Edter woke up with sore muscles all over his body and the feeling of being sunk under the sea.
What happened? I was on that merchant ship just now.
Edter opened his eyes and looked around, but there was only water and small schools of fish swimming around as far as he could see. He looked up, but there were no feet. Not even a single ship remained.
It seems like I lucked out and fell into the sea before the battle ended. Lucky me. Time to go back.
Being the happy-go-lucky guy he was, Edter assumed the best-case scenario. He took out a piece of old, worn-out, faded debris wrapped inside a transparent wrapper from the spot he and all his friends had to stuff into the corner of their mouths. It was a piece of debris from the ruined district they now called home.
The feeling of having something that felt like hair brushed against his neck made him turn around, but he saw nothing. There was no one there at all. He thought his nerve was getting to him since he was rarely selected to be part of the raid.
Show me the way home. The vampire thought as he swam toward the ruined district.
Even as one of the oldest vampires in the district, Edter didn’t know how the formation worked. Their boss, Minlam, said that as long as they keep even a single piece of debris on them, they would be able to ignore the illusion formation craved in the bottom of the district’s spire. If they were chased after, they must crush that debris to let out a powerful illusion that would surround them for a brief moment. Thanks to that brief moment, many of his friends came back alive. Yet, at this point, Edter questioned whether that was a good thing or not.
As the vampire swam toward the coral reef with black and brown color that marked where the district was, he thought about their lives.
He knew that to the people of Eldium, they were the evil invaders who listened to their boss and caused a lot of trouble, to the city. If only the city didn’t welcome them openly only to hunt them down relentlessly every night. Why did they do such a thing? It made no sense. Vampires chased out from Namonik would have found a home in Eldium. Sure, they would need blood from time to time, but that shouldn’t have been a reason to get hunted like animals in a free city like Eldium. And the rumor about the vampire race being cursed by a Dark Lord, which turned them into feral beasts hungry for blood, was utter nonsense.
Yet, even the Adventurers and information brokers Edter and his friends hired to protect themselves returned the money and kept their distance after a single day. Pushed to the edge, vampires like him had no choice but to move to the ruined district and rob the merchant ship to survive. What else could they have done? They couldn’t just shut up and get hunted down one by one.
More than two decades after they moved to the ruined district, he heard Eldium had gone through a massive change, started by the new Adventurer Guild Master. He had hoped it was the signal for them to move back to and enjoy the sun again. But the group his boss sent to negotiate a place for the vampire in Eldium never returned. The negotiation broke down before it could even begin, and they were attacked by the Adventurers soon after. If they didn't have the illusion formation, all of them might have been wiped out.
As he thought about those things, Edter let out a long sigh. When will we be able to live under the sun again?
His negative thoughts receded a bit when he saw the glowing bubble he called home. He smiled slightly and dove toward the bubble before quickly moving around the district.
When they first arrived here, the bubble that created air and pushed away the seawater were already there. No one knew who created it, but they were grateful nonetheless. The ruined district used to be as dead as a roasted Rendjaw on a fishing trip – every wall on every house was covered in green moss, the run-down roofs with broken titles hanging on at the edge looked like they could fall at any given moment, the broken windows and doors only had their frames left. The stone-paved streets had cracks all over as new ones formed along with a crunching sound whenever someone stepped too hard. The dry canals became pitfalls if they weren’t careful enough when they walked by. At the center of the district was the bell spire that housed a bronze bell the size of a horse carriage. It was never used, but it still looked well-maintained for some reason.
It was without a doubt a forgotten ghost town when they arrived. But not anymore.
After decades of rebuilding the place, the once-ruined district looked better than ever in Edter’s eyes.
The soft, bluish light from the air bubble combined with the orange lanterns’ light next to the door of each house replaced the morning sun. Run-down houses were mostly restored to their former glory as mosses were removed, the walls rebuilt, windows and roofs fixed. The once-broken streets were now fixed, no more cracks could be seen. Not that they could fix it completely since they still needed to move carefully less they want to break the road. They couldn’t fix everything, but they did a fine job, in Edter’s opinion. After all, most vampires didn’t have Craftsman Path like him.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The empty canals are filled up once again as small marine creatures swam from the outside. What were used to move rainwater out of the city by Eldium’s residents were small roads for these creatures. If any vampire urgently needed blood, they could catch some food from these canals. But those creatures’ blood tasted like carrot soup with too much Dwarf’s Rock Salt. It was their last choice if their blood reverse barrels were empty.
This place wasn’t much, it was enough at the moment. But…
As he traveled back to his house, his friends and comrades greeted him with light smiles.
“Hey Edter, I took you for dead.”
“I’m like weeds. You can’t kill me off that easily.”
“Got some fresh bread over here. Want some, Edter?”
“Maybe later, I need to go back and check something first. You go ahead and fix it first.”
“Edter, there you are. Quick, we need… wait… why are you wet? Did you sneak out again?”
“I didn’t sneak out. I got called out.”
“Sure, just don’t throw your life away in a ditch somewhere. We need our only Builder to stay alive.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep pushing hard work on these old bones without so much as a thank you. Haizzz. The youth these days.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. We need your help with the spire’s bell. I think it’s about to break. Please, and thank you.”
“I know the illusion formation is at the bottom of the spire, but that has nothing to do with the bell. You guys never even told me why we needed to fix that thing. It’s a pain to fix since I’m not a Blacksmith. Just let it break on its own.”
“It’s the boss’s order. What can we do?”
“We are not his slave, you know.”
“Here? We pretty much are.”
Edter let out a long sigh as he looked at the figure rushing away toward some other places. He never liked the way Minlam did things. That musclehead only knew how to rob people and acted like a thug. It’s been so long. Why couldn’t they go back already?
The builder trotted toward the spire as thoughts swirled in his head.
“Oh, hey Edter. Checking up the bell again?” The guard at the back door of the spire, the less bobby trapped door, asked.
“Yeah, just the same old routine. Anything new from the boss?”
“Not really, he's still down there.”
“Talking with that suspicious one through the communication crystal again, I assume. Does that person even know how hard it is to live down here? How can he rely on someone who doesn’t know what we have been through?” Edter clicked his tongue.
“We just have to do our job.” The guard shrugged.
“…Guess I have been here for too long,” Edter mumbled as he approached the wall on the right side of the door and tapped on different spots. Each spot he tapped, a magic circle appeared then disappeared until he heard a metal-like clanking sound from the door. The last part for not getting blown up in the face is to send out a Mana Wave to see where he should press on the steel door.
But when he sent out the Mana Wave, he was shocked to find five unknown figures appeared out of thin air right behind him. Before Edter could even react, one of them grabbed him in a chokehold and covered his mouth while another, a turtle, flew toward the guard and slapped him hard enough the guard was knocked back and hit his head on the wall. Lighting came out of the magic circle on the wall and attacked the guard, threatening to cock him alive. But before that could happen, the turtle covered its flipper with a layer of Mana and pulled the guard away from the wall.
Having witnessed how these unknown figures didn’t kill the guard, Edter had a thought.
I know this might be insane, but maybe, just maybe, this is our chance.
-----
Toby looked at the steel door, then at the guard spasming on the ground, and thought there must be some kind of trap on this door too. He sent out a Mana Wave and discovered that Mana was weaved into five nodes on the door. Each node had a number above them – one, three, five, seven, and nine.
This must be a trap. Toby thought before he turned back and spared a glance at the vampire trapped in Tootha’s arms before asking his party.
“Does anyone know how to disable this thing?”
They all shook their heads.
“Ok, then does anyone know how we could get this guy to open it for us without blowing all of us up?”
“If he doesn’t open the door, then he has no use to us,” Grillion said coldly, very much unlike him. This caused the vampire to flinch.
“We should beat up bad guys like him, then beat up every bad guy inside this place, then put them into jail or kill them. That way, they won’t be able to hurt the merchants and sailors anymore.” Lukas said.
“I can burn him a little bit until he agrees to open the door,” Rina said.
“From what we heard, we got luck since this man knows about the formation. I suggest we negotiate with him about what he wants. If it is something we can offer, then it would be mutual assistance.” Lily’s words caused the vampire’s ears to perch up.
“This guy is kind of cute. I can whisper words of love into his ears until he submits.” Tootha said flirtatiously as the vampire in his arm shivered and glanced at Tootha with terror in his eyes.
“I thought you only liked women?” Toby asked.
“If they are cute enough, anything goes.” Tootha smiled, causing the vampire to move around frantically.
“How still, little flower, you might have more [Strength] than me, but if you keep acting like this, I can’t guarantee I won’t pluck you.”
Grillion, Lily, and Rina looked at Tootha with wide eyes, then took one step back.
“…Not in front of the kids, please.” Toby almost begged at this point.
“It’s not like that, my friends. What I mean is if he is acting up, then I have no choice but to snap his neck. How can you all think of me as such a sexual maniac? I’m deeply hurt.” Tootha closed his eyes and shook his head.
The vampire bit Tootha’s hand, causing him to reflexively move his hand away from the covered mouth. Toby thought the vampire was about to shout for help and was ready to kill him with [Magic Hand].
But in contrast to what Toby expected, the vampire said.
“I can help you destroy the illusion formation.”