“Keep moving! We have to reach the next town!” A group of soldiers, archers and some mages marched quickly. They brought with them a caravan. With the many reports of attacks, one of the most wealthiest family started to send his men to bring the belongings batch by batch down the mountain.

The sudden appearance of the mysterious vampire with a powerful artifact drew many to move out and search the mountain, it also caused panic on some wealthy families. The reports were eerie that this particular family decided to leave the region and return to the main fortress at the bottom.

As the group march, they were unable to take notice of a strange shadow that followed them.

The shadow soon retreated and met up with another group.

“They carry a crest of a leopard and a bear.” Kyros told his team.

“The Urslepar family.” Avary recognized them.

“Are they good guys?” Kyros asked.

“They’re not really bad… I’ve heard of them. But they are not really good either. I don’t have any problems killing them.” Hunter told Kyros.

“Avary?”

“Let’s kill them. They have been collecting protection funds from some merchant. Or rather, its payment for them not wrecking the business.”

“Alright. That’s good. We attack them and turn some into ghouls to fill our quota. Remember, strike the mage first.” Kyros gave the orders.

The Urslepar family continued to march until they turned and found the bodies of men lying on the ground. 

“What the? There was a battle here!” One of the knights ran off.

“Help me!”

“I’m dying!”

Kyros and his men had joined the lying bodies.

The knights and soldiers of this squad was relatively powerful. Some of the warriors were nearing level 20. The wagon they brought which had a lot of weapons and some bit of supplies proved that the were wealthy. Instead of fighting them directly, Kyros decided to go for an ambush.

“I am Avary Lockfield! Son of Geren Lockfield! Please save us and my father will pay!” Avary shouted.

“Lockfield?” One of the mages were stunned.

“That kids lying. That was one of the towns that was massacred the other day. They must have been the first victim of this vampire threat we face now.” One of the soldiers answered.

“Then could these men be of the Lockfield?” One of the soldiers approached.

Suddenly, several grunts and hisses could be heard.

Four golems and several dark beings appeared and slowly crept on the darkness. Leading them, was a small humanoid figure with a long red blade.

The torches of the soldiers allowed them to see the horrifying forms and the group went into position.

“Shadow Ghouls and golems! And look! Thats the being that matched the description! It could be a servant to that Ancient Vampire!” One of the knight exclaimed. They formed ranks and began to make plans how to attack.

Kyros suddenly attacked.

The mage shot several fire bolts and the arches also began to draw their bows.

But almost instantly, the lying corpses and the four vampires sprang up and launched pincer attack.

The vampires went for the stronger ones all together and Kyros also attacked one of the near twenty knights.

“Behind!” The knight warned as he sensed the attack.

He smashed the shield he had on to a nearby vampire and used his sword to block Kyros’s slashes.

CLANG!

Two metal swords resounded as Kyros was knocked back from the impact of the sword.

The knight cursed as he saw several ghouls rush at his allies. The mage in their group was hacked and slashed by the vampires killing him.

The golems and the shadows also attacked and the warriors died from being unable to block the two attacks.

All that was left was the knight who was able to sense the enemies from around.

“Interesting. Force Zone, eh? Using your Force energy, you created a zone around you that can detect enemies.” Kyros smiled.

“Let’s end it. See if you can sense this!” Kyros laughed and four vampires attacked together with him.

The knight brandished his sword and prepared to do a spinning attack.

Kyros was the first to attack among the vampires and he slashed down.

The knight rotated to do a slash that will block and attack all that approached him. But then…

CLANG!

Kyros’s sword slash broke the blade and made a large gash on the stomach of the knight.

“What…!? You’re sword…” The knight was surprised. The sword that Kyros used was different. It was sharper and more powerful and had a strange earthen energy.

Kyros had swapped the sword though his Inventory and upon attacking, Kyros channeled his soul force to increase the power of his attack. His strength stat was 60 and his soul force was 33. By focusing all the soul force into strength, Kyros was able to perform an attack with 76 strength points. Adding the power of the blade, the level twenty knight who recklessly challenged his sword at Kyros was defeated.

“I can’t win going by your stats. But your sword is just too weak!” Kyros laughed as the Bloodied Sword appeared on his other hand.

Hems and Hunter rushed to hold the knight down. Without a sword and due to the great wound, he was easily bound.

Not a minute since the battle start, the squad was defeated. The pincer of ghoul, golem and shadow ghouls was just too much for the rest.

“Five warriors including the knight subdued!” Hunter reported.

“Good. Let’s turn them into ghouls!” Kyros ordered Avary who has yet to max his ghoul quota to bite on the knight. The rest also began to bite the warriors stabbed the Bloodied Sword on the knight. Since they could only make mindless ghouls, the stronger their physical stats were the better.

“Amazing. Lord Kyros, you defeated a level twenty warrior with such great ease!” Hemsey praised.

“You guys should be capable of doing at least this. Fate is challenging us. Remember that. If you are unable to fight and easily kill warriors of this caliber while being weak, then Fate will outrun you.” Kyros warned.

“Fate has thrown me to fight high-leveled and skilled warriors along my way. In most cases, it would have been a miracle for me to win. If Fate gets stronger, it will pit us against warriors far stronger than what we can handle.”

“We will be ready, lord Kyros.” Avary answered.

“But this is great! With such a powerful ghoul, our ambush against those teams should be easier!” Hems laughed.

“Don’t count on it. This little sneak attack won’t work against someone so strong. The main issue here is this knights sword is weak. I fooled him into using a technique that was meant to deflect me with his raw strength. But I had already used the Vermilion Earth Sword and increased my might. The group that we are after will be far stronger than this. In all honesty, I am not even certain that we can get out of this coming battle unscathed.” 

“My Lord. The caravan contains quite an array of food, dishes and other luxury supplies.” Hems reported.

“Look at this haul! It really proves that this family has been taking advantage of the lawless and corrupt region of this mountain.” Hemsey was looking at the various objects they found in the caravan.

“Those carts and caravans will be very useful for uncle and father. Arrange the objects so that we can send it all back.”

“Erm… Including this caravan?”

“What’s in it?”

“It ranges from beautification products, to spring salts that are used in baths.”

“Eh… We all need to relax. Unlike you vampires who don’t feel tired, the others still need to relax. So I think it’s good for the men to have some refreshing experiences. We too, will enjoy it once we get back. Prepare it all. I’ll send the caravans itself. Father ought to have read my instructions.”

The vampires began to arrange the objects and even the golems assisted.

“This is quite envious. We’ve become a special delivery service for the others.”

“These things… they are what Viscounts and Earls enjoy! Even I haven’t had the chance to enjoy these treatments!” Avary glanced at the various herbs that were used for relaxing naps.

Kyros couldn’t help but look forward and back as he kept creating ghouls. His expression seemed conflicted.

“Is this far enough? Or do I wait some more? Too much and it’s too late! Too soon, and it might change!” Kyros cursed.

“What are you thinking?” Calaminus noticed Kyros’s peculiar thoughts.

“Nothing… It’s just something I’m planning.” Kyros tried to calm himself down. He kept looking at the peak of the mountain where the entrance to the temple was.

Meanwhile, as Kyros was continuing their climb, the group of three viscounts continued to walk towards the outpost where they knew Martha Bowheart was assigned.

“She did what?!” Esmeralda was amazed.

“My brother was tasked with an easy mission. He was suppose to kill this small platoon guarding a delivery from the recently annihilated Porter clan. Of course, he was disguised as some random mercenary group to steal it. He has succeeded in amassing great resources here. But when he attacked that convoy, that woman was there. She is quite a force user. Her arrows explode through manipulation of Force energy. And one of the arrows exploded near his…”

“A warrior has fallen…” Querk sighed.

“Indeed. You could imagine what rage my family has for that girl. Still… this gives us a great opportunity to attack them. Let us move fast. We still have to go up the mountain after this!” Gradier hastened his march and the rest followed.

In the outpost…

Scarlet and Gregory continued their attempts to convince Martha.

Martha continued to argue with the two but suddenly, she felt a strange sensation.

“Hrm? This sensation?”

“Is something wrong?” Scarlet asked.

“I’m not sure. But I’ve always had this strange feeling at certain times. It could be similar to the power you claim Lord Aron has.”

“You feel danger?”

“I’m not sure.” Martha sighed.

“Considering I’m surrounded by vampires, you could be the danger.”

“I told you! We’re not evil!” Gregory exclaimed again.

“My name is Gregory Porter. Even though I killed men despite being so young and have turned four men into undead ghouls, I am still a good guy.” Martha imitated the way Gregory talked.

“I give up. Scalret?” Gregory asked.

“I’m not listening to some fifteen year old vampire who has a crushing on a ten-year old Ancient Vampire.” Martha shot down Scarlet who was about to say something.

“You like… Lord Kyros?” Gregory was amazed.

Scarlet ran out of the room in embarrassment.

Martha shook her head.

She then turned out the window as the two vampires couldn’t do anything.

“What is this feeling? I’m sure its not from these vampires. That Kyros kid clearly isn’t a demon of some sort… Then what is this danger I feel?”