Second World

"Still, he is too powerful for us all to take on," Ephiltes spoke. "He is a level 80 rare elite, for heaven's sake."

"Chickening out?" Jonathan took the chance to throw the guy an insult.

"Screw you! You won't last a second against such a being!" Ephiltes retorted.

"I said he is healing, but not yet fully recovered," Arlcard told them. "His current power is still weakened to level 60 special elite."

"Really? Then he is at my level," Sidney said.

"Do not underestimate him though. Even if he is at your level, his skills and abilities as a centuries-old archaic vampire are not something to scoff at. But we should be able to take him on if we all work together. Aside from that…"

Arlcard fished out a sheathed knife for everyone to see. The scabbard was adorned by many precious gems, as was the hilt of the knife.

"Vampire-slaying knife!" Peniel exclaimed.

"Yes, my dear fairy. This is one of those taboo weapons from the Sangrod Empire. Developed by past rebel human mages who wished to overthrow their vampire oppressors. Their rebellion failed miserably, but some of their creations survived to this day. I have gotten one of them and have saved it for this day."

"What can that small knife do?" Jack asked Peniel.

"That small knife is a consumable tool that can kill any vampire below Archaic rank with just one stab. As for Archaic rank, it will incapacitate the victim for a while."

"Yes, once Aubelard is incapacitated by this knife. All you have to do is hit him with all you have got. That should complete our objective," Arlcard said.

"Consumable? So it is a one-time-use weapon?" Jack asked.

"Yes, the knife will crumble to dust after being used on a vampire," Peniel answered.

"I see that you have planned this out. You are quite resourceful to get that kind of instrument," Sidney remarked.

"I have been planning this for almost a century," Arlcard replied. "As for this knife, I get it from my merchant network. It is my old family's connection. My vampire father is not that proficient in my old family's trade business, so he just let me run it. He certainly enjoyed the coins from the business. Little did he know I use the network to also search for artifacts such as this knife. It is also via this network that I found out about you people searching for Aubelard. You are certainly not being subtle about it."

Sidney shifted uncomfortably from the comment. She did use the army to search for whatever information on Aubelard.

"It is also via this network that I spread the rumor that draws you here," Arlcard continued. "It's a good thing you all arrive as you did. Any later and I'm not sure if my father decided to remain in this town, especially if he finds out the army of this country have been actively searching for him."

"All right, let's do it. But we save the kidnapped girl first," Jack said.

Arlcard shook his head. "No, my father will be most vulnerable when he is at the ceremony. He needs my help with the ceremony. I can strike him at that time while you all wait in the shadow. If the girl is gone before that, there will be no ceremony."

Jack struggled with this. He then said, "All right, but I need to say first. When it all starts, my priority will be saving the girl."

Ephiltes gave a disdainful scoff, "as if we are relying on you. You are still too weak to give us any meaningful help!"

Arlcard turned to Sidney and Ephiltes again. "So, are the two of you in?" He asked.

"Fine," Sidney said. "Even if he is a centuries-old vampire, if his power level is the same as mine, I don't believe myself to be inferior!"

Seeing Sidney being so overbearing, Ephiltes didn't want to be left behind. "I will be the one taking his head."

"Great. Then we are all in for this," Arlcard declared. "I will now bring you down to the catacomb via a hidden passage. Both my father and his draugr don't know about this passage. You will be near the hall where the ceremony takes place. Once there, I will cast a spell to mask your presence. Do not leave that place until you see me taking action."

Arlcard went to one of the bookcases by the sidewall. He pulled on a book, which caused the bookcase to slide open, revealing a passage behind.

"This place and its secret passages…" Jack mumbled.

"Come," Arlcard stepped into the passage.

They followed him to a mechanized elevator. Everyone entered the elevator before Arlcard activated it and it started going down. They went down a long way. There were no in-between floors for the elevator, it went all the way to the bottom till it hit the ground.

Arlcard took them further until they came upon a small room overlooking a large hall. Arlcard mentioned that the ceremony would be at the hall below. The opening where they saw the hall was large enough for people to jump through. Arlcard told them to hide here while observing what happened down there. Once they saw him using the Vampire-slaying Knife, they were to jump down and start attacking.

He then cast a spell that lighted up some rune markings on the wall. It seemed that he had prepared this rune diagram beforehand. He told them all to not go out of this room. The rune diagram provided shrouding so their presences were hidden, but that was only limited to this room. If they stepped outside, they might get hunted by a troublesome monster.

Jack and his two aides had met this monster before, so they needed no warning. Still, thinking about staying inside this room for a whole day prompted him to ask, "Are we to stay here until tonight? You said the ceremony is at night, right? Can't we come back later?"

"We can't. This is the time when my father is not roaming around. Any other time and you will risk getting seen by him. Stay here until you see me down there!" Arlcard replied. "The shrouding spell also masks your voices. But still, try to make as little noise as possible."

With that last warning, Arlcard left.

Sidney and Ephiltes sat on the ground at opposite corners. Sidney took out a tome and started reading while Ephiltes just sat with a bored expression. Jonathan and Harper sat together and started playing cards. Jack couldn't believe that the two actually brought something to play. Peniel went and watched them play.

Jack was thinking about practicing his battle skills, but Sidney and Ephiltes might take offense if his long-range skill accidentally hit them. So he just sat cross-legged and started meditating, sharpening his mana-sensing ability.

It was a long time already since he last did such a long session of mana-sensing meditation. When he was inside the Valley of Tempus, he had the luxury of doing it. But nowadays, he could only spare one hour each day because he was too busy traveling and doing stuff.

With him immersing himself fully in his meditation, he lost track of time. Yet, he could clearly sense everything in the room. From Jonathan and Harper playing the cards, till Sidney reading her tome. He could sense their small movements. He could even slightly make out some of the letters on the paper. The feeling was intoxicating. It was as if he was in a dreamworld except everything was super clear.

He continued to drown himself in the feeling until he felt something outside the room. Something dark and sinister. He reached out of the room. The shrouding spell made his sense limited, but when he concentrated, his sensing took him out of the room. He saw four figures approaching. One was Arlcard as Jack remembered his mana. The other three were a total black.

To have one's mana completely black, Jack had no idea what it meant. One of the three black ones was creeping with four legs. That should be the Deathless Draugr they had encountered yesterday. Since the draugr was linked with Aubelard, one of the other two should be Aubelard. But who was the other one?

While Jack was pondering as he sensed their mana, he felt his body shaking. With difficulty, he snapped his eyes open. Jonathan was the one who was shaking him. Peniel and Harper were staring at him with worried looks.

"You okay, lad?" Jonathan asked. "You are not responding even after we called you a few times. The show has started."

"I'm fine," Jack said as he turned and saw that Sidney and Ephiltes were already by the edge of the opening, looking outside. Jack didn't have to see to know what they were looking at. He already knew Aubelard and Arlcard were down there.

After making sure that Jack was fine, Jonathan and Harper went to peek as well.

"Hey, are you really fine?" Peniel asked, her face was still showing worry.

Jack grinned at her.. "I think my mana sense ability had improved."