Bog Standard Isekai

Book 4. Chapter 47

Brin found an empty corridor, cast Self-Invisibility, and then came back out to the stairwell where the guard was keeping watch. He didn't notice Brin at all, which meant he didn't have any [Rogue] Skills. So this guy wasn't a problem.

He ordered his Directed Thread that was monitoring Cid to tell him to meet on the fifth floor, and then turned his attention to that room where the servants were hiding out. These were all in purple and gray, colors he was learning to associate with Lord Mordelet, the owner of this tower fort.

There were two of them barricading the door shut with their backs so he couldn't just walk in. He thought about making a Mirror Image appear in the room, but he didn't want to alert them that there was an [Illusionist] around.

Instead, he decided to get them talking to each other and then he could just eavesdrop. He could only guess that the sick-looking people laying on the floor had something to do with his [Monster Sense] going off.

He projected his voice between two of the servants and whispered, "What was that thing?"

The two servants looked at each other and frowned, one shaking his head. Apparently, they weren't eager to talk.

He tried again, another whisper more towards the center of the room so that no one would know exactly who had spoken. "When can we leave?"

A woman kneeling near the people laying on the ground said, "They won't wake for another hour yet. Now everyone be quiet."

He tried the door, but they didn't budge, and when he knocked no one answered. He probably had the strength to force the issue, but these servants were obviously spooked by something, and he didn't think they'd be eager to talk to some stranger barging into their room.

"Did you hear my conversation with the [Steward]?" Cid asked.

"I did. It sounds like this entire evacuation is nothing but the schemes of nobles," said Brin.

"We're taking a risk here. If this really is only the internal politicking of Prinnash, we won't really have an excuse to get involved," said Cid.

"That's what I thought, too, until I got to this floor. Do you feel that?"

Cid's eyebrows went up in surprise. "There's a monster up there."

Marksi perked up at hearing the word monster and started to stalk around as if he were ready to hunt.

"We'll all go together," Brin told him.

"We will," agreed Cid. "I wish I hadn't left my armor behind."

"They never would've let us in the door otherwise." Brin let the invisibility on Cid's sword drop and handed it to him, before pulling his spear out of his ring. "I'm more offended by the lack of glass. No windows anywhere."

“It’s true,” said Cid. “I keep wondering about the ventilation.”

Brin chuckled and shook his head. “You ready?”

“Let’s go.”

Brin cast Invisibility over them both and they walked past the single guard, who made no sign to show he even suspected they were there. When the stairwell wrapped around and they were out of sight Brin dismissed all of his illusions. He didn’t want them running when they crossed the barrier that was keeping them out of the sixth floor, just in case there was some mechanism in the enchantment that would trigger an alarm.

They crossed and Brin got a glimpse of the sixth floor from the doorway at the top of the stairs. The ceiling was a bit higher and covered with wood instead of the bare stone everywhere else. He started recreating his illusions, Invisibility for he and Cid and an Invisible Eye to scout ahead.

The second the Invisible Eye popped into place, it disappeared again, and Brin felt something he hadn’t felt for a long time–not since Aberfa’s nightmare lessons where she’d had him face off against every kind of nasty creature. He felt the telltale ghost pain of something eating his magic.

“Run,” he said in a whisper.

“What?” Cid asked.

“Run!” Brin said, and pushed Cid so they were both running down the stairs.

The guard was already laying flat on his stomach. The door where the servants had barricaded themselves was hanging open and they were crawling over themselves to get to the far wall in animalistic fear.

Brin felt that same fear in his own heart; a fear humanity had forgotten when the last sabertooth tiger died. It was a fear you could only feel when you were faced with something that was created as your specific predator.

Somehow, the creature was already ahead of them, cutting off their escape to the next stairway going down. He stood almost casually, leaning on one foot, and tossed his silver hair away from his eyes.

“Vampire,” said Brin.

He had the presence of mind to fire off an [Inspect], and saw that this wasn’t the vampire Tarasynora that Aberfa had warned him about. This one’s name was Zintiun, though that was all [Inspect] told him. It was faint relief.

Even with no one moving, the fight had already begun. Zintiun’s mental pressure bore down on them, grinding against their minds, and with [Know What’s Wyrd] Brin heard his intent as if he was shouting it at the top of his lungs. Fear. Fear me, prey! Limbs tremble, legs are frozen, arms lose their strength. Food. You are food. Accept your fate and feed me.

Even with his high mental resistance it was hard to kick his body into motion. He expected Cid to be completely paralyzed.

Instead, his Prime struck first. He [Charged], blitzing across the room in an instant. The vampire dodged to the side, so fast that Brin thought he might’ve actually avoided the strike, but then a line of black blood appeared on the vampire’s neck. Cid had cut straight through.

The vampire smiled, running a finger along the cut. “Well done. But not enough, and I fear that was your only chance.”

The vampire drew his own sword, a thin black pole like a fencing foil. He breathed in and ate all the light in the room, plunging them into darkness.

Brin heard the clash of steel against steel, and saw sparks in the darkness that briefly illuminated the fighters but even that was muted as the vampire consumed all light. From what he did see, they were both lightning quick, moving at speeds that it was difficult to believe. Cid had been being modest when he said that [Knight’s Charge] was his only trick. Even without it, he was moving at speeds that boggled the mind. He must’ve been pumping a lot of mana into [Path of the Blade].

He didn’t think he should jump in; at the speeds they were moving at he’d only get in the way. He could support with magic though.

He started pumping glass magic into his spear. “.” He waited for an opening.

He might not have been fast enough to keep up, but Marksi was. The dragonling leapt into the battle, fighting at Cid’s side. The dragonling easily dodged any swipes that the vampire threw his direction, but he also couldn’t hurt the vampire in return. His claws didn’t cut Zintiun and his teeth couldn’t break his skin.

, said Marksi, and suddenly the whole room was clear and bright again. The beam of shining rainbow light burned straight through the vampire’s stomach to hit the wall on the other side.

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Zintiun shouted, a stunning shout of mental force that knocked both Marksi and Cid to the ground. He sucked in, eating the remnants of Marksi’s light magic.

Brin threw his spear. “”

Zintiun dodged and the spear shattered the stone of the wall behind him. The broken wall let in a beam of sunlight.

Zintiun hissed, and disappeared up the stairs in a blur of black shadow.

Cid climbed to his feet. “Vampire. By the gods.”

Brin rushed over to check his Bog Standard spear. It had chipped when it hit the stone, but didn’t look like it had lost any magic power. He used [Shape Glass] to fix the point again and turned it over again to check if there were any scratches on the haft.

“Report,” said Cid. “What are we dealing with?”

“Vampires… are incredibly powerful undead. I don’t know the level, but it doesn’t matter. They’re famous for being able to punch far above their weight class. They feed on blood and light. Blood heals their body and gives them strength, and light fuels their magic,” said Brin.

“They eat light? I heard they fear sunlight,” said Cid. “And Marksi! His breath attack is made of light, is it not?”

“Too much light overwhelms their cells and ignites them. In sunlight they’ll get stronger and stronger until poof! They go up in flames. But anything that doesn’t kill them makes them stronger. By now, Zintiun’s magic is already stronger than it was moments ago. At least his body…” Brin noticed that the guard who’d been unconscious on the floor was now missing. “No, his body will be recovered as well.”

“How do we take him down?” asked Cid.

“Leave and come back with the entire Lance? Like this he’s trapped in the top of the tower, at least until nightfall,” said Brin.

“We can’t risk letting him get away. Even ignoring the fact that I am a [Knight] and he is undead, he knows your face and he knows you're an [Illusionist],” said Cid.

Brin sighed. “All right. I may have a plan. How many times can you use [Knight’s Charge]?”

“I can use it two more times. But even after one more use, I won’t be able to keep up with him any longer,” said Cid.

“And Marksi can only use one more laser breath. Neither of you use them again until I’ve made my move,” said Brin.

“Understood,” said Cid, and Marksi nodded firmly. The dragonling looked to be taking this with full seriousness, and Brin got the feeling he was very satisfied that Brin was taking it for granted that he would be fighting with them, instead of telling Marksi to wait somewhere safe.

“Then let’s go.”

Brin led them back up the staircase, but they were a lot less cocksure this time. Traces of Zintiun’s magic, and therefore his Wyrd, were still inside Brin’s body. Prey. You are prey. You are food. Run! Hide! Stay still! Tremble…

They reached the top of the staircase and the moment they passed through the door, Zintiun’s mental attack hit them again with full force. This time, Brin didn’t fight it. He let the Wyrd, the arguments, the reality wash over him. Yes, this was a vampire and he was an [Illusionist]. This thing was created to feast upon him. There was nothing he could do.

Cid and even Marksi seemed to be frozen in fear; Zitiun wasn’t underestimating them this time and the power of his magic held them all in place.

There was a large bark and Brin nearly dropped his spear. At the far end of the room a giant dog was chained to a collar. It strained against the chain, stretching forward, and barked in frustration.

Maynard - Dire Hound

Level 30

“Now, now, Maynard. Quiet down,” said Zintiun. Brin wasn’t at all shocked when the huge beast whined and backed down. This was a vampire; of course it would submit.

The room was nearly as empty as the rest of the tower, but Zintiun sat in a lounge chair as if he’d been there all day, and there was a little end table next to him with a half-empty bottle of wine and two glasses.

The guard from the floor below was laying with his head in Zintiun’s lap. Zintiun leaned down and licked the open, bleeding gouge on the man’s neck, and it closed, healing shut as if it had never happened.

Zintiun grabbed the guard by the backplate of his armor and casually tossed him away, flinging him across the room. Then he leaned back and picked up a wine glass.

“Would you care to join me… for a drink?” Zintiun said seductively. The power pressed into Brin again, filling him with the Wyrd. Food. You are food. Submit, and this will be over soon. Submit, and you will survive.

That was the worst thing about vampires; that’s why they grew so old and were so strong. With any other kind of undead, you knew you had to either fight or die. There was no other way, but vampires didn’t kill their prey. With a vampire, you could just give him what he wanted and he’d be on his way. Even that guard was still alive, just barely, and if Brin submitted, he’d survive as well.

Right now, with Zintiun’s power coursing through Brin’s body, that sounded like a very reasonable idea. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to die. He just wanted this to be over.

“You won’t need that,” said Zitiun, and Brin felt his spear fall from his fingers.

He managed to turn a glance towards Cid and Marksi, and Cid looked to be frozen in Zitiun’s power, just as Brin was. Marksi was patiently waiting for Brin’s signal. Good boy.

“Come,” said Zintiun. “Come and drink.”

Brin didn’t think he could take another step, not with fear paralyzing his limbs, but his body knew what to do. He was already standing in front of Zintiun.

The vampire poured him a glass of wine, and Value Sense told Brin that even half-empty, this bottle was worth upwards of twenty gold. The glass was nice, too, made by a master.

Brin lifted the glass to his lips and drank. It was delicious. He hadn’t really been a wine person in his last life; it all just tasted like vinegar to him. But this… this was good. Layered and complex, but rich and sweet. It tasted like life. He didn’t know if it was the fear heightening his senses or if it was just that expensive wine really was better, but he didn’t think he’d ever tasted anything so grand.

“Is it good? Does it suit?” asked Zintiun, looking very hungry.

For a response, Brin couldn’t do more than stutter in terror.

“Now I want to drink,” said Zintiun.

Brin wanted that, too, he realized. The sooner Zintiun drank, the sooner this would all be over.

He lifted his chin, exposing his neck.

Zintiun leaned forward, lips curled back to expose white, glinting fangs.

Zintiun bit into Brin’s neck at the exact same moment that Brin’s glass knife stabbed into his chest. It was a very nice glass knife, made from a very expensive wine bottle.

Zintiun screamed and stumbled backwards. Brin held his wounded neck with one hand and laughed. It was a cruel laugh.

“How?” demanded Zintiun.

“Play along, draw you in, and then as soon as you think you’ve won… I strike,” said Brin. “Come to think of it, that’s exactly how I killed my birth mother.”

Zintiun blurred and then he was at the back of the room near the hound Maynard. He pulled a pin from the chain, letting Maynard off the leash.

“Was that really worth it?” asked Cid, bracing himself for the hound’s assault.

“Throwing off his mind control took a half-second longer than I thought.” Brin let his hand drop from his neck; the bleeding had already slowed.

Alert! You have gained a new Title: Bitten

+20% vulnerability to vampiric mind alteration

Well that wasn’t good. But with all the resistances he had stacked against mental manipulation, 20% wasn’t going to make a difference.

“I’ll take the vampire, you take the dog,” said Cid.

[Battle Sense] told Brin that wasn’t right. “Me and you against the dog. Marksi fights the vampire alone.”

Marksi shrieked in elation and bounded towards Zintiun. He bounced from the chair to the wall and then through the air towards the vampire, who swatted him away with his sword.

Brin had to shift his focus to the hound. This was what had made his [Monster Sense] go off, and it fought like a true monster. It shrugged off his first stab with his spear and slammed into him, flinging him backwards. Cid chopped straight down onto the back of its neck and it spun in a circle, wrestling the sword out of his grip and knocking him to his back.

Brin and Cid weren’t a good match for this thing; neither of them were strength fighters and the hound bowled through their tricks with sheer, indomitable brutality. Its skin couldn’t be cut with their weapons, they didn’t have the power to…

Wait. This sneaky little worm! The vampire’s mind control was still working against him, subtly convincing him that he was too weak for this fight.

That wasn’t real. Brin was strong. He wasn’t the scared little boy he’d been back then.

With his mind prepared, his blows started to do damage and he wasn’t pressed back when the hound bowled into him.

Meanwhile, Marksi zipped around Zintiun like greased lightning, jumping at him from odd angles and crawling along the ceiling, walls, and ground as if gravity were only a suggestion.

But Zintiun was quick, quicker than anything Marksi had ever faced. When Marksi pounced, he slashed with his sword. Marksi blocked with his claws, using all four limbs at once but still somehow took a deep slash to his side before being blasted across the room.

Bleeding and shaking, Marksi rose to his feet and charged again, no slower than before.

Zintiun sucked in and ate some of the light that colored Marksi’s scales, leaving him looking muted and drab with only his natural coloration. Now the vampire was on the attack, hounding Marksi with uncanny speed.

Brin needed to win his fight. He left only a fourth of his mind to move his physical body and then spent the rest of his consciousness on creating the best possible spell for his spear.

“”

While he chanted, Cid rained down a flurry of blows on the hound, but none of them were deep. He danced around the hound’s brutal flailing, but couldn’t do any damage. The perfect distraction.

“” roared Brin, and threw his spear. It pierced straight through the hound, blowing a bowling-ball sized hole through the flesh of the monster.

You have defeated: Dire Hound (30)

Brin wasted no time in summoning his spear back to his hand, but by the time he got his weapon, Cid was already engaging the vampire.

Cid used [Knight’s Charge] and stabbed the vampire in the chest. He left his sword in place, letting the vampire stumble backwards in pain.

Marksi’s beam of energy blasted through the vampire’s shoulder, taking off an arm.

Then Brin arrived, his spear was still full of devilish power. He leapt and swung down, cutting through the vampire from shoulder to thigh.

Zintiun fell.

You have defeated: Vampire Zintiun (14)

The collapsed vampire shook and twisted on the ground. His skin sloughed off and his muscles mummified in real time until all that was left was a twisted white skeleton in a gentleman’s clothes.

“Fourteen. He was only level fourteen. Are you seeing this?” Cid said.

“I told you vampires are strong for their level,” said Brin, wiping his brow.

“This strong, though? Fourteen!”

Brin chuckled. Then he remembered his wounded friend. “Marksi!” He rushed to the dragonling’s side to look over his wounds.