Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Where the Vampire Was 

“Oh, hello. I’m Nive Maris.” 

“I’m Lorraine. I guess we’re working together.” 

Nive held out a hand, and Lorraine shook it. Lorraine looked bitter, transparently confused as to why this person was here. She didn’t particularly hate Nive, but being that I was a vampire and she was a vampire hunter, our proximity to each other probably looked like something to worry about. I wouldn’t have associated with her either if I could get away with it, but it was Nive who latched onto me. 

Lorraine didn’t provide her last name because it was the same as the one I was using and she wanted to avoid too many questions. But some adventurers simply preferred to work under their first name alone, while others provided their full names, depending on their preference. Adventurers were generally rowdy, and some could be troublemakers, to put it lightly, so there was always some portion who preferred to keep their last names private. It was a known custom among adventurers and not especially unusual. Most of those who did provide their last names wanted their family background and status to be known or wanted to establish trust. It was like bowing when greeting someone rather than simply saying hello. Similarly, only stating your first name was the normal thing to do. 

“I’m Myullias Raiza.” 

“A saint as well? I’m Lorraine. I’m delighted to make your acquaintance.” 

Lorraine was more polite with Myullias than with Nive because Myullias was a saint and Nive was an adventurer. Adventurers didn’t bother with formalities even when speaking to others of a higher rank. Most found such language to be tedious. As long as you weren’t exceedingly rude to an adventurer, you could get away with anything. 

But saints were another story. They had religious followers and powerful organizations backing them. Some saints would be absolutely livid if treated like an adventurer. That didn’t apply to saints from the Church of the Eastern Sky, but from what Lorraine told me, many saints from the Church of Lobelia and other religions with origins in the western nations tended to be that way. As such, Lorraine had learned to be polite around all saints. She wasn’t especially religious, but she wanted to stay out of trouble. 

I wanted to visit the western nations at some point, but I was the kind of adventurer who found formalities annoying. I needed to ask Lorraine about what to watch out for before visiting, or else it sounded like things could get ugly. I wasn’t a fan of getting in trouble either, so I had to make sure I didn’t draw attention. Of course, now I had to accompany Nive to a dungeon, so I was doing a lousy job of not getting in trouble already. 

“You don’t have to be so polite with me. Treat me like you would anyone else,” Myullias said with a smile. She was the sort of saint who didn’t care, apparently. She was unquestionably a beautiful saint when she was like this, but she had been acting like a hannya with Nive not long ago. 

A hannya, by the way, was a female monster from an island nation to the far east. The term was used in Yaaran to refer to a furious woman, but it had foreign origins. Those monsters were collectively called oni, which were similar to ogres, but smaller and smarter. They also had their own culture, and some coexisted with humans. I hoped to meet one someday. From what I’d heard, they excelled at metallurgy and handiwork much like dwarves. 

“Are you sure?” Lorraine asked Myullias hesitantly. Lorraine was more easygoing than the average woman, but she was still reserved at times like these. Maybe saints were just that difficult to deal with for people from the empire. I could only imagine what kinds of abuses religious folk committed there. It was scary to think about. 

“You’re certainly on edge about this. Are you from the empire, Lorraine?” Myullias asked. 

“You could tell?” 

“Yes, I know citizens of the empire talk to saints like you do. I understand how you feel. You can talk to me however is most comfortable for you, but I want you to know that you can speak freely and I won’t mind it. Honestly, the way they treat saints may make sense for the more accomplished of us, but I’m not terribly impressive as far as saints go, and I hardly think I deserve it.” 

Lorraine raised an eyebrow at Myullias’s gloomy attitude. She must have noticed that Myullias acted more like a commoner than the average saint. Also, what Myullias said was perfectly fine in Yaaran, but it might have been taken as criticism of the church in the empire. Lorraine always told me that saints were to be given the utmost respect as a rule. Commoners had to do that, or there was no telling what would be done to them, according to her. What Myullias said could also provoke a loss of trust in the church and put her in a difficult position, but she said it anyway. Maybe Nive rubbed off on her somehow. Nive would say even brasher things, so Myullias could have lost any sense of propriety after spending so much time with her. 

“If you say so, then,” Lorraine said. “But next time I go to the empire, I had better not find myself persecuted for insulting Myullias Raiza.” 

“I know how the inquisitors can be,” Myullias replied with a smile. “That won’t happen, of course. I decided to treat my time here like a vacation anyway, so I’d like to enjoy myself.” 

That didn’t sound like the kind of thing a saint would say, but Lorraine seemed to believe it. She reached out a hand to ask Myullias for a handshake. 

“All right, this way!” Wolf shouted to us from Maalt’s main gate. 

We headed over and saw a carriage coming toward us at a considerable speed. It was going to take us to the New Moon Dungeon. Most carriages were currently fleeing Maalt, and the ones that went to the dungeons had shut down their services, so this must have been hard to find. Or maybe he forced someone to cooperate. 

“This’ll take you straight there,” Wolf said. “Now get on. I’ll be staying in Maalt to deliver orders.” Then he jumped off the carriage and disappeared into town. 

As soon as we entered the carriage, the coachman promptly whipped the horse. This horse had six legs, a species said to be descended from Sleipnir, and it was especially fast. 

There was a fair distance between Maalt and the New Moon Dungeon, too far to run there, but this carriage would get us there in no time. Nive might have been able to run faster than a carriage, I guess, but I sure couldn’t. Or maybe I could manage it somehow, but it would be tough to maintain that speed, so I preferred to just ride. Also, there was no way Lorraine and Myullias could run that fast. If we were leaving them behind, I suppose Nive and I could dash to the dungeon on our own, but that’d expose some secrets I’d rather keep hidden. 

A couple more carriages came, and some other adventurers boarded them. Wolf had said he was picking the best of the best, but it didn’t look like he was expecting us to handle the job all on our own. Including us, there were three parties exploring the New Moon Dungeon. Wolf probably trusted Lorraine, but I was a monster, Myullias served a church, and Nive was Nive. It was self-evident why he didn’t want us going by ourselves. Strictly in terms of combat skill, I thought we were about the best you could find in Maalt, but there were too many other reasons to doubt us. However, Wolf did seem to depend on me anyway, and sending other adventurers along wasn’t necessarily a matter of trust. He probably had certain obligations as the guildmaster. 

“We have a pretty disconcerting team here,” Lorraine muttered. Myullias and I nodded, but Nive just whistled to herself. It was a melody I’d never heard before. Maybe she could compose songs too. If so, she had a ridiculously extensive set of skills. 

“Now, let the thrall hunt begin, everyone!” Nive declared at the entrance to the New Moon Dungeon before charging inside. Myullias followed after her, followed by me and Lorraine. 

“Myullias, you don’t seem to be an adventurer, but it looks like you’ve had a fair bit of physical training,” Lorraine said as she ran through the dark dungeon. 

“Yes, well, saints with more divine power don’t have to do that, but my saintly abilities are rather minor,” Myullias answered. “I thought I’d be a bit more useful if I learned to fight. Compared to professional adventurers, though, I don’t measure up.” 

“I wouldn’t put yourself down like that. You seem to have the foundations pretty well in hand, and you’re able to mostly keep up with Nive’s speed. But she’s a Gold-class, and Rentt and I are both Silver-class, or at least of comparable strength. You may find this challenging, so would you mind if I physically enhance you?” 

Lorraine’s offer was both to be considerate and to get more use out of Myullias in the event Nive went on a rampage again. 

“I wouldn’t mind, but are you sure?” Myullias asked. “We don’t know exactly how many thralls and vampires we’ll encounter. You should save your mana.” 

“You’re not wrong, but I have mana to spare. Besides, Nive’s taking the lead for us anyway. We just need to keep up with her.” 

Lorraine looked at Nive up ahead. Skeletons, slimes, and other ordinary monsters had been appearing, but Nive had sliced them all to pieces with her claws. Seeing her crush the skeletons’ skulls and blast them to bits felt like watching my brethren die before my eyes. It was a little depressing. I wasn’t a skeleton anymore, but it was the first body I had after becoming a monster, so maybe I kind of took a liking to them. My later evolutions were creatures like ghouls and thralls, so I looked back fondly on when I didn’t have rotting flesh. 

“So it seems,” Myullias said, a stunned look on her face as she watched Nive from behind. Nive had just shredded another skeleton, smiling the whole time. If I were a skeleton, I sure wouldn’t want to go near her. “Then please do.” 

Lorraine enchanted Myullias with a physical enhancement spell. It was more effective on oneself than on others, but the fact it could be cast on others at all was highly advantageous. You could give non-combatants a decent amount of stamina. The spell was surprisingly complicated because it had to take the target’s mana into account as well as the caster’s, but it seemed to be a breeze for Lorraine. 

“How does it feel?” Lorraine asked. 

Myullias ran around a little to check. “I feel much lighter,” she replied. “Thank you.” 

“That’s good. Then shall we go after Nive? I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but she only seems to be getting faster.” 

It definitely wasn’t her imagination. Nive probably smelled vampires or something. I didn’t smell anything, but as a fellow vampire, I felt like I could sense their presence. A vampire was near. 

“Oh, stop right here, everyone,” Nive said when she reached the corner of a hallway. She put a finger to her mouth to tell us to be quiet. I wanted to point out that she was the loudest of all of us, but I suppressed that urge because this wasn’t the time for it. I really wanted to say it, though. 

“Is something wrong?” Myullias asked for all of us. Nive nodded and pointed around the corner. Myullias peered in that direction. “I see, yes,” she said somberly and prompted me and Lorraine to look as well. 

“The missing adventurers?” Lorraine said when she looked. 

“Yes, looks like it,” I answered. “I know some of these people.” 

It was a large room where about ten people were standing as still as dolls. Off to the side, there were also some sickly people who were tied up and sitting on the floor. Two of them were adventurers I worked with during the Bronze-class Ascension Exam. 

“Raiz, Lola, why?” 

“These are the two you told me about?” Lorraine asked. “But I thought they had formed a party with Rina too.” 

“I’m pretty sure they did, but I don’t see Rina anywhere,” I answered. “Maybe they were by themselves when they were captured.” 

I didn’t know the details, but they were childhood friends and clearly liked each other. Perhaps Rina had given them some space to be courteous. If they were captured at such a time, it would explain why Rina wasn’t present. 

“Were they turned into thralls?” I wondered aloud. 

This was my biggest concern at the moment. If they were thralls, then there was no way to turn them back as far as I knew. Nive probably didn’t know a way either, or she would have publicized it. Exterminating vampires was her whole ethos, after all. This meant if they had become thralls, even if they were people I knew, we would have to kill them. 

“Those people over there still seem to be human,” Nive said, noticing my concern. Maybe I just imagined it, but when she looked over at them, she seemed relieved. I wanted to believe she had some humanity in her, so maybe I was just seeing what I hoped to see. “But it looks like the ones standing lifelessly on the other side are beyond salvation. They’re probably still in the middle of transforming, but there’s no helping them now. Let’s send them to their graves.” 

A cold, somehow maniacal light shone in her eyes. Her hands moved restlessly, like she couldn’t wait to dig her claws into them. Never mind what I thought about her a moment ago; this was the real Nive. 

“Now then, everyone, let’s save the ones that are still human and exterminate the thralls. Sound good?” Nive asked, turning to look at each of us. The force of will in her eyes made it difficult to defy her. Her gaze was a threat in itself. 

She wasn’t wrong, but seeing as how they were still between human and thrall, it was only natural to hope they could still be saved. But Nive didn’t appear to care about that distinction. And seeing no other choice, I agreed with her. The prevailing theory was that thralls could never turn back into humans anyway. Nive could have just been cruel, but maybe she was only doing what she had to as an adventurer. 

“Now let’s go,” Nive said with a satisfied smile after we gave our approval. “Wait, one second.” 

I was about to get moving, but I came to a stop and wondered what the problem was. Nive pointed to the corner of the room. 

“I’m just saying, don’t think too hard about it,” somebody said. Two people were walking from the depths of the dungeon toward the large room. One looked to be a boy around the age of seventeen or eighteen, while the other was a girl who looked around fourteen or fifteen. 

“But should we really be doing this?” the girl asked. “This makes us no better than the humans.” 

“Do you realize how much they’ve made us suffer?” the boy said. “There are tons of them anyway. What difference does it make if something happens to a few of them?” 

“But—” 

“I get it, but you need to stop thinking about it. We have to do this. Besides, Mr. Shumini says this is necessary. He hasn’t said why yet, but he did awaken our power, right? So, y’know.” 

I didn’t quite know what they were talking about, but I kind of understood some parts. Shumini had to be their boss or something. They also seemed ambivalent to turning people into thralls, and they didn’t know the reason for it. 

“Looks like we’ve got vampires,” Nive said with amusement. “That’s what my nose tells me. Let’s kill them.” 

“Here goes!” Nive said as she rushed into the large room. We followed. Myullias wasn’t a fighter, so she stayed back, but she had her duty as a saint to do. She had to purge the vampires and the air in this room. But it wasn’t time for that yet. 

“What?!” 

“Who’s there?!” 

The young vampires opened their eyes wide and shouted, but Nive just raised her claw. 

“What’s it to you?” she said before swinging her claw down. 

Her refusal to listen was the correct approach to humanoid monsters. Not necessarily in all cases, but their ability to speak human languages made most of them excellent at manipulating feelings. Listening to their excuses or circumstances would inevitably cause empathy, and countless humans had been slain for letting their guard down after hearing such pleas. Of course, monsters didn’t lie or deceive all the time, but we already knew about many victims, and there were people in the process of becoming thralls here to prove it. There was no reason to hold back and ask questions. Personally, I would have wanted to hear more about what these two were discussing a moment ago, but I didn’t know if Nive would reconsider killing vampires that were right in front of her. We had a job to do anyway. 

First, we had to save the novice adventurers. There were only six in total, Raiz and Lola included. Nive seemed confident that she could handle these vampires on her own, so she probably didn’t need help. Besides, she was Gold-class, and closer to Platinum-class than anyone else, no less. It was questionable as to how much Lorraine and I would even be helping. 

We could have let her just do this job on her own, then, but there were potential problems with that. Nive gave us a lot of information, and she was a competent adventurer, but she seemed secretive in some ways. She’d come across that way ever since I first met her. It was easy to feel like she might do something heinous, so Wolf wouldn’t have sent her on her own either. 

Or maybe I was looking at her through my own biases. Objectively speaking, she was fighting off monsters for us all by herself, and we got a lot of money from her too. Thinking about it again, she did a lot for us. I almost felt like I should at least buy her dinner or something. I also felt like that would just lead to trouble for me, though. 

“Hey, Raiz, Lola! You alive?!” I asked and shook Raiz by the shoulders. Their eyes were vacant, and it was hard to tell if they were conscious. 

“Ugh, where am I? Who are you?” Raiz responded. The life returned to his eyes. 

“Thank goodness. It’s me, Rentt. We took an exam together. Remember that?” 

“Rentt? Rentt?! Why are you here? Wait, never mind that, where’s Lola?” 

“Right here. Looks like she’s unconscious, but she’s fine. She’s alive,” I said as I healed her with some divinity. 

“Uh, huh? Where am I?” she asked as her eyes opened. 

“Lola?!” Raiz exclaimed and tried to stand up. “Ouch!” He fell over. 

From the look of it, his leg was wounded, maybe from when they were first attacked. On top of that, he had been enfeebled through some means and robbed of his faculties so he couldn’t even move. I couldn’t see the structure of the spell that was used, but it could have been a binding spell. They’d tried to be thorough, but the wound on his leg wasn’t serious. I could easily heal it. I wanted to conserve as much divinity as possible, but helping the adventurers was a top priority. 

“Thanks, Rentt,” Raiz said. 

“Don’t mention it. We’re party members, right? We help each other out,” I replied as I recalled what they’d told me after we took the exam. 

“Of course,” said Raiz. 

“You remembered?” asked Lola. 

They looked pleased, but of course I remembered. I wouldn’t say I was never invited to join a party over the last decade, but it didn’t happen often. And of the invitations I did get, it wasn’t that they liked me so much as they wanted a jack-of-all-trades. A far smaller number sincerely wanted me as a partner. I could only remember Lorraine, Augurey, and maybe a handful of others. 

“Well, put that aside for now,” I said. “Prepare to get out of here. Can you stand?” They were both gradually regaining their clarity. 

“Yeah, I can stand,” Raiz said. “I felt like a sack of bricks a second ago, but now I’m fine. What’s up with that?” 

I didn’t do anything but heal him with divinity, but maybe he had some sort of spell on him after all. Binding spells could feel like everlasting paralysis, but many of them would disappear upon contact with divinity. That must have been why they felt lighter. 

I wondered if the same applied to the other four. I looked to the side and saw Lorraine wake them up with a curse-lifting spell, so it seemed it was something like what I expected. I couldn’t see spells in detail, so I didn’t know precisely, but they were freed in the end, and that was what mattered. 

I just stood back and protected the newbie adventurers as I watched. The fight went surprisingly well, but that surprise came from the vampires, not Nive. It was two on one, so you’d think they’d have the advantage, but Nive was a Gold-class adventurer bordering on Platinum-class. She was a step or two above the average adventurer, and most lesser vampires would pose no threat to her. That said, they fought better than expected. Maybe Nive was holding back, though. 

Nive’s claw attacked the vampire boy from above, but he dodged to the side inhumanly fast and swiped at Nive’s neck with a red dagger. Nive saw this, laughed, and tilted her neck out of the way at the last second. 

As if she were waiting for this, the vampire girl swung a red scythe down at Nive’s neck. I thought that even Nive would have trouble getting out of this one, but the scythe stopped right in front of her face. She had caught the blade with her teeth. Nive shook her head and tossed the vampire girl away, then she followed her as she hurtled through the air. The girl crashed into the wall, and as she tried to recover, Nive sliced at her neck. The claw severed the girl’s head, and I thought even a vampire would have to die after that. 

But the moment the head hit the floor, both it and her body dissolved into a black mass that took the shape of bats. The bats flew far from Nive and merged together, becoming the girl once again. She was panting, but her body was intact. Nive didn’t look especially surprised. 

“Division, huh?” Nive said. “You must be some renowned vampires. You looked wimpy to me, but I guess you have more skills than I thought. You even seem to have San Arms. This is fun.” 

Division was a special ability generally associated with middle or greater vampires. It made it possible to split the body into shadowy bats or other animals. The amazing thing about it was that the vampire could recover from wounds completely unharmed. It was said that this made them impervious to physical attacks. This was one reason that slaying middle vampires could be difficult. This could have meant that these two were middle vampires, but I didn’t know for sure. 

I honestly didn’t know what San Arms were, but from what it sounded like, it was some other special ability vampires had. I didn’t have either of these, as far as I knew, but I never tried to use them. I knew Division was inaccessible to lesser vampires, so I never considered it before. Now I thought it might be worth attempting later. 

“I’m not having fun. Who the heck are you?!” the vampire girl shouted. 

“Can’t you tell?” Nive replied. “I’m an adventurer, and I’m here to slay you. You might as well surrender. If you tell me everything you know, I think they’ll at least let you stand outside the gates of Heaven.” 

She didn’t forget the part about gathering information, thankfully. She was a high-ranking adventurer, so it stood to reason that she’d be much more meticulous than me. She had also analyzed the behavior of vampires, and while she was typically hard to read, she did make logical decisions often enough. 

She stopped short of saying they could actually go to Heaven, though. She didn’t offer to let them live, either, but I guess that was obvious. They would still need human blood to survive. 

“Jiziu, don’t listen to her. Humans don’t know anything,” the vampire boy said to the girl. 

“Wugong, but I—” 

“Worry about it later!” 

The vampire boy leaped at Nive. The number of daggers increased to seven, and all but the one in his hand floated in the air. These must have been the San Arms. Their blades were red and seemed different from ordinary weapons. They flew at Nive, but she danced out of the way of them all. She must have been going easy before after all. 

“Is this all?” she said, looking unperturbed. “You’re not quite comparable to middle vampires, but you can use Division and San Arms. Very interesting. However, your skills are fatally unpolished.” 

Nive began to move more nimbly. She shattered all the daggers with one swipe of her claws, closed in on the vampire boy in an instant, and sliced off his head. She cleaved the vampire girl down the middle at about the same time. Of course, this went the same way as before. They both turned into bats and then returned to their original states, as if they were never harmed at all. 

“Don’t waste your time; we won’t die,” the vampire boy said, his voice echoing throughout the dungeon. 

“You won’t?” Nive asked. 

“Nope, we were granted power. Normally we would have to be middle vampires to use Division, or greater vampires to wield San Arms. You saw, didn’t you? No matter how much you cut or stab us, we’ll come back in one piece.” 

“I see, oh really?!” 

Nive jumped at the vampire boy and diced him to bits, only for the same thing to happen again. The same for the vampire girl. 

“Enough! It’s hopeless!” said the boy. 

“Give up already!” said the girl. 

They kept attacking Nive, but she remained completely composed. In fact, she even grinned. 

“Give up?” she asked. “Ridiculous. There are only two reasons I would stop hunting vampires: if I die, or if every last one of you dies!” 

I didn’t know if that was insanity or conviction. I had no idea why she was so obsessed with vampires, but it was a maddening fixation. The look in her eyes said she would always pursue vampires, to the ends of the world even. 

Nive fought the vampires for a while until they suddenly went wide-eyed and looked at themselves. It was after several dozen rounds of Nive slicing them and forcing them to revive. 

“Knew it,” Nive said with a chuckle. I looked where she was looking and saw what she was talking about. The vampires’ fingers were disintegrating. 

“What the hell?!” said the boy. 

“Why? Heal, heal!” said the girl. 

They repeatedly used Division to restore their arms, but their fingers kept crumbling into sand. 

“You’re too ignorant,” Nive said. “Division makes it possible to shapeshift as well as restore to your original state, but you can’t keep using it forever.” 

“What are you talking about?” the vampire boy asked shakily. 

“Everything has its limitations, you know, no matter what you are. Surprisingly, not even monsters can escape their limits. The gods made it so, but even their power only goes so far. That means Division has its drawbacks too. This is what happens when you overuse it. Every middle vampire knows that, but I guess you didn’t.” 

“But Mr. Shumini didn’t say anything about that,” the vampire girl said. 

“Is that your leader? Well, I’ll be destroying him later. I’m sure he didn’t tell you on purpose. If you knew the drawbacks, you would’ve been more hesitant to use it. You were unwilling to risk your lives and he needed a way to make you fight, I take it. You were to be used and disposed of. How sad.” 

“That’s not true! He’s not like that!” the boy cried, unwilling to accept the harsh truth. 

“He said we’d be able to make a country for ourselves one day! He said we’d get to live happy lives there!” the girl moaned. 

“Sounds like a nice dream,” Nive said. “Like a fairy tale a mother would tell her young child. Sweet, kind, loving, and all a lie. Now let me send you to your deaths. At least you’ll get to rest in peace.” 

Nive took one step toward them, then another. Her words and their own decaying bodies left them in a confused state. Unable to move or speak, they just watched her come closer. 

“Sweet dreams. I’m sure the darkness will welcome you with open arms,” Nive said and severed the immobilized boy’s head. He didn’t turn into bats this time. His head and body turned to sand until that was all that remained. Then she walked up to the girl a short distance away. 

“Oh, oh, I—” the girl stammered and stared at Nive’s claw. 

“Did you listen to the pleas of the humans you killed? I doubt it,” Nive said. Then she cut the girl in half. She disintegrated too, and the particles of what had been her body dispersed through the air. 

Now that the two vampires were gone, Nive walked up to the half-formed thralls and stared at them pensively. “Myullias, it’s your turn,” she said. “Come over here. Rentt, could you help too?” 

It was time for Myullias and I to purify them with our divinity. Nive could use divinity too, but she wasn’t good at purification. Nobody’s good at everything, I guess. 

“Are you sure?” I asked her. “They’re not fully formed yet, but they’re still thralls. Don’t you want to do it yourself?” I saw Nive as someone who would never turn down the chance to kill a vampire, so I didn’t think she’d be willing to pass that duty onto others. 

Nive shook her head, an uncharacteristically vague expression on her face. “No, I’d rather not precisely because they’re not fully thralls. Their bodies and souls still differ from those monsters. Yet there’s no way to save them now. They have to be destroyed. It’s sad that they were forced to become monsters against their will, and I do pity them. They at least deserve a painless, peaceful death. Am I strange for feeling that way?” 

It was surprisingly compassionate coming from her. Nothing was strange about it, of course. If anything, it was incredibly kind. 

“No, I’m just a little shocked to hear you say that,” I replied. “I think it’s a good idea.” 

“Well, I’m the pinnacle of compassion, after all,” Nive said with a chuckle and a shrug. “I’m kind to all people.” She was acting the same as usual, but the words coming out of her mouth were absurd. 

“Rentt, do you know how to do this?” Myullias asked. 

“Yeah, just purify them with divinity like you would anything else, right?” 

“Yes. I recommend that you do it one at a time, though. Trying to purify them all at once will cost more divinity. I’ll start from over here, so please start from over there.” 

Myullias headed off to one end of the line of half-formed thralls, so I walked down the line from the opposite end. They didn’t react at all when I purified them, their bodies turning to ash from the fingers up. They didn’t even scream or wail. Instead, I saw peace in their eyes. 

Once they had all turned to ash, only their clothes and belongings remained. All of us, including the freed captives, sorted through their belongings to try and determine their identities. 

“Hm, what’s this?” Nive asked. She approached a pile of ash from a thrall I’d purified and picked up a plant that had grown from my divinity. This time it wasn’t a sprout, but a sapling. A tiny, skinny sapling, but a sapling nonetheless. “What in the world is this?” 

“I was blessed by a plant god, so plants grow when I use divinity,” I explained. “I don’t think it does any harm.” 

“A plant god, you say? This is a rare specimen. May I take it?” 

“That’s fine with me, but it’s just a tree.” 

“Most trees aren’t tinged with divinity like this. Maybe this could grow into a holy tree one day. Those produce materials that are extremely difficult to come across, so it would be nice to have one around.” 

“I don’t think that’ll happen. Also, how do you get ahold of materials from a holy tree?” 

“Yes, well, I borrowed a branch or two,” Nive answered. “And I thought I was going to die during that whole debacle, let me tell you.” 

The land of the high elves wouldn’t even let adventurers into their borders. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be for someone to get in and take a piece of the holy tree they so cherished. The leaves alone were supposed to contain more divinity than my entire body, according to Clope. But somehow Nive must have gotten some. 

“You snuck in?” 

“It’s not like there’s another way to get holy tree branches. Those high elves pelted me with so much magic. If I had gotten hit, I would’ve been vaporized.” 

“That’s awfully reckless,” Lorraine said. As naturally curious as she was, even she wouldn’t trespass on a place as highly secured as the nation of the high elves. “What did you need holy tree branches for, by the way?” 

“Want to know? Well, it’s a secret. I’ll show you if the chance presents itself, but you’ll have to wait until then.” 

It was typical for adventurers to reveal as little as possible, so I could understand why she wouldn’t tell us about something she’d gone to great lengths to obtain. We decided not to ask about it further. We went ahead and finished gathering up the thralls’ belongings. 

“Hey, I’m sensing a lot of energy over here!” another adventurer said as he arrived. Some of the other elite adventurers who’d departed from Maalt with us had gotten here. We explained what had transpired. 

“Then we should take these people back to town right away,” said a middle-aged man who seemed to be their leader. “We’ll take them. You should keep searching the dungeon.” 

“Are you sure? We’ll get all the accolades if you do that,” Nive said. She held the highest rank and had the most experience of any of us, so she acted as our representative. 

“You’re the ones who found the vampires first, so that’s fine. You have more skill and experience than we do. Besides, getting these folks back to town safely is important too. Take down whoever did this to our allies.” 

“Of course. We’ll destroy every vampire we see. Look forward to that.” 

We left Raiz, Lola, and the other captured adventurers with the middle-aged man’s party and proceeded deeper into the dungeon. We were still only on the first floor of the New Moon Dungeon, though, and this floor was easy to traverse. It was also vast, but Nive had a map that automatically mapped out the floor, so we never came close to getting lost. Either way, I had the Map of Akasha too. But the strange thing was that while we could fully map the dungeon using it, it didn’t show any thralls or vampires. We could see the humans and their names, so maybe I was using the map wrong. I’d talked with Lorraine about its various functions, but we didn’t know everything about it, so there wasn’t much we could do. After this commotion was over, I figured it might be wise to think about different ways to use the map in dungeons. 

“Here’s some more,” Nive said and came to a stop at another corner. She must have found another vampire. “I’ll charge in first, and you two can come in later. There are some active thralls this time, so you can handle those.” 

I looked around the corner and saw a room similar in size to the last one. There was a boy who appeared to be a vampire, along with a number of thralls. Unlike the boy, their faces were rotten, and their flesh was dry and peeling off. 

“Here goes!” Nive said as she ran into the room. 

“Who are you?!” the vampire cried tensely. 

“Vampires aren’t worthy of knowing my name!” Nive replied. Then she flailed her claw. 

“Adventurers? I see, so you found us.” The boy dodged the claw, and the battle began. “Thralls! Attack this woman!” 

The thralls were unable to follow his orders, since we had run in after Nive and begun fighting them. Thankfully, there were only five in all. They were a type of lesser vampire, but they were fairly powerful compared to orcs. For a couple of average Bronze-class adventurers, this would be a difficult battle. But while I was Bronze-class, I stood above the pack with my monster body, along with my mana, spirit, and divinity. Also, Lorraine was a full-fledged Silver-class. Not to say this battle would be a breeze, but we were capable enough to keep the thralls from interfering in Nive’s fight with the vampire. 

Lorraine and I had to work together, however. I could probably beat them all myself if I made full use of my superhuman mobility and all of my divinity, but that would expose my powers to Nive and Myullias. I didn’t think they were bad people, but I didn’t want them to know everything either. Even if they didn’t learn I was a monster, there was no telling what could get us on their enemy list. Religion was a largely peaceful and casual affair in Yaaran, but Lorraine had told me that the Church of Lobelia could be extremely unforgiving, so it didn’t hurt to be cautious around them. They were probably going to find out a few things regardless, but nothing that would expose me as anything more than an ordinary adventurer. 

I fought them up close while Lorraine attacked from behind—the most obvious approach. I used my sword to defend against their bites and claw swipes while slashing at them when I had an opening. Lorraine filled the gaps in my attacks and fired off spells at any thrall that tried to go after Nive. 

Of course, fighting several foes like this would normally end poorly, but Lorraine and I had a decade of experience working together. We synchronized perfectly. We knew exactly what the other would do next without a need for words. For example, I slashed at a thrall, but it blocked the blow and knocked me back a bit. The thrall then came straight after me, but I sensed mana behind me and ducked, allowing Lorraine to launch a fireball straight at the thrall and set its head on fire. We took the thralls down one by one in this manner until only one remained. 

“It’s over,” I said and cut its head off. I turned around to look at Nive and the vampire, and that fight was nearing its end too. The vampire looked unharmed, but he was panting. He’d probably used Division to regenerate so many times that his stamina was wearing thin. Unlike the two young vampires from before, though, he wasn’t turning into sand. 

“You’re not using Division too rashly, I see,” Nive said to the vampire. “It doesn’t look like you’re using San Arms either.” 

The vampire scoffed. “What, did you fight Jiziu and Wugong? I’m not like them. They only joined us recently, so they haven’t been taught much about their power yet.” 

“That’s awfully cruel. If they’d been taught that overusing that power was dangerous, they could have avoided such a meaningless demise,” Nive replied, but I felt like that wasn’t actually true. She probably would have destroyed them in some other way. 

“They’re dead? Huh. Well, we didn’t hide that information from them on purpose. If we had, I’m sure they could’ve stopped you before you got here.” 

Nive raised a brow. “You were going to tell them later?” 

“Obviously. Well, after they got a little more combat experience. But to be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to have this much skill. When it comes to small cities like Maalt, Silver-class adventurers are about the strongest you see. With Division, you’ll never die and you can easily run away. In theory, at least.” 

Normally the boy’s expectations wouldn’t have been far from the truth, but Nive’s obsession and her sense of smell were a bit extraordinary. If it wasn’t for her, maybe they could have bought a bit more time and escaped after triggering this chaos. But Nive wouldn’t let any vampires get away. 

“But all things considered, you still seem to have a lot of fight left in you,” Nive said. “I see. Interesting.” 

Objectively speaking, the young vampire was backed up against a wall. He had little energy left and nowhere to run. Despite that, he kept smiling as if everything was going according to plan. Nive must have noticed it. 

“Oh, you can tell?” the young vampire asked. 

“Buying time, I take it? Your real objective was in town, I’m guessing. But most of the adventurers are in town. What’s the point of this?” 

“Nive Maris, you undersell yourself. Without you, Maalt is no more than a hunting ground for us. Well, maybe that’s going a little far. I recently learned that this little city has a surprising number of talented adventurers. Either way, hardly any of them could capture and kill us. It’s possible that someone could kill me, if I’m being honest, but they wouldn’t stand a chance against Mr. Shumini.” 

I didn’t know how to feel about that. There were a fair number of powerful folks, and I’d just learned that a vampire’s regenerative abilities weren’t limitless. If we fought them for long enough, we could probably destroy them eventually. But fighting in a cramped dungeon was one thing, while fighting outside was entirely another. They could use their Division to flee in that environment. Maybe Nive knew some way to counter that, but none of Maalt’s adventurers specialized in hunting vampires. Guildmaster Wolf probably had some general countermeasures, but only a vampire hunter would know how to exploit their weaknesses. Adventurers had to fight more than just vampires, so it was rare to find someone who focused on only that. 

The previous vampires had mentioned Shumini as their leader, but apparently this boy wasn’t him. The boss was in town, from the sound of it. 

“I see. Very well, then,” Nive said. “I’ll kill you, head straight back to town, and finish the job.” 

“You think I’ll let you do that?” 

The boy laughed, pulled a red rapier out of nowhere, and filled it with mana. The rapier emitted an unsettling energy that flowed into the boy and transformed him. His slender, dainty body made a popping sound as his arms, chest, and thighs swelled and his well-tailored clothes burst off. 

“What the hell?” I whispered. 

“That’s the power of San Arms,” Nive explained. “It’s functionally identical to how holy swords enhance humans. They’re the secret weapon of middle and greater vampires, but San Arms themselves are rare, so they’re seldom seen. Anyway, this is bad. When a middle vampire does this, their strength matches a greater vampire.” 

The boy no longer looked like a vampire, instead resembling something closer to an ogre. But compared to an ogre, I could see intelligence in his eyes, and something about the way he moved was smart. That was no ogre. It was far more dangerous. 

“Can you win?” I asked Nive. 

“Yes, but it might take a bit. It wouldn’t be much of a problem at any other time, but we aren’t in the best of circumstances. Rentt, could you and Lorraine head back to town? Find and destroy the boss vampire.” 

“Are you sure?” I was positive she would want to do it herself. 

“Well, I can’t do everything. But as soon as I destroy this vampire, I’ll return to town. If the boss vampire is still alive by then, I’ll swoop in and take care of him,” she said with a grin. She almost seemed cool to me there, but I didn’t say so out loud. 

I turned around and said, “Lorraine! We’re going back to town!” 

“Right!” 

We ran out of the large room and down the hallway. 

“Oh, you’re not going anywhere,” the ogre vampire said. He was next to us in an instant. 

“Oh yes they are!” Nive shouted. She appeared right after the ogre vampire, knocking it back into the room with her claw before it could hit us. “Now go!” 

“See you later!” I shouted, and left it at that. She was actually acting like a mature adventurer in this situation. I respected that, but I didn’t mention it. 

Myullias had remained in the hallway and was simply watching Nive’s fight with the vampire. I thought she might come with us, but she had to stay and purify the vampire after the fight. “Be careful!” she told us. 

We waved goodbye to her and left. 

I doubted that Nive trusted me to beat the boss. Rather, I assumed she wanted to be sure that all the vampires in and around Maalt were killed. But the one in the New Moon Dungeon was equivalent to a greater vampire, and while I was stronger than I used to be, I couldn’t be sure that I would win even with the full extent of my power. Nive must have known it would be impossible for me, so she decided to do it herself. 

We didn’t know why the vampire was in Maalt or what he was trying to do, but he had to have some goal other than making thralls go on a rampage. Whatever he wanted to do, it took enough time that he had to lure Nive to the New Moon Dungeon and keep her occupied there with San Arms. 

The young vampire was right that Maalt’s forces weren’t entirely reliable, but they were probably able to buy some time for Nive to defeat him and make it back to Maalt. I think that was what she wanted me to do too. She acted like I could beat the boss vampire, but likely only to convince me to go. I would have struggled against a middle vampire, so I couldn’t win against a potentially stronger foe. But maybe I could hold him back for a while. I just needed to get in his way and wait for Nive to arrive. I at least had to try. I could probably manage that much. 

When we got to Maalt, we heard a loud boom. 

“Rentt! It came from the central square!” Lorraine said and rushed over there. I ran after her. She was a lot slower than me, but I would need the help of her magic to fight the boss vampire. 

“Let’s pick up the pace,” I said. I then lifted up Lorraine as I kept running. 

“Rentt! Sorry,” she said, but I was just doing what made sense. I had the body of a monster and the training of a swordsman, so I was much more physically able. Lorraine was a magician and served as more of a glass cannon. 

“You can pay me back when we fight the boss vampire,” I said. 

“Yes, of course.” 

It was pandemonium. The central square was full of wailing adventurers rolling around on the ground. Some were bloody, and some were covered in wounds. Others had broken bones, while some had holes in their bodies. Healers were running around everywhere. But among all the injured people, one man was still standing and giving orders. 

“Wolf!” I shouted as I put Lorraine down and ran toward him. 

“Rentt? How was it at the New Moon Dungeon? And where’s Nive Maris?” 

He was still standing, but he had wounds all over his body. Blood dripped from his skin. I couldn’t waste too much divinity, but I at least stopped the bleeding with my divine arts. 

“You sure are convenient,” Wolf said, his eyes wide. He had mostly recovered. 

This might have been the first time he saw me use divinity. He seemed only mildly shocked, though, maybe because nothing I did could surprise him anymore. This was much more commonplace than someone turning into a monster, anyway. 

“So what happened? Who did this?” Lorraine asked Wolf. There were signs that something had exploded, but there was no culprit to be seen in the central square. 

“Probably a greater vampire,” Wolf answered. “I couldn’t guess if he was a middle or greater vampire from his appearance alone, but his power was off the charts.” 

“It was probably the boss vampire,” I said. “We met some vampires who served him at the New Moon Dungeon. One of them said he was planning to do something in Maalt. Nive is still fighting that vampire, but she should be back once she’s done.” 

“Getting all these thralls to tear up the town was bad enough, but he’s still got more in store? I have to do something,” Wolf replied as he coughed up blood. The mild healing I’d given him only helped so much. I held up my hand to heal him some more, but Wolf stopped me. “Save your energy. I don’t know who that vampire was, but he went that way. The mostly unharmed adventurers chased after him, and I want you to do the same. Take him down. Show him what Maalt’s adventurers can do.” 

“But Wolf, somebody should heal you first.” 

There were healers around. It would have been best if they prioritized healing him. He was the guildmaster, after all. If the man in charge was this injured, it would cause problems. 

“The others are hurt worse than I am,” Wolf said. “They should be prioritized. Besides, there aren’t enough healers in Maalt to fully heal everyone here. Not like I can help with fighting either. There’d be no point in it. But my head’s working fine, so I can still give orders. That’s enough. And you just healed me yourself too.” 

He wouldn’t listen to me. I got his point, though, and I could see in his eyes that there was no convincing him. 

“Got it. Then I’ll go after the vampire. You better not die.” 

“Of course.” Wolf grinned like a ferocious carnivore.