Nightmare System - Volume 1 Chapter 26 Incurring Debt

Hell was given Menaroan clothes; a dark green top and scarlet jeans and was even invited to stay further in the country if he wished so. Although he was unaware how the rest of the country was; at least the military base of the country, the city he arrived in, was bustling and very lively. He was surely given some odd looks throughout his short strolls on the streets, as a non-Menaroan person was something unexpected to see around here, but the population seemed happy, nonetheless, meaning that Praneo was definitely doing something right.

“Are you sure you can teleport me back to my base?”

“Of course, it won’t be a problem,” Praneo said and patted him on the back. “Just make sure we hear the news of the Vampire Lords dropping like flies!” The King laughed.

“That surely won’t be a problem,” Hell said with an ever-so-sly grin. “Are you sure my friend will be able to teleport me to Vampire Lord Lirger’s base if he has this whatever-stone you gave me?” He caressed the identical stones in his hands, he was unsure how they told the stones apart.

“If that is truly what you want, yes, that’ll work. However, I urge you to care for it greatly, we have only acquired two of these in the last couple hundreds of years; one connecting to your base, the second one to Lirger’s. If the spell is powered by one of those stones, you will be able to teleport to the exact coordinates the stone was created with,” Nile explained before Praneo could talk himself.

She didn’t want her King to give away this precious stone along with the information that they also had one leading to Lord Hell’s base. She couldn’t understand what was so special about this man that her Majesty would impart these to a nigh-stranger. She caught a quick glimpse of them drinking and chatting yesterday, they looked as if they were old friends finally reunited after years of being apart. It made her uneasy, however, Praneo was a man who lived more than two centuries already, while the other was just a young human who had the same stench of death as her king, who had taken so many lives that he was dubbed “The Bloodhound”.

“Can I also teleport back here with such a stone instead of getting lost in the endless foliage and dense trees?”

“Well, let’s say that we may create one such thing for you in the future, as these things are not easy to replicate or create.” Praneo gave the cue for the teleportation spell to be cast. Teleportation spells weren’t particularly hard to cast per se, but only a chosen few would have the affinity with the spell itself. Space-related spells were exceedingly difficult to cast even in the most basic form that is teleportation, let alone mastering them.

“I’ll be looking forward to drinking again, brother!” Hell blurted out, his ears suddenly gaining a cherry colour as he followed up with grasping Praneo’s arm, bidding farewell as such. It was even worse that the Menaroan King had never seen someone bid farewell to a king in this manner, so he also somewhat didn’t know what to do, only going along with it.

“We’ll be looking forward to seeing you again, brother,” Praneo said in return. Hell released his grasp and stepped into the light of the teleportation circle. This was rather different from how it felt when Aurus teleported himself, it was more instant while this time, it was as if going through a wall made up of gelatinous matter.

He felt really good about his stay here, although the fact that he somewhat had to break his promise to Virgil stood true as well. He was thinking that he would take a month to himself to discover the scope of his abilities, help train Sons of Shadow and his soldiers to prepare for an all-out attack to the base of Lirger, the second-highest ranked vampire, as they said. It seemed that Hell couldn’t Devour the intrinsic abilities of his kills, but was still unsure of how the System classified what could be plundered by himself and what could not. At least it seemed as long as he met another player, it was possible to Devour most of the abilities they had. As the process of devouring was almost instant, he was yet to grasp how it worked as well. His most important concern was raising his mana now.

Hell could finally feel the world around him taking shape in a few more seconds and he yelled, “Your Lord has returned!”

“Who are you?” an authoritative voice reverberated in his ears.

“It has been three days, when will Lord Hell return?” Marco and Nero asked, in a polite tone this time. They had learnt their lesson. Surely there was still some tension in the air, but Sons at least now knew their limits.

Leila was annoyed and she held a slight grudge herself, but Leon understood both Sons after fighting against them, albeit briefly. Sons had spent more than a century fighting and getting stronger as they were taught to “respect the strong and pity the weak” no matter how kind Virgil himself was. The Lord may have been a kind soul, but the law of the jungle applied everyone in this world. After all, they could never be part of the Sons if they didn’t have the strength for it, even if they had the spirit. Porter here was also a great example, they both acknowledged his resolute spirit, but he was one of the lowest-ranked vampires in the base before Hell arrived. In fact, almost all vampires remained with Hell were as such. It was a common situation if weaker ones were treated harshly by the strong.

“When he wishes to,” Alfie said, a Knight. Knights of Hell were also displeased with the Sons after their stunt yesterday. Alfie was an all-around average Joe who wasn’t all that strong, agile or able. He knew this himself, living with the fear that he would be replaced next month with the rate so many of his brothers and sisters here were improving themselves. There were a few close shaves that he barely won during sparring. Although his ranking would not change for an entire month, nonetheless, it didn’t mean others in the base wouldn’t target him knowing his weakness. He knew no one at the moment even considered taking Porter on, who was improving himself with such fervour that he only slept when his brain shut itself down from the extreme fatigue. And after he woke up, he continued training, bloodying himself. The aura he unconsciously released around him made it clear that unless he was killed, they couldn’t defeat him.

“Respectfully, that wasn’t his promise to Virgil, I believe we should try to contact him somehow,” Marco said this time, looking at Aurus who was the most talented spellcaster among them.

“Look,” Aurus said, “even if I wanted to contact him, we would need something of his. Do you see any personal item of his around here?”

“Isn’t these vampires also bound to his boosting spell?” Nero asked, thinking out loud, quickly adding after realising what he said: “I mean, I wouldn’t know, just thinking to myself.”

“That I don’t think” Aurus was unsure. Would that actually work? He didn’t know, he had never tried something like that. He contemplated for a moment and then spoke with certainty: “There is a small chance it’ll work since the reason personal items are used is that they carry some of the spirit of their users, much like mana.”

“We’ll call Porter, then, we may even teleport Hell back to us if he wants to, but that’ll cost a lot more mana,” Aurus added as Marco went to fetch him. Soon after, both arrived at a scene of Aurus speaking incomprehensible words that were more like loud whispers and a circle was formed from his pure-white mana before himself.

Aurus stopped chanting as soon as the circle was formed and beckoned Porter: “Come now, we wouldn’t want to waste the spell.”

Porter did as asked, he was very shortly briefed on the way here and only responded with: “Whatever my lord may need.”

“Now, get in,” Aurus sternly said and Porter followed. The spell seemed to take minutes of whisper-chanting. Porter stood with his sweaty and bloody person with a slight smile on his face. He was already elated to be helping his Lord in some way.

“Hell!” Aurus yelled, it seemed like he was trying to attract his attention. Aurus himself was also very surprised, he didn’t think it would be possible Hell could traverse such distance in mere three days. It was nothing short of a miracle and probably Porter’s extreme feeling of loyalty that made this possible, he thought. Aurus couldn’t get a clear image of where Hell was, but he could see him have a grim look on his face, even using the Sword of Blood wherever he was. Aurus yelled once more, managing to attract the attention of Hell.

“Who am I?” Hell was confused. “This place belongs to me, who the hell are you?”

“The Lord of this base.” The voice echoed again when the behemoth of a man sitting with his legs crossed and a feast before him became clear to Hell as he stepped out of the teleportation circle. “I will ask one more time,” Lirger said with a grim tone, “answer accordingly.”

Hell was surprised to see the man at the opposite of the place he was teleported into, who reached almost 4 metres in height with bulging muscles, taking a bite from a steak as big as Hell himself. The man wore tribal clothes, aside from covering his groin and some of his chest along with some shoulder pads made of what seemed to be scales resembling that of a crocodile’s skin, he wasn’t wearing much. He also had a giant axe sitting next to himself as a feeling of authority and dominance oozed out of him.

“Who are you?!” Lirger’s voice boomed with pressure and soon after some vampires began popping up from various places. Hell only figured they were vampires from the fact that some were showing their claws as soon as they saw him, none of them looked human, unlike the most in his and Virgil’s base. They were demi-humans, Hell could see a mash of everything he could imagine. Some had wings, even, gazing fiercely at himself.

“I am the new Vampire Lord that replaced Dmiria!” Hell quickly said without thinking much. He couldn’t die here, after all, his little brother would be too sad if he were truly gone. “Just thought of visiting my new friend Lirger, was it?”

“Dmiria is dead?” Lirger said, followed by an uproarious laugh which also incited the laughter of all the other vampires around. As they laughed, some vampires distinguished themselves from the crowd. Two of them looked like a minotaur from the legends Hell knew of, the other looked like a Lizard with scales covering his body. “Finally, weak have no right to live. His petty tricks only got him so far.” Lirger laughed once more and added: “Since you’ve come here already, stay then.”

The three vampires looked at Lirger and stepped forward with an approving nod from him. The minotaurs rushed ahead with their bare hands while the lizardman began casting a spell as Hell watched what they’d do. As soon as the spell was completed, the minotaurs seemed to have gone into a frenzy, trying to grab him. Hell dodged them with his vast speed, not even having to depend on Quickening and pierced into the chest of one of the minotaurs, but utterly failing, to his surprise. Their skin was thick to the extent that he could barely leave a scratch with the Imp Needle. He also realised he couldn’t block the attack from these guys, their grab had shaved a portion of the marble ground. Their strength was no joke. He changed his target and attacked the wizard who was casting yet another spell. As long as he could take him out, things could be easier after all. He used Quickening and Warping to get to the caster, traversing a distance of over 20 metres in but one moment and struck out with the Imp Needle once more, wishing to pull his heart out.

He felt his Imp Needle puncturing his heart in one move and pulled the heart out in that same instance. The lizardman’s sinister look disappeared and he stopped casting his spell, trying to reach out for the heart Hell was holding, falling onto the floor in the next instance.

*Lizardman of Tanmo has been defeated*

*+220 mana acquired*

*Skill: Quick Steps acquired*

*Skill: Levitation acquired*

“Are these guys your best?” Hell mocked Lirger, who seemed to be in a foul mood momentarily, then recovering his lecherous grin once more.

“Did no one tell you to not be distracted during a fight?” Lirger mocked back as Hell’s ear was already ringing from the wind pressure created by the minotaur, about to hit himself. Activating one skill was all the time he had until that giant hand that seemed to have brought death with it hit himself. He chose Quickening, but before he could entirely dodge the strike, the strike connected and sent him flying into the wall of the room. He was lodged inside and there was blood pouring out from all his apertures, his left side was where the strike connected and even though Hell was already casting Knight Demon’s Vitality, it would be of no use, the minotaurs would be here the next second.

Hell began laughing with a large smile on his face, tears pouring down. His maniacal laughter caused the 3-metre minotaur to look at him in disdain as the other minotaur of slightly smaller size was already travelling through the shadows to deliver the killing blow if there need be.

“Of course!” Hell said, one of his hands covering the half of his face. His laughter was as if he heard the funniest joke on the planet as he finally stopped and mentally commanded: “Healing” just when the larger minotaur went to stomp him to death, saying: “A befitting end to a puny race.”

There was suddenly nothing where the creature stomped and Hell appeared in the distance and greatly restored compared to the damage he received before. He took out the Sword of Blood and made five copies of himself. Pseudo Hells had the same maniacal look of ecstasy on their faces as Hell, it was almost impossible to tell them apart.

The minotaur in the shadows suddenly sprung up with claws that were almost as big as Hell’s arms, intending to slice them all up. Using Short Distance Warping, they all teleported for 15 metres, standing almost before Lirger who was still eating as they suddenly stabbed themselves. The blood spurted onto the blade as the six identical people on the grounds began releasing an aura of death around.

“Do kill me, please!” Hell said, looking at the minotaurs, ordering his copies to fight the smaller one while he went for the big one. Hell lacked experience greatly indeed, creatures of centuries of experience were his biggest enemy. They were vampires, after all, that’s why Hell hadn’t heard the large one coming. With the boost from the Sword of Blood, the large minotaur’s flesh didn’t have the same resistance at all, with his increased strength, he decapitated it in a mere moment and saw his copies had sliced the other one to bits as well.

“Stop!” Lirger yelled as he took up his axe. He didn’t expect such a huge boost to this small creature’s strength.

“Make us, then!” Hell yelled as Pseudo Hells gave a grim look to Lirger, hearts of both minotaurs were pulled out, their bodies no longer trying to move. Right after pulling the heart out, Hell pointed his sword at the giant who now stood up and ordered his copies to execute him. They all were to use their mana to the fullest to quickly finish him off and Pseudo Hells knew this as well.

*Minotaur of The Dimensional Labyrinth defeated*

*Minotaur of The Dimensional Labyrinth defeated*

Pseudo Hells yelled in unison: “With pleasure!” as they mentally received the order and lunged at the barely clothed barbarian in front of themselves. They were fast, their attacks were fierce but when the axe was swung in an arc in the air, it managed to cut 3 of the five copies in half. Pseudos were unfazed as they soon disappeared with smiles etched on their faces following a fireball against Lirger with their remaining mana, unfortunately barely causing him any harm. The two remaining copies attacked and both thought of impaling him in the chest when they noticed their swords were stuck on a very strong armour of sorts that seemed like scales in reality. In mere moments, Lirger was truly covered in scales and his body began grew until he was around five and a half metres with his face morphing into a more reptilian one.

“Doesn’t matter!” Pseudo Hell that was about to be grabbed by Lirger said, instead of backing off, he cast Fire Channelling that seemed to have caused quite some damage to the scaly giant even if it the weapon didn’t go completely in. Pseudo was grabbed and crushed into a paste by his hands while the second Pseudo Hell that remained was blocked by the appearance of some wings, only managing to slice off one of them during that time.

A wretched shriek from the giant brought about the assault of the vampires in the scene. Hell called the remaining copy back with a quick mental command. It was obvious he couldn’t beat him one on one, so it was better if Pseudo helped himself kill small fry. He was disgruntled to see he was still a frog in the well. This realisation slightly disturbed Hell.

“So you aren’t even strong enough to be the Queen’s bodyguard?” Hell murmured to himself as an enraged Lirger looked for the small creature that attacked him from behind before proceeding toward Hell himself.

“Hell!” he heard a voice that seemed to have echoed in his mind in the same way the System did, although the voice was vastly different from the sound he usually heard.

“Nightmare System?”

“Hell!”

“Did your voice change?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” the voice beratingly said as Hell started killing and dodging the small fries, Lirger coming his way. Hell was calmly thinking of what to do, as if the circ.u.mstances he was in of no bother to himself, albeit suffering a disadvantage.

The voice spoke once more, instructing him: “Hell, I want you to accept the mana flow you are about to receive, I am Aurus!”

“Sure,” Hell said without thinking, he realised since fire channelling hurt Lirger, his Branding could probably kill him completely in one good stab. Hell felt a surge of mana that felt as if butterflies were flying in his stomach and in his chest. It reminded him of his first kill for some reason as he disappeared from Lirger’s base and appeared in a dark room. He could barely see a thing as he looked for a door, finally opening it and realising he was, this time, indeed at his own base. The room he was in was spacious enough to be a large living room with rune markings and such seen on the walls with the light from the corridors. He went to the Fighting Grounds and saw Aurus and Porter arguing. Porter was saying he should have been more careful.

“Oh, hey, my other knights are back,” Hell Warped near them and joined the conversation immediately.

Marco was so surprised that he punched Hell right after a voice was heard behind himself, not many could sneak up on him. Of course, he apologised profusely right after. Hell was only now coming down from the thrill of the fight, so he couldn’t get away from the punch, watching it in a daze instead, especially since it was coming from Marco.

“Where did you come out from? You were definitely far, far away!” Aurus said. He was sure that Hell was at least a hundred kilometres away from this base, and he surely hadn’t appeared in his magic circle.

“From a dark room downstairs,” Hell said casually, still holding the large Sword of Blood in his hands, only dismissing it when the others’ gaze fell upon it.

“My Lord were you in that room for the last few days?” Kelly asked. Finally back, both her and Brett were far behind other vampires. They didn’t resent Hell for it, but they were feeling incredibly down considering the fact that they were left behind as much.

“What? No!” Hell laughed. “I was at the Vampire Lord Lirger’s base.”

Confusing everyone further, Hell began telling the story of what happened in the last few days, finishing up with yelling into the air, declaring: “We are attacking Lirger’s base in one week!”