Noble Blood

Chapter Three

The town was bustling, that was really all he could say about how much activity was taking place in the settlment Paladin had lead him to. Tepes watched as the marketplace was a buzz with almost a hundred Humans, moving to and fro the stalls, holding up wares, chatting among themselves and just generally looking like the world outside didn't matter to them. Which, really, was probably the case to these people.

Paladin herself looked like she was just glad to among other Humans, as if assured now she wouldn't have to fear his "open wrath", really, he had a few spells in mind that would allow him to "Clear" this town like it were a particular underlevelled area in YGGDRASIL, but he didn't bother mentioning that to her and instead, watching as she glanced down at the low level clothing he'd given her and still seemed surprised by the quality of it.

Honestly, they were just first tier gear, the basic of the basic and she was treating them like they were Mithril armor laced with Dragon Scales. He hadn't armed her, not for a threat against himself but simply because he didn't have anything he'd be willing to part with over a simple escort job.

But it wasn't until they were outside a building she called the "Adventurer's Guild", did she finally turn to face him, her eyes were set and he could see the conflict within them as she struggled with whatever it was she thinking.

"Thank you, for saving me and getting me this far." Paladin finally said, bowing her head.

Tepes merely tipped his head slightly. "We had an accord and I am a Man of my word." He glanced down both sides of the street, then back to her. "Nontheless, you are welcome."

She looked confused, then she offered him a tight smile. "No offense, but I hope we never have to meet again."

"The sentiment is shared." The Vampire rolled his eyes. "Do try not to get captured again, yes? You're a Paladin, a warrior like you should be above the petty ambushes of mere Goblins."

That got a tick of her brow and a flash of shame in her eyes. "Oh trust me, I won't. I plan to take a long vacation from Adventuring." The Blunette turned away, grunting. "You should go, I won't tell anyone you're a Vampire, but any Adventurer with a working pair of eyes would pick it up if they saw you."

That had the Vampire smirking. "I'm sure I'll manage." And with that poor passing for a farewell he turned away and moved off into the heart of town, to walk among the Humans once more. His hood was still up, so he disappeared into an alley and once he confirmed it was clear, he called forth his Mana.

"False Humanity." Tepes didn't know if the spell had activated, so he raised his hands and sure enough, they'd gain a healthy bit of color, as if he was still among the living and he grinned, knowing his elongated canines were now less prominant and his eyes would have taken a different color.

False Humanity was a fifth tier spell available to the class "Lord of Vampires", in YGGDRASIL it served to change his race from High Vampire to Human, allowing him some anonymity within the game from it's Anti-Heteromorph playerbase, a useful talent for both recon AND ambushes. It's use seemed to remain the same within this world as well, so that was good for him.

Tepes also hadn't thought to tell Paladin that as well, since information was power and he didn't feel like revealing all, or any, really, cards to her. So, better her ignorance for him. False Humanity would last until he was attacked or until he used a Vampire specific ability as well, for a fifth tier spell it was extremely useful.

Now, to find a tavern and see if the stereotype informational center exists in this world as well. Tepes thought, leaving his hood down and taking into the streets, there were a few glances, but none stayed on him and even better, there was no fear. He was just another Human in the crowd.

Perfect.

This was perfect!

The information that they'd gotten was right, there was a Cave that hadn't been there before in the forest and it was, for all intents and purposes, unguarded! At least, as far as Mage was concerned because her Detect Life spell turned up nothing.

Swordsman and Mage, Emerald Adventurers for the Guild, had received a tip from a passing Hunter that he'd found a cave and while it hadn't looked dangerous, he'd reported it to Swordsman rather than post a request in the Guild to have it investigated, mostly because he was certain they could handle it, being former teammates in the adventuring life.

Into the cave they went, it was dark, but dry. Holding up a torch, Swordsman glanced over the walls, checking the sides. At his waist were a longsword and shortsword, having drawn the Short for these close quarters. "We're still clear." He informed his partner, who held her staff at the ready all the same.

They knew what lay in the darkness for those unaware.

"I'm still sensing nothing as well, if there's life in this cave it's not anything my magic can detect." Mage informed him from the rear, glancing back behind them to be safe as they proceeded.

That was when he caught the sight of the light at the end of the tunnel, the signs of torche flames flickering. Swordsman grinned, "Looks something is here, then." Not necessarily alive, Undead were a thing, but they'd dealt with those enough to know how to handle them and in these closed spaces they'd be choked in and easy picking for Mage's Flame magic.

Their advance slowed until they were quietly stalking, he'd snuffed out his torch and crouched low, his leather armor was near silent, as were Mage's robes. They reached the entrance to the torch lit cavern...

And promptly stared at the sheer amount of wealth within it!

"Whoa..." Swordsman said, looking over the dozen or so chests, packed full of gold, shimmering, beautiful gold! Not to mention the weapons! The swords, spears and axes glowed faintly with enchantment, even several pieces of armor were among the bunch, potions he'd never seen before either! "This is... A lot."

"Understatement," Mage said with a more quiet awe. "There's nothing here, no undead, no defenses I can see or detect... It can't be that simple," She paused, nudging some gold with her staff, nothing happened. "Can it?"

"I think, my dear Mage." Swordsman grinned, stepping forward into the cavern fully and walking towards a particularly lethal looking, curved sword. "That we might have hit a haul we our grandchildren could retire to."

He grasped the handle and yanked the blade from the chest it had been sticking out of.

The torches around the room suddenly went from a blazing gold and orange to a dim blue. Mage rounded on the entrance to the cavern and yelled, "Swordsman!" She raised her staff, readying herself. "We're trapped!"

He saw what she meant when he turned around, the entrance they'd come in from was now just a mass of shadows, black and inky, but when he ran over and thrust his sword into them, entirel stab proof before the metal pinged off it... Then he looked at his recently looted sword and tried that.

The shadow and enchanted blade made contact and the shadows screeched like a demon wounded. He grinned, "Guess this works," He struck it again, the same result... And that was when the blame fire of the torches roared and turned into a harsh green.

Mage saw it first, the shadows of the room suddenly grew darker, alive. As from them forms began to rise, taking Humanoid shapes, shambling and shaky, the forms rose fully and outstretched their arms, it was only when they took their first steps did their eyes and mouth open, revealing razor sharp teeth and blazing red eyes filled with a hateful malice.

Shadow Zombies! Dozens of Shadow Zombies!

"You just had to pick up the glowing sword!" She shouted, readying herself as Swordsman turned from the shadowy doorway and took the front line. She raised her staff. "Inflammarae!" The magic roared to life and her staff became the focus, spewing intense flames at a pair of Shadows on the right while Swordsman rushed forward to deal with three on the left.

The flames struck the shadowy beings, whom screamed and snarled and collapsed, writhing in agony as their bodies burned... Only for the flames to expire moments later and they stood back up, seemingly unhurt. They snarled once more and resumed their shambling. "Fire isn't working!" She reported.

On Swordsman's side, he swung wide and bisected a pair of the shadowed undead, they howled and fell in two, hissing as the enchantment of the sword he'd taken worked it's magics and the pair faded into nothing. He grinned, rounding on the third and thrusting through it's chest. It too screamed and died. "This sword is awesome!"

Mage twisted below and around one as it closed to grab her, she slammed her staff into the side of it's head, the silver metal of her staff and the strike causing the shambling shadow to stagger and fall over, not die, but at least Silver was effective.

She turned and raised her staff. "Holy Light!" The tip of her staff glowed bright and she raised it into the air.

The result was instant, the room was filled with the hisses and screams of the monsters around them, they raised their hands to shield their eyes, even as their shadowy bodies smoked and they staggered back. Mage smirked, "Don't like Holy Magic, huh? Figures."

Swordsman rushed forward, cutting them down while her spell held, after six down, she told him the spell was ending and he cut the seventh foe down before falling back to within five meters of her. "Cast it again!"

"Already on it," Mage raised her staff. "Holy L-Gah!?"

Swordsman turned, and his eyes beheld the form of Mage, his adventuring partner of three years, held in the air by three spears of shadows, the bloodied tips piercing clean through her body from three different angles, her eyes were wide in agony, blood dripping from her lips as she struggled to stay alive.

"That's enough out of her," A third voice hissed, and Swordsman rounded on it, among the shambling shadows he saw a new shape emerge from behind the throne in the center of the large room. This one was also a Shadow, but it's shape indicated it was armored, a pair of horns atop it's skull and wielding what looked a spear in each hand. It's eyes glowed red and it's teeth flashed as it grinned. "We can't have her casting that annoying spell again, can we?"

He twisted his spears in hand and flourished them, "Back away from the Swordsman!" The Zombies stopped, then obeyed. "He's mine."

Mage, with a sickening sound of flesh being rent, was freed of the spears as they retreated from her body, leaving her to flop onto the ground and bleed, her chest rising erratically as she clung to life, eyes at the ceiling and tears forming at their corners.

Swordsman grit his teeth and his fingers white knuckled the handle of that enchanted sword as he eyed the Shadow Demon Spearman. "I'm going to gut you." He hissed, promising vengeance. "You monster."

"Please," The Demon grinned wider. "Try." And it rushed forward, thrusting it's left spear for his face, Swordsman barely leaning his head right to avoid it being impaled outright, his sword coming up and instinctively deflecting the right as it came for it's side, he stepped into the Demon's space and twisted around, bringing the following strike across it's chest.

Though, the Demon was prepared, because the failed left spear attack allowed it to twist the weapon and use the shaft to catch the strike, batting it upwards and over it's head while his right arm recovered from the deflect and plant itself into the cave floor, anchored, the demon's leg shot up and planted itself right into Swordsman's gut.

There was brief feeling of pain in his stomach before he was across the room slamming into the rocky wall and sliding down it, hacking up blood as the pain in his stomach and back bloomed across his whole body.

The demonic spearman laughed and rushed forward, Swordsman growled and gripped his pilfered sword once more. "Now!"

"H-Holy Light!" Mage cried out as the Demon neared her on it's way to finish him, the power of the spell slammed into him as her staff raised, his body, like the Shadow Undead, smoked and he cried out in pain, covering his eyes with his arm and rounding on her with one of his spears.

"You damned insect!" He thrust forward with his right...Only for the strike to be deflected by the Swordsman, whom twisted on his shaky legs and brought the sword around and up for thrust that drove that enchanted blade up and through the chest cavity of the Shadowy Spearman.

"You..." The Swordsman panted, "Can go back to hell now."

The shadow Demon snarled, then faded into blackened dust. Swordsman almost felt victorious... Until he saw the undead shadows not leaving, he panted. "He...wasn't the caster?!" He gasped, trying to rise once more to face the hordes, who at the death of the Spearman, were advancing again.

This time, Swordsman wasn't sure they'd make it.

"Run..." Mage whispered, her staff clattering onto the floor as the last of her strength left her. "Break...The wall and save...Yourself."

Swordsman grunted, before falling to his knees, legs giving out to the pain, that spearman didn't pull his kicks, apparently. "Don't think that's in the cards, Mage." He said, holding himself up by the sword now. "Not that I would, it's bad manners to leave a lady hanging, right?"

She didn't respond, he glanced over his shoulder...And saw her lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling.

Swordsman looked ahead, gripping the sword in grief. "Don't worry, partner, I won't be long after you." He forced himself up to both feet, lifting the enchanted sword up once more and glaring at the advancing shadows. "And I'll be bringing company!" He stepped forward to meet them.

And in moments, he was overwhelmed, dragged to the floor and devoured by the shadowy undead monsters.

Tepes returned to his cave as the sun began to lower itself in the distance, the beginnings of night beginning to bleed across the sky above. The Vampire had gathered a bit of information, but it seemed the real sources were connected with the Adventurer's Guild, which he'd need to join to get access to those sources unless he wanted to use more Vampiric means, which could draw attention.

He wasn't worried, he was fairly certain this world's level system didn't seem prepared for something like him, at all. This Demon Lord seemed to be the height of strength, and whomever Hero arose to defeat him, but until he got a more firm grasp of the Adventurer's levels he would operate under the assumption they were at least half his level. Enough to warrant his attention...But not his worry.

For now, anyway.

He stopped, frowning when he felt the disturbance in the air of his humble abode, true, it wasn't a Guild Base, having never been part of one, before then it had been some random, easy to access cave he set up in purely for the Last Stand of YGGDRASIL when he challenged whomever to come and claim all he had before the game ended, but he had left some subtle defenses... Well subtle until you tripped them anyway.

The High Vampire moved into the cavern, once he reached the treasure room he came across a telling story. A woman's corpse, laying bloodied on the floor, wounds caused by piercing weapons, likely the Shadow Spearman he'd summoned as a defensive measure. Killing the Magic caster was combat One-oh-One after all.

He looked to the second body a bit away, torn to shreds and were it not for the face, he'd have barely called the corpse Human related, at his side was an Enchanted Katana, one of Tepes' earlier works as a Weaponsmith, ironically, he'd had it enchanted for additional magical damage, which explained a little bit about why he wasn't sensing the Shadow Demon, a High Tier weapon against a Mid-Tier foe like that? Though, it was clear the gap was closed by the weapon as opposed to sheer talent.

Still, this did provide an interesting scenario for him. Here he had two moderately fresh corpses, Adventurer's no doubt so if they went missing there would probably be investigations into these deaths, and he'd rather his little cave not become some of a tourist trap...

So, it was time to test his Abilities as a Lord of Vampires.

As a Lord of Vampires, his Class afforded him a series of skills that were usually considered "special" in YGGDRASIL, being able to create Vampires of different types depending on the circumstances. Turning an injured, near NPC? It would result in the creation of either a Lesser Vampire, or High-Vampire, depending on the strength of the NPC in question.

But on a Corpse? He wasn't sure, Corpses in YGGDRASIL generally weren't a thing, as NPCs tended to disappear after dropping their loot, but it seemed that wasn't the case here, they were now corpses and he was curious as to the results of his attempts, if any.

He stepped over to the woman first, raising his hand to her. "Create Vampire!" Tepes intoned.

Her body glowed a faint purple, the torches around them flickered and her pale skin gained a bit more "life", her dark purple hair swayed and her blue eyes slowly bled to red, slitted and with a gasp, she sat up and panted, drawing breath again after dying was probably a surprise...Among being alive again. "Where...?!" Her eyes shot to him, and she blinked, then she swallowed, seeing his red eyes...And then she looked down to her own hands.

"I...I'm a..."

"A Vampire, yes." He cocked his head to the side. "Shame, I'd hoped to create True Vampire, but it seems you're a High-Vampire like myself."

It was a shame, while High-Vampires were considered lower on the pecking order thank True, but that was because True Vampires got better Stats, so they were stronger from a statistic point of view, while High-Vampires were balanced by the fact they could access a fair few more skills, it was essentially a choice of overall strength versus adaptability.

It was that adaptability that allowed Tepes to gain access to the classes of Noble Vampire, Prince and then Lord of Vampires, after all. So, really, he hadn't regretted his decision to choose High-Vampire Race instead of True Vampire. And he'd been hoping for True Vampire results because they would be stronger and serve well for the purpose he had in mind.

Ah well, beggers and choosers, I suppose. Tepes thought, he crouched down and observed his work, she was clearly struggling to come to terms with her new Un-life, but at least she wasn't screaming. "What's your name?" He asked her.

She snapped her eyes to him, and winced. "Mage... But I guess Vampire Mage, now, right?"

"Mage will do," The High-Vampire replied flatly. "It seems you and your friend," He thumbed the corpse behind him, causing his new coven member to gasp and gag as she saw the state his body was in. "Stumbled upon my hoard and tripped my defenses," Already he could see the wheels turning, a plan coming to more realism as he considered his words. "I probably should have put warning signs out, but I thought a mysterious cave full of treasure was suspicious enough to not need those."

She saw the slight, and she frowned for it. "I get it, we messed up and paid for it." Mage growled, "What do you want from me? I suppose you want me to be your bride then? Concubine...Because I'm telling you now I'm going to stake myself be-"

"Silence," She shut right up, after all, as his "spawn" she was compelled to obey him to a degree. "I'm not going to take advantage of you, you're beneath him." Now she just looked insulted. Though he supposed he understood, she was rather young but quite developed, unlike Paladin who was younger still, Mage was at least in her early twenties, with curves of an active, healthy woman. She would definitely be considered attractive by most, but Tepes was hardly a man to be taken in by a pretty face, both IRL and now.

That's how you get disinherited, after all, falling for pretty faces.

"I instead wanted to make use of your and his," A gesture to the puddle of gore that was the other Human. "Talents, that you two would become my... Well, Apprentices." Because minions, stooges or help was just too on point, and he had learned that giving some gifts for aid were better motivators than blind compulsion. "As it turns out I've a need for help since the world has...Passed me by for several centuries and you both needed a resurrection."

Mage looked conflicted, and he waited patiently, after all, it was a virtue and the payoff would be interesting to watch unfold. "Can you bring back Swordsman?"

"I plan to try, his body is in rough shape," Obviously. "But I'm confident." He stood and moved over to the revaged body of her partner, then he raised his hand. "Create Vampire!"

The Magic took hold once more, and the destroyed body shifted, beginning the process of healing itself, flesh and muscle regenerated until it was whole...And with a gasping cry the man now Vampire was upright and grasping at his chest and face. "Where am I?! What happened?! Mage!?"

Tepes wondered if everyone he revived was going to react with the same questions, he'd keep a mental tally for future reference and see how long it takes before he straight up kicks the head off one of his revivee's because of it. "You're in my cave. You died and she's alive as well."

The Swordsman, or just Swordsman, Tepes guessed, looked at his hands... "Am-"

"Yes, you are a Vampire, like me. And like you, Mage is alive, and a Vampire. I revived you both."

"Did you tou-"

Tepes groaned. "Why do you just assume I wanted her body?! You know there are more important things in this world than sexual satisfaction, correct?!" God he was going to kill someone. "So no, I did not touch her, I brought you both back because I need some help understanding this era and you two provided an opportunity...Given your deaths, I also felt partly responsible."

Swordsman looked at him, face a touch skeptical. His hair was brown and eyes matching his hair, otherwise, he looked the same age as Mage. "You set the traps, of course it's your fault."

Boy oh boy, is time to kill someone already? A snide little voice in Tepes' mind snarked.

"Swordsman," Mage called, standing from the floor, grabbing her staff. "Let's at least hear him out, alright? Vampire or no, he did technically bring us back."

"Fine," Swordsman also stood, grabbing the enchanted sword as well, eyeing the High-Vampire. "Let's hear it."

Old Tepes IV rolled his eyes, then started on what he expected of the pair. It seemed the beginnings of his coven was now... And he was sorely disappointed.

End of Chapter Three

And there's Chapter Three, and now you all has some clarification as to what his Race and a few brief hints of what it can do, but it's far more menacing! But we'll explore that later. for now, thanks to everyone who has favored, followed and reviewed, you're all grand! Until next chapter!

Also, yes, my character descriptions kinda suuuuuck, but...Eeeeeeeeeh, giant chickens!