“The Hollow Creek Region. It’s just as I had imagined it; Creepy and unwelcoming.”

The Militant Syndicate encompasses three major regions: The Archwood Region, the Ember Lands, and the Hollow Creek Region.

As the central power of the human continent, the Militant Syndicate has complete control over the Ember Lands and the Archwood Region. However, the Hollow Creek had long since been deemed a dangerous territory, riddled with unsightly beasts and terrifying monsters. Nevertheless, thrice a month, a squadron of Militant Soldiers would be dispatched to patrol the outskirts of the region and ensure there were no disruption in the ecosystem and no big threats that warranted immediate action.

Amongst the three regions, the Hollow Creek is the least populated. Apart from a handful of hamlets and villages, the place was barren and not a suitable habitat for humans.

Unlike what its name suggests, the Hollow Creek was relatively large and stretched from the edges of Archwood to the far West of the continent, right to the coasts.

Records empathize how dangerous it was to stray close to the deep creek itself as well as the several swamps surrounding it.

Dawn of their fourth day, Arthur, Evelyn, and Mort arrived at their destination. The biome dramatically changed, their environment, which was filled with a lush and peaceful forest, was replaced by a gloomy atmosphere, thin and unusually tall blackened trees, and a noticeable scarcity in plants and flowers.

Despite his maid’s disinclination to come here, Arthur was eager to explore the area and uncover the secrets it was hiding. As the most mysterious region under the Militant Syndicate’s control, Arthur was intrigued and looked forward to finding intact corpses to empower himself.

Evelyn was walking behind him, clicking her tongue as she whipped out her twin blades and warily looked around. Mort was as clueless as ever, dumbly following his master and sometimes complaining about the lack of ‘fun’.

*TITLE(S) : NONE

NAME : Arthur Bilgart

RACE : Blood Parasite

Lv: 5 (22%)

-

Strength : 124

Intelligence : 80

Agility : 89

Wisdom: 67

Vitality : 94

Dexterity : 77

Skills: Vampire Bite (Active Lv10) - Full Moon [Passive-Active] - Physical Enhancement (Passive Lv7) - Blood Succor (Active Lv7) - Mana Control (Passive Lv4) - Possession (Passive LvEX) - Universal Human Language (Passive)- Basic Arman Language(Passive)- Sadistic Torture (Active Lv5) - Corpse Dissection (Active Lv12)- Medical Field (Passive Lv4) - Knife Mastery (Passive Lv2)- Sanguis(blood) Barrier (Active Lv5)- Axe Mastery (Passive Lv3) - Woodworking (Passive Lv2)*

Thanks to the beneficial effect of the skill [Blood Succor]- which had leveled up after the Blood Purge- Arthur’s stats increased by a significant amount. He had poisoned the wine with his own blood and when the nobles drunk it, they transformed into half-vampires, those who survived the tragic night resulted in him gaining a percentage of his overall stats.

Theoretically, based on the numerical values of his stats, he should have become much stronger physically. However, Arthur did not feel any tangible difference, but that could be due to his reluctance to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

The only minor difference was the time it took him to become tired. Unfortunately, no books mentioned the existence of the ‘System’, therefore, he could not compare his stats to veteran Knights, or even Evelyn, for that matter. Still, even without real-life experience, Arthur was confident that his body became tougher, though that wasn’t enough to encourage him to try fighting.

[Sanguis Barrier] was a wondrous magical ability that provided him with excellent defense and, if controlled properly, offense as well. There was also Mort and Evelyn, both of which could fight pretty well, especially the latter.

“Master, are we heading directly to the creek?”

“Not really. We’ll scout around and see if there’s aught of interest.”

The maid sighed and refrained from asking or saying anything else. The three continued their journey, which was uneventful, at least until they reached one of the swamps.

“Master, there are monsters here.”

Evelyn pointed at subtle water waves in a specific spot of the calm, dirty, and eerie swamp. Arthur looked at it for a bit before bending down and grabbing a pebble.

“Master?”

Much to her surprise, Arthur threw the pebble at the monster in the swamp, enraging it and making it charge at them, its tail flailing in the water and causing splashes.

Evelyn impatiently waited for it to come to the edge of the swamp before she slashed with her twin blades, injuring its belly.

Once its full body surfaced, everyone saw its lizard-like body and dark green scales: It was an alligator, a massive one with abnormally large fangs.

The monster thrashed around and charged at the maid again, but before it could reach her, a translucent yellow-ish barrier rapidly moved in the air and crashed into it.

The impact wasn’t enough to defeat it, but it did blow it whence it came.

“Master, this is a Hollow Alligator, we can’t kill it that eas-”

Her words were drowned by the loud water splashes and, Mort, the zombie, lunged at the alligator, grasping its half-open mouth and attempting to tear it apart. Alas, he could not overpower the monster and was eventually slammed on the ground.

Another small yet fast silhouette also joined the fray. The white furred and crimson-eyed rabbit, Arthur’s first subject, awakened from its slumber and listened to its master’s orders. It fought more savagely than the zombie and not even its small size hindered it.

It screeched like a banshee and bit down on the alligator’s exposed mouth, ripping it apart within moments. Arthur focused on the barrier and made it shoot towards the target again, this time from above.

The barrier was almost unbreakable, so much so that the alligator’s monstrous raw strength failed to push it away.

In the end, Arthur, fully satisfied, watched as the barrier continued pressing down the alligator while Mort and the rabbit finished off.

“I thought you did not want to endanger your life, Master.”

“Good point. But who said that I was? ‘Twas merely a test. If I wasn’t confident in our cooperative skills and overall prowess, I wouldn’t have tried that.”

He chuckled and approached the lifeless corpse of the alligator. It met all the necessary conditions for possession, however, Evelyn was nearby and though she knew half of the truth, he did not want to expose the rest of it. To a certain degree, he did trust her, but that didn't mean he was ready to reveal his true nature.

It was unfortunate that he couldn’t possess it immediately, but with the use of the limited spatial storage in the magical bag, he could store the alligator temporarily. Of course, due to its massive size, it would take almost all the space, but it was only for a limited period of time as he will get rid of it once he gains 30% of its stats and all of its skills.

As he closely inspected the hideous slain monster, Evelyn stayed on high alert and surveyed the swamp.

“Master, I’m beginning to think this was a trip to our doom. As your maid, I feel that I need to remind you of the unknown dangers that lurk around the Hollow Cree-”

“Ah! Evelyn, why so much pessimism? While it is true we are wandering aimlessly, I did study well for this adventure. Before long, we will find something interesting… ohh?”

Arthur’s wandering eyes spotted a peculiar thing drifting a couple of paces away. He ignored his maid’s displeased expression and, with rapid steps, walked to the object. He unhesitantly picked it up and playfully waved it at her with a smug expression.

“Would you look at that! A discovery not moments after my declaration!”

“It’s just a bottle, Master…”

“A bottle is enough, I say! It’s the only one around and…” He examined the half-cracked glass bottle and, after a bit of difficulty, pulled a small piece of paper.

“What about this, huh?!”

“...”-Evelyn

“‘Damn the Witch Hunt and those bastards! I will exact my vengeance’... so it says. Honestly, I was expecting cryptic words but this will have to do for now.”

“This does not bode well, Master.”

“And that’s exactly why we must investigate more. Come, there has to be a settlement somewhere around here.”

In a much happier mood, Arthur stuffed the bottle and paper in his pocket and walked back to the forest, his eyes hungrily looking for a building…

…

“What’s with the long face, my dear Evelyn? You gave up so fast on your dissuasion.”

“I see no point in convincing you to drop this matter. It’s an exercise in futility.”

“You should embrace such mysteries, Evelyn. Look at Mort, he’s entertained.”

“Fuuun fuuun!”

After fighting the alligator for a bit, the zombie was elated and ceased his incessant whining. At least for a good while, he won’t be complaining about the lack of ‘fun’.

Evelyn gave a disinterested glance at the hopping zombie then shook her head.

“We don’t have many clues, Master.”

Arthur halted his steps and looked at her, a beaming expression plastered on his face.

“It’s great to see you trying to be helpful.” He handed her the piece of paper and continued,

“Look, it spoke about a Witch Hunt.”

He stood dangerously close to her and leaned his face closer to the paper, which was now in her hands. The maid first looked at him and momentarily frowned then read the contents of the paper.

“Even in the Militant Syndicate, Witch Hunts are banned. A long time ago, they were pretty common, though.”

“I’ve not read about them, sadly. What more can you tell me?”

He expectantly looked at her, thus pushing her to answer in earnest.

“Witch Hunts are, basically, targeting women with incomprehensible powers and burning them alive. They are- were- conducted by ignorant townsfolk, either due to their lack of knowledge regarding magic, or, in most cases, a consequence of extreme religious zeal.”

“In essence, they are burning women on stakes to prove a point and fool those who don’t know better. A typical conduct. Anyway, this paper looks a bit old, but not that much, right?”

“I don’t know, Master. I’m not an expert at determining the age of a piece of paper.”

Arthur nodded to her and then pondered in silence for close to a minute. “Mayhap we will discover new things once we encounter actual living people.”