Feeding on lifeblood.

Rolock knew no feeling of grandeur. All his life he had been treated with respect, yes, but never due to his actions. A lazy slacker who knew to only gain from others. It was a fact that no one saw him as anything more than a noble.

This feeling of belittlement was even more apparent after the visit of one of the commoner adventurers with a B-tier power level. Totally ignored and sidelined Rolock had learned what it meant to be nobody. And he couldn't have that.

Using up all his savings and the extra profits from his little town's tax without his father's approval the man had purchased hunting goods, and equipment and hired a team worth over a hundred thousand silver coins.

He'd led them to hunt deep in the Erevid Valley that lay southeast of the main city of Varanol. It was while leaving this valley after an unsuccessful hunt that his team clashed with the red-haired vampire.

The short altercation had proven the vampire's strength and only the actions of the shooter and the spear wielder in his team had saved them all from certain death.

That and the injury they'd given him the moment they'd shown themselves. Luck had been smiling on them since then as their prey fled and they gave chase. Their luck was still evident as they finally cornered the almost-dead vampire within a castle. Now it was simply to take their rewards and head back to Varanol, hand over his head and get their much-awaited glory and reward.

But what was this? Why were things not as they should be?

Standing alone, his arm weak, blood flowing from a cut to his forehead the silence uneasily grating at his senses Rolock couldn't understand how it had come to this.

His mind refused to accept the unfairness of it all. There were eight of them and yet they had lost. A sharp pain and a feeling of strength and life leaving his body dulled his senses. While he tried to fight it he realized he was too weak.

Uttering a final roar that lamented the unjustness of his life he slumped everything fading away.

*******

A few moments earlier.

No one particularly cared about the door shutting on its own, well except for the horror preacher whose eyes tried to scan for the others. Yet it didn't help that it was pitch black.

'One would think these holes and cracks in the walls would let in light. Yet there is none. Almost like this place is unapproachable by light. Cursed I say, cursed' he ranted with a grievance in his heart.

A spark and then a flash created a flame held onto with a burning touch. The black man with an earring waved the torch about trying to spread its light into the room. Yet the darkness of the unholy place resisted seemingly annoyed with the intrusion.

'"Not to sound wimpy like Joran but this place gives the creeps." One of the men at the back called Levi muttered his hands tightly clenched in a fist. Joran who was the fearful one gave him a look not appreciating the jab at him but relented to speak. He could only hope though that he was just being wimpy.

Better be a coward for nothing than be right and die.

Rolock though seemed impatient to get the hunt on. With the vampire not in sight, he couldn't help but get anxious. What if there was a back door and he escaped through it?

"We split up and spread out Whoever finds the leech yells out for the others. Moni goes with Levi, take the left, Joran and Lyla you both are together, go right, Kilo and Ferin you weird named freak you stay here and watch the doors while also being ready to assist whichever group yells out. I'll go with Telma, keep her safe while on the lookout" Rolock done sharing the people moved forward a bit missing the glances from those behind him.

No one spoke a word though as everyone whipped out a torch and lighted it with the flame from Moni's torch before spreading out.

Everyone felt it a bad idea to scatter in such a place with a vampire on the loose but at the moment it was not wise to disobey Rolock. The man was their meal ticket.

Soon though every one of the group realized how right they were to trust their instincts. Death came knocking in ways they couldn't expect.

The first to scream was Levi, his high-pitched wail sending chills down various spines. Levi was a Deceiver magi. A trained class of magi that used showy spells to hide the real kill threats in the area. They were rumoredly capable of one shot ending an enemy. Yet Deceiver magi with all their flashy name were no battle mages or sorcerers. They were considered the weakest of the spellcaster tree due to their low mobility and vitality.

Moni taking front served as a first defense and stall for their enemy buying Levi time to create whatever magic he needed.

Yet right before Moni's terrified eyes Levi wilted like a dying plant and became nothing but a husk that soon scattered away into ash.

Moni could hear the drum beats of his terrified heart, with Levi dead an unknown assailant not that he'd seen anything kill the man within range of the flame and a dark scary castle his mind was slowly beginning to crack from the pressure of fear.

Maybe that was why he barely felt the cold lifeless touch of something rising up his legs. By the time he had realized it was too late. His body pulled back into the darkness in a scream of pure terror the torch he held dropped his head smacking onto the ground from the force of the pull while a crack sounded. He was dead before his body vanished from sight.

The torch lay there flickering for a few moments before something serpentine slithered over into the dying light's range. Without pause, it gripped the flame like a tangible entity and coiled in a squeeze.

If any was here to watch then the terror of such an accomplishment could have been felt. The fire wasn't life or something to feed on. Yet it was drained like it was one. The fire instead of reducing in size seemingly changed in color. From a vibrant luminous red to a dull murky wisp.

Only then did the flame shatter. Shatter, not quench. Breaking like glass. Plunging the once dimly lit corridor back into darkness.

Kilo and Ferin at the door cast glances at each other. There wasn't anyone who didn't hear the two screams of terror. None would have been stupid to mistake a shout for help for one of a dying, terrified man or men. Which left the two in a dilemma as they considered various options.

Whatever it was they were deciding left their minds the moment a tearing sound registered itself in their senses.

As a hunter Ferin was adept in tracking, while not as good enough as most supernatural races he was very capable for a low-tiered human. Being able to detect movement or sounds in a certain radius being one of the few skills that he had. The hulk of a man who spotted a wild mane of black hair ducked to the side just as a blade shot past and struck the mahogany doors bouncing off its thick wood.

"

Tsk".

A sigh of annoyance was heard in the sphere of darkness. Kilo who had barely moved drew a bow notching an arrow to it. A stupid move considering the area was as dark as night. Ferin seemed to think so as he placed his arm to the bow and pushed it down shaking his head once looked at.

The huge male tossed his flame into the darkness where it illuminated its surroundings as far as it could. Standing there looking more tired than any of them was the red-eyed vampire. His eyes blazed with a fiery rage while his left hand grasped onto a second dagger.

Without a word, both men lunged forgetting to call for aid.

Ferin was the first to clash with the vampire his bulk and weight generating enough force to toss the leaner vampire back once he slammed his drawn broadsword onto the defensive male's dagger. It was more of a shocker that the blade didn't shatter.

Kilo was quick to follow up his hands dextrously shooting out knives at the still-flying Crimson.

The vampire could barely evade the blades as he finally landed leading to two cuts and an aching back from slamming into the ground.

Continuing his momentum into a roll he flipped off his good left hand while still gripping the dagger and while balancing shot forward.

Vampires were deadly for a reason. It just wasn't their need for human blood. Setting aside their normal affinity to blood magic vampires were true predators. Faster than the average humans even the fee more powerful humans could barely detect a vampire's speed.

Crimson though was slow, blood loss, aches, and fatigue in his body had brought him to nothing but ten percent of his total capabilities. Yet he was fast enough to arrive by Kilo's side. Having detected the human as an assassin class he figured his defense would be the weakest.

His arms barely moved as his fingers grew long black claws. Swiftly he lashed out drawing blood from the man before jumping back just as a quake sounded out where he had been. The broadsword of Ferin dug into the ground as best as it could yet there were no marks on the stone floor.

'What the hell is this place made of?' All three had the same thought while Crimson licked the bit of blood off his claws. While it did nothing it helped boost his will to take them down. Their blood while poisoned was a suitable reserve for him. The only reserve.

Kilo felt chills down his spine as the red eyes of the man before them locked on him while his tongue rolled over his black claws.

"I'm gonna kill you" He dashed forward surprisingly fast that even Ferin was barely able to react. The hulk made a move to assist when a new sound greeted him.

One that for some reason sent a morbid prick of fear into his mind. Ferin barely caught the scene of Crimson and Kilo locked in a brutal attack and evading dance. His focus on the new participant to their little spat.

Crimson though surprisingly could. He had known since he stepped in here. If not why would he have braved this fight as weak as he was? Entering the castle earlier had told him one thing. The place was alive, somehow.

But it wasn't until the hunters had entered too and the first scream had sounded out while he hid up at a section of the broken towering wall watching them wander that he realized something else.

The Castle was either more interested in the living than the undead or was taking its sweet time hunting them all. Either of the two worked for him. As such he had deigned it right to make things faster hinging his bet on whatever it was that made the place tick to grab its kill during the fight.

How glad was he that his gamble paid off. Or how morbid was he. As he dodged the yet-to-be-aware Kilo his eyes widened at the scene of death before him.

His eyes shook as he watched the hulk shrink and shrivel up his scream getting cut out by a vine of black twigs rolling around him in a vice grip and into his mouth.

At this point, even Kilo noticed something weird about the environment halting to make one little peek behind. Of course, Crimson while shocked had been expecting something like this, while not as morbid yet it had been expected.

His figure blurred to the stunned assassin who stared at his comrade turning to ash. His mind trying to process the sorcery here was brought back to reality by the burning pain in his chest.

His eyes locked on the vampire who stared at him fangs peeking out eyes burning with hunger.

"My...blood... poisoned. You...dare..not". his pained words slipped out as his body shuddered even more as Crimson tightened his hold on his heart.

"You've seen that. Eh?" The vampire nodded his head to the advancing vine. Kilo looked to see the vine slowly approaching almost like it was unsure of feeding off them.

"It's hunting us. I might as well taste a Hunter's blood. An accomplishment if I dare say". Not letting the man put in another word he bit down fangs sinking into his throat and ripping into the carotid artery.

Crimson groaned both from relief and pain. Relief as the insatiable taste of crimson lifeblood flowed down his throat and nourished his body. Pain as the Erken Wood poison burned his mouth and subsequently his throat. He got the strength yet the blood burned his insides.

Still, the vampire held on draining the man rapidly while both sank to their knees. One dying and the other, well, also dying.

Unknown to both the vine wrapped itself around Kilo's foot ready to drag him off.

Within the shattered and ruined hallways of the castle, far above the ending battle below four figures stood back to back their feet quivering while their palms clenched and tightened while staring with abject terror at the lifeforms before them.

"Told y'all this place was cursed" Joran like a radio kept repeating the only thing in his head over and over again.

While each one wanted to slap him over the head none did, as he had been right technically and two no one dared to move a muscle before the creatures that stood in a circle around them.

Every member of a hunter squad had at least some version of a scan or inspect skill. There was scan to see the workings of a body, inspect to check out details, and observe to know just a basic set of things.

Lyla had a higher level of the inspect skill which made her able to see what was formidable and not. It was why she had agreed to the chase all along knowing that the vampire they all tracked all the way here couldn't kill them especially as weak as he had been.

The inspect was showing her something horrendous. Something that was the bane of all adventurers or hunters.

???????

Dark Vine Guards

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???????

???????

Dark Vine Reapers

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???????

In the history of every adventurer, the question mark was sacred. So sacred that an official and unofficial rule was established in the adventurers guild.

When there was a question mark. No questions asked. You did only one thing.

Run.