Two hours and about a hundred dead and drained creatures later, Greem and Mary stumbled into an ambush of the famed Hooked Horrors they'd been warned about.
'The name makes no sense…' Greem thought.
These "horrors" were best described as bipedal dinosaurs covered in scales. Their salivating mouths were filled to the brim with sharp teeth and their height would match his if they straightened fully.
Other than these advantages, they also possessed unusually strong bones and arms plus razor sharp claws that inflicted Paralysis and Slowing effects on each successful strike.
Normal apprentices would be hard pressed to confront or escape these creatures who were built for engagements in small spaces. The duo they were about to face however, were anything but that.
Their faces devoid of any panic or fear at the multiple sets of yellow eyes stepping out of the dark to complete their encirclement, Greem and Mary shared a look before they both moved.
Mary's hands went to her waist, the limbs crossing to form an X as her babies rose their sheaths. She vanished into a blur right after, a nearby horror sporting bloody eye holes where yellow was supposed to be.
The one next to him dropped in a similar manner, this time his one eye gone and blood dripping from his nose.
One after another they fell.
On Greem's side, his first burst of speed brought him before a stunned horror, the latter receiving a fist to the chest out of nowhere.
The strike not only caved in and left a deep imprint on its torso, the life force sent into its innards ruptured its heart, the sudden increase in pressure sending blood bursting from its eyes and nose.
Greem was long gone before the corpse fell, his next target unable to react as his straightened, life force reinforced right hand swept past its neck and sent the head resting on it flying.
The duo carved a clean, controlled swath, spending a good minute decimating the hapless creatures. Not even one was spared.
Once they finished and both could no longer detect any nearby life signs, Greem took out a dagger and went to work harvesting the sharp claws of the creatures while Mary took care of their copious blood.
There was a lot of the crimson substance to gather, so by the time Greem was done, Mary wasn't even half done.
His Spirit and stamina regenerating endlessly, Greem didn't experience any fatigue and was still in top condition.
Hence, he helped her gather the remaining blood, the vampire swallowing a few of her accumulated stock to recover her depleted energy.
Less than twenty minutes later they were done and they set off immediately.
In a few hours, the bodies left behind would become food for other creatures. They didn't need to worry about their handiwork being found.
Or so they thought.
Not long after they vacated the place, a stalagmite in a corner of the cave trembled and morphed into a humanoid figure with rock-textured skin.
Its gaze was empty as it stared at the path the duo took and transmitted a secret message using a unique wave into the far distance.
Making sure to send all the gathered intel, the stone figure resumed its stalagmite form, returning to its undetectable and traceless state.
☀☀☀
Unknown location, deep in the Underground world…
Warmth radiated from a brightly lit bonfire in the center of a cave, spreading throughout the entirety of the latter and chasing away the pervasive chill the underground was known for.
Clad in thick black cloaks, four figures silently surrounded the flame and waited patiently. How long they'd been waiting, no one knew, but from their reaction to the sound that suddenly interrupted the quiet, it couldn't have been long.
From within the cloak of one of these figures, the croaking of a toad could be heard.
Extending her thin arm from beneath her cloak, the female fallen apprentice held out the ugly, offending creature with a transparent stomach and translated its urgent and jarring message.
"Activity detected in sector seven, four, and five. The time difference is only a few minutes, so we can assume these are outsiders."
Another man with a thin and reedy stature, laughed sinisterly at the information. "The news of fresh prey has been confirmed, and now we know their locations. These rookies are truly fearless. The triggered sites being so close means they split up. This is the best news we've had all day."
"Can you determine the strength of each team? I heard this group has Pseudo Adepts. I need one more to finish my corpse puppet," said another man, his demanding tone suggesting he was the leader of this ragtag group.
"It's hard to tell. Any aggressive scanning methods will alert them so we use surface level ones. And they tell me that creatures who match the preset requirements have passed by," the lady stowed her toad and replied.
Clearly unsatisfied with that answer but helpless to change anything about it, the leader harrumphed. "It doesn't matter. The idiots split up. They're already half-dead.
From what we've studied, they mostly form two-man teams, three at most. There are four of us and three are Pseudo Adepts. We can easily capture them.
We'll hit site four first. If we're successful we'll continue with the other ones. Let's go!"
☀☀☀
Abundantly aware of the shitstorm hurtling their way, Greem and Mary sped up their movements and soon arrived at the mission location.
They stepped into an enormous limestone cavern, its entire ceiling covered by numerous, strangely shaped stalactites.
Reigniting his torch, Greem held it aloft and waved it about, giving himself and Mary a bright look of their surroundings and sending most of the creatures gathered there scurrying away.
The unintelligent or uniquely brave ones rushed forth to each receive a death poke from Mary, paying for the insolence with their lifeblood.
While the vampire engaged in another "resource gathering" session, Greem went over towards a pond that had formed from water flowing down from a portion of the cavern wall.
He gazed at the leaking hole before directing his gaze into the small body of water, his extended Spirit searching its bottom for something. That something was found in seconds and jutted out of the water straight into his palm.
He looked over the giant rune crystal covered in formations, wondering how this little thing was responsible for observing and recording any nearby changes so the Adepts could review them and deduce the general situation of the Underground world.
His attempts to understand the obscure runes and dense formations were met with confusion at every turn, so he ceased his attempts and cast a verification spell to confirm the validity of his quarry.
Getting an all clear, he stored it and made his way to Mary. The latter had finished slaughtering the creatures and was currently extracting the blood of the last of them.
Seeing as he had more time, Greem went about the cavern where he noticed the growth of some mushrooms Adept Angus said he'd pay handsomely for and harvested them all.
When he returned to Mary she was done and waiting for him.
"Where's the ambush happening?" she asked, the eagerness in her tone evident.
Whenever the chance to obtain the blood of powerful creatures or individuals popped up, this girl lost all the fear and caution one was supposed to have when dealing with such existences.
Only someone who could heal by hurting their enemy could be so fearless.
Not missing a beat, Greem made for the cavern's exit and said, "A cavern like this probably. We'll have to separate them so they can't help each other. You take one, I take one."
Greem had explained to her that she might face a Pseudo Adept, but the excited vampire didn't voice any complaints, the chance of an opponent being stronger than her a non-issue in her bloodthirsty mind.
Stepping outside the cavern, he killed the torch again and stored it, retrieving the core of the Giant Alligator King and a strangely tied piece of rope he'd prepared earlier.
He maintained his steps and slipped the core into the knotted rope, tightening the latter around the egg sized stone.
Once he was sure of his work, he wore the makeshift necklace around his neck and connected his Spirit to the Mind Control formation he carved onto the core.
It connected with the sliver of Spirit he'd left there during its creation and his mind sunk into a whole new world.
Earth elementium in all its forms, be it dust, rock, or damp ground fell under his perception in a 100 meter radius.
Due to the dense nature of the dirt yellow elementium in this location, any shift or vibrations that disturbed it, no matter how small, could not escape his expanded senses.
That's how he picked faint, partial ripples at the furthest edges of his vision.
Resuming movement, he waved for Mary to follow and made his way towards the rapidly intensifying vibrations and ripples.
At a certain point, even the vampire could detect the battles raging nearby, what with the surroundings shaking and all that.
After less than a minute of silence and brisk walking, Greem stopped and waved for Mary to do same, communicating to her what he sensed through spiritual whisper.
Two strong elementium auras were heading their way. One of them held something that pinpointed their location and they were closing in fast.
There were three tunnels, two caves, and less than a hundred meters between them.
The approaching duo were probably using the communication crystal each member of Greem's team received to track them, meaning one unlucky person had been killed or worse, captured.
Calm as ever, Greem explained his plan to deal with their pursuers and dashed forward with the excited vampire, their destination the caves in between them and the enemy.
☀☀☀
The owner of the ugly toad, Anna, led the way towards the "unsuspecting" prey. She and Gary, the thin, reedy apprentice, stopped at the mouth of a cave and surveyed their surroundings.
All they found was broken rocks, stalagmites, and the occasional gathering of bioluminescent moss lighting up small sections of the dim space.
Confident there were no creatures or apprentices waiting in ambush, Anna went to work reasserting the location of their targets. She lowered the bloodied communication crystal on the ground a few feet in front of her and started a chant.
When the spellcasting ended, a pale, translucent woman with no discernible facial features manifested before the apprentice, the latter stating her request immediately.
"Oh great ancient banshee, please show me where I may find my enemies."
Hovering over the bloodied crystal, the faceless banshee ceded the request and twisted her neck to face a particular direction.
"Looks they're headed for sector eleven," Gary said excitedly, his "untimely" interruption making the spell rebound.
The banshee turned to face him, a mouth appearing and opening up on her featureless face as she prepared to release a scream that would devour his soul.
Fearful of Gary's retaliation should the attack land, Anna bit her tongue and spat the blood onto the crystal, banishing the spirit sending its miserable cry ringing through the air.
As though he'd done nothing wrong, Gary ignored the pained, muffled grunts from the Advanced Apprentice and blurred into the distance, his cloak flapping in the wind.
"I'll go ahead and deal with them. Make sure to hurry up and join me if you want any spoils."
With a venomous and hateful expression, Anna quickly gathered her things, wrapped her cloak around her and dashed after her superior.
She crossed the cave and ended up before the entrances of numerous and winding tunnels, the traces of Gary's wind elementium showing her which path he took.
She followed through, and after traversing and overcoming the many obstacles in her way, she finally reached the halfway point in the final tunnel leading to the cavern in sector eleven.
However, her intuition told her there was something wrong with this whole situation, so she slowed and observed things.
The validity of her instincts were confirmed when a violent quake emanating from below her feet shook the ground and collapsed the tunnel ceiling, dropping enough sand and rocks to seal her path forward.
Urgency and caution coloring her features, she retreated into the cave she just came from and started preparing some protection.
Her attempts were interrupted by a dark, shadowy figure dropping on her from above.
The figure drove two thin pointy lengths into her back, sending pain shooting through her like lightning as she staggered forward. Before she could even process her next thought, she felt the needles go deeper and a pair of limbs latch tightly onto her.
What followed was a prickling sensation on her neck and… ecstasy.