Chapter 047 – Count Dimitri’s Castle Ruins (3)

After killing a single Vampire with his spear, Dominic scanned the hallway for another lone Vampire .

‘There’

He took his spear and charged forward once more .

“H…hey!”

Someone shouted at him from behind, but he ignored it . If he didn’t do something, he would be left with no contribution points to speak of .

“Don’t worry; I am also skilled . ”

He answered .

“Endless Needle!”

He shouted as he clashed against the Vampires . He aimed for the neck and stabbed with the spear .

“Kyaa!”

The Vampire tried to dodge the spear by tilting its head, but the weapon suddenly split into dozens of spears .

And one or two of them pierced through the Vampire’s neck .

“Kuh…!”

The Vampire grabbed the newly formed holes in its neck and fell to the ground . He had now taken two down and was feeling more confident .

He searched for additional targets .

Luckily he found a female Vampire wandering by herself in the distance . It turned to look at Dominic and screeched .
“Kaa!”

‘So you are his pair!’

He cast a spell

“Flying ball of flames, Fire bolt!”

The Fire Bolt he fired was aimed at the Vampire’s feet . The Vampire jumped high into the sky . But this is what he was aiming for .

It would be easier to target enemies in the air .

‘I shall send you with your partner . ’

He watched the Vampire in the air to time its landing and have it land on the spear . However,

“Ugh”

He felt piercing pain on one of his legs . He couldn’t move his feet . He looked down to see .

The Vampire he thought he had defeated had stabbed his ankle with its long nails . It was still alive despite the holes in its neck .

Dominic opened his eyes wide . But despite the pain and the surprise attack, he shouldn’t have taken his eyes away from his other foe .

“Kaaa!”

The female Vampire that dodged the Fire Bolt earlier was now upon him . He turned to look at her . She was descending faster than he had anticipated .

‘They can fly?’

His realization came too late . The Vampire was already past the spear tip . Dominic tried to take a step back, but his feet were held down by another Vampire .

The Vampire flew into his embrace, ten claws scratching his back open .

“Aaah!”

He screamed out loud in agony due to intense pain, but it was not over yet . The Vampire clamped down on his neck and drew blood .

“Ack . . ”

His vital was ripped open, and the blood supply to his brain stopped . Dominic felt faint, and he started losing consciousness . But before he passed out

“Pa!”

A sword came flying from somewhere and pierced the Vampire’s head . The hands holding Dominic loosened up .

“Haa!”

The sword came flying back and cut through the neck of the Vampire sucking his blood . The head fell off, and along with it, the fangs holding onto his neck .

“Ta ho!”

Mahadas appeared and kicked away the head of the Vampire holding his leg . He caught Dominic as he was about to fall over

“Are you alright?”

“Kyaa!”

A crowd of Vampires tried to take advantage of the situation and surround them, but Giovani appeared and blocked them with his shield . Meanwhile,

“Pew”

Peng Long’s arrows pierced through one of the Vampire’s arms . Giovani pushed the Vampires back with his Shield and Axe .

While Giovani was buying time, Kei appeared out of nowhere and severed the heads of all the Vampires like the wind .

The surviving Vampires were finished up in moments, and the battle was over for now . Giovani looked over to Dominic to scold him for running ahead alone .

“I told you to…”

But he stopped himself once he saw Dominic’s ashen face .

*

Once Sungjin was done dealing with the last Vampire, he returned to the other hunters’ side . At the center lay Dominic . Sungjin inspected Dominic’s state .

‘Why did he overdo it?’

He was able to save Dominic thanks to ‘Telkron – Jester’s Gloves’, but his state looked dire . He was bleeding from his ankle and neck profusely .

‘If I was even a little bit slower… he would have already died . But… if he got bitten by a Vampire…’

Mahadas recited an incantation .

“By my authority, close the wound and remove the pain, Heal!”

A white light spilled out of his hands and covered Dominic’s injuries . His wounds disappeared wherever the light touched . Sungjin pursed his lips and gazed at him .

‘He still uses white magic…’

Mahadas was no tank, but because he fought without a weapon, he had to fight at the very front lines resulting in him getting injured often .

So in the previous life, Mahadas had used various white magic, recovery magic, and buff magic . It was a wise decision .

Thanks to Mahadas’s magic, Dominic’s condition improved . But his state was still strange .

“Are you alright Dominic?”

Dominic finally spoke

“I feel fine but… something’s weird… I feel dizzy . ”

Sungjin asked the operator while watching Dominic .

“Operator, how long does ‘Blood Curse’ last?”

[Blood Curse, duration is 30 minutes . ]

Peng Long asked

“Blood Curse?”

Sungjin frowned . Peng Long’s reaction reaffirmed his suspicion . The information sheet did not contain any mention of the Vampire’s bites .

‘Information sheet? Where’s the info?’

Sungjin came to distrust the Information sheet for this reason . Although it was informative, it always redacted few key information necessary to complete the raid .

Sungjin was about to open his mouth to explain the effects of the ‘Blood Curse’, but Mahadas calmly asked the Operator .

“Operator, what is the Blood Curse?”

The Operator gave an explanation in her usual expressionless tone .

[Blood Curse (Debuff): Duration 30 minutes . Lower all status points by 30% for the duration of the curse . Once the time runs out, the curse kills the target, and the target is reborn as a Vampire . ]

Giovani whispered .

“Kills… my God . Is there no cure?”

Peng Long replied

“I checked every item in the consumable shop, but I’ve never seen anything that reverts curses . ”

Sungjin shook his head .

“This is not a poison; It’s a curse . Does anyone have ‘Remove Curse’ or ‘Scroll of Remove Curse’?”

Everyone’s eyes grew large . It was probably their first time hearing about a curse . Dominic’s eyes lost its lustre as he fell into despair . Everyone fell into silence .

Sungjin thought about it for a moment .
‘Remove Curse… Soldamyr said that he couldn’t use White or Green schools of magics…’

There was no immediate answer . But, there was still a way . The only way available to them . Sungjin told them immediately .

“Even if we don’t have ‘Remove Curse’, there is still a way to save him . The only way . ”

Mahadas asked

“How?”

“Complete the Raid before 30 minutes are up . As you all know, if you get teleported back to the Black Market, all your injuries go away . ”

Everyone nodded at his words . Even if one took an otherwise fatal wound, if they were to be teleported to the Black Market, all their wounds would disappear as if nothing had happened .

But there was a problem with this method as well .

“Operator, how much time is left until the Raid is over?”

[1 hour 19 minutes and 4 seconds . ]

Everyone turned to stare at Sungjin, thinking ‘so it’s impossible after all’ . None of them had ever experienced being teleported back early; they had always been sent back when the time ran out .

“Even if we don’t hit the time limit, if we reach 100% completion for the raid…”

Sungjin was about to say, but he decided against it .

“I will do my best to save him, so please trust me . Giovani . ”

“Yes? What?”

Giovani answered in panic at being called out .

“Please protect Dominic . Even though his status points were decreased, you two should be able to keep each other safe if you two work together . ”

“Ah, got it . ”

Giovani’s helm moved up and down twice . Sungjin now looked over to Peng Long and Mahadas .

“You two, hunt with me . As fast as you can possibly manage . ”

The other two men nodded as well . They haven’t had a chance to speak properly, but they already understood his strength; they trusted him .

“Let us hurry then . ”

Sungjin pointed towards the elevator on the far side . Within the elevator was the same circular formation as the castle entrance .

“Please go stand on them . ”

Everyone took their spots . Once all 5 of them took their place the elevator began to climb . Even if one of them died, they had to carry the corpse and place it on the slot in order for the elevator to continue moving .

This part was written on the information sheet, although it didn’t help improve their chances of survival .

‘Clang clang clang clang’

The elevator made worrisome noises as it began to climb . Sungjin was thinking about various things as the elevator moved up .

‘Will I be able to kill the hidden boss and find the secret location within 30 minutes? I can try but…’

Still, there were two things going right for the team .

First was that the monsters were not spaced far apart like in Ahenna’s forest or the Kutan Desert . They were all gathered up in the same floor . So all they had to do was clear each floor as fast as they could and kill ‘Count Dimitri’ and the hidden boss within the thirty minute time frame .

Second, he decided to bring ‘Treasure Hunter’ this time rather than Master Hunter . He would be able to find both of the hidden elements of this raid faster than any previous raids .

Of course, the thirty-minute window was extremely difficult to overcome . Sungjin glanced at Dominic . His face was very pale .

‘If 30 minutes are not enough… then with my own hands…’

Sungjin reviewed his options while having such thoughts .

‘Keep Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the Hidden boss . I may have to face the hidden boss alone . Then the only other thing I could use to reduce the time spent is…’

Sungjin took out Cain’s wooden figurine and Soldamyr’s golden lamp . He threw the figurine into the air and rubbed Soldamyr’s lamp . Soon,

“Woof woof!”

“Did you summon me, master?”

Two loyal summons appeared before him . The others stared at Sungjin out of surprise . Meanwhile

“Ding!”

The Elevator reached level 2 . Level 2 was the Spider room . Due to the large amount of giant spider webs laid out, trying to clear the room normally would take considerable time and effort .

But this time was different . Sungjin ordered Soldamyr .

“Soldamyr . ”

“Yes, master . ”

Sungjin nodded .

“Burn them all . ”

At his command, Soldamyr began an incantation .

“Eternal Flames of Hell!”

Blinding light and heat formed in Soldamyr’s hands, and the Spiders in the room turned towards the Elevator . One or two began to make their way towards the elevator, but it was too late .

“Inferno!”

The ball of fire left Soldamyr’s hands and quickly spread to everything it touched, setting them ablaze .

“Kiiii~”

High-pitched screeches of the spiders filled the air as they cried out in agony . Several spiders ran amok across the room while on fire . It was a scene straight out of **** .

While the other hunters were afraid to make a move,

“Let’s go Cain . ”

“Woof!”

A lone man and his trusty wolf ran into the room .