit to the body."

"Results?"

"The body and blood reaction to each other, causing a mutation that is meant as form of harmony and survival."

"And the being born from this are called impure bloods."

"Pretty much... A lot of races can be turned into impure vampires."

"Beastman... Well, they can somewhat resist the transformation, but the beast-humans cannot."

"Their fangs are mutated and transformed into the vampire fangs."

"However, their sclera remains the same. The red sclera is the characteristic only pure-blooded vampires have."

"It completely turns pale."

"If anything, even if you are impure blood, you obtain the rejuvenating ablitiy that the vampires have, obviously a weaker version, but still, they can stay younger and even slow down their own aging process."

"You see, the impure blooded are granted with ’weakness’ per say."

"Well... It is both lie and truth."

"But they are not like a rooting corpses type of things... No, they can eat, reproduce and what not like a regular human."

"I know, I know, it does sounds weird and shit... But vampires are far more complicated beings that you can image and going in details over every single thing will go forever."

"Their undead part is one undead factor hungers."

"Both works in harmony, causing the body to always stay alive."

"Like a water... Oh! A water wheel!"

"Wait, I’m getting side tracked here."

"Nutshell."

"Now back to the ’weakness’."

"It works perfectly in harmony and isn’t by any means poisonous to them."

"Simpe put, it damages them."

"A weakness."

"Sunlight... It is extremely dangerous to the impure vampires."

"Especially for the young impure vampires, it can easily kill them."

"You dust!"

"..."

"That is how they go into settlements to feast."

"And let’s say that somebody dies and you didn’t found out that they are vampires, nor you have any knowledge what vampires look like... There is one way to find out."

"Vampires bodies are full of vitality that is keeping their bodies stable and what not."

"The moment it start disappearing and the moment stops circulation completely in the vampire’s body...."

"The body starts leaving the vampire body, causing a powerful dryness effect."

"Flesh collapses alongside skin and what not... And in the end? Dust."

"This process isn’t instant for either pure and impure blooded vampires, but it pretty much happens way faster compare to the human rotting dead body."

(And that is what is currently happening.) – thought Thauma as the flashback ended.

(Red beastly eyes.)

(Completely pale skin.)

(This man.... No.)

(But......)