Chapter 44 - Inferior Beings
Lucas stroked his chin, reading through the quests again and again. “A World Quest and a Regional Quest, huh…? And Constellation too…”
“Constellations? What’s that?” Samantha asked, frowning.
“Fancier words for Gods,” Lucas answered, pondering the contents of the messages.
Chloe scratched her head and asked, “So, what are we going to do now? It says the tasks will change depending on our actions. Sounds vague.”
Facing Chloe’s question, Lucas smiled. “Don’t worry, the Spider-Army is on the case.”
Behind him, countless black figures emerged. They were the spider drones. Unlike the ones he had haphazardly made in the
Each spider’s body was the size of a palm, but their legs were twice the length of their bodies. The legs were segmented with pointed ends resembling claws. Their abdomens were hexagonal with smooth surfaces. Upon closer inspection, faint lines of blue light coursed through their abdomens, linking to various parts of their bodies.
“Go,” Lucas gave the spiders a simple command, and all of them scurried away. Some crawled on the ground, others hovered in the air with propulsion devices, and a few even dived into nearby lakes and rivers.
Five minutes later, Lucas received a notification from the spiders.
The trio opened an app called ‘Spider-Net’ and tapped on the notification. Inside was a video file taken from multiple angles.
“Wow, where did this place pop up from?” Chloe mumbled in shock as she watched the video.
Samantha, too, was stunned. “This looks like something from the Victorian Era.”
The video showed an empty city shrouded in a perpetual dark haze. The cobblestone streets were cracked and uneven, with weeds forcing their way through the gaps. Rows of Victorian-style buildings, complete with pointed arches and intricate carvings, lined the streets.
At the heart of the city stood a cathedral-like building with two towering spires that pierced the hazy sky. Statues lined its roof, their faces contorted in expressions of terror and despair. However, the brilliant and colorful stained-glass windows on the building’s walls were a stark contrast to its ominous appearance.
When the spider drones flew closer to the desolate city, the video corrupted before ending abruptly with a black screen.
“That’s either a necropolis or some kind of vampire city,” Lucas remarked after finishing the video.
“That’s very creepy,” Chloe sighed.
Rewinding the video, Samantha zoomed in on the cathedral. “A city of the dead, huh? It fits the vibe perfectly. Just look at this building, it feels like some evil cult’s church.”
“Where’s this place anyway?” Chloe wondered aloud, crossing her arms.
“Hmm, let’s see,” Lucas muttered, navigating through his phone. He frowned. “That’s Barncast, Raum’s capital city. Now that I think about it, they do have a castle that’s reused as a government office.”
Samantha arched her brows and asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’m fairly certain. The spiderlings captured some similarities between Barncast and this old-school city,” Lucas answered.
Out of the blue, sharp screeches echoed through the forest, making the trio frown. They looked up at the sky and saw the moonlight glinting off countless bat shadows, hundreds of them flapping erratically in chaotic patterns.
Then, without warning, a dozen of them broke off from the swarm and dove straight toward the camp.
“Vampires, huh? Interesting,” Lucas smirked, watching as the bats dived down at them.
As the bats darted down, they morphed midair, twisting and stretching until they formed humanoid figures, with pale skin, sharp claws, long fangs, and glowing red eyes.
One of the female vampires lunged at Chloe, her clawed hand swiping toward her throat. Chloe raised her brows, sidestepped the attack, and drew
The vampire flapped her wings frantically, retreating to the group. She clutched the bleeding stump as another vampire stepped forward, hissing through razor-sharp fangs.
“How dare you point your sword at us, inferior being!” the male vampire snarled, spreading his wings wide. At his command, his companions spread out, encircling the trio with extended nails and bared fangs.
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Looking at the group of vampires, Lucas couldn’t resist whistling. “Whoa, wow. Looks just like in the comics. The authors weren’t lying. Can you guys use blood magic?”
The leading male vampire sneered. “Blood magic? Inferior beings like you are unworthy to witness the symbol of our Progenitor!”
“Just kneel, mutt! Maybe I, Kitwin Rinorth, will take you in as my personal thralls. Especially you, woman,” another male vampire snickered, leering at Samantha.
“Then I want that little boy. His skin is so smooth. I wonder how his blood tastes!” a female vampire chuckled, blowing a kiss at Lucas. “Leave those girls and come play with me instead, little b-”
Before the female vampire could finish her sentence, an energy beam pierced through her brain, reducing her to a headless body. As if on cue, the windbreakers on Chloe and Samantha expanded, transforming into black suits as they charged at the vampires.
Startled by the sudden death of their companion, the remaining eleven vampires roared!
“How dare you!”
“Inferior being!”
“I’ll suck you dry.”
“Mutt!”
Lucas, watching the vampires go wild, twitched his lips. “What the hell is going on with vampires? Is their vocabulary limited to ‘inferior being’ and ‘mutt’?”
Chloe darted forward as her
Two more vampires leaped at her from opposite sides. Chloe glanced at them, shifted her weight, and spun. Her sword ripped through one’s chest, while energy gathered in her fist as she smashed it into the other’s face, sending it flying into a tree.
“Two down,” she muttered under her helm.
Meanwhile, Samantha twirled her spear and smirked at the vampires. Facing her blatant provocation, two vampires flapped their wings and flew toward her. Her boot lit up as she stomped, sending a shockwave rippling outward. The force knocked the vampires off balance.
Samantha rushed at the stunned vampires with red runes forming on
Watching their companions fall like lambs to slaughter, one vampire’s gaze darted toward Lucas, who stood idly behind, seemingly doing nothing.
Snarling, it shouted, “I’ll eat you first, you skinny mutt!” and charged at Lucas, assuming he was the weakest of the group.
“Huh? Me?” Lucas asked, pointing at himself when he heard the insult. Then he smirked. “That’s rather rude, don’t you think?”
The sleeve of his windbreaker morphed, forming a gauntlet. Aiming his wrist, a barrel materialized on his wrist as he fired an energy beam at the lunging vampire.
Seeing the energy beam, the vampire shrieked, “Radiant magic?! Impossible! How does an inferior being like you wield it?!”
“Radiant magic? That’s what you guys called this?” Lucas snickered at the vampire’s outburst. The energy beam struck the vampire’s body, sizzling as it tore through his flesh like a knife through butter. The vampire screamed in agony before disintegrating into dust.
“Yeah, science,” Lucas said with a chuckle, retracting the gauntlet.
“Constellation, huh? So they noticed us right away,” his gaze narrowed at the appearing message.
In mere moments, the clearing fell silent. All twelve vampires lay as ashes or broken bodies.
“That was great,” Lucas clapped from his camping chair, sipping herbal tea. “Want some?”
“Why are you just sitting there drinking tea?” Samantha sighed.
“Well, I got thirsty watching you girls fight, so I helped myself,” Lucas shrugged as he stood. “We should leave this place soon.”
Chloe approached, snatched the cup from Lucas’s hand, and chugged the tea. “Lucas, I’ve got this message saying someone called ‘Serene Tunist’ is interested in my sound. What does it mean?”
“It means Gods,” Lucas stated. “They are watching us now.”
Samantha frowned, “An ‘Eternal Javelin’ is intrigued by my spear.”
Gesturing at the campsite, he said, “We’ll pack up first. Those bats weren’t a coincidence. We’ll talk about the Constellations once we find a nice spot to set up our camp.”
“Scouts?” Chloe frowned. “Then someone might be watching us now.”
Lucas nodded. “Exactly. If those bats were scouts, their boss already knows of their death. Although the spiderlings haven’t reported anything yet, I figure their boss is rushing here already.”
As he said that, the two cabins began folding and restructuring themselves into two cargo containers. Simultaneously, the pieces of equipment on the campsite floated before flying into the containers.
“Guys, let’s get going!” Lucas shouted, clapping his hands.
Suddenly, the woods and bushes rustled as two figures appeared on horseback. They were Jager and Manuel, riding on Phillip and Randy, the second robot horse.
Although the three robots were similar to how they had been before, the materials on their bodies were thoroughly upgraded. Even their available equipment and programming were upgraded too.
“Master Lucas,” Jager greeted while Manuel shouted, “Boss Man!”
“Come on, we’re leaving soon,” Lucas said, signaling the mechanical soldiers to the containers.
“Alright,” Jager said, leading the robot horse to the container.