Chapter 9: Life In Danger

"Life's unexpected twists and turns are like a tumultuous sea that can carry us to the shores of hope or dash us against the rocks of despair.

Just when we think we have found our safe harbor, the winds of fate can suddenly shift, and we find ourselves once again cast adrift."

I thought I would be able to relax for some time in this new hideout.

However, a fast moving object that suddenly entered the radius of my map alerted me, and shattered my plans.

It was running so fast that all I could see with my 3D map was a red humanoid shadow.

However, the most pressing news was that the shadow was moving straight towards me.

"Does it know my location.?"

Suddenly, my heart became tense.

Maybe the shadow was some kind of demon who sensed my presence in the forest and got on my trail?

I don't know.

And at the moment, I didn't even want to know because whatever it was, it would be here within a couple of seconds.

Because of the extremely high speed at which it was moving, I knew for a fact that it was something that I would never be able to match up to or compete with.

In a moment of urgency, my mind ran on overdrive to find a way to overcome this predicament.

"No, I need to hide, hide... Where? How? ... Wait! Shadow Blend?"

And I remembered my second skill.

Immediately, without wasting any time, I touched my horse and inwardly expressed my intention of blending into the shadow of the cave, while trying to urge my mana to move towards my legs that were in contact with the shadow.

Seconds ticked by, my heart tensed even more as I concentrated without blinking, and cold sweat appeared on my forehead.

Swish! Swish!

Fortunately, when black tentacles like shadows sprang up from the ground, I took a breath of relief.

Suddenly, though

Neigh!

"Shut up!"

The horse reacted violently towards these unknown, errie looking tentacles, but after a strict command from me, it instantly calmed down.

"Shit!"

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but curse him for making so much noise.

I wanted to punch him hard, but I suppressed my anger and focused again to control those tentacles of shadows.

Thankfully, they responded according to my desire.

And within the blink of an eye, they wrapped us in a dome, as darkness covered my eyes, and I felt that it pulled us down into shadows whose surface was like that of a black river.

Splash!

"Huh?!"

But contrary to my expectations, when the darkness receded, I was left standing in the same place inside the forest, and only the horse was missing next to me.

[Successfully stored one object inside the Shadow Space.]

[Current Used Slots: 1/2]

[At the host's current proficiency in the skill, the host can only store one object at a time.]

In utter shock, I dumfoundedly looked at the notification that appeared in front of me.

"Fuck!"

And I cursed as soon as I processed what had happened.

"Damn it! I should have practiced this skill before leaving the cave."

Nevertheless, there was no point in lamenting over spilled milk because that red shadow was on its way to this location and there was barely any time left.

'Hurry, hurry.'

Immediately, I tried to once again urge my mana and activate my skill.

Had I known this would have happened, I wouldn't have tried to take the horse with me.

'Move, move, faster.'

I urged in my mind.

Swish!

But a blast of air stopped me in my tracks, and the sickening, metallic smell of blood filled my nostrils.

The tentacles of shadows didn't even have time to rise from the ground before my concentration broke.

"Grrrr.."

It was the sound of a beast grumbling that came into my ears.

I immediately understood that I was too late.

But I couldn't bring myself to look up and confront the demon, whose very presence and noise sent chills down my spine.

Nonetheless, I gritted my teeth and lifted my head up.

It all happened within a second, and the moment I looked up,

Rustle!

I subconsciously took a step back in fear.

Contrary to my imagination, in front of me wasn't a hideous monster, as I imagined, but a beautiful girl, who was drenched in blood.

Making her look like a psychotic serial killer.

A bloody vapor rose from her body as she stared at me with a twisted expression.

Even so, with the information provided to me by Theresa about this dungeon, I immediately recognized the person in front of me because of her creepy, blood red eyes.

A Vampire.

"Human!!"

The moment she took in my presence, she roared in a strange language that I somehow understood clearly, with a look of elation on her face, as if in deep shock and excitement after looking at me.

Suddenly, though, as if remembering something, her expressions cooled, and hesitation flashed past in her eyes.

However, that hesitation was fleeting.

The madness soon overwhelmed her senses.

"Listen, we can talk about it..."

"Roooarrr…!!"

I tried to say what came to mind, but before I could even have the chance to complete that sentence.

Bang!

She slammed the ground with her legs, making a sound like an explosion, and then she charged at me.

In the blink of an eye, she clutched me in her arms, her grip so strong that I felt like a child grabbed by an adult who was using his full force on me.

My breathing stopped, and I tried to struggle.

But before I even had the chance to protest, her teeth dug deep into my neck.

Stab!

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

My neck titled back, and a scream emerged from my mouth.

After which, I was pinned down by the girl, whose strength was way beyond my imagination.

Slurp!

She started sucking blood from my body, and in real-time, I could feel my strength draining.

[Warning!: Noble Vampire genes are being injected into the host's body.]

[Skill: Vampiric Compulsion is forcefully attempting to change the host to a low-level familiar of the Noble Vampire.]

Warning signs, and text in blood red, giving me an ominous vibe, continued to appear in my vision one after another.

Nonetheless, my eyes, which were dropping down with exhaustion, weren't able to identify the correct words.

But I understood that whatever was happening to me wasn't good.

In the face of this vampire's overwhelming strength, all my efforts were for naught, and my body began to weaken and melt in her embrace.

[Warning! Warning!]

[The host is advised to take immediate actions to protect his life and suppress the skill: Vampiric Compulsion.]

[Warning! Warning!]

[Due to extreme blood loss, the host's strength has fallen below 10%.]

Yet the warning notifications continued to become more frequent.

The alarms from the system were becoming increasingly urgent, and it was obvious that they were designed to wake me up and force me to take action before it was too late.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!"

However, the only thing I could do was scream in agony as the vampire, who became escatic after sucking my blood, increased her speed and force of grip on my body.

Crunch!

And immediately, I could hear the sound and feel the sensation of my bone breaking.

Finally, as tears of despair came out of my eyes, I mustered all of my strength, and let out a cry for help, even though my throat hurt because of the Vampire's grip.

"System help... somebody help. Do... anyone... System.. Help, do anything.. but... save... me. At any cost."

[Task Recieved]

[The system has received the highest authority.]

[Searching for possible ways to save the host...]

[One way found to reverse the situation.]

[Forcibly activating the Ultimate Skill of the class Unknown Lord....]

[Warning!! Warning!!]

[Health is decreasing at a tremendous speed.]

[The host is losing consciousness.]

[5%]

[4%]

[WARNING!!]

[Insufficient strength, and mana to activate the Ultimate Skill]

[Adjusting the strength of the skill to the host's current state with the highest authority]

[WARNING!! Health has fallen below 3%]

[3%]

[2%]

[1%]