Undead City-Altraud

Training grounds.

Ervin pulled the string of his bow as a metallic arrow manifested and moved at sonic speed, striking its intended target with a thunderous boom. Loud cheers and a round of applause followed as an enthusiastic group of tiny skeletons, none taller than 100cm, looked at him with wonder and excitement-filled eyes.

Lowering the bow Ervin looked around at the cheering crowd with an awkward chuckle and spotted Maya a few meters away from the group waving at him while holding something that looked like a book.

"Yo, done with your practice?"

Ervin nodded and pointed at the book, "What's that?" He enquired.

"It's a spell book. Let's go and test it"

"Test where? in the dungeon"

The group of tiny skeletons listened to their seniors chat and their eyes grew large in excitement upon hearing the word dungeon.

"Dungeon!!"

"Ervin, are you going to the dungeon?"

"Can we also come?"

"I will join!"

"Please take us too"

They swarmed around the duo and bombarded them with questions causing Maya to glare at Ervin while holding her head in worry.

"I didn't do anything" Ervin raised his arms and pleaded innocence, but Maya just gave him a stink eye and swatted him down in front of the group.

"Alright, but if any of you get hurt, then I will immediately send all of you back to the surface, and will never take you guys into the dungeon ever again" She patted one of the skeleton's heads and gave the group a stern warning.

The group nodded their heads repeatedly and marched towards the inner city. Maya and Ervin exchanged glances and followed them.

***********************

Undead City- Altraud

Inside the dungeon of shadows.

Arya sat around a heap of rabbit corpses with sweat pouring out from her forehead, she was breathing heavily due to the fights she faced in the dungeon. The blood daggers that she was holding turned into a puddle of colourless liquid and fell limply around her, signifying the end of the battle.

Her face was deathly pale from sheer exhaustion as she barely resisted her urge to fall asleep and walked wobbly towards a nearby tree.

After reaching it, she sat in its shade and leaned her head on its bark, all while recalling the previous fights. It was her fourth fight against the rabbit beasts and she came to a few conclusions after analysing them.

'My stamina is too low, regeneration needs high stamina to maintain '

She looked at her pale hand and thought back about the beasts, none of them had blood flowing through them, forcing her to damage herself repeatedly to get the necessary blood required for using the skills.

The blood once used for a skill lasted only for five minutes before turning into a puddle of colourless liquid. She sighed again while wiping the sweat off her forehead. The repeated damage to her body had forced the regeneration skill to work in overdrive causing her exhaustion to come far faster than she anticipated.

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Her eyelids grew heavy as she struggled to stay awake but hearing a few approaching footsteps made her sit back up and prepare for another gruelling battle.

Gazing at the horizon she waited for an imminent attack but it never occurred as her blurry vision caught sight of a pair of tall undead approaching her, A group of tiny undead followed closely behind them.

"Yo, you look horrible"

Maya quipped while Ervin and others nodded in agreement. It took Arya a few seconds to grasp the situation, causing her tense muscles to relax. She ignored her quip and observed the group of undead behind them, which were giving her inquisitive glances.

"They are?" She asked while extending her arm towards one of the tiny undead, beckoning it to approach her.

"Newborn undead, it's their first time inside a dungeon so they are excited and nervous. Don't mind them, you need to rest "

Arya nodded her head and leaned back on the tree trunk. The tiny undead swarmed around her, curious to know more about Maya and Ervin's friend.

"Are you a human?" One of the tiny undead asked while cautiously approaching her.

"No, I am a vampire"

"I see, so you are weak!"

"Huh," Arya speechlessly turned towards Ervin who just glanced at her.

"Yes, vampires are weak, but she is strong," he said to the tiny undead confusing both her and the undead. They all looked at Maya for an explanation. Maya sighed gave Ervin a stink eye and explained,

" Vampires depend on blood for both attack and defence, We undead have no blood, so in an extended battle or a war, undead have a huge advantage against vampires"

Arya nodded in understanding, she fought a few battles already and knew how powerless she was in an extended battle with her limited stamina and lack of blood. If her opponent had blood in them, then the amount of harm she had to inflict on herself would have been reduced significantly. It would have been a big help.

"Then what about humans?"

"They are weak against vampires but are strong against undead. They have something called Mist Affinity that mainly specialises in mental attacks like illusion, mind control, hypnosis etc. Undead have a weak minds, hence we are easily prone to being controlled. Arthur and Kyouka got their special affinity because they wanted to free the enslaved undead "

Arya glanced at the kids playing around and poking her skin.

She recalled all the time she spent in the undead city. It was not a long time but during that time interval, she sensed no hatred or ill will directed towards her. They genuinely didn't seem to mind an entirely different race moving around them.

'They are too easy going' Arya thought while sighing and patting a tiny undead near her, causing it to squeal in joy.

"Did their parents allow them to enter the dungeon? It's a dangerous place"

Maya smiled while sending the kids towards Ervin and then sat beside her, " They have no parents" she spoke self self-deprecatingly "We never had one, all of us are born in a grave. We just consider Arthur as the father of all undead and death knight Kyouka as the mother. Every undead born in these lands is a family"

Arya glanced at the group playing around with Ervin, a tiny smile of adoration emerged from her lips. They were essentially orphans who found happiness by caring about each other.

She recalled about the Mist affinity and wondered how it would feel, being controlled and attacking their own family, the thought scared her more than she thought it would.

"I heard that a mother's touch feels tender, mine feels rough but you have soft skin, can you please pat their head every once in a while? They deserve at least some tenderness in their life "

Arya scrutinized Maya as a thought flashed in her mind. " Are you obsessed with other people's external appearance because you want to help those kids?"

"Yes, a human named Fiona once touched me with her callous hands, but it still felt soft and tender to me, I want the other members of my family to experience it too. When I evolve, I hope to get some skin on my bones, till then take care of them" she bowed her head and pleaded. Arya remained still for a while and after taking a few deep breaths, turned towards the kids.

"I will play with them, but I am not good at showing affection. Evolve and do that yourself" she informed and walked towards the kids, joining in their little game.

*************************

At the border between the human and undead territories.

Near a human camp.

A group of vampires looked at the bloodied and burning camp with an emotionless face.

"Sir, why attack the humans?" One of the group members asked causing the elderly vampire to turn towards him.

"We are weak against an undead army, but humans are not" he looked at the lone figure of a human standing near him and muttered, " As long as you spread the rumour that Undead have kept a Vampire princess hostage and are forcing the vampires to attack humans, they will immediately go into offensive. You can enslave as many undead as you want but make sure to kill her"

"What will I gain from this?" The human asked in a deep voice.

"We will kill the present human captain and help you become the leader of this human camp"

The human grinned wickedly and walked away after hearing the offer from the vampire.