Chương 660: The Blood Banquet

Alastair watched as his lord fastened a dark cloak over his shoulders. One of the Counts' messengers had arrived with fresh news.

"So a hero really is coming," Alastair said.

"That little vampire faction launched an attack. Of course they'd come," Damian replied.

"They're striking everyone, in large numbers. They're using the event to remove pieces from the Church. Stirring up chaos is an excellent strategy too." But his master had done something of his own. The Counts had confirmed it.

"They called me lazy because I ordered those beneath me to do nothing," his lord said.

"But we'll see who gets the last laugh." Not even Alastair knew what he had asked of the Counts. It was one of the few subjects his master refused to discuss with him.

"And what exactly did you ask for? I've been in the dark for months." His master smiled.

"What do you know about the vampire taboo, Alastair?"

"That," Damian said, "is what I told the Counts to prepare. Now imagine what happens when I release a whole pack of those things." Taboo? There was only one thing his master could mean. He's talking about Vampire Beasts.

"So it's pretty obvious these aren't vampires," Luke said. A laugh rolled through the street.

"No. They are not," said a voice. A man in a black cloak sat atop a mound of broken stone. His eyes glowed red.

"You have no idea what's coming, do you?" he said.

"You'll make excellent test subjects for the Blood Banquet."

"A vampire," Eleanor said. Luke pointed one hand downward. A pentagram flared into existence. He teleported to the mouth of the street and hurled a knife. [Telekinetic Impulse activated]"You think I'd fall for that?" the vampire snapped, twisting aside as the knife flashed past him. Then Charlie dropped from above with her sword. She hit him hard, the blade sinking into his shoulder. In the same motion, she turned the strike and went straight for his neck.

"You bitch!" the vampire shouted, throwing up a hand to catch the blade before it could take his head. Then Luke struck. His kukri came in from the opposite side in a spinning arc. The vampire screamed. His head hit the ground. Before he could regenerate, Charlie moved again. She brought the blade down on his head. [Charlotte Vespertilio has slain Vampire - Lvl 71] Charlotte Vespertilio's Class [Blood Death Knight] reached Level 92! (+18 STR, +10 INT, +8 END, +8 VIT, +4 AGI, +2 PER, +10 Free Points.) Around them, the ghouls dropped backward like cut strings.

"We killed a vampire," Luke said. The group came back together.

"We could have tried to find out if he could heal my sister," Mia said.

"And you were willing to risk him doing anything else first?" Luke asked. The vampire was dead.

"A necromancer?" Eleanor said.

"That's what it looks like," Evangeline replied. Luke looked down at the body. Necromancy usually belongs to which vampire line again? I think Nycteris. They kept moving.

"That was kind of anticlimactic, the way you killed him," Artemis said in his head. I couldn't let him do anything. It had to be fast. Lulie had already flown high above them when they entered the street of corpses, ready in case Charlie needed to teleport through her. By morning, they had already collected a few artifacts and dealt with a couple of bandit ambushes. Then, at last, they reached something that looked like civilization. They were moving through an inhabited section of the city.

The streets had been sealed off with piles of rubble, broken masonry, debris, even trash. Guards stood watch at points along the makeshift barricades. One whole section of the city had been enclosed. There were entrances, though, and the group went through one.

"What does this remind you of?" Luke asked.

"The tutorial," they answered.

"Tutorial?" Marten asked, confused.

"Never mind. You wouldn't get it," Luke said. They stepped inside. It looked a little like the outskirts of Bastion, with people living out in the streets.

"These people didn't just get here," Eleanor said as they walked.

"No. They were probably teleported here during the event and never left," Luke replied. The people wore ragged clothes. They were dirty, hollow-eyed, suspicious. But they paid the group little attention beyond that. They were too busy surviving their routines.

"You're new here, aren't you?" a voice called. They stopped. A moment later, they realized they were being surrounded. A group of men had closed in, carrying weapons, some of them rusted, one holding a wooden club studded with nails. They stepped aside for a tall man.

"New arrivals in the district pay a small tribute for protection," he said.

"Protection?" Luke asked.

"Protection from us," the man said with a grin.

"That's a lot of nerve, seeing a group this well-armed and still trying to shake us down," Eleanor said. She was not wrong. Most people usually backed off the moment they saw Charlie in that intimidating armor.

"It's recklessness. And a little stupidity," Luke said to her. The man sighed and raised his hammer.

"I'll start by explaining how things work." Luke lifted a hand. A knife shot from his bracer and stopped inches from the man's face, hanging in the air under telekinetic force. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"If I hadn't stopped it, that would be in your brain right now," Luke said.

"But don't think it still can't find a purpose." The knife was glowing.

"Make one sudden move and it explodes," Luke said. The man laughed.

"You don't have the guts. You're bluffing."

"Bluffing?"

"If you do anything, everyone in this place will have a reason to come after you, including my bosses."

"Then let them come. But you, do you really want to open your mouth again just to have your ugly face blown apart?" The smile vanished from the man's face.

"Apologize to me and my friends, and I'll move the knife away from your face," Luke said.

"Sorry," the man said immediately. The knife flew back to Luke. The moment he reached for it, the man lunged with the hammer. Luke slipped aside, drove a punch into the man's stomach, then kicked his leg out from under him. As the man fell, he caught his arm and snapped it. A scream tore out of the man. Then Luke planted a foot on his chest, drew his kukri, and pressed it near the man's throat.

"So. You still planning to charge me tribute?"

"No. Please. Mercy. Let me go." Luke let him go. Then kicked him. The man got up shaking so hard he did not even bother picking up the hammer. He ran, slipping past the others. When Luke looked at the rest and let [Despair Aura I] roll off him, they broke and ran too. Everyone on the street had been watching. Then, just as quickly, they went back to whatever they had been doing.

"That was for old times' sake," Luke said to his group. Mia looked at the spot where the man had fallen, then at Luke, and muttered something in her own language.

"We should split up, don't you think? Better odds of finding information, and one of the church hunters," he said.

"I agree," Mia said. So they split up. Luke stayed with his group, asking questions as they went. Later they regrouped at a place that passed for a tavern, though it was filthy and half-falling apart.

"What did you find out?" he asked.

"This place has a lot of settlements. Farther north, they said there's some kind of abbey region. The hunters have a base here," Eleanor said.

"And there are people from the New World too. Important people," Evangeline added.

"Not that I'd know who any of them are."

"Maybe at the next Beacon we should try using the locator on Mason," he said.

"See if he's here in the same region as us."

"My... sister," Anne said.

"Anne wants to track Erza while we have this free time. Now that we have a ship..." Charlie explained.

"Alright. You're worried about her," Luke said. Anne nodded. Her appearance drew attention in a place like that. Some people glanced at her when they passed. But the moment their eyes shifted to Charlie's armored figure, they quickly looked away. A few minutes later, they went to meet Triss's group at the agreed spot.

"And that's what we learned," Luke said.

"We leave this settlement tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning? And since when do you get to decide that?" Mia asked.

"It's pretty obvious you don't trust me," he said.

"Which, fair enough. I did punch you in the face once." She clicked her tongue.

"You walked us into traps on purpose. I don't trust you. I think you're hiding something."

"I was springing those traps on the enemy."

"By walking straight into them?"

"They were very surprised when we turned it around."

"But you didn't tell us we were walking into a trap," she said, smiling.

"Then use your head and think about why I'd rather keep moving toward the center of the place where everyone says there's an army of vampires roaming around," he said.

"Sunlight," Triss answered.

"Exactly. They're weaker during the day. Or would you rather leave right now, in the middle of the night? I can do that, but your sister still isn't regenerating properly," he said, his tone turning just a little ironic.

"I still don't trust you," Mia said. The group decided to camp. Staying inside the settlement was not a good option anymore, since he had killed someone there.

"They lock the place down at night," Marten remarked, looking back toward it. They were camped a little way off in the forest.

"As if a vampire couldn't just climb a wall," Luke said. A fire was burning, and food was being passed around. Besides Mia, Triss's group had eight more people. Marten's had five.

"Dark times," Luke heard Doug mutter to Randall. Luke sat a little apart from the fire, leaning against a tree. Evangeline was trying to set up a tent. Or rather, failing to.

"For fuck's sake, I knocked it over again," she grumbled.

"Didn't you spend eight years in that tutorial?" Eleanor asked.

"I mostly stayed inside houses and whatever shelter was already built." Charlie came over and sat down beside Luke. She offered him a sandwich.

"Thanks, Charlie."

"I made it back on the ship, Master Luke." She ate beside him. The two of them watched the moon. Charlie was without her helmet and heavy armor now.

"Do you think we'll reach another tower tomorrow?"

"I think so. But I have a feeling that tower over there has already been used too. It's so close to this settlement that anyone who came through here probably had the same idea," he said.

"Do you want another sandwich?" she asked when she saw he had finished his.

"No. It was really good. I wish I could do something for you too, Charlie. You're always the one taking care of me."

"But I like it, Master Luke."

"Hey, lovebirds. It's rude to make everyone else third-wheel this hard," Evangeline called out.

"Then stop staring at us," Luke said. Charlie immediately turned red. The group decided how to split the watches. There were enough of them to form proper teams, which meant longer stretches of sleep for everyone else. Charlie was asleep in the tent. Luke ended up taking a shift with Randall.

"I don't like forests," Randall said.

"What?"

"I... don't like forests," he repeated. A brief silence followed.

"Why'd you laugh?" Randall asked.

"You reminded me of someone." For the next ten minutes, Randall kept complaining about the event.

"So why are you even doing the Beacons?" Luke asked.

"What's your reason for all this?" Randall glanced in the direction where Triss was sleeping.

"None."

"No reason at all?" He gave a small cough, then bit into a piece of fruit.

"None... want some?"

"What is that?"

"I named it chocolate melon."

"Chocolate melon?"

"Yeah. It's like some kind of melon-cocoa hybrid. Found it around here. Wild, right? The fruit in this world is weird."

"Where'd you find it?" Luke asked.

"In the forest. Relax, it's not poisonous," Randall said, taking another bite.

"Does it have seeds? Wait, never mind. Actually, no, tell me. Do you have more?"

"You want a whole one that badly?"

"I collect seeds. Where'd you get it?"

"There's a bunch growing near the fake river." When the watch changed, Luke decided to go look for them.

"That's enough danger exposure for one lifetime, Indiana Jones of produce," Artemis muttered in his thoughts. A melon that's also cocoa could make incredible chocolate. I'm thinking ahead.

"For that retirement plan of yours? The one where you grow old and open a shop?" I'm thinking about cuisine. About how this could revolutionize the world. I have vision.

"You're just a lunatic obsessed with seeds." He ignored her and kept scanning the ground for fruit. Soon Luke heard the sound of water from the fake river, which was really just a strip of sea running between the islands.

"Where's that damned..." He stopped cold. Something moved in the moonlight. Mia was bathing in the water, completely naked, washing her hair. She looked up at him. Her eyes widened.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped, rushing for the shore where her clothes lay.

"I was just looking for the chocolate melons," he said, turning away, but not before catching her glancing down at her own chest.

"You filthy perverted bastard. Chocolate melons, is that what you're calling them?" She snatched up her spear and came after him.

"What? I'm not talking about your chocolate melons. I mean actual chocolate melons. Literally," he said, but she had already grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"You bastard. Now you're going to humiliate me too?"

"We are, in fact, still talking about melons," Artemis said.

"Shut up. You are not helping," Luke muttered.

"Is it my fault? They're impressive melons." Mia shoved Luke back against a tree and yanked on her shirt.

"You're saying a lot of things in your language, and I'm guessing none of them are compliments," he said.

"Scumbag!"

"Okay, now it's coming through in English." She jabbed a finger at him and kept cursing in her own language.

"Duck," he said.

"What?" she snapped, startled.

"I'm not sleeping with you."

"Duck." Luke threw a knife. At the last second, Mia dropped flat. The knife struck something large in the darkness.

"By sun and moon, what is that?" It was a Vampiric Beast. Fun fact: There's some Mia art for this chapter over at that other place, based on a certain moment I won't spoil. My inner Artemis may have taken over when I made it, but I swear I'm not actually like her.