Chapter 101: 99. Night of Slaughter

The endless tunnels of the Staedbergh dungeon echoed with signs of battle and screams of bloodshed. Like bees attracted by the sweet scent of an exquisite flower, groups of Delvers followed the cries and found themselves headless on the cold stone. Many corpses remained ravaged, but those in good condition rose once more after a quick bite.

Olympia kept low to the ground, avoiding the soft glow from the glowstone above. Her strawberry blonde hair flowed with her movements as she ran toward her next victim. The man's eyes went wide, and he raised a rosewood staff, "ᚠᛁᚱᛖᛒᚨᛚᛚ" He screamed as a poorly manifested fireball appeared on the staff's tip.

The young Vampire hissed in distress; just the presence of such a pathetic ball of fire made her body scream in terror. She shook her head and readied her claws. Her fierce scarlet eyes that desired a feast tracked the ball of flames as it flew through the tunnel's musky air. She crouched low, directed vitality to her legs, and lept a great height.

The mage gawked at the ceiling, too stunned to move.

Like a rampaging demon, with the threat of flames gone, Olympia seized the chance and barreled into the mage, slamming him to the ground; his head bounced on the stone with a sickening crunch as it cracked open like a rotten egg. Olympia threw her head back and giggled in delight as gore dripped from her razor claws.

"For how soulless her personality was while human, she seems to be enjoying herself." Fay chuckled as she watched Damien's kin slaughter teams of pathetic Delvers. "But I have a question about her." 

Fay looked at Damien; her eyes were still scarlet but seemed to dance and flicker like a dying fire, "I thought you said humans cannot become Vampires?"

Damien raised a brow, "Did I?" He thought back to the night they travelled to the blacksmith and talked about Fay becoming a Blood Queen. He recalled the conversation and realised his mistake, 'I played Throne and Awakening for thousands of hours, but I never did much research into the lore, something I deeply regret to this day. How can I tell Fay I made that up since it made sense? If Noble Vampires can bite a human and turn them into a Vampire, why isn't half the continent taken over by now? With limited knowledge back then, I merely assumed it was impossible. But, alas, as with anything Noble Vampire related, there's usually a dumb superficial reason, and in this case, it was Bloodline and soul preservation.'

Damien looked at Olympia and could feel a connection to her, like with family. She may lack white hair like Damien or Vanity, but her face had altered to resemble the Nightshade bloodline more closely. If one were none the wiser, they would guess that Olympia was a step-sibling of Damien. 

He sighed and smiled at his beautiful companion, "I may be an Ancient Vampire from a time before even your oldest ancestor, but I spent most of my long life in the dark and bound by silver chains. As a result, my knowledge of my race is superficial at best, and I am sure there's much to learn." Damien tapped his chest with a contemplative expression, "Especially about the mysteries of blood magic and cultivation."

Fay put a snow-white hand around Damien's waist and leaned on him, her head reached his chin, and she looked up and smiled, "We have all of eternity together to figure these things out." 

With a war cry on the side of madness, Olympia continued her slaughter as the couple leisurely followed behind in her path of carnage, carefully avoiding the pools of blood filled with discarded organs.

"How many more kin can you create?" Fay asked with a murmur, and Damien pondered. Turning Olympia had taken much of his strength and a few days to recover fully. But that is a mere side effect compared to the primary resource—his soul. During the process, he sacrificed a tiny slither of his soul to bind Olympia to him and turn her into one of his kin. If she dies, a part of him dies with her, which is a scary thought. Damien half-closed his eyes and looked within; floating inside his headspace was an enormous soul, and chains of brilliant gold shot out into the void. The only evidence of Olympia's creation was a small crack on the surface, as if someone had knocked on a pottery bowl and chipped the paint. The damage was negligible but permanent.

"I can probably create hundreds of kin." Damien rubbed his chin in thought as he watched Olympia rip a worm monster in half; its body was a blueish-grey and had scales like a dragon. The creature was over ten meters long and had a maw of sharp teeth, it was trying to bite Olympia's well-formed nose off, but she grabbed both sides of its mouth and tore it in two with raw strength. 

Damien could only be envious of Olympia's strength; despite being a Noble Vampire, his trait [Germaphobe] prevented him from unleashing a Vampires's true physical strength. Instead, he had to rely on Magic for most of his attacks.

Olympia was still butt naked, but it was hard to tell as a shower of blue blood caked her skin. She didn't even pause as she continued her rampage. Damien didn't know why but felt proud watching his spawn grow in power. 

Shaking his head, he concentrated on the objective at hand. A legion of Thralls followed their mistress in the onslaught. Soon, the group would arrive at the main cavern where the underground town resided. 

***

Damien sneered as he saw the quivering final frontier of the Staedbergh residents. Basking in the moonlight from the surface far above, the last inhabitants of the town and military defiantly guarded the dungeon's entrance with pale faces and shaking eyes. They shouted words to instil righteous vigour amongst their ranks, but just the sight of Olympia soaked in blood and leading a horde of Thralls was enough for them to soil themselves. "Poor fools should have run when they had the chance," Damien remarked as he watched the elevators working overtime, trying to move the residents to the well-defended surface. "Enough wasting time. We have mere hours to take the city before the sun rises."

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Damien held back Olympia with a firm hand on her bare shoulder as Thralls ravaged the defenders. She hissed softly. Her desire for slaughter was unmatched.

"Relax, Olympia. These mundanes are small fry." Damien gestured to the top of the massive hole, "The real fight is up there, on the surface."

The trio waited until the defenders perished, and the Thralls began to scramble up the steep rocky face. The sound of claws scraping against the rock was headache-inducing, but they endured. Olympia seemed confused about why they were waiting until she began screaming as they levitated into the air.

"Vampires can fly?" Olympia shouted as they rapidly ascended towards the surface.

Damien shot his ignorant kin a smile. He was about to answer, but the shouting from the surface and explosions from artillery fire directed at the mass of Thralls distracted him.

The battle for Staedbergh had finally begun.

***

Oscar, the Guild Master of Staedbergh, pushed the tinted glasses up his long nose to obscure his glowing red eyes. The guild had quickly descended into chaos upon announcing that an auction for a Firestone from the dungeon's depths would begin tonight.

It was no secret that many teams had gone missing over the past week, and the guild felt emptier as the days passed. Rumours spread from an unknown source of a Firestone residing in the dungeon's depths, with the recent bizarre weather being an apparent side effect of its formation; many believed in the claims and went to delve.

Almost none returned.

Yet someone had returned with the Firestone and was willing to sell it? This news from the respectable Guild Master's mouth sent waves through Staedbergh's high society and mages. The energy within the guilds auction house was ecstatic, and almost nobody could keep calm.

Oscar took centre stage, and the room somewhat settled down. "Greetings, everyone." Vanity had spent the last week practising and could now control her vessel perfectly. Oscar no longer appeared animated or awkward but carried his usual grace and mannerisms that everyone knew him for, "Before the auction starts, I have a question. I hope everyone takes it seriously as your life depends on it..." Oscar slowly took his glasses off and revealed his sinister scarlet eyes, "Does anyone here wish to live forever?"

Oscar's body began melting away as his blood boiled, and a red mist escaped his orifices. He remained silent throughout the entire transformation, and so did the room. Everyone was too shocked. They couldn't even understand what they were witnessing. 

Once their beloved Guild Master had dissolved into some cursed pile of bones and innards, the blood mist condensed into the form of a woman. Her eyes were scarlet, her hair was white and somewhat wavey, and it cascaded down her uncovered shoulders.

Her gaze was cold and cruel as she looked down upon her prey. "Nobody?" She asked with her hands on her hips. Then, a massive formation drawn from blood hiding beneath the floorboards lit up, and the entire auction house became a prison. Spells fizzled out, and intense pressure kept everyone sitting in their seats.

Vanity licked her lips. "Guess I'll choose myself."