Side Story: Blood Hunt (Part 1)

Kulkiri cracked his neck and winced as he felt up his battered body, checking how extensive his injuries were. Pretty bad, as it turned out. Fighting a Space Grandmaster of any Race sucked, but a Vampire was the worst possible scenario. Well, maybe a Dragon would actually be a worse option, but whatever. At least the fucker was dead, and the strange Ritual he was preforming was disrupted. Speaking off...

Kulkiri looked at the pedestal where the orb of Crystal Mana once resided, now devoid of anything. As soon as the Vampire died, the orb had shattered into tiny particles and vanished. The black ball inside it disappeared too, which was a slight concern, but Ruby predicted no immediate negative consequences so everybody put it out of their mind. The twins promised to keep an eye on it always.

No, a more pressing concern was their collapsed teammate. Making his way over to the corner, a young girl no older than fifteen with a petit frame, lush silver hair and crystalline skin lay sleeping with a jacket thrown over her. Standing over her was Ruby and Anne, taking turns to press her body and transfer Mana. Victoria and Aryll loitering around further back.

"How is our sleeping beauty?" He asked in a jovial tone. Ruby glanced up at him and shook her head. "No closer to waking up anyways. Her Mana Exhaustion is pretty severe...I don't think she's ever done something like this before. Her Mana Nerves are underdeveloped and fresh, with no signs of previous tearing."

"So she really is some Noble lady on the run" Kulkiri shrugged at her analysis. "Wouldn't be the first time someone like that became an Adventurer. Probably got to where she is by killing tamed monsters or something."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" objected Anne with a cautious tone. "You saw how she fought against that Space Ascender, and the brothers told me of your previous clash. She was inexperienced and clumsy in attacking, but she wasn't lacking in intent and reaction speed. She's a fresh killer, but a proper one."

Kulkiri fell silent as he nudged his mask with his knuckle, a smile playing on his lips. After several seconds of this, Ruby stood up and shook her hands. "Her vital signs are stable, and there's no danger in her imminent future. In my experience, she'll be fine when she wakes up. Anything to add, Priestess?"

Anne shook her head as dark green light glowed from the hands pressed on Endyr's body. "Her life isn't in any lethal danger right now. She is quite tenacious and would wake up in a few hours on her own actually, but I extended her rest to allow her Mana Nerves to adapt. She Levelled Up after killing that Vampire."

"Oh?" Victoria entered the conversation. "What Level is she now can you tell?"

Ruby frowned at her as Anne clicked her tongue without answering. As Victoria looked between them in confusion, Kulkiri explained with a teasing tone. "Amongst Adventurers, it's quite rude to snoop for others Level and Skills, especially when said individual is unconscious on the ground."

Victoria blushed at the rebuke in his tone, putting up her hands in defence. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't know that about Adventurers."

"But aren't you an Adventurer too?" Kulkiri objected with a strange tone. Victoria froze as her eyes flickered between him and the three women, all looking at her suspiciously before letting out nervous laughter. "Haha, I've only worked solo until now...and my home region wasn't very populated you see!"

Kulkiri laughed and slapped her on the shoulder, ignoring the uncomfortable look on the woman's face when he did so.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just messing with you. Point is, don't ask about sleeping beauty's Level again."

Leaving the conversation at that, he walked over to the two brothers, nodding at Aryll as he went. The brothers (Shifty and Shiftier as he called them) were huddling with Menes and Himmel, discussing something devious no doubt, like wearing socks with sandels or putting pineapple on pizza.

Yep, devious things indeed.

"What'cha talking about over here?" He asked with false curiosity. He already knew of course, knew how they planned to spread their evil influence and corrupt the populace until there wasn't a shred of decency left-!

'Calm it Kulkiri, keep it steady'

Banishing the bout of mania to its familiar corner in his mind (he really should start charging rent at this rate) he waited for their answer.

"Kulkiri" Menes was the first to greet him. The imposing, black giant was one of the tallest people he had ever met, and that included some...interesting people. And interesting non-people too. Ever since he was a child, Kulkiri had a knack for guessing which people held interesting stories, and Menes had triggered his radar at first glance. On Orvonia, skin colour was natural decided by geographical placement. The Gaia Continent had plenty of sun, but it was equally overcast and the climate ensured most inhabitants had pale skin. 

The Borealis Continent was constantly blanketed by blizzards so what little sunlight got through left its inhabitants albino white, or at least those on the surface. Those that lived underground with the thermal vents tended to be of a darker pallet. The Ouranos Continent's people were a coppery-bronze, while ebony belonged solely to the Tartarus Continent, where the constant eruption of volcanoes and ash had quite literally stained the natives dark. Considering Sol blazed there without restraint 24/7 was also likely to be a factor...

But despite his interest on how someone from the Tartarus Continent ended up in Gaian territory, he was polite enough to save his questions until a later time. Though from the subtle hints Menes put out, Kulkiri was sure he wasn't simply born here.

"We were just going over the plan now that Miss Syndrine has fallen unconscious. Even though the Crystal Mana has begun to dissipate, I am not confidant enough in my Mana Sense to track down the Vampires. The others share my concerns over this matter" Menes explained, motioning towards the other three men. "I am wondering if you have any suggestions to make?"

"Hmmm" Kulkiri stroked his chin as he drifted off into thought. While that girl did possess an exceptionally keen Mana Sense, his own was nothing to scoff at. Combined with Ruby, a Seer, then tracking down Kismet shouldn't be impossible. However...

Looking around, Kulkiri moved Mana into his eyes and watched as the world blurred and became saturated with colour, as various shapes and objects formed out of nothing. The Spirit World in this place was still as chaotic as before destroying the ritual, though some colours were less muted now. His intuition guided him to several paths trailing outwards indefinitely, but they threatened to break down and vanish when he focused on them. 

"The Vampires seem to have a powerful Diviner on there side. Their defences seemed to be two-sided, with one being Crystal Mana and the other an actual Skill. Even after removing one, the other is still able to block most of our Scrying attempts. Unless we can deploy a giant Anti-Magic Field, nothing we do can stop this. We can try and work backwards of course: by finding out what path exactly is being blocked, it would be reasonable to assume that this is the correct one to take. It could also be a bluff though, and there's no way of knowing until its too late."

"No matter how you spin it, the ball seems to be in the Vampire's court" Erich sighed. Menes scrunched his eyebrows in thought as he began murmuring to himself too quietly to hear. Kulkiri left him to his brainstorming and turned to Himmel instead. "What about you? Do you have any experience in these types of situations?"

The man looked at him with his beady eye that reminded Kulkiri of a rat and opened his mouth. "Nothing that hasn't already been brought up before. In situations like these, we usually rely on Ruby to guide us. With her out of the picture, we'll have to adapt." He then shrugged and looked over to where Aryll was. "It'll be a good training exercise if nothing else, I suppose."

Following his gaze, a smile played on Kulkiri's lips as he brought up a new topic. "What do you think of the girl?" he asked innocently, being met with a glare from Himmel. "My attitude towards her should be obvious" he answered stiffly, shutting down this conversation at its roots. It was just too bad his partner was Kulkiri Mist, famed in his homeland for his silver tongue and slick demeanour. 

"Well, I am curious why you hate that child so much despite barely exchanging a full sentence with them. As an adult, doesn't such behaviour seem quite shameful? Or does she perhaps remind you of a bad memory?"

Himmel flinched at Kulkiri's probing question, refusing to meet his eyes. "I've been an Adventurer long enough to know that foolishly rushing into missions above your paygrade is just a good way to get yourself and others killed for no goddamn reason. And stay the fuck out of my personal life, freak" he spat.

Kulkiri chuckled but said no more, his attention caught by Isabelle, the second Priestess from the Harvest Church, walking towards her twin sister. After whispering something in her ear, Anne stood away from Endyr and beckoned for everyone to come closer. Once they did so, she began speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you should have all rested well enough by now to continue the mission. As such, we will be setting off in the next five minutes and heading deeper into the complex. While the heathens have set up measures to interfere with Prophecy and Scrying, these defences are not fool proof. We will find a way through eventually, and they know that. As such, the Vampires will be hurrying to finish up whatever they are doing. We must also be close to where Kismet is located, so our primary objective is at hand."

Glancing at Endyr and then looking back at the small crowd, she continued. "Miss Syndrine will be carried back to the surface with Miss Sheva and Mister Arnold to protect her, while the rest are coming with me. Any questions?"

Seeing no one raise any, Isabelle clapped her hands. "Excellent. Then prepare to set off."