When I received the message from the Blood Eye, I put down what I was doing and looked through its eyes once more. This was not the first time I have been notified by my Blood Eye. I have set the Blood Eye to check for all that has changed in the area, so I almost feel like I know more of this area than the people living around here.

  This time was different. When I checked the changes that the Blood Eye notified me of, I noticed slight changes in shadow that I didn't know before. When I took a closer look and compared the traces, I knew that we hit the jackpot.

  I hurriedly called Lu over as we watched with bated breath as the Shadow Hunter slowly crawled over to the Dark Spot. The two of us watched with bated breath as the Shadow Hunter slowly examined the area around the Dark Spot. Thankfully, Lu had pce the talismans of stealth around the ambush site so it would be fooled.

  We watched as it finally reached the vicinity of the barrier formation when it suddenly stopped. I could feel my heart skip a beat. Did it find any clues in our arrangements? Was it going to run and ruin this opportunity to hunt it?

  Thankfully, the Shadow Hunter was just wary and in the end still fell into our trap. When it fully stepped into the formation's area, Lu immediately activated the formation and successfully blocked the Hunter within. The moment the Shadow Hunter felt the change, it immediately dash forward and turned backwards, then seemingly uncontrolbly, its head turned right to my fully prepared domain. Although slightly apprehensive, when Lu suddenly made noises behind it, it made up its mind and made the worst decision possible for a being like it.

  It made a dash for my domain while Lu kept on scaring it forward. With something chasing it from behind, it can't help but run away from its perceived danger.

  When it successfully entered the range of my domain fully, I immediately had the spatial blockade activated and have finally blocked it where I need it. While it was in a daze, I started casting my Blood Drain spell as I also secretly paid attention to its movements. After a moment of surprise, it immediately tried to run back where it came from. Right when it reached the edge of my domain it bumped right into my spatial blockade.

  After trying to no avail, it quickly ran along the edge of the formation. I quickly clicked my tongue at the situation. If I knew it would circle the barrier stupidly like this, I would not have bothered putting the trigger traps in a cluster hidden from direct entry. Now, if the Hunter attacked from almost any other angle, it would be able to spot the trap in time to dodge. Although I knew the pn was likely a bust, the current situation was not a horrible scenario for me. In fact, it was quite advantageous for me.

  The goal of setting all of these traps was to interrupt the Shadow Hunter if it decided to kill me directly. Since it was encircling the barrier to find an opening, I could use this extra time to cast the Blood Drain spell and I might not even need my traps at this point. About 5 seconds into the sppellcasting, the Hunter had reached the halfway point and was still trying to find an opening along the edge of the barrier.

  Finally, at the 9 second mark, the Shadow Hunter likely found its own scent since it stopped to sniff. It then turned its aim towards me and dashed at me. Thankfully, I have been turning around area with the trigger trap always between me and the Shadow Hunter so the Shadow Hunter was barreling straight into the trap.

  Before then, one of the automatic traps had been set off by the Hunter while it was making a mad dash towards me. This forced it out of its shadow mode and a skeleton summon was already primed and ready with an arrow nocked on the ready. The arrow was fired and it successfully hit the rabbit.

  In order to not damage it's fur, I had already given the archers blunt arrows that would only serve to distract the Shadow Hunter rather than actually harm it.

  These blunt arrows were some of the failed creations when I first was starting the golems back when we first started the main base. Since it was my first time making and using all of those magic technologies, I was excited and started them all before setting all of the precautions and calibrations. This lead to the golems products to all be misshaped including making some blunt arrows. I guess the good part was that these arrows actually found a use to distract the Shadow Hunter.

  By now, about 8 seconds have passed and the Shadow Hunter is still a while away from me. The rabbit decided to ignore the ambushing skeleton and rush straight to me. After skipping past the next trap I had set, it ran into the next one and was hit with another arrow. This process continued until the ten second mark where the Shadow Hunter went in range of the trigger trap I had set.

  Due to the nature of the trap, I had been secretly making sure that the trap was between me and the Shadow Hunter. Now that extra step was finally going to be in use. Once the Shadow Hunter was a step away from the bst radius, I had the trap triggered.

  When the trap was triggered, the Shadow Hunter had its whole body in the shadows so the bst only got it out of the shadows and did not destroy its body. But, this was just enough time for me. When the twelfth moment struck, I could hear a ringing of a grandfather clock.

  I could feel a cold sensation crawling up my spine, an aiming symbol appeared in the center of my sight. I locked onto the Shade Hunter in front of me and I could feel tendrils with a needle at the end. Behind me, the figure of an unknown existence revealed itself.

  In the sight of the Shadow Hunter, streams of tendrils with needles at their end rushed forth and pierced into it. Rather than physical needles that would harm the Hunter's material, these tendrils were all formed by an unknown existence. No matter what it was, the Hunter felt the skin on the surface being pierced and a draining sensation came out of it.

  It then screamed and a shockwave of shadow energy rushed out with its voice. I knew that it was only a matter of time till victory, and so I quickly casted my blood barrier.

  Unlike during the Little Blood Cup, I now have long had an absolute level of magic proficiency that comprehensively surpasses my former level.

  Celine: Blood Magic - Blood Barrier

  Without a need for a chant, and even before I finished chanting its name, my blood barrier had already encircled my body. The shockwave from its scream only bounced off the barrier as I began summoning my weapons onto me.

  Since I needed to maintain the Trigger traps, I could not have them already in my hands. But now, I summoned my blood sword as I took my Ruby sword out of my storage bag.

  I just want to dey time till the Shadow Hunter can't fight anymore, my summons won't be that effective with the exception of the swordsman. Even so, I still want to fight and dey it head on since I haven't really even fought ever since I grew to the Silver level. I mean, there were not that many Bronze level beasts or people in this pne to begin with. A pce like the monster valley that I had cleared out is an exception based on both generations of time with a favorable environment.

  So, having an opportunity to fight that is not the final battle to conquer the pne would be a difficult challenge. Even then, by the time this conquest is completed, I would have likely far outstripped the natives in this pne in combat effectiveness.

  As I was thinking this, the Shadow Hunter took the opportunity to unch themselves at me to which I responded with deflecting the blow away with my ruby sword. While I was deflecting the blow, the rabbit was able to gnce a blow upon my Blood barrier which made a clear scratch in my barrier.

  There is indeed a good reason why Shadow Hunter materials are so sought after. Since I saw that the attacks of the Shadow Hunter would not be that easy to block, I quickly used the force from deflecting the blow to jump back a little. Although this will give the rabbit an opportunity to sneak into the shadows, as long as I can keep an eye out for the shadows closest to me as well as perceiving through my domain, I should be mostly safe.

  We then cshed a few times, each time the hunter was able to sneak through the shadows to strike at me. My Blood Barrier would be constantly torn and recovered as we fought. Soon, I could feel the strength and speed of the Shadow Hunter start to slow down. Along with it was the what I could see as the final embers of the rabbit as we fought. Although the match was quite short and my various methods were dishonorable, the rabbit sure was able to put up a fight.

  It was just when I was beginning to rex that the rabbit made its final counterattack. While it id tired, it suddenly thrust forward with a momentum that it did not show before. Before I could react, the rabbit rushed right into my barrier and pierced it head on. With deft skill, it quickly expanded the crack and slipped into the barrier before I could react and block it. It then rushed over to my neck and pierced forward.

  Unfortunately for it, with a sudden burst of energy from my body, I quickly repelled the potentially fatal blow. Well, fatal if I were a human that is. Even if I was able to repel it, I felt I trickle of blood flow from my neck. Before it could pour further, my body's natural regeneration took pce and I wasn't even left with a scar in the end. Even if the horn were to pierce through me it wouldn't matter in the end.

  Humans may consider their neck as a weak point, but for a predominantly magic based race like vampires, the brain is not nearly as critical as the inner Blood Core or Spirit of the owner. And, with the natural blood manipution capabilities natural to the vampire race it wouldn't matter anyways.

  Although I say this, I was still careless and made a mistake on this almost perfect hunt of this Shadow Hunter. If it were before I reached this level, I would have likely paid attention and been able to block that blow. I guess this growth of mine has lead to me becoming careless. If it wasn't an unintelligent beast, but an intelligent race like humans hunting me, I could have died if I was sneak attack like this.

  A moment of contemption and a resolve to not make such a mistake again grew in my heart. I was only able to hunt this beast due to my level advantage and preparations. If it was a Silver level beast, I would have likely had several holes in me. As I was thinking like that, the tendrils from the Blood Drain spell had pulled out of the rabbit and caused it to plop powerlessly to the ground.

  I went up to it and took out a prepared box to store the corpse. Since the corpse is so valuable, I got a nice looking box to put it in to store it in while pcing it in my storage space. As I did this, I summoned my skeleton swordsman to my side and no longer put my energy into maintaining the whole domain of mine.

  Lu went up and gave me a reassuring pat on my shoulder.

  Lu: You did wonderfully, miss. Don't be too hard on yourself with just one mistake. It is a good thing that you only made such a mistake in such a controlble environment isn't it?

  I silently gave a nod as I went to clean up the whole battlefield. The Shadow Hunter did not trigger every trap so I went to disarm them to prevent any accidents for any random vilger who would accidentally stumble upon them in the future. Lu also went to recycle her materials and we hurried back to camp before night.

  Before finally washing up and sleeping, I summoned my Blood Eye to keep an eye on my surroundings and to warn me and Lu when anything unexpected happens. I then fell asleep soon after ying on my bed.

  In my dreams I could feel sticky and bloody sensation flowing all over my body. In this dream, I felt I could hear voices coming from the Blood I was bathed in. At first it was the unintelligible roars of beasts, but soon it became more and more legible till I was able to understand it.

  ???: Why did you do this... [_______]? Why did you...

  ???: You know that it was the only way, [________]. Only by doing this can we transcend eternity.

  ???: But, the price... Haven't you already paid enough for this world?

  ???: You already know what I will say... Farewell old friend.

  ???: ... I will follow you to the depths of the Abyss to find you. You know this.

  I could only hear silence before a sudden dragging sound simir to that of chains on a concrete floor echoed.

  ???: This! The Colpsing Heart Chains! Did you?!

  ???: Farewell, my only remaining friend. May we be able to meet again under new circumstances in a new world and may you be able to find her in the end.

  ???: No, [_______]!

  Then a sound like shattered gss echoed through my dream and shook me awake. I gasped as I awoke as I suddenly felt a message in my mind.

  I looked out the base here and saw that it was in the early parts of the morning. After sensing the message, I immediately woke up and quietly woke Lu up and took the both of us up into the trees while quickly hiding the traces of the base physically. Although there are spells to hide the base, I found that my Bloody Eye had warned me of humanoid presences in the vicinity.

  Since they are humanoid, they could have means of magic based detection. Thankfully, while I was facing the Shadow Hunter and going back to base, Lu had already hid our traces.

  I then went and took the both of us to the treetops to look at these new intruders. After a while I could see a group heading over in the distance.

  Once they came closer, I could notice the obvious features on them. Gray hair and red eyes. Symbols of vampires here on this pne. There were three vampires as well as what looked like a dark elf and a robed figure in the back. After seeing them, I knew that hiding our traces physically would be the right choice.

  Lu and I stood still as we watched the group of five pass by. While we were here, I heard the conversation below while staying quiet.

  Vampire A: So, we are here to find that ruin right?

  Vampire B: Yeah, according to the reports, the ruins is located within the dark element area inside of the forest here.

  Vampire A: I heard there is a dangerous beast swarming around here. Are you sure we can escape from it if we meet it?

  Vampire C: You have asked a hundred times. We already prepared for that scenario haven't we? with this guy.

  The vampire I arbitrarily named as Vampire C pats the cloaked figure who trembles on contact.

  Vampire C: We only agreed to come here when we knew that we could get our hands on a beast whisperer. A so called Cursed tongue right?

  The three others nodded and ughed sinisterly. The Dark elf then lead them all the way over to the Dark Spot where we had already cleaned all of our traces.

  After a while, we made sure that they were gone before heading down to discuss what we had just overheard.

  Celine: Did you hear all of that?

  Lu: Yeah. I checked in our communicators and I was able to find what they were talking about when they mentioned a Beast Whisperer.

  She then points to an article on the communicator on this very subject. Although they are called Beast Whisperers here, in my old world they would just be people who can speak to animals. Except, the ones in this world are cursed to only be able to speak to animals. Although they can listen to and understand the common nguage, they are cursed to never be able to speak it.

  This trait also gives them the nickname of the Cursed Tongue.

  According to the page, these guys are quite rare and are valuable in adventures where you meet intelligent beasts. Although, this pn would not work on a Shadow Hunter and if we arrived ter, they would have likely been sughtered by the Shadow Hunter in a confrontation.

  Although my ambush strategy may not have shown its full potential in action, the beast is still one of the more feared creatures in many different worlds. They would have been seriously skewered should they have invaded and only relied on a Beast whisperer to get by.

  From what I could tell, even the strongest fellow in that group was only in the early to middle parts of the Bronze level. I guess they only heard stories of the Shadow Hunter for them to be this unprepared.

  Although they do not interest me themselves, what they were talking about does. When you hear the word ruins, you picture a whole run-down area with a rich history and treasures. Although exploring ruins won't always be so rewarding, the allure of an opportunity is what truly allures people in.

  In between pnes, there is said to be ruins and treasure from various fallen civilizations and pnes that are even once one a while. Those ruins are a whole different level from simple ruins on a pnet like this.

  Since it is my first time finding one of these, should I explore it? Judging on how carefree and unprepared the group exploring it is, either this ruin is a negligible thing, or they are just the first cannon fodder. I can't completely negate the idea that this is a trap for me. I don't have the combat experience or the accumution that the Silver levels on this pne have.

  Although I absolutely have the advantage in the long run, I still have to be careful should I encounter them now. I don't want to miss this opportunity, though.

  Lu: Then why don't you send your Bloody Eye after them?

  Lu did make a good point, it is just that after the Shadow Hunter actually nded a blow on me, I am still feeling a little insecure about my own security. She just gave a sigh in response and summoned a paper origami warrior.

  When I gnced over and asked what she was doing, she took out a camera like device and a screen from her storage device.

  Lu: There are always more solutions than there are problems. Have you forgotten all that your mother had prepared for you?

  I gave a shy chuckle in response as she sighed. Maybe she thinks my brain regressed ever since I reached the Silver level? I paid her sigh no heed. If I fuss over small things like this, then I feel like that kind of environment would be too stifling for me and Lu. I then took a look again through my storage device and marveled at all of the items prepared inside.

  Once again, I am reminded that my Mom's Blood Technique is about item crafting and the like. Judging from everything's quality, it was indeed probably all made by my mom.

  Showing a happy expression, I then turn to Lu who had already prepared a projector for me to get an enhanced view of the situation. Due to Lu's purpose of being an all around assistant for me, her training pn has been all about stealth, speed and versatility to complement me and my pure combat power. So, she had developed her origami warriors to be stealth assassin and reconnaissance type shikigami instead of warriors. Since I can fight head on for myself, she needs to search for other paths to take that do not conflict with mine.

  Seeing the origami soldiers skillfully maneuvering through the forest on their own, I am reminded that although I have improved faster, Lu is still improving at an impressive rate.

  I remember back when we first started reconnaissance in that first vilge we encountered, Rot Weed was it? Her Origami were not this adept at exploring. I remember back when I decided to choose her. She had been in the cell for a little while, and has been able to transition to her own role so quickly.

  We then watched the vampire group going through the forest and finally reaching the Dark Spot. Thankfully, the camera that Lu had also had a listening device to easily listen in on conversations.

  Vampire A: This should be it, there wasn't anything blocking us up till now.

  Vampire B: It doesn't matter. We are her to explore the pce for the boss. According to him, these ruins belonged to a group known as the Followers. Apparently they are the predecessor group to the Church of Light.

  Dark Elf: Interesting... Haven't those darn church folk always gone after us while mocking us on the high ground? Look, they can't even keep their ancestor's relics. Maybe next time we meet, I'll show them one of these and have a ugh at them.

  Vampire C turned around and spoke a little fearfully.

  Vampire C: If we met the shadow beast halfway, it would be fine, but it hasn't appeared in front of us yet. What if it ambushes us when our guard is down or when we are more injured?

  Vampire B rolls his eyes and sps Vampire C on the back.

  Vampire B: Nonsense! You can't expect a beast to actually think like the Church does. And even if it does, we just have to teach it a lesson it won't forget.

  He then punches the air a few times before ughing.

  Soon the group reached into the center of the Dark Spot. There they look around for a specific spot in the area.

  Vampire A: If I remember correctly, it was between the forked tree and the stone monument. There it is!

  The Vampire then waves his companions over and they mull over the area.

  Vampire B: Forked tree and a stone structure. Indeed, now let's find the right area.

  They then go ahead and dig around before Vampire C remembers and pats his forehead.

  Vampire C: Hey cursed tongue, get over here.

  The cloaked figure then hurries over and is directed to start digging until they find a spot of soil that feels different from the others. The others all then rex and start chatting among themselves.

  After a while, the group gets impatient and start berating the cloaked figure before they finally respond and points to a certain are.

  Vampire C: Finally, I was getting tired of waiting.

  The others snicker and he pushes the Beast whisperer to the side, revealing the figure under the cloak.

  A head of green hair and fur growing along the side of her face. On the side of her face, there are furry ear like protrusions that droop down the sides and a rge metal comma on her neck.

  I gave her two gnces before focusing on the group again.

  They took out a piece of parchment that depicted a certain magic circle. They then began clearing the area and pcing various materials on certain parts of the ground. The Dark elf then goes ahead and paints a certain pattern on the ground with a grayish purple paint. After a while, she completes the circle and then looks at the parchment again. She then motions the vampires outside of the circle and a distance away before she begins her chant.

  After some time, she finishes her chant and the formation that they had pced began to shine with a white glow. Soon, this white light spread and covered the area and revealed a ruin that lead underground. After the group of four looked at each other and nodded, they immediately ran into the ruins to quickly search for valuables.

  The Beast Whisperer was left unattended for at the entrance. Lu then let her origami soldiers sneak in after them and begin mapping the ruin from the inside.

  Because there was only one camera, I merely checked what was going on for them while Lu went and mapped out the map for the ruins. Due to the size and stealth of the origami figures, they were easily hidden in the mostly dark environment inside the ruins. Although the various dark races all have dark vision, they did not check behind them clear enough to find these little guys following them.

  Soon, the floor was completely mapped to and we were able to find the stairs downward. With the origami soldiers leading the way, we were able to get a clear sense of what was going on inside of these ruins.

  Like the group said, the ruins had a bunch of relics that are retable to the current church aboveground. From symbols to simir texts to their doctrines, I can definitely see the resembnce between the church and these people.

  After some digging around, we were able to find some pretty interesting stuff hidden in here. In the ruins here, the origami soldiers were able to find some important information in a hidden safe in a hidden area of one of the rooms. In it, there was a diary of a very important member of this civilization. They were a member of a group known as the Speakers. Although there is nothing around that talks of them, the way they write and the information in this diary seems to suggest that this position is quiet important for this civilization.

  Inside of the diary, I saw a record on the highest strength of the Followers. According to this diary, the strongest level known to them is a level known as the apocalypse level. In the diary, there are notes on how destructive and powerful these people are. After some calcutions, I found that this apocalypse level is simply what this civilization knows as the Silver level.

  With some more in depth reading, I was able to learn more about the Followers. For example, they have a special magic method to allow the leader of the force to reach the Silver level even if they themselves do not. have the talent or the ability. Other potential Silver threats are either someone really talented or a device mentioned in the library that can reach Silver level in outburst.

  Knowing all of this helped me gain a certain level of understanding of the potential strength of this Church that I haven't encountered yet.

  At the very least, the Pope of the church has the combat power of a Silver level. Next, there is probably something like a puppet that can also exert its own Silver level combat strength. Finally, I will need to see how the Church reacts when poked and prodded to see if they have a third one hidden somewhere.

  Only by testing for myself can this sort of thing be confirmed.

  In the map that the origami soldiers were mapping, the location of the group was all recorded. After getting more information from the soldiers, we were able to piece together what kind of situation that this group known as the Followers was. In many of the descriptions here, there ys this underlying respect and adoration to a figure that the Followers followed. It was a spiritual leader of sorts.

  In these records, I was able to see more of the history and feats of this leader. Lu and I began skimming through all of this exaggerated content in order to put together what was exactly true about this leader. After some time, we were able to confirm a few things for certain.

  Most of these records mention being taught various things about how to improve your strength by the Leader. They were also stated on multiple statements being able to save the dying with a silver flowing liquid.

  Although I can't piece together what exactly they are talking about, since there was no explicit record about strength or destructive power, we can confirm they were more likely known for their erudition than strength.

  They also mention about how they taught the original apocalypse level and how this first one respected this teacher of theirs. At the very least, this figure has the knowledge reaching the Silver level.

  Other than that, the rest of the information we could find of this mysterious teacher figure is all absolutely fabricated information. As I expected, the information given only really helps to paint a picture of how the Church came to dominate half of the pne. The only most important piece of information is that there could possibly be up to three Silver level combat powers in the Church.

  I sighed as I began to put my focus back on the group of explorers for the rest of the day.