Journey of Vampire Lord
Copyright© 2025 by Vamp
Chapter 28
“Did you hear that?”
“What? I didn’t hear anything.”
“No. Just now, I definitely...”
Kieeeeek...!
The wind carried faint screams from the other side of the dark dungeon, where glowing grass only grew in small patches. “Dammit!” The mercenaries quickly rose while grabbing their weapons.
Partec quickly stepped up. “Calm down! Everyone, be quiet!”
Ahhhhh...!
The faint screams resonated once more.
Partec shouted after sharing a gaze with Breen, “Everyone, prepare yourselves for battle and stand by!”
“What the fuck? What do you mean, stand by? Sir Maverick went that way!” One of Maverick’s mercenaries shouted furiously.
Partec pointed his shortsword towards the mercenary and replied, “Sir Eugene ordered us to wait here. I will cut down anyone who does not follow orders.”
“Fuck you! Who do you think you...” The mercenary retorted and started approaching Partec. Then, he hesitated before stopping. Glade, Lavan, and all of Breen’s mercenaries had aimed their weapons toward him.
“If you want to get cut down, then keep talking.”
“We follow the orders of Sir Eugene. Lower your weapon, you bastard.”
The fierce spirit emitted by 12 people caused the complexions of Maverick’s followers to change at once. They only had a few people left that were suitable for combat. Thus, they did not dare to stand up against these 12 warriors.
“You ill-tempered babes! You all are so weak that you can’t even cut off a goblin’s dick! Keep your mouth shut and stay in formation.”
Breen’s vulgar words were befitting of his dirty impression. Maverick’s mercenaries were forced to gather themselves into formation. After a short while, a torch could be seen swaying inside the dungeon.
“I-it’s coming!”
Everyone’s anxious eyes gathered on the glowing torch.
“Sir Eugene!”
Partec ran out alongside a few mercenaries as soon as the plate armor became visible. It was a grotesque sight. Eugene carried a torch and a shortsword, and his armor was painted with blood in various places.
“We were ambushed by monsters. We will move out right away.”
“Yes!”
The mercenaries and porters hurriedly followed behind Eugene. After walking for a few minutes, a terrible sight unfolded in front of the group.
“Ugh!”
“Bweeegh!”
Some of the weaker porters knelt down on the spot and puked. Bodies of dozens of monsters were scattered all over the place, and mercenaries with torn limbs and shredded bodies lay in between. The smell of monsters, blood, and human excrement from death created an unbearable stench.
“Goblins ... There’s a hop as well!”
“They were annihilated? No! Over there!”
Not all of them were dead. The only survivor was crouched in a corner with his legs curled together.
“S-sir Maverick!”
The mercenaries rushed forward after seeing the full-body chainmail. Eugene’s black robe was covering Maverick. As the soldiers came forward, Maverick slowly raised his face.
“...!”
After seeing his blurred, unfocused eyes, the mercenaries became shocked. Less than thirty minutes had passed since the scouts had left for a survey, but Maverick had already transformed into a completely different person.
Maverick looked around the mercenaries with a blank expression. He opened his mouth wide. Then he started screaming with a horrified look. “Huaaaaagh! Kieeekk!”
“Sir Maverick! What’s wrong!? Get it together!”
“Kiek! Kieeek! Uhu, uhuhu.”
After covering his head with the black robes, Maverick began trembling while moaning like a beast.
“What is...”
“He’s been like that ever since his neck was bitten by a war boar. Thanks to that, I had to deal with the monster alone.”
“War boar!?”
The mercenaries were stunned. Among the monsters classified into intermediate-rank, war boars were known to be the one of the fiercest along with dungeon trolls.
“Where is the war boar?” One of the mercenary asked.
“I took care of it. If you go further in, you will find its carcass.” Eugene pointed in a direction. Breen rushed towards it along with three mercenaries. Eugene continued to speak while looking down at Maverick. “I think he must have lost his mind after experiencing such an event for the first time. I tried everything I could think of, even slapping him on the cheek, but I couldn’t get him to come to his senses.”
“Heu! Hu! Heu...”
The mercenaries revealed dejected expressions when they saw Maverick trembling like a tree. Some of them had experienced such cases before. Those who failed to overcome the lingering effects and fears of a battle would mentally collapse and would act just as Maverick was.
He had become nothing but a cripple. Maverick’s life as a knight ended. No, rather, as of today, he could no longer function as a regular human being.
“Hey! Come help us!” Breen shouted to the mercenaries. He was struggling to drag a humongous corpse of a war boar along with three mercenaries. The monster was easily the size of two or three regular wild boars combined.
“It’s real! It’s a war boar!”
“Look at its fangs.”
The mercenaries were stunned by the war boar. Its fangs were as large as a human’s forearm. The monster’s body was riddled with various injuries, and Eugene’s spear was deeply embedded in its large forehead.
It was obvious at first glance that Eugene had killed the monster by himself.
“Since things turned out this way, we will dismantle the corpses of the monsters here and return. Those who followed Sir Maverick here, retrieve the bodies of your colleagues.”
“ ... Yes, Sir Eugene.”
Starting with their leader, most of their colleagues were either dead or crippled. The heads of the survivors hung helplessly as their faces revealed dejected looks.
“Hey, isn’t Sir Maverick acting a little strange?”
“Hmm.”
At Lavan’s words, Partec glanced back towards Maverick, who was curled up into a ball at the back of the cart. He was still trembling while groaning with Eugene’s black robe wrapped around him. It was impossible to look at him as a knight anymore.
“He won’t eat or drink anything. I tried feeding him the emergency mana stone, but you saw it, right? He only screams like a crazy person.”
One or two mana stones were provided to an evil land’s subjugation party. It wasn’t to be used sparingly, but rather to give to knights when they were seriously injured.
Of course, a mana stone wasn’t an elixir to bring back the dead, but it could extend a person’s life for some time. “It’s amazing that he hasn’t died after being bit by a war boar. But why is he not taking the mana stone?”
“How would I know?” Partec responded in an uninterested voice.
“Maybe Sir Maverick has truly gone crazy?” Lavan whispered after sticking a little closer to Partec.