The Birth of a Dragon Vampire
The curse was designed to fly toward the person closest to Sadiq. Why the Archbishop had cast such a curse instead of targeting his active enemies was a mystery, but... Tae-hyun tensed up.
Damn it. Should I have left at least one of them alive?
Every single person on the continent who was close to Sadiq had already been sent to Sadiq's side by Tae-hyun himself! On top of that, because he had just set the mountain ablaze so spectacularly, he felt like he had gotten quite close to Sadiq. Surely not... No way...
The curse flew over and hesitated right between Tae-hyun and Heuk-heuk. Then, it began to spin in circles.
"...!"
...!
Tae-hyun and Heuk-heuk stared at each other. They immediately grasped the situation. It was trying to choose between the two of them!
"Heuk-heuk. Since you're Sadiq's divine beast, wouldn't you obviously be closer to him?"
-Master. You are the one who destroyed the Sadiq Church and inherited Sadiq's will. Hehe. You just set an entire mountain on fire. If that isn't the work of someone close to Sadiq, what is?
The two of them were in perfect, harmonious agreement—to dump the curse on each other!
"Could I possibly be closer to him than you, a Black Dragon who met Sadiq in person and made a contract with him?"
-I saw you receive Sadiq's sword earlier, Master!
Spin, spin, spin—
Tae-hyun grew increasingly anxious. If he got hit by that curse, would he be able to withstand it? Although he had various countermeasures against curses, powerful curse skills were always terrifying. If you got hit with a bad one, you could suffer for the rest of the game!
Flash!
-Aaaaargh!
"Yes!"
-Master...
[Carbanog looks at you with utter pathetic disappointment.]
In the end, the curse flew straight into Heuk-heuk. Although Tae-hyun had grown quite close to Sadiq recently, he still couldn't compare to Heuk-heuk, who had a direct contract with the god!
"Whew. Saved."
"I don't think you should be celebrating just yet," Evangeline said, looking utterly bewildered. Wasn't that Black Dragon the pet Tae-hyun always dragged around?
"Ah. Of course, it breaks my heart that Heuk-heuk got hit instead."
"..."
Like hell it did!
"But it's still better than me getting hit. So, what kind of curse is it anyway?"
"It's a curse that turns you into a Vampire."
"...?" Tae-hyun looked puzzled. "That doesn't sound like a big deal."
"Do you have any idea how incredibly inconvenient the Vampire race is?" Evangeline shuddered. Just thinking about the sheer number of penalties she had suffered made her skin crawl. This was especially true when it came to her Luck stat.
-Master! The sunlight! The sunlight!
Heuk-heuk shrieked, desperately trying to dodge the sun's rays. Tae-hyun checked Heuk-heuk's status.
Your summon, Heuk-heuk, has been afflicted with the curse: [Vampirism].
Race has been changed to: [Black Dragon Vampire].
A Black Dragon Vampire... That's a race I've never seen before.
Normally, a race as mighty as a dragon would never become a vampire. They could wipe out vampires with a single blink, and even if a vampire bit them, their innate resistance would easily shrug it off. However, the Archbishop's final, spite-filled curse was incredibly potent—potent enough to force even Heuk-heuk into vampirism!
"But aren't there some advantages?"
"Well, there are, but... wait, you're not actually thinking of leaving him like that, are you?" Evangeline asked, suddenly suspicious. She had no choice because her class was directly tied to Vampires, but for anyone else, it was always best to cure the condition as quickly as possible. The drawbacks were simply too tedious. You took damage from sunlight, you took damage from silver... She had class skills like Vampiric Drain to offset these penalties, but other vampires didn't have that luxury. In fact, players who accidentally contracted the vampire curse would occasionally post desperate questions on the Pan-On community boards.
Q: I got hit by a weird curse while clearing the Vampire's Ancient Castle quest and now I'm a vampire. What do I do? The moment I step into the sunlight, I take damage. I literally can't do anything.
A: Honestly, you should probably just delete your character.
A: If it were me, I'd quit the game.
A: Just give up on daytime and only play at night.
"N-No, of course not," Tae-hyun stammered.
-Master...
Heuk-heuk cast a pitiful, pleading gaze at him.
"Don't worry."
-Master! I knew I could trust you!
"I'll make you a parasol so the sun won't touch you."
-...Is there really nothing else you can do?
"Well, you already know the downsides. As for the advantages of being a vampire... your vitality gets a massive boost. You can recover quickly by using vampiric drain..."
"Is an Ancient Vampire any better?" Tae-hyun asked.
"An Ancient Vampire has fewer penalties and much better advantages, I guess?"
Hearing Evangeline's words, Tae-hyun pulled an item out of his inventory.
◈ Active Skill: [Ancient Vampire Transformation]
◈ Grants the user the power of an Ancient Vampire for a limited duration, significantly reducing racial penalties and boosting dark attributes.
It was a powerful bracelet he had obtained after defeating Marquis Marden in the past. Its base stats were decent, but the true strength of this bracelet lay in its active skill. It actually granted the skill Ancient Vampire Transformation!
"...Why on earth do you have that?" Evangeline asked, her expression sour. That was undoubtedly a vampire-exclusive item, often referred to as a relic of the vampire lords.
"I just picked it up somewhere. Here, Heuk-heuk, put this on."
-Master, couldn't you just find a way to lift the curse instead...?
"Until we find a way, you have to wear this. Come here."
Tae-hyun grabbed Heuk-heuk's leg and forced the bracelet on. Fortunately, it fit perfectly.
It kind of looks like a pet collar.
Keeping that thought to himself—knowing Heuk-heuk would throw a fit if he heard it—Tae-hyun fastened the bracelet. "Go ahead and transform. You can use it during the day when the penalties are at their worst."
-Ancient Vampire Transformation!
A thick shroud of dark smoke enveloped Heuk-heuk's body, and then, his form began to swell to a massive size.
"...?" Tae-hyun stared in confusion. What was happening?
"What are you doing? You don't need to force yourself to grow that big."
-It's not that, Master... My power is returning!
"...!"
In truth, both Yong-yong and Heuk-heuk were young dragons. While they weren't ancient dragons like Hakkaras, they were still mature enough to be considered fully grown. The only reason they were struggling in the level 300 range was because they had expended too much of their power when forming their divine beast contracts. Even after consuming massive amounts of experience points, their strength had not fully recovered.
And now, his power was returning under these circumstances?
Tae-hyun glanced sideways at Yong-yong. Yong-yong immediately shrieked in horror.
-Master! I refuse to become a vampire!
Yong-yong had instantly read Tae-hyun's mind and reacted accordingly.
Tsk. Tae-hyun smacked his lips. If becoming a vampire was all it took to restore their power, wouldn't that be an incredibly profitable trade?
*Rumble—*
Heuk-heuk proudly lifted his head, his posture brimming with newfound confidence.
"You still look a lot smaller than Hakkaras, though?"
-...That's because I haven't fully recovered yet! Once I do, I'll be just as big!
"Really?" Even if he fully recovered, Tae-hyun doubted Heuk-heuk would ever reach Hakkaras's size. But Heuk-heuk insisted stubbornly.
-I will be just as big!
"I still remember what you looked like when I first summoned you... Well, whatever. The point is, you've recovered a lot of your power, right?"
His level had jumped from the 300s straight into the 500s! It was an unexpected, highly welcome side effect of the Ancient Vampire transformation.
-Aaargh! The sunlight! The sunlight!
Heuk-heuk shrieked, instantly shrinking his body back down. Because his body had grown so massive, the surface area exposed to the sun had increased exponentially as well.
"..."
-...
-Don't look at me like that!
Heuk-heuk snapped, feeling deeply offended. He had only just become a vampire, so what did they expect him to do!
I honestly don't know if I should be happy about this or not. Tae-hyun fell into deep thought. While it was great that becoming an Ancient Vampire restored a portion of Heuk-heuk's lost power, utilizing it was going to be tricky. Seeing how he reacted just now, using him during the day was out of the question...
I guess he can only fight at night when there's no sun.
Actually, Tae-hyun preferred highly powerful skills with clear weaknesses over mediocre, safe ones. Unlike the latter, the former could always be exploited to devastating effect if used correctly!
"Alright, I get it, Heuk-heuk. Cancel the transformation and get back inside. Just stay in the bag during the day."
-Uh... Master, the thing is, I can't cancel the transformation.
"...?" Tae-hyun tilted his head. "What did you say?"
-The transformation from the bracelet... it won't undo...
"You're not just pulling a fast one on me because you want to stay in your Ancient Vampire form, are you?"
They were master and servant, but there was absolutely zero trust between them!
-I'm not!
Heuk-heuk leaped in protest.
Tae-hyun shot him a suspicious glare. Was this lizard trying to pull an eat-and-run with his bracelet?
Unable to watch any longer, Evangeline stepped in to defend Heuk-heuk. "It might be because of the vampire curse."
"If you knew that, you should have told me sooner. You absolute Cain of a person."
"How would I know unless I've been hit by that specific curse myself?! I'm a completely different kind of vampire!" Evangeline protested, feeling deeply wronged. She didn't know exactly what "Cain of a person" meant, but the nuance was more than clear enough.
Tae-hyun clicked his tongue. Losing a single bracelet wouldn't make him any weaker, but he still felt like he had been swindled. "Fine, whatever. Get back inside."
-Yes, Master!
Heuk-heuk happily shrunk his body and retreated into the summon space.
"The fire seems to have mostly died down. Shall we head inside?" Cain asked, pointing toward the cave.
Choi Sang-yun let out a hollow laugh at the suggestion. "There won't be a single thing left in there."
There was no way any loot had survived that inferno. If they went in, they'd probably only find charred debris or melted slag!
"Well, we still have to check just in case..."
Hoping to salvage at least something, Tae-hyun and his party began to gather their gear. Just then, something caught their eye, descending from the mountain path.
"?!"
It was the banner of the Salavian Church!
The party gasped in surprise. To think there were still survivors even after the Archbishop had perished!
"It's the enemy!"
"Whew. Thank goodness." Tae-hyun sighed in relief. He had spent so much silver preparing for this fight, and now he finally had a chance to use it!
Evangeline stared at Tae-hyun as if he were a certified lunatic. No matter how much she thought about it, he was just too bizarre.
Why on earth is this guy so popular?
Even now, looking at his stream's live chat, hundreds of viewers would spam "lmao" or "lololol" the moment he uttered a single word. They practically worshipped him just for breathing! Regardless of Evangeline's bewilderment, Tae-hyun prepared to launch his attack.
"Fi—"
-We surrender! We surrender!
"..."
The survivors of the Salavian Church have surrendered!
The Salavian Church, the vampire cult that sought to corrupt the continent, has been completely subjugated.
Your Reputation has increased significantly!
Your fame within the Erangs Kingdom has risen dramatically!
The King of the Erangs Kingdom desperately wishes to grant you an audience.
This wasn't the first time the King of the Erangs Kingdom had requested to meet Tae-hyun. He had caused so many massive incidents, and after every single one, a notification would pop up saying the King wanted to see him. Tae-hyun had just been too busy to actually go!
The lords who lent you their soldiers are overjoyed!
The lords who lent you their silver are highly satisfied.
If I had known it would turn out like this, I should have just pulled an eat-and-run with the silver...
The guards looked at the silver bars melted onto the defensive barricades and asked, "Your Majesty, should we return this silver to the lords?"
"No. There are still remaining vampires out there."
"...?" Evangeline tilted her head. Her system log clearly stated that the Salavian Church had been completely subjugated, so where on earth were these remaining vampires?
...Wait, is he planning to attack me? Evangeline slowly took a few steps backward.
"To fight those remaining vampires, we absolutely need these silver weapons!" Tae-hyun declared.
Even if he couldn't run off with the raw silver ingots, he had absolutely no intention of returning the silver weapons they had painstakingly crafted. Since they had already gone through the trouble of making them, he was taking them home! If he kept them in his territory, they were bound to come in handy sooner or later.
-Ah, of course!
-As expected of Your Majesty, a true hero!
-All hail the King! Loyalty! Loyalty!
Since the battle had ended with zero casualties, the guards' loyalty had skyrocketed, and they showered him with endless flattery. The only disappointing thing was their level. If only the guards' levels were a bit higher, the lords of the Erangs Kingdom would have run out barefoot to welcome Tae-hyun in person...
Is there really no way to level them up faster?
You can now construct the Temple of the Salavian Church in your territory.
You can now hire Priests of the Salavian Church in your territory.
You can now hire Paladins of the Salavian Church in your territory.
※ If you construct the Temple of the Salavian Church, vampires will migrate to your territory in large numbers and settle down as citizens.
...I don't need any of this. Tae-hyun made a sour face. Although he was the kind of person who would build temples for Sadiq or even Shiva, a temple for the Salavian Church was crossing the line.