6 The Undead Giant

"So what did that strange bell do exactly?" Virgil asked.

"Simple, a blood-addled hunter was attempting to pray upon another hunter and in his attempts to resonate with a unwilling hunter this bell intercepted that and brought him here." Milo explained.

"None of that made sense..." Virgil said with a raise to his brow.

Blood-addled? Resonate? These words were foreign to Virgil but obviously not to people who had been here long enough.

"Ah yes sorry, first off a resonance is the result of one of these bells finding the chime of someone else's bell. The word resonance applies for both finding a friendly hunter, and a hostile one. This red bell can do one of two things, either put me into another hunters world or call for one to be brought to my own."

"I see, so basically your silver bell is for friendly resonance. And the red is for any sort of hostile resonance, whether it be unto you or you invading someone else."

Milo smiled, "I never thought of using the word 'invading' for it, but yes that exactly. Technically speaking with your analogy for it we're being invaded as we speak."

"And this blood-addled title, what is this exactly?"

"A bloodthirsty hunter who kills the innocent is denounced blood-addled by the hunters of hunters. They're a group of hunters who are extremely talented at disposing of fellow hunters."

"That doesn't make sense, if killing hunters is what makes someone blood-addled; wouldn't that label the hunter of hunters blood-addled as well?"

A voice coming from behind the two answered instead of Vermillion.

"A hypocrite buncha lads aren't they?" The apparent invader said.

He was dragging a massive axe, the same one Gascoigne was using when he snapped Virgil out of his temporary madness.

Virgil looked at him than around- Gideon was nowhere in sight.

"Lookin' for a friend are we?" The man asked, the strong smell of alcohol from the mans' breathe and clothing assaulting Virgil from a fair distance away.

"You reek of liquor." Vermillion seethed.

"We all have different ways of getting through this night kid."

"Liquor and praying on random hunters are just some of your own then."

"Precisely." The man said.

The man unsheathed a small flintlock pistol from his waist and took a shot at Vermillion. The motion was much faster than Virgil anticipated, giving him no time to react.

"What?" The man said while reloading his gun.

The bullet stopped just a few inches away from Vermillion's face and began to melt away, it's silver contents burning into the Dungeons stone floor. Virgil could see- just barely however, that Vermillion's crimson poison was the culprit. It was much more transparent than it was the first time Virgil had seen it. Very thin strands were floating around the room, almost like a spiders web- but the invader seemed to not take notice. Virgil couldn't see them per say but more felt the aura they were dispersing.

And that aura wasn't very happy.

"You move like a slug old man."

"What an interesting gimmick, reminds me of a strange gimmick from my past."

Virgil could feel the strands slowly homing in on the drunk invader, who still hadn't seemed to take notice.

"Gimmick?" Vermillion smirked. With the man completely surrounded, oblivious to his sealed death Vermillion was filled with much confidence.

"A mist bender that uses his blood to instant kill things it touches, does that gimmick sound familiar?"

All of Vermillion's crimson mist strands stopped moving.

"What the-"

"You Vilebloods always think you have the upper hand on us normal folk because of your special blood."

The room was beginning to steadily decrease in temperature, and both Virgil and Vermillion were able to see their breath suddenly.

"Who are you?" Vermillion whispered, Virgil could feel the uneasiness in his voice.

All confidence gone.

"Adam, the absolute zero. I believe we've met Vermillion of the crimson mist."

Adam blew a breath onto the strands around him, slowly freezing them and the frost slowly making its way to Vermillion. Vermillion turned around and broke into a sprint, naturally Virgil followed.

"Wait why are we running?" Virgil asked, through ragged breathing. He could hear Adam laughing and when he looked behind Adam was only walking- like a wolf watching it's pray attempt to escape to no avail.

"My ability is only helpful if someone's not aware of it, it moves too slowly to be of much use against other hunters who are aware of it. And I know that man, he is one of the healing churches executioners- Adam."

Virgil remembered Gascoigne warning him about the healing churches strongest guards- the Executioners. He also remembered Gascoigne saying they were all equip with things called 'Secret rites' but he wasn't too sure what they exactly were.

"Where are we running to?" Virgil asked, exhaustion was starting to creep up on him with how much effort it took to keep up with Milo.

"The fog gate, if we get there before he does it will initiate the floor boss and banish all invaders from your world- that includes Adam."

They took another turn, Virgil glimpsing over his shoulder could see Adam walking around a corner behind them down the hall with a massive grin on his face.

Virgil forgot he was becoming fatigued.

"How is he keeping up with us WALKING?!" Virgil yelled at Milo.

"There are many secret passages in the dungeons. Considering how many hunters he's killed he probably knows this layout better than I do."

"Do you know this dungeons layout?"

"Very little, everything looks too similar to remember things well. Never mind the fact that I've only been here maybe four times. But my crimson mist found the fog gate a long time ago, I'm just following it's trail."

That relieved Virgil a bit.

Upon their next turn was a very long corridor, at the very end was the fog gate. A tall wall of white glowing mist concealing a massive door. They wasted no time, and bolted for the gate.

Halfway down the hall the temperature in the room dropped considerably. So much it caused both Virgil and Vermillion to stop from the pain on their skin.

"You boy's almost ruined my fun. How cowardice to turn your back on the enemy and run off with your tails between your legs." Adam laughed, standing at the opposing end of the corridor holding out a silver amulet. The amulet was giving off a very faint glow.

"We're fucked." Vermillion said, unable to move his body for it was as stiff as ice at this point.

"Who are you?" Vermillion whispered, Virgil could feel the uneasiness in his voice.

All confidence gone.

"Adam, the absolute zero. I believe we've met Vermillion of the crimson mist."

Adam blew a breath onto the strands around him, slowly freezing them and the frost slowly making its way to Vermillion. Vermillion turned around and broke into a sprint, naturally Virgil followed.

"Wait why are we running?" Virgil asked, through ragged breathing. He could hear Adam laughing and when he looked behind Adam was only walking- like a wolf watching it's pray attempt to escape to no avail.

"My ability is only helpful if someone's not aware of it, it moves too slowly to be of much use against other hunters who are aware of it. And I know that man, he is one of the healing churches executioners- Adam."

Virgil remembered Gascoigne warning him about the healing churches strongest guards- the Executioners. He also remembered Gascoigne saying they were all equip with things called 'Secret rites' but he wasn't too sure what they exactly were.

"Where are we running too?" Virgil asked, exhaustion was starting to creep up on him with how much effort it took to keep up with Milo.

"The fog gate, if we get there before he gets up it will initiate the floor boss and banish all invaders from your world- that includes Adam."

They took another turn, Virgil glimpsing over his shoulder could see Adam walking around a corner behind them down the hall with a massive grin on his face.

Virgil forgot he was becoming fatigued.

"How is he keeping up with us WALKING?!" Virgil yelled at Milo.

"There are many secret passages in the dungeons. Considering how many hunters he's killed he probably knows this layout better than I do."

"Do you know this dungeons layout?"

"Very little, everything looks too similar to remember things well. Never mind the fact that I've only been here maybe four times. But my crimson mist found the fog gate a long time ago, I'm just following it's trail."

That relieved Virgil a bit.

Upon their next turn was a very long corridor, at the very end was the fog gate. A tall wall of white glowing mist concealing a massive door. They wasted no time, and bolted for the gate.

Halfway down the hall the temperature in the room dropped considerably. So much it caused both Virgil and Vermillion to stop from the pain on their skin.

"You boy's almost ruined my fun. How cowardice to turn your back on the enemy and run off with your tails between your legs." Adam laughed, standing at the opposing end of the corridor holding out a silver amulet. The amulet was giving off a very faint glow.

"We're fucked." Vermillion said, unable to move his body for it was as stiff as ice at this point.

Virgil however was fine, he was cold and his skin burned from how cold the room was but he was by no means frozen solid like Vermillion.

"Traveler's armor from the north, that's some nice Frost resistance you have boy." Adam said.

Virgil wasn't going to ask and make his ignorance apparent. He unsheathed Reiterpallasch and took a fighting stance.

"You idiot, don't ight' just run." Milo tried, his mouth was frozen as well so it was hard for him to speak.

Adam lifted a brow, he hadn't seen someone dare hold a weapon up to an executioner in a very long time. Anger filled him, he felt as though someone just spit on him with the amount of disrespect the gesture held.

He took another aim with his pistol at Virgil this time, and pulled the trigger.

Virgil dashed to the right evading the bullet, than returned to his stance. He was obviously playing the defensive.

"A dash step! So you're a hunter as well boy?" Adam yelled in disbelief, he could have sworn he killed most of the hunters in the Pthumerian chalices. He suddenly felt dirty, and wanted Virgil out of his sight.

The gust of wind that was ringing in Virgil's ears from the sudden evasion made his heart race, he became oblivious to the freezing cold. He wanted more of this adrenaline.

Adam took three more shots, Virgil evaded the first two but then noticed the third wasn't shot at his original spot but rather where Adam had guessed he would evade to.

Upon landing Virgil caught the bullet on the side of his blade, it was still traveling up his blade towards him so he spun his blade around quickly and redirected the shot back at Adam. The bullet cut the side of his face, he had no time to react not expecting Virgil to had done that.

"What an elegant parry, I've never seen a hunter parry a bullet with a hunter arm before... What are you doing in such a low level dungeon with skills like that?"

Virgil wasn't sure how, but he could see an opening. He saw the curiosity in Adam's eyes and did not hesitate. His instincts moved his body before he could even consciously ask it to do so.

He took his Evelyn out of its sheath immediately and fired a shot at Adam's silver amulet, Adam had no time to react to either of the two things that happened in the blink of an eye. Virgil and his bullet that he fired appeared before him at the same time, the bullet shattering the pendent, and the rapier piercing Adam's heart simultaneously.

"A flash step?!" Adam tried, through blood spurting out of his mouth.

He put his gun to Virgil's head in hopes of taking him out with him, but Virgil clicked the lever on the Reiterpallasch. The blade quickly responded sending itself downwards further opening Adam's heart, and then retracted into the grip of the sword revealing another pistol. Virgil then put a round of silver into Adam's heart as well- killing him instantly and sending him off his blade.

With Adam's amulet destroyed, the temperature in the room stabilized and Vermillion was back to normal, albeit still very cold. Virgil flicked the blood off of Reiterpallasch, it splashing on Adam's face as his body dispersed into a sort of black ash, leaving not a trace.

"Where did you learn to flash step?" He asked, obviously a bit uncomfortable since he assumed Virgil was a novice.

Those skills contradicted his assumptions greatly.

"What's a flash step?" Virgil asked while examining his hands. They were covered with Adams blood but he wasn't losing himself in the bloodlust like he did when he first fought Gascoigne.

Vermillion's jaw dropped at that.

"You don't even understand the magnitude of what you just did?! Nonsense!"

Virgil gave an awkward smile while scratching the back of his head, he wasn't able to make sense of any of it.

"There are a multitude of different 'Steps' that hunters master. The fundamental one that all hunters can do is a dash step. A dash step is when you convert the gravity that pulls your body downwards onto the earth you stand on into raw momentum and distribute it in the direction you please."

"What?"

"Basically you become weightless, and move yourself somewhere else. It's a dash, it's too complicated to put into logical words."

"What of the other steps than?" Virgil asked.

He kinda understood what Milo was saying. But he wasn't going to ask for more details in fear of giving himself a headache.

"Well for starters there's the flash step, what you just did. It's essentially instant teleportation- kinda. You basically did the same thing as dash stepping but to an extreme degree, moving faster than most eyes can keep up with. So it's not really teleporting but it looks like it. You need an extreme dexterity stat to pull it off, which you don't have. So I don't understand how you did it."

"Well what of these other 'steps' than?"

"There's mist stepping which turns your body into an untargetable mist, this requires arcane to do. And then the blood step which sheds a layer of blood off of your skin when you dash, this clone of you left in your original place can do one attack before collapsing into a pool of blood- useless in this state. The problem with blood stepping however is you injure yourself with each dash, but don't let that fool you, the clone is vicious and does all the damage you would have done with said attack in the form of blood tinge. Blood tinge users are fearsome in their own right."

"If dexterity, blood tinge, and arcane have their own steps what of strength users?"

"Charge stepping. They move with enough force to break down a castle gate with just a simple dash. I've seen a man get his whole left side of his body smashed up just from being charge stepped into. The unsettling thing about charge stepping is that it looks just like normal dash stepping, because it is. The only difference is that they multiply the momentum they travel with by hundreds of times their own weight. So you would assume you were fighting a novice, suddenly to be hit by the same force of a cannon."

"Wait but if the strength, blood tinge, and arcane steps have those forms what does dexterity have?"

Milo sighed and pressed a hand to his temple.

"You're actually a block head. Mobility. A dash step is a massive short burst in speed that all hunters can use, and a flash step is hundreds of times faster than all the other steps combined. Never mind the fact that you can chain your steps indefinitely if you build up the stamina for it."

"But I can't smash someone's body with my step?"

Milo smiled, "No you can't smash someones body, or temporarily become ethereal, but you can pierce someones heart in the blink of an eye. Don't doubt the potential of your step."

From down the corridor Virgil could see Gideon just now arrive, he was covered from head to toe in blood.

"What took you guys so long?" Gideon asked.

"No reason, we just had a chat." Milo said, he gave Virgil an expression that said 'Just play along'. So he did.

Where Adams corpse was had already vanished. Once someone is removed from a hunters world, their body vanishes into a black mist, leaving not a trace behind.

"Ready for the boss?" Virgil asked Gideon with a forced smile.

"Yea, yea lets get this over with." Gideon said while stepping into the room, Virgil and Milo following.

The floor boss was resting in the center of the room, a giant with what seemed to be a cannon beside him to his left, and a massive curved blade protruding out of his right arm. It was sitting in the middle of the massive room sleeping.

Both Milo and Gideon wore serious expressions, which confused Virgil. Weren't these dungeons a cake walk for the two?

"Why is he sleeping?" Virgil asked Vermillion.

"All of the bosses in the early dungeons are asleep at first, it lets you get the first hit." He explained.

Virgil heard the disgusting sound of flesh being torn once again, to see Gideon ripping his left arm open, removing a scythe once again with his right. From the way Gideons body shook in the process, Virgil could tell he was feeling all of the pain of doing so. But his face didn't show discomfort, just pure insanity.

"The usual." Vermillion ordered Gideon.

Gideon ran around to the other end of the boss room, a few meters away from the boss in a stance that was ready to slash at the boss at any moment.

"My poison has no effect on bosses. I increase the amount of blood used in the mist, turning it into a physical thread. The thread is however very visible, making it much harder against hunters. So I save it for fights like this."

Vermillion crosses his arms in front of him, the thread traversing the dungeons stone floor making a pattern around the boss. It was glowing a vivid red, to Virgil's surprise it was in the shape of a spiders web.

"Get ready, this dungeon boss isn't a pushover like the enemies here. He's known for killing overconfident beginners like yourself. Don't make that mistake." Vermillion's said.

His arms rose upwards, the spiders trap elevating with his arms slowly cradling the boss in its crimson hue.

"Sepulcrum." Vermillion whispered, with a raspy voice.

The webs collapsed on the boss, quickly. Cutting deep into its body all around. It roared at the rude awakening, flailing its body in the net- making matters worst for itself.

The net began to tear, just as he was going to break free Gideon was above him, insanity in full throttle.

"Purpura Pluviam!" Gideon s reaches whilst in the air. He sliced his arm, a spray of blood covering the ceiling of the dungeon. The droplets in the air hardened into little pellets and came crashing down on the boss. The barrage lasted nearly 5 whole seconds. Virgil couldn't see a thing, the dust shooting up off the ground from the heavy blow was everywhere.

The dust finally began to clear, and to Virgil's surprise the Boss was standing, infuriated. His eyes on Virgil.

He held a massive cannon in his left arm, and a massive hooked blade is what he had for a right arm. The blade dragged beside him, creating sparks on the ground as he made his way closer.

Virgil didn't want to make the mistake he did with the ghouls in the dungeon. He unsheathed his sword and played the defensive.

The giant raised his hooked blade and sent it crashing down towards Virgil. It was slow- extremely so. Virgil dashed to its right and slashed at its legs causing it to roar in pain. The giant swept at its legs with its cannon trying to push Virgil away- Virgil didn't let up. The giants movements were that of a giant- slow but devastating. But devastating only to what it could hit.

Virgil jumped upwards onto the giants cannon and ran up it and it's arm. The giants face screamed confusion- it had no idea what to do with something at this range. Virgil dashed at its eyes, stabbing Reiterpallasch into its right eye, and blasting its left with Evelyn.

The giant dropped the cannon and attempted to grab Virgil, but could not do so on time. Just as his hand clenched around Virgil, Virgil appeared beside Vermillion with dust bursting in all directions from how quickly he had just moved.

"You cease to impress me." Vermillion said with the raise of his brow. He was finding it harder and harder to believe that Virgil didn't know what it was that he was doing. It made him ever so curious as to what Virgil's memories from his original life contained.

Just who was this boy?

"I suppose you can't be the only one to put on a show." Vermillion said.

Vermillion was always wrapped in a crimson cloth, concealing most of his body. He removed a strange looking curved short sword of some sort from within the cloak. He raised it above his head and with both hands tugged at the handle of the sword, splitting it- revealing two small curved swords. A long metallic ring vibrated in the air for a moment when he split the blade in two.

Gideons ears twitched at the familiar sound, he dashed away from the giant and made his way to Vermillion. Upon arriving the sound of glass occurred yet again as his scythe deconstructed back into his arm, Gideon took a seat on the floor beside Vermillion.

"It's not like you to want to steal the fun." Gideon said with a pout.

Vermillion usually wore a look of uninterest. You could easily tell he was a veteran in this world despite his age since things didn't really ever surprise him. Worry him occasionally of course but he'd seen most of it by now.

His eyes were not filled with that same appearance now. Instead it was the look of a lion, staring down its prey. Reading what it would do next, before it's inevitable demise. Virgil returned Reiterpallasch to his sheathe. Judging by how Gideon reacted, he wanted to give Vermillion his space. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he knew he should pay damn good attention to it.

The floor boss turned towards the three, obviously furious. He reached down to pick up his cannon, but noticed his arm was on the ground beside it. He looked at the stump where his arm used to be in confusion. Why didn't it hurt? When did that happen?

Why does it hurt now?

Virgil was as confused as he. He looked over to Milo but he was no longer there, instead his crimson cloak was floating towards the ground.

Below the floor boss stood Vermillion, both of his blades dragging on the ground behind him as he made his way nearer and nearer to the floor boss. His blades were connected to a glowing red thread.

The boss roared and lifted his right arm, the one that was a sword in an attempt to swing at Vermillion. Vermillion swung the thread upwards, the sword going up with it slashing off the other giants arm. It roared in pain.

Virgil's jaw was on the ground. His blade had so much resistance just entering the bosses eyes- which is why he went for them. If he could hardly damage his eyes, there was no way he could break its flesh with his sword. Never mind sever entire limbs with the flick of his hand!

Vermillion ran towards the monster, it tried to take a step back to avoid Vermillion in fear of what was to come next. As Vermillion ran, his swords hovered behind him on each side, like a scorpions tale waiting to sting its prey. He ran through the monsters legs, severing the tendons in both sending the massive beast collapsing onto its knees. Everyone could hear Vermillion kick off the ground, he was mid air above the beast holding both his swords crossed in front of him. He kicked off the ceiling and in one swift cut, removed the giants head. It's lifeless body collapsed to the floor and within seconds evaporated into a black mist. The mist traveled to the three people in the room, and faded into each of their bodies. Virgil felt strange, as if he had gained something on his person but could not see what it was?

"Congratulations, you've slain your first floor boss." Vermillion said, picking up with crimson cloak and covering his head and body with it once again.

Virgil realized he hadn't really payed attention to Milos features, but he had bright red hair that spiked upwards and just as red eyes. He never noticed the hair since it was always under the cloak, like it was once again.

"I hardly did any slaying in comparison to you too." Virgil awkwardly laughed.

"True, but the blood echoes you now have have no prejudice to contribution." Vermillion shrugged.

A massive gate on the opposite end up the boss floor raised upwards, revealing a sort of elevator that led further down into the dungeon. All three made their way to it, descending the dungeon and arriving at the second layer. Just down the hall lay another unlit lamp. Most of the surrounding looked damn near identical to the dungeon above.

"Care to explain what a blood echo is?" I asked on our way to the lamp.

"The currency in this world. Anything that dies, whatever killed it receives the blood echoes they found. If you die with no hunter around, the echoes disappear forever- unless you die with an obscene amount. If so, they will transfer to a nearby monster severely powering them up. If you kill a monster powered up by blood echoes you receive every drop used to made them that powerful." Vermillion explained.

"If you're in a group, they are split evenly between everyone. Hence why Milo said they have no prejudice!" Gideon giggled.

Upon arriving to the lamp, Vermillion snapped his fingers and the lamp regained its light with only one pair of messengers appearing.

"Could we take a break? I have a lot of questions after uh... recent events."

Vermillion took a seat beside the lamp, one of the strange messengers wearing a top hat was reaching towards him- tugging on his cloak.

"Not now." He said to the messenger, flicking it off his cloak. The messenger's expression changed not, and returned to peering endlessly into the lamps radiance.

"What do you want to know?"

Gideons aura was dimming out, he was slowly but surely becoming less and less visible.

"Milo my times up, just resummon me when ya need me!" Gideon said with a giggle.

"I will soon, don't do anything reckless while I'm gone." Vermillion said with a small smile. Virgil thought it was strange seeing one on him.

"Yea yea, bye Mergil!" Gideon said while fading away.

"It's Virgil..." Virgil said as he disappeared.

"Oh yea, Virgil!" Virgil could hear him say but he was no longer there. He assumed it was just a last second remark or something like that.

"Well I'm mostly an open book so what's on your mind?" Vermillion asked Virgil while looking down at the messenger with a top hat, petting it's head.

"How did the executioner know you?" Virgil asked.

Vermillion took a moment before answering, as if choosing his words carefully. He looked up into Virgil's serious eyes and sighed. He knew where this was going.

"Ask the more important question, it'll make that one make more sense."

Virgil's heart skipped a beat, he knew Milo knew what was on his mind.

"Adam referred to you as a Vileblood, is this true?"

"Yes. Though I wasn't always a Vileblood, I was corrupted with the queens blood and became a Vileblood."

"Became one..?" Virgil asked.

"Let's go back to the Cathedral. I'll explain everything there, I don't want to get 'Invaded' as you put it in the middle of this conversation. It's going to be a long one."

Both Vermillion and Virgil held their hands up to the lamp, fading away back to the Cathedral ward, where Virgil's night was going to become a whole lot more confusing than it was already.