Aren immediately ran into the cave.
She had not even thought about what might be inside.
Her only priority was getting out of the rain.
The inside of the cave she entered was bright, lit by flames hanging from the walls.
Was it because of the rain?
The walls and ceiling, and even the stone floor, were soaked with moisture.
Aren pressed strength into her feet so she would not slip and slowly moved forward.
Fortunately, the weight of the large sword wrapped in her arms was helping to steady her.
The inside of the cave was quiet.
Only the occasional sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling broke the silence.
“Uuu… I’m not scared.”
Aren felt a little afraid, but she bravely sang as she walked forward.
“Tasty friends—come gather here—”
She had no idea what rhythm it was supposed to be, but singing definitely made Aren feel better.
How long had she walked?
Before long, three branching paths appeared.
“There are three roads?”
She had never imagined a path like this would appear.
“Which way should I go?”
After thinking it over, Aren took a squirrel out of her pocket and set it down.
It was one of the friends she had made so she would not feel lonely on her journey.
The squirrel was startled the moment it touched the ground and ran away.
Aren looked at the path the squirrel had taken.
It was the path farthest to the right among the three.
“Squirrel Friend went that way, so it must be right!”
Aren clenched her fist and began following in the direction the squirrel had gone.
After walking a little farther, a wide field soon appeared.
“Wow!”
Aren gazed at the field in admiration.
Though there was no sunlight, many kinds of flowers were blooming all across the field.
They looked as though they were tempting any being who entered this place, but Aren’s gaze went elsewhere.
“Ah, Squirrel Friend…”
The squirrel had collapsed on the grass covering the ground.
It was the squirrel Aren had released just a moment ago.
Countless butterflies had flown down over it and were sucking the squirrel’s bodily fluids.
The butterflies’ true identity was bloodsucking butterflies—monsters.
Aren looked at them and nodded.
“Butterfly Friends like Squirrel Friend too?”
Hehe.
Aren smiled and approached the bloodsucking butterflies.
Then one of the bloodsucking butterflies came over and stabbed its proboscis into Aren’s arm.
Seeing that, Aren shouted.
“Friends really are the best!”
Aren opened her mouth toward the bloodsucking butterfly sucking her blood and swallowed it in one bite.
Each time she chewed, the butterfly burst, and blood flowed out.
Gulp.
“Butterfly Friend is an important friend of Aren’s from now on!”
Aren liked the bloodsucking butterfly.
As she was busy watching the butterflies fluttering about, something caught Aren’s eye.
In the corner, several enormous spiders were watching Aren with their eyes gleaming.
“Uuu.”
The spiders were larger than Aren.
Their many legs were covered in thick hair, and their fangs were moving.
“They’re not friends…”
Just as Aren drooped and slowly tried to step backward.
“Oh my, what a pretty little lady has come to visit. Have you perhaps lost your way?”
Someone spoke from across the way.
Aren turned her head away from the spiders and looked toward the source of the voice.
There stood someone.
It was Celia, the lieutenant who managed this dungeon.
“A pretty big sister!”
For Aren, who had just seen something she wished she hadn’t, the current situation was extremely welcome.
Even in Aren’s eyes, Celia in front of her was very beautiful.
On top of that, the luxurious red dress she wore made her stand out all the more.
Aren immediately ran to Celia, her savior.
“Pretty big sister is Aren’s friend!”
And then she burrowed into her arms.
“Young lady, you have a good eye, don’t you?”
Celia smiled pleasantly and patted Aren’s back a few times.
Then she met Aren’s eyes and opened her mouth.
“And what brings our little lady all the way here? Carrying such a precious sword in your arms, no less.”
Celia had realized that the sword Aren was holding was no ordinary sword.
‘It must be a demonic sword.’
It was said that demonic swords granted power to the users who drew them.
However, the price paid for using that power led to miserable results.
That was why, if possible, drawing a demonic sword was something to be avoided.
That was the kind of object a demonic sword was.
But where could this vampire girl be headed while carrying such a dangerous thing?
Celia grew curious.
She wanted to draw out information—what had happened, and how the girl had ended up here.
‘Master always said so.’
Prioritize information.
Information was power that could bring down an opponent.
Celia would obey her master’s command and conquer this world.
“If you have nowhere to go for a while, how about resting here before you leave?”
Celia smiled beautifully and took Aren’s hand.
“Yes!”
Aren cried out energetically to Celia.
Since it was raining heavily and she did not know how to get to the Demon Realm, the current situation was extremely welcome to Aren.
“Then I will guide you this way.”
Celia gently held Aren’s hand and began walking.
They walked into a passage on the opposite side, different from the entrance Aren had come through.
This dungeon was incredibly large and fascinating.
Finding it marvelous, Aren looked around as she walked, turning her head this way and that.
Then they arrived at a place with a large lake.
There were all sorts of living creatures by the lakeside.
Goblins were filling buckets with lake water, and nearby, a skeleton was soaking itself.
It was a peaceful space.
“Wow…”
Aren exclaimed and headed toward the lakeside.
The moment she put her hand into the water to drink.
A monster leapt out from the water.
“You are not permitted here.”
A snake-shaped monster appeared, thrusting out the tip of a spear.
“A long friend! But it’s a little different…?”
It was a snake-shaped monster, but its upper body had arms.
It was even gripping an enormous spear in one hand.
It was a Naga.
“It’s all right. She is a guest I invited.”
Celia told the Naga it was fine.
“As Lady Celia wills.”
The Naga bowed its head to Celia and went back into the water.
Everything was mysterious to Aren.
Unlike the dungeon where only vampires had lived, this was the first time she had seen a dungeon with so many different beings.
Aren’s eyes sparkled brightly.
Perhaps it would be better to live here than to go to the Demon Realm.
The thought even crossed her mind for an instant.
“All of this was created by our great master.”
Turning the two-way path into three, and even creating this space with such a large lake, were all the master’s power.
Celia approached Aren, who was admiring everything.
“Pretty big sister isn’t the owner?”
“I manage this place, but there is a separate master. A very noble and great person.”
Celia was merely the dungeon’s lieutenant.
But Aren interpreted her words differently.
Naturally, since Aren had also lived in a dungeon, she more or less knew how things worked.
Though it had been a small dungeon, there had been a dungeon’s owner.
And there was another master whom the dungeon’s owner served.
Her parents had once told her that the other master was an extremely powerful vampire.
They had said the dungeon that master managed was also far larger than the dungeon Aren had lived in.
So Aren understood it as the pretty big sister before her being the owner of this dungeon, but having a separate master she served.
“Mm! I see!”
Aren smiled and followed Celia.
After circling around the large lake, another passage appeared this time.
It led to the center of the dungeon.
There were many facilities in the center.
Near the dungeon core known as the heart, unknown figures covered in large robes were standing guard nearby.
And in a space that looked like a prison, a certain human was sitting.
Aren had no interest, so she turned her gaze away.
After going a little farther, a facility that looked luxurious at a glance appeared.
“This is where I stay.”
It was the lieutenant’s office, the space where Celia lived and carried out her duties.
Beside the entrance to the lieutenant’s office stood skeletons with swords at their waists.
“This, too, is our master’s mercy.”
Celia pointed to the skeletons with her hand.
Those beings were three-star monsters, Skeleton Knights.
The being Celia called master, Lee Kanghyun, had spent a great deal of money this time and had been able to roll the gacha several times.
The Skeleton Knights were beings made by synthesizing the two-star monster Skeleton Swordsmen he had obtained from it.
Of course, the clothes Celia herself wore had also changed from a maid outfit into a luxurious red dress.
All of this was the master’s gift.
Thanks to the master’s grace, the lieutenant’s office was now guarded not by ordinary Skeleton Soldiers, but by Skeleton Knights.
Even someone who knew nothing would be able to tell at a glance that the lieutenant’s office was important.
“Now then, little lady. How about we have some sweet snacks together?”
“Mm! I’d like that!”
Aren was so delighted that she set down the demonic sword from her arms and ran forward.
Celia led Aren into the lieutenant’s office.
“There are still some desserts left that I received from the incubi.”
* * *
Berter Leobine.
He was the second son of the Leobine ducal house, a noble family of the Kaln Empire, and currently served as the vice-commander of the White Order’s paladins.
And at present, he was mobilizing paladins to pursue a vampire.
Though their target numbered only one, it was more important to Berter than anything else.
That was why, even in the pouring rain, he was tracking the vampire with the paladins.
Naturally, complaints were about to burst out from among the paladins. But he was using his authority as vice-commander to suppress them.
Berter’s objective was only one thing.
‘The demonic sword.’
He was not forcing the pursuit through foul weather merely because he wanted to catch a vampire.
It was because the opponent he was chasing was carrying a demonic sword.
Berter had come this far with his eyes fixed solely on that demonic sword.
If he obtained the demonic sword?
He would gain mighty power.
People said one would meet a miserable end, but that only applied to the weak.
He was different.
He would become the rightful master of the demonic sword and obtain powerful strength.
And the tip of that sword would surely point toward his own family, the Leobine ducal house.
He had been eliminated from the position of heir for the sole reason that he was the second son.
His older brother, who was less capable than him, had been raised as heir to the family head, and his father, the family head, had put that brother forward as successor.
An incompetent older brother, and the father who raised such a brother to the position of heir.
As a member of the family, this was unforgivable.
A family head must have a good eye for people.
The position of family head ought to go to the person suited for it.
Considering that condition, his father, who could not judge people, was not fit to be family head.
Likewise, his older brother also lacked the qualifications to become family head.
Only when a true family head supported the family could it develop further.
Families that did not had vanished into the back alleys of history until now.
At least, that was how Berter understood it.
That was why, if Berter possessed the demonic sword, the point of its blade would become his own family.
This would not be rebellion against the family, but salvation.
“Vice-Commander, we found a trace!”
One of the paladins searching the surroundings found a rabbit lying on the ground.
“It is a trace of the vampire.”
There were tooth marks on the rabbit’s body.
It was certainly the work of a vampire.
“Search the area thoroughly!”
The moment Berter saw that trace, he gave an order to all the paladins.
And before long, they were able to find it.
The sight of a cave hidden between the trees.
Swaaa—
The rain was pouring down fiercely.
The vampire must have had no choice but to look for a place to shelter from the rain.
“That’s right! The footprints continue toward the cave!”
Berter grinned.
“I am far too lucky.”
Berter led the paladins toward the cave.
He had already been swallowed by greed.