As Maria felled another monster, her EXP shot up and she had once more leveled up.

Level Up! You are now level 39! +20 Free Stat Points

Pet [Lilah] has leveled up! Lilah is now level 49!

Still, in its second form, Maria's demonic scythe was pulsating darkly as if it was screaming that it still wasn't satisfied. It trembled in her hands and when Maria finally took notice of the oddity, she merely waved her scythe around wondering what was up.

The trembling only intensified as the Calamity was only swung around. Maria took a look at the blade and saw that it was pulsating oddly so she knocked on it. This only caused the weapon to tremble even more fiercely which only caused Maria's frown to deepen, she took a swung at it with her fist, and the weapon immediately ceased its odd movements.

"Hmph, weird," Maria shrugged and shouldered her scythe as she once again started looking for more monsters.

Being so immersed in fighting, Maria took a look at her surroundings and noticed that she was no longer in her previous location.

"When did I enter a dark forest?"

The trees all around her were of dirty gray color and some were even black as if they were scorched by flames. The atmosphere was also a little ominous, but Maria had already gotten used to the ominous and gloomy atmosphere of the Dark God's Temple so this was nothing. Specters and Ghosts began popping up and they were around level 55-65. Seeing these high-level monsters only brought a smile to Maria's face and she immediately moved ahead to engage them.

As she moved deeper and deeper into the forest, the lighting and the atmosphere only grew darker and darker, until eventually the sun was obscured from view and it was like night had descended. She had night vision so the absence of any light sources didn't bother Maria too much.

"Master, should we keep going?" Lilah asked.

"Hm? Yeah, let's keep going, the monsters here are just the right level and I feel pretty comfortable fighting here~"

Maria didn't notice this, but her Taint value was increasing in value much higher than normal and her new pair of wings that were once white had turned gray. It wouldn't be long until they completely turned black like her other pair.

During her time inside this dark forest, the Calamity kept on trembling and Maria felt like the thing would fly out of her hands if this continued. She was only able to stop it from acting up after smashing it with her fist and on a few trees.

"Jeez, this thing is becoming so troublesome!"

While Maria was busy dealing with her weapon which was somehow acting odd, she tripped over something and fell hard onto the ground face first.

"OW!"

Maria sat up with tears in her eyes, her face hurt.

"What the hell just tripped me?!"

She immediately turned around and her breath caught into her throat. The thing that had tripped her was an unconscious person. The person was currently leaning on a dark tree with his eyes closed seemingly unmoving. Maria couldn't tell whether the person was dead or alive, the person had silky black hair that reached to their waist and they had a very beautiful face and if Maria wasn't mistaken, it had a little bit of masculinity in it, so this person was probably a male...probably.

The 'man' was honestly too beautiful and Maria couldn't help but be entranced when she looked at the beautiful person. He seemed to be asleep since he looked like he was breathing, but his face and skin were awfully pale like it was devoid of all blood.

Maria was a little curious so she poked the man's face with her finger and felt that his body temperature was awfully cold. Seeing no reaction coming from the beautiful man, Maria continued to poke at him curiously with her finger.

"M-Master, are you sure that's appropriate? He's sleeping and I don't think we should bother him."

"Hihihi~ no worries Lilah~"

Maria continued poking him and even tried to call out to the man.

"Hey~ hey~"

After a bit, she found a subtle reaction coming from the sleeping man. Maria continued poking and calling out to him and suddenly, the man's eyes snapped open.

"...Morning?"

"..."

The man continued to silently stare back at Maria and this caused her to blush. Her finger was still touching the man's cheek and being under his silent gaze, Maria lost the chance to retract her finger as she just froze there, crouched down on the ground beside the man.

"...[Inspect]."

Name: Ash Level: ??? Race: Vampire HP: 100/???

MP: 1/???

SP: 10/??? Condition: Weakened, Sealed, Dying

"You...you're a vampire!"

"..."

The pale, disheveled, yet elegant man just stared back at her in silence as a red glint flashed across his eyes as he stared intently at her nape. Maria frowned when she somewhat understood what he was trying to do.

'Look at this guy...he wants my blood!'

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Maria stretched out her arm and showed him her wrist before saying, "You need blood, right?"

Ash, the weakened vampire whose name that Maria obtained thanks to her [Inspect] skill, tried moving his body forward to plunge his teeth into Maria's wrist, but he was too weakened that he could only manage to move just a little bit before falling back down on his back again. Maria shook her head before putting her wrist right in front of Ash's mouth and saying, "Here!"

"..."

Without a word, the vampire sank his teeth into Maria's wrist. She felt a slight prick on her wrist before the sensation of something leaving her body began to envelop her. There was a slight feeling of lethargy, but before it could get any worse, she quickly pulled her wrist back and stopped the vampire from drinking anymore of her blood.

*DING*

You have been struck by a vampire's race skill: Bloodsucking. The status effect: [Weakness] has been applied! You have resisted! [Weakness] has been applied mildly!

A few more system notifications popped up that Maria didn't bother paying attention to as she shook off the weird feeling that she got from letting the vampire suck her blood.

'Ugh, let's not do that again...'

Maria looked back at the vampire who was now slowly getting back up to his feet. She noticed that his HP, MP, and SP had recovered a little bit, probably thanks to her letting him have a little bit of her blood. The vampire looked back at Maria warily before cautiously looking around at his surroundings. Despite having received her help, Ash was still unsure of what to make of the young girl in front of him.

Not only that, but he was in an unfamiliar place, so even though he had received this young girl's help, he couldn't just trust her. Not after what happened to him which landed him in his current predicament.

Maria let out a sigh of appreciation at this handsome creature in front of her. Despite his disheveled appearance, he was still quite attractive. He was pretty tall compared to Maria, a full head and a half or so above herself in height. His porcelain pale skin somewhat shone in this darkness and his deep red eyes were quite enchanting. If not for their current situation, Maria would've loved to admire this vampire a little more, but she needed to progress the 'story' with this NPC since her instincts told her that a quest was lurking behind him.

"Well? Where's my thank you?" Maria suddenly asked.

Ash quickly snapped his head back to the young girl who just asked that and dumbly replied, "U-Uhm...Thank you?"

"Thank you?" Maria replied with a raised brow.

The man saw her unsatisfied expression and gave Maria a once over before finishing, "Thank you, Little Miss?"

"Hmph, at least you know how to show some gratitude! Now, where's my apology?!"

"...?"

The young man's face had a look of confusion since he didn't know what he had done that warranted an apology.

"What...What did I do wrong, Little Miss?"

"You tripped me!"

Ash's face grew dark. He didn't know when he had done something like that since he had just regained consciousness. If anything, this little girl in front of him should apologize to him first since the moment he had woken up, he noticed that this girl had been poking his face.

"I have no recollection of such a thing. If anything, don't you think you should apologize to me, Little Miss? I was unconscious and I have no idea what you might have done to me while I was in comatose..."

Maria's face twitched a little bit as his remark broke the strong front she had been putting up since just now.

"Tsk, never mind. So tell me, why were you collapsed out here?"

Maria had long since noticed that the vampire in front of her wasn't a player but an NPC. There was no player indicator above the man's head and his status screen was obscured under a lot of question marks.

"I...what was I—" The man looked to be a little at a loss after hearing Maria's question as he thought back to what he had been doing before, and then, something suddenly clicked in his brain.

"That's right! That goddamned bastard! Where is that prick! He sealed me here! He stole everything from me!"

"Hm?"

Seeing the man roar out in hysteria, Maria scratched her head in confusion.

"Jeez, has he gone insane?"

The vampire suddenly locked his gaze onto Maria, but she noticed that his eyes were a little different. He was staring at her dangerously with a red glow in his eyes. Seeing the hostility in his gaze, Maria immediately grew incensed. She had just allowed him to suck her blood and he didn't even thank her until after she demanded him to do so, not only that, he tripped her and didn't even apologize for it but instead demanded for an apology.

Since the man was an NPC, Maria was hoping that she'd be able to get a quest from him or something, but all she got in return was his hostility, so she marched up towards the vampire, flew up, and swung her fist down on his head, smashing him face-first into the ground.

"GAH!"

"So...this is how you're going to repay me? Hahaha, it looks like I'm gonna have to teach you some manners!" Maria said menacingly as she reached out with her hand. Her Calamity flew into her outstretched hand and she immediately moved to slice down at the vampire.

"W-Wait!"

"Hm?"

"L-Little Miss, please forgive me!"

"Huh?"

"I was not in my right mind just now, so please forgive my offense and lower the Death God's Calamity!"

"Too late, once I make up my mind, there's no stopping me~"

With those words, Maria swung her scythe down onto the vampire's beautiful face.