NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Vampire Sister
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“Honey! You’re back home! How was your second day?”
Paul's mother's voice almost jump-scared Paul’s soul out of his body.
“Ah, mom… Yeah, yeah, it was fine. I made a friend at least.”
“Really?! I’m so happy! What’s his name?”
“Chris, he’s a nice dude, sometimes annoying, but he’s ok.”
“Haha! Well, once you get to know each other better, I am sure you’ll become bros!”
“Yeeeah…” Paul muttered, sitting down on the couch. “So how was your day, Mom?”
“Fine, fine! We sold out most of the pastries at the bakery; people buy them all the time! Business is doing really fine nowadays~” Paul's mom waved her long brown hair as she smiled, brimming with happiness.
Paul couldn’t help but also feel happy to see her finally being herself, being free, and working for what she wanted.
He still remembered when she wasn’t in a good state, several years ago. His father was quite an abusive bastard; he was someone he still hated to the core.
His father made his childhood and his mother’s life a living hell all those years ago, and even after they finally escaped that world, there are still many emotional scars left behind.
But at the very least, his mother finally seemed to have moved on; she was smiling, working hard, and, above all, having fun with her job.
“I’m happy for you, mom…” Paul suddenly stood up and hugged her.
“Paul, honey…” his mother hugged him back, kissing his cheek. “Yeah, and you’re okay too?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine~,” Paul said.
He always said he was fine, even when he wasn’t.
Since he was a child, he had endured abuse and bullying, yet he always said he was fine.
He didn’t like worrying about his mother, who had such an awful life already.
“Okay! Did you have lunch already? Want mommy to cook something up?” his mother asked.
"Yep, I already ate today. Went to the café with my friend; he’s really a foodie, that guy…” Paul smiled after remembering Chris.
“Heh! It looks like you’re growing even closer. Don’t tell me this friend’s actually a girl, maybe?” his mother asked, raising her eyebrows.
“W-Wha? No, not really…” Paul sighed, looking elsewhere. “It’s a guy, I swear! I’m terrible at talking with girls still… But that guy, Chris, he’s super good with girls! He has this natural charm to him; he just naturally talks with girls all the time. He said he would help me socialize more and then maybe act like a wingman.”
“Ooh! You got yourself a Casanova friend then, haha!” Paul’s mom laughed. “I bet he’s tall and super handsome! They’re always like that! I remember meeting a few like that when I was younger. They’re a bit dangerous; never compromise! But I guess, as a friend, they’re good.”
“Um, I guess…” Paul didn’t really want to go into details about how wrong she was.
Chris was not at all like she said, he was much smaller, cuter, and thicker. Above all, his eyes were big and blue, and his hair was glossy black, reaching his neck. His mom probably imagined the typical “Chad” guy instead of what Paul would only call... a shorstack femboy.
“Anyways, gotta go; still playing that game, it’s really fun,” Paul said.
“Gotcha! Have fun, honey,” his mom said, as he saw Paul walk back to his room.
After a quick warm bath to relax, Chris logged back in as Vlad, trying to forget a bit about everything that had been talked about. His mind was full of just Chris, but he wanted to concentrate on the game.
He had read a few news stories about players already beginning to develop an early market; there were already many items being sold, and players were actively buying and selling the game’s currency, which was Credits.
Apparently, you only gain Credits in two ways: through special quests or by selling products to NPCs. Monsters don’t drop money, so you have to hunt them and sell their products, or craft even more expensive products and sell those.
It was shaping to be an economy based on hard work, and a lot of people were growing more interested in its future aspects, as the game had already grossed over fifty million players on the first day of launch.
The game was also being sold digitally; the physical version had only a few million copies, and Paul was just lucky enough to get it. So the number of players was constantly increasing by almost a million every three hours.
“A billion players… I hope the servers can handle that if it ever happens…”
Paul slowly opened his crimson eyes as Vlad found himself inside his dark, lugubrious room.
“Hahh… I feel rather refreshed, this body, I mean,” he analyzed his body, as Soul Ether surged out, like an aura of gold. “This Aura… Maybe I could use it to help me move around?”
His first goal before anything he wanted to do, though, was actually moving around without using his Heavenly Demon’s power to do so.
[So you’re awake, you sure slept a lot… Are you feeling okay?]
“I’m fine, yeah, thanks for looking over me.”
[I’m literally you; I was also sleeping as you did!]
“Anyways…” Paul ignored the Heavenly Demon’s annoying voice. “Let’s try walking normally, under the effects of my flaw.”
He quickly stood out of bed.
“I can move my arms well enough, at least, and my toes too… My legs as well.”
Once he was fully standing up, he looked in front of him and took a step forward, and another, and another.
"Hey, it’s working; I guess this partial paralysis has been completely-”
BAAM!
Before he could even move another step, however, he slammed down onto the floor.
He felt it; every single muscle of his body suddenly became paralyzed.
Frozen!
He was unable to move, falling over the floor head-first.
“Fuck…”
After a couple of seconds, he could move again and sit down.
“It triggers when I try to walk; does it trigger otherwise?” he wondered.
He decided to spend the next ten minutes reading a book about the family he had at his night table, making sure to move his head, neck, arms, fingers, everything.
Apparently, he was not affected by the partial paralysis then.
However, the second he stood up and walked three steps...
BAAM!
He fell head-first into the ground again.
Vlad tried this over and over again, finding a certain pattern and writing down everything he learned in Vlad’s diary.
“First, the paralysis doesn’t trigger as long as I am sitting down…” he said. “Although I feel a bit tired when I move my arms a lot, it’s nothing serious... Second, the paralysis only triggers three steps after I walk. After that, I need to wait another three seconds before going back to normal, and then three steps more for paralysis.”
[Looks like it is a terrible curse. We’ll need to fix that right away. Let me further check your body now that you’ve rested well.]
“Eh? Sure?”
Vlad felt his own soul move against his own thoughts, the Heavenly Demon was nothing but an Ego within his soul. Two minds inside the same soul shared it as if they were one.
He asked Paul to remain still and silent, sitting cross-legged and calming down his breath. His golden presence spread across his entire body, analyzing it.
The heavenly demon’s eyes opened wide when he realized the extent of Vlad’s illness.
[T-This is beyond recovery…]
“You’re joking, right? It can be fixed after cultivating, right? Right?”
[…]
The Heavenly Demon was watching what was happening inside Vlad’s Spiritual Body with a wide-eyed expression.
A Spiritual Body was the representation of a person’s supernatural body’s abilities; it formed as their special supernatural abilities developed.
Usually, everyone possesses inside their Spiritual Body three Meridians, one in the head, the chest, and the stomach.
These Meridians helped regulate Lifeforce and Ki through the body, and the Cultivators of Murim had learned how to refine and cultivate them to attain higher levels of physical prowess.
However, Vlad had a terrible flaw.
Because of his strange illness, his three Meridians had been shattered long ago, completely destroyed at this age, and were beyond recovery.
This was part of Vlad’s Character Flaw.
“Fucking hell, just what is this Character Flaw?! I can’t even move? Are you serious?!”
Paul angrily looked at both the Character Trait and the Character Flaw in more detail to find the true reason behind their powers.
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[Insatiable Gluttony (Legendary Grade)]
Vlad’s body has become the vessel of the Sin of Gluttony’s Demonic Seed at birth, chosen by the Evil God of Insatiable Appetite, Gula, to become his Apostle.
Grants the ability to absorb and assimilate anything into the body; the possibility of obtaining skills, energies, abilities, and more grows as the Trait's usability increases.
You can naturally digest everything, you’re naturally immune to any poison or status ailment connected to digested food or other energies absorbed.
The Sin of Gluttony’s insatiable appetite doesn’t even leave their vessel alone.
If not fed regularly, it will eat away at the vessel and then find a new one to eat.
Gluttony has its own stomach; when you eat too much, it will begin digesting, and you won’t be able to absorb more until everything is fully digested.
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[Triple Shattered Meridian Physique (Legendary Grade)]
Vlad's body has been slowly eaten by the Demonic Seed of Gluttony since birth.
Because he had not fed the sin regularly, the sin slowly ate their power and body.
They were born as dhampirs because the sin ate their bloodline.
They were born sickly because the sin ate their life force.
Their Meridians are shattered and almost completely gone because the sin has enjoyed eating them too.
Vlad is unable to cultivate a Physique no matter what.
Vlad’s stats will always receive a debuff of -90%.
[Partial Paralysis] might trigger when moving.
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“Man…”
Paul fell to the floor in utter disappointment.
He already kind of knew his flaw’s specs but reading them again in fine detail only made him more depressed.
In summary, his flaw had three effects.
“Unable to make a physique, always stats -90%, and... the annoying partial paralysis. At the very least, if the last one wasn’t present, it wouldn’t be SO bad, but this fucks me over so much!” Paul complained. “Damn developers, what the fuck kind of flaw is this?! How do you expect a player to actually… you know, play?”
[Complaining won’t get you anywhere. That is not something I would normally do. You can’t get a physique, you can’t cultivate your body, and you get a debuff to all your stats. But that doesn’t include your soul! Although there’s the Soul Ether Stat, it doesn’t matter; your soul seems to remain as big as I made it grow.]
“Y-You’re right… Is this a bug or something?”
[Bug? I don’t know what you mean by that, but it appears that there are some things your flaw cannot touch; apparently, it affects your physical body, but anything supernatural outside of it might not be completely affected.]
"So, how do I walk?”
[You’ll have to learn how to fly!]
“Fly?!”
[If you can fly, then there’s no need to walk around, right? It’s easy!]
“How do I even do that?!”
[Can’t you vampires fly naturally? Most of you can float, isn’t it?]
“I am a pitiful vampire with a terrible bloodline, so that’s impossible for me right now…”
[Then you’ll simply have two options. Either crawl or get a wheelchair.]
“For fuck’s sake…”
Paul was struggling; he couldn’t really believe his situation.
“Is there no other option? Can’t I use my soul to move then?”
[To get to that level, you would need to first forge a psyche of Tier 4!]
“That high? Then let’s start cultivating it. I can’t waste my time here. Let’s use the Soul Materials and make more pills at the very least.”
Paul quickly took the materials from the treasury and began creating more pills to enhance his soul’s power and cultivate it further.
The cauldron bubbled as the materials converged into one through Vlad’s Alchemy Skill.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have successfully synthesized the [Soul Energizing Pill (B+ Grade)] x3!]
[The Subclass Skill: [Alchemy (C): Lv1] has Leveled Up!]
[The Subclass Skill: [Alchemy (C): Lv2] has Leveled Up!]
“Level 3 already! Not bad,” Vlad felt happy to see some sense of progression at long last. “Now…”
He gulped the pills again, and as he felt his soul overflowing from his body, he began to temper it again, with patience and without letting the unfairness of his Flaw take away his joy of growing stronger in this game.
“One day I’ll explore this world and have even more fun, so for now, endure it!” Paul thought. “Chris also said he would join, so maybe I could ask for his help later…”
Three hours of hard meditation and soul-tempering later, Vlad had finally finished.
“Hahh… I’m exhausted.”
[Through the constant tempering of your Soul, your Soul Ether has increased drastically.]
[You gained +30 Soul Ether.]
[You gained +20 Soul Ether.]
[You gained +40 Soul Ether.]
[You gained +30 Soul Ether.]
[…]
[You gained a Total of +300 Soul Ether.]
[Your Soul Tempering has strengthened your Soul’s foundations.]
[Your [Soul]: [Spiritual Golden Sea Psyche (Tier 2: Rank 1)] has Ranked Up to Tier 2: Rank 3!]
[You gained +100 Soul Ether.]
“So 50 Soul Ether per Rank, and I got three hundred more per pill… Okay, let’s make more; we can’t-”
[Your Soul has been tempered too much; if you continue, it might be permanently damaged instead, crippling your soul cultivation. Be careful.]
[Time until you can temper your soul safely again: 23 Hours, 59 Minutes.]
“I should have expected that…”
[That’s it for today; you must rest now.]
“Dammit, seriously? I haven’t gotten a single quest yet either!”
Vlad complained, but he couldn’t really get things done now; he had to be patient and slowly do it every day; eventually, he would be able to get through.
[Patience is a virtue; sleep and rest; tomorrow is another day.]
“Another day, my ass!”
Vlad quickly attempted to stand back up again, manipulating his Soul Ether, he imbued it into his entire body at once, creating a veil of golden essence.
[You…! What are you doing?! Be careful! Utilizing Soul Ether without proper training might be dangerous for your soul!]
“I don’t give a fuck anymore; I want to move out of my damn room already!”
Paul was listening no longer to the NPC inside his head, his golden Soul Ether wrapping itself around his legs, arms, and torso.
“Hahh… C-Come on…”
He took one step, then two.
And then three.
He gave a fourth step, and the paralysis was triggered.
“Ugh…!”
However, he held back from falling as his Soul Ether managed to keep him standing!
[What?!]
The Heavenly Demon, who thought he knew everything, was left speechless.
Vlad smiled defiantly, his handsome vampire face gasping for air. He was making it!
“I’m walking out of my damn room today, no matter what…”
He started taking more steps.
One, two, three—paralysis.
His Soul Ether held him from falling.
One, two, three—paralysis.
Once more, his Soul Ether protected him.
Eventually, he was able to walk across his room, but awkwardly stopping every three steps made it very slow.
However, it was working!
“Hahhh… I-I’m doing it, the door!”
He extended his hands towards the door, but on the third step, he fell.
His Soul Ether Aura dissipated; he had spent all his Soul Energy and could no longer muster more!
“Dammit! I was so close!”
Paul hit the floor in anger and frustration.
[This is your limit for now, but not bad; you surprised me! You’ll probably get to Tier 5 quicker than I imagined! Yes, perhaps in... Maybe ten years?]
“I don’t have the time for that!
Knock, knock!
“Huh?”
However, out of nowhere, somebody was knocking at the door.
The butlers were dead, and the only people left in the house were Vlad’s mother and his sister.
Vampires were known for being able to sleep long and not need to eat for many weeks or months after ingesting blood.
Therefore, he had imagined they were still sleeping.
Yet…
“Big brother? Big brother Vlad, are you there?”
“Vlad’s sister?” Paul thought. “That’s definitely her... What was her name? Ah, right.”
Vlad slowly sat down on the floor and crawled towards the door, finally opening it.
"Camilla, is that you?” he asked. His sickly-looking face was rather terrifying after exercising so much.
“Big brother Vlad…” Camilla appeared amidst the dark corridors, her small size and flawless appearance made her resemble a doll.
She had long red hair, gentle yet sad-looking silver eyes, and was wearing an old, dust-covered red and purple dress while walking barefoot.
Vlad noticed her little feet were all wounded with scars, and she looked all nasty; the butlers were not even taking care of her!
“Poor thing…” Paul sighed.
“I’m hungry, big brother Vlad,” she cried. “I-I haven’t drank blood in months…”
“You haven’t?! T-Then you must drink!” Vlad muttered. “Hah… I-I wish I could walk; is there no blood saved in the storage?”
“No…” Camilla sighed. “W-Where are the butlers, big brother? I haven’t seen them…”
“T-They… I think they moved away from the house. I heard them talking about... how dull it was; the pay was not good either,” Vlad lied.
“Oh…” little Camilla looked even sadder.
“Then where else can we get blood?” wondered Vlad. “I suppose we must go buy some then... There’s no helping it.”
They lived in a small town on the outskirts of the Empire’s capital. In here, vampires lived in most places, as yet another race of the many; blood being sold wouldn’t be so rare in Obscuritas.
“I'm afraid of going outside…” Little Camilla had her hands trembling. “I-I want to stay…”
“Ah… W-Well, then what can we do?” Vlad was in quite the pickle right now. “Is mother awake?”
“Mama didn’t answer…” Camilla sighed.
“Hah…”
Vlad sighed and looked at Camilla.
“I’m sorry, Camilla, I can’t… walk. My disease… I wish I could be a better brother, but I…” Vlad muttered. “I’m nothing but a sorry excuse of a man…”
“Big brother…” Camilla looked at her brother with a bit of pity. “D-Don’t say that! Big brother is big brother… You’re kind and nice to me… unlike mama… Mama’s never nice to me; she’s always angry. I haven’t done anything wrong to her; why does she hate me?”
“Camilla…” Vlad gave Camilla a hug. “I’m sorry…”
“Hmm…” Camilla muttered. “Maybe this can help?”
Suddenly, she pointed her tiny hands at him.
FLASH!
Vlad felt an invisible force pulling him into the air.
His body began to float in midair.
“Huh?! Camilla, is this your power?!” Vlad asked in surprise.
“Yes… This is my… my magic,” Camilla nodded. “I… I conjure magic sometimes… This is Telekinesis.”
“Amazing!”
Vlad started moving through the air; it was hard and confusing, but if he used his arms to grab on things, it was simpler. Camilla could also regulate her telekinesis output, to the point where he only barely floated over the air.
“I can move like this!”
Paul was shocked; it seemed that the strategy to help Vlad move around was right in front of his nose.
It was his talented sister, little Camilla!
“Perhaps I could ask Vlad’s mother for help as well?” Paul thought. “No, Camilla did say she treated her badly, so I can’t trust someone who treats their own daughter like that...”
Their mother might have held resentment against the two children for having been born as Dhampirs and not Vampires, which ended up exiling their family from the Empire’s Capital and throwing them in the middle of this countryside town.
“Let’s go find some blood to drink, Camilla,” said Vlad.
“Where to?” Camilla wondered.
“We’ll probably need to go outside; are you okay with that? I’ll need your help to walk around, unfortunately,” Vlad said.
“Hmm…” Camilla looked very afraid of the outside world, for some reason.
“Is it because of her mental condition?” wondered Vlad.
He looked at little Camilla’s status.
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[Name]: [Camilla Von Sange III]
[Titles]: [Iron Blood Empire’s Rejected Princess]
[Blood Core]: [Blood Absorption Realm (Tier 1: Rank 1)]
[Bloodline]: [Weak Dhampir Bloodline (Tier 0)]
[Race]: [Dhampir (Weak Bloodline)]
[Class]: [Rejected Vampire Princess: ★]
[Subclass]: [None]
[Blood Power]: [1.000]
[Strength]: [500]
[Arcana]: [1.000]
[Vitality]: [600]
[Dexterity]: [700]
[Character Background Traits]: [Psychic (Unique Grade)]
[Character Background Flaws]: [Broken Mind (Unique Grade)]
[Racial Skills (3/5)]
[False Immortality (S): Lv1] [Blood Bending (A): Lv1] [Telekinesis (A): Lv3]
[Class Skills (0/5)]
None
[Subclass Skills (0/5)]
None
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“Ah, she has the Arcana Stat! Now it makes sense…” Paul thought. “Wait, her Flaw and her Trait too…”
Her Trait was Psychic, which explains her having Telekinesis at such a young age, which is often considered a high-ranking magic spell.
And above all, her flaw…
Broken Mind.
Vlad couldn’t further inspect her skill, flaw, or trait information, but he could make a few guesses.
“Probably caused by her psychic powers and her traumas…” he thought. “Her mind must be really unstable… Poor girl.”
Yet, he could only ask her for help.
“Camilla… You won’t be alone; Big Brother will be with you. We don’t need to go far away. I saw a shop at the corner of the street, right?” Vlad asked.
“Hmm…” Camilla kept making noises; she didn’t like the idea.
“Please, if we don’t, we won’t be able to feed,” Vlad said.
“O-O… okay…” Camilla stuttered. “F-For only a minute…”
“Okay, I get it.” Vlad nodded, giving her a head pat. “Let’s go.”
Vlad quickly got whatever clothes he could find and quickly walked out of the manor with Camilla. The entire manor was bigger than he imagined and resembled a labyrinth of sorts. Once out, they found themselves surrounded by a dried-out, ugly garden full of dead flowers and overrun by weeds.
They slowly walked towards the entrance, opening it using the key Vlad found, and they walked outside.
Finally!
“I’m outside…”
Vlad looked into the vast beauty of the surroundings.
Despite being a world of eternal night, Obscuritas was still very beautiful.
The streets were always illuminated by streetlamps, there was a purple and red-colored grassland surrounding the town, and there were some people here and there walking around.
Some of them seemed to be players, but they didn’t pay any attention to Vlad or Camilla. Vlad was amazed by the beautiful gothic-styled houses everywhere.
There were also all kinds of people—Majin, Demons, Werewolves, Gargoyles, and even Imps and Night Elves—walking around the streets; he had yet to find a vampire.
Obscuritas was a realm of eternal night where all kinds of dark creatures lived together. Some still fought against one another, but the Empire of Iron Blood accepted all races.
“Let’s go through here, Camilla.”
“O-Okay…”
Vlad led his sister across the streets; he was getting the hang of “walking” in such a way already, although it was still confusing. With Camilla’s help, he was managing.
Once they reached the shop, Vlad pulled out his bag with coins. He had found the coins on his own night table; it seemed Vlad had been saving whatever coins he could get.
His total savings amounted to 1500 credits, which were shown as shiny white coins.
"Hello, sir, do you sell any blood?” Vlad asked politely.
The store owner was an old-looking werewolf man with gray-colored fur and sharp purple eyes. He was calmly reading a book under the light of a candle when they arrived.
“Hm? Yes, we do—a liter for a hundred, ten liters for eight hundred,” said the general store owner as he analyzed Vlad and his sister’s clothes. “Are you beggars? It's rare to find vampire beggars.”
“I… No, we aren’t, anyway; we would like to buy ten liters for the eight hundred.” Vlad said, putting the coins on the table.
“Oh, you’ve got some cash, I guess… Very well,” the old man walked to his storage and then came back with a wooden box with ten bottles of fresh blood.
This blood was extracted from monsters of varying qualities, and it was all mixed. It was considered the lowest quality of blood, but when the two were so hungry, anything would do just fine.
“Here, a little candy for the child; I don’t like seeing kids with long faces smile a bit,” the store owner gave little Camilla a red-colored lollypop, also made out of caramelized blood.
“Ooh…” Camilla took the candy and began to lick it. “Hmm…”
“Camilla, how is it said?” Vlad asked her.
“Hm?” she asked.
“You have to thank the man for his gift,” Vlad taught her.
“T-Tha… thank you,” Camilla’s silver eyes looked at the old werewolf man.
The old man was quite a good person at the end, smiling.
“Haha, it’s nothing, child. Go back home now; don’t stay for too long around these areas; it’s not too safe,” the man said.
“Alright, thanks a lot, sir.” Vlad stored the blood bottles inside his Player Inventory and quickly moved back home.
And just as the werewolf man had said…
They were already being chased.
[It’s four men; they’re all weaklings; stomp them down and eat them to get stronger.]
The merciless voice of the Heavenly Demon reverberated inside Vlad’s mind.
[Don’t hesitate; this is a good opportunity to hunt.]
“…But my sister is here.”
[Sooner or later, she’ll also have to kill; let her get used to it.]
“You…”
[This world, any world, is no different than mine. The weak are trampled, killed, and eaten; the strong survive another day.]
[Are you going to be the weak that gets eaten or the strong that eats?]
“…”
Vlad stopped with Camilla, facing the four men chasing them.
They weren’t even trying to hide; it was four of them.
A bulky orc of over two meters in height, a black-colored werewolf, and two red imps looked like twins.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
“Vampires walking around the streets?”
“And wearing these clothes…”
“Just who are you guys?”
The four of them emanated bloodlust instantly. Vlad could already imagine what they wanted to do to them. As they seemed both weak and poor, they wanted to kidnap them and see if they could sell them for a high price.
The vampires were the imperial family; after all, selling them in the black market would eventually net a nice sum of money. For thugs like these, doing such a thing was a no-brainer if the opportunity arose.
However, Vlad still tried to ask them first.
“What do you intend to do with us?” he asked.
“Ahhh, I don’t know, man. Can't you guess?” laughed the werewolf.
“Not like we need your filthy blood bottles…” the orc said, crossing his arms. “That little girl is pretty, maybe we can sell her for a good price at the end.”
“Vampires always sell for a good price, even if we kill them!” the imp said.
“Their blood cores always sell for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands!” the second imp giggled viciously.
“So not even as slaves, but as materials?” Vlad felt shocked. “T-This is…”
“Big brother…” little Camilla hid behind him, trembling.
“Calm down, it’s alright…” Vlad looked around the alley, there was nobody there. “Alright, come; I’ll take you down at the same time.”
“At the same time? You must be fucking delusional! Hahaha!”
"Then, if you’re so eager to die, be my guest!”
The orc and the werewolf charged first, the orc wore no weapons, and the werewolf unsheathed a knife. Their movements were swift, their bloodlust was direct, and they came to kill him. They would butcher him and sell him piece by piece.
“Let’s do this.”
A pitch-black aura encompassed Vlad completely, his presence and power rising exponentially.
[The Character Background Trait: [Heavenly Demon’s Soul (Legendary Grade)] has been activated!]
[For 10 Minutes a day, you’ll receive 50% of the Heavenly Demon’s former strength and abilities. And all debuffs and status effects will be canceled.]
[However, your mind and body will be possessed by his unending rage, charisma, and personality!]
Vlad’s face changed, as his face gained a solemn, wise expression.
His eyes shone with crimson light.
“You seem so eager to die! Come at me, you pathetic pigs!”
“Shut up and die, your bag of Credits!”
The werewolf reached him first, his knife rushing down toward Vlad.
Vlad swiftly evaded the stabbing attack and then blocked the werewolf’s other arm, which attempted to slash his face with its claws.
“What…?!”
The werewolf, surprised, quickly kicked Vlad’s stomach several times.
Yet there was no effect.
In fact.
CRACK!
“Ugh?!”
The werewolf felt his legs break once he kicked Vlad hard enough.
It was as if he were trying to break a wall made completely out of solid steel!
“T-The fuck is wrong with this guy—ARGH!”
The werewolf was unable to respond in time, and Vlad’s claws grew from his nails, slashing the werewolf’s neck and beheading him on the spot.
SLASH!
The fists of the orc appeared from behind, hitting him several times in a berserk barrage of savage blows.
Yet his knuckles cracked as well!
“ARGH! What is the...?!”
“Pigs like you should be grateful. I’m in a good mood today; I’ll kill you without much pain.”
Vlad kicked the orc’s head off as swiftly as possible.
The orc’s head was sent flying into the air and then fell to the ground, splattering over it as a bloody mess.
“Run!”
“Agh!”
“B-Big brother, help me!”
Camilla cried as the two Imps were trying to run away with her.
Yet.
FLASH!
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Vlad stepped into the air, moving faster than the Imps and quickly catching up to them.
This was a basic Murim Technique {Cloud Step}!
“He’s walking in the air?!”
“What?!”
Vlad moved his two claws down, slicing the heads of the two imps within seconds, their bodies dropping to the ground.
Camilla was about to hit her head on the floor, but Vlad managed to catch her in time.
The little girl quickly started crying, feeling afraid of everything—of the world and of its crudeness.
“B-Big brother…” she started crying. “W-What happened…? Why does everyone try to kill us for no reason? You killed too? A-are you not afraid?”
“I am…” Vlad muttered. “But this is… it must be done.”
Possessing the emotions of the Heavenly Demon, Vlad spoke with solemnity and wisdom, although deep inside, he was actually dying of cringe.
Paul looked at the four corpses and smiled. To him, this was a game anyway; it wasn’t as if he was too affected by killing just a few evil NPCs.
Although it was overly realistic, if he kept himself detached enough in these aspects, he thought he could handle the brutality.
And a familiar message appeared above all four of them.
[Do you wish to Absorb the Corpse?]
[Yes] [No]
He pressed yes.
FLASH!
Their bodies disintegrated instantly, as his powers absorbed everything they had.
-----