Limitless The Strongest Revenant

{We would enslave others to get the black smoke for us. As they are doing to me now.}

"? Are you saying the vampires want to evolve like you?"

{I would believe so. My elders say the Vampires come from a deeper place. They shouldn't be in our homes to begin with.}

From what I understood of Roach, his words had a simple premise. The stronger a monster the deeper it would be in Hellsgate. This was one thing that few dungeon novels explained. Why did the stronger monsters not leave the lower dungeons?

They ate the black smoke to evolve. They evolved to enslave. They enslaved so that they could go deeper. Apart from floor breaks, Hellsgate monsters never left their nests. It was because much like Stefan it was their mission.

"What is the name of the goddess who ordered you? What did she look like?"

"She didn't tell me a name; she just asked me what it was I desired. And if I was willing to be given a mission in exchange for that desire."

[My lord, in that regard they are opposite of Reapers, rather than regret, they are given what they desire.]

'But who the fuck is this goddess? Is she a Specter of some sort?'

While I was curious about that goddess, she was not the thing that puzzled me most. If the monsters were told to go down. Why was this fucking bastard trying to go up?

As I asked Stefan De Arno the same thing his reply was quite simple.

"Because I am not like them. To the other monsters, they cannot resist the need to grow stronger and to go deeper. I on the other hand have the freedom to choose if I wish to comply or not."

[My lord, he is truly similar to a Reaper. Much like how Hellsgate cannot force any Reaper before the Wraith rank to defend her.]

Wouldn't that mean that Juno and the Awakened would have issues? If only Monsters with soulgems could choose to fight or not wouldn't Juno and Roach one day or another revert to the will of the goddess?

'Fuck, Exa. I do not understand this at all. Please remind me to ask the girls when we get back together.'

So, Stefan was being eccentric for wanting to go towards the Sun. But that didn't explain how someone like him would formulate the conspiracy of the Vampires. If Stefan was not the duke Gaspar was serving, then who was?

Stefan was either a super smart Vampire, or a dumb one. He would need to be fucking Einstein to hide the fact that entire floors were already no longer under Reaper control. But as he was now, all I saw was a childish coward who reincarnated from Japan.

'He cannot be both.'

Either he was lying about his army, or he was stupid. And personally, after dealing with him I was more inclined to believe the latter. After all this bastard still hasn't attacked me for killing one of his women.

It was probably better to ask straight forward questions. Even his Birth makes no sense, as according to the Awakened Vampires were only converted and not born. But the fact that he has a soulgem as a monster was already dubious.

I had all my avatars raise our guns and aim them at every blood sucker in the room.

"Oy! Oy! I thought we were allies now? I do not intend to fight!"

I released Death Resonance and tried to brainwash the duke with soul.

"{What do you intend to do with the Vampire army you prepared?}"

"Death Resonance? Really? You know monsters eat malice, right? Your mind tricks with Reapers do not work on me. As I said I intend to use them to see the sun."

Fuck, so Death Resonance was useless on monsters? How could I make sure he is telling the truth? Should I create a {Program} or {Kismet}.

"Why do you intend to see the Sun?" I asked in an attempt to stall.

"I-I…I wish to go back to Japan."

"Why?"

"I can't do this anymore," Stefan said in weary voice.

Hearing the emotion coming from the Noble Vampire made me stop. Not unless this bastard had SSS ranks skills in acting, the exhaustion in his voice was genuine.

"What do you mean?"

"I will tell you, but do you mind lowering your guns first? I will tell you the entire truth Limitless. As fellow former humans, we are not so different. I wish for to tell someone too. Sebastian, get me a fresh bottle. I need a drink."

"Yes, your grace," the butler replied before he left.

I lowered my guns but kept my bodies all on guard. With the exception of Sunday, the rest were standing. Evelyn, who was beside me, squirmed in her seat unsure what to do.

She probably wanted to kill me but couldn't because of the duke. Sebastian returned and poured out fresh drinks for the Vampires. When he approached me the unique smell of blood threw me off.

I waved my hand to indicate, I didn't need nor want a sip. Instead, I pulled out a couple of beers cans from my [Inventory] and drank. The taste was rejuvenating after a long hard day. Despite all the shit happening right now, at least my drink was good.@@novelbin@@

"You have ten minutes talk," I ordered.

"Such an arrogant bastard. Long story short, you read Isekai monster manga, right? Where a human reincarnates into the body of a monster?"

*Nod.* Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire

"That is what happened to me. And I used those stories as a blueprint. I once tried to dominate Hellsgate as a Noble Vampire," the duke continued between sips.

'Right, he did say that he started out as a Vampire.'

"My desire when I met the goddess was for people to listen to my words. When I awoke, I had the skill {Brainwash}. I used that to cheat my way to power."

It was perhaps the power most incels would love to have. The power to take any woman to bed and enforce loyalty unilaterally. Given his background as a salary man who died to a truck, he was probably also a virgin.

"Vampires grew rapidly, in just over a year I had the body of an adult. Like most men, I lived out my fantasies. I fucked any beauty I saw, and dominated any strong servant I could use. I was truly happy back then. I gained a family and a purpose.

"This was how even though I had no combat abilities, I rose to the position of duke. My servants and lovers were my world. And at their urging we gained strength and tried to fight our way downward.

"As Reapers and humans were nowhere near those floors, we only fought the other monster races for dominance instead. We beat them, enslaved them and turned them into our allies. we also had small skirmishes with the undead.

"At one point I had a harem of a hundred. It was comprised of every monster girl you could think off all heavenly beauties. I even had hybrids kids. Using the smarts and skills of my armies, within two years we were able to fight our way to the beyond floor 60. I evolved to a Noble Vampire during this period."

'Beyond floor 60? That is some impressive power. The current frontline for North America is at floor 52. Meaning this bastard at one point in time had the power of an entire battlefront!'

Stefan then made a bitter expression as he swirled the blood in his wine glass. He took a gulp before adding.

"But then we reached the late game floors. That was where it all ended. We bit off more than we could chew. The monstrosities on the late game floors are unlike anything you could ever imagine. And my world crumbled at floor 63."

"What happened?" I asked.

"We were annihilated. My entire force. My loyal subordinates. My wives. My kids. My friends.

All dead. It was a nightmare. We were powerless. And as an ultimate punishment my enemies allowed me to live."

"…"

"For the next three years I just existed. I tried to forget them, but I couldn't. Their memory haunted me every waking moment. I couldn't even kill myself no matter what I did. I broke. When I picked myself back together, I had a single thought.

I want to go back home. To Japan. And forget about all this."

Well, that was something I didn't expect. No wonder this bastard broke. He already lost everything. Put in another way, he and I were on the same path. Only he fucked up in the worse way imaginable.