Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 10: Hello There

Duke Dran instantly understood he had been beheaded. He did not even sense the kafu's presence beforehand, and only now did a sonic boom erupt in his ears as the sound finally caught up.

Duke Dran was not overly worried, however. Unlike the weakened Duke Balthazar, he was full of blood energy. He instantly summoned his bats to surround and melt the kafu to a pile of goo! The wasted blood was a pity, but Duke Dran would not permit such a dangerous enemy a tiny chance.

Unfortunately, contrary to expectations, the blood bats advanced like snails on glue.

Duke Dran's eyes widened in fear as the kafu turned and issued a lackadaisical smile. "You!"

"Sleep." Sonic nonchalantly crushed the duke's skull, and then incinerated it for good measure. "Ugh." Sonic groaned as he brushed a trickle of blood from his nose. "It's still tiring to use it for so long." He then took out some potions and knelt down in front of Storm. "You did well to hang in there. We underestimated the floor's difficulty."

Storm gratefully accepted and then drank the numerous detoxifying and healing potions. Only then did she have enough energy to open her menu and swap out her equipment. As she got changed, she looked at Sonic with guilt in her eyes. "Sonic. Crow, he—"

"He probably sacrificed himself to save you, right?" Sonic sighed as he thought of the annoying assassin. By now he was probably cursing in his room while waiting out the thirty-minute death penalty.

"Mm." Storm nodded. Most girls in their guild didn't like Crow because he was often crass and wildly inappropriate. The only reason they hadn't kicked him out was because he never crossed the line and touched anyone, but Crow's personality made most people avoid him like the plague.

However, only Storm, and to an extent, Sonic, knew that the edgelord personality Crow exuded was a shell he created to mask his many deeply-buried insecurities.

"Heh. Thought as much." Sonic sighed as he chewed on a thistle. This was not the first time Crow did something drastic to protect his team. Even a blind man could see he was just a child desperately seeking approval. "Seems like I owe him again."

Sonic then helped Storm to her feet. "We need to get back. I already sent a message, ordering everyone to retreat to the starting area. We need to wipe out the vampires together."

Storm nodded. Indeed, things would go much smoother if she had damage dealers supporting her.

After checking once again to ensure Storm was truly alright, they returned through their channel, headed for the entrance. Similar scenes played out in the nearby channels as both Nature's Vanguard and Silver Spear's forces retreated after facing the empowered vampires.

One channel was different, however. It seemed like a forest of vines had appeared out of nowhere. Several red buds bloomed on these vines, filling the channel with an eerie beauty. Even stranger, however, was that there were no signs of life throughout the channel. Not even corpses remained.

It was no different in the final platform where pieces of a broken dungeon core laid on the ground. A single tree with red leaves stood at the center of the platform, it's branches pulsating like a beating heart.

A smiling Brilith walked out of the channel just as Sonic shot out with Storm. She took a look at the kafu, and instantly knew he had also figured out the floor's hidden dangers. Shortly afterward, both guildmembers ran out of their channels wearing ugly expressions. Unlike Sonic and Zuri, they slaughtered the demons while passing through the channels, gifting the vampires enormous power and endless vitality.

Fortunately, Briltih and Sonic's warning came before they encountered the vampires, so they avoided an unfair fight.

However, who said the rejuvenated vampires would just let things go? They needed to slaughter ALL life on the floor to regain their freedom. Also, they could not risk the invaders grouping up before returning to attack them individually. So, the vampires rapidly destroyed the surviving demons and chased after the escaping warriors.