Vampire Species

I invested a full day, a whole 24 hours, in this hunting ground.

Since the server merge, the number of people had exploded, so there was no space to be found anywhere.

Therefore, I couldn’t leave this spot.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

The Transcendence Stones I could get from this hunting ground were pretty decent.

Between the Transcendence Stones dropped by the monsters themselves and the ones I got from repeatable quests, I was able to pay back a significant portion of the Transcendence Stones I borrowed from Helena.

[Ether Growth]

Achieve Ether Grade 6 for equipment 0/3

Achieve 1,000 Ether stat for character 1,050/1,000

“Hmm…”

The moment my character’s Ether stat surpassed 1,050, the Ether stat stopped increasing even when I hunted monsters.

It seemed I couldn’t grow my character any further here.

Just as well. People who had passed the Dire Wolf area were slowly starting to come up to this region.

“Shall we move on soon?”

“That would be a good idea…”

I left the hunting ground with Helena, scanning my friend list.

I felt like I needed to separately organize the groups of friends I made on the Korean server, as well as the friends added after the server merge.

Whether it was because the Exorcist Guild incident had spread widely, I received a lot of contact from other Demon race guilds.

Maintaining good relationships with them was essential for the upcoming Faction War.

While organizing my friend list, my gaze stopped at the nickname “Arthur.”

Just as Helena and I were diligently growing our Ether stats, Arthur was also playing the game hard.

Arthur had missed a day because he was too busy with real-life matters. Naturally, there was a difference in progress.

In online RPG games, a day’s difference is huge. Especially a day that’s missed in the growth phase when you’re just starting to level up.

Arthur still hadn’t managed to leave the Dire Wolf hunting ground.

It’s a shame we can’t go together.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Thinking about Arthur.”

The moment I finished my answer, Helena, who was walking beside me, stopped.

I wondered if something had happened, so I turned my head, and the smile was disappearing from her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“No… it’s nothing.”

Helena seemed somehow down.

It seemed like there was something she couldn’t tell me.

Indeed, understanding the minds of active middle school girls was truly difficult.

“Where are we going for the next hunting ground?”

“Hmm…”

I recalled my hazy memories.

Because the memories of Deron from another world, that is, my past life, and the memories of Deron from this life were mixed up, I couldn’t clearly remember which places were good hunting grounds.

So…

“Bear Habitat?”

I remembered. The hunting ground that users who had just left the Red Orc Frontlines headed to.

“Bears?”

“Yeah. It’s an elite zone, so it’s a bit of a tough hunting ground.”

“Will the two of us be okay?”

“I used to hunt there alone, so it should be fine, right?”

Of course, if the hunting ground was as I remembered it.

If you follow the ridge of the frontlines all the way down, you’ll come across a large rocky mountain.

I don’t know why bears come out of a rocky mountain, but it was a hunting ground called the Bear Habitat.

“Hmm…”

“Is this the right place…?”

As Helena and I continued to move along the ridge, the sky began to darken.

I wasn’t wrong. In my memory, going this way was correct.

It wasn’t that time had passed and the sun had set. It was a phenomenon that naturally appeared as we moved through the area.

[Vampire Species Bear Habitat]

“Vampire species…? Bears too?”

We had arrived in front of the rocky mountain. But it looked vastly different from what I remembered.

A towering rocky mountain, and a pale moon floating as if hanging on top of it.

The moon, visible without a single cloud, was truly beautiful.

But unlike the atmosphere that moon gave off, the bears here were showing a truly ferocious appearance.

Greatly swollen muscles and red eyes.

Sharp teeth were exposed in their menacingly open mouths, and sticky saliva was dripping down below.

“Are these things even bears?”

I couldn’t answer Helena’s question.

[Vampire Species Bear]

It was called the Bear Habitat. And the monster’s name floating above its head was also written as “Bear.”

No doubt. It was a bear. It was just slightly different from the bears I knew.

At this point, I could roughly guess the main storyline.

A virus that turns living things into vampires must have spread.

“Zombies are too cliché, so they made them vampires instead?”

I shook my head. Whatever appears in the storyline, my only goal was to grow my character.

“Shall we hunt?”

“I’ll support you.”

I talked with Helena and slowly walked forward. We had moved to a channel with few users, but we couldn’t find any users in this area.

“Hat!”

With a short shout, I swung my sword and ran forward.

Kku-eo-eong-!

The vampire bear also began to react. The greatly swollen muscles of its front legs began to twitch, and it stood up from its spot and began to walk on two legs.

It was different from what I expected, which was a common front paw swipe, bite, or charge pattern.

But I wasn’t flustered. I put strength into the leg I was running with.

On the outside, it’s the body of a frail girl. But the strength stat she possessed was definitely the highest among all warrior users at this point.

Kwang!

The moment I kicked off the ground, I was able to jump high thanks to the greatly increased strength stat.

It was a movement that utilized the pure ability of the character without using skills.

Kyaaaaak-!

My eyes met the bear’s red eyes in mid-air.

I swung my sword without hesitation.

Kook-!

The sword that flew like a slash failed to cut off the bear’s neck.

It was shallow. Blocked by the thick hide, the sword could no longer move forward.

At that moment, a huge front paw swipe flew towards my head.

My vision greatly expanded, and I could see the bear’s huge front paw in detail.

Sharp claws and a huge paw that could cover my head in one go spread wide.

The sword wouldn’t come out. It was deeply embedded in the bear’s hide.

I thought for a moment and moved. I let go of the sword in my hand and fell downwards.

Hwoong-!

I felt a chill as the bear’s attack brushed past my head.

But the movement didn’t stop. Using the leg extended forward as a pivot, I sent a small rotational force from my hind leg.

That rotational force was amplified once at the waist, and all the power of my body was transferred to my right hand.

Since biting the teeth has an attack judgment, damage is also applied to the character’s punches and kicks.

Of course, it was difficult to expect attack power since I didn’t have a weapon, but at least the damage increased by the strength stat was applied as is.

Peok-!

The fist wearing the gauntlet struck the bear’s belly.

It didn’t stop there. Since I extended my right hand, it was my left hand’s turn.

Peok-!

“Achyo-chyo-chyo-chyo!”

Right hand, left hand, right hand, left hand.

A punch rush using both hands landed on the bear’s belly.

Du-da-da-da-dak!

I couldn’t expect great damage, but it must have been a pretty shocking blow.

The bear, which had been standing on two feet, let out a groan of pain and took a step back.

Kku-e-eng-!

At that moment, a burning fireball flew from behind me and hit the bear directly.

Peong! Peong!

The chain explosion that went into the explosion after the first hit greatly shook the bear’s body.

The stiff fur caught fire, and this vampire bear also seemed to have a weakness to fire attribute, and fell into a groggy state.

As expected of a mage. While admiring that fraudulent power, I quickly jumped up and retrieved the sword stuck in its neck.

Chwaaaak-!

Blood poured out as I pulled out the sword.

The bear, burning in flames, was lying on the floor, breathing weakly.

As expected of an elite monster, it had a fairly high defense.

If it were a normal monster, it would have become roasted in one hit from Helena’s fireball.

Now it’s the finish.

Kwajik!

I lifted the sword and pierced its head.

At that moment, the Ether stat, which hadn’t moved at all, went up slightly.

If I caught a monster, it was time to check the drop items.

I rummaged through the bear’s corpse and pulled out an item.

[Corrupted Aura of the Moon]

You can feel the aura of the moon, which has been encroached upon by an evil power.

Purification is required at the Temple of the Sun God.

“Could it be?”

I held the item in my hand and stroked my chin.

No wonder the Moon Goddess Lunaris wasn’t visible.

It seemed that instead of the Sun God, the story of the Moon Goddess being corrupted was progressing here.

“What should we do?”

I showed Helena the Corrupted Aura of the Moon and asked.

I couldn’t even use Return Stones here. Rather than wasting time going back and forth, I wanted to maximize the Ether stat I could grow in this spot before moving.

“Do whatever Yeon-i wants to do.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’s hunting!”

I continued hunting with Helena, thinking.

Hunting with a skilled mage was easy. The appropriately flying magic skills saved my life several times.

“Hoo…”

Each vampire bear takes a considerable amount of time. There was no physical fatigue, but I was mentally very tired.

“J-just a moment, I’ll take a break…”

My head, stimulated to the limit, throbbed.

It felt like the pain, burning white, was scorching even my eyeballs.

It was a sensation I had felt in the arena tournament. It was pain felt because I was too deeply immersed.

I needed a short break.

I was resting, sitting on a large rock with Helena.

From afar, a party was slowly approaching us.

Seeing them waving their hands with awkward smiles, it seemed they had no hostile intentions.

Judging by the horns sprouting above their heads, they were Demon race users. It seemed that Demon race users were generally polite.

“Are you the ones hunting here?”

The one who came forward and asked the question was a Demon race priest user.

The imp walking around at his feet was so cute.

I nodded and answered.

“Yes.”

“Are you doing it with just the two of you? Is it manageable?”

“That’s right. It’s more manageable than I thought.”

“Could you possibly tell me how high your Ether stat is?”

It wasn’t a difficult question to answer.

I nodded and answered.

“It’s 1,200.”

“Oh… I see… Thank you~”

Whether my answer was satisfactory, the user bowed to me and walked away.

Two warrior dealers and one priest.

And a combination of two mages.

Since there was no tank, which was the most important, it seemed that the two warrior dealers were playing the role of the tank.

The priest user, who returned to the party members, began to talk, then turned and entered the rocky mountain.

Helena, who was watching the scene, asked me.

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“Those people, do you think they’ll be able to hunt here?”

“Well… wouldn’t it be difficult?”

I couldn’t give a definite answer. I couldn’t know how skilled they were.

Had about 10 minutes passed? As I sat blankly staring up at the sky, one of the tattered Demon race mages crawled out of the rocky mountain entrance.

“H-hng, hng…”

One of his legs was gone, and his arm wasn’t normal either.

At that moment, a vampire bear popped out from the entrance of the rocky mountain and pounced on the mage user’s body.

Kku-eo-eong-!

“Hieeeek!”

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The vampire bear began to chew on the user’s corpse, which had turned gray.

It seemed that the party from earlier had been wiped out.