Vampire Hunter D Volume 18- Fortress of the Elder God by Hideyuki Kikuchi Page A

on the Sacred Ancestor’s vast army. The army began to retreat—they’d noticed the shadow’s true form. As they systematically backed away from the rear, they remained facing forward—but they weren’t in time. The shadow swallowed half of the thirty thousand.
    There was a light. Beneath it, soldiers could be seen. Suddenly it was engulfed in black. The blackness deepened only in the spot where the soldiers had been swallowed up. The shadow then moved away . . . but there was no sign of the soldiers there.
    “Half of them—fifteen thousand men—just gone!” Bierce exclaimed, wiping his brow. At some point, sweat had started to pour from him. But now there was no shadow. “What was that shadow, anyway? D, you must’ve seen it, right?”
    D nodded. Bierce suspected that this man knew everything. If not, how could he remain so calm after seeing that? The shadow, which had painted over the silhouettes of the two men in the room before spiriting off fifteen thousand people to parts unknown, possessed countless writhing tentacles.
    “That thing—was it the god?”
    “That’s right.”
    The Hunter’s calm reply physically chilled Bierce. What were this man’s nerves made of?
    “The enemy has withdrawn, but they’ll be back again.”
    D watched the soldiers retreat down the valley, then turned and headed for the door.
    “There’s no guarantee the power of this god will be manifested every time. Nor should it be allowed to. Go back downstairs.”
    “Please, wait,” Bierce called to him. “If you hadn’t come, I’d have been killed. Ten years ago, I’d have held my own, but now I just get knocked around. It doesn’t matter what I’m fighting. The folks downstairs think I’m still a full-fledged warrior, but the truth is I’m washed up. I can’t do squat.”
    He spat out his confession like a glob of blood.
    D didn’t even halt. As he passed through the doorway, his steely voice came back to Bierce, saying, “You’re alive. The others downstairs are counting on you.”
    “Yeah, but I’m—” he called out, but by then D was already through the door and out of sight.
    -
    Those in the treatment center already knew that the battle had begun. Huddling around D and Bierce upon their return, they all sought some explanation. When D clarified the situation, their anxiety only deepened.
    “So what happens if we stay here like this? If the fortress falls, will we all be killed?”
    “Yes.”
    When D said this, his verification of the cold, hard truth was merciless.
    “And knowing this would happen, you led us here. You cold-hearted bastard!”
    Though Maria’s body trembled with rage, when D gave her the same reply he’d given Bierce, the woman fell silent.
    “In other words, we’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” Weizmann summarized, looking as if he were about to scream at any minute. He was fighting back his fear, too. “The enemy’s going to attack the god that started this place up again. On the other hand, the god will counterattack. So, to our friend the Hunter here, who’s supposed to put down this god, both are enemies, and both are allies. The forces outside could help attack the god, while the god protects us from the army trying to kill us. What do you plan on doing?”
    “It’s simple. Kill the damn god!” Jan snapped, his hostility naked and virulent. “Then, if all goes well, we get the hell out of here as fast as we can. Instead of walking around with all that dead weight, I could make better time on my own. Oh, delivery boy, you can stick with him, because it was your bright idea to hire him in the first place. How do you plan on paying him?”
    “That was the best we could do at the time. You think we’d have been better off just hanging around in that valley waiting to die, you stupid little hood? If we make it back to the Capital in one piece, I’ll give you a taste of my clout. I’ll have your punk ass in front of a firing squad the same day we get