CHAPTER 304: VAMPIRE WORLD

The descent from the cliff wasn’t hard, but everyone moved with more caution than usual; after all, they were in enemy territory.

Even Gabriel didn’t dare to act cocky here. Unlike the previous floors, it was the first time he was experiencing this area as well.

Regardless, he still led at the front as their leader, and his confident façade never faded... there was technically no difference from before—on the outside.

The jagged rocks were uneven and slick with faint red moss that made a wet squelch sound. Far below, the forest stretched twisted trees rustling in the wind.

Anna, the huntress, went first. With the help of the Swift Silverwind Boots, her figure blurred as she slipped ahead, hopping lightly from rock to rock before vanishing behind an outcropping.

Cassie glanced down nervously. The support mage felt exposed, as if just a single attack could end her life. She instinctively moved closer to Sophie.

Gabriel saw the reaction but didn’t comment.

Meanwhile, Samantha kept two knight skeletons in front and two behind the group, their armor clanking softly. Their blue soul-fire eyes flickered calmly, as if the creepy environment meant nothing to them.

In a way, this was true because... the undead didn’t really feel fear.

"Stay close," Gabriel warned when he noticed some players drifting out of formation. "This isn’t a corridor where we can just retreat to a choke point. If we get surrounded in an open field, it’ll be a mess."

Ragnarok rotated his shoulders, his greatsword resting across his back.

"Tsk, even if they were to attack, it would be their loss." He smirked, gripping his blade tightly.

Bunny couldn’t help but snort but didn’t comment.

The new recruits of the guild had come to realize something... Bunny and Ragnarok didn’t get along well despite being top players.

One relied on brute force, while the other was logical and preferred avoiding unnecessary battles when possible.

Some time later, they reached the base of the cliff and stepped onto the dark soil of the forest. The ground felt springy, like stepping on something that had once been alive.

For all they knew, it could have been—once upon a time.

Right then, the huntress returned from her scouting.

"How did it go?" Gabriel asked.

"There are three patrols within a hundred meters," she reported. "Primitive vampires. Not fully humanoid. They appear beast-like, but their senses are very sharp."

"How many are they?" Gabriel narrowed his eyes slightly.

"First patrol, five. Second, around eight. Third... looks like a small nest near a bone totem. Too many to count without getting closer." She paused, then added, "I only watched from a distance because I felt they would have noticed if I went closer."

That was understandable.

Sophie frowned. "Bone totem? A ritual structure, most likely. That nest will be linked to it. If we don’t destroy it, they’ll keep respawning or receiving buffs."

Gabriel nodded once. "Like planned before, we’ll avoid unnecessary fights with roaming patrols and hit the totem first."

...

Anna led them through a narrow route along the treeline, sticking close to natural cover. Whenever she raised her hand slightly, the group paused. Once, a patrol of twisted, hunched vampires passed just a few meters away.

These primitive vampires were different from the armored knights they’d fought before. Their limbs were longer, their posture more animalistic. Their mouths stretched too wide, filled with far too many teeth. Their eyes glowed with hunger.

They sniffed the air but didn’t turn toward the group’s hiding spot.

Samantha’s grip tightened on her staff. One of her skeletons shifted slightly, its bones creaking.

"Don’t move," Sophie whispered, but it did little to calm the trembling hearts of the guild members, especially the players.

Badump!

Badump!

After a few tense seconds, the patrol faded back into the forest.

Bunny exhaled slowly, and the others followed.

They continued deeper until the trees began to thin out.

Ahead, through the trunks, they saw it.

A clearing.

In the center, a bone totem stood three times as tall as a person, made of fused skeletons and skulls twisted together in a spiraling shape. Blood-red lines pulsed along its surface, sending waves of light into the forest like a heartbeat.

Around it were primitive vampires—at least twenty of them—kneeling, digging, sharpening bones, or twitching and hissing at each other. A few larger ones, with thicker necks and jagged bone plates along their spines, moved around the perimeter like guards.

"Yeah, that’s a nest," Bunny whispered. "A big one."

Cassie chewed her lip. "If we get their attention, won’t they call the others? It might pull patrols from further out."

"Exactly," Sophie said. "That’s why we need to kill the totem in one go. No drawn-out fight."

Gabriel rolled his shoulders and spoke calmly. "Perfect place to test something."

He opened his inventory and pulled out one of the Blood Bombs.

The orb materialized in his hand, pulsing faintly.

When the others saw it, they instinctively felt their skin crawl.

"That thing again..." Ragnarok muttered, half fascinated, half wary.

"Anna," Gabriel said. "Mark me a safe throwing line."

She nodded and slipped away, circling the clearing silently.

After a minute, she returned.

"There’s a raised root line to the left. If you stand on it, you get a clear arc over the front cluster and hit near the center of the totem’s base."

Gabriel moved as instructed.

The others spread out slightly behind him, keeping low.

The primitive vampires still hadn’t noticed them. They continued moving around the totem, oblivious.

Gabriel weighed the Blood Bomb in his hand.

Then threw it.

FWOOOSH!

The orb cut silently through the air, almost elegant, landing exactly where Anna had indicated—at the base of the bone totem, nestled between skulls and roots.

For half a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then—

PSSSHHHHHHHHHHH—!

A wave of dark red energy exploded outward, rippling like liquid light. It wasn’t loud, but every nerve in their bodies screamed at the pressure.

The nearest primitive vampires instantly convulsed.

Their skin split open, blood spraying in fine mists before evaporating in midair. Bone armor cracked. Flesh dissolved.

The totem trembled violently. Its bloodlines turned black one by one, like veins being severed.

Painful screams filled the clearing.

The vampires tried to run, but the wave moved faster, washing over them in a perfect circle. In less than five seconds, more than half the nest turned into drifting ash.

Gabriel’s pupils shrank slightly as he watched the destruction unfold before him.

’The bomb’s efficiency is even more insane on clustered targets.’ he thought, then his eyes drifted to something else. "And the totem—"