Never Take a Pirate for Grant'd! 2 - or 'So, I guess I have to fill up for Grant, heh?' (Castlevania Netflix Grant Danasty!SI, Lite Gamer)

The castle of Dracula Tepes was a bit of a mystery, both on a lore-related theme and even on a meta degree.

To make it simple, the Castle in the games tended to be 'random' inside on how its rooms are set as it would change with each resurrection. In the Netflix series, the castle had the tendency to be 'externally random', shifting around to closer positions to a target.

In a war against humanity, that was a good way to keep a mobile HQ that could direct smart troops without wasting efforts in logistics. Considering the current times… yeah, this was an OP factor. But not one that could win a bunch of arrogant vampires a war against the entirety of humanity.

Likewise, an assault on the castle's grounds from the front door was a risky move as this was no Castlevania game. With an active presence of powerful enemies standing around the front door, the next option was the lowest levels reachable.

Considering how the castle had a modern system of steam and electricity to keep some of the services going, I wasn't surprised to learn that there was a sewage system that was not being garrisoned. I doubted any warrior worth their honor would actually go through that path.

Then again, I was no mere warrior. I was a frigging Pirate! Kinda. It was more of a Grant thing than a 'me thing'. Ignoring the confusing details and traits I had inherited with this body, I knew that this wasn't going to be an easy walk in the park.

Right as I finished moving around the small sections of the wall that I could grab and climb to the discharge hall a few meters below the main entrance, I found three gargoyle-like fiends sitting their asses there. I managed to get a surprise kill from the closest one by stabbing the cutlass onto its head, but soon backed away before the clawed cunts could get a cheap shot on me.

Both tried to keep up the pressure, but I managed to push away the one on my left with a kick before swiftly paying back the aggression by cutting twice on the closer fucker's chest. Second kill, the remaining bastard tried to make a run from it as he knew I wasn't going to die to them.

He didn't get much of a chance as I rushed to pick part of its wing, pushed myself to be close enough to attack and stabbed it in its ribs. After letting out a muffled screech of pain, the beast fell like the others.

Congratulations! You leveled up!


Name: Grant Danasty
LVL. 8
Status: Good
HP: 180/180
SP: 85/85
ATK: 24
DEF: 24
CON: 38
INT: 41
LCK: 45


Goodie, but I need something to boost up those stats.

If I remember correctly, Alucard and Soma had to get in the hundreds for all stats to make a genuine attempt to the final boss. And since glitches aren't a thing to exploit here, I needed to find a way to further boost my stats.

The Castle has an insane amount of good stuff lingering around, some of which were things found by Dracula to be studied out of fascination for a world he once was part of. I wasn't 100% sure, but I remember the series making an effort to confirm the lore of Lament of Innocence was mostly there as a background.

Which meant that Vlad Tepes is actually Mathias Cronqvist, former brother-of-war of Leon Belmont and the guy that ruined the whip-user's life. It could be that it didn't go too extensive, but it would explain Dracula's admiration for legendary weapons.

Now, if only I could get my hands on Claimh Solais…

The walk was a mostly quiet one as the noises made by the various tubes carrying all sorts of disgusting liquids kept on pouring more of that shit. I grimaced at the fact that my boots were already changing shade due to that smelly crap and… and I was glad that I found a section which brought out the overall dirty hall.

A small stone-made ladder brought me to a cleaner and solid ground, but there I found a few skeletons trying to block my path. They went down with ease, barely spent much effort in having them killed, but I realized the three stooges I just deboned were not enough to level me up, which raised another issue: there was an invisible EXP bar that required a certain amount of kills done to bring a level up. And each level up brought a greater EXP demand.

This was going to slow down any potential growth of power I may experience in the Castle if I restrained myself from facing the worst monsters possible. It wasn't something pleasant to be reminded of, but it was something that justified a more 'fair' system for others. Not like I wanted to be fair here, but sometimes Life had to equalize shit up.

Just as I started to think what sort of weapon I could hope to find around, I realized that the composition of enemies in this area was… curious. While I did end up finding a few reasonable low-level monsters, I started to get rather frustrated when, ten minutes after finding the skeletons, I started to find bats. Lots of them.

I literally leveled up twice while fighting those little bastards. I normally have nothing against most animals, bats being the sort of middle-point which can go cute when they are harmless and eating on a banana, or vicious when they create monstrosities such as Cujoh from the Stephen King's Novels.

Congratulations! You leveled up!


Name: Grant Danasty
LVL. 9
Status: Good
HP: 220/220
SP: 95/95
ATK: 28
DEF: 28
CON: 46
INT: 49
LCK: 50


The gloomy walk ultimately led to a large pair of doors that led to… a big room. It was a boss fight area. I steadied my steps, braced myself and then looked left and right as I heard strange chirping noises coming from… above.

I looked up, only then realizing how tall the ceiling was and how many bats were there. One in particular stood out from the most for a very simple reason.

"That's a big-ass bat."

I don't know if it was my voice or because my steps had already made its slumber light, but the thing opened its eyes as I finished saying that and it roared furiously before detaching from the ceiling and taking flight. I half-expected the rest of the bats to tag along, but none did as it was just me and the big guy over there.

Giant Bat

Generic Dracula's Mini-Boss

HP: 200/200

Really game? Getting a bit sassy and meta here?

Still, the screeching was getting on my nerves. Perhaps the insulting title was deserved as the bat soared down to where I was, but its speed was surprisingly inferior to mine. I shifted away, letting it slam on the floor before charging it. I delivered a few basic attacks, failing to pierce its flesh as the cutlass was repelled by something that looked like magic.

So, no easy kills here if they are bosses, huh?

The bat retreated, disoriented and furious, but a look at his HP put me in a good mood.

Giant Bat

Generic Dracula's Mini-Boss

HP: 45/200

Did it know how close to death it was? It didn't, not when it flapped its wings angrily, preparing to attack again. I prepared my posture, strengthening my legs as I took a baseball hitter position and let nature take hold. The nature of murder, obviously.

The Large Bat rushed at me and I rushed the blade upward, with the cutlass cleaving its head off its body. The battle screech it was releasing suddenly shattered as the body crumbled and I… leveled up.

Congratulations! You leveled up!


Name: Grant Danasty
LVL. 10
Status: Good
HP: 240/240
SP: 100/100
ATK: 30
DEF: 30
CON: 50
INT: 53
LCK: 55


"YES!" I exclaimed victoriously, but found my giddy mood dampened by something else.

The bat's body ejected what looked to be energy, a phenomenon repeated by the other smaller bats in the area as a huge orb manifested up above and… rushed at me. I didn't shy away from it as I knew what it was. Each boss battle had one of those energy orbs that restored health to players and, at times, also boosted them.

Much to my delight, it was the latter case for the occasion.

Congratulations! You received a permanent boost! You also received a new ability.


Name: Grant Danasty
LVL. 10
Status: Good
HP: 290/290
SP: 125/125
ATK: 40
DEF: 40
CON: 60
INT: 63
LCK: 65


(New Ability!) -

(Magical Sense - Unique) - The Giant Bat's prided sight! You can now perceive secret passages with incredible ease.

Not the best boost possible since it just gave me the worst of a few levels on the Stats and a bit more HP and SP, but… it was something.

The ability itself was good to avoid confrontations I couldn't win if I needed a quick way out my opponents may not be aware of and since most of the more dangerous fiends in the castle weren't accustomed to this castle's interior design, I would have a big advantage in case I got detected.

Since I have been fighting monsters that didn't seem to have the means to call any alarms, I was confident I hadn't triggered any issues in the long run. For now, that was correct.

But things were about to get more intense very soon, and this much I was confident of.


AN

The Danasty Invasion of Dracula's Castle thus begins!

End Chapter Stats!


Name: Grant Danasty
LVL. 10
Status: Good
HP: 290/290
SP: 125/125
ATK: 40
DEF: 40
CON: 60
INT: 63
LCK: 65

-Equipment-
-Hand: Sanctified Cutlass (ATK + 5)
-Accessory 1: Bandana (DEF + 2 - CON + 2)
-Accessory 2: Rowdy Pirate Outfit (DEF + 4)

-Abilities-

(The Most Agile Man in Transylvania - Incomplete) - Your body has been sharpened by years of running around, plot ambushes, and evade attacks. You receive knowledge on Advanced Parkour and you are 50% Faster than normal.

(Landfaring Pirate - Unique) - Once a pirate, always a Nobleman. You may have experience in sea-related topics, but you are a paladin at heart when your homeland is attacked. Receive 10% boost to ATK and DEF while protecting fellow Transylvanians.

(Magical Sense - Unique) - The Giant Bat's prided sight! You can now perceive secret passages with incredible ease.