“What a pity… a pair of twins, no less!”
The lecherous voice beside him made Hack glance back at the three figures disappearing into the corridor behind them.
Of course, he knew exactly what that “pity” ant.
The speaker was called Short Axe—a hideous man with a centipede-like scar running across his cheek, left from a hook slash in his bandit days.
Years of drinking had darkened his complexion. When he laughed, baring his gap-toothed grin, the two axes strapped across his leather armor jiggled along with his belly.
But even with his body gone soft, in battle he was still the kind of lunatic who dared to activate 【Berserk】 and whirl both axes like a storm.
It was just that his brain never worked. All he thought about was his base urges, as if he were still a roadside brigand…
Hack stole a glance at their leader, the viscount Louisa. The tall vampire seed not to have heard Short Axe’s muttering—or perhaps she had, but simply didn’t care.
Hack cursed Short Axe in his heart. After all, it had been him and a few others, drunk on lust, who killed that baron’s daughter. That incident had left them with bounties so high they’d been forced to flee to the Hermit Empire. If not for that, he wouldn’t have had to join this obviously dangerous mission. Did they think he really longed for so-called immortality?
Eternal life only mattered if you survived long enough to enjoy it. Living long on paper, only to get killed the next day—what kind of immortality was that?
But reality left no choice. From the mont they’d thrown in with the vampires, their path had been sealed.
Beside him, Short Axe pulled a small box from his tunic and tipped a grayish-white pill into his mouth. It stank of rot.
Hack recognized it—Silent Death Pills, brewed from mourning lilies. He had so too.
Taken long-term, they made one’s body more corpse-like—a necessary step before conversion into a half-vampire.
Clearly Short Axe had taken Louisa’s promise to heart: that if they completed this mission, she would grant them the transformation.
Hack grimaced, but swallowed one himself…
Suddenly, an axe spun past his face, making him halt in fury.
“Short Axe?!” Hack growled.
The weapon cut through a group of Pujis and slis ahead, killing both in one neat strike, before flying back into Short Axe’s hand.
“Why so quiet? What are you, trying to act all mysterious? Hahaha—”
His loud, ugly laugh drew everyone’s attention. Even the viscount glanced back at him.
Hack didn’t find it funny at all. He wanted to slice that ugly mug apart with a wind blade.
He lengthened his stride to put distance between them, though Short Axe’s grumbling followed: “Tch, can’t even take a joke.”
At least the others were more reliable, currently discussing the dungeon’s strange state.
“Wasn’t Athyst Dungeon supposed to have different ecosystems on each floor? Why are there Pujis everywhere—and mutated ones at that?”
“I was here six years ago. It wasn’t like this.”
“Heard there was a demon tide recently. Probably the aftermath.”
“…It’s so dark here.”
Hack glanced around. True enough.
Everywhere they went, there were mats of mycelium, glowing mushrooms, and mutant Pujis. No matter the floor’s supposed ecosystem, they appeared in significant numbers.
By the ti they reached the fifth floor, it reached a peak.
Plop—
Sothing felt odd beneath his foot.
“Light!”
Under the glow of an orange spell, they saw the thick carpet of fungal mats underfoot, each step sinking into sticky dampness.
“Disgusting!”
One man scraped his boots, only to sar more muck.
“Hey, look at this!” Short Axe called.
Hack turned to see him clawing up a patch of the mats, revealing what looked like a round stone disc beneath.
Hack frowned. Too perfect in shape to be just a stone…
“Soft!”
Short Axe stomped it twice, laughing at the springy feel.
Then he pressed down harder—
Boom!
The disc exploded, spraying dirt.
“Ahhhh—!”
Short Axe scread as shadows leapt from the ground, lunging at him.
As loathso as he was, letting him die outright wasn’t an option.
Tier-3 Spell—Wind Surge!
A gale blasted the figures away, giving Hack a glimpse—
“Pujis?!”
They were disguised Pujis!
Before they even hit the ground, they exploded. Fortunately, none of the others were caught in the blasts.
“Careful! They’re hiding underground!” soone shouted.
Hack stared at the pits left behind by the vanished Pujis, then at the endless mats stretching forward. Could the whole place be rigged like this?
“Aagh! My leg!”
Short Axe’s scream snapped him back. The idiot’s lower right leg was gone, blown off at the knee!
Well, what else could you expect, stomping right on the trigger? Honestly, it was a miracle he wasn’t missing more.
Hack hesitated. Should he waste a potion on him? Judging by the wound, Short Axe wasn’t going to be much use in the battles ahead anyway.
“What’s that in the sky?” soone pointed upward.
Against the glow of the ceiling, black specks were drawing closer. Their wings were M-shaped, strangely familiar…
“Bats?” Hack muttered. They looked like the kind of bats swarming vampire lands.
But why so fat?
As they drew near, the truth beca clear.
“More Pujis!”
Having learned from earlier, no one dared let them approach.
Spells and arrows flew. The flying Pujis were slow and easy targets, dropping from the air under the barrage—
Boom!
“Damn it! Don’t let them overhead! Hack, blow them away!”
Cursing, his companions shouted orders. Hack abandoned his wind blades, focusing on Wind Surge to push the Pujis away before they could detonate. At last, the blasts stopped reaching them.
But—
“How many of these damn things are there?!”
The sky sward with black specks, waves of them. Hack’s scalp prickled.
They’d run out of mana and arrows before taking them all down.
“Let’s… let’s fall back first!” he shouted. The stairway wasn’t far. Better to regroup.
“No need.”
At last, Viscount Louisa spoke.
She raised a hand—and Short Axe’s screams turned shriller as blood gushed from his ruined stump, flowing into her palm to form a blood orb.
With a flick, it burst into countless crimson threads, shooting skyward.
Each thread pierced a Puji. The damage wasn’t high—but Pujis didn’t have much life to begin with. Had she seen through that?
In monts, the orb was gone, and the swarm rained from the sky like dumplings in boiling water. Archers picked off the few survivors.
The crisis was over.
Hack spared one look at Short Axe’s shriveled corpse. Well, at least he didn’t have to waste a potion now.
—
Thanks to “Little Bean Turned Edama” for the Alliance Master support!
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