I guess that I should start the log by explaining what I did at the end of the previous log.

  I shifted all the fire vines' formation in the tunnel to between the two weakest barriers in the tunnel. The thing with formations like fire vines is that you are not supposed to put them too close to each other. They tend to get stronger the more that they are forced together. (and more out of control.) The destructive resonance from all those fire vines was enough to kill even the warrior.

  Even I didn't expect this much damage, if I am being honest. The main problem was hiding the mana being emitted by so many traps. The resonance between so many formations is not easy to hide. I have to thank my master's notes for even pulling this off.

  The reason that the inferno was so strong was that I had trapped it between two barriers. If I had not put it between the barriers, it would not have been so impactful.

  Thus, I crafted a death trap to kill one of the vampire captains. I was hoping that the void would have come personally to negotiate. (It is usually the leader who is supposed to do it.) If I had managed to take care of him, I would be happier. That would be one less variable off the table. The warrior is still a good consolation.

  The warrior is now dead, by the way. I had almost ended up dying in the process, though. Thankfully, the barriers fell quickly as the mayfires rushed to protect me. The warrior was still alive then, trying to crawl away. Thankfully, one of the soldiers had the forethought to stick a sword into his brain. If he had managed to get away, we would be in deep shit.

  After all, with a vampire's healing, the man would have been fine in a couple of days. His corpse is still lying in that tunnel, making the entire tunnel smell a bit rank. I mean, if I were in a better position, I would have removed the body. It is a good way to spread diseases, leaving dead bodies lying about like that.

  Well, none of the Mayfires can do that right now. Even if they had the guts to risk their life by entering the main path, they can't leave their positions now. They are busy holding their areas. Being disturbed from there would have disastrous consequences.

  Well, I am wondering if we need to remove the body. The warrior's body acts as a deterrent to the soldiers that he leads. They are being very careful around the tunnel now. I think it is because the corpse is scaring the shit out of the Bloodfire gang. Even I am getting scared looking at the corpse.

  The pirates have begun to probe the main tunnel again, though. I guess a rotting corpse can intimidate the bunch only so much. I have heard that the most recent probe managed to reach the corpse of the warrior. They ended up dying in a trap while retreating, though. (The traps there might not have been deadly to the vampires. It is not the case with his underlings, though.)

  Well, they might not have done much with the main tunnel, but they did not stop attacking the other two tunnels.

  The servant's path is well-defended. Anybody trying to breach that place will struggle. Last I heard, Alfred Mayfire had taken over that place. So it is even less likely now. Though why the man would take to protect a less glorious position, I don't know.

  Right now, the main problem is the burial path. It is the path that is at most risk of being taken over.

  The problem is not even due to the enemy. The problem here is the superstitions of the mayfires. They refuse to enter the tunnel itself. Holding even a small part of the tunnel means that the numerical advantage of the enemy will be negated. The tunnel is barely large enough for three people to stand side by side.

  Holding the tunnels would have been the best-case scenario. The problem is that the mayfires are not ready to do something so simple.

  They claim that this would enrage their ancestors. That their ancestors would curse them if they entered this tunnel without permission. Based on what I had heard, Jacob and Andrew did try to hold the tunnel for a bit.

  They did a glorious job, putting up a fight against those damn pirates. Regardless of how well-trained they are, they are still humans. They had to retreat once they got tired and the injuries started accumulating.

  Right now, they are maintaining the defense at the crypt. It is a large open space, perfect for a melee. The enemy can make full use of their numerical advantage here.

  Even right now, I can hear the clash of swords and magics happening at the crypt as the mayfires fight there. For now, they have managed to hold the crypt against the enemy. Still, they will not be doing it for long.

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  No matter what happens, the crypt cannot be lost. If the crypt is lost to the enemy, then they would be able to just march with their full force on the altar.

  If that happens, we have already lost. I could raise the barrier to buy us some time, but that is all I can do right now.

  If I were just a bit better physically, I would force a few of those soldiers to enter the tunnel to hold it. I would have earned the ire of them all, but what else can I do?

  I wish that I could have joined the fight now. Not that I could have helped much without the traps. Still, it would save me from having to think so much about things.

  You could say that I have effectively lost command of the group now, and it has split into two smaller groups. The first is led by Alfred Mayfire, and he is holding the servant's path, as I said before.

  The second group is led by Lady Amelia and Trevor. Based on what I have understood, the tactical command of the group is right now under Trevor. How he convinced Amelia to give up control I don't know.

  Meanwhile, Lady Amelia is quite a beast based on what I have been hearing about her. She has been crushing quite a few pirates under that hammer she conjures up. Granted that my source of information is the mayfires. They would certainly exaggerate the achievements of one of their own.

  Still, I would like to see her in combat once. I seriously want to see her proficiency in combat. She has been questioning my authority based on that very combat ability of hers.

  Well, I won't be seeing any of them today. After all, they are all busy protecting their bases. Leaving could be quite deadly now. I can't go to them since I can't move right now.

  Well, I am healing myself as quickly as possible, but it will still take me a day to reach a state where I will be able to move. Well, I should have been burned to a crisp yesterday. The only reason that I survived was my sword.

  I don't think I have ever forced the sword to work to such a degree. The only reason that I even managed it was because I was linked to it. Even then, I barely managed to survive. Right now, the minor bond is on the verge of tattering, I can feel it like a bruise on my soul.

  If I were to use my sword anymore, that link will break. The timing could not have been any worse. Every inch of my body feels like a fresh bruise. A bruise that was coated with a shit ton of salt.

  I am going to start working on the major bond the minute that I get out of here. It is becoming a necessity with how I am using this sword. Right now, I am inside the fire altar, recuperating. My doctor is one of the men who accompanied me to the negotiations.

  He is not much of a doctor, though. (I don't think any of the Mayfires are.) I wonder if the rumors I have heard about him are true. Supposedly. The only reason he knows what he does is because the man is something of a stupid romantic.

  Much of what he had learned about healing came while pursuing a merchant's daughter. She ended up leaving him to work with one of the health houses in the south.

  It has supposedly caused quite a scandal as well. He was almost being expelled from the family.

  All in all, the man does not know much about healing people. The little he does is just enough to make sure that the burns on my flesh don't get worse. The pastes that he mixes to prevent infection feel like the man has lit a fire under me. Still, he must have done something right since I can feel myself getting better.

  It is a bit slow, but there is improvement. Well, I can't give the full credit for this to him, though. After all, my sword is full of vital mana right now. If I am honest, it has too much vital mana. It has absorbed quite a lot of the vital mana of the warrior. I can feel the sword vibrating with the life force it is trying to contain. It is steadily producing blood mana. I don't dare to speed up the process at all.

  Just thinking about it makes my spine shiver. I had never thought that I would ever worry about having too much life force in my sword. I don't know what will happen if the bond were to rupture now.

  Personally, I don't think that I will suffer much due to this. At least I won't burst into a mist of blood. (Like vampires tend to when they overfeed.) Instead, it is my sword that is at risk.

  That still raises the question of what will happen to me. After all, the sword is now linked to my mana core. Will it break, causing irreparable damage to the mana core? Will it directly cause it to rupture? Maybe it will just destroy the foundation slabs, forcing me to make it again.

  I don't even want to know about it if I am being honest.

  For how much bodily damage I had to go through, we at least managed to get a significant victory. I have only two people to worry about among the vampires now.

  My soldiers were busier trying to make sure that I was alive, but a couple of them still struck the bandits. They managed to kill five bandits in the process and injured three more. We estimate that there are about a hundred pirates in here, so that is a minor victory as well.

  Other than that, this has managed to buy us time. Not much time, of course, but a day is still a day. We are now on the third day since the patriarch left. I know for certain that I don't need to wait for too long to know what the result is of the patriarch's attack. Even at its longest, it will only take half a week.

  The two Mayfires will come to me once the combat situation comes under control. After all, we have much to discuss. The main thing to be discussed is what the hell they found in the enemy camp.

  Anything capable of emitting that much blood mana is a threat. They would be fools to ignore such a thing. They will have to describe it to me so that we will be able to plan for it.

  I don't know if it will be enough, though. Even if we know about their hidden ace, there is a bunch of stuff about them we have no idea about.

  The void is one thing, of course, but we don't have a lot of ideas about the snake as well. We just know that he uses poison magic. How are you supposed to plan for something that you have no idea about?