As Adui started moving down towards the lower floors, the sound of his crutches started reverberating through the whole inn, in the background he could still hear the sounds of slaughter and havoc that the Vampas were making outside, but the inn was strangely quiet, which was very strange.

There was no one staying here other than he and his party members, but since they had left the room, he didnt hear any signs of struggle, did that mean that all the mercenaries were dead?

Another thing that he couldnt understand was why the hell were these Vampas here. Based on all the attack patterns of those creatures, he figured out that the Ulaspas family was slowly making their way toward the royal capital, but then why the hell were they here?

‘Wait does this mean that those pale face bastards are here as well?’ the sheer thought of them being here sent a chill down his spine. But then he realized that the pale bastards couldnt be here, it would have made more sense for them to attack a big city rather than a small village like this, considering the number of mouths they have to feed, it didnt make sense that they attack a small place like this.

‘Does this mean that these Vampas… They dont belong to the herd of Ulaspas family? Man, if this is true then we are in deep shit.’ He thought…

At first, he felt bad that he knocked down Diane and Julia, but as they got to the streets he reassured himself that it was a pretty good decision. As soon as they opened the main door of the inn, the breeze brought the smell of fresh blood, they were also greeted with the half-eaten face of the innkeeper.

While the street on the other hand was littered with body parts, entrails, and blood. It was ver gruseome sight.

UGH

He turned around to see that Clair was about to hurl her stomach out, he immediately put his hand on her mouth. “Dont do it. The smell of your vomit could make the creatures attack us.” She nodded. He didnt know how she was able to control her vomit, he didnt know whether the vomit would have garnered the attention of the creatures, but it was better to be safe than be sorry later.

As they moved through the red streets of the village, the monster left them be, it was like they could even sense them, which was perfect for them. According to the books, these creatures were not violent towards the Rose Blooded, the book didnt mention what that meant, but it did mention that the black liquid that he found in the vial turned its drinker in Rose Blooded.

Despite them being Rose Blooded, he had to take several precautions for the Vampas, the reason being the other warning left in the books. According to it, the creatures may attack the weaker member of its pack or the weaker Rose-blooded beings, depending on their mood or the smell coming from the person before them.

To make sure that these creatures wouldn't attack them, he made Clair and the girls drink the potion that changed their body odor, it was a smell remedy used when hunting down blood vultures to tend to eat the corpses as their main meal.

As the book mentioned that these creatures didnt show any interest in the corpse of deceased beings or creatures, he figured that with a such potion, he could avert the interest of Vampas if he ever came across them, though as this was not a tested theory, but in such situation he the best protection that he could provide from these creatures…

Eventually, they were able to make it to the outskirts of the village, without any incidents. He looked back to ensure no creature was following them, and there was none.

“Are we safe now?” he looked at Clair, she was a mess, her whole body was covered in sweat, the current situation had been very stressful for her. Also, her girls individually don't weigh much, but combined they were a tad bit heavy. There was a subtle hint of tears on her cheeks, combined with her red eyes, he figured that she had been sobbing quietly.

“I think so.” He nodded. “I think we are safe… for now. But we cannot be sure, so let's keep moving.”

He then once again started walking, truth be told, he knew that they wouldn't be safe until the rays of the sun were finally upon them. It was truly funny according to him, the Vampas, the so-called terrifying creature didnt have weaknesses, they could regenerate at very high speed, they were agile, packs a punch. But, despite their strength, they are very weak to sunlight. The direct ray of sunlight burns their skin and the wound left behind does not heal immediately. According to the books, this was one of the major flaws in the creature.

Franc didnt experiment on the creatures enough to understand the reason for this flaw, but while working with this flaw, he did find something that could be used as a weapon, a substance that could harm these creatures even during the night time…

As they reached outside the village, he finally decided to rest a little bit, he had gotten weaker significantly since the accident, and he could not go any further without resting a little bit, and it seemed to him that Clair could also use some rest.

By an abandoned hut, both of them sat down on a pile of logs, trying to catch their breath. He saw that Clair still had her arms tightly wrapped around her daughters. “You can put them down, rest a little bit.”

She shook her head. “No. What if those creatures suddenly attacked?” He put his hand on her shoulder and reassured her. “You are safe now Clair, and so are your daughters. Put them down, and rest a little. You would need it.”

Although she was reluctant, eventually she put both of them down and made them lie down by her sides.

“Adui.” He looked at her.

“I am scared.”

“So am I.”

“Those men…” tears started flowing down her cheeks. “They died protecting us. Even though they didnt need to.”

“That they did. But no one could have foreseen what happened today.’

She finally started sobbing, he wanted to reassure her in some way, but words eluded him, he didnt know what to do in such a situation. After she had cried her heart out, she once again turned to him. “What will we do now?”

“I have no idea.” Truly he had no idea. Vampas were such a ruthless monster that they wouldn't even leave any animal behind, Which meant their horses were gone, so it was safe to assume that they could be stuck there for a long time.

While he was struggling to come up with a plan about what he should do, something garnered his attention, he started hearing something. He looked around, he could see or feel anything out of the normal. But it is then the sound started becoming louder…

BAM BAM BAM BAM

Clair also got up with her daughter in her hands, she also heard the sound, and both of them started looking around, trying to figure out what was going on.

“ADUI!” they looked towards their right, and it is then they saw old Ben running towards them. Both of them became happy when they saw the old man, they forgot about their worries and put a smile on their faces, they were very happy to see that the old man But then the old man stopped in his tracks.

“ADUI! LOOK BEHIND YOU!” The words of the old man sent chills down his spine, he tilted his head and glanced, there was a Vampas not too far away from them, and this one was very different from the ones they found back in the village.

This particular Vampas was big, way big, from what he saw, he estimated it to be about around 15 feet high, the monstrosity stood tall before them, its gills flapping wildly, trying to analyze their scents. He figured that this one would leave them alone as well, after all, everyone else did, he had no reason to believe that this one would be different.

Slowly he turned around and pushed Clair and the girls behind, as a precaution, he moved them as slowly as he could, trying not to anger the monster in front of him. When the monster took a step back, he sighed inwardly, he figured that the monster was about to go back, but it is then the monster started behaving strangely…

It took a step back, leaned its head down, and started showing them its teeth, it started snarling and growling at them, making both of them very tense. “Start moving back, very slowly. No sudden movements.” He whispered, and with that Clair started moving back.

He immediately took out a small silvery-white strip of metal, the only weapon that could possibly harm a Vampas, but he rather not use it, he knew that if he were to use the weapon against this one, this could probably escalate the situation further, and make the creature before them more aggressive, and he didnt want that.

Since the accident, his magical power had weakened, and even if he were in his peak form, he was not sure that he could even kill the creature before him, it was simply too big for him to do any harm to this one…

He started hearing soft steps of Clair, she was carefully moving slowly, while the creature on the other hand started growling rather loudly, it started stomping his foot to the ground, scratching the ground as if it was about to charge.

At one point, abruptly the creature did charge, only to stop after a few steps, but it was enough to startle Clair, she immediately started running towards Ben, away from the creature, while he stood in the place, ready to use the weapon.

He was very sure that the creature would make its move on Clair, but to his surprise, the creature didn't for her, nor did it charge further, it instead started concentrating on him.

‘It is not attacking me. That means either it is messing with me, or… it is afraid of me? No. That is a stupid assumption. But why the hell is this one targeting me? The creatures from the village didnt seem to mind me, so why does this one after me?’

There were many questions going on in his head, but none could answer the current situation that he was in. He started concentrating on why the creature was being hostile to them, he knew from the size of the thing that it was a big boy, it wouldn't surely be interested in small souls like them, right?

‘Wait, is it targeting me because I am an awakened one? No, that shouldn't be it. The creatures from the village would have attacked me as well, if that was indeed the case, then what is it?’

Before he could come to any conclusion, the creature charged at him…