Free Web NovelChapter 21: Getting to the vampire king
Aria immediately emptied her arrows from the quiver and handed it to Levon without hesitation.
Levon took it and instinctively activated his grave ward pendant. With all the upgrades he had done, the pendant could now last at least ten to fifteen minutes.
Once everything was in place, Levon immediately sliced his arm open.
Blood began gushing out of the wound and straight into the arrow quiver, which he had already positioned below his arm to catch it.
But just as he was still in the process of collecting the blood, creatures suddenly zeroed in on the field and began heading toward them in numbers.
"Don’t worry — I’ll take care of it," Aria said immediately, drawing her bow and firing at the flame skeletons that were closing in.
[Flame Skeletons
Level 4 creatures.
Note: They have the ability to wield basic flame elemental magic.]
Levon was genuinely concerned the skeletons would simply burn the entire field down, so he pushed himself to finish the blood collection as quickly as possible.
But before he could finish, the skeletons had already begun hurling flames toward the field.
Shockingly, Aria was able to counter every single fireball with nothing but her arrows.
Each time a fireball was launched toward the field, all she had to do was shoot her arrow directly at it and it would disintegrate. And if she could land a kill on the creature itself, its fireball would dissolve along with it.
Aria kept at it — cutting down every creature that came close and neutralizing every fireball aimed at the field.
By the time Levon was done, Aria had already taken out up to fifteen flame skeletons.
"Wow — great work, genuinely. I have to give you credit," Levon said, holding up the quiver now filled with his blood.
Turning back, Aria could see that Levon had already begun to turn slightly green from the poison and looked like a pale shadow of himself. Even his voice had gone hoarse.
"Take the quiver and pour the blood all across the field — make sure it reaches every plant," Levon said calmly, handing it over to her.
Aria took it carefully, watching Levon with quiet concern as she headed off to complete the task.
The moment she was gone, Levon opened his system space and without wasting a second ingested one blood crystal.
[One blood crystal consumed — all poison has been cleared from your system.]
Levon’s color slowly returned as the pain from the poison faded away.
If not for the grave ward pendant absorbing the brunt of it the moment he made the cut, he would have died almost instantly — or within seconds at most.
"Okay, I’m done with the upper field, and I have to say the plan is really working. All the purple hibiscus have withered, leaving only a handful of poison hibiscus standing," Aria said excitedly as she made her way down to the lower section of the field to distribute the remaining blood.
"Good — keep it up. I’ll start gathering the hibiscus while you finish," Levon said, moving to the upper section of the field.
And just as he had expected, the poison hibiscus were not hard to spot at all — they were the only plants in the entire field that had not withered.
Levon and Aria worked in smooth, easy harmony until they had covered the whole field.
[Total poison hibiscus gathered: 20]
[Alliance work detected.]
[Sharing poison hibiscus fairly between both parties.]
Almost immediately the hibiscus vanished from Levon’s hands and distributed straight into their respective system spaces.
[Congratulations — you have just received 10 poison hibiscus.]
Aria’s eyes lit up at the system message in front of her.
The system had split the poison hibiscus equally between them, since both parties had played a near-equal role in making the mission a success — Levon providing his blood while Aria held off the flame skeletons.
Aria was still stunned. She had only entered the competition hoping to gather a handful of hibiscus to sell.
She hadn’t even considered the possibility of gathering the full ten needed to unlock the skill.
But now everything had changed — she could consume all ten and awaken the skill right here and now. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Her joy was almost overwhelming.
"Alright, we’re done with this field — now it’s time to move. We really don’t have time to spare; it’s almost thirty minutes gone," Levon said as he began moving forward. The next location he had in mind wasn’t just dangerous — it was home to some of the most cunning creatures in the entire forest.
As they walked, Levon couldn’t help but ask.
"At this point, are arrows the only weapon you have?" Levon asked carefully. He had encountered her much earlier this time around than in his past life, so he wasn’t entirely sure what she had been working with before her bloodline awakening.
All he knew was that back then she had wielded a weapon called the Hell Blade — but it was obvious she hadn’t gotten anywhere near that level yet. She hadn’t even begun growing her horns, so the blade clearly wasn’t available to her just yet.
"Yes, it’s the only weapon I have. It’s only uncommon grade too. The drop rates in this village are way too low, and despite killing all those flame skeletons back there, I didn’t get anything worth mentioning — let alone an actual weapon," Aria complained bitterly about her situation.
As she spoke, a brilliant idea suddenly surfaced in Levon’s mind.
"I can sell you a decent uncommon-grade weapon — one that’s far more effective than a bow and doesn’t put you at a disadvantage when enemies get in close," Levon said with a wide smile.
But to his surprise, Aria didn’t look the least bit excited.
"The thing is, I spent everything I had on this event, so I’m a little short on coins right now," Aria said shyly, dropping her head slightly as they walked.
"Who said anything about paying me now? You can settle up later — that’s what friends are for. Besides, where we’re heading next is far too dangerous for just a bow and arrow," Levon said, and with that he pulled the Silversteel Dagger out of his storage space.
