CHAPTER 1871: DAILY BLOOD

Villain Ch 1871. Daily Blood

The others stilled.

Even Larissa lowered her goblet.

Allen’s smirk deepened. "A quest. It begins simple—a farmer by the crossroads asking help to find his adopted daughter. He leads you through the marshes, tells stories of her laughter, her sickness, her prayers to the goddess. Harmless. Almost sweet."

Zoe tilted her head, suspicious. "That doesn’t sound like us. Too... wholesome."

"Wait," Vivian cut in, licking her lips, "what’s the twist?"

Allen’s eyes gleamed. "Midway through the escort, he disappears. Vanishes. No scream. No trail. Just... gone. You’re left alone. Then the fog comes. And in the fog—blurred rooftops, broken spires, a bell tolling from nowhere. A whole town. A cursed town. No one can map it. No one’s survived past the entrance."

Alice leaned forward on her broom, pupils dilated. "So it’s event-triggered? Companion quest first, then the town spawns?"

Allen nodded. "Exactly. Rumor says it’s modeled after some medieval tragedy. A town sacrificed to silence their sins. Streets that shift, monsters born from whispers. They say even the guards won’t enter."

Shea’s voice was almost a growl. "And no one’s ever cleared it?"

"No," Allen said simply. "Most die on the threshold. They only glimpse the outlines—churches leaning wrong, market stalls draped in bloodied cloth, shadows moving in the fog. The town swallows them before they breathe twice."

Larissa chuckled, dark and low. "So we walk into a cursed fog and never walk out? Sounds romantic."

Jane’s smirk was thin. "It sounds like hell. Which means it sounds like us."

Allen straightened, brushing phantom dust from his cloak. "How about that?"

The silence that followed wasn’t fear. It was hunger.

Zoe was the first to break it, her grin sharp as broken coral.

"So the farmer’s a bait, right? He’s gotta be. Nobody writes a quest that clean unless the man’s tied to the rot. He probably sold the kid for a deal with the gods or cursed beings, and now he lures idiots into the fog to pay the price."

Jane finally looked up, her voice flat as a grave. "We are also cursed beings. Don’t forget. We’re the villains."

That hit like a stone in still water.

Zoe actually cringed, rolling her shoulders like she’d swallowed glass. "Ugh. True. Thanks for the reminder, death-priestess."

Vivian smirked, wings twitching lazily. "Don’t pout, Kraken. Villainy looks good on you."

"She’s right," Larissa drawled, licking her fang. "We’re not heroes storming in to save a daughter. We’re predators testing how long the prey lasts before it screams."

Bella flicked her tails, eyes glinting. "Or the girl’s the boss. Come on—adopted daughter? Sounds like a vessel for something ugly. Imagine—she’s waiting in the church, pale, red-eyed, whispering prayers while the bell tolls. That’s what eats people."

Zoe squinted at her. "You’re clearly referring to that old horror game."

Bella smirked, unbothered. "Who knows?"

Larissa swirled her wine like she was already toasting blood. "If she is the boss, I’d prefer her screaming while I drain her dry."

Vivian laughed, leaning in close. "You’d drink anything that breathes."

"I have standards," Larissa shot back smoothly. "Warm. Frightened. Pleading."

Shea tilted her head. "I still say it’s the town itself. Monsters wearing houses as skins? That’s more fun than a single brat."

Alice spun her broom, her grin wide and wicked. "She’s not wrong. Children make the best monsters. No one suspects them until they’re gnawing on your throat."

Allen smirked, leaning back like a king in court who already had his verdict written. "So... do you all agree? Or not?"

The silence cracked under Zoe first. "Oh, I agree. Wholeheartedly. Fog, cursed farmer, maybe-possessed daughter? That’s our brand of nightmare."

Larissa licked her lips, voice low. "As long as I can drink something warm and screaming, I don’t care where we go."

Vivian rolled her shoulders, wings stretching lazily. "Mmm. Creeping dread, broken streets, whispers in the dark? Yeah. I’m in."

Alice giggled, eyes glowing. "Finally. Something fun."

Jane gave her deadpan nod. "Fine. But don’t cry when the farmer’s daughter peels your faces off."

Allen’s smile widened, teeth flashing. "Good. Then it’s decided. We’re going to take that quest... after our daily killings are done." He rose, his cloak dragging against the cracked altar like a curtain closing on a verdict. "Players first. Then the fog. And..." His eyes glinted, his voice dipping into a calm that made it worse. "We can have Azura join us."

That pulled reactions like blood in water.

Shea’s grin was immediate, sharp. "Oh, good idea! The hunt will be in an open place. She won’t be exposed, no witnesses, no guilds. She could join our party and no one would ever know."

Vivian hummed. "Mmm. Fresh meat." She smirked. "Though... not that fresh."

Jane’s expression didn’t shift. "Just hope she can hold our pace. We don’t have a priest. No one could heal her."

Allen tilted his head, amused. "True. But she’s a pro gamer, hasn’t she? She’s not as fragile as you think."

Zoe crossed her arms. "Let’s hope so."

"Then we’ll see," Allen said, his voice casual, his eyes anything but. "Just ask her if she wants to join. Or not. If she says yes... she bleeds with us."

The girls shifted around him like predators circling firelight.

Shea leaned closer, eyes gleaming. "You sound like you’ve already decided."

Allen’s smirk curved sharp, but softer at the edges. "Not for her. She gets to decide. Freedom’s a rarer leash than chains."

Bella chuckled, flicking her tails. "Devil."

"Always," he said, without missing a beat.

They laughed—low, hungry, excited—but this time, there was a thread of curiosity in it too.

The crypt, with its cracked altar and stale stone air, suddenly felt less like a dungeon and more like a war room. The decision was made, but the energy thrummed like static, each of them already imagining the hunt ahead.

Zoe finally broke the hum, grinning wide. "Alright then. Daily blood first?"

Allen’s eyes lit with something feral. "Of course. We feed before we dream."