Vwoosh! Sonic zoomed past the final demon village, but was shocked to find the connecting tunnel blocked by a boulder. A pair of four-armed demons glared at him, but Sonic moved faster than they could react and knocked them out. “Hm? These guys are strong.” Sonic stared at his aching fingers with intrigue.

Sonic had noticed that the devils and demons appeared stronger the more he advanced. He did not know why, but he was not interested in figuring it out. He simply outran the demons so he could destroy the pillar.

Sonic then reached out and examined the boulder. Fortunately, despite its size, the it was made from stone. Due to the mana density in this area, the stone was incomparably tough compared to the outside world, but it was nothing Sonic could not handle. The kafu pulled his arms back and then unleashed a flurry of rapid punches at the boulder’s core.

Crick! Crack! A single punch from Sonic could not affect the boulder, but a thousand in quick succession severely weakened the boulder until it began to crack.

“Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Sonic ignored the panicked cries coming from his back as hundreds of chasing demons and devils finally caught up. With one final punch, the boulder shattered, revealing the narrow channel beyond. The kafu did not stand on ceremony, choosing instead to charge through.

Surprisingly, the chasing demons and devils wailed and cried out as they stopped at the entrance, either unable or unwilling to chase Sonic.

Sonic did not have time to ponder their actions, as he walked onto the final platform, where a pillar of light surrounded a large, glowing orb. But, despite seeing his goal, Sonic did not move, and instead, looked at an empty spot a few meters right of the dungeon core. “Your bloodlust is too thick. Come out.”

“Ah, it seems I failed after all.” An old, raspy voice echoed through the chamber as a round dot appeared. The dot rapidly swirled in place, growing into a shadow that the form of a man. A pair of bat-like wings broke out of the shadow’s back as the darkness dispersed to reveal a desiccated old man.

The old man, who had dark, golden eyes and long black hair bore a very sickly appearance. His skin was pale and dry, sticking to his bones like a rag over a radiator. Strangely, despite his appearance, Sonic’s furs stood on end when he looked into the man’s eyes.

“Turn back, child.” The old man slowly walked in front of the dungeon core, blocking it from Sonic’s sight. My millennium of exile ends tonight at midnight. You may return and do whatever you wish then.”

“Believe me, I would love to.” Sonic softly smiled as he got into a stance. “But I am afraid I have no choice. I need to destroy that dungeon core.”

The old man’s eyes flashed. “How unfortunate. I, too, wish to destroy this core. But I am duty-bound to protect it.” The strange man’s pupils turned to slits and his canines suddenly grew out as he erupted with a vicious aura.

Sonic’s gaze turned grave as he recognized the tell-tale signs. “A vampire? The apex predator race.”

“I see my race has not been forgotten.” The vicious vampire grinned and politely bowed. “I am Barrius von Balthazar. You may refer to me as Duke Balthazar.”

“I am Sonic. Forgive me, Duke, but you need to make way.” Sonic took a step forward and then disappeared. Half a second later, a shockwave erupted, proving he just broke the sound barrier!

Within that micro-second, Sonic charged past the Duke. He did not want to waste any time, so he ran straight to the dungeon core to shatter it. However, just as Sonic was about to punch the core, warning bells rang off in his head.

The sense of danger was so great that Sonic immediately pulled his hand back. The forceful ki reversal caused him to cough up blood, but Sonic still jumped back.

Schink! Sonic’s instinct proved correct as a blood sword suddenly shot up where his arm would have passed. However, the kafu did not have time to celebrate the close call because several blood spears, knives and swords suddenly shot up from the ground.

Sonic quickly darted across the area, but the attacks became more refined as the Duke began to predict where Sonic would land ahead of time.

Sonic gritted his teeth as he glared at the Vampire Duke. Now he knew why the ground was red. Every inch of the floor was soaked with blood. Blood which the Duke could manipulate to attack on will.

Sonic knew he could not keep this up for too long. If he didn’t end this quickly, the Duke would soon overwhelm him with sheer volume. Fortunately, it seemed like the Duke could not activate the entire field at once.

‘Hold on.’ Sonic’s eyes narrowed. Why couldn’t the Duke activate the entire field? Vampires had absolute control over blood. There was no reason a Vampire Duke could not control the blood in his territory. Unless…

“You’re hungry.” Sonic paid close attention to Duke Balthazar’s appearance. Despite facing an enemy, he still retained that desiccated appearance. Vampires prided themselves on their appearance. There was only one reason for the duke to retain that look. The Duke must not have fed in a while. Even worse, he could not use the blood infused into the ground for some reason.

Sonic had hesitated to attack the vampire directly because he was cautious of the vampiric blood arts. However, a hungry vampire could never be a real threat.

Sonic was not that weak.

Sonic drew a pair of daggers and held them in a backward grip. “I do not know why you’re in this state, but unfortunately I have a mission.” Blue aura leaked from the kafu’s body as he crouched low. “We can have a fair fight in our next lives.”

Duke Balthazar frowned. He hated perceptive types. Like Sonic guessed, the duke was barely hanging on. He had not fed in just under a week, and if he did not get some sustenance soon, he would enter the slumber state. However, he would not fall over just because Sonic figured out the truth. Centuries of hardened resolve came to the fore as Sonic charged straight at the Duke without pretense.

Duke Balthazar was definitely not fast enough to match Sonic’s speed. But he did not need to. He was acutely aware of the shifting mana around him, and used it to pinpoint Sonic’s position. Furthermore, he did not need incantations or thought to manipulate blood. Like second nature, several blood swords shot up from the ground, intent on skewering Sonic.

However, now that Sonic knew the Duke’s weakness, he did not hesitate. The kafu’s figure blurred as he weaved through the blood swords with rapid steps that defied human comprehension.

Seeing Sonic break through his attack with such ease, Duke Balthazar cursed and cut his palm. He then congealed a blood spear from his flowing blood and stabbed it outward. The vampire’s red, garish aura congealed into a giant spearhead that seemed to blot out the world, filling Sonic’s vision.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Sonic felt an intense pressure descend upon him, attempting to lock him in place. Indeed, if the duke was at full power, Sonic might have been forced to face this blow head-on. Fortunately, Sonic was much stronger than the duke. He forcefully dispersed the pressure with his aura, and then disappeared with a second step.

“What!?” Duke Balthazar’s eyes widened in shock, as he spun around, searching for the kafu. Why couldn’t he sense the kafu anymore? Despite his shock, the duke wisely chose to defend himself first. He pulled out more of his blood and threw it above his head. It then rapidly expanded, turning into a dome that covered the duke.

The duke set up his defenses in less than a second, but that timeframe seemed like a crawl to one person. As the dome surrounded the duke, a blue blur zoomed past blasting him out of the blood dome’s protection.

‘Huh? Is that my body?’ Duke Balthazar’s vision grew blurry as he saw his decapitated corpse crash to the ground. His head then bounced on the ground a few times before coming a stop against a boot. The duke looked up to see Sonic’s shining eyes peering down at him. “Ah, I understand. I miscalculated. You already have a do—” Blurksh!

Sonic stomped down, crushing the duke’s skull before he could finish his sentence. He then chanted a simple fireball spell to incinerate the remaining blood matter.

Although he had not met any in this game, Sonic knew about the unique nature of L.N.E’s vampires from the previous game. Vampires in this world could only be killed by destroying their brains. For low-level thralls, beheading was enough, but for viscounts and dukes, you needed to thoroughly destroy and burn their remains or they would just regenerate a new body.

Vampire Kings and Lords were another ball game entirely. There were rumors that such vampires could regenerate from a single clump of blood. Sonic had never met these kinds of vampires, so he had no way to confirm if this was true or not. Regardless, he burned the entire corpse just to be on the safe side.

But then, just as Sonic was about to relax, his brows tensed when the dungeon core suddenly started pulsing. The dungeon core only pulsed like that when it was about to send out a new batch of monsters—sort of like brief warning for any nearby adventurers.

Sonic was in no mood for unnecessary fights, so he quickly destroyed the core before it completed its summons. Sonic almost sat back and waited, but then cold sweat drenched his back as he recalled something.

‘You’re hungry.’ ‘The duke has probably not eaten anything in a while.’ ‘Why was there so much blood on the ground when he was hungry?’

Elsewhere, a four-armed demon gladly explained the circumstances surrounding their villages to Zuri, Shadow and Larsial as they escorted them to the last gate.

Apparently, every channel had a vampire tasked with guarding the dungeon core. The vampires were given two ultimatums to leave this floor and regain their freedom: either eliminate all non-vampires on the floor, or guard the dungeon core until a specified date.

The demons and devils were given the opposite directive: either destroy the dungeon core, or eliminate all non-demons and devils on the floor.

The dungeon cores spat out around thirty demons and devils every week. Once these demons appeared, they would first battle against the vampire, which saw them as necessary nourishments. Once the vampire gained enough strength, it would then charge into the channel, seeking to eliminate as many demons as possible.

To prevent themselves from being wiped out by a full strength vampire, the demons and devils would fight back with everything they had, forcing the vampire to exhaust its newly-gained blood reserves.

After losing, the vampires would retreat to the dungeon core. They infused the ground with blood to turn it into a sanctuary where they could decimate any foes regardless of their numbers. Unfortunately, the demons did not dare attack the vampires in their ‘zones,’ as this was tantamount to suicide. This weird stalemate had persisted for who knew how many centuries.

Zuri, Shadow and Larsial could not break the dungeon core without killing the vampire, so the demons were all too happy to give them a chance. Worst-case scenario, the vampire would gain a little more strength. They believed they could handle that much.

Under the demons’ escort, the trio reached the end of their channel, where they met a dessicated female vampire dressed in a long robe. It was difficult to tell from her wrinkled skin, but she did not look too old. However, it was difficult to judge a vampire’s age, so they pushed that to the back of their minds.

The female vampire’s eyes glowed with a seductive light as she observed the trio. She undid her robes, revealing form-fitting leather armor that emphasized her curves. Her cracked lips curved in a sultry smile as she bowed and greeted, “Duchess Lucretia von Hagen. May I ask who you lovelies are, and what you are doing here?”

“Zuri!” Zuri answered with a smile and then pointed at the core. “We want to break that thing.”

“Ara? I’m afraid I cannot allow that.” Lucretia hid her smile behind a foldable fan. “I don’t suppose you could return at midnight?”

“No way. We’re kind of a hurry.” Zuri raised her fists and then glared at the duchess. “Kashi trusted Zuri with this. Do you want to stop Zuri?”

Duchess Lucretia gently smiled as the dungeon core suddenly began pulsating. Outside, the demons’ eyes trembled with fear and shock when they saw the shaking pillar. “No. It’s too early! The next summons should be tomorrow! Quick, get them out!”

Unfortunately, the demons were too late. By the time they reacted, fifty demons and devils appeared on the small circular platform.

Shadow had seen Syel in enough action to know that this was terrible! If the vampire got her hands on these demons’ blood!

“Larsial!” Shadow shouted as he charged at Lucretia.

Larsial also understood the impending danger, so she quickly supported Shadow, closing in on the Vampire Duchess in the blink of an eye.

Duchess Lucretia grinned as the two approached. Without any tricks, she let Larsial and shadow run her through, but bent her neck just enough to avoid it getting decapitated. Despite this, several liters of blood gushed out of a deep gash across her neck.

Lucretia, meanwhile, just smiled and twisted her finger.

“Urck!” “Ugh!” “Aaah!”

The confused demons and devils never got a chance to acclimatize to their strange surroundings before several tentacle like blood whips stabbed through their brains and hearts.

Lucretia then licked her lips and muttered, “[Dawn Pelmut]”

Immediately, the demons shrivelled into dried-up husks as the tendrils sucked them dry and then delivered the blood to Lucretia.

The vampire duchess grinned as her palor rapidly turned rosy. Her lips became full, and blood-red, while her jet-black hair regained its luscious volume and glossiness. Within moments a beautiful, alluring thirty-ish looking woman stood within the dried-up husks.

“Mm, that feels so good.” Lucretia licked her lips and then glanced at Shadow and Larsial who had already backed away after failing their initial attack. “That’s right. I did not get your names.”

“Sha—”

“None of your business.” Larsial’s brows turned grave as she clamped her hand over Shadow’s mouth. When Lucretia spoke, Larsial felt wave of compulsion wash over her. It made her want to answer any question the duchess asked.

The compulsion was subtle. She would never have noticed it, had she not suffered something similar in the past. But, since she did, Larsial knew the vampire wanted their names for a reason.

Lucretia smiled when she saw Larsial’s apprehension. “I see.” Several blood whips swirled around the vampire duchess as she muttered, “This might take a bit of effort.”

Elsewhere, Sonic rapidly dashed out of his channel into a separate one. His face paled when he saw numerous dead, dried out husks on his way. As he feared, the vampires were absorbing blood from anyone they killed in the channel. With this arrangement, the more people an intruder killed, the stronger the final vampire would become.

“What bastard designed this floor!?” Sonic’s frustration turned into true terror when he suddenly received a notification.

[Your guildmate has died!]