[Location: Dungeon—Vampire King's Castle]

I walked with my hands tucked inside my pockets, as my shadow soldier made the way.

Carving way with ghouls' bodies piling around like parted sea, Here my three—

[Shadow Magic Soldier Lv. 1]

— Elite grade

seems to be vibing much more than twenty-six [Shadow Infantrymen Lv. 1] as they simply 'fireballed' the ones crawling from sewer gates, their deep robes flaring with each muted detonation as clusters of Low-Ranked Ghouls were reduced to scorched fragments.

In contrast, the twenty-six Shadow Infantrymen were… enthusiastic.

Clumsy. Overzealous. Loud.

They hacked, cleaved, stabbed, and trampled with reckless obedience, their forms tearing through the low-ranked grotesques like blunt instruments trying to imitate artistry. Arms flew. Jaws snapped. Concrete cracked under the weight of their relentless charge.

And still, more ghouls poured forth.

Paimon and Erebus flanked both my sides, with Paimon's mane attached to the helm; the highly fashionable armour wrapped around its entire body; that noble, dignified cape flaring with every stride as if even the wind itself acknowledged this former king of hell.

Erebus, on the other hand, still retained Alexios's etiquette—his form was fully dark, with a shadowy texture, and purple cracks pulsing with malevolent light each time he shifted, as though the echo of his former master's authority still lingered in his posture. The way he walked, the subtle stiff precision of his movements — even as a shadow, he looked like a disciplined executioner awaiting command.

[Paimon Lv.7]

— Knight Grade

[Erebus Lv.10]

— Elite Knight Grade

The contrast between my army was almost comical.

Three elites moved with surgical precision, carving elegant paths through chaos. The infantry? They were like excited toddlers handed meat cleavers.

And I?

I strolled.

Hands in pockets. Eyes half-lidded. As if this was nothing more than a casual evening walk through a ruined metropolitan park crawling with the dead.

"Low-Ranked Ghouls really are the bottom of the food chain," I muttered under my breath, stepping over a bisected corpse that was still twitching like a broken marionette.

Not that it mattered.

These weren't my targets anyway.

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

[Exp. Needed for the next level up: 71880/600,000]

If we go with 120 EXP each Low-Ranked Ghoul, then all included it's 599 so far.

…Not bad.

Not impressive either.

Just numbers.

Dead weight EXP.

The kind you get when the system feels like humouring you.

More importantly—

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

Still zero.

Which meant the real headache hadn't even started yet.

My gaze drifted ahead, toward the jagged horizon where broken skyscrapers clawed at a perpetually blood-tinted sky. The massive pillar of light still burned in the far distance like a divine executioner's blade impaled into the earth.

That had to be the place leading to the next floor, if we go by the Empire State Building.

Then this should be the ground floor, which leaves what 102 FLOORS?!

Damn, now it seems like this place was deliberately designed to drive people insane through sheer scale alone.

A hundred and two floors.

Each one probably more deranged than the last.

And somewhere above all that, the Vampire King sat on his rotten throne, sipping blood like fine wine while his underlings treated this entire city as their personal hunting reserve.

"...What a wonderful retirement plan," I murmured dryly.

A screech split the air.

Not a ghoul.

This one had weight. Resonance. The kind of shrill that rippled through bone instead of air.

My steps slowed.

The shadow infantry reacted first, their movements sharpening as their aggression shifted from mindless enthusiasm to cautious readiness. Paimon's helm turned slightly, gaze locking onto a collapsed subway entrance two blocks ahead. Erebus's aura thickened, those violet fissures along his body flashing brighter like veins pumping poison.

Then—

They came.

Not crawling.

Not staggering.

They walked.

Tall silhouettes emerged from the darkness, boots crunching over glass and bone. Their forms were more refined than ghouls — limbs proportional, posture upright, faces not half-melted caricatures of death.

Pale skin.

Crimson eyes.

Fangs glinting faintly beneath cruel, twisted smiles.

And above their heads, unmistakable crimson text hovered.

[Low-Born Vampire]

"Oh?"

My brow twitched.

Low-born.

So that's what fodder vampires are called, huh?

RAWWWWWGGGG!

No intelligence, huh?

Their mouths split wider as that feral howl tore out of their throats, echoing between ruined high-rises like a war horn proclaiming lunacy itself.

Low-borne vampires.

And from the look of it… completely unhinged.

"Batshit," I muttered, watching as more figures stepped out from alleyways, shattered storefronts, and collapsed overpasses. Twelve. No — fifteen. No discipline. No formation. Just a pack mentality driven by raw hunger and decaying pride.

They wore remnants of urban clothing — torn coats, cracked leather jackets, filthy dress shirts clinging to bodies that had long forgotten warmth. Some still carried rusted weapons. Others simply flexed their clawed hands as saliva dripped down their chins, sizzling faintly when it hit the ground.

"KRRRRGHHHH!!"

One lunged without warning.

A blur.

Too fast for a ghoul. Far too fast.

But not fast enough.

Erebus moved first.

A sweep of his shadow-forged spear cleaved through the charging vampire's midsection with brutal precision. The low-born let out a wet, choking shriek as its upper body flew backwards, slamming into a bent traffic light before dissolving into drifting ash.

[You killed a Low-Ranked Vampire.]

[You have earned 240 experience points.]

[You have collected (1) Soul of Vampire.]

This one also gave him 240 EXP.

'And I need five hundred twenty-eight thousand one hundred twenty experience points….'

If I hunted down what? 2200 something Low-Ranked Vampire, then I'd get to raise my level.

The remaining vampires were taken care of in the blink of an eye.

"Kiiiiehhk?!"

"Khek!!"

I had collected fifteen souls, and the experience points earned were thirty-six hundred.

'Hey, this is not too bad.'

And they said that the journey of a thousand miles started with the first step – My eyes began sparkling brightly as I began searching for my next prey.

The blood-tinted wind whistled through the skeletal remains of buildings, carrying the acrid scent of decay and faint traces of old mana. The Low-Born Vampires didn't hesitate—they surged forward again, a writhing tide of predatory chaos. Their screeches fractured the silence like jagged glass.

I adjusted my stride, letting Muramasa glide along my side. Paimon and Erebus moved in near-perfect synchronisation, cutting and slashing with the lethality of true warriors. The infantry, bless their boundless enthusiasm, were still throwing themselves at the vampires with a level of zeal that was borderline comedic. I didn't need them, but I liked the noise—they made the battlefield feel alive.

"KRRRRK!!"

A low-born vampire lunged at me with a rusty iron pipe. Reflexively, I shifted weight, Muramasa flashing upward in a silver arc. The blade connected with a dull thunk as it split the pipe and the attacker's torso in one motion. Black ichor sizzled against the asphalt as the corpse dissolved into ash.

[You killed a Low-Ranked Vampire.]

[You have earned 240 experience points.]

[You have collected (2) Souls of Vampire.]

I exhaled softly. Still just a drop in the ocean. Ten thousand souls loomed like an impossible mountain.

The following hour—or what I estimated to be an hour, though time had a strange elasticity in this place—was a blur. Shadows and silver arcs, bodies torn apart, ghouls and low-born vampires alike, shredded with precision. Paimon moved like a conductor, orchestrating devastation with elegant sweeps of his halberd, while Erebus shadow-danced through the battlefield, his purple-veined spear leaving streaks of darkness in every motion.

My infantry? Still clumsy, but effective in mass. Every strike, every charge, created breathing room, keeping the monsters' chaos from colliding on top of us.

[Collected Souls of Vampires: 45/10,000]

[Exp. Needed for the next level up: 594,480/600,000]

I paused atop a collapsed overpass, surveying the carnage. The smell of blood and ash clung to the air, thick and oppressive, yet invigorating in a strange way. This was… easy. Far easier than I expected for the first real floor of this nightmare castle.

In front of the massive pillar of light, "Finally, here at last."

At the base of the pillar, huge closed gates could be seen, standing like jagged teeth, blackened iron twisted with crimson veins that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. The gates were immense, taller than any skyscraper I had ever seen, yet the magic embedded in them radiated a presence that felt almost… alive.

I let my gaze sweep over the gates, analysing the runes etched along their surface. They weren't just for show—this was a magical lock layered with dozens of wards, each resonating with a different type of energy. Mortal eyes would have seen nothing, but my Observation Grid picked up the subtle distortions of layered enchantments and anti-magic sigils intertwined in perfect chaos.

"Hmm… not simple locks, huh," I muttered under my breath, tracing the lines with my finger subconsciously, though I knew no physical interaction would do anything.

My instincts told me this wasn't just a doorway—it was a threshold. Step wrong, and it could bite back. I glanced at my Shadow Infantrymen; the clumsy ones were actually holding formation surprisingly well, as though they could feel the shift in aura.

I exhaled, letting a small trickle of SPIRAL flow through my system. The gates responded faintly, the crimson veins pulsing faster, as if acknowledging my presence.

Tti-ring!

[New Quest Update: Progression Available]

I tilted my head, intrigued. Another pop-up.

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

— Floor Advancement Available.

— Clear the Base Floor of Vampire King's Castle to unlock Floor 2.

'So it's layered,' I murmured. 'A dungeon within a dungeon, floor by floor.'

That means I have to clear the whole floor before I can proceed to the next.

I exhaled slowly, letting the weight of that realisation settle over me. One floor at a time. One massive, sprawling, corpse-strewn floor at a time. The scale of this place was ridiculous, but manageable. With Paimon, Erebus, and the rest of my shadows, it was a grind—tedious, yes—but a grind I could dominate.

And Low-Ranked Vampires also seem to be annihilated on this floor, as the last one was sighted and killed more than an hour ago.

Since then, no vampires had appeared. That means only ghouls are left.

"Erebus, Paimon," I murmured, voice low but carrying authority only they could feel. "Sweep the eastern blocks. Infantry, cover the perimeter. Make sure no strays are left."

The shadows moved almost instantly, their movements a choreographed dance of lethal obedience. Erebus glided through the air like a dark spear, purple veins flaring, slicing through any ghouls that dared cross his path. Paimon's longsword spun in wide arcs, cleaving, stabbing, and crushing the lesser ghouls into ash. The infantry, though clumsy, blocked narrow alleyways and funnelled the survivors into the waiting jaws of their elite comrades.

I kept waiting at the gate leading to the second floor.

And in no time, the notification came through—

Tti-ring!

[Floor Cleared: Base Floor — Vampire King's Castle]

[Collected Souls of Vampires: 45/10,000]

[Exp. Needed for the next level up: 599,960/600,000]

[Rewards: +50 Stat Points, Access to Floor 2]

Whole floor swiped, and I didn't even level up once?!

Quite a frustrating sight. My EXP bar taunted me, barely inching toward the next level despite the carnage. And the problem is that not a single Low-Ranked Vampire dropped loot, much less a Low-Ranked Ghoul.

***

Stone me, I can take it!

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