“A squad which was put in central, we ended up encountering members of the opposition and barely managed to get away.” Said Xavier in the least threatening way as he smiled upon his face’s reveal.

After walking down the tunnel quietly, he came to a halt before the platform where they all stared at him.

As they eyed him like a prey, he would have no doubt felt helpless and terrified if it had been his former self.

In contrast, such a feeling didn’t exist for the current Xavier.

“Managed to get away, you say… Hm…”

The pearl opal green haired Vampire stroked the hair of the frightened human girl seated on his lap.

“What squadron did you belong to?” The pastel turquois haired Vampire asked as he lowered his guard.

Xavier’s ears twitched.

‘Shit, I had a feeling he’d ask that… I need to make up a name.’

“…Squad Fang.’

The pastel turquoise haired Vampire raised his eyebrows.

“Squad Fang? Did we have a squad like that?”

‘Was my cover blown?’ Xavier wondered.

“Also, where is your uniform?” The pearl opal green haired Vampire asked.

‘…Fortunately for me I already thought of an answer for not having a uniform.’

“This was one of the recently formed squads in preparation for the war. We were given a mission of blending in with the humans in order to find a way into the opposition’s hideout in case they made a move. Unfortunately for our squad we were caught before we could.”

Even though all of these things were lies, Xavier said them with such a confident and straight face that it would have been impossible to believe otherwise.

“Hm… That does make sense. He also has his Vampire sword.” Said the pastel turquois haired Vampire as he noticed the holes for the spikes in Xavier’s sword handle.

‘They believed it.’

“Come up, we need to keep an eye out on the tracks for the noble to come.” Said the bald muscular Vampire with a scar over his eye at the back.

He hopped onto the platform and saw the countless terrified humans and families with their heads lowered.

“Save me… God please…”

Some were praying while others were crying for mercy.

The underground metro station was jammed with people of all ages.

Their chances of being saved were slim to none. Even if they survived the Vampires around them, the outside was a nightmare, not only because of the countless Ghouls they were faced with.

All of them were powerless.

Xavier felt a strange feeling of powerlessness as he saw their powerless self. It was rare that he paid attention to or cared about those he did not know unless they interested him.

The powerless sight of them, however, reminded him not only of himself, but also of his family who could do nothing when they were kidnapped.

‘This pisses me off…’

However, he held it in as he was posing as a Vampire to sneak into their camp. Maybe by sneaking in he could figure out a way to save his family if there were truly monsters inside.

In addition, even if he were to save these people, it would only be undone at the end of the day as he would need to rewind everything in order to continue the search for his family.

‘Don’t think about them, focus on your-‘

“You’ve been staring at these people for a while now, are you hungry?” The pearl opal green haired Vampire asked.

Xavier’s eyes widened as he remembered. He had been so focused on other things that he had almost forgotten about the hunger… It was still there.

[Skill: Gluttony gives you a never-ending hunger.]

Xavier’s vampire eyes shone with crimson red light.

[Bloodline Quest: Consume Human Blood.]

[Human blood consumed: 0/1]

[Rewards: ???]

He smiled nervously at the pearl opal green haired Vampire before shaking his head.

“It’s fine, I’ve already eaten. I’m not hungry.”

‘This is probably a test, despite all these hostages here only Vampire is drinking blood meaning they were probably ordered not to.’

Xavier tried to avoid it, but he was very analytical when it counted.

“Oh~ You’re just like the others. Boring, a little bit of rule breaking won’t hurt.”

‘I was right.’ Xavier thought to himself.

In spite of that, he wasn’t happy. Deep down, he hoped he was wrong. He wanted to try human blood.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but wonder what the cost would be if he took that step.

‘Drinking blood makes me stronger… I wonder what sort of stats I could get from a human with [Gluttony].’

Xavier shook his head. The Vampires all had their eyes on him, they were still cautious.

“So, Xavier, tell me wh-”

Xavier interrupted the pastel turquoise haired Vampire by asking impatiently.

“What exactly are we waiting for here?”

The moment he asked that question, tension rose in the air. The eyes of the Vampires became that of predators once more as they glared at him.

‘Hm? Did I blow my cover with that question?’

“Don’t you know? We’re waiting for the Vampire noble to arrive.” Said the pearl opal green haired Vampire with a smile.

Suddenly, a pyramid appeared on the screen in front of him. The pyramid was arranged from top to bottom.

[Vampire Ranks:]

[Vampire Fletching.]

[Vampire.]

[-Turned Vampire]

[-Pureblood.]

[Vampire Noble.]

[Vampire Lord.]

[…Too low level to view anymore.]

‘Vampire Noble… They’re quite high down. I wonder if I could take on-

“You… You’ve been lying to us this whole time, haven’t you?”

Pearl opal green haired Vampire suddenly asked.

“What makes you say that?” Xavier asked.

“To not know why we’re underground… The fact that you came all the way here leaving your squad behind… To refuse my offer for blood…’

“That’s it? That’s not enough to accuse-”

“Squad Fang… You said?” The pearl opal green haired Vampire asked as he stood up. “We don’t use full words for our squad names, dumbass.” He grinned whilst sticking his tongue out.

A dark brown-haired Vampire and a pastel turquois Vampire appeared before Xavier in an instant with their arms thrusting towards his neck.

*Swoosh!*

The thrusts sailed right over Xavier’s head as he avoided them with a duck.

*Slash!*

And before they knew it, he had countered with a sword swing of his own aimed at the dark brown hair’s neck.

*Splatter!*

As the sword slicked cleanly through the dark brown haired Vampire’s neck, the momentum carried on to the pastel turquoise haired Vampire beside it.

The pastel turquois haired Vampire leapt back, barely avoiding the swing as it’s bloodied edge grazed his neck.

*Thud*

On his retreat, he watched as the Vampire’s beheaded body slowly fell forward.

In the meantime, Xavier was in the middle of stepping in after changing his grip from a forehand to a backhand before taking a swing.

Xavier’s second swing was headed right for his neck. He raised his arms to parry but he knew it’d easily cut through and decapitate him.

[Water manipulation-]

*CLANG!*

Xavier’s blade, however, was parried by a sword coming out from behind the vampire before he could use his ability.

While he was stopped in his tracks, Xavier grinned at the notification that appeared.

[Killed one Vampire.]

[+110 XP!]

[790/800 XP]

“You should have just played along with my act.” Said Xavier as he released his bloodlust.