I wasn’t surprised, not really, that the lich would make such a request. “I can’t do that,” I replied.
Shamash stopped walking but didn’t turn to look at me. “Why? Because they’re innocent? Who exactly do you think these slaves will be?”
When I didn’t have an answer he kept going. “Vampires don’t use humans for manual labor. Humans are considered among the weakest races until they’ve reached at least level 1,000. It’s then that they become more than just food, but a delicacy. The higher level the prey, the more power they can leech from them. The taste of human is also preferred to many other races.”
What he said made sense. Killing people forced to do manual labor and oppressed was still not something that sat well with me.
He was far from finished. “The slaves will primarily be other vampires. Some of them are criminals of the same family that has enslaved them so that they can work off their offense. If you kill the guards, they will tell their family about you without hesitation to have their sentence shortened or expunged. Vampires of opposing families will do the same. Not only are you a human, but you are a Light Mage—their natural enemy.
“News has probably already spread that the guards at the Vampire Gate were slaughtered. There are only so many explanations as to what could have killed them in such a manner. It was either powerful Fire or Light Magic. The moment it is reported that there is a Light Mage, you will automatically be connected with what happened at the Vampire Gate. As ridiculous as it might sound, the deaths of the Tammaro family guards won’t cause a big stir. There will be an investigation and a general sweep of the area for any enemy race powerhouses. It will end there and only speculation will remain. The same Fire Mage killing some guards at a local mine will direct their suspicions to the most likely scenario. They will think you’re an opposing family with a grudge and not an outside force. But the moment your Light Magic is reported, there will no longer be any doubt and the entire region will come looking.
“I understand your desire to not have to kill more than you might be willing to believe, but, just as Aeris doesn’t have a choice to look for every opportunity to progress, you also don’t have a choice. You will kill the guards. And you will kill the slaves. You will Drain them, loot them, and then burn what is left with fire to cover your tracks the best you can.”
When he mentioned Aeris, it was as if he stabbed me in the gut then continued to beat me upside the head with the flat of a sword. If it was as he said, that the slaves in question were just other vampires, then he was right. I had no choice. If the entire region did come after me, what would happen? If I insisted on not killing and escaped immediately, it was possible we could make it to safety, but how long would we have to wait until we could return to the plan? If Aeris was making sacrifices, then I would do the same. The faster I finished here, the sooner she and the others could put their current situation behind them.
Chapter 3 – Mining
I looked down at an open quarry that held over a hundred vampires digging, sorting, and transporting the Dark Ore that was common throughout the area. A few used mining picks, but instead most used magic to blast into the rock. It had to be incredibly durable, for I watched Fire, Ice, Earth, and Nature all manifest into powerful spells before blasting, stabbing, and trying to crush the rock. Each and every one of these vampires was level 2,000 at the least. Many of the prisoners were about the same level I was, between 5,000-6,000. They all wore dirt-stained white pants and shirts without any shoes. The females were no exception.
The guards weren’t much higher in level, but the difference in gear was apparent. Unlike the Tammaro family guards, these six guards weren’t interested in stealth. Their armor was thick and made of a pale blue material I didn’t recognize. They wore no helmets, but against their prisoners, I doubted it would matter. Each guard carried a short black leather scourge that was three to four feet in length. Most of them stood atop four different platforms that looked down at the workers. There was a solo guard on the ground level walking amongst the workers, keeping an eye on them. The last guard, who I assumed was their captain, sat on the fifth and largest platform with a desk and a stack of grey stone plates each the size and shape of a playing card.
I asked Shamash what they were, and he informed me they were mana logs. Also called mana tablets. They were commonly used to store information. These small ones were quite common and could store many books’ worth of data. There were larger ones that could hold a library’s worth of information. They were also easy to use for those with decent mana manipulation. It took only a trace amount of mana to write in them, and to read them was as simple as willing it. He said that if they weren’t destroyed in my attack, taking them might give us some clues on the best places to attack next.
Shamash floated at my side. We both looked down upon the mine while covered in darkness. His Shadow Cloak was better than mine, but I also had the original Blue Magic Invisibility spell that the Head Mistress had taught me, and also the Wind Mirror that Whitfield had given me. I still probably couldn’t outdo the lich, but my ability to stay hidden had certainly gone up a number of levels.
I watched the slaves at the bottom layers of the quarry for quite some time. They had dark steel collars around their necks with a few feet of ethereal mana chains attached to them. The chains disappeared to the naked eye, but there was some magic here that was similar to what Lilith had cast on me and my friends. I didn’t think the vampire guards would need the whips to make the slaves comply. The whips were only for fun.
Shamash didn’t rush me while I prepared myself for what was coming next. It was as if there was a storm brewing inside me, only building in size. I reminded myself of the lich’s words. What he had said was true. The slaves here were all vampires. Their existence was dependent upon leeching the strength of the humanoid races. As much as I acknowledged that they should be my mortal enemies, killing them still didn’t sit right. Seeing these creatures in chains, as evil as they might be, stirred up pity inside of me. But my feelings didn’t change the reality. I had no choice.
After defeating the guards at the Vampire Gate, the scene before me simply didn’t possess the same level of danger. These were monsters that were about the same level that I was. The lich wanted me to give it my all, but in truth, I didn’t even need to use Solar Magic to take care of them. Unless one of them had a Dark Magic talent and the ability to enhance their stats to the same level that I could, they had little chance of surviving. Although that wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Was I being too arrogant? I wasn’t in the Dungeon Level any longer. It was only a matter of time before I ran into another level-defying freak like Lady Contessa. I had to remember that vampires also received stats from the blood they drank, so each and every one of them would defy their level to a certain extent. But by how much?
Even though I was sure it would take me quite some time to refine my mana again, Shamash was right in the approach I should take. Besides, I needed to experience again what had happened to me when I’d pushed my channeling past the limit. Normal channeling only let me move so much mana at a time, but something incredible had happened when I attacked the Vampire Gate. In my Solar Mage Form, when I had pushed myself past the limit, my body had further transformed until I became one with Solar Mana. Doing so allowed me to channel at a much faster rate. It had seemed almost instant, but I knew that wasn’t exactly the case. I needed to find out what my true limit was, and how quickly I could reach this ultimate Solar state. It had undoubtedly saved me when facing off with the Tammaro family’s guard captain. The more powerful beings I faced, the better understanding I needed so that I had the best chances of survival.
I diverted my eyes from the slaves below. I didn’t even look directly at the vampire guards. It wasn’t like this was the first time that I’d killed sentient beings, or even vampires for that matter. It was the realization that I would have to kill thousands of them before this was over. They were monsters, I understood that, but I was
taking the scythe of death and wielding it in judgment against them.
Slipping into Rog Form, I tossed three consecutive Smog bombs at different places along the ridge to hide my presence. Shamash had already retreated, so I was the only one standing over the vampire mine. I didn’t even wait for the ridge to be covered in smoke before switching to my Solar Form. Just as I saw the vampire guard captain look up from his mana tablet, my Artificial Sun began to form over his head. His eyes shot up. Before Smog blocked me from view, I saw tiny wisps of smoke beginning to roll off the skin of his face.
The smoke surrounding me gave way to my channeling and didn’t block my view of the growing orb of light about a hundred feet away. Now that the smoke was in place, it became a hardened shell at my direction. Even though I generally didn’t have much ability to cast Blue Magic spells in my Solar Form, I could still control spells I’d already cast before my transformation.
A series of screams and shouts came in the span of a few breaths. I felt the collision of lesser magic pinging into the wall of smoke I’d created and my Artificial Sun. They were little more than the shocked reactions of those below.
I squelched the doubt inside of me and began to channel my mana to the very limit. The glow of my energized flesh only brightened.
My Artificial Sun had already reached every corner of the quarry, seeping into every crevice. Its size surpassed me in height and was only growing faster.
It took me between 2 to 3 seconds to reach maximum channeling. I sensed no threat as I had when the Tammaro guard captain had tried casting a spell to outdo my own. At the most there were flickers of resistance. They were but lightning bugs bathing in fire.
Pushing past my Solar Form’s limit proved more difficult than I would have ever dreamed. It was like there were shackles of iron clasped on my ankles and wrists that were holding me back. At the Vampire Gate I had been desperate. I’d believed pushing any harder would likely kill me, but I had no choice because a level 20,000 monster was quickly catching up. Now that I knew there was no danger I found the barrier even harder to break than before. Was something wrong?
Much of my muscular system had morphed into particles of light, so flexing just wasn’t the same as in my human form, But I tensed up anyways, pushing and straining to squeeze out every bit of excess mana I could.
I held that tension as the seconds stretched and I began to doubt. As I feared it was impossible, my chains began to crack. Another second passed before the crack widened. It was a full 8 seconds after I’d first cast Artificial Sun that the shackles holding me back finally shattered under the strain. I felt a surge of energy eat away at the remaining mass of my body as it blended in with the particles of light.
Nearly a third of my mana was already gone when my channeling exploded, and beams of Solar Mana flowed outward.
My Solar Mage Form blinded even me from the impact it had with my Artificial Sun, but I could feel its expansion. Exactly what impact this had below, I just didn’t know.
16,000,000 MP was spent in 3 seconds. With approximately 4,000,000 MP left of my 28,000,000 total, I cut my mana flow. I was already confident the enemy was dead. I felt more than saw the change that happened as my Solar Form reverted back to normal. It was like the powering down of a nuclear reactor as the surge of energy inside of me slowed. It took 3 seconds for my mana to completely stop flowing outward.
I was relieved that I had been able to break my channeling limits at will, but it had taken far too long. If I faced another level 20,000 or higher, I wasn’t convinced I had much of a chance of surviving repeated duels at that level even if I caught them off guard. Eventually, someone would be faster than me.
My wall of smoke had already disintegrated by the time my Artificial Sun dimmed a few seconds later. I then caught a glimpse of the vampires below, or what was left of them. I forced myself to take in the aftermath. The vampire guards’ heads were charred beyond recognition, but it wasn’t until I turned my focus to the slaves that I saw the real horror of what my Solar Magic did to a vampire without the protection of armor. It was like someone had been roasting a chicken, forgot it was in the oven, then went to bed only to wake up and find it scorched until it was shriveled and coal black.
The only vampire that looked to be missing was the guard captain, but I quickly found what happened to him. He’d jumped off his platform and tried to hide underneath it. All that was visible was his lower half, but it looked like he’d died before he could fully submerge himself beneath it. One leg was stretched out and the other was bent beneath him with his rear end sticking up in the air. Smoke rolled out of the folds of his armor all along his legs and waist.
I had done what was necessary. There was no one else to blame. With a deep sigh, I put my doubts behind me. This was what had to be done so there was no use dwelling on it.
There were a number of popups I needed to check, but Shamash appeared beside me as if he’d teleported. He was incredibly fast when he wanted to be.
“We must hurry,” he said. “Remember to change to your Vampire Form before you Drain all of them. Grab the mana tablets and loot the guards. Then, burn them with fire.”
“They’re already burnt,” I said.
“Not just them, but all of it. Destroy their platforms, carts, and chests. Give them no reason to suspect that anything but a Fire Mage did this.”
I nodded that I understood.
Not bothering to use my Incubus form, I jumped from the top of the cliff to land on the guard captain’s platform. Even in my Solar Mage Form, the entire platform shook. It had taken a good forty foot broad jump and a thirty foot fall, so it shouldn’t have surprised me.
I took my Vampire Form and hopped off the platform to land by the guard captain. Leaning down, I touched his back to check if there was anything good in his inventory. I froze as I saw that it was full to the brim. Even the Minotaurs hadn’t been loaded like this. He also had much more room in his inventory than I did, which didn’t make sense. I was familiar with Magic Bags, but this was something else entirely.
“Shamash,” I called out. “You need to see this.”
He flew over and quickly joined me before responding. “What is it?”
“What’s this?”
He reached down and check the man’s inventory. “He’s wearing a storage ring. It increases a person’s inventory space.”
“Okay. So uh, he’s loaded. What should I take?” There were at least a couple hundred items in his inventory not including what he was physically wearing on his person.
“Hmmm. A lot of this won’t do us any good, but…”
Chapter 4 – Different Level of Loot
Besides my Light Magic enhancing scepter and magic bag, I’d rarely put any stock in gear. There were exceptions, but my Light and Blue Magic often far exceeded the benefits of items I found, or I quickly outgrew them. Many items’ bonuses still applied when I used Blue Magic Forms though, so I wasn’t against gear if I could find the right stuff. For example, my scepter had been with me since my first month in the Underworld, but I couldn’t use it as an actual bashing weapon any longer because I’d snap it in two with my current strength. Its rare Light Magic enhancement made it worth keeping around though. I was currently keeping it encased in my bone armor to keep it safe.
I hoped as I searched through the vampire guard captain’s inventory that there would finally be something I’d care to use. Shamash had made me skip looting the guards at the Vampire Gate, but it seemed that was a rule that I wouldn’t have to follow from now on.
As I was skimming through his full inventory, the first thing that caught my eye was a couple Advanced Dark Magic Monster Cores. I took them without hesitation, but wondered how he’d gotten them. Was it common for vampires to keep some on hand to replenish their mana? I asked Shamash.
“He likely took them as souvenirs from prisoners that died,” he replied. His words sounded in my head instead of him speaking them aloud. “Using Vampire’s Might to devour them wouldn’t ha
ve been as big of a boost to him if he hadn’t yet reached its Master Rank, so he may have been saving them. Cores are also highly sought after. He may have been waiting to sell them. Also take the bottles, vials, and cylindrical objects—those are actually money purses.”
Removing one of the dark steel tubes, the lich held it up. On one side there was a slit wide enough to let me see that it was filled with precisely cut coin-shaped black discs. There was a simple spring that pushed them to the top of the cylinder where they could slip out. They looked to be made of Dark Ore. I inquired about them by replying to him through mental speak. It was similar to the way Richard’s communication ability worked so it was easy enough to respond and it wasn’t the first time he had spoken to me this way. I followed his lead and stopped speaking out loud.
“That’s exactly what they are,” Shamash confirmed. “Except they are highly refined to 95% purity and considered a Dark Metal. It’s more difficult than devouring an orb, but you can even use Vampire’s Might to use them for mana if you need to. They are far from the most efficient source though, so doing so is wasteful.” He tossed me the Dark Coin Wallet and reminded me to hurry.
There were 4 of the wallets, but he didn’t take the time to explain how the vampires’ currency worked, or why we should even bother looting it if our only goal was to kill them.
There were 3 different kinds of bottles, but of the 3 there was one kind that the vampire had 48 of. The other 2 looked to be older and he only had a few bottles of each. I speculated that these were blood tonics that he’d commonly drank.
The vials were even more varied and reminded me a lot of Lydia’s potions. They came in all shapes and sizes, and I counted over 120 of them in total. We were in a hurry, so I didn’t have time to ask what they did. As for the rest of the vampire’s belongings, I was rather disappointed. I took his armor just because I wasn’t sure what it was made of even though I didn’t have the intention of using it. I also took his whip so that I could see if it had any special properties later.
Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series Page 2
