The Archangel of Death

Chapter 15

It has been eleven days since we entered this dungeon. If not for Allison providing us with air purifiers in the shop, even with my willpower, I would have given up this dungeon with the increasing stench the deeper we went in.

During these eleven days, I had leveled up four times and Max had finally leveled up once and was close to another level up. Even though we were now at the end of the dungeon, the difficulty had only increased in numbers which meant that the bats that gave me EXP still only gave me 10 EXP with some occasional 100 EXP. 

[You are now level 22]

[You have gained E- grade mana crystals x16780]

[You have gained E grade mana crystals 540]

[You have gained venomous bat fluid x 17320]

[You have gained 489000 coins]

Compared to my level up, the material and coin gain was something else. My coin revenue alone was at a whopping 500000 but considering that there were some items in the shop which were worth more than a hundred billion coins, it wasn't much of an increase.

Whereas the mana crystals along with the ones that were currently in the corpses, I have amassed a wealth rivaling a count of the empire. And considering that my wealth was in the form of mana crystals, a rare resource, my wealth was higher than a count's.

Still, for me, none of the above compares to what lies at the core of this dungeon—a count-rank vampire. Oh yeah, vampires have ranks among them. Starting from baron to the vampire king or queen and they follow the law of hierarchy very seriously.

Aside from the massive level-up, I will gain from killing him, I will also gain what I need the most for the first step of the Penta enhancement array which mainly focuses on the speed and agility aspect. The blood essence of a vampire is a vital ingredient for that.

Anyway, we had finally reached the boss room of this dungeon where if I wasn't mistaken, an E+ rank king bat lied. Its rank was one grade higher than the rest of the bats. It wasn't difficult to deal with though.

'Give me sonic protectors.' I opened the shop and asked Allison. In the novel, this was the main attack of the bat king boss. Its speed and attack were just so-so. But what troubled the hero and his party the most, were the sonic waves that the bat emitted from its mouth. If we are comparing it to the real world, then it's the sonar wave that directly pierces your brain waves and kills you on the spot.

The most ironic part is that except for that one nerve, no other part of the body is damaged so it is very difficult to even know that you are in pain. In just seven seconds, you are dead if you are in contact with a sonar wave.

The bat king's ability is somewhat the same but a little lower in lethality at the same time. Although it also targets the brain waves of a human being, the living beings of this world are protected by mana. That's how the main characters in the party survived even though the damage given by the bat king was very high. Not to mention they were of pretty high rank by then.

[Sonar wave blockers: Cost 100000]

'You just increased the price didn't you?' I asked Allison with annoyance written all over my face. Two sets of that would be 200000, almost half of my total revenue.

[The price changes depending on the causality and usage]

'I used the MP recovery potion most, its price is still the same.' In my annoyance, I was quick to spit a fact but also very quick to realize my mistake but it was already too late by that time.

[MP recovery potion: Cost 10000]

[I stand true by my words]

'F*ck off.' I cursed and bought only one set of the sonar wave blocker. I couldn't afford to spend that many coins for killing a monster I will get at most 10000 coins from. 

"Stay out of this one. I want to do this alone." I instructed Max, he was about to say something but I raised my hand and he went quiet. Loyalty is good, too much loyalty, however, is a hindrance to one's own life and their master's as well.

He nodded and slumped his head slightly but it had to be done. There were things in the shop that could greatly support me and coins were the only way to get them. Wasting them on just an E+ rank monster was not worth it.

I entered the final cave in this dungeon. It was just like the other caves but there was only one monster. It was hanging upside down from the ceiling and from its closed eyes, it was safe to deduce that it was asleep. The problem was that bats have sensitive hearing. No doubt if anyone but me had entered here, the bat would have woken up. 

On the other side of the cave was a wooden door. That door was my destination but I would be foolish to think that I would be able to make it over there without waking the bat up. The door was wooden and old so no doubt it would screech. 

So what I could do was use the element of surprise. I conjured a magic bullet but instead of doing it the normal way, I enlarged it. I added more MP to it and its size increased. From a marble to a tennis ball with about half of my MP. I added a quarter of my total MP more and now it was glowing brightly. It was a good thing that bats are blind because, with the glow inside the room, it was impossible for someone to not see.

Once I was ready, I shot it at the bat. The reason why I had increased its size was because when a magic bullet would be shot, it would produce a whooshing sound. With the bat's sensitive ears, there was no way it wouldn't hear it. Increasing the size would make it harder to dodge.

As expected, it woke up at the sound of the magic bullet and without a second thought, it moved out of the way. Still, one of its wings was shot and obliterated on the spot.

It was without a doubt that if I could hit the bat with even ten points of MP worth magic bullet, it would die. The problem arose when it would react to the sound. The moment the bullet was shot at it, it would sense it and dodge it even when it was halfway.

The level of the magic bullet was not high enough for me to manually control it so the most I could do was aim and shoot. I drank an MP recovery potion and my MP was restored to full. I concentrated and created twenty magic bullets each worth of ten MP.

Of course, it wouldn't let me do that so easily so I started running all over the cave, and as expected, it got very tiring after a few minutes. Eventually, I was hit by it.

[Hp -78]

My arm was badly damaged by its swing. Although it couldn't fly and its speed wasn't that impressive, compared to my current stats, it was like a lion and a jaguar. A jaguar is always faster than a lion.

Still, I was successful at attracting its attention because the sound of the whooshing came at once from twenty different corners of the room. It tried to focus but my aim was never to hit it with a magic bullet.

As I had suspected, it dodged and survived through all the shots, directing some of them to the points where the damage wouldn't be so lethal.

[HP recovery potion: Cost 1000 coins]

I hurriedly bought and drank the potion. My mangled arm healed at the spot and I equipped my steel sword from the inventory. With how badly damaged the bat was, I was sure that it wouldn't be able to move and avoid its death any longer.

Sure enough, when it felt me coming closer to it with my sword, it used its only remaining attack because it knew it wouldn't be able to run away anymore—the sonic wave attack. 

A small shockwave penetrated my body but it wasn't even enough to tingle me.

"Too bad," I said as it was astonished when it felt that its attack didn't work on me. It was an intelligent monster to feel its effects. It sent another attack but halfway through its attack, I embedded my sword in its opened mouth and killed it on the spot.

[You have gained E+ grade mana crystals x2]

[You have gained venomous bat fluid x10]

[You have gained a sonar rune]

[You have gained 20000 coins]

[You have gained 1000 Exp]

[You have leveled up]

[Level 23]

The rewards were more than I had expected and the rune was totally unexpected as well. In the novel, there was no such mention because there were no runes in the novel in the first place. Rune was an unexpected surprise but with how low grade it was, I doubt I can enhance anything higher than a D-rank weapon.

The second surprise was my level. Currently, my level was something I hadn't expected. I thought the most I could go through the bats was up to level 22 yet somehow I was fortunate enough to get to level 23.

Anyway, the real reward is something else. Something behind that wooden door. First, I went to the cave opening and called Max in. Since Max was already level thirty, I doubt he would have leveled up from this even though he was close to another level up.

"Did you kill an E+ rank monster all by yourself, Your Highness?" Admiration and worship were overflowing in his words and his expression was laced with the same kind of reverence.

"It wasn't that hard to kill once I had utilized its weak points," I replied. It really wasn't impressive. Killing a higher-grade monster wasn't something to be proud of. Even the Eric of now could have killed it easily if not for its sonic attack. 

I just utilized a method to avoid that attack and the rest was easy. Its moves were predictable even with its higher speed so they were dodged very easily.

"It wasn't particularly difficult," I replied and made my way towards the monster. I stored it inside my inventory. My next objective was the vampire behind the wooden door.

There wasn't any kind of enchantment at the door so it was easily opened. Inside was a simple coffin. Upon seeing the coffin, Max hurriedly withdrew his sword which wasn't going to be of much help but I didn't bother correcting him since there was no need to.

It's not like this vampire was waking up. "Your Highness," Max whispered slightly and said, "It could be very dangerous. If we want to kill it, we should return with a stronger knight." A logical move but like I said, there was no need to.

This vampire here hasn't been imprisoned by the humans. He has been imprisoned by his own kind. And they knew how to keep him asleep for thousands of years no matter what happens around him or to him.

"No need to worry," I replied while I lifted the hood of the coffin. The vampire came into view. It was a handsome young man with black hair. He was wearing a black suit. His skin color was pale and his eyes were tightly shut. If we have to compare him with Charm Stat, then his would be somewhere around B+ rank. Considering mine is an A+ rank, he is lower in terms of beauty than me.

[Narcissistic much]

'It's not narcissism, it's a fact.' I replied and shot a magic bullet at the sleeping vampire. It hit him straight in the face but there wasn't much damage.

[HP 9999\10000]

Yeah, there was no damage at all. Although vampires were low in terms of endurance, the difference between a count-rank vampire which was equivalent to a B rank, and an F rank was very vast. My hit wasn't stronger than a mosquito sting. It might be even weaker than that. The good thing was, he wasn't waking up anytime soon so we had all the time in the world to kill him.