Miles returned to the Portal World after a few days when he got better. As soon as he returned, he wanted to report back to Quinn that he accepted the offer. The pros were hard to ignore, and he needed a stable income because, after the incident at the hospital disabling him for a week, he realized he could have problems that keep him away for a long time. In such a situation, he wouldn’t be able to pay his rent and would starve to death. The best case of action was to have a salary. Quinn’s offer was covering that.

When he went to her office, her assistant told him that she wasn’t in the stronghold. She and other faction leaders with their men went to hunt a rare Grunt-Rank Pinnacle monster— a Vampire.

Humanoid monsters were rare even in F and E circles. Finding one in the G circle drew the attention of every stronghold around the area. Because it was in the middle of three strongholds, each of them sent their teams. Of course, factions of the strongholds sent their own men as well to deal the finishing blow. In joint hunts such as these, the one who deals the killing hit would have the right on the orb.

It was the reason for all this fuss anyway because humanoid monsters would always drop a rare orb.

The other advantage humanoid monsters had was the Monster Artifacts. Because of their evolved brains, they were more adapted to make use of tools. Almost any humanoid monster carried one.

Miles asked some more questions before leaving the stronghold. When he was sure there was no eye on him, he donned his new favorite armor and started to walk in the direction, in accordance with the map Coin was displaying. He wanted to see the humanoid monster, and if he was lucky, he would deal the finishing blow himself.

The sighting of the said vampire was in Umbra Forest. Because of its always dark ambiance, the place was named as such. Most nocturnal monsters lived there.

Because humans couldn’t see very well in the dark, it was mostly empty. Only those with the light or similar superpowers would hunt there.

The sighting of the mentioned creature had gathered people in one such place.

It took Miles 3 hours to arrive at the forest, and people were carpet searching when he arrived.

The forest, lit by torches, flashlights, and other methods, made it look like a festival. Monsters which used to live here had either died or bolted long ago.

Miles entered the forest without any fear and walked to the deeper parts.

Many people were looking for the vampire, and Miles didn’t think it was still around. If it were, it would be found already.

He had nothing better to do, so he stuck around. When he was walking aimlessly, he heard a shout.

“It is there! It is controlling humans that is why we weren’t able to find it.”

Everyone looked at the source of the voice. It was a female hunter, pointing in a certain direction. She was looking serene, and no fear could be seen on her face, but her voice was filled with dread.

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Coin noticed something was amiss, “Something is controlling her.”

Miles constricted his eyes for a second. He observed the female from a distance, noticing the amiss. “That is for sure, but why did the vampire want her to give out its location through her?” Miles asked. “Do you think there is more than one monster that can control others?”

“It is a possibility, but probably because the vampire had finished its preparations. It probably gathered an army formed from humans and came to hunt. Now it is calling others to fight.” Coin gave his opinion.

Miles didn’t approach, and neither took a step back. Soon people started to gather from all sides. People with deadpan faces also gather behind to lure the woman.

Miles saw Quinn, Tian Ling, and Mihr Orril. Princess Lemaze was also there. Quinn was standing with another two men with the same epaulets on their shoulders. They were the two other post commanders. Each also had their men and people with influence from their strongholds.

Miles had also noticed a giant of a man with red skin standing by one of the Post Commanders’ side. He was 3 meters in height. A lazy looking fella stood beside him. They seemed strong, Miles thought.

“We should tread carefully. The Vampire is using humans against us and we cannot go on an all out war.” Quinn said.

“As much as I want to kill the vampire first, our first duty is keeping people here safe.” The other one said.

“Damn, right!” The last one followed in approval.

“While you are doing it, I will go ahead and kill whoever stands in my way.” An arrogant voice broke their discussion.

“If you touch the hair of one human, I will kill you myself, Olivier!” Quinn looked venomously at the blonde teen who spoke earlier.

“Would you dare?” Olivier snickered and looked at Quinn without any fear. “We warned them before we came, that vampires can control humans. But they wouldn’t listen to what we said. They are weak. As if that was not enough, their education is shit. They thought we were trying to prevent them from having a chance at the humanoid monster. Now look at them. They got caught like idiots, blocking my way.”

“Olivier has a point. I, too, will fight anyone standing in my way.” Porseila said and walked to Olivier’s side. Her followers moved with her. Surprisingly she had only a dozen people with her.

“Princess Lemaze. What an honor!” Olivier said and bowed to kiss Porseila’s hand.

“The honor is all mine, Master Holmes.” Porseila dropped a curtsy in return.

"Oh, Holmes’s brat is close to our stronghold. That is odd." Miles said quietly.

“Why? Isn’t it random? It is perfectly fine for him to be close to here.” Coin asked.

“I heard he was in a distant stronghold. His brother was the previous post commander of the stronghold closest to us. They must have brought him here. But it would require a lot of time and manpower.” Miles answered.

No one could choose a stronghold they were teleported to at first. Even people of the same family couldn’t always meet in the portal world. But rich and powerful families had ways to bring them together.

For instance, Miles’s sister Marcela teleported to an abandoned stronghold raided by monsters. The normal procedure is shutting all of the Dimensional Devices so no one would be sent there. But the person assigned to close them bolted when monsters raided the stronghold, and by a miracle, one of them was still working. By luck or bad luck, Marcela teleported there. Lucky for her there weren’t any strong monsters around anymore and she teleported back safely.

Miles’s grandfather, Cruel Heart, ordered his men to clear up that stronghold and rebuilt it. Many people with Form-Rank power conquered the place back and made it stronger than ever, just so Marcela would be safe there.

An alternative to that would be taking Marcela out of place, but it wasn’t how Cruel Heart dealt with problems. Mercer Cross wouldn’t choose the easy way to escape. He would tear down the place if needed to showcase his powers. He was merciless and cruel.