The Vampire's dungeon instance

Forest zone of Tengah Island was not as peaceful as the grassland zone. The forest zone itself were not much different from the tropical rain forest back on earth. The only difference was that the size of the plants and trees inside this forest were several times larger than those on earth. The difference in surrounding elements might be the cause of it but obviously Mays had no intention of verifying his thought on that fact.

Not even five minutes after Mays and the rest entered the forest zone, they were welcomed by a herd of White Stripped Lion. Mays and his spirits didn't even move a muscle as Ria's four generals intercepted and massacred them on sight.

"The road is clear now, master. You and Sir Mays can move without worry."

This time, the one reporting to Ria was not Minerva as usual, but someone else. She had the same facial look as Minerva but her clothing and hair color was different. The name of this girl was Alicia, the leader of Ria's four general.

Minerva was a fire spirit. As for this Alicia, she was an earth spirit. The other two generals were Aqua the water spirit and Misa the wind spirit. The four of them shared the same look since Ria who was lazy made them one simple background, they were quadruplets.

"Good job, good job. Let's get going."

Ria was happy with how competent her spirit was. Ever since Mays came, she barely had the chance to show off. Mays was good at most things he did hence he barely need help with anything. His spirits were also great. None of them were useless. Now that she had the chance to prove her usefulness, she felt joy from it.

Mays who noticed everything smiled at how childish Ria acted. Even without doing any of these, his feeling for her wouldn't change. They had spent years together despite being apart from each other. It was somewhat magical when you could be closer and developed feeling for someone who lived thousands of miles away rather than those you met on daily basis.

"Stop. Something is approaching at a fast pace."

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet. Something stronger than those lions for sure."

There were no trace of doubt in Ria's tone when she asked. Even though she herself couldn't sense anything, she just knew that Mays wouldn't lie. If Mays said so then it was so.

"ROARR!!"

That beast roared as it stopped before them. Its size was at least double the size of those previous White Stripped Lion. Its huge paw, its majestic mane, its shining fang, this newcomer was unexpectedly identical as those previous White Stripped Lion.

"Mays."

"Yea?"

"It's the same lion."

"Sorry, my bad. This one must be the leader of their pack."

From the sound of its footsteps, Mays knew that the beast approaching them was bigger than the lion they just exterminated. But from just that, he couldn't be sure what the beast really was. He was not omnipotent.

"Master, leave this one to Mira. Mira want some exercise."

"Do as you like."

"Yay!"

This lion was a silver ranked intermediate boss at best. With Mays's ring turned silver upon its arrival, he knew about it right away. That was also the reason why he allowed Ria to fight it on her own. Insane boss couldn't travel through the gate. They could only be summoned using their ancient scrolls. Their power ware too immense for a mere portal gate to support their transfer.

"This place ain't as dangerous as they said, right Mays?"

"Can't be helped. They cleared this area monthly. It's not like we want to fight troublesome opponents' right off the bat anyways."

From the trio, Mays and Ria had been briefed about how things work in this island. For further convenience, The Alliance would send a punitive force every month to clear the forest zone. This helped in maintaining the zone from turning into a hell full of strong creature.

Mira didn't even took a minute to kill that lion boss. Their gap in power was way too large. That lion boss might had been an early silver ranked boss around level fifty. It was miraculous that these monster just spawned out of nowhere here in this island. The good thing was that their spawn rate was low hence the people stationed here could manage them.

Just like that, they arrived at the portal gate in the middle of this forest zone. They only met several other weak Phantom Beast along the way.

"Are you ready guys?"

"As long as I'm by your side, Mays."

"Master, Mira is a girl."

"Shut up, Mira!"

"Let's go then, to Demon Continent!"

Mays was the first one to step into the portal gate connected to demon continent. He did so with a face full of confidence. Whatever waiting for him on the other sides didn't matter. As long as his trusted people were all by his side, he didn't even need to fear god himself. Or so he thought.

"Bzzz! Bzzz!"

The portal gate was now blocked by some kind of static shock. Mays was quite amused by that since this was the first time he encountered something like that.

"So, it is true."

"What is?"

As always, Ria couldn't understand what Mays was implying.

"This place, it is indeed a twenty five man dungeon instance. Even this entrance was now blocked to prevent us from running away."

"Whoaa! I never thought that there really is dungeon instance in this world."

"Well, there might be none in human continent but we are now in demon continent. I believe that this place have every other races just like in HeavensTale."

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The surrounding area was not much difference than the forest zone back in Tengah Island. Maybe because the zone was connected to this land with the portal gate, they sustained the same climate as this forest. The forest in this dungeon instance was several times darker and gloomier than the forest zone though.

"Knights, form a defensive wall! Ria, you lead them. Damage dealer, follow my lead! Mira and the rest of the magic caster, spam icicle at those priest to disrupt their healing spell!"

Monsters inside dungeon instance might not be as strong as intermediate bosses but they were by no means weak. They were way stronger compared to normal fighter and normal bosses for sure.

"Mays, these demons were parts of Winged Associates too?"

"Nah, I don't think so. But we might already ported into one of their nest. Dual Slash!"

Currently, the party of twenty five led by Mays were surrounded by vampires. Their strength varies from bronze rank till gold rank but they were surprisingly united. With most of the lesser vampires as cannon fodder, several stronger vampires gave order from behind as they tried to block the advance of Mays and his companions.

"Gah, I can't determine the level of this instance with how the strength of our attacker varies."

"Don't bother with it then. You always over complicating things. Just think of this as a demon nest hehe."

Obviously Ria wouldn't know something which even Mays didn't. But again, what she said really sounds logical. Thinking too much about it wouldn't solve his problem for sure.

"Master!"

"Yea?"

"Now that we already cleared their attacking force should we destroy everything which lies ahead?"

Syaitona who previously was at the very front of the battle was now in front of Mays, reporting their progress. She didn't even forget to kneel before reporting in.

"And what is it that lies ahead?"

"Master! Master! Mira saw vampire's dwelling up ahead. It's at least the size of a village."

Before Syaitona could answer the question, Mira was shouting about it from not too far behind, totally excited about it.

"That is so. A vampire village is up ahead, full of non-combatants. What is our next action, master?"

"No need for further acknowledgement from me. Just destroy everything in sight."

"Yes master!"

Not just Syaitona, even Mira who was not yet in front of Mays shouted the same line before she turned back and rushed toward the front line. Almost every spirits were busy killing and destroying vampires leaving Mays and Ria at the back with nothing to do. On their side were Aloha and Minerva respectively, acting as their aid.

"Please, mercy."

Kuuook! A weak, elderly male vampire was cut into two.

"The child at least. Leave him alive."

Kuheeokk! The mother of a little vampire girl was beheaded. Their desperate plead was ignored by the army of spirits raiding their settlement. The houses of the vampires which incorporated the forest ecology were destroyed and burned without restrain.

Even vampires plead for mercy when they were killed indiscriminately. That was a new fact for Mays. He thought for sure that a being which treat humans lower than insect would never lower themselves and beg for their life. His assumption was proven entirely wrong. There was nothing in this world that didn't fear death.

"This… This…"

Ria was at a loss of word when she saw the whole scene. Most normal human would have the same reaction as her. Watching a city devastated by bandits or demons, she already experienced that. But to be the one in charge of destroying a defenseless village and killing the innocents, this was undoubtedly her first.

The scene of carnage was beyond horrible. Even though they were vampires, they were literally harmless. The weak, elderly, children and female vampires who was hiding in this settlement were all killed mercilessly.

"Ria. This is how war looks like. Engrave this sight deep into your soul as we might encounter more of this depending of the situation."

"I… I know. It's just…"

"Take your time. I know it's hard but this is the reality you must face. The sooner the better."

Hugging the shriveling Ria, Mays didn't say anything else as he let the time passed by slowly. Comforting word ain't going to justify what he just did. Even he himself knew how cruel his current act was. He killed what he needed to, what he was determined to and what he would to without flinching.

Deep inside, Ria somewhat understood why Mays did all these. Their enemy were the vampires, one of those famed demon kin after all. They would surely bore hatred and seeks revenge if they were left alone. In fact, it would be considered mercy to kill them right away. To die an easy death was thousand times better than to suffer humiliation, enslavement or even torture.

Five years ago, at the Great War, the same thing happened to mankind. Demonic beings invaded human continent starting from the Holy Cloud Empire. With the Demon Lord himself leading the army, they launched an all-out attack to obliterate mankind.

Countless cities were ravaged while mortal humans were treated as mere ants. They were killed on a whim, raped and tortured until they breathed their last. Ria and the rest of the players had just transferred into this world at that time, around four month to be exact. She witnessed the sorry state of humanity, a sight way more horrendous compared to the current one. Even the ravaged capital of Durahel pale in comparison to those cities invaded by the demonic beings.

"I'm okay now. Thanks."

With a genuine smile on his face, Mays patted Ria on her head. He didn't say anything as he walked forward to overseer the genocide. It might be too much for Ria to handle this kind of things. He knew how kind she was. She acted tough in front of others but her heart was very gentle.

"Master, we killed every single one of them and burned their houses."

"Mira contributed the most with the burning part hehe."

"Well done, you two."

Both Syaitona and Mira were indifferent when killing all these harmless vampires. Damia on the other hand was troubled by her conscience. Her character was supposed to be a just knight who upheld justice but right now she was doing something totally opposite of that.

As for Ria's spirits, none of them were disturbed by the killing. They had random personalities but apparently it was nothing against their etiquette to kill harmless enemies. These random personality had their own benefits for sure.

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There were three type of monsters in HeavensTale. The same might apply for this world. For those who read every single details on quests and cut scenes in HeavensTale, they might came to this very conclusion. Mays was obviously someone who was adamant about this fact.

The first type was the common beast. These beast were mostly weak low leveled mob which acted on instinct. Most of them didn't even had any intelligent. Only their pack head of something like a leader had some intelligent but it was obviously inferior compared to humans.

The second type was nature's humanoid beast. They were always neutral unless something threaten them and forced them to act. These nature's humanoid beast were quite helpful as they always hand out hidden quest which were beneficial to players. Elves and other humanoid monsters were also included in this category.

The third type was the most hateful type. They were the demonic humanoid beast. With demonic blood flowing in their veins, they were beings with ruthless nature who wreaked havoc anywhere they go. These demonic humanoid beast were mankind's sworn enemy.

From the weak goblins up till the strong demon kin, they all shared one old sentiment, the extermination of humankind. It was etched in their very blood. It never matters if they were the proud warrior of their clan or if they were the weak elderly who was on the verge of death. They all hated humans to the very core and would never see eye and eye.

That, was the very reason why Mays did what he did. He had the knowledge and the determination to do so. The discrimination between human and demonic beings were just that strong. Leaving this village as it be never was an option.

"Sir Mays, there are two road diverged up ahead. There might be two more villages of this size. Where should we head next?"

Alicia who stood in front of Ria's other spirits asked Mays for their next destination. Syaitona and the rest of Mays's spirits were also standing not too far from them, awaiting Mays's next order.

"It doesn't really matter either way but let's just go with the one heading east."

"Okay."

"Yes master."

Even before they ventured into the demon continent, Ria had already commanded her spirits to listen to Mays's orders. Her order would be secondary especially when they were outside of Neverrain Mountain. Unable to retort back to their master, all the spirits willingly complied without hesitation.

This time, they met nothing as they ventured deeper into the forest, toward the next village. They walked for several minutes inside the dark forest yet they didn't even came across a single lifeform. Just like that, they reached the second village of vampires unperturbed.

However, there was not even a single vampire inside the village. The village was literally empty. There were signs of daily activity as usual but none of the vampire were present at the moment. Most of the spirits were dumbfounded by that as they rummaged through every single shack or house they found just to make sure of it.

"Destroy this village. Leave nothing intact."

"Right away!"

Mays ordered the destruction of the village as if it was the most normal thing to do. The spirits obeyed his order and started in no time. It took them around ten minutes to destroy everything in sight. The once fine looking village was now no more.

Nodding in satisfaction, Mays ordered the whole party to move on to their next destination. He didn't plan to waste more time at this empty village. He wanted to finish this instance dungeon as soon as possible so that they could truly venture the demon continent. There was a clear road from the current village to their destination making it easier for them.

"Is there any need to destroy this village?"

Ria asked as they walked toward the third location. It seemed like she was the only one who was clueless as of why Mays go to such length in this matter. Destroying an empty village like this was totally pointless.

"Not really."

"They why? I just can't find the logic behind it."

"Ugh, do I really need to explain?"

Mays snorted, obviously not planning to explain the whole thing if possible.

"Yes please!"

Ria stared intensely at Mays who was trying to avoid the topic. She wanted to know why Mays was so fixated on it. Mays never did anything without a valid reason. She knew that.

"Fineee. Do you remember HeavensTale loading screen?"

"Of course I don't hehe."

"Heh figured. You already spent five years in this world already."

"So true hahahha. I don't even remember how keyboard looks like anymore."

"Well, to put things simple. There were things in this world that we humans must never overlook. And that was, the demons. It doesn't matter if they were goblins, orcs or even the vampires we just hunted. As long as they had demonic blood flowing in their vein, we must kill them all."

"Why so?"

"Because that is how things worked. It's the same reason why titan eat humans in AOT. We are just powerless to change something like that."

"Ooo I see. And because of that you decided to kill them off entirely."

Nodding while she replied to Mays, Ria's face was showing a somewhat relieved expression as she finally knew the reason why Mays did what he did. Mays was always like that. Once he had been fixated on something, he did it thoroughly. Although Ria still didn't find the reason why they needed to go that far, she didn't oppose it either. The only thing she needed to confirm was that what Mays did was for the greater good of humanity.

Indeed, what Mays did was heartless. If it was other players, they might came to a different solution. But again, Mays did what he thought was right. He didn't plan to risk the chance of one day those seemingly weak vampires would turn on humanity. Better be safe than sorry.