Lucy was cut short as several growls came around. Over twenty black wolves had surrounded them.
’This isn’t good, demon beasts are dangerous together, it gives them time to use their demon arts,’ Zane thought. He immediately pulled out Drain Claw, ready to fight, but before he could make a move, Lucy vanished.
She moved at a speed twice as fast as the first time, her dual daggers in hand. She leaped from tree to tree, and before the wolves could even react, her blade cut through tendons, sending them all to the ground with pain shooting all over their bodies.
The wolves collapsed, whimpering in pain. She landed in front of Zane with one knee on the ground and her head bowed. "Master, I’ve cut them down for you. You can land the killing blow," she said.
’That was fast, and scary—crazy scary. I couldn’t even see her at all, just the heads of wolves flying off their bodies. Myths, what level is Lucy?’ Zane wondered.
"Thank you," he said, taking her blade from her and walking to the wolves. He slit their throats one after the other until he killed all twenty and amassed four hundred EXP. He leveled up to level 2.
[Level up, 4 free stat points]
In the game, the bodies of monsters vanished after death, but it wasn’t the case here. Well, it wasn’t supposed to be the case, but when one wolf suddenly decomposed and vanished, it left behind something on the ground.
Zane looked at what dropped. "Is that a drop?" he said, excited. He rushed over to the drop, and there was a foot-long dagger on the ground. A black blade with shining silver edges, slightly curved, and with a black crystal embedded in the guard.
He picked up the dagger. [Wolf Fang Dagger — C rank weapon]
"A C rank, huh? That’s pretty good," Zane muttered. He tried his hands a few times with the dagger, then looked at Lucy. He thought about giving it to her, but her weapons seemed to be a specific type, not something she could replace with a C rank weapon, so he decided to keep it.
"Let’s go, Lucy," Zane said. She nodded and led the way. They hadn’t gone too far before they heard footsteps headed their way.
Immediately, Lucy grabbed Zane and climbed up a tree, standing on a branch.
"What’s wrong?" Zane asked in a whisper. If they were footsteps, that simply meant more beasts, right? They could probably handle them without issue.
"Humans are coming this way," she said.
"Humans? The sun barely came up. Why would they be coming into the forest already?" Zane asked.
"Adventurers are normally very active," she replied.
"So why are we hiding from them? Can they tell we are vampires?" Zane asked.
"No, well only those that serve the goddess Lumis. Her holy light is an issue for us vampires. I have to be sure they aren’t one of hers," Lucy said.
They waited a bit. Their hearing was exceptional, so they had heard the humans long before they were even close. When the humans finally came into view, Lucy analyzed them.
There was a young man in full armor with a large greatsword on his back, a young girl in white mage robes with a staff, a man with only a chest plate and shoulder guard as armor and a sword on his waist, and finally another lady with a bow and arrows on her back.
Lucy looked at them closely, and when she was sure they weren’t part of the Lumis Church, she jumped down and Zane followed.
When the adventurers spotted them, they immediately got on guard, pointing their weapons at them.
"Who are you?" the one with the greatsword asked.
"Travellers," Lucy replied casually. There was no sense of fear in her voice. The leader took a closer look at her, immediately captivated by her beauty and charm. He slowly lowered his sword and let out a nervous chuckle.
"Travellers? What’s a beautiful lady like you travelling for?" he asked.
Zane watched in amazement, because that man wasn’t the only one who was affected—even the ladies could not keep their eyes off her.
’Did she cast some sort of spell on them? Why are they acting that way?’ Zane wondered. He decided to get closer and see.
"Is there any way we can help you in your travels?" the leader asked.
She turned and looked at Zane. "Master, is there anything you would like from them? Their life, blood, anything," Lucy said.
The mention of blood pulled his attention immediately, but he suppressed the urges that started rising. "Tell me what happened in Raven City as of recent," he said.
"Raven City had thousands of Chosen come in this morning," the man said.
’Chosen, that’s what players are called in the game. Normally it’s because of the fact that players couldn’t die, and also could evolve their bloodline to Godhood, something that was difficult for most NPCs in the game.’
"Chosen? What are they and how did you know them?" Zane asked.
"Chosen? They are referred to as special humans brought by the gods. We heard of them long before. They are all blessed with bloodlines, they possess more special abilities as well," the man said.
’He didn’t say anything about being able to respawn, so that means they can’t. Then the only thing that makes players special is their bloodline,’ Zane thought.
All players were given a bloodline, but it wasn’t the same as NPCs. NPCs gained their power through training and learning, as any normal person would. They leveled up, but they didn’t know about their levels—only players knew about it.
They also didn’t have any bloodline to level up in that way. There were a few NPCs that had bloodlines, but they couldn’t level it in the same way as players, and it was also very rare.
"Thank you for the information. Now, about that blood we talked about..." Zane said. He was no longer able to hold it back.