Pursuit of the Escaped Vampire
With the Dorne Party hastily recruiting a priest, they arrived at the portal to the second floor. The temporary exploration team—consisting of the Dorne Party and one outsider—linked arms and stepped through the portal together.
Descending to the second floor, Dorne's group began exploring a labyrinth identical to the first floor, heading toward the portal to the third. After walking the passages for a while, they encountered ten skeletons blocking the way and a single stone coffin.
Moonlight poured through the ceiling windows, illuminating the skeletons' white bones before shattering them to pieces. The black hollows of the skeletons' eye sockets were eerie.
The three warriors didn't charge in but held their ground with shields raised. There were no skeletons wielding ranged weapons like bows, so they could have advanced casually and engaged at will. But to protect Eresa and Lucian's covering fire—and the priest, who was always the top priority target—they stayed put. It also served Lucian's purpose of truly "exploring" the labyrinth to gain experience.
-Grgrgrgrrr...
The skeletons didn't charge at the exploration team. Instead, one opened the lid of the coffin, half-bathed in moonlight.
-Kaaaa...
A vampire sleeping in the coffin opened its eyes. Emerging from the coffin, it lunged at Dorne's group alongside the skeletons.
-Clatter clatter kaaak-!
Dorne ignored the skeletons wielding mere bone clubs and advanced with his shield forward, blocking the vampire's path to prevent it from rampaging. The skeletons moved leisurely overall, but with the cunning vampire mixed in—capable of sudden bursts and clever tactics—he broke formation himself to confront it directly.
-Thud thud thwack thud -Crack clack
The skeletons battered Dorne with their bone clubs to support their strongest ally, the vampire, but it barely grazed his shoulder. They couldn't halt the 230cm Iron Man 【Iron Man】 Dorne's advance. Ignoring the clubs shaking him, Dorne baited the vampire to target him, blocking several claw swipes with his iron shield. Seizing the moment its feet paused, he swung his hammer at the vampire.
-Whoosh- Kwajik!
The vampire sacrificed both arms to block the strike aimed at its ducked head and leaped back.
"Dorne, let's observe the vampire's behavior for a bit."
This iron giant could have pursued the retreating vampire like a steam locomotive and crushed it, but he held back silently to watch. The vampire seemed intent on stalling while regenerating its mangled arms. It was definitely different from the Eastern Labyrinth goblins or the first-floor skeletons—showing tactical judgment. Even in the Eastern Labyrinth, second-floor goblins were smarter than the first-floor ones. They wore the same dumb expressions but supported their goblin warriors in combat, even sacrificing themselves. The ones in the goblin shaman's village had chosen defense over offense to protect their core shaman.
The vampire's skin shriveled further as its shattered arms began to heal. As Dorne had guessed on the first floor, it seemed to recover from wounds short of decapitation by consuming its own blood.
"As expected, its regeneration uses something from inside its body as a cost. If we keep attacking without letting it decapitate us, we can kill it."
Realizing it couldn't kill Dorne right away, the vampire decided it needed blood first. Facing an unbeatable foe wasn't a big issue. Once it successfully vampirized somewhere, even enemies it couldn't beat would become steps for its growth.
Deciding to circle behind the party and hunt the soft, unarmored humans, the vampire melted into the darkness beyond the moonlight. But then—what do you know?
Stalwart Raon and Lilia held off the skeletons perfectly, giving the rear explorers—who had a clear view of the battlefield—the leisure to raise a high-performance lantern, illuminating the vampire hidden in the shadows.
The vampire, which had been climbing the wall to drop from the dark ceiling, froze in panic as it was exposed clinging to the wall.
-Ka, kaak-?
Like a bug on the wall, it tried dodging left and right, but when the lantern easily tracked it, the vampire gave up and descended.
The noble of the night, who enjoyed eternal life and growth through bloodsucking, stared at the iron-clad giant over 230cm tall and the irritating lantern shining on it—then turned tail.
For Dorne's group, it was the second monster fleeing since the goblin wolf rider.
◆ ◆ ◆
After defeating all the skeletons and harvesting their magic stones, the Dorne Party pressed on in the direction the vampire had fled.
"Still, I'm worried that fleeing vampire might be an irregular like the goblin wolf rider."
Cool-headed Lilia voiced concern about the vanished vampire.
"Mm. I agree. That's why we're heading that way now. The labyrinth is monster territory, so it's better to strike first before they pull any tricks. But I doubt a trial beyond our capacity would appear on just the second floor."
Lilia agreed with that point. The party's lingering unease eased somewhat. If the released vampire returned as an overwhelming threat, Dorne resolved to handle it personally.
The temporary team encountered another skeleton horde blocking the passage right before a fork.
This time, the Dorne Party faced a variable. The skeletons, growling as if to open a coffin behind them, ignored it and charged instead.
Lucian's magic and Eresa's crossbow provided cover fire as the three warriors swept through the skeletons. When Dorne swung his hammer, even those hit by the handle—not the head—crumpled. Raon and Lilia's Fighting Spirit 【Fighting Spirit】 punched holes through sturdy skulls.
Behind the pile of bone rubble lay a coffin with its lid already open. Inside was a vampire sucked completely dry—not a drop of blood left. The saying went that even a dried squid yields water when squeezed, but this vampire looked like not even a hydraulic press could extract a single drop.
Sensing an ominous premonition, Dorne turned to Lucian.
"Lucian, now that we know the vampire's habits, let's kill the one that fled before it grows stronger."
Lucian's stylish composure cracked slightly, his face urgent.
"Yes. We already know vampires grow stronger by sucking blood, and second-floor ones even plan for the future. Let's deal with it quickly."
"Then let's move. Eresa, use Danger Sense [Danger Sense] periodically. Use it once now to get our bearings."
"Got it!"
Eresa's mana extended down both forks in the form of Danger Sense [Danger Sense].
"Ah... what do we do? The vampire must have gone far. It's not picking up on Danger Sense [Danger Sense]."
Dorne pondered briefly. The fork split into two paths. One likely led to the third-floor portal. Which to choose? Or just flee to the third floor?
Even if the escaped vampire devoured a few kin, it wouldn't overwhelm Dorne. But a monster that created one variable could create more.
Inoi spoke with a resolute expression.
"We need to catch it now. It's our mess—let's clean it up before anyone else gets dragged in."
This deviated from the Dorne Party's survival-first principles. When they met the goblin wolf rider, they'd abandoned everything for their own survival—first worries about others, then their gear and condition.
But with a fixed priest recruit, their principles needed tweaking. Fixed party members were hard to find, priests especially rare, and this one tied to recruiting the mage too. So Dorne changed his mind about bolting for the third-floor portal.
"Then let's search the opposite direction from the portal first. If we search toward the portal and realize we're on the wrong path, we'll be distancing ourselves from both. But this way, we'll get closer to at least one—portal or vampire. Eresa."
"This way!"
Thus, the Dorne Party dashed down the anti-portal passage, midway carrying exhausted Inoi and Lucian on Lilia and Dorne's backs. Man carried man, woman carried woman—though Inoi shot a glare at Lucian's head bobbing on Dorne's back.
Racing under the moonlight, they encountered not a skeleton horde or open coffin, but another exploration team.
"Stop approaching-!"
Dorne's group closed to where their faces were visible, then set down their carried comrades.
The opposing team was a five-man party, two of them familiar faces: warrior explorers from the Eastern Labyrinth city who'd shared their carriage.
The lone man among the five holding a book instead of a weapon shouted at the Dorne Party.
"What's going on? You're not artificially triggering a wave, are you? If so, I won't forgive you in the name of the gods."
The two warrior explorers, bodies tensed at the obvious priest's words, paled. The self-proclaimed third-year senior whispered to the priest.
"What?... Super rookie? So what...? In a month? Does that matter?"
The senior explorer clutched his forehead at the priest yelling his response without a care. Abandoning persuasion, he stepped forward.
"Junior. We're acquainted, right?"
"Yes. Good to see you."
"Yeah. Our priest misspoke just now, but we have no intention of interfering. How about we both go our separate ways?"
"Seems like a misunderstanding. We're hunting an escaped vampire right now. That monster has already grown stronger by draining one of its kin. Have you dealt with it?"
Judging by their composition—two combination-ability warriors who'd reached the second floor, likely with a scout, a priest, and a wealthy mage-aspirant explorer funding them—they had enough firepower for a vampire that had only fed once.
Eresa, using Danger Sense [Danger Sense], shook her head at Dorne. No vampire nearby.
"We haven't seen any escaped vampire...."
"Who's your scout? Did they use Danger Sense [Danger Sense] on the way?"
At Dorne's urgent question, a leather-armored explorer stepped forward.
"We didn't use Danger Sense [Danger Sense] coming here, but that vampire wouldn't have just passed us by, right? If we missed it, it probably ambushed our rear and snatched a backliner."
The scout had a point. Inoi said urgently,
"Dorne, let's head back the other way. No time."
"Got it, Inoi."
As the Dorne Party turned to exchange info and dash back—hoisting Lucian and Inoi—the male priest shouted.
"Wait! Is that Inoi? You can't just leave!"
Inoi replied coldly and curtly.
"Baren Tois. Enough. I don't have time to argue with someone like you. Let's go, Dorne."
Inoi, aiming for Lilia's back, hopped onto Dorne's broad one in a huff instead. Lucian naturally went on Lilia—why Lilia over Raon was a mystery, but it wasn't Dorne's concern.