[Location: Dungeon—Vampire King's Castle]

I expanded my Sense to the limit.

Thump, thump, thump!

By expanding my Sense Stat that had broken past the 500 mark, I could even hear my own heart beating as loudly as thunderclaps.

'However, I'm not scared at all.'

Tti-ring!

When I stood before the castle's gate, a new message popped up.

[Will you use the Key to the Castle's Gate to enter?]

[Y/N]

'….You think I'm going back home after coming this far?'

I snorted at this nonsensical question and chose 'Yes'.

Creeaaaak….

I didn't even do anything, yet the huge pair of doors began moving as the hinges issued loud creaks.

Slam!

The huge cross-style chains snapped apart with a thunderous clatter, each iron link recoiling as though repelled by an invisible force. Ancient crimson runes carved along the metal pulsed once — then dimmed, like embers drowning in ash.

The gate alone could have been mistaken for a fortress wall.

Now, it stood open.

A cold breath exhaled from the other side.

'Huh….?'

I was flustered next.

I had had his Senses and Observation Grid expanded to the max, yet I couldn't sense a single presence of monsters from beyond the castle gates.

'There are no monsters??'

I had been worried about precisely the opposite situation happening to me.

'But, what the hell….'

What the hell was the meaning of this?

All my effort so far seemed to be in vain.

The interior was utterly devoid of any life.

'Huh…. Well, this is…."

Feeling somewhat dumbfounded, I stored 'Muramasa' back in my Inventory and entered the Vampire King's Castle.

It happened, then.

Tti-ring!

As soon as a mechanical beep rang inside my head, I immediately summoned both of my Muramasa Blade and Chains of Enkidu. But, that beep was nothing more than an alert to let me know that a new message had arrived.

'Uh?'

[A new quest is available.]

'A new quest, is it?'

It wasn't a Daily Quest?

Well, it'd be strange if it was, since I made sure to complete the Daily Quest and pocketed the rewards before coming here. Meaning, this had to be a regular quest….

I tilted my head slightly and confirmed the contents of the message.

'Confirm.'

Then, the information on the quest appeared before him.

Tti-ring!

[Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Vampires! (1)]

Description:

— Vampires are everywhere within the Vampire King's Castle. Kill the vampires and collect their souls to receive special rewards. One soul can be collected from a single vampire, but on higher floors, there are vampires with multiple souls.

Quest generation condition:

— Entry into the Vampire King's Castle.

Quest clear condition:

— Collect 10,000 souls.

Rewards:

— Any one item available in the Store

— +200 bonus Stat points

— An unknown reward

...

200 bonus Stat points!

That was the very first thing that attracted my attention – the Stat points.

'Not only that….'

My gaze landed on other rewards.

[Rewards]

— Any one item available in the Store

— +200 bonus Stat points

— An unknown reward

I was feeling grateful for the bonus Stat points, but now, he could even choose one item from the Store, too?

'Can I really choose anything?'

I recalled those ultra-expensive items I saw in the Store's menu.

'I definitely saw….'

A few utterly ridiculous things in that list.

My mind replayed the shimmering catalogue of absurdities I'd glimpsed only briefly before — reality-bending artifacts, sealed angelic relics, conceptual weapons that probably shouldn't even exist. Stuff that screamed endgame cheat, not "reward for murdering a few pointy-toothed goths in a dungeon."

Never mind the mystery third reward, just from looking at those two rewards alone, I knew right away that I couldn't let this quest slip through my fingers.

'For this kind of rewards, killing one or two monsters is a walk in the park.'

I was genuinely elated now and thought about finishing this quest real fast to receive those rewards, only for my eyes to bulge out after confirming the quest's clear condition.

"Ten thousand?!"

I gasped out in sheer shock.

This was already far beyond the notion of killing one or two monsters.

'What the hell, what kind of slave labour is this?!'

I had no idea what kind of monster these vampires could be, but hell, ten thousand was a scary-high number, indeed.

Still, a smile crept up on my face.

'Well, that would have been, if I were alone.'

Currently, the number of shadow soldiers I possess is 31 and 119 slots are empty.

If each one killed 320, this quest would be cleared. If I pushed my soldiers to work hard, surely this sort of quest would prove to be nothing but a cakewalk.

[Will you accept the 'Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Vampires! (1)'?]

'Of course.'

I had no reason to refuse.

[You have accepted the quest.]

The penalty for failing this quest would be him wasting a bit of time, that'd be all.

'Compared to other quests, uh-whew…..'

Without a doubt, this was truly a wonderful quest when compared to the Class Change Quest or Urgent Quests, where my life was on the line.

And let's not forget the quest I got the moment I got this dungeon's key.

[Quest — "Trial of Blood and Moonlight"]

[Objective: Conquer the Dungeon — Vampire King's Castle]

[Reward: ???]

[Penalty for Failure: Level Reduction -100]

I raised my head.

'I wonder, is that thing supposed to display my progress from now on?'

As soon as I accepted the quest, a counter I hadn't seen before appeared in the air, just above my line of sight.

[Collected souls of vampires: 0/10,000]

'Ten thousand… so far away….'

A bitter chuckle leaked out of my mouth once I got to physically confirm the number that had been floating inside my head as nothing but a vague notion until now.

It was then that I discovered a different counter to the left of that one.

'Huh?'

[Exp. Needed for the next level up: 600,000]

There it was, six hundred thousand clearly displayed via the holographic display.

As soon as I met that, I'd level up, or at least that's what was written there.

'Even my experience points are being displayed now?'

However, I had never seen anything like that prior to my entry into the Vampire King's Castle.

'Maybe….'

To make sure, I took a step backwards and left the Vampire King's Castle.

Sure enough, both the counter for souls and experience points disappeared. When I stepped back inside, they showed up again as if they had never disappeared in the first place.

'Yeah, they only show up inside the Vampire King's Castle.'

Although it was unfortunate that I couldn't see them outside the castle, but at the least, it'd be quite convenient to have them inside, that's for sure.

If I looked at it from another perspective….

'Does this mean that it'll take a long, long time for me to conquer this place?'

That was a distinct possibility.

I carefully read through the quest details one more time and closed the message windows.

'That should be enough preparation, I think.'

Finally, I had some leeway to take a closer look at the interior of the Vampire King's Castle.

'Heok?!'

My eyes widened immediately once I did.

Wuuuuu-….

Inside of the castle was…. a ruined city. Quite unexpectedly, it was a field-type dungeon.

'What is this place? Is this New York?

If everyone in New York died and a hundred years had passed by, would the city look like this?

Within this lifeless, ash-grey cityscape, only the lonesome street lights flickered as if they were having a seizure.

'I never expected it to be a field-type dungeon, though….'

Not only that, a dungeon was created to look like the metropolis of New York.

This was the kind of scale that utterly disallowed any comparison to other instant dungeons that were based around a special location, such as the basement.

My eyes narrowed to a slit.

'So, like, where should I go now?'

Where should be my destination?

My gaze scanned the surroundings and the distant horizon. Thankfully, my dilemma didn't last for long.

In the far-off distance, in the direction where the famed building should have been, there stood a massive pillar of light stretching beyond the sky.

'Let's head over there.'

I began walking in that direction. I also made sure to memorise the surrounding area of the castle's gates in case I got lost on the way, too.

However….

My steps had to come to a stop not long after.

"Kekeke."

"Kekekek."

Monsters with smallish physical sizes began creeping out from the gaps of ruined buildings, one by one.

[Low-Ranked Ghoul]

I immediately recognised what they were from the dark-red name floating above their heads.

'They look like….'

These creatures reminded me of malnourished corpses dipped in pitch-black ink.

Their skin clung grotesquely to bone, stretched taut over sharp ridges and sunken frames. Milky eyes rolled aimlessly in their sockets as their clawed fingers scraped across fractured concrete. With every step they took, a wet, dragging sound followed, like raw meat being pulled across stone.

Low-Ranked Ghouls.

'So, these are the appetisers?'

"Kekekek."

"KekekeKEK!"

They weren't vampires. Not even close.

Still, there were dozens of them, crawling out like rats swarming from a flooded sewer.

I exhaled slowly.

'…This dungeon really doesn't waste time.'

My grip tightened around Muramasa, the blade humming faintly, responding to my will.

I've already crushed that 'Advanced Weapon Mastery Rune Stone' I got from Alexios's loot.

[Name: Advanced Weapon Mastery]

— Rarity: A

— Type: Passive Skill

— Grants exceptional proficiency with all weapons, boosting accuracy, damage, and handling. Even unfamiliar weapons are mastered almost instantly.

I stuffed Chains of Enkidu back into the inventory, and my stance changed instantly.

My aura sharpened like never before.

These creatures reminded me of corpse-fed scavengers clinging to a world that had long since moved on without them.

My grip tightened around Muramasa.

The blade vibrated faintly, as if thrilled — no, hungry — in the presence of prey.

"So it's like that, huh."

I exhaled through my nose, centring myself. My weak body still protested whenever I moved with intent, but the echo of Sovereign Haki thrummed under my skin like a second heartbeat. I kept my face calm, expression neutral. No one could know. No one would know. Not Zeraphira. Not the witch. Not even the clueless angel fluttering somewhere in the mess I called companions.

The ghouls lunged.

They moved in a grotesque stagger, jaws unhinging as long, blackened tongues lolled out. The first ghoul leapt forward, claws raised — and I vanished.

Shunk!

Muramasa cleaved upward in a silver arc. The ghoul's torso split cleanly in two, black ichor splattering like oil against the cracked asphalt.

Another rushed from my blind spot. My body twisted on instinct, blade reversing course —

Slash!

A head tumbled, bouncing twice before dissolving into sooty ash.

[Killed: Low-Ranked Ghoul]

[EXP +120]

Tti-ring!

[Collected Souls of Vampires: 0/10,000]

"…Figures."

They weren't vampires. The system didn't even care about these things.

But that didn't mean I'd let them swarm me.

I stepped forward instead, becoming the assault. Every movement was precise, economical, lethal. My Sense spread like invisible threads through the ruined city block, mapping trajectories, predicting angles, allowing me to move half a second before my enemies even realised what was happening.

To them… I must have seemed like a ghost.

One, two, five, ten — their numbers dwindled rapidly.

When the final ghoul tried to flee, screeching in broken desperation, I flicked Muramasa.

A crescent of compressed will sliced the air.

The creature collapsed without even being touched.

Silence returned.

Only the distant wind and the eerie flicker of dying streetlights accompanied my slow breathing.

"Pathetic."

I rotated my wrist, letting the blood slide off Muramasa's edge. The blade hummed in faint displeasure, as if complaining that its meal had been far too meagre.

"Relax. Real prey will come."

I sheathed it and resumed walking toward the pillar of light.

***

Stone me, I can take it!

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