Lopping off the head of another oversized cat I encountered, I made my weapon absorb its blood. After letting it absorb blood about 5 cats’ worth, including now, there was still no change.

Just what is this thing…?

Not thinking to deeply because it may hinder my advance, I continue walking while ridding of any obstacles, mostly oversized cats.

Hmm…?

After walking for about 10 minutes worth of travel time, I found a chest in the middle of the passageways. It had a brown color, and silver edges, and to finish it, there were three mortals next to it, a female, and two males.

“Hey, hurry up! We need to return before the sun sets.”

“I’m doing the best I can, knucklehead! You try lockpicking a chest filled with traps without setting one off!”

“Shut up the both of you. You might attract who knows how many Faelis with your voices.”

Apparently, the two males seem to be arguing, while the female is mediating. One male is kneeling down on one knee while trying to do something with the chest, while the other was voicing out complaints.

… Ridiculous…

I really can’t understand why mortals would try to bicker inside dangerous places like these. Also, why do they do that? Is there a reason? Is there a point in doing that?

“Finally.”

While observing the way the mortals act, the male doing something to the chest finally cries out.

The chest opens and inside… I can’t really see it because of the distance. Let me try to get closer.

I walk towards the three while on guard because a monster might pop out. I don’t want my HP dropping just because of a mistake.

About 10 meters away from them, I could finally see the item inside. It was a glass bottle with blue liquid inside.

“Peh… A useless one, just like you Lius.”

“Shut up, asshole. Just because you got lucky with a rare sword after beating the 6th floor guardian, you act all high and mighty now.”

“Oh? Jealous?”

“As if idiot.”

“Shh!”

After seeing the contents, the two males started bickering once again while the female tries to mediate between them. But this is odd, can’t they see me? I am right behind the female trying to get a closer look at the bottle.

“!!”

I instictly moved my head backwards and barely dodged an attack aimed at me. It grazed my cheek, and I felt a sharp pain on the side where I was grazed.

“Lius, Gabel, I sense a monster.”

The two of them, hearing the words of the female, switched into battle mode quickly. Gabel, I think, wielded a sword in one hand and a shield on the other. He wore hard clothing on his body. While Lius, probably, wielded two short weapons and wore light clothing. And the female held a small, short weapon on her one hand and a rod on the other, while wearing loose clothing (robes).

“Where is it Ru?”

“Somewhere in front of me.”

“Got it.”

After a brief exchange, Gabel quickly overtook Ru, maybe, and gazed towards my direction while holding his shield up. Lius went behind Ru and tries to get a better look at the formation of the other mortals.

What are they doing…?

While having a huge question mark right above me, Ru’s rod shone at the tip.

“O lux, et venerunt revelare tuum inimicos [Area Reveal]!”

After a brief sentence which I couldn’t understand, a bright light enveloped the whole passageway.

“There it is!”

“Oryaaahhh!!!”

I stepped back from the position where I was with quick feet in order to avoid the attack Gabel launched at me. After that, he keeps on pressuring me with those attacks, making me unable to launch an attack of my own, that is, if I didn’t want my HP to go down.

“Igne succendam: consumentur in furore meo, hostes in turbine [Inferno]!”

At one point, Gabel stopped attacking and stepped back, and the next moment, I was engulfed in a fiery tornado.

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ Ru!? Why the hell did you use fire magic in here!? You want us all to die to the poison!?”

“Shit! Ru! Gabel! We’re leaving!”

“But! What about that monster? That’s a rare one, and it couldn’t possibly survive that magic right? Who knows what items it might possess?”

I confirmed that my HP was rapidly going down amidst this inferno.

Those mortals… Trying to shorten my vacation time… You will pay…

I quickly forced my body to move and jumped out of the inferno. The three of them were shocked upon seeing my jump out of it while looking unscathed, but that doesn’t matter.

With a simple swing, my weapon bisected Gabel in two equal parts from the waist. Innards and blood came scattering on the floor at lightning speed when Gabel’s torso landed on the ground.

“Kyaaa!!!”

“Fuck! Ru! Let’s go!!”

In no time at all, the remaining two quickly left Gabel’s corpse to escape my fury.

You won’t get away… You will all pay…

“Gu!?”

I grabbed the weapon used by Gabel and threw it towards the escaping two. The weapon landed squarely at the back of Ru and protruded out of her body.

“Li… us… Help… me…”

“Ru!? Shit!!”

Feeling that Ru had no more life dwelling in her, Lius made a mad dash hoping to ecape this madness.

You cannot escape… My wrath…

I quickened the pace of my run and sprinted towards Lius with neckbreaking speed.

“FUCK ME!!!! FUCKING SHIT!!!”

Once I caught up with him, I swung down my weapon and cleanly lopped his head off from his body. The body, upon losing its head, came crashing down on the ground while tumbling around being unable to cancel the force from the dash.

I grabbed his head, and corpse, and dragged it back to where I killed Gabel, I also didn’t forget to drag Ru’s corpse too.

I made my weapon suck up the blood from their bodies, and once that was over, they looked no more than shriveled up corpses.

[You have Leveled Up!]

Level: 3 -> 4

HP: 220/1020 -> 1030/1030

MP: 78/102 -> 103/103

Str: 52 -> 53

Agi: 52 -> 53

End: 52 -> 53

Int: 52 -> 53

Luc: 0 -> 0

Skills:

[Gaze of Terror] Max

[Death Magic] Lv 1

[Blood Art] Lv 1 (New)

I leveled up again huh…

Feeling the disruption within my mind again, I felt power surge through my body. I checked the table, and found a new entry within the skills category.

Blood Magic – The art of controlling one’s blood to use various magic or techniques. Possible to use by draining the blood from the user’s body, or from blood scattered in the area, or stored inside a vessel.

This is… Isn’t this great…?

After reading the explanation, I can finally find a use for the blood absorbed by my weapon. Because my weapon just might be a storage vessel for blood, the synergy of this and Blood Magic is perfect.

For now, should I test it out…?

I tried to focus my mind on how to use the magic, and a sentence popped inside my head. Since I didn’t know the meaning, but surprisingly know how to say it, I recited it and something good happened.

“Sanguis vas tuum: Præcipio tibi in ordine ad vastum inimicos meos, [Blood Rain]!”

The blood within my weapon came out and formed into several slim, long, sharp shapes. I designated the corpses of the three mortals as a target and the blood came pouring down, piercing their bodies.

This is good… I have another measure to defend myself from the attacks of others…

While being in a good mood for receiving a skill that could help me in my vacation, I rummaged through the corpses and found a book.

What is this…?

I looked at the cover of the book and the title read, “World Guide Even Dummies Could Understand.”

Isnt this a good find…?

<><><><><><><>

~ Third Person POV ~

“We’ve lost contact with an adventurer party at the 7th floor.”

“Why would you tell me this? Isn’t that just a normal occurrence?”

“Yes, but, this time, it’s Lius’ party.”

“…What did you say?”

Inside the guildmaster’s office of the Adventurers Guild Rockhound branch, Andreas could be seen talking with a guild staff.

“The rising star of the Rockhound branch was killed? That can’t be right. Isn’t that person supposedly stronger than Linda?”

“Yes, that is correct, but, ummm…”

“Yes, I know what you want to say. It is about the monster that could’ve encountered the Crowstorm party, right?”

“Y-Yes…”

Andreas puts his palm on his face while trying to ponder about the events that happened within this day. His wife’s party went missing, while Lius’ party was annihilated.

“Roy, hire high rank adventurers right now to investigate the 7th to 8th floor. Make it an emergency request. We can’t wait for Quince to arrive one week later. The damages might just be too huge if this continues.”

“Understood!”

Roy quickly left the office and headed downstairs to coney the message to the guild staffs.

“This is bad. Lina, I don’t think I will be coming home today.”

Muttering to himself in his office, Andreas took a sip of the tea served in front of him earlier by a guild clerk.