Servants

Somewhere within the catacombs, an old antique room used to store ancient relics and items lay. Against the shelves of evil-warding artifacts were stone tombs, and along the aisle between them walked several Undead Knights.

Not for long.

Out of nowhere, a blast of blood-red fire shot through the air, burning the heads of three of them straight off their necks and reducing the metal to ashes.

That was the first strike. What followed was a massacre.

From thin air, a figure emerged, dual blades drawn and ready to slay. Without remorse, he cut down the two Undead Knights in front of him, who had no idea what even hit them before they fell to the floor, dead. By this point, the other soldiers in the room finally realized what had happened, and turned to charge towards the figure, but he only smirked and vanished yet again, teleporting behind them and stowing his daggers away.

"They're all yours, Scarlet."

In his place stood a beast that looked no bigger than a small dog. But make no mistake—this was no normal creature.

This, was a Dragon.

And with a roar, the vampire wyvern let out a breath of pure dragonfire—only it was not fiery orange. Instead, it was a dark crimson, and as soon as it struck the Undead Knights, they melted away into nothingness.

Before they could even react, they were mercilessly dispatched. Within seconds, all the monsters in the room had been defeated, smoothly and flawlessly.

"Hm… not bad," the figure from before—Zane Silverdale—said, emerging from the shadows and patting Scarlet's head a few times. "You're already pretty strong, even though you were pretty much just born, huh? Did you leave one alive, like I told you?"

In response, the young Dragon smiled and nodded a few times while enjoying its master's headrubs. Zane, seeing this, smiled.

Up ahead, in the corner of the room, was a half-dead Undead Knight. That sounded weird on paper, but it was exactly what those words meant—a fatally wounded, spasming soldier in armor, hanging onto its last breaths (?). Zane narrowed his eyes and walked closer, before mercilessly kicking its weapon away to avoid any surprise attacks.

The guard was truly in a pitiful state, but Zane did not care. These things were Dungeon Monsters, not humans—and even if they were, they would almost certainly attempt to kill Zane if not for the state they were in. As such, he saw no reason to show them any mercy, and he would treat them like how he would treat any of his enemies, now or in the future.

Either death, or slavery.

In this case, it was the latter.

The process to use [Blood Mark] was very simple.

All Zane had to do was aim his hand towards the target, just like [Fire Mastery], and 'think' the phrase 'Blood Mark'.

"𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒓, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒚, 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉?"

His voice turned deep and choir-like, as if an entire crowd of people were chanting his words at the same time. It caught Zane himself by surprise for a brief moment, but he couldn't lose his composure here. Since the Undead Knight was an ancient soldier, Zane thought it'd be best if he took a medieval-like approach. He was, after all, trying to convince a Dungeon monster, not a human with high levels of intelligence. Simple threats wouldn't work.

The guard shook for a brief moment, contemplating Zane's words. Then, slowly, despite its injuries, it forced itself to climb to one knee, and kneel before its new ruler.

It had accepted.

"… Good choice."

Zane, unsurprised, held out his hand above the guard's forehead, and cast.

'Blood Mark.'

He watched as his arm turned shadowy, inhuman, and dark crimson energy that was closer to black flowed down his limb. From there, it touched the Undead Knight's body, and instantly, the guard froze. His wounds disappeared, his body stopped spasming.

And from head down to toe, its figure began to shift.

Silver armor turned pitch-black, and from the gaps in its equipment rose a thick, dense black energy much like the one that had just came from Zane's arm. Once the transformation was complete, the guard slowly stood up, and pressed his fist against his chest in a salute gesture. Apparently, when it came to Dungeon monsters, there was no actual 'mark'—their entire bodies just turned into a distinct shadowy version of their former selves.

Zane smiled darkly.

"That's two."

*****

From there, the slaughter continued.

Zane, Scarlet, and their new companion—whom Zane affectionately dubbed as 'Samuel Von Asvielgard The Second'—travelled from room to room, dispatching any Undead Knights they saw and reaping the meager amount of EXP they provided. As one of Zane's Servants, Samuel seemed to have increased strength and agility compared to its non-converted counterparts, allowing him to triumph in duels. The EXP obtained went straight to Zane, so letting the Undead Knight take the kills was perfectly fine.

On the way, the two also came across some a suitable outfit for Zane, whose upper half had still been completely naked up until this point. After slipping on the black cloak that most likely once belonged to a noble, however, it almost seemed like the garment fit Zane perfectly—royal and domineering, just like a Sovereign was meant to be.

After obtaining two more Undead Knights as Servants, Zane's secondary goal right now was to find a Wraith. He wanted to save the final slot for something more than a mere footsoldier, and the only other enemy type in this Dungeon were Wraiths—apart from High Priests, which Zane had already eliminated beforehand. He almost wished he hadn't killed Dahrka back then, since now he could make that Fallen Paladin into one of his Servants—a powerful ally by all standards.

From his shoulder, a soft growl came, and Zane turned to see Scarlet staring back at him, blinking as if bored. It was eager for another hunt.

As his [Cartography] skill was Tier V, one of the features that had been unlocked when it upgraded inside the Training Dungeon was the ability to sense what types of enemies were in each room. It wasn't fully comprehensive—for example, bosses were marked by question marks and Hidden Bosses weren't revealed at all, not to mention the lack of any quantity indicators. In other words, even though Zane could tell what types of enemies are in each room, he couldn't tell how many there were.

Zane smiled. "Don't worry. We're almost there. In fact, it's right in front of us."

Together, the two stared down the long hallway leading into what seemed like a circular room from the outside. Naturally, no enemies could be seen—but Wraiths were invisible little pests, so that wasn't exactly surprising.

"Awrr…" Scarlet licked Zane's cheek a few times while flapping its wings, and Zane shot the Dragon a glance.

"You want to take care of it?"

Scarlet nodded eagerly, eyes sparkling with excitement, and Zane nodded.

"Alright. Leave one. Kill the rest."

Excitedly, Scarlet opened its mouth and breathed out a stream of blood-red fire, straight into the chamber. Multiple screams could be heard—the surprise attack had caught them off-guard. A few teleported out, but the fire that caught onto their robes burned and scorched them to death.

"Good work, Scarlet. I'll take over from here."

Now, only one Wraith remained—and Zane knew exactly what their weakness was.

Coldly, he opened his palm, and within it was a burning white flame. The Wraith, utterly terrified, involuntarily canceled its own invisibility and finally showed itself.

"There you are. Now then… 𝑰 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍. 𝑱𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆, 𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆?"

Zane's voice was cold, dispassionate. Yet it served to strike fear into the Wraith, through its every bone.

Immediately, the creature made its choice, bowing down and kowtowing its head on the floor. Thanks to all the training he did in the Training Dungeon, Zane knew what these things' weaknesses and pasts were. Naturally, he also knew how to use that against them.

He smiled.

"Very good. Then… join me."

Reaching out his hand, he used [Blood Mark] once more, letting his deep dark crimson mana flow into the Wraith's body and turning it into a Servant. Its dirty robes and bones became a thick black cloak, and its glowing red eyes became stark white instead, colorless and meaningless. They no longer had their own consciousness—they simply obeyed Zane without a single utter of complaint.

And just at that moment, several messages appeared before Zane's eyes, signaling the completion of his Quest.

[Sovereign's Rebirth — Chapter I — Quest Complete!]

[Select Your Reward:]

[1 - 5 SP + 25 Bloodrunes]

[2 - Vampire Blood]

[3 - New Skill]

At this new, unfamiliar screen, Zane blinked a few times before coming to a realization.

"I can… choose my rewards?"

Was this what the [???] under the rewards section meant when he had first received the quest? If so, then… this was going to be an important decision.

The first option was the most clear and straightforward—a guaranteed increase in strength and money, which was always good to have. The second was more situational, allowing Zane to increase his [Devour] skill's level and gain more skill slots. Lastly, the third option was the most mysterious, but also yielded the most benefits—a high risk, high reward choice.

'Well… the last skill that the System gave me, [Blood Mark], was quite helpful. It had been from the same questline as well, so following that pattern… the skill I receive here should be decent as well, right?'

That was Zane's logic. To test it out, he decided to bet on the third option—and immediately, the hologram before him transformed to display a new message.

[Sanguine Resurrection — Skill Obtained!]

[Chapter II of the Sovereign's Rebirth questline has been unlocked.]