Serum

The first checkpoint was a city on the border within Horizon territory. Before the escalating conflict between the humans and vampires, it was a major trading post. The city was very prosperous, especially with the major dungeon not far from it. 

But now, the place was on the verge of collapse for that very reason. 

Pandora drove a distance away from the massive city, circling the walls that surrounded the place. This was due to the horde of monsters launching a siege on the city. 

Thousands of monsters clawed the gates that had been filled with walls and piles of stone. Many attempted to jump up the walls, and many flying monsters swooped down onto those soldiers that fought in the open. Monsters that cast magic were constantly launching spells after breaking through holes in the walls, setting the city afire and wreaking devastation. 

Of course, the city was putting up a fight, otherwise it would have long collapsed. Earth mages were constantly erecting new structures that the soldiers used to defend and attack from. Even citizens were digging trenches in an attempt to help stifle the oncoming monster tides. Every magic and weapon and consumable tool was exhausted in order to cull the thousands that besieged them. 

"How unfortunate."

Pandora clicked her tongue. Those cities stationed right by major dungeons definitely got it the worst. Though, she was surprised that this city was able to stand for so long. 

Still, she never changed course. After driving around, she continued on the paved road, bypassing the city. She never intended to stop at the city to begin with, just using its roads to travel. She planned to continue on to the next checkpoint, wasting no time. 

Dirk frowned when he realized this though. 

"Stop."

"What? Don't tell me you intend to help."

"And if I do?"

She glanced at him, a bit annoyed. Dirk's face hardened.

"Stop the car."

"...Fine."

*Skrr!*

The car skidded to a halt, but Pandora never took her gaze off Dirk. 

"What do you want to help them for? They can't give you anything. It's a waste of time."

"...I just want to help. There are soldiers there fighting for their lives. We can do something."

"Just because we can doesn't mean we should. We have more important business at the Dwarven Haven, the value of such business outstripping any good we can do here."

Dirk frowned more at her words. While their business at the Haven was important, he still didn't feel right just leaving this city to burn. 

The two stared at each other for a while. At some point though, Dirk let out a sharp breath, sitting back into his seat and turning his head away from her. He was giving in.

Pandora didn't smile though. If anything, she became more annoyed. After a few seconds of deliberating, she grit her teeth. 

"Ugh!"

She slammed the gas pedal, flipping the wheel and pointing them at the city. The car barreled toward a part of the walls that wasn't being seiged. 

Dirk glanced at her.

"What are you-"

"Just shut up! I have one condition, and that's not using any of the guns. I don't care how many people will die. You either save lives with your own body and magic, or we're moving on. Got it?"

"...Fine."

Although her yelling caused his anger to flare, Dirk just nodded. 

The car soon arrived at one of the city gates. This gate had a smaller amount of monsters attempting to break through it compared to the others. Atop the walls, soldiers were firing arrows and magic spells at the clustered horde below. 

They obviously spotted the odd vehicle approaching. When the car got closer, a black figure popped out of the top.

Dirk emerged, Obsidius wrapping him in his black armor. Even as the car moved, he stepped onto the hood, looking at the fast approaching monsters. 

He crouched, and right when Pandora braked, he jumped. His body flew off the hood and sailed through the air. His fist was brought back as he aimed at a large bear-type monster standing 8 feet tall. 

The bear hardly turned before Dirk's fist met its skull.

*Splat!*

Upon collision, Dirk's fist was uninhibited as it directly blew up the bear's head. He landed on the floor just as the bear collapsed, sliding across the ground for a second before coming to a stop. 

The soldiers atop the wall were baffled. The surrounding monsters all turned to Dirk, roaring at him with threatening outbursts of mana. 

Dirk stood calmly. In his hands appeared two shortswords. With his staggering strength, he found shortswords better than knives, able to wield them no different from knives. This was actually advice from his mother after training with him, and he grew to agree with her. 

The grip of each shortsword felt good in his hands, even with Obsidius and its layer of armor. It almost felt like he was personally touching the metal hilt. It felt even better than with gloves. 

After waving the shortswords in his hands, he focused on the few monsters that were dashing toward him. He took a step forward. Across the body of his armor, golden lines appeared. 

*Shing!*

His arm flickered across his body, and a tiger monster fell to the ground alongside its head. Blood splattered onto other monsters nearby. 

That monster was a rank 3, Dirk thought inwardly. Then, with another step, he entered the horde surrounding the gates. 

Pandora brought the car to a skidding halt outside of the battlefield. She sat there and watched as Dirk dashed between monsters. His technique in sword fighting was nothing special. It was simple and direct, lacking any sort of finesse most swordsmen had. Only Dirk's precision was outstanding. 

But like everything else Dirk did, his actions were straight to the point. When Dirk saw a monster, he instantly planned out the fastest and most efficient way to kill it. While his greatest killer instincts appeared behind a gun, his combat sense still applied even with swords. 

A slice of the neck, a thrust to the spine, the severance of tendons. Dirk didn't even kill some of the monsters, merely incapacitating them. 

Before long, a few dozen corpses were bleeding outside the gates, and even more were roaring and growling on the floor. 

At some point, the soldiers above stopped firing entirely, merely watching as Dirk dispatched every single monster by himself. 

*Screech!!*

A bird type monster screamed from above as Dirk killed the last monster in the vicinity. It turned and was about to flee, and one of the mages atop the wall began casting magic to kill it. Before he even finished the spell though, Dirk brought up his hand. 

*Zip!*

A black streak shot through the air, directly piercing the bird's head. Its body silently fell from the sky before landing with a thud.

The mage hastily canceled his spell, looking down at Dirk. He barely caught a glimpse of the pistol in his hands before it disappeared. 

"A least that thing is silent."

Dirk's head turned as the car pulled up beside him. Pandora smiled at him while he shrugged.

"It's a magic gun, so yea, it's silent."

"Mm."

She nodded at Dirk's mumbling. She had seen when he was developing bullet spells for that pistol. And as it was magic, the pistol made no sound like a standard pistol. It was incredibly convenient.

Suddenly, the two heard the rattling of chains. Their heads turned and looked at the city gates which had opened just partially. 

A soldier, one looking like a captain, walked over to them. Dirk mumbled before he could arrive.

"How do we play this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Our identities. Are we hiding ourselves?

"Of course not. The more prestige we have, the better. Let our names spread far and wide."

Pandora spoke as a matter of factly. Dirk frowned though.

"That'll attract attention."

"So? Great tales of our strength can only help us. This isn't Earth, Dirk. You're not a supersoldier anymore. People here respect strength and talent. Especially when it comes to help them."

"Identify yourselves!"

Pandora's low voice was interrupted by the shout of the captain. The voice wasn't hostile though. 

She pat Dirk's shoulder, prompting him to step up. Obsidius retracted as Dirk walked toward the captain.

"My name is Dirk Strider. I've come to assist in defense of this siege."

"Strider?"

The captain was surprised as the two came to a halt in front of each other. 

"As in Marquess Strider?"

"That's correct. I am the second son of Ryker Strider."

"I see! I am Captain Alvarise, head of the eastern city's troop. If you're really here to help, then we're more than happy to welcome your strength. And who is..."

"Pandora Vanadis."

Pandora stepped out of the car with a smile, answering the captain. 

"Princess of the Dark Kingdom, and daughter of the Vampire Queen."

"P-Princess?"

The captain was taken aback. He had already noticed this girl with her deep purple hair and blood-red eyes. She was so enchanting that his other soldiers couldn't take their eyes off of her. 

But he didn't think she was actually a vampire princess. 

"...What is a princess doing all the way out here?"

"I'm on a trip with the man in front of you. He wanted to help, seeing how your city was being besieged by hordes of monsters. And now, we're here."

"I see..."

The captain nodded slowly. He eventually shrugged, deciding that this was above his pay-grade.

"Very well. Follow me into the city. I'll take you to the city lord."

"Thank you."

Pandora nodded before climbing back into the car. Dirk got in with her, and they were led into the city. 

They rolled through the ruined streets. The only buildings left standing were the ones in the center of the city. The outskirts were wastelands and battlefields. They could see the fighting in the distance, mages casting spells that created waves of fire and blades of wind. 

The captain had his soldiers stay behind while he guided Dirk and Pandora to the center palace. They moved quickly, and soon arrived before the massive castle. 

The two got out of the car and viewed the fortified 300 meter tall castle. It had its own walls, and upon walking in they could see camps of soldiers who were either running around with supplies or getting their wounds treated. 

The sight of bodies lined up on beds, getting their wounds sewn up or limbs amputated was grotesque. The stench of blood only made it worse. But after so much fighting, everyone seemed to have grown numb. Even the young soldiers who looked to have been recruited recently were only pale at the sights. 

Neither Dirk nor Pandora were fazed by this though. Dirk's face was blank, as usual. And Pandora had a faint smile, as she always did. It was like they couldn't even see the gore around them. 

The captain led them into the castle where they found more busy soldiers. He spoke on the way.

"We've been fighting off waves of monster hordes for three weeks now, ever since the Dragon's Advent."

"Dragon's Advent?"

"The night that the Dragon made its announcement to the world. Everyone heard it, even those in the capital. The entire world changed that day, in more ways than one."

"...I didn't realize that was heard from so far away."

Dirk was a bit shocked. He thought the announcement of the Dark Dragon was only heard by those in the local city. Turns out, the entire world heard his roar. Everyone knows about the War Cataclysma. 

Pandora perked up at something else though. 

"How else did the world change, besides the dungeons?"

"Well, this is just our speculation, but we believe there was a change in the elements. After our war against the monsters started, we were forced to recruit able-bodied citizens. During the process though, we found a shocking amount of hidden mages and body refiners. At first we passed it off as coincidence, but after we recruited over a thousand new mages and even more body refiners, we realized that the Dragon's Advent caused people to awaken, somehow. Either way, the only reason we were able to survive for so long was due to this influx of mages and body refiners."

"...Interesting."

Pandora nodded slowly. If anybody found out that they had attributes and affinities good enough to become a mage, they would be frantically trying to get their ability acknowledged. This was the way of the world, where mages and body refiners had vast opportunities open to them compared to ordinary people. Nobody would willingly hide their powers, unless they were ignorant. 

This sudden discovery of mages and body refiners couldn't have happened coincidentally. After all, everyone had a profile, ordinary or not. If they saw attributes, or the ability to sense anima and mana, they would rush to get themselves appraised. 

Long story short, this occurrence wasn't natural. Something changed after the Dragon's Advent, resulting in a surge of mages and body refiners. 

The captain arrived in front of a large pair of open doors. Inside there was one man giving orders to a few subordinates. He looked haggard, but he was an obvious leader. 

"City Lord!"

"Hm? Captain Alvarise."

The city lord turned to the captain, immediately eyeing Dirk and Pandora. His pupils narrowed upon seeing Pandora's face though.

"The Vampire Princess. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"My friend and I are here to help, City Lord Baren."

Pandora smiled, and the captain stepped forward.

"It's true, City Lord. The man is Dirk Strider, son of Marquess Strider. He defeated a small horde outside the eastern gate."

"So you're Ryker's son?"

The City Lord's eyebrow raised as he pulled his sight away from Pandora. Dirk nodded to him. 

"Correct, sir. You know my father?"

"I do. You could say we're old war buddies. He also contacted me while looking for you not long ago. I see that things went well."

"Mm. Thankfully."

Dirk let out a light breath. He was truly glad he escaped Asura when he did. 

Taking another glance at Pandora, the City Lord sighed. 

"Alright then. You're here to help? I'll take what I can. We've been getting attacked by monsters for the past three weeks. Thankfully we have massive stockpiles of food, and the monsters can also be harvested. In terms of supplies to sustain our dwindling population, we have more than enough. The problem is the rising coordination of the monster hordes. They're creating another General."

City Lord Baren pointed at the map on the table in front of him. 

"The primary concentration of the hordes are coming from the west. We believe the General is commanding the monsters from there. Though, it's still weak and learning how to control the hordes, so it hasn't grown to become a large enough threat. The clock is ticking, however. It's only a matter of time before it learns to launch strategic attacks against our city."

"You need to kill the general before then. I'm sure you could do that yourself, City Lord Baren, considering you're a Rank 7. So what happened?"

Pandora stepped forward and eyed the City Lord. She knew about him since he was in charge of this city on the border. She made sure to know everyone who could affect any of her plans, and this person who controlled a frontier city and a standing army was one such person to pay attention to. 

Because of that, she also knew he was a Rank 7. The fact that he hadn't taken care of this up-and-coming monster general yet meant something had happened to him that prevented him from doing so. That, or he was just stupid, but those chances were small. 

The City Lord sighed, reevaluating this Princess's deductive abilities. 

Grabbing the chest plate of the armor he was wearing, he exposed his chest. Through his right chest was a hole over four inches wide, one that they could see through completely. 

"I killed the previous monster general only a week ago. After the fact, I had been exhausted, and I suffered this wound while fighting my way out of the encirclement. I lost my right lung, and this hole remains. My abilities have been hindered since then, and I'm still recovering from internal wounds. I couldn't reliably fight even a rank 5.

"But you're right. We need to kill this monster general. I've been preparing a team to do so. However, the chances of them successfully killing the general and returning alive are slim. The general is still weak, but there are thousands of monsters out there. They would need to infiltrate those hordes, and doing so without getting noticed is close to impossible. So we need a strong but small team who's willing to risk their lives and assassinate this general."

"..."

Pandora was quiet, but her smile suddenly widened. She and Dirk glanced at each other, and Dirk couldn't help but smirk a bit. 

She turned to the City Lord. 

"Well, City Lord, today really is your lucky day."