This was about a week after I started training in magic regularly. I was sitting in the Mages room reviewing what I learned in the training session with Alexei, when he threw a suggestion at me: "Do you wanna hunt some monsters?"

That came totally out of the blue. I barely knew anything about monsters. Occasional briefs by the Mages told me the basics about most monsters, but I had never seen anyone face them or kill them. Besides, even though I wouldn't really call myself a pacifist, the fact that they looked like humans would probably put me off.

Alexei, however, ignored my doubts and briefed me on a situation (that he was supposed to take on by himself) anyway. He told me about an abnormally large nest of vampires that was suspected in kidnapping people in the region. There were about 10 people unaccounted for, and although they couldn't pin all 10 on the monsters, the frequency of the disappearances gave the nest away.

After being found by wizard scouts, they were deemed a mage-level threat, and the nest ended up on the hit list of the Mages. And Alexei, for some reason, thought a novice such as me would be able to take on the nest with his help.

Sure, the training really did prove to be helpful with attack magic, but I didn't think that I was good enough for battle. Besides I didn't even know a single mage-level spell, and my wizard-level spells were quite wobbly and unreliable.

I presented those doubts to Alexei.

"Don't you think I'm a little too weak to take on a mage-level threat, even if not by myself?" I asked him.

"This was going to be a solo mission for me anyway. Even if you can't do anything at the place, just having you watch me would probably give you a good idea on how magic users fight," he told me.

I still felt nervous going into the battle like that. Alexei picked up on my thoughts, and said, "I'll bring Lena along too if you want. With that much firepower on our side, you wouldn't be under any threat whatsoever."

'Well, I guess if there's two mages in a solo mission, at least one would be able to protect me the whole time,' I thought.

I decided to give it a shot after all. If it all went to crap, I could teleport out of there, so I guess there's no harm in trying. Could you teleport into the University anyway? I've never tried that.

We decided to meet up on Saturday afternoon to go put those monsters in their place. (Exactly what place, I wonder?)

I stayed over at the University on Friday night after an extensive training and briefing session. I won't really go into detail, but I should probably tell you a little bit about these vampires.

The bloodsuckers were almost exactly the same as portrayed in pop fiction; they sucked blood, they lived for long, they're undead and they hate the sun. They don't burn up under the sun or anything though, they just don't like bright places because their eyes are way too sensitive. They were stronger than humans too, but not by an exceptionally unnatural margin.

We planned to barge in during the day because they hate light. The day gives us a natural advantage, as long as there is a way for light to enter. The vampires blocked off the windows with newspapers, but apparently they weren't secured tightly, so you could get them off with a gale of wind on the inside.

Our plan was first to flood the place with light, then take care of the hellspawn and rescue the kidnapped people. My role was to use wind magic to get the newspapers off, and then cast some wizard-level magic to make the interior bright.

On Saturday afternoon, the three of us met up at the Mages room, and set off to the nest.

Things were going well so far, but luck wasn't always on our side. We stepped out of the residential block... to a rainy day. That meant there was way less light than we expected. The fuck were those meteorologists up to, if they couldn't predict the rain?

Nevertheless, we moved towards the building where the vampires settled.

We turned up at what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. A big entrance with a garage door on the front, and a little door for people to enter at the side. The paint was washed off and there was grass growing on the asphalt before the warehouse. The building seemed pretty sturdy though. I guess the vampires didn't want the roof to cave in for no reason.

The garage entry would probably throw us against all the vampires at once. It would also be a pain to open, so we made our way towards the smaller side entrance.

I must also add that we were doing this in complete silence, because we didn't want to be spotted before we made our entry. We had our roles carved out for us before we came in here, so that we would quickly adapt to situations and not make much noise while sneaking. I was surprised by the professionalism of these mages.

Alexei walked up to the door and tapped the keyhole with his wand. That was him silently unlocking the door. Mages could cast spells without incantations, but they used more mana and were harder to control, so they preferred incantations when practical.

Alexei opened the door to a small crack, and cast a silent Sleep spell after sticking his wand inside. Vampires didn't usually sleep, but apparently this magician-level spell made them go unconscious for sometime, so why not?

He walked inside, then gestured for us to follow. I walked in first, followed by Lena. Then we locked the door behind us.

It was really dark on the inside. I came prepared for that, however. I whispered an incantation, pointing the wand at myself. Night Vision. It made my eyes more sensitive to even the smallest bits of light, so I could see things even in the dark.

I intentionally cast the spell to be weak, however, because once I blew open the windows, my eyes would be just as irritated as the vampires' by the light. I needed the effect to fade by then.

We followed through a second and third room in the same fashion, putting vampires to sleep and locking the doors behind us. We walked past some questionable things and disgusting smells in these rooms, but I decided to pay it no attention to avoid throwing up.

Finally we were at the passage that would lead us out to the main warehouse. My Night Vision was beginning to fade off, just in time for the wind spell I was about to cast. I checked to see if anyone was looking this way, then stood snap in the middle of the entrance way to the large chamber.

One of the guys seemed to pick up my scent and asked his comrade, "Is someone in here?"

However it was too late. "「O Wind Spirits, shower us with your might and strength! Bring upon these fools your ultimate wrath! Tornado!」" I cast a wizard-level wind spell.

The instant I completed my incantation, a violent gust of wind blew past me and into the chamber. I heard the sound of paper flying about, and in due time, the rays of sunlight started shining through the windows on the top.

If only it weren't a cloudy day.

However, I didn't let them have it easy. Next, I cast a simple light spell to illuminate the interior. "「Unveil the darkness that lies ahead! Spirit Light!」"

A sphere of light materialized in the middle of the chamber, as if it were a chandelier, illuminating the chamber and causing the vampires visible scorn. Most of them were laying on the ground, clutching their eyes and screaming, "My eyes!"

The room itself was made of brick walls. I looked around quickly to scan my surroundings, and saw people chained to the walls on either side of me. They all looked as frail as skeletons, and their clothes were tainted with blood all over. I spent a brief moment thinking how much these people must have suffered, having their blood sucked out of them everyday and being treated like some slave.

In the far end of the room stood what looked like a throne. A vampire looking suspiciously like a biker was sat on it. He was built, wore sunglasses, and had tattoos on his right arm. The last thing you would expect a vampire to look like. I assumed he was the boss of the nest.

Next to him stood a woman in a hood. She wasn't tall nor short, and her face was hidden by the hood. She wasn't showing any signs of pain from the bright light that casually shone in the chamber. A human?

All these observations were completed in under a second. During which, Alexei cast binding spells to immobilize the boss and a few minions that seemed strong. Naturally, that included the woman.

"We represent the mage corps of Moscow," Alexei announced. "Yield your lives, or we shall forcefully take them."

"We don't need to yield anything to you filthy humans," the vampire boss replied.

"Filthy?" I retorted. "Look what you've done to these people! They're barely alive! You're the disgusting one here!"

"You talk too much for a weak little wizard. Get out of my sight. Small fry like you has no business bothering me."

That was quite rude, but whatever. It seemed that him telling me to get out carried weight in his cohort, because the vampires who were just now about to gauge their eyes out stood up slowly and started to pick up pace towards me.

Where was my protector mage, you ask? Lena decided to pick a fight with the woman next to the boss, and they were in their own staredown contest without a care for whatever was happening with me.

So much for 'sit and observe.'

Alexei fired off a binding spell on the crowd of goons, and it was just about to land... until the boss negated the spell with a liberation spell.

A vampire that also used magic? That was certainly news. As far as I was aware, vampires could not use magic. It wasn't mentioned in the report about the nest either.

The boss vampire's aide (which is what I decided to think of her as) took this as her signal to unleash magic too. She fired a magician-level Fireball at Lena, as if to say, "I'm your opponent here." With this, I was left to fend for myself against the boss' goons.

The vampires began to surround me and push me towards the wall on my right. Some were hissing or growling, probably to intimidate me. They had blood stains on their tattered clothes. They looked more like zombies for some reason.

One curious guy decided to make his move ahead of the party and stepped out towards me. He sized me up with his eyes and jumped right at me. I sidestepped out of the way and he collided with the wall behind me.

That didn't stop him though. He got right back up and charged again, this time hands forward. I sidestepped again, but this time I wasn't as lucky. One of his nails scratched my skin, and goddamn those were some sturdy nails! I suddenly felt a sharp pain, to see a line of crimson emerging on my skin.

Let's quickly revise the most important characteristic of a vampire. Blood is food for vampires. I was told that when vampires see blood, their vampire instincts take over and they go berserk. Now, what would an open wound, whatever size, do to a group of already berserk vampires?

That's right, after a good few seconds to confirm that my arm was indeed bleeding, about half of them jumped straight at my arm, fangs first.

I was already barely able to dodge with one guy charging me, and now I had maybe ten of these diving at me. I could only make it out within a hair's breadth. Two of them nearly sunk their fangs into my hand.

The other half that did not jump at me was carefully watching these proceedings, probably deciding when to make a move. I had just landed on my feet after dodging a wave of vampires, and I was quite off-guard.

An opportunistic vampire used this moment to jump at my hand, fangs first. All of a sudden, as if finally realizing the grave situation I was in, primal fear took over me. For the first time since this ordeal began, I dropped my facade of a veteran mage and genuinely froze in fear.

My body was not in balance yet, and I couldn't dodge the oncoming set of fangs. There was no way out.

In other words, I was about to be killed.

I would never get to meet Lana again.

I would not be able to reply to her confession.

Somehow, these thoughts stirred up something within me. Specifically, a certain memory of a mage who charged at me during the confession. The mage who chanted faster than I could comprehend.

Surely, if she could chant like that at liberty, I could whip out this incantation at a moment of life and death!

I recalled the fundamentals of a spell that I was taught about. That as long as you have a strong enough desire to create an outcome, magic will give that desire form and bring it into existence.

What did I desire?

I desired to live. I desired to see Lana again.

I desired to protect myself from the vampire in front of me.

I felt something in my mind, as if a switch was flicked, releasing all the tension in my head. I felt my mouth begin to move, chanting something I didn't understand. I felt a pull from my wand greater than ever before.

I had not even pointed my wand at this diving vampire. And yet, I chanted, "「Exterminate!」" The next thing that I recall was a bright flash of light, so bright that I could not see anything but white. So bright that my eyes felt as if they were burning.

And the next moment, the light ceased. The vampire was still diving for my hand. And yet, he lost his trajectory and fell short. He fell head first right on the floor behind me, nearly knocking me down too.

I expected another opportunistic vampire to take me from behind. And yet, I heard a unison of 'thuds' in the room. It was awfully silent. It took me a moment to realize what I had done.

Every single vampire in the room, except for the boss and his aide, were lying on the ground.

Dead.

In fact, even the boss was on his knees, clutching his eyes. The stares of the two mages in the room were on me. What spell did I just cast?

We stood in silence for a few seconds.

The boss finally broke the silence. "I guess," he said, "it was a mistake to call you small fry." The aide walked up to the boss and whispered something to him. It hit me then that she was entirely unfazed by what just happened.

The boss broke my line of thought to declare, "I shall be making my escape. I will be more careful dealing with your kind next time."

'Wait, who the fuck just openly declares that they will "make their escape?" Which moron would allow them to flee after such a declaration?'

The aide pulled the boss up to a standing position and cast a spell. Or rather, she cast only the name, omitting the incantation entirely. "「Teleport!」" was all I heard before they vanished out of sight. Of course, if they could use magic, they could just teleport out of the nest anytime.

Speaking of which, why didn't I just teleport out of the nest at the first sign of danger? I had no obligation to fight.

Suddenly, I felt all strength leave my body. It was later that I learned that I was practically standing on adrenaline alone, and that I was already out of stamina (or mana) after that big spell. I should have been knocked out already.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the mages making haste towards me, but it was too late.

I unceremoniously fell onto the ground and blacked out.

---

The vampire boss and his aide had teleported to a nondescript building in the outskirts of Moscow.

The vampires had their nest invaded by three humans, and one had just cast a powerful spell, attacking none but vampires, killing off every vampire in the nest but the boss.

As Roma had suspected, the aide had been a human magic user, specifically at the wizard level. When the spell was cast by Roma, she instantly recognized the power behind it and urged the boss to teleport away with his nest for their own safety. The boss hesitated though, and the nest was practically exterminated.

"My lady will not be pleased by this development," said the human aide.

"Like I care!" retorted the vampire boss. "Your boss promised me safety from the humans in return for our allegiance! The only one not pleased here is me!"

"It is your fault for so carelessly exposing your position to the humans," said the aide, "and it is also your fault for not heeding to my advice."

"Your advice? Don't kid with me. I'm sure you could have used the time you took to advise me to instead cast some spell."

"Unfortunately, I am only a mere wizard," said the aide. "I am unable to protect you from mage-level threats, especially when there are three of them."

"Then you're absolutely useless! You haven't done a single thing since you arrived at our nest except imposing on us and telling us to 'lay low'."

The aide opened her mouth to speak, but she did not have a reply.

"See! You don't even have anything to say for yourself. You might as well just be a vampire. At least you would contribute to the nest as one in my ranks."

"Wait!" the aide exclaimed, "I'm sure I will be of use next time, in fact I'll go kill them right now! Yes! I'll infiltrate the University and kill those three mages in their sleep! Then they won't be an issue anymo-" The aide's desperate pleas were interrupted by the boss sinking his fangs into her throat, paralyzing the aide's body. He sloppily sucked her blood, then licked the wound just to make sure that his fluids had entered her bloodstream.

The aide's body began to shudder as if it were cold, then collapsed on the ground, with all color drained off her face. She lay there, eyes still open, her face in shock and despair, for a good few minutes.

Finally, she awoke with a jolt. She shuddered some more, appearing to struggle, then finally settled down. She kneeled before the vampire boss and said, "I await your orders, Master."

"Find me some humans to feast on. If you find some stronger ones, all the better. We need to grow our nest again."

"Understood."

The aide took off into the sunlight, then suddenly collapsed. "Ah, she can't go out into the sun anymore, can she?" the boss pondered. He called her name, then threw her his pair of sunglasses. Once more, the aide set out, this time ready to bring results on her first mission by her new lord.