The beginning of this battle was similar to all the previous ones, the only difference being the number of enemies. As soon as the alarm trumpets sounded over the sleeping camp, the vampires rushed into attack. However, things took an unusual turn for them. The soldiers did not resist at all! There were no bursts of destructive magic to defend against, no impenetrable shields or dense formations. People, in panic, tried to flee the battlefield and became easy prey. It was this simplicity that lured the attackers. They stopped and began to feed.
The huge ball of light that flared above their heads illuminated the surroundings and revealed their mistake. The paladins and mages had managed to take up defensive positions and were ready to meet the enemy with full force. The world was about to witness the first night battle, occurring almost according to the rules of martial art rather than a bandit raid.
The guards fleeing the skirmish squeezed through the ranks of their comrades, and for a brief moment, silence hung over the field. The pause was necessary for the mages to assess the situation. Once they saw what they needed, the counterattack followed.
Two combat artifacts unleashed their accumulated energy, and part of the camp captured by the vampires was engulfed in a sea of fire. The "Fire Vortex" was fearsome enough on its own, but created by artifacts rather than a mage, it covered an immense area. To the surprise of the Valerians, this time the damage was limited to army equipment.
The attackers' bodies were shielded, and the vampire commanding them had not dreamed of taking the place of the Supreme Vampire in vain; his subordinates were excellently prepared.
The fighters caught in the man-made sea of fire tried to leave the area of effect as quickly as possible. A shield around the body is good, but breathing the searing air, which lacked oxygen, was impossible to endure, no matter the magic. The paladins waited for the mages to fire at the advancing enemies, and then they charged to meet them.
The vampires who tried to bypass the defensive formation were met by the cavalry. In the ensuing clash, the advantage lay with the Valerians, who had superior training, better weapons and armor, and, of course, better magical support. The mages controlling the "Fire Vortex" did not falter and created walls of fire behind the attackers, cutting off their retreat routes.
A peasant, recently turned into a vampire, struck furiously with an axe, aiming at the head of a young mage with a magical emblem on his chest. The young mage, paralyzed by fear and forgetting his powers, merely raised his hands, which were struck by the blade before it could split his skull.
Mages in Valeria had almost divine rights and were completely oblivious to the fact that the common folk had long despised them. Sincerely and with all their heart, the peasantry viewed mages as creatures of darkness, silently harboring their hatred. The impunity and lawlessness of the gifted had the worst impact on the lower classes. The lack of experience and knowledge of the vampires, most of whom had been peasants just the day before, was compensated by their fury and self-sacrifice, as every family had grudges against the mages.
When the suffering person was told what he had become, the first reaction was, naturally, horror—indeed, a range of emotions from terror to revulsion towards the abhuman. Religion and the constant preaching by priests about the superiority of humans over all other races were particularly well absorbed among the peasantry.
Therefore, to dismantle the church's dogmas instilled in them, something as strong as the sense of their own superiority was needed. The leaders of the vampires had cultivated hatred for mages as that feeling. Thus, when the peasant realized he had a chance for revenge, he immediately forgot about his darkened soul and, taking up his familiar axe, joined the ranks of the rebels.
The shield protecting the vampire's body shattered into pieces from a dozen attacking spells. The young peasant fell to the ground next to his victim and died contentedly. Another rebel quickly took his place, noticing that the magical attacks that had killed his friend had also struck nearby mages, thus providing a chance to reach them.
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