-----

  “P-Please spare me, my lord! I was wrong! T-They vinced me to work for them because I had a debt with them! P-Please don’t kill me!”

  The old goblin’s neck was beiightly by Vd’s armored hands. He might be cursed, and his stats were lowered, but his armor plus his stat bonuses made him strong enough to easily crush a goblin’s neck with his bare hands.

  The bodies of the other thieves littered around the floor, their blood having been drained by Vd as he mostly drank it all, leaving their bodies as dried mummies, whily added to the horror factor.

  “I simply had no idea that such a powerful noble vampire was ing here! W-We couldn’t notice your appearah that armor c your body!”

  Vampires were most of the time nobles of great power; every citizen of the entire world of Obscuritas khis very well, and most of the time they would choose not to mess with them uhey were fools, like it happened once when Vd was assaulted while looking for blood with Camil.

  “Of course you wouldn’t have attacked me if you knew I was strong,” Vd said. “But what about all those you’ve attacked, robbed, and killed? Do you think that because it doesn’t affect me, I won’t make you pay for those people?”

  “A-A Vampire with Empathy?!” The goblin was even more shocked as he heard Vd’s words.

  Usually, vampires don’t care about the misfortune of others, not even of the citizens of their owory. As long as THEY were fine, nothing else mattered.

  That thought process was fine and on for poor people who couldn’t afford to take care of others, even more so for weaklings.

  However, vampires were powerful hat should take responsibility for their owories; despite that, their pride and selfishness made them terrible rulers!

  Therefore, the only eople kept loyalty towards them was because they were just physically strong and could, most of the time, deter threats ing from outside their cities.

  heless, criminals abuse the vampires’ indifferend pathy and care for others, easily proliferating in their cities’ darkest alleys, where the vampires would ep into.

  “Empathy? I’m simply being a responsible lord of this city,” said Vd. “It wouldn’t sit right with me to let all of you rats proliferate everywhere, worsening the pce I live. Now, Chris, he’s yours.”

  “Fine, okay~” Chris shrugged. “Time to use the true powers of an Incubus, hehe~”

  “W-What are you doing…?!” The Goblin trembled as he saw Alitheus delicate hands touch his wrinkled, greasy forehead.

  Although he felt slightly blessed to be touched by such a beautiful girl or boy, as he discovered just retly, he was still pissing himself out of fear.

  Because he khat if this boy was truly an Incubus, then that meant...

  “No, don’t do it…! Please!”

  “Heheh~ {Dream Eater}!”

  With a light chuckle, Chris activated his racial ability—the power to devour dreams themselves—and no, it didn’t matter if the person wasn’t sleeping. When they were much weaker than the user, it worked ohey were pletely subdued.

  The old goblin couldn’t fight back as Vd held him tightly, and Chris powers activated. Pink clouds ed around the goblin’s head, and then fragments of his memories and dreams started ing out.

  “So this is how it works the first time you use it?” wondered Vd.

  “Yeah,” nodded Chris. “It looks like eating dreams is part of what I should’ve been doing sihe beginning! A-Anyways, dreams are also posed of memories and hopes, so you easily scoop out things a person has done or seen through them.”

  “That’s really useful; it was a good idea then!” Vd nodded, patting Chris head.

  “Don’t pat my head while I’m busy!” Chris barked angrily, resembling a wrathful chihuahua.

  Like that, after a couple of minutes, Chris was able to devour the old goblin’s dreams and memories, leaving him with brain damage and killing him.

  Yeah, it ossible to kill someone by eating their dreams and memories, although it took a while to do so.

  “Hm, that wasn’t bad... Now let’s see... Ugh, a lot of disgusting shit,” Chris groaned. “This guy’s really degee. How this game make NPCs this wicked? Hmm, yeah, he was lying about the debt. He is a member of an underground gang; there’s like two big ohat are stantly fighting for territory here. The thugs you killed were his ckeys.”

  “I see, what else?” Vd wondered.

  “He specializes in robbing Pyers, apparently he dealt with drugs and on thievery before,” Chris said. “Over a hundred Pyers have fallen victim to him by now… Ugh, my head hurts a bit. I think that’s about it. I learned where he came from and how to get to their hideout. The pce’s full of thieves and bandits, though; they also got a boss and everything.”

  “What’s the gang’s name? Does it have one?” I asked.

  “Green Fangs,” said Chris. “They’re mostly all orcs oblins. Their boss is a strong Hobgoblin named Chuklet… I don’t know how strong he is from his perspective because this old man’s too weak on his own, but… He’s mighty.”

  “Nice,” Vd nodded. “Let’s take care of them for now; once we get there, we then gather more memories for the ang if that hobgoblin knows anything.”

  “I guess so... But you do the killing; I don’t know how you so easily kill these people. I know it’s a game and all, but I don’t want to if possible,” said Chris.

  “That’s fine,” said Vd. “Though, if the situation bees dire, you’ll have to help.”

  “Ok, ok~” Chris yawned. “Let’s go now, before I fall asleep of boredom~ Show me some a.”

  “Huh? Weren’t you afraid of bloodshed?” Vd ughed as he stored the corpses in his iory, oer another.

  “I’m not afraid of bloodshed; I just don’t want to do it myself.” Chris shrugged. “But it’s nice seeing you do it, hehe.”

  “That’s… I think you’re tradig yourself,” Vd sighed. “Are you sure you’re not just zy?”

  “Hey! Who’s iigating minds and stuff here? I’m totally useful!” said the little incubus. “Now, chop-chop, hurry!”

  “Fine…”

  The two quickly left the run-down pot before ransag it out of every single valuable they found. The first room barely had anything other than expired potions, but the sed floor and a third hidden floor underground were full of stuff they had robbed from pyers: beginner potions, armor, teleportation scrolls, and more.

  “It’s unfair how we didn’t get any of these begiems!” Chris pined.

  “Yeah, because we chose a random background and got a legendary one, apparently you don’t get much begiuff,” said Paul.

  After stealing all the goodies and ing out with 300k Credits in each of their pockets, they moved forward, quickly entering more ruffians along the way, which Vd easily took care of by cleaving them apart and draining them out of their blood until they became mummies.

  Eventually…

  “W-Who are you?! Just who the hell are you!”

  A group of ord goblins were defending the area that led to their underground hideout; there were roughly twelve of them, wearing fancy armor and ons freshly stolen from pyers.

  “My name is Vd Von Sahe seventh prince of the Iron Blood Empire!” said Paul. “Young Lord of Elderbridge. And today I’ve e to punish you, sdrels! Prepare yourselves!”

  “T-The young lord?!”

  “But wasn’t he a cripple?”

  “W-What’s going on here!”

  “Oi, and that damn girl keeps sug everyone’s dreams! Is this how they learned about our whereabouts?”

  “Succubus are rare…! Dammit! Where did he find one?!”

  The dozen fighters quickly had nothing else to do but attack Vd. on teiques, skills, and even magic spells were u him, yet his mighty armor protected him from all harm.

  CLASH! BOOM! CRASH! RUMBLE!

  He was sure there were at least a few Tiers 3 mixed in the crowd, yet they simply couldn’t even harm him; he was a walking wall.

  “pared to Vd’s brother or that dragon, these guys are really weak; they aren’t even pushing me back…” Paul thought. “Well, let’s finish this quickly!”

  “My turn.”

  With a vicious, predatory smile, the young vampire took a step forward, swinging his magic sword as he imbued it with a powerful aura of Ara, activating one of his skills in the process.

  “{Dual Bzing Bde Arts}: {One Sword Style: Burning Cleave}”

  SLAAASH!

  A sshing wave made of fire was unleashed, spreading out as Vd spun in the ground. The fmes engulfed his foes, burning through their armor as the sshing attack destroyed their ons.

  “Ugh…!”

  “Uuaaggh!”

  “F-Fire?!”

  SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

  As they agonized, Vd pressed forward, swinging his bde, cutting through their limbs while searing the wounds, leaving them all in a state of agony, barely alive.

  “Your turn.”

  “Hehehe, thanks~!”

  Chris had grown addicted to eating dreams, which actually enhahe growth of his Lust Stigma. One by ohey were all emptied out of their dreams, memories, and minds, dying from brain damage.

  “Hmm, got it,” Chris nodded, who saw these memories and dreams like little videifs in front of him. “Alright, let’s go. I know their password and where to go. The pce down there is like a damn byrinth, though. I hope you’re ready.”

  “Hah, to think they made such a thing down below, bastards…” sighed Vd. “Let’s go then.”

  After Vd took all the corpses and any items they found lingering around, which were mostly just more of the begiems these ruffians stole, they moved to a room underground.

  As they walked downstairs, it seemed as if the whole room was actually empty, but after closer iion, Vd felt something.

  By using his enhanced senses, he felt a slight flow of air and wind.

  Lifting his foot and then kig it down, he broke through the floor, revealing a small cave leading underground.

  “And there it is, told ya,” said Chris, winking at Paul.

  “I’m lucky to have such a cute assistant,” Paul ughed. “Let’s go; you guide me from behind, and I do the sying.”

  “Gotcha!” Chris nodded, flying behind Paul. “Now jump, my loyal steed!” he said while grabbing Paul’s shoulder armor.

  “I’m not your horse…”

  Although he said that, Vd jumped right into the hole at his beloved little incubus’ ands.

  As he nded o dirt floor, he gred around; there were a few torches lighting the pce barely.

  He was thankful that, as a vampire, he could see in the darkest of pces anyway, so this wasn’t a problem for him or Chris.

  [You have ehe [Green Fang Underground Hideout] Secret Dungeon!]

  [Difficulty Level: Tier 3 ~ 5]

  “That hard?!”

  “Eh?!”

  Both Paul and Chris were shocked to see the difficult level of the Dungeon! This meant that the final boss, the Hobgoblin known as Chuklet, was someo Tier 5!

  “If he’s s, why hasn’t he tried doing something more bold?” wondered Paul.

  “Well, I guess it’s because your mom’s still stronger, right?” asked Chris. “Anyways, wasn’t Vd’s brother just as strong?”

  “I don’t know if he was just as strong, but that dragon helped him a lot… Hm, well, we’re already here, so we might as well go,” Paul said. “If push es to shove… I’ll use my trump cards.”

  “Trump cards? So you got multiple ones now?” ughed Chris. “Aren’t you cool~?”

  “Stop with it; be serious for a moment; things are going to get more intense.”

  As they advanced across the byrinthine caves thanks to Chris' lead, they quickly met with bandits and thugs, who blocked their path, most of the time armed by their presence appearing out of nowhere.

  SLASH!

  “W-Who are you- UWAACK!”

  SLASH!

  “Stop that- AGH!”

  SLASH!

  “How did he get here- GYAGH!”

  There was no time to sit down aheir dreams this time; Paul mercilessly sshed them apart oer another. As many as they came, he killed them and absorbed their blood.

  Eventually, they reached a sih forward, blocked by twenty more ruffians, wearing heavy armor, holding ons, and even magids.

  “I don’t know how you got here, you bastard, but you’re not taking aep forward!”

  Faced with twenty foes at once, Paul looked… very rexed.

  “I guess this is all you offer at the end… The real threat will be the final boss.”

  “CHARGE!”

  anded by what seemed to be a red-skinned orc capable of wielding fmes, the criminals rushed forward, swinging ons, firing magic spells, and more.

  Paul rushed forward, swinging his bde owice, and thrice, this time while also wielding a sed sword made out of a Bzing Doppelganger.

  “{Dual Bzing Bde Arts}: {Two Swords Style: Three-Headed Infernal Snake}”

  By bining Geomancy with this teique, Paul was able to create illusions that carried tremendous power.

  Three sshes of his two swords turned into a giant, three-headed serpent, dev and burning through his foes. Its sharp fangs tore apart their flesh as explosions of fmes blew his foes into pieces.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Within mere seds, he was done.

  Without saying a word, he walked forward, quickly reag the end of the long corridor. A huge chamber greeted him; it was empty.

  Aside from a single person, a tall, muscur man with green skin and sharp crimson eyes was sitting over a throne sculped out of mud, with two human skulls and an orc skull on top.

  He looked like a gobli he was taller and more muscur, like an orc, wearing armor made of bck steel and with a huge axe at his left side.

  “So you’re the damn bastard making a mess on my turf?” the hobgoblin said. “Who the hell do you think you are, you filthy fug bastard?!”

  He quickly stood up, unleashing a powerful aura.

  “I’m the lord of this damn pce, and yoing out, Chuklet.” Vd smiled, revealing his face.

  The fidence of the hobgoblin quickly dropped to zero.

  “E-Eh?! A vampire?!” he screamed. “Wait, the young lord?! T-The ohat syed the orcs that invaded… and the raid bosses?!”

  “So you’re well informed,” Vd nodded. “This’ll make things quicker, then.”

  “Hahaha…! D-Don’t think that I’ll go down so easily, though!”

  While trembling in fear out of nowhere, the powerful Tier 4 Hobgoblin quickly took out from his pocket a huge bck orb.

  “Wait, he’s Tier 4? So who’s Tier 5?!” Chris panicked. “Paul!”

  “Yeah!”

  Paul rushed forward, trying to stop the hobgoblin from using that orb for whatever he nning. He swung his bdes, unleashing a storm of slig fmes.

  BOOOM!

  “Did that stop him- Ah!”

  However, as the smoke dissipated, a figure as tall as Chuklet appeared, standing in front of him. His body was almost pletely covered with bck robes, and he wore a semi-transparent bck hood over his head, revealing his barely visible blonde hair beh.

  From what little skin Paul could see, it was of a clear brown color, and he quickly realized there air of long ears at ead of their head, slightly poking out of the bck hood.

  C their face from the nose below, there was a bck veil, but Paul could see their delicate and small nose and their sharp, emerald eyes.

  Holding two bck daggers with intricate designs resembling she figure unleashed a powerful, cursed, dark aura.

  “What a bother... Did you have to call me for such a thing?” The young man talked with a surprisingly soft voice. “Don’t tell me you ’t hahese two s?”

  “I-I already paid you in advance, Shamir! Take those bastards down while I get out of here!” said the fearful hobgoblin.

  “He summoned someone else!” Chris said. “Bastard! Stop running away!”

  “Wait, Chris!” Paul ran towards Chris, barely dragging him back, before Shamir appeared in front of him.

  The assassin’s daggers moved doidly, mowing through the empty air and geing shockwaves of shadows, sending the two flying away.

  “Did you think I would let you touch him?” the young man asked. “Hmph… So a vampire man and... a succubus of some sort? First time for me fighting such foes. Don’t die too quickly, please.”

  Before Paul or Chris could react, Shamir moved at lightning speed, leaving behind a path of shadows, his two daggers moving down towards their heads.

  At the same time, Paul noticed how golden particles of sand, which were actually a type of energy he had never seen before, enpassed the assassin’s body, and then his daggers.

  “{Soul Artifact}: {Dual Shadow Serpent Daggers: Ent}”

  “Soul Artifact?!”

  Paul quickly remembered where that word came from.

  That’s the unique power that people who e from the Realm of Sand and Dunes wield!

  “That damn hobgoblin summoned someone from a whole other realm?!”

  And it just happeo be the most dangerous Realm of them all.

  The Realm of Ennead.

  CLAAASH!

  -----

  Pach