Ch.63Red Wolf Hwang-gu

I followed Charlotte as she led Hwang-gu to the basement of the house.

The previous owner seemed to have used it as a storage room, as it was filled with various items.

And now a dungeon entrance had appeared in such a place.

“It’s here!”

Aurel pointed to a spot after descending the stairs.

Looking closely, I noticed an unfamiliar door had appeared on the wall.

“This is…”

Blood Carnival has three types of dungeons.

One is the laboratory dungeon created by humans.

The second is the werewolf temple.

The third and final one is the ancient vampire cemetery.

This one appeared to be the vampire cemetery.

The large stone door, not at all modern, was engraved with a large bat insignia representing the vampire race.

“Are we going in right away?”

“Hmm… no.”

I shook my head at Aurel’s suggestion.

Though I wanted to go in immediately, I was concerned about Hwang-gu’s condition.

“Hwang-gu. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine?”

Hwang-gu nodded in response to my question.

She was touching the red bridge that had formed in her bangs.

Despite her answer, I was still worried.

I approached Hwang-gu and felt her soft limbs.

“Ch-Charlotte?”

Judging by her reaction, there didn’t seem to be any nerve damage.

While I was at it, I touched her ears and fluffy tail as well.

“Your sense of smell is fine too, right?”

“Y-yes…”

Hwang-gu sniffed around, as if to prove her sense of smell was indeed working properly.

I crossed my arms and examined her for a long while.

“Can you handle entering the dungeon?”

“Yes!”

Hwang-gu answered energetically to my question.

But when I continued to look skeptical, she approached me anxiously and wrapped her leash around my hand.

She must have been worried I might leave her behind.

“Aurel, you’re good too, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then let’s harvest the Blood Fruit first, then enter.”

“Understood!”

In the end, we postponed the dungeon exploration until after harvesting the Blood Fruit.

We couldn’t skip even a single day of Blood Fruit harvesting if we wanted to feed over 160 children.

“Hwang-gu.”

“Yes!”

At my command, Hwang-gu nodded and transformed into her riding form.

“Gasp…”

Aurel inhaled sharply at the sight of Hwang-gu’s transformation.

I was quite surprised myself.

This was because Hwang-gu’s brown fur had turned red.

She was now more “Red-gu” than “Hwang-gu.”

Seemingly unaware of her transformation, Hwang-gu stuck out her large tongue and licked my cheek enthusiastically.

I examined her body carefully.

But apart from the red-colored fur, I couldn’t see any other changes.

Was she really okay?

Hwang-gu herself didn’t seem particularly concerned about her transformation.

Even with Hwang-gu’s fur turning red, our tasks remained unchanged.

Aurel and I rode on Hwang-gu in her riding form and traveled around Seoul Station.

Our area of activity had expanded since I had absorbed the territories previously managed by Bbo-bbi and Wawr.

Tap-tap-tap-

I stretched out my hand while riding swiftly on Hwang-gu’s back.

A black shadow extended outward with a whoosh.

The shadow swept over a large Blood Fruit tree and then returned to me.

It only took about 1-2 seconds to harvest fruit from a large Blood Fruit tree.

When I wasn’t around, Hwang-gu and Aurel had to carry large bags and pick each fruit individually, but with me taking the lead, we could drastically reduce that time.

After harvesting the last fruit,

I directed Hwang-gu back home.

Hwang-gu and Aurel said they needed to prepare something before entering the dungeon and hurried up to their rooms.

By “prepare,” they’d probably just stuff potions and bandages into cute bags.

I sat in a chair in the corner of the basement and ate a Blood Fruit.

Crunch-crunch-

After some time had passed,

The basement door opened with a bang, and Aurel and Hwang-gu came running down.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

The children nodded in response to my question.

Both girls were wearing penguin-shaped backpacks.

If I didn’t have the shadow inventory function, I would have had to carry such a bag around all the time too.

I shook my head and headed toward the dungeon entrance.

[Faint Blood Sanctuary]

The cemetery of ancient vampires.

A virus lethal to humans lingers here.

Information about the dungeon transmitted through my Mystic Eye.

Unlike the human laboratory dungeon, I couldn’t determine the difficulty level, but I could identify the dungeon’s characteristics and boss type from its name.

If a vampire dungeon had a name related to blood, its boss would manipulate blood, and the dungeon’s features would be related to that as well.

Creeeeak-

The dungeon door slowly opened as I placed my hand on it.

Indeed, it was the dungeon I had expected based on my information.

“Wow…”

“Gasp…”

Aurel and Hwang-gu exclaimed in amazement at the wide black corridor that stretched before us.

Torches installed along the path burned with blood-red flames.

While I was examining the internal structure of the dungeon, Hwang-gu and Aurel hopped in excitedly.

Once inside, they looked back at me as if urging me to hurry up.

I smiled slightly and entered the dungeon.

“Wow…”

“Charlotte, can I take this?”

I nodded at Hwang-gu’s question.

She was interested in a large candlestick placed in the middle of the corridor.

With my permission, she stuffed the large candlestick into her penguin backpack.

The penguin bag swallowed the candlestick, becoming very bulky.

It felt more like we were on a field trip than exploring a dungeon.

With 160 subordinates, what was there to fear?

Knowing my power, Aurel and Hwang-gu also explored the dungeon comfortably.

“Sniff sniff!”

As we walked along the corridor for a while, Hwang-gu flapped her tail and ears while sniffing the air.

She must have detected monster movement.

“Three ahead!”

No sooner had Hwang-gu finished speaking than monsters appeared at the end of the corridor.

The vampires’ typically sparkling skin had lost its luster, and even that was half-rotted.

And their eyes? The ruby-like eyes that should have emitted a red glow were dull and discolored, and their clothes were as weathered as their decaying skin.

They looked more like zombies than vampires.

[Ancient Vampire A]

Level: 15

Race: Vampire

Health 100%

Mana –

Emotional state: –

A name that showed little effort.

But why complain? Most common monsters in Blood Carnival are named this way.

Only bosses get any real attention.

I crossed my arms and took a step back.

Aurel and Hwang-gu rushed forward.

“Graaaah!”

The zombie-like ancient vampire screamed and attacked Aurel, but she easily evaded the attack and swung her katana.

Swish!

As the sword wrapped in red energy swept widely, the ancient vampire’s arms and legs were severed.

Naturally, that didn’t kill it.

It just fell to the floor and began to struggle desperately.

After rendering one incapacitated, Aurel rushed toward another.

I nodded as I watched.

All monsters we would encounter could be handled by Aurel and Hwang-gu alone.

Except for the final boss of the dungeon, there would be no situation requiring my direct intervention.

“Hiyaah!”

With Hwang-gu’s final strike, all the ancient vampires lost their lives.

Standing on the rotting flesh, Hwang-gu pinched her nose and made a sad face.

“Where might the secret room be?”

“I wonder…”

After wandering through the dungeon for a while,

We came to a wide fork in the road.

There were five paths in total, one of which would lead to the boss room.

This was the perfect time to use my subordinates.

I spread my arms wide and shouted.

“Come forth!”

As my command ended, small girls began to emerge from beneath the shadows.

I gave them orders.

“All of you, run ahead and see what’s there! Come back immediately if it’s dangerous!”

-Yes!

-Understood!

Pitter-patter!

The children who responded energetically to my command ran off quickly.

Aurel and Hwang-gu watched in amazement.

I shrugged and leaned against the wide corridor wall.

Just then, Aurel approached as if she had something to say.

“Charlotte.”

“What?”

“With so many children, why not send them to clear the dungeon instead of moving yourself?”

“Dungeon clearing? Just the children?”

“Yes.”

At that moment, one of the girls who had disappeared down a path came running back.

“Huff huff!”

The girl ran hard and sat down on the floor.

Then she picked up a crayon she had dropped and ran off again.

I shook my head at the sight.

It was unsettling and not very reliable.

“Do you think we can trust kids like that?”

“Ah…”

Aurel nodded blankly at my answer.

The subordination skill was great, but it had one drawback.

The regression of intelligence after mental reconstruction.

While the silly children were quite cute, entrusting them with tasks in that state was like asking a cat to guard fish.

I might as well do it myself.

After some time passed, the children who had run off began to return one by one.

They approached me eagerly and started explaining what they had seen.

-Charlotte!

-Charlotte! Let me tell you what I saw ahead!

-I punched a big vampire really hard!

I watched them with a pleased expression.

Just then, a late-arriving child shouted loudly.

“Charlotte! It’s the boss!”

A girl holding a golden crayon in one hand and panting heavily.

It was Yeppi.

Apparently, the boss room was in the direction Yeppi had gone.

How convenient it was not to have to wander around.

I led all the children toward the boss room.

“You really seem to like children, Charlotte.”

“Hmm. I guess so.”

I nodded at Aurel’s question.

Come to think of it, my deepening relationship with Aurel was also thanks to this aspect of my personality.

As we chatted about various things,

We arrived at the boss room at the end of the dungeon.

A large coffin sitting alone in a spacious area.

And the figure of a woman perched on top of that coffin caught my eye.

The surroundings were empty, as the map was designed solely for combat.

This boss was a female specimen.

[Bearer of Faint Blood]

Level: 20

Race: Vampire

Health 100%

Mana 100%

Emotional state: –

I crossed my arms and thought.

Should I personally confront a mere ordinary dungeon boss?

No.

I had an army of 160 soft soldiers.

I commanded the children.

“Attack-“

-Hiyaaah!

-Hieeeeh!

-Huryaryaaah!

As my command ended,

The soft girls dispersed black shadows and rushed toward the boss.

The result of the battle was overwhelming.

The boss, thoroughly beaten by soft fists, became a lump of red meat smashed into the floor.