"How much longer are you planning to grab me?"
Just as Kurose Akira was lost in thought, Lucia's cool, restrained voice reached his ear.
Only then did he realize that his dragon claw was tightly gripping something soft and snow-white. At the same time, the beautiful face hidden beneath Lucia's white veil was clearly tinged with anger.
He had obviously used far too much strength and hurt her.
But there was no helping it. After entering his half-dragon form, his body had expanded dramatically, and sharp dragon claws had grown from his fingers. His palm was now larger than Lucia's face.
"Sorry."He loosened his grip and asked, "Does it still hurt? Do you want me to—"
"No need."
Lucia shot him a cold glance, then tried to straighten herself using her own strength.
It was still difficult, and in the end she instinctively placed a hand on Akira's arm.
The moment her fingertips touched the dragon scales covering his arm, a wave of scorching heat surged through her body. Her heart skipped violently, as if she had been shocked by electricity.
Her Sensitivity Authority triggered an unusual reaction in her body—but more than that…
She suddenly realized that Akira's current form was… a little captivating.
Strong. Handsome. Exuding an overwhelming sense of security.
And the texture of those dragon scales was unexpectedly pleasant. Unlike the cold, rigid scales of ordinary dragons, these carried a trace of warmth. They could be hard or soft at will.
"Lucia?" Akira asked, puzzled. "Why did you suddenly freeze?"
"It's nothing."
Lucia immediately withdrew the dazed look from her eyes. A faint, almost imperceptible blush crept onto her cheeks as she turned her cool gaze toward the corner of the room.
She drew out her Staff of the Sun and lightly swept it through the air.
The next moment, golden holy light spread outward, illuminating every inch of the room.
Under the sweep of that sacred radiance, anything hidden within had nowhere to escape.
In the corner, a blood-stained tooth slowly revealed itself, emitting a dark crimson glow.
[Vampire Count's Tooth (Epic):An evil object capable of summoning vampire bats.(Unusable)]
"So this is what's been creating those bats nonstop?"
Akira reached out and clenched the Vampire Count's Tooth in his palm. Since it couldn't be used, there was no reason to keep it.
His right claw tightened slightly.
Crack.
The tooth was crushed into powder.
The instant it shattered, all the vampire bats turned into blood, evaporating before they could even hit the ground.
At the same time, contribution notifications popped up before every player present.
[Killed Vampire Bat ×60, Contribution +120!]
"Now we can keep moving."
Akira brushed the blood from his hands and prepared to advance deeper.
At that moment, Lucia stepped to his side. Her slender fingers lightly traced the dragon scales along his cheek and arm as she asked softly,"This power of yours… does it come from the red dragon's soul?"
"Yeah."
Akira nodded, then smiled. "What do you think? Not bad, right?"
"Mm."
Lucia gave a gentle nod, her gaze sweeping across his sharply defined muscles."Not bad. In every way… it's very good."
"Come on."
Akira spread his arms, assuming a familiar stance."I'll carry you again."
"No need."
Lucia shook her head lightly and smoothed her skirt."After destroying that tooth, it seems the magic array covering this area was affected. The suppression I feel has weakened a lot."
"…?"
Akira immediately checked Lucia's status panel.
[Crimson Withering:This unit is hated by blood. Strength, Constitution, and Agility are reduced to 100.]
"The suppression weakened…" Akira fell into thought.
If the Vampire Count's Tooth, together with other evil objects, formed a massive magic array that suppressed Lucia…
Then from the moment they entered the demon lair, they had already stepped into the array's range. And the medium for that array had existed from the very beginning.
That blood-red sun.
As for the effect of the array, it was most likely designed to suppress the strongest adventurer.
And among everyone present, the strongest one was indeed Lucia.
"Let's keep going. There should be plenty more vampires hiding in this castle, just waiting for us to hunt them down!"
While Akira was still thinking, Fire Lotus had already hoisted her greatsword onto her shoulder and walked toward the door directly opposite the staircase leading to the second floor.
She kicked it open with a single powerful strike.
Beyond it lay a wide, deep corridor.
The lighting was dim, but faintly visible along both sides of the corridor were six coffins, standing silently in place.
"Looks like the road ahead won't be smooth," Fire Lotus said, scanning the area with a grin.
This flame elf seemed incapable of fear or discouragement—no matter the situation, she remained blazing with enthusiasm.
"Any other routes?" someone asked.
As everyone gathered around Red Lotus, she turned to the centaur warrior.
"No." Azkman shook her head. "I checked earlier. Aside from this corridor and the way back, all other paths are blocked."
"Perfect. Then we cut straight through!"
A fireball ignited in Fire Lotus's palm and shot accurately toward the extinguished wall lamps on both sides, bathing the corridor in light.
At that moment, the six coffins reacted.
Thud! Thud!
All six lids were pushed open simultaneously.
Six vampires with pale, shriveled skin stepped out.
"I can smell it~ the scent of blood~"
A female vampire spoke in a low, rasping voice. Her withered nose twitched as her gaze locked onto Akira within the crowd.
A twisted smile spread across her pallid face."And it's premium blood!"
"…?"
Akira's eyes sharpened.
He could feel all six vampires staring straight at him.
Wait.
He suddenly remembered—after being affected by the tainted, lust-corrupted demonic power, his blood seemed to have changed, becoming far more attractive to creatures that craved blood…
Still, their group was large. There was no need to fear these vampires.
"Three level 45s, two level 48s, and one level 50," Akira assessed after checking their levels.
A high-risk demon lair really was something else. High-level monsters had become mere trash mobs—though thankfully, there weren't too many of them.
Any other team would have struggled badly against this lineup.
Unfortunately for the vampires, this team was absurdly strong.
Akira also noticed that although Red Lotus and the other two were acting independently, they barely communicated with one another.
Their guild leader was clearly directing them remotely.
That was normal. Not every guild leader was willing to personally step onto the battlefield. Even with resurrection tokens, pain was still painfully real.
"We'll take the three higher-level ones. You handle the other three!"
Red Lotus charged forward with her sword, her body turning into a streak of flame. The centaur warrior followed immediately, charging alongside her.
In an instant, Red Lotus and Azkman clashed with the vampires. Even at two versus three, they held absolute dominance.
At the same time, Loserine unfurled her soul-light wings and flew straight toward the three lower-level vampires.
"Luan Moon!"
Her sword technique activated. Moonlight-like sword aura rained down, instantly slicing one vampire into pieces.
"Damn you!"
The vampire roared in fury as his shattered body rapidly reassembled through blood manipulation. Though his wounds vanished, his aura was clearly weaker.
"You stupid livestock! You'll all die here!"
The vampires howled and lunged at Loserine—
Two to three minutes later, the battle ended.
The three high-level vampires were completely defeated by Red Lotus and Azkman, collapsing into desiccated corpses once their regeneration failed.
To be safe, Red Lotus hurled a burst of flame, incinerating the bodies entirely.
When she turned to the other battlefield, both she and Azkman froze in shock.
Loserine had already killed the remaining three vampires.
Although those vampires were slightly lower level than the ones they had faced, Loserine's level was lower than theirs as well.
Yet she had killed all three alone.
No assistance. No support.
Their bodies had been pulverized by moonlight sword aura, erased on a physical level—no chance of revival.
"What an incredible knight…" Azkman murmured in disbelief.
She hadn't expected the woman in platinum armor to possess such overwhelming combat power—no weaker than herself or Red Lotus.
Shen Jun and Shen Siqi, who had witnessed the fight up close, were even more stunned. They had already known Loserine was strong, but after only a few days, her power had skyrocketed again.
More than several times stronger.
Was it because of her new weapon?
This was beyond ridiculous.
Among the crowd, Roxia stared in shock as well. She realized that her aunt was even stronger now than she had been in life.
And all of it was because of—
Roxia's azure eyes turned toward Akira.
She understood perfectly.
Her aunt's power was deeply connected to this man.
"All done. Let's keep moving," Loserine said calmly, sheathing her sword and walking toward the end of the corridor.
Everyone followed—except Red Lotus, who lagged a step behind.
She stared at Loserine's back, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.
Almost as if speaking to herself:"She's really strong, isn't she?"
"…Mm."
In a distant plane, a woman with dark teal curls sat gracefully in a blue-and-white porcelain-patterned cheongsam. She gently waved a round silk fan, amber eyes glimmering as she watched the adventurers following Kurose Akira on a luminous screen.
Her lips curved into an elegant smile. Snow-white, slender legs crossed lightly, the cheongsam clinging to her alluring figure.
"As you said," she murmured softly,"they really are exceptional. And their guild leader… is also worth recruiting."