Carmilla handed the key to the next area over to Maria after she looted it from Mercy Brown’s body.
You have acquired: Main Lobby Key
Thankfully, they didn’t need to kill the vampire to get the key so Maria’s initial idea of rewarding Orh’bankhur with her as his new maid was still okay. Orh’bankhur wasn't happy or sad with the reward, he only accepted it with a nod. They moved over to the locked gate and Maria opened it with the key.
*DING*
You have entered Castle Bran - Main Hall
Orh’bankhur had to crouch down to enter the castle’s Main Hall and after he entered, everyone else followed after him. There were a few mobs in the area but they didn’t take notice of their presence just yet. The Main Hall was quite large so the moment they entered, they were still outside of the aggro range for any of the monsters nearby.
Name: Vampire Servant - Butler Level: 155
Name: Vampire Servant - Maid Level: 155
Name: Vampire Footman Level: 150
Name: Vampire Guard Level: 160
There were a few kinds of mobs in the area but seeing their levels, Maria motioned for her subjects to go deal with them on their own. Ash, Carmilla, Alex, and Raijuu moved in teams of two and began dealing with the mobs.
Maria stuck with Orh’bankhur and just watched as the big ogre dealt with the mobs on his own. She would occasionally help out if more than 2 mobs were attacking but she didn’t do much other than that. These things were still low-leveled and didn’t require her attention at all. They cleared the entire Main Hall in 10 minutes and one of the Vampire Maids dropped a key.
You have acquired: Dining Hall Key
Maria looked around and noticed that there were many locked doors in the Main Hall so she ordered her subordinates to look for the door that fit the key she had. They quickly found the door and unlocked it. It was much too small for Orh’bankhur to get through so Maria had him and Raijuu wait in the Main Hall while she and the rest entered the Dining Hall.
You have entered Castle Bran - Dining Hall
Just like in the Main Hall, there were a few mobs here and they were more or less the same except there was the addition of a few [Vampire Soldiers] and [Vampire Mages]. They quickly cleared the Dining Hall though it took a bit longer than they did in the Main Hall because they were down 2 people and the annoying [Vampire Mages] were constantly pestering them from afar.
The [Vampire Mages] were at the end of the Dining Hall but their aggro range seemed to encapsulate the entire hall so they attacked the moment Maria and the rest entered. It was because of their constant pestering from afar that Maria and her party had to expend a little bit more effort and stamina to completely clear the hall. They even had to deal with a mini-boss [Vampire Mage] who dropped the key to the Pantry.
You have acquired: Pantry Key
There was only one door here and it led to the Pantry. Maria used the key and they went inside.
You have entered Castle Bran - Pantry
The pantry wasn’t too large. It was half the size of the Dining Hall but oddly enough, there was only one monster here.
“So the intruders have finally come.”
“A talking monster…so it’s a boss this time, huh?”
Maria quickly used inspect and saw the boss monster’s stats.
Name: Richard Krent Level: 180 Rank: Vampire Duke
HP: ???/???
MP: ???/???
SP: ???/???
As usual, Maria couldn’t see anything else besides the monster’s name and level. Judging by its rank, it was definitely a boss monster.
“Richard Krent, he’s one of the new generation’s Dukes,” Carmilla informed.
“Krent? I’ve never heard of that name,” Ash said.
“It was the family that took over your assets once you were banished. The Blood Lord divided all of the riches your family obtained and gifted them to the Krent household who rose to power and became a Duke house.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“...So this pipsqueak is supposed to be my successor of sorts? How laughable.”
“What’s that old-timer?” Richard Krent rose from his seat and asked with a rather punk-like attitude.
“Tsk, no manners at all.”
“Hmph, so you’re the rumored Duke Ash who was defeated by his majesty, the Blood Lord, huh? You don’t look like much to me!”
“Only the uneducated can’t see that. You lack the basic ability to judge a person’s power level. Has the new generation fallen so low?”
Richard was about to rush at Ash but finally noticed the tall woman standing behind him.
“M-Miss Carmilla, you’re here!”
“...”
“Have you thought about my previous proposal? I’m sure that if we join our houses together, we’ll become quite the powerhouse!”
“This fool, he really can’t read the room, can he?” Maria said with a rather disappointed tone.
“Ohohoho? Who’s this foul-mouthed Missy?”
“...My Queen, if you’ll allow it, I’ll bring that fool’s tongue to you.”
“Let Alexa deal with him. This is a perfect chance to steal this guy’s relic and give it to Alexa, isn’t it? Then she can promote herself to duke level!”
“I’ll bring his head to you, big sis!” Alexa said before she stepped out.
“Tch, aren’t you an arrogant bunch. You’re sending this pipsqueak to fight me? That’s pretty cruel of you guys! Speaking of which, are you the people that are invading our country?”
“...He asks this only now?”
Maria was certainly appalled by this person’s behavior. She thought that if they were to subdue some of the bosses, she’d spare their lives if they were useful enough but this one was a bust.
“Kill him quickly, okay?”
“Yes, big sis!”
Alexa pulled out the large battle-ax she had holstered on her back and slammed it on the table in front of her, splitting it in two before kicking it away to the side. Now, nothing was obstructing the little vampire girl from her opponent.
“Jeez, aren’t you a little violent!”
“I’m going to rip out your tongue.”
“Haha, come at me if you have the ability, shorty!”
Alexa straightforwardly rushed at her opponent as she swung her ax at him. Her battle style was a complete copy of Maria’s battle style when she used her Calamity in its ax form. Richard Krent thought he could take it easy since he was going to fight his enemies one by one and the first one seemed to be their weakest member but he was wrong. The moment Alexa’s ax met with his spear, it was split in two.
“?!!”
“Haaahh!!!”
Alexa roared and swung her ax upwards, splitting apart Richard Krent’s skull and just like that, the battle ended.
Special Effect: Beheading Execution, has activated!
Vampire Marquis Alexa has killed Vampire Duke Richard Krent
“...well, that was anticlimactic,” Alexa said with a scoff.
Beheading Execution was a special effect of Alexa’s unique weapon, Bloody Valkyrie’s Battle Ax, which was modeled after her big sister’s demonic ax, Calamity. The dwarves made it in the likeness of Maria’s Calamity so it inherited her ax’s special option, [Execution].
Naturally, the activation condition was a bit different as it would only activate when Alexa fought against an opponent that was much lower level than her and she needed to aim for their heads when she fought. If the effect activated, she could kill her opponent immediately if she was 20 levels higher than her opponent.
Alexa was level 215 right now, so she was 35 levels higher than Richard Krent and had nearly caught up in level with the likes of Orh’bankhur and Ash. It was really surprising because she used to be the lowest level among them, but after having gone around with Raijuu to the other side of the continent to hunt and kill Maria's enemies, she had boosted her level to the point where she had almost caught up with the rest of them.
The little vampire lady herself was already a boss-level NPC, so killing a lower-level boss NPCs wasn’t a big deal though everyone including Ash, Carmilla, and even Maria were really surprised she could do it in one shot like that. They expected a good fight to happen but all they got was a one-sided execution that ended in almost an instant. Alexa dragged the head of her deceased opponent back to Maria to present it to her as a sign that she had completed her mission.
It was rather crude of her to do this, but she only did this with pure intentions. In the many books she's read back in the Dire's castle library during her free time when she wasn't training, presenting the head of one's hunt to somebody was a show of loyalty and respect. That was all she wanted to do, show Maria her loyalty and respect though the way she did it was rather odd in Maria's opinion. She wanted to know where her adorable little vampire sister even picked up such a thing. Nevertheless, she accepted the 'present' Alexa gave her.
“Big sis, I brought that foul-mouthed idiot’s head for you!”
“Good job, Alexa,” Maria praised with a stiff smile as she patted the vampire girl on the head, not entirely sure if she should be happy or weirded out by her 'gift'. She didn’t think that her little cutie of a sister would become so powerful in the time she had gone away so this was really mind-blowing. She hadn’t properly checked Alexa’s stats but it was quite obvious she was overpowered and perhaps even stronger than her uncle and aunt-in-law–in terms of raw power at least.
“Alexa, dispose of that...thing," Ash said before continuing with a little hint of concern in his voice, "Don’t you think it’s in poor taste to present that to your Queen sister?”
"I read in a book that presenting the head of my hunt is a sign of respect and loyalty!"
"That only applies to animals caught in certain special events, little one..."
"Oh! Is that so... Okay! I'll get rid of it then," Alexa nodded her head before tossing the head away and disintegrating it with a [Blood Ray]. She quickly went back and looted Richard Krent’s corpse before returning to Maria with the Key she found on his body.
“Here you go, big sis!”
You have acquired: Training Hall Key
“Hmm, how many areas are there in this damn castle?”
“As far as I know, Your Highness, there is still the Storeroom that’s yet to be explored after the Training Hall. After that, there’s the second, third, fourth, and finally the fifth floor of the castle that we have to clear as well,” Carmilla reported.
Maria sighed and quipped, “How many days are we going to be here then? Why did they have to make this castle so damn large?!”