[First Floor’s Second Hall. Current bonus objective progress: 112/500]

Preparations finished, Kiera stepped into the second hall, the illuminating veins pulsing as the crimson liquid flowed within them. Putting aside the notion she was inside the belly of some colossal eldritch abomination, Kiera inspected the room, or rather the hall that was as long and wide as two aircraft carriers lined next to each other.

Aside from minute differences, such as the floor being a tile flooring and not smooth like the previous hall's, and the number of statues being several times smaller, the two halls were rather identical.

But small differences could be proved fatal in such environments. What she could conclude from the smaller number of statues was, of course, that each creature released from them would be many times stronger than a Blood Demon or a Blood Servant.

As for the tile flooring, she had no idea, but she surely didn't dismiss it as the place's owners' desire for variety. The fact each tile was twenty square meters also helped to enhance her suspicions.

Staying still in her place, Kiera took her time to examine the opponents, afraid any large movement would awake the slumbering nightwalkers. There were forty-two statues in the hall in total, thirty-eight of them were bowing, their bent bodies pointing toward the four statues standing near the exit.

Two of these statues depicted a man and a woman, their heads adorned by a small crown. Their gazes, while frozen in time and stone, exuded imposing authority and an obvious sense of superiority as they looked at the bowing subjects.

But Kiera felt the bowing statues’ respectful gesture, while indeed also directed to the flamboyant pair, was mainly directed toward the two immense, fifty meters high statues rooted at each side of the exit.

The two statues were identical to the smallest details, depicting a man of devilish beauty, his mouth drawn into an evil smirk that displayed his fangs— eight of them. He wore a large crown, its number of jewels identical to the number of his fangs, his toned body adorned by fancy ceremonial robes.

Kiera whistled, impressed by the perfect craftsmanship of the statue, but she was more impressed by how inhumanly stunning were the inhabitants of this world. Fortunately, it was clear the pair of statues weren’t frozen giant twins but real statues, otherwise, she wouldn’t know how to fight an enemy dwarfing a blue whale.

Kiera inhaled, her focus brought to an unbreakable state. With her dagger sheathed and dress replaced, she moved, incurring a change of scenery in the hall. The thirty-eight statues flinched before the stone evaporated like it never existed, it was as if their bodies themselves were the stone, and not encased in it.

She noticed the difficulty rose exponentially, there were no Blood Demons or Blood Servants. Now, the true Vampires replaced their savage inferiors, gazing at Kiera with potent evil no simple beast could have. Their pale bodies radiated a majestic aura of cold arrogance befitting their aristocratic reputation, especially the ten closest to the exit— named Noble Vampires.

They all disappeared simultaneously, their blurry forms akin to the shadows of supersonic missiles as they raced toward Kiera. The little girl instantly felt a crushing pressure weighing upon her as the thirty-eight draculas flawlessly fused their auras to suppress her.

Her own aura flared as Eruption’s coat enveloped her, Kiera realizing she wouldn’t get out of this hall alive if she didn’t use her full strength. She vanished, expertly avoiding the lynching hoard of vampires.

Her previous spot was bombarded by a wide variety of skills as each vampire displayed a degree of combat power surpassing their own level with the highest level of attributes she’d witnessed until now, besides her own of course.

Kiera didn’t have time to appreciate the fact the floor was devoid of the tiniest of scratches after being hit with an intensity capable of annihilating her on the spot before she was again faced with the charge of the bloodsucking enemies.

She didn’t run away again— it was neither an option nor a solution, charging head-on into the fanged pack of death instead. The leader welcomed her with his arm outstretched, aiming straight toward her heart, his talons radiating a gloomy energy of death.

Even though she was half a meter away from his talons, Kiera could still feel the energy invading her body, draining her vitality, corroding her heart. It was as if her life energy was being erased, the disturbing sensation filling her with dread.

“Death Attribute!” Kiera exclaimed, immediately dodging to the side, grasped the leader’s arm by the forearm, and used her entire strength to throw him away. Before she entered the second hall, she researched all levels of attributes with the Guide, something she planned mid-fight with those Blood Demons.

The Death Attribute was the strongest attribute beneath the Eight Supreme Attributes, the bane of all living things— it could negate all kinds of regeneration skills, and hinder even her own, she had no desire to be injured by such an attribute. When it came to killing, it was even better than the Darkness Attribute, the Death Attribute’s origin, because it solely inherited the Darkness Attribute’s aspect of death.

With the leader temporarily out of the way, Kiera quickly engaged the rest. In traceless speed, she threw her dagger slightly above her head, ducking a sword and spear strikes aiming to puncture her head. Immediately delivering a counterattack, she punched the two assailants in the stomach with Flashburst, their bodies launching into the air.

Then she somersaulted, her heel meeting the dagger’s hilt midair, propelling it into a third assailant’s abdomen, prompting his body to be hurled like a broken kite, taking his less perceptive companions for a ride.

Kiera vanished before she could be overwhelmed, jumping toward one of the vampires she launched with her fist a few seconds ago. Because she preferred speed over deadliness at that moment, she didn’t inflict substantial damage, but now she aimed to finish the job.

Her body traveled the air like an arrow, instantly arriving above the vampire, who uselessly flailed his limbs to stop himself. Kiera grasped his fair blonde hair, and to his momentary horror, she replicated the opening fight scene of the last movie of The Twilight Saga and twisted his head.

Seconds later, she landed, a severed head grasped in her hand, a terrified expression plastered on the dead vampire’s stiff face while an excited grin adorned hers, the girl self-satisfied by her display. His body shortly followed, crushing behind Kiera like a broken doll.

[Copper Apprentice Magician Lv.11 defeated (Noble Vampire), EXP received]

[You defeated a being of an Ancient ranked bloodline, bonus EXP received]

While far stronger than Servants, Kiera was still individually far superior to them at the same level. But, she didn’t dare to underestimate them— in the short engagement she had with them, Kiera learned a crucial fact about her mythological opponents. First, the vampires had a profound understanding of one another, enough for them to move as one.

Their fused auras didn’t only serve to intensify the pressure she felt, it also strengthened both their combat prowess and defense. Also, despite their cramped battle formation, there was no instance of friendly fire, as if they communicated with some sort of telepathy.

The vampires hissed in rage and indignation, profound killing intent dying the atmosphere, obviously offended by their companion’s brutal death.

But Kiera was surprised to see the vampires didn’t initiate another attack, simply watching her with bloodshot eyes from the distance. Her eyes narrowed, unease enveloping her body at their stillness.

She readied her hand, about the launch the head in her grasp toward them, the pool of blood it formed at her feet adding to her budding irritation. Suddenly, her taunting act was cut off by a massive vibration that rocked the entire hall, as if the sheer disrespect of her act forced some divine being to intervene.

The vibrations slowly and unnaturally crept toward her, Kiera finding herself unable to move, locked down by foreign pressure. Minutes passed as Kiera fought off the panic that threatened to conquer her calm, stubbornly keeping her calm before the vibration finally concentrated on the row of tiles she was on.

Cracks gradually appeared on the tough tiles, as if they were made of glass and not of material far harder than steel. Kiera regulated her breathing, her mind empty of any thoughts as her cold gaze stared at the disintegrating tile she stood on.

Just when Kiera braced herself for the unknown as the tile was akin to multiple spiderwebs layered upon each other, the pressure disappeared. She instantly vanished, the row of tiles she was on crumbling from the entrance wall to the exit wall, replaced by a deep crevice with a sea of crimson liquid at its bottom.

The crimson liquid was not unfamiliar to Kiera, as it had the same vitality-draining aura the crimson wall from the first hall had, albeit much stronger— even stronger than the vampire leader’s Death Attribute.

She watched in silence as the headless corpse descended into the crimson sea, becoming a dry husk even before it touched the death liquid. Kiera raised her eyebrows, musing at the abrupt event. The vampire’s stillness signified one thing— they knew it would happen, meaning she did something to trigger that vibration, and the only major move she did was executing that Noble Vampire.

She looked around, immediately counting the number of tile flooring rows now present in the hall— 39. Like the number of remaining vampires— 39, including the two crowned ones still frozen at the entrance.

The mechanism clearly existed to make it harder for her to clear the dungeon, the less footing she had the less she could utilize her mobility to her benefit— this place was made to counter her, no wonder it was a trial.

She didn’t worry about the rubble she now faced, it didn’t matter if each time she killed one a row would crumble. What she worried about was the frozen pair, who were probably the mini-bosses before the true first boss, she still didn’t know how she could fight them with only two rows of the floor at her disposal. She would’ve to improvise and try to exploit the inconvenience to her benefit, but that was for later.

“I definitely should not touch that,” she took a last glance at the crimson liquid and faced the vampires, grinning mischievously as she hurled the severed toward them— forcing the leader, who used the battle halting disturbance to rejoin his team together with the other vampire she launched to use his Death Attribute to shatter his subordinate’s head.

They collectively hissed again, further enraged by the little girl’s contemptuous treatment of their dead before they rushed toward her. Kiera laughed audibly, engaging the pack in close combat again, her arms turning into a flurry of fists as she dodged, blocked, parried, and counterattacked.

Kiera just threw the leader to the other side of the hall again before her senses screamed for her to dodge. She instantly spun around, sparks of lightning scorching the air due to her supersonic speed, her eyes widened at the sight of dozens of arrows coming toward her, weaving around the vampires as if they had a mind of their own, shimmering with explosive ethereal energy.

“Celestial Archery Attribute!” Kiera recognized and immediately charged Destruction in her hands, the explosion of Tyrannical Lightning clashing with the arrows. Kiera was hurled away like a rag doll, the energy from the clash ravaging her insides.

Suddenly, three figures blurred in front of her flying and dazed body before she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as three taloned hands speared through her powerful body, stopping it in its tracks mid-air.

Kiera puked a handful of blood, her eyes staring at the three assailants. With their blood-red eyes filled with ridicule, the vampires grinned at her with undisguised mockery and arrogance.

One of them moved his free hand, aiming to puncture her heart and finish off the insolent little girl that gave them so much trouble. However, his talons’ advance was stopped by a thin hand grasping his wrist.

The three widened their eyes, moving their gaze back to the girl’s face, which was head above them due to their position. Her violet eyes were filled with boiling rage as her previously dwindling aura erupted again with all its might.

“Fools, you dared stray from the safety of your little pack?” she muttered emotionlessly, thick killing intent mixed with her rolling energy as her small mouth curled into an evil smile, her blood-coated teeth displayed in all their sanguine glory.

The ‘vampire pack,’ the name Kiera decided to grant to a group of vampires— chose to watch the show instead of intervening. Therefore, they couldn’t react in time to what happened next, their smiles immediately freezing when Kiera crushed her captor’s wrist and proceeded to spear their necks with Flashburst.

They died immediately as Kiera severed their spine through their throats with one swift movement, with their heads barely connected to their bodies, the three fell backward with stiff surprise on their faces, their arms leaving Kiera stomach as the latter landed on her legs, the sudden movement incurring spurt blood to leave her torn abdomen.

[Copper Apprentice Lv.11 (Noble Vampire) defeated, EXP received]

[You defeated a being with an Ancient ranked bloodline, EXP received]

[Copper Apprentice Lv.11 (Noble Vampire) defeated, EXP received]

[You defeated a being with an Ancient ranked bloodline, EXP received]

[Copper Apprentice Lv.11 (Vampire) defeated, EXP received]

[You defeated a being with a Special ranked bloodline, EXP received]

[You defeated 3 creatures within a short time frame, EXP bonus received]

[Level up! {Copper Apprentice Lv.12}, +5 to all battle stats]

CRACK

Immediately, the tremendous vibration appeared anew, now far stronger than before as three entire rows crumbled. Kiera escaped at the last moment and observed the pack, already fully healed. She located the archers who, with all their impudence, dared to put her close to death.

They parted from the rest of their group when she wasn’t looking, the dozen pests standing near the exit, eyeing her with their predatory gaze.

Vengeance aside, Kiera couldn’t let them continue living any longer for a logical and… Purely strategical reason— the vampires wouldn’t repeat their earlier mistake. If she found herself in another stalemate like the previous one, the whole group would pounce on her, and then she’d surely die.

With the group charging toward, Kiera didn’t decide to immediately engage, racking her brain for a solution instead. Her gaze suddenly settled on the hall’s walls, or more correctly, the huge pulsing veins attached to them, an idea instantly emerging in her mind.

“That’s the only way in this environment,” she reaffirmed her choice and spurted into action, Vanishing Step launching her toward the wall while narrowly avoiding the group’s wrath. Upon reaching it, barely if she might add, Kiera grasped a vein and climbed on it, using its narrow path to advance toward the archer group.

Seconds later, she was already face to face with the irritation that stuck to her butt, locked in hand-to-hand combat with the long-ranged fighters. She didn’t care about the rest of the group advancing toward her, concentrating on the problem in front of her.

Kiera fought aggressively, not giving the archers a chance to use their archery, their firm bows the only shields parting between them and instant death. Nevertheless, their defenses shattered quickly as the dance of death resumed, one’s head exploded, another’s spine extracted, and one was even unfortunate enough to be directly thrown into the crimson pool.

Seconds later, no archers remained alive, their specialty, while very powerful— not suited to fight the Tyrannical Lightning Inheritor and a former assassin in close range, the latter even gained three levels.

Kiera waited for the apocalyptical vibration to subside and returned her attention to the dwindled group, now, she was stronger, faster and her skills grew again, it was time to maw them down...