Siderius elbowed the corpse. He pulled out the hunter knife and immediately plunged it under the jaw of the undead.

The long blade went through the opening of the skull and crushed its brain.

The corpse's hands fell down lifelessly.

Priest Xeros already jumped back a few steps. His eyes were wide open and his hands trembled because of fear.

"Alive! He's alive!" Xeros mumbled.

Siderius shook his head. "Not alive, Xeros. But not dead either. This is an undead."

Siderius pulled the knife out and wiped it over his elbow, cleaning the sticky dead blood.

"An undead?" Xeros' lips trembled.

"A vampire is an undead. Its flesh held the Necron Energy. Anything that comes into contact with it will have a chance to become undead.

Especially a corpse."

Siderius lay the corpse on the table. His hunter knife cut a line in the middle and opened up the corpse.

The organs inside were perfectly preserved.

"Not a ghoul. All the blood was sucked off. This is a vampire for sure."

"What is a vampire, Lord Nyx?" Xeros said.

"You can think of them as a type of species. They look like humans, think like humans, and speak like humans. But their food is human blood."

Xeros' entire body trembled. "Can you deal with it?"

Siderius nodded. "Aye. I believe I do."

"That's a relief to hear."

"But first. We need to examine all these corpses. We need to break their brains to make sure they won't come back as undead."

Xeros prayed briefly to the Mother Trees. "Please forgive our sins."

They continued to examine each of the corpses. There were fifteen victims in the last two months. All of them had their blood completely drained from their body.

Only four of them came back as undead while the others were ordinary corpses.

"Interesting." Siderius mumbled.

"Is something wrong, my lord?" Rea said.

They stood outside the morgue to talk while Xeros was still inside, praying for the victims.

"Fifteen corpses in two months is very low for a vampire. It eats only when necessary. The health of those victims are also very dire. Most of them suffered from a major disease or they had some kind of ailment.

The vampire killed those who would die soon."

Siderius said.

"And what does that mean, my lord?"

"It means that the vampire is very careful." Siderius smiled.

They didn't do much else that night. Siderius told Xeros that he and Rea needed to rest. Xeros didn't question them and housed them in his church.

Siderius deliberately put him and Rea in the same room. He drew a salt seal around the room to repel any evil beings and also placed a restraining seal to catch anything that would barge into their room.

[SALT -10]

[SALT EXTRACT: 290/300]

[MERCURY -10]

[MERCURY EXTRACT: 290/300]

"There. We should be safe for tonight." Siderius said.

"Why don't we also call priest Xeros in our room, my lord? Wouldn't he also be safer?" Rea said.

Siderius chuckled lightly. He placed a finger over his mouth, implying Rea that someone might be eavesdropping.

"He's a priest of the Mother Trees, Rea. We can't disturb him." Siderius gave her a made-up reason which Rea understandably played along.

"I see. Please rest my lord. I will watch the place for you."

"Keep an eye out for that salt."

With that, Siderius went into a deep slumber. He slept for half the night before waking up and switched places with Rea.

Without anything to do, Siderius continued his path on the Truth-Seeking Path.

The next day.

Sunlight shined through the crevices of the window, signaling the sun had come up.

Siderius placed a hand on Rea. "We need to go, Rea. Prepare yourself quickly."

Rea was still a bit dreamy but she quickly got up. "Yes, my lord..."

They went out of the room. Priest Xeros wasn't inside the church at the moment. Siderius and Rea went outside.

The people of Pannitha gathered on the streets. Each family stood in front of their own home. Bailiff Xarles walked on the street and shouted from the top of his lungs.

"Is everyone here?! Is anyone missing? Do all the houses have all the members?"

Each household reported in turn, making sure no one was killed.

Siderius approached the crowd and they immediately noticed him.

"Who is that?"

"What with that mask?"

"Are they from the Royal Court?"

"Calm down, everyone! This is Lord Nyx, a high lord that arrived in our town yesterday. He is here to help!"

Contrary to what Siderius anticipated, the people of Pannitha didn't look all that happy. They were still filled with despair and sorrow. The horror of this town had drawn out any hope left in them.

"You can all go home now! Remember to put blood on your door to repel the creature!"

"Everyone stays right where you are!" Siderius shouted.

Chattering erupted amongst the crowd. A few ignored Siderius and walked away.

Siderius flipped the switch over and pulled out his flaming sword.

"I SAID! Everyone stays right where you are!"

The heat from the flaming sword reached even the people stood afar. All of them froze in place.

"Lord Nyx! What are you doing?!" Xarles shouted.

"Helping this town.

Listen here, people! I am tasked to find the creature that is terrorizing you. This means that you do exactly as I say.

Do you understand?"

With the presence of the flaming sword, all the people in Pannitha nodded their heads repeatedly.

Siderius sheathed his sword.

"Oh right. Now I will go to each and every person to examine you. Stay still and everything will be fine."

Xarles approached Rea. "What is your master doing?"

"Just trust him, Lord Bailiff. He knows what he's doing."

Xarles bit his lips. He didn't trust Siderius even a little bit but he had no other choice than to watch.

Siderius approached the first man.

"What's your name?" Siderius said.

"Xa.. Xano, my lord."

Siderius nodded. "Show me your neck."

Xano widened his eyes. He was perplexed but still did as Siderius said.

"Good. Next, you. What is your name?"

"Xentha, my lord."

"Show me your neck."

Siderius went through each and everyone. He asked everyone the same question.

Then he found his target.

"I am Xelene, my lord." The young woman said.

"Show me your neck."

Xelene nodded and showed Siderius. On her neck were two small faded holes. They were easy to miss if you weren't paying enough attention.

"Found you."

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