Sanguine Aggravation

{Andre's POV}

I jumped out of my shadow to take a look at my spear. The red glow is barely brighter than before, but it shows that I am still getting closer.

*Shoom!*

I jumped into the shadows again to keep looking.

*KYAHAHAHA!*

I continue to hear the cackling of the Skyflayers flying over. I look at my spear to see that it's slightly glowing brighter.

The Sanguine Aggravation's location is where I remember is that it is one of the caves that is in the mountains.

*Fween*

The spear glows brighter, indicating that I am getting closer.

*Shoom!*

I jumped out of the shadows and walked into the cave safely. Thunder booms behind me and the rain continues to pour.

The cave is still dark, but me as a vampire can see it clear as day. I continue down into the cave and began seeing a red light.

As I turn into a corner I see a large underground area where there is red crystals emitting light and monsters walking around with glowing red eyes. Additionally, there is a red mist that covers them.

With that, it tells me one thing. It's the works of the Sanguine Aggravation and my spear began pulsating.

"Good, I am close." I said to myself.

[Incoming transmission from Kain Void.]

"Andre, what's your situation?" Alden said via system.

"I found the cave where the weapon would be." I replied. "Just as I remembered."

"Alright, keep us posted." Alden said.

[Transmission ended.]

I walked into the mist as normal. When it comes to other races, they need to have a Priest build to protect them from curses.

But for Undeads like me, Curses are nothing. But I must still be aware of the monsters walking around. They won't attack me as long I don't attack them and if I do attack one, every single monster affected by the mist will surround me in an instant.

*Ba-dump!*

My spear began pulsating again and gradually getting faster as I continue to walk through the cave. The red light becomes stronger and brighter until I began feeling my power rising.

[High concentration of Blood Crystals detected.]

[Due to your vampire race, your strength is steadily increasing.]

I continue on the path and soon found the weapon responsible of it all. But it is guarded by three large monsters.

A Shadow Serpent, a Blood Frog, and a Crimson Chameleon. All of which are A-ranked monsters. To regular people, they need a group of at least 5 Gold adventurers. But for me, they're nothing.

I walk past them and began seeing a cluster of Blood Crystals surround the greatsword.

Black hilt, red gem in the center of the cross-guard, and a black blade that 5 feet long.

"The Sanguine Aggravation." I said. I take a look of its stats.

<Name: Sanguine Aggravation>

<Type: Greatsword>

<Rarity: Fantasy++>

<Skills: Slash Up-LXXXVIII, Durability Up-XCII, Blood Arts-LXXIX, Blood Domain-C, Life Drain-LVIII, Blood Drain-LXXXVIII, Blood Dominance-LXV, Curse Dominance-LXV, Blood Aggravation, Adamantine Slayer>

[Warning. By removing this sword, you'll provoke all monsters affected by the mist.]

I grabbed the hilt of the sword and began to pull.

*Chink!*

The sword comes off effortlessly. I gaze upon it with admiration, but shortly after removing it, I hear a message.

[Sanguine Aggravation has been obtained. It is now bound to you.]

[Upon removal, 160 monsters will now aim for your life.]

The monsters that were in a daze now have a new goal. To aim at my life.

*Grrrrlllk...!*

*Hissss....*

*Crrrkl...!*

The three larger monster gaze upon me along with other numerous monsters. I could go and fight them all myself, but I have a better idea.

*GRAAWR!*

*SHYAAAAH!!*

The monsters lunge at me and I stabbed my greatsword into the ground.

*CRASH!*

"Blood Aggravation."

*FWOOOSH!*

A thick plume of red mist rushed outwards upon me calling out the skill. The monsters that are rushing at me stopped in an instant.

Blood Aggravation is a AOE skill that seizes the target's mind. The higher the caster's rank, the larger the radius. Even though the mist is my blood, wearing masks or holding their breath won't protect them as it seeps into their bodies.

Even if I pull out my sword, their minds will still be under my control.

But this skill has a weakness. First, I cannot move upon activating this skill. Next, it consumes a considerable amount of my blood, but since the mist is already there, it's not a problem. Lastly, this skill cannot go through Magic Barriers. I can bypass it with the Cursed Blood skill, but even then, I cannot go through Light or Holy based barriers.

I can just kill them all with a simple command if I wanted to. But...I have bigger issues to deal with.

"Alden, Ashley, are the Skyflayers still out there?" I said.

"Yeah, there's over 70 with my Soul Master ability." Alden said. "No variants as of now."

"They're still scattered across the island, you got a plan to distract them?" Alden said.

"Yeah. The monsters are there and is under my command." I replied. "I'll send these monsters out to fight the Skyflayers and use the distraction to get us out of the island."

But first, I must absorb these blood crystals. And since my blood is touching these crystals, thanks to my Sanguine Aggravation, I can just absorb them.

[Now absorbing the Blood Crystals...]

*CRACK!*

*Shoooooom...!*

The Blood Crystals glow brightly and shattered into tiny fragments and flow along with the mist that is being sucked in.

Power flows into me, revitalizing me even further. But with this amount, it's barely capable in raising my rank.

[Absorption complete. Your rank has risen to Z+8.]

I pull my sword out from the ground and gave my first command.

"Follow me." I said.

The monsters followed my command and followed me to the entrance that I came from. The thunderstorm is still raging on with strong winds.

I used Perception to seek for the Skyflayers, expecting a large number of them. That is until I sensed nothing.

Nothing. No cackling, screaming, or howling. Also, I can't even use Blood Sense on them because I did not attack them.

"Alden, Ashley, I can't sense any Skyflayers. Did they leave?" I asked.

"Unlikely, they may have moved outside of our range and try to attack us from afar." Ashley said.

"I even raised my rank and still could not sense them." Alden said.

This is concerning, if they really moved outside of our Perception range and knew our location, we couldn't move outside of our caves without being bombarded.

Even if we make it out of the island, there's a storm that still brews and I doubt Ashley can carry us while avoiding attacks. Also, Alden's Space Magic can consume a lot of his magic.

At this point, we're trapped until the storm passes.