The Land of the Vampires
Weed, while riding on the back of a vampire bat on its way toward the Kingdom of Vampires Todeum, had great expectations.
“This place Todeum must be overflowing with money and treasures. The mindset of nobilities……..am I going to get a reward in exchange for time I’ve spent bringing up Tori?”
Bloated optimism.
After reaching the city of heaven, Levis, Weed took care of the Death Knight and reclaimed the lost cup of Freya, Herrara Cup. But instead of getting a reward, he instead received another quest from the Church of Freya!
The quest was to defeat a clan consists of vampires in the name of Freya; and retrieves the lost relic of the Church of Freya, the Fargo Crown. With that said, Tori was the head of that vampire clan, a Boss type monster of level 400; and an underling of Lord of the Undead, Barr Khan.
Weed, on the other hand, was not even at level 200 back then. Along with just Ron Alves, he had to free all of priests and paladins whom were under the petrified curse. Thanks to their valiant effort, Tori and his clan were defeated; but that, by no means, was not the end.
Near the beginning of the battle against the Legion of Immortality, Weed went through many adventures in order to grow stronger; strong enough to summoned and fought against Tori to earn his title as Tori’s master. Now, as if to truly recognize Weeds as his master, Tori invited Weed into the Kingdom of Vampires.
The reward will be as sweet as honey!
Vampires love luxurious things: treasures, beautiful works of art, magnificent castles and the likes; so Todeum will be filled with such sights. For them to be invited to such a place, they must have been in Tori’s good grace.
While harboring these beautiful fantasies, Weed and his party were taken by surprise as the vampire bats they rode dove into the ground. Entering a hole below earth, they were dropped into the contaminated river and went with the flow.
“Ewpupuu!”
They swam upward from the depth, gasping for air, and made their way toward the shore. With the help of the Geomchi’s group, Mapan’s wagon full of provisions departed from the river unharmed.
Maylon asked.
“Where are we, anyway?”
“Well, we came here by means of bats,”
Pale shook his head while answering, though he wasn’t sure since no one had ever stepped into this region before.
Similarly, Weed came up with nothing.
‘Surely we should be in Toteum.’
Tori promised. For sure the invitation was to the Kingdom of Vampires Toteum! The nobles of the night who lived in the Kingdom of Vampires! Possessors of piled high mountains of ancient arts and jewelry; along with beautiful women that’s hard to find on earth.
This Promise Land was only accessible once every 3 months; and housed hundreds of millions of bats and rodents with its rulers, the vampires, while surrounded in eternal darkness.
Damn hell.
After the abrupt end with the vampire bats, the party walked along the shore of the disgusting river, going with the flow of the murky water underneath the earth.
Pale, walking forefront as the scout of the party, asked.
“Will we be able to trace our path back to Morata by going upstream?”
“Can’t go back to Morata via that way,” Weed answered after he thought it over, “it isn’t even near the vicinity of this land.”
The river of this land was so polluted; the nearby shores along it were contaminated beyond recognition. Instead of the lush green they usually sees, withered plants and grey sands were all they could see. The decayed reeds swayed back and forth as the wind brushed the leaves, an ominous chill seemingly sent by the murky Todeum’s sky. This scenery was nothing comparing to Morata.
“That means we arrived to the Kingdom of Vampires, correct?” Pale asked.
“Well…let’s check to be sure. Summon vampire Tori!”
Weed tried to summon Tori for more information, but no response from Tori.
Hwiyiing!!
The wind grew stronger.
Nobody understood the current situation, as to why Tori couldn’t be summoned. Hesitantly, Pale said.
“Weed-nim, were we played for fools?”
“There’s no way.”
Weed wanted to believe in Tori. The feeling would have been like a shot in the back of the head, though everyone had a similar notion.
“But Weed-nim, this sight is different from what we thought it’d be. Todeum must be a nice place; it wouldn’t be near a contaminated river such as this.”
“……”
Pale pointed out.
The Todeum they fantasized about. This reality was the complete opposite of the Kingdom of Vampires that was supposed to be filled with elegance and grace, piled high in gold; this was nothing more than a desolate land filled with nothing but a polluted river and a murky sky.
“No way, this was not what he meant!”
Weed still in denial, retorted.
Remembering what Tori said, it suggested that it was some sort of reward; but this can hardly be called a gift. Neither sun nor stars; the passing wind that have the stench of rusted pipes; the Kingdom of Vampires was completely different than what they imagined. Zephyr finally made a remark.
“Another damned character.”
“……”
“Getting abused every time, this must be payback.”
“……”
Romuna words punctured Weed’s chest like a canine’s bite; though the most damaging blow came from Surka’s innocent words.
“Although we made it here, nothing exciting is going to happen?”
In exchange for bringing up Tori, he figured it’d be a pleasant trip; but he hadn’t considered the risks, and came without a guide. Weed tried to rally his spirit that had plummeted to the ground.
‘What about my kingdom of gold.’
So far, he hasn’t been lucky enough to relax, not even once. He had to overcome plenty of sufferings throughout his journey!
Though looking at the situation calmly, the pleasant trip to Todeum may not be as it seems. Considering Tori’s level, along with the time he have been serving directly under Bar Khan; building a ‘good’ relationship with a level 400 boss type monster under the duration of a year seems unlikely.
‘Seems like it isn’t as I thought. This place is extremely dangerous, and we’re definitely not ready.’
If the monsters’ here were nearing Tori’s level, this would not be like any adventures before. The thought broke Weed’s expectations and fantasies; from this point on, survivability is the highest priority.
The law of Toteum, the Kingdom of Vampires, is that even if you died just once, you’ll be toss back into the world above.
This is considered as a heinous penalty, even prohibited on the Versailles continent. On the continent, you can die many times with no care about the banning; but here in the Kingdom of vampires, you only have once chance.
Due to the fact that your stature isn’t like a vampire, a death in Toteum means an immediate spawn outside of the kingdom, total deportation. A difficult to obtain opportunity like this should not be wasted, since you don’t know the proper quest line you’re supposed to follow on Versailles continent.
Weed’s eyes then became cool.
‘Whether it’s Toteum or anywhere else, I will not back down. MONEY! Gunna get me buncha money!’
Consider a big pot in a casino, a piled high shrine that reminds humans of their deepest desire, obsession for money; like a moth going toward a flame at the risk of survival, aiming for it is like foods for desires.
‘This is too much of risk if mobs were to come, a crisis will occur if this happens.’
Bubbling hopes.
However, these hopes will pop if Weed’s fear comes to pass. In Toteum, this crisis maybe averted if he was alone, but now he have a huge number of colleagues with him.
“Where are we and where to?”
“What about our way back?”
Geomchi475 and Geomchi503 manly voices seemingly shuddered.
Taken to a place in hopes to witness vampires, but arrived at some random place in which they were unfamiliar with. At this point in time, if they had seen a monster, they’d be too intimidated to fight. With an unknown quest or adventure while situated in an unfamiliar location, the feeling was like being a blind man being pushed into a river!
Not only the fear, but the confusion came along with it was a major crisis.
Though Weed had a simple solution to the problem.
“Lets eat!”
“Wooohohoh!”
Hunger for a meal!
All craving for kimchi.
“Give me something delicious!”
“Love some sweets, like chocolate.”
“Whipcreams on them doesn’t hurt.”
“Who here don’t want some meat as well, hm?”
“A drink here don’t sound too bad…….”
Immediately the nervousness that once filled this party faded away; with happy expressions on their faces, they mimic plump-faced pigs, each and every one of them. And as pigs, food was now the main topic. Though the teachers themselves didn’t express their desires, their opinions didn’t seem to differ. Geomchi3, Geomchi4, Geomchi5 seems pleased.
“What kind of food you’re going to make?”
“The wait will be boring, but…gotta have patience for delicious foods.”
“Foods Drinks!”
“Wooo!!!”
Seechwi gave out a groan.
“Oh my God, if everyone were like these people, I’d be out of a job.”
All of her theses about psycho-analysis regarding the complexity of the human minds would be abandoned if all humans were as simple as the ones before her!
Falling into the depths of hell just to eat pork was not the way of human natures either!
But there were hopes amongst these hopeless-es that kept Seechwi from going insane. Pale, Zephyr, and Maylon were of the general population, and were troubled by the situation.
Pale asked Zephyr in a serious demeanor.
“What are today’s meals?”
“Can the items we get in Todeum be use as ingredients?”
“Of course. Possibly.”
Hwaryeong clapped with absolute delight.
“Weed-nim is so good at cooking; we don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“……”
Again, Seechwi was troubled.
‘They’re also not normal.’
As written on the POD before one enters the game. To go down in history as one of the heroes that bears the danger of exploring unknown territories, high Leadership is required:
Not giving