Chapter 4: Dogoud Hemmel

Sammy would have never guessed that the person who saved the three boys was a very powerful Swordsman, the king's protector by the name Dogoud Hemmel. Sammy had come to know how the ranks of knights were divided. From Novice Knight to Demigod Knight. Dogoud Hemmel was the most powerful swordsman in the kingdom at Journeyman Knight. Leon Kingdom was not a powerful kingdom so having reached this rank was impressive! Now, his wanted posters were all over the place and his description included bloodsucking demon it. It was not a problem to him for he still went hunting. After killing a civilian or two, he came to know the people with no form of energy would not help him become stronger only satisfy his hanger.

He then went after criminals and after he killed a whole gang of novice knights, his second beast node lit up. He realized it would not be as easy as the first node so he continued with his hunt. He also came to know that he was stronger than Novice Knights by far. He speculated that he was as strong as Apprentice Knights but he did not want to prove that theory. He had now hunted down all the gangs he had heard had knights and he had lit up three beast nodes. He went back to his cathedral to practice more magic.

Because of his killing spree, crime had gone down to an all time low. Those three weeks were dreaded by every crook in the city that they went and became highway bandits instead. The city guards were doing their best to make sure the citizens did not riot and the crown even hired B-rank adventurers to hunt down this demon but they never did find him. While all these was going on, Sammy was focusing on casting his second spell and it's from the Necromancy School. It was a bone arrow spell.

After an hour of trial and failure, he finally succeeded. He proceeded to continue casting it over and over again as his mana recovered until he was familiar with the spell. That done, he started to try and light up his second magic node for he was quite dissatisfied with casting only one spell before he ran out of mana. He kept on absorbing mana from the air as he filled up the node. He did not stop for a break even when his head started aching and the node finally lit up. He collapsed in fatigue but his face was lit in joy.

"Finally, I can cast more spells even if they are not many," he said to himself then turned into a bat and hung on the roof before falling asleep.

The following day, he continued to practice casting his spells for a whole day so that he can reduce the casting time and increase the accuracy. He did this for three days straight then he went on learning other spells. He learnt a tracking curse, slug curse and jelly legs curse from the darkness school then bone shield, acid spit and bone claw from the necromancy school. He spent two months perfecting the spells to reduce casting time and increase accuracy and it paid off. He had also lit up his third magic node meaning he had more mana and could cast more novice spells.

As he was preparing to try and fill out the fourth magic node, Sammy heard a commotion outside the cathedral. He looked out through the window and saw soldiers fighting zombies like creatures that were heading towards the cathedral. He then felt as if the undead were looking for him without any malicious thoughts. He looked carefully and saw it was the people he had killed before! He suddenly remembered a myth in his world that if a vampire kills a person who is not a virgin, the person will come back as a ghoul. Now that he was looking at the undead, they were faster than the zombies he had seen before and stronger too for they were pushing through the guards.

"Brothers, stop fighting them. They were killed by the demon and his magic brought them back as undead. They are now going back to their master and I bet he is inside the Cathedral!" a large man with a huge broaded long sword shouted. He had on armour Sammy knew was expensive.

"Yes, Dogoud Hemmel sir," the soldiers said and gave way to the ghouls who ignored them and continued to the cathedral. Sammy panicked for the big guy would kill him quite easily for he was three ranks ahead of him. He then looked at the ghouls and decided to control them. After a few tries, he succeeded to stop them. The soldiers frowned when the ghouls stopped in their tracks suddenly. They had a bad feeling about this and they all clutched their swords nervously. The ghouls suddenly let out ear piercing shrieks then they ran off in different directions, making everyone there curse.

"Go after them, I will go look for the demon inside," Dogoud told them. The soldiers nodded and they went away as he got into the cathedral. He immediately felt the power of Darkness energy in the air and knew this cathedral had been corrupted. He started searching all over until he reached the Bishop's room. He felt a life signature in there but it was weaker than him so he was not so worried. He ripped the door from the hinges and saw a teenage boy looking at him with a smile on his face.

"You really did come in alone. I guess I did not overestimate you," Sammy said with a laugh. Dogoud charged at him but Sammy jumped to the wall and walked to roof. "So impatient. Can't we have a civilized talk?"

"Nothing good comes out of your mouth, demon," Dogoud growled.

"Ouch!" Sammy said as clutched his chest as if he had been stabbed. "That hurts when coming out of a human's mouth. I mean, you lot cheat, murder, ****, instigate and corrupt each other in a way no other race can. In my opinion, humans are the worst kind of races out there."

"Why don't you quit stalling for your inevitable death and come down?" Dogoud shouted.

"I can escape anytime I want to but I need to give my children more time to do the work I sent them to do," Sammy said then fired an Acid Spit at Dogoud he just side stepped it. He snorted in disdain then threw the table at Sammy who could not dodge fast enough. He was hit by it and he fell from the wall. He had not even hit the ground when Dogoud swung his sword at him and his right hand was gone! It was not the first time so he did not even flinch as the pain set in. He landed onto his feet but Dogoud got hold of him by his neck and crashed his back to the wall. Sammy looked at his stump then back at Dogoud who was gritting his teeth angrily when he saw his apathetic look.

"You have to go for the head if you want to kill someone. If you want to torture, cutting someone's hand will make them woozy from the blood loss," Sammy reprimanded him.

"What did you send those undead to do?" he asked him in a roar.

"To spread merry and happiness all over!" Sammy answered with laughter. Dogoud slammed him to the wall once again.

"Answer me or I will kill you right here right now," Dogoud said. Sammy chuckled as his left hand patted Dogoud's shoulder like a friend.

"Hemmel, we both know you can't kill me. What is it called? A noble heart, even when facing your arch enemy you would rather cripple him than kill him so do not goon with that threat," Sammy said. Hemmel scoffed at this then took off a dagger from his belt and stabbed Sammy's chest slightly.

"You wonna take that bet?" he asked him. Sammy was indeed surprised to see this. "My noble heart will bleed if I kill a human for they can change but a demon can't. So, let's do this one more…Argh!" Dogoud cried out in pain as he felt something bony clutch his neck from behind. He then felt his flesh sizzling and he let go of Sammy and reached behind him. He ripped a bony claw that was covered with acid that ate through his gauntlet. He removed it immediately and he was about to turn back to Sammy when he received a punch that disoriented him. As he tried to get his bearing, Sammy slid behind him suddenly sank his fangs into his neck. Dogoud never thought he would suddenly be made meal out of and he immediately punched Sammy away. He clutched his neck painfully then turned around, sword in hand but Sammy was gone. He looked around angrily but Sammy was not around. He cursed out in anger and got out of the cathedral. He failed to notice a blue hawk watching him sternly.

"Just one mouthful and my fourth node lit up. You have quite the delicious blood there, Dogoud Hemmel. I will be back for it," Sammy said then flew off.

Dogoud came back to the city and found the place filled with undead! Most were civilians; children were the highest. He also saw some soldiers with them and he immediately knew that the demon was stalling so that his undead can turn the whole capital. With the capital so busy, he will flee to safety! He cursed the demon as he started killing the zombies by beheading. He started feeling sluggish the more he fought and an hour in, he could not lift his sword. Luckily, a soldier came and rescued him and carried him to the palace. When the royal doctor saw the bite on his neck, he shook his head as he thought it was a zombie bite wound. It would be healed but that needed Holy Magic and only the church practiced it but the church had been thrown out of the kingdom.

"I feel like this is a punishment from the divines," the doctor said.

One hour after he passed out, Dogoud suddenly woke up. Everyone there clutched their weapons as they thought he had been turned but Dogoud just walked past them. They watched as he went outside. There, fourteen ghouls were standing. He went in front of them then knelt.

"I am in service of the Original Vampire, I am his thrall, Dogoud Hemmel and I am pledging to be his weapon and shield till he tires of me," he said.

"Master…mission…spread us…all over…capital," one ghoul managed to say.

"Then I will do as master commands," Dogoud said with finality.