There was a large crowd just outside Victor’s building, and when the group approached, people started cheering.
“I think they like us,” Elistrae said with a smirk.
“Probably just Alex. They won’t care about our presence,” Bonnie shrugged and continued to walk towards the entrance. The crowd parted to let them pass, and soon they were back at the penthouse.
“You return. How did you fare?” Victor asked.
“Everything worked out great,” Elistrae walked towards the vampire and produced Uav’s wedding ring from her pocket, “Here.”
The vampire lord nodded, “This… Uav… I didn’t know he was back in town. I should’ve killed him a long time ago.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have helped the Vampire Lord.
Dungeon quest rewards not yet claimed.
Dungeon quest rewards altered to:
Random piece of the Vampire Lord gear set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh! That’s why you told us not to get the rewards,” Bonnie gasped.
“Exactly. If you had, you could get either the vampire lord set, or the vampire hunter one,” Elistrae nodded.
“You could’ve just explained things to us,” Alex sighed.
Elistrae just shrugged, “Too much work. I warned you, if you decided not to do what I suggested, that’s on you.”
Alex turned back to Victor and asked to check with Vanessa. The former vampire was being interviewed by someone else that was part of the community. As soon as the idea of a cure was floated around, it spread like wildfire. A lot of people wanted to become mortal again. Immortality wasn’t as much of a lure for elves. After all, their average life span was 500 years. It was hard to even see an elf that died of natural causes. Most would end up getting sick, being attacked by a monster in a bad spot, or have an accident.
Being a vampire could give an improved regeneration against wounds and such, but it also had its own slew of problems. From having to avoid the sun, to being hurt by crosses and garlic. Not to mention the massive target on their back that attracted vampire hunters. For most, it was more likely to survive for longer as a regular elf than for a vampire. There was also an issue of hierarchy. Bonnie and Alex talked with a few vampires and they realized that nobility was very much a thing. But that had more to do with the fact that one vampire couldn’t harm the one that created them. As a result, a caste system was created even if people tried to give all equal rights. However, that was just on paper. In practice, things were much more complicated. Especially since that rule also applied to the one that created their creator. In the end, it wasn’t uncommon for two vampires to get into a conflict, only for one of them to realize they couldn’t do anything to harm the other. Their community was too large, and keeping track of who created who was an art in itself.
Thankfully, Victor, being the vampire lord that was directly connected to most, if not all, vampires in the city, gave a single order to solve the issue. Any vampire that wished to become mortal again could do so, and no one could stop them.
Alex had her work cut out for her. She wanted to practice her skill, and there were a few hundred of subjects for the assassin. This also meant they would stay here for a while. Vanessa helped set up the ‘mortalification’ room for those who were giving up their vampire side. And not to be bored out of her mind in here. Bonnie, with Elistrae’s help, set up a makeshift arena for people to fight against Ruby’s various forms boosted by the constellations. The healer would cast a barrier on both fighters and the first to break the opponent’s barrier would lose.
They spent over six hours in the dungeon after killing Uav. With Alex working almost non stop while Vanessa was being her assistant. Bonnie let Ruby fight for a while before stepping in herself to give the slime some time to rest. Eventually, they had to open the stage since, even with the tag team, they grew too tired to continue.
Once the final vampire was cured of its curse, a notification appeared for the three members of the group.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All the vampires who desired to leave their shackles have been cured.
Dungeon quest rewards not yet claimed.
Dungeon quest rewards altered to:
Two random pieces of the Ancestral Vampire Lord gear set.
A new dungeon variation has been created.
Goldenmoon Manor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What?” Bonnie and Elistrae asked at the same time.
“Is that… a thing?” Alex turned to the two.
“Define that? The set? Not that I’m aware. Not even in the hard mode. The new dungeon? Never heard of it,” Elistrae shook her head.
“No. I mean, dungeon variations. Is that supposed to happen?” Alex was still staring at the notification.
Elistrae stopped and looked at the assassin for a moment before frowning, “Now that you mention it… I don’t think so? Maybe. I… I think I remember something about making new dungeons out of the ones that already exist. But I heard that a long time ago. I need to check.”
“Did you also get the new loot?” Bonnie turned to the elf, who just nodded in response, “One piece or two?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Just one, why?”
“We got two. I guess it’s because it’s the first time we run this dungeon,” Bonnie replied.
“Probably. I wonder what is the effect. Just an upgraded version?” Elistrae’s eyes were sparkling, but she shook her head, “Don’t open now. Let’s do this outside. Just in case the MAZE wants to give us another upgrade.'“
Bonnie chuckled, “Now that’s just being greedy,” but she didn’t take out any of the items. Who knows, maybe being greedy had its value.
They finished things up in the penthouse and left, walking all the way back to that fire exit near the alley where they met Uav for the first time. However, nothing happened as they left the dungeon. No other notification appeared or anything of the sort. But what changed was the corridor they took to enter the place. Right after the door inside the coffin was another hallway. This one moved left and at the end was another fire door. One with golden details on the corners. Just in front of it was a group of people talking. Once they noticed the trio leaving, a man nearby asked them.
“Hey. Do you know anything about this?”
Alex and Bonnie glanced at Elistrae, unsure if they should talk about this, but the elf didn’t hesitate, “Yeah. We finished the dungeon in a different way and got a notification of a dungeon variation being created. It said the name was Goldenmoon Manor.”
“Golden moon?” the male elf turned back, noticing the door, “Yeah. This might be it. Sorry to say, a group already rushed inside. We were going in right after them, but they saw the hallway appearing and thought it was a secret dungeon or something. You won’t be getting that free level up. If it even gives that.”
Elistrae just shrugged, “I leveled up last week. Getting another wouldn’t be worth it. Besides, we are tired. We wouldn’t be going there today.”
“What did you do to make a dungeon variation appear?” an elven woman in that group asked.
“That’s between us and the Alliance. Good luck,” Elistrae walked off, with Bonnie and Alex following right after.
As she said, they had to talk with the Alliance about the new dungeon. It was a change, a place to get new resources, and it could be dangerous. There was no way to just hide what had happened. In addition, they also talked with the owners of the house where the dungeons were located. After a long set of interviews with a few people from the Alliance, the trio left, heading back to a restaurant to finally check their items, all of which ended up being in epic grade.
Elistrae got the Ancestral Vampire Lord Cuirass, an obsidian chest plate adorned with red ancient runes. It could create a protective aura of darkness that reflected some damage back to attackers, and it had a stacking increase to the damage of attacks dealt by who wore it.
Bonnie got both the boots and the helmet. The boots were made out of black leather with metallic sheets placed around it to increase the protection they provided. It gave her the ability to phase through objects for a short duration, and a brief immunity to physical attacks. The helmet, forged from bones of accent vampires and crowned with red gems that pulsated dark energy, increased the power of any drain abilities and melee attacks gained a chance to drain the life force of the target, helping her heal, and recovering her mana.
Alex got the gauntlets made out of dark metal and adorned with jagged spikes. Arcane symbols were inscribed on each finger with a red ink, or, more likely, blood. It could let out a set of 10 strikes where each rune would glow and create an ethereal version of the gauntlets to attack. Each of those blows also helped the user recover from any injuries. Lastly, was the cloak, a long piece of black silk that shimmered with starlight. It could summon shadow tendrils to immobilize enemies and empower the abilities of other parts of the set and could, once a day, reset the cooldown of one of the skills from the Ancestral Vampire Lord set.
In the end, Alex traded the cape for the helmet, since it required a melee attack, and bought the cuirass from Elistrae. As much as the elf wanted a piece of that set, nothing that came out was interesting to her. Only when the assassin put on all three pieces of the set that another notification appeared. The Ancestral Vampire Lord set, was an actual set. Giving benefits depending on how many pieces one wore. The three piece set gave her a small boost to her attributes, increased the power of the skills on the other pieces of the set, and gave another skill that gave melee attacks a chance to drain the life force of the target, helping her heal, and recovering her mana.
After a couple of days of testing, she confirmed that the drain ability wasn’t a single effect that was boosted, but two different skills that could happen at the same time. That was all about the items, but not everything that the Astral Light was doing. They visited the elven woman, who was still comatose, and realized that she was too weak for another session of ‘decursing.’ Her condition lasted almost a week until the doctors said it should be safe, even if not optimal, for Alex to continue her work. However, seven days was too much for the Purifying Light. She couldn’t remember where she had to continue to remove the tattoo and all the enchantments applied on the woman. Instead, she opted to wait another 3 days to both let the elven woman rest more, and to let her skill get off cooldown so she could have Ley helping her again.
During that time, they continued running the Bloodmoon Manor. The new dungeon sounded interesting, being about a city that became the capital of ‘Vampiric healing,’ thanks to an old sage. People took pictures and there was a painting depicting someone that was really similar to Alex curing Vanessa. But what you actually had to do was complicated, and dangerous. A group of vampire hunters were trying to kidnap the people who could cure vampires and turn them into weapons. While, at the same time, the vampires became paranoid. They wouldn’t trust anyone who came to help, always thinking they were hunters in disguise.
From the reports they were able to read, very few people were able to protect the sages who could cure vampirism. The main issue was that they needed a larger team, and it wouldn’t help Alex training the skill she needed to train. When the cooldown of her [Steps of Purity] was over. The assassin finished healing the elven woman. After the treatment, all tattoos and spells were gone and everyone agreed that for the elf to wake up, all that she needed was time.
Still, the Alliance told Alex and Bonnie to stay put and continue practicing. They had a few people they were able to rescue being treated for their injuries, and once they were stable, the Purifying Light would be called. For now, the Alliance secret weapon against the people who became bound to Daemons had to lay low.
And that’s what she did for the next two weeks. Only then, after leveling up a couple of times, she received a message. A group had brought someone for her to heal. She had to meet them at the hospital, in the same room used by the elven woman, who was now awake and going through psychological treatment for all the abuse she suffered.
The moment Alex opened the door to that hospital room, something slammed against her, sending the Purifying Light to the ground.
“Alex!” a woman with blond hair, horizontal irises and purple scales slammed into her, laughing. She quickly got up and gave a hand to her friend, “Sorry, you are always the one tackling me when we met. This was my turn.”
“Hera?” Bonnie gasped as Alex got up and gave her friend a big hug, “What are you doing here?”
“Bringing the gang back together. Almost,” she gestured to the room where Leo was by the side of the bed. Alex turned back to Hera with a confused expression, “Come in, this will be a long story.”