Chương 661: The Vampiric Beast

A huge creature stood in the river, a four-legged monster that looked like a wolf and yet not like one at all. It was not quadrupedal in any natural way. It was more like a human body had grown wrong, stretched out into something misshapen. The thing had no fur, only skin and patches of raw flesh. Its ribs were exposed. Part of its face showed bare skull, warped and overgrown.

"By sun and moon, what is that?" Mia said. Luke had been through enough horror by now to know when something was truly unnatural, and even he found it disturbing. [Imperfect Vampiric Beast - Lvl 97] The monster let out a distorted howl, half scream, half roar. But the sound was not just noise. It was an attack. Mia clapped both hands over her ears on instinct, and the beast lunged, slashing with blood-red claws. The blow sent her flying. A Vampiric Beast. An actual one. The monster turned on Luke.

He kept dodging, reading it. The claws were the color of fresh blood. He slipped past another strike, and the beast charged again, smashing into the trees. Luke glanced toward the river and used his skill to study the trail. Did it come from the sea? The monster came at him again.

"Watch out!" Mia shouted. Luke kept avoiding its attacks. He was not trying to kill it yet. He wanted to understand it. With one sharp turn, he cut one of the creature's arms clean off. Blood sprayed through the air, but then the blood itself pulled the severed limb back, reconnecting it midair. Super healing. The beast lunged again. Luke fired the knives from his bracer into its legs, then came in from the front with a kukri strike. The blade smashed into the creature's jaw, caving in part of its face.

Luke dropped back to the riverbank. The creature pawed at its ruined face. Blood gathered, thickening, regenerating. I get it now. He rushed in and attacked without hesitation. First the head, then the limbs, then he destroyed the face completely. [You have slain an Imperfect Vampiric Beast - Lvl 97] 245, 784 EP earned"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine..." she said.

"And... thanks." Mia looked a little embarrassed.

"What was that thing? Human or beast?" she asked, staring at the corpse as it dissolved into blood.

"Both, I think." Luke crouched beside it, watching. The beast was melting away. A Vampiric Beast is what happens when a vampire endures long periods of blood scarcit It was difficult for a vampire to become one. It was not enough to simply stop feeding. It had to be constant. Always too little blood. Always starving. Always teetering on the edge where Vampire Hunger began devouring the mind and eroding the body. This vampire spent almost seven months like that during the event?

The beast's low Event Points suggest that the vampire didn't kill many people during the event. The rest of the group arrived soon after.

"What happened?" Charlie asked. The only evidence left was a pool of blood.

"A monster showed up," Luke said.

"You're hurt," Triss said, looking at Mia.

"It scratched me." The group went back to camp and took up watch. How am I supposed to explain Vampiric Beasts to everyone? By morning they pushed deeper into the territory the settlement had warned them was dangerous. The towers were farther in, closer to the heart of the city. They moved through the forest while Luke kept trying to understand how they were the only ones so far who had run into a vampiric beast.

In the distance, they spotted another group running the same way, headed toward the center of the islands. When they finally reached the tower and climbed to the top, they found it sealed shut.

"You sure we shouldn't at least try to force it open?" Randall asked.

"Lady Fists couldn't even punch through one of these lids, so I'd say no," Triss replied. Charlie had already tried that with the other tower caps.

"We just need to find one that isn't sealed. According to the notification, this one's already been used." By afternoon they reached a flooded district. They had to run and leap from one structure to the next. That part of the island was half-submerged. Eventually they had to switch to rowboats.

"I miss that shark of yours," Evangeline said to him.

"So do I." Charlie had gone quiet, listening closely to the sounds around them. On one shoreline they passed through a street crowded with people living in makeshift camps. Triss's group decided to look for a cleric or someone from the Church. Luke's group, meanwhile, kept moving toward the area people had started calling the Red Zone. According to rumor, vampires had taken it over and were not letting anyone advance.

"Vampires have excellent hearing," Luke said. He looked at Mia, who had come along.

"You stay here."

"Only he and I are going," Evangeline said.

"I want to help. I need to kill those bastards," Mia said.

"You'll help more by staying put." Reluctantly, she agreed. Luke and Evangeline moved forward in a crouch, their footsteps nearly silent thanks to their stealth skills. Luke pulled something from his pocket dimension.

"What's that, Cinderella?" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Mud. To mask our scent." He smeared it across his face and rubbed it into his clothes. Vampires have a strong sense of smell, but Charlie's is even sharper because of the beast side of her. If this stuff can confuse her sometimes, it should help. They moved on in a low crouch, then slipped beneath a bridge through the water, swimming under it. When they came up on the far bank, they were inside vampire territory. The two of them did not speak, not even in whispers. They relied entirely on hand signals.

They turned themselves into shadows and slipped through the wall of a house. Inside, they solidified again and peered out through gaps toward the street, which was not inviting in the slightest. Bodies were on display. Recent ones. A man hung in the middle of the square, bleeding. Evangeline studied the sight, then looked at Luke. I think it's a trap too. A group of black-robed figures approached.

"He stopped screaming. Why?"

"Is the little hunter still alive?" another one asked, prodding the hanging man.

"Still breathing. Come on. Start screaming again." They laughed as one of them whipped him. Then one of the figures ran a finger along the blood on the lash and licked it clean. They're vampires. Evangeline looked at Luke. If we kill them, sure. But forget stealth. Those guys are standing right in the middle of a plaza. He looked back at her. I don't know why I keep thinking at you like you can hear me. And I'm also not understanding half of whatever those finger signals are supposed to mean.

She sighed and started... writing in the air with shadows. Why didn't you just do that from the beginning? Luke read the message:' I need to use the bathroom.' Now it was his turn to sigh. Alright. Let's make this fast. They moved into position. I can't just blow the vampires up. And I can't use the acid cloud either, not without killing whoever they've got hanging there. So it has to be the quiet method. He raised both bracers and fired the blades with [Burst Throw]. One vampire took a knife to the face.

The other caught one in the neck. They were completely caught off guard. Evangeline burst out of the shadows and kicked one of them into the air. Luke surged forward, spun with both kukris, and took the vampire's head off. A heartbeat later, Evangeline threw her spear at the one she'd launched.

"Dead," she said, already having seen the notification. Luke had already turned toward the other vampire, while she moved to engage hers.

"Hunters. Damn hunters!" the vampire spat at Luke, then slammed something onto the ground. Smoke swallowed the area. Then the vampire lunged at him through it, swinging a club. Luke had already seen him. The smoke bomb was useless. He blocked the club and went in to strike. The vampire threw up his free hand, and just as Luke's kukri was about to land, a red shield made of blood formed in front of him. Luke hit the shield, and it burst into a spray of blood.

He jumped back and traded blows with the vampire, kukris against club. When Luke caught one of the club strikes on his arm, the impact jolted through him.

"You're not surviving this."

"So this is what they call Vampiric Strength?" Luke whispered, almost too quietly to hear.

"H-how do you know that?" But the vampire's hearing caught it. That brief, deliberate distraction was enough. Luke's kukri cut into him. [Demonic Predator Hands] had coated the blades in acid. The vampire screamed.

"More are coming, Luke!" Evangeline called, still fighting the other one. He glanced toward the buildings and saw more vampires racing in.

"We've got reinforcements too." He pointed one hand upward and launched a [Shadow Ball] to signal the others, though Charlie was probably already on her way with them. Another vampire dropped in behind Luke, sword crackling with red lightning. The moment he swung, Luke vaulted backward into a flip and landed clear.

"What, do you have eyes in the back of your head? I was being stealthy," the vampire snapped.

"You could say that," Luke replied, relying on the 360-degree vision from his special eye. Arrows came whistling in, not at him, but at the vampires. Eleanor was sprinting across the rooftops, firing as she ran. One vampire got hit by Eleanor, and Luke threw a kukri. It buried itself in the vampire's face. In desperation, the vampire ran to the hanging man and bit him.

"What's he doing?" Luke heard Mia say. Taking blood to power Blood Energy skills. But he could not say that out loud. The vampire sprang back, then spun and pointed a finger. A red projectile shot out with terrifying speed and punched into Luke's shoulder. He had tried to dodge. Luke hit the ground, rolled, and threw a kukri at the vampire. Then he closed the distance and cut his head off. [You have slain a Vampire - Lvl 78] 31, 874, 357 EP earned He looked at the wound in his shoulder.

It had torn through the arm badly. That's strong. Like getting hit by a bullet. A female vampire screamed. A dark cloud burst from her body, and when the wind carried it outward, it shocked everything it touched. Evangeline took the full hit. So did Luke. It locked up my body. That's an epic skill. Electricity tore through him. Just as the club-wielding vampire came in to finish him, the scarf moved. One end lashed out, shifting into an octopus-like tentacle that intercepted the blow.

"That's impossible," the vampire said. An arrow from Eleanor struck him a heartbeat later. A pink light flared above Luke. Anne stood there with her wand raised. His body began to recover.

"Curse... neutralized," she said.

"Thanks, Anne," Luke said, already moving. He had felt the curse beginning to loosen even before Anne stepped in, but she wiped it away completely and gave him his body back. Luke slashed the club-wielder across the neck and kicked him toward Mia, who buried an axe in him and finished the job. Then Luke charged the female vampire. She screamed again, and another cloud poured out of her body. Charlie came down on her from above. Her punch landed hard, and she triggered [Ignite].

The vampire woman stumbled back, trying to flee. Luke fired an arrow, releasing a cloud of acid to further cripple the vampire's regeneration. Evangeline used her shadow power to pin the vampire in place, and Charlie closed in with her sword. The vampire's head hit the ground. Charlie finished her. [Charlotte Vespertilio has slain a Vampire - Lvl 94] [Charlotte Vespertilio has reached Level 85! Vampire (Rank E)] (+2 to all stats, +7 free points.) [Charlotte Vespertilio has unlocked a Race Skill] The vampires were dead.

"Is this guy still alive?" Mia asked.

"I-I am," said the man hanging there.

"I'm a hunter." Luke glanced briefly at Charlie. She kept her helmet on.

"Keep your weapons on him," Luke said. With one motion, he cut the man's bindings and let him fall to the ground. Then he pulled out a canteen and tossed it over. The hunter uncorked it and drained the water in one go.

"May the light of the sun guide you," the hunter said, grateful.

"They were keeping me here as food." Luke crouched in front of him.

"Now, hunter, explain exactly what's going on in this place."

"What do you know about the vampire bloodlines?"

Jonathan walked beside Tobias.

"Where are we going?" he asked. The lich had been silent for a while.

"What was that poem you gave the Narrator?"

"A road of yellow bricks." Jonathan still did not understand.

"Until they confirm its authenticity, you will not be in contact with them again. In the meantime, you'll be coming with me to a meeting I have with some important people. Keep that mouth of yours shut until then." They had been walking for hours. The lich moved with unsettling speed. His steps looked slow, but each one covered more ground than it should have.

Jonathan had the strange impression that the creature was gliding above the earth rather than actually walking, but the long robes hid whatever was happening beneath them.

"And where is this meeting?"

"Right where the conflict between those two vampire factions is happening."