"... Who's there?".
"A person? Or a trap?" Nader muttered as he heard the whisper.
Nader had not expected that he would find someone at the bottom of the abyss, so he was both amazed and alarmed.
If a person was locked in the depths of hell it only meant two things: it was a dangerous enough existence that they had to lock him up, or it was a person who had been betrayed.
Without approaching, he sent his spiritual sense and inspected the being in the center of the room.
He furrowed his eyebrows and muttered: "It is not a human".
However, he had sensed that the being locked in the center of the room was quite weak.
Knowing that he approached with light steps. His little pet was on his shoulders, amazingly silent.
When Nader was about ten meters away, he was able to observe the being properly.
The being that had spoken earlier was a girl.
The girl was buried inside a bucket from the neck down. Only her head was visible. Her golden hair hung messily in front of her face while emotionless red eyes peered out from the gaps in her hair.
From her face, she looked like a rather young girl.
Nader stood a few feet away from her as he watched her.
The girl was also looking at him, amazed. She couldn't make out Nader's face because of the darkness of the room, but she was sure it was a person from the outline of his body.
"Please... Help me..." She said in the same voice that suffered from energy.
"And why should I do that?" asked Nader as he activated the <Inspection> function.
He doubted that a beautiful girl was in the depths of the abyss, he thought that this girl was the final boss of this labyrinth.
[---------------------------
Name: Aletia Galdea Vesperitio Avatarl.
Race: Vampire.
Bloodline: Dormant.
Age: +300 years.
Life span: Quasi-immortal.
Title: Ex-Queen of Avatarl.
Type of energy: Mana.
----------------------------
Strength: 25
Vitality: 60
Mental strength: 5
Mental defense: 125
Physical Defense: 12
Energy Defense: 1424
Agility: 24
Energy: 1396
-----------------------------]
"Please...get me out of here...please...". She said in a desperate, breathy voice.
Nader ignored the red panel and closed it before looking with interest at the girl who was barely holding her neck up to look him in the face.
"A vampire, huh?", though it was only a whisper, in the room where she was devoid of any sound, her voice could be heard everywhere.
The girl's expression changed slightly, and she shouted "No... I'm not bad! Please, I..." saying that she lowered her head hiding her expression.
"...I am someone...who was betrayed...". She said in a lastimeral voice.
'Betrayed...I can more or less understand why she was betrayed.' He thought as the word [Quasi-immortal] floated into his mind.
No one would want to have someone quasi-immortal wandering around next to them, what if they became enemies someday? They couldn't kill her no matter how much they wanted to.
'Well, if she turns out to be an enemy, I'll kill her...' he muttered to himself.
Although he had never met a quasi-immortal being before, let alone fought someone like that, he was sure he could kill her.
She wasn't a full immortal, which meant she had some sort of weakness, he would just have to fight her until he found her weak spot and destroy her. After all, the girl's stats were pretty low.
The girl's stoic, dull eyes were fixed on the figure of Nader, who was slowly approaching her.
Nader raised his hand and placed it on the vampire girl's golden hair, her hair was a little rough from the dirt that settled on it. The girl's body shuddered under Nader's touch.
Unaware of what Nader was doing. She waited patiently for him to respond.
On the other hand, Nader was rummaging through her memories: from the time when the vampire princess was leading vampire armies in the war field, to the time when the vampire queen was betrayed.
'So that's how it is...' He muttered, and his heterochromatic eyes glowed in the darkness.
The girl, who was already feeling a bit scared, calmed down after she heard Nader's voice: '~Sigh, I never said you were someone bad...'.
"Then...". The girl opened her big red eyes to look at him again, waiting for him to continue
"Hmm, well, I'll get you out of this dark place, but you'll have to wait for a few seconds."
"...huh...?" The girl opened her eyes wide, not believing what she had heard. That was the word she had so longed to hear for hundreds of years in this dark solitude.
"... Thank you... Cough..."
Nader simply shook his head.
'Three hundred years in this place, eh, if it was someone normal, surely they would have lost their sanity by now.' He thought.
He had met beings that were thousands of years old and couldn't take a few tens of years of solitude in the dark for them to lose their sanity.
Kicking his thoughts elsewhere, he began to inspect the material that kept the vampire locked up.
The cube was made of a mineral resembling smooth stone, though it was much stronger.
Nader again placed his hand on the girl's head and without waiting, circled his Space Law around the girl's body. Seconds later, the girl disappeared from inside the cube and reappeared beside him.
The girl was completely naked: her small but modest breasts were fully exposed along with her slim waist and slightly reddish thighs. Even though the girl's body was emaciated and pale next to her almost sickly skin, it didn't take away from the fact that she was quite cute.
Due to her being hundreds of years in the same place, without moving, her body felt numb so having nothing to lean on, she began to fall forward.
The girl, clearly still confused, felt a warm embrace that kept her from falling. It was an embrace that brought her reassurance and security. However, as soon as the arm held her, she had let go.
Nader lowered her to the ground so that she could sit up. After all, she was still not strong enough to stand.
The girl looked at him as he waved his arms causing a round bottle with bright green contents to appear in his hand.
"Take this, it will help you heal," Nader said and sat close to the girl as he uncapped the potion and placed it near the girl's lips.
With a puzzled look, the girl's eyelids fluttered for a few moments before she opened her mouth. Nader inserted the potion inside her mouth and tilted the girl's head up.
"Mmmg?"
The sticky liquid ran down the vampire's throat and spread inside her. Seconds later, her body glowed a pale green color.
A few teardrops spilled out of the corner of the girl's eye due to the sour, ugly taste of the potion. But...
"Uh...?" Her eyes widened in surprise. He felt his numb and frail body regain its original strength.
He looked at her naked body and realized that she had regained her lost vitality. Her emaciated body and sickly skin regained their original color, she was as white as a porcelain doll.
But it didn't take long for her to come out of her daze. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she tried to hide her breasts and private parts with her small hands.
Nader sighed and undressed the black robe he was wearing.
"Put this on." He said as he held his robe in front of the girl.
Somewhat sheepishly, the girl took the robe and began to put it on.
Even though she was over 300 years old, she was only about 140 centimeters tall, so the robe that Nader gave her, turned out to be quite large for her.
The vampire was comically trying to fold the right sleeve back just enough for her small hands to be seen through her fist.
"Thank you..." In a small, trembling voice, she conveyed her feelings.
Nader looked into the girl's red eyes. Although her expression was stoic, as if she had forgotten how to express her emotions, Nader could make out that in the depths of the girl's eyes, a myriad of emotions was shining through gratitude, happiness, sadness, insecurity, etc.
Nader just nodded towards her.
"What's your name, by the way?" Nader asked.
Even though he already knew her real name, he couldn't just call her that out of the blue. That would be quite suspicious, and she would start to distrust and move away from him.
The instant she heard the question, the girl's body stiffened for an instant as her eyes trembled slightly.
She shook her head and looked at Nader's face, "Give me one...".
Nader had seen the girl's look of melancholy, so he guessed that even though she remembered her name, she didn't want to use it.
Even though Nader had a stoic expression on his face, inside he was sweating bullets: 'That's twice I've needed a name in such a short time, what should I call her? Why did giving names turn out to be so difficult?'
'Little gold? No, no. She's not a pet. So, 'Golden Vampire'? Shit...'.
The girl looked into Nader's heterochromatic eyes as she waited for Nader's answer.
On the other hand, Nader was still seriously thinking about a name. But suddenly, the girl's head shone through the dim light coming through the crack in the room.
'Luna, Moon, Hmm, Yue'. Yes, the latter sounds much better' nodded Nader, apparently relieved.
"How about the name Yue? That name means Moon in a foreign language, I thought of that when your hair shone slightly". Explained to Nader the origin of his name, he remembered that word because he had collected the information from Shizuku's memory.
"Yue, Yue, Yue, Yue...", she mumbled her new name as a scratched recording trying to store it deep in her mind.
Then, she lifted her face and looked at Nader before nodding with a small, almost unnoticed smile: "Mmm...from now on, my name will be Yue...".
As if suddenly remembering something, she added: "... What's your name?".
"You can call me Nader." He said and stood up. The bunny on his shoulders squealed as she had lost her balance and almost fell off his shoulders.
"Come on, someone is waiting for us," Nader said and passed his hand to the girl, now known as Yue to lift her.
"... Who?" She questioned, curious.
For a moment, she thought there was someone else with Nader waiting for her outside this room until Nader pointed his finger up.
She took his outstretched hand and lifted her face to look up at the ceiling, confused.
Instantly her body stiffened, she saw how a huge monster was falling from the ceiling above them.
Just as she was about to conjure her magic, she became disoriented only to realize she was already somewhere else next to Nader.
*Boom!
When they reappeared about twenty meters away from the previous place, they saw the monster crashing to the ground where it had been a few seconds ago.
When the dust settled, a monster about five meters long was revealed. It possessed two long arms that ended in sharp scissors that opened and closed looking for something to cut. Its eight legs were buried in the ground and the two tails, each of which possessed forward-curved stingers, were pointed toward them.
In conclusion, the monster resembled a scorpion.
When Nader had inspected the room, he had already learned of the existence of this monster at the back of the room. He had not paid attention to it because he was more interested in Yue's existence.
'Probably this monster was made to keep Yue in this room.' He thought to himself.
He rubbed his pet's soft fur making it purr with happiness and said: "Take care of Yue, I'll be right back".
"Kyuuu..." she squealed despondently as she jumped off Nader's shoulder and landed on Yue's golden head.
"Where are you going...?" Yue asked as her heart raced with anxiety.
"Of course, to finish it off," he said with a shrug as he pointed at the scorpion that was slowly approaching them.
Without waiting for Yue's response, Nader disappeared from his spot, leaving behind purple particles that soon merged back with space.
The space above the scorpion's body rippled visibly before Nader suddenly appeared on the spot.
His body spun in the air and sent a strong kick that impacted against the hard skull of the giant scorpion.
"Kshaaaaaaaaaaah!" The scorpion hissed in pain as it bounced across the ground backward, leaving the ground cracked.
Swiftly, the scorpion straightened its large body and waved its long, sharp tail at Nader.
Its tail swelled, and purple liquids shot out of it.
As if stepping on air, Nader jumped and dodged the poison. When he looked back, he saw that the area where the poison splashed, was melted with fumes coming out of it.
'It's a more potent poison than the giant frog's poison. Maybe this could make my [Physical Immunity] mastery go up a bit.' He thought and pointed his fingers skyward.
Soon, space rumbled as a huge white ball accompanied by the bumps of lightning lashing the surroundings made an appearance.
The ball of about ten meters was made by his [Lightning Element].
He did not want to prolong the battle so much, so he had decided to finish off the scorpion without wasting any time.
Just as the scorpion's other tail bulged to launch its sting, Nader lowered his hand.
Receiving the signal, the ball of lightning turned into a white blur as the air howled before the ball reappeared on the jet-black scorpion's back.
*crack*
"Kshaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!"
*Booom!
The monster's roar of pain and suffering was muffled by the thunderous sound of the explosion as the white ball smashed into its carapace, plunging it into the ground.
A curtain of dust rose and covered even the ceiling.
All that could be heard at this moment was the crackling sound of lightning as the cue ball went into the hard floor carrying the giant scorpion with it.
When the dust settled, what was revealed was the massive twenty-meter crater with a depth of five meters. Inside it was the battered and bloody silhouette of the scorpion as lightning tentacles lashed the inside of the crater.
During the entire battle, Yue, who was watching the battle, had a surprised expression. Even she, who was an Atavist did not trust herself to do what Nader had done.
Earlier she was thinking of throwing herself into the battlefield to try to help Nader, but...
'No magic circle or quantum to cast his spell...' she thought as she ignored the victorious shriek of the hopping bunny overhead.
She thought that Nader was someone similar to her, who didn't need to chant or create magic circles to cast his spells.
Unaware of Yue's thought, Nader jumped inside the crater before taking the charred scorpion's lifeless body and putting it inside his storage.
"I sincerely hope this isn't the last floor" he muttered and disappeared from inside the crater.
By the way, do you want Yue to be taller, or do you want her to remain a Loli?.