[BONUS]
In Chaos Realm, Ren and Evie expected to hear thunder and be welcomed with the sight of lightning, gloomy dark sky, pools of blood on the ground, and intricate crystal coffin of Dracula prompt on a podium with candles scattered everywhere –– but the opposite was true.
They were surrounded by fields of flowers, bathed in sunshine, and caressed by the warm breeze all around.
Butterflies flew everywhere, and the chirping of birds was like music to their ears.
In the white gazebo made of limestones, decorated with vines and blooming flowers, lay a man with a dark cape.
His hair was long and black, shining like the finest silk.
His shoulders were shaking, and Ren and Evie couldn't help, but exchange looks when they heard wails and sobs.
Using [Probe], Ren was so sure that the man was Dracula.
"Uhm . . ." Evie hesitated. "Should we disrupt him?"
Evie felt like they'd be invading the vampire's privacy if they did.
Who said that a vampire couldn't cry and weep?
Ren wasn't as considerate as his girlfriend, though.
Crying or not, he needed to finish this server and go to the next. There was a time limit on each server, and he didn't plan to wait for the Vampire Lord to stop crying.
"Excuse me," Ren said and asked. "Are you Dracula, the vampire lord?"
Dracula's shoulders stopped, and he abruptly looked over at Ren and Evie.
The couple couldn't stop their forehead from creasing at the sight of the most feared vampire lord of the castle.
The man had very pale skin and glowing crimson eyes that were now sore and full of tears. His face was flushed and full of snot.
He was handsome, alright, with a youthful glow to his looks, like those heartthrob idols in movies.
Though his current appearance right now wasn't worthy of being called the lord of the vampires.
He appeared more like a heartbroken, wimpy, emo-man.
"Players!" Dracula shot to his feet.
He was so tall Ren had to lift his head. The vampire lord was a head taller than him.
In a blink, he appeared in front of Ren and Evie.
"Just in time," Dracula said and grabbed Ren and Evie's hand. "Please help me!" he told them, voice high-pitched and begging.
Ren pulled his hand and whacked Dracula's finger holding Evie.
"What seems to be the problem?" asked Ren, while Evie was so disappointed at the side.
She expected Dracula to look like the scariest creature out of all the monsters in here, but who knew that he looked like a child trapped in a grown man's body?
Evie released a giant breath. The Mad Doctor was also the same, so she wasn't surprised. Disappointed but not surprised.
"You've come at the right time!" Dracula exclaimed. "My darling! My Love! My me armoire! My hopes and dreams have been snatched from me!"
Both Ren and Evie's brow rose. ". . . Huh?"
Dracula's eyes went big like they would pop out from their sockets.
"My Lucy!" he screamed and clutched his hair. "She's gone!"
Ren and Evie threw each other a look, and Ren had to use [Probe] twice just to make sure that it was really THE Count Dracula they were facing.
Was this the quest they ought to receive from Dracula? Ren was so sure that it was different.
Something must have happened.
But first things first . . .
"Who's Lucy?"
Back on the upper floors, Ragnar, Roz, Sumeri, and Nikolai all stopped searching for the map since Ren and Evie had already found Dracula's location.
The four resorted to stealing all the treasures they could find instead.
To cover more ground, the group decided to split up but agreed not to stray far past a fifty-meter distance. There were so many rooms in the castle, and if they wanted to get all the good stuff, they had to act fast.
Ragnar and Roz ended up searching in the library.
The library was quiet, and the only sound coming from it was a low murmur of voices in the distance. It was a large room with many shelves of books. The walls were lined with windows, and the light coming from them made the place bright, contrary to the darkness outside.
The light from the lamps and candles gave everything an ethereal glow that made it seem like they were walking through a dream. Flickering shadows were cast across the walls and ceiling.
Ragnar and Roz walked along the rows of bookshelves, their footsteps echoing against the stone floor as they went deeper into the library.
There were so many shelves packed with books, some of them hundreds of years old and some dating a thousand years back.
They had been looking through the books, hoping to find a spell or skill book, when they heard voices coming from behind them.
Ragnar and Roz turned around and saw two men standing at the end of the aisle. One was tall with dark hair and a goatee, while the other was shorter with curly brown hair.
Both men wore black robes that covered their entire bodies except for their heads.
The most disturbing thing was that both seemed to be disfigured and screaming.
The other one with a goatee seemed to be turning into a book. He had multiple slices on his body from head to toe, and his innards were nothing but pages and strange letters.
While his companion was turning black, his limbs crackled, gradually getting disfigured as the black liquid spread into his body.
Upon using [Monocle], they found two monsters in the area.
ǁ The Book Creeper ǁ
Is a semi-sentient entity born when a spellbook, which belongs to a strong yet careless arcane spell caster, unintentionally picks up pieces of its writer's soul and manifests itself into this world.
It has the ability to literally open up the spell caster's mind and rob them of their knowledge and leave them brain-dead.
( . . . continuation on NOTES)
A/N (Doesn't consume coins)
Just a few chaps left before we would go forward to the Alchemy ARC
Thank you all for supporting the book, we are halfway there, so it's time to drop some snippet of the world.
