Read Vampire Overlord System in the Apocalypse Chapter 91 - Charge With Everything You Got! online for free - AllNovelFull
Noah enhanced his entire body with several Skills, boosting his strength, endurance, speed, and perception, as he reached the Chimera Emperor with his claws!
Slicing through the powerful storming winds it released through the employment of its very wings, the Chimera Emperor roared in anger over Noah being capable of doing such a thing as boldly reach him!
Charging its power within the head of the lion, the chimera began to harbor all of its magical power into a giant sphere, which Noah noticed in time!
He knew what this was!
When a monster that was capable of unleashing breath-type attacks was about to use them, it would first gather its magic power right inside of its mouth or throat, generating a sphere of power!
And through its own breath, it would shot this power as a gigantic cannon of magic towards its foe!
The Chimera Emperor was planning to end Noah and his party by vaporizing their entire beings through an enormously strong breath attack made of darkness and fire, black flames!
Noah gritted his teeth as he smiled, this was a golden opportunity!
Yes, he could possibly be blasted into dust with this attack if he were to take it directly, but he had already planned how to stop it!
In fact, Noah had charged against the monster in hopes that it would charge some kind of breath attack, and he was right!
Noah began to charge his own power, infusing his very soul essence into the Blood Weapons floating around him, as h directed them through Blood Control towards the monsters, launching them as if they were missiles!
"GROOOWL…!" groaned the monster, within all of this only a millisecond had gone by and the creature was already about to launch its breath attack towards Noah's party to decimate them from the face of the earth!
However, Noah's crimson eyes gleamed maliciously!
"NOW!" he roared, as he launched his Blood Weapons towards the Chimera's Lion Head while the rest of his party also did the same with their own long-ranged projectiles and skills!
A shower of Blood Weapons, Black Thunder, Corrosion Shaped as Arrows, Light Bullets, Shadow Bullets, Blades made of Black Light, and more showered instantly over the Lion's head!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
"GRROOOWL…!"
The Lion roared in pain as it suddenly swallowed its own breath attack!
Noah smiled, as this was not enough, before the energy was to be about to explode, he neared the head of the lion and activated Blood Combustion into the weapons he threw which had now been incrusted deep into its snout!
Closing his fists as if activating the effect of the Skill, The Lion's head was suddenly blown off into pieces from both its nose and neck!
BOOOOOM!!!
"GROOOWL!"
"GRRRYAARR!"
The other two heads groaned in agony as they lost one of them, enormous streams of blood began to flow off the decapitated neck of the Lion head, as Noah and the other vampires showered themselves with it and stockpiled Blood into their bodies or Blood Spheres, charging new attacks right away to abuse the other heads confusion!
"Amazing, Noa-sama!" said Timassa.
"How did you know it was going to use a breath attack?!" asked Arthur.
"Instinct," said Noah, as he smiled viciously, creating a giant blade and throwing it towards the Goat head!
However!
CLASH!
The Dragon Head suddenly extended its neck as if it were a snake, blocking the blade with its gigantic horns, as it unleashed a breath of flames over the Vampires!
FLASH!
"Nnghh…!"
Noah gritted his teeth as he resisted the searing flames, while the rest of his party did the same!
Arthur unleashed his healing Skills and began to immediately heal the burns over everyone, as their natural regeneration would be too slow for the battle they were having!
At the same time, however, the Goat Head had already charged a giant magic spell, as an enormous magic circle emerged above its head, firing giant spears made of darkness and showering the party with them!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Arthur quickly conjured several barriers of dark light, as Noah conjured large shields using his crystallized blood and his soul over his allies, although several attacks got through them, the damage they received was not much, as long as their heads were not completely blasted into pieces, holes in the stomach, completely losing their legs, or any other wound was not much to the Vampires!
For a moment, Noah considered to retreat until he could find another opportunity to attack, but Iris and Adamantine came into action, combining their savage way of fighting as they joined with Big Sis, clashing against the Goat Head's enormous size!
Iris used her phantom skills to unleash lethargic effects into the Goat head, as her knife penetrated its skin and left large open wounds, while Adamantine used her Shadow Claws to slash inside the open flesh and then fire several Shadow Bullets inside!
And lastly, Big Sis used her gigantic metallic spider legs to clash against the Goat's head, penetrating its flesh even more, as she inserted her Shadow Sneak shaped as snakes inside, alongside her Light Bullets!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In a millisecond, the girls managed to pull through, surprising Noah as he was filled with proudness over his concubine and his subordinates might!
"GRYYARR…!"
The Goat Head roared in agony, as it wouldn't let them damage it anymore, using its gigantic jaw to bit off Adamantine, the nearest to it!
CRUNCH!
"GRAAAAR!"
Adamantine roared in agony and anger as part of her legs was eaten and crushed!
However, Iris and Big Sis came to her rescue, breaking the Goat Head's jaws with a powerful combined attack of phantom and light bullets!
BOOM! BOOM!
CLASH!
"GRRRRRRAAAAA…!"
The Goat Head groaned in agony, its jaw falling off its head!
Adamantine was grabbed by Iris as the three girls escaped to recover while Noah, Sakura, and Sugar charged into the frontlines, replacing them!
The Goat felt lethargic, groaning in agony, as the Dragon Head resumed its attack, which was being delayed because it was being distracted by Timassa's Black Thunder Arrows!
Suddenly, the wings of the chimera flapped even faster, unleashing a storm of winds towards Noah and the rest of his group!
However, Noah sliced through the wind as he did before by charging his Soul Weapon with mana and his soul, unleashing strong slicing attacks towards the wind!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"Let's keep going!" he roared, as they finally crossed the wall of wind only to be greeted by a deadly and gigantic metallic stinger!
"NOAH!" cried Arthur, as Noah's chest was stabbed by it, enormous pieces of flesh flew off his entire torso, like his heart, intestines, lungs, stomach, and more were destroyed by the sole impact of the enormous stinger!
CLASH!
"Unnghh…!"
Noah's face twisted in agony, however, he smiled while being covered in blood!
"Blood… Combustion…!" laughed Noah, even in such a state, he seemed to celebrate a small victory, as he quickly detached himself from the stinger by using Crimson Flash backward, and then made all the blood over the stinger explode!
BOOM!
The stinger was blown into pieces all over the air, as Noah quickly began to recover the enormous hole on his torso, Arthur sighed in relief as he unleashed his corrosion attack over the Dragon Head while Jon used his Energy Transfer to fill Noah with more Mana and Life Energy!
Noah felt anew a second after, as he leaped into the air and flew towards the pained Goat Head!
The stinger was blown into pieces, but the rest of the tail was still a strong whip!
Nonetheless, more reinforcements came after him, as Sakura and Sugar unleashed a barrage of sword attacks and blades made of black light towards the tail, slicing through it in an instant!
The tail began to be torn into pieces, slices after slices were thrown away, as Noah smiled greedily, reaching the Goat Head at last!
However, there was another thing they did not think about!
The monster had the body of a lion, and naturally, it had gigantic paws and claws!
Coating them in black flames, the Chimera used its claws against Noah, as two enormous paws of over ten meters of height reached him, they would easily tear him into pieces!
But he had not advanced without a plan, or at least, something to fight back!
Using his Parallel Mind Though Processing, Noah conjured a giant Crimson Sea Snake King, ordering it to entangle the right paw, as he quickly created a giant claw using his Soul Claw, catching the other paw, and slicing through its flesh!
"ROOOOAARRR…!"
The Chimera groaned in agonizing pain, as Noah finally found an opening!
Noah unleashed his attacks, as the giant Crimson Sea Snake King attacked one of the Chimera's paws, while his giant eviscerating blood claws slashed through the other paw, making the chimera finally groan in pain and lose its focus!
Arthur, Timassa, Jon, Sakura, and Sugar attacked the Dragon Head, as Noah finally managed to get an opening towards the damaged Goat Head!
Gathering his blood and soul into one, and materializing it as a giant blade, Noah reached the damned Goat Head, launching the giant blade of soul and blood towards the creature!
However, Noah noticed as something within the Goat's eyes was unleashed, as he felt… dizzy!
"A curse! An Evil Eye… how?! It did not use it all this time…! Damned monster!" thought Noah, as the Goat unleashed a secret Skill it was saving whenever it was finally corned, Evil Eye of Confusion!
Through this Evil Eye, Noah was inflicted with the [Confusion] Status Effect, and his very mind felt confused, dizzy, and lethargic!
However, Noah's blade still reached the creature's mouth, slicing through the bone and getting stuck to it!
The Goat Head groaned in agony, as the Dragon Head charged through Arthur and the rest distracting him, and nearing Noah with its sharp fangs, trying to protect the Goat Head!
An enormous wave of searing flames was thrown towards Noah, as Noah gritted his teeth!
However!
Even more, attacks came, as the Goat conjured Dark Spears through its spells, flashing towards Noah and slicing through his entire body!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"Nnnggrrraahh…!"
However, Iris, Adamantine, and Big Sis had finally recovered, rushing near Noah, and unleashing their attacks against the Goat Head and the Dragon Head, making them back off as Iris grabbed Noah!
"Noah!" she cried.
"Don't worry about me… I am… fine! I must… we must win! We must grow stronger! Whatever it takes, Iris!" roared Noah.
"But even as a Vampire, your body…! I do not like how you constantly tear yourself apart to find an opportunity! There… are better ways to do it!" said Iris, as Noah's limbs began to grow back.
"The path we choose is filled with bloodbath and suffering. Taking my body apart to achieve victory is nothing… Don't worry about me, and charge!" said Noah, as he darted out of Iris, using Crimson Flash, and rushing towards the Dragon and Goat Heads, who began to use combined attacks against the group!
"Okay! …No! It is not okay! I am… going to defy you!" said Iris.
"Wha…?" asked Noah in surprise.
"I am not letting you get damaged anymore like that! We are beating this together! You and me, and everyone else, TOGETHER! Why did you even gathered so many people if you're going to bear all the burdens?!" asked Iris.
"Iris…! Even then… don't dare talk to me like that!" muttered Noah.
"I told you, didn't I? I was going to protect your back! No more foolish charge, or at least, let me accompany you and bear the burden as well! Our path is not just bloodbath and suffering! Don't you understand all the happiness that brings to me to be at your side?!" said Iris, as Noah felt his cold heart moved by her words.
Such a relationship was not normal at all.
They were not humans, after all, Vampires had a different concept of existence and life, and Iris and Noah were both completely insane.
Battling at the side of each other was more romantic for them than anything else, hearing his future wife say such moving words filled Noah with power and energy!
Noah sighed.
He was no pushover, and he was not letting his future wife reprimand him anymore.
But she was also mildly right.
He accepted Iris's resolve, and decided to join hands with her!
"Then make sure to keep up with me!" said Noah, smiling viciously as Iris nodded!
FLASH! FLASH!
Arthur and the rest were struggling to get through the two heads combined attacks, as their flames and dark spears were way too deadly and fast for them to completely evade!
Even more, the Dragon had a high resistance to Timassa's thunder, and used itself as a shield whenever it had the opportunity!
Alongside this, the Crimson Sea Snake King was recently killed, and the paws were finally free from its attacks, going back to the fight and slashing through the group!
However, two meteors, one of crimson light and the other of phantasmagoric blue flames reached the battlefield once more!
Adamantine and Big Sis had already come to support the group some more, but they were slowly being pushed back!
Thankfully, Noah and Iris finally arrived, combining their auras into one and clashing against the annoying Dragon Head with a loud clashing attack using their feet!
BOOM!
"GROOOWL!"
Iris smiled wickedly as she unleashed all of her powers, slashing through the Dragon Head's eyes when she was finally given the opportunity, her phantom claws penetrated the head's hard scales, and reached to its tender flesh down below, making it groan in agony like the rest of the group quickly joined in, abusing the openings made by Iris!
Noah was right beside her, as he unleashed countless blood weapons into the dragon head and the goat head, the rest of the group then showered both heads with more and more attacks while keeping the paws distracted!
Noah and Iris joined a charge together once more, rushing towards the Goat Head, and crushing its skull with an enormous barrage of claw attacks!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"GRRRRRRYYAAAAARRR…!"
BOOM!
The skull of the damned Goat Head finally exploded into pieces, as its brains flew out into the sky and the magic it was blasting off quickly came to an end!
The Dragon Head became incredibly nervous now, two of its heads were gone, if it were to die, it was game over for him!
The Dragon Head tried to eat Iris and Noah with a single chomp with wrathful pain, however, Arthur led the rest of the group in time, blocking its path with a barrage of attacks!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
"GRROOOOWL…!"
The Dragon Head suddenly charged another breath of flames…!
However, it was stopped by countless blood needles coated in phantom spirits, which seeped into the monster's flesh with poison and curses into its very soul!
"Iris attacks!" said Arthur, as Iris and Noah quickly charged back to end this once and for all!
"Let's end this! Crimson Sea Snake King!" said Noah, summoning the Crimson Sea Snake King from within his Blood Weapon once more, and making it coil around the Dragon Head, as its paws tried to attack Noah and Iris while they charged towards it!
However, Arthur and the rest made sure to break apart the paws with their constant attacks, as the Dragon was left hopeless!
Trying to run away, it began to flap its wings and move down desperately!
"Where do you think you're going?! After giving us all this pain in the ass?!" roared Iris.
"Come back and let us slash you into pieces!" roared Noah wickedly.
Both insane Vampires rushed towards the Chimera, combining their powers into an iridescent meteor of flames of phantom blue and crimson red!
CLASH!
Their claws and auras broke through the monster's flesh, reaching all the way down into the head, as their claws stabbed through the hard scales, seeping into the skull and brain, and shattering the bones into pieces!
CRASH!
"GROOOOOOOOOOWL!"
The Dragon groaned in agony as its body fell into the dunes with a loud explosion, however, Noah and Iris kept slicing its very head and brain, covering themselves in blood as they smiled wickedly and obsessively, like two maddened demons from the depths of the abyssal hell!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"DIE!" roared Iris and Noah, as the Dragon Head gave its last roar of agony before its entire head was blown off into pieces!
Boom…!
Noah and Iris immediately fell over the sand, coated n blood, while glancing at the clear blue sky and the sun, gasping for air…
"W-We did it…" said Iris.
"I told you… we would… manage…" said Noah.
Iris glanced back at Noah who was tired and gasping for air.
"S-Sorry for yelling at you back then…" she said.
"Hmph. I am actually quite angered by that, don't dare yell me like that ever again!" said Noah.
"…S-Sorry! I promise! I was just… worried…" said Iris.
"Worried or not, that didn't give you the power to yell at me like that. …But I understand your point. It is fair," said Noah.
"…I am glad you understand. I will make sure to compensate you for my disrespectful behavior tonight…" said Iris with a warm smile.
"Are you trying to use sex as a scapegoat?" asked Noah.
"E-Eh?! No! S-Sorry!" said Iris while averting her gaze.
"Let's wrap things up. …I will wait for your compensation tonight," said Noah with a charming smile, as Iris's heart began to beat quite fast.
"Oh, sure...!" said Iris.
Noah and Iris rested for a bit over the sand, as having killed the Hidden Boss seemed to have stopped the monsters from appearing at least for a small window of time.
However, they were sure that new monsters would emerge, so both of them quickly stood up and began to collect all the Cores and Items dropped from the monsters.
"Haahh… We did it…" said Arthur.
"Somehow… It was hard…" said Timassa.
"Yes…" sighed Jon.
"Let's rest for now…" said Big Sis, the overuse of Mana made even Robots feel tired.
"Phew… and the heat is not helping me relax either…" sighed Sakura.
"Aaahh… At least we are done with that thing…" sighed Sugar.
"Good work everyone… Without you, I doubt I would have been able to win by myself. You have proven your worth quite excellently. However, we are not done. It has only been two hours since we entered, and we will be training here until tomorrow morning… We might fight with such a beast at least five more times," said Noah.
As Noah's words dropped, everyone almost fainted!
Fight that giant creature… FIVE MORE TIMES?!
It was indeed insane to think about!
Arthur, Timassa, Jon, Big Sis, Sakura, Sugar, and Iris were all falling into the ground in disbelief!
"I-I should have expected such words coming from you, Noah-sama…." Sighed Arthur, almost as if his soul were about to fly out of his body.
"I-Indeed… your willpower is… quite mighty… My lord…." Sighed Timassa.
"F-Five… more… times… I… I have… No… It is fine… for Master… a-anything…" said Jon, he was doubting himself a bit but found the resolve as he glanced at his tiny and delicate hands.
"Oh my… You're really working us out, aren't you?" sighed Big Sis.
"That's… Ugh…" said Sakura, falling into the dunes and resting.
"Y-You're really insane…" said Sugar.
"N-Noah… A-Are you serious?" asked Iris.
"I am, Iris. We must keep fighting. But for now, let's rest and eat and drink something," said Noah with a mild smile, as his subordinates were instantly charmed by the smile that he barely shows, nodding in affirmation to their Progenitor's kindness.
After all, Noah desired for all of them to grow stronger at his side.
He was not giving them any help, he was letting them grow by themselves, he only gave them the power to do it, but all the effort, resources, and more need to be found by themselves.
Although he already felt very grateful for them, as they helped him a lot in the battles.
As time went by, the group drank cold drinks, washed a few of their bodies, change clothes, and even ate to their heart's content.
It was a good window of around 30 minutes, but right after that time, more and more monsters emerged.
Noah knew that these were the challenges he and his group needed.
To keep breaking their limits, to keep improving themselves.
The first two hours were already constant and hellish fights… and more than 10 hours were waiting for them…
Noah and his group began to smile more and more, greedily, and rather wickedly.
All of them were already no humans anymore, both physically and mentally…
No human, even Hunters, would be able to go through such an immense amount of stress as them.
Slashing through endless armies of giant and deadly insects, bathing in their oozy green blood, having their bodies filled with enormous and deadly wounds that would kill anyone except Vampires, and more…
Battle after battle.
Before a scorching sun that seemed to never fade away…
Hours after hours of making their muscles burst due to overuse, their bones crack, entire limbs torn apart, life and death situations over and over again.
Hidden Bosses emerging, and more deadly battles filled with desperation and burning exhilaration.
After some hours, the entire group seemed to have entered in some kind of trance…
It was as if their most primal instincts have taken over their bodies, as they only knew about working together to kill everything else than themselves.
Constantly fighting, surpassing their limits, and breaking apart their bodies just to regenerate them back.
However, they knew that this was the only way to survive in this world, to grow stronger, to reach even higher ranks, to reach the top.
Blood, sun, and sand.
Behemoths fell.
And new ones raised from the dunes…
Enormously roars resonated through the vast ash gray deserts, only for these titans to fall while the Vampires reigned over them, barely surviving each time…
Their bonds strengthened with each fight, their coordination became sharper, their senses began to evolve.
Cores and Items fell to the sands, as they grabbed them and resumed the fight…
They had already lost the concept of time.
Without realizing it, they had been fighting for way more than they had previously imagined.
At some point, the monsters began to slowly appear smaller and weaker.
Until they had completely exhausted them…
Nothing began to emerge after many minutes…
It was done.
The entire group fell into the sand.
A sea of Cores and Items greeted their sight.
How long… have they been battling?
Ruthlessly slaying monsters and taking over many hits and wounds?
How much blood have they spilled and taken back from monsters?
Noah suddenly opened his crimson eyes, as he saw that the sun had disappeared.
It was now replaced by a beautiful moon, and a gentle and cold wind bathed his body.
He glanced at his surroundings, countless cores all around, and all of his subordinates sleeping.
"Did I fall asleep inside a Dungeon? How long… did we fight?" thought Noah, as he began to recap all of his memories.
"Ah…?! At some point, my mind blacked out, yet I kept fighting like a beast… The same happened with everyone here… Hm. Perhaps I might have overexerted things…" sighed Noah.
Noah quickly gathered all the cores he could find for some minutes, and then gave mana to the robots, who had completely run out of energy, and woke them up from their sleep to save battery.
After that, he carried the rest of his unconscious party out of the Dungeon, as he noticed that it was still night…
"War Machine, what day and hour is it?" asked Noah.
"It is… Tuesday, 3 AM! We have been fighting there for… more than a day…" said Big Sis.
"T-That was insane… did we really do that much?!" asked Sakura.
"Amazing… At some point, we all entered in Automatic Mode… Did Noah-sama and the rest too?" asked Sugar.
"It seems so. So we already skipped a day of classes… Well, not like I care… hm?"
Noah was then asked by a guard near the Dungeon how he felt.
"Y-You… You are alive? We had given your group for dead… You have not come back for over a day! …But you seem to be… completely fine?" asked the Guard, glaring at Noah's body, he was completely healthy, and no open wounds were visible, only countless scars.
"Fear not, all of my group is fine. We have a very good healer… Arthur is sleeping for now. We were simply… doing our routine of training. We have completed the dungeon. Thank you very much for taking care of the Gate," said Noah politely, as he walked away with the robots at his side.
"Eh? They came with robots?!" thought the guard, as he saw the group walk away.
Noah and his group walked back to Arthur's residence as they entered their manor.
Big Sis, Sakura, and Sugar put each of the members in their respective rooms, as Noah carried the sleeping Iris to their bed so she could sleep more comfortably.
He glanced at her sleepy and adorable face with a mild smile.
"Good work…" he said, as he was just as exhausted, sleeping at her side.
Noah opened his eyes as he was greeted by the light of the sun crossing through the red curtains of the large window of the manor, he stretched his arms a bit as he found Iris peacefully sleeping while resting her face over his chest.
Noah, cold and calculative as he was, could not help but be a bit moved by her adorableness, as he petted her crimson hair and kissed her forehead.
Iris slowly opened her glowing crimson eyes as she greeted Noah.
"Hm? …Eh? Where… Oh? Are we back? How?" she asked.
"All of you fell unconscious while we fought, so I brought you back with the robots. Fear not, we did a splendid job," said Noah.
"Sigh… I am glad… Aw… I am so tired…" sighed Iris.
"Are you hungry?" asked Noah, standing up from bed.
"Eh? Yeah…" said Iris.
"I will bring you breakfast. Anything you prefer?" asked Noah.
"E-Eh? B-Breakfast? To my bed?" asked Iris.
"Yes," said Noah expressionlessly.
"I-I… I would like some toasts with… jam…" said Iris while blushing.
"Very well," said Noah, walking out of the room.
Iris could not believe that her progenitor was about to serve her breakfast on her bed!
It seemed that Noah was very happy with her efforts, and wanted to compensate her.
However, each time Iris tried to remember what had happened in the Dungeon, her mind got dizzy…
"Uegh… We really went ham there… how much did we even fight? Did it felt like hours… maybe over a day? Wait, what hour is it?" wondered Iris, as she checked the clock.
It was Wednesday at 7 AM!
"Wednesday… And we went inside the Dungeon on Sunday… Oh… Wait… EH?! We were there for over a day!" thought Iris, as she realized the amount of inhumane training she went through with Noah and the rest.
It has indeed been a pretty arduous training, Noah and his group were all quite surprised by what they did.
And their efforts indeed paid off… in the hundreds of Cores and Items they managed to farm through the whole ordeal.
They were more than ready to advance into C-Rank now…
C-Rank…
C-Rank Hunters are already considered celebrities within Sectors, they are given special tasks by the government and even paid to wipe out Dungeons for hefty sums of money.
C-Rank was the last step before reaching B-Rank, but anyone that has reached this stage was already very talented and held great connections with many people and guilds.
Usually, the strongest group of hunters within Guilds were made of mostly C-Rank hunters led by B-Rank Hunters.
Being a C-Rank Hunter meant being above many other people, and it even had a social status similar to an aristocrat if not a bit higher simply by their level of strength.
However, although this was a good step ahead, Noah was not going to take it easy for now and live leisurely like a fool.
No, there were higher ranks to reach, and he was not going to stop at being a mildly popular mediocre.
He wanted to go higher… alongside all those at his side.
However, for now, it was fine to take a break and stop thinking about such things, at least for a few hours.
Noah walked down the stairs into the kitchen, where he was greeted by a few servants that often cooked food, they were all half-subhumans with animal traits around their bodies.
They were often silent and very serviceable, but they seemed surprised when Noah, a handsome vampire with his chest uncovered and packed with muscles and scars reached the kitchen, the women there glanced at his figure several types… he was indeed way different than Arthur…
Noah greeted them as he began to cook for Iris.
Although he did not have much experience cooking, he received the help of the maids there, who were being very gentle with him as he spoke and opened up to them a bit, surprising them when he talked about making breakfast to his partner to compensate for her efforts.
"It is good to compensate those that exert themselves. I am doing something that anyone at my position should do, don't get so surprised," sighed Noah, as he carried the plates with food back to his room, where he met Iris who was still in bed, she was acting a tad bit spoiled now, but Noah let her be, as she deserver it a bit.
"Y-You really brought me breakfast, Noah…" said Iris as her lips trembled in surprise and embarrassment.
"Well, it is also for me, I am starving," said Noah, as he sat down at Iris's side and began to drink some coffee at her side.
"There were three types of jam, so I brought the three," said Noah, as Iris began to serve herself with toast and pouring butter and jam over it, the butter quickly melted, mixing with the sweetness of the jam, making for a delicious treat in the morning.
"Thanks… I am very happy that you brought them all, and not just chose whatever… You are very considerate… I feel like I don't deserve you…" sighed Iris as she ate happily.
"Deserve? Iris, whenever I decide something, I do not regret it. If you are my partner, you deserve it," said Noah rather coldly as he bit into a sandwich with ham, cheese, and tomato, a combination that Iris noticed that he enjoyed.
"Hehe… You're always like that, aren't you?" asked Iris with a smile.
"Like how?" asked Noah.
"Like… you always talk coldly and expressionlessly… yet… I know that you deep down mean a lot… You are just always caging your emotions… But I know how you feel… Hm, maybe it is part of my abilities related with Phantom?" wondered Iris.
"Indeed. Your ability must be related to it, as you can meddle with souls a bit. And I agree with what you said. I guess it is fine to tell you this. But my soul has changed, and become something different before I became a Vampire. Due to those circumstances, my mind evolved, and now, I have a hard time expressing my human emotions. But fear not, I am not emotionless," said Noah.
"Fufu… I know!" said Iris, as she hugged Noah and kissed his cheeks.
"I love you… Thanks for being with me all this time… Let's keep battling monsters and crushing anyone that tries to get in our path…" said Iris, her eyes flashing with conviction.
Noah's heart waa moved by her words, as a vampire, being told by his partner that they should keep crushing their enemies mercilessly while bathing in the blood of monsters to grow stronger was the most romantic thing.
Noah quickly devoured the sandwich as he took Iris to the bed.
"Eeeh?! W-Wait! We are having breakfast…" said Iris, as Noah glanced at her eyes.
"If you say something like that you must have been expecting me to react like this, didn't you?" said Noah, as he began to kiss her neck.
"Ah~! W-Wait! At least… let's put the food elsewhere, you're going to spill the coffee!" said Iris.
"I don't care…" said Noah, as he embraced Iris with a deep kiss, both of their steamy breaths touched together as their tongues danced and entwined around each other, the sound of their lips touching each other passionately didn't stop as Noah began to slowly undress Iris, his body was already taken over by the burning and beastly passion of a vampire.
Iris smiled warmly as she kissed Noah's neck, biting his neck, and slowly licking his warm blood, her senses began to sharpen as she felt Noah's large and strong hands grab her breasts, squeezing them and licking them…
"Ah~ T-There…?" asked Iris rather shyly.
"Your body is mine, Iris. And I get to enjoy it as much as I want… every inch…" said Noah charmingly, as he began to lick her chest, belly, and down there… multiple times.
Iris began to moan more and more loudly, as the coffee finally spilled into the bed, but the two Vampires could not care less, as they kept lovingly hugging, kissing, and ultimately mating passionately like wild rabbits.
The sound of their sweaty flesh hitting each other resonated through the room, as Iris loud moans asking for Noah to keep going quickly got through the walls of the old manor, and the rest of their subordinates woke up to the… embarrassing sounds of their master and mistress doing their daily routine.
After a slow climax, Noah and Iris quickly resumed their breakfast and finally finished it, afterwards, they called maids and butlers to wash the sheets and change them for new ones, while the pair of vampires went to continue their… business in the bathroom, where they mated before the warm and comforting water, feeling renewed after dozens of hours of stress and fighting that they underwent some hours ago.
Noah and Iris Stamina as Vampires was incredibly strong, and they could keep going for several hours without stopping, climaxing several times only to go back to it almost immediately…
Like this, when it was around 12 AM is when they finally got out of the bathroom, refreshed… although Iris seemed to be a tad bit dizzy, as if mildly drunk by Noah's fervent passion that seemed to have no end.
Because Noah and Iris had a lot of pent-up frustration, whenever they went to the act… it would last a lot of time and they always felt as if they needed to release all the stress they had every time they did this, both resulted benefited by this, and so embraced each other passionately, completely forgetting about everything else around them.
"Haahh… That was nice…" sighed Iris in relief, as she began to slowly dress at the side of Noah who was doing the same.
After both the Master and the Mistress were done, they descended the stairs and met with the rest of their subordinates who were enjoying breakfast as well.
"I guess we are not going to Classes today either?" asked Arthur.
"No, let's go. We have to attend to not end up being tracked by the government… But finish your breakfast first. There is no hurry. And I personally do not care about missing some classes. Also, we must absorb the Cores and Ability Cores immediately if possible," said Noah.
As Noah's group enjoyed breakfast, Noah decided to absorb the Attribute Value Cores and Ability Cores.
Due to their memories being not so detailed about who defeated who, Noah simply decided to distribute things mildly evenly, although it was more than enough for everyone to max two stats to 300 and reach C-Rank.
Alongside the Attribute Cores he grabbed which were enough for him to max all of his attributes to 300, there was also a large number of Ability Cores, now reaching dozens.
Just how many monsters did they defeat?
This is what Arthur wondered each time he glanced at the ridiculous amount of items they acquired.
However, not all Ability Cores were D-Rank, as many were also E-Rank…
In the end, Noah still grabbed a nice quantity of them for himself, getting 6 D-Rank Ability Cores and 6 E-Rank Ability Cores, leaving the rest to be distributed to his subordinates, of course, although the difference between him and the rest was only of 1-2 Cores and not anymore, he did not like to grab everything for himself and constantly encouraged his subordinates to grow stronger.
Also, what some feared did not happen as Iris did not receive extra rewards for being Noah's consort, she was happy to share as well, and was not greedy at all herself, distributing everything evenly.
"C-Rank… at last… One step before B-Rank! Although it is not like all our problems will be resolved by simply being B-Rank… But still, it is a good goal to look forward to for now. Of course, I am not stopping there. Even if I ever reach SSS-Rank, I will try to strive even further, and perhaps even go to the world of Vampires…" thought Noah, planning things for a very far future as he absorbed the Attribute Value Cores.
Flash!
As the many spheres turned into energy, Noah began to refine all the power into his body, letting it all flow into his Blood Core, bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, organs, and more.
The feeling was of an even greater exhilaration and excitement, something that almost gave Noah a feeling of ecstasy.
This was the feeling of absorbing so many C-Rank Cores!
It was… impressive!
In fact, it was blowing him off!
Noah felt the exhilaration continue more and more, as he finally settled down after having used the techniques and meditation he had learned to make the energy from the Cores run more smoothly through his body.
Noah then felt his Blood Core and Soul resonate with the energy, as he glanced at his Attribute Panel.
[The [Blood Flow Acceleration: 100 (C)] Skill and the [Blood Sacrifice: 100 (C)] Skill have merged and awakened into the [Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity: 1 (B)] Skill]
[The [Blood Retribution: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Lifeblood Release: 1 (B)] Skill]
However, before Noah could see his Attribute Panel, he was pestered with two new System Windows, showing him that his Skills had awakened after reaching max proficiency.
Two skills had merged into one unexpectedly, becoming the Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity Skill, which granted Noah the enhanced effects of these two Skills combined.
By accelerating his blood and at the same time sacrificing it, he would receive a substantial boost to all of his stats, alongside this, his resistance to the elements would increase, and his defenses would increase instead of dampening.
And the next Skill, Lifeblood Release was the perfect combination with this Skill, giving Noah the power to release his lifeblood and increase his speed, senses, and strength alongside his damage dealt based on how much vitality has he lost using the previous Skill.
With this, Noah's strength had increased even more!
However, his method of fighting had also become more sacrificial…
But with his Immortal Body and his ability to stockpile calories and blood, he felt confident in being able to use his power properly.
"I wonder how strong this will become…" wondered Noah, as he imagined what kind of power could he draw these Skills as they awakened even further.
But now, he finally decided to check his Attribute Panel.
[Noah]
[Bloodline: Vampire (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level II: Vampire Noble]
[Vitality: 300]
[Mind: 300]
[Force: 300]
[Skill Points: 50]
[Skill(s): [Blood Progenitor: - (SSS), [Immortal Body: 24 (S), [Eviscerating Crimson Claws: 51 (B), [Vampiric Blood Control: 57 (B), [Blood Weapon Creation: 53 (B), [Unyielding Blood Demon: 25 (B), [Fartalk: 22 (A), [Yin and Yang Crimson Soul: 26 (S), [Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity: 1 (B), [Lifeblood Release: 1 (B), [Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis: 76 (C), [Poisonous Blood: 65 (C)] [Blood Curse: 64 (C), [Blood Armor: 61 (C), [Blood Potion: 54 (C), [Blood Combustion: 67 (C), [Flight: 64 (B)] [Mist Form: 43 (C), [Blood Core Creation: 50 (C), [Crimson Flash: 50 (C), [Vampiric Drain: 30 (C), [Blood Frenzy: 35 (C), [Vampiric Wings: 32 (C), [Parallel Mind Thought Processing: 32 (A)]
Noah glanced at his numbers, 300 in all stats, just as he desired and expected.
He was now, truly C-Rank!
Was there any C-Rank in their school?
Or even in their classroom?
Noah did not remember any person being C-Rank at all.
It was ironic how the people they believed to be the weakest had already surpassed them on strength!
Iris and the rest also began to absorb the Attribute Cores, as their Blood Cores resonated with new power and even grew in size one by one…
"W-Woah…" said Arthur.
"This power… This is… C-Rank…" said Timassa.
"It feels… completely different from before…" said Jon.
"It feels… weird… Master…" said Adamantine.
"Now we are super strong! Maybe we should just drop school… Is there any purpose in being there now?" said Iris.
"Until we get to B-Rank, we cannot… The School is also protecting us from external forces. In a way, the Crystal Family Guild is probably delaying their revenge because of the school itself… Until we reach B-Rank, and we are confident in our strength to deal with them, we shouldn't leave school yet…" said Noah.
"I see… Well, that's how it is," said Iris.
Noah then glanced at his Ability Cores and decided to convert them all into Skill Points.
Ding!
[Do you wish to exchange [Ability Core (D)] x6, and [Ability Core (E)] x6 for 480 Skill Points?]
[YES NO]
"Yes!"
Flash!
The Ability Cores turned into particles after Noah's command, as they fused with his Ability Core and new Skill Points emerged at his Attribute Panel.
480 alongside the 50 he already had, Noah now ended at 530 Skill Points!
With this, he was more than capable of maxing out his Skill Tree!
Noah glanced at his Skill Tree, checking the last Skills he could unlock.
[Level: II]
[Vampire Noble (60/60): Spend Skill Points into this branch to unlock more of the innate strength of the Blood Progenitor, such as bonus Attribute Values, Skills, and more.
Additional Abilities can be unlocked after the Branch is Maxed.
Additional Abilities (I): [Blood Core Creation (50/50), [Crimson Flash (55/55), [Vampiric Drain (60/60)]
Additional Abilities (II): [Blood Frenzy (70/70), [Vampiric Wings (75/75), [Crimson Aegis (0/80)]
Additional Abilities (III): [Blood Storage (0/90), [Blood Servant (0/95), [Blood Pact (0/100)]
"Crimson Aegis, Blood Storage, Blood Servant, and Blood Pact… All of them sound interesting… Good, time to grab them all!"
Noah smiled maliciously as he imagined the power he could draw from such interesting-sounding Skills, as he immediately spent his Skill Points on them!
Ding!
[You have exchanged 80 Skill Points]
[You unlocked the [Crimson Aegis: 1 (C)] Skill]
Ding!
[You have exchanged 90 Skill Points]
[You unlocked the [Blood Storage: 1 (B)] Skill]
Ding!
[You have exchanged 95 Skill Points]
[You unlocked the [Blood Servant: 1 (B)] Skill]
Ding!
[You have exchanged 100 Skill Points]
[You unlocked the [Blood Pact: 1 (B)] Skill]
With this, Noah had maxed the Level II of the Blood Progenitor Skill Tree!
And alongside this, a rush of knowledge on how to use these Skills rushed into his head, giving him a good insight into their usage.
Crimson Aegis was the Skill Noah had wanted for a while, which his armor could not completely give to him.
Although the armor was good to resist damage in general from all types, when he needed to block an enormous attack, Noah was always thrown into the air.
But now with Crimson Aegis, this was a thing of the past… as long as he had enough Mana and Blood!
With Crimson Aegis, Noah had the power to summon shields made of hardened blood!
However, these shields were not similar to the weapons of blood weapon creation, and had an even greater resiliency and amazing defensive capabilities!
With them, Noah could lessen the shock and force of attacks sent against him, even if the shields were to break!
Noah's mind kept being showered with knowledge and insights about these new Skills courtesy of the Blood Core, as he learned the power of Crimson Aegis!
The other Skills were just as good, such as Blood Storage.
[Blood Storage (B)]
The Power to Stockpile Blood by large amounts.
Alongside this, you acquire the ability to transform your own blood into dimensional storage limited by the rank of the Skill on its size.
Vampiric beings and Blood Servants can be stored as well, however, energy will be drained from your body to feed their life.
Blood Storage gave Noah the power to stockpile even more ridicule amounts of Blood within his body to consume, use for calories, and more, alongside giving his own blood the power to store things inside!
Indeed, this power seemed completely broken, as Noah had the power to use his own blood like some kind of Dimensional Storage!
However, it was now limited to just a few slots, but it could improve as he increased the Rank of the Skill.
Alongside this, the Skill description specified that he would be capable of storing Vampiric beings and Blood Servants inside (as the only living beings that he could store)!
With this, he could even carry his entire party within this dimensional storage on his very blood, and surprise his enemies as he brought an army to attack them!
However, the other Skill that supplemented Blood Storage in the best way possible was the Blood Servant Skill…
This Skill was…
It simply left Noah baffled by the possibilities it could have.
[Blood Servant (B)]
As the Blood Progenitor Descendant, you have an unfathomable power over Blood and Lifeblood, giving you the power to summon a living being's soul through their blood.
This Skill grants you the ability to summon a Blood Servant from any living being that you have killed as long as it possessed any blood, of course.
By concentrating its blood quality and fusing it with the residual soul, the Blood Servant, whose appearance, and power will be similar to the original self, will be born.
Your current max amount of Blood Servants is determined by your Skill Rank, currently, you can only have up to 30.
Blood Servants will grow by themselves by defeating enemies and absorbing their souls or blood, increasing their own Ranks, and achieving new levels of power and abilities.
To conjure this Skill effect, simply let a drop of your blood fall into the required corpse while reciting the words 'Rise'.
The user has 3 chances to rise a Blood Servant, after these three chances are spent and the Blood Servant is not generated, the user will not be able to rise the desired corpse.
Until the three chances are used, the monster's corpses will remain in existence for 24 hours before turning into black smoke and dropped items.
Corpses (No Monsters from Dungeons) that have been dead for over 24 hours cannot be transformed into Blood Servants.
With this… Noah had the potential to build an army of loyal servants, alongside his already existing subordinates who could become their generals!
Did he even need to recruit any more people now if he had such power?
"With this Ability… I can rise soldiers made of blood from anything I have killed? I need to try this out immediately… No… I have to calm down… Not now… Not yet… Perhaps in a Dungeon later," sighed Noah, calming down his own excitement as he checked the last Skill.
[Blood Contract (B)]
As the descendant of the Blood Progenitor, your power over blood is supreme, and you can manipulate the blood of someone weakened to control them through a contract.
Through Blood Contract, you can generate a Contract with someone's Blood, forcing these people to do certain tasks or comply with a certain order or deal.
This Contract can be either made by both sides accepting or can be forcefully made if the target is completely weakened and cannot fight back nor resist.
However, sleeping targets will resist, as they can quickly wake up.
Even completely unconscious targets might not work, as such a contract forces their minds to wake up immediately.
With this Skill, Noah could literally set contracts with other people, things that both sides needed to agree in doing.
Perhaps keeping a secret, or not betray the other side.
As long as there was this contract set, it would not be easily violated.
And even if the target tried to violate it, they would receive the pain of all their blood turning into needles and grinding into their own flesh.
However, the same could happen to Noah, as this Contract affected both sides.
But even then, Noah now had the power to do amazing deals with others… or even forcefully enslave enemies.
"With this… my power over others increases… Yet, I doubt I can even affect anyone above my Rank. Hence, I must grow stronger…" thought Noah, as he was surprised by some strange and sudden System Notification Windows.
Ding!
[You have completed the [Level: II] of the Blood Progenitor Skill Tree!]
[You have unlocked the [Level: III] of the Blood Progenitor Skill Tree!]
"Oh? Level III? How many Levels does this Skill Tree process? Well, it keeps improving as I advance in strength, so perhaps new Skills are simply generated whenever I max out the previous one…" thought Noah, as new System notification windows greeted his sight once more.
Ding!
[Conditions for [Evolution] have been achieved!]
[Conditions: Reach 300 in every Attribute Value and unlock all of the [Level: II] of the Blood Progenitor Skill Tree completed!]
[Do you wish to evolve into [Level III: Noble-Born Vampire Viscount]?]
[YES NO]
"Another… Evolution? So soon? But it seems that the Evolution matches the level of my Skill Tree. Hmph… But what will happen with other Skill Trees? Or perhaps only this Skill Tree, as the main one, will be connected to my evolutions? I wonder… Well, I still do not have any other Skill Tree, and these skills are good for now… Should I evolve now?" wondered Noah.
Noah thought that they might fall unconscious and do not attend school again…
Which was certainly not something he desired to not awaken suspiciousness.
However, he remembered that he did not fall unconscious for too long before… And perhaps using his soul, he could suppress such an effect now that it had evolved…
"Well, I shouldn't even doubt…" thought Noah, as he selected the 'Yes' option after telling everyone that he was about to evolve.
Flash!
His Blood Core suddenly flashed with crimson light, as Noah was enveloped by a crimson aura, forming a cocoon around him!
"Ngh…!"
And then, Noah felt as if he was… melting!
An excruciating, monstrous pain!
It was literally as if he were melting!
His skin was melting, his flesh, his muscles, his blood vessels even his bones were falling apart and melting!
The pain was immense!
However, by using his Immortal Body, he kept regenerating and regenerating, his body reformed itself countless times over!
"The evolution to Level III is this harsh?!" thought Noah, as the Blood Progenitor's mind emerged.
"That's because this evolution is where you reform your entire body and remove any impurities within! Last time your body was still formerly human… but now, you will be completely remade as Vampire…" said the Blood Progenitor.
"That's… Ungh…!" cried Noah within the blood cocoon, as he ended up losing his consciousness at some point within the evolution.
Noah found himself in a strange space after that.
A dark place…
Completely filled with blackness.
"Wait… This place again…"
Noah glanced at his surroundings, as he finally found it, the Ancient One once more opened its single crimson eyes, and glanced at him.
"You again…!" said Noah.
The Ancient One glared at Noah as it squinted its eyes as if judging his soul.
However, it quickly stopped looking at him.
"Not enough…" it said.
"What? What do you mean?" asked Noah.
"Your strength… Is not enough." It said again.
"Why? For what? …Wait, do you mean… wielding your power?" asked Noah.
"Wielding me? …It could be said like that. You, as a vessel, is not enough," said the Ancient One.
"Wait, don't go away! How stronger do I need to be to wield your power?" asked Noah.
"…Strong enough to sustain my power…" it said, as Noah's dream quickly fragmented into pieces, his crimson eyes opened as he glanced at the ceiling.
"…How long did I sleep?" he asked Iris at his side.
"Ah! Noah, you're back! Oh… Only twenty minutes," said Iris.
"Good… Let's go now," said Noah.
"Wait, you're not sharing how strong you got?" asked Arthur.
"We can talk that through Telepathy, let's hurry," said Noah, as several System Windows greeted his sight once more.
"I can already feel it though… His power has once more increased… and it seems… as if Noah had been born anew?" said Timassa.
"Anew?" asked Arthur.
As Noah and the rest went back to the Military School, Noah checked his System Notifications.
Ding!
[You have successfully evolved into a [Level III: Noble-Born Vampire Viscount]
[Attribute Value Bonus Earned]
[Skill Proficiency Level Bonus Earned]
[The [Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Vampiric Evil Eyes of Hypnosis and Stupefaction: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Noah had gained a good amount of bonus stats, alongside one of his Skills reaching max proficiency and awakening!
The new version of Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis was Vampiric Evil Eyes of Hypnosis and Stupefaction, which had an even greater power of hypnotizing, confusing, or attacking the minds of his enemies.
Perhaps now he could finally be capable of affecting people with strong wills, albeit the Skill was still not all-powerful, and held its limitations to what it could do.
It was not as if he would be able to win every fight using the Skill now, but the Skill served as good support.
After checking the new Awakened Skill, Noah glanced at his Current Attribute Panel.
[Noah]
[Bloodline: Vampire (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Noble-Born Vampire Viscount]
[Vitality: 330]
[Mind: 330]
[Force: 330]
[Skill Points: 165]
[Skill(s): [Blood Progenitor: - (SSS), [Immortal Body: 34 (S), [Eviscerating Crimson Claws: 61 (B), [Vampiric Blood Control: 67 (B), [Blood Weapon Creation: 63 (B), [Unyielding Blood Demon: 35 (B), [Fartalk: 32 (A), [Yin and Yang Crimson Soul: 36 (S), [Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity: 20 (B), [Lifeblood Release: 20 (B), [Vampiric Evil Eyes of Hypnosis and Stupefaction: 1 (B), [Poisonous Blood: 75 (C)] [Blood Curse: 74 (C), [Blood Armor: 71 (C), [Blood Potion: 64 (C), [Blood Combustion: 77 (C), [Flight: 74 (B)] [Mist Form: 53 (C), [Blood Core Creation: 60 (C), [Crimson Flash: 60 (C), [Vampiric Drain: 40 (C), [Blood Frenzy: 45 (C), [Vampiric Wings: 42 (C), [Parallel Mind Thought Processing: 42 (A), [Crimson Aegis: 20 (C), [Blood Storage: 20 (B), [Blood Servant: 20 (B), [Blood Pact: 20 (B)]
"This evolution brought me a good amount of Attribute Values and Bonus Skill Proficiency. I am rather satisfied… Perhaps Dungeon Diving will become swifter as I gather Blood Servants from now on… Despite that, I still believe that fighting Bosses will not be completely easy…" thought Noah.
Noah's group entered the school and got into the second classes, as they were not able to attend the first ones.
The moment they entered nothing seemed out of the ordinary, although some people noticed that they had not come in the morning, no one seemed to say anything.
However, that was merely on the surface.
Most of the students…
Noticed it.
Noah…
No, not only Noah but his entire group.
The presence they indirectly let out of their bodies, the very residual presence of the true power they were suppressing to not awake suspiciousness…
The various student felt it.
The power of sleeping beasts.
If Emerald were here, he would have been yelling at Noah that he was a monster and trying to tell everyone thanks to his Danger Detection Skill going crazy.
But these people did not have such a power, and although they could feel that something deep within them was slumbering… it was not as if they had proof or anything.
But even then.
It was certainly frightening.
Even Fernand Firebrand and his thugs glanced at Noah with awe…
Even the teacher, who was D-Rank, noticed it.
Noah and his group were indeed… something different.
Their presence, and the power exuding from them…
An Aura of Scarlet Red.
Of beastly and insatiable bloodlust.
Not only this was produced by their C-Rank power, but also due to their evolutions and incredibly high ranked Skills, which they had in high numbers.
Were these people even needed to stay in school anymore?
Certainly, Noah planned to leave it whenever he had the chance, at B-Rank.
But for now, he and his group remained silent as they glanced at the teacher start the classes…
Fernand and his thugs began to consider that perhaps… they should not mess around with Noah anymore.
An instinctual fear arose in their very existence.
Something deep and abyssal came from Noah and his group…
Noah noticed that some of the students were glaring at him and his group.
"Indeed. Being C-Rank and having evolved had made our power too big, even by suppressing it, others can still see its residual aura…" sighed Noah through telepathy.
"Isn't this bad? We might get caught!" said Arthur.
"…Or it could be a good thing too. They seem afraid. If they are afraid, they might not mess up with us anymore. Unlike Emerald, no one here has such a convenient skill as Danger Detection to have some kind of foresight over the power we have…" said Iris.
"True… This might benefit us instead of being a bad thing…" said Timassa.
As Noah's group chatted freely through their telepathy, the teacher began to talk about a new test…
"Ahem, as I mentioned yesterday, today there will be a new test inside a Dungeon, similar to the one we had previously. However, there are new rules that the director had made… as he wanted everyone to get a bit more… competitive…" said the teacher, glaring at Noah as he swallowed saliva, he could not even understand what was making him so afraid, yet he felt fear for his mere presence in the classroom…
"New rules?"
"What does that mean?"
"More competitive…"
"More competitive?! Do they want us to kill each other or something?"
"Fufu, that sounds fun!"
"Oi, don't joke around that…!"
"Well, we can always beat up each other to decide who wins, right?"
"I don't like the sound of that…"
"But rules are rules! Do not worry, haha. You're part of my party!"
"I don't know… I don't want to participate…"
"I am… strangely… I don't know… afraid?"
"Hm…"
"Y-Yeah… there is something weird in the air today…"
The classroom was filled with students talking about many things, some were excited while others are afraid.
Many of them did not understand where that strange feeling of dread came from within the classroom, some of the weaker students were even quivering.
"To incentivize your growth and also competitiveness. There are new rules. One of the first ones is that there will be a certain limited amount of "Treasures" that you need to collect and fight to acquire. Any group that manages to obtain five Treasures and escapes the Dungeon will receive the highest Grade… There are only 15 Treasures, and groups can only be up to 6 people. These Treasures are high Ranked Gear, which you can keep," said the teacher, as all the students began to chat and to show their complaints.
This test was indeed very unfair!
There were over 30 students, how all groups could get the highest score?
Indeed, it was incredibly unfair!
Only three groups could get a perfect score!
And that was if actually, they were able to collect all five treasures…
Conflict and fights were imminent.
This entire test was made for students to fight against each other!
Noah released a mild smile.
All the students were now weaker than him, and if he wanted, he could literally crush them like ants.
Oh, how the tables have turned…
He was incredibly excited…
And all of his party were a bit afraid of his excitement…
"N-Noah is about to do something crazy again…" sighed Arthur.
"Make sure to not kill that many people… You said that we had to lay low, didn't you?" asked Iris.
Then, Noah calmed down and suppressed his feelings of bloodlust, which had the whole classroom quivering!
"Right. I had forgotten. We have to lay low. Let's just gather 5 treasures and then we are done," said Noah, he didn't want any conflicts…
But if they were inside a dungeon where no teachers were around…
Like many times before, he could… perhaps kill some…
And then… raise them as Blood Servants.
However, this malicious thought was suppressed, and Noah would result in violence only when the students came directly to harm him or his subordinates.
There were also a few students from prestigious Families similar to the Crystal Family, and he thought that it might be better to not kill those IF possible… as he did not want to add more threats to his future.
For example, if Fernand Firebrand showed up, he would probably knock him out, steal everything he had, and then leave him alive.
Thankfully, Noah had investigated several of his student's families before even becoming a Vampire, and knew which ones should not be killed and which others were free to slaughter…
"The Dungeon you will be visiting for this test is named the Crimson Jewel Caves. It is a large D-Rank Dungeon for all of you to explore and find the Treasures. Please make sure to be prepared, and whenever there is any conflict, try to not damage your classmates as much, keep the battles friendly," said the teacher.
The students felt pressured when they knew that the Dungeon was going to be D-Rank.
Although they could not really do anything to change this, they were reassured by the teacher that the dungeon had been cleaned many times in the week, and only had very few monsters.
Noah thanked that the dungeon was going to be D-Rank, just as he was C-Rank.
This was because Hunters could not enter Dungeons that were two ranks below them.
For example, Noah was a C-Rank Hunter now, and could only enter D-Rank Dungeons or the ones above his Rank.
This was because whenever a strong hunter entered a very weak dungeon, the dungeon itself would begin to fragment and fall apart.
However, this only happened with Dungeons below B-Rank, as even S-Rank Hunters could enter B-Rank Dungeons due to their greater energy and power, giving the dungeons the power to sustain them.
Alongside this, Hunters that entered lower rank dungeons than their ranks would not receive any cores from the monsters they killed.
And because the restrictions to enter Dungeons were so strict, a company couldn't employ hunters of all Ranks to grind Cores all the time so they could have a large supply of them in stock.
Any dungeon below B-Rank that was maintained within the City was merely there to extract resources and help those of lower ranks to grow stronger because it was completely possible to erase them all by any high-ranked hunter.
Due to these restrictions, high-rank Hunters couldn't grind low-rank cores and make a large group of people grow stronger.
And alongside this, the Government kept most of all the cores sold, so rich people could not buy them in bulks and become S-Rank instantaneously.
It was known that the government used these cores to make promising people with powerful skills into B-Rank or A-Rank immediately, converting them into strong soldiers to defend the Sectors they belonged to.
…And this was one of the primary goals of the Military School, to find talented and strong low ranked hunters, brainwash them, and feed them cores so they can become very strong soldiers.
However, only Noah and his group had kind of figured such intentions, as most of the other kids were left in the blue…
After a few minutes of preparations, all the students began to form groups and then walked out of classes, being given similar equipment to previous times, although Noah and his group took some, they were not going to use them at all…
As each party began to enter one by one into the Dungeon, they quickly dispersed as they began to look for the Treasures.
Noah and his group, which were still qualified as the 'useless bunch' ended entering the last, as all other groups had already gone deep into the caves.
Noah had already assumed that based on this, they would end up fighting at least some groups of students, and depending on who they were, he would let them live or not…
Although there could also be the possibility of turning them into Vampiric beings, Noah had lost such interest for now.
Noah's sight immediately changed as he entered the large caves.
The caves were made of a reddish stone, and were enormous, being at least 40 meters tall, perhaps just as tall as the caves where they fought against the Bats.
What made this dungeon special were the red-colored crystals that adorned everywhere.
These crystals were precious materials, being D-Rank Magic Crystals which the owners of the dungeon, the government, extracted daily.
And because they grew in a dungeon, they regenerated very fast after a few days, ready to be extracted again to feed on the large energy that the high-tech city required to function properly.
Although Noah had considered farming these crystals, he thought that it was not worth the hassle and that if he wanted he could grind even better materials in a C-Rank Dungeon that they will be visiting tonight.
"This place is quite beautiful…" said Arthur.
"Indeed, the rest crystals illuminate the caves and give them a mysterious red glow…" said Timassa.
"It is kind of romantic…" said Iris.
"Romantic?" asked Noah while raising an eyebrow, they could only see these things as materials… What was so romantic about this?
"Ah, I mean, the atmosphere… and the colors! Come on, as Vampires, wouldn't we be attracted to the red color?" asked Iris.
"Perhaps… Indeed, it is quite… panoramic," said Noah, he did not agree with Iris, but decided to agree to make her a bit happy.
The party marched through the caves, exploring the unknown, the darkness within, and the several sections and secret passages all around.
Thanks to Jon's Clairvoyance, it was easy for everyone to guide themselves around, and after just one hour, they immediately found two Treasures lying around inside secret passages and rooms.
The monsters were almost non-existent, just as the teacher said, but they were also incredibly slow.
Such monsters were only one type, Crystal Golems.
Crystal Golems were strong and had enormous resilience, but were incredibly slow, and even E-Rank Students were able to run away from them very easily.
Especially because whenever one appeared, they would groan very loudly and slowly.
Due to them, this place was very good for tests, as even the monsters were slow and not a complete threat if their numbers were as reduced as of now.
Sadly, these golems did not have blood, so they could not become Blood Servants.
However, they still counted as monsters for Noah's Blood Servant Skill, so their corpses could remain for 24 hours!
With such a thing, Noah decided to save these golem pieces inside the Dimensional Storage Rings, as he could use them as magic materials later before the 24 hours happened.
As the party explored around, they finally found a third Treasure and celebrated by taking a small break.
"Phew, nothing better than drinking some iced tea~," said Iris.
"And these Bento Boxes are very good, the lunch is still warm…" said Arthur.
"I did them for everyone taking into consideration your favorite foods," said Timassa.
"You even know that I like those tiny tomatoes…" said Jon shyly.
"Of course, it is my duty as a maid to know everyone's likings and make delicious food based on that… All of you are also my friends, so it is just my pleasure to make you happy," said Timassa.
"Uwah! Timassa, we don't deserve you!" said Iris as she hugged Timassa.
"Indeed, Timassa is way too good for us…" said Arthur.
As everyone enjoyed a quick lunch, Noah noticed the lurking presence of a group approaching them…
"Jon…" said Noah.
"Yes, I can see them… It is a group of six… Eh? No, there are many other groups, three? They are all about to gather in here, although they seem to have been pursuing each other…" said Jon.
"Oh? So they are not coming for us but to beat each other?" asked Noah.
"And three groups to boot?!" asked Iris.
Suddenly, one of the groups of six students entered in a hurry, as they noticed Noah and the rest resting in the ground and leisurely eating lunch…
"Eh?! Oh! It's those useless guys… Why are they having lunch?!" asked one of the group members, named Luciliano, a blonde man with brown eyes carrying a black sword.
"What the fuck? We hit a jack pot here! Look, they got three treasures!" said another guy similar to him within Luciliano's group, a shorty with green hair and aquamarine eyes named Verto, who carried a sharp, green-colored spear.
"I told you that it was a bad idea to go around with the treasures like this, Noah-sama…" said Arthur.
"Oh? Not at all, this was what I wanted, if they can see us carrying them, it means that they will try to take them away from us… And look, they are not from any family, we can simply slaughter them… About time, I wanted some Blood Servants," said Noah nonchalantly through Telepathy, as he smiled back at Luciliano and Verto with a smile.
"Sure thing, friend, come and grab them," he said.
"Oh? Quite the bold bastard…" said Luciliano.
"We are going to put you in your place! Just because you won that other test doesn't mean you get to be so cocky… Useless!" roared Verto.
Luciliano and Verto were good friends since childhood.
Both of them were children born already after the Apocalypse appeared, within Sector D.
They were from poor families, and often envied those that belonged to rich families or were children of high-ranked Hunters.
However, through hard work alone, they practiced and sued their Skills for combat, and slowly began to gather Cores.
At some point, they reached E-Rank, and at the same time, they joined Military School.
In this world, the strong devour the weak, and one needed to be selfish to survive.
Although they were good friends in between the two, to anyone else that was not stronger than them, they were their worst nightmare.
Bullying, extortion, even thievery.
In their childhood, they had resorted to all these things to survive, and even in school, they did it daily.
The only reason why they did not target Noah was that he was already being targeted by an already bigger shot, Fernand Firebrand.
But well.
Who cares about them anyway?
For Noah, they were nothing but fodder.
And they could also be a good way to finally experiment with his Blood Servant Ability!
Noah smiled at the two…
The student known as the Useless who did not even have an Ability or the System smiled at them and even provoked them!
"So? What are you waiting for? Are you all bark and no bite? Come on, do your worst…" said Noah.
"Eh?! You fucking bastard! Alright, let's fucking kill him!" roared Verto, raising his spear!
"Yeah, I don't care if he is a classmate or whatever… it is not like this freaking school wasn't all about killing each other to be recruited by the government, right?" asked Lucilano.
Noah realized that these two had kind of figured out how this place worked.
"Hm… Just because you surprised me a bit there, I will handicap myself. I shall not use any Skill to defeat both of you," said Noah.
"Handicap? Skills? Do not talk shit out of your ass! I know that you don't have any power!" roared Verto, rushing towards Noah while coating himself in green winds and enhancing his spear.
"Let's see if you can even handle one hit from us!" laughed Luciliano, raising his black sword as darkness began to flow out of it!
"Noah-sama… Are you okay with that?" asked Arthur through telepathy.
"You don't have to handicap yourself, we can easily dispose of them for you…" said Timassa through telepathy.
"Don't worry, take care of their party, wipe them out," said Noah, as Iris, Timassa, Arthur, Adamantine, and Jon rushed towards the rest of Luciliano and Verto's party who were smiling as their two leaders went to slaughter Noah!
Luciliano and Verto's weapons reached Noah, as they unleashed an explosion of emerald winds and dark shadows, clashing against his body and torso into a loud explosion!
BOOM!
"Haha! So weak, he probably died instantly!" laughed Luciliano.
"Yeah, this shithead is already fucking dead," said Verto.
The two thugs laughed as they imagined Noah's body, being torn apart and bleeding into the ground like a mush of torn apart flesh…
"Is that so?"
But Noah was standing still, smiling at them.
In fact, he was laughing.
Luciliano and Verto quickly noticed that their weapons were stuck.
The two thugs glanced at Noah's hands, which had caught the spear and sword of Luciliano and Verto with his bare hands, using his very fingers to catch the tips of the weapons with enormous strength.
"W-What?" asked Luciliano.
"That's… He's… using his fingers?!" asked Verto.
Both thug's eyes were almost popping out of their eye sockets, as they glanced at Noah's insane display of immense strength.
Alongside this, his crimson aura began to coat their bodies, as an immense fear took their entire souls by surprise!
They were battling something way too strong… way too insane, way too wicked!
A monstrosity!
Noah smiled wickedly, as he promised, he was not using any Skill at all!
He was simply using the inherent power of a Vampire at Level III, and his C-Rank Stats!
That was enough to completely ridicule these two thugs!
"What's wrong? I see that you are rather scared…" said Noah.
"Ah…! DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" roared Verto, taking out his spear was Noah shattered the tip!
Crash!
"AH?!"
"Hm, you might become a good lancer…" said Noah while rubbing his chin, as he directed his hands with his black nails towards Verto's throat!
Crash!
"A-Ahggghh! Mmggffgghhh…!"
Noah grabbed Verto's neck with his hands, raising him above the ground.
"How does it feels, huh? How does it feel to become the one being ridiculed? How does it feel to be the one being trampled?" asked Noah, as he glanced at the agonizing and twisting face of Verto as he gasped for air!
"Mmmfffgggooohh…!"
Suddenly, Verto tried to release a burst of winds towards Noah, but the attack was blocked by his own clothes…
Because these clothes, were in fact, Noah's blood.
Through the use of Blood Armor, he was now able to merge his blood with his clothes and make extra-resistant armor clothes.
The measly attack of an E-Rank was nothing.
Crack, crack!
"GRRAAAAGGAAAGGGHHH!"
Verto struggled to breathe as the pain of Noah's hands crushing his neck took hold of his senses!
"Verto…! LET HIM GO!" roared Luciliano, raising his blade towards Noah, as Noah let him take it away.
CLASH!
Noah simply gave a swipe of his free hand and shattered the blade that Luciliano carried, grabbing his neck as well with immense speed!
Now… he was grabbing both with his bare hands, crushing their necks like lowly creatures that were only good for a small meal!
As if they were tiny, and trembling rabbits, left hopeless and in complete despair for their agonizing death!
"NNGRAAAGAGGHHH…!"
"MMMGGGOOOGGHH…!"
Noah smiled wickedly, as he saw both students die agonizingly, slowly but steadily crushing their necks, as their lifeless bodies fell into the ground…
Noah glanced at the two corpses rather complacently.
"Don't worry, you're getting to work immediately… Rise," said Noah, as his crimson eyes flashed with glowing red light!
Flash!
Suddenly, from within Noah's hands, a ray of crimson light fell over Luciliano's corpse, encompassing it, and filling it!
The blood within the corpse started to tremble, as something phantasmal started to gather around it!
Clack!
However, it suddenly stopped…
Ding!
[Blood Servant Ritual Failure]
[You can try 2 more times with this corpse]
"It failed in my first one…" thought Noah, as his eyes squinted.
Putting more of his intent into it, Noah once more activated Blood Servant, as the flash of red light took ahold of Luciliano's body again!
Clack!
However, it once again failed!
Ding!
[Blood Servant Ritual Failure]
[You can try 1 more time with this corpse]
"What? …Once more," said Noah, as he tried once more, he concentrated all of his aura and soul into using this Skill, pouring more and more mana!
Flash!
The crimson light took hold of Luciliano's corpse, as the light started to make the blood move around!
Phantasmal, crimson energy started to gather within the corpse, as the blood fused with it and began to form a figure!
All of the corpse's blood was extracted, leaving a mummified carcass, as a new and humanoid figure emerged, made entirely out of a crimson phantom and blood flowing all around it!
The figure slowly formed more detailed, as it resembled Luciliano but made of pure blood and coated in crimson phantasmagoric essence.
Even a spear emerged in the right hand of the Blood Servant, as it kneeled before Noah.
Noah could not help but smile due to the amazing feat!
Blood Servant was an amazing Skill!
Ding!
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Lancer: Normal Grade]!]
"Normal Grade… I suppose it is the lowest. However, it should be able to grow on its own just by fighting, as it was stated by the Skill description…" thought Noah.
Ding!
[Do you desire to grant a name to [Blood Servant Lancer: Normal Grade]?]
"Name? …Lance," said Noah, glancing at the lance and simply calling Luciliano's Blood Servant as Lance instead of his former name.
Flash!
Suddenly, Lance received its name, as it was hit with a wave of new strength!
Its appearance changed slightly, as it gained an armor of hardened, crystallized blood and its mass seemed stronger as if it had become more muscular yet it retained its slim figure.
"Oh? It became stronger. Now that's quite the surprise…" thought Noah.
Ding!
[The Name: [Lance] has been granted to the [Blood Servant Lancer: Normal Grade]!]
Then, as Noah glanced at Lance strengthen itself, he felt as if he had lost a bit of his energy.
No, he lost a small piece of his soul…
Although this did not show in stats lowering or anything, he felt it.
"So the strength it gains comes directly from a piece of my soul… I should not name all the servants I raise then, as it might end up weakening me too much. Only those deserving of it, I suppose… Like this one… I bet you two will make a good pair, don't you?" said Noah, glancing at Verto's corpse with greed on his eyes.
Pointing his pale-white hand, he recited the magic words.
"Rise," said Noah, as a crimson light came out of his hand, showering the fresh corpse of Verto, as it began to encompass its entire body!
Flash!
The blood quickly began to gather, generating a mass of crimson slime, which then formed into a humanoid figure!
Verto's Blood Servant started to form more details, as a large blade of crimson red blood emerged at its right arm.
Ding!
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Swordsman: Normal Grade]!]
"Let's name you… Blade," said Noah, his eyes glowing with crimson light as he felt a small piece of his soul fusing with Blade, bringing it new strength!
In a flash, it gained a new armor, and it gained a substantial amount of power!
Both Blade and Lance kneeled before Noah, waiting for any order.
They seemed to not be able to speak and were dead-serious as well as if their former lives were non-existent.
Noah smiled maliciously, this was an amazing power!
"It seems that my soul is regenerating on its own from these two small pieces used… Perhaps if I were to use Naming a couple more times I would finally feel a bit weak… Well, it would be better to wait until then, just raising them is good enough," thought Noah, as he glanced back at his subordinates, everyone seemed to have slaughtered with amazing swiftness the other members of Luciliano and Verto's party.
"W-Woah, what are those?" asked Arthur in surprise.
"Oh, I guess I didn't introduce you to my new power. Using the Blood Servant Skill I got from the Skill Tree, I can raise corpses into beings made of blood and their soul. They are not as strong as us, but they can grow stronger, and are virtually immortal as well, as they can regenerate as long as I have Mana, and I can call them back into my Blood Storage whenever they are weakened," said Noah.
"Amazing… So these are like… our underlings!" said Iris, glaring at Blade and Lance's expressionless crimson faces, which were now covered in red helmets.
She patted them and touched their armor, which was very hard and felt 'real', as if it were truly iron, even if they were made of blood and phantom.
The rest of the group also inspected the Blood Servants around, finding them amazing in many ways.
"This is quite useful… how many can you make, Noah-sama?" asked Timassa, as she brought the corpses of the students they killed mercilessly.
"I can make up to 30 for now, so these four are also joining the party…" said Noah, as he said 'Rise' and raised the four students into Blood Servants.
As Noah raised them, he noticed that they also had different classes, from Magician, Lancer, Swordsman, Bowman, and Rogue.
Two of these new Blood Servants were female-looking and Magicians, one was able to throw fireballs, while the other could shot spears of darkness.
And another one was a Rogue, using swiftness, stealth, and its dagger techniques.
And lastly, the other one was a bowman, carrying a bow made of crystallized blood, and it had the power to generate blood arrows infinitely as long as it had enough Mana.
Their appearances were slightly similar to how they looked before, but Noah paid no mind, as he quickly called them inside of his blood through Blood Storage.
"With this, we have six new members in a flash," said Jon.
"Indeed, that was incredible… I wonder if Noah will make an army next… We have to keep growing stronger, so we are not surpassed by mere Blood Servants, alright?" asked Iris to the group, as everyone nodded diligently, Noah felt content over their resolve, as he was not accepting any slackers within his Vampire Family.
"Good response… Because if not… You might end up joining them!" laughed Noah, intimidating everyone a bit… although he was joking, he was always so dead-serious that they thought he really meant it.
"I don't want to join them! I will work even harder, Noah-sama!" cried Arthur.
"Y-Yeah! Please, rest assured!" said Timassa.
"Indeed!" said Jon.
"Grawr!" said Adamantine, as she ate the dry corpses left after they became Blood Servants.
"Eh? Am I really becoming a Blood Servant…?" asked Iris with puppy eyes.
Noah sighed.
"Relax, it was a joke. Just keep working as hard as you have been doing this whole time," sighed Noah, waving his hand as he suddenly noticed a figure emerging from the corner of the cave.
It was the bloody body of someone he recognized.
She seemed to have come crawling from outside, as Noah recalled that two groups of students were battling outside.
Her entire body was covered in wounds, and she was bleeding an entire river, the scent of blood immediately alerted the rest of Noah's group, as everyone glanced at the girl crawl towards them, raising her hands.
It seems that she had more or less seen them fight, and was asking for their help…
This girl was no other than Clementina Icespear, a beautiful and tall girl with a slender figure, sharp clear blue eyes, and long azure hair, one of the stoic and silent beauties of the class.
However, now, she was on death's door…
Noah walked towards her as he glanced at her expressionlessly.
"Should I kill her and raise her as a Blood Servant? …No, she is from a rather prestigious family, but then again, why is she bleeding? Wasn't she rather strong?" wondered Noah, thinking about what to do.
Iris appeared right after him, glaring at the girl crawling towards them slowly.
"Do we kill her?" she asked, her eyes glowing eerily as bloodlust took ahold of Iris's senses!
"…No," said Noah, stopping Iris by patting her shoulders, as he walked towards Clementina.
"Ahh… Aaah…!" muttered Clementina, as she raised her hand towards Noah.
"Did you see us fight?" asked Noah.
"Yes… Ungh… Please… your strength… what is it?! Unngh… Help me… please… My party got wiped out… I don't… want to die… not yet…!" muttered Clementina, her eyes beginning to cry.
"(We could easily heal her through Arthur's Skill… But wouldn't it be more beneficial to convert her into a Dhampir?)" wondered Noah, as he glanced at Clementina.
"You want strength, Clementina? I can give you the strength you want. And I can even heal you back to full through it…" said Noah, glancing at the stoic beauty desperately tremble, resisting the pain.
"Join us…" said Arthur, emerging at the side of Clementina.
"Join us…" said Timassa, appearing at her side as well.
"Join us…" said Jon, as scary as ever.
"Join… us…" said Adamantine.
"Are you worthy of joining our creed?" wondered Iris, as all the Vampire's eyes glowed with crimson light an immense aura covered Clementina's entire body.
"What… kind of overwhelming power… Didn't you… used to be weak…? How…? Unnghh…!" cried Clementina.
"Answers can wait. Do you want to join us, or do you prefer to die hopelessly?" asked Noah.
Clementina clenched her teeth, as she realized that whatever Noah offered her was something that could change her entire destiny, her entire fate!
Such power could bring a new life to her…
Alongside the possibility of avenging her party!
And also… to avenge her mother.
"Do I… even have another option?" she sighed, as she accepted Noah's offer.
"The only option was death… You seem to be intelligent," said Noah with a malicious smile, as he grabbed Clementina within his arms.
"W-What… are you… doing?" muttered Clementina, about to fall unconscious due to her wounds.
"Giving you the power you desire…" said Noah, his eyes glowing eerily as his fangs grew out of his jaw, biting Clementina's neck as she released a pained moan.
"Aahh~ W-Wait… Ooh~! Hmm…!" she muttered.
The more blood she lost, the more strength began to be poured into her body…
She was… changing.
Read Vampire Overlord System in the Apocalypse Chapter 101 - Clementina's Family online for free - AllNovelFull
Clementina Silvercrown Icespear was born as the third daughter of a family of aristocrats within Sector D.
Blessed by inheriting an even stronger version of the Skill from her mother, she gained a lot of recognition in her family and was even given a lot of attention by her father, who her other two sisters fought their attention for.
Clementina's father was a man who had three different consorts, each one having their child with him, who all battled for his recognition and to inherit the family's wealth.
As the three sisters grew older, Clementina's sisters grew envious and more jealous of her powers, talent, and finesse, which made her their father's favorite daughter, and alongside their mothers, they planned something horrendous to ruin her life forever.
On Clementina's 13th birthday, terrible news struck her life.
Her mother, who was a C-Rank Hunter that usually visited Dungeons to improve herself was found dead.
That was the day when Clementina's entire life began to fall apart.
Her mother's death was not as much as it had initially thought, as her father still loved her and was there for her…
However, through manipulation, her sisters and their mothers began to slowly make her an outcast of the family, and due to her current psychological state, Clementina was not able to cope with these changes, falling to their emotional manipulations…
At some point, due to anger, she attacked her sisters after they insulted her mother.
But that was when she fell into their trap…
After attacking her sisters in front of their father and their mothers, Clementine was accused of being a beastly girl, whose powers were too strong to control her own judgment…
They even called her a subhuman.
And because of her cold personality due to her ability, she could not preach for forgiveness due to her cold emotions and the emotional instability of her mind.
Her father slowly became afraid of her, and of what she could do one day to him.
Indeed, her ability named 'Ice Queen' gives her the power to control ice freely, making her extremely dangerous if she were to go berserk…
And fearing that her daughter might not be able to control herself and one day attack and possibly kill him… her father decided to exile her from the family, sending her to live on her own with a monthly salary…
At some point, hopeless and alone, she ended up entering the Military School, where she wanted to make many feats and prove to her father that she was not the monster they made her seem to be.
Through these months, she worked hard, studying, and getting good grades, and becoming a better and better Hunter, reaching the peak of E-Rank, and just close enough to become a D-Rank.
Clementina desired to grow stronger and one day avenge her mother, as she believed and suspected that her step-mothers were the ones that had planned her death somehow, as they were also C-Rank Hunters who were rather strong within the Silvercrown Guild, which represented her family.
Because she had only taken the surname of her mother, she was only known in classes as Clementine Icespear, despite being Clementine Silvercrown Icespear…
Her mother was someone she dearly loved, and her death only fueled her wrath and desire to avenge her death one day…
However, due to her nature and cold heart, she was not able to find reliable companions for such a feat and was always left alone in class, intimidating most students by her cold nature and strong Ability.
…But as this new test started, and she was forced to join a group and complete the test, she had to cooperate with people that feared her and could not trust her well. And it was not as if she could truly trust them either…
Despite these differences, they managed to gather up to 3 Treasures and were close to complete the test with a perfect score.
However, by a chance of destiny and her unfortunate life, she came across a party of students led by one of the strong students of the class, Albert Darkeye.
Albert Darkeye was a strong student, but was not known for enforcing bullying…
But that did not mean he was not ruthless, neither wicked deep inside
Especially because his entire party was followers of him… mysteriously.
Darkeye was not a prestigious family, but Albert was indeed someone talented.
Especially because of the talent he was given, the Ability he possessed, which most students had no clue what it was…
This ability let Albert slowly encroach the minds of people… and made them his slaves.
Such a strong ability was not even well known amongst the teachers because he also had other offensive Skills he had gotten from Ability Cores, and faked that these were his original Skills…
Due to this, he slowly brainwashed a group of students which he made his slaves, and now, this test was a perfect place to slaughter some of the more annoying and strong students within the class, as he intended to be noticed by the government and recruited as a Soldier for Sector D.
And due to these circumstances, without ever giving a care about Clementina's family, Albert decided to kill her and her party to get her off the way.
But unfortunately for him, Clementina somehow escaped after her party members were all horribly slaughtered.
Just in time to see Noah and his party slaughter another group of students…
However, something within Noah made him different than the wicked smile of the perverted Albert.
Something deep and abyssal, way above the mundane desires that Albert held.
Such an aura called upon her, and unknowingly made her ask for help from Noah and his party instead of cowering in fear after seeing them kill more students…
Noah, despite her expectations, decided to help her.
Well, not really 'help her'.
More like turning her into a Vampire so he could get a strong subordinate, and perhaps a connection to the Silvercrown family, which meant even more money than Arthur's family could bring.
…Sadly, Noah was not aware that she was exiled from the Silvercrown Family.
However, it was not as if Noah would not try to get into her family anyways later on, whenever he learned the truth from her words.
Clementina was bitten by Noah, as Iris glanced at him while pouting cutely.
"Grr…" she groaned.
"I-Iris, are you okay?" asked Timassa.
"Yes. I am… perfectly fine. It is… completely okay for Noah to do this, he is a Vampire after all. Yes. I am fine. Fiiiiine." Said Iris, as she resisted her jealously due to her strong love for Noah, as she did not want to annoy him with her slight… possessiveness.
She had been promised that Noah would not take any other woman than her, so she decided to trust Noah's words as he saw him coldly and expressionlessly drink Clementina's blood.
Clementine felt a strange warmness encompassed her neck, as she felt dizzy, her senses were sharpening and lowering all the time, and she felt like she was about to die even more than before…
But in fact, she was being reformed and born anew.
Noah separated his fangs from her neck as a mark of two fangs on her neck appeared like in everyone else, and Clementina was put into the ground.
After a few minutes, her wounds regenerated by themselves, and she suddenly woke up.
Her eyes had become crimson red, and her hair had taken a grayish tone of color.
And of course, her skin tone was not healthy at all now, being incredibly pale, perhaps even more than the other Vampires…
"Where am I…?" she asked confusedly, as she sat down, finding all the Vampires around her.
"Welcome to the creed. My family. Now, you serve me, Clementine Silvercrown Icespear…" said Noah, with Iris sitting at his side as she crossed her legs, glaring at her from above as if trying to exert her dominance and position in the family by being at the side of Noah.
However, Clementine still did not understand what exactly was going on, and Noah and the rest had to explain a few things before everything was settled down.
"Vampire? So that happened with the core that Fernand was carrying around… Such… an amazing turn of events… This new power… this is… what I needed!" said Clementina, unlike others, she fully embraced her Vampiric powers incredibly quickly.
"Oh? She adapted quickly to it," said Timassa.
"Now tell me, Clementina. Who killed your party? And… doe he has some interesting Ability? I was thinking that he could be a good Blood Servant…" said Noah.
"Blood… Servant?" asked Clementina.
Albert Darkeye was never from any prestigious family.
From the time he could remember having any consciousness, he was living in the streets, crawling in the areas where poverty governed.
He had no parents, no family, nothing to call home.
The only things he had were his tattered clothes and a small medallion that said 'Albert Darkeye', which he assumed to be his own name.
Many times he was bitten by large, mutated rats, and had to fight against critters crawling in these places to survive…
However, if such a place were to only be filled with critters, it would not be so bad…
But there were even more terrifying creatures.
People.
Subhumans and Humans lived in these areas, fighting for survival, stealing from each other, assaulting each other for a mere piece of old and moldy bread…
Somehow, Albert was almost killed many times but managed to survive.
However, it was always so close, that he could not even count all the times he was at the border of death with the fingers of his hands…
But everything changed one fateful day when something within him awakened.
As he was fighting another older kid who was trying to stab him in the chest to steal the food he had gathered from the trash, something inside of him awakened.
As he gritted his teeth and the knife was already penetrating his skin, a pink-colored light emerged from his hands.
Touching the head of the kid he was fighting.
Suddenly, the kid cried in agony as he fell to the ground, a sharp pain emerged inside of his head, as his mind was being… eaten away by something.
And then Albert realized that this "something" was from him.
This was… his power.
And as he awakened it, he gained the System.
And found out what it was.
Mind-Eating Parasite.
A Skill that sounded so eerie that it seemed to have come from a horror movie.
With this Skill, Albert's life gave a total shift.
Mind-Eating Parasite gave Albert the power to eat or brainwash the minds of other living beings.
As long as they were weaker or of a similar strength than him.
He had tried to use it on adults, but many times he was caught and beaten almost to death…
But he realized that if he could not brainwash those stronger than him to protect him, he just had to gather a ton of weaklings…
And use them as his army.
Through the streets, he began to experiment with his power, trying out its limits and what it could truly do.
However, due to the large amount of Mana needed to use it, he could barely activate it once a day before his Mana were to be completely depleted, regenerating very slowly afterward.
He only had one chance a day…
And each chance had a probability of failure as well, even in weaker beings.
If they opposed resistance, he was not able to take over them.
The first kid that was attacked by his Skill was startled but managed to get the effect off his head, escaping from him while leaving the knife in the ground.
Albert acquired this first weapon and used it to catch a giant mutant rat the size of a house cat.
As it was weakened and beaten up, he managed to parasitize, and from there and on, he slowly began to tame rats, making his own rat army.
One rat a day…
Not too long after, he began to catch kids and finally managed to brainwash one human.
But quickly after, he suffered an enormous headache.
He discovered that he had a limit of how many minds he could control, and no matter how much the proficiency of the skill increased, this limitation did not change.
But that was fine by him.
He simply killed one rat every time he took a person.
Half a year later, he had gathered ten kids before him… this was his limit, ten people.
However, it was hard to keep them all feed, so he often worked them to death to bring him whatever he wanted.
After another year, he had decided to infiltrate into an F-Rank Dungeon and began to slowly rise in power as a hunter, while bringing those kids that managed to survive the most as his loyal pawns.
Although the range of his power was limited to a certain amount of people, he could slowly climb the social hierarchy… and if he were to somehow get at the same level as an S-Rank hunter… wouldn't he be able to also brainwash them?
Then… the entire world could be his!
With such a blazing resolve and a wicked and cold heart, Albert advanced further and further, until the opportunity to enter a Military School arose.
He had already reached E-Rank in strength at that time, and now, he had secretly reached D-Rank after these months in the school.
Using his pawns as students as well, he infiltrated and faked that his powers were those of the Skills he acquired through dropped Ability Cores.
What was his purpose? Use the school as a safety net and show off his power to become a soldier of the government, as that would bring him an easier way to grow in power and then meet strong new people to brainwash.
Due to this, he had decided to get as many rivals off his path as possible today, slaughtering any student party he crossed paths with.
It was an easy task for someone who had been hiding his actual strength, and even more, as he realized that this was most likely the intention of the higher-ups anyways.
Filtering out the students so only the strongest and most suitable for the task of becoming a strong soldier for the Sector would remain.
It was a ruthless plan, but wasn't this world already insane?
Society had fallen apart, and the world was simply reformed from the ashes, made by people that survived this living hell with blood and sweat.
There was no room for ethics anymore, there was no room for human rights either, there was only room for surviving, where only the strong survived.
It was that simple, and Albert had understood this world since he was born in it, never having experienced what was the old world where everyone seemed to live peacefully while discussing the most meaningless of things.
And like this, Albert came into contact with Clementina's party…
He knew she was from a prestigious family.
But did he care?
Not at all, he was just about to slaughter her if it wasn't for her very troublesome ability, if he were to get completely frozen, all of his plans would be gone forever, so he didn't want to die so meaninglessly… ultimately letting her escape, although based on her wounds, she was already about to die.
Despite that, Albert could not help but still have some kind of uneasiness within him, he did not like to leave half-done jobs.
After having slaughtered yet another party of useless nobodies and collecting their Ability Cores, he walked back to where Clementina went to, looking for her corpse to loot, or if she were still alive somehow, to kill her for once…
However, when he finally found her… she was not alone.
"What? The useless party? Noah and these other guys… Timassa should only be the only strong enough, and not even that much, seeing how she was F-Rank… Did they found her by chance?" he wondered.
Much like many other students, although Albert sensed the enormous power within the classroom, he did not identify it as Noah or his party's strength.
"He's here… Albert…" cried Clementina, as she gritted her teeth.
"Albert… is it?" asked Noah with a complacent smile.
"I was wondering where this little lamb went to… and here she is, with the useless party. I have not been paying any attention to trash like you, but I was wondering why you guys survived that time and even got a perfect score, and seeing you guys still alive… I still do wonder… what's up with that?" asked Albert rather teasingly.
"Albert, you're interesting. I have an offer for you… Serve me while being alive, or serve me while being dead. Sounds nice, right? What's your choice?" said Noah.
"…Ah? What trash are you spitting now? …Wait for a second, that confidence… Don't tell me that you've been hiding your powers like me?" asked Albert.
"Oh, hidden? You are revealing your secrets? Does that mean that you are going to kill me anyway? What if I have powers? Do you want to see them? Well, catch this," said Noah, as a blade made of blood flew towards Albert!
Flash!
"W-What?!"
After hearing of Albert's power to 'brainwash other people', Noah could not help but desire Albert on his party over anything else.
He began to ponder that perhaps making him a Vampire could give him a greater potential than a Blood Servant, and had decided to ask Albert if he wanted to see him alive or dead.
His answer came in some insults and other things, and then finally guessing that Noah might be hiding abilities.
But Noah, who decided to boldly show off his power, generated a blade of blood and threw it towards Albert in a whim.
Flash!
"W-What?!"
Albert was startled as he saw the blade made of blood reach him!
"Tch! Shadow Claw!" roared Albert, unleashing his Skill 'Shadow Claw', which unleashed a claw-shaped shadow attack using his own shadow!
CLASH!
The shadow claw hit Noah's blood blade, sending it off into the air as it shattered into pieces…
"Hah… That was… fast! What kind of Rank is he? Don't tell me he's… D-Rank!" thought Albert, as sweat began to drip from his neck!
If Noah was D-Rank, it meant that he had been hiding his powers this whole time, maintaining a low profile, and even letting himself be bullied!
Just what were the plans of Noah to do that?!
Did he intend to do the same thing as Albert?
Albert could not help but think all these things, unaware that Noah had gotten this strong in only a bit over a week ago… Unlike him, Noah's growing speed was insane, and he was already reaching heights he could only dream to all his life!
Indeed, comparing the two, both were rather similar… but Noah was, perhaps, even more, insane than him to be able to disregard all the humanity he had left, training incredibly hard, literally enslaving himself into killing powerful monsters over and over again…
Although Albert was strong, he had never thought of training in dungeons for so long, and he had gradually increased in power much like any other normal hunter!
But Noah was not like this, his growth and his mind were just in another level of complete insanity!
Albert quickly called his brainwashed allies, sending them towards Noah as he decided to do a very obvious thing…
Escape!
He was not stupid, he was not going to fight someone equally stronger than him or perhaps even stronger!
He liked to fight weaker people than him, and Albert hated to take risks!
Disregarding the lives of his pawns, he sent them off as he tried to run away!
"Where are you going, Albert? I thought we were going to be friends!" laughed Noah, as he commanded his party to go against the rest of Albert's party, using their varied attacks against them and easily decimating them due to their low Ranks compared to them.
Just a single Black Thunder from Timassa already blasted one of Albert's pawns into pieces of flesh, Jon drained the life of another, until it became a dried mummy, Arthur used corrosion wave on another until it turned into a sludge of blood and melted flesh, and Adamantine used her claws and shadows to tear apart another with ease.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
However, Albert's path was blocked by Clementina, who threw several ice spears against him!
"Tch! You bitch! Shadow Bullets!" roared Albert, desperately throwing shadow bullets at Clementina's ice spears as they blasted into pieces!
However, Clementina rushed towards him with superhuman speed, creating a rapier made of ice and pointing it towards him!
"Noah-sama said that I can kill you… So I will gladly give him your head!" roared Clementina, as Albert smiled wickedly!
"I don't know what kind of powers you got now, but you're far off my league, little rich whore!" laughed Albert, as he suddenly generated a blade of shadows, and pointed it towards Clementina's chest!
CLASH!
"Ungh…!"
Clementina vomited blood, as she saw the blade penetrate her chest…
"As easy as that… Now get off my- Eh?"
Albert noticed as Clementina did not budge, in fact, she slowly approached her hand towards him, as the icy cold winds of her Ice Queen Skill began to activate!
The blade of shadows dissipated, as Albert glanced at Clementina's enormous wound slowly regenerate until the giant gaping hole in her chest went back to normal…
"W-What?! What?! That's… what kind of…?!" cried Albert, his entire body began to tremble in fear!
"What's wrong? Wasn't this part of your plans as well?" asked Noah while grinning, as Clementina's generated ice around her, as large spears of ice emerged, firing towards Albert!
"I will not… DIE HERE!" roared Albert, as he unleashed Shadow Bullets, Shadow Claws, and Shadow Blades against Clementina's attacks, breaking them apart into explosions of ice and shadows, and impaling her body multiple times!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Clementina once more vomited blood as she saw several pieces of her flesh fly away… but she was still standing, moving towards Albert, as her eyes began to turn red… glowing eerily!
"W-What… are you?!" roared Albert, as he began to step back to escape!
Clash! Clash! Clash!
However, several spears of ice blocked his path, closing his only escape route!
"You are not going anywhere… I am… giving your head to Noah-sama!!!" roared Clementina, her voice sounding like a beast about to unleash her rage!
Flash! Clementina suddenly leaped towards Albert as he noticed that her wounds were slowly regenerating already!
Just what… was she now?!
And then he noticed how strong all of Noah's subordinates were… they was all terrifyingly strong!
Clementina unleashed waves of ice towards Albert, as he grinds them away with his Shadow Claws until finally, he gained an opportunity!
Clementina approached him enough for his hand to manage to touch her forehead with his index finger!
"Gahaha! Mind-Eating Parasite!" laughed Albert, trying to brainwash Clementina!
"Nngh?! Ngah!" roared Clementina, as she felt a strange power beginning to eat her mind away!
However!
Flash!
Suddenly, a greater power, a crimson light destroyed this power like nothing!
This was because Clementina was already owned by someone else!
"Eh?! It failed?! But you are of a lower Rank than ME!" cried Albert, as he tried to kill Clementina by trying to slice her head off with his Shadow Claws!
CLASH!
Only for Clementina to evade in time, touching Albert's arm with her hand!
"Die, you shitty parasite!" roared Clementina, as the ice began to take over Albert's entire arm, covering his body, and freezing his skin, muscles, and bones!
"Y-You biiitch…! …Unngggyyyyaaaahhhh!"
The ice reached Albert's head, as he was made into an ice statue on the spot!
"I was… destined for greatness…" thought Albert, as he slowly started to die.
Albert's mind began to dull out, his senses disappeared, and the last bit of consciousness he held turned off, his brain had frozen completely…
Ice Queen had this terrifying power, as long as the target did not react in time, Clementina had the potential of completely freezing someone to death like this!
As long as they did not have body-enhancing Skills such as Albert… they were as good as dead!
Clementina sighed, as she rested on the ground…
It was over…
She exerted revenge against her party members, even if they were not truly her friends, she felt the duty to avenge them… or she would not be able to keep her pride, the only thing left on her heart.
Suddenly, Noah appeared at Clementina's side.
"Drink this," he said, pouring his own blood over Clementina, as she instinctively opened her mouth and began to drink as if it were an elixir.
Suddenly, she felt with more energy, and her wounds fully recovered now.
"This blood…" she muttered.
"It's a skill, Blood Potion. As a Dhampir, you can also drink blood to regenerate faster, if I combine Blood Potion with that ability of yours, your regeneration becomes greater, and you even gain more energy as well," said Noah.
"Thanks…" said Clementina.
"No need to thank me. I wouldn't want my new servant to die out of starvation. Now, step aside…" said Noah.
Clementina moved away as she slowly stood up, glancing as Noah touched the ice where Albert was frozen to death.
"Hm, it still fresh. Good, your powers will come in handy, Clementina…" said Noah.
"What are you going to do with him?" asked Clementina while being confused, until she suddenly recalled what Noah did with Luciliano and Verto's corpses!
"Wait… you're going to…!" she muttered.
"Yes. You guessed it right… Rise," said Noah, as a flash of crimson light emerged from his hand, covering Albert's entire frozen body!
Noah decided to immediately convert Albert into a Blood Servant, as Blood Servants were able to inherit part of the original Skills and powers when they were alive, hoping for Albert's Blood Servant to become strong and capable of using his brainwashing powers.
"Rise…" said Noah, touching the ice crystal as a crimson light coated Albert's corpse inside of the ice.
Crack, crack!
Crash!
The ice fell apart as Albert's stills standing body began to convulse, blood coming out of it and amassing itself into a large puddle.
Then, his soul emerged out of it, resembling a crimson phantom, fusing itself with the blood and combining together into something greater!
This was the power to raise the dead as loyal servants made of blood… Blood Servant!
Clementina was able to see it in action, as she saw the man she just killed raise back from the death as something else… something new yet eerie!
The blood and phantom fused together, forming a new body that raised high over the ground…
"That's… Blood Servant…? My lord's power… how… amazing… To raise the dead like that… has there been anyone in this entire world capable of that?!" thought Clementina.
Albert's Blood Servant began to form, as his appearance resembled that of his body lightly, however, he was covered in a hood made of leather-like blood mass, and he held a scepter.
Ding!
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Warlock: Elite Grade]!]
"Warlock? Oh?"
And then, Noah got the option of giving it a name.
If it was so strong, he was deserving of a name!
"A name… Let's give you the name of the thing you loved to play around with, shall we? Brain…"
Ding!
[The Name: [Brain] has been granted to the [Blood Servant Warlock: Elite Grade]!]
Noah felt like a piece of his soul was then fused with Brain, giving it new power, and increasing the quality of the Blood Equipment it held over its body, alongside its overall Mana capacity and presence…
The brain quickly kneeled before Noah, completely forgetting any emotions of hatred or resentment as his former self named Albert.
"Good. I can see that you are rather obedient… Iris, bring him to me," said Noah, as Iris nodded, bringing him the still-living member of Albert's group, who had snapped back to his normal self after Albert died!
"Here it is, Noah… You're going to try it out on him?" asked Iris.
"That's the plan…" said Noah, grabbing the struggling young man with his blood tentacles.
"Aggh! Let me go! What… what is going on?! Where is Albert?!" asked the man.
"Shut up, we are doing experiments here," said Noah with a wicked smile, as Brain quickly got to work!
"Brain, brainwash him…" said Noah.
"Eh?! W-Wait! What are you doing?! Who's- Ah! Albert?! Is that Albert?!" asked the man.
However, Brain did not even pay attention to him, as his scepter hit the man's head.
Clank.
Flash!
Suddenly, a pink light emerged from Brain, as it flew into the man's head!
"Unggrryyaaaa…!"
"Now, now, there is no need to cry so loudly… Do not resist and it will be swift. You've already gotten brainwashed before!" laughed Noah.
Suddenly, the man stopped screaming as he fell silent.
Brain smiled eerily at Noah, as it seemed that it was the sign that it worked.
"Ah… he smiles rather similarly to Albert…" sighed Clementina.
"Is that so? Well, some things remain within the Blood Servant, especially if it was made of their souls…" said Noah.
"Now, obey me, jump," said Noah, as the man suddenly stood up, and began to jump like a complete idiot.
"Oh? They are completely brainwashed… But I suppose it is the same as the original Albert, I cannot brainwash those stronger than me, and depending on the person, they might even resist. This alongside my Vampire Evil Eyes is perfect! Now come back to my Blood, Brain…" said Noah, as Brain quickly entered Noah's bloodstream through Blood Storage.
"Phew, it's done… And we got another overpowered Blood Servant? Well, the others were not so much," said Arthur.
"Not so much for now! I will make them work so hard they will wish they were actually dead! Blood Servants seem to have Ranks, from Normal to Elite, and I guess that there might be higher Ranks as well, I suppose this is their 'evolution', in a way," said Noah.
"I see… Wait, with these Treasures we collected… We have… Eh? 8?!" asked Iris.
"I suppose we got more than perfect score." Said Noah.
The Treasures themselves were actual equipment pieces marked as treasures by the teacher, which the parties needed to collect to get a perfect score, with the maximum needed being 5.
All the Treasures were E to D-Rank Equipment, from gauntlets, armor, helmets, and weapons, but none of them were as precious as Soul Weapons.
Nonetheless, they were still useful items to equip himself and his party, so after Noah raised the rest of the corpses as Blood Servants, the party decided to walk out of the Dungeon and complete the test, leaving three treasures for Clementine to get a fine score, as she was from a separate party.
When the two parties walked out, no one else than the teacher was outside…
"You are… the first…" said the teacher, glaring at Noah's party.
"Oh? How nice, I guess we were quite lucky… Haha," laughed Noah innocently, as the teacher couldn't help but see him with different eyes now… Noah indeed had many secrets which he wanted to delve into.
"And Clementine? Three treasures… W-Where is the rest of your group?" asked the teacher.
"W-We… were killed by golems… Sniff…" cried Clementine, as she was tattered with fake wounds.
"What?! Damn it! Send someone inside! Clementine let's got to the infirmary!" said the teacher, as he guided the girl to heal her "wounds".
Noah smiled at this, deciding to finish classes as he and his party got a perfect score, and walking back to his room with them not much afterward, without even caring about waiting for the rest of the students.
"Well, it was a simple plan, but it worked, huh?" asked Iris.
"Fortunately, she is a good actress," said Arthur.
"Just saying that her party was wiped out by golems who are a strong monster in there was rather smart I guess, it is a good enough excuse… and seeing the nature of this place, they will probably not try to investigate too much over it anyways…" said Timassa.
"Indeed. Clementina will meet us whenever she is freed from the teacher later, let's go to my room to rest for a bit and assess what we earned," said Noah.
"Hah~ Sleeping at Noah's bed, I'm looking forward to that, fufu~," said Iris.
Noah ignored Iris as the group made their way into Noah's room, where they were able to finally relax, Noah shared some snacks and cold drinks with his subordinates, and quickly threw himself over the bed, Iris deciding to rest over his shoulder.
"How many Blood Servants do we get now?" asked Arthur.
"12. My max amount is 30, so the other slots will be saved for stronger things, perhaps C-Rank monsters, like a Hidden Boss… Although it seems that I gained some new slots when the Skill Proficiency increased… Oh? I got 10 more slots… Hm, still, I will save them for stronger beings," said Noah.
"Damn, would you imagine a Blood Servant Hidden Boss?! Or like that one Chimera we fought so much… or a giant army of those giant scorpions… Woah, that power really has no limits!" said Iris.
"Indeed, with this, we might not even need to worry about recruiting new people for the Guild, Noah-sama can bring an army for himself, and we can be the generals," said Timassa.
"Amazing… We are… the Blood Army," said Jon.
"Blood Army… Maybe we could call the Guild like that!" said Arthur.
"No, it will be Blood Creed," said Noah nonchalantly.
"Geh…!" muttered Arthur, having his little idea completely destroyed.
"Blood Creed sounds good to me. After all, we are all like a creed," said Timassa.
"Nam… Hungry!" said Adamantine, as she had just eaten all the snacks.
Noah quickly opened the Dimensional Storage Ring and dropped several corpses on the ground.
"Feast yourself. You too, Timassa, you need to eat some," said Noah.
"Ugh… Alright then… A-Ahem… GRAAR!"
Timassa, who often acts delicately like a lady maid, becomes a beastly monster when it's time to eat human flesh.
After all, she was a Ghoul.
"Haha… I am still getting used to this…" sighed Arthur, as Noah glanced at the Ability Cores he had harvested today.
While waiting for Clementina, Noah decided to assess their earnings today.
Aside from the treasures that seemed like fine pieces of equipment, there were also some Ability Cores.
Although those like Albert did not drop one, Luciliano, Verto, and most of the other humans that were killed did indeed had some, and Albert carried even more that he had acquired when he killed the other parties of students.
With these, Noah could have enough to get one new Skill or perhaps two on the Level III Skill Tree Branch.
However, Noah decided to let his subordinates keep with the Ability Cores they got from the ones they killed while keeping the ones that Albert had and the ones from Luciliano and Verto.
"It should be good that all of you evolved for now. Clementina is going to take her time and I will keep an eye on you as you evolve, so sit on the floor and evolve," said Noah.
"Oh, right, well, it's a good idea," said Arthur.
"Right, very well…" said Jon.
"I have finished a large amount of food, so I feel like I have stockpiled enough energy…" said Timassa.
"Okay…" said Adamantine.
"What I hate about evolution is that it freaking hurts! …Well, not like we have not been torn apart in the dungeons before, but still!" said Iris.
"Just do it," said Noah.
"Fiiine… But if you kiss me…!" said Iris with a grin.
"Now you need conditions to obey me? Who do you think you are?" asked Noah rather coldly, as he approached his lips towards Iris' lips and kissed her passionately, their tongues touched for a while, until their lips finally separated, leaving a thin trail of saliva.
"Hahh… Hahh…" groaned Iris while gasping for air.
"Now evolve. I will create a Blood Barrier through Crimson Aegis to not let sounds get out of here, so even if it hurts you can scream all you want," said Noah, creating a blood barrier by combining Blood Control and Aegis.
"Fuuu… Okay then…" sighed Iris, she was a bit overwhelmed by Noah's kiss, but decided to obey her future husband as she closed her eyes and began her evolution, quickly being enveloped in blue phantasmal flames that formed a sort of cocoon.
The rest of his subordinates did the same, getting covered in cocoons of their different elements, which made Noah find the process rather interesting, it seemed that it was just as the Blood Progenitor had said, and any Vampire with a Blood Core slowly developed their own element.
Iris Blood Core Element seemed to be Phantom.
Arthur Blood Core Element was either Corrosion or Dark Light, or both.
Timassa Blood Core Element was Black Thunder.
Adamantine Blood Core Element was Darkness and Shadows.
Jon Blood Core Element was Curse.
And Noah himself seemed to be Blood Element.
Noah also believed that Clementina would develop into Ice Element similarly to Sakura, but even better as she had the Ice Queen Skill.
"It seems that you are brighter than I thought… And to think that you have acquired a power not even I had! What is even Blood Servant?! That is something I did never develop! That power… you made it yourself?! I can't believe that a talentless human like you could ever do such a thing!" roared the Blood Progenitor, as Noah finally freed him from his mind chamber.
Mind Chamber was a special technique that Noah had made through the evolution and new powers of his soul, which let him imprison the Blood Progenitor's mind inside a mental chamber, this way, he would not annoy him every time, and Noah could have some peace of mind.
Also, he would not be sharing his mind with him whenever he had intercourse with Iris, which was something he found horrible to even think about…
"Oh? So this power is not originally yours? Interesting… So this is a power I made for myself? Perhaps the combination of the System and the Blood Core made it very different from your powers, or the powers themselves are shaping into what I want…? Well, whatever it is, it is good for me, so do not get all angry over it. I am making sure to use your powers well enough!" laughed Noah.
"Tch! …So now you are C-Rank… and have gotten that woman at your side? Do you really think that having a partner will help you? Love is something that we Vampires cannot experience, it is an illusion, love does not exist! It annoying and will only hinder your growth! Dispose of this woman immediately! Women are demons, they must be exterminated, annoying whores that only drain your desires for greatness with their lust!" roared the Blood Progenitor.
"Now, now, you really sound like a loser there… Iris is not a normal woman at all. She has a different view of life. Just like me, we are both beasts that tear anything on our path, do you think she is weak? If she were to hinder my growth I would not have reached C-Rank in a bit over a week… But I do understand your point, however, you committed the mistake of choosing a weak woman to be at your side, and due to that, when her weakness made her a good target for your enemies, you began to hate feeling love, didn't you?" asked Noah.
"W-What? H-How did you… know?!" asked the Blood Progenitor, it seemed that Noah guessed right.
"I've already been seeing over your memories, what a sad life… But it is all valuable information and experiences. Don't worry, all such experiences are mine now, and I will make sure to not commit them," said Noah.
"Grr…! This is a violation of my privacy! I thought we had a deal about that!" cried the Blood Progenitor.
"Well, never believe a liar like me," laughed Noah.
"What am I going to do now? I am really just… hopelessly left as a book for you to read and find info?! Is this… everything I have become…?" sighed the Blood Progenitor.
"Well, you tried to take over my body before, so it serves you right. Now go to sleep," said Noah, as he used Mind Chamber to entrap the consciousness of the Blood Progenitor once more.
"Damn it!" groaned the Blood Progenitor, as Noah was left by himself once more.
"8 E-Rank Ability Cores and 1 D-Rank Ability Core… enough for some Points," thought Noah, absorbing them all and receiving the Skill Points immediately.
Flash!
Ding!
[You gained 280 Skill Points!]
"Good… with this, I have 445 Skill Points if I add the Skill Points I have before… Now, let's see this new Skill Tree…" thought Noah.
Skill Trees
[Blood Progenitor] [Innate: The Skill Tree of the Blood Progenitor, generated through the innate powers of the Blood Core, using Skill Points will unlock more of its hidden power and the various abilities of this entity.
Complete the Level 1 Skill Tree to unlock further Skill Tree Levels, with the possibility of generating a new Skill Tree all together.
[Level: III]
[Noble-Born Vampire Viscount (0/400): Spend Skill Points into this branch to unlock more of the innate strength of the Blood Progenitor, such as bonus Attribute Values, Skills, and more.
Additional Abilities can be unlocked after the Branch is Maxed.
Additional Abilities (I): [Elemental Blood Gem Creation (0/500), [Blood Beast Transformation (0/550), [Blood for Blood (0/600)]
Additional Abilities (II): [Moon Protection (0/700), [Blood Mist (0/750), [Vitality Veil (0/800)]
Additional Abilities (III): [Abyssal Connection (0/900), [Kin Summon (0/950), [Blood Scion (0/1000)]
Noah glanced at the new Skill Tree, which was filled with new and interesting-sounding Skills, however, he noticed that the prices increased a lot compared to the previous two branches.
"Perhaps this is because my strength had increased significantly after evolving? Well, not like C-Rank Ability Cores would not give me a good amount of Skill Points whenever I get my hands into one… For now, let us fill the first thing on the list," sighed Noah, as he maxed the first thing, so he could later unlock the Additional Abilities.
Ding!
[You have exchanged 400 Skill Points!]
[You maxed out the branch [Blood-Born Vampire Viscount]!]
[You can still unlock Additional Abilities!]
[Attribute Values bonus earned]
[Bonus Skill Proficiency earned]
[You acquired the [Blood Prison: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Immediately after using his Skill Points, Noah felt a rush of new power cursing through his veins and reaching his Blood Core, as his Attribute Values increased, his Skills increased in proficiency and he gained a new Skill!
"Blood Prison?"
Noah acquired a new Skill, Blood Prison!
But what could Blood Prison even do?
Noah read its description in detail…
[Blood Prison: 1 (B)]
Only those who are capable of controlling Blood with incredibly high mastery can use this Skill.
Unleash the power of your blood, automatically generating a prison made of hardened, iron-like blood that can entrap a single target for a limited amount of time.
While in Blood Prison, the target Mana cost to use any kind of Ability is tripled.
Imprison Time: 5 Seconds.
Cooldown: 40 Seconds.
This Skill does not prevent the target from moving, and the Prison can be destroyed.
Noah found this Skill rather useful!
And as long as he keeps increasing his proficiency, the time for the Imprisonment would increase while the cooldown would decrease!
"For now, it is not as impressive, but if it can reach high proficiency and then even awaken afterward… It could become a mighty Skill. I will make sure to use it tonight in the dungeon we shall visit…" thought Noah, as he began to use several Skills at the same time to practice their proficiency, even having his Blood Armor on all the time, as his current clothes were in fact made through Blood Armor as well.
Noah decided to keep practicing Skills as he ate and stockpiled calories, the hours went by and everyone seemed to have finally finished evolving.
"Ah… we are back up… Hm? Well, we didn't change much…" said Arthur.
Indeed, everyone seemed rather similar than before, as it seemed that when Vampires evolved, their physical appearances did not undergo drastic changes, but their internal strength did.
More than evolution, it seemed like evolutions for Vampiric races were more like Classes, and each evolution had a name that reflected the Class a Vampire could be.
Noah was a high caste of Vampire, and he became a Vampire Noble and then a Noble-Born Vampire Viscount, while the other members became Knights, Warriors, Priests, or other classes.
"Yeah, I am not much different… Hm? I got tattoos?" asked Timassa, noticing a small golden mark in her hand, resembling a thunder.
"Oh? I also have one…" said Arthur, noticing a black and yellow one, resembling a staff.
"Me too…" said Jon, showing a purple one resembling an eye.
"Noah, I also got one, what are these?" wondered Iris, showing her blue-colored tattoo that resembled a phantom flame.
"Tattoo?" asked Adamantina, showing off her own, resembling a black claw.
"Interesting… These are… (Blood Progenitor, what are these tattoos?)" asked Noah to the Blood Progenitor, freeing him from his Mind Chamber.
"Oh? So when you finally need my help you free me! …Well, not like I have a choice. Those tattoos are named Vampiric Crests, and form in Vampiric Subordinate when they reach a high grade of power, they connect to your Blood Core, and they can draw power from you by activating them," said the Blood Progenitor.
"So that's it… They are named Vampiric Crests, they can connect to my own Blood Core, and whenever you need power, you can draw from me to gain a boost in your strength or magic. Don't think on abusing it either, as I can easily cut the connection between the two," said Noah.
"Ooh?! So that is it! Amazing, Noah! You know so much about this stuff!" said Iris.
"Heh, of course, I do!" said Noah, without giving any credit to the Blood Progenitor.
"Oi, give me some credit you ungrateful successor!" roared the Blood Progenitor, as he was imprisoned again in the Mind Chamber.
"Amazing… Vampiric Crests, this means that we have all achieved a greater level of power thanks to Noah-sama… I am forever grateful for the opportunities you've given to us," said Timassa.
"Me too, thanks a lot… And let's keep fighting and striving for more," said Arthur.
"Yes… I am very happy as well…" said Jon while smiling adorably.
"Master! Strong?" asked Adamantine.
"Yes, you are quite strong now, Adamantine… And of course, we shall keep striving forward, there are many things left for us to do! …And don't treat me as if we were pals in here, I am your progenitor, so treat me more respectfully!" said Noah rather intimidatingly, as everyone nodded while sweating a bit.
"A-Ah! Sorry, maybe we went a bit too carefree there…" said Arthur.
"Hehe, don't worry! Noah is in fact very happy! He just not showing it but- Nnguh!"
Smack!
Noah smacked Iris's head as he made her shut up.
"Ouch! That hurts… Geez…" sighed Iris while pouting, although it didn't hurt at all due to her immense endurance.
"You are a Vampire, that clearly didn't hurt at all," said Noah, as he crossed his arms, her emotional manipulation wasn't effective against this cold-hearted Vampire!
"Now let me inspect your status, I am curious about your current progress," said Noah, as he slowly began to inspect everyone's status.
[Iris]
[Bloodline: Dhampir/Phantom (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Noble-Born Dhampir Phantom Flames Knightess]
[Vitality: 310]
[Mind: 300]
[Force: 320]
[Skill(s): [Spectral Demonic Fox Transformation: 62 (B), [Dhampir: - (S), [Subordinate's Loyalty: - (A), [Undying Body: 71 (A), [Infectious Poisonous Black Claws: 55 (B), [Blood Manipulation: 72 (C), [Poisonous Blood Projectiles: 68 (C), [Berserk Mode: 57 (B), [Telepathy: 77 (D), [Phantom Fox Spirit: 65 (B), [Phantom Flight: 55 (C), [Phantasmal Soul Wounds: 55 (C), [Phantasmal Aura: 65 (C), [Phantasmal Soul: 66 (C), [Phantom Materialization: 1 (C), [Nether Blue Flames Creation: 1 (B)]
Iris seemed to have kept specializing in using her Phantom Skills, now she possessed even greater mobility options and a varied Skillset that made her an amazing fighter at the side of Noah, her lover.
Phantom materialization could let her materialize her once ethereal phantom, now being able to also deal physical damage with them, and her Nether Blue Flames Creation gave her the power to summon blue cold flames, although not as strong as her other Skills.
[Arthur]
[Bloodline: Dhampir (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Devil Dhampir Corrosion Warlock]
[Vitality: 277]
[Mind: 320]
[Force: 294]
[Skill(s): [Healing Blight: 82 (B), [Dhampir: - (S), [Subordinate's Loyalty: - (A), [Undying Body: 52 (A), [Blood Manipulation: 62 (C), [Telepathy: 41 (D), [Corrupt Waves of Corrosion: 42 (A), [Dark Light Barrier: 75 (C), [Corrosion Domain: 35 (B), [Self-Regeneration Tattoo: 43 (B), [Dark Sphere of Erosive Contamination: 32 (B), [Corrupt Blood Projectiles: 56 (C), [Flight: 43 (C), [Corrosive Poison Synthesis: 1 (C), [Corrosion Beast Invocation: 1 (B)]
Arthur continued his specialization as well, but now he had the power to fly very well, and generate different types of corrosive toxins through Poison Synthesis, although he could not throw them, and they needed to be stored somewhere or they would simply all off his hands. He could also summon one single beast made of poison at his side, to assist him in battle.
[Timassa]
[Bloodline: Ghoul (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Ghoul Abyssal Thunder Witch]
[Vitality: 292]
[Mind: 310]
[Force: 290]
[Skill(s): [Black Thunder Projectiles: 44 (A), [Ghoul: - (A), [Subordinate's Loyalty: - (A), [Gluttonous Hunger: 1 (B), [Undying Body: 52 (A), [Paralyzing Dark Lightning: 84 (A), [Dark Thunder Armor: 54 (B), [Electrifying Charge: 66 (C), [Black Thunder Spirit: 67 (C), [Dark Thunder Soul: 50 (C), [Monstrous Electrifying Rampage: 43 (B), [Black Thunderclouds Domain: 1 (B), [Cursed Black Thunder: 1 (C)]
Timassa became an even better witch of Black Thunder, being an excellent offensive long-ranged attacked, now her thunder could even curse enemies.
[Jon]
[Bloodline: Dhampir (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Accursed Dhampir Devil Gazer]
[Vitality: 274]
[Mind: 320]
[Force: 292]
[Skill(s): [Clairvoyance: 78 (B), [Dhampir: - (S), [Subordinate's Loyalty: - (A), [Cursed Evil Eye of Phantom Pain: 82 (A), [Undying Body: 45 (A), [Blood Manipulation: 42 (C), [Cursed Blood Projectiles: 55 (C), [Telepathy: 51 (D), [Devil Life Sap: 60 (C), [Devil Mana Sap: 60 (C), [Cursed Evil Eye of Distortion: 35 (A), [Energy Transfer: 40 (B), [Cursed Evil Eye of Maddening Fear: 1 (B), [Third Mystic Eye: 1 (C)]
Meanwhile, Jon intensified his specialization over Evil Eyes with a third new evil eye, and also the ability to create a third eye on his forehead to use this third evil eye alongside the others at the same time.
[Adamantine]
[Bloodline: Ghoul (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Nightmare Ghoul Shadow Berserker]
[Vitality: 310]
[Mind: 273]
[Force: 312]
[Skill(s): [Nightmarish Shadow Aura: 54 (A), [Undying Body: 74 (A), [Horrifying Shadow Demon Claws: 65 (A), [Ghoul: - (A), [Subordinate's Loyalty: - (A), [Gluttonous Devourer: 54 (B), [Shadow Demon Mode: 63 (B), [Shadow Abyssal Flash: 1 (B), [Monstrous Bloodthirsty Insanity: 1 (B), [Shadow Spears: 54 (C), [Shadow Beasts Invocation: 1 (B), [Cursed Wounds: 1 (C), [Telepathy: 1 (D)]
And lastly, Adamantine became even more beastly, and she now also had the power to summon a shadow beast to help her in battle… oh, and she can now use telepathy too, she was late for the party.
Seeing how everyone evolved into strong Level III Dhampirs and Ghouls, Noah nodded, confirming all of his subordinate's Attribute Panels.
They were all even stronger now and possessed new Abilities that could make them even more useful in battle.
Although Noah was already very strong by himself, everyone else was specializing even further into their desired elements, choosing to not risk getting random Skills through Ability Cores and converting them into Skill Points for their Skill Trees.
Nonetheless, Noah had a greater Skill Tree and was fairly stronger than all of his subordinates, perhaps if they all combined their power, they could match his base strength, but even then, if he were to go all out, he would completely dominate everyone.
Perhaps later on he could practice battle with his own subordinates and learn more battle techniques from each other, getting used to Skills should not be done in dungeons, but it was not as if they had all the time of the world to leisurely spend a week practicing their new powers, and they could only forcefully learn how to use them through battling for their life inside Dungeons, maximizing their efficiency as they both practiced and gathered Cores to grow stronger.
Noah began to consider that reaching B-Rank might not be possible tonight, as they had a limited amount of time in the night to explore the Dungeon, and the needed Cores had increased by a ton now that they were C-Rank, reaching B-Rank would not be as easy.
Perhaps another night or more, however, it all depended on the Dungeon, its infrastructure, and the monster inside.
If only small amounts of big monsters roamed, they would not get as many Cores.
If large amounts of many monsters roamed, there would be the possibility of more Cores.
But the ideal Dungeon was like the one they visited previously, one where giant monsters were incredibly abundant, and emerged in large quantities without stopping!
Only these types of Dungeons were the ones Noah was aiming for now!
Nothing less would satiate his thirst for power.
Noah was racing against time, he was not sure when would the Crystal Family would decide to finally attack him, and he still was not so confident about battling and winning against a B-Rank Hunter.
Although he desired to take a break and develop himself and his own relationship with his subordinates alongside Iris, Noah's main priority was to get everyone to Rank B, including himself.
As everyone was chatting around waiting for Clementina, Noah felt a strange call from her.
"Hm?"
Noah then, decided to walk outside of his room, telling his subordinates to stay in his room as he walked through the corridors of the school, it was already night, so he easily sneaked through the shadows and then reached the room where Clementina was the infirmary.
There, the teacher was interrogating Clementina…
"Clementina Silvercrown… Tell me the truth, please, I am your ally in here… Did Noah exhibit some kind of strange ability? Did he killed your party?" asked the teacher.
Clementina furrowed her eyebrows as she realized that something fishy was going on…
It seemed as if the higher-ups of the military school had asked the teacher to interrogate Clementina about anything odd she saw Noah and his party doing while in the Dungeon.
It was already getting very weird how the weakest students were doing so well out of nowhere, and the director of the military school alongside the teacher had already figured out that Noah (and possibly all of his party members) were saving and hiding abilities they did not want to show in public…
However, they could not even understand why they would want to hide their abilities.
After all, wouldn't it be better to show them off so they could be respected and recognized as strong people?
In the mind of the director and the teacher, there was not any reason to hide such powerful abilities…
Unless Noah knew that by doing so, he would awaken the interest of the higher-ups, who would want him to become a brainwashed soldier…
But to them, it was very unlikely that an ignorant orphan like Noah could even know the truth about the military school, and hence, began to think that there could be another reason behind this… a shady reason.
Perhaps Noah was a spy from another Sector?
Or perhaps he planned to abuse his position as a weak student to slaughter people unsuspecting of his true powers?
Although they did not care if that was his intention with his own students… if he had such intentions with the teachers or the staff of the military school… then Noah and his entire party were an enemy they needed to track down, decipher their powers and weakness, and quickly suppressed.
However, suspecting that Noah's party was the ones that killed and somehow made Emerald's entire party disappear in that expedition to the wastelands, the director saw great potential on him and his party.
Due to this fondness, he wanted to approach Noah on friendly terms but wanted to slowly gather info about him first.
The teacher, thinking that Clementina had experienced Noah's powers who wiped out her party, decided to ask her if he had done anything to her party… or her.
"…No, Noah-sama- I mean, Noah would never do such a thing…" said Clementina.
"Hm? You… Clementina, you talk as if you knew him… Are you and Noah acquaintances, by any chance?" asked the teacher.
"Eh? Ah… (I screwed up! Due to being a Dhampir, my emotional connection with Noah is as a superior now! I cannot talk to him casually… Or at least not before getting used to him as the other members of his creed…)" muttered Clementina, as she began to think that she might have screwed up things a bit by giving a hint that she somehow knew about Noah's behavior.
"Clementina, please, tell me, we are here for you," said the teacher, trying to act as a good and fatherly figure for Clementina, although she clearly saw through the cunning man's act.
However, before she could improvise something, Noah emerged outside of the room and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
"Hm? Who is it? I am busy here…" said the teacher.
"It's me, teacher, Noah… I-I wanted to talk a bit with you..." said Noah, using a voice that Clementina almost didn't recognize, acting like the weak pathetic human he once was.
"Noah?" muttered the teacher, glaring back at Clementina.
"(Could it be that he had come to confess me about his powers now that he has been put into a corner due to Clementina?)" wondered the teacher, as a slight smirk emerged on his lips.
"Sure thing, let me go open the door," said the teacher.
The teacher was confident that Noah would not try anything funny on him, as there were cameras inside non-private rooms and outside of the rooms, within the halls as well.
If they saw Noah attacking the teacher, he would be recorded, and then the authorities would use the videos of him committing the crime to apprehend Noah, forcing him to either cooperate with the government willingly or by force…
There was no way out.
Noah was walking in the palms of their hands without him even realizing it!
…Or did he?
As the teacher walked towards the door, Noah spoke with his Blood Servants, in specific, with Brain.
"(Brain, whenever I give you the signal, emerge within my neck, right below my hoodie, and activate your Ability on the teacher)" said Noah to Brain, as Brain nodded in affirmation, as he was resting within a crimson world which was the representation of the space inside of his Blood Storage space.
The teacher finally reached the door, opening it slowly, as he glanced at Noah who was smiling rather bitterly, as if very nervous, convincing the teacher that even if he hid an ability, that he was still the same cowardly Noah he always knew about.
"Ah, Noah. What did you need to talk about? There's Clementina here… Did you want to address something… regarding her?" asked the teacher, his sharp gaze trying to intimidate Noah, which Noah realized was an actual Skill he had…
But the Skill was merely E-Rank.
And Noah was a C-Rank Hunter.
And the teacher's strength was… pathetically E-Rank as well.
"I wanted something to ask something to you… and Clementina as well… Can she come near? Please, Clementina… (Walk to his left, so I am blocked from the camera with your body)" said Noah with a gentle smile, as Clementina heard his telepathic message!
Clementina's heard Noah's commands, as she immediately obeyed him, walking at the side he desired, blocking the camera view completely from Noah, as if both the teacher and Clementina blocked Noah's entire body!
This way, Noah would be able to execute the plan he had made on the go!
"Yes, Noah?" asked Clementina rather expressionlessly, as the teacher glanced at her back, only to glare at Noah once more.
"So? You can talk, feel free," said the teacher with a mild smile.
And as the teacher spoke, Noah suddenly smiled eerily.
"Ah yes, I wanted to get something out of my Brain…" said Noah, as his eyes glowed bright red, the teacher could not even act surprised because a sudden spark of energy reached him from within Noah's eyes, paralyzing him!
This was Noah's Vampiric Eyes of Hypnosis and Stupefaction!
This Skill could paralyze and even grant the status effect of stupefaction for a few seconds to any target he looked directly in the eyes!
Although those stronger or equally stronger than him had a hard time getting affected by this Skill, weaklings such as E-Rank Hunters like his teacher were an easy target, no matter how much he could resist!
"Ngh… (I cannot… speak?! What is… this?! Is this… Noah's Ability?! An Evil Eye that can paralyze?! Unngh…! Its effect is immensely strong! What kind of Rank is the Skill? No… even if it were of a higher Rank, a low Ranked Hunter should not be able to have enough Mana to wield higher-ranked Skills that could overwhelm me like this! …Unless he is already a higher rank than me?! Then… is he Rank D?! Or… Impossible! Rank C?!)" thought the teacher, as things were not simply stopping on this…
And then… a strange, figure made of blood emerged from within a wound that opened itself over the skin of Noah's neck, stretching a macabre crimson hand towards his face!
The teacher's eyes were almost popping out of his eye sockets, whatever that creature was, it was not a normal Skill nor power!
Noah was clearly… not a Human anymore!
Just what was Noah to begin with?!
What kind of Human could generate such a monstrous figure from within an open wound on their neck… which wasn't even there before?
How could he even open a wound on his own neck without even using anything?
Could he manipulate his own skin to open a wound?
But then how did he had a strange creature inside his very neck?
Or blood?
The teacher could not even understand what was happening, on all of his years of research (as he was a researcher and not really a hunter), he had never seen such a thing before!
"(This… Noah… what kind of… person are you?! How many secrets… have you kept for yourself?! Ungh…! Agh! AGGHHH!)"
The teacher began to scream internally, as the bloody hand of the creature coming from Noah's open neck touched his forehead for just a single second before disappearing.
That single second was enough for the teacher to complete feel as if his mind were being eaten from the inside out by something vicious!
And due to Noah's eyes, he could not even move nor scream to show his agony!
He was simply… hopelessly succumbing to whatever wicked plans Noah had for him!
Clementina's eyes opened a bit in surprise, but she kept quiet and stood still as everything went on.
The teacher felt his entire mind being eaten away, as he slowly lost his own sense of self, and became… something similar to a mindless zombie.
Noah then extended his own blood, manipulating it as a river, and making it enter inside the teacher's nostrils.
"Blood Pact…" thought Noah, mentally saying the name of one of his Skills.
Another second after, Noah finally spoke.
"W-Well, it would be nice if you could let me go with Clementina, and not bother us anymore over something like this… I guess I am being too demanding… Sorry… I think she might need someone to accompany her in this time of mourning for her fallen party members, and I believe that you might be overwhelming her a bit… Is it okay?" asked Noah.
The completely mindless teacher obeyed Noah, and the Blood Pact, yet another reassurance of Noah, was immediately completed.
The pact was simple, "don't bother us anymore, and do everything you can for other people to not bother us either".
After that, Noah also used the opportunity to insert one of his Blood Servants inside the blood of the teacher and also to curse him.
Feeling that it was finally safe, the teacher was suddenly "snapped back to reality", although he was still now serving Noah.
"Ah… Of course, Noah… Sorry about that, it seems that I misunderstood her. I can see that you are a good student… I apologize. You can go back with your friend," said the teacher.
"Thank you so much, teacher. I am glad to have such a nice person as a teacher," said Noah with a gentle smile, as he walked out with Clementina at his side, back to his room.
The teacher then sat down and began to read a book, pretending to be normal… but he had already become one of Noah's pawns, and even if the brainwash were to wear down one day, he would still be tied with a Blood Pact, a Blood Curse, and also a Blood Servant inside of his very blood, watching over him to not do anything funny, and immediately telling Noah of all its activities through its connection with its master's blood.
Noah had already discovered the ability to insert Blood Servants inside the bloodstream of people, but it was a delicate thing and those that were not almost completely restrained or willing would not easily let him get a Blood Servant inside their blood, and could easily prevent it counter attacking with any type of offensive Skill.
But Noah had already paralyzed and brainwashed the man, so it was as easy as breathing for him to do such a thing.
Noah had even discovered that he could leave Blood Servants on his subordinates so they would have a companion that could protect them… but that was not necessary at all, as they were naturally stronger by themselves.
"T-That was… amazing…" said Clementina, surprised by Noah's amazing prowess.
"It was a bit risky, but it seems to have gone well. If not, we would have been already fighting soldiers to escape…" said Noah.
"I-Is that so?" asked Clementina with a bit of surprise.
"Anyways, let's speak more in privacy inside my room," said Noah nonchalantly as he led Clementina into his room.
"(N-Noah-sama's room?! T-That's…)" she thought, feeling a bit embarrassed about entering another man's room, which she found rather unsightly, as if it were something lewd, even.
"Here." Said Noah, opening the room as Clementina found out that there were all of Noah's subordinates here, she was not going to be with him alone or something, which made her relieved, as she did not know how she would have been capable of handling such a situation.
"Oh, Clementina-chan, welcome back!" said Iris.
"Welcome back… So, how did it went?" asked Arthur.
"Did you managed to brainwash the teacher, Noah-sama?" asked Timassa.
"Yes. It went rather easy. We have now a very useful pawn in the form of our very teacher! Ah, I will get a lot of important, confidential info from him!" laughed Noah, as he quickly created a soundproof blood barrier through Blood Control and Crimson Aegis.
After Noah explained how everything went, the party quickly changed their topic to something more important…
Clementina needed to catch up!
Clementina was only E-Rank, while everyone else was C-Rank.
They couldn't enter E-Rank Dungeons and help her get Cores to reach D-Rank.
And although they had many spare D-Rank Cores, if she were to consume them, the energy would most likely kill her.
The only apparent choice was to let her enter an E-Rank Dungeon alone!
Cores were all stockpiled by the government, and no one sold them alone, especially because people were selfish and simply used them for themselves, and whenever they reached a higher-ranked dungeon, they went to the next dungeon.
Any clandestine market of Cores was often crushed in seconds of starting by the government, and there were very few chances for Noah to find such a market at the moment.
But Noah had already gotten something into motion before anyone could figure a solution.
He was going to make his own market.
But how?
"Don't worry about Cores. Now that the Robots had grown strong enough and I have Blood Servants, I have already sent them towards E-Rank Dungeons, they will come back with Cores for us later, Clementina should be able to catch up with us tomorrow. Of course, you are going with them right now, so pack your things, you will be working until morning," said Noah.
Noah was simply going to amass his own Cores now with his combined forces of Robots and Blood Servants, making them infiltrate low-rank dungeons was not a problem at all! …And Clementina was joining!
"R-Really? Is it fine to do so much for me…?" asked Clementina while blushing a bit.
"Of course, we are going to make your work to death, and to speak all the info you have about your family, and we'll most likely go there soon enough, generate connections with them, and get a higher amount of money," said Noah.
"W-What? But… my family has exiled me…" said Clementina.
"And why should I care about that? You are going to go meet them again, you want it or not…" said Noah, as his eyes glowed with dominance.
"Eep! Okay…" said Clementina.
Meanwhile, within the depths of the night, a group of crimson, human-shaped beings walked above the buildings of the city, being covered by shadows made by their leader, Brain.
The moment Noah was done with the teacher, he sent Brain and all of his other Blood Servants towards a Dungeon, while also carrying a Dimensional Storage Ring that carried the robots, which were not only Sakura, Sugar, and Big Sis, but also most of the repaired ones, which were given Blood Core Batteries and developed new powers.
As they were about to enter the Dungeon, they meet with Clementina, who was sent towards them by Noah.
Due to not being humans, they were able to ignore any requirements within Hunters, such as not being able to enter lower-ranked dungeons because they could destroy them, and more.
Clementina then used her Hunter Pass to walk inside an E-Rank Dungeon with ease, while saving the Blood Servants inside her blood through their special ability…
"We are here…" she said, as she began to walk through the large cave, as giant bats began to emerge everywhere… she started to produce ice and released all the Blood Servants alongside the robots, and a massacre began to unfold… Clementina, as Noah ordered her, would be here for the rest of the night grinding Cores not only for her but for future members as well, as many as she possibly could!
And as these events were being unfolded, a group of military men glanced at the records of a camera set in the room where the teacher was with Clementina, and about the arrival of Noah…
Although they believed that something weird happened… they could not see anything.
"Clementina's body is blocking Noah's body… we can't see him clearly…"
"What happened? They went blank for like a few seconds…"
"This is… pretty fishy. But we can't do anything at all about this…"
"Without concrete evidence…"
"Well, the teacher was fine, there wasn't anything wrong with him at all, even when he went through several magic detection devices…"
"Indeed, I guess it was nothing then?"
"You are right, I guess it was really nothing…"
The soldiers closed the TVs, as they quickly went back to slack off as they always did, unaware of the true dangers that lurked below their very noses…
Having sent Clementina to grind for Cores with his Blood Servants and the Robots, Noah and his party decided to pack several things and then get moving to their next Dungeon, a C-Rank Dungeon!
Unlike F-Rank, E-Rank, or D-Rank Dungeons, C-Rank Dungeon and above were very rare within the city, and C-Rank in specific were only within the outskirts of the city, not even in the poverty areas there were C-Rank Dungeons, as they were cataloged as too dangerous to have in front of the city or their citizens.
However, Noah and the rest had already found their target, and because it was night, Hunters going to Dungeons at these hours decreased a lot, allowing them to enter a Dungeon and have it for themselves once more.
The Vampire group ran over the buildings while wearing dark clothes and masks, their crimson eyes glowed with eeriness and thirst for strength, to achieve new horizons!
Reaching their destination after an hour of traveling around in the dark of the night, the party glanced at the wasteland outside, and at the several stadium-like constructions made around these gates.
"Here we are… these dungeons are outside of the city…" said Arthur.
"I wonder if B-Rank Dungeons… how hard will they be to get in? I think there were some around the city too, but far away from her already," said Iris.
"Indeed. At that point we will only be able to enter by having Guild Cards, no ordinary person is a B-rank hunter, to begin with. And they do not let enter guild-less hunters into dungeons of B-Rank or above. Even if we tried to infiltrate, it would be useless, as we would be caught and even if we escaped, the government would send B-Rank or above Hunters after us," said Noah.
"Oof, so even if we grow as strong as B-Rank hunters… Guilds are always essentials in this society…" sighed Arthur.
"Of course, why did you think I planned everything to this point so we could easily have everything ready to become a Guild? It was all base din these things and the consequences they would bring if we didn't do them properly," said Noah.
Noah was not someone stupid who believed that doing everything alone like an edgy and immature kid would bring him to success, he knew that in this society he needed to plan, scheme, and cunningly do things according to the rules that were here.
Societies were filled with rules, and although they could be broken through exceptions, even exceptions themselves had rules they could not break.
Even more, if breaking them would end up making them be persecuted by strong hunters that could literally end their lives.
Indeed, it was not that Noah was any genius, he just did not rush things, even if it seemed like he was indeed rushing things.
And even more, he understood that doing things as a group was more beneficial in literally every single aspect.
After all, he did not have an almighty system that gave him keys to dungeon or something, he only had the system that everyone had, and his powers, although amazing, were also locked around his Blood Core, and he needed to obey rules and regulations to slowly raise his strength within this society.
But even then, he was more than ready to break them when it was necessary… or when he finally had the option or power to do so.
As long as he kept increasing his Rank to higher Grades, he could slowly be capable of ignoring more and more rules.
And he knew very well that S-Rank Hunters could completely ignore most rules in societies, and even manipulate the government based solely on their strength that could both save thousands of people… or annihilate thousands of people…
But even then, even if Noah were to once achieve such heights, he was not stopping there!
He was about to reach even higher ones, SS-Rank, SSS-Rank… and even beyond that!
He believed that at that point, he would be able to figure a way to travel to Abyss through the unlocked powers dwelling within the Blood Core, which shaped themselves depending on his necessities.
It was already shown through the Blood Servants, something that the Blood Progenitor didn't even have originally, that the original powers of the Blood Core were modifying themselves to suit his needs as he evolved and improved his own strength.
He was dead-set in dominating this world and making it his domain, and then also dominate Abyss, and beyond that!
He had heard from the blood progenitor that through cultivation, Vampires could even become Vampire Gods!
What couldn't a Vampire God do?
If they were considered Gods, they should clearly be able to surpass even mortals in what they could do!
And he was sure that many dangers were lurking around… and that the grand scheme of things was not as narrow as it seemed for now, that there might be greater things for him to discover that the Blood Progenitor was keeping hidden from his current knowledge…
Noah's party walked down into the wastelands, as they decided to enter the empty Dungeon after dealing with guards by easily hypnotizing them into accepting their demands.
A dungeon in the middle of the wastelands, despite common sense, was very badly guarded down, and due to the darkness of the time of the night, the cameras could not even notice that Noah used his eyes to hypnotize and stupefy the soldiers to do his bidding.
It was even better than the soldiers were merely D-Rank, so he was able to easily suppress them, even without Brain at his side who was currently grinding Attribute Value Cores with Clementina.
Arthur and the rest felt surprised after what Noah did with so much swiftness and easiness.
"I guess we can do that now…" he sighed.
"Rules and regulations were also made to be broken, having masks also helps," said Arthur.
"Wouldn't we get caught after this, the cameras registered us, right?" asked Timassa.
"No, I have left Blood Pacts and Curses into the soldiers, they won't speak a word… If they don't want to explode into pieces as their blood becomes million of tiny nails…" said Noah
"That's terrifying… Well, if we gather enough money, we can do these reservations legally next time…" said Arthur.
"I suppose," said Noah, as everyone entered the Dungeon…
Scorching heat.
Pools with lava that could melt ores instantly flowing freely around the landscape.
A very heavy air.
And monstrous creatures capable of bathing and hiding beneath the lava, which is also capable of firing Fire Attribute attacks from distances of over 20 meters.
And a C-Rank Dungeon, a level of difficultly that only a very small group of people within the entire population of Earth can go against…
This was the Dungeon that Noah had chosen for tonight, and perhaps for tomorrow as well.
"This is… ungh…" muttered Timassa.
"The dungeon that Noah-sama wanted us to enter… Hahh… The Scorching Hellhole…" muttered Arthur.
"Hahh… Noah… Maybe this was a bit excessive? Hahh…" asked Iris.
"If we fall into the lava… we are dead… We will… be melted before even being able to regenerate completely…" muttered Jon as he was panting heavily.
"Hot… Hahh… Water…" muttered Adamantine.
"Don't falter, IRIS, EVERYONE! This is the challenge we needed! Scorching heat, our very skin is melting away at every second! This is even worse than the Desert! We will surpass our limits here, and become B-Rank in no time!" laughed Noah, his face was filled with fascination as he felt the heat burn his skin as he regenerated it constantly!
"I see… I guess it is… how it is…" said Arthur with a bitter smile.
"Hahh… Is Noah-sama, perhaps, a masochist?" asked Timassa.
"I never knew this facet of him, perhaps we could adjust our night activities…" said Iris.
"Shut up, insolent! Because you dare mock me, you will go charge headfirst against that monster, right over there!" said Noah, ordering his subordinates to go against the long-necked giant turtle that emerged out of a small pool of lava.
The creature seemed to have a carapace as hard as chitin, and its long neck was covered in hard, red-colored scales that even had some metallic luster!
It had six crimson eyes and a long jaw filled with razor-sharp teeth, it looked more like…
"Isn't that… a dragon?" asked Timassa.
"It is a lesser Dragon… A Wyrm…" sighed Arthur, recalling the monster bestiary he liked to read.
"It looks… angry…" said Iris.
"ROOOOAARR!"
The Turtle-like Wyrm roared fiercely, as it began to breathe air, as its neck suddenly began to inflate like a balloon!
FLASH!
Opening its mouth wide, the Wyrm released an enormous wave of scorching flames towards Noah's group, crossing through dozens of meters, and actually reaching them!
"Giant monsters, an enormous range, large defense, good ways of hiding beneath the lava, and an environment that doesn't benefit us at all. This is the best challenge we could ever ask for!" laughed Noah maniacally, as he generated his Crimson Aegis over his subordinates and blocked the fire attack with ease!
BOOM!
Flash!
The flames dissipated as the Wyrm began to pant, it seemed that its all-out attack made it tired!
"It's tired…?" asked Arthur.
"Of course! Because it used such a strong attack and its body is so big and heavy, it can get tired easily…" said Iris.
"Indeed. Now go, I will support you from the sides!" roared Noah, as his group nodded, flying towards the Wyrm as he began to imagine the powerful Blood Servant they could get from this creature!
Iris was the first to get into the Wyrm, as she unleashed her Phantom Fox Spirits over it!
The monster roared in anger, trying to destroy the annoying attack with a swing of its long neck, only to feel something odd as the curse effect of the Phantom Fox Spirits began to take effect!
Several tattoos began to emerge all around its neck as the creature roared in confusion and anger!
Suddenly, it began to feel lethargic!
"It might be big and strong, but it is not near as fast to catch up with us!" said Timassa, as she began to gather black thunder all over her body and then unleashing it all over the monster in the form of spears of black thunder, impacting the creature's neck and slowly beginning to shatter the scales!
Crack, crash!
"RRAOOAAAAR!"
The beast roared in anger, as it suddenly began to absorb air!
The vacuum began to even drag everyone towards its enormous jaws!
"How about you eat some poison?!" roared Arthur, as he gathered an enormous sphere of purple corrosion, shaping it as a corrosion beast and sending it flying towards the monster's open mouth!
Splash!
The monster suddenly close its jaws as it swallowed the entire sphere of corrosion!
"GRRUUOOOHH…!"
The monster felt as the corrosion began to slowly melt the inside of its neck, as it roared in agony!
"Nice one, Arthur!" said Noah with a grin, as he flashed towards the monster while it groaned in pain!
"ROOOAARRR…!"
The Wyrm roared in anger, as it tried to slap Noah away with its neck!
However!
"Let's see if I can do it with such a giant being… Blood Prison!" roared Noah, as suddenly, an enormous cage made of crystalized blood captured the entire creature!
Flash!
"GROOAR?!"
The prison was already melting away in the lava though, but the seconds gained were enough for Noah to charge all of his boosting Skills over his long claws and his Soul Weapon, reaching the beast's throat!
By using Unyielding Blood Demon, Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity, Lifeblood Release, Blood Frenzy, and Vampiric Drain, Noah gathered an enormous amount of temporal powerups and life drain, reaching the monster's open wounds made by his group with his long Soul Weapon Claws, and slashing the tender flesh beneath!
SLASH!
CLASH!
"ROOOOOARRR…!"
The claws began to enter the flesh freely, as Noah kept rushing upwards while using his long, Vampiric Wings and Crimson Flash for mobility increase, slicing through the neck, leaving a large, vertical wound, where all of his subordinates released their own attacks to weaken the beast even more!
Black thunder, corrosion spheres, black shadow bullets and spears, phantom claws, and blue nether fire, and three Evil Eye effects all fell over the creature's neck wound, as Noah kept slashing through it mercilessly!
Suddenly, the monstrosity raised its claws out of the pool, enormous claws that could tear down an entire skyscraper!
However, Noah smiled!
It was too late to come and attack him with that, fool!
"Blood Combustion!" laughed Noah, as all the blood he had purposely left in the wounds began to explode in succession, blasting off the entire of the Wyrm's neck apart!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"ROOOOOAAAARR…!"
Giving a last and weak roar, the beast died!
However, Noah quickly grabbed the corpse's carapace with his sticky blood tentacles, exerting an enormous strength thanks to his boost due to his Skills, he dragged the corpse to the rock floor immediately, without letting it fall over the lava.
"We did it…" said Arthur.
"Eh? Why isn't it turning into smoke?" asked Timassa.
"This is the law-defying effect of my Blood Servant, any monster that dies near me leaves a corpse that can last for 24 hours before turning into smoke, it is so I can turn it into a Blood Servant. But we can also harvest it, cutting it into pieces and converting the pieces into dropped items! This way, we can profit tremendously from these monsters like never before! And even more, whenever we are done, I can turn whatever it's left into black smoke if I ever want to," said Noah, as he grabbed the two C-Rank Attribute Value Cores that the beast dropped.
"Amazing! With that we really can make an immense profit…" said Arthur.
"I wonder how dragon meat tastes like…" said Iris.
"Is that in all you're thinking about? Isn't it obvious what's next?" asked Noah with a grin.
"Oh… Wait… Noah-sama, you are really… turning that into a…?" asked Timassa.
"That's right! I am turning this thing into a Blood Servant! Rise!" laughed Noah, as he touched the enormous corpse of over 20 meters with his hand, activating Blood Servant into it as a bright crimson light emerged from his hands, touching the entire corpse, and encompassing it!
Suddenly, the blood within the corpse started to move as if it had taken consciousness of its own, as a giant phantom emerged from the beast's corpse, fusing with the blood, and flying out of the corpse as it began to take a solid form!
"I can't believe my eyes now…" said Arthur in amazement, as he saw the very Wyrm they killed come back to "life" as a Blood Servant, now made entirely out of blood and phantom with a solidified exterior…
The entire Blood Servant was only a little bit smaller than the corpse, being 17 meters instead of 20-21.
However, it was still immense, and it possessed a strong and intimidating aura of greatness!
Ding!
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Fire Wyrm: Knight Grade]!]
Read Vampire Overlord System in the Apocalypse Chapter 111 - Against Giant Fire-breathing Wyrms! online for free - AllNovelFull
The blood of the Wyrm's corpse gathered together into a gigantic creature, coated in hardened blood and crimson phantom, the monster stood up, walking on its four short legs covered in red scales, and erecting its long-scaled neck, its jaw was filled with razor-sharp teeth, and it had six crimson eyes gleaming with power…
Releasing an aura of greatness and intimidating pressure, the monster lowered its head towards Noah in complete submission.
Ding!
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Fire Wyrm: Knight Grade]!]
Knight Grade!
Noah already knew that Knight Grade was even above Elite Grade!
Blood Servants seemed to have different rank classifications, lowly Hunters could only become Normal Grade, but Brain became Elite Grade… however, this creature was Knight Grade!
Each Grade also had color on their name, as Normal was white, Elite was blue, and Knight was purple.
C-Rank Monsters such as this Fire Wyrm were a Knight Grade right out of the spot!
And if Noah kept hunting and converting more of these monsters… he could have a whole army of Knight Grade monsters!
He hoped that those he sent to that Dungeon could quickly grow stronger, or they would not be able to catch with these new Blood Servants!
At least, Brain had a utility that could not be easily matched, but if Blade and Lance wanted to be at the side of their master, they would have to quickly raise into Ranks!
"Good. Hm, should I name it?" wondered Noah, as he began to think about how much power it could get by a name.
But then, he decided to scratch that idea.
"Not yet, I will most likely get many like you anyways, I might name a Hidden Boss if we find one, though," thought Noah, deciding that it would be better to name a Hidden Boss and not overuse his soul into naming whatever Blood Servant he found interesting, but only those that truly deserved it.
"Wow, this is incredible… Noah, with this Blood Servant we already got a nice companion at our side! I can't imagine even more of these guys… dozens… we will go through any dungeon smoothly!" said Iris.
"Hmph, don't get too overly excited, Iris. Monsters become gradually stronger as we advance through the dungeon, and we only have one, fighting one of these already took us some time, let us still be cautious," said Noah.
"Of course, you are right, as always," said Iris with a warm smile, she knew that Noah did not want to be hasty nor let his impulses take over him, after all, they were in a dungeon filled with scorching lava and strong air, their entire skin was burning even faster than in the desert dungeon every single second, this was not a place to relax at all.
"Very well, let's keep going, I can see another few of these monsters resting above the lava pools!" said Noah, pointing at the lava pool in front of them, as gigantic creatures quickly noticed their presence, finally emerging their long necks out of the lava!
"Ah, they were really there!" said Arthur.
"Water… Hot…" muttered Adamantine.
"I will give you as much water as you want to depend on how good your work now, Adamantine, so get to work!" said Noah, incentivizing the tired Adamantine!
"Water? Later? Really? Then…! I fight!" roared Adamantine, as she coated herself in shadows and became a wild shadow beast, jumping out of the floor and hitting with all of her might through her legs and claws against the Fire Wyrm's head, one of the two Fire Wyrms that were within the lava pool, startling it as its head twisted backward!
BOOM!
"NNNNNGRRROOAAR…!"
However, the monster quickly readjusted its own neck monstrously, glaring back at Adamantine as it raised its giant claws and clashed against her might!
CLASH!
"GRROOOAARRR!"
Adamantine roared fiercely, putting immense might into her blows and boosting all of her strength into it!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
However, she was ultimately overwhelmed and thrown away by a series of slashing attacks that carried the immense weight of the Fire Wyrm's legs!
CLASH!
"Nnnggguuh…!"
Adamantine was then caught by a barrier made of dark light produced by Arthur, as she saw the rest of the team clash against the Wyrm she fought, as Noah's Blood Servant Wyrm clashed and distracted the other one!
Even the Crimson Sea Snake King entered the battle, entangling its own body around the second Fire Wyrm's neck, distracting it as Noah and the rest ganged over the first one whose Adamantine had fought before!
"My Nether Fire is cold, the complete opposite of this place… with it, I should be able to also damage these creatures easily… I just have to coat myself with it!" roared Iris, entering battle by extending her long black nails and coating the in blue nether flames, slashing through the monster's neck and immediately finding out that the scales scarred to shatter very easily by the power of her slashing attack and the coldness of her flames!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
At the same time, Iris used her Phantom Fox Spirits to inflict several tattoos that caused lethargic and slowing effects into the creature, making it roar in anger as it tried to absorb air and eat her through the vacuum pull into its jaws!
"Blood Weapons!"
However, Noah quickly emerged at Iris side, fusing his Cursed Blood with Poisonous Blood, and enhancing each Blood Weapon he generated with his own Aura generated through his boosting Skills, launching dozens of blades and spears made of materialized blood into the monster's throat, slicing it from the inside!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The Wyrm started to choke itself with the Blood Weapons as it vomited mouthfuls of blood that Noah used to generate even more weapons against it!
"Nether Flame Claws!" roared Iris, combining her skill effects as she unleashed several claw-shaped long-ranged attacks made from phantom and nether flames, hitting the monster for some extra damage that even affected its soul!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Feeling weakened, the Fire Wyrm roared weakly, trying to unleash an attack of fire breath towards the group, but being quickly stopped by a large spear made of black thunder that fell over its head!
CRASH!
"NNGRRRUUOOOHH!"
The creature groaned angrily, rushing towards Timassa and raising its claws to slash her off, but she intercepted by generating her domain of black thunder and then barriers with it, defending herself from a single attack and then intercepting the creature with another spear of black thunder right into its neck!
CRASH!
"ROAARR…!"
Flash!
However, right at this moment, the beast felt as if a small chunk of flesh suddenly twisted around its neck, as a sharp pain surged over its entire being!
Glaring at the culprit desperately, the beast found Jon unleashing his Evil Eye attacks, the eye of distortion was capable of distorting space a bit, which gave him the method of twisting the flesh of the creature to cause small damage that caused a lot of pain.
"RROOAARR!"
The beast angered, suddenly manipulated the lava around it with a lot of effort that made it stop moving for a moment, shaping the lava as spheres, and firing them frantically around!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Wait! It didn't do that before!" said Arthur, blocking some of the lava spheres with his barriers as Noah and Iris charged together against it like a meteor of crimson red and clear blue colors!
Unleashing their attacks, the lava flames were dried by the cold nether blue flames of Iris as Noah used his blood claws to slash the flying rocks that the lava spheres converted into!
Flash!
The two reached the monster's neck, slashing through it as the rest of the group used this opportunity to blast it away as they did before!
The beast ran out of Mana due to its bad specialization in defense which left it lackluster in the use of long-ranged magic attacks, as it could not fire more lava spheres and succumbed to the combined attacks of everyone while being finished by Noah's explosive blood!
"Rooooarrr…!"
BOOM!
The pieces of flesh began to fall apart not the lava, as Noah grabbed the corpse and threw it out of the lava pool, quickly raising it as another Blood Servant, as he noticed that the other Blood Servant was already getting overwhelmed, with many parts of its body already being torn apart!
Ding!
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Fire Wyrm: Knight Grade]!]
"Heh, just in time! Now go!" Roared Noah, ordering his second Blood Servant Fire Wyrm, which quickly clashed against its former ally, meanwhile, the first one started to slowly regenerate through Noah's Mana, as Noah and his group flew towards their next target without breaking a sweat!
Noah felt a flow of constant mana reach his body, as Jon was constantly absorbing Mana from their foe and transferring it to him through Energy Transfer.
Using this Mana, Noah let his first Blood Servant Fire Wyrm regenerate, as the second one took its place and clashed against a former ally fiercely!
"ROOOOAARR!"
CLASH!
"GROOOOAARR!"
CLASH!
Both giants fought fiercely, using their giant claws to slash each other's necks.
The Blood Servant was obviously weaker, as it lost large chunks of its body with each attack, but it had the power to regenerate any wound as long as there was Mana to supply.
Meanwhile, the giant fire wyrm was barely being scratched, its scales were too tough, and just like the previous Blood Servant ad the Crimson Sea Snake King, it was slowly overwhelming the Blood Servant!
"I see, so even against two Knight Grade Blood Servants… C-Rank Monsters are still amazingly superior, huh? It seems that a Blood Servant doesn't completely inherit all the power of its original being, perhaps, through the whole process, it loses around 40% of its original strength… mostly due to not having physical bodies to be able to take hits better, as any hit they take to make the pieces of their bodies that were hit vanish…" thought Noah.
But that was fine!
After all, these were all diversions!
Suddenly, both of the Blood Servan Fire Wyrms raised their mouths into the sky and began to inflate their necks!
Opening their jaws wide open, they unleashed a double breath attack against the Fire Wyrm!
Their flames were just as potent as their original selves, but were now made of their crimson phantom that blazed like real flames, burning through the monster's scales, and slowly weakening it!
FLASH!
"GROOOOAARRR…!"
Noah glanced as the beast lowered its guard, at last, deciding to command his subordinates to fight!
"Now, GO!" he roared, releasing a blazing crimson aura from his entire body, flashing like a meteor towards the beast with everyone flying at his side!
"RROOAAR!"
The Fire Wyrm suddenly twisted its body, raising a long and sharp, spear-tipped tail!
SLASH!
With a single swipe, the two Blood Servant Fire Wyrms were dissipated into crimson shadows!
"This one seems rather strong compared to the previous ones, and a bit more intelligent too!" thought Noah, as his Blood Servants went back inside of his Blood Storage, where they began to regenerate slowly through his Mana.
"I might take a whole minute for them to regenerate if Jon keeps giving me Mana… For now, let us shower with everything we got!" roared Noah, as everyone roared in affirmation!
Baring their fangs fiercely amidst a dungeon filled with blazing heat and monstrous creatures, the Vampires slowly but steadily began to break all of their limits!
…As if they even had limits!
"Corrosion Bullets! Corrosion Venom Beast, go!" said Arthur, as he unleashed a giant beast made of corrosion venom and fired several bullets all over the creature's wounds, as the beast groaned and then began to bite over the scales, breaking them apart until it was caught by the Fire Wyrm's claws and torn apart!
Boom! Boom! Slash!
"Black Thunder Soul, Black Thunder Domain, Black Thunder Spears!" said Timassa, flying around like a flash of black thunder, she channeled her black thunder soul and then generated a domain of black thunder around ten meters, using her soul and domain to generate large spears of black thunder, showering the giant and resilient creature with a constant shower of thundering judgment!
Clash! Clash! Clash!
"Evil Eyes, Energy Transfer!" said Jon, keeping himself in the backlines as he unleashed the power of his three Evil Eyes, forming the third eye on his forehead as he began to drain the life and mana of the monster, alongside making it afraid and generating dozens of tiny holes all around the long neck and face, small wounds that made it easy for Arthur and Timassa's attacks to seep inside its tender flesh!
"Let's go, Noah-sama, Adamantine!" said Iris, as she coated herself in her Phantom Fox Skill as an enormous phantom specter resembling a furious phantom fox emerged, unleashing nine tails and long ears, increasing her power drastically as her nails grew in size and were coated in blue nether flames, running through the monster's neck alongside Adamantine and Noah, slashing the creature's flesh and leaving deep wounds!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"GROOOOAAAAARRRR…!"
Adamantine roared like a wild beast, coating herself in many shadows that made her resemble a monster that came right from the depths of an abyssal shadow hell! Her monstrous figure rushed like a wild beast, generating larger wounds than before, as she constantly created a shadow beast to assist her, although it did not last too much!
"Now, use all your might!" roared Noah, inspiring everyone as he roared monstrously, his entire body coated in crimson light as his muscles bulged and his fangs grew to like those of a beast! His eyes turned completely red, and his claws grew to a ridiculous and monstrous size!
His entire power combined all into his body resembled an explosion of constant rushes of crimson light, flashing and clashing against the beast's entire neck and head like enormous meteors of great might, his slashing attacks went all out as well, as Noah continuously conjured Blood Combustion, making any of his attacks generate explosive shockwaves by making the blood they were made of detonate into loud explosions!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Continue, it's going down!" laughed Noah, as he began to blast away large chunks of flesh from the monster, while his subordinates supported him by hitting these wounds he left behind and making the theme even worst!
"GRROOOOAARRR…!"
However, against Noah's expectations, the beast gained some kind of boost on its power, as its crimson eyes flashed with a sudden burst of energy, it generates enormous quantities of fire within its throat and suddenly opened its mouth, pointing it at Noah!
FLASH!
A gigantic beam of pure flames clashed against Noah's entire body!
BOOOM!!!
"NNGHH…! My body is turning into ashes! This fire… No! Immortal Body, don't fail me now! Show me that you truly make me an immortal being!" roared Noah, infusing all of his energy coming from his Blood Core into his very body, alongside his very soul, strengthening his physique and even increasing his regeneration speed!
Noah noticed as that from within the ashes, he began to regrow new flesh, constantly, expanding and regenerating more and more, only to turn into ashes again!
His limbs, chest and more were all turning into ashes and then growing back constantly!
The pain is indescribable!
But Noah had long gone completely insane!
So, what did you think he did?!
He smiled like a madman!
While being a Vampire and being bathed in a constant sea of pure flames!
"Hahahaha! HAHAHAHA!" he laughed maniacally, intimidating even the freaking Wyrm!
"GRR..?!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Suddenly, enormous attacks fired from Noah's subordinates fell over the Wyrm, making it roar in agony as it is breath weakened, letting Noah reach its very jaws that exuded the flames!
CLASH!
Noah reached the creature's mouth, hitting with all of his might right into its internal flesh, and penetrating it outside, leaving an enormous wound that started from its throat and penetrated its very brain!
BOOOOOOM!!!
"GRRUUUUUUOOOOOOOOHH…!"
CLASH!
The enormous beast had fallen!
Its gigantic body fell over the ground, as Noah stopped his insane charge, glaring down below.
His clothes were completely burned, and he was nude.
"Hmph. So Immortal Body can work in even such situations… As long as I can protect my brain to not fall unconscious… Blood Armor," said Noah, generating a new set of clothes through his very blood, and descending over the giant corpse, analyzing it and then converting it into a Blood Servant.
[You have successfully raised a [Blood Servant Fire Wyrm Leader: Knight Grade]!]
"I see! It was a Fire Wyrm Leader, that was why it was stronger and more resilient than the other ones…" said Noah, as his party gathered around him.
"Noah, are you okay?" asked Iris a bit worried.
"Don't worry. I am as fine as ever. With this, we have three Blood Servant Fire Wyrms, I believe that as we advance and gather more, we can make things smoother," said Noah.
"I suppose… Well, I am fine if you are okay... I was a bit afraid when you were bathed in those flames, and we immediately stopped the beast, changing the direction of its breath!" said Iris, as she hugged Noah.
Noah received her hug expressionlessly as he patted her head.
"Good job. And also a good job to everyone else, but do not relax, there is a lot to do! We are not stopping any time soon!" roared Noah, as everyone gave him bitter smiles… they had no option to refute against their progenitor decisions!
Through the scorching flames of the Dungeon, Noah and his party continued breaking their limits, burning, and regenerating constantly, while fighting enormous beasts whose defense and offense were enormously superior, the true might of C-Rank Monsters.
However, they had no other choice, they had no other way around this.
They needed to continue fighting, to continue breaking through their limits.
Burning the flesh and regenerating it back again and again, at some point, their very bodies started to mutate and strengthen themselves, their cells, after dying and being reborn for so long, adapted slowly...
More resilient and resistant…
And as they fought more Fire Wyrms, eventually, an enormous one emerged.
They had been fighting for four hours now, and their bodies were still adapting to the flames, but Noah was the first one to feel how his Immortal Body was awakening to something even more superior.
Bathing himself in flames and regenerating back made his very body become something else, slowly, yet steadily.
According to the Blood Progenitor, one of the major weaknesses of Vampires in Abyss was the light of the sun and the flames wielded by the Sun Heralds… yet he was slowly adapting to the scorching flames of this hellhole.
Iris at his side had been adapting as well, and by using her unique phantom and nether blue flames, she infused such powers inside of her very flesh, counteracting the flames and heat, and slowly making her body adapt.
The same was for everyone present, in their own unique ways, their own bodies were changing now.
This was both a way to sharpen their fighting styles, gather Cores, and also to improve their own abilities and attribute affinities.
"GRROOOAARR!"
An enormous beast like the group had never seen before surged from the largest pool of lava they came across since they entered inside this Dungeon.
Its giant body resembled a giant reptile, like a comodo dragon, but whose entire body was covered in red, metallic scales, it possessed over five heads, all of them covered in the same scales, enormous heads with eyes and a giant tail with a long blade-shaped tip.
It had six limbs, each one possessing sharp, metallic claws, and many ores of all types grew all over its back, forming a natural carapace.
All of such materials were Magic Materials of C-Rank and below, and such a giant quantity, if harvested successfully, would cost a fortune, even for C-Rank hunters.
This was…
"The Hidden Boss…" said Noah.
"It seems so… It is looking at us… Is it my idea or it is quite prideful? Perhaps it is waiting for us to attack first? Can monster even have a sense of pride like that?" asked Iris.
"That's right. Everyone, don't move. He is not waiting for us to attack first out of courtesy, however. Look carefully around him…" said Noah, as he pointed out at the dozens of small pools around this enormous creature whose size surpassed 40 meters…
"Ah… How many are there?!" asked Arthur, as he noticed dozens of Fire Wyrms all resting within the lava pools surrounding the Hidden Boss!
"Around… thirty? No… forty…" said Jon, using his clairvoyance to detect all the enemies around the Hidden Boss…
Indeed, it was an enormous army…
Against them, even as a group, they would definitely die, even more against the might of the Hidden Boss, whose entire power seemed to be immense and overwhelming, controlling all o the Fire Wyrms around itself.
However, Noah, as always, smiled like the wicked bastard he was.
"Not like we are alone either… right?" he asked, as Iris smiled eerily as well, almost as wicked as her beloved.
"That's right… Noah-sama's army is here with us as well…" she said.
"It's time to go out, all of you!" laughed Noah, opening a giant wound on his very stomach, as an enormous sea of blood emerged from it, shaping as gigantic Fire Wyrms one by one!
Tens of them, reaching twenty, until thirty!
These were all the beasts slain by them through this entire dungeon exploration until this point.
Each one became one of Noah's Blood Servants, strengthening his army of Blood Servants as he slowly raised the number of his army, overwhelming the next enemies he found, until the point that he simply showered any Fire Wyrm with his army and then his subordinates attacks and the beasts groaned in agony until they were completely torn apart into pieces…
Now, such an army of destruction emerged, obeying a new master, and confronting the army of the Fire Wyrm Hidden Boss, named Blazing Wyrm Emperor.
And as an Emperor, it had many subjects!
All the Fire Wyrms around it raised their heads out of their pools of lava, readying their attacks and inflating their throats…
For a moment, both armies glanced at each other.
Time seemed to stop.
Noah's crimson eyes clashed against the Blazing Wyrm Emperor's eyes, as they glared at each other intensively…
The battle was about to break out, and the tension was enormously overwhelming for both armies…
Who would come on top?
"You… you are not like the other humans that had come here and perished to my fire…"
And unexpectedly to Noah, the Hidden Boss spoke directly inside of his mind through something similar to telepathy!
"So you can speak? I have some good news for you. Today you are perishing and joining me after your death." Said Noah boldly.
"Hm?! Hahahahaha! Such boldness! I have never spoken with a human this bold before, and any that had tried to even showcase a small amount of such bravery was burned into ashes or feed to my children… But your presence… it is clearly not human!" said the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, his eyes gleaming maliciously.
"So you can even tell that?" asked Noah.
"I am a Wyrm, a race that is a descendant of Dragons, although I am not a pure being such as my progenitors, I clearly have powers similar to them. My perception is amongst many of the beasts that you "Hunters" fight. I can easily tell that whatever you and your kin possess within your chests has never been possessed by any human I have fought before…" said the Blazing Wyrm Emperor.
"Oh? Do you see me as a monster?" asked Noah.
"I can tell that your presence is similar to us, those that emerge from the Gates into your world. Although it is humiliating to be called monsters, despite being proud warriors and descendants of our Draconic Fathers… Nonetheless, we had been trapped in this place since the grand cataclysm… You and your kind continue to kill us as if we were mere materials and resources for you, and my kin keeps being brought to life, despite dying many times… I am the only one that has never been defeated before! Feel honored, you are dying to someone unmatched, odd one!" said the Blazing Wyrm Emperor with such as much pride as Noah!
Noah heard what the Blazing Wyrm Emperor said with great attention…
He knew about the Gates that led to Dungeons and was aware of his existence within an enclosed space.
Just as the Blood Progenitor had said, his own domain was once trapped within a different space where gates emerged, and hunters came to constantly try to kill him… could the same be applied to every single Gate?
Then, could it be possible that every single Dungeon is… an actual world amongst the vast cosmos of the universe?
Somehow connected to Earth through mysterious reasons that not even Noah could completely comprehend.
And more importantly, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor spoke that everything started with the "Great Cataclysm"… was this his version of an Apocalypse on his own world?
And… the "Draconic Fathers"… were those real dragons? And could they be related to the Dragons found inside S-Rank Dungeons that Noah has once heard and read about?
Were these Dragons related to the Wyrm Emperor and the Fire Wyrms?
Then… did that mean that their world had many Gates and had most of its landscape somehow transformed into separate spaces made into dungeons that emerged as Gates within Earth?
Noah was using his Parallel Mind Thought Processing Skill at its max capacity, as he thought about many conjectures while seeking more of the truth of this phenomenon known as Dungeons and Gates.
However, in the end, there was not enough info, and the Blazing Wyrm Emperor seemed to not want to speak anymore…
There was only one thing left to do…
To fight and win.
"Feel honored? You will feel honored to serve me soon." laughed Noah, as he finally commanded his Blood Servants and Subordinates to move forward!
The army of giant Blood Servant Fire Wyrms marched through the volcanic lands, creating a large tremor as they walked while being all gathered in a similar spot.
The Fire Wyrms around the Blazing Wyrm Emperor began to immediately use their abilities to fight against their risen siblings, as they could clearly see through their eyes that they were no longer the same as before… They were no longer alive.
Dozens of spheres made of boiling lava, and breaths of fire began to fall over Noah's Blood Servant army, as the Blazing Wyrm Emperor roared towards him.
"Serve you after death? Do you mean what you have done to my kin? Certainly, it is a strange power you have there! It reminds me of the Elder Dracolich… Hmph, but you are not even comparable to him! Your little servants are easily dying to the attacks of my kin! We shall avenge our kin and let them finally rest in peace!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as he saw the Blood Servants Fire Wyrms fall apart…
However.
"Hm? W-What?!"
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor glanced as the Blood Servant Fire Wyrms began to regenerate their wounds, forming anew once more within seconds!
Perhaps Noah was not able to do this with such speed before, but now that Blood Servant had leveled up enough, and that Jon had a lot of targets to drain Mana from and transfer it to him, he was getting a constant supply of Mana!
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor quickly realized that the small boy behind Noah was the culprit behind Noah's insane Mana quantities and also that his own Mana was being drained out of his very soul!
And even more… his life was also being drained!
The Blood Servant Fire Wyrms began to raise from the ground once more, biting and slashing the living Fire Wyrms with their bloody claws and razor-sharp crimson teeth!
Roars of anger and groans of pain resonated through the battlefield, as an army of giant crimson creatures ganged over one Fire Wyrm at a time!
And each time one fell, Noah immediately made it into a Blood Servant right in front of their noses!
Crimson flames released from the Blood Servant Fire Wyrms began to clash against the orange-red flames of the living Fire Wyrms, generating constant loud explosions!
Although one Fire Wyrms seemed to be capable of taking down several Blood Servant Fire Wyrms, as the enemy kept regenerating back and as the Fire Wyrms kept losing Mana to use their Abilities, the tides of war began to change to Noah's favor!
The "upper hand" in numbers that the Blazing Wyrm Emperor had been completely shattered!
The Fire Wyrms were being too overwhelmed by the Blood Servants that were also being supported by Noah's subordinates, and the Blazing Wyrm Emperor could not receive any assistance!
"Small fry like your kin is no longer a problem for us. We had bathed in the flames of your world and now we had become stronger. You are next. Make sure to give us a good challenge, Emperor," said Noah, smiling provocatively!
Noah was a madman!
He was provoking a being that was perhaps hundreds of times his size!
Covered in enormously hard scales, possessing monstrous, titanic strength and defenses, and above all, several heads with the power to burn an entire city!
As the Blazing Wyrm Emperor glanced at his kin being easily overwhelmed and killed to later be converted into Blood Servants, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor began to feel… blazing wrath!
"You… So this is it! I have been waiting for fitting opponents for a very long time…! Hmph! So be it! I will go all out now, so don't dare die yet!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, suddenly summoning several magic circles and chanting magic through his mind!
Noah and everyone else noticed the enormous quantities of mana being used at once, even when Jon was draining its Mana away, it clearly had an immense pool of mana and also vitality!
"Infernal Catastrophe!" roared the Blazing Wyvern Emperor, as the enormous, red-colored magic circle emerged above his body, generating a large shower of flames, covering a gigantic area around him!
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
Noah and his subordinates quickly gathered on a single spot, as Noah used Crimson Aegis combined with Arthur and everyone else Skills and Attributes, generating a powerful shield which they used to take on the flames while trying to evade as much as they could!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Noah-sama, I don't think it was a good idea to provoke him!" said Arthur.
"Well, it is Noah we are talking about, he's quite prideful! But I guess that's why I love him…" said Iris.
"I don't think this is the time to go confessing your love, my mistress," said Timassa.
"Not at all…" sighed Jon.
"Too much fire! It burns!" cried Adamantine.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
The sphere of blood, black thunder, phantom, corrosion, and shadows moved around the battlefield, evading the fire while taking other hits it could not evade head-on"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor's heads suddenly became stiff, as Noah and everyone else noticed his eyes glaring at him!
As his strong spell dissipated, all of the Blood Servants Noah had were defeated, as their blood went back inside of his body!
If the Blood Servants were to be destroyed like this, it would not be possible to regenerate them straight away, and they would need a minute of rest… but because they were many and all the Mana was distributing for each one, Noah calculated that it would take around 11-14 minutes for them to be back to the action!
"The Blood Servants… they're gone…" sighed Arthur.
"And there are still around ten Fire Wyrms left…" said Timassa.
"Noah-sama, your orders!" said Iris.
"Against such a big monster in such an unfavorable landscape, is there any other strategy left? …We'll destroy the little ones first, and then we'll go kill the Emperor!" said Noah, as he quickly flew towards the closest Fire Wyrm, ignoring the Blazing Wyrm Emperor who thought Noah would charge headfirst towards him!
"Hmph? Coward! Confront me!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as he unleashed several fire breath attacks against Noah's party as all of them flew inside the sphere of various elements!
"Hah! Did you really think we were so stupid? We'll first clean our battlefield so we cannot be bothered, I hope you understand, Emperor!" laughed Noah, as he evaded the fire breaths as much as he could, however, a large attack reached him, and the entire sphere exploded!
BOOM!
As they rushed through the air, all of Noah's party flew downwards, targeting the Fire Wyrm in front of them!
The beast glared at them back roaring in anger as it opened its mouth!
It was going for the breath attack straight away!
"ROOOOOOAAAAARR!"
"Arthur, Timassa!" said Noah, commanding his subordinates as the two immediately knew what to do!
"Yes! Corrosion Ray!" roared Arthur, who had already gathered a large sphere of corrosion around his arms, firing it as a ray of enormous purple energy against the beast's open mouth!
The flames, however, would easily burn through the corrosion, but that's where Timassa entered!
"Black Thunder Domain… Black Thunderstorm!" roared Timassa, gathering a domain of Black Thunder as black and thundering clouds emerged around her in an instant, charging them with Mana and then pointing her bow towards the beast's fire breath!
CLASH!
Then, she fired a single black thunder arrow, which detonated and generate an enormous thundering explosion!
BOOM!
The thunder impacted the fire, generating loud shockwaves that dissipated the fire, right for Arthur's corrosion ray to enter the beast's mouth!
"GROOOHH…?!"
The beast chocked itself with corrosion substance as its insides started to melt away agonizingly!
The beast began to move in pain, as Noah, Iris, and Adamantine charged towards its head as it finally lowered its guard!
"Iris, Adamantine, stick to me, let's do the usual!" said Noah.
"Alright!" roared Iris, as her eyes turned completely red, and her entire body was coated in phantom and nether flames!
"GRROOOOOAAARR!" roared Adamantine, covering herself on her shadows, resembling a furious beast of the night!
Noah covered himself on his Soul, which he used as Blood to shape his Blood Armor, generating what he called, Soul Armor!
Combining it with his Soul Weapon, Noah resembled a crimson death knight, as he generated dozens of crystalized blood weapons around him!
CLASH!
The three figures hit the Fire Wyrm's head in an instant, crushing it with countless and incessant attacks, nether flames, bloody claws, blood weapons, shadow claws, and more crushed the beast's scales, bones, and brains!
BOOM!
As the beast roared in agony and fell to the ground, Noah quickly converted it into a Blood Servant as the Blazing Wyrm Emperor gnashed his teeth in anger!
"You…!"
As the Fire Wyrm roared in agony and fell into the ground, Noah quickly converted it into a Blood Servant as the Blazing Wyrm Emperor gnashed his teeth in anger!
"You…! Confront me!" roared the Fire Wyrm Emperor, roaring in anger as it suddenly conjured more magic, unleashing a giant spear of flames towards Noah and the rest in a second!
However, Noah smiled teasingly!
"GO!" he said, throwing his newly raised Blood Servant towards the spear of flames, ruthlessly using it as a shield as both the Blood Servant and the Spear of Flames exploded!
BOOM!
The explosion created large amounts of crimson smoke, as Noah and his party flew towards their next target!
The Fire Wyrm glared at them angrily, but felt as if its leader was becoming desperate!
"GROOOAR!"
This Fire Wyrm, instead of trying to fire its breath, decided to simply… sunk into the lava!
Lava was something Noah and the rest could not touch, or… well, they would melt away agonizingly.
Meanwhile, the Fire Wyrms could be completely immune to fire, so they were able to swim in hot lava and even use it to hide beneath it!
However, Noah pointed his hand towards it!
"Oh, no, you are not going anywhere! Blood Prison!" he laughed, as he conjured Blood Prison and suddenly caged the entire beast in a temporal prison of crystallized blood, stopping it from sinking into the lava!
The prison immediately began to melt into the lava, however. But that was good enough time for them to reach the Fire Wyrm in time, showering with attacks and crushing its head into pieces in an instant!
Crash! Crash! Crash! BOOM!
"GRRUUUOOOH…!"
Splash!
The beast fell over the lava pool, as Noah immediately made it into a Blood Servant and threw it shamelessly against the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
"GROOOARR…!"
Shamelessly using his kin against him, Noah only enraged the Blazing Wyrm Emperor even more!
"RRROOOOAAAARR…! You have the power to manipulate souls and make them become your loyal slaves… Hmph! Just as disgusting as a Dracolich!" groaned the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, using his claws to slice through the Blood Servant Fire Wyrm sent towards him in an instant, two slashes were enough to completely destroy the Blood Servant Fire Wyrm in around ten seconds after its creation!
BOOM!
But that was enough!
In those ten seconds, Noah and his party managed to reach another Fire Wyrm, rushing towards its head!
Blood Weapons, Bloody Claws, Phantom, Nether Blue Fire, Black Thunder Arrows, Shadow Bullets, Corrosion Bullets, Life and Mana Drain, and more!
The beast succumbed to Noah's fierce subordinate attacks, its head and neck falling apart into pieces!
"Y-You… in just ten seconds?!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as he began to slowly move out of its lava pool!
Although it was incredibly strong, because its body was gigantic, it moved incredibly slow too!
"Here, have a present! Rise!" said Noah, raising the Fire Wyrm into a Blood Servant and throwing the Blood Servant Fire Wyrm towards the Blazing Wyrm Emperor's face!
"GRAAAAH…! Stop insulting me like this, insolent! You are no warrior, but a shameless rat!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, slashing through his former kin into pieces with his claws, as he finally jumped out of the lava pool, chasing Noah and everyone else!
"I will burn you into ashes!" he roared, opening his jaws, and firing several fire breaths once more!
Noah called up to everyone, as they once more combined their powers and generated a sphere made of several elements and barrier skills!
Flash!
Flash!
Flash!
Evading the fire breaths that could take down a mountain, Noah, and everyone else rushed through the volcanic landscape at an immense speed, their hearts racing with excitement as the situation of life and death they were going through!
The monstrous Hidden Boss was just chasing them around as they flew over the skies, trying to diminish his little army while gaining time for Noah's Blood Servants to recover!
Clash! Clash! Clash!
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor's claws stepping into the ground made the entire volcanic landscape tremble as he chased down Noah, his entire body was too big to move so fast, as the gap between him and Noah's party started to widen!
"Noah, there's another one there!" said Iris.
"Good, let's harvest him!" said Noah, commanding his subordinates as they ganged over the scared Fire Wyrm!
The combined attacks of the desperate Vampires fell over the monstrous behemoth like a shower of death, electrifying it with black thunder, freezing it with nether flames, slashing through it with blood weapons that exploded afterward, slowly poisoning and melting it through corrosion, and tearing it apart with shadow bullets and shadow claws!
Clash! Clash! Clash! Clash!
"GRRUUUUOOOOOOHH…!"
Boom!
The beast's head exploded like a watermelon falling from a cliff, as dozens of bloody pieces fell all over the landscape!
Noah smiled, immediately raising the beast like a Blood Servant Fire Wyrm!
"Go meet your father!" he laughed, as he sent the Blood Servant immediately after the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, this time the Blood Servant was not instantly killed, as it charged a breath attack and attacked his former leader, bothering him for a few seconds before being slashed into pieces!
BOOM!
"Grrrr…! Go rest now, my son!" roared the Emperor, using his long, metallic claws to slice through the Blood Servant within seconds, taking him out of his path!
"The only thing you are managing to do is to enrage me even more! My stamina is endless, and my mana is vast, there is no point in trying to tire me! I am fueled by rage, cowardly rat, show some decency and fight me like a warrior!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor.
"Decency? Warrior? Don't make me laugh, the only thing I strive forward to is to survive!" laughed Noah, as he suddenly gathered an enormous amount of energy within his hand that he had been preparing!
"Hm?! That's…! Soul Energy!" thought the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as he was not able to evade or block Noah's attack, which was made up from his very soul which he used to replace the blood of his attacks, generating a giant spear of Soul Blood, materializing it and throwing it towards the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
CLASH!
"UNNGRRRUUOOOHH…! Y-YOU BASTARD!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, feeling the giant spear hit his chest and leaving a deep wound!
However, the spear did not stop there, as it suddenly exploded!
BOOOOOOOM!!!
"UNGRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHH…!"
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor suddenly stopped chasing Noah and the rest as he felt agonizing pain, a large chunk of his flesh flew everywhere, as rivers of crimson blood started to pour out of his large wound… it was not enough to kill him, but good enough to slow him down!
"Amazing, Noah-sama!" said Timassa.
"Yeah, were you saving up that attack this whole time?!" asked Iris.
"Indeed, using my second mind, it was easy to fight at your side while also gathering this power… However, to fire such an attack I needed several minutes of charging, and I have to admit that my soul feels weakened… Ungh… Nonetheless, that wound will not regenerate any time, let's wrap this up with these Fire Wyrms to take him down afterward!" said Noah.
Through the use of Parallel Mind Thought Processing, Noah used his parallel mind to gather his Soul's concentrated power within his chest, right inside of his very Blood Core!
With that, and after several minutes of charging power, he quickly used his own Soul Power as blood replacement thanks to the Blood Soul Skill effect, which had persisted even after awakening, shaping his soul energy into a giant weapon, and firing it straight into the Blazing Wyrm Emperor's chest!
By using Blood Combustion, he left the weapon to detonate a few seconds after throwing it, right on time for the attack to penetrate the Blazing Wyrm Emperor's flesh and then explode, dealing great amounts of damage into its chest area, near its heart!
However, using such an attack was similar to naming a Blood Servant, as Noah felt as if a chunk of his own soul was lost, weakening him temporarily!
But I was not as if he were alone, he knew that he had subordinates to rely on, and decided to be reckless just for this instance!
The Fire Wyrms around the Blazing Wyrm Emperor saw their leader suffering in pain as they angrily roared against Noah's party, jumping out of their lava pools, and coming straight to them!
There are 6 left, and Iris and the rest were ready to slaughter them once and for all!
Noah's soul suddenly felt as if a large chunk of it was eaten away in an instant.
In simple terms, it was as if you tore apart a large piece of your shoulder, including your arm, and even part of your stomach to throw an attack.
However, Noah knew that souls could regenerate, he had already tested it when he gave names to Blood Servants, feeling that the chunks of soul he lost slowly regenerated over time.
Even after having lost such a big piece of his soul, Noah knew that it would regenerate, as it had already begun to slowly grow back through the constant flow of Mana.
He even discovered that by infusing Mana into his Blood Core, this soul regeneration strengthened, and became way better than before.
However, he would need time to go back to his full strength.
His attack was certainly devastating, and it bought a lot of time to him and his group, the consequences of it were within his calculations.
As Iris and the rest quickly began to slaughter the six last Fire Wyrms, Noah glared at the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, who was panting for air while losing blood constantly.
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor was gasping for air with its several heads, a large piece of its left lung was lost with the attack, making it lethargic.
Although the wounds were regenerating and even his lung was doing so, the wound was too big and the hemorrhage was not stopping, the wound would take too long to heal in time.
It really was caught off guard.
Because Noah and his group were running away, it thought that they were not really a threat, and followed them while lowering his guard.
If he had activated a flame barrier before time, he would have been able to not receive as much damage… but now, he had paid for his mistake.
His "endless stamina" did not seem endless anymore, and because the Blazing Wyrm Emperor only knew offensive spells, it could not hasten its regeneration through spells…
However, it could seal the wound.
Although Fire Wyrms were immune to fire, that was only in their exterior.
In their insides such as flesh and organs, they were not immune to fire.
Noah glanced as the Blazing Wyrm Emperor began to burn his own wound!
"Nnnggruuuoooh…! Nnngrraaaah…!"
The wound began to be burned, as the hemorrhage suddenly stopped, the wound was sealed by burnt flesh and muscles, although the bone within could still be seen, he was no longer losing blood, and the constant loss of stamina stopped.
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor sighed in relief, although it felt his entire body aching… the loss of blood made his entire body feel slower, as he needed blood pumping through his veins constantly to move such a gigantic body.
He slowly stood up, although he moved incredibly slow now… however, his eyes were blazing with anger… he was dead-set to annihilate Noah, whom he glared directly into his eyes.
"You resilient bastard… Even blasting one of your lungs off did not work… But now he is weakened and slow… We better hurry before he gets here… Oh? It seems that my army is soon to recover completely… Good…" thought Noah, as he quickly joined back with Iris and the rest before the Blazing Wyrm Emperor could catch up with them at last.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions of black thunder, nether fire, shadows, corrosion, and more resonated through the battlefield, as the Fire Wyrm's enormous bodies began to fall into the ground one by one.
Clash! Clash! Clash! Clash…!
"Noah-sama! Four down!" said Iris, as Noah nodded and immediately raised the four Fire Wyrms into Blood Servants, using them to overwhelm the other two left!
"ROOOAARR…!"
"GROOOAARR…!"
The two Fire Wyrms cooperated to survive, unleashing lava bullets and breaths of fire everywhere, trying to desperately breakthrough Noah's group, but it was all useless!
The Blood Servant Fire Wyrms used themselves as shields to protect their masters, as they began to regenerate like undying beasts, roaring fiercely, as they bit, slashed, and attacked the two last standing Fire Wyrms!
"Die already and become my husband's soldiers, lowly beasts!" roared Iris, boldly rushing over the beasts while coating herself in her phantom and berserk mode skills, as a coating of clear blue phantasmal aura and red aura encompassed her body!
Her black nails grew like beastly fox-like claws, and her fangs grew long and monstrous, coating herself on her nether fire, she slashed through the beast's necks, leaving deep and large wounds all around them, which were then abused by everyone else!
"Perish!" roared Timassa, firing black thunder arrows towards the beasts and worsening their wounds!
BOOM! BOOM!
Arthur used corrosion to slow them down, Jon kept draining the beast's Mana and Life and distributing it around the party (mostly Noah), while Adamantine followed Iris around, being as beastly as her!
The last standing Fire Wyrms groaned in agony, their necks exploded into pieces, and their heads were crushed.
Even with such strong carapaces, they were not able to cover their heads, even though they were already covered in strong, metallic scales!
"ROAAAAAARR…!"
"GGGRROOOARR…!"
CLASH! CLASH!
The two corpses fell over the body, as Noah immediately raised them into Blood Servants right in time!
"Now that you have slain the last one, are you satisfied?! Is this what you wanted above all else, cowardly rats?! Now fight me like true warriors so I can burn through all of you!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as he slowly began to conjure magic!
"He's here, Noah-sama!" said Arthur.
"Noah!" said Iris.
"I know, and they are ready!" said Noah with a grin, he still felt weakened, but it was not as if he had given up on fighting himself!
His army was already back to full health, and he had the most genius idea of simply dropping them above the bastard!
Flash!
Using Crimson Flash and Vampiric Wings to increase his speed momentarily, Noah reached the Blazing Wyrm Emperor's area above his body in a few seconds while evading his jaws trying to tear him apart!
"How about of a little family reunion?!" laughed Noah, as he opened a giant wound on his chest, as an entire sea of crimson red liquid and phantom rushed over the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, shaping as tens of Fire Wyrms!
Noah's capacity for Blood Servants had increased as he raised more and increased the proficiency of the Skill, now he could have 110 of them, so he had room to spare for all these Blood Servants Fire Wyrms!
"Ngh?! Your movements are so fast! You bastard… this is because of my own weakened state…! Aggh! Get off me!!!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, fighting against all of his kin, now raised back as deadly and incessant Undead that kept regenerating from his wounds!
Some even started merging together, entangling him like vicious, crimson-colored slimy beasts, while others unleashed breaths of crimson fire towards it, attacking and impacting its scales so he could be weakened for larger wounds to be inflicted over his skin and flesh!
Another batch attacked his legs, biting them and trying to burn them with their breaths of fire, which were of a different element than pure fire, similar to blood attribute rather than fire attribute, being able to bypass the Emperor's immunity and deal damage to the scales, melting them slowly to open a way for the tender flesh beneath to be revealed!
Noah evaded the Blazing Wyrm Emperor's attacks as he could, but his soul was still regenerating!
He kept using several skills to get off his range, but the enormous and long necks the beast possessed served as whips, attacking him, and blasting him into the ground!
CLASH!
"Ungh…!"
Thankfully, Noah had predicted such an outcome, using several layers of Crimson Aegis to protect himself alongside his Blood Armor, which was shattering into pieces…
However, he saw as his Blood Servants began to take the upper hand in battle, entangling and managing to inflict wounds in the fearful Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
"I am… not dying without taking you with me!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as Noah began to run away from his range, however!
FLASH!
An enormous aura of flames emerged from the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, as he used everything he could, pouring his very soul into the attack!
Yes, his very soul!
It was like Noah's attack, he was using his very soul as a weapon!
"DIEEEE!" roared the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, unleashing an enormous blast of Blazing Soul, coming from his very soul like a cannon that could disintegrate everything!
Noah used everything at his disposal, but the attack neared him incessantly…!
But it wasn't as if he was alone!
Iris and company emerged near the Blazing Wyrm Emperor after having charged their power, unleashing an enormous storm of combined elements over the beast's heads, moving the direction of its attack to the left, saving Noah from being disintegrated!
BOOOOOM!
The beam of blazing soul clashed against the far-away walls of the volcanic landscape and even the ground below, generating enormous explosions and tremors all around!
"NNNGRRRRRUUOOOOOHH…!"
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor roared in anger, as Iris and everyone else kept showering him with attacks until the ceiling started to fall apart when his Blazing Soul Breath hit it, as enormous boulder started to fall over the monstrous creature!
As this landscape was more of an enormous underground volcanic cave, the beast began to bury itself in enormous boulders!
Iris and everyone else flew towards Noah, grabbing him and moving him away from danger, as the Blood Servants took care of the last seconds of life of the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, sucking off his blood from his wounds and tearing apart his neck and flesh!
"NNNGRRYYAAAAHH…! YOU… YOU COWARDS…!" he groaned, feeling like a betrayed warrior who was never given a fitting end, he died bitterly!
BOOM!
Buried in stones and Blood Servants, the powerful Hidden Boss, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, had died.
Noah glanced with a tired expression at the scene…
"R-Rise…" he muttered, as the Blazing Wyrm Emperor slowly began to become a Blood Servant, however, before that, Noah fell unconscious…
Noah once more felt submerged in eternal darkness.
As he slowly began to feel like his senses, dulled as they were, began to awaken, he opened his eyes within this darkness, glancing around.
Suddenly, he noticed the presence of the Blood Progenitor, who was being entangled in darkness.
"You are here to spite on me again?" asked the Blood Progenitor with a bitter expression.
"Hm? No, I was transported in here due to falling unconscious. I am beginning to believe that this space is something within my very soul. I wonder if I can employ it somehow in a different way…" wondered Noah.
"How many times do you plan to fall unconscious? Without your subordinates, you would be dead!" said the Blood Progenitor.
"That is why I have them, so I can sometimes go all out. I can trust that they will protect my back. That is their whole point… Did you really had a brain when you were alive?" asked Noah.
"Tch! Allies will get you nowhere! They are a mere weakness! You will suffer through-"
"Silence. More importantly, I wanted to ask you something. When I fought the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, he talked about his own world, about a cataclysm, and something else as well… What is that all about? Do you know something?" asked Noah, as he spoke a bit about what the Wyrm said as well, such as the Draconic Fathers he mentioned.
"Hmph! How would I know something?! That is not my world, do you think that Abyss, the world of Vampires has volcanic landscapes and giant fire dragons? We would have exterminated them long ago! Abyss is a dark and cold place, it is filled with Undead, poisonous seas, and abyssal caverns filled with shadow fiends! That Wyrm most likely spoke about his own world, and if he mentioned something about his Draconic Fathers… Perhaps those are his progenitors. The ones he descends from. Before being brought to your world as a Blood Core, I had never visited another world, so my information and knowledge about such things is nonexistent," said the Blood Progenitor.
"I guess I shouldn't have bothered asking you- Wait for a second… You are a Vampire Progenitor yourself, right?" asked Noah.
"Yes, why?" asked the Blood Progenitor.
"And your level of strength was SSS-Rank… Then, if those Draconic Fathers are also Progenitors like you… their level of strength…" muttered Noah.
"SSS-Rank too? Hmph… Have Dragons emerged before in your world?" asked the Blood Progenitor.
"From the records that I have investigated, there was only one single occasion, and it was in the middle of the Apocalyptic Era. The Apocalypse began 20 years ago, the Apocalyptic Era was the first ten years after the Apocalypse began," said Noah.
"So a Dragon emerged after five years of the Apocalypse in this feeble, magic-less world?" asked the Blood progenitor.
"Indeed. It was said that it caused immense chaos, bringing down entire mountains with its breath, its power was immense… but there was a group of Hunters at that time who somehow defeated it, all of them went missing through the 15 years after that, though…" said Noah.
"That was an incredibly chaotic era, I can guess… Nonetheless, did that Wyrm said something about them emerging?" asked the Blood Progenitor.
"No, he did not… but something on his tone of voice makes me think that there might be the possibility of them coming here… through the gates. There are unexplored S-Rank Gates or even higher Ranks that had been secured by the governments of many Sectors combined, not even S-Rank Hunters are guaranteed to be capable of cleaning them after all… And they do not want to waste the lives of such a precious resource as them, so they make sure to prepare a lot with such Gates…" said Noah.
"If the monsters can escape from the gates, and if they are not cleansed continuously… They might escape eventually," said the Blood Progenitor.
"If the world ends by those bastards what there will be left for me? I have to become strong enough to stop them before that," sighed Noah.
Suddenly, a third voice resonated through the dark space, startling Noah, and the Blood Progenitor.
"Youuu…! YOU!"
Noah immediately remembered that voice! It was the voice of the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
"That's… Another soul?! How did it get inside of your own?!" roared the Blood Progenitor while gritting his teeth.
"This bastard… I remember making him a Blood Servant before falling unconscious… there's no way… did he somewhat resist my authority over him and now he's reveling?!" asked Noah in surprise, readying himself for a soul battle if needed!
However, his soul was still weak, he might have to risk it all in such a fight!
Flash!
Enormous quantities of soul flames rushed towards Noah, as he readied himself for the impact!
CLASH!
Wait, clash?
Noah opened his eyes, as he noticed that nothing damaged him.
However, the body of the Blazing Wyrm Emperor emerged in front of him on all of his splendor, like an ethereal version of his real body, glaring at him while lowering all of his necks and heads.
"You didn't attack me?" asked Noah.
"You! You are…! You are my Master! Noah-sama!" said the Blazing Wyrm Emperor, sticking his enormous tongues out of his jaws and beginning to lick Noah's entire body as if it were a gigantic puppy!
This left the Blood Progenitor and Noah paralyzed in disbelief.
Slurp, slurp.
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor kept licking Noah happily.
"STOP LICKING ME!" roared Noah, unleashing his power and slapping the faces of the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
Slap!
"Agh! S-Sorry Master! Did it cause discomfort?" asked the Blazing Wyrm Emperor.
"Yes, it did… And more importantly, you are not resisting my domination? And even more, you can speak… you are the first Blood Servant I get that can speak!" said Noah.
"Resist? Why would I resist my master's orders and authority? Master is Master! I live to serve you, my liege! …And I can speak because my soul is strong!" said the Blazing Wyrm Emperor.
"Is that… so?" asked the Blood Progenitor as he glanced at this scene from the back.
Similarly to him, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor was a monster with intelligence, and he could speak due to the strength of his soul too, something that not even the former humans Noah made into Blood Servants could do…
"(I guess he got completely brainwashed when he became a Blood Servant…)" thought Noah.
"Well, I have a lot of questions for you… but first, let's give you a fitting name, calling you Blazing Wyrm Emperor all the time will kill me…" said Noah.
"A name?! Really?" asked the Blazing Wyrm Emperor as his long ail began to wave around, just like a dog.
"…Yes. Your name will be… Because you seemed full of pride before becoming my Servant… Pride," said Noah as a piece of his soul flew out of him and combined with the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
Flash!
[The [Blood Servant Blazing Wyrm Emperor: Knight Grade] has received a name!]
[The Grade of [Blood Servant Blazing Wyrm Emperor: Knight Grade: Pride] Grade has increased to Elite Knight!]
Flash!
Suddenly, as he gained his own name, Pride was filled with an enormous rush of aura, encompassing all of its entirety!
The energy condensed into its soul, strengthening it and making it evolve, increasing his grade!
He had now become Elite Knight Grade!
"Hmm?! I feel stronger, Master!" said Pride.
"Good, you have increased your Grade now. So you can become of greater use for me in the future… But now, Pride, I want you to answer me some questions," said Noah.
"Anything!" said Pride.
"Tell me who are the Draconic Fathers and about your world," said Noah, his eyes gleaming with intrigue!
"Oh, that's easy! Although I have not met them personally, the Draconic Fathers are the progenitors of all Wyrms, Wyverns, Dragons, and other draconic species. They are figures equal to Gods, they are our creators and eldest ancestors where all of us originated!"
"In Vedas, our world, there were once four of them, Agni, the Draconic Father of Searing Flames, Varuna, the Draconic Father of Uncontrollable Oceans, Vayu, the Draconic Father of Storming Winds, and Indra, the former Draconic Father of Lightning and Thunder… In the history of our world, Indra-sama, however, separated into two beings, his evil counterpart, an entity that encompassed darkness and drought, Vritra… after a catastrophic battle, Vritra imprisoned Indra and used his powers to bring forth the dead from the underground to the surface, giving birth to Dracoliches, our enemies… Or well, before everything around the cataclysms happened…" said Pride.
Pride revealed a bit of the lore of his own unique world named Vedas, where four Draconic Fathers created all Dragons, however, the fourth one, for a certain reason, separated himself in two, bringing forth the enemy of these four Draconic Fathers, imprisoning his twin and bringing forth the death to the surface of this world.
It was an intriguing and fascinating world, which made Noah desire to one day explore it, he did not know how, but such a thought remained within his mind.
"Do you know more about the Gates that originated in your world? Are those five planning to get in Earth?" asked Noah.
Pride seemed a bit confused as he waved his head.
"I am sorry, my lord, but I do not know the details of such things… I was imprisoned in the Dungeon's space long ago, and before that, the Draconic Fathers had not descended in eons. It is not known if they truly came here or remained within our world," said Pride.
Then, Noah decided to tell Pride about the Dragon that appeared in the middle of the Apocalyptic Era.
"Ah! Could… could that had been Agni-sama…?! He was described to be a walking catastrophe, his breath could consume mountains and shape the land to his liking… Perhaps… He could have been… defeated…" sighed Pride.
"Hm… I hope so, one less of those guys to deal with," said Noah.
"Well, I have no relation to them anymore, as I serve my liege above all else now," said Pride, quickly recovering.
"So I am guessing that this guy will become my roommate or something?" asked the Blood Progenitor.
"Master… who could that be?" asked Pride.
"He's the Blood Progenitor, the original owner of my abilities, now, he's imprisoned inside of my soul, don't let him manipulate you and don't listen to any order he could give to you," said Noah.
"Very well," said Pride, becoming wary of the Blood Progenitor.
"Hmph, as if trying to convince this lizard would change anything in my situation…" sighed the Blood Progenitor.
Suddenly, Noah felt as he was slowly waking up.
"I suppose this is my farewell, I will meet you in the outside world, Pride," said Noah.
"Yes, my lord, I shall await your call," said Pride, as Noah suddenly disappeared from this black space.
Both the Blood Progenitor and Pride silently began to stare at each other…
"…So…" muttered Pride, as the Blood Progenitor glared at him rather bitterly.
"Err… What do you do to pass the time?" asked Pride.
"…I sleep," said the Blood Progenitor.
"…Sleep? Oh…" said Pride.
"It is better than being reminded of my pathetic situation. At least on my dreams, I can be a bit happy," sighed the Blood Progenitor, as he closed his eyes and completely ignored Pride.
"Hi? Are you there?" asked Pride, as he began to poke the Blood Progenitor with his heads.
"What?!" asked the Blood Progenitor.
"Did you slept?" asked Pride.
"No, not even a second passed since I closed my eyes! Scram off!" roared the Blood Progenitor.
"Damn, what is the problem with this guy… How does my lord manage to deal with him?" wondered Pride, resting and deciding to sleep too.
Meanwhile, Noah's senses were beginning to be fully regained now, as he felt the warmth of the sun crossing through the window embrace his face and chest…
It seems that he was carried to the manor, as the sun of the window always woke him up.
If he were a conventional Vampire, he would be turning into ashes after being hit by sunlight, but it did not even hurt him.
Even less after bathing himself in flames so much yesterday…
Noah's eyes began to slowly open, as he found that he was indeed on his bed, with a beautiful young woman sleeping peacefully at his side…
"(Iris… She probably carried me here, just like I did for her a few times before… Hah… She looks beautiful when she is not chattering all the time…)" thought Noah, releasing a mild smile as he glanced at Iris sleeping face, she seemed in peace, and her face looked pure and carefree.
Something deep within Noah made him feel like he needed to protect such an adorably sight…
To make sure to always let her sleep such as carefreely as she is doing now.
"(I have become soft…)" he thought, glaring at the ceiling, some days ago such a thought would have never surged inside of his mind, but now that he was trying to develop his cold feelings a bit more, such thoughts began to emerge from time to time, and whenever he glanced at her, such "human-like" feelings intensified.
"(Just as the Blood Progenitor said. I am really a pathetic man…)" he concluded, realizing that deep within the life he had gone through, having Iris at his side made a large void within his heart be filled.
And without him realizing, the other voids were also being filled by his cheerful and loyal subordinates.
He purposedly looked for people who needed to change their lives, that needed strength, and create scenarios where they could only rely on him.
Yes, it might have been incredibly scummy, but now that they had become so strong, it seemed to not be a downside at all for them.
And it was not as if Noah minded being scummy or not.
However, he could not help but have feelings surge within his heart as he glanced at Iris.
Have his powers somehow brainwashed her mind to make her love him?
Or Iris was weak-minded enough to fall in love with the first person that finally gave her the help she needed and the power she desired to change her fate?
None of such questions answers mattered in anything.
But Noah's mind or at least a small part of it was being slightly annoyed by them.
Nonetheless, he had almost no feelings of morality, so he had no guilt for anything he had done.
But he had pride, and the thought of having brainwashed someone to love him did not suit well with such pride.
As Iris slowly opened her eyes and smiled peacefully at Noah, he asked her directly.
"Iris, do you feel brainwashed by me?" he asked.
"E-Eh? W-What kind of question is that?" asked Iris.
"Answer me truthfully," said Noah.
"H-How can you even think that? Is it because of the Subordinate's Royalty Skill, Noah?" asked Iris while glaring at Noah with a bit of concern.
"…Maybe," said Noah.
"No, that Skill doesn't brainwash me… it is more of a contract type of thingy. I have in my mind the "law" or "order" of never betraying you… But it is not exactly brainwashing, it is something of a restraint, different from brainwashing…" said Iris while furrowing her eyebrows, touching Noah's nose teasingly.
"I see…" said Noah, feeling a bit relieved.
"I fell in love with you because you brought me many opportunities and… you never discriminated against me, you never insulted me as everyone else did… and if you did, they were always subtle, and only to encourage me to strive to become better and stronger… Have you ever done something bad to me that was not to encourage me to become braver or stronger? …You had never really had bad intentions with me, didn't you? How wouldn't I fall in love with such a man? My entire life I had… been always alone… But you always stood at my side, and even protected me and helped me become stronger so I could take care of my own too! …It was obvious that I would end up sticking to you…" said Iris with a gentle smile, making Noah a bit flustered…
"A-Ah… I see… That's how it is then…" said Noah, although the thought of "the brainwash makes her think that there is no brainwash" emerged on his mind, he quickly decided to eliminate such thoughts, what was done was done anyways, perhaps he needed to be more confident in such things like he is in everything else.
"What kind of thoughts were you having?" asked Iris concerned.
"Nothing… Never mind what I said," said Noah.
"…Are you sure? I am… your wife now… you can tell me those things… I want you to open up to me a bit…" said Iris.
"…I suppose it is the lack of experience I possess in a relationship, which had made me slightly lack confidence in such a matter, but your answer has relieved my mind, so let's not continue this topic. Nonetheless, there were times where I was way too harsh when you only had good intentions, it was simply my immaturity at that time, I apologize. I will make sure to make up for it," said Noah.
"Oh… I see! I felt kind of the same… I am glad that I could clean it up for you! And... well, yeah, but don't worry about it now, we are here now, that's what matters... And..." said Iris, cheerfully smiling at Noah as she kissed his nose.
"I love you…" she said.
"...I love you too," said Noah rather expressionlessly, although Iris could see through his eyes that he seemed happy.
Noah had just… said something big without realizing it!
"EH?!" asked Iris in shock!
"What?" asked Noah.
"You said it! You said… it…" said Iris while blushing and releasing steam.
"Hm? What are you even talking about?" asked Noah.
"T-That's… the first time you said that Noah! That you love me…" said Iris.
"Is that so? I thought I had said it before…" wondered Noah.
"N-No… well, never as direct…" said Iris.
"Well, I believed that it was correct to reciprocate for your feelings with my own. Was I wrong?" asked Noah.
"Eh? No, no! Not at all… It was… it felt nice… no one ever had told me that… Much like you… I am an orphan, you know? And well… this world is so horrible that… It's just…" muttered Iris.
"Don't think about the past anymore. With you at my side, this world does not seem too bad for me, Iris," said Noah, interrupting Iris' thoughts.
"Noah…" said Iris, feeling charmed once more by his simple words.
After being so mellow since he woke up, Iris was being showered by words of love from Noah in the most anticlimactic ways. His expressionless and often cold face made it even more creepy for anyone else that would not be Iris.
However, Iris was someone that was deeply connected with Noah and was even capable of discerning his emotions even though he wore an expressionless and cold face.
This was mostly because she had such talent from birth, which intensified when she awakened her Phantom Attribute.
…Although now that Iris thought about it, there was a bit of an external influence for her falling in love with Noah, but she believed that such an influence wouldn't have affected her feelings that much anyway, as she would have ended falling for him at the end… which was the supernatural handsomeness that came with being a Vampire Progenitor such as him… such charm intensified when she turned into a Dhampir, but it wasn't as intense to make her brainwashed or something, but it could be said that it gave Noah a head start.
Although Noah did not notice it nor even recognized it, he was indeed very handsome, mostly because his entire life he had never cared about physical appearance, so he never truly realized such stupid, useless things such as physical appearance.
However, Iris could recall a bit of him before being a Vampire, and he did not look half-bad then, a bit above average, perhaps.
"Hehe, is every morning going to be you talking stuff like this? You are rather the deep thinker in the morning, aren't you?" asked Iris as she moved her finger around Noah's chest, slightly teasing his nipples.
"Perhaps you want me to be a bit more physical about my feelings? I am rather talented at that, seeing by how much you enjoy it…" said Noah rather confidently.
"E-Eh? Y-You are so confident now…" said Iris, as she felt her heart beginning to race. However, she suddenly swallowed her saliva, as she asked Noah something.
"Hm?" asked Noah.
"C-Can I take the initiative this time?" asked Iris while blushing, her body began to suddenly get warmer, as sweat began to cover her skin and made everything a bit steamy right away…
"…I suppose so," said Noah, as Iris's eyes gleamed with excitement…
"T-Then…!" said Iris while drooling a bit, as she quickly took Noah's shirt away and glanced at his muscular torso.
Noah glared at her expressionlessly, noticing that Iris's expression was as if she was glancing at the most delectable of delicacies…
Without even saying another word, Iris started to smell Noah's manly scent coming from his chest to his abs, and entailing smell that filled her nostrils and made her go numb a bit…
Without even a second of thought, she stuck her tongue out and began to lick Noah's abdominals, which were as hard as rocks, as Noah glanced at her with amusement over the things she got excited about…
"Hmm~ Hahh~ Noah-sama's abs are so tasty~" she moaned.
Noah sighed internally as he let her do as she pleased for a bit.
Slowly, Iris began to move her tongue upwards, reaching his chest as she began to kiss it and lick it rather lasciviously…
Reaching Noah's nipples she began to touch them slowly and gently, gripping them with her fingers until she moved her warm lips towards the closest one.
"Ahh~ Such hard and manly nipples~ Nam," said Iris, as she began to suck Noah's nipples shamelessly!
"N-Now… what are you doing?" said Noah, as he felt the stimulation making him a bit shocked… he never thought such a shameful act would make him excited, but the erection emerging below his pants said it all…
Iris kept slurping Noah's nipples, using her warm and slimy tongue to touch the tip and the suction force to pull them inside of her mouth, using her teeth to gently bite them as well, making the stimulation all the better…
"Smooch… Hahhh~ Don't you like it? I can tell that you do…" said Iris teasingly, as she slowly began to stroke Noah's cock with her fair hands, quickly moving away from his pants.
"Hahh… Y-You…!" moaned Noah, as he felt a bit angered by Iris's acts, but due to the excitement of the moment, he didn't force her out of his chest, her hands grasping his cock began to stroke harder as she sucked Noah's nipples and played with them…
"Hahh…"
Noah felt like his body temperature quickly increased, he began to sweat intensively, which only made Iris lick his own sweat too...
She was a bit… kinky, it seemed.
And Noah's mellowness might have allowed her to unleash a bit of that side.
However, she slowly moved her tongue and lips down through Noah's abs, reaching his penis, as she moved her nose over the tip of it, smelling its manly and strong scent.
"Hmm~ Hahh~ Thanks for the meal~," she said, beginning to lick the tip of Noah's penis playfully, moving her warm and slimy tongue around the glands and below it, making Noah felt an amazingly delicious pleasure!
He could not help it any longer, as he moved his hand over Iris's head and decided to fight her teasing!
Pushing her down, Noah's penis entered Iris' mouth and even reached her throat in an instant, making him twitch a bit in surprise.
"If you are going to be like this, don't blame for being a bit rude as well!" said Noah, grasping Iris' hair and beginning to move her down his hard cock, as he felt her warm tongue suck his penis all around, while her warm breath encompassed the tip… her hard teeth did not bit him, but slowly rubbed against his skin, making it all an encompassing and combined experience that made it an incredibly good blowjob.
Iris, however, liked Noah to be rude with her, and happily obliged to his demands, sucking his cock fervently, as if her life depended on it!
The delicious salty flavors of Noah's cock resonated through her warm tongue, as she sensed his precum coming out from the tip from time to time, which she happily drank each time…
"Hahh… This…!" muttered Noah, he felt like something was coming!
Gritting his teeth and pushing Iris's head right to the base of his cock, Noah ejaculated inside the depths of Iris's throat, as a creamy wave of warm seed was instantly swallowed by his wife.
Noah's hip trembled a bit by reflex, as Iris slowly began to clean his cock while drinking it all, slowly moving to the tip and release Noah's dick from her mouth's imprisonment.
"Phew… Noah, you came so much… It was a delicious breakfast, fufu~" said Iris, noticing that Noah's cock was still as hard as before…
"We are not done here…" he muttered, quickly sitting on the bed, and grasping Iris's shoulders, throwing her on the bed, and kissing her neck and shoulders.
"Aaahh~ Noah… So intense~" she moaned, as Noah moved his lips and tongue down to her breasts, which he had noticed were always growing a bit each time she evolved…
Squeezing Iris' breasts and sucking them off, Iris started to moan loudly, as Noah quickly sneaked his fingers down her wet pussy, which was waiting for some stimulation.
"Aaah~! W-Wait! Oh~! Oof~! N-Noah~!"
Iris felt as Noah's strong and hard fingers started to slowly spread her vagina walls, her natural juices acted as lube, making of his exploration and preparation for his cock swifter.
"Oohh~! Y-You are spreading it…! Hahhh~!" moaned Iris, as Noah slowly moved his mouth down there, tasting Iris insides once and for all.
His tongue quickly entered her wet pussy lips, exploring the insides of her vagina and tasting the flavor of her juices, like an intoxicating liquor which he could not get enough of, he kept sucking it off for more and more, until Iris moaned even louder than before, almost entering in complete ecstasy!
"Oooohhh~! S-Shit…! N-Noah, you're sucking me off so good~!" moaned Iris.
Suddenly, Noah stopped, leaving Iris gasping for air, as she had expected a bit more before she could climax herself…
But Noah had other plans, gently shoving his cock inside of Iris's wet pussy…
"A-Ah! It's inside…! C-Come!" said Iris, embracing Noah in a tight hug as she immediately leg-locked his hips with her strong legs, leaving them in a passionate mating press position.
"Let's make this morning worthwhile… shall we?" asked Noah charmingly.
"Hahh… Yes~" said Iris, smiling with enamored eyes at Noah.
Noah immediately began to kiss Iris passionately, moving his hips faster and faster, as they continued mating through the morning, disregarding all of their concerns at least for a few minutes and giving out to the pleasures of their mortal flesh.
Clementina suddenly opened her eyes, finding herself inside a large room within a manor…
"Eh? Where am I…?" she wondered.
She sat down in the comfortable bed, and felt like sleeping for a few more hours, but the light of the sun crossing through the window would not probably let her do as she pleased.
However, she could not remember how she got into the bed to begin with…
Memories of last night slowly came to her mind.
After being turned into a Vampire by Noah and then saved from an interrogation, she was sent alongside Noah's Blood Servants and Robots towards a Dungeon to grind as many Cores as possible with them.
She remember battling there for hours and hours, overusing her powers constantly while recharging her mana by drinking the blood of the monsters present in there…
At some point, after many hours, her consciousness started to become cloudy, and like a wild beast, she fought and massacred constantly anything on her path, until she completely lost her consciousness…
And now, she woke up in here.
"I have to explore around then… But… Hm? I feel the presence of very strong people in here…" thought Clementina, walking through the room she was in and lightly opening the door.
She found a long corridor, walking through it, she heard the voices of people talking and eating downstairs…
"Hm? Are those…?" she wondered, as something at her back emerged…
A figure coated in shadows, extending a hand, and touching her shoulder!
"AAAH!" cried Clementina, startled by the hand as she fell over the floor.
She glanced at the culprit!
…It was a beautiful and thin robot girl, with gray and black colors, her beauty was like that of a robotic princess, with a stoic and expressionless yet beautiful face.
She was wearing a maid outfit too, for some reason.
"…Eh? You… Ah! You are the robot they call Big Sis, right?" asked Clementina.
"Indeed, sorry to startle you, but I used Shadow Travel to come right towards you as I see that using my Blood Core Battery Ability is more efficient than walking sometimes… Clementina, right?" asked Big Sis, who still has not gotten a proper name, although Noah called her War Machine.
"Yeah. Was I carried here while I was unconscious?" asked Clementina.
"Precisely. I carried you, in fact. You were unconscious even after we reached the manor, so I left you inside a room by Arthur-sama's orders. Did you sleep well, Clementina?" asked Big Sis.
"Yes… Thanks for taking care of me… in the dungeon we did not had much time to talk with each other, but you seem to be very nice… I have never actually spoken to a robot before, sorry if I am a bit awkward," apologized Clementina.
"Not at all. Noah-sama had given me and my sisters an introduction of who you were, Clementina Silvercrown Icespear. Oh, he seems to be calling you downstairs, so please, follow me," said Big Sis, as she touched Clementina's shoulder and covered her in shadows, both of them suddenly disappearing in a puddle of shadows…
Flash!
Just a second after, both of them emerged right behind Noah, who was having breakfast with the rest of his subordinates.
"Here she is, Noah-sama." Said Big Sis while gently bowing down her head, after having her Mana Core Battery converted into a Blood Core Battery, she gained a greater connection with Noah similar to his converted subordinates, and after yesterday's training, she assimilated a lot of Cores and monsters materials, enhancing and evolving her Shadow Attribute within her Blood Core Battery and developing the Shadow Travel Ability, giving her the power to travel through shadows of people she has "marked" with her shadow, who were at least less than 30 meters near her.
"Thanks, Noire," said Noah.
"N-Noire?" asked Big Sis.
"This is your new name, calling you Big Sis is not suited for me, and War Machine is too long," said Frank, as Noire suddenly felt a light amount of power enter her Blood Core Battery after being named… similarly to Noah's Blood Servants!
"Ah… such a wonderful name. Thanks, Noah-sama," said Noire.
"Wait… how did I got here?" asked Clementina in shock, in just a few seconds, she was teleported from the second floor to the first floor…
"Noire brought you here through her special Ability. Clementina, I see that you worked very hard, my Blood Servants and the Robots said that you were the one that fought the most. There should be enough Blood Cores for you to reach C-Rank now," said Noah.
"C-Rank?! Me?" asked Clementina.
"Yes, there are enough Cores, we don't need them as we are C-Rank, we had already achieved that Rank. And soon, we shall achieve B-Rank, in fact," said Noah.
"B-Rank…?" asked Clementina, thinking that Noah was, perhaps, making a joke.
There was no way that someone could advance to B-Rank in the span of a day and a half…
Or was it?
"Clementina, believe Noah's words, he's talking the truth," said Iris.
"I-I see… well, I better adapt to this ridiculousness fast… Now that I am a Dhampir and all…" sighed Clementina.
"Also, here," said Frank, as he gently touched Clementina's chest (not breasts, but the area above them) and activated Blood Core Creation.
"Eh?! Ungh…!" cried Clementina, as she felt the materialization of her energy begin to grow within the inside flesh of her chest.
Flash!
The crimson light quickly took ahold of itself, materializing and forming her Blood Core!
Quickly, after, Clementina experienced all of the System notifications regarding the Blood Core creation.
"You harvested a large amount of Cores, so you have enough for everything at the moment. However, we do not have enough B-Rank Cores for you, so you will go harvest them with the rest of my servants until you can catch up with us tomorrow… Do I make myself clear?" asked Noah.
"Yes… I will work hard to grow stronger, Noah-sama… And I will help however I can. You have given me a great opportunity to grow stronger, but I know that it depends on my efforts to actually become stronger…" said Clementina, realizing the wonders of serving Noah at last.
"It is good that you understand, so I don't have to force you to obey me," said Noah.
"F-Force me…?" asked Clementina, as her answer was left unanswered, being asked to join the rest of the family's breakfast by Timassa.
"Anyways, now that we are all present now, I shall assess a few things first. First of all, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor had become my Blood Servant, his name is Pride, and he is capable of speech," said Noah, as Pride emerged from a wound that opened on his shoulder, only poking out a single, enormous head made of crimson and crystallized blood.
"It is a pleasure to meet all of my lord's subordinates- And also his beloved wife…" said Pride respectfully, bowing to Iris, who he immediately realized was Noah's wife as he felt the scent of Noah's bodily fluids impregnated all over her body, and even inside of it through his sharp smelling sense.
Even though they had taken a bath after doing it, they also did it while bathing so… perhaps she was still covered in Noah's scent.
"Eh? (How does he knows?) …Yeah, nice to meet you Pride," said Iris with a gentle smile.
"Damn, so it is really the Wyrm Emperor… He became so serviceable now…" said Arthur.
"Indeed, it is surprising… Especially when he was so prideful and bold before…" said Timassa.
"I guess that's why the name of Pride…" said Jon.
"Oh right! …I guess," said Arthur.
"Noah-sama naming sense is on point once more," said Timassa.
"Dragon meat! It was tasty!" said Adamantine, who had eaten a large piece of roasted Wyrm meat that was harvested from yesterday's dungeon exploration, the meat was hard but very flavorful.
"Well, I am not really a Dragon… But I am happy that my corpse could had been enjoyed by my lord's subordinates," said Pride, being the complete opposite of his past self, the name of "Pride" didn't really fit him now.
"Aside from this, we have finally gathered enough Cores for all of us except Clementina to reach B-Rank… After our relentless effort, we had finally reached our first milestone!" said Noah, raising a cup of Wyrm blood.
Noah opened his Dimensional Storage Ring, as a large pile of hundreds of C-Rank Attribute Value Cores flowed out like a river, they were too many!
The intense battles they had yesterday paid off!
By doing something that no hunter could ever do such as battling tens of Fire Wyrms and even defeating the strong Hidden Boss who had taken many hunter lives… they were properly compensated for their efforts!
Everyone's crimson eyes shined brightly with excitement… it was finally time to leave school and do as they pleased!
Read Vampire Overlord System in the Apocalypse Chapter 121 - B-RANK! online for free - AllNovelFull
Any Hunter would think of Noah and the achievements of his subordinates as complete bullshit.
No one would ever believe that a group of young Hunters went inside a C-Rank Dungeon filled with volcanic landscapes with searing heat everywhere and somehow survive there for hours without burning alive from the heat alone, while also taking down giant, armored Wyrms with the ability to attack from long distances and even hide beneath boiling lava…
The Dungeon was already considered one of the hardest within the C-Rank Dungeons, within the few B-Rank Hunters that existed, not many of them had gone into it, and even as B-Rank, they did not plan to go any time soon.
It was simply a dungeon that was too inconvenient in too many things.
It had a terrible environment, not all Hunters, even after becoming B-Rank, had resistance to Fire Attribute, or if they had, it did not mean they had regeneration abilities.
Simply put, one requires great regeneration and resistance to be able to survive in this Dungeon for more than an hour, which was often the limit Hunters could take before leaving the Dungeon to take a break outside.
And if things were not more terrible, the common monster there was immense, bigger than 10 meters, with enormous carapaces that could easily take most C-Rank Skills to head-on, strong metallic scales, powerful ability to manipulate Lava, and breath attacks that could reach several meters… the Fire Wyrms were indeed absurd…
And that without even considering the possibility of having to fight the Hidden Boss, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor… a monster even stronger than the Boss who resided within a large underground cave, which was sealed so the Dungeon could be kept for harvest Cores and other materials…
The Blazing Wyrm Emperor's strength was… overwhelmingly absurd too, perhaps too much in some areas.
Normal Hunters that were C-Rank would never be able to fathom doing all of what Noah and his subordinates did in a single night.
It would take the months, perhaps years to reach the number of Cores they got last night, as the adventurer parties would often be able to just fight one monster and then leave due to the searing heat…
But Noah and the rest kept fighting and fighting, burning their entire bodies, and regenerating constantly… They were not humans at all, they were more like monsters.
Even if B-Rank Hunters could still enter C-Rank Dungeons, they would still prefer to not try their luck in such a dungeon despite being of lower rank than them, as often, lower rank than them didn't simply mean that a B-Rank Hunter would be able to treat C-Rank monsters as ants and stomp them over easily without a problem, a Fire Wyrm was still a challenge to a B-Rank Hunter, as a large pack of them could be an even greater challenge, perhaps even putting the B-Rank Hunter on the line…
It could be said that Noah and his subordinates were easily violating any concept that there was once thought and understood about Hunters and their power levels, completely shattering any belief there was, which intensified even more as they were able to get powerful Skills and awaken them quickly into higher Grades, making their attacks and everything else even greater.
And now that they were about to reach B-Rank, they might as well slowly revolutionize the entire world and bring forth a new Era, the Era of Vampires.
…However, that will have to wait.
As Noah put the pile of C-Rank Attribute Cores over the floor, everyone glanced at the shiny spheres with bright crimson light within their vampiric eyes, after so long, they had finally achieved the ability to reach B-Rank, the opportunity they had been waiting for so long, they had simply forged it through their sweat, tears, and pain!
Noah's soul still felt weakened even after resting, but he knew that after he absorbed all of these Cores, he would be able to regenerate his soul through the use of the energy given by the cores, making it flow through his body and into his Blood Core, which was directly connected to his soul.
Like this, he could nourish his soul which such energies and trigger a greater and faster regeneration.
"Very well, now that we finished breakfast, let's all absorb these Cores and become B-Rank immediately!" said Noah, quickly separating a large pile of Attribute Cores for himself, and so did everyone else, without leaving a single one to spare left…
Of course, Noah had enough to max all of his stats, while his subordinates who were more specialists did not need to increase their stats to the max in each number to exceed more in what they did, however, whenever they went to another dungeon they would be able to. After all, only one stat is required to reach the required threshold to become a greater Hunter Rank, not all three stats.
Touching the Cores with great greediness son his crimson eyes, Noah felt the pile slowly turn into particles of light, engulfing his entire body and fusing themselves with his very existence.
The rush of energy made his entire mind feel in complete ecstasy, it was like never before, even more, exhilarating than any other Core he had ever absorbed before!
This was… the energy and power of C-Rank Cores, and he could not wait to taste the enormous power that B-Rank, A-Rank, or S-Rank Cores could even give to him!
And not even mention SS-Rank or SSS-Rank Cores! If the Blood Core were already so amazing, he could not even imagine what it could be to collect its equals in large numbers!
For a slight moment, Noah had imagined extracting the Core of one of the Draconic Fathers and acquire an even larger strength!
…However, such things would have to wait, as Noah gritted his teeth and resisted the pleasure, as he felt like if he gave in to it, he would not be able to use this enormous quantity of energy properly!
He could not relax, he needed to unleash his Cultivation Technique!
Noah closed his eyes as he immediately started to meditate, putting his intent into his very body and using his will to move the energies given by the cores, moving them all around his body over and over again through his blood vessels, and then letting the energy rest inside of his Blood Core to be later moved around the body once more…
By repeating this process many times, Noah felt as if his soul was slowly beginning to heal…
And then, its speed increased more and more…
He felt like his Soul was finally regenerating at a decent pace!
The missing pieces of soul started repeating once more, as existing pieces stretched themselves to fill in the empty spaces!
Noah kept doing this method incessantly, until all the energy was properly assimilated, without leaving any leftover or residual energy…
Noah sighed in relief, resting his head on his seat.
He slowly opened his crimson eyes once more, glaring at his surroundings as he found all of his subordinates meditating in a similar way to him, it seemed that they had also developed specific ways of using their internal energies and the power they gained from Cores to strengthen themselves a bit more.
Perhaps it was something instinctual or that they figured out by their own intelligence, or perhaps a thing provoked by their Blood Cores… Noah made sure to ask them whenever they were done, but for now, he decided to assess his own Attribute Panel, being pleasantly surprised by the large change in stats!
[Noah]
[Bloodline: Vampire (Evolved)]
[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Noble-Born Vampire Viscount]
[Vitality: 610]
[Mind: 610]
[Force: 610]
[Skill Points: 45]
[Skill(s): [Blood Progenitor: - (SSS), [Immortal Body: 45 (S), [Eviscerating Crimson Claws: 71 (B), [Vampiric Blood Control: 77 (B), [Blood Weapon Creation: 73 (B), [Unyielding Blood Demon: 45 (B), [Fartalk: 42 (A), [Yin and Yang Crimson Soul: 41 (S), [Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity: 30 (B), [Lifeblood Release: 30 (B), [Vampiric Evil Eyes of Hypnosis and Stupefaction: 20 (B), [Poisonous Blood: 92 (C)] [Blood Curse: 94 (C), [Blood Armor: 97 (C), [Blood Potion: 91 (C), [Blood Combustion: 96 (C), [Flight: 80 (B)] [Mist Form: 67 (C), [Blood Core Creation: 70 (C), [Crimson Flash: 70 (C), [Vampiric Drain: 50 (C), [Blood Frenzy: 55 (C), [Vampiric Wings: 52 (C), [Parallel Mind Thought Processing: 52 (A), [Crimson Aegis: 36 (C), [Blood Storage: 40 (B), [Blood Servant: 53 (B), [Blood Pact: 30 (B), [Blood Prison: 22 (B)]
Noah could not help but release a malicious smile after seeing this, as he touched the several Ability Cores he had stockpiled as well…
B-Rank.
The Rank that any Hunter wished to reach as fast as possible.
It was at this Rank when things became different for them.
B-Rank Hunters were considered special people, celebrities, even.
They were treated excellently by the society of any Sector, and they were able to be above the law, and even the government often decided to not mess with them and even help them, incentivizing their growth so such Hunters would stick with them and also, at the same time, protect the Sector through their dependence to the government thanks to their treatments.
Noah decided to reach B-Rank as fast as possible so he and his party could get out of the school without being persecuted by the government anymore.
They would easily be able to prove their strength by going into a Guild Registration center, register as B-Rank Hunters by upgrading their license cards, and then, by paying a large fee, register a guild for themselves.
With a guild, they would have the power to become a force by themselves within the society of Sector D, and the government would not be able to easily touch them anymore!
Even other guilds such as the Crystal Family guild would not be able to do much, and even if they tried to sneak attack them, they were B-Rank now and had great chances of crushing them back.
Of course, many guilds were greater and bigger… but compared to the many that were lesser than them, they were at a greater advantage as long as they did not provoke such monsters…
However, it was not as if Noah and the rest were done with school, there was a little thing Noah wanted to do before leaving it, involving Fernand Firebrand…
Now that Noah had decided to not kill the bastard due to being the spoiled little brother of an S-Rank Hunter that he did not want to enrage, Noah decided to simply brainwash the brat and use him to extort his big brother to give him materials, which would go directly to Noah and his guild instead!
Fernand was the only kid that was a little brother of an S-Rank Hunter in the whole school, so there was not any other important target aside from him…
However, how he would do it, what type of brainwash it would be, and what else could it be done to him were topics that should be discussed a bit later, as Noah was now simply obsessed with the thought of absorbing these C-Rank Ability Cores.
He had grabbed all the ones he had personally harvested, which included the ones dropped from Pride, the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
This pile was big!
"Over a dozen C-Rank Cores… If I recall correctly, each one should give me around 40-50 Skill Points, however, as I Leveled up my Blood Core Rank, I might get even more Skill Points due to the efficiency of energy assimilation…" thought Noah, already imagining the new Skills he could unlock with all of that!
Noah calculated that he had 26 C-Rank Cores that he harvested, while he left the rest of the Cores to his subordinates.
Flash!
Absorbing them straight away, Noah converted all the Ability Cores that could have otherwise given him crappy random abilities into Skill Points, which he could use to get the Abilities that benefitted and suited him the most, which were even specifically tailored for him by the System and the Blood Core! Noah had the power that many would envy and die for!
However, he realized how easy it would be to give such power to anyone else, such as his subordinates who were all vampiric beings of immense strength, who had Blood Cores and even lesser versions of Skill Trees, and could even unlock more skills by absorbing Ability Cores and turning them into Skill Points!
Ding!
[You exchanged several C-Rank Ability Cores for 2.395 Skill Points!]
Over two thousand Skill Points!
Amazing!
With this, Noah could be able to easily unlock many Skills all at once and increase his strength to greater levels never seen before in new B-Rank Hunters!
And by adding the 45 Skill Points he had left, Noah ended with a whooping 2.440 Skill Points!
This was more than enough for Noah to achieve a greater level of strength right away!
And without even thinking it twice, Noah decided to unlock more Skills, which always came with bonus skill proficiency for all of his Skills and even a little boost on his Attribute Values, as it always did.
"I should check the Skill Tree once more," thought Noah, opening the Skill Tree of the Level III branch.
[Level: III]
[Noble-Born Vampire Viscount (400/400): Spend Skill Points into this branch to unlock more of the innate strength of the Blood Progenitor, such as bonus Attribute Values, Skills, and more.
Additional Abilities can be unlocked after the Branch is Maxed.
Additional Abilities (I): [Elemental Blood Gem Creation (0/500), [Blood Beast Transformation (0/550), [Blood for Blood (0/600)]
Additional Abilities (II): [Moon Protection (0/700), [Blood Mist (0/750), [Vitality Veil (0/800)]
Additional Abilities (III): [Abyssal Connection (0/900), [Kin Summon (0/950), [Blood Scion (0/1000)]
Noah had already maxed the first part of it, which cost a large number of Skill Points being at 400!
However, he had acquired a Skill out of it on Blood Prison, which came very handy in his dungeon exploration. And even more, Noah had also acquired bonus Attribute Values and Skill Proficiency!
With the current Skill Points he had, it should be possible for him to unlock the entire first level of Additional Abilities and… perhaps one Skill from the second level right away!
"With this, I can unlock, perhaps, up to four Skills… And with the Bonus Skill Proficiency, I will get, I wonder if the Skills nearing maximum.
Ding!
[You exchanged 500 Skill Points!]
[You unlocked the [Elemental Blood Gem Creation: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Ding!
[You exchanged 550 Skill Points!]
[You unlocked the [Blood Beast Transformation: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Ding!
[You exchanged 600 Skill Points!]
[You unlocked the [Blood for Blood: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Ding!
[You exchanged 700 Skill Points!]
[You unlocked the [Moon Protection: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Four new Skills!
With these four new Skills, Noah felt his power surging through the skies, soaring higher and higher, and never stopping!
He was becoming unstoppable little by little, a power to be reckoned with!
Each new Skill brought something new to the table as well, having their own unique abilities and effects, which Noah took the chance to inspect to quickly get used to their powers!
The first one in the list, the Elemental Blood Gem Creation Skill seemed to be a fusion of Emerald's Skill with Noah's Blood Weapon Creation Skill, now he was able to transform his own blood or the blood he manipulated into hardened crystals enhanced with elements!
These gems could not only be used as projectile weapons and a great upgrade to the Blood Weapon Creation Skill which could be fused with it for greater effects but these gems could also be used as materials to be sold and resources to be used in the robots or Soul Weapons of everyone!
It was an amazing Skill overall, with both types of utility, in battle and as materials and resources.
In battle, he could combine them with either Blood Weapon Creation to generate amazing and giant floating weapons of crystalized gem blood coated in elements, combine it with Blood Armor to create elemental armors (although that would take some time to properly create), or combine it with Crimson Aegis to generate stronger and even more amazing barriers than ever before!
The possibilities were broader than Noah had imagined at first when he saw the name of the Skill for the first time!
The next Skill was just as amazing, as it could let Noah enhance himself even more by coating himself in blood and transforming into a Blood Beast, momentarily enhancing all of his capabilities in exchange for his judgment to an extent!
But similarly to things such as Blood Frenzy, Noah was already insane, so such aftereffects were nothing to him!
Noah could already picture himself abusing this Skill in combination with many more, going into a full-on berserk mode similarly to Iris or Adamantine, if not deadlier and more monstrous…
However, using so many Skills like these together would put a terrible strain on Noah's body as his vitality would be drained incredibly quickly, if he did not want his blood to dry out too fast, he would not be able to use all of this combination right away, and would still try to leave it for when the enemy could be closer to death or on his last moments when there was no other option, to not waste around precious energy… For this reason, Noah decided to leave it as a last resort powerup.
Noah continued inspecting his Skills in detail.
The third new Skill he acquired was the Blood for Blood Skill, which was an offensive Skill that coated Noah's claws on his own blood, if he were to deal damage into weakened areas of a foe, such as wounds, the damage dealt would increase, almost doubling if proficiency were to reach a high number.
However, this Skill was not only for his claws, as it could also be used for any other method of attacking, meaning the more damaged his foe became, the more wounds it had, the more damage he would be able to deal and the faster he would be able to finish them!
This Skill coupled with other Skills such as Sacrificial Vampiric Veracity, Unyielding Blood Demon, or Lifeblood Release, Noah would be able to enhance all of his capabilities even more while being able to deal extra bonus damage to enemies the more he made them lost blood alongside him losing blood.
Although Noah had begun to consider that such Skills were beginning to pile up a little, and he hoped that there could be a way for him to fuse Skills. Although some Skills had fused when awakened, he desired to fuse them by himself, which could create even stronger Skills.
However, such a dream was still rather far from his grasp, he believed.
The fourth and last Skill he learned today was the Moon Protection Skill, which had a rather simple effect.
As long as Noah fought below the moonlight, all of his Stats would increase based on the proficiency of the Skill, as of now, it increased them by 100, but it could go higher as he increased its proficiency, similarly to other stat-boosting Skills.
"With these Skills, my power has increased once more. Good, just good enough for our debut in the Guild Registration test…" said Noah while smiling eerily, however, he suddenly hear new System notifications.
Ding!
[The [Poisonous Blood: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Toxic and Poisonous Fluid Secretion: 1 (B)] Skill!]
[The [Blood Curse: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Bloodline Curse: 1 (B)] Skill!]
[The [Blood Armor: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Crimson Vampire Armor: 1 (B)] Skill!]
[The [Blood Potion: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Blood Elixir: 1 (B)] Skill!]
[The [Blood Combustion: 100 (C)] Skill has awakened into the [Blood Detonation: 1 (B)] Skill!]
Five Skills have awakened!
Noah knew that he got some Skill Proficiency in all Skills, but they had just recently awakened!
All such Skills seemed like amazing upgrades to their original versions.
The [Toxic and Poisonous Fluid Secretion seemed to be an even better version than Poison Blood, as Noah was able to generate toxins and poison through his bodily fluids, so it was no longer limited to blood.
Of course, based on how strong Hunters became, their resistance to things such as poison and toxins grew, so he believed that even if he used such things, their effects may vary, and the possibility of instantly killing a person with poison was still quite dim, at least on those that were not weaker than him.
However, it could still bring good results or temporary effects depending on how he tweaked such things, and he even had the insight that this skill was not just limited to deadly things, but that it could also be used to generate different types of fluids, even things such as drugs to ease pain or treat certain ailments, if not more.
The Bloodline Curse Skill was an advanced version of the Blood Curse Skill, which seemed to keep its usual effects but intensified to even greater effects, which could even give Noah the power to curse a person's bloodline, and depending on how he used such power, great benefits could be acquired, although those that were strong enough could resist, perhaps there were ways to slowly diminish them…
The Crimson Vampire Armor was an even better version of the Blood Armor, as it let Noah generate a full set of armor immediately, but also to shape his blood into different fabric or metallic textures, although their strength was based on the Skill proficiency.
Noah was already beginning to upgrade his usual clothes with such blood, as he had done before, fusing his very blood with the special equipment clothes that could regenerate made them into special types of blood equipment.
Such Skill only amplified the possibilities even more, while strengthening such creations.
The Blood Elixir Skill was the awakened version of the Blood Potion Skill and intensified the regeneration capabilities of his blood to the point of being like a healing elixir.
The Blood Detonation Skill was the awakened version of the Blood Combustion Skill, and it was a big upgrade.
The Blood Combustion Skill let Noah not only use his blood to combust and explode to deal strong damage against an opponent, however, with the Blood Detonation, but Noah could also use his blood to detonate at a certain time, whenever he willed it instead of having to be close to it and activate it.
It meant that he could even generate bombs and make his projectiles explode from long distances, enhancing their strength and power in battle to greater heights!
"I've seen enough, I am satisfied," thought Noah as he had deciphered his new Skills capabilities and felt eager to experiment with them in battle.
As he finished assessing his things, everyone around him woke up from their slight meditation, as Noah inspected their stats… All of them had two stats at 600 at the very least… all of them were B-Rank!
Even more, they had also purchased new Skills on their own lesser Skill Trees, so they had new toys to play around with.
Because everyone was formerly F-Rank just a bit over a week ago, this change in their strength was very impactful, they felt that not only their strength increased, but their very lives were about to give a complete twist.
"Amazing… this is the power of a B-Rank. For some reason I really do feel like a different person…" sighed Arthur.
"Well you were always kind of fearful, even as a Dhampir, but it seems that you had finally kind of come out of it," said Noah.
"Hahh… This power, I feel like I don't deserve it," sighed Timassa.
"The power you have acquired is solely based on your own strength. I have not given you anything other than an opportunity, the path you've walked, the efforts you have put, and the rewards you have earned, it is all your own effort alone," said Noah.
"Noah-sama…" said Timassa.
"That is right, Timassa, this is all because of your own strength… Well, our own strength…" said Arthur.
"Hm, I feel really happy for some reason…" said Jon.
"Me too… We have come far… Haven't we, Noah?" asked Iris with a gentle smile.
"It has only been over a week but… A lot has indeed happened. And there is a lot more to happen as we continue through our journey. I believe in individual strength, but I also believe that we did not help each other, we would have never reached this far. If I were to be alone, I would have probably died even with this new strength. It was a brilliant idea to recruit subordinates," said Noah, praising everyone and even himself.
"Fufu, as prideful as ever…" said Iris with enamored eyes.
"Strong… I am strong?" asked Adamantine.
"Yes you are, Adamantine, and we shall keep going forward," said Noah.
"I am happy as long as I am with Master and Mistress! And food!" said Adamantine.
"Food is always important for her…" said Arthur.
"Indeed, and talking about food, shouldn't we go hunt a few before going to register our guild?" asked Noah.
"Oh, sounds good…" said Timassa, as her eyes glowed with crimson red.
"Food?" asked Clementina.
"You, for now, shall go with my Blood Servants and the Robots, Clementina. Talking about them…" said Noah, as he inspected his Blood Servants.
He realized that Blade and Lance had advanced into Elite Grade overnight, which could be comparable to low D-Rank, they still had a long way to go.
Meanwhile, Brain became Knight Grade, and his capabilities had increased exponentially since then, however, there were many more Grades they needed to go through to be comparable with Noah and the rest, but at the very least they were strong in large numbers.
"Hm… and about you three…" said Noah, as he glanced at Noire, Sakura, and Sugar, who were all wearing maid outfits…
"Why are you wearing those clothes?" he wondered.
Noire, Sakura, and Sugar, the main robots of the house and who were already considered as members of the Vampire Family after they acquired Blood Core Batteries, enhanced versions of Mana Core Batteries that could self-upgrade themselves, giving various power such as body self-modification, magic material absorption, and even the ability to wield an attribute of magic which they developed into Abilities.
And as they consumed more materials, they grew even stronger.
Noah felt like they were even developing Souls of their own, and that they could perhaps one day be benefited by the System if they kept developing such souls or something.
And even if not, they were already plenty strong and could keep advancing at the side of Noah and everyone else by consuming magic materials and dropped items from Dungeon Monsters.
However, for now, Noah was giving them the task of accompanying Clementina into low-ranked Dungeons, as they could enter weaker dungeons unlike them.
This was not out of goodwill, Noah was asking them to gather more and more low-ranked cores, as he wanted to build up a giant treasure of Cores of all Ranks.
He already had even tons of F-Rank, E-Rank, and D-Rank Cores, and he kept accumulating them, something that seemed to actually be illegal by the government, as they always wanted to keep all the Cores for themselves and not allow their selling.
However, Noah was not saving them to sell them, no…
He was planning something with them, even bigger.
As he became a Guild, it was obvious that he would need a ton of Guild Members, he had already planned on turning into Vampiric beings the several servants around the house, and even Arthur's parents, even, and making them grow stronger fast would be a good idea.
And it was not as if he were completely babysitting them, as they would pay him back by also going to grind and farm Cores and Treasures in Dungeons in exchange.
Like this, he could build an army of Vampires, Blood Servants, and Robots!
It was really as if he was slowly building his own Empire…
He simply needed to keep striving forward!
To keep seeking more!
But he was concerned, or just weirded out by something.
"Why are you wearing maid outfits?" he asked.
Sugar, Noire, and Sakura glanced at each other, the three girls were all adorable Fembots at this point, their beauty in pair with living girls, but perhaps given an even greater charm.
Alongside that, Noah noticed that the design of their bodies had slightly changed as they kept growing stronger, something a bit similar to evolution…
Oh, and their cybernetic eyes have all turned red, and their auras were similar to those of Vampires to an extent.
"W-Well… We wanted to serve you as maids too, Noah-sama!" said Sakura.
"It was Sakura's idea," said Sugar.
"Indeed, it was her idea," said Noire.
"Eh?! You traitors!" said Sakura.
"…I see. Well, whatever quirky thing you do shouldn't really bother me as long as you get your work done," said Noah.
"Oh, thank you! …Do we look cute?" asked Sakura adorably.
"…No," said Noah.
"Geh…!"
Sakura touched her chest as if she felt her heart shatter into pieces, kneeling as if defeated.
"Noah that was a bit mean…" said Iris.
"Iris, you are the only person I would ever call "cute". I don't have any interest in robots," said Noah nonchalantly… he was a very direct man with his words!
"Aw…" said Iris, feeling moved by Noah's words.
"Anyways, you three make sure to keep improving and eating as many magic items as you can harvest with your own effort, perhaps tomorrow we can finally all join into a Dungeon exploration," said Noah.
"Nice!" said Sugar.
"That will be rather good, I am eager to explore new Dungeons," said Noire.
"So where are we going today?" wondered Sakura.
"You are going to the C-Rank Dungeon we went to yesterday, good luck… Perhaps your element will be at a great disadvantage there, Clementina. Do your best for your own growth, so you don't fall behind," said Noah expressionlessly, trying to give her encouraging words, although this only made her worry.
"C-Can I at least get an Ability Core? I saw that you had a few…" said Clementina.
"No!" said everyone at the same time!
The Vampire Family was unified as a family, but they were also selfish!
The only one they would give anything they earned would be Noah himself, for everyone else, you better do it yourself!
This was part of Noah's inner policy within the family.
Even with all the Cores, he was stacking up, he would make those that benefited from the pay a lot.
Or even more, he had even come out with the possibility of opening a shop or a Guild Contribution Point System to reward those that worked very hard with such cores and items.
After all, if Noah's greatest desire were to conquer the world, wouldn't he need loyal and strong subordinates? Blood Servants, Robots, and also a ton of Vampires!
Noah was ambitious, and malicious as well! He would not stop until the world was his, and perhaps, go even beyond that!
However, for now, he needed to calm down and assess things, for now, the present was now, and the future was yet uncertain.
It was good to prepare for the future, but completely disregarding the present for that future he has yet to reach was not a good thing.
Noah saw Clementina and the Robots set off alongside part of his Blood Servants with them, which he added a few Fire Wyrms to the mix as well, he had also made sure that they carried some items and food at the very least, those were things he did not mind giving to those that served him with loyalty.
He had even made some potions with his own blood, which could even come handy to the Blood Servants and specially Clementina, which he expected would have the hardest time in such a scorching dungeon.
"Welp, she's gone. What should we do now?" wondered Arthur.
"We will do what I said we will do. Let us go upgrade our Hunter License into B-Rank, and then in the same place we create our Guild," said Noah nonchalantly, as everyone nodded, the maids and butlers began to clean the table as the party finally took off at around midday, after reaching B-Rank they didn't care about school any longer.
However, Noah planned to come there afterward anyways, to meet Fernand the last time… of course, not to kill him, but to leave him a little present and make him a nice… friend.
Although Noah still held some resentment, he felt like such problems of the past were, after all, the past.
Somehow, he had not forgotten them, but he felt like such problems such as bullies or other stupid stuff was already way below him, he now had a broader sight in front of him, a world to take over.
Concentrating on killing a bully that could ruin all of his plans due to his S-Ranked brother was not something he would do at this point, he had reached too far now, and had a lot to lose if he were to commit a single mistake.
This is why he needed to be cautious and scheming, and to rearrange his thought process and what he wanted in life, alongside what he wanted from Fernand.
And what else than brainwashing him, cursing his bloodline, and making him his puppet?
He could even make his big brother bring him resources!
It was a way better idea than killing him, and a better one, in fact.
Indeed, Noah had considered cursing Fernand's bloodline.
In fact, he had considered doing this with a few other people.
By cursing a bloodline, he would be able to slowly diminish the strength of all those related to that bloodline!
Although it was not a big effect nor it had any immediate effect either, it still held great potential.
His enemies would not even understand what is making them slowly weaken as they become ripen enough for Noah to harvest their lives!
Now Noah wished he could have gotten such Skill earlier so he could have cursed Crystal's bloodline, but what was done was done.
The Vampire party crossed above the rooftops as they slowly reached the Hunter Registration Center of Sector D, where they will finally upgrade their Hunter License Cards to B-Rank!
All of them were former F-Rank, and when they were to step and change their Ranks, they will most likely shake the Sector with such outstanding news!
"It's time…" said Noah, leading his party inside the building.
Noah and his group walked inside the building as they were greeted by a large group of people walking around, working relentlessly, while some Hunter groups waited for their turns in the line patiently.
Yeah, this was society, so they still had to wait in line for their turn…
"Should we wait?" asked Arthur.
"Of course," said Noah.
As they joined the line, Noah patiently waited for his turn, feeling like hurrying up or making a scene just to be attended first would simply lower his reputation more, even more whenever he was to make his own guild.
Most of the Hunters present here were F-Rank and E-Rank, with very few being D-Rank, about one to two being C-Rank, and no Hunters above those Ranks, confirming that they were indeed very rare occurrences.
Noah and his group were eyeing all of them, there were some famous faces they had once seen on TV, although they were now pathetic to them, almost like ants… to think that they had once admired or looked up to them made them a bit sick, especially because Noah and his family could only see them as food now, their smell and the auras they produced only made them higher quality products…
"(Hungry… Can I grab some food?)" asked Adamantine through telepathy, her eyes glowing red from time to time.
"(Calm down, not now… However, this is an excellent time to select which prey we could take…)" answered Noah through telepathy.
"(Hm, maybe a D-Rank Hunter… or a group of them could be nice? We could get decent Ability Core drops and nice Blood Servants out of them!)" said Iris through telepathy.
"(Could it be possible to brainwash them instead of killing them? If we do, we could widen our connections around the society of Hunters too… We can leave the weaker F-Rank or E-Rank for food.)" said Arthur through telepathy.
"(I was about to say that. It is a good idea, Arthur. Although we will have to plan it out a bit more if they are D-Rank or above… They are strong, although we could easily crush them, their powers and everything else is way flashier, so they could cause commotion and end up revealing our presence…)" said Noah through telepathy.
"(Well, now that we are B-Rank, I can't wait for the Crystal family to attack us, we can quickly grab a meal then.)" said Timassa through telepathy.
"(Indeed, we shall feast in their blood when the time is ripe…)" said Noah through telepathy.
"(Wasn't there a B-Rank within them?)" asked Arthur through telepathy.
"(Yes… there was one.)" answered Iris through telepathy.
"(I believe that if we all group together against it, it might not even stand a chance)" said Jon through telepathy.
"(Nonetheless, we must plan accordingly. Never let our current powers get in our heads. We have to be cautious, plan, to be stealthy, we are still preparing some surprises around our territory… But whenever the fight comes, we must all keep together and never get ahead of ourselves, if possible, we must go all out immediately to defeat them as fast as possible and not even give them a chance.)" answered Noah through telepathy.
"(Indeed, it is just as Noah-sama says… And the Crystal Family will not be the only problem. I am guessing that more Guilds will have their eyes in us eventually…)" sighed Iris through telepathy.
"(More or less… But as a B-Rank Guild, they will not jump ahead recklessly too. As Hunters grow stronger they also supposedly become more intelligent, so you would expect some grade of preparation on their part. They might be wary and prepare for eventual things, and so, we must do so as well…)" said Noah through telepathy.
"(So making a Guild and leaving School means that we are mostly entering a new battlefield altogether…)" said Arthur through telepathy.
"(Indeed. And it will be the biggest, most likely… And alongside that, we will have to also deal with the problem with Gates and more. As long as we keep improving, we will be capable of getting through all of this. After all, no matter how repetitive I may sound, strength is everything in this world.)" said Noah through telepathy.
"(Although it will be dangerous, I can't wait for such an exhilarating future…)" said Iris through telepathy.
All Vampires seemed to agree with Iris's statement.
It was going to interesting, and perhaps hard as well…
But it was going to be exhilarating too.
As Vampires, they could not help but feast in challenges and battles, in blood and flesh, they felt the instinctual desire to go through such challenges and reign victorious, bathing in the blood of their accursed enemies.
As the party continued chatting through telepathy, the hours went by, and it was finally their turn, at last…
If they were not Vampires their legs would be hurting right now because of standing up for so long… but thankfully they did not felt anything at all, and were having fun by talking a lot.
The attendant quickly received the group, she was a young woman in her early twenties, with short pink hair and green eyes, alongside a petite body, Noah immediately sensed that she was a D-Rank Hunter, somewhat decent, but nothing outstanding, perhaps weaker than Albert.
"Hello, are you a Hunter Party by any chance?" she asked.
"Indeed. Here are our Hunter Registration Cards, we had come to renew our Hunter Ranks. We would like to do it immediately and without any difficulties if possible," said Noah rather politely with a charming smile, his eyes seemed to unleash a slight purple essence, making the girl a bit submissive to his demands, without asking much… this was the subtle effect of Noah's Vampiric Eyes.
"O-Oh, a Rank renovation? I can feel that you are indeed strong, please through here. We have a room for a Magic Artifact that can decipher the Stats of people, through that, we will be able to quickly decipher your Ranks," said the woman, guiding Noah and the rest inside a small room where a large crystal ball rested above a table.
"Artifact? Does it see Skills…?" asked Noah.
"Oh, no, there isn't any artifact so advanced that it could let us see an entire Stat Panel of another person. At least not in the entire Sector, but perhaps in other ones, especially those with a Hunter with the Appraisal Skill, perhaps… But these Artifacts calculate your stats only, and not completely exactly… But it almost always works," said the girl.
"I see, then I shall start," said Noah, as he touched the crystal ball after sitting on the couch in front of it.
Flash!
Suddenly, the crystal began to tremble, as an enormous quantity of power began to be poured into it from Noah!
Noah felt like his Blood Core was shining!
He quickly took away his hands from it, as he saw as a little crack emerged in the artifact…
Thankfully, he had just taken out his hands before anything happened.
"W-Wow… I have never seen an artifact tremble like that…" said the girl, as she quickly went to a computer at the side and began to calculate the stats…
"I see… you are… hmm… Oh… I… Eh? Huh? What? …You… Sir Noah, are you…?! Oh my god! You are a B-Rank Hunter!" said the woman, almost falling off her chair in surprise!
"Yes, my stats are all above 600," said Noah.
"That's amazing! It has been over two years since a B-Rank Hunter appeared in Sector D! T-This merits a lot of things, I must tell my superiors! You will get a lot of things, sir Noah! Even-" muttered the woman, as she was stopped by Noah.
"Please, register my subordinates as well first… I am sure that you will not be disappointed…" said Noah with a malicious smile.
"E-Eh? (W-What with this… strange aura?)" wondered the woman.
"Will you?" asked Noah, his eyes gleaming with a purple hue.
"S-Sure… Alright…" said the woman, as Iris was registered, then Arthur, Timassa, Jon, and Adamantine…
The artifact was barely making it after that.
The woman had already fallen off her char multiple times.
Her eyes could not get any more surprised and scared by the presence…
She glanced at each of Noah's subordinates, each one released a dark aura of enormous power…
They were all…
"B-Rank… All of you… is B-Rank… Oh my god… This… This is perhaps… the greatest event that has happened to this Sector for years… B-Ranks are incredibly rare… and here you are… so many of you… here…! And you are telling me that you were F-Rank before? How can you advance to B-Rank so fast? Oh my god…" sighed the woman, trying to keep her sanity, as Noah finally allowed her to call her superiors…
It seems that it was inevitable, they were about to make a bit of history.
As Noah and his group proved that they indeed had the stats of a B-Rank, the attendant quickly reported this news to her superiors, as an old man wearing formal clothes quickly rushed to the room.
Noah noticed its presence, the man was even weaker than the woman, being E-Rank.
He felt quite disappointed, as he seemed to be somehow important, but was merely an E-Rank.
He had often thought that superiors would be of higher Ranks due to their money and connections, but it seemed that it was not completely the case.
But why was that no the case?
Noah thought that perhaps the man had never touched a dungeon, to begin with, or perhaps very little, as he lived in luxury being part of society instead of being a Hunter risking their life in Dungeons.
Even when all people had the option of going inside Dungeons, this society of mild safety also cultivated lazy and conceited people, those that did not strived to grow stronger because they already had the money to be protected.
Because the government hoarded all the Cores, it was possible that the man had tried to buy some but never got through it… or maybe he was simply not rich enough, similarly to Arthur and his family.
Nonetheless, Noah immediately despised the man, as he hated this kind of people that had all the money and opportunities but never took them, taking life for granted and becoming conceited humans, those that once governed the old world.
20 years after the apocalypse, society was finally coming back on track, and such people had already begun to emerge again…
Perhaps, due to the age of this man, he had survived through the Apocalypse somehow, and got into this position through underhanded methods…
However, Noah decided to not have such thoughts anymore, even though such a case might be the same for a lot of people in similar positions.
It was simply that he felt disappointed that the "higher-ups" were a bunch of ants, if he were to even look up to someone, he would only do so to those that were stronger than him, not a weakling that he could crush with a wave of his hand without even exerting any force whatsoever.
Noah imagined how easily he could completely crush this man's body into a bloody puddle of minced meat paste, but he suppressed those feelings, for now, glaring at the ant.
"Sir, Noah, right?" asked the man, he had a small gray mustache and little blue eyes.
"That's my name," said Noah.
"Ahem, I am happy to see new B-Rank Hunters after such a long time… Especially so many together! I am rather curious about how all of you managed to become B-Rank so fast based on your age… Especially because you have only been registered to enter Dungeons only… a few times. It is truly intriguing…" said the man.
"Is that so? So, can we proceed with the update of our Hunter Licenses? I also want to register a Guild in my name," said Noah.
"G-Guild?" asked the man as Noah noticed a change in his mood… it seemed that he somehow wanted Noah for something else, and hearing how he wanted to make a guild surprised him.
Maybe he thought he could convince Noah due to his young age and very poor background?
However, Noah was direct and to the point, startling him.
"Did I stutter?" asked Noah.
The man immediately noticed Noah's presence and domineering attitude, clenching his teeth as he braced himself to confront him.
"I would say that such a thing wouldn't be a good idea. Even as B-Rank it would be way better if you could join a Guild instead, especially one with a rich background and great resources to provide their members… Do you understand, Noah? For people like you who have very little capital, joining a guild with a lot of resources to provide you with a head start would be ideal…" said the man.
Noah glared at the man in silence.
"A-And I would gladly accept you in my own Guild! The Golden Guardians, if you want to! We are ranked at #15 in all of Sector D! We have our arms open for any B-Rank as talented as you bunch… If I were you, I would not slip off this amazing offer to change your future… You know, even as a B-Rank… the world is big… and there is a lot of people with more authority than you… You can't use strength for everything… Think things through and reconsider," said the man, with a grin.
An ant such as this was grinning and telling Noah that his strength was not everything in the world.
He knew deep down that there was certainly some truth to this.
He could not simply resolve everything with sheer strength.
And even more, the resources and good background that a well-established guild offered were also important.
But even then, such things did not stop him.
Noah was not going to obey anyone other than his own desires.
Working for a Guild did not suit him at all.
And he had plans to make his own guild since the moment he became a Vampire.
He was not going to become anyone's underling, even if they had greater backgrounds and resources to provide him.
He was simply going to build his own background and gather his own resources, there was no more saying into this.
His resolve was set, and there was nothing that could make him change such resolve, no matter who it was, and no matter the situation.
Noah was stubborn and prideful.
But that is why his subordinates loved and admired him.
"I will have to decline, sir. I have desired to make my own Guild since I was a child, and that is what I am going to do, thanks for the offer, however," said Noah with a mild smile, containing his burning anger.
He knew that the Golden Guardians had B-Rank, A-Rank, and even S-Rank Hunters, so he did not want to enrage nor provoke the man, even if he was an ant, he had lions protecting him…
"…Hmph. Very well then, I cannot force you, but it is on your fault to do such a foolish decision. Nonetheless, I wish you the best… Girl, bring them to the Guild Registration Area," sighed the man, as the girl nodded and led Noah and his subordinates out of the room.
The old man, whose name was Bernard Gold sat down on the couch and glared at the artifact in front of him, which had a few cracks…
"Hmph, perhaps I should get rid of these newbies… if they don't join my Guild, why would I make more adversaries than there are already? Although their guild might be new, they are B-Rank Hunters and can easily lure new people, talented people… It would be better to get rid of them while they are still weak… Sadly, my S-Rank and A-Rank Hunters are busy dealing with a Dungeon far away… and they are too many for my B-Rank Hunters… Perhaps telling them to hurry would be a good idea," thought the man, as took out a phone from his pocket and messaged the Hunters.
"…Eh? They will take a whole month… Tch. Well, it might be enough. I doubt they can grow to A-Rank in a month, that would be ridiculous… Tough… Hmm… Nah, they would not be able to. Perhaps they advanced fast to B-Rank due to luck and talent, but from B-Rank to A-Rank and then S-Rank, the gap of progression becomes immense… Perhaps they will become a bit stronger, but nothing much," laughed Bernard Gold, as he walked out of the room and went back to his office.
Meanwhile, Noah was guided by the attendant girl towards another, a large section within the building, an emptier place where there was barely any person there, they are where Guilds were registered.
The girl then gave Noah a paper which he needed to fill up, giving his information and more, which were needed to make him the Guild Master of his own Guild.
Making a Guild was fairly easy in this world, the requirements were not much, however, no Hunters below D-Rank could create a Guild, and they also needed to pay a large fee of 10 million credits.
"Now that most things are done, which name would you want your Guild to be, sir?" asked the assistant with a gentle smile, although the vampire family presence was rather overwhelming, so she was forcing it more than anything…
A Guild Name.
The Name of a Guild was what made them recognizable, and sometimes even made their logos around it.
No guild had the same name or even similar, as each Guild Master always tried to make their Guilds as unique as possible to differentiate their creations from the rest.
There were Guilds made by Families, such as the Crystal Knights, or the Golden Guardians, each name had a distinct feeling to it.
Clementina's family also had their own guild, simply named after their surname, Silvercrown.
Noah had planned to call his guild Blood Creed, but if he wanted to make it a family business, perhaps naming it after his own surname would be better.
"Didn't you planned of naming it Blood Creed, Noah?" asked Iris curiously, remembering Noah saying something about Blood Creed.
"Indeed, but now that I thought about it, I should call it after my surnames… The ones I usually never talk about," sighed Noah.
"Surname? Oh… So you really do have! I do not have any because I do not remember my parents, the nun that took care of me in the orphanage named me Iris… But I am glad you remember yours," said Iris.
"Amazing, we are about to hear our lord's surname," said Jon.
"I always wondered it…" said Arthur.
"What is it?" asked Timassa.
"Surname?" asked Adamantine.
"My surnames are Luna and Noctem…" said Noah.
"That's quite fitting…" said Iris.
"Is it? (Oh, now that I think about it… Luna is the moon, Noctem is night… I see)" thought Noah.
"The Luna Noctem Family?" asked Arthur.
"Hmph. Let's just keep it at Noctem. I did like my mother more than my father," sighed Noah.
"Oh? Alright then," said Iris.
"Noctem Family, then?" asked the assistant, confused about the interactions.
"Yes, sounds good," said Noah.
"Very well then, now, the fee is… 10 million Credits," said the girl.
"Nothing much," said Noah, as Arthur used his Credit Card to pay the fee rather smoothly.
Although this might have not been possible, or at least not as easy before now that they had hunted and gathered tons of materials from C-Rank Monster, whose corpses did not disappear thanks to Noah's Blood Servant Skill Effect, they were able to chop off large pieces of the corpses before the 24 hours passed away, slowly converting the entire creature into Dropped Items.
This way, the family got a lot of money pretty quickly, selling just a part of the Blazing Wyrm Emperor such as a few dozen scales and a fang already gave Arthur around 50 million Credits, the group could already imagine how much more Credits they could get if they were to sell everything they had…
Money was definitely not a major problem anymore, at least not for now in such terms.
Noah had even considered using the money earned to buy greater equipment, or Ability Cores… which were the only Cores sold in the market with varied prices.
However, compared to the large quantities he harvested in the C-Rank Dungeon, perhaps doing it himself would be better and more effective than buying a little few Ability Cores for a fortune…
There was also the possibility of selling Ability Cores to get more money too, but now that everyone could convert them into Skill Points, why would they even do such a thing?
"Very well, it is done. Here is your Guild Master Card, Noah Luna Noctem," said the girl, giving a shiny silver card to Noah.
"For now it lacks a logo, but whenever you have come with a design, you can come back and we'll register it," said the girl.
"A design… I see, thanks," said Noah, as he had finally done everything he came here for, updating his Guild License with his current Rank and also getting his own Guild!
The group finally walked out of the building as they decided what to do next.
"Phew, it was really boring to wait so much there, but I am glad it is done," said Iris.
"Yes… It was quite boring… Well, what should we do now?" asked Arthur.
"Will we delve into a Dungeon again?" asked Timassa.
Noah glanced at his subordinates, their strength was now excellent, and they had been working nonstop to grow to this level of strength.
He thought that everyone (and himself) deserved a good rest or a small break.
"We'll take this day off," said Noah expressionlessly.
"Eh?" said everyone in unison.
Noah… has decided to actually take a break?!
What kind of sorcery was this?
He, who wanted to grow stronger so desperately, now wanted to take… a day off.
"You see, even my mind is tired. I need a day where I can meditate and practice my techniques that transform and exchange inner energy. I can also relax the tension of my muscles which hasn't gone off even after taking a bath," sighed Noah.
"This is… alright then! Let us take a break," said Arthur.
"Yeah, about time! Let us take some time to smell the roses and enjoy a bit of life too," said Iris.
"I agree, a time to slow down for once will not hurt us," said Timassa.
"If the Crystal Family comes, I believe we might be prepared for them. Oh, and Bernard Gold's plans will take quite long to even come to fruition… So we have time to take a "break" at last, while also making sure to improve morale," said Noah.
"Sounds like a plan, so we go back to the manor then?" asked Arthur.
"Yes, let's go back," said Noah.
"(I can finally take a break with Noah… I wonder what we can do together… aside from battling and sex… It will be interesting)" thought Iris while glancing at Noah mischievously, the Vampiric group crossed through the rooftops of the city, reaching Arthur's manor after a bit.
Everyone then dispersed around the manor, Jon had decided to go back to his room and have a long Vampire-like nap, while Adamantine seemed quite frantic, but decided to eat all day by asking the maids and butlers to prepare her delicious food.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Timassa decided to spend the day in the manner of Arthur's parents while developing each other bonds, as Noah believed that these two were soon to enter into a romantic relationship based on how long they had been together as friends, and how obvious was Timassa's romantic feelings for Arthur.
Noah thanked that his presence or authority did not change such feelings from Timassa, as it would have hurt his pride to know that he made his subordinate end up alone due to his powers when he slowly developing a relationship with this woman.
Noah believed that, much like Iris with him, Arthur and Timassa were a good match that deserved to be together.
After realizing that having converted her into a Ghoul did not made her necessarily develop a sexual nor romantic attraction towards him, Noah saw Iris even better than before, as it was indeed true that she was not brainwashed… she simply developed this strong obsessive love and devotion out of her own mind, although it was not healthy at all, Noah did not mind, as he was insane himself.
He was a madman after all!
"So what should we do?" asked Iris at the side of Noah, as she saw Noah resting over the bed.
"I actually want to slack off for once, so I will sleep a bit before beginning my meditation. I wouldn't really like to fall asleep while meditating…" said Noah.
"Oh… I see…" said Iris, a bit dispirited.
Noah immediately noticed her disappointment, as he decided to ask her.
"Did you wanted us to do something today? Speak your mind," said Noah expressionlessly.
"Oh… W-Well… I thought that we could do more of… what couples do!" said Iris.
"What couples do? I am rather inexperienced in the whole field, care to enlighten me?" asked Noah.
"Oh! (He is interested?) Sure, erm… Well, I remember seeing that they go on a date around a park… They also go eat at a restaurant… Hm… There is also another one where the girl lets the guy rest on her lap while sitting below a tree… But I guess trees and parks are not so common…" said Iris.
"Well, the garden here as such plants… Well, let's do that then," said Noah.
"Eh? Really? What about your nap?" asked Iris.
"I can sleep over your lap," said Noah.
"O-Oh… Sure…" said Iris with a gentle smile, as she grabbed Noah's hand and the two went towards the garden, sitting near a large tree, right below its shadow, as the gentle breeze touched their faces.
Noah slowly put his head over Iris' lap.
It was soft… and warm.
It was, in fact, better than a pillow.
Noah felt himself relaxing to the point that he began to doze off not long after…
"Noah, so… Eh? Oh… He already fell asleep… Fufu… he looks so handsome when he sleeps…" said Iris, caressing Noah's face gently, while smiling warmly.
She glanced at his peaceful expressionless face, as she touched his black hair, caressing it.
Noah had short hair, but it was rather fluffy, so she enjoyed caressing him whenever the cold Vampire let her…
And being so close with him really gave her a strong feeling of excitement too… she even felt a bit superior, making her devotion and love for him strengthen at every second.
"I suppose this is what couples do. It didn't felt half-bad," said Noah, as he opened his eyes after around an hour and a half of sleeping, finding Iris sleeping too, while resting over the tree bark.
Noah quickly sat at her side, as her head rested on his shoulder…
He began to slowly caress her hair, as he simply relaxed, and decided to not think of anything else for at least this little moment of happiness…
This was life.
Noah relaxed with Iris for the rest of the morning, which calmed down and made most of his tensions lighten.
He never expected that simply sitting below a tree with the one he loved would make him so strangely happy.
There was certainly something soothing about simply relaxing, sitting, and letting the calm breeze caress your face on a sunny day with the one you care about.
He even felt refreshed.
"Mwuh…"
Iris slowly began to wake up, as she found herself resting over Noah's chest as he rested over the tree bark.
"Fweh…? Ah… Noah, you woke up…" said Iris.
"Indeed, it seems that you fell asleep as well. Did you enjoy your nap?" asked Noah.
"Hmm… Yes… I want to stay here with you forever…" sighed Iris, as she rubbed her face over Noah's shirt, which reminded him of a kitten.
"You are really hopeless… I should not really spoil you so much. I have grown soft…" sighed Noah, as he caressed Iris's hair.
"Soft? I think the only person you have shown that you are soft is to me… Well, Arthur and the rest seem to also notice that you are gentler with them, but nothing much has changed outside. You were actually pretty rude with that old man… Well, he was an asshole, so I liked that, fufu," said Iris.
"Hmph. I suppose that if it is only for you, it is fine," said Noah.
"I like you as you are… okay? So do not feel forced to change either… But I have to admit that I like when you act lovely with me… It fills me with happiness…" said Iris while blushing a bit.
"Is that so? If we are admitting things, I suppose I should admit that I do also feel happy when I am at your side, Iris," said Noah, glaring at Iris with a mild smile.
"Sheesh… You really know how to choose your words…" sighed Iris, blushing even more, as her lips neared Noah, and both kissed lovingly.
"How are things with that voice in your head…? How was the name?" asked Iris.
"Ah, the Blood Progenitor? Well, he no longer disturbs me, as I can easily seal him away now. However, he does seem to be giving up on the subject of taking over my body. I am not letting him do such a thing either, so I have been slowly eroding his mind. If he does not become more submissive, in a bit more of time I will completely consume him and acquire all of his memories," said Noah.
"E-Eh? Woah… Well, whatever is the outcome it will be fine then, right?" asked Iris.
"Indeed, he is the least of my concerns at this point," said Noah.
"That's good. I was getting concerned about a creepy old vampire talking inside of my husband's mind…" said Iris.
"Husband?" asked Noah.
"W-Well, you say I would become your bride… right? So you are also my husband…" said Iris.
"Hm, I was a bit surprised, that is all. I like the ring of it… I do wonder if you would want some kind of ceremony to celebrate our union, or simply do it through the government? Though, it would be rather bitter if we did it through the second option," said Noah.
"Yeah, whatever you think about is fine by me, even a little ring is okay," said Iris.
"A ring… Oh, I suppose I can do something like that right now, I have a few materials I have been saved. If I combine them with my Skills…" said Noah, as he suddenly took out a small piece of red metal, which was, in fact, a piece of the large metallic scale of the Blazing Wyrm Emperor!
"Eh? Right now?" asked Iris in surprise.
"Why not?" said Noah rather courageously, as he began to use Blood Armor, covering the piece of metal and fusing it with his blood to alter its shape into that of a ring.
He grabbed Iris's fine and delicate hand, which was completely pale white with beautiful black nails, calculating the size of the finger she would wear such ring.
"Oh…" said Iris as she admired Noah's work, despite being completely amateur in item crafting, he was employing his Skills masterfully for the craft of such item.
Noah quickly generated a special Gem that cost a lot of blood, a piece of his very soul, and mana, which he also infused in large quantities.
This gem was created through the Elemental Blood Gem Creation, and it was also infused with the basic elements of water, fire, earth, and wind.
It was a lot of power concentrated into a very tiny, red-colored gem, which he stuck into the ring.
"Your name shall be… Bride Ring," said Noah, using his powers the same way he did to name his Blood Servants, giving a name to his creation, as it suddenly unleashed a small, crimson aura, and even the slight feeling of having a soul inside!
"T-That's… you created a small soul equipment…" said Iris in awe, being surprised even more that this was personally made for her!
"I will probably not make anything like this after today, so make sure to treasure it well," said Noah, putting the ring on Iris's finger, as she felt her heart racing in excitement.
"A-Ah… Noah…" said Iris, containing her tears.
"Iris, will you become my Bride? Let us take over the world together," said Noah, smiling warmly, as Iris noticed a fiery resolve in his gaze.
"Of course… Sniff… Of course, I will become your Bride, Noah! I love you so much! Sniff…" said Iris, embracing Noah in a tight hug, as she began to cry a bit of happiness.
Although they had consumed their love a few times already, doing this little thing moved her heart more than anything before… it felt very deep and real, she could clearly see Noah's honest emotions and devotion to her… and she promised that she would make sure to give all the love he gave to her one hundred times more…
"I am glad…" said Noah, kissing Iris's neck as he caressed her silky hair, which only reached her shoulders.
The two quickly sealed their love with a passionate kiss as they glanced at each other's eyes with fervent love.
"I am happy to have met you… Maybe at first, I was a bit scared but… everything just changed for the better honestly… I was always so afraid of everything… but you made me grow brave and strong… while also making me learn about my own strengths… and well, allowing me to grow strong too… To be honest, the least I could do for you is to love you unconditionally for eternity…" said Iris.
"I am also happy to have met you, Iris. At that time I was looking for someone that could serve me, someone that perhaps needed a change. I am glad that you accepted my offer, and grew stronger at my side. I needed a companion, and you were the first one. Although I had originally gone to find someone for blood, everything quickly escalated into this… Fate is truly filled with wonders and mysteries. …And of course, just as you said, I shall love you unconditionally for eternity…" said Noah.
"Aw… I love how you are like this only for me!" said Iris, hugging Noah even more tightly, every time she thought of how Noah was so different from other people compared to her, she didn't felt anger at him or something, but felt incredibly flattered, like she was the sole exception, the only one for him.
"Of course… You are the only person in this world that knows me so well like this… Make sure to also be like you only for me…" said Noah.
"Fufu… Of course… there is nothing else in my heart than you…" said Iris.
Both Noah and Iris seemed obsessed with each other at this point as if they were two yandere in a relationship.
"And anyone else that gets on our path…" said Noah.
"We'll slice it up really good… and feast in its blood… Fufu…" said Iris.
"Ah, I love when you are ruthless and evil…" said Noah.
"Hehe, do you? We'll make sure to crush that annoying old man that we meet today later on too… I can't wait until the day we can see him scream~" said Iris.
"Oh? Iris, you are truly made for me!" said Noah as he felt a heat engulf his chest, quickly carrying Iris like a princess as he flew towards their room.
"Oh my, I suppose it is time for our honeymoon~?" asked Iris.
"Indeed. I shall make you mine now," said Noah charmingly.
Noah spent most of the day with Iris and even taught her how to meditate and move the energies around her body, as he discovered that she had figured out some way on her own, but that his teachings were of great help to let her achieve a greater result.
As the night came, both had a nice dinner with their subordinates, and afterward, Noah experienced yet another steamy and intense night of passion with Iris.
Feeling like such a relaxing and carefree day went flying by, the next day finally came, and Noah and his subordinates were ready to move into their next step.
However, not before yet another passionate morning.
It seemed that Noah and Iris were incredibly fitting for each other, as they often mated like wild rabbits on heat.
Arthur and the rest thought that it was a matter of time for Iris to become pregnant…
The sound of the bed resonated, as Noah embraced Iris with his strength, grasping her body and making her his.
The sweat made their pale white skin glossy, like a steamy and warm atmosphere formed around both of their bodies, they had started doing it an hour and a half ago,
Noah gently bit Iris's neck, giving her a strong shock of pleasure through his sharp fangs, as Iris moaned, biting Noah's neck back.
Yet another wave of seed filled Iris's womb, as both of them rested in bed, Noah above Iris, gasping for a bit of air, as Noah slowly moved away from his member from within the depths of Iris womb.
"Hahh… You filled me so much… I am… definitely pregnant now…" sighed Iris.
"Haahh… Good. Some descendants wouldn't be a bad thing," said Noah.
After their passion, both Vampires quickly went to the bath and took a nice and relaxing warm bath, as they finally put on their clothes and walked downstairs dignifiedly.
"Noah-sama, Iris-sama, good morning," said Arthur.
"Good morning," said Noah expressionlessly.
"Good morning Arthur, everyone!" said Iris with her brightest of smiles, it seemed that their lady was quite happy today morning as well.
The party then chatted for a while as they enjoyed breakfast, until the topic of today's activities finally came to the conversation, and Noah enlightened his subordinates about what he has been doing within the shadows.
"About the Military School, I have made my pawn, our teacher, to sign some documents for our forced expulsion of the establishment. However, today I will go to school, find Fernand, and brainwash him if possible. It shouldn't take too long so you all don't necessarily need to come with me," said Noah.
"I would rather accompany you… Well, if you want to go "by yourself" you can always let us enter your blood through Blood Storage, right?" asked Iris.
"Oh right, the ability you use to save your Blood Servants… You can use it with us too, right?" asked Arthur.
"Yeah, we may as well accompany our lord through such a method," said Timassa.
"I had thought about that, honestly. But I believe that it might not be of your liking to be in such a place… But fine by me," said Noah.
"Why wouldn't it be?" wondered Iris.
"I don't understand why it would not be either," said Jon.
"Because the internal space within my blood that is produced through the Blood Storage Skill is completely filled with plasma and giant blood cells. I don't even understand the full logic behind such a Skill, but it seems that it just shrinks all of you and deposited you inside of one of my blood veins… that's what happens to the Blood Servants," said Noah.
"O-Oh… Well, that is indeed quite awkward," said Iris.
"Wait, so we will literally be inside of your body then?" asked Arthur in surprise.
"I don't understand how it really works, but it seems that I can choose which area of the parts of my body you can be. And you can exit by opening a wound," said Noah.
"Eh? Do we really have to open a wound…?" asked Iris.
"My body is immortal, so I don't even notice nor am I annoyed by it," said Noah.
"I suppose it is fine then…" said Iris.
"Anyways, Noah-sama, do you know where s Clementina?" asked Arthur.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Arthur-sama, Clementina-san, and the Robots and Blood Servants came back in the morning, they were all exhausted and went to rest. Even the Robots felt like they had spent a lot of energy and needed to enter into a resting mode to cool down," said Timassa.
"It seems that they had done as expected, the exploration of that C-Rank Dungeon must have been harsh, let's give them the rest of the day to rest, afterward they can use the Cores they earned and get to our level of strength, or at least a bit like ours," said Noah.
"I agree, thanks for letting the rest, Noah-sama," said Timassa.
"It is nothing, the ones that work hard shall always be rewarded in my house," said Noah.
After finishing their hearty breakfast, which included meat, fresh blood, freshly baked bread, jam, butter, croissants, sweets, coffee, and more, the party finally decided to walk out of the manor.
Noah opened a large wound on his hand, as he let the Vampires hop in one by one, and indeed, it was as if they lowered their size every time they jumped inside of his very bloodstream.
The power of Blood Storage was truly mysterious, it seemed to combine Spatial Attribute despite the Skill being clearly Blood Attribute.
Noah began to consider that any element was able to wield the powers and capabilities of other elements as long as the one wielding such attribute had enough proficiency and mastery over it.
This thought was later confirmed by the Blood Progenitor himself, which was finally freed from his prison, he seemed to have slept the entire time.
"Indeed, it is just as you imagined, Noah. Enough mastery over an Attribute can grant you the ability to wield other attributes special capabilities through them… Your new Skill, the one about elemental gems, is a big example of it… Though, does it even matter? In this world, anyone can wield any element through those random Ability Cores. Although using them to gain Skill Points and get guaranteed Skills through the Skill Tree is a better option," said the Blood Progenitor.
"Indeed. Although I might end up absorbing a bunch of Random Ability Cores for the sake of seeing what I could randomly get… though, without proper Skill Fusion, I would just leave such Skills abandoned as I am more familiar with the ones I have used this whole time," said Noah.
"Specializing in a single trait is not a bad thing, through that, you know your weaknesses well, alongside your strengths. However, your Blood Attribute is unique as it can adapt and evolve into many forms, not even I have seen before. Although you specialize in Blood Attribute, you seem to be a jack of all trades and master of all through its use. And as you progress, I imagine that… you will keep getting even stronger, sadly!" said the Blood Progenitor.
"Sadly? Have you not giving up on taking over my body yet? Hmph, you were talking rather calmly there, I imagined that you had finally resigned yourself," said Noah.
"Resigning myself? What do you think I am, a chicken? I shall never! …Sigh. If you have any other questions just ask me. I prefer to speak with you than to sleep so much, it is twisting my perception of time," sighed the Blood Progenitor as he delved into sleep again anyway.
Noah walked through the rooftops of the buildings, reaching his school rather fast, the students seemed to be out on a break, so Noah decided to turn himself into mist and trespass through the walls of the buildings, inside of the mostly empty rooms.
Noah did not have any particular Stealth Skill, but Mist Form was good enough for him to do this type of "stealth".
Noah kept looking for Fernand, as he expanded his vampiric senses and started to look for the scent he remembered that this young man always had, the scent of a very expensive cologne he used because he was a rich kid, which to Noah smelled terrible.
Soon after, he finally found him.
Fernand was inside of his room, seemingly alone.
His lackeys had gone to get him some snacks, as they seemed to be more like his slaves at this point…
While the young man rested above a bed while watching some kind of social media through his phone, Noah decided to strike…
Fernand Firebrand seemed to have managed to calm down his brother about this little incident for the moment.
Well, "little" would not really be the name of such incident, as it involved an SSS-Rank item that he had foolishly brought to school to flex it on his friends before even using it on himself.
The sad part is that his S-Rank Brother was just as much of an idiot as him.
Any other sane person would have never given such a valuable item to a young man with barely any sense of responsibility.
Fernand's entire mind has been warped since he was a child, born in luxury, given everything he wanted.
Anything he wished for, anything he wanted was given to him.
His parents were one of the first people to awaken Skills within the Apocalypse and survived the first years by using their powerful Skills and their quick adaptability.
While taking care of the young brother of Fernand as well… which was rather shocking.
Fernand's brother was born from the union of two awakened and had awakened with an ability that he kept using up until this point, which gave name to his title of Living Flame.
Such Skill let his brother completely cover himself in flames, literally becoming a man of flames and fire. He was even able to turn his cells partially into plasma.
Such ability was immediately classified as A-Rank when he was born, and when he kept using it and fighting, it ultimately awakened into an S-Rank Ability, and then into an SS-Rank Ability.
With such talent, he and his parents paved a way for the future with the many Hunters of the past, while Fernand was still growing and developing.
However, his brother, although blessed by amazing powers, was not the brightest.
He was also temperamental and selfish.
And due to the lack of proper parentage from his parents Fernand kind of borrowed a lot of such traits from his brother, becoming just as idiotic.
Now that their parents had retired from being Hunters and left the Guild to be handled by Fernand's brother, they expected great things of him…
Fernand, however, was not born with especially outstanding ability, at least not as insane as his brother… and although he could get new ones through Ability Cores, due to the randomness of such items, it was never guaranteed for him to get anything as comparable as his brother.
In the end, he became greatly overshadowed and had decided to enter a Military School for a change, perhaps to show off his powers and finally get some recognition from these poor folk.
In such a place is where he finally found people even more pathetic than him, which quickly uplifted his mood and made him thought of himself as blessed and superior.
In the end, he targeted the weakest of them all, Noah, who did not even have an ability.
Many times he wondered why such a weakling even entered Military School, he always thought that Noah would one day get himself killed or something…
He kept using Noah as his punching bag, making him suffer and always reminding him of how pathetic he was, just so he could feel better with himself, so he could feel fulfilled.
However, unexpectedly, his brother finished a dangerous Raid where he participated.
Turned out his powers were very effective against an SSS-Rank Boss that seemed to be a terrifying blood-controlling Vampire.
His cells turning into literal plasma made it impossible for the Blood Progenitor Boss to control his blood, and his scorching, never-ending flames were incredibly good at burning the Vampire into ashes.
Even with his outstanding regenerating, when everyone ganged on him in the last moment, he ended up being grilled alive and finally dying.
He heard from his brother that the death of an SSS-Rank Boss brought an enormous pile of dropped items, all of them being SSS-Rank.
Amongst the pile of items, which were almost one hundred, he picked up a red jewel which was named Blood Core alongside other items and equipment.
Deciding to give the shiny jewel that was said to bring some kind of new power to anyone that consumed it to his little brother so he could finally catch up to him, his brother gifted him an SSS-Rank Blood Core as if it were nothing at all…
Fernand was lost for words after such an event.
Only for the next day to take it for granted and bring the jewel around like a fool, until he left it for a single second… and it was stolen.
He tried to look everywhere, but anywhere he went, he was not able to find it.
And after days after days, he was still hoping to find who stole it, and was planning on using his money to pay some track-based Hunters…
But because he was lazy, conceited, and irresponsible, he was taking way longer than he should have taken originally.
He had already considered simply tell his brother that he lost it and that was it.
There was no point in hiding it anymore, as his brother was not going to kill him or anything.
Perhaps get very angry and come to beat some sense on him, but nothing much after that…
But his brother was also just as much of an idiot, so perhaps he had already forgotten about this whole thing…
Fernand considered a few things through all of this, as he lazily scrolled through the phone.
However, he suddenly felt a strange, chilly wind slowly caress his skin, as the hair above his arms began to become stiff…
"Did it got cold out of the sudden? I am sure that it's clear outside…" said Fernand, thinking that there perhaps cold air entered the room, although now that he thought about it, there was a bright sun shining up in the sky…
Suddenly, Fernand slipped his phone off his hands, as he sat down on the bed and moved down to grab it.
The mist that he could barely perceive as a "chilly wind" suddenly disappeared.
As a figure of a tall young man emerged in front of Fernand.
Fernand felt an enormous presence appearing out of nowhere, showering him with a tremendous pressure that made his entire body shiver and aches!
His heart skipped a beat as he felt the air around him suddenly turn incredibly dry and cold.
His lungs were barely able to breathe enough air.
An aura of crimson red essence silently stood before him.
Fernand was paralyzed, he could not even scream.
"I am here to meet you for the last time, yet you don't even look at my eyes. Do you need to be so rude, Fernand?" asked the figure of the young man, as Fernand suddenly recognized the voice!
It was… the voice of the pathetic wimp he beat every single day back then…
But now… it was so serious… and it was so… strange!
Fernand clenched his teeth, as he slowly glanced upwards, finally seeing the figure of the young man in front of him, who was wearing black and red clothes which seemed highly refined.
His skin was completely pale white as if he were sick, his eyes crimson red, glowing with an eerie and bright light, his hair was short and silvery white, covering a bit of his left eye, and his ears were pointy.
This man in front of him, although hard to recognize, was Noah, the one he bullied so much a few days ago before he began to act weirder than usual.
"Y-You… Nnggh… W-What is this… pressure? You are… Noah! How can… it be? Am I… dreaming?" muttered Fernand, trembling while trying to muster words.
"Dream? Well, if you put it like that, it would be more like a nightmare," said Noah.
"N-Nightmare…?! Nnghkh… W-What happened to you?! Ungh… How did you get in here without… me noticing?!" asked Fernand, as he was trying to unleash his Abilities, but Noah's pressure was enough to suppress his will.
He had him completely before his mercy without even moving an inch.
"Oh, how easy it would be to crush your neck with my bare hands right now…" sighed Noah.
"W-What?!"
"Ah, do not fear. I am not here to hurt you, I have come here to become friends with you! I have turned on a new leaf, Fernand, and it was all thanks to you! So, to be honest, I should actually be thankful that you brought such an opportunity to change my entire life," said Noah with a mischievous smile.
Fernand was paralyzed in fear and confusion… he could not understand anything that was going on right now…
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