Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Giant Bat and Twin-Headed Ogre
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‘That’s strange.’
An hour had passed since entering the dungeon, but Eugene hadn’t spotted a single monster. He tilted his head in puzzlement.
Normally, he should have at least sensed some presence by now, but there wasn’t even a hint of monster energy.
All he could see were the monsters’ footprints littering the floor.
Thanks to that, though, it was easy to figure out where they had gone.
‘In that case.’
It was simple.
Tatat!
Eugene dashed forward.
His heightened senses pinpointed the direction the monsters had taken, and he raced toward it like the wind.
Kraaa! Kieeek!
The monsters’ cries grew closer. But the distance wasn’t closing as quickly as he’d expected.
A moment later, he understood why.
Kieeeek!
Despite the intruder in their dungeon, the monsters weren’t attacking—they were fleeing in terror.
“……?”
Eugene was a bit taken aback by the monsters jumping around and screeching the moment they saw him.
“They’re scared of you, milord! Kekekeke! Those guys know a person—no, a vampire—when they see one!”
“Looks like it.”
Muttering softly, Eugene pounced on the fleeing pack of kobolds.
Kuek! Krk!
It was a massacre, plain and simple.
The kobolds, having lost all will to fight from the start, trampled their own comrades in a desperate bid to escape.
All Eugene had to do was slam Wolfslaughter and his claws into the backs of their heads or spines.
In less than a minute, over thirty kobolds lay dead, spurting hot blood.
“This is too easy.”
He had no desire to drink the blood of low-tier monsters like these.
Eugene shook the blood and flesh from his claws and blade, then turned his gaze deeper into the dungeon.
A dungeon that hadn’t been properly cleared in over half a year. How many monsters were swarming inside?
How many could he hunt in a day—or even two?
“ Might as well find out.”
“Kekekeket! You’re gonna go wild today, huh? Flip this dungeon upside down? Snag hundreds of mana stones? Kieek!? Slow down a bit!”
Mirian, who had been excitedly bouncing around, hurriedly grabbed onto Eugene’s cloak.
The Origin Vampire tore through the dungeon depths like a gust of crimson-black wind.
* * *
Several hours later.
“Whoa! How many have we taken down so far?”
“You expect me to keep count? I don’t know.”
Eugene spat out the words as he gulped down the fresh blood spurting from a troll’s severed neck.
Unlike low-tier monsters like goblins or kobolds, the troll had tried to fight back even in its fear.
But with its goblin minions all fled and Eugene unleashing his full vampiric powers without restraint, it was no match.
‘This covers the meal cost, at least.’
He’d lost count of the low-tier ones, but he’d bagged three mid-tier monsters, the troll being the latest.
That was more than enough for a standard successful subjugation—Essendra would be pleased.
Now, then.
“Time to claim my prize.”
He hadn’t sneaked into Edrike territory and into this dungeon alone just to prop up Essendra as the new Archbolt Marquis more quickly and surely.
Red mana stones—rare treasures held by only a select few high-tier monsters.
Opportunities to enter the mana vaults of great noble houses, which weren’t easily opened even to outside knights, were few and far between.
Install Essendra as marquis, gain full recognition as lord, and snag a red mana stone to boot? It was a massive profit.
“Hmm. This way, then.”
Eugene glanced at the dungeon map copy from Essendra and headed toward the direction marked not just as severed but with a skull symbol.
No one had ever seen this dungeon’s high-tier monster. Witnesses became casualties.
But judging from the corpses, everyone figured it was a ‘bloodsucking’ type.
‘Definitely not a vampire.’
According to Essendra and Knight Gecko, the bite marks on the bodies were too numerous, and the fang spacing far too wide.
That ruled out anything humanoid—it had to be a monster with a head larger than a big beast’s.
‘This should be interesting. Better mask my presence for now.’
A high-tier monster of unknown type and even existence.
Such a beast was likely to possess a red mana stone.
* * *
“Kiee!?”
Mirian let out a cry of awe.
Eugene scanned their surroundings with wide-eyed surprise.
Dungeons were usually no more than four or five meters wide and high.
But this chamber stretched dozens of meters high and was as vast as the labyrinth arena where he’d fought the minotaur before.
The environment, however, was worlds apart.
No glow grass meant pitch blackness, and ankle-deep water sloshed across the floor.
Sharp stalactites jutting from the ceiling loomed so menacingly that even seasoned knights would fear passing beneath them.
But Eugene was no ordinary knight, and his eyes pierced darkness blacker than night.
“That’s…….”
As Eugene eyed the ceiling.
Kikikikikik. Kekekekeke.
An eerie chorus of laughter echoed from above.
Not one or two, but hundreds, thousands of voices mocking Eugene as if laughing at his intrusion.
Sweeping the ceiling with his glowing red eyes, Eugene quickly identified them.
“Bats.”
Indeed.
Countless bats, wrapping their bodies in black velvet-like wings, hung upside down from the ceiling and protruding rocks, emitting grotesque cries.
“Kieeek!? W-why are those things so huge!?”
Just as Mirian blurted in shock.
The bats packing the ceiling were, by eye, over a meter long in body alone.
‘Did those take down the subjugation teams? High-tier or not, disappointing.’
A subjugation team was at most fifty or sixty strong.
Against not dozens but that many vampire bats, survival would be impossible.
“What a waste of time.”
Muttering under his breath, Eugene unleashed the bloodlust aura he’d been holding back to face a high-tier foe.
Kwarararara……!
The semi-transparent bloodlust aura spread from his body.
The overwhelming pressure reached the cave giant bats that had mocked their ‘prey’ for daring to enter.
Instantly, the laughter stopped, silence falling.
But only for a moment.
Puhpuhpuhpuhpuhpung!
“……!?”
Eugene, braced for their assault, blinked in astonishment.
The cave giant bats clinging to the ceiling had exploded simultaneously, as if crushed by some massive boulder.
At the same time, blood the color of dark crimson rained down like a waterfall from the vanished bats.
“……What?”
It was so absurd that Eugene muttered while drenched in the pouring blood.
All he’d done was release his bloodlust aura—yet all those bats had detonated at once?
“……!”
Narrowing his eyes, Eugene whipped around.
His heightened senses had detected faint movement from one of the dozens of stalactites dangling from the ceiling.
Tsktskskt!
No doubt about it.
The rugged, stalactite-like rock’s surface was shifting slightly.
‘High-tier monster!’
Eugene was certain in that instant.
So many bats nesting in one place? It stood to reason there was a dominant upper monster controlling them.
“Kraaaargh!”
Pahpahpahpak!
Eugene roared in exhilaration and charged like a gale.
His bloodlust aura, resonating with the Origin’s killing intent, converged in a flash and whipped toward his target like a whirlwind.
Simultaneously, the surface of the large, pointed rock burst open.
“There you are!”
Kieeeeeek!
As if responding to Eugene’s shout, the colossal bat—disguised in rock armor—unfurled its wings and shrieked.
Kwaaakwakwakwa!
The water on the floor suddenly split in two, racing toward Eugene’s path.
“……!”
Eugene instinctively sensed the unidentified ‘force’ emanating from the beast’s maw, packed with fangs like overlapping daggers.
“Kraaaargh!”
Eugene’s thunderous roar sent a spear-shaped bloodlust aura hurtling toward the point where the water surged upward.
It collided with the transparent power spewed by the giant bat.
Ziiiiing!
No explosion—instead, a cracking sound like glass fracturing.
Kwakwang!
But only for an instant. A deafening blast shattered the air as the bloodlust spear pierced straight through the giant bat.
Puuuung!
The colossal bat, which had reigned as one of this dungeon’s overlords since time immemorial, exploded.
Amid the storm of its blood and entrails, Eugene clearly saw it.
A red mana stone shooting into the air, glowing vivid crimson.
* * *
“Milord, milord! What ability did you get this time!?”
“…….”
Eugene didn’t answer Mirian’s eager question right away. He wasn’t sure how to explain it.
No—the moment he absorbed the red mana stone, the information had flooded his mind, but even he doubted if it was real.
‘Transformation…?’
The ability from the giant bat’s red mana stone was shapeshifting.
Not freeform into anything, of course.
First, he had to directly drain the target’s blood. And uniquely, the target needed to possess a mana stone for the transformation to activate.
Humans, elves, dwarves—any humanoid—was out. They had no mana stones.
But nearly any mana stone-bearing monster was fair game.
Unclear if he’d gain their special abilities, and the hassle of fresh blood-draining each time, but it was undeniably powerful.
“Guess I’ll have to suck a lot more blood from now on.”
“Huh? What’s that mean? Huh? Huh!?”
“Something like that. Hm!?”
Sensing something with his spiritual awareness that he hadn’t yet retracted, Eugene spun around like lightning.
Beyond this chamber brimming with bat blood and mana stones, from deeper in the dungeon, came a strange and intense energy.
Paradoxically alien yet familiar.
“Vampire? No, this is…….”
Different from what he’d sensed from Delmongdo. But starkly distinct from the recent monsters, including the bat. This energy was……
“A dead being? Undead, then?”
Hooooooargh!
As if answering Eugene’s guess, a grotesque roar echoed toward them, devoid of any vital energy.
“W-what? What the heck is that?”
Ignoring Mirian’s panicked voice, Eugene headed toward the source of the roar.
“Milord! Something’s off. Let’s just go back? We got a red mana stone already? Yeah? Yeah?!”
Despite Mirian’s pleas, Eugene pressed on without a word.
Curiosity?
Greed for merits and mana stones?
No. It was something more primal.
A vampiric instinct screaming at him.
That thing must be eradicated, no matter the cost.
* * *
The place was unbelievable as part of a dungeon.
Light came from countless low-tier monsters hanging like lanterns along the walls.
Hundreds of death torches, fueled by monster fluids and oils!
In the center, a massive two-headed monster raised its four arms and bellowed.
Hooooooargh!!!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The beast turned its four eyes on Eugene and began to lumber forward.
The moment he saw the grotesque helmets—human gear crudely jammed onto its twin heads—Eugene murmured softly.
“Twin-Headed Ogre…….”
An evolved form of the ogre, called the strongest monster on land.
Not a living one, but an undead revived by sorcery and magic.
(To be continued)
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