shadow slave monarch of crimson Chapter 58: booty warrior of the dark city

I was walking through the Dark City again, but this ti sothing felt off. The air was heavier, thicker—almost oily. I'd been here countless tis, but this… this wasn't any place I rembered. The streets were narrower, the architecture sharper, the shadows deeper, almost liquid.

I realized I was in a part of the Dark City I had never seen before.

Huh. That was new. I wasn't sure if I'd wandered too far or if the city had grown again—like a tumor that decided to sprawl just to spite .

Then I saw them.

A pack of Blood Beasts, twelve of them, standing guard around a massive rusted gate leading underground. Their blood-slick hides glead in the crimson light of the dream realm, claws twitching like they could sll prey. My blood.

Now that was interesting. Blood Beasts didn't hunt in packs. They hated each other almost as much as they hated anything that bled. The only reason they'd ever gather like this was if sothing powerful forced them to. But I didn't see a Tyrant or anything stronger nearby—just those ugly bastards standing around like soldiers waiting for a command.

That could only an one thing: the Tyrant was down there.

I stared at the tunnel, at the way the air shimred faintly around it, like it was alive. Why would sothing that strong stay underground instead of ruling over this district? Maybe it was trapped. Or maybe it liked the dark even more than I did.

I decided to check my little side project.

[Blood Beasts Destroyed: 7 / 20]

Damn. So, drunk killed 3 of them? Not bad. Still, 13 more ant Beast could evolve soon, and that thought alone was enough to make my hands twitch with excitent.

I smiled like an idiot.

But twelve Awakened Blood Beasts? Yeah, no. Even sober wasn't suicidal enough for that. Yet.

"Guess it's ti to head back to the outskirts."

I ford a thin layer of blood beneath my feet and leaned forward, letting gravity and insanity do the rest. My new "blood skating" technique—sothing drunk invented—was absurdly fast. The dark streets blurred into streaks of black and red as I zood across the city, slicing through the fog and the occasional low-rank nightmare that wandered too close.

I was fast, yeah… but not coordinated. I slamd into walls, kicked off lamp posts, and at one point accidentally glided through what looked like a nightmare brothel (don't ask). By the ti I made it to the outskirts, I'd probably covered a hundred kiloters—about sixty miles in freedom units.

And that's when I heard it. Laughter.

Effie's laughter.

Oh no.

The mont I stepped into the camp, she was in the middle of a story, holding her stomach as two other Sleepers wheezed with her.

"Oh hey, Bloodsucker!" Effie grinned, spotting instantly. "You won't believe this! So maniac was running around naked in the Dark City last night—killed a nightmare creature with his bare hands! Bare hands, Alucard!"

I froze. My brain shut down.

'No. No way. Soone else. Please, soone else.'

Effie kept going, beaming like she'd discovered a new kind of cody.

"Hell, I think he was even hard!"

My first thought: I was not.

My second thought: What does it an to exist?

My third: This is character developnt. Rember that, Alucard. Pain builds growth.

Unfortunately, philosophy didn't hide embarrassnt. Effie saw turning red and snorted.

"Oh, don't tell you're a prude, Bloodsucker? Lighten up! At least it wasn't you who was the Booty Warrior of the Dark City!"

I internally scread. Booty Warrior? I was going to find whoever coined that title and stake them through the heart—with bureaucracy.

"Hey—I was just, uh—shocked, that's all!"

"Sure you were." She winked, fighting to hold back laughter. "You should've seen him, though! I swear I saw him beat a nightmare creature with it—"

Nope. That was my cue to leave. No god, no law of the universe could make stay through that sentence.

I bolted out of there with the speed of divine sha. As I was making my escape, I spotted Kai.

He looked up from a pile of supplies, noticed , and brightened. "Alucard! Haven't seen you in a while."

I exhaled in relief. A safe face. Soone who didn't just accuse of phallic combat.

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound calm while internally dying. "Been… keeping busy."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "You look tired."

"Yeah. Let's go with that."

He didn't question it, thankfully. We walked for a bit, the sound of the city humming around us like a heart that refused to die.

And for a mont, as I glanced back toward the direction I ca from—the heart of the Dark City, the path I'd wandered too far down—I felt sothing twist inside . Like that city was calling back. Whispering.