When he woke up, Elendnas found himself tied up in a situation that, unfortunately, wasn’t completely unfamiliar to him. His head hurt, but he remembered perfectly what had happened.

He was on patrol in the woods when he had been attacked by surprise. He had reacted in time, blocked the attack, and discovered that his enemy was a high-level vampire. It hadn’t taken him long to discover that there were two more.

It was an extremely dangerous situation, although he could keep them at bay, perhaps defeat them if he was lucky. However, those vampires had used a tactic that under normal circumstances wasn’t exceptionally helpful.

They had attacked one after another, from afar, without risking, without exceptionally powerful attacks. He could defend himself without major problems. However, his condition wasn’t normal. Using his power caused him to quickly tire, and they seemed to know it.

He had fallen to the ground. He was kneeling and panting, thus their enemies took advantage to restrain him. Unexpectedly, he had swiftly swung his sword, to which he had added silver dust. The elf severed the neck of one of his unsuspecting enemies, and wounded another. The first had died, but not the second, much less the third.

Furious, they had continued to attack from afar, until he had fallen unconscious. He supposed that this time they had approached cautiously, as fearing it was another trap. Nonetheless, he couldn’t know for sure.

“At least, I killed one,” the elf consoled himself.

He heard footsteps coming up behind him. He felt a cold touch on his neck, and then two sharp pricks, plus the blood draining from him.

“Not bad, it’s not spoiled. We can continue where we left off,” said a female voice that he would have liked never to hear again.

He gritted his teeth, but didn’t say a word, as the footsteps walked away again.

Elendnas knew that he was in dire straits again. Unfortunately, in the past, when Goldmi had rescued him, the vampire had managed to flee.

Thinking of Goldmi made him tremble. He feared that she would come to rescue him as in the past. Unfortunately, back then, when she had, she was already at level 100. Now, she was far from that level, so trying it was suicide.

“Please, Goldmi, don’t come,” he prayed, as he feared that she might die for him.

He regretted not being able to see her again, that his happiness had lasted so little, leaving her alone. The elf was frustrated, furious, and desperate, but there was nothing he could do. He was tied up, guarded and unarmed.

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“Go to the village. Maldoa said that she would come as soon as she could. Tell her that they were vampires, to look for help” asked Goldmi.

“Vampires!? Are… Are you sure? What… What’re you going to do?” the hunter was scared.

She was used to hunting, to chasing animals. However, vampires were beings that only appeared in tales, beings that didn’t belong to that forest, that everyone feared.

“I’ll try to track them down. Don’t worry, Maldoa will be able to find me,” she assured.

Klimsal reluctantly agreed. They needed help, so it was a good idea to go back to the village, to try to contact the drelf, or whoever could help. Nonetheless, she was afraid of leaving Goldmi alone. Klimsal wanted to try to convince her to go with her, but she knew it was impossible.

Over the past few months, they had spent a lot of time together, thus getting to know each other quite well. It had been long enough to understand that she wasn’t going to stop trying to locate Elendnas.

“Be careful,” the hunter said goodbye and returned to the village.

For her part, the archer used the Track skill to try to find out something through the memory of the plants. There were several traces, one of which was undoubtedly Elendnas’s, another Klimsal’s, and another hers, as they came from more or less the same direction.

Another of the traces belonged to several individuals, who often tore the plants or trees for no apparent reason. There was also another trace in the opposite direction, but in which there seemed to be fewer individuals, as well as slower ones. Some plants had noticed more pressure on that trace, as if there was someone heavier.

“Were they carrying him?” the elf wondered, while trying to control her anger.

“It looks like the most promising trail. There’s blood, and there was none in the others. It’s vampire blood. They must have fought,” the lynx agreed.

They followed the trail for three days through the forest, thus entering level 71 territory. However, nothing attacked them, as if they were afraid to approach where they were walking through, and it was. The presence of powerful vampires was still fresh, and the animals had moved away from it.

“There’re some ruins. There’re also people inside,” the goshawk announced.

She would sometimes fly over them, sometimes ahead. The bird was trying to guess where the trail would go, trying to find a clue. Apparently, she had found something.

They approached carefully, and used Camouflage so as not to be seen. The elf Hovered to a tree to try to get another perspective of the area through Hawkeye, and complement the one she had obtained from her winged sister through Visual Link.

There were at least three individuals patrolling the perimeter, who were probably standing guard. The worst thing was that they seemed powerful, and she knew there were at least two others on the other side. Besides, she couldn’t see inside

She frowned and clenched her fists. Goldmi was sure the elf must be inside, but they couldn’t attack them, they weren’t strong enough. Although it was very risky, she decided to enter by using all Camouflages. She needed to know what was inside, and to seize any opportunity to save Elendnas.

“Someone’s coming,” the lynx warned suddenly, as she had heard footsteps.

Suddenly, a young-looking woman appeared, and looked directly towards where Goldmi was hiding.

“What’s an elf like you doing in a place like this?” she said suddenly, while staring at Goldmi.

She showed a smile that could seem kind to her friends, but terrible to her enemies. Two fangs more developed than normal were protruding from her mouth, which revealed her identity as a vampire, a terribly powerful vampire.

The lynx took a step back, intimidated by her presence, while Goldmi turned, still holding her bow. She met the red eyes that were staring at her.