Undead City-Altraud

Inside the dungeon tomb.

Arya ran towards the end of the passage with dozens of dungeon rats pursuing her while a spherical shield of blood protected her from the incoming rats.

The chase continued until she reached the end of the passage. Two large metallic doors stood imposingly at the end, the sight of which made the rats scurry away in random directions.

Arya sighed in relief at the sight of the dispersing rats while muttering, 'Rats are the worst' and focused on the large doors, which had a message written on it.

After glancing at it, Arya nonchalantly pushed the doors open. A large cliff greeted her upon crossing the doors, standing at its edge she gazed at the sky. Unlike in the undead territory where the sky was perpetually covered in dark clouds, the sky inside the dungeon was clear of any clouds.

With millions of tiny stars and a large red moon, it looked mesmerising. A wast grassland stretched from under the cliff, extending till a distant mountain.

Taking a deep breath Arya muttered as a red hue entered the blood sphere around her and converted it into bat wings that attached themselves to her back.

She controlled the wings, willing them to flap while her sight remained fixed on the moon.

Slowing rising from the ground, she flew closer to the moon with each flap of the wings. Her skin burnt due to the moonlight but as the wound grew, a ghostly black hue emerged from within her body and covered the wound, protecting it.

She was around 500m away from the ground, the same height as the tall red tower of the vampire grounds when her skin started to burn even with the protection of the ghostly black hue. She glanced at the still distant moon with clenched hands. Sighing she dove back and as she landed, her wings dissipated, turning into a puddle of colourless liquid. She tried to control the liquid but to no avail.

' Let's explore' thinking to herself she walked in a random direction towards the distant mountains.

After a bit of exploring, she observed a group of three undeads fighting a hoard of monsters.

"Cain, fall back"

"Why? We need their crystal"

"No, there are too many of them"

The group of three were arguing with one another even when the beasts were overpowering them. The beasts were tiny rabbit-like creatures that were made entirely of black shadowy material, they had a horn growing on their forehead and were using it to viciously attack the group of undead.

A member of the group looked injured, its skull cracked and a leg broken. The attacking beasts were also injured causing a black tar-like substance to flow from their wounds.

' That's not blood' Arya thought internally while approaching the group.

"Need help?" She asked, alerting the group of her presence.

The group of three looked at her with caution and mild irritation.

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"No" One of the undeads holding a large bastard sword responded while splitting an incoming shadow rabbit into two parts, only to receive a withering glare from a nearby undead that was using a whip to keep the incoming beasts at bay.

" Cain shut up " the undead ordered and turned to Arya.

"Yes, please help" it requested, all the while using its whip to protect the injured teammate from incoming attacks. Impressed by the display of care, Arya nodded and approached the wounded member of the group.

"Can I borrow these?" she pointed towards the pair of daggers it was holding and asked, getting a reluctant nod from the undead. After receiving them Arya observed the blades and nodded in satisfaction at their sharpness. With a single sharp edge and a pointed tip, they resembled a knife that fit her short stature perfectly.

Getting into a stance, Arya glanced at the hoard of nearly 20 rabbit beasts and almost the same number of dead beasts around the group. She took a deep breath while activating to control the blood flowing in her body, rapidly increasing its flow rate and rushed towards the hoard of beasts. Her skin grew red due to the increased blood flow and her body emitted fumes as she slashed at the beasts with impeccable precision. Her body felt light and her speed soured as she zipped through the grasslands, delivering fatal blows to as many beasts as she could.

The group of undead did not stand idly and supported her, with the combined effort they took care of all the injured beasts while the few healthy ones escaped into the wilderness.

Breathing out sharply Arya stumbled as the fatigue due to the use of on herself kicked in, her face grew pale and her legs buckled. Just as she was about to fall, the undead holding a whip rushed in and supported her while whispering "thanks " in her ears.

They helped her to lay comfortably on the ground.

" I am Echo, That guy holding the bastard sword is Cain and the injured one is John " She sat beside her and introduced the group. Arya observed them for a second and then nodded.

"Arya, a vampire" she introduced herself and stared fixedly at them, observing as the group stiffened upon hearing her race.

"You hate vampires?" She asked curious, but Echo just sighed and shook her head in denial. She looked towards the other members of the group, just as she was about to continue, John, the injured undead interrupted her.

"We hate humans, As for vampires, we don't care about them " he spoke with finality and tried to assess her reaction only to find her looking at them curiously while tilting her head.

"You don't hate them, why? " she inquired, confusing the group even more as they exchanged glances with each other.

"Do you hate vampires?" John asked the question that had been brewing in the minds of his fellow undead, receiving a nod of affirmation from Arya.

"Why?"

"A few people that I like suffered due to vampires" she replied with a cold glint in her eyes, scaring the group into silence. The uncomfortable atmosphere was broken by Cain,

"So, what is a vampire doing inside a shadow dungeon?"

"I am clearing it" Arya stretched her arms and got up, ready to leave.

"Alone?" He asked as the other members of the group looked at her in surprise.

"Yes, I want to clear this dungeon and then enter a major dungeon"

"Major dungeon? You? You are tired from just fighting a bunch of rabbits" Cain retorted while looking at her with a glare.

"I don't care, I will just grow stronger."

"How?"

"By fighting. I will fight these monsters and improve my skills. I will fight till I am strong enough or die trying" Arya clenched her fist as her unwavering gaze fell on the tip of the distant mountains, John observed her and glanced at Cain.

"That's enough" he ordered and turned towards Arya, Taking a deep breath he informed her about the dungeon,

"To clear this dungeon, you need to kill a shadow panther living on the tip of the mountain. Don't go near the mountains until you cleared all the monsters in the grasslands. To enter a major dungeon you need to clear at least 3 different minor dungeons. Good luck" he spoke while dismantling the rabbit corpse and gathering the obsidian black crystal in its heart, Hesitating for a second, he continued,

"Don't hate Cain, he is just concerned about you. An undead that we knew also dreamt of exploring the major dungeons, he worked hard for it and finally entered a Major dungeon but never returned. Dungeons are dangerous, please be careful "

"Don't worry, I don't care enough about him to hate him " Arya pointed towards Cain while speaking and walked away, making him turn red in anger.

John laughed after hearing her response while Cain and Echo gazed at her departing figure in silence.

"Alright both of you, stop slacking and help me gather the crystal, We need to feed it to the kids" he ordered, hearing him speak Echo and Cain came back to their senses and collected the crystals around the rabbit's heart. After collecting sufficient crystals they returned to the city.